Hoshana Rabbah – The Final Verdict – Vilna Gaon on Gog U'Magog

The seventh day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, 21st day of Tishrei, is known as Hoshana Rabbah (Aramaic: הוֹשַׁעְנָא רַבָּא, "Great Hoshana/Supplication”).

The seventh day of Sukkot, Hoshana Rabbah, is considered the final day of the divine “Judgment” in which the fate of the new year is determined. It is the day when the verdict that was issued on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is finalized.

The Midrash tells us that G‑d told Abraham: “If atonement is not granted to your children on Rosh Hashanah, I will grant it on Yom Kippur; if they do not attain atonement on Yom Kippur, it will be given on Hoshana Rabbah.”



In consideration of the auspiciousness of the day, it is customary in many communities to remain awake on the night preceding Hoshana Rabbah. We recite the entire book of Deuteronomy, wherein the precepts to love and fear G‑d are expounded at length. 

In certain communities, the entire book of Deuteronomy is read in the synagogue from the Torah scroll. After midnight, the entire book of Psalms is recited. In some congregations it is a custom for the gabbai (synagogue manager) to distribute apples (signifying a “sweet year”) to the congregants. These apples are then taken home, dipped in honey, and eaten in the sukkah.

Ancient Rituals From the Temple Worship

The daytime rituals of the holiday are drawn from the ancient rituals that were practiced in the Jews’ Holy Temple. In synagogue, male congregants make a circuit around the bimah, the central platform upon which the Torah is read, each man holding his the lulav and etrog aloft.

During the holiday of Sukkot, only one circuit of the bimah is completed. In contrast, on Hoshana Rabbah, congregants complete seven circuits. Each time represents one of the Seven Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and David.

Following this ritual, it is customary to recite a liturgical poem, and at the conclusion of this, to beat five willow branches hard against the floor. This is to beat away the last vestiges of sin, but there are mystical nuances to the ritual known only to those who are deeply versed in Kabbalah.


Vilna Gaon, Gog and Magog war and Hoshana Rabba (Commentary and Quotes – miyodea Q&A)

"...The Vilna Gaon on the Mechilta (Shmos 14:20) says that the Gog U'Magog war shall begin three hours before "Hanetz Hachama" (crack of dawn) on Hoshana Rabba, and shall last three hours only.”

"It is also a verifiable prediction that according to Rav Yitzchak Kaduri's (zt”l) quotation of the Vilna Gaon that the final battle of Gog and Magog would begin on Hoshanah Rabba, the 7th day of Sukkot, in the first year of a Shmittah (Sabbatical) cycle.”

"Gog (12) and Magog (58) have a gematria (numeric value) of seventy which corresponds to the 70 nations Midrash Tanchuma, Korach 12. This seems to imply that Gog will rule over 70 nations, and all of them will join together against Israel (see Tehillim 118:110 and Zecharyah 14:2).”

"On this great day [of redemption], however, they will be saved from all of their enemies for all times = therefore, it will be called Hoshana Rabba, the great salvation... The Tur Arizal says, "On Hoshanah Rabbah, the war of Gog and Magog will begin." (Paraphrased)

ALSO: "The Tur (Orach Chaim 490) writes in the name of Rav Hai Gaon that the war will break out on Sukkos. See, however, Malbim to Ezek. 39:8 who writes that the timing of that war was never revealed to any prophet."

"There are 3 parts to the war of Gog miGog. This is based upon Midrash Tehillim. The first part coincides with the Holocaust and the detonation of the nuclear weapons over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is alluded to in Tikkuninim Chadashim of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato. It is also following the schedule of the redemption as outlined in Sefer Avkat Rochel of Rabbeinu Makir ben Abba Mori. The 2nd stage corresponds to Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield. The 3rd and final stage called Operation Iraqi Freedom and the War in Afghanistan is what was mentioned by Rav Kaduri”

The writing from the Vilna Gaon are most likely referring to the sealed letter which the Gaon wanted opened 100 years after his passing. It can be found in the Rav Menachem Kasher edition of Sefer Kol HaTor entitled "HaTekufah HaGadolah". It was published in 1972 and is still available in print. This schedule is also discussed in Sefer Kol HaTor. [. . .]

The information is accurate and correct.

This view was not only held by Rav Kaduri. For those who remember, the nascent Sanhedrin produced a scroll that was to be delivered to then President George Bush warning him that he was the one foretold in the Prophets in the Tanach as being Gog mi'Gog. This scroll warned clearly that Bush needed to support Israel or G-d would deal with him severely. (See above link for Sources to this)
 [. . .]

I have been looking through the Vilna Gaon's commentary on the Mechilta and have found nothing that explicitly states what is being asked. The commentary is called "Biyurim v'Haga'ot HaGra". I also checked his commentary "Kol Eliyahu" on Tanach. It is possible there is some larger, more comprehensive commentary.

What I have found is only an explanation of what the Mechilta itself says. Namely that the final redemption will parallel the redemption from Egypt. In this particular case, the splitting of the Red Sea and all the details of this are associated with the final stage of the conflict in the War of Gog miGog. This is explicitly associated with chapter 60 of Isaiah at the beginning. It also relates this to what happened with the judgement of Sodom and Gemorrah.

A little later in the Mechilta it mentions the view of Rabbi Eliezer who says that although the exodus from Egypt was in the month of Nisan, for various reasons, the final redemption will be in Tishrei. The Gra there doesn't say how he holds. He just explains Rabbi Eliezer's reasoning.

The judgement of the nations is sealed and execution begins from Hoshannah Rabbah. That is the explicit teaching of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai as found in the Zohar on parshat Tzav.

So in context, if this judgement with Gog u'Magog parallels the timing of the splitting of the Red Sea, it would seem to be shortly before daybreak.

Looking simply at the timing, the beginning of the bombing in Afghanistan in the 2nd Gulf War started the night of Hoshannah Rabbah. That complies with the plain meaning from the Mechilta as understood by the Vilna Gaon.

[ME: However, we see there is now in 5777 a Build-Up by Russia and other nations seeming to be centered in and around the Mediterranean, involving Syria and the US. (See various websites for this.)]

This is also the explanation of how the final redemption unfolds as discussed in Sefer Avkat Rochel of Rabbi Makir ben Abba Mari, volume 1, Wars of King Moshiach, 8th sign. This is also brought in Targum Yonatan ben Uziel on Devarim 34:3.

EARTHQUAKE UPDATE – The Earth is Extremely Active

WESTCOAST EARTHQUAKE UPDATE

Earthquakes and Earthquake swarms near Volcanos and near Raging Fires

[very extensive coverage of California]

10/9/17 10pm earthquake update dutchsinse
[mysteriously near Fracking and Drilling Operations]

SPARKS FROM THE SKY . . . UPDATE ON CALIFORNIA INFERNO

One man saw sparks fly from the sky and a sudden wind came and next the fires raged.

One Person said that grape fields are untouched but the surrounding area homes etc. are up in flames. 

One woman’s home burned and she sought cover within a grape field and was saved (unverified)

Oct. 9, 2017 WATCH Live: MASSIVE WILDFIRES Outspreading in California, EVACUATION in SONOMA, NAPA Country. (Reuters) 

Buildings in California's Napa and Sonoma counties were being evacuated early on Monday morning after multiple, fast-spreading wildfires engulfed the area with thick smoke and large flames, according to fire officials and local media.

Firefighters were battling a 200-acre (80.9-hectare) wildfire in Napa County, an area nearly 70 miles north of San Francisco that is known for its vineyards, since late Sunday evening, according to the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The "Atlas Fire" was burning in the hills above Napa County and had damaged several buildings. As of Monday morning, firefighters had made no headway containing it.
At least three other fires were burning near Calistoga, a small Napa Valley city known for its wineries, and near areas in Sonoma County, forcing evacuations from homes, shopping centers and hospitals, according to the Napa County Sheriff's Office.

Videos and photos on social media showed fires raging in the hills above Napa Valley, burning their way through vegetation, buildings, roads and some parked vehicles. Reports of injuries were not immediately clear.

Officials said strong, dry winds were fanning the flames and asked residents in mandatory evacuation zones to leave immediately for the four local shelters, according to reports by NBC Bay Area.
In Sonoma County, the fire also forced all schools in Santa Rosa City to close for the day.
The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory warning late on Sunday until Monday at 11 a.m. PDT (1800 GMT). It said it expected winds at 20 to 35 miles (32 to 56 km) per hour and gusts of at least 45 mph.

Patients at Kaiser Hospital in Santa Rosa were being removed early Monday morning, according to NBC Bay Area reporter Laura Garcia. "Gurneys being brought out, people in wheelchairs and walkers loaded in cars," Garcia wrote on Twitter.

FIRE . . . FIRE . . . WINE COUNTRY INFERNO

American Airline plane bursts into flames as passengers look on in horror at airport
The Boeing 777 was due to fly from Hong Kong to Las Vegas when it burst into flames next to the terminal (Mirror)













American Airlines plane carrying 161 passengers bursts into huge fireball as it attempts to take off. Newly released video shows just how close the jetliner carrying 161 passengers came to disaster when an engine exploded on takeoff in Chicago last year. (Mirror) The shocking incident happened in October last year, but footage of the incident only emerged this week after it was shared American news channel NBC.(Mirror)

SONOMA AND NAPA WINE COUNTRY INFERNO
Massive fires in Napa and Sonoma counties burn structures, force evacuations, close hospitals
Several massive wildfires burned out of control in Napa and Sonoma counties early Monday, destroying an untold number of homes, forcing the evacuation of many thousands of people and shutting down major roadways as firefighters sought to halt the advance of the infernos driven by powerful winds. (Sfgate)

































The latest on the Wine Country fires

Massive wildfires ripped through Napa and Sonoma counties early Monday, destroying hundreds of homes and businesses, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people and shutting down major roadways as firefighters sought to halt the advance of infernos driven by powerful winds. Links below:

Live updates: North Bay fires burn thousands of acres

Wineries reel in the wake of North Bay fires

Several possible causes of Wine Country fires

List of Bay Area evacuation centers

How you can help people affected by the North Bay fires

article and pics from sfchronicle

Reform’s Camp Newman Destroyed By California Wildfires
Camp Newman, used by Jewish community in San Francisco Bay Area, wiped out as forest fires rip through northern California. Jewish Summer Camp. At least 10 people have died so far in the forest fires, which blazed across the area Monday. At least 15 fires are burning in eight counties, 20,000 people have evacuated their homes and 1,500 buildings have been destroyed.

“As many of you may have heard, since 10 p.m. last night, forest fires have been burning in Sonoma and Napa counties,” the camp’s post read. It is with tremendous shock and sadness that we share that the majority of the buildings at our beloved Camp Newman home have been destroyed.”

FIRST RAINS COME TO BLESS ERETZ YISRAEL

Israel's first rains fell during the week-long holiday of Sukkot, providing hope for the Kinneret's (Sea of Galilee) recovery.

In September, Water Authority spokesman Uri Shore said that the Kinneret hit a record low in August, and "if God forbid the coming winter is similar to the previous four, then our water sources are going to be in huge trouble."

Monday morning will see rain showers in Israel's north and center, Israel Meteorological Service reported. There may be isolated thunderstorms, and the northern Negev may experience light rains.

Temperatures will drop significantly, becoming lower than seasonal average. The rain will lighten towards afternoon.ArutzSheva

“rain will come in its time;

there will be plenty of rain,

there will be four good seasons

and the weather will be very good in Israel.”

Nir Ben Artzi

HUGE ORB-LIKE SIGHTINGS

HUGE OBJECT–LIKE SIGHTING
[or a Huge Refraction of SOMETHING]
watch ONLY until 3:00 on timeline

IN ITALY – HUGE ORB SEEN IN THE SKY 
and witnessed by people below

UPDATE LANDFALL – HURRICANE NATE HEADED FOR LANDFALL

UPDATE: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 8

October 7, 2017: UPDATE 
NATE / CATEGORY 2 LANDFALL / 100 mph Wind /
This is NOT a typical hurricane




NEW - Satellite shows Hurricane NATE 
reaching STUPEFYING heights | -120 Fahrenheit!
October 7, 2017: UPDATE / Hurricane models are showing Nate reaching absolutely staggering heights, so tall that the upper temps are reaching -90C or -120 degrees! Incredible...
It will make landfall early this evening, bringing everything on the 'hurricane menu' with it. Look for tornadoes and hail. PURPLE COLOR MEANS A TALL TALL HURRICANE

TAKE THIS TO HEART . . . RETURN TO HASHEM IN YOUR MIND AND HEART

*"Mother Nature" CANT STOP & WON’T STOP  

with the hurricanes, as Tropical Storm Nate targets Gulf Coast.  The extraordinarily destructive and deadly 2017 Atlantic hurricane season continues

now with Tropical Storm Nate, currently a tiny storm causing flooding in Nicaragua and Honduras, poised to become a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico.

There are many uncertainties with this storm, primarily concerning its structure and intensification, but computer models are coming into agreement that residents from coastal Louisiana to the Gulf Coast of Florida should be paying close attention to weather forecasts during the next few days. Mashable















October 5, 2017: Many variables are at play right now, some will be instrumental in boosting Nate to the 'upper class' of Hurricanes. My prediction Nate will be a CAT 3 by late Saturday night in the Gulf of Mexico. "Brown Ocean Effect" to make Nate a CAT 3 Hurricane



October 5, 2017: **HEADS-UP** Louisiana is evacuating parts of New Orleans ahead of Tropical Storm NATE.
Look for this storm to intensify as it moves north into the Gulf of Mexico. Currently it has it sights set on a New Orleans landfall and it is already dropping mega rain. Louisiana making evacuations ahead of NATE - Already dropping 20+ inches of rain!



Meteor/Fireball crashes into White Mountains starting huge wildfire! October 4, 2017: "FIRE IN THE SKY NEWS" /
A meteor is being blamed as the possible cause of a out of control wildfire currently burning high in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  A local resident reported seeing something fall from the sky that night when the wildfire broke out. http://www.unionleader.com/public-saf...




Volcanic Ring of Fire Erupts-Ocean Dramatically Recedes-Climate Chaos Escalates
A series of worrisome events along the ring of fire that are pointing to a potential catastrophe in our near future



*The Holy One, Blessed is He, has brought into the world a wind with an extremely powerful angel for the wind; without an angel, it will not move. The wind that struck Mexico and the United States, this angel moved it. It will move from one country to another to purify the world, so that the Jews will understand that they must immigrate to the Land of Israel. The sea too - an angel moves it. The Land of Israel is protected and guarded, and there will be no problems with the elements or any problem from any country in the world. Because every country that intervenes will be struck by the ten plagues of Egypt, a hundred times. The elements will continue to strike, strong earthquakes, strong floods, strong winds, strong fires, the sea will continue to run wild, to sink and overflow! And yet the Creator promised there will not be a flood like it used to be.

The mini solar system known as Nibiru - Hashavit will also appear and change the world physically. The globes and maps that put every country in its place in our minds and in our understanding, will all be changed. Where once there was dry land will be covered with deep water and the seabed will become land without water, but Eretz Yisroel will stay the same and untouched by the violence around.

A time for choosing which side we want to be on, the side of evil or the side of good. Two thirds of the world will be destroyed. One third will be completely destroyed. One third will be very badly hurt and one third will be untouched for the most part. That will be the area where Eretz Yisroel is. In the future Eretz Yisroel won’t have the frontiers that it has now. The borders will be like in the times of Shlomo Hamelech.

All the activities of nature and anti-Semitism, volcano eruptions, floods, storms and winds, small and large tsunamis, accidents and very harsh natural disasters are all with great compassion.

The holy Land of Israel is Noah's ark, and those who live in the Holy Land are protected and guarded like in Noah's Ark

There will be severe earthquakes, severe tsunamis, half tsunamis and full tsunamis, severe fires, volcanic eruptions, accidents on ships, planes, trains and cars, and there will be natural disasters. There will be many mistakes in factories that manufacture or send missiles, many explosions inside.


* Warnings from: Absolute Truth: Yisroel Meir, Dani, and Reb Nir ben Artzi

WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE HUGE MISSISSIPPI RIVER ?

Absence of Water in Parts of the Mississippi River near the New Madrid Area

October 2, 2017: New Madrid showing signs of movement as the Mississippi River goes dry above it. Water may be going down in the fault. 3 earthquakes in New Madrid Fault near DRY Mississippi River - Absolute perfect match with NMSZ



October 2, 2017: Mississippi River sand bars beginning to appear in NEW places. Water is disappearing.  Mississippi River going dry ABOVE New Madrid Fault - Crack in ground?



New Madrid Area Once Had a Seashore, Rivers Rerouted
Notice the interesting maps in the video


The yellow band of hills across Southern Illinois are the edge of glacier debris. You can see picturesque leftover boulders at Giant City State Park, near Carbondale, Fern Clyffe State Park near Marion, the long "Goreville hill" on I-57, and the beautiful Garden of the Gods near Harrisburg, where signs say it took the glacier a few hundred years to melt. Illinois glaciation

An old Ohio riverbed curved sharply westward, just south of present Golconda in SE Illinois (thin dark blue on top map, yellow on smaller map below, increasing in width westward) running a few miles south of the present Illinois Route 146. Most of the dark blue of Illinois in upper map is the present Cache River Basin and Natural Area.  LINK: http://www.greatdreams.com/earthquake...

Interesting USGS article on Earth’s Plumbing System

Mississippi River Mysteriously Dry - Precursor for New Madrid Earthquake?

PHOTOS OF NIBIRU MOON

Jeff From NIBIRU WATCHER Has Some Interesting Photos to Show Us.

Nibiru moon (Huge) finally caught on live video


Video from Seven Spaulding youtube channel link original video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXTyb…


Planetary shadows getting bigger and darker caught on 2 cameras 9/30/2017




Another Mysterious Sighting
October 3, 2017: A mysterious large white light/orb was recorded hovering over the Pacific Ocean not seeming to move for nearly 4 minutes then vanishes into thin air, just disappeared! It was a continuous energy, did not blink.
Newport, Oregon / Pacific Ocean

HOW DOES THE SUKKAH SAVE US?

HOW DOES THE SUKKAH SAVE US?

By Roy S. Neuberger

“He will hide me in His Sukkah on the day of evil.” (Tehillim 27)

Why is the sukkah our protection? And what is “the day of evil?”

As I write, the Americas have been battered by two gigantic hurricanes, scores of wildfires and a major earthquake, each one a disaster of epic proportions. At the other end of the world, in the words of the headline, “North Korea fires missile over Japan.” This is a world in which crisis is coming to seem normal, a world which seems to be waiting for the next blow to fall.

Do you remember the story I told several years ago, about the highway patrolman I met near the Goethals Bridge? (No, I had not been pulled over!) He turned out to be a touchingly thoughtful person. I will never forget what he told me: “Today, ‘crazy’ is the norm.”

As the year 5778 commences, challenges are increasing. Sensitive people are concerned.

How can the sukkah protect us? What does it mean that “He will hide me in His Sukkah on the day of evil?” Hide me in what? A flimsy structure through whose open roof the heavens are visible? A sukkah offers no physical protection. If it rains, the interior gets soaked. If the sun beats down, it can feel like an oven. Yet the sukkah is our protection!

It is so simple, my friends. We have to know that the source of our protection – even our physical protection – is not physical. Protection depends on a world we cannot see.

What is “the day of evil?”

In just over a week, b’ezras Hashem, we will read the words, “Hashem saw that the evil of man upon the earth was great, and that every product of the thoughts of his heart was only evil always.” (Beraishis 6:5) The Ohr Hachaim asks why the possuk associates evil with “the earth?” He discusses the concept that all matter is made of four elements: earth, water, fire and air. Of these four, earth is the “most dense and crude” and air is the “most spiritual.”

Man is primarily earth. Isn’t this ironic? You would think that man, the most spiritually advanced of all creations, would be primarily air, but the opposite is true.

The Ohr Hachaim explains that man “had to be made [from] earth” because man’s purpose is to raise the entire material world to its highest possible level. To accomplish that, man needs to be on the lowest level in order to raise all of creation to its intended state. “If [man]would have been built primarily out of the other three [elements], which are more spiritual in comparison to the [element] of earth, [then Hashem’s] intent in creating [man] would not have been completely fulfilled!” (Ohr Hachaim on Beraishis 5-6)

When we fail to fulfill our mission and sink to the level of the earth, then all creation is endangered, chas v’Shalom. This is what happened before the Mabul. “Hashem saw that the evil of man ‘upon the earth’ was great.” (ibid) In the words of the Ohr Hachaim, Hashem saw that mankind had lowered itself to a “great degree of abomination.” When man fell to this level, Hashem said,“I will blot out Man whom I created from the face of the ground, for I have reconsidered My having made them.” (Beraishis 6:7)

Do we understand the gravity of this situation? If mankind sinks to this madreiga, the entire existence of life in this world hangs in the balance and Hashem considers annihilating – chas v’Shalom! – all of creation!

What does one do at such a terrible moment? How is man to save himself?

There is only one way: we rush into the sukkah!

The sukkah is open to the sky. If we cannot see the sky through the s’chach, then the sukkah is posul. In order to raise ourselves from the dust, we have to build a house with no roof! We become part of the sky! The houses in which we live during the rest of the year have solid roofs through which the sky cannot be seen, but if the roof of our house is open to the heavens, that indicates we understand that our expected role in this world is to rise to the heavens. “Shake off the dust! Arise! Don your splendid clothes, My People.” (Lecha Dodi) When we rise toward the heavens then we become like the air, the “most spiritual” element.

Hashem will do this for us when we enter the sukkah. “Mikimi mai’afar dal …. He raised the needy from the dust; He lifts the destitute from the trash heaps.” (Tehillim 113)

When disaster threatens the world, there is only one shelter, and that is the sukkah. As Chazal say, “all ends have passed, and the matter of the Messiah’s arrival depends only on repentance and good deeds.” (Sanhedrin 97b)

My friends, this is all that is left. Sukkos is the culmination of the Yom Tov Cycle and the beginning of a new year. Everything ends here in the sukkah and everything begins in the sukkah. We invite Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov Avinu, Yosef Hatzaddik, Moshe Rabbeinu, Aharon Hakohain and Dovid Hamelech to dwell with us. They are the heroes of history who rose from the dust and sanctified mankind. They were the ones who prevented catastrophe from overwhelming the earth, who counteracted mankind’s headlong lunge to destroy itself by sinking to the level of the dust.

The sukkah is open to the sky! Our feet are on the ground but our head is in Shomayim. If we dwell in the sukkah, we will be saved. “Kavai el Hashem ... Hope to Hashem! Strengthen yourself and He will give you courage, and hope to Hashem!”

* * * *
Roy Neuberger, author and public speaker, can be reached at roy@2020vision.co.il.

© Copyright 2017 by Roy S. Neuberger

Beautiful Slichot and Succot Scenes At the Kotel

A very professional non-Professional Photographer captured some interesting scenes after Yom Kippur, Slichot Video, and Preparing for Sukkot

Unfortunately the beautiful davening stopped suddenly??




Here is a beautiful Sephardic Selichot from August 5777

This decorative Stone from the Second Temple
is a new find by archaeologists near the Kotel

New Details on the Nevada Shooting

Breaking – New Details on the Nevada Shooting:

For a deeper understanding linking to EndofDays Pre–Geula Events: Sukkot Harvest Festival

Following Report by Mike Adams of Natural News:  First, ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack which has now killed 59 and injured 500+. Read the full story on ISIS claims.

Secondly, there are five things that just don't add up about the official reports on this event. Why did one "lone wolf gunman" have ten rifles? How did he get ahold of a full-auto machine gun?

Here is my "five questions" story that's already going viral.

Five things that just don’t add up about the Las Vegas mass shooting Article Details: Five Things…

#1) Dozens of concert-goers reported the presence of multiple shooters

#2) Who warned concert-goers they were “all going to die” a full 45 minutes before the shooting started?

#3) The weapon you hear on videos was FULL AUTO, which is almost impossible to acquire through legal means.  "The multitude of videos that captured the event clearly indicate that at least one shooter was running a full auto weapons system. Such weapons are almost impossible for “civilians” to acquire. Although some pre-1986 full auto weapons are available for sale, they require extensive ATF documentation, background checks and extremely long wait periods approaching one year. Plus, they tend to cost $25,000 or more, and they’re extremely rare. Full auto weapons, however, are widely owned by police officers, federal officials and military organizations. It will be very interesting to find out where this weapon came from and how it was acquired."

#4) Why were the exits blocked, trapping victims like rats in a maze?
According to numerous media reports stemming from the Las Vegas mass shooting, concert-goers were blocked from fleeing and had little or no cover to protect them from the full-auto machine gun fire raining down on them.

#5) Why did the shooter have as many as 10 firearms in his room?

ONE MORE QUESTION: Why is ISIS claiming responsibility for the Las Vegas massacre?

“The Las Vegas attack was carried out by a soldier of the Islamic State and he carried it out in response to calls to target states of the coalition,” the group’s news agency Amaq said in reference to the U.S.-led coalition fighting the group in the Middle East.

“The Las Vegas attacker converted to Islam a few months ago,” Amaq added. [Reuters]


Lastly, in the interests of public safety, I've posted a practical, lifesaving article that teaches you how to find effective cover in a mass shooting.
* Survival 101

Eliminating Parkinson's Tremors Painlessly

“Start Up Nation” Creates Miracles – again

Eliminates Parkinson's Tremors Painlessly

Some medical miracles you can see. Others you cannot. Rabbi Yocheved Mintz thought her hand would never stop trembling because of her Parkinson’s diagnosis, but that all changed during her recent trip to Israel.

This remarkable turn of events is the result of an exciting collaboration between Israeli doctors and engineers. Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa is the first hospital to partner with medical device developer Insightec to improve its MRI-Guided Focused Ultrasound treatment for individuals with severe neurological disorders. With tremendous success, Rambam has treated 62 patients to date with Essential Tremor and Parkinson’s Tremor, home and abroad with MRI-Guided Focused Ultrasound.
With no operating room, no incisions, and no pain, Rambam is among the few international facilities offering this completely non-invasive technique. As the leading location for the procedure, Rambam treats tremors of moderate to high severity, drastically improving a person’s quality of life, including the ability to eat, drink, write, and complete any activity that requires controlled, accurate movement. Without this treatment, tremors may heighten on one side of the body, and over time may worsen, resulting in severe disability.

Many patients with significant tremors that are unresponsive to medication can now consider Rambam as their go-to solution. This procedure only requires a few hours, but can last a lifetime, producing significant and immediate relief of the tremor. Using high-intensity ultrasound waves, doctors can precisely target the diseased area of the brain, preserving all healthy surrounding tissue.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to accurately direct the ultrasound waves to the specific site in the brain where the tremor is initiated—hence the treatment name—MRI-Guided FUS. The doctor monitors the patient in real time and adapts treatment for optimal results.

“Our innovative physician-scientists integrate medicine, engineering and science to provide the fastest, safest results,” says Prof. Rafi Beyar, Director and CEO of Rambam Health Care Campus. “Our holistic approach facilitates redemptive treatment for patients, restoring their hope.”

Beyond FUS treatment, Rambam has had a major role in innovation throughout Israel’s history, from perfecting CT scans and imagery, to electrophysiology for heart therapies, and stents to alleviate clogged arteries.

Welcoming patients regardless of race, religion or nationality, Rambam Health Care Campus treats individuals from every country – even those without diplomatic relations with Israel.  As a 1,000-bed teaching hospital, Rambam is the largest and most advanced medical center in Northern Israel, serving two million residents and individuals throughout the region and the world.

The Department of International Medicine at Rambam Health Care Campus offers the latest in modern and technologically advanced medical procedures, with thousands of patients worldwide applying online for treatment each year. The hospital’s top specialists offer a wide variety of consultations and care.

To apply for FUS treatment at Rambam Health Care Campus or for information, please contact Rambam’s consulting doctor, Svetlana Rubin at sveta@mashmed.com.  To support innovative research for Parkinson’s disease, a tax-deductible donation can be made to American Friends of Rambam at www.aforam.org or by contacting Sari Arshadnia at sarshadnia@aforam.org.

Article from TimesofIsrael online.

FROM BURKAS TO BELTS: ISRAEL MUSEUM EXHIBIT

From burkas to belts, exhibit shows how Jewish fashion was all about fitting in

Challenging the idea that communities rejected outside influences, New York museum display of Jewish clothes from past centuries reflects those who lived around them
By Andrew Tobin timesofisrael

Efrat Assaf-Shapira shows off a Bukharan
women’s coat from the Jewish clothing collection
at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem,
September 27, 2017. (Andrew Tobin)

JTA — When the Israel Museum put a burka-style garment on display in an exhibition on Jewish clothing, some visitors were confused: What does a full-body cloak associated with Islam have to do with Jewish fashions?
A lot, it turns out.

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“This was actually traditional clothing for high-society Jewish women until even the mid-20th century,” Efrat Assaf-Shapira, a curator of the museum’s vast collection of Jewish costumes, told JTA. “Jews around the world mainly wore whatever their surrounding societies wore.”

So, for example, white silk Tunisian wedding pants with a 10-foot waist to accommodate pleasingly plump brides, a purple silk Iranian skirt inspired by the tutus of the Parisian ballet and a white cotton Ethiopian dress and belt are part of the museum’s collection of Jewish clothing.

Now the Israel Museum is preparing to bring its cosmopolitan Jewish fashions to New York for the first “comprehensive US exhibition” of Jewish costumes. “Veiled Meaning: Fashioning Jewish Dress,” will be on display at the Jewish Museum in Manhattan from Nov. 3 to March 18.

Since its opening in 1965, the Israel Museum has accumulated the largest collection of Jewish dress in the world. The climate-controlled basement of its sprawling campus in downtown Jerusalem houses some 10,000 items worn by Jews in dozens of countries over the past few hundred years.

The museum’s collection is the result of Israel’s unique role as a refuge for world Jewry: Most of the items were donated by the immigrants who rushed to the country by the millions after its founding in 1948.

A Bukharan Jewish couple posing in coats
lined with ikat weaving.
(Courtesy of the Israel Museum/Mauro Magliani)

“The large scope of this collection is only possible because all the communities from around the world came to Israel,” Assaf-Shapira said. “It’s a rare meeting of cultures that happened at the edge of modernization.”

Still, the collection is inevitably limited by the forces of history. According to Assaf-Shapira, Jews already were beginning to trade their traditional clothing for Western-style garb when they began immigrating to Israel, and this was especially true of men. Also, because of the Holocaust, European Jews brought very little of their culture with them, with the partial exception of those from the south of the continent.

As a result, the clothing preserved by the Israel Museum largely represents the styles worn by Jewish women in North Africa, Yemen and Asia during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most of the items are the kind of ceremonial garb that such women packed away in their closets as heirlooms, especially wedding dresses.

Over the decades, the Israel Museum has displayed its clothing collection in a series of exhibitions focused on Jews from specific regions. In 2014, for the first time, it showcased global Jewish fashion under the title “Dress Codes: Revealing the Jewish Wardrobe.”

“Veiled Meaning” at the New York museum will be a version of that exhibition, including about 100 items from dozens of Jewish communities as far flung as Italy and India.

Assaf-Shapira said the sheer variety of the materials, colors and designs challenge the notion that Jews preserved their identity by rejecting outside influences. In most cases, she said, Jews dressed in the style of the surrounding society.

“There is shared core of the religion and the ceremonies,” she said of these Jewish communities. “But surrounding this shared core, there is a whole area of traditions which were shared with Muslims and Christians.”

In some cases, Jews even contributed to popular fashion, she said, citing a Bukharan woman’s coat lined with colorful ikat weaving at which local Jews were skilled.

Even when Jews did wear distinguishing clothing, Assaf-Shapira said, they were typically preserving and appropriating outmoded local fashions, not uniquely Jewish ones.

Which brings us to the burka-like veiled garment that confounded visitors to the Israel Museum and will be on display in New York.

In Mashhad, Iran, Jewish women wore the chador along with a veil — just like their Muslim neighbors. After they fled persecution and forced conversion in the 19th century and resettled in Herat, Afghanistan, they preserved their Iranian-style shawl rather than adopt the local burka like their Jewish contemporaries in nearby Kabul. Many continued to wear the chador until they immigrated to Israel, as late as the 1970s.

“These items going to New York tell the story of the diversity of the Jewish communities all around the world,” Assaf-Shapira said, “and actually how you keep your identity through changing times.”

Revolutionary Ruling Permits Genetic Testing of Halachic Jewish Status

Revolutionary Ruling Permits Genetic Testing of Halachic Jewish Status

By David Israel JewishPress

The Eretz Hemdah Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies in Jerusalem has recently published a collection of responsa (Bemareh Habazak pt. 9), which rule, among other things, that it is possible to determine the Jewish status of a man or a woman based on a unique genetic test, makor Rishon reported Friday. Should this ruling be embraced by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate, it would provide many olim from the former Soviet Union a valid means to prove their Jewish ancestry.



“Testing the Mitochondrial genome, which is transmitted exclusively through the female germ line, makes it possible to identify relatives,” Rabbi Yosef Carmel, the Rabbinical Dean of the Eretz Hemdah, told Makor Rishon. “If it can be proven that a Jane Doe is the offspring of a Jewish mother, her own offspring would also be recognized as Jews (from birth).”

According to Rabbi Carmel, “some 40% of European Ashkenazi Jews carry a genetic mark that suggests they are the offspring of four mothers who immigrated to Europe from the Middle East a millennia ago. Chances are high, statistically speaking, that anyone able to prove that they are the offspring of those four mothers is Jewish according to halacha.”

Rabbi Carmel explained that for the purpose of validating an individual’s Jewish heritage a statistical probability is sufficient, rather than a “clear sign.” In his view, once one has been identified as Jewish with this method, they are no longer required to go through a conversion process to become Jewish.
The ruling could resolve hundreds of thousands of pending cases in which olim to Israel from the former USSR are unable to prove their Jewish ancestry and even though they are eligible for an Israeli citizenship, the Chief Rabbinate would not recognize them as Jews for the purpose of marriage, burial, giving testimony, and a variety of additional endeavors that require one to be Jewish in Israel.

Rabbi Carmel believes his ruling would absolve about 40% of Russian olim of the need to convert in order to receive recognition as Jews.




The statistical portion of the ruling was approved by Rabbi Professor Nathan Keller, a graduate of the Einstein Institute of Mathematics in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a researcher of probabilistic combinatorics and cryptography; and the genetic research was approved by Professor Karl Skorecki, the Director of Medical and Research Development at the Rambam Health Care Campus..

Rabbi Carmel and his colleague, Rabbi Moshe Ehrenreich have been lobbying the Chief Rabbinate to accept their research and ruling. They say the initial response from the Rabbinate has been positive, but an official response is yet to be issued.

Moshiach And The Resurrection Of The Dead

Moshiach And The Resurrection Of The Dead

[This is an old shiur but I doubt much has changed]

very interesting

Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh’s October 1 Shiur TODAY

LIVEBROADCAST.INNER.ORG

Wishing Everyone a Meaningful Yom Kippur . . .

and an easy fast;

and also if anything i posted was offensive, i'm sorry; please feel free to comment even if you are complaining, like to hear from you. Forgive me for any instances of insult or lack of respect, i'll try to catch myself in the future. 

Shalom’s Take on Yom Kippur and the Coming Year

As we prepare for Yom Kippur 

and begin the new year, one wonders what surprises await us - or are we capable of being surprised anymore.

In just the two weeks before and after Rosh Hashana, we were witness to events which would have been the equivalent of a political/social earthquake a generation ago.

Israeli artists proudly displayed a play."Foxtrot" which (once again) pushed the IDF into the world arena with the badge of shame for all to ridicule and hate.
Mission accomplished - once again.

When the minister of culture and sport, Miri Regev announced that Israel will not fund such displays of disgrace and self-loathing, the usual pack of "freedom of speech" wolves raised their howl. 

No surprises here.

Three Israelis were murdered in the town of Har Adar which lies just inside the liberated areas of 1967. It is a beautiful, affluent town which houses Avrum Burg, a prominent Israeli politician who made his way from the head of the Jewish Agency and speaker of the Knesset to the Communist party. There he could help the Arabs and protect them from the vicious immoral Jews.

He feels at home in Har Adar.

The residents hire lots of Arabs from the "occupied territories" and treat them like family (as long as they don't move next door).

It was a terrible shock then when of their "family" who was employed by them for many years and daily shared coffee and chatted with them, decided to kill as many of them as he could. He only managed to kill three. He was not able to reach the kindergarten nearby.

Well, partial success.

Indeed his success will win his family glory and cash for life, compliments of our "peace partners" in the Palestinian Authority that we created.  His daughter accused BIBI of forcing her father to do it...

Is this becoming a little too complicated?

This week the PA was accepted by the UN as a member of the Interpol. These are the guys who are supposed to track down terrorists.....

Did I say it is complicated..?

Yesterday, there was a large gathering at Gush Etzion celebrating fifty years of Israel's liberating the heartland of our history in the miraculous Six Days war in which the Arabs swore to throw Israel to the sea. (there were no "occupied" territories then to complain about)

The supreme court judges were invited to this major event as they always are to official government ceremonies.

They refused to attend. It was too "political."

In defending their decision, "thinkers" on the Left compared the ceremony to another one that might be controversial.

Suppose the Left (or a Left-wing government) organized a celebration of the anniversary of "Oslo" (which brought Arafat to our homeland, armed him, gave away huge areas of the cradle of our civilization and saw thousands of murdered Jews in its wake…)  In the language of "Newspeak," this is what is defined as a perfect comparison.

Now, can the new year hold any surprises for us?

Yes, if they do teshuva.
Now that would a surprise!

* * * * * * * *

Sukkot Tour!

Sunday, October 8.

Depart at 9:30 from the Inbal hotel

Return 5:00

Visit the remodeled Ammunition Hill and see the "double presentation" about the events on this site that determined the fate of Jerusalem in the Six Day War.

Picnic lunch in the woods of "Oz Vegaon" in Gush Etzion in the sukkah of the "Women in Green”

Visit the spectacular new presentation at Kfar Etzion. Four rooms, one and a half hours of total immersion in drama and heroism.

Cost is 180 shekels which includes
All entrance fees
transportation
guiding

reserve at: 

shalompollack613@gmail.com