Summer Bible/Tanach 5779 at Herzog College

Yesterday I spent the day immersed in Bible, Tanach at Michlelet Herzog, Herzog College in Alon Shvut. They offer a weeklong "festival" of study and touring. It's not cheap, but it's worth it for me. My summer vacation treats are membership in our local pool and spending one day at Herzog. I prefer that to a hotel or other "vacation."

This year enough* people signed up for the Shomron-Binyamin bus, which made traveling very easy.
I signed up for lectures according to the lecturers. Three are favorites from Matan, Dr. Yael Ziegler, Yael Leibowitz and Atara Snowbell, who no longer teaches there. They are my all time favorites, and if you ever have the opportunity to hear them, take advantage.

Herzog College Yemei Iyun, Bible Study Days offer classes and tours in Hebrew, English and French.

The organization, as usual, was excellent. This time my classes were only in two locations, two lectures, lunch and then the following three in a large "tent." Besides the bus, I signed up for lunch, which was also excellent. There was fish, plus a vegetarian alternative, lots of vegetables, salad, fruit and bread for those who wanted. There were hot/cold drinks in various locations, plus fruit, cookies and pastry throughout the day.

I must admit that the various lectures are all mixed up in my head. They covered similar overlapping topics and even quoted some of the same Bible verses.

To very superficially summarize, the lectures were about the era between the two Holy Temples, Ezra, Nechemia and Jeremiah.

Each of the five lecturers/speakers have different styles, and I really enjoyed the fact that they went over similar subject matter in their individual ways. The era is so similar to today:

• aliyah
• intermarriage
• assimilation
• "Who's a Jew?"
• To build or not to build a new Holy Temple?
• True or False Prophets? Who's really speaking in the name of Gd?

An added bonus was seeing lots of friends, many I've known since I was a teen. I also got to meet people I've been in touch with via facebook and other social media.

The growing popularity of the Tanach, Bible is further proof that we're preparing ourselves for the Third Temple and the Moshiach. They are connected, and I believe that we have to change, be ready, prepare ourselves and the world. It's not the job for the Moshiach to change us.  Gd willing we will work harder to make ourselves better, do Teshuva, repent and utilize the gifts Gd has been giving us, like the Land of Israel.

במהרה בימינו

bimhaira biyameinu

speedily in our days...

*last year it was cancelled for the day I needed due to insufficient registration

From the "Vineyards of the Mountains of Samaria," "כְרָמִ֔ים בְּהָרֵ֖י שֹֽׁמְר֑וֹן"

Jeremiah 31:

4Yet again shall you plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria, indeed planters shall plant [them] and redeem [them].

דעוֹד תִּטְּעִ֣י כְרָמִ֔ים בְּהָרֵ֖י שֹֽׁמְר֑וֹן נָטְע֥וּ נֹטְעִ֖ים וְחִלֵּֽלוּ:

It means a lot to me to have served grapes from our own Shiloh vineyard, a few grape vines growing near our house, on Rosh Hashana when we had just heard the above verse in the Haftara. It is clear to me that we are living in Messianic times. Things may not be perfect, but we are getting there, Gd willing speedily in our days...

Taste of Moshiach, Eating on 9th of Av

Tisha b'Av, the 9th day of the Jewish Month of Av is commemorated as the saddest and longest day of the year. It's one of the two 25 hour fasts, along with Yom Kippur. But unlike Yom Kippur it's a day of mourning, and the mourning customs continue until the following afternoon. Even the meal that breaks the fast has to be restricted to non-festive foods.

Unlike Yom Kippur, Tisha b'Av will not be a fast day forever. When the Moshiach rules and our Holy Temple is rebuilt, the 9th of Av will become a festive holiday. We pray that will be soon. It's even customary that announcement for Tisha b'Av events to be preceded with "If the Moshiach hasn't yet come..."

The meals that "bookend" Yom Kippur are festive meals, traditionally a rich chicken soup followed by meat and festive dishes, but for 9th of Av it's the opposite. The traditional prefast meal before Tisha b'Av is that of a mourner. No meat or poultry and the "Dessert" is boiled eggs rolled in ash. But not this year!

This year we ate meat and poultry and drank wine on Tisha b'Av. Many Torah observant Jews even had festive meals before the fast began. That's because this year the actual 9th of Av was on Shabbat, and we don't mourn on Shabbat. It's forbidden. The only special pre-Tisha b'Av change to Shabbat was that we were required to finish eating our festive third Shabbat meal before the sun began to set.

Gd willing next year, 5779, there will be no Fast of Tisha b'Av, neither the 9th of Av nor the 10th. Those days will be joyous holidays, and the Holy Temple will be standing, and Jews won't be forced to undergo demeaning inspections to go up to the Temple Mount.

Gd willing Tisha b'Av next year, 5779, there will be festive Jewish Prayer in the Holy Temple on the Temple Mount!

My husband, Yisrael Medad, waiting to enter the Temple Mount today

Chanukah Lights of Jewish Return

The main mitzvah, Commandment, of the Chanukah Holiday is Pisum haNess, Publicizing the Miracle. That is why we are commanded to place our lit chanukiyot, Chanukah Menorot in a place where people can easily see them.

That's why you'll see lit chanukiyot outside of people's homes or in their windows facing the street. And the oil, or candles, are supposed to stay lit for as long as possible, the longer the better. There is nothing discreet about Chanukah.

Chankukah is the only Jewish Holiday which isn't clearly mentioned in the Bible. Chazal, our scholars show where it's alluded to, but the story itself took place after all of the other ones, including the Purim story. Esther and Mordechai lived in the time between the First and Second Temples, while Chanukah is about the Second Temple centuries later.

There is not yet a Third Temple, though we Jewish People have begun returning to the Holy Land. And although the Chaunkah story of the Maccabees' victory over the Greeks leaves us with a very optimistic impression, their dynasty was very short-lived. And afterwards we suffered an exile of two thousand years.

Today's prominence of Jews and Israelis, especially those who aren't ashamed to publicly follow Jewish Law, whether it's in dress, insisting on Kosher food or refusing tor work on the Jewish Sabbath and Holy Days, is a very enlightening and "24/7" observance of Pisum haNess, Publicizing the Miracle. I also see the lights of Jewish communities all over the Land of Israel as Pisum haNess, Publicizing the Miracle.

As the sun goes down and the sky gets dark, lights of our return to the Holy Land burn brightly for all to see.

Shvut Rachel, east of Shiloh

May we soon, speedily in our days build the Third Temple which will bring the Moshiach and Redemption, Gd willing.

Passover: Choose Your Battles, and Kitniyot isn't Mine

I enjoy my usual coffee, made in a Passover percolator, served in a Passover mug on my specially covered counter.

For those not living a Torah Jewish aka Orthodox life, there are innumerable issues that make no sense at all. And even for those who do, once you compare the different customs, especially concerning Passover foods -permitted and forbidden- confusion reigns supreme.

Until about a century or so ago, there wasn't all that much "mixing" between the Jewish communities aka eidot, so for example, the most Torah observant and knowledgeable Sephardic Jews of Tunisia and Morocco had no idea that their traditional Passover foods couldn't be eaten by an Ashkenazi Jew in Russia or Germany. And the Ashkeniz Jew would find it incredible that his Sephardic brethren had never eaten or even heard of Gefilte Fish or kneidlach.

But today, whether in Brooklyn, London or Jerusalem you will find many families of mixed Jewish ethnic backgrounds struggling at times to create menus and traditions that halachically (according to Jewish Law) suit all members of the family around the Seder table. My family is one of them.

I'm always praising this mix and sincerely consider it a sign that the Moshiach and Redemption are close. The blurring of these diaspora identities certainly are required prerequisites for the true Jewish Messianic Time and the building of the Third Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

My husband and I are strictly Ashkenaz and don't eat kitniyot*, legumes, whether dried, fresh or just derivatives. We've survived so many Passover Holidays on this restricted "diet" that it seems silly/unnecessary to accept/adopt one of those well-publicized general rabbinic statements that the "kitniyot restrictions" are no longer valid.

In principle I do not follow in any way public rabbinic announcements by rabbis I don't know and didn't ask. Actually, I consider it highly problematic for rabbis to make "grand announcements" to the general public. When have had a question we ask our local rabbi who knows us, and we know him.

I must say that our Passover observance has changed in the last decade plus, especially since our daughter married a Jew whose family made aliyah from Tunisia. It started when they would come to us, and we'd allow them rice on our Passover table. My daughter would make it in our pots, because rice isn't chametz, and it's perfectly permitted for them. And in recent years they host the big family seder. They serve both kitniyot and non-kitniyot foods. Everyone eats what they consider permitted on Passover. And we enjoy being together which is most important.

There are so many families like ours, nowadays, that these old ethnic divisions/differences won't last much longer Gd willing. Let them die a natural death. Don't rush it, please. It's better all around for the unity of the Jewish People to go slowly, so a Passover menu will happily include Gefilte Fish and hummus eaten with shmura soft matzot. That will be the type of meal celebrating the Chanukat Habayit of the Third Temple, Gd willing.

*Here are a few sites which will explain what this means:

• All About Kitniyot
• Kitniyot: Not Quite Hametz
• Kitniyot

GUEST POST: Rambam Rejected Childless Messiah

Rambam Rejected Childless Messiah
a guest post by Mr. Cohen
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Rambam, Hilchot Melachim, Chapter 4, paragraph 8:

The King Messiah will take a one 13^th part [7.69%]
of all the lands that Israel conquers, for himself,
and for his descendants forever.

Rambam, commentary on Mishnah Sanhedrin, chapter 10:

When the Mashiach dies, his son will rule after him,
and his grandson will rule after that.
_____________________________________________________________

Over the past 2,000 years, 36 Jewish men have claimed to be the messiah. 
34 of them had no children, one of them had a daughter,
and one of them had two sons who died before he died. 
None of them had a son and grandson to follow him.

When Rambam described the messiah as having a son and a grandson,
he achieved a super-concise refutation of all the false messiahs in the
1,000 years before him and all the false messiahs in the 1,000 years after him.

_____________________________________________________________
For more proof that the messiah will have sons, see the Metsudath David
commentary on Yechezkel chapter 44 verse 3 and Yechezkel chapter 45 verse 7,
which identifies the prince who leaves an inheritance to his sons as the King Messiah.
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Please also read: If Daniel Were Alive Today by Mr. Cohen:

https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2018/03/if-daniel-were-alive-today.html

Please also read: If Isaiah Were Alive Today by Mr. Cohen:

https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2018/03/if-isaiah-were-alive-today.html

Please also read: If Ezekiel Were Alive Today by Mr. Cohen:

https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2018/03/if-ezekiel-were-alive-today.html

Please also read: If Jeremiah Were Alive Today by Mr. Cohen:

https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2018/03/if-jeremiah-were-alive-today.html

Please also read: If Ezra Were Alive Today by Mr. Cohen:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2018/03/if-ezra-were-alive-today.html

Please also read: If Nehemiah Were Alive Today by Mr. Cohen:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2018/04/if-nehemiah-were-alive-today.html

Thank you!

_____________________________________________________________
PLEASE help by making
a PayPal donation to:
FourCupsOfWine@gmail.com.
THANK YOU!!
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PLEASE HELP SUE THE TERRORISTS IN COURT:
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www.IsraelLawCenter.org    
www.TheLawFareProject.org
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PAT CONDELL SAID:
All anyone needs to know about the Middle East conflict is that:
The Jews want peace and the Arabs don’t, because the Arabs

hate Jews for religious reasons and they want them dead.
Politics and territory are just excuses.”

SOURCE:
Why I support Israel by Pat Condell, 2014 June 18
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHC8KC5cLs8
MICROBIOGRAPHY:
Mr. Pat Condell is an atheist, who was born in Ireland around 1950 CE, and raised in England as a Roman Catholic, and educated in Church of England schools. He has no Jewish ancestors and no religious beliefs that might cause him to favor Jews
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PLEASE HELP DEFEND ISRAEL FROM UNFAIR MEDIA

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http://advocacy.ou.org/

www.camera.org                                

www.DanielPipes.org

www.FactsAndLogic.org

www.HonestReporting.com              

www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com

www.memri.org

www.memriTV.org                            

www.MideastReporter.com

www.MythsAndFacts.org                 

www.TheIsraelProject.org

www.BBCwatch.org

www.jhrw.com                                  

www.ngo-monitor.org

www.PalWatch.org

www.UKMediaWatch.org                

www.UNwatch.org

www.aish.com/jw/mo/4-Reasons-Why-the-Media-is-Biased-against-Israel.html

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PAT CONDELL SAID:

“I no longer believe that the Israelis should give back Jerusalem...

Experience has taught us that the Islamic mentality views ANY concession as weakness to be exploited further. And besides, too many so-called Palestinians seem less concerned with peace and freedom, than with driving Jews into the sea, so the bombings would not stop.”

SOURCE: Why do Muslims always blame the Jews?</i> by Pat Condell

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziXyfLf-oxI

MICROBIOGRAPHY:

Mr. Pat Condell is an atheist, who was born in Ireland around 1950 CE, and raised in England as a Roman Catholic, and educated in Church of England schools.

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PLEASE HELP FIGHT ISRAEL-BASHING ON-CAMPUS:

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www.AcademicEngagement.org

www.AcademicCouncilForIsrael.com

www.CameraOnCampus.org

www.CampusFairness.org

www.CanaryMission.org

www.DavidProject.org

www.Israel-Academia-Monitor.com 

www.IsraCampus.org.il

www.JewHatredOnCampus.org

www.SSImovement.org

www.StandWithUs.com

www.TheIsraelGroup.org

https://twitter.com/cmaccabees

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PAT CONDELL SAID:

“It is often said, because it is true, that if the Arabs laid down their weapons, there would be peace; but if the Jews laid down their weapons, they would be massacred, because the Arabs, the Muslims Arabs for all you hair-splitters out there, don’t want peace, they want the Jews dead.”

SOURCE: Useful idiots for Palestine by Pat Condell, 2011 November 4

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeGYAfh9A1k

MICROBIOGRAPHY:  

Mr. Pat Condell is an atheist, who was born in Ireland around 1950 CE, and raised in England as a Roman Catholic, and educated in Church of England schools. He has no Jewish ancestors and no religious beliefs that might cause him to favor Jews.

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OTHER BLOG POSTS BY MR. COHEN:

Quick Bible Quotes from Joshua and Jeremiah:
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/11/guest-post-joshua-chapter-23-verse-12.html
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/12/guest-post-jeremiah-chapter-17.html

Ancient Roman historians connected Jews with the Land of Israel and Jerusalem:

https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/02/guest-post-josephus-vs-muslim-liars.html
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/05/guest-post-cornelius-tacticus.html

Rambam Rejected Childless Messiah:
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/08/rambam-rejected-childless-messiah-by-mr.html

Why Muslims Hate Jews:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/12/guest-post-why-muslims-hate-jews.html
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/01/guest-post-moynihan-1982.html

Forgotten Oppression against Jews:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/01/guest-post-forgotten-oppression.html
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/03/guest-post-forgotten-anti-semitism.html

Articles about American anti-Semitism:

www.algemeiner.com/2018/02/01/at-least-five-imams-in-america-have-called-for-the-death-of-jews-wheres-the-outrage/
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/01/guest-post-seven-times-stronger.html
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/01/guest-post-jewish-nyc-mayor.html

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Rambam vs. Reform Judaism:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/11/rambam-vs-reform-judaism.html

How a Reform Rabbi Become Orthodox (true story):

http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/07/how-did-reform-rabbi-become-orthodox-jew.html

Why Barak Hullman left Reform Judaism and became Orthodox:
http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/why-reform-judaism-doesnt-work-wont-work-and-how-to-fix-it/

Sephardic Jews Reject Reform Judaism:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/07/sephardim-reject-reform.html
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/08/guest-post-persian-rabbis-decree.html

Greek NYC Jews and Syrian NYC Jews:

http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/03/greek-jews-syrian-jews.html

 

Quick quote from Famous Jewish mega-donor about Jewish Continuity:

https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2018/02/mr-sy-syms.html

 

Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch vs Reform Judaism:

https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2018/03/rabbi-hirsch-vs-reform.html

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How to Convict the New York Times:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/11/guest-post-how-to-convict-new-york-times.html
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/11/guest-post-nyt-erases-israel-from-map.html
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/03/guest-postnyt-vs-israel.html

Why Pray for Tzahal-IDF:
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/04/guest-post-why-pray-for-idf.html

How to Pray for Tzahal-IDF:
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/09/how-to-pray-for-tzahal-idf.html

Why Israel’s 1967 Borders are Undefendable:
www.algemeiner.com/2017/10/27/israel-cannot-withdraw-from-the-west-bank/
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/03/guest-post-why-1967-borders-are-suicide.html