In case you missed it, It's a Spiritual War

 2,381 years ago God granted a miracle in Persia; the area that is modern day Iran. If you've read the Biblical Book of Esther you know this story.  A man, Haman the Agagite, i.e. a descendant of King Agag - the ancient enemy of the Hebrews, rose to power.  He manipulated his King, Achashverosh, to sign an edict to kill the Jews in all 22 provinces of the Persian Empire.

But God had already set the stage for redemption of His People.  Years before a young Jewish maiden, Esther, had caught the eye of King Achashverosh.  He chose her to be his Queen.  Now, you must understand that she hid her heritage from him.  He didn't know she was Jewish.  Neither did his right hand man, Haman.  

Esther's uncle, Mordechai, learned of Haman's edict and revealed the details to her.  She ordered her handmaidens, and all the Jews in the land, to enter with her into fasting and praying for 3 days. Then with bravery and faith she stood in the Court of the King and hoped Achashverosh would raise his scepter to her and allow her to enter his presence instead of being instantly sentenced to death.  He did and the rest is history.  She revealed the plot and her heritage.  Achashverosh stood with her and the Jews, and sentenced Haman to hang on the gallows which Haman had ordered erected for the purpose of hanging Mordechai.  A new edict was signed giving the Jews the right to defend themselves.  On the day of the planned destruction of the Jews, the tables were turned and the Jews prevailed.  Haman's 10 sons were hanged on the gallows & the holiday of Purim was established for all our generations. What a story!

Why am I bringing this up today?  Purim was months ago!  Ahh but the story of Esther didn't happen in a day.  In fact, 10 years passed between the time of Esther's coronation, the establishment of Purim, and the recording of the story in the Annals of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia.  So what happened 2,381 years ago?  That was the year Esther fasted & prayed, denounced Haman, and begged Achashverosh to save her people.  That was the year Haman was hanged. That was the year new Edicts were issued giving the Jews the right to defend themselves. 

Those edicts were issued on Sivan 23.  Tomorrow is, again, Sivan 23.  We would be blind to miss the parallels between what went on in Ancient Persia and modern day Iran.  Khamenei has vowed to destroy Israel.  He has been the leader & perpetrator of the modern war against the Jews and the West.  

If you consider modern history, during the time of the Ottoman Empire Jews lived all over the Middle East.  At the end of WWI the Ottoman Empire was overthrown. Europe took control of the region & started setting up puppet states.  The British, French, Italians & Russians each controlled different areas and the newly established states include Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel.  By the end of WWII over 900,000 Jews fled from all the countries in the Middle East, including Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula, to Israel.

If you compare the map of that Sykes-Picot agreement, which dissolved the Ottoman Empire, and the map of the Ancient Empire of Persia there are some stark similarities.
 

Sykes Picot Agreement

Ancient Persian Empire

My point here is that the 22 provinces of Ancient Persia certainly encompasses all the areas which became judenrein by the time the modern state of Israel was established in 1948.  The only area of that  original Persian Empire, where Jews can live freely, is in modern Israel.  So Khamenei is trying to finish Haman's Edict by destroying Israel. But, tomorrow is the anniversary of the day that Edict was superseded by Mordechai and Esther's Edict giving the Jews the right to defend themselves.  

As I watch the news of Israel's war with Iran I am amazed.  I'm seeing the complete destruction of the  IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps), Iran's SS.  I'm seeing the destruction of Iran's ballistic missile bunkers and launchers. I'm watching the IDF drop bombs on the nuclear centrifuge bunkers in Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow.  I hear the citizens call out in Farsi "Death to Khamenei". That call, echoing through the night from building to building, spreading across Tehran, sends chills up my back. I hear the news reporting Iran's army is nowhere to be seen, that people are fleeing Tehran, and Khamenei is hiding with his family in an underground bunker.  I watch Reza Pahlavi, the former Crown Prince of Iran, call his people to rise up & claim their freedom from the Islamic Regime which has kept them oppressed for the last 47 years.  He proclaims that he stands with them & is already busy helping to build a provisional government that will allow them to restore their constitution & elect leaders of their choice. I hear Pahlavi say that he has already been contacted by some of the military leaders, that they want to defect & help establish a free Iran, that they are standing with him and the citizens of Iran.  I'm getting goosebumps.  I see God's miracle repeating itself.

We've been watching podcasts from a Canadian Rabbi, Efraim Palvanov.  He brings together teachings from Torah, Talmud, Mishna, Midrash and Zohar.  I highly recommend his YouTube channel! With him we've been tracking the fulfillment of prophecies as we see the fall of Nasrallah/Hezbollah in Lebanon, Assad in Syria, the Sinwars/Hamas in Gaza, and next, gotta be Khamenei in Iran.... Then Russia?  

It's all been foretold, God has planned the end of days & tells us what to expect.  Hang on to your seats, we're not done yet, but God is Faithful, His promises will be fulfilled.  He says "My Children do not be afraid, all that I have done, I do for you." When we unite in our hearts and acknowledge the Majesty of the Almighty, the All Creator, His redemption will come. 

Simchat Torah War 2023

Here we are at war again.  I shouldn't say again, as the war in 1948 has never truly ended.  The combatants have changed, but the basic goal of Israel's enemies has not changed; the total eradication of Israel and the death of every Jew in the region.

Hamas has attacked with such brutality that the world is aghast.  Hamas posted pictures of their murderous antics themselves.  But now they are backtracking and saying, "Oh no, that wasn't us, it was the civilians from Gaza that crossed the fence after us."  Of course Israel has saved the pictures, tracked the IPs, they know who did this butchery.

So our leaders are declaring they will erase Hamas from Gaza.  Most of the western nations are supporting us, even though there are pro-palestinian protests in many cities around the world.  But what is the plan?  If our military forces succeed and Hamas is removed from Gaza what is the next step?

So here is yet another attempt to educate the world, to document accurately the facts from history.

First I will start with the Arab world’s insistence that Jews did not live in Ancient Israel, that they have no historic right to be here. This absurd idea is widely taught and believed in the Arab world. It is found in their textbooks, taught in their mosques. However, there is a massive amount of archeological evidence of Jewish existence in ancient Israel. Here for your perusal is a link to a most recent article regarding the identification of a city supporting the biblical account of King David: http://www.elahfortress.com/page26/page26.html
Found at that dig is the oldest known Hebrew text to date, estimated to be 3,000 years old:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/30/news/ML-Israel-Ancient-Inscription.php
More links :
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Archaeology/hebrewalphabet.html
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Archaeology/kfarkana.html
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Archaeology/templemountgarbage.html
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Early%20History%20-%20Archaeology/Beit%20Alpha%20-%20An%20Ancient%20Synagogue%20with%20a%20Splendid
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Early%20History%20-%20Archaeology/Archaeological%20Sites%20in%20Israel%20-%20Gamala-%20Jewish%20Ci
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Early%20History%20-%20Archaeology/Archaeological%20Sites%20in%20Israel%20-%20Jerusalem-%20Burial

These are just a few websites documenting Jewish habitation in Ancient Israel, hundreds more are easy to find. I challenge anyone to produce even one documentable proof that Jews did not live in this land since the time of Abraham!

The Palestinians also claim that they have been in Israel since ancient times, but what is their proof? Rather than taking their word for it, let’s examine the facts.
There has never been a nation called Palestine. The name Palaestina was a name given to the region by the Roman emperor Hadrian following the crushing of Bar Kochba's revolt in 132-135 in an attempt to suppress Jewish national feelings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine
(please take the time to read & study the timeline and documentation in the above link!)

So do modern day “Palestinians” have a link to the land? They claim to be descendants of the Philistines of the bible:
http://www.bga.nl/en/articles/filist1.html
But are they?
http://www.imninalu.net/myths-Arabs.htm
Since there is documentation that the original Philistines were not Arabs & the modern day Palestinians are, how can they be the same people? If you read the timeline in the above Wikipedia link you will see that there never has been any Philistinian/Palestinian government in the land of Israel. The Islamics who ruled under the Ottoman Empire (the former Arab nation in the land) were only one of several conquering nations to reside in Israel for a time. At no time did these Islamics claim to be Philistinian or Palestinian. The Ottoman empire ruled over the land from 1517 to around 1917 when the British Empire took occupation during WWI. (Interestingly enough, modern day Palestinians do not claim to be Ottoman descendants – which would give them an actual historical link to the land.) http://archaeology.about.com/od/oterms/g/ottoman.htm.

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 divided the land between Jew and Arab.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration_of_1917
The original plan looked like this:
http://focusonjerusalem.com/maproom.html
http://www.npr.org/news/specials/mideast/history/history2.html
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1225199622058
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_maps.php

Note there are two maps, the second being published in 1926. Originally all of the British Mandate (1917) was intended to be a Jewish Homeland. But due to Arab pressure 75% of the land was ceded to the Arab people under the name of TransJordan, which is today’s modern state of Jordan.

With the exception of King Faisal in 1919 the British Mandate was rejected by the Arab world community. Tensions were high in the area between the occupying English, Jews and Arabs in the years between 1922 and the end of WWII. Jewish immigration into the land was limited by the English despite the overwhelming need due to the Holocaust. Finally in 1948, England withdrew completely from the land. The UN voted to support Israel as a modern state, and the modern war began.

Before we discuss the war, let’s take a look at the basic geography. Modern day Israel (2008) has a land mass of 8,522 square miles (about the size of the state of New Jersey at 8,729 square miles) with a population of 7,282,000 – that’s a population density ratio of 854.5.

Here’s a map of the Middle East, Asia and Africa highlighting Islam:
http://www.islam101.com/dawah/muslim_world_map.html
The influence of Islam is growing.

Israel is the ONLY Jewish state in the world. Israel has 21 Islamic recognized neighbors, but the reality is that there are many neighbors where Islam is the controlling religion. I have listed 23 nations below (with their square miles, population and population density):

Israel's Islamic Neighbors Sq Miles Population Density Year Est
Algeria 919,595 33,769,669 36.722 1962
Saudi Arabia 829,996 27,601,038 33.254 1932
Libya 679,359 6,173,579 9.087 1951
Iran 636,372 70,472,846 110.742 1979
Mauritania 397,954 3,069,000 7.712 1960
Egypt 387,048 75,500,662 195.068 1953
Pakistan 340,403 172,800,000 507.634 1956
Afghanistan 251,772 32,728,376 129.992 1919
Yemen 203,849 23,013,376 112.894 1990
Morocco 172,414 1,541,130 8.939 1956
Iraq 169,234 29,267,000 172.938 1932
Malaysia 127,355 27,730,000 217.738 1965
Oman 119,498 2,577,000 21.565 1651
Syria 71,479 19,405,000 271.478 1946
Tunisia 63,170 10,102,000 159.918 1956
Bangladesh 55,559 150,448,340 2707.902 1971
Jordan 45,495 6,198,677 136.250 1946
United Arab Eremites 32,278 4,621,399 43.175 1971
Kuwait 6,880 3,399,637 494.133 1961
Qatar 4,416 1,541,130 348.988 1971
Lebanon 4,035 4,196,453 1040.013 1943
Bahrain 253 1,046,814 4137.605 1971
Maldives 115 350,000 3043.478 1965

TOTAL 5,518,529 707,553,126 128.214

On May 15th 1948, the day after Israel declared itself an Independent Nation State, 5 countries attacked. Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq.
1948 Aggressors Sq Miles Population Density Year Est
Egypt 387,048 75,500,662 195.068 1922
Iraq 169,234 29,267,000 172.938 1932
Syria 71,479 19,405,000 271.478 1946
Jordan 45,495 6,198,677 136.250 1946
Lebanon 4,035 4,196,453 1040.013 1943

TOTAL 677,291 134,567,792 198.685

(The facts from these tables are easy to verify - just type the country name into your web browser).

It’s quite clear, when you look at the population density figures from the above tables that the “Land for Peace” premise makes absolutely no sense. If you also review the years these modern states were established – with the exception of Oman, every single one of these Islamic states has a 20th Century inception making them no different from Israel regarding appearance on the international stage as a modern entity.

“Occupation”. Where did this term come from in relation to the War in Israel? In 1967 Israel defended itself against 3 aggressors: Egypt, Jordan and Syria. During the war, Israel as the defender, not the aggressor, took the Sinai Desert, the Golan Heights, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. In 1979 Israel returned the Sinai Desert to Egypt. In 2005 Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip. In history, there has been no other country required to return land taken in defensive actions. Defensible borders against it’s aggressing neighbors has required that Israel maintain a presence in the so called “occupied” areas. But please note, that the countries these areas were “taken” from (Golan Heights from Syria, West Bank from Jordan, East Jerusalem from Jordan) technically had no more right to the land than Israel did & lost those areas as a result of their unwarranted aggression. Again, there was no “Palestinian Nation” against which Israel aggressed to occupy these areas. Also note that Jordan is not demanding the return of the West Bank or East Jerusalem. The Gaza strip technically never belonged to any country post the British Mandate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_Strip

Since the Gaza disengagement in 2005 there has been a constant barrage of rockets into Israel, targeting innocent civilians:
http://www.sderotmedia.com/

"Peace Partners"? The PLO is not a country. It is a terrorist organization. Hamas is not a county. It is a terrorist organization. Gaza is not a country. Where else in the world is any other country expected to negotiate peace in exchange for land with a terrorist organization?

Aid to the Palestinians. What is rarely reported in the media is that any Arab who applies for Israeli citizenship is awarded the same rights and freedoms of any other Israeli citizen. Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, representative government, socialist support in the form of medicine, aid with food, living expenses, and education among other benefits are available. Before the 1st intifada in 1987 180,000 Palestinians held jobs in Israel. As aggression increased against innocent Israeli civilians that number has been greatly reduced. So what is the basis for the claim of Israeli “oppression” against the Palestinians?

There has been an uneasy but steady peace with Jordan and Egypt since 1977 and 1994 respectively. Although it should be noted that Hamas manages to access arms through hidden tunnels between Gaza and Egypt, and Jordan's porous borders allow arms from Iran to flow into Judea and Samaria.

So what is this war all about? Keeping in mind all the information above, there is not really a clear answer.
Here are some links to review:

PLO charter – note especially points 15, 19, 21 and 22. In light of the fact that it has been established there has never been a nation of “Palestine” what is this based on?!
http://www.iris.org.il/plochart.htm

Hamas Charter – of course the “people of the Scriptures” are Jews and Christians.
http://www.palestinecenter.org/cpap/documents/charter.html

Iran / Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad

Of Course there is always the ADL’s watch on antisemitic political commentary & satire:
http://www.adl.org/main_Arab_World/Financial_Crisis.htm
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASaw_14/5245_14.htm
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASaw_14/default.htm
http://www.adl.org/main_Arab_World/asam_jul_dec_qatar_2006.htm

The world loves an underdog. And I suppose those who scream the loudest get the most attention. Media the world wide tends to lean in support of this supposed underdog. Unfortunately it appears to be "politically incorrect" to double check the facts. Militant Islam has no problem acknowledging they are embroiled in a religious war with Jewish Israel. When will the rest of the world acknowledge it?

Bibi WAKE-UP! Trading Hamas for PA is NOT peace!

 I’m listening to the news and my heart is sinking.  I can see the handwriting on the wall.  All these atrocities, horrible, horrible acts of barbarism committed against my people simply because they are Jewish.  These are now being ascribed to Hamas & Hamas alone.  Bibi is saying “We can see now that Hamas is ISIS”.  All this rhetoric is setting us up to think that we can clear Hamas out of Gaza and then what?  Hand it over to Abbas and the PA? 

But we are NOT paying attention to our history!  The attack in Itamar in 2011, when the Fogel family was brutally murdered in their beds, was not an act of Hamas.  NO, it was members of The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.  PFLP is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary socialist organization founded in 1967. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization, they are based in “the West Bank”, which is actually Judea and Samaria.

Our beloved Ari Fuld was murdered by a PA activist and the PA included his family in the Pay for Slay program for the murder!  Are our leaders trying to tell us there is no terror threat in Judea and Samaria?  We’re supposed to ignore the ramming attacks at bus stops, the drive-by machine gun fire, the stabbing attacks?  Are we supposed to pretend the PA Charter no longer calls for the destruction of Israel?  Don’t be fooled, we are being played.  They are setting us up for more decades of war.  Bibi, why do you continue to betray us?

There is only one answer!  Make all the land Israel!  Tell all the Muslims/Arabs who have no history in any terrorist organization, that they are welcome to become citizens;  BUT, if they break the law they will be subject to the  punishments of the law, like every other citizen of Israel.  Murder should carry the death penalty!  Any others who wish to leave, we are happy to allow them do so, but an alert  should be placed on their passports, designating re-entry to Israel only under strict scrutiny.

Any residents that have had interaction with terror organizations should be immediately deported.  Put a ban on their re-entry into Israel.  Here is a link to Wikipedia’s page on recognized terrorist organizations.

I can hear the reply, “Oh how will we protect our borders, where will we send all those people?”  Bibi, your FIRST obligation is to the citizens of this land!  First you must protect US!  To allow the enemy to live in our country is madness & very irresponsible of you!

We are surrounded by large countries with predominantly Muslim populations, and we have been able to establish normalized relations with several of those countries. Tell them they must take back those people who were born in their countries or whose ancestors were born in their countries AND all their families. Tell them it is a condition of our continued open trade and good will.   Tell them they have to assist us in policing the borders between their county and ours.  Of course, they will not be happy, they don’t want terrorists inside their borders.  But these are THEIR people, not ours, it should be THEIR problem, not ours!

We are the ONLY Jewish nation on the planet.  Yes, we need to look at the critical logistics of our situation.  To say that we have to share this tiny piece of land with our enemies is some kind of madness the world has taken to be the truth.  But I refuse to drink that Kool-Aid, and I am saddened that those who lead this tiny Jewish nation think they must.

Bibi WAKE-UP!  Trading Hamas for PA is NOT peace!

Gaza Statistics

A dear friend emailed this list to me..

Please feel free to share!

As the Operation Cast Lead reaches its 10th day, the international pressure on Israel is mounting.
All of the recipients of this mail in the 5 continents are probably approached to explain , to analyze and to comment on the situation . Attached statistical data that can help you understand the magnitude of the events evolving these days. I suggest you send these statistics to anyone who could make good use of them
Israel wishes for a speedy resolution of the War and a peaceful settlement


On Dec. 27, Israel began "Operation Cast Lead" to stop Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza from continuing its years-long campaign of attacking Israeli civilians with thousands of rockets, missiles and mortars. Following are facts and figures to help you relate to Israel's defensive efforts in Gaza:Iran-backed Hamas Rocket, Mortar Attacks and Nuclear Developments 9,400+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since 2003. [1] 3,200+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza in 2008 alone. [2] 6,500+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. [3]543+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza into Israeli territory during the ceasefire from June 19 to Dec. 19, 2008. [4]28 deaths caused by rockets and mortars fired from Gaza into Israel since 2001. The dead include Israelis, Palestinians and foreign workers. Since the ceasefire ended, Iran-backed Palestinian groups in Gaza fired rockets and mortars that killed an Israeli-Arab construction worker and a mother of four who was seeking shelter in a bus station as a rocket warning siren sounded. [5]1,000+ people in Israel injured from rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since 2001, including Israelis, Palestinians and foreign workers. Since the ceasefire, 44 Israelis have been injured and 200 have been treated for shock. [6]20,000 Hamas troops Israel is targeting as part of "Operation Cast Lead." [7]750,000 number of Israeli civilians Hamas is tar geting and can reach. [8]15 seconds Israelis have to get to a bomb shelter once a warning siren has sounded. [9]8 years that Israel has been hit by rockets and mortars from Gaza [10]3mosques in Gaza used as weapons, ammunitions and explosives depots that were struck by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the operation in Gaza. [11]4UN Security Council resolutions passed since 2006 to try to stop Iran from enriching uranium. [12]5,000+number of centrifuges operating in Iran to enrich uranium, the material used to produce a nuclear weapon. [13]
Israel's Humanitarian Aid to Gaza 179truckloads of humanitarian aid that have been delivered through Israeli crossings into Gaza since the beginning of Operation Cast Lead, including basic food commodities, medication, medical supplies, donations of governments and blood units.106additional truckloads of humanitarian expected to arrive in Gaza on Jan. 31 [14] 6,500tons of aid transported into Gaza at the request of international organizations, the Palestinian Authority and various governments since the beginning of Operation Cast Lead. The World Food Program informed Israel that it will cease shipment of food to Gaza because warehouses are at full capacity, with enough food to last two weeks. [15]
What Israel Gave Up in Hopes of Peace - Gaza Withdrawal Aug. 2005100%proportion of the Gaza Strip evacuated and handed over to thePalestinians. [16]300square miles of the West Bank evacuated. [17]21 Israeli settlements uprooted in the Gaza Strip. [18]4 Israeli settlements uprooted in the West Bank. [19]48graves uprooted in Gaza's former Gush Katif Cemetery, including six graves of area residents murdered by terrorists. [20]9,000 approximate number of Israelis, including 1,700 families, who lived in Gaza and the northern West Bank. All of them were moved out as part of the withdrawal. [21]38 synagogues dismantled in the Gaza Strip. [22]5,000school-age children who had to find new schools. [23]42 daycare centers that were closed in the Gaza Strip. [24]36 kindergartens that were closed in the Gaza Strip. [25]7 elementary schools that were closed in the Gaza Strip. [26]3high schools that were closed in the Gaza Strip. [27]320 mobile homes, ordered by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, to serve as temporary housing for settlers. [28]45,000Israeli soldiers and policemen who participated in the Gaza withdrawal. [29]$1.7 billionthe approximate cost to the Israeli government for the withdrawal initiative. [30]166 Israeli farmers who were moved out of Gaza. [31]800 cows, which comprised the second largest dairy farm in Israel, moved out of Gaza's Gush Katif community. [32]$120 million value of flowers and produce exported annually from Gush Katif and lost following the evacuation. [33]1zoo, the "Katifari," that housed hundreds of animals and was moved. [34]10,000 people who were employed in agriculture and related industries in Gush Katif, including 5,000 Palestinians. [35]60% proportion of Israel's cherry tomato exports that came from the Gaza Strip. Israel's withdrawal from Gaza extinguished this economic resource. [36]3.5 million square meters (almost 1,000 acres) of greenhouses abandoned in Gaza. [37]70 percentage of Israel's organic produce grown in Gaza – another economic resource lost in the evacuation. [38]60 percentage of herbs exported from Israel that came from Gush Katif. [39]15 percentage of Israel agricultural exports that originated in Gaza – exports lost following Israel's withdrawal from Gaza. [40]$360,000 expected average compensation amount Israel expected to pay to relocate each family. [41]$870 million approximate cost for Israel to facilitate the resettlement of former West Bank and Gaza residents elsewhere in the country. [42]$500 million amount of money Israel's security establishment spent to relocate Israel Defense Forces bases outside the Gaza Strip and build new border crossing facilities. [43]
After Israel's evacuation from Gaza…430,000 West Bank Palestinians able to move freely within and between Palestinian-controlled areas. [44]1 Israeli remaining in Gaza. Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit was abducted from Israel on June 25, 2006 by Hamas in a bloody cross-border raid in which the terrorists also killed two IDF soldiers and wounded four others. [45]1.2 million Arabs who remained full and legal citizens of Israel. All Israeli citizens – Christians, Muslims, and Jews – have freedom of speech, religion, press, and the right to vote. [46]1.3 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip many of them in Palestinian Authority-controlled refugee camps, who live under their own leaders. [47]820,000 Jewish refugees forced to flee without their belongings from Arab countries between 1947 and 1949, and who have never been compensated by Arab governments for their losses. [48]650,000 Arab refugees who left Israel from 1947-1949 and still need Palestinian leaders who will end terrorism and the culture of hate. [49]
Israel's withdrawal from four northern West Bank settlements created an area more than twice the size of Gaza's 140 square miles under Palestinian control and devoid of any Israeli presence. [50]

Protecting Our Edges

Protective Edge is the name of Israel’s newest attempt to limit the effect of militant Islamic terrorism on her citizens.  It begs the question, why are we so intent on taking the defensive?  Why are we hesitant to be the aggressor, when clearly we have the military strength to end the conflict?

Torah does give us many examples of standing against our enemies and defending ourselves.

Judges 7:9 “That same night the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand.”

Psalm 110:1 A Psalm of David. The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’ The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies!

Nehemiah 4:14 "And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, ‘Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.’”

We don’t hesitate because we’re weak, or naive.  It’s not because we’re afraid of what the world might say.  The world, at large, doesn’t think highly of us no matter what choice we make.  So we must make our choices based on our culture and who we are.

Who then are we?  We are the ONLY Jewish state in the world.  We must act in accordance with the tenants of our culture, and yes of our faith.  G-d called us and we answered.  He gave us a choice and we accepted and pledged ourselves, in all our future generations, to adhere to His laws.  I use the present tense “we” to describe that incident at HarSinai because I do truly believe that somehow all of us were present in some manner to either accede or decline that invitation.   (Granted there are many Jews who don’t agree with me, perhaps think I am deluded or my views archaic.  Still, I’m entitled to my views.)  When we accepted those laws we took upon ourselves a burden to act appropriately before G-d.  It really doesn’t matter then, in the long run, what the rest of the world thinks.

A clear tenant we take from our culture is that life is sacred.  All life is sacred.  It is a gift from G-d to all His creation.  So when we are faced with this dreadful circumstance of living in a neighborhood where everyone else believes our life is forfeit simply because we are Jews, well in the way of Tevye the dairyman, ‘tis a troublement.

The Torah tells us not to rejoice in our enemy’s downfall.  Why is that?!  How can that even be reasonable when that enemy wants to take our very lives?!  Ah, it is because life is a GIFT, not an entitlement.  We must all stand humbly before the Creator and remember, whether our neighbors believe it or not, that G-d gave them the same gift of life that He gave us.  We must stop and consider carefully our actions in light of this understanding.
Leviticus 19:2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your G-d am holy.”

Our burden, as Jews, is to act appropriately before the world so that they might see G-d’s holiness.  It’s true that most of the world has a hard time recognizing G-d’s holiness.  Whether they recognize it has no bearing on our obligation.  Our people have survived for thousands of years, against all odds, in defiance of all logic, because G-d set us apart.  Isaiah 42:6 “I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and have taken hold of thy hand, and kept thee, and set thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the nations.”  This is our purpose and why our nation has survived.  Who or what would we be if we abandoned this task?

So, the sad news I must share with you, my fellow Jews; my fellow Israelis, is that we must struggle every day.  When we face our enemies we must be filled with sorrow for their choices.  When we defend ourselves we must be cautious to avoid taking more lives than necessary to defend our own.  We must do everything in our power to protect the life of that 6 year old Arab boy sitting in his living room above the cache of weapons his father has stored in the basement.  We must be strong of heart, and fierce in our determination to do the most right thing, in the most right way, before G-d that we can do.

It will not make sense to the world.  Our Arab neighbors will wrongly interpret this as weakness.  But we know that it takes more strength and courage to make these choices.  We know that this path is much harder than bombing Gaza into dust.  We know that at the end of the day we can not only look at ourselves in the mirror, we can stand before G-d.

May we not give G-d any reason not to stand with us.

My Soldier Son

I wish you could meet our soldier son.  He is the most amazing person.  Of course all mothers know their children are amazing.  I have 5 other children and they are all amazing.  Each of them, at different times, have stepped out and made some jaw dropping statement, or accomplished some mind boggling deed that has left me, as their parent, in absolute awe.  So today it is his turn, my soldier son.

I feel the need to somehow share this with the rest of the world, not to say – be proud of me, or be proud of him.  I want the world to see the humility of this soldier and thereby come to understand our conflict in a better light.

While the world is focused on soccer and the World Cup it seems very few are aware of what’s going on in our small nation.  I live in Israel.  This summer has been very dramatic for us.  A few weeks ago three yeshiva students aged 16, 16 and 19 were kidnapped and brutally murdered by Arabs.  After their bodies were discovered a young Arab boy was also kidnapped and murdered, this time by Jews.  Horrible, it’s all wrong.  Children should never be targets like this.  Our entire nation mourns these deaths.  We as a nation condemn all the murderers, no matter their heritage or faith.

    

How do we mourn these deaths?  We go to hear speakers and biblical teachings, we visit the grieving families, we do works of charity – and give to charities in the children’s names, we pray – a lot.  How do the Arabs mourn death?  Well they rioted, threw Molotov cocktails at police, threw stones at passing cars, destroyed shops and the light rail system in their own neighborhoods while chanting “Death to Jews”.  They actually celebrated the murder of the three Yeshiva boys, passing out candy and teaching their children to hold up a three finger salute as some sort of victory sign.  Then they started shooting rockets at Israel.

I think the world at large is not clear what this rocket barrage is like.  The rockets are specifically aimed at civilian population centers, shopping areas, schools and hospitals.  We have an alert system that lets us know when a rocket is incoming to our area.  In the south there is barely 15 seconds warning to get to a bomb shelter.  Certainly not enough time to gather multiple children!  If some building or business is destroyed or, God Forbid, someone is injured or killed the Arabs rejoice.   In the past week over 300 rockets were fired on civilian targets in Israel.  They don’t stop overnight, but continue 24/7.  Who can sleep, who can work, how can our children just be children?

If we respond by shooting rockets back at the exact location of the original rocket fire we are vilified by the world.  Sometimes there are civilians injured when we return fire because the Arabs purposely use civilian centers from which to launch their rockets. They use civilian human shields, knowingly endangering their own wives and children.  We often target specific military installations, weapons storage facilities, tunnels used for sneaking into Israel or hiding weapons manufacturing.  Our military intelligence is excellent and we know who is responsible for ordering the rocket fire against us.  So we target those terrorists and their homes.  When we intend to fire on their home we call them and warn them!  We drop leaflets to let the civilian population know exactly when we will target a specific area.  We do everything in our power to avoid civilian casualties. 

Did you know that we send aid to Gaza weekly?  Did you know that we provide FREE electricity, water, gasoline and food to Gaza?  They claim to be oppressed, and they are.   But it is not Israel that is oppressing them.  It is their own Islamic leadership that oppresses them.  The billions of dollars in aid that is sent to the PA is not given to the average Arab.  But it is paid as salaries to terrorists after they kill a Jew and are arrested and jailed.  The aid is used to support the terrorist infrastructure, even to buy weapons.

Do a little research and you will see that the supposed oppression by Israel is a sham.  Most of the pictures presented on the internet as Israel’s influence in Gaza are actually pictures of the wounded and casualties in Syria and Iraq.  The BBC recently did an expose on this; you can find it easily by searching on the internet.  Israel is an open, free and democratic society.  People are not discriminated against because of their race, color, creed or sex.  There are hundreds of thousands of Arabs living peacefully in Israel, enjoying a higher standing of living than myself!  But Hamas, the PA, Islamic Jihad, and the many other terror organizations here lie because it suits their needs.  Their only defined goal is to free the world of Jews and destroy the only Jewish state in the world.  They say this boldly in their charters and the world chooses not to see.

I tell you all this so that you can understand the world we live in, that my soldier son lives in.  Did I mention he is only 20 years old, and has been in the army for only a year?  We hadn’t been able to speak with him recently because of the security necessary to protect his Army unit.  But last night he received permission to call home.  We talked for almost two hours.  He has become a philosopher in the last year.  He loves his family and friends fiercely; loves his army unit fiercely; he loves Israel fiercely.  He trusts G-d to lead him, teach him, and safeguard him.  He carries a gun and knows how to use it, he is a good shot.  He told me he knows he will do everything in his power to keep the members of his unit safe.  But he asks us all to pray for him, because he doesn’t want to have to use his gun.  He fears what taking another life will do to him.  It doesn’t matter to whom that other life belongs; he knows that is crossing a line.  He says that life is sacred, created by G-d, given as a gift to all humanity.  He wants G-d’s wisdom as he faces those who have pledged their lives to take his.  He does not pray for victory, he prays for wisdom.

My soldier son was friends with one of the murdered yeshiva boys, the 19 year old.  He saw the boy after their bodies were found.  He asked me, why is it so many hate us just because we are Jews?  Who can answer that question?  There is no answer.  Seeing his friend’s body did not fill him with hate for the murderers.  It filled him with sorrow for the future his friend would not have, and the joy and goodness the world lost when these boys were murdered.

So I ask you all to pray for my amazing soldier son.  Pray for all the Israeli soldiers.  When you pray keep in mind please that my son is really not unusual at all.  His philosophy embodies Judaism.  We as a nation struggle with these issues.  We believe all life is sacred.  That is why “Shock and Awe” is not the name of our offensive in Gaza.  The name is Defensive Edge, because we only aim to defend our own lives.  I will leave you with Bibi’s famous quote;

If the Arabs were to lay down their guns tomorrow, there would be no war.  If Israel were to lay down theirs, there would be no Israel

The War, the Elections, and the Rain

I seems I always start a new post with "I haven't written in a long time".  And here I am again.  Life takes over and it seems I either never have the time, or never make the time, to write about life in the land.  So today I'll take a little time and give another glimpse.

We've been home, here in Israel, about 4 and a half years now.  In that time we've moved 5 times and I've held 5 different jobs. Tzachi has finished school and is looking towards the Army.  JDC is working hard and looking for more work, Ari is wishing his lessons were in English even though he speaks Hebrew better than all of us.  I won't deny it's hard to make it here.  We struggle with too much month at the end of our money still, every month.  But we all still love it here.

We just had an escalation entitled "Amud Annan" (the Pillar of Cloud that lead us through the desert after the exodus from Egypt), with Hamas in Gaza that lasted, well really 12 days.  Officially it's 8 days, but those residents of Southern Israel will happily count the number of days at the beginning before we started firing back.  We kept the TVs tuned to a special "Shabbat Radio Station" over the Shabbat of the escalation to hear when the attack sirens went off, so we knew what areas to pray for, and if the sirens would come in our region.  It seems we would stop and listen to the sirens every 45 minutes or so, in the south, in Jerusalem, in Tel Aviv, everywhere but here.

There was a terrorist bombing on a bus in Tel Aviv (in case you didn't note how different that was, the bus bombings during the 2nd Intifada were in Jerusalem) and two of the terrorists responsible were caught right here in our little mall in Modi'in.  Seems at least one of them was "local", though no Arabs live in our city, I guess they can still come in and hold jobs in the mall.

Most Israeli's don't agree with the ceasefire, me included.  Though I was not in favor of a ground incursion into Gaza.  I was in favor of a serious "Shock and Awe" campaign like the US waged in Iraq.    Most Israeli's, me included, believe it's time to take Gaza back and tell the terrorists they can go live in Egypt, or Iran, or someplace else because we are just fed up with their lies and propaganda, their constant rocket attacks on our civilians, their lack of caring for the lives of even their own civilians, their preschools of hatred.  Well, I could go on, but I won't.

Today is the Likud primaries.  It's like the Republican or Democratic primaries.  Except those we elect for Likud will sit in the Knesset (like the house or senate) based on how many seats that party gets in the general election next January 22nd.  The PM candidate whose party gets the most votes will be the Prime Minister.  We don't have a separate vote for each Knesset seat.  Whoever wins the party chair then selects among the others elected which will hold certain portfolios - like the US Cabinet.  It's a little more complicated than US politics, but likely just as underhanded and corrupt.

Of course again, I am voting for Moshe Feiglin and his Jewish Leadership block in Likud.  Last time around he should have held a Knesset seat, but Bibi managed to swindle him out of it by some fancy, and not quite legal, tricks to push him just below the number of available seats that Likud won last election.  This year Moshe is getting even stronger support, and most Likud voters are very disillusioned with Bibi, who says all the right things, but then agrees to a cease-fire with Hamas.  Actually most voters are disillusioned period, for  likely the first time since Oslo was signed is the majority of the population ready to say "Oslo is a failure, there can never be land for peace."

We look around at all our neighbors and the tension keeps escalating.  Any one who says there isn't going to be a war is simply not looking at the region realistically.  Turkey is openly advocating Sharia Law and condemning Israel for the recent escalation with Hamas.  Syria's secular government (albeit dispicable despot) is hanging on by a thread fighting against several insurgent groups, who have recently signed a pact to cooperate to overthrow Assad.  The majority of the fighters are Jihadist Muslims, even the US State Department was helping to recruit them (in case you didn't know what the Ambassador was doing in Benghazi before he was murdered).  Egypt has elected the Muslim Brotherhood to rule their country and a constitution comprised of Sharia Law has been presented.  Morsi just gave himself dictatorial powers, and they're the open conduit for Iranian money and weapons into Hamas in Gaza.  Jordan is on the brink of economic collapse, the oil pipeline from Egypt that was blown up in the "Arab Spring" has never been rebuilt and so new oil is now much more expensive.  Riots in the Street, etc.  So today Iran pledged free oil to Jordan if they will open new trade and "religious tourism" agreements with Iran.  Hmm, wonder who those religious tourists might be???  Hizbullah in Lebanon is ramping up their war technologies, vowing to be ready for the next war with Israel (that we're not interested in having by the way).  Iran, well, we all know what's going on with Iran.

But stop, because this is what the world is doing.  What is HaShem doing?  Well, it's raining in Israel.  Since the ceasefire it's been raining in Israel.  Day after day.  The sun comes out, and then the rain clouds come and it rains.  Perhaps that doesn't mean anything to you, but we here in the land know it is HaShem blessing us, renewing us, reminding us that HE remembers His covenant with us.  So while we think we know what's going on, really it's just time to stop and pray.  Thank you HaShem for bringing me home to this wondrous place.  Thank you HaShem that my daughter and her husband now live here in the land! (Wow, what a miracle that is!!)  Thank you HaShem that You know the minds of humankind, yet Your plans will not falter, and Your promises will abide.  Thank you HaShem that we live in a land that loves life, because You love us.

So though I may offer savage opinions on what's going on here or there.  And moan and groan about, well almost everything. Don't be fooled, because I've just become an Israeli.  But I haven't forgotten who is really in control.  And I haven't forgotten to Whom I owe everything.  And I am certainly grateful for my wonderful husband, and wonderful children, and adorable beautiful amazing wondrous grandchildren (whom I miss more than breathe itself! - may you all be with us soon Amen!)  Tomorrow the sun will come up and I will wake to another beautiful day in this amazing place.

To my friends and family, pray for the peace of Israel, we all appreciate your prayers!  Finally, pray that HaShem may be glorified.

More than remembering....

Today is Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance day. I don't even remember the holiday last year - our first year in the land. Thinking back I guess I must have been working (graveyard shift for Greenpoint) and was barely aware of the day of the week, let alone a non-Toridic Hag. This is a holiday that doesn't get a lot of attention anywhere in the world. But last night and today really impacted me.

I didn't make it to shul, the activities were after Ari's bedtime, and he had school today, so putting him down and staying home took precedence. Instead I got a taste of what, perhaps, less observant Jews here in the land might experience. It was actually very moving. I found that most all the movie and special programming channels on TV fill their time with Holocaust remembrance shows - be it the special services at Yad Vashem last night (I saw all the dignitaries in the crowd - yes, Bibi was there), or an endless variety of Holocaust/WWII related movies, or specials recanting survivors experiences, next generations searching for life before the war, what happened to the Nazis, etc, etc.

It was all very tastefully done, all incredibly poignant, all riveting in the tales told. As I pondered how the world has treated our people, and wondered again the age old question of why they hate us so. I thought about how not much in the world has really changed. Antisemitism is growing world wide, Israel doesn't have an honest ally in sight, and it seems the lies told about Israel are believed by more and more people every day. Despite all that, I found a gem of understanding in the midst of all of it.

More than just the reason for every Jewish holiday "They tried to kill us, we survived, horay, let's eat!" There exists now for many of us a connection to Eretz Israel itself. It's almost like a physical symbiosis, I am Jewish, therefore I belong to the land. Note that the land does not belong to me. Nor does it belong to any other human, the land belongs to God, we belong to the land, ergo we belong to God.

This hit me as I was watching Bibi at Yad Vashem last night, and I wanted to say to him, hey, Mr. Prime Minister, do you get it? Our life is tied up in this land, it nurses us, nourishes us, disciplines us, teaches us, enriches us. This is the ONLY place we belong. If you "give it away" you give away our lifeblood. We are a part of it just as surely as the rocks that crowd every hillside, just as surely as the Rosemary and Horn-poppies growing wild on the roadside, just as surely as the Fig and the Olive and the Pomegranate.

Today I see clearer than any other time in my life how physically living here fullfills not only my heart's desire, but God's provision for every single Jew in the world. If you have not come, perhaps you do not know; this place is different, unique in all the world. There is something indescribable here, something esoteric. I believe it to be the touch of God's presence, still unfaded after centuries - or perhaps faded, but still so powerful even after this long, to imagine living here before His presence departed is beyond all comprehension. No wonder all the world is fighting over it, but only because they do not understand they can never possess the wonder that is contained here.

Even though I was not born here, when I came here I was home for the first time in my life, and I knew it in my kishkes. No other people can claim that, none. So as the world stumbles over the dilemma of how to force peace it the middle east, we who live here know there is only one way. For the rest of the world to simply let go and let us live here as God intended.

Not only should we never forget, we must strive to create a place where it will never happen again. Come, join me in the land. Join in the struggle to regenerate a reason for God to bring his presence back to earth. Find the provision for your life in the place that you belong to. Make Aliyah now, the land is calling!

Melody of the soul

We only dream worthy dreams with our hearts
Those thoughts that flitter & sputter around in our heads
are usually just so much buzz
filling up the empty moments
when our hearts are sleeping.

Our souls tell our hearts when they hear the right music
There are so many alluring melodies floating around.
But only one song is right for each of us.
When your heart hears, your soul knows

It seems impossible
to live every moment with your heart awake & listening
sometimes you need the calm of just knowing it will happen
maybe not today,
maybe not even tomorrow
but one day.
Everyone has one day

You have to train your heart to listen in the background
through the buzz of everyday life
through the sputter of adolesence
and the flitter of young adulthood
then the throb of middle age
finally through the ticking of old age

HaShem will call

Everyday can hold that dream

Then
when you hear it
grasp the melody & memorize it
sing it everyday
dream it every night

It will carry you through
all the buzzing
and sputtering
and flittering
and throbbing
and ticking

to the calm
that is true Shalom

Rivka Cubine

As the storm clouds gather.....

In my last post I had talked about how the weather had changed and it looked like the rainy season had started. But it never did. And then we proceeded to have the hotest, dryest October that anyone, that I spoke to in Israel, could remember.

Didn't we all pray for rain? And keep praying for rain? And remind our friends and family to pray for rain? HaShem we need rain! I read a posting last night by someone in Efrat that a storm was coming in - a big one. Two barrels, rain over Shabbat, and then lots more into next week. And I thought, oh boy, I hope so! And then, this morning the weather changed. It really did. It clouded over and the temperature dropped 10 degrees. And I realized that I needed to bring in my clothes rack so my laundry wouldn't get wet. And I realized that we still needed to get the Succah down. And I realized that I needed to move the bikes off the front mirpeset into the grotto under the house. And I realized the wood from our lift was on the front mirpeset and exposed to the weather. And I realized that all this time I had been asking for rain, but I hadn't prepared for it.

So I brought in the clothes, put the bikes in the grotto, and took down the lights, decorations and fabric from the succah. All by myself. I couldn't get the skach and the frame, because they're too heavy for me. It was very cathartic. And while I was working hard and struggling (HaShem requires the struggle you know) I was thinking about the coming storms.

Not the rain storms, the real storms. The ones we see brewing politically all over the world.
And I thought about how it seems that the storm clouds are getting bigger and darker with each new bit of news I read. Obama backing the muslims, disregarding past relations with Israel. Antisemitism growing world wide. The economic climate around the world, and how everytime the world economy tanks it's another good excuse to blame the Jews.

I read about the Goldstone report; http://www.ungoldstonereport.com/
and watched a utube of Lord Monkton's discussion about Obama signing the Global Climate Treaty and feasibly signing away America's soverignity;
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&rlz=1T4RNWI_en&q=obama+to+sign+global+warming+treaty&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=BEbpSob1IIuCmgPYseWGDw&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQqwQwAA#
I read Geert Wilder's presentation at the Horowitz Freedom Center;
http://www.israelunitycoalition.org/news/article.php?id=4697
And more news about Iran's nuclear program;
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iran/nuclear_program/index.html

Do you feel the thunder rumbling in the distance? Do you feel the electricity in the air? I sure do. And I realized that, even though I've known for a long time, that the signs have been there. I've been talking about it, worrying over it. But I've never really prepared for it? How do we prepare for it? Wouldn't it be great if it was a simple set of tasks that we can do, like I did this morning preparing for the rain, and once they're all done, Hey - I'm ready! (Ooooh thunder in the distance, it's almost here!). But I think not. I think, for the big storm that HaShem is gathering, the preparation is all about the mindset, the heart, the struggle. The willinginess to enter everyday into that struggle between what we want and what is easy and what we think will fulfill us, and what is real.

What is real is that we are at war, both nationally and spiritually.

HaShem made us promises. At Gerizim and Ebal He promised that if we would come and live in the land, and keep his commandments that our lives would be blessed. I quote the Stone Tanach Devarim 28 (Deuteronomy) "It shall be on that day if you hearken to the voice of HaShem, your God, to observe all of His commandments that I commanded you this day, then Hashem, your God, will make you supreme over all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you, if you hearken to the voice of HaShem, your God."

He promised that His blessings, all of His blessings, would come upon us and overtake us.

IF

So I beleive that is the struggle. What is right, and real, and part of a plan not of our making, but that we still find oursleves in. An integral part of the plan, each and every one of us. And those who will be blessed? I suppose are the ones who recognize that we are part of the plan and prepare; enter into the struggle over what "IF" really means in our everyday lives.

And I see it like the coming storm, huge and loud and overwhelming. Nothing I can do to avoid it, it's going to come and overtake me. So I cling to the struggle, and the promise, and the belief that I am not insane, and there really is a higher power who will come and wash the dry and thirsty landscape of not only this land, but also my soul.

Blessed be He who waters the earth.

The passing of the year....

It is Rosh Hashanah again. Another year has come and gone & I have grown older (my hair greyer), and hopefully wiser with it. We now are starting our second year in Israel. I hardly ever post a new blog, and for that I am sorry. It's not that I'm less inspired, certainly I am more busy.

At this time of year we are to take an accounting of ourselves. Makes ammends to all we injured. make repairs to ourselves, recheck our footing, are we headed in the right direction?
To all of you, my dear friends and family, I heartily and sincerly offer my deepest regrets for any wounds I may have inflicted. Please call me or write me and tell me if I erred towards you in some way so that I can make true ammends, not this generic splatter of words across the page.

And how is myself? Where am I headed?
Our lives have changed dramtically in the last few months - seems only yesterday that we were facing the changes of living in a new land, now we are again living in a new home, a new community and JDC has new jobs (yes plural!). Ari has a new school and new friends, Tzachi has a new commute and a new mandate for study and personal application. So the land is requiring more of all of us these days. But I know that with hard work and perserverance we will find our peace here in this new place again.

I've been feeling a bit lost, not having purposed this move ahead of time, we just needed to find a place & this place found us. It was unexpected and unplanned this coming to a new community. But the people are very warm, they have welcomed us with open arms, the house is very comfortable and hugs us every night. And now for the first time we are really living in the land like we are supposed to - struggling to make ends meet, and meeting the ends themselves sometimes!

We are still in-between a bit. Half of our stuff in storage hither and yon in Modiin, but with JDC working so many hours we haven't had time or energy to get it all moved. Now we have to though, Sukkot will be upon us before we know it & my psyche needs to be settled all in one place by then. It will help with the lost-ness in my mind.

The weather has changed already - suddenly on Rosh Hashanah evening the clouds and the winds came up & blew summer away. So it still gets hot during the day, but not as hot, and the air has a bit of sparkle in it. Mornings tend to be cool and there's often a hint of leftover rain in the air as I go out on the 3rd floor mirpeset on my way to wake Tzachi up every morning. And sometimes in the evening you need a sweater. It reminds me I need to say goodbye to last year. Thank it for all the goodness it brought me, take to heart the lessons it shared. Be grateful for the time it gave me and all my loved ones. Of course all those gifts are really from HaShem, and all my gratitude belongs to him.

And the future? So much is going on in the world these days, I look at the economy in the U.S. and then worldwide, and so many people I know are struggling as much as we are. But my hopes and dreams are just as big as they ever were - maybe bigger because I know that somehow, someway, HaShem's plan will play itself out in all this craziness we humanity have built.

We made some new friends recently and they asked us why we came - I remember recanting a story that I have come to love because it tells so much truth of what is in my heart, things we don't necessarily talk about everyday, but it's still there. So I will tell this story again here and then leave this blog for more serious pursuits... And I promise not to stay away so long next time.

In February of 2008 we and the boys took a pilot trip here to Israel to scope out the land and choose a community to move to. When we finally headed back to the states after an extended trip (we stayed a month) I felt so lost on the plane going back to the U.S. I knew it was only for a short time & that we would be returning permanently very soon, still my heart burned. On the flight back we all got divided up on the plane and I found myself sitting next to a young Israeli man, heading home to New York. He asked me if we had been on holiday to Israel. I told him we had come on our pilot trip and that we had chosen a city to live in and a shul to attend & schools for our sons. He was amazed. "You are Americans, you live in the U.S? " Yes, I said. "But why would you move to Israel?! Life there is so hard!" I told him, it's my home. It's the only place my heart is happy. I told him that he and his family have had their turn. That they had been standing in the gap & watching on the walls for all these years and the hope in their hearts had withered and dried out. He nodded agreement. I told him it was now our turn, our hearts are filled with hope and purpose. And we will now take our turn standing in the gap and watching at the walls. We will take our turn to try to live holy in the land and fulfill the purposes of G-d. We will dance and sing and daven on the holidays. We will say a shekeanu when the figs on the tree in our back yard are ripe. We will wonder at that glorious sunset over the Medditerranean. We will dance in the first heavy rain of the season. We will laugh at the scurry of the white gekko on the white stone wall beside our garden. We will stand on the Palmachim Beach and gaze at the millions of sea shells on the shoreline. We will go to Beit Guvrin and listen to the melodic echos as we sing in the bell caves. We will climb the mountains of Ein Geidi and thrill at the cold water in the pools when we jump in. We will listen and then join in with the chanting and singing of morning prayers at the Yeshiva where Tzachi goes to shcool. We will stand in awe at the central bus station in Jerusalem when we realize that everyone in the massive crowd is Jewish like us. We will wonder why the traffic into Tel Aviv is so horrible on a Sunday morning. We will honk at the guy in front of us before the light turns green. We will say to ourselves what in the world was I thinking coming to shop at Rami Levi on a Thursday night!

We, yes even we will be Israelis.

Blame it on Ignorance, not the Jews!

I have been contemplating the world lately. Looking at different countries and listening to their leaders, their news, current events, and searching for the "little items" on the back pages of the media outlets that really tell the truth.

Following are a few of the items I have found that I feel are worth sharing.

One news item from JTA reports that 7,000 French Jews signed a petition and sent it to the US Congress requesting political asylum in the US due to fear of religious persecution in France following the racial murder of a young Jew.
http://jta.org/news/article/2007/03/20/100725/Frenchpetition

Spain currently reports that 46% of it's population hold negative opinions of Jews. That figure more than doubles the 21% reported in 2005. Focus that 46% against the 37% who think favorably of Jews and it explains why the 12,000 Jews living in Spain are very quiet about their faith and heritage. It also explains why you have to contact someone in the community before they will tell you where the synagogue is, a building with no address listed and no outward markings to show what it is.
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/spains-jewish-problem/

Of course, anyone who listens to the BBC can have no doubt of the political mood towards Israel from that front. Perhaps I think, many people confuse the idea that anti-Israel bias may not be the same as anti-semitism. But if the two are unrelated then it makes it difficult to explain the report that anti-Semitism is on the rise as of 2009, averaging 7 events per day in England.
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.2546/pub_detail.asp

In Germany, there are two recognized neo-Nazi poltitical parties. The NPD and the HDJ. Although the HDJ was recently "banned" many in the country feel that the move was only a bandaid on a flooding dike. Germany plans to attend the Durban II conference, which many nations (including the US and Israel) have rejected for it's anti-semetic stance. The Muslim community in Germany is growing, while not all German Muslims are radical, there are certainly centers that preach that "the Jews are the Enemy of Allah" deserving of death. Germany's Catholics have had their struggles recently with anti-semitism also. I've attached several links supporting all of this.
http://news.scotsman.com/world/Germany39s-Jews-claim-fight-against.5163090.jp
http://www.eurojewcong.org/ejc/news.php?id_article=3774
http://www.faithfreedom.org/2009/02/05/the-radical-muslims-of-germany/
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,605542,00.html

Similar accounts can be found all over Europe, of course Africa, and even Asia.
http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/03/anti-semitism-in-east-asias-jewish.html

And in the America's
Well Mr. Madoff didn't help us any:
http://www.adl.org/Anti_semitism/financialcrisis.asp
Did we think that Louis Farrakhan would just go away?
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASUS_12/5493_81.htm
How about those college campus forums?
http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/on-campus-the-pro-palestinians-real-agenda.php
http://octaskforce.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/muslim-student-union-at-uc-irvine-rolls-out-its-carnival-of-haters/
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/04/we_are_all_antisemites_now.html

I'm sorry for all the links, I hope you can sit down and take some time to read through them all. They are important windows into the mindset of the world.

So what does all this mean? Things seem to be getting really crazy! Many have said that anti-Semitism is the barometer for the world's political climate. When things seem to be getting out of control blame the Jews. It certainly takes the focus off the mistakes of our current and past political leaders (in every nation).
http://www.jcpa.org/phas/phas-26.htm
http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=6071.0.114.0

But how does this insanity spread?! Simple, ignorance. It's not because there is a lack of accurate information. It is is because too few people access that information. We are in a war, but not one that includes bombs and bullets (though we in Israel are surely familiar with those!) It is a war of words. And the media is the battle front. Any Media, every media. So where we can mount an offensive, present the truth, cause people to read & think, we have an obligation to do so.

Please I ask that each of you search and study and read and share with everyone you know. Find the truth, don't just settle for opinion. There are historical records that support the Jewish past of Israel. There are historical records that support the establishment of the modern day state of Israel, Mediterrean to Jordan. There are historical records that prove the existence of the Holocaust. There are historical records that prove when a society is ignorant genocide is the result.

Israel is so tiny, and yet so bright. All the world is fighting about Israel. It is a remarkably beautiful place. There is something elusively different about it. I haven't met anyone who can accurately describe that difference, but everyone who comes here feels it. Could it be that we really have been touched by the hand of that higher power? I certainly ascribe to that belief. Frankly, there appears to be no other reasonable explanation for why all the world is in a dither over what happens on these 8,522 square miles, when compared to the other 196,991,478 square miles of the planet.

Think about it!

Where are we now???

Supposedly the war is over. Hamas has declared a ceasefire, but rockets continue to fall in Southern Israel from Gaza, and there has been continued sniper fire that have hurt our dear soldiers.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,486345,00.html

Earlier in the conflict a word coming out of Gaza from Abu Obeida, the leader of Hamas’ military wing, has reported the Islamists would kill Jewish children anywhere in the world in revenge for their own young who have died in the devastating assault.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5454204.ece

Originally we heard outrageous reports regarding the number of Gazans killed in the conflict.
The reports included more than 1,000 killed including 355 children.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/17/content_10673025.htm

But new word is creeping out of Gaza.
An Tal al-Hawa resident told the newspaper's reporter, "Armed Hamas men sought out a good position for provoking the Israelis. There were mostly teenagers, aged 16 or 17, and armed. They couldn't do a thing against a tank or a jet. They knew they are much weaker, but they fired at our houses so that they could blame Israel for war crimes."
"The number of deceased stands at no more than 500 to 600. Most of them are youths between the ages of 17 to 23 who were recruited to the ranks of Hamas, who sent them to the slaughter," according to the newspaper article....
http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/new/Gaza_Doctor_Says_Death_Toll_Inflated.asp

And then we have former President Jimmy Carter making inflamitory statements regarding the conflict in an interview on the Today show just last week. He advised that Hamas was justified in it's conflict because Israel was refusing aid to the Gazans. That Hamas is only considered a terrorist group by some, [obviously not himself]. He claims that we should trust Hamas & in his newest book advocates for the release of Marwan Barghouti as a possible partner for peace.

Currently Barghouti is serving 5 consecutive life sentences for the murder of Israeli citizens, and was named as a suspect in the murder of 33 others - though the charges had to be dropped for lack of specific evidence against him. Marwan Barghouti was serving as senior Fatah leader in the West Bank at the time of the murders.

And anyone who is really wanting the facts of the matters regarding the supply of aid to Gaza from Israel, can find that Israel has continually supplied medical aid, food, water and other supplies in spite of the constant rockets coming across the border.
http://outtamymindwithworry.blogspot.com/2009/01/humanitarian-aid-to-gaza-fact-vs.html
Many thanks to the blogger above for her marvelous post and great references!

One wonders why Egypt does not provide aid to their brothers... since they have such a porous border with Gaza.. if arms can flow so freely why cannot aid? In fact - why doesn't the entire Muslim world band together to provide aid that is shuttled thru the Egyptian border. Where is the humanitarian response from that side of the conflict? Doesn't anyone recognize the absurdity that Israel has to provide her enemy with food and aid???!!!!

On the political front here in Israel we are gearing up for national elections. Bibi Netanyahu (Likud) has publicly delared if elected he will do everything in his power to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/ml_israel_politics/2009/01/31/177143.html

Olmert and Livni (Kadima) who are currently in power have both declared that Israel will continue to retaliate to any new rocket attacks from Gaza - but there has been no response to the continued attacks since the "ceasefire".

Obama is now president of the United States. His repeated rhetoric claims that the reason attempts to reign in Iran's nuclear arms ambitions have failed was because of President Bush's unwillingness to talk directly with Iran. He has proclaimed his desire to sit down at the negotiating table and talk to the terrorist Ahmadinejad. Of course, Ahmadinejad's response has been to call for an official U.S. apology for past U.S. crimes against Iran. I'm not suprised. Obama's policy is seen as a sign of weakness by the Muslim world. How is it he is not savy enough to understand that & I, a lowly Israeli citizen, am???
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-world/ahmadinejad-calls-for-obama-apology-20090129-7s6d.html

So where are we now? In the same place we were before the recent activities in Gaza. We still need to spend our time in prayer.. seeking our G-d and His direction for our lives. We still need to struggle to find the right way between the angry armed response (which I advocate!), and the need for mercy to that Arab family that literally is our next door neighbor, not involved in the conflight & embarrased by the lies their brothers tell. We still need to look & listen for the bias in the media, write the authors and editors providing references that prove their error (thank you HonestReporting.com and CAMERA for your continued work!)
http://www.honestreporting.com/
http://www.camera.org/
We still need to live with emunah and kavana here in the Land, and encourage our brothers and sisters in Galut to join us.

Some would say that I live my life with rose colored glasses on. I hope by reading this post they will see that I have a very clear view of what is going on in the world. I love my life in Israel. Each and every morning I look out at my beautiful view and thank HaShem that I am here. I am working and living in the land, raising my sons with the understanding that they too will serve in the army. I love Israel and I have put my life where my words are. Life is serious here, life is full here, life has real meaning here. Life is precious here.

They've been Casting lots of Lead at us!

I am always amazed and frustrated by the amount of MISinformation regarding the war in the Middle East. The basic truth is readily available, but the propaganda engine of participating terrorist regimes is incredibly successful, and readily accepted by the fearful and politically correct Left.

So here is yet another attempt to educate the world, to document accurately the facts from history.

First I will start with the Arab world’s insistence that Jews did not live in Ancient Israel, that they have no historic right to be here. This absurd idea is widely taught and believed in the Arab world. It is found in their textbooks, taught in their mosques. However, there is a massive amount of archeological evidence of Jewish existence in ancient Israel. Here for your perusal is a link to a most recent article regarding the identification of a city supporting the biblical account of King David: http://www.elahfortress.com/page26/page26.html
Found at that dig is the oldest known Hebrew text to date, estimated to be 3,000 years old:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/30/news/ML-Israel-Ancient-Inscription.php
More links :
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Archaeology/hebrewalphabet.html
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Archaeology/kfarkana.html
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Archaeology/templemountgarbage.html
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Early%20History%20-%20Archaeology/Beit%20Alpha%20-%20An%20Ancient%20Synagogue%20with%20a%20Splendid
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Early%20History%20-%20Archaeology/Archaeological%20Sites%20in%20Israel%20-%20Gamala-%20Jewish%20Ci
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Early%20History%20-%20Archaeology/Archaeological%20Sites%20in%20Israel%20-%20Jerusalem-%20Burial

These are just a few websites documenting Jewish habitation in Ancient Israel, hundreds more are easy to find. I challenge anyone to produce even one documentable proof that Jews did not live in this land since the time of Abraham!

The Palestinians also claim that they have been in Israel since ancient times, but what is their proof? Rather than taking their word for it, let’s examine the facts.
There has never been a nation called Palestine. The name Palaestina was a name given to the region by the Roman emperor Hadrian following the crushing of Bar Kochba's revolt in 132-135 in an attempt to suppress Jewish national feelings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine
(please take the time to read & study the timeline and documentation in the above link!)

So do modern day “Palestinians” have a link to the land? They claim to be descendants of the Philistines of the bible:
http://www.bga.nl/en/articles/filist1.html
But are they?
http://www.imninalu.net/myths-Arabs.htm
Since there is documentation that the original Philistines were not Arabs & the modern day Palestinians are, how can they be the same people? If you read the timeline in the above wikipedia link you will see that there never has been any Philistinian/Palestinian government in the land of Israel. The Islamics who ruled under the Ottoman Empire (the former Arab nation in the land) were only one of several conquering nations to reside in Israel for a time. At no time did these Islamics claim to be Philistinian or Palestinian. The Ottoman empire ruled over the land from 1517 to around 1917 when the British Empire took occupation during WWI. (Interestingly enough, modern day Palestinians do not claim to be Ottoman descendants – which would give them an actual historical link to the land.) http://archaeology.about.com/od/oterms/g/ottoman.htm.

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 divided the land between Jew and Arab.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration_of_1917
The original plan looked like this:
http://focusonjerusalem.com/maproom.html
http://www.npr.org/news/specials/mideast/history/history2.html
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1225199622058
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_maps.php

Note there are two maps, the second being published in 1926. Originally all of the British Mandate (1917) was intended to be a Jewish Homeland. But due to Arab pressure 75% of the land was ceded to the Arab people under the name of Transjordan, which is today’s modern state of Jordan.

With the exception of King Faisal in 1919 the British Mandate was rejected by the Arab world community. Tensions were high in the area between the occupying English, Jews and Arabs in the years between 1922 and the end of WWII. Jewish immigration into the land was limited by the English despite the overwhelming need due to the Holocaust. Finally in 1948, England withdrew completely from the land. The UN voted to support Israel as a modern state, and the modern war began.

Before we discuss the war, let’s take a look at the basic geography. Modern day Israel (2008) has a land mass of 8,522 square miles (about the size of the state of New Jersey at 8,729 square miles) with a population of 7,282,000 – that’s a population density ratio of 854.5.

Here’s a map of the Middle East, Asia and Africa highlighting Islam:
http://www.islam101.com/dawah/muslim_world_map.html
The influence of Islam is growing.

Israel is the ONLY Jewish state in the world. Israel has 21 Islamic recognized neighbors, but the reality is that there are many neighbors where Islam is the controlling religion. I have listed 23 nations below (with their square miles, population and population density):

Israel's Islamic Neighbors Sq Miles Population Density Year Est
Algeria 919,595 33,769,669 36.722 1962
Saudi Arabia 829,996 27,601,038 33.254 1932
Libya 679,359 6,173,579 9.087 1951
Iran 636,372 70,472,846 110.742 1979
Mauritania 397,954 3,069,000 7.712 1960
Egypt 387,048 75,500,662 195.068 1953
Pakistan 340,403 172,800,000 507.634 1956
Afghanistan 251,772 32,728,376 129.992 1919
Yemen 203,849 23,013,376 112.894 1990
Morocco 172,414 1,541,130 8.939 1956
Iraq 169,234 29,267,000 172.938 1932
Malaysia 127,355 27,730,000 217.738 1965
Oman 119,498 2,577,000 21.565 1651
Syria 71,479 19,405,000 271.478 1946
Tunisia 63,170 10,102,000 159.918 1956
Bangladesh 55,559 150,448,340 2707.902 1971
Jordan 45,495 6,198,677 136.250 1946
United Arab Emerites 32,278 4,621,399 43.175 1971
Kuwait 6,880 3,399,637 494.133 1961
Qatar 4,416 1,541,130 348.988 1971
Lebannon 4,035 4,196,453 1040.013 1943
Bahrain 253 1,046,814 4137.605 1971
Maldives 115 350,000 3043.478 1965

TOTAL 5,518,529 707,553,126 128.214

On May 15th 1948, the day after Israel declared itself an Independent Nation State, 5 countries attacked. Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq.
1948 Agressors Sq Miles Population Density Year Est
Egypt 387,048 75,500,662 195.068 1922
Iraq 169,234 29,267,000 172.938 1932
Syria 71,479 19,405,000 271.478 1946
Jordan 45,495 6,198,677 136.250 1946
Lebannon 4,035 4,196,453 1040.013 1943

TOTAL 677,291 134,567,792 198.685

(The facts from these tables are easy to verify - just type the country name into your web browser).

It’s quite clear, when you look at the population density figures from the above tables that the “Land for Peace” premise makes absolutely no sense. If you also review the years these modern states were established – with the exception of Oman, every single one of these Islamic states has a 20th Century inception making them no different from Israel regarding appearance on the international stage as a modern entity.

“Occupation”. Where did this term come from in relation to the War in Israel? In 1967 Israel defended itself against 3 aggressors: Egypt, Jordan and Syria. During the war, Israel as the defender, not the aggressor, took the Sinai Desert, the Golan Heights, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. In 1979 Israel returned the Sinai Desert to Egypt. In 2005 Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip. In history, there has been no other country required to return land taken in defensive actions. Defensible borders against it’s aggressing neighbors has required that Israel maintain a presence in the so called “occupied” areas. But please note, that the countries these areas were “taken” from (Golan Heights from Syria, West Bank from Jordan, East Jerusalem from Jordan) technically had no more right to the land than Israel did & lost those areas as a result of their unwarranted aggression. Again, there was no “Palestinian Nation” against which Israel aggressed to occupy these areas. Also note that Jordan is not demanding the return of the West Bank or East Jerusalem. The Gaza strip technically never belonged to any country post the British Mandate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_Strip

Since the Gaza disengagement in 2005 there has been a constant barage of rockets into Israel, targeting innocent civilians:
http://www.sderotmedia.com/

"Peace Partners"? The PLO is not a country. It is a terrorist organization. Hamas is not a county. It is a terrorist organization. Gaza is not a country. Where else in the world is any other country expected to negotiate peace in exchange for land with a terrorist organization?

Aid to the Palestinians. What is rarely reported in the media is that any Arab who applies for Israeli citizenship is awarded the same rights and freedoms of any other Israeli citizen. Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, representative government, socialist support in the form of medicine, aid with food, living expenses, and education among other benefits are available. Before the 1st intifada in 1987 180,000 Palestinians held jobs in Israel. As aggression increased against innocent Israeli civilians that number has been greatly reduced. So what is the basis for the claim of Israeli “oppression” against the Palestinians?

There has been an uneasy but steady peace with Jordan and Egypt 1977 and 1994 respectively. Although it should be noted that Hamas manages to access arms through hidden tunnels between Gaza and Egypt.

So what is this war all about? Keeping in mind all the information above, there is not really a clear answer.
Here are some links to review:

PLO charter – note especially points 15, 19, 21 and 22. In light of the fact that it has been established there has never been a nation of “Palestine” what is this based on?!
http://www.iris.org.il/plochart.htm

Hamas Charter – of course the “people of the Scriptures” are Jews and Christians.
http://www.palestinecenter.org/cpap/documents/charter.html

Iran / Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad

Of Course there is always the ADL’s watch on antisemetic political commentary & satire:
http://www.adl.org/main_Arab_World/Financial_Crisis.htm
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASaw_14/5245_14.htm
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASaw_14/default.htm
http://www.adl.org/main_Arab_World/asam_jul_dec_qatar_2006.htm

The world loves an underdog. And I suppose those who scream the loudest get the most attention. Media the world wide tends to lean in support of this supposed underdog. Unfortunately it appears to be "politically incorrect" to double check the facts. Militant Islam has no problem acknowledging they are embroiled in a religious war with Jewish Israel. When will the rest of the world acknowledge it?