Not all the news you read is fit to print, but the following I came across as a feature article on the jpost online blog section of their site. brings to mind what Reb Menachem Mendel of Rimanov (1745-1815) said:
Regarding Moshiach's task of collecting the dispersed of Israel,
R' Menachem Mendel of Rimanov asks:
Are we to suppose that Moshiach tzidkeinu will go to all the places where Israel is dispersed,
to all the corners of the earth, and collect its members like a shepherd...?"
He answers as follows:
"The Moshiach, with his eleveated state of holiness, will conentrate his thoughts on exalted meditations and awesome forms of unification of Hashem's Names. Among the latter will be an especially petrifying and awesome form of unification which will produce the effect of gathering together all those that are born from the Jewish nation, who are dispersed over all the lands. Of their own accord they will feel compelled to come to the Holy Land. [Here he quotes Hoshea 11:11]
"At this time, each member of Israel will experience a faintness and trembling in his heart, which will hasten him to fly and reside in the place where he will be directed. This is what will be accomplished by Moshiach with a single thought concentration and by invoking a unique holy form of unification of Hashem's Names which "no eye will have seen" or known other then Moshiach himself, whom we aspire to have in our midst speedily in our days."
Another Link in The Gathering of Our People – Bringing the Tribe Home
Sephardi Genealogy Comes of Age
Modern Sephardi Jewry includes descendants of Jews expelled from Spain during the Inquisition as well as Oriental or "Mizrahi" Jews who lived in the Middle East, Near East and Central Asia - all non-Yiddish speaking, non-Ashkenazi Jews. Researchers, assisted by DNA projects, are also investigating the Sephardi roots of some Eastern European Jews.
Jewish genealogy is no longer the sole realm of Eastern European Ashkenazim.
A very creative and enterprising Schelly Talalay Dardashti, lead s the new
'Ask the Genealogy’ section
at JPost.com. A native New Yorker in Tel Aviv, she focuses on Jewish genealogy as researcher, journalist, blogger, online instructor and international speaker. For nearly 20 years, she's traced the DARDASHTI and TALALAY families across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas.
She also writes Tracing the Tribe - The Jewish Genealogy Blog (since 2006), was the Jerusalem Post genealogy columnist ("It's All Relative," 1999-2005); co-founded GenClass.com, offering online genealogy classes; and was the former multi-term president of the five-branched JFRA Israel (member, International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies - IAJGS).
Sephardi Genealogy Comes of Age
The 28th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy – is now open for registration. You can network with international experts, archivists and researchers of all skill levels.
The dates are Sunday-Friday, August 17-22. Conference and hotel registration
can be accessed at the event site. Prices are posted for various component costs, such as early bird registration, and more.
Maybe, maybe searching for ancestors will bring the search back to Eretz Yisrael
and thus eventually bring some of her children back Home.
31 January 2008
30 January 2008
Will it Make a Difference to Anyone But Us?
When this article first appeared on Arutz Sheva online news (inn.com), I was very excited and sent it to some people for their response.
It was about a Canadian lawyer, Jacques Gauthier, who spent 20 years researching the legal status of Jerusalem, and he concluded:
"JERUSALEM BELONGS TO THE JEWS, BY INTERNATIONAL LAW."
So, will it make a difference to anyone but us?
So says Joe Orlow of jewishactivistnetwork.com:
“PM Olmert and Pres. Bush are set on giving control of Jerusalem over
to the Arabs.
Now, since under "international law" (whatever that means) Jerusalem
"belongs' to the State of Israel, it seems apparent that the duly
elected PM of said state can then, under international law, transfer
that "belonging" to someone else.
Under Torah, the Land of Israel, including Jerusalem, was given to
the Jewish People by G-d, and thus belongs to the Jewish People. And
the Land cannot be transferred or given to anyone else, since that
was not part of the original contract with G-d, that any Jew could
effect such a transfer.”
We are back where we left off, and it ain’t getting any better.
It was about a Canadian lawyer, Jacques Gauthier, who spent 20 years researching the legal status of Jerusalem, and he concluded:
"JERUSALEM BELONGS TO THE JEWS, BY INTERNATIONAL LAW."
So, will it make a difference to anyone but us?
So says Joe Orlow of jewishactivistnetwork.com:
“PM Olmert and Pres. Bush are set on giving control of Jerusalem over
to the Arabs.
Now, since under "international law" (whatever that means) Jerusalem
"belongs' to the State of Israel, it seems apparent that the duly
elected PM of said state can then, under international law, transfer
that "belonging" to someone else.
Under Torah, the Land of Israel, including Jerusalem, was given to
the Jewish People by G-d, and thus belongs to the Jewish People. And
the Land cannot be transferred or given to anyone else, since that
was not part of the original contract with G-d, that any Jew could
effect such a transfer.”
We are back where we left off, and it ain’t getting any better.
28 January 2008
The Uncontested Capital Jerusalem
A Guest Reply Post by YehudaDraiman.com
[A Renewable Energy Consultant]
http://www.yehudadraiman.blogspot.com/
The Land of Israel and its uncontested Capital Jerusalem
The Qur'an 17:104 - states the land belongs to the Jewish people.
If the historic documents, comments written by eyewitnesses and declarations by the most authoritative Arab scholars are still not enough, let us quote the most important source for Muslim Arabs:
"And thereafter we [Allah] said to the Children of Israel: 'Dwell securely in the Promised Land. And when the last warning will come to pass, we will gather you together in a mingled crowd'.". 017.104
YUSUFALI: And We said thereafter to the Children of Israel, "Dwell securely in the land (of promise)": but when the second of the warnings came to pass, We gathered you together in a mingled crowd.
PICKTHAL: And We said unto the Children of Israel after him: Dwell in the land; but when the promise of the Hereafter cometh to pass We shall bring you as a crowd gathered out of various nations.
SHAKIR: And We said to the Israelites after him: Dwell in the land: and when the promise of the next life shall come to pass, we will bring you both together in judgment.
- Qur'an 17:104 -
Any sincere Muslim must recognize the Land they call "Palestine" as the Jewish Homeland, according to the book considered by Muslims to be the most sacred word and Allah's ultimate revelation.
“The birthplace of the Jewish people is the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael). There, a significant part of the nation's long history was enacted, of which the first thousand years are recorded in the Bible; there, its cultural, religious and national identity was formed; and there, its physical presence has been maintained through the centuries, even after the majority was forced into exile. During the many years of dispersion, the Jewish people never severed nor forgot its bond with the Land. With the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Jewish independence, lost two thousand years earlier, was renewed.”
If people of any nation were exiled to other country’s and than years later were able to reclaim their country, the world population as a whole would support such action and would not consider giving a piece of the country to the foreigners who are residing there, and under no circumstances would they consider parceling portions of the county to be set up as a separate State for the foreigners.
Why should anyone in the world consider doing this very same action with the land of Israel which is a Jewish land for thousands of years?
The Arabs living in the land of Israel have come from the surrounding Arab countries; they have no right whatsoever to any part of the land of Israel.
In the past hundred years many Jews were ejected from Arab countries surrounding the land of Israel, their property taken and their homes and lands taken over.
Let those Arabs who want to Claim the land of Israel as theirs go to those Arab countries and the homes and lands that the Jews were occupying.
Any part of the land of Israel is not occupied territory; it is legally a Jewish land and has been for thousands of years, no Arab has any right to claim any rights to the land of Israel.
The surrounding Arab countries compose of over 100 million people and millions of square miles, why do they have to bother little Israel with its territory about the size of the State of New Jersey. Maybe the world should consider giving European countries or parts to the Italians, since the Romans occupied it for many years.
JERUSALEM
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its cunning.
May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.
(Psalms 137:5-6)
Jerusalem, the uncontested and undivided capital of Israel, is located in the heart of the country, nestled among the Judean Hills. The city's ancient stones, imbued with millennia of history, and its numerous historical sites, shrines and places of worship attest to its meaning for Jews.
Jerusalem the "eternal and undivided capital" of the Jewish people,
Jerusalem is -- and must remain -- the uncontested, undivided capital of Israel.
Jerusalem is the only city that can prove the validity of Israeli-Jewish existence. No one should question Jewish historic claim and affinity to Jerusalem which dates back the Canaanite period (3000-1200 BCE). The re-capture of the old city in 1967 was widely seen by the Israelis as nothing less than the renewal of God's covenant with the Jews. Jerusalem represents their past and present, a source of religious and cultural continuity without which Israel's very existence could unravel. The hope of returning to Jerusalem has sustained the Jews throughout their dispersion, and centuries of exile have been unable to extinguish it.
Abraham, Isaac and Jacobs resided in the land of Israel and Jerusalem from the year 1948 from Creation (circa 1800 BCE).
King David made Jerusalem the capital of his kingdom, as well as the religious center of the Jewish people, in 1003 BCE. Some forty years later, his son Solomon built the Temple (the religious and national center of the people of Israel) and transformed the city into the prosperous capital of an empire extending from the Euphrates to Egypt.
The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem in 586 BCE, destroyed the Temple, and exiled the people. Fifty years later, when Babylon was conquered by the Persians, King Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to their homeland and granted them autonomy. They built a Second Temple on the site of the First, and rebuilt the city and its walls.
Alexander the Great conquered Jerusalem in 332 BCE. After his death the city was ruled by the Ptolemies of Egypt and then by the Seleucids of Syria. The Hellenization of the city reached its peak under the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV; the desecration of the Temple and attempts to suppress Jewish religious identity resulted in a revolt.
Led by Judah Maccabee, the Jews defeated the Seleucids, rededicated the Temple (164 BCE), and re-established Jewish independence under the Hasmonean dynasty, which lasted for more than a hundred years, until Pompey imposed Roman rule on Jerusalem. King Herod the Idumean, who was installed as ruler of Judah by the Romans (37 - 4 BCE), established cultural institutions in Jerusalem, erected magnificent public buildings and refashioned the Temple into an edifice of splendor.
Jewish revolt against Rome broke out in 66 CE, as Roman rule after Herod's death became increasingly oppressive. For a few years Jerusalem was free of foreign rule, until, in 70 CE, Roman legions under Titus conquered the city and destroyed the Temple. Jewish independence was briefly restored during the Bar Kochba revolt (132-135), but again the Romans prevailed. Jews were forbidden to enter the city, which was renamed Aelia Capitolina and rebuilt along the lines of a Roman city.
For the next century and a half, Jerusalem was a small provincial town. This changed radically when the Byzantine Emperor Constantine transformed Jerusalem into a Christian center. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher (335) was the first of numerous grandiose structures built in the City.
Muslim armies invaded the country in 634, and four years later Caliph Omar captured Jerusalem. Only during the reign of Abdul Malik, who built the Dome of the Rock (691), did Jerusalem briefly become the seat of a caliph. The century-long rule of the Umayvad Dynasty from Damascus was succeeded in 750 by the Abbasids from Baghdad, and with them Jerusalem began to decline.
The Crusaders conquered Jerusalem in 1099, massacred its Jewish and Muslim inhabitants, and established the city as the capital of the Crusader Kingdom. Under the Crusaders, synagogues were destroyed, old churches were rebuilt and many mosques were turned into Christian shrines. Crusader rule over Jerusalem ended in 1187, when the city fell to Saladin the Kurd.
The Mamluks, a military feudal aristocracy from Egypt, ruled Jerusalem from 1250. They constructed numerous graceful buildings, but treated the city solely as a Muslim theological center and ruined its economy through neglect and crippling taxes.
The Ottoman Turks, whose rule lasted for four centuries, conquered Jerusalem in 1517. Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilt the city walls (1537), constructed the Sultan's Pool, and placed public fountains throughout the city. After his death. The central authorities in Constantinople took little interest in Jerusalem. During the 17th and 18th centuries Jerusalem sunk to one of its lowest ebbs.
Jerusalem began to thrive once more in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Growing numbers of Jews returning to their land, waning Ottoman power and revitalized European interest in the Holy Land led to renewed development of Jerusalem.
The British army led by General Allenby conquered Jerusalem in 1917. From 1922 to 1948 Jerusalem was the administrative seat of the British authorities in the Land of Israel (Palestine), which had been entrusted to Great Britain by the League of Nations following the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. The city developed rapidly, growing westward into what became known as the "New City."
Upon termination of the British Mandate on May 14, 1948, and in accordance with the UN resolution of November 29, 1947, Israel proclaimed its independence, with Jerusalem as its capital. Opposing its establishment, the Arab countries launched an all-out assault on the new re-established state, resulting in the 1948-49 War of Independence. The armistice lines drawn at the end of the war divided Jerusalem into two, with Jordan occupying the Old City and areas to the north and south, and Israel retaining the western and southern parts of the city.
Jerusalem was reunited in June 1967, as a result of a war in which the Jordanians attempted to seize the western section of the city. The Jewish Quarter of the Old City, destroyed under Jordanian rule, has been restored, and Israeli citizens are again able to visit their holy places, which had been denied them during the years 1948-1967.
Conclusion, the land of Israel and Jerusalem as its undivided capital for the Jewish people is a historical fact for thousands of years and shall remain that way for eternity.
Rising in defense of our security, our liberty and our values.
Yehuda Draiman
PS
The true basis for a lasting peace
A far-sighted Arab-Jewish agreement was arrived at 85 years ago but was never fully implemented. This still-legal agreement provides the basis for a solution today and should become widely publicized and supported.
In 1919, following the end of World War I, an international Paris Peace Conference was convened by the victorious Allies to settle international questions. Delegations attended from around the world including an official Arab and Zionist delegation. The Arab delegation was led by Emir Feisal I, who agreed that the entire Palestine territory of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 would become the Jewish national home and expressed that position in separate letters to Zionist leaders Dr. Chaim Weizmann and Felix Frankfurter. In return for Arab support the Zionists promised economic and technical assistance to the local Arabs and the Allied powers agreed to grant eventual sovereignty to many of the Arab peoples in the region that were previously under control of the former Turkish Ottoman Empire.
This conference, and a subsequent one at San Remo Italy, amicably settled the issues among the parties with voluntary, legally binding, international agreements. In 1922 the League of Nations assigned Britain as the Mandatory to faithfully carry out these agreements. It was British Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill who unilaterally divided Mandatory Palestine into an exclusively Arab sector (Trans Jordan) and a Jewish sector. The Arabs received 76% of the original territory, comprising 35,000 square miles, located east of the Jordan River. That left the Jewish sector with only 10,000 square miles out of their original 45,000 square miles, which was still less than 1% of the combined Arab areas of 5 million square miles. That remaining Jewish sector is today contested with the 'Palestinians' claiming the 'West Bank' and Gaza to create, in effect, a second Palestinian state. (Jordan is mostly Palestinian.) It was the British, in 1919, who began to undermine their own Mandate and to instigate the Arabs against Jews.
"Under this settlement, the whole of Palestine on both sides of the Jordan was reserved exclusively for the Jewish People as the Jewish National Home, in recognition of their historical connection with that country, dating from the Patriarchal Period. ... The Palestine aspect of the global settlement was recorded in three basic documents that led to the founding of the modern State of Israel: ... The British Government repudiated the solemn obligation it undertook to develop Palestine gradually into an independent Jewish state. ... The US aided and abetted the British betrayal of the Jewish People by its abject failure to act decisively against the 1939 White Paper despite its own legal obligation to do so under the 1924 treaty. The UN Partition Resolution of November 29, 1947 illegally recommended the restriction of Jewish legal rights to a truncated part of Palestine. ... Despite all the subversive actions to smother and destroy Jewish legal rights and title of sovereignty to the entire Land of Israel, they still remain in full force by virtue of the Principle of Acquired Rights and the doctrine of Estoppel that apply in all legal systems of the democratic world."
It has been argued, by scholars of international law, that the agreements of the international Paris Peace Conference of 1919, and their formal assignment to Britain as the Mandatory by the League of Nations, continue to be legally binding on all parties under international law. In addition to Jewish legal claims based on the 1922 law a case can be made that it is also morally binding and that England is guilty of bad faith and for having engaged in deliberate sabotage of that agreement. A most promising beginning for Arab-Jewish relations in the Middle East was deliberately undermined by England and this part of history must be brought to bear upon the present conflict. Israel has a right to make full land claims under that 1922 Mandate by the League of Nations. The Arabs should also be made aware that it was England that instigated them against the Jews in pursuit of British imperial interests and to the disadvantage of both Arabs and Jews.
Significantly, Arab support for a Jewish state was clearly manifested at the Paris Peace conference of 1919. This should also be part of the legally binding Arab obligations to acceptance of a Jewish state with full rights. Emir Feisal I, son of Hussein, Sheriff of Mecca led the Arab delegation to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Excerpts of two letters from Emir Feisal to Zionist leaders Dr. Chaim Weizmann and to Felix Frankfurter indicate their friendly relations and high hopes for Jewish - Arab cooperation. Also note in the following text the term 'Palestine' clearly refers to the Jewish national home and not to any Arab entity or people.
From Emir Feisal to Dr. Weizmann:
"His Royal Highness the Emir Feisal, representing and acting on behalf of the Arab Kingdom of hedjaz, and Dr. Chaim Weizmann, representing and acting on behalf of the Zionist Organization, mindful of the racial kinship and ancient bonds existing between the Arabs and the Jewish People, and realising that the surest means of working out the consummation of their national aspirations is through the closest possible collaboration in the development of the Arab State and Palestine, and being desirous further of confirming the good understanding which exists between them, have agreed upon the following Articles:" ... Article IV: "All necessary measures shall be taken to encourage and stimulate immigration of Jews into Palestine on a large scale, and as quickly as possible to settle Jewish immigrants upon the land through closer settlements and intensive cultivation of the soil. In taking such measures the Arab peasant and tenant farmers shall be protected in their rights, and shall be assisted in forwarding their economic development."
From Emir Feisal to Felix Frankfurter:
"... We feel that the Arabs and Jews are cousins in race, having suffered similar oppressions at the hands of the powers stronger than themselves, and by a happy coincidence have been able to take the first step towards the attainment of their national ideals together." "We Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement. Our deputation here in Paris is fully acquainted with the proposals submitted yesterday by the Zionist Organization to the Peace Conference, and we regard them as moderate and proper. We will do our best, in so far as we are concerned, to help them through: we wish the Jews a most hearty welcome home." .... "People less informed and less responsible than our leaders and yours, ignoring the need for cooperation of the Arabs and the Zionists have been trying to exploit the local difficulties that must necessarily arise in Palestine in the early stages of our movements. Some of them have, I am afraid, misrepresented your aims to the Arab peasantry, and our aims to the Jewish peasantry, with the result that interested parties have been able to make capital our of what they call our differences. ..." (To read full text go to http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~samuel/feisal1.html and http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~samuel/feisal2.html
What remains now is for all parties to courageously and boldly cast off the mindless schemes of Oslo and the Road Map and return to the sanity and statesmanship of the 1919 agreement. Those Arabs who have an acquired identity as 'Palestinian' should be given a far better alternative option than to be buried alive inside a non-viable illegal micro-state carved out of the Israeli heartland.
The Win-Win solution
Contrary to popular belief, the Arab-Israeli conflict has a reasonable solution. An orderly resettlement elsewhere of the so-called Palestinian Arabs would solve this long-standing 'intractable' problem. To propose this solution today elicits automatic rejection by almost everyone and perhaps even anger and hostility at its very mention (although attitudes may finally be changing). This is because the minds of many have been so thoroughly conditioned, with layer upon layer of repeated falsehoods, such that open-minded reconsideration is almost impossible. But resettlement could become the basis of a win-win solution for both sides.
For example Saudi Arabia comprises some 750,000 square miles. It has a very low population density of only 33 per square mile vs. 1,000 for Israel including the territories. A modest 4% of Saudi Arabia, some 30,000 square miles, should be set aside for a new Palestinian state. That state would be 13 times the size of the present Palestinian area proposed under the Road Map and would now have ample space for natural growth. All of the intractable problems facing both Jews and Arabs, arising under the present schemes, would be eliminated. The Palestinians could now construct their own state with full political independence, self-rule and full dignity. The sources of friction between them and Israel would now be removed along with all the immense human and material costs associated with the current conflict.
Palestinians could begin using their legitimate 'right of return' to exit the territories, and the refugee camps, and migrate back to their ancestral home in Arabia and thereby also be closer to Mecca and Medina. A fraction of the countless billions spent on weapons by the Arab governments could fund the cost of establishing new settlements for the Palestinians. Israel would be free of Arabs, and the Palestinians would be free of Israel. The deep wounds of both peoples would now have a chance to heal.
In early 2004 a poll by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion shows 37% willing to emigrate in return for a home, a job and $250,000. And this is before a far better deal has been offered, including true self-rule, peace and security, plus their own ample territory. What if 'Palestinians' were offered a homeland territory, drawn from lands donated by one of the more spacious Arab countries, one expressing continuous concern, love for, and outrage at the treatment of these very same folk?
Israeli Arabs could play a constructive role in this because of their higher level of education and their experience living as full citizens in democratic Israel. They would become the managerial and entrepreneurial class and provide valuable assistance and leadership for fellow Palestinians who were stagnating in refugee camps inside other Arab countries. This crime was committed by their own brother Arabs, who refused to allow them to settle.
Once the migration starts toward a far better future the movement could well accelerate voluntarily because the first ones to relocate would receive the best 'ground floor' opportunities and the last ones to move would get what remains. Today there are tens of millions of people on the move around the world in search of better living conditions, so relocation is a long established and viable option for everyone.
Another important advantage is that Israeli-Palestinian interaction would be limited to the selling of Arab homes in the territories and an orderly exit. No more frustratingly complex agreements as with Oslo where Israel honors all commitments and Arabs violate all commitments, and even U.S. assurances often prove worthless. The less need for Israel to depend on agreements with Arabs, Europeans and even Americans the better.
Part of the problem are those Arab governments who deliberately keep the Israel-Palestinian conflict alive to divert attention from their own corrupt regimes. Also, western governments still pander to their corrupt Arab clients for purely expedient reasons. But new progressive voices are emerging among Arab intellectuals and even among some Moslem clerics that call for Arab societal reform, and who also recognize Jewish rights in the land of Israel. These voices need to be encouraged and enlisted in this quest for sanity.
What is also needed is Saudi cooperation and active support. The Saudis have long been responsible for promoting anti-Jewish, anti-Christian, and anti-American hatred along with funding terror and the teaching of a hateful form of Islam. With their 'royal' family of thousands of princes living lavishly, off of oil income and the labor of foreign workers, they are a cesspool of corruption that even Osama bin Laden finds offensive.
It is time to demand that the Saudis make a major contribution to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict. They caused much of the problem and they must now assist with the solution. It is time for the Bush administration to make the Saudis 'an offer they can't refuse' and have them realize they have a direct interest in providing 'land for peace'.
For too long many people have labored under a collective mindset resembling a bad dream where big lies become entrenched wisdom and truth is constantly strangled. Unless we change direction there will be dire consequences extending well beyond the peoples of the region. Those who still have minds and morals intact now have an obligation to think clearly and with sanity and support this approach to finally resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict.
See:
The mandates for Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine were assigned by the Supreme Court of the League of Nations at its San Remo meeting in April 1920. Negotiations between Great Britain and the United States with regard to the Palestine mandate were successfully concluded in May 1922, and approved by the Council of the League of Nations in July 1922. The mandates for Palestine and Syria came into force simultaneously on September 29, 1922. In this document, the League of Nations recognized the "historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine" and the "grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country."
January 28, 2008 2:41 AM
[A Renewable Energy Consultant]
http://www.yehudadraiman.blogspot.com/
The Land of Israel and its uncontested Capital Jerusalem
The Qur'an 17:104 - states the land belongs to the Jewish people.
If the historic documents, comments written by eyewitnesses and declarations by the most authoritative Arab scholars are still not enough, let us quote the most important source for Muslim Arabs:
"And thereafter we [Allah] said to the Children of Israel: 'Dwell securely in the Promised Land. And when the last warning will come to pass, we will gather you together in a mingled crowd'.". 017.104
YUSUFALI: And We said thereafter to the Children of Israel, "Dwell securely in the land (of promise)": but when the second of the warnings came to pass, We gathered you together in a mingled crowd.
PICKTHAL: And We said unto the Children of Israel after him: Dwell in the land; but when the promise of the Hereafter cometh to pass We shall bring you as a crowd gathered out of various nations.
SHAKIR: And We said to the Israelites after him: Dwell in the land: and when the promise of the next life shall come to pass, we will bring you both together in judgment.
- Qur'an 17:104 -
Any sincere Muslim must recognize the Land they call "Palestine" as the Jewish Homeland, according to the book considered by Muslims to be the most sacred word and Allah's ultimate revelation.
“The birthplace of the Jewish people is the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael). There, a significant part of the nation's long history was enacted, of which the first thousand years are recorded in the Bible; there, its cultural, religious and national identity was formed; and there, its physical presence has been maintained through the centuries, even after the majority was forced into exile. During the many years of dispersion, the Jewish people never severed nor forgot its bond with the Land. With the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Jewish independence, lost two thousand years earlier, was renewed.”
If people of any nation were exiled to other country’s and than years later were able to reclaim their country, the world population as a whole would support such action and would not consider giving a piece of the country to the foreigners who are residing there, and under no circumstances would they consider parceling portions of the county to be set up as a separate State for the foreigners.
Why should anyone in the world consider doing this very same action with the land of Israel which is a Jewish land for thousands of years?
The Arabs living in the land of Israel have come from the surrounding Arab countries; they have no right whatsoever to any part of the land of Israel.
In the past hundred years many Jews were ejected from Arab countries surrounding the land of Israel, their property taken and their homes and lands taken over.
Let those Arabs who want to Claim the land of Israel as theirs go to those Arab countries and the homes and lands that the Jews were occupying.
Any part of the land of Israel is not occupied territory; it is legally a Jewish land and has been for thousands of years, no Arab has any right to claim any rights to the land of Israel.
The surrounding Arab countries compose of over 100 million people and millions of square miles, why do they have to bother little Israel with its territory about the size of the State of New Jersey. Maybe the world should consider giving European countries or parts to the Italians, since the Romans occupied it for many years.
JERUSALEM
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its cunning.
May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.
(Psalms 137:5-6)
Jerusalem, the uncontested and undivided capital of Israel, is located in the heart of the country, nestled among the Judean Hills. The city's ancient stones, imbued with millennia of history, and its numerous historical sites, shrines and places of worship attest to its meaning for Jews.
Jerusalem the "eternal and undivided capital" of the Jewish people,
Jerusalem is -- and must remain -- the uncontested, undivided capital of Israel.
Jerusalem is the only city that can prove the validity of Israeli-Jewish existence. No one should question Jewish historic claim and affinity to Jerusalem which dates back the Canaanite period (3000-1200 BCE). The re-capture of the old city in 1967 was widely seen by the Israelis as nothing less than the renewal of God's covenant with the Jews. Jerusalem represents their past and present, a source of religious and cultural continuity without which Israel's very existence could unravel. The hope of returning to Jerusalem has sustained the Jews throughout their dispersion, and centuries of exile have been unable to extinguish it.
Abraham, Isaac and Jacobs resided in the land of Israel and Jerusalem from the year 1948 from Creation (circa 1800 BCE).
King David made Jerusalem the capital of his kingdom, as well as the religious center of the Jewish people, in 1003 BCE. Some forty years later, his son Solomon built the Temple (the religious and national center of the people of Israel) and transformed the city into the prosperous capital of an empire extending from the Euphrates to Egypt.
The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem in 586 BCE, destroyed the Temple, and exiled the people. Fifty years later, when Babylon was conquered by the Persians, King Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to their homeland and granted them autonomy. They built a Second Temple on the site of the First, and rebuilt the city and its walls.
Alexander the Great conquered Jerusalem in 332 BCE. After his death the city was ruled by the Ptolemies of Egypt and then by the Seleucids of Syria. The Hellenization of the city reached its peak under the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV; the desecration of the Temple and attempts to suppress Jewish religious identity resulted in a revolt.
Led by Judah Maccabee, the Jews defeated the Seleucids, rededicated the Temple (164 BCE), and re-established Jewish independence under the Hasmonean dynasty, which lasted for more than a hundred years, until Pompey imposed Roman rule on Jerusalem. King Herod the Idumean, who was installed as ruler of Judah by the Romans (37 - 4 BCE), established cultural institutions in Jerusalem, erected magnificent public buildings and refashioned the Temple into an edifice of splendor.
Jewish revolt against Rome broke out in 66 CE, as Roman rule after Herod's death became increasingly oppressive. For a few years Jerusalem was free of foreign rule, until, in 70 CE, Roman legions under Titus conquered the city and destroyed the Temple. Jewish independence was briefly restored during the Bar Kochba revolt (132-135), but again the Romans prevailed. Jews were forbidden to enter the city, which was renamed Aelia Capitolina and rebuilt along the lines of a Roman city.
For the next century and a half, Jerusalem was a small provincial town. This changed radically when the Byzantine Emperor Constantine transformed Jerusalem into a Christian center. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher (335) was the first of numerous grandiose structures built in the City.
Muslim armies invaded the country in 634, and four years later Caliph Omar captured Jerusalem. Only during the reign of Abdul Malik, who built the Dome of the Rock (691), did Jerusalem briefly become the seat of a caliph. The century-long rule of the Umayvad Dynasty from Damascus was succeeded in 750 by the Abbasids from Baghdad, and with them Jerusalem began to decline.
The Crusaders conquered Jerusalem in 1099, massacred its Jewish and Muslim inhabitants, and established the city as the capital of the Crusader Kingdom. Under the Crusaders, synagogues were destroyed, old churches were rebuilt and many mosques were turned into Christian shrines. Crusader rule over Jerusalem ended in 1187, when the city fell to Saladin the Kurd.
The Mamluks, a military feudal aristocracy from Egypt, ruled Jerusalem from 1250. They constructed numerous graceful buildings, but treated the city solely as a Muslim theological center and ruined its economy through neglect and crippling taxes.
The Ottoman Turks, whose rule lasted for four centuries, conquered Jerusalem in 1517. Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilt the city walls (1537), constructed the Sultan's Pool, and placed public fountains throughout the city. After his death. The central authorities in Constantinople took little interest in Jerusalem. During the 17th and 18th centuries Jerusalem sunk to one of its lowest ebbs.
Jerusalem began to thrive once more in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Growing numbers of Jews returning to their land, waning Ottoman power and revitalized European interest in the Holy Land led to renewed development of Jerusalem.
The British army led by General Allenby conquered Jerusalem in 1917. From 1922 to 1948 Jerusalem was the administrative seat of the British authorities in the Land of Israel (Palestine), which had been entrusted to Great Britain by the League of Nations following the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. The city developed rapidly, growing westward into what became known as the "New City."
Upon termination of the British Mandate on May 14, 1948, and in accordance with the UN resolution of November 29, 1947, Israel proclaimed its independence, with Jerusalem as its capital. Opposing its establishment, the Arab countries launched an all-out assault on the new re-established state, resulting in the 1948-49 War of Independence. The armistice lines drawn at the end of the war divided Jerusalem into two, with Jordan occupying the Old City and areas to the north and south, and Israel retaining the western and southern parts of the city.
Jerusalem was reunited in June 1967, as a result of a war in which the Jordanians attempted to seize the western section of the city. The Jewish Quarter of the Old City, destroyed under Jordanian rule, has been restored, and Israeli citizens are again able to visit their holy places, which had been denied them during the years 1948-1967.
Conclusion, the land of Israel and Jerusalem as its undivided capital for the Jewish people is a historical fact for thousands of years and shall remain that way for eternity.
Rising in defense of our security, our liberty and our values.
Yehuda Draiman
PS
The true basis for a lasting peace
A far-sighted Arab-Jewish agreement was arrived at 85 years ago but was never fully implemented. This still-legal agreement provides the basis for a solution today and should become widely publicized and supported.
In 1919, following the end of World War I, an international Paris Peace Conference was convened by the victorious Allies to settle international questions. Delegations attended from around the world including an official Arab and Zionist delegation. The Arab delegation was led by Emir Feisal I, who agreed that the entire Palestine territory of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 would become the Jewish national home and expressed that position in separate letters to Zionist leaders Dr. Chaim Weizmann and Felix Frankfurter. In return for Arab support the Zionists promised economic and technical assistance to the local Arabs and the Allied powers agreed to grant eventual sovereignty to many of the Arab peoples in the region that were previously under control of the former Turkish Ottoman Empire.
This conference, and a subsequent one at San Remo Italy, amicably settled the issues among the parties with voluntary, legally binding, international agreements. In 1922 the League of Nations assigned Britain as the Mandatory to faithfully carry out these agreements. It was British Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill who unilaterally divided Mandatory Palestine into an exclusively Arab sector (Trans Jordan) and a Jewish sector. The Arabs received 76% of the original territory, comprising 35,000 square miles, located east of the Jordan River. That left the Jewish sector with only 10,000 square miles out of their original 45,000 square miles, which was still less than 1% of the combined Arab areas of 5 million square miles. That remaining Jewish sector is today contested with the 'Palestinians' claiming the 'West Bank' and Gaza to create, in effect, a second Palestinian state. (Jordan is mostly Palestinian.) It was the British, in 1919, who began to undermine their own Mandate and to instigate the Arabs against Jews.
"Under this settlement, the whole of Palestine on both sides of the Jordan was reserved exclusively for the Jewish People as the Jewish National Home, in recognition of their historical connection with that country, dating from the Patriarchal Period. ... The Palestine aspect of the global settlement was recorded in three basic documents that led to the founding of the modern State of Israel: ... The British Government repudiated the solemn obligation it undertook to develop Palestine gradually into an independent Jewish state. ... The US aided and abetted the British betrayal of the Jewish People by its abject failure to act decisively against the 1939 White Paper despite its own legal obligation to do so under the 1924 treaty. The UN Partition Resolution of November 29, 1947 illegally recommended the restriction of Jewish legal rights to a truncated part of Palestine. ... Despite all the subversive actions to smother and destroy Jewish legal rights and title of sovereignty to the entire Land of Israel, they still remain in full force by virtue of the Principle of Acquired Rights and the doctrine of Estoppel that apply in all legal systems of the democratic world."
It has been argued, by scholars of international law, that the agreements of the international Paris Peace Conference of 1919, and their formal assignment to Britain as the Mandatory by the League of Nations, continue to be legally binding on all parties under international law. In addition to Jewish legal claims based on the 1922 law a case can be made that it is also morally binding and that England is guilty of bad faith and for having engaged in deliberate sabotage of that agreement. A most promising beginning for Arab-Jewish relations in the Middle East was deliberately undermined by England and this part of history must be brought to bear upon the present conflict. Israel has a right to make full land claims under that 1922 Mandate by the League of Nations. The Arabs should also be made aware that it was England that instigated them against the Jews in pursuit of British imperial interests and to the disadvantage of both Arabs and Jews.
Significantly, Arab support for a Jewish state was clearly manifested at the Paris Peace conference of 1919. This should also be part of the legally binding Arab obligations to acceptance of a Jewish state with full rights. Emir Feisal I, son of Hussein, Sheriff of Mecca led the Arab delegation to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Excerpts of two letters from Emir Feisal to Zionist leaders Dr. Chaim Weizmann and to Felix Frankfurter indicate their friendly relations and high hopes for Jewish - Arab cooperation. Also note in the following text the term 'Palestine' clearly refers to the Jewish national home and not to any Arab entity or people.
From Emir Feisal to Dr. Weizmann:
"His Royal Highness the Emir Feisal, representing and acting on behalf of the Arab Kingdom of hedjaz, and Dr. Chaim Weizmann, representing and acting on behalf of the Zionist Organization, mindful of the racial kinship and ancient bonds existing between the Arabs and the Jewish People, and realising that the surest means of working out the consummation of their national aspirations is through the closest possible collaboration in the development of the Arab State and Palestine, and being desirous further of confirming the good understanding which exists between them, have agreed upon the following Articles:" ... Article IV: "All necessary measures shall be taken to encourage and stimulate immigration of Jews into Palestine on a large scale, and as quickly as possible to settle Jewish immigrants upon the land through closer settlements and intensive cultivation of the soil. In taking such measures the Arab peasant and tenant farmers shall be protected in their rights, and shall be assisted in forwarding their economic development."
From Emir Feisal to Felix Frankfurter:
"... We feel that the Arabs and Jews are cousins in race, having suffered similar oppressions at the hands of the powers stronger than themselves, and by a happy coincidence have been able to take the first step towards the attainment of their national ideals together." "We Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement. Our deputation here in Paris is fully acquainted with the proposals submitted yesterday by the Zionist Organization to the Peace Conference, and we regard them as moderate and proper. We will do our best, in so far as we are concerned, to help them through: we wish the Jews a most hearty welcome home." .... "People less informed and less responsible than our leaders and yours, ignoring the need for cooperation of the Arabs and the Zionists have been trying to exploit the local difficulties that must necessarily arise in Palestine in the early stages of our movements. Some of them have, I am afraid, misrepresented your aims to the Arab peasantry, and our aims to the Jewish peasantry, with the result that interested parties have been able to make capital our of what they call our differences. ..." (To read full text go to http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~samuel/feisal1.html and http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~samuel/feisal2.html
What remains now is for all parties to courageously and boldly cast off the mindless schemes of Oslo and the Road Map and return to the sanity and statesmanship of the 1919 agreement. Those Arabs who have an acquired identity as 'Palestinian' should be given a far better alternative option than to be buried alive inside a non-viable illegal micro-state carved out of the Israeli heartland.
The Win-Win solution
Contrary to popular belief, the Arab-Israeli conflict has a reasonable solution. An orderly resettlement elsewhere of the so-called Palestinian Arabs would solve this long-standing 'intractable' problem. To propose this solution today elicits automatic rejection by almost everyone and perhaps even anger and hostility at its very mention (although attitudes may finally be changing). This is because the minds of many have been so thoroughly conditioned, with layer upon layer of repeated falsehoods, such that open-minded reconsideration is almost impossible. But resettlement could become the basis of a win-win solution for both sides.
For example Saudi Arabia comprises some 750,000 square miles. It has a very low population density of only 33 per square mile vs. 1,000 for Israel including the territories. A modest 4% of Saudi Arabia, some 30,000 square miles, should be set aside for a new Palestinian state. That state would be 13 times the size of the present Palestinian area proposed under the Road Map and would now have ample space for natural growth. All of the intractable problems facing both Jews and Arabs, arising under the present schemes, would be eliminated. The Palestinians could now construct their own state with full political independence, self-rule and full dignity. The sources of friction between them and Israel would now be removed along with all the immense human and material costs associated with the current conflict.
Palestinians could begin using their legitimate 'right of return' to exit the territories, and the refugee camps, and migrate back to their ancestral home in Arabia and thereby also be closer to Mecca and Medina. A fraction of the countless billions spent on weapons by the Arab governments could fund the cost of establishing new settlements for the Palestinians. Israel would be free of Arabs, and the Palestinians would be free of Israel. The deep wounds of both peoples would now have a chance to heal.
In early 2004 a poll by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion shows 37% willing to emigrate in return for a home, a job and $250,000. And this is before a far better deal has been offered, including true self-rule, peace and security, plus their own ample territory. What if 'Palestinians' were offered a homeland territory, drawn from lands donated by one of the more spacious Arab countries, one expressing continuous concern, love for, and outrage at the treatment of these very same folk?
Israeli Arabs could play a constructive role in this because of their higher level of education and their experience living as full citizens in democratic Israel. They would become the managerial and entrepreneurial class and provide valuable assistance and leadership for fellow Palestinians who were stagnating in refugee camps inside other Arab countries. This crime was committed by their own brother Arabs, who refused to allow them to settle.
Once the migration starts toward a far better future the movement could well accelerate voluntarily because the first ones to relocate would receive the best 'ground floor' opportunities and the last ones to move would get what remains. Today there are tens of millions of people on the move around the world in search of better living conditions, so relocation is a long established and viable option for everyone.
Another important advantage is that Israeli-Palestinian interaction would be limited to the selling of Arab homes in the territories and an orderly exit. No more frustratingly complex agreements as with Oslo where Israel honors all commitments and Arabs violate all commitments, and even U.S. assurances often prove worthless. The less need for Israel to depend on agreements with Arabs, Europeans and even Americans the better.
Part of the problem are those Arab governments who deliberately keep the Israel-Palestinian conflict alive to divert attention from their own corrupt regimes. Also, western governments still pander to their corrupt Arab clients for purely expedient reasons. But new progressive voices are emerging among Arab intellectuals and even among some Moslem clerics that call for Arab societal reform, and who also recognize Jewish rights in the land of Israel. These voices need to be encouraged and enlisted in this quest for sanity.
What is also needed is Saudi cooperation and active support. The Saudis have long been responsible for promoting anti-Jewish, anti-Christian, and anti-American hatred along with funding terror and the teaching of a hateful form of Islam. With their 'royal' family of thousands of princes living lavishly, off of oil income and the labor of foreign workers, they are a cesspool of corruption that even Osama bin Laden finds offensive.
It is time to demand that the Saudis make a major contribution to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict. They caused much of the problem and they must now assist with the solution. It is time for the Bush administration to make the Saudis 'an offer they can't refuse' and have them realize they have a direct interest in providing 'land for peace'.
For too long many people have labored under a collective mindset resembling a bad dream where big lies become entrenched wisdom and truth is constantly strangled. Unless we change direction there will be dire consequences extending well beyond the peoples of the region. Those who still have minds and morals intact now have an obligation to think clearly and with sanity and support this approach to finally resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict.
See:
The mandates for Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine were assigned by the Supreme Court of the League of Nations at its San Remo meeting in April 1920. Negotiations between Great Britain and the United States with regard to the Palestine mandate were successfully concluded in May 1922, and approved by the Council of the League of Nations in July 1922. The mandates for Palestine and Syria came into force simultaneously on September 29, 1922. In this document, the League of Nations recognized the "historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine" and the "grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country."
January 28, 2008 2:41 AM
27 January 2008
WAKE UP AM YISRAEL! .... OUR YISHUV IS IN DANGER!
The new nazis are shifting into high gear:
Fatah TV Broadcasts Daily Call For Ethnic Cleansing of Jews
by Ezra HaLevi [Arutz Sheva, INN]
WAKE UP AM YISRAEL ! .... OUR YISHUV IS IN DANGER !!
WAKE UP WORLD !!
JERUSALEM BELONGS TO THE JEWS ???
(IsraelNN.com) Jacques Gauthier, a non-Jewish Canadian lawyer
who spent 20 years researching the legal status of Jerusalem,
has concluded:
"Jerusalem belongs to the Jews, by international law."
Gauthier has written a doctoral dissertation on the topic of Jerusalem
and its legal history, based on international treaties and resolutions
of the past 90 years.
The dissertation runs some 1,300 pages, with 3,000 footnotes.
Gauthier had to present his thesis to a world-famous Jewish historian
and two leading international lawyers - the Jewish one of whom
has represented the Palestinian Authority on numerous occasions.
Gauthier's main point, as summarized by Israpundit editor Ted Belman,
is that a non-broken series of treaties and resolutions, as laid out by the San Remo Resolution, the League of Nations and the United Nations,
gives the Jewish People title to the city of Jerusalem.
The process began at San Remo, Italy, when the four Principal Allied Powers
of World War I - Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan - agreed to create
a Jewish national home in what is now the Land of Israel.
[the rest of the article can be viewed on http://www.israelnationalnews.com]
TODAY
Given Jerusalem's strong Jewish majority, Gauthier concludes, Israel should be demanding that the long-delayed city referendum on the city's future be held as soon as possible. Not only should Israel be demanding that the referendum be held now, Jerusalem should be the first order of business. "Olmert is sloughing us off by saying [as he did before the Annapolis Conference two months ago], 'Jerusalem is not on the table yet,'" Gauthier concludes. "He should demand that the referendum take place before the balance of the land is negotiated. If the Arabs won’t agree to the referendum, there is nothing to talk about."
Fatah TV Broadcasts Daily Call For Ethnic Cleansing of Jews
by Ezra HaLevi [Arutz Sheva, INN]
WAKE UP AM YISRAEL ! .... OUR YISHUV IS IN DANGER !!
WAKE UP WORLD !!
JERUSALEM BELONGS TO THE JEWS ???
(IsraelNN.com) Jacques Gauthier, a non-Jewish Canadian lawyer
who spent 20 years researching the legal status of Jerusalem,
has concluded:
"Jerusalem belongs to the Jews, by international law."
Gauthier has written a doctoral dissertation on the topic of Jerusalem
and its legal history, based on international treaties and resolutions
of the past 90 years.
The dissertation runs some 1,300 pages, with 3,000 footnotes.
Gauthier had to present his thesis to a world-famous Jewish historian
and two leading international lawyers - the Jewish one of whom
has represented the Palestinian Authority on numerous occasions.
Gauthier's main point, as summarized by Israpundit editor Ted Belman,
is that a non-broken series of treaties and resolutions, as laid out by the San Remo Resolution, the League of Nations and the United Nations,
gives the Jewish People title to the city of Jerusalem.
The process began at San Remo, Italy, when the four Principal Allied Powers
of World War I - Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan - agreed to create
a Jewish national home in what is now the Land of Israel.
[the rest of the article can be viewed on http://www.israelnationalnews.com]
TODAY
Given Jerusalem's strong Jewish majority, Gauthier concludes, Israel should be demanding that the long-delayed city referendum on the city's future be held as soon as possible. Not only should Israel be demanding that the referendum be held now, Jerusalem should be the first order of business. "Olmert is sloughing us off by saying [as he did before the Annapolis Conference two months ago], 'Jerusalem is not on the table yet,'" Gauthier concludes. "He should demand that the referendum take place before the balance of the land is negotiated. If the Arabs won’t agree to the referendum, there is nothing to talk about."
WHAT VALUE IS ALL THE TORAH ... !!!
Rav Aron Schecter Shlit"a Boycotts Flatbush Shaitel Store
[Original Letter can be viewed at www.theyeshivaworld.com]
[the letter in part reads:]
There is a store located on Coney Island Avenue – directly across from
Yeshiva Chaim Berlin - which sells Shaitels (wigs for women).
In the front window of the store, there are four, large, inappropriate,
photos of women - with the point being that it should attract
a persons attention to look.
When approached nicely by the Yungerleit to remove the photos,
the owner answered that "this is not Bnei Brak".
I don't want to further delve into this man's other excuses,
and answers which were all filled with Chutzpah,
but I am requesting that until the Pritzus photos are removed from
the store windows, no one from our community should enter this store.
Filled with shame, and embarrassment that I needed to write
this letter - but felt it was necessary due to Kavod Hatorah,
Rav Aaron M. Schecter, Rosh Yeshiva Chaim Berlin.
WHAT VALUE IS ALL THE TORAH !!!
With all due respect to the wonderful and sincere women in our community,
this issue may just be a siman of a larger issue.
While pictures of what women wear on their heads appearing in windows is pritzus,
perhaps what they wear on their heads in public could also be pritzus?
Notice the posturing so that wisps don't fall in the eyes,
while a slight wind urges the strands to fly in the air like a young girl's hair.
Not all sheitels fall into this category, but the design and quality
of the newer sheitels are created with the intent to look alluring,
seductive and oh so natural that one cannot - many times - notice
if that is real or in fact a sheitel?!
Perhaps one should examine their inner yetzer,
and relearn why women wear head coverings in the first place.
If the Holy Satmar Rebbe zt"l (Rebbe Yoel) ossered the sheitel in shul
during Yom Kippur, the holiest day of our holy calendar,
maybe we should at least remember the essence of Yom Kippur
EVERY DAY
in light of the warnings coming our way,
shouting at us from the events happening all around us.
If the Shomre Emunim Rebbe Shlit"a can yell at us
WHY ARE WE ASLEEP?
And if Rav Auerbach shlit"a can yell OUR YISHUV
IS IN DANGER!
We should not divorce ourselves from the rest of our family
in Eretz HaKodesh and think the danger is there and not here.
I am not, and one does not have to be a member of Satmar to learn
from the essence of his heartfelt words.
It was around 30 years ago when some women started wearing immodest clothing,
a large gathering was organized in "Tirat Chen" (Eretz Yisrael) social hall
and the Gaon Maran Rav Eliezer Shach, zsk'l, screamed from the depth of his heart:
"If the women of the Avrechim go out with short and tight clothing,
we need to close down all the Kolelim,
of what value is all the Torah of the husband?
If the woman wears that type of clothing,
all the Torah that the husband learned
goes to the Sitra Achra (the Evil side).
That was 30 years ago!
What has become of our clothing and sheitels since then!?
[Original Letter can be viewed at www.theyeshivaworld.com]
[the letter in part reads:]
There is a store located on Coney Island Avenue – directly across from
Yeshiva Chaim Berlin - which sells Shaitels (wigs for women).
In the front window of the store, there are four, large, inappropriate,
photos of women - with the point being that it should attract
a persons attention to look.
When approached nicely by the Yungerleit to remove the photos,
the owner answered that "this is not Bnei Brak".
I don't want to further delve into this man's other excuses,
and answers which were all filled with Chutzpah,
but I am requesting that until the Pritzus photos are removed from
the store windows, no one from our community should enter this store.
Filled with shame, and embarrassment that I needed to write
this letter - but felt it was necessary due to Kavod Hatorah,
Rav Aaron M. Schecter, Rosh Yeshiva Chaim Berlin.
WHAT VALUE IS ALL THE TORAH !!!
With all due respect to the wonderful and sincere women in our community,
this issue may just be a siman of a larger issue.
While pictures of what women wear on their heads appearing in windows is pritzus,
perhaps what they wear on their heads in public could also be pritzus?
Notice the posturing so that wisps don't fall in the eyes,
while a slight wind urges the strands to fly in the air like a young girl's hair.
Not all sheitels fall into this category, but the design and quality
of the newer sheitels are created with the intent to look alluring,
seductive and oh so natural that one cannot - many times - notice
if that is real or in fact a sheitel?!
Perhaps one should examine their inner yetzer,
and relearn why women wear head coverings in the first place.
If the Holy Satmar Rebbe zt"l (Rebbe Yoel) ossered the sheitel in shul
during Yom Kippur, the holiest day of our holy calendar,
maybe we should at least remember the essence of Yom Kippur
EVERY DAY
in light of the warnings coming our way,
shouting at us from the events happening all around us.
If the Shomre Emunim Rebbe Shlit"a can yell at us
WHY ARE WE ASLEEP?
And if Rav Auerbach shlit"a can yell OUR YISHUV
IS IN DANGER!
We should not divorce ourselves from the rest of our family
in Eretz HaKodesh and think the danger is there and not here.
I am not, and one does not have to be a member of Satmar to learn
from the essence of his heartfelt words.
It was around 30 years ago when some women started wearing immodest clothing,
a large gathering was organized in "Tirat Chen" (Eretz Yisrael) social hall
and the Gaon Maran Rav Eliezer Shach, zsk'l, screamed from the depth of his heart:
"If the women of the Avrechim go out with short and tight clothing,
we need to close down all the Kolelim,
of what value is all the Torah of the husband?
If the woman wears that type of clothing,
all the Torah that the husband learned
goes to the Sitra Achra (the Evil side).
That was 30 years ago!
What has become of our clothing and sheitels since then!?
24 January 2008
Deep, Dark, Sleep of Complacency
In Response to Nava's article
THE YESHUA IS COMING … SO, WHERE’S THE CONFUSION?
I just received a beautiful Dvar Torah, from a well-known email list that gave over one Rabbi’s [not mentioning his name out of respect] words about “Tzipisa L’Yeshua--did you await the Geula--and if hopefully so--how … ?”
It began with: “…Chazal (Shabbos 31A) record that one of the six questions that a person is asked after 120 years is “Tzipisa L’Yeshua--did you wait for the redemption?” Obviously, if this is one of the first six inquiries made by the Heavenly Court, it must be quite important, and have a special source….”
Then says: “…The Chofetz Chaim writes that if one does not live a life
in which he demonstrates a longing for the Geulah....”
And also adds: In “last week’s Parsha, Miriam together with “Kol HaNoshim”
(Shemos 15:20)--all the women, went out … they were prepared
[with tambourines] for the Geula …. We too must demonstrate
that we are readying ourselves… HaRav Nosson Wachtfogel, Z’tl,
had a packed suitcase handy … another Rabbi had special clothing
to greet the Moshiach….”
SO, how are we preparing for Tzipisa L’yeshua ?
Ask your neighbor, how he/she is preparing?
You may get a blank look, a way-off stare.
Either the concept is there on their bookshelves with all the other
Torah concepts wrapped in leather, or it just has not entered the mind
that is so busy looking for which hotel to spend Pesach,
planning Purim themes,
deciding which summer bungalow group to join,
what vacation and where to visit this year!
And how to get to all the new fancy shmancy shops that just opened-up featuring designer this and that?
Not to mention which night of the week to squeeze in time with the kids,
when after all there are 21 simchas for just this week alone.
SO, WHERE’S THE CONFUSION?
You’ve got to read this one! [thanks to rafi at lifeinisrael.blogspot.com]
SHAS RECENTLY MADE AN HISTORICAL STATEMENT!
It was made about clarifying our Judaic priorities. Are you ready for this?
"… We are talking about people who for wealth and money are willing to sacrifice one of the most basic concepts that has made Judaism unique through all the generations and … corrupt the minds of thousands of simple Jews without them even knowing."
Now, let me explain what this REALLY means:
"… In other words, we are talking about people
[Israeli politicians]
who for wealth and money are willing to sacrifice
[divide and give away]
one of the most basic concepts
[not a concept, a real Holy City, our Yerushalayim]
that has made Judaism unique
[the place of Avraham Avinu and the Akeida, the brainchild of Dovid HaMelech, the life’s work of Shlomo HaMelech]
through all the generations
[since the G.od of the world gave the Land of Eretz HaKodesh to the Jewish People]
and to corrupt the minds of thousands of simple Jews
[by displacing them from their homes, lives, and sense of security]
without them even knowing
[this very day SHE is negotiating with the enemy
and the Israeli People’s future is hanging in the balance].
Are we reading any headlines splashed on the front pages of our papers
alerting us to the coming Geula, as many in Israel are acutely aware?
NO, NOT ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE YATED,
BUT ONLY ON PAGES 129, 130 and 131 were these words of
wisdom and warning relegated:
On page 129 Rav Shmuel Auerbach: THE YISHUV IS IN DANGER!
As reported in Sha’ah Tova … a Siyum in Kollel Ran in Ramot,
Rav Auerback, Rosh Yeshiva of Maalos HaTorah, spoke about the recent
international pressure to give YERUSHALAYIM to the Arabs. [and it goes on]
On page 130, the Shomrei Emunim Rebbe speaks about the Americans,
Bush, the Israeli Elites, and the GEULA. The same Sha’ah Tova
conducted an interview with the Shomrei Emunim Rebbe.
It appears as a long series of Q&As spread over two and a half pages.
THE CONFUSION IS WITH THE POLITICIANS, THE NEWS OUTLETS,
AND WITH THE PEOPLE, because they just can’t believe that it is real.
The Yeshua is coming – quickly – whether we like it or not.
In Parshas Shelach we read, the Rabbis brought back their report
and the people were scared! The Meraglim had done their work well!
[The Lubavitcher Rebbe and others even today] say we are the reincarnated
neshomas of the dor of Yetzias Mitzrayim.
That means, the meraglim are with us to this day.
And since they didn’t want to go into Eretz HaKodesh,
the Land upon which the Eyes of Hashem are fixed from one end of the year
to the next, I would presume that they can be found in America,
France, England, Germany, and any other country where the Jews are still!
Let’s get beyond the rhetoric!
How many times can we hear the same-old, same-old, while we continue
to slip deeper into that dark, deep sleep of complacency.
WAKE UP,
prepare [with a Cheshbon HaNefesh = T'shuva] for that awesome day,
grab those tambourines and suitcases,
exchange that shmancy A.Z. sheitel for a tzanua mitpachat,
buy those tickets and fly to Eretz Hakodesh
[and you absentee landlords – come live in all those apartments
you bought up and caused havoc among the rental community] ------------------------------because YERUSHALAYIM needs you!
THE YESHUA IS COMING … SO, WHERE’S THE CONFUSION?
I just received a beautiful Dvar Torah, from a well-known email list that gave over one Rabbi’s [not mentioning his name out of respect] words about “Tzipisa L’Yeshua--did you await the Geula--and if hopefully so--how … ?”
It began with: “…Chazal (Shabbos 31A) record that one of the six questions that a person is asked after 120 years is “Tzipisa L’Yeshua--did you wait for the redemption?” Obviously, if this is one of the first six inquiries made by the Heavenly Court, it must be quite important, and have a special source….”
Then says: “…The Chofetz Chaim writes that if one does not live a life
in which he demonstrates a longing for the Geulah....”
And also adds: In “last week’s Parsha, Miriam together with “Kol HaNoshim”
(Shemos 15:20)--all the women, went out … they were prepared
[with tambourines] for the Geula …. We too must demonstrate
that we are readying ourselves… HaRav Nosson Wachtfogel, Z’tl,
had a packed suitcase handy … another Rabbi had special clothing
to greet the Moshiach….”
SO, how are we preparing for Tzipisa L’yeshua ?
Ask your neighbor, how he/she is preparing?
You may get a blank look, a way-off stare.
Either the concept is there on their bookshelves with all the other
Torah concepts wrapped in leather, or it just has not entered the mind
that is so busy looking for which hotel to spend Pesach,
planning Purim themes,
deciding which summer bungalow group to join,
what vacation and where to visit this year!
And how to get to all the new fancy shmancy shops that just opened-up featuring designer this and that?
Not to mention which night of the week to squeeze in time with the kids,
when after all there are 21 simchas for just this week alone.
SO, WHERE’S THE CONFUSION?
You’ve got to read this one! [thanks to rafi at lifeinisrael.blogspot.com]
SHAS RECENTLY MADE AN HISTORICAL STATEMENT!
It was made about clarifying our Judaic priorities. Are you ready for this?
"… We are talking about people who for wealth and money are willing to sacrifice one of the most basic concepts that has made Judaism unique through all the generations and … corrupt the minds of thousands of simple Jews without them even knowing."
Now, let me explain what this REALLY means:
"… In other words, we are talking about people
[Israeli politicians]
who for wealth and money are willing to sacrifice
[divide and give away]
one of the most basic concepts
[not a concept, a real Holy City, our Yerushalayim]
that has made Judaism unique
[the place of Avraham Avinu and the Akeida, the brainchild of Dovid HaMelech, the life’s work of Shlomo HaMelech]
through all the generations
[since the G.od of the world gave the Land of Eretz HaKodesh to the Jewish People]
and to corrupt the minds of thousands of simple Jews
[by displacing them from their homes, lives, and sense of security]
without them even knowing
[this very day SHE is negotiating with the enemy
and the Israeli People’s future is hanging in the balance].
Are we reading any headlines splashed on the front pages of our papers
alerting us to the coming Geula, as many in Israel are acutely aware?
NO, NOT ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE YATED,
BUT ONLY ON PAGES 129, 130 and 131 were these words of
wisdom and warning relegated:
On page 129 Rav Shmuel Auerbach: THE YISHUV IS IN DANGER!
As reported in Sha’ah Tova … a Siyum in Kollel Ran in Ramot,
Rav Auerback, Rosh Yeshiva of Maalos HaTorah, spoke about the recent
international pressure to give YERUSHALAYIM to the Arabs. [and it goes on]
On page 130, the Shomrei Emunim Rebbe speaks about the Americans,
Bush, the Israeli Elites, and the GEULA. The same Sha’ah Tova
conducted an interview with the Shomrei Emunim Rebbe.
It appears as a long series of Q&As spread over two and a half pages.
THE CONFUSION IS WITH THE POLITICIANS, THE NEWS OUTLETS,
AND WITH THE PEOPLE, because they just can’t believe that it is real.
The Yeshua is coming – quickly – whether we like it or not.
In Parshas Shelach we read, the Rabbis brought back their report
and the people were scared! The Meraglim had done their work well!
[The Lubavitcher Rebbe and others even today] say we are the reincarnated
neshomas of the dor of Yetzias Mitzrayim.
That means, the meraglim are with us to this day.
And since they didn’t want to go into Eretz HaKodesh,
the Land upon which the Eyes of Hashem are fixed from one end of the year
to the next, I would presume that they can be found in America,
France, England, Germany, and any other country where the Jews are still!
Let’s get beyond the rhetoric!
How many times can we hear the same-old, same-old, while we continue
to slip deeper into that dark, deep sleep of complacency.
WAKE UP,
prepare [with a Cheshbon HaNefesh = T'shuva] for that awesome day,
grab those tambourines and suitcases,
exchange that shmancy A.Z. sheitel for a tzanua mitpachat,
buy those tickets and fly to Eretz Hakodesh
[and you absentee landlords – come live in all those apartments
you bought up and caused havoc among the rental community] ------------------------------because YERUSHALAYIM needs you!
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