Gmar Chatima Tova, Timing is From Gd

On Sunday morning, everything was so calm, peaceful and lovely, as I walked over to wait for my friends at the bus stop towards Kfar Adumim across from Ammunition Hill Jerusalem. I had gotten off of the 25 bus from Pisgat Zeev and had to cross a couple of streets passing the light-rail stop. I was a couple of minutes early for our scheduled 9:30 am pickup and thanked Gd that my timing was so perfect. At that time, I hadn't realized just how perfect.

I took a few pictures while I waited for them to show up.

Not that long after we arrived in Kfar Adumim, our phones started "beeping" from family WhatsApps, as everyone got messages of:

"I'm OK. How are you?" 

And then we discovered that just after 10am, less than an hour after I'd been walking around there, an Arab terrorist began a drive-by shooting rampage which resulted in the murder of two and the injuries of others.

Jerusalem resident Levana Malihi, 60, left, and police officer First Sergeant Yosef Kirma, 29, who were shot dead in a terror attack in Jerusalem, October 9, 2016. (Police spokesperson)
Times of Israel

The main lesson I internalized after I had been injured in an Arab terror attack just over twenty years ago, davka, less than a kilometer from there, was how little control we have over life and death. It's all in Gd's Hands. Sometimes just a few seconds make the difference, and sometimes it's not even an inch or centimeter. We don't know how Gd decides who will die and when.

Another "davka" is that my friends and I are now (in Matan's Al Haperek program) studying Job, Iyov, the man who went from being rich in every possible way to losing it all. Job tries to argue with Gd, demanding from Him the opportunity for a "face to face," so he can ask what he did to deserve such an awful punishment. As students of the Bible know, and as we discussed Sunday morning, Job didn't lose his family as punishment. Job was the "victim"of a bet between Gd and Evil to see if such inexplicable tragedy would cause Job to lose his faith in Gd.

Job is the perfect book to be learning in these difficult times.

Have an easy fast to those fasting on Yom Kippur.

Gmar Chatima Tova

May Gd Seal You in The Book of Life

Brilliant Short Film Explaining True Situation in Israel

Tzvi Fishman, long time film-maker, originally from the states, has written, directed and produced the most brilliant and clear description of the situation here in Israel and the dangers of trusting foreign advice. It's best that you first watch the movie instead of my trying to explain it.

הכל בסדר, אמא, Imma, Hakol Beseder, Mom, Everything's Fine

Unfortunately, this is a very true scenario.

Israel's insecurity and growing unwillingness to trust its own instincts in terms of defense is a growing danger.

This is seen in the daily news, such as the disgraceful and dangerous media and legal trial against the young soldier Elor Azaria. And also the fact that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu buckled totally and agreed to sign the most damaging so-called aid sic package with the United States. Basically, this new aid package not only gives the United States full production control over necessary military defense equipment, but it endangers the economic viability of Israel's military industries. The only beneficiary of this "package" is the United States of America.

Please share this film far and wide to give people the chance to know the truth.

Short History of the Jewish People

Israel's Foreign Ministry has been using short little "films" to try to educate the world about the true situation here in the Holy Land and Jewish History. In general it's a good idea, since the modern attention span is horrendously limited and actual knowledge pretty anorexic.

jerusalemjournal.net

A few weeks ago the world, especially the "free world leaders" like USA's Barack Hussein Obama were ranting when PM Binyamin Netanyahu gave a very accurate description of the Arab plans for "Palestine" as ethnic cleansing against Jews.  They sure can't handle truth and accuracy.

And now the foreign media, among others, are showing its displeasure at a cute little film that illustrates a very simplified version of The History of The Jewish People In The Land of Israel,  Yahoo and A satirical ‘history of the Jewish people’ released by the Israeli government offends just about everyone, Washington Post.



It was put out by the Israeli Foreign Ministry and gives an overly simplistic sanitized version of our History here. I don't know if their experts insist that they shouldn't pass the four minute mark, but I would have added two crucial things.

• When the British Mandate arrive they should have the Saudi Arabian Hashemites tagging along and then given the livingroom for the invented Kingdom of Jordan.
• And the Arabs who barge in at the very end should be dressed as Hamas terrorists.

Unfortunately, by leaving these out, the otherwise clever little film is missing the crucial punch/accuracy it needs to be fully effective. 

What do you think?

The Utter Irony of Shiloh for a Relocated Amona

Before I go any further, I'd like to make it super clear that I am 1,000% and more opposed to the destruction of any home in Amona, Migron or any other Jewish community. I also think that these Leftist nuisance cases against Jewish homes which magnify and distort possible Arab ownership of land based on vague hearsay should be thrown out of court.

Amona PR division

Amona is a lovely rural-like community next to Ofra. A few years ago, it underwent a horrendous trauma when the government destroyed nine homes, and in the process sent in riot police who brutally injured hundreds of protesters.

police brutality at Amona, 2006

Nobody wants to see this ever again, and nobody trusts the Israeli Government to do what's best for the Jewish People and the State of Israel.

One of Moshe Ya'alon's ideas before being booted out of the position of Defense Minister was to build a "new Amona" in Gush Shiloh (the Shiloh Bloq,) east of Shvut Rachel.

Why do I see this as ironic?

There's a little known fact in the history of the "settlement movement." Ofra is the most veteran Jewish community in the mountains north of Jerusalem. (Immediately after the Six Days War, the government established a number of agricultural moshavim in the Jordan Valley.) Ofra was established by Gush Emunim in spring, 1975 after finally getting approval from the government and support from Shimon Peres. But the location that group of pioneering families was forced to accept as their only chance, was not the one they originally wanted. They davka wanted to establish that first Jewish community in Shiloh! For historic and symbolic reasons, they considered Shiloh to be the obvious choice, because Shiloh was the first Capital of the Jewish People after Joshua led us into the Holy Land.

But Shimon Peres rejected Shiloh as a potential settlement site. Peres would only allow Jews to live where there was already a "proper building," an abandoned Mandate or Jordanian army barracks/police station, and the area which became Ofra had that. In Shiloh there were some old stone churches and a possible synagogue, but nothing "modern enough."

I think that Peres had thought that a location with a relatively modern building wouldn't require much effort/investment and then would be easier to disassemble, because he really didn't think the Jews would remain there very long. The Jewish demonstrators/settlers would live in tents and trailers aka caravans which were to be trucked in and then trucked out, or so he had hoped. The barracks would be the communal structure, so the "settlement" wouldn't cost much. Gush Emunim then searched Judea and Samaria for empty barracks around which to establish communities, according to Shimon Peres's instructions. And the early yishuvim did have such barracks.

Here we are over forty years later, and there's a massive presence of Jews living peacefully in Judea, Benjamin and Samaria. There would be even more if the government would approve the requested building plans.

The reason why the proposed location for the "new Amona" is near Shiloh and not near Ofra is because there is very little public state land in the Ofra area. Ofra is getting "full," and some of the most recent housing projects are in former orchards, which had been farmed by residents.

Davka, Shiloh, as had been explained to us in one of our earliest visits is between the two main Arab cities, Shechem and Ramallah, far from both. That means that there is a lot of state land availble for Jewish communities. So, if the families who had established that first community had been allowed to make it in Shiloh, things would have been so different. There would have been plenty of room for growth.

undo

But life isn't a computer game. We can't keep pressing "undo" to fix mistakes.

Amona wasn't a mistake, but the Israeli Government is making a mistake by trying to destroy it.

If Huma-Clinton Follow Obama as POTUS, Will Israel Finally See The Light?

Unlike many Israelis, I've never really considered the United States to be a true friend of the State of Israel. General policy comes from the State Department, and the nuances come from the sitting President. And don't forget that from the very beginning, the advice to then President Truman concerning how to vote on November 29, 1947, was to vote "no" concerning the approval of the establishment of a Jewish State.

After much debate and visit from an old friend, Truman bucked that advice and had his delegate vote "yes."

And while Arab forces, backed by Great Britain and others fought the newly formed IDF, Truman sat on his hands and watched, if he paid attention at all. Most countries, even those that voted "yes," expected the nascent Jewish State to be quickly defeated. That was the popular wisdom of the time. Remember that Great Britain did everything in its power to sabotage the establishment of a viable Jewish State. That included severely restricting immigration to preserve an Arab majority, arming the Arabs and dividing up the area mandated by the League of Nations to be Jewish state, twice, once by inventing Jordan, and the second by promoting the division of the remaining territory into Jewish and Arab states.

I consider the United States to be an extremely dangerous enemy of the State of Israel, because it claims to be a friend and ally while undermining our security and economic viability constantly. This is a classic example of the abuser-victim relationship, where the abuser proclaims love while abusing/beating the victim and then giving "gifts." Unfortunately, the Israeli persona/psyche is so damaged after thousands of years of antisemitism, that it is desperate for any form of attention and "kind" words, even when accompanied by backstabbing.

U.S. Presidents from the Democrats are most skilled at playing these games. One big reason is because American Jews have an illogical* affinity to the Democratic Party. And although it's no secret that Hillary Clinton's top aide and advisor is the pro-Arab Muslim Huma Abedin, a humongous percentage of her financial support is coming from Jews.

HYUNGWON KANG/REUTERS

Huma Abedin with Hillary Clinton.

Do You Think Huma Abedin Is An Anti-Semitic Person?

Yes	97%
No	3%

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/10/05/exclusive-huma-abedin-email-attacked-jewish-group/#ixzz4MNMGPDwh

It would be worse than naive to imagine a Hillary Clinton White House without Huma Abedin in a top official role. I have no doubt that American Jewry will continue to lie to itself about Hillary being a friend, but I should hope that the State of Israel will finally wise up and see the truth. The United States of America is neither a friend nor ally of the State of Israel! This is certainly the case when the President is a Democrat, because the agenda of that party endangers the State of Israel. As awful as some of the Republican presidents have been vis-à-vis their Israeli policies, this is bupkes in comparison to the potential dangers of a Hillary Clinton presidency.

Yes, that means I consider Donald Trump to be much better for Israel and American Jews than Hillary. 

And I also think that having another US President, Hillary Gd forbid, who doesn't see the dangers of Islam for the world to be a danger for the United States and the rest of the world.

Remember that paranoids do have real enemies!

*I would really have wished to write "inexplicable," but we all know that for a very illogical reason, American Jewry has continuously been grateful for FDR's help in defeating the Nazis, as if he did it to stop the Holocaust, when the truth is that saving Jews was not part of his plan at all. He did nothing to stop/protest the antisemitism that mushroomed into systematic murder, nor did he do anything to stop the killing, and he kept out Jewish refugees and survivors as much as he could.

GUEST POST: Path to Peace for Israel

Path to Peace for Israel by Mr. Cohen

If Israel wants peace and security and respect from the nations of the world, then it must become bigger, not smaller.

If Israel wants peace and security and respect from the nations of the world, then it must take complete control of all these: the entire West Bank, all of Gaza, all of Sinai, all of Lebanon, all of Syria, and all of Jordan.

And if Israel took complete control of the Suez Canal, then it would receive even more peace and security and respect from the nations of the world.

Muslims and Arabs respect strength, not weakness.  In the minds of Muslims and Arabs, eagerness to negotiate for peace is misinterpreted as weakness and guilt, and compromise is misinterpreted as shame and humiliation.

Israel’s small size tempts other nations to attack it.

The skinny weakling can only prevent the bully from attacking him by becoming bigger and stronger, not by becoming smaller and weaker.

Like Charles Atlas said: “In seven days, I can make you a man.”
____________________________________________________________
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

Seven Times Stronger
(a quick quote about American anti-Semitism during the Holocaust):
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/01/guest-post-seven-times-stronger.html

How a Reform Rabbi Become Orthodox (true story):
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/07/how-did-reform-rabbi-become-orthodox-jew.html

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

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:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/03/guest-post-why-1967-borders-are-suicide.html

"Strategic Advantage" like Living with Cancer

For decades already, basically since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, successive American governments have promised to "help" the State of Israel by assuring us "Strategic Advantage" over our neighboring enemies.

The Economist

That is how Nixon and Kissinger supported, sic, Israel during that war. Their aim was to allow Israel a victory without its truly defeating Egypt and Syria. They wanted Israel to be fully dependent on American aid/support without its being destroyed/defeated. This was the first time Israel had fought a war for survival with any sort of foreign ally. Our 1967 Six Days War's victory was ours and ours alone, with the help of Gd and the Jewish People all over the world.

Israel's tragic mistake, which we're still paying for, is not acting like a victor should. We didn't fully accept the surrender of the Arabs in 1967. We've been attempting to negotiate "peace" ever since, which just makes us look weak and act weak.

That's why Egypt and Syria thought they had a chance to defeat us just six years after their defeat. This yearning for peace makes us appear weak, which isn't an illusion. That's why the State of Israel has been accepting the fork-tongued assistance and aid from America. The latest package/deal from Obama is the actualization of the Nixon-Kissinger plan. The conditions for Israel's acceptance of the aid, sic, buy-in-America shopping coupons is the weakening of the Israeli military industries, which makes Israel even more dependent on the USA.

"Strategic Advantage" does not give Israel the ability to fight our enemies into submission. We can only "slap it" and if we need more weapons, it is only with American approval/permission. They not only hold the purse-strings, they have the keys to the factories. 

If you liken our enemies to a "cancer," this is very much like those who have been told by their doctors that the best scene scenario is "living with cancer" which can be controlled by periodic or frequent doses of chemo, just enough to keep the cancer from growing and not enough to kill the patient.

It's one thing when you have no choice, as in certain types of cancer, but we do have a choice. This American so-called aid is also an addiction. Withdrawal may be painful for a period of time, but afterwards the body will recover and be healthy.

The Jewish People have just celebrated the beginning of the new year, 5777. It is time for us to take charge of our fate, continued existence. Gd will help us if we take the right steps.

Gmar Chatimah Tovah

May We Be Sealed in the Book of Life

U.S. VP's are More Than Just Postscripts This Year

Donald Trump, born 1946

Hillary Clinton, born 1947

If you go over the history of the United States, not all that many Vice Presidents took over the Presidency. And during the campaigns, most were forgettable or worse. But this year's/next month's American Presidential Elections have an element that rarely if ever seen. Not only is the sum total of the Presidential candidates' ages higher than ever, 139, but neither has been very open about her/his current health situation. If you have the time and patience to calculate click here for the Wikipedia listings of candidates.

Does this mean that seventy is all that ancient? Gd forbid! But in 2008, Obama, who was all of  47, made John McCain's age, 72, an election issue.

This year the Americans are choosing between two retirement age candidates, and for that reason, let's take a quick look at their Veep choices aka running mates.

Tim Kaine

Like Hillary's kissing Suha Arafat after her anti-Israel speech filled with lies, the Democratic nominee, Tim Kaine,  is haunted by his boycott of Bibi's speech to Congress. From my perch here in Shiloh, Israel, I don't like what I see coming from the Democratic Party.

Mike Pence

In all honesty, I know even less about Trump's Veep,  Mike Pence. Considering that Trump has no congressional experience, I'd think he'd draft someone with a good track record. Remember that JFK never managed to pass his platform, and it was the congressional power house, Lyndon B. Johnson, who got the job done when he assumed the presidency after Kennedy was assassinated. So the information I just read in Wikipedia "During Pence's twelve years in the House, he introduced 90 bills and resolutions; none became law.^[42]" may not be good for Trump.

May Gd save us all...

Gmar Chatima Tovah, Free Will and Gd's Hands...

Traditional Jewish New Year's Blessing:
"Be a head and not a tail."
This is my "head" for the Jewish Year of 5777.

There's a basic aspect of Jewish theology/philosophy that can get rather confusing. On one hand we credit Gd with having power over everything, including ourselves, but on the other hand we stress the fact that we have Free will and must take responsibilities for our decisions and sins. That is what repentance is all about.

The traditional greeting this time of the Jewish Year is "Gmar Chatima Tovah," which is explained to mean "May Gd seal you in the book of Life." This greeting/blessing refers to the Teshuva, Repentance we're supposed to have done and can also be explained as "I hope Gd gives you a good grade." Or "I hope you passed the test."

That's because Gd has the power over life and death. Now, if that's the case, is it Gd, murderers or illnesses or accidents that kill us? This can get very complicated to explain.

Is death a way of punishing us? If Gd is punishing us by killing us, then are murderers really guilty or are they tools of Gd? How does all this jive with Free Will?

With my Matan "Al Haperek" group, we've been learning Job, and Job struggles over these questions, because suddenly his family and wealth are gone, and he is angry with Gd. He wants to talk face-to-face with Gd to ask why, but instead of Gd he argues with his friends. Job doesn't accept the answers his friends give him, and his friends have lost sympathy urging Job to get on with his life.

Unlike pretty much all other religions, Jews argue and delve into Judaism relatively freely. And I'm talking about strictly Torah observant Jews, not just those who think many of the Mitzvot are optional and irrelevant for today's life. What do you think that all those tens of thousands or more students do day and night in yeshivot? They don't sit around trying to memorize more and more restrictions. The Batei Medrash, Study Halls are filled with noise as the students read and argue fine points of religious texts, philosophy and observance with their study partners. And these students aren't just teens and young people in their early twenties. They are adults, parents, grandparents. Some only have time a few hours a day or week, while others "learn" as a job, getting a stipend or once they've retired and can live on their pension.

In the Rosh Hashanah prayers, there is a very famous one called  Unetanneh Tokef Prayer and in it we recognize that only Gd has power over life and death:

But we're still left with questions:

Is death solely a punishment? And then is it punishment only for the one who died or for the ones who loved him/her?
And aren't there times when death is a "gift?"

Thoughts for this new year, 5777...

Rosh Hashanah Memories and Prayers

• What is Rosh Hashanah for you?
• What are your favorite and first memories of Rosh Hashanah?

My very first memories of, what must have been, Rosh Hashanah were of being in a great big tent with my father. The tent was set up, according to my memory, in a parking lot in Windsor Park, the garden apartment complex just west of Bell Park Gardens, Bayside, New York, where we lived from the time I was an infant until the summer I was thirteen. I had to have been either two or three years old at the time. I remember that these were Jewish Prayers, and my father stood me on the folding chair. My guess is that I was stood on the chair to hear/see the shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah. 

In subsequent years, we went to the newly built Oakland Jewish Center, which was our synagogue until we moved to Great Neck. As I've always understood it, that tent was erected before there was a building by those who founded the shul. In the ten years or so we were members, it expanded a couple of times. In its heydays of the late 1950's and early 1960's it was popular and constantly growing. Later on the the membership began to decline, and it finally closed its doors the summer of 2013. The remaining members joined the Little Neck Jewish Center a few miles to the east. Davka, in the final years we were in Bayside, OJC had a tent in its parking lot for the "Junior Congregation" to pray in on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. In those days, our Conservative shul did not permit driving on Shabbat and Jewish Holidays. Also all members lived nearby, within walking distance. Besides the seating, mixed versus separate, there were hardly any differences between the Jewish observances in Conservative and Orthodox synagogues. 

I have strong memories of the shofar being blown. It used to be the dominant sound of Rosh Hashanah for me. But in recent years, I find the prayers, when we all sing/pray together to truly stand out in my mind. 

I've photographed from this very old Rosh Hashanah Machzor- Prayerbook 

Here in my local Shiloh shul, Noam Yonatan, Ramat Shmuel, most of us join in singing/praying loudly. There is no operatic-style chazan demanding his solitary stage. Men and women, sitting separately of course, pray rather vocally, which I love. 

We pray, beg, demand of Gd that we all be inscribed in the BOOK OF LIFE. Yes, there is shouting when we reach that line. We all know how unexpectedly death can Gd for bid come to those young and old. 

And as you can see, we pray in the plural. We pray for all the Jewish people, not just for ourselves and our loved ones. That is also something I truly treasure about Judaism, the plural in our prayers. 

May Gd accept our prayers and forgive our sins.

שנה טובה

גמר חתימה טובה

SHANAH TOVAH

GMAR CHATIMA TOVAH

White House Insults State of Israel on Day of Shimon Peres Funeral

This outrageous anti-Israel behavior took place on the very day that Shimon Peres was buried:

White House corrects location of Jerusalem on day of Peres’ funeral

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/

Every American President in recent decades has promised to have the American Government officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel's Capital, but none have. It's just one of those lies they all say to get the "Jewish vote."

Israeli officials and American Jewry consistently ignore the fact that not only have successive American Governments called post-1967 Jerusalem neighborhoods "settlements," but they refuse to recognize American citizens born in Jerusalem as born in Jerusalem, Israel. Yes, as far as the American State Department and all the American Governments since 1948 are concerned, Jerusalem is supposed to be Arab internationalized. Basically, Jerusalem is supposed to be anything but Jewish-Israeli. And this hasn't changed one iota in the close to seventy years since the establishment of the State of Israel.

Now, the bottom line as far as I'm concerned is that American policy is not that of a friend or ally, and the State of Israel should stop fantasizing that it is.