Disproportionate: Jewish Discrimination on Temple Mount!

You may have noticed that I've adopted the favorite anti-Israel antisemitic term used against us for having Gd on our side, "disproportionate." Except for the fact that Gd protects us and causes potentially deadly missiles shot by Arab terrorists to miss causing more deaths of Arabs than Jews, the truth is that Jews suffer more from "disproportionate" policies here than Arabs.

I find it immoral and illogical and totally discriminatory that we Jews are forbidden by the Israeli police to pray to Gd in the holiest place on earth, the Temple Mount, Har HaBayit!

Also Arabs and others who shout out hateful violent antisemitic threats and curses and lies to Jews aren't arrested, while Jews who may possibly be involved with anti-Arab acts and philosophy are held without civil legal rights. Yes, I'm not exaggerating.

Photo credit: Channel 2 News

MK Zahalka to Jewish worshipers on Temple mount: “Get out of here, go home!” 

MK Jamal Zahalka of the Joint List arrived in Jerusalem this morning (Tuesday), to participate in the Arab protest against the right of Jews to enter the Temple Mount. Zahalka approached the Jewish worshippers and the policemen at the site and shouted at them: “Get out of here! Go home! You have no place here! You are not wanted here!”

Yesterday when leaving the Kotel area, I noticed a group approaching with a Palestinian flag, but I couldn't catch a photo of it. Obviously it was a provocation, and I wonder if it was connected to Zahalka's group. I haven't seen any report of it. If you have, please add to the comments here, thanks.

One nice thing I heard while saying my prayers at the Kotel was joyous Jewish song about ascending Har Habayit. It came from the upper passage as seen in the picture above. Apparently, a group of Jews was taking advantage of their approach to the Temple Mount for prayers they are forbidden once there. The women and children near me were all looking up from where the songs were sung with joyful admiring expressions. It somehow reminded me of the old Superman television show when people would stop, stare and point:

Man 1: Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird.
Woman: It’s a plane
Man 2: It’s Superman!

"These are our SUPERJEWS!"

That was what went through my mind as I heard their joyous prayer-filled song. The more Jews who ascend the Temple Mount the closer and sooner we will get to having full religious rights and then full national rights on the holiest place in the world for Jews!!

The Rock Throwing Arab Kid Should Have Been Arrested!

No doubt you know that I don't freak out easily. I'm perfectly fine tremping, that's hitchhiking, and I work with Arabs. So when I say that something made me nervous, you should listen. Today, when on my way home to Shiloh from Jerusalem, I saw something that disturbed me, yes, me, the relatively unflappable. Just before the turnoff to the Adam security road, I saw two young Arab kids with a bunch of sheep. One was much too busy (to amy taste) throwing rocks at the sheep with his back to us, as you can see here. 

It wouldn't have taken much for him to turn around and lob one through a car window, Gd forbid. Maybe the nearby soldiers were waiting just for that, but I would have felt much more secure if as a preventative measure he had been arrested.

One of the things that bothered me was how he kept turning around to look at all of us, as if weighing his options to attack Jewish cars or not. On a personal note, I was perfectly safe in the bulletproof bus, but most everyone else was in a car, and for sure most cars did not have specially treated windows.

What do you think about this?

אין חדש Nothing New: Anti-Zionist "White Paper" Still Waving

The recent "scare statistics" claiming that too many Jews are being born in Israel and the Land can't hold them/us all so reminds me of the notorious Chamberlain-backed, yes, the same British leader who made the "deal" with Hitler, "White Paper" that severely limited Jewish immigration to the area that the League of Nations had mandated to Great Britain to turn into a Jewish State.

The White Paper of 1939 was a policy paper issued by the British government under Neville Chamberlain in which, among several key provisions, the idea of partitioning Palestine was abandoned. (It was also known as the MacDonald White Paper after Malcolm MacDonald, the British Colonial Secretary who presided over its creation).
The paper also provided (as alternative to partition) for creating an independent Palestine to be governed by Palestinian Arabs and Jews in proportion to their numbers in the population by 1939 (section I). Further: a limit of 75,000 Jewish immigrants was set for the five-year period 1940-1944 (consisting of a regular yearly quota of 10,000 and a flexible supplementary quota of 25,000); after 1944 the further immigration of Jews to Palestine would depend on permission of the Arab majority (section II); and restrictions were placed on the rights of Jews to buy land from Arabs (section III). (Wikipedia)

Today's Israel, even the populous coastal area is not all that densely populated. Actually, it is more than Gaza which is inaccurately called "densely populated" in order to mislead everyone. Ruthie Blum in the algemeiner has an excellent article refuting the recent distorted scare statistics.
Israeli Demography Expert Refutes Claim That Baby Boom Is Bad for Jewish State’s Economy

Responding to a report in i24 News on Saturday, according to which Israel’s “baby boom” spells bad news for the tiny country, Yoram Ettinger told The Algemeiner on Sunday that he is not surprised the doomsayers who used to predict Israeli’s downfall due to the Jewish-Arab birthrate ratio are now using evidence that disproves their theories to reach equally bleak conclusions.

“It is crucial to note that the trend of Jewish fertility is higher than that of Arab fertility,” said Ettinger, a consultant on U.S.-Israel relations and chairman of special projects at the Ariel Center for Policy Research. “In addition, among Jews in Israel, ultra-Orthodox fertility is decreasing, while secular fertility is exploding.” (algemeiner) 

Considering that most of the developed western world aka the advanced countries have a major problem due to their low birthrates and shrinking populations, they should be holding up Israel as an example of success. Maybe they are just jealous...

The only solution many European countries have nowadays is to open their gates to all sorts of immigrants which is causing major social and cultural changes along with violence in many cases. The unusually high percentage of male refugee/immigrants in their twenties and thirties who arrive without families is worrying and will no doubt cause much more serious trouble in the future.

Visiting the Jerusalem Bloomfield Children's Science Museum

Davka, Israel has the healthiest population growth rate in the developed world, and we should be very optimistic about the future of the State of Israel!

Lulav, Etrog and Women

It's a standing joke among many Torah observant Jews that Passover is when the women work hardest and Succot is when the pressure is on the man. The women find themselves responsible for the pre-Passover cleaning and cooking, while building the succah is a "man's job." But the men do get a treat for Succot and women don't get one on Passover.

Traditionally, pre-Reform, Conservative* et al Judaism, the "Four Species," Arba Minim, lulav, hadasim, aravot and the etrog, was male only. They did the shopping, rather pedantically, for them, and they took their set to synagogue, waving them and marching around, while women watched or stayed home.

Vayikra (23:40): “And you shall take for yourselves on the first day [of Sukkot]1 the fruit of the hadar tree, date palm fronds, a branch of a braided tree and willows of the brook.”

In some families the women, in the privacy of their homes, also made the blessing and shook the four together, but that was not a public act.

One thing I've noticed in recent years is that it is becoming routine for there to be a few women in my neighborhood synagogue with their own sets which they bless and shake up and down, just like the men. Due to a lack of space, marching around would be impossible, so it's hard to see just how many women come with their own set. I must admit that there still aren't many, but those who do bring them are from the "best" most distinguished families in the community. These are not the families with rebellious children and "datlashim," the slang (or euphemism) for those no longer religious.

I am not an expert in Jewish Law, but from the little I know, this is certainly a mitzvah that women can do without causing any halachik (Jewish Law) problem. It doesn't at all interfere with the prayers of anyone else nor affect any other aspect of observance. Women are certainly permitted to have their own set.  It seems to me that this trend will grow, like the number of women who take it upon themselves to say Kaddish with a minyan for the year after the death of a parent.

*I do not know if it is the norm in Conservative and Reform communities for people to have their own personal/private sets of "Four Species," Arba Minim.  But I have no doubt that in the "Egalitarian" or "Open" Orthodox communities there are many women with their own sets.

U.N., France et al Raising Flag of Terror

No doubt that the worst, most dangerous for the State of Israel and the "free world" as we know it for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to have ever done was his decision to back the "two state solution" and promote the idea of a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu sincerely (I should hope) and foolishly believed that his conditions for such a state would be accepted by the world and that he (as leader of the State of Israel) would be given the authority to give final approval for such a state. He also dangerously decided that if he made the conditions difficult enough and contrary to the Arab terrorist Palestinian sic culture and ideology, those conditions would never be met, so the establishment of Palestine would never happen.

Palestine received observer member status
in 2012 [Getty]

The truth is that the world, the United Nations, all the countries other than Israel, the international media, NGOs etc don't give a hoot about conditions. All they care about is that Netanyahu promised to support a Palestinian state, and he better get off of his high horse and just shut up and let them make it official.

Mahmoud Abbas, in his compound in Ramalla, is treated by many as a legitimate national leader on par with Netanyahu himself. This is all the fault of the Israeli Government which invented and supports the P.A. Palestinian Authority, first by propping up the terrorist Yasser Arafat and rescuing him from obscurity over twenty years ago.

And now the United Nations is upgrading the P.A. by adding their flag.

In a discussion that began before the adoption and continued afterwards, delegates considered various aspects of the resolution.  Calling it “a historic vote”, the observer of the State of Palestine said that the General Assembly had sent an important message to the Palestinian people at a critical time.  While raising the flag would not end the occupation, it would signify to Palestinian people everywhere that the international community supported them. 

MEETINGS COVERAGE & PRESS RELEASES

Various countries, most recently France have announced that they will be attending the ceremony. Yes, this whole Palestinian State business is mushrooming, and nobody is paying attention to their plans. The aim of the Palestinian sic leadership is the destruction of the State of Israel. That's what they train their military/police to do and that is what they are teaching their children, with the support of international funding.

Happy campersMost of these children attend UNRWA schools and although UNRWA did not actively sponsor these camps there is no doubt that the children who attended will return to their schools newly re-imbued with a burning desire to murder Jews and become jihad martyrs.
The sponsorship of these camps originates in Iran which provides funds and weapons to terror groups running them. Thanks to Obama, Kerry and the others who have provided Iran with the additional billions needed to finance terror against Israel and Western interests, camps of this nature will expand in the future and the poisonous venom will spread.
Anyone who still harbours the inane notion that peace is about to break out and that the next generation is being educated towards tolerance and democracy should have their illusions shattered after watching this documentary. However, given past experiences, those who suffer from self-induced delusions will never be convinced even when the stark evidence hits them in the face.

Published on Sep 10, 2015This film details Iran’s direct funding of terrorism to its proxy military operatives, Hezbollah and Hamas. With billions of dollars of unfrozen assets expected to be unfrozen and available to Iran, Iranian leaders have stated that they will continue to fund Hamas. This film includes interviews with boy and girl child soldiers of Hamas, who describe their intention to destroy Israel, with guns, and other weapons. The interviews and video of UNRWA-educated children was filmed in Gaza in the summer of 2015.

We must do everything to stop it!!

Yom Kippur Trumps Fashion Events

Not just the legendary Sandy Koufax considers Yom Kippur more important than a high status job appearance.

But Koufax’s decision instantly transformed him into an icon for Jewish sports fans. Even now, a half-century later and despite the fact that he wasn’t actually too observant, Koufax remains one of the American athletes most closely associated with his faith. (TIME)

I was surprised to find two articles in the International New York Times which were summarized in Algemeiner:Top Jewish Fashion Industry Figures Skip Milan Fashion Opening Over Conflict With Yom Kippur. A positive who's who in fashion missed Yom kippur and also Rosh Hashana designer grand openings.

The calendar clash between fashion week and Yom Kippur, the most important and spiritual day in the Jewish year, which began Tuesday at sundown, left a number of boldface editors and retailers missing from the front row. The international Vogue editor, Suzy Menkes, was not there. Neither was the editor in chief of InStyle magazine, Ariel Foxman, nor Jim Gold, the chief merchandising officer and president of Neiman Marcus. Also absent were Joan Burstein, the founder of the Browns boutique in London, and Carla Sozzani, the gallerist and 10 Corso Como queen, who opted out in acknowledgment of the importance of the day. NY Times

From left, the editors Ariel Foxman, Suzy Menkes and Cindi Leive.Credit From left, Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images, Jacques Brinon, via Associated Press, Earl Wilson for The New York Times

Gucci glasses were oversize
 ’70s shape combined with rhinestones
 and flowers from '50s. 
Credit:Valerio Mezzanotti 
for The New York Times

VANESSA FRIEDMAN: "Know this: I did not see the Gucci spring 2016 collection on the runway. Because of the clash with Yom Kippur, when the collection appeared on the runway (and was live streamed, for that matter), I was in a different place entirely."  NY Times

So, how accepted is it for ordinary Jews to take off for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana nowadays?

I have no doubt that it must be more difficult for someone who only observes Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana than it is for those who have made it clear from day one at a job that they observe all of the Jewish Holidays, and even must leave work early on Fridays when Shabbat begins early.

I am glad that Koufax's legendary decision is still celebrated by American Jews and baseball fans all over the world. This year was the fifty year mark, and there were many articles about it. In none of the articles was there even a hint that was religiously observant or had ever made an issue of the Jewish Holy Day besides that time.

And I am very pleased that the International New York Times, not the most Jewish-friendly publication, devoted over half a page the story of the fashions leaders and reporters who favored Yom Kippur, Jewish observance, over one of the highlights of the high fashion calendar.

Just before Yom Kippur, I read an article in the Forward about Donald Trump's expecting another Jewish grandchild from his daughter Ivanka who had converted by an Orthodox Jewish Beit Din. She makes a point of letting people know that she and her family do live as observant Jews:

Trump doesn’t often speak about her family’s religious activities, but in a candid Vogue interview in February she confided that the family keeps kosher and observes the Sabbath, even turning off their phone for 25 hours.
“I always shied away from it being a public conversation because it’s such a personal thing. We’re pretty observant, more than some, less than others. I just feel like it’s such an intimate thing for us. It’s been such a great life decision for me. I am very modern, but I’m also a very traditional person, and I think that’s an interesting juxtaposition in how I was raised as well. I really find that with Judaism, it creates an amazing blueprint for family connectivity.”

Read more: http://forward.com/the-assimilator/321463/make-trump-a-zeyde-again/#ixzz3ms69IFEE

I don't remember important/famous people being so public about keeping Shabbat and Jewish Holidays when I was growing up, and that, no doubt, is why the Sandy Koufax decision not to play in the World Series on Yom Kippur was so newsworthy then and still resonates.

It's one thing when school districts closed for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, because without the Jewish teaching staff the schools couldn't function. But here we're hearing of an "elite" not shying away from saying that Yom Kippur, and Shabbat for Ivanka Trump and family, are more important than their jobs. And for the New York Times to devote a good couple of column inches to it is sure a nice spiritual boost for the New Jewish Year of 5776.

5775 Had a Bloody Terrorized Start and 5776?

5775, last year began with some of the most awful Arab terrorist acts. We must remember that Arab terrorism is a strong fanatical ideology which not only is ingrained in the Arab mind and culture, but most of the world, including Israeli Leftists, constantly make excuses for it and accept it as a norm.

In the past 12 months the lives of thousands of Israelis have been threatened by Palestinian terror. Driving your car, taking the bus, or simply walking around- daily routine has become dangerous to Israelis. Here is a recap of all the main terrorist attacks against Israelis in the last year. (IDF)

Here are a few photos to remind you...

November 18- While morning prayers were underway, a terrorist went on a killing spree in a synagogue in Har Nof, Jerusalem, killing five people and injuring seven.

December 25- A molotov cocktail was thrown at a car by Palestinians near the Ma’ale Shomron community in the Samaria region, leading an 11 year-old girl to suffer third degree wounds to over 50% of her body.

Jun. 29- Four Israelis were shot and injured in a drive-by shooting attack near Shilo. One of them, Malachi Rosenfeld, HaY"D, died in the hospital the next day.

Not that I planned it when I chose the pictures, but I know family members from all these terror attacks. Yes, Israel is a very small country, and the Jewish People are all connected. We feel each other's pain. The loss of a person and the pain from injury should be felt by us all. As I wrote after Yom Kippur, we pray in the plural and pray for the entire Jewish People.
 I consider the complicity of the NGO and Leftist ideologues in supporting the Arab terrorists to make them equally guilty along with the Arab terrorists who shoot, stab, firebomb and throw rocks, bricks and boulders.

Only when the truly good people of the world reject and sincerely condemn Arab terrorism will the terrorism begin the cease. This is a long process for sure, and the time to start is now!

Bernie Sanders and the Jewish Issue

Everyone who follows American politics knows perfectly well that a high percentage of Barack Hussein Obama voters chose him for one reason only:

"It's about time there's a Black man in the White House!"

Those voters honestly didn't care about his background, experience, platform etc. when choosing to vote Obama. And there are many Hillary Clinton supporters who are saying something very similar:

"It's about time there's a woman in the White House!"

So my question is:

Will there be any sizable number of voters saying  "It's about time there's a Jew in the White House?"

Do Americans want a Jew in the White House?

"Ninety-one percent of American voters say they're willing to vote for a Jew. Other statistics are less encouraging" (Salon.com)

Will they really accept one? Or will they davka vote for the opposing party or not vote at all?

"Regardless of what the polls say (and respondents are always capable of deceiving pollsters, whether by lying to them or themselves), there are plenty of early signs that Sanders’s background will be used against him. Back in June NPR host Diane Rehm confronted Sanders with the charge that he was a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, a conspiracy theory rooted in a baseless online rumor and has its roots in the old anti-Semitic canard that Jewish politicians can’t be loyal to non-Jewish countries." (Salon.com)

I'm old enough to remember well the hullabaloo when John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, was nominated by the Democrats for the Presidency. Many were convinced that his religion, non-Protestant, would make him unelectable. It could be one of the reasons the popular vote between him and Nixon was so close. Or could Nixon's Quaker background have also put him to a disadvantage and therefore cancelled out JFK's Catholicism?

I think there is a very big difference between saying they would accept a Jew in the White House or even vote for a Jew if he's running against the very controversial Donald Trump or anti-Muslim Black Ben Carson versus, davka, supporting a Jew, because they think "It's about time there's a Jew in the White House."

Carson received a barrage of backlash after telling "Meet the Press" on Sunday that he "would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation." He clarified on Monday, saying that he would support a Muslim president -- if he or she denounced their religion. (HUFFPOST)

Remember that non-Blacks, (white, oriental etc) voted for Obama because of his color, but I can't imagine any non-Jew making a point of voting for Sanders because of his religion.

And honestly, I don't think that time will bring more political options/possibilities for American Jews. Due to assimilation the percentage of active identifying Jews in the United States will only decrease, and all population studies show that Muslims will increase. That will strengthen antisemitism. The "land of the free and the home of the brave" will never fully accept Jews to all echelons of power.

Yom Kippur-- We Pray for All Jews

Reflections on today's Yom Kippur Prayers. 

Here's one of the very last lines of the Yom Kippur Prayers:

ArtScroll Machzor

Not only do we pray for ourselves, we pray for the entire Jewish People. Our prayers are in plural. I wonder if that is unique to Jewish Prayer. All of our prayers are in plural. "Our" and "we" are the words we say. The verbs are in first person plural throughout Jewish Prayer, even on Yom Kippur. That's why we say a long list of sins, that we as individuals probably never had done. But for sure there are those Jews who have sinned those sins, so we prayer for all of us.

May Gd accept our prayers.

Palestine, The Nation that Never Was and Never Will Be

Search the History Books, the old maps and atlases, and you will never discover a nation or people called Palestine. At most you will discover that Jews who lived here in the Holy Land during  the British Mandate were called Palestinians.

Kingdoms of Israel and Judah (Wikipedia)

The idea of inventing an "Arab Palestine" was just a way for the British and others to block and prevent a Jewish State. And the reason for that is plain and simple;

ANTISEMITISM!

Remember that original Christian theology is completely antisemitic and the foundation of that religion is that Jews killed their god, their human god. And even though they supposedly adopted the Jewish Bible, and worshiping man is totally forbidden in it, they persist. And in order to prevent the revelation that their religion is a lie, they've spent the past two thousand years trying to destroy the Jewish People.

Christians (of all stripes/denominations) aren't the only ones who need to destroy the Jewish People to justify their religion. The Muslims also stole our Biblical narrative and Land. So Judaism's two greatest enemies have banded together in an attempt to destroy us.

The Christians have a problem. The Muslims are also aiming to destroy them. That's why there is so much emigration of Arabs from Arab countries, especially fit me, to Europe and the Americas. Since most Christian countries nowadays have a very low birthrate, mostly negative, they have found themselves needing immigrants and refugees.

In France the Muslim terrorism will only get worse, and it will spread around the world. Placating the Arabs with a "Palestine" won't stop it. Israel isn't their enemy. They are out to destroy and take over bigger things.

I just needed to get this message out before Yom Kippur. This should be the Yom Kippur sermon in synagogues all over the world, but I doubt if there's a rabbi with the guts to tell the un-pc truth!

Gmar Chatimah Tovah

May Gd Seal us All in The Book of Life!

Israeli TV Makes Excuses for Arab Terrorism

Last night, if it would have helped, I would have thrown rocks at my television screen in anger. There was this long newscast about the "poor frustrated miserable Arabs" sic in Jerusalem who attack innocent Jews to prove how miserable they are.  And of course the reporters eagerly lapped up the phony excuses and just justifications for the violence against innocent Jews.

The adult Arabs who were interviewed admitted/insisted that they have no control over the youth whom they also admit are spending their time attacking Jews. And you should remember that the vast majority of serious and fatal attacks on Jews have been by Arabs who have all the Israeli papers necessary to study and work in Israel "proper," because that is technically where they live.

This is so different from the Arabs I work with and sell to in Yafiz and Rami Levy, Sha'ar Binyamin. There most of the Arabs do not have "papers" to enter, work and study in Israel. They are overjoyed to work and shop in the Jewish-owned stores getting the same benefits and prices as ordinary Israelis. I see them disciplining their children, making sure they behave and even trying to get them to use their Hebrew and English with us.

Considering the high percentage of Arabs in Israeli universities and the surprising (for many) amounts of Arab doctors and lawyers in Israel, you should be wondering why the parents of these young Arab terrorists insist that their children have no chance for a good future, and that is why they resort to terrorism.

Of course the Arabs interviewed on that "news" sic show who complained about the sorry state of their neighborhoods didn't mention that they attack municipal workers who come to repair things, that they don't pay taxes, that they build illegally and they even attack, shoot at and stone ambulances and the paramedic staff who try to help them.

Credit: Divuach Rishoni / https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=403762516496910&id=178130339060130

In some ways Israeli Arab society is even more anti-Israel than the Arabs in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley. This may sound strange to many, but the truth is that the Arabs who  live near me know what Arab rule is like, and push come to shove, they'd rather not have it. Of course, saying such a thing out loud is dangerous for them. It could be fatal, because Fatah and Hamas are not very tolerant, neither are the international agent provocateur NGOs that have infiltrated Arab society and the Israeli Left.

Arabs who live around Shiloh know very well how corrupt and dangerous the P.A.  Palestine authrity is, and they prefer the status quo to living in an Arab country. Only those on the take are happy with Arab rule. Young Israeli Arabs have been brainwashed into believing that they'd be better off without Israel. They haven't a clue. And they are dangerous.

Don't expect the truth about this from the Israeli media!!

First Shiloh Women's Rosh Chodesh Prayers of 5776

I know that everyone is so busy with the Jewish Holidays. Yom Kippur is just a couple of days away, and after that there is Succot and Simchat Torah. And I figured that if I don't blog about Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan Women's Prayers at Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh, now, I'll just forget until it's too late to let people know.

We're less than a week into 5776, but I have no doubt that the next three weeks will just speed by like skiers rushing down a mountain.

Women's Prayers at Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan

Tuesday October 13, 2015

30th of Tishrei, 5776, 8:30am

Hallel and Musaf for Rosh Chodesh

Tour of Tel Shiloh

Dvar Torah, Short Torah Lesson

Please come and invite family, friends and neighbors

תפילת נשים ראש חודש חשון בשילה הקדומה, תל שילה

יום ג' 13-10  ל' תשרי, תשע"ו 8:30

הלל ומוסף לראש חודש

יהיה דבר תורה קצר וסיור בתל

כדאי לבוא ולהזמין חברות, משפחה ושכנות

Please save the date and let others know. Join our facebook group for more updates. And remember that there are many other things to do at Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh. It's open to visitors six days a week. For more information call  02-994-4019. And during Succot Chol Hamoed there will be lots of special activities for the entire family. Guided tours can be arranged through the Shiloh HaKeduma, Ancient Shiloh office. Email visit@telshilo.org.il or phone 02-994-4019.

Gazan Arab Terrorists Resume Attacking Israel

Residents of Israel's south, again, found themselves running for shelter this Shabbat (weekend.) Apparently the the Gazan Arab terrorists have sufficiently rearmed, and they are back in action launching potentially deadly rockets and missiles at Israel. The Iron Dome has also been in use to protect Israeli population centers in the south. This had been expected and is certainly no surprise. By now everyone knows what "ceasefire" means in Arabic, "reload:"

It's no joke.

Southern Israelis Race for ‘Saturday Night Shelter’ in Sha’ar Ha Negev

At least 20 minutes earlier, however, it had become clear to local sources that fortunately there had been a “misfire” in Gaza and the projectile had apparently landed within the enclave. (Jewish Press)

Sirens sound in south of Israel

An Iron Dome anti-rocket battery shot down a Gazan rocket over the city of Ashkelon. Warning sirens rang out across the city, sending residents fleeing for cover, before Iron Dome went into action. There were no injuries or damages A few hours earlier, a Palestinian rocket slammed into a residential area of Sderot, exploding and damaging a home and a nearby bus, but failing to cause injuries. That rocket too triggered sirens in Sderot and surrounding localities. (Jerusalem Post)

We must stop playing this game pretending that we are dealing with normal, rational and moral people. It's totally preposterous to attempt to negotiate with terrorists, especially when the terrorists have been very clear about wanting to destroy us!

And as usual, the international news agencies only report Israel's giving the impression that Israel's the aggressor.

Israeli aircraft strike Gaza after rocket fire
Israel carried out air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Saturday after Palestinian militants there fired rockets into southern Israel. (Reuters)

Even though this is a more accurate headline and opening than one generally gets, the sequence is inaccurate. Considering how poorly most people read, it's clear that the headline and article were written and/or edited to make Israel look bad. Yes, nothing's new. The only question is whether or not the Gazan Arab terrorists will escalate their attacks or was this just a bit of target practice to make sure their new weapons work.

SPIES!!

For the past few weeks, this has been the view to the east of us in Shiloh.

No, it isn't some hot-air balloon with spectators in a basket touring on high. It's believed to be a spy! My camera couldn't catch it, but I see flashing lights under it.

We all know about the high tech spy satellites the Americans have photographing every garden shed and dog house in Shiloh and other Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria, the Jordan Valley etc. This balloon is low tech and constant. I don't know how many there are nor how powerful its machinery is, but we believe that its controllers are convinced that it can discover the so-called "price tag" Jewish "terrorists" sic.

From sic to sick...

I think it's pretty sick that the government is so convinced that Jews set fire to that house in Duma, which resulted in the death of three Arabs that they haven't been investigating in other directions. Actually, the police haven't been able to pin in on anyone, any Jew, which is why they have the spy camera up there trying to record everything like in the television show, Person of Interest. At least that is the story we've been hearing about that balloon.

If you take a good look at the writing on the scene in Duma, it does not look like it was written by a Jewish Israeli male.

Jaafar Ashtiyeh (AFP)

Actually, it is not a writing font style taught in Jewish schools here at all! Handwriting has styles, like spoken language has accents. And this writing style is more like Arabic than Hebrew.

Another important point is the that the Dawabshe home is well inside the village and the chance that some Jewish youth, unfamiliar with the village, having safely made their way in, burnt the house, wrote the message and then got out safely is impossible. That's as realistic as a James Bond movie.

In addition there have been other fires in homes of that clan, which have been blamed on feuding and "electricity problems" sic.

But the Israeli Government and Police have not given up; they are still looking for Jews to frame.

ZERO TOLERANCE: Terror, BDS and More

Reuters

The Jewish People have begun a new year, 5776, and it's time for a new policy, "Zero Tolerance!"

We must react strongly and firmly against all attacks, whether terror or BDS or faux human rights
sic boycotts etc.

Benny Shoham, father of Yehuda, HaY"d, who was murdered
by Arabs who threw a large rock at their car, holds him
during the funeral.

If we don't start acting firmly against all of our enemies, whether they are well-dressed with high-class polished accents or armed with rocks, firebombs or guns, things will continue as is getting much worse, meaning dangerous, for the Jewish People and the State of Israel.

All terrorists, whether they succeeded in murdering a Jew or not must be immediately executed. They are not regular criminals; the self-confessed terrorists. That means, that they do not need a trial, because there is no justification and no chance of mistake if found with the weapons in the act of murder or attempted murder.

Boycotts, whether just against Judean/Samarian products or all Israeli products, like the new call to boycott from Iceland must be taken as seriously as a terror attack.

European Jewish Groups Rail Against Reykjavic Decision to Boycott Israeli GoodsEuropean Jewish groups railed against the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik’s decision this week to adopt a boycott of Israeli goods, with many calling the move purely discriminatory. (Algemeiner)

The Israeli Ambassador must be recalled and all diplomatic and commercial contact stopped. It's not Jewish to "turn the other cheek," and even the Christians don't follow such a precept.

Arab terrorists of all ages must be punished, and if they are minors their parents should also pay the price. Adding special guns to the police arsenal will not stop terrorism.

And performers who break contracts to placate the BDS antisemites must be fined so much that they will suffer financially for years.

The Temple Mount must be cleared of Arab terrorists and their weapons. And as collective punishment, no Arabs should be allowed in for a long period of time. In the interim, a place for Jewish Prayer must be built.

Shabbat Shalom and Gmar Chatimah Tovah

Why has Obama Invited Bibi?

The latest news in the saga of United States President Barack Hussein Obama and his nemesis Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is that Bibi has been invited to the White House, davka, on November 9, just a week after  the 2015 Off-year elections.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet in November to discuss the Iran nuclear deal as well as other regional security issues, the White House said on Wednesday.
The Nov. 9 White House meeting will be the first for the two leaders since U.S.-led diplomacy resulted in an Iran nuclear deal that Israel fiercely opposed. (Reuters)

Add caption

Obama's consistent disdain for the Israeli Prime Minister and military hero has certainly destroyed the traditionally superficially warm or at least polite relations between the two countries. As I've written many times, the actual support for Israel by the U.S.A. has never been all that Israel likes to think exists. It's just a myth, fake for sure. It's best compared to the hypocritical relatives who not so secretly conspire to break up a couple while smiling and pretending to love the match. The big difference this time with Obama is that he is an awful actor and has a lot of trouble smiling when Netanyahu is around. Obama absolutely glows when he's with Mahmoud Abbas, whom he credits with diplomatic finesse and moderation that can only be seen in myths and lies.

“Al-Aksa is ours and so is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. They have no right to desecrate them with their filthy feet. We won’t allow them to do so and we will do whatever we can to defend Jerusalem,” Abbas said in his Ramallah office during a meeting with east Jerusalem activists.(Jerusalem Post)

Yoohoo, have you heard any international condemnations of Abbas? Where's the pope and other Christian leaders? And what about international human and religious rights activists, have they responded or reacted? Nope, they're too busy condemning Israel for defending Jews.

Back to my original question in the title:

"Why has Obama Invited Bibi?"

Obama has definitely not invited Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu out of a sincere friendship and admiration for the State of Israel. We all know that those are oxymorons if connected to the name Barack Hussein Obama. There can only be one reason. The Obama has been forced to try to mend fences with the Israeli leader who has been unabashed in his condemnation of the Obama-supported deal with Iran. Although the next U.S. Presidential Elections are in a year, polls are showing the Democrats behind, and the American public agrees with Netanyahu, not Obama when it comes to Iran and the "deal." So, for the sake of the future of the Democratic Party, Obama must swallow his pride and make some sort of "peace" with Netanyahu.

This looks like a very interesting Presidential Election is heating up in the United States of America.

Stopping Arab Terrorism takes Drastic Measures

5775 ended and 5776 began with violence, Arabs attacking Jews. The most intense attacks have been on har habayit, The Temple Mount, which is Judaism's holiest spot in the world. To get facts straight for you, the Kotel, the Western Wall is not Judaism's holiest site. It's an outer wall to the large compound which is the Temple Mount. It's the peel of the mango, not the delicious sweet and refreshing fruit. 

Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue after
Jordan's destroyed it

The Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue
before Jordanian occupation

Until a few hundred years ago, Jews in the HolyLand gathered on the Temple Mount for prayer, not at the Kotel. It's very easy to measure and distinguish which small area, very small actual percentage of the Temple Mount is of too high a level of Kedusha, Holiness to enter. Foreign non-Jewish invaders who had been ruling the Holy Land kept making life for the Jewish residents more and more difficult and restrictive, and that is why prayers on the Temple Mount ceased for the most part, and during the Jordanian occupation (1948-67) of eastern Jerusalem, plus Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley, Jews were strictly forbidden to even enter Jerusalem's Old City where the Temple Mount and Kotel are located.

The news reports after the two day Rosh Hashannah, Jewish New Year Holiday were full of reports of the violence on the Temple Mount. In the miraculous 1967 Six Days War, Israel liberated all of the land that Jordan had been illegally occupying, along with the Golan Heights from Syria and the Sinai from Egypt. Then, totally incomprehensibly, responsibility/sovereignty on the Temple Mount was given to the Muslims, while Jews all over celebrated the return to the Kotel, and for that we should all be wailing and makes calling it the "Wailing Wall" meaningful.

Arabs inter freely while police
chat ignoring them

Security inspection room for
Jews and Christian tourists

It's almost half a century since the Six Days War, and the Arabs have turned the Temple Mount into one of the most violent places imaginable. Unlike Jews who must undergo the most demeaning inspections and cannot even bring in a prayer book, the Arabs are not inspected at all and have been filling their so-called holy places with weapons. And now they are using their weapons against Israel!

Palestinians, Israeli police clash at Jerusalem shrine for third dayMasked Palestinians hurled flares at the security forces, who said they were trying to secure the plaza outside Islam's third holiest shrine to stop a Palestinian attempt to disrupt visits to the compound on Jewish New Year. (Reuters)

Police beef up presence in Jerusalem after days of Temple Mount clashesIn three straight days of clashes on the Temple Mount, police said dozens of Palestinian youths stayed overnight in the al-Aqsa Mosque, and prepared petrol bombs, rocks, fireworks and other means to attack police and Jewish visitors to the holy site. Security officials blamed the Muslim authorities at the site for allowing it to be abused. (Times of Israel)

There is only one thing that will stop it, and it's not easy. Israel must retake the Temple Mount, clean out the mosques there, arrest the rioters and their leaders and strictly inspect everyone, especially the Arabs who want to go up, the women, too. Those enormous robes can easily hide a multitude of weapons and even disguise men.

Only when we are truly sovereign macro and micro in all of the Land of Israel will we have true peace!

Judges aren't Gods- Israeli Judicial System Unjust

electionloomis

I was raised in the United States which has a governmental principle very foreign to the Israeli system. It's called "Balance of Power-Checks & Balances," and in theory at least there must always be agreement between two out of the three branches of the government:

Executive
Judiciary
Legislative

OK, I know that recently the US President Barack Hussein Obama has used something called "Executive Privilege" to dictate policies without going through normal governmental processes, but I'm not getting into that right now. When I learned how the government works a half a century ago, there was no such thing taught to us in Social Studies class.

Inside the Israeli Supreme Court Building

One Thing I'm pretty sure still exists is that the judges are supposed to decide according to law, and when lawyers and judges explain cases to a jury they are supposed to make sure that the jury understands the law and not decides just according to personal whim and ideology.

In Israel, we have a very serious dual problem with the Judicial branch of goverment in that not only do the judges choose judges, but they have a strong Leftist ideology and believe that their job is to enforce their ideology on the country:

Supreme Court President Miriam Naor responded on Sunday, accusing Erdan of encroaching on the independence of Israel's judicial branch while attempting to violate "the principle of a judge's personal independence, which is a central tenet of a democratic regime*." (Jerusalem Post) (*emphasis mine)

I find Naor's statement totally outrageous. There is no such principle as "personal independence" for judges' decisions in the concept of democracy. That's anarchy when a  judge judges according to his/her personal opinion and ideology, rather than law. The job of a judge is to enforce the law through the courts, not make law according to arbitrary individual/personal opinions.

Democracy is the rule of the people who elect legislators who are in charge of making laws. And there were just recently elections in Israel. One of the issues that brought votes to the Likud and Bayit Yehudi was just that problem, the Leftist hold on the Judiciary here in Israel.  The people, the voters, the citizens of the State of Israel do not want judges who override the law and go against the democratically legislature aka the Knesset.  What's anti-democratic in Israel is the way the judges make decisions, like Supreme Court President Miriam Naor.

Rosh Hashanah, Not The New Years I Grew Up With

this year's "fruit head"
"May we be a head, not a tail." 

Yesterday, on Shabbat, I was at my usual shiur nashim, Women's Torah lesson, and the young man teaching us somehow got us to talking about the differences between Rosh Hashannah, the beginning of the Jewish Year, which starts actually in a few hours, and the New Year's celebrations I grew up with.

I can't say for sure that every American family of my generation was the same or that things have remained on the same keel until now, but I don't remember the secular New Year's as a family holiday. My parents sometimes entertained on New Year's Eve, but we kids weren't invited. we had to stay in a different part of the house and go to bed even early. The next day on the news we'd see celebrations from the night before. Well into my teens I did go on New Year's Eve dates a couple of times, but the partying seemed rather mechanical to me. At least for me it was more about imitating the party spirit. I sure didn't feel like it was anything special.

Even though my family as pretty assimilated, I do remember Rosh Hashanah being celebrated with some Jewish customs. We had a traditional meal with challah, honey, chicken soup and whatever else my mother considered as proper for Rosh Hashanah. I don't remember my father ever making kiddush, but I think they did serve some sweet red kiddush wine. We also went to our local shul and heard the shofar. I probably spent more time in shul than anyone else in the family, since I always enjoyed it and felt connected to what was happening. I guess it wasn't all that great a surprise when later on I did become Torah observant.

One of my earliest, if not the earliest Jewish themed memory is going with my father to Rosh Hashana prayers in a big tent in a parking lot of the Windsor Park garden apartments just west of Bell Park Gardens, Bayside, NY, where we lived when I was a child. I can still picture myself standing on the brown folding chair to see better. That was most probably the forerunner of the Oakland Jewish Center, before it had a proper building. Our section of Bayside was full of young Jewish families who, although may not have been all that religiously observant, but they wanted a synagogue that would be sufficiently traditional in which they'd feel comfortably Jewish. OJC was affiliated with United Synagogue Conservative Judaism.

Jewish Holidays, including Rosh Hashanah always have family friendly aspects, special food and child friendly prayers like the Shofar, ram's horn, which is blown in a specific way. Purim, Passover, Succot, Simchat Torah and Shavuot also are celebrated in a family inclusive fashion.

The season of the Jewish New Year begins a month before Rosh Hashanah, when we are supposed to begin repenting and thinking of what we did wrong in our observance of Judaism and behavior towards others, and how to do it better. Jewish News Year's resolutions are in the spiritual realm, not focusing just on things like "lose weight" and "get a better job."

Rosh Hashanah is a holiday for the entire Jewish Nation, and may this next year, 5776 be an absolutely wonderful one for all of us.

Good Health, Blessings, Joyous Events and Geula Shleimah, Complete Redemption!