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31 May 2010

Destroyer of Synagogues

DEBKA Report wants to know:

Why was Israeli raider force unprepared for violent resistance?

TURKISH ACTIVISTS were fully prepared”….

MOBBED BY PASSENGERS (as a video shows)….

ACTIVISTS WITH PISTOLS….

ACTIVISTS ARMED WITH CAMERAS TO DOCUMENT A ORCHESTRATED and SO-CALLED MASACRE….

WOUNDED ACTIVISTS BEING TREATED IN ISRAELI HOSPITALS….


"More questions than answers came from the IDF video shots of the violent reception for Israeli naval commandos when they raided the Turkish ship early Monday, May 31 to prevent the pro-Palestinian flotilla from reaching Gaza Port and breaking the Israeli blockade on the Hamas-ruled territory.


Prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, who cancelled his trip to the United States and is flying straight home from Canada, will have to fill in the gaps left by his official spokesmen.


Released finally 12 hours after the event, the IDF shots failed to explain the big mystery of how soldiers armed with paint balls and pistols managed to kill more than 10 pro-Palestinian activists (The final figure is still not clear. Ankara reports 15 Turkish dead) and injure at least 34 aboard the Turkish Marmora.


Together with six injured soldiers - two in critical condition - the wounded activists are being treated in Israeli hospitals."



Could anyone even imagine

that a Defense Minister

that destroys synagogues in Israel

would fall in disgrace of his own ineptitude?


Disgusted by the Deceit and Anarchy of Israel's Enemies

Please read what REALLY HAPPENED and do not believe PROPAGANDA. The forces of evil are rampant, and their only aim is to demolish the GOOD that is in the world.

Well over a million tons of humanitarian supplies entered Gaza from Israel over the last 18 months, equaling nearly a ton of aid for every man, woman and child in Gaza. International food aid worth millions of dollars continually flows through the Israeli humanitarian apparatus, ensuring that there is no food shortage in Gaza.

The list of Israeli aid to Gaza is so impressive that the question has been asked why Israel is doing so much for an entity with which it is in a state of armed conflict. The question is made more acute in view of the promises the Israeli government made regarding “total separation” in order to make the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza more palatable to the Israeli public.


FLOTILLA LEADERS ATTACKED ISRAELI COMMANDOS.

THE MYTH OF THE GAZA BLOCKADE. Statistics provided by the Palestinian Authority show that the so-called blockade of Gaza is far from a blockade. The PA Interior Ministry this week stated that nearly 3,000 Arabs left Gaza for medical care in the last three months. Only 214 traveled to Jordan and 563 to Egypt, while the others received medical care in various locations throughout Israel, including 588 who were hospitalized within the 1948-1967 ‘Green Line” borders. The bill for the medical care amounts to NIS 25 million ($6.5 million).

NAVY PREPARED TO FACE ANARCHISTS, BUT MET TERRORISTS INSTEAD. the Muslim radicals, most of them from Turkey, attacked the Navy commandoes with knives, guns and clubs.

FLOTILLA ORGANIZERS PROMOTE AGENDA, NOT AID. The Foreign Ministry says organizers of a flotilla hoping to force its way into Gaza are more interested in promoting their political agenda than offering aid to the region's residents

THIS IS WHAT ISRAEL SUPPLIES THIR ENEMY, THE TERRORISTS THAT SHOOT MISSILES AT ISRAELI CHILDREN. NO OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD FEEDS AND SUPPLIES THEIR ENEMY, AN ENEMY BENT ON DESTROYING THEM:

Excerpts from the MFA report:

* Large quantities of essential food items like baby formula, wheat, meat, dairy products and other perishables are transferred daily and weekly to Gaza. Fertilizers that cannot be used to make explosives are shipped into the Strip regularly, as are potato seeds, eggs for reproduction, bees, and flower industry equipment.

* Photos in local newspapers show local markets aplenty with fruit, vegetables, cheese, spices, bread and meat.

* In the first quarter of 2010, 94,500 tons of supplies were transferred in 3,676 trucks to the Strip: 48,000 tons of food products; 40,000 tons of wheat; 2,760 tons of rice; 1,987 tons of clothes and footwear; 553 tons of milk powder and baby food.

* At holiday times, Israel increases transfers. During the Muslim holy days of Ramadan and Eid al-Adha, Israel shipped some 11,000 heads of cattle into the Strip.

* No Palestinian is denied medical care in Israel. However, if the Hamas regime does not grant permits for medical care, the Israeli government can do nothing to help the patient. Israel will facilitate all cases of medical treatments from Gaza, unless the patient is a known perpetrator of terrorism.

* Since 2005, Palestinians exploited medical care arrangements more than 20 times to carry out terror attacks.

* While the import of cement and iron has been restricted into Gaza because they are used by Hamas to cast rockets and bunkers, monitored imports of truckloads of cement, iron, and building supplies such as wood and windows are regularly coordinated with international parties. In the first quarter of 2010, 23 tons of iron and 25 tons of cement were transferred to the Gaza Strip.

* On May 13 of this year, Israel allowed approximately 39 tons of building material into Gaza to help rebuild a damaged hospital.

* The UN report of May 2010 states that while 10% of Gaza’s electricity comes from Egypt and 18% is home-made, nearly 3/4 of Gaza’s electricity needs – 72% - is supplied by Israel. Since January 2010, the supply of electricity has deteriorated because the Hamas regime is unwilling to purchase the fuel to run the Gaza City power station.

* Israel transferred 41 trucks of equipment in 2009 for the maintenance of Gaza's electricity grid.

* In 2009, 127 trucks containing more than 3,000 tons of hypochlorite entered the Gaza Strip for water purification purposes, with Israel-UN coordination.

* The U.S., Israel, Canada, and the EU have frozen funds to the PA Hamas government since 2006, recognizing it as a terror organization. Israel has taken measures to support trade and commerce, the banking system, and the existing financial market in the Gaza Strip.

* During 2009, 7.5 million tons of flowers and 54 tons of strawberries were exported from Gaza with Israeli cooperation.

* In 2009, 1.1 billion shekels (close to $300 million) were transferred to Gaza for the ongoing activity of international organizations and to pay the salaries of PA workers. 40 million damaged bank notes were traded for new bills, and at the request of the Palestinian Monetary Fund, 282.5 million shekels were transferred from Gazan to Israeli banks.

* Israel transfers school equipment supplied by UNRWA including school bags, writing implements and textbooks. Israel is currently coordinating the transfer of 200,000 laptops for Gaza children and the shipment of 74 maritime containers for conversion into Gaza classrooms.

* In the first quarter of 2010, Israel transferred 250 trucks with equipment for the UNWRA summer camp, including arts-and-crafts equipment, swimming pools, inflatable toys, ice cream machines, musical instruments, clothing, sports equipment.

* About 20% of the population in Gaza owns a personal computer, more than in Portugal, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Russia. They have access to ADSL and dial-up Internet service, provided by one of four providers. About 70% of Gazans own a TV and radio and have access to satellite TV or broadcast TV from the PA or Israel. Gaza has well-developed telephone landlines, and extensive mobile telephone services. 81% of households in Gaza have access to a cell phone.

* Despite the inherent dangers involved, Israel permits Gazans and visitors to travel between Gaza and Israel, from Gaza to Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), and even abroad for medical treatment, religious pilgrimages, and business trips.

* In additional to medical travel, 21,200 activists from international organizations and over 400 diplomatic delegations were permitted entry into Gaza.

National Post correspondent Tom Gross revealed this week that the Gaza Strip is not at all as impoverished as is commonly believed. “Western journalists refuse to report on [this] because it doesn’t fit with the simplistic story they were sent to write,” he notes. He reported specifically on a new Olympic-size swimming pool recently built in a Gaza town, something that “most Israeli towns don’t have,” and on a popular Gaza City restaurant serving gourmet meals and whose owner says business is booming

"Blockaded" Gaza is Awash in Goods"

“Despite attacks by Hamas, Israel maintains an ongoing humanitarian corridor for the transfer of food and humanitarian supplies to Gaza, used by internationally recognized organizations including the United Nations and the Red Cross.”



The TRUTH is too much for the world to stomach,
they hide behind the terrorists
and closet their hate
for Israel and Jews.

Here is a Peaceful-loving arab sticking a KNIFE into an Israeli soldier



The last word goes to Rav Shmuel Eliyahu as noted on Life in Israel:

"in response to accusations made by Arab MKs and to the incitement by Hamas, Rav Eliyahu said, "Hamas and their partners are the last who can teach anyone ethics and morals. Those who throw people from rooftops and drag them behind jeeps until their bodies are ripped apart and execute people without any judgment, should not try to teach us ethics. People live in a lie and deceive their own people with lies and hatred...
It is a shame that the billions they have received from countries around the world have been stolen to line their pockets and they have not built a single normal hospital, they have not paved a single normal road.. All they want is war and murder..."

Where I go shopping!

This is where I shop for Shabbos, and the rest of the week. And every Thursday, they line up to check out the reading material.

Achdus

We are all brothers. 


We have one Father.


But what happens when brothers fight?


How can we truly love our brother if we sincerely believe his behavior violates our father's wishes?


Is there a limit to Ahavas Yisroel?
Are we ever justified in rejecting a fellow Chossid because we disagree with his view?


Rabbi Yehoshua Binyomin Gordon, Head Shliach to California's Valley, will attempt to answer these questions Sunday night in the second installment of the online classes by the Achdus group.

The classes will be streaming live on COLlive.com - the Lubavitch Community News Service.


8:15 PM Eastern Time:
A class for women delivered by Rabbi Yossi Paltiel, a Mashpia and teacher in Machon Chana in Crown Heights.

 Tonite is Part II. Part I.

9:00 PM Eastern Time:
A class for men delivered by Rabbi Gordon, Shliach of the Rebbe in Encino, CA, and teacher of a daily online Chumash class.



The Achdus group is an ongoing initiative undertaken by a group of Anash and Shluchim to promote international Lubavitch unity. For more information visit FamilyofChassidim.com.



18 rabbis, shluchim and laymen are involved in the new Achdus group that began activity this week, COLlive has learned.

To the best of our knowledge, what follows is the only public reference the Rebbe ever made to the fact that he did not have (physical) children.

These extraordinary words were said at the Farbrengen of 13 Nissan 5726:



"The Tzemach Tzedek travelled to Petersburg to participate in the infamous rabbinic gathering convened by the Russian government. In the presence of all the assembled he forcefully opposed the representative of the Crown in a manner that constituted outright rebellion.



"Upon his return home he was asked by a certain prominent individual: How could he have placed himself in mortal danger? Adding, even if the Rebbe did not think of his own welfare, he should have nonetheless been concerned with the welfare of Chassidim and Klal Yisroel! 



"The Tzemach Tzedek responded with two answers: He has his sons. And secondly, the brotherly love of Chassidim will see them through till Moshiach. 



"Now with respect to us, inasmuch as there are no children... the second option is left for us, and Chassidim therefore will unite and break through all the barriers of the doubled and redoubled darkness of golus."

28 May 2010

Shabbat Shalom - Parshas Beha'alotcha


Shabbat Shalom
Parsha Beha'alotcha

When You Go Up

When You Go Up To The Land

To Eretz HaKodesh

Are Hashem's Creations Giving us Clues?

Is there an earthquake warning in mass migration of frogs or toads in Greece?

[bufo bufo, the common toad]

Well according to The Great Beyond it just may be the predictor:

Toads may be able to predict earthquakes, according to a serendipitous set of observations made in Italy. After every earthquake stories emerge of animals behaving strangely before the ground shook. But hard evidence of animals responding to some kind of mysterious pre-earthquake cue has been lacking.

[....]common toads (Bufo bufo) showed a dramatic change in behaviour five days before an earthquake shook L’Aquila, Italy in April 2009. Grant and her colleague found the toads abandoning spawning days before the shaking started, they report in the Journal of Zoology.
  • "On May 5th, 2008 many Chinese had noticed thousands of frogs on the move. They were seen traveling without fear of traffic as they crossed streets in mass floods. The Chinese government told them that it was just a natural migration for the purpose of propagation. This calmed the people and no one took the omen very seriously. But on Monday, 12th of May, at about 2:45pm, central China region recorded a 7.8 magnitude quake which occurred near Wenchuan County, Sichuan province that killed nearly 10,000 people."

Amazing prophecy

“Today, December 10, 1992, you see increasing floods, more damaging hurricanes, hail storms, climate changes and earthquakes as our prophesies said would come. Even animals and birds are warning us with strange change in their behavior such as the beaching of whales. Why do animals act like they know about the earth’s problems and most humans act like they know nothing?

If we humans do not wake up to the warnings, the great purification will come to destroy this world just as the previous worlds were destroyed.”
—Hopi Elder Thomas Banyacya**
**NYT article about Thomas Banyacya

Another dying gray whale spotted in Puget Sound



Mysterious gray whale deaths in Puget Sound

There has been a recent surge of gray whale deaths in Puget Sound. The latest necropsy showed that this whale was better nourished than previous victims, though a relatively large amount of garbage was found in its stomach including more than 20 plastic bags, small towels, surgical gloves, sweat pants, plastic pieces, duct tape, and a golf ball. Only a kitchen sink was missing.





Gulf oil spill: Plume getting darker - a bad sign






*Live video of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill shows the underwater plume getting significantly darker. A top oil engineering expert says that suggests heavier, more-polluting oil is spewing out. *The color of the oil gushing from the main pipe has changed in color from medium gray to black.


See Yeranen Yaakov's More on the Frogs.

See also Tzfardei'a

Anyone can be a Baal Teshuva


This is a pivotal historical moment

27 May 2010

Just for Bnei Noah

The Laws of the Noahide Covenant and Key Torah Values for all Mankind

"According to sacred Torah tradition, painstakingly preserved over millennia, the Noahide Laws are the terms of HaShem's covenant with Noah after the Flood. Sadly, they were abandoned and largely forgotten. Then nearly 800 years later, another global cataclysmic event shook the world: the frightening and awesome events coinciding with the Exodus and Giving of the Torah at Sinai. Since that second rebirth of the world, the nations of the world have been obligated to these laws through the Torah of Moses. After all, it is only through the Torah that mankind even knows the true historical account of the Deluge and HaShem's Covenant with Noah."

Hailed by rabbis and Noahide scholars alike, this Guide -- meant for both Noahides and Jews -- presents the Laws of the Noahide Covenant as never before: precisely as they were codified in Talmudic law according to the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides
(RaMBaM). It also includes a profound, enlightening discussion of the key universal values for all mankind. Deriving the values directly from the authoritative sources of the Written and Oral Torah, the author discusses their applications to the burning issues of our times.

Hear the
interview with Rabbi Michael Bar-Ron on The Unwavering Faith of Noahides

26 May 2010

Preparing for Moshiach's Arrival


What might have been overlooked in the exciting Arutz Sheva article, "Excitement on Temple Mount as Rabbi Prostrates Himself," about Rabbi Yitzchak Brand (Emanuel) and Rabbi Yisrael Ariel (Temple Institute) visiting and giving a shiur on Har HaBayit, is that,

"In ancient times, Jews who ascended the Mount fully prostrated themselves as part of the prayers there. The regular Jewish prayer services in synagogues include several instances of bowing in the direction of the synagogue's Torah Ark, and partial prostration is carried out on some holidays."



The Ohel Moshe Society:

A Torah center dedicated to providing education, inspiration, and practical help to Jews and non-Jews in keeping the eternal Torah Commandments of HaShem, the One True G-d, according to His Will: the authentic halakhah according to Mishneh Torah by Rav Moshe Ben Maimon, ‘RaMBaM’, and ancient Jewish tradition




Consider one of the fundamental 613 Commandments of the Torah, in Wayyiqra (Lev.) 18:3:


After the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelled, you shall not do; and after the doings of the land of Canaan, to where I am bringing you, you shall not do; neither shall you walk in their statutes.


The following is a summary of the Oral Torah (the actual halakhah) on this Divine Commandment from the Mishneh Torah, the Code of Jewish Law (Laws of Idolatry chapter 11:1)


One is not to walk in the statutes of the gentiles, and not to resemble them—not in their dress, and not in their hairstyle, nor in anything else of this sort, as it is written: “neither shall you walk in their statutes.” And it is written, “be careful of yourself, lest you be ensnared after them.” [Deut. 12:30] All this is warning about one thing: That one not resemble them; but rather, that the Israelite be distinguished from them and known in his dress and in his other ways, just as he is distinguished from them in his wisdom and his character. And thus it is written, “and I shall make you distinct from the nations.”


In the miSwath lo-tha`aseh (Torah Prohibition) #30 in Sepher ha-miSwoth, we learn that the prohibition against copying the statutes of the gentiles not only pertains to their present customs, but those of their ancestors as well. Now it is possible that RaMBaM changed his opinion since his youth, when he wrote sefer ha-miSwoth, deliberately leaving this detail out of Mishneh Torah. This way the Hamburg-hatted, frock-coated Hassidim and Lithuanian-style Jews could claim that today they have a distinct Jewish look — certainly now that the Christian clergy have moved on to new modes of dress.


To me, it’s a stretch. I could be mistaken, but I see no reason to fight what seems clear: Jews are not to dress in uniquely gentile dress — neither that of the present, nor that of the past. (Note: Whatever I say about Haredi dress is said with the deepest respect for the Haredim and their [our] fierce dedication to Torah. I am one who personally identifies as a Haredi Jew, living in a Haredi neighborhood with children learning in a fine Haredi institution.)


One friend of mine shared with me an additional insight: The black garbed Polish look and black hats/streimels (and I add to that the modern, tight-fitting Western styles of non-Haredim) make us look foreign to this land. It is hostile clothing to the climate, and we look like aliens, foreign oppressors who don’t belong here, imported from Europe. The Arabs pick up on it, as does as the rest of the world. Noting our non-native styles, they say, “See? These Jews came and stole our land. They don’t belong here – go back to Europe!”


What I believe the nations understand subconsciously, somewhere deep in their souls, is something that pains them greatly: This is not the look (and in many cases not the behavior) of the “kingdom of priests” Israel is supposed to be for us. Barukh HaShem (thank God), I see numerous signs of positive change underway.


How, then, are Jews to ideally dress? Believe it or not, the traditions of our unique dress have not all disappeared. We can still learn them from the Jews of the Orient, very few of whom maintain them to this day. From my own great-great-great grandfather HaRav Yehudah Ha-Levi from Dubrovnik, Serbia, to the senior Hakhamim of Baghdad (below [1]) to the Torah teachers of Yemen: formal-wear for Jewish men varied little.


Please visit torathmoshe.com for more of this ancient wisdom.

Rabbi Shelomo Bar-Ron is an ordained rabbi and publishing Torah scholar. His Torah Center is in Ramat Beit Shemesh, where he teaches, studies and writes.


ALIYAH EXPO


Come and sign up NOW with a Shaliach
to make Eretz HaKodesh your new Home.
All your information at one place!

New York: Sunday June 13

Washington DC: Monday June 14

Toronto: Tuesday June 15

Ft Lauderdale: Wednesday June 16

Los Angeles: Thursday June 17

Tzfardei'a


"There was a carpet of frogs"


...Greek officials say a horde of frogs has forced the closure of a key northern highway for two hours.


..."millions" of the amphibians covered the tarmac Wednesday near the town of Langadas, some 12 miles east of Thessaloniki.


...crushed remains of thousands of tiny frogs stain the Egnatia highway in northern Greece, after the tarmac was covered by a horde of small amphibians


After this are the Plagues of:
Lice
Flies
Death of Livestock
Boils
Hail
Locusts
Plague of Darkness
Death of the Firstborn

Could the Hailstorm in Oklahoma be a Plague?

see also Tzfardei'a

25 May 2010

Weather in 4G Overdrive


24 Tornados Rip Across Oklahoma
Severe Storms Oklahoma
Softball sized Hail rained down in Oklahoma City 60 mph winds
Dust Storms in North Western China
Wildfires near LA
Texas Tornados
Nashville Flooding
Tennessee Flooding
Flooding in Poland, Southern China

Softball sized Hail rained down in Oklahoma City 60 mph winds


Softball Hail Pouring out of Drain Pipe, that was followed by a Tornado that downed power lines and homes:

24 May 2010

Perhaps Cognitive Dissonance

...between the stated and the actual
.......between the negative and the positive
..........between the erev rav and authentic Jews



Are the Leftists co-opting Zionism's
raison d’etre?
The Failing American Jewish identity:

In 2003, several prominent Jewish philanthropists hired Republican pollster Frank Luntz to explain why American Jewish college students were not more vigorously rebutting campus criticism of Israel. In response, he unwittingly produced the most damning indictment of the organized American Jewish community that I have ever seen. The philanthropists wanted to know what Jewish students thought about Israel.

"LUNTZ FOUND THAT THEY MOSTLY DID NOT"


“[I]n Israel today, this humane, universalistic Zionism does not wield power”
You can read this lengthly expose at NY Books.


DO ISRAELI LEADERS NEED A NEW IDENTITY?
To Better Reflect its People:

“In 2009, a poll by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 53 percent of Jewish Israelis (and 77 percent of recent immigrants from the former USSR) support encouraging Arabs to leave the country”

“When Israeli high schools held mock elections last year, Lieberman won”

“March, a poll found that 56 percent of Jewish Israeli high school students—and more than 80 percent of religious Jewish high school students—would deny Israeli Arabs the right to be elected to the Knesset”

“If American Jewish groups claim that Israel’s overseas human rights critics are motivated by anti- Israeli, if not anti-Semitic, bias, what does that say about Israel’s domestic human rights critics?”

“In 2002, America’s major Jewish organizations sponsored a large Israel solidarity rally on the Washington Mall. Up and down the east coast, yeshivas shut down for the day, swelling the estimated Orthodox share of the crowd to close to 70 percent.”

We just came from Har Sinai

We stood under a Chuppa

We were wed to HKB”H

We were given the Torah

With is Laws and Customs

and

Hashem gave us

His Law & Customs

Ten Commandments

To become a Nation of Holy People

Forty days prior

to a birth

It is decreed that plony marries plony

It is so decreed

There will be no Divorce

from Hashem

and His Laws & Statutes

We are Forever

Married


Views from Space


The newly installed cupola (above) on the International Space Station provides the astronauts with a window onto the Earth below them. The new viewing station was launched in February on space shuttle mission STS-130 and attached to the Tranquility module.

If you want to see what the view is like from inside the cupola, this photo should give you a good idea. Astronaut Soichi Noguchi has been shooting amazing photos from that perch, which he regularly posts to Twitter.

22 May 2010

Shabbat Shalom - Parshas Naso


Good Shabbos
Parshas Naso - Summer Avos Chapter One

To me, this Shabbos is the Atzeret of Shavuos


18 May 2010

Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov 1760 - 2010

Visit the CHABAD website to read about the Baal Shem Tov and many other articles celebrating the giving and receiving of Hashem's gift to the Jews and the World. [link above]

Through his teachings – and perhaps even more so through his passionate love – the Baal Shem Tov permanently transformed the Jewish landscape. Forevermore changed was the Jewish perspective on G-d, the Torah, the Jewish nation, and every one of G-d’s creations—and the essential unity within all these previously-thought-to-be disparate components.

Wednesday, the first day of the holiday of Shavuot, marks the 250th anniversary of passing of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (1698-1760), founder of the chassidic movement.


In 1760, like this year, the first day of Shavuot was on a Wednesday—the day of the week when G-d created the celestial orbs and instructed them (as explained in Genesis) to “illuminate the earth.”


Two and a half centuries have since passed, but the light the Baal Shem Tov introduced continues to illuminate the earth—brighter than ever before. His students and students’ students took their master’s teachings and passion, and used it to touch, illuminate and bring meaning to countless millions.

In honor of this special day, we bring you a new section devoted to the teachings and legacy of the person who changed the conventional perspective on G-d, the Torah, the Jewish nation, and every one of G-d’s creations—and the essential unity within all these previously-thought-to-be disparate components.


This Shavuot, may we all merit to be touched and changed by the special light.

Wishing you a meaningful holiday. May we merit to receive and internalize the Torah with true joy.


P.S. This Wednesday, make sure your whole family – even the youngest babies – “receives the Torah” anew, by hearing the reading of the Ten Commandments. Click to find a synagogue (and Shavuot events) near you.


Shalom Pollack: DECEMBER TOURS

Wednesday, December 18 A special "hilltop" visit, plus .. We will begin our day in the Shomron (Benjamin Region) where we will hav...