UPDATE: Councilman Aryeh King: Jerusalem Building Freeze and Fake News

Jerusalem councilman against "the [building] freeze" and "fake news [about building Jewish homes]"

This video supports both Land of Israel: Could Israel become Judenrein? , and Insufficient Homes for Jewish Families in Israel

'Netanyahu ordered freezing of the Jerusalem building plans'

Deputy mayor of Jerusalem says approval of 7,000 homes in Jerusalem came only after he told Likud ministers he would go public about freeze. ArutzSheva

Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem and Chairman of the Local Planning and Building Committee, Meir Turgeman, responded this evening to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to approve the construction of about 7,000 housing units in the Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the Green Line.

The plan allows for the approval of 3,500 housing units in Gilo, another 2,200 in Har Homa, 900 in Pisgat Ze'ev, 500 in Ramat Shlomo and another 100 in Ramot.

"The person who gave the order is our prime minister," Turgeman said, referring to the plans for new construction that were frozen in the district committee after being approved by the local committee.

"During the week, I met with a number of ministers from the Likud - with Minister Erdan, I met with Elkin, I met with Yariv Levin, and I told them, 'Listen, I'm going to blow it up.' Yesterday afternoon, the prime minister's office issued a directive to unfreeze all the orders," he said.

Rabbi Zalman Melamed:

'More empty promises - I don't believe Netanyahu'

Beit El Yeshiva dean believes PM will renege on latest promise to build 300 homes in his community and will find more excuses for delays.

UPDATE: IJared Kushner Was in Israel for Meetings With Israeli and Palestinian Officials

Welcome to Israel Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt

the peaceful boys

Jared Kushner has been tasked by President Trump with advancing peace efforts, and Wednesday’s meetings — he was heading next to see Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas — marked his first direct foray in the region, after he accompanied Trump here last month. TimesofIsrael

Jason Greenblatt: “Back at the Kotel for much needed prayer. Inspired by the constant stream of warm wishes for success in bringing peace from others praying,” TimesofIsrael

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law, at his Jerusalem office on Wednesday to discuss American efforts to resume the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. Trump's envoy Jason Greenblatt and the U.S. ambassador, David Friedman, also attended the meeting, along with Israel's ambassador in Washington, Ron Dermer, and Netanyahu's adviser Isaac Molho.

After meeting Netanyahu, Kushner's 15-hour visit to the region will conclude with a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, after which he will fly back to Washington.
Haaretz

Imagine, young handsome Jew in charge of the so-called Peace Process sitting opposite the PLO PA gangster

L'hitraot Jared and Jason!

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
An interesting comment found on one of the Frum news (edited) sites:

“[. . .] The supposed story goes that Ivana is really Jewish, but ashamed to publicly admit it. Therefore[. . .] Ivanka’s whole geirus was really just a face-saving farce; she was born Jewish. [. . .] (this) would nicely answer how respected Rabbonim can vouch for her Jewishness [. . .]
(unsubstantiated, but from a reliable source)

The Parable of the Fox and the Fish

Parable of the Fox and the Fish

“There is a hidden agenda here to try to change what the Jewish community believes in, forcing them to change their religion and culture.”

“Since 1948, when the government was founded, they understood that there is such a thing as [Yeshiva] students who are studying and they are exempt of military services,” [. . .] “But for the past few years [Israeli politicians] have been trying to tighten the screw, and basically forcefully recruiting and forcefully bringing them in for military service, to which they object.” 20,000 Protest Draft Law

Atzeres Held In Antwerp Against Drafting Yeshiva Bochrim In Israel
Atzeres – Against Drafing Yeshiva Bochrim in Israel




When the Romans decreed that anyone learning Torah would be put to death, Rabbi Akiva defied the ban and continued to publicly teach Torah. Papus ben Yehuda criticized him for endangering himself and his students by thus ignoring the power of the Roman rulers to punish them.

“I will give you a parable,” replied the great Sage. “A fox was once walking alongside a river in which fish were frantically scurrying from one place to another. When he asked them for the cause of their flight they explained that they were escaping fishermen who were trying to catch and kill them. The fox suggested that they would be safe from danger if they joined him and all other animal life on dry land. To which the fish replied that the fox, reputed to be the cleverest of animals, was speaking utter foolishness. If they were so endangered in their natural habitat, they argued, what chance would they have for survival outside the water?”

We Jews, concluded Rabbi Akiva, face the same situation for Torah is to us what water is to the fish. If while we are learning Torah, of which it is written “It is your life and length of days” we are in danger, what chance do we have for survival if we abandon it?

[Rabbi Akiva and Papus ben Yehuda

Gemora: Brochos 61,b]

_______________________________


ABOUT THE VIDEO:  Foxes have an age-old reputation for cunning and intelligence, and if this video is any proof, those claims are well deserved. One Lithuanian cameraman managed to capture footage of a fox attempting to pull in a huge catfish by rope. It doesn't take long for the fox to realize that the fish is attached to the rope, and results is a strange tug-of-war between the two animals. While the odds are stacked against it, the sly creature isn't keen on giving up. Will the fox succeed in pulling in its fishy buffet? 

Trump Administration’s STRATEGIC SAVVY (very good for America)

BUT IS THAT GOOD FOR ISRAEL AND THE JEWS?

The following is the concluding two sections of the report, The emerging Trump doctrine of strategic savvy. For the complete article, please HERE. [Trump is walking a tightrope.]

Obama’s Strategic Patience

On June 11, 2011, Obama announced that he would withdraw 10,000 troops from Afghanistan by the end of December 2011 and the rest of the 30,000-member surge force by July 2012 (i.e., before the Democratic Party convention). Once again there arose a troublesome naysayer.

General David Petraeus objected to the premature withdrawal. Aware as he was of the actual situation on the ground, he was adamant that the projected timing of the draw-down would jeopardize the progress made in the previous year of the surge in Afghanistan. Obama was forced to compromise, but did not forget Petraeus.

Rahm Emmanuel, Obama’s chief of staff and one of the president’s loyalists, suspected that Petraeus was contemplating his own presidential run in 2016. It did not help that Petraeus emphatically told Emmanuel he wasn’t. Two days after the 2012 presidential election, Petraeus resigned his post as CIA director because of an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. (The mishandling of classified information did not surface until months later.) When historian Smith queried “whether the Obama administration had taken advantage of his affair to cut his head off,” Petraeus smiled, but did not reply.

Towards Strategic Savvy

If there is any solace for Washington’s numerous follies in the Middle East, it is Donald Trump’s selection of an outstanding national security team: Mattis, McMaster, and General John Kelly (Homeland Security). With Trump’s election, America saw the dawn of a new doctrine to replace “strategic patience,” leading from behind, and the absence of strategy. We call the new approach “strategic savvy,” meaning the judicious use of military force, diplomacy, and economic instruments. Petraeus describes it as a “comprehensive and sustainable commitment” in defense of American vital national interests. The president and his security team seek to overturn policies that have produced only failed states, Islamist-fed chaos, growing terrorist attacks in Europe, and catastrophic debt.

We have witnessed the first actions defining this emerging doctrine. On April 7, 2017, US navy destroyers carried out a missile strike on a Syrian airfield in retribution for Assad’s use of chemical weapons against his subjects. A tactical move, it bore profound strategic significance, since it used judicious force to accomplish what Obama had failed to do in 2013 despite his own declared red line. So did the dropping of the “Mother of All Bombs” (MOAB, or Massive Ordnance Air Blast), the largest conventional bomb in the US arsenal, on ISIS fighters in Afghanistan on April 14.

Facing what Mattis has called a “clear and present danger” from North Korea, Trump’s team did not put the problem off in the manner of the past three US administrations. He is meeting it head on with an unprecedented deployment of three carrier groups with massive naval and air power. This is intended to send a clear message on the need to stop a maniacal leader from accomplishing a nuclear weaponization and delivery system that could eventually reach American shores. President Trump has communicated this need to Chinese President Xi very clearly as well. The era of Obama’s “strategic patience” is finally over.

Future presidents should consider replicating Trump’s placement of national security responsibilities in the hands of individuals with combat experience. America’s future leaders should be men and women with such experience combined with intellectual prowess.

In the meantime, the saga continues. Americans are transfixed by Russo-gate, much as they were by Watergate. President Trump’s political opponents seek to undo the results of the 2016 election by painting him as Putin’s Manchurian candidate.

Trump should now do what Obama did not: pardon Petraeus, whom Gates called “one of the nation’s great battle captains.” As Senator Rand Paul observed, Petraeus showed his personal journals, which did contain classified material, to only one person, an Army reserve intelligence officer with a top secret clearance. Her book was thoroughly checked for classified information and any sensitive political items by the then head of West Point’s Social Sciences Department, Colonel Mike Meese. The negligent Hillary Clinton, still unpunished, revealed classified material to the multitudes through her unsecured server.

Petraeus sympathizes with the beleaguered Trump’s predicament, but only to a certain extent. Like the authors, he realizes that Trump, a novice at presidential politics, has made big mistakes and then repeated them, making things worse.

In his final address as a general, Petraeus quoted Teddy Roosevelt’s 1910 Men in the Arena speech. The words are now surely applicable to both of them:

It is not the critic who counts … the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood … who errs and comes up short again and again … but who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotions, who spends himself for a triumph of high achievement and … if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.

________________________________

The authors are indebted to General David Petraeus for his comments and suggestions.

Dr. Jiri Valenta and his wife, Leni, are the principals of The Institute of Post Communist Studies and Terrorism (jvlv.net). They are authors of a forthcoming book on Russia and US interventions in the 21st century. A prominent author and speaker, Jiri served for decade as a professor and coordinator of Soviet and East European Studies at the US Naval Post-Graduate School and former consultant to senior members of Reagan administration.

A BESA Center Perspectives Paper, published through the generosity of the Greg Rosshandler Family

Source:  ArutzSheva

A Kabbalistic Model of the Oceans and Continents Part 4

A Kabbalistic Model of the Oceans and Continents

The Panama and Suez Canals

In modern times, man has created two great canals to connect all the oceans of the earth. The earlier of the two is the Suez Canal, which connects the cities of Port Sa’id on the Mediterranean Sea and Suez on the Red Sea. The Canal was officially opened for traffic on November 17, 1869 and is 163km long and 300m wide at its narrowest point.

The area expanded to make the Suez Canal was replete with small lakes and riverbeds, one of which according to some authorities was the Reed Sea that split for the Children of Israel when they came out of Egypt. In fact, the entire Red Sea is called the Reed Sea in the Torah. So, the original Reed Sea that split now makes part of the Suez Canal.12

Now, the Red Sea is an offshoot of the Indian Ocean pointing north towards the Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean Sea is an easterly offshoot of the Atlantic Ocean. So the Suez Canal is essentially creating a connection between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. When we translate this into Kabbalistic terminology we find that the Suez Canal connects the sefirot of knowledge (the Indian Ocean) and understanding (the Atlantic Ocean). This essential link is captured in the sages’ saying: “If there is no knowledge there is no understanding; if there is no understanding there is no knowledge.”13

The second great canal constructed in modern times is the Panama Canal, which connects the Pacific Ocean with the Atlantic. The Panama Canal is considered one of the largest and most complex engineering projects ever undertaken.

Before the construction of the Canal the only route between the two oceans was around the tip of South America, around the infamously treacherous waters of Cape Horn. Before the Canal, the journey from New York to San Francisco over water was about 22,500 km. With the Canal, the distance is cut to 9,500km only. The Panama Canal is 77km long and was officially open for traffic on August 15, 1914.

Extending our analogy, we can envision the Panama Canal as acting like a connecting bridge between the mother and father principles, between the sefirot of understanding and wisdom. The link between wisdom and understanding is considered one of the most important in Kabbalah. The Zohar describes the two as “two friends that never part.”14

Northern and Southern Hemispheres

In order to discuss the continents we need to begin with a passage15 from the Zohar which sheds light on the relationship between the northern and southern hemispheres. In this particular passage, the Zohar discusses the essential nature of the elements and the four directions: north, south, east, and west.  It is important to know that though the Zohar was well aware of the complexity of the Earth (as were all the sages, and most wise men of the ancient world), that it is a sphere and that the equator divides it into two hemispheres, its frame of reference is the northern hemisphere alone.

In order to orient ourselves correctly, we need to think of a person standing facing east (sunrise). To his left will be the north and to his right will be the south, and the west will be behind him. Now, as the Zohar states, normally, because the north is to the left it is identified with might, the sefirah that corresponds to the left hand. Likewise, the north will be identified with everything else that might is understood to correspond to. For instance, in terms of the four elements that we mentioned before, might corresponds to fire, so north would be associated with fire. South, which is to the right, is therefore identified with the sefirah of loving-kindness, since it corresponds to the right hand. The element corresponding to the right is water, so south is normally understood to correspond with water.

Each of the elements has a primary (essential) and secondary (accidental) quality,16 summarized in the following chart:







The two qualities of water are cold and wet. Let us say another word about water. Most people think that water is primarily (essentially) wet and only secondarily (accidentally) cold. But Kabbalah teaches that it is the other way around: water is primarily cold and secondarily wet.

One way to see this is by noting that much of the water in the world is in a frozen state as ice—in this state, it is not wet, but it is cold. The characterization of the primary and secondary characteristics of water is not purely academic; it has legal, or halachic ramifications. For instance, in regard to a mikveh—a pool of spiritually purifying waters—the question raised is: if we heat the water up so that it is more comfortable to immerse in, does the water still purify, or whether because it has lost its primary natural characteristic—coldness—it no longer purifies? The Alter Rebbe ruled in his time a novel ruling that even warm water purifies.

In any case, returning to the elements, according to the sages, water is cold and wet, while fire is hot and dry. Since, north corresponds to left and fire and south corresponds to right and water, it would seem that the south should be cold while the north should be hot. Throughout history, most of the people on earth have lived in the northern hemisphere, while even today only a small fraction of people live south of the equator. Now, the Zohar poses the following question: According to this correspondence, we would expect that the further north we go—relative to most of the world’s population—the hotter it should get, but in reality, we all know that this is not the case. The further north you go the colder it gets. And the opposite is also puzzling, because theoretically, the farther south you go (again relative to the vast majority of the world’s population which lives north of the equator) the cooler it should get, but clearly this is not the case because as you go south and get closer to the equator, the hotter the earth is.

The answer that the Zohar gives is (and there is a great deal of in-depth commentary on this topic17) that here we see the most important manifestation of the Kabbalistic principle called “they reversed places” (אחליפו דוכתייהו ) in a geographical context. This principle exhibits the essence of what a rectified state of reality is like. It is very similar to the later notion of 'inter-inclusion'. It means that two powers or forces have switched places. Each has left its natural vessel (in this case, its natural location on the globe) and entered into the vessel of the other. The locations where I expect to find cold and hot are reversed. The Zohar says that this is a very important phenomenon of the inhabited part of the Earth.

As mentioned above, the Zohar also knows that there is land south of the equator, but it says that this is the reason that most of mankind, from its very beginnings to date, lives in the Northern hemisphere, because only the northern hemisphere manifests this state of inter-inclusion. However, if you live in the southern hemisphere, the south is indeed cold and the north is indeed hot. In this sense, the southern hemisphere is natural. But, because it exhibits nature in its raw, still unrectified form, the southern hemisphere is considered less developed or less sophisticated than the northern hemisphere. You might say that the way that nature presents itself in the southern hemisphere is like the way an elementary school teacher presents things—everything fits exactly as it should and there are no surprises, no complexity. But, the land of the northern hemisphere, because of the inversion of the innate properties of north and south, is better suited for habitation in the sense that it is more amenable to reaching a state of mature rectification. You might say that the way that nature manifests in the northern hemisphere is the complex and multi-faceted presentation of a topic offered in an advanced graduate course.


Parts 5, 6 and final will continue after Shabbat

UPDATE: 800 in 15 days - not 400 EARTHQUAKES HIT YELLOWSTONE IN ONE WEEK

Massive Heat Under Yellowstone NOT MAGMA!

YELLOWSTONE SUPERVOLCANO HIT BY A SWARM OF MORE THAN 400 EARTHQUAKES IN ONE WEEK

Yellowstone supervolcano has been hit by a series of earthquakes, with more 400 recorded since June 12. The latest was recorded on Monday, June 19, with a magnitude 3 earthquake striking 8.6 miles north northeast of West Yellowstone, Montana.

The swarm began last week, and on June 15 saw a magnitude 4.5 earthquake take place in Yellowstone National Park. “The epicenter of the shock was located in Yellowstone National Park, eight miles north-northeast of the town of West Yellowstone, Montana,” scientists from the University of Utah, which monitors Yellowstone Volcano, said in a statement.

“The earthquake was [reportedly] felt in the towns of West Yellowstone and Gardiner, Montana, in Yellowstone National Park, and elsewhere in the surrounding region.”

This earthquake was the largest to have hit Yellowstone since March 30, 2014, when a magnitude 4.8 earthquake was recorded 18 miles to the east, near the Norris Geyser Basin.

“[The 4.5] earthquake is part of an energetic sequence of earthquakes in the same area that began on June 12,” the statement continued. “This sequence has included approximately thirty earthquakes of magnitude 2 and larger and four earthquakes of magnitude 3 and larger, including today's magnitude 4.5 event.”

As of June 19, 464 events had been recorded. Most of these ranged in the magnitude of 0 to 1, with five less than zero, indicating they occurred at depths ranging from about 0 miles to about 9 miles. "This is the highest number of earthquakes at Yellowstone within a single week in the past five years, but is fewer than weekly counts during similar earthquakes swarms in 2002, 2004, 2008 and 2010," scientists said.

This is an ‘estimate' of the area affected by the ASH if Yellowstone erupts.

Source: NewsWeek

A Kabbalistic Model of the Oceans and Continents Part 3

A Kabbalistic Model of the Oceans and Continents

Ocean world

Actually, that dry land rises above sea level is a miracle because according to the Torah (and science as well), it is only natural that water should cover the entire face of the earth and there should be no visible dry land. This is known from the natural order of the four archetypal elements: fire, air, water, and earth. In Torah, as was accepted for many thousands of years by all systems of thought, the elements’ natural position in relation to one another is pictured by four concentric circles. Earth is the innermost circle, next comes water, then air, and finally fire. The element of earth is completely circumscribed by the next larger circle of water. According to this order, earth is the lowest of the elements and therefore naturally should be submerged underwater. For this reason, according to the Genesis account of creation, on the third day, G–d had to command the waters to recede so that dry land emerge. Because of this miracle— that the land rises above the surface of the waters—one of our morning blessings praises G–d for this miracle that allows the world to continue to sustain revealed life.

However, this will not be the state of affairs forever. The sages explain that at the end of six millennia (corresponding to the six days of creation—one millennium for each day of creation), the waters will once more rise and submerge the surface of the land. This would of course lead to the destruction of all of our civilization.

Still, we should not understand this statement too literally. The correct way to understand this statement is as a metaphor. The waters that come to cover the earth represent knowledge. Specifically, whereas today we are not consciously aware of G–d’s Presence, at the end of six millennia, consciousness and awareness of G–d will cover the earth in a natural manner, just as the elemental water we have mentioned covers the elemental earth. 

According to this metaphor, all the souls that merit this level of Divine consciousness will get “wings” and for the entire (seventh) millennia (that corresponds to the Shabbat of creation) they will hover and fly in the air above the waters and the earth. The point of the metaphor is that in the future, things will return to their natural order (earth, under water, under air, under fire) and in this natural order, the souls inhabit the air that is between the fire and the waters that cover the earth. And this is exactly the image in the second verse of the Torah where the spirit of G–d (the Messianic spirit) was hovering and flying over the waters. In the future all of the souls will have the Messianic spirit and do this.

Now, we will discuss the particular correspondence of the oceans with the three higher sefirot. Before we begin, let us first present the correspondence in the form of our chart from above:

The Atlantic Ocean

The idiom used to describe the waters covering the earth, “chaotic and void” appears only three times in the entire Bible. The first time is in the second verse of Genesis. The second time this idiom appears is in a beautifully poetic verse from Isaiah: “The ka’athand the kipod [nocturnal birds] will inherit it, the owl and the raven shall dwell in it, and He shall stretch upon it a line of chaos and stones of the void.”7

Isaiah offers us an additional description of the nature of the chaos. He calls it a “line of chaos” (קו תהו ). A line can refer to either a straight line or—especially in terms of the rounded sphere of the Earth—a circle. In the tractate of Chagigah, the second chapter titled Ein Dorshim is the one chapter of the Talmud that is exclusively dedicated to the secrets of the Torah; it is the source of Kabbalah in the Talmud. There,8 the sages explain that this line of chaos is a green circular line that encompasses all of the dry land of the earth, and they explain that this refers to the one world ocean. We might think that because all of the world’s oceans are connected, this statement is not very helpful for our purposes. However, the particular part of the world ocean that was in the mind of the prophets of Israel (and of all of mankind that developed in Europe, Asia and Africa) was specifically the Atlantic. In Kabbalah, the line of chaos refers to the sefirah of understanding and to the mother principle. This is a very important reason why we see the Atlantic Ocean as corresponding to the sefirah of understanding.

The Pacific Ocean

The literal meaning of “Pacific” is “rest” or “peace.” On the one hand, the Pacific Ocean is the biggest of all the oceans, yet, for all its tremendous size, it is relatively peaceful. Peace and rest are inherent qualities the Shabbat—the day of rest and peace. In Kabbalah, the Shabbat is associated with the sefirah of wisdom and the father principle, indicating that wisdom is the most peaceful and quiet of all the sefirot. Another allusion to the quiet nature of the sefirah of wisdom is the sages’ aphorism that “wisdom is bound by silence.”9 The Pacific Ocean thus corresponds to the sefirah of wisdom and everything that it represents.

The Indian Ocean

Finally, we come to the Indian Ocean, which we already know must correspond to the final remaining intellectual sefirah: knowledge. In the Bible, the Indian Ocean has a great deal of significance. It is only natural to think that the most important ocean in the Bible is the Atlantic. This is because the Land of Israel borders on the Mediterranean Sea, which is an offshoot of the Atlantic Ocean. But, in the central story of the Five Books of Moses—the Exodus from Egypt—the sea that was split was the Red Sea, which is an offshoot of the Indian Ocean. In fact, the Red Sea is where the Indian Ocean seems like it is reaching up and trying to touch the Mediterranean Sea.

Reviewing our identification of the three oceans with the three intellectual sefirot—wisdom, understanding, and knowledge—we see that the correspondence follows the relative sizes of the oceans:

• The largest ocean, the Pacific, corresponds to the first intellectual sefirah, wisdom.
• The Atlantic, which is the second largest, corresponds to the second intellectual sefirah, understanding.
• The smallest of the three, the Indian Ocean, corresponds to the third intellectual sefirah, knowledge.

Now in Kabbalah, knowledge is directly connected to foundation. In the human body, knowledge corresponds to the posterior brain, which is considered the spiritual source of the reproductive seed, while foundation corresponds to the reproductive organ. Indeed, we see that on its eastern end, the Indian Ocean reaches to Australia, which among the continents corresponds to foundation. At its western edge the Indian Ocean touches Africa, which as we will see corresponds to the sefirah of might. The word for “might” in Hebrew, gevurah, stems from gever, one of the four synonyms for “man.” This particular synonym is the one used for the idiom ko’ach gavra, which means “the power of fertility.” In addition, the span of the Indian Ocean from Australia (foundation) to Africa (might) alludes to the name Yosef (Joseph is the archetypal soul of foundation) Yitzchak (Isaac is the archetypal soul of might), the name of the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Earlier we noted that knowledge is the conscious manifestation of the sefirah of crown. This is of course reflected in the Indian Ocean. The Hebrew word for Indian is hodi, which literally means acknowledgment (this word stems from the same word that is the name of the sefirah of thanksgiving, hod), or splendor. In Hebrew, the name of each of the 22 letters is a word. The letters of each of these words make up the initials of a moral idiom. The three letters that make up the name of the fourth letter, dalet (ד ), are the initials of the idiom: “Know how to give thanks” (דע לומר תודה ). This beautiful idiom, which represents a state of rectified acknowledgment in the psyche, connects knowledge with thanksgiving, the literal meaning of splendor.10 The sefirah of crown is described as manifesting the splendor of G–d’s sovereignty.

Another related point that needs to be explained further is that if the Indian Ocean is seen, or experienced as the sefirah of crown, then all the oceans can be considered as one large body of water. Indeed, the Indian Ocean alludes to the crown because as mentioned, this was where the parting of the Red Sea occurred. The sages describe this event as spiritually revealing the usually unattainable essence of the crown to the Children of Israel. But, if it is counted as the sefirah of knowledge, then the three oceans have to be considered distinct bodies of water.11


Part 1, Part 2,  Continue to Part 4

A Kabbalistic Model of the Oceans and Continents Part 2

A Kabbalistic Model of the Oceans and Continents

The oceans

The three sefirot wisdom, understanding, and knowledge are the sefirot that are considered to lie in what is known as “the hidden realm [that] is G–d’s.”1 In the human psyche, they manifest as the intellectual faculties of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. By “manifest,” we mean that the sefirot themselves are archetypal categories of G–d’s affluence, which must take some form in order to be comprehended or grasped. Similarly, we are now saying that these three sefirot also manifest as the three oceans of our planet. Before looking at the particular correspondence between the oceans and the sefirot, let us meditate on a couple of more general considerations regarding the oceans.

One world ocean

As mentioned, the oceans of our planet are all connected. Unlike the continents, which the waters divide, you can imagine that all of the waters on our planet make one large world ocean. The same is true of the three supernal sefirot, wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. In Kabbalah, there is a model of seven chambers (heichalot) into which thesefirot are divided.2 The three higher sefirot are all within a single chamber called: the chamber of the holy of holies (היכל קדש הקדשים ), which is the highest chamber. The name of the chamber itself alludes to its containing three elements: the holy (1 element) of holies (2 elements). In other words, one of the sefirot is considered above and more holy than the other two. In general, the chamber of the holy of holies begins with understanding but it includes within it also wisdom and crown.

Whenever we speak of the sefirah of crown, which is super-conscious and therefore not directly experienced, we also imply the sefirah of knowledge, which is considered the conscious manifestation of the crown. Thus, the three supernal sefirot can denote either crown, wisdom, and understanding, or wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. We need to keep this point in mind for later. Still, one important difference differentiates these two options. When the three oceans are corresponded to crown, wisdom, and understanding, they are indeed likened to the single chamber of the holy of holies, implying that all three are one single body of water. But, when they are corresponded to wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, they reflect three distinct bodies of water, joined as one. All three together are one state of being, one chamber. This important image reveals the manner in which the oceans are indeed divided into three but they are really only one great body of water, which is all hidden.

In Kabbalah, the realm of the intellect is also called the concealed world. One of the most common images used to describe the manner in which the intellect is concealed is indeed the oceans. Just as the waters of the oceans conceal the creatures that live in them, the intellectual realm conceals its own brand of beings. The beings that inhabit our intellectual realm are the thoughts and other powers of the intellect. They are just like the fish that swim in the oceans. In fact, one of the deepest mystical thinkers among the sages was Rav Hamnuna Saba; his name “Hamnuna” literally means “fish.” The deep mystics among the sages are referred to in the Zohar as “the fish of the sea” (נוני ימא ), because of their super-sensitivity to the intellectual sea-creatures that inhabit the deepest abyss of the intellect.

An even deeper insight into the oceans and their connection with the intellectual realm of the soul has to do with the fact that the intellectual parts of the soul are described as emanating introverted light, i.e., light that is reflected back inwards and does not emanate outwards. This is the nature of thought in the mind. It is not outwardly recognizable. Someone looking at me cannot tell what I am thinking. Instead, the energy of our intellect is a vector focused inward, pointing back into the mind. In contradistinction, the seven lower emotive sefirot are described as producing light that emanates outwardly, or extroverted light. This light shines out to a consciousness outside of my own. Likewise, the seven continents produce such light.

The insight that we gain from this is that the ocean is a more private place conducive for one’s interaction with oneself. But, dry land is conducive to relationships and interaction with others. In Kabbalah, an inward vector is also considered an upward vector, continually rising, with ever-increasing abstraction above one’s previous experience of reality. What this means is that the limit of our ability to plunge into the ocean’s depth represents our ability to grasp the most abstract concepts. Similarly, the outward vector related to dry land is also considered a downward vector. The greater our ability to interact with one another, the more insight we gain into the physical aspects of reality.3

Uninhabitable

The seven continents, the surface of the Earth that man can potentially inhabit (even though some of the dry land is not habitable because it is desert) correspond to the seven relatively lower sefirot, which in Kabbalah constitute the emotive faculties of the heart. In Chassidut, the seven lower sefirot are also associated with man’s animal soul, while the three supernal intellectual sefirot correspond to man’s Divine soul.

One of the differences between the animal soul and the Divine soul is that the animal soul, like other animals, requires a suitable environment in order to survive. In the case of man, this means a hospitable land environment. The Divine soul, which is infinite in its nature, is not limited in this way.4

Indeed, the seven continents are hospitable to our animal soul. The seven lower sefirot also correspond to the seven days of creation during which God created the earth for the express purpose that it be inhabited, as stated in the verse: “He did not create it for chaos; He created it to be inhabited.”5 So the part of creation that is expressly for the purpose of human habitation is the continents. But, because of our current dependence on our animal soul for our survival, the oceans are uninhabitable and are therefore considered to be in a relatively chaotic state.

Indeed, in the Genesis account of creation, when the waters still covered the entire surface of the earth, the Torah defines this as a state of chaos: “And the earth was chaotic and a void and darkness upon the abyss and the spirit of God hovering over the waters.”6 The Torah uses three different words to describe this initial state of our planet, when water covered its entire surface: void, empty, and dark. All three of these are the characteristics of the abyss, the name of the primordial waters that covered the earth. Normally, these three words are explained to allude to the three sefirot: crown (which is the highest sefirah, preceding even wisdom), wisdom, and understanding, but they also correspond to the three supernal sefirot: wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.


Part 1,   Continue to Part 3

UPDATE: The Land of Israel is Suffering from *Shatnez!

Please see UPDATE below
Could Israel become Judenrein? 

chv's

• Between the xtians claiming to be members of a lost tribe, wanting to make Aliya; and 
• the ones already here in Yehuda and Shomron, farming and handling our grapes and wines; plus
• the ones poisoning Israeli children’s mind and hearts with their idolatry in Herzylia; and
• add to this, increased building of homes for ArabsIn Area C, on our Promised Land; and 
• the Arabs wanting to call for their ownership, Meiras HaMachpela, Kever Yosef, the Kotel and Har HaBayit – They no longer want just East Jerusalem, they will claim ALL OF JERUSALEM is theirs
• Historical-Religious Dispute

UPDATE:  They are giving Jewish homes to XTIANS. Bad enough Jewish homes are not being built, and Arab homes are being built instead, now the Government is evicting Jews from their homes and giving them to MISSIONARY XTIANS. READ THIS AND WEEP. Evicting Jews and giving their homes to Missionaries.

MORE:Detailed documents prove plans for 6,000 housing units were nixed thanks to quiet freeze.'Government halted construction projects in Jerusalem’

What’s left for the Jews? 

Tel Aviv ch’v? 

No, they want that too.

I’ve posted this before, and now its time to say it again, Israel needs a different leader; Netanyahu is detrimentally unpredictable in that he does not do the best for Jews and Israelis living in the State of Israel.

Insufficient Homes for Jewish Families in Israel while Arab building increases exponentially.

And now it appears Netanyahu has been misleading Israelis because the “friendly American Administration” pressures him to placate the Palestinians.

Today, the Beit El Council moved its seat to a tent opposite Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office, protesting the fact that in ten years, not a single home has been built in their town. After the Ulpana neighborhood was destroyed in 2012, the Israeli government promised to approve 300 new apartments - but these apartments were never built.

Rabbi Melamed stated: "The only one who tricked me is the Prime Minister, who violated his promise," Melamed said. "Netanyahu did not harm only me - I represent a community. Netanyahu has harmed the entire community of Beit El, the entire community of settlers, and all Religious Zionists.”

"He is making Religious Zionists into a joke. We will not stand silently. We will work until these homes are approved. The Prime Minister must fix this issue immediately... Our community has learned it lesson, and someone will pay the price. We will do everything possible to let our communities know that the Prime Minister is deceiving us.

"Two years ago, Netanyahu promised that the Dreinoff homes would not be destroyed. Then Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit called me up and said, 'The Prime Minister asked me to tell you that despite pressure from the US, he will approve 300 housing units in Beit El. Just let us destroy the Dreinoff homes.' However, Netanyahu did not keep his promise - again.”

Thats not all:

Were Building Incentives for Qalqilya Approved Underhandedly?

It was revealed today (Sunday) that in a Cabinet meeting absented by a significant number of Likud MKs, 14,000 housing units for Arabs were approved to be built next to Qalqilya on Area C land intended for Jews. This would double the city's size and bring it closer to neighboring Jewish towns, compromising their security.

Among the absent MKs were Environmental Protection Minister Zeev Elkin (Likud), Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud), and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud).

Samaria Regional Council Head Yossi Dagan said, "I am embarrassed of the way such grave decisions are made in secret and behind the settlements' back. [. . .] I am sorry, but I do not accept the politicians' attempt to pass the responsibility to someone else. Only the government is to blame, and the Cabinet in particular. [. . .] I insist the government hold a new discussion on the topic, and cancel this dangerous and poorly thought-out decision.”

However, maybe because of the ruckus, the PM is expected to hold another meeting about "his plan for extensive building in Qalqilya."

 “Why are we approving construction for Arabs?”

Miri Regev: "I think that when we see what we're seeing, that the Palestinians constantly build in Areas A and B, we see it in Shechem (Nablus), Ramallah, and other areas - there's no reason for them to build in Area C. For sure, there is no reason to approve 14,000 housing units when Jews are not allowed to build at all.”

Where do we go next?

We go to our Father in Shamayim!

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*Shatnez:  Wool and Linen = Shatnez

A practical guide to keeping your clothes (Land) kosher. Certain things go together naturally, like peas and carrots. And certain things don't, like toothpaste and orange juice.The Torah teaches about the power of combinations and warns against mixing the wrong things together. One of these is the prohibition against wearing a mixture of wool and linen in the same piece of clothing, as it is written, "You shall not wear combined fibers, wool and linen together" (Deut. 22:11).

In Hebrew, this forbidden mixture is called "shatnez" (pronounced shot-nezz).

UPDATE TO MEIR ETTINGER’S ARTICLES

Report: Shin Bet meets Hilltop Youths' Rabbis 

Members of the Jewish Brigade of the Shin Bet Israel Security Agency held an unusual meeting Sunday with rabbis identified with the "hilltop youth" against a background of a relatively high number of recent "price tag" vandalism incidents, after a relatively long respite, according to Channel 2 Television.

Shabak representatives asked Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, Rabbi Daniel Stavsky and Rabbi Yitzhak Ginzburg to "turn to key figures among the hilltop youth and try to calm the area.” 

It should be noted that a large part of the recent incidents were carried out within the 1949 Armistice Line, due to the fact that most of the youths belonging to the group were removed by administrative orders from Judea and Samaria.

Source:  Arutz Sheva

Me:  Let’s hope this is not a ploy of some sort. The antagonism and harshness and deprivation have to stop being employed against these youth. They must be allowed a venue for protesting. Maybe they need their own political party, a party of the people. Just a thought.

A Kabbalistic Model of the Oceans and Continents Part 1

Torah and Science Series: The Continents and the Oceans in Kabbalah: Apr 23, 2011

Harav Yitzchak Ginsburgh explains the spiritual essence of the basic features of the earth, continents and oceans in light of Kabbalah

Even a beginning student of Kabbalah is immediately struck by the division of the Earth’s surface into 3 and 7 oceans and continents, respectively. The reason for this is that it immediately suggests a direct correspondence with the 10 sefirot, the 10 Divine emanations which constitute the most basic Kabbalistic model. Additionally, the ten sefirot themselves are grouped in many different ways, depending on the particular context, but without any doubt, the most ubiquitous and common grouping divides them into 3 and 7.

A Kabbalistic Model of the Oceans and Continents

Earth Sciences: 3 Oceans and 7 continents

The oceans of the Earth cover about 70% of its surface with land making up the rest. Unlike the land masses the oceans are all connected forming one continuous body of water that surrounds all of the continents. The continents, on the other hand do not form one large land mass but are separated from one another either by natural bodies of water, or, in recent decades by man-made waterways such as the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal.

Until quite recently, the great continuous expanse of water that surrounds the land was considered to divide into 3 oceans:

1 The Pacific Ocean, which is the biggest and covers almost 50% of the water surface of the Earth,
2 The Atlantic Ocean, and
3 The Indian Ocean.

For reasons that are not entirely based on science, some maps now add the Arctic and Southern Oceans. However, traditionally, the waters that make up the Arctic Ocean were considered part of the Atlantic and the waters that make up the Southern Ocean were considered part of the Indian Ocean. In this lecture, we will be following the more traditional division of the Earth’s waters into three great oceans.

The Earth’s land masses are divided into 7 continents. Three of these are grouped together: Europe, Asia, and Africa. North and South America are two more continents that are tied to one another, while Australia and Antarctica are not connected to any of the other continents.

Even a beginning student of Kabbalah is immediately struck by the division of the Earth’s surface into 3 and 7 oceans and continents, respectively, that we have just seen. The reason for this is that it immediately suggests a direct correspondence with the 10 sefirot, the 10 Divine emanations which constitute the most basic Kabbalistic model.

Additionally, the ten sefirot themselves are grouped in many different ways, depending on the particular context, but without any doubt, the most ubiquitous and common grouping divides them into 3 and 7. At this point, let us introduce the most common chart used to depict the sefirot, noting their division into 3 and 7:

Continue to Part 2

ILLEGAL ARAB HOMES vs HOMES FOR JEWISH FAMILIES

Insufficient Homes for Jewish Families in Israel
[again Regavim is in the forefront of protecting the Land of Israel]

Palestinian Authority illegally builds new 'vacation town' near Jewish towns, in Area C –

While Israeli authorities turn a blind eye  Illegal Vacation Town

Israel's Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Palestinian Authority's "vacation town," which was illegally built over the last few months.

The town is located in the Binyamin Region, on the outskirts of the Arab town of a-Sawiya and between Ariel and Eli.

The town includes five cottages and two swimming pools, is an anomaly in the region, and harms the scenic nature of the area.

"It cannot be that a new Palestinian vacation town is being built right under our noses, and we continue to act as if we have a severe vision issue."

"The same determination which led them to expel Amona's residents should lead them to destroy the illegally built Arab town.”

About Homes for Jewish Families

Samaria Regional Council Head Yossi Dagan said, "I very much respect the Defense Minister, but unfortunately, the numbers he is citing are incorrect,” . . . "The vast majority of housing units mentioned are being counted five or six times."

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman claims building permits issued in Judea and Samaria are maximum that can be approved in current era.

Head of Beit El council announces intention to embark on public struggle after PM 'pushed Beit El into corner’. Beit El embarks on struggle for construction .Shai Alon asked the Prime Minister to approve land marketing for the first 114 housing units out of 300 that the Prime Minister promised to build in Beit El five years ago. Unfortunately, Prime Minister . . . does not approve marketing the construction in Beit El.

Land in western Negev registered in state's name – led by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Justice Ministry Director General Ami Palmor. Justice Ministry recently completed large-scale registration of 100,000+ acres in western Negev to state of Israel, to help develop area. [how long will it be before homes for Jew will be built here?]

Amona Revisited: Under Construction . . . [which means a “very looong time”]

The Civil Administration’s Higher Planning Committee concluded on Wednesday evening two days of discussions on a series of construction plans throughout Judea and Samaria . . .The decision is a precedent-setting use of section 34a of the Jordanian Towns and Villages Planning Law, which is the binding law for planning and construction in Judea and Samaria.  [why is the State of Israel using Jordanian Law?]

The residents of Amona said . . . it should be emphasized that the approval will allow only for earthworks and not construction work that will be carried out only at the end of planning processes that will continue for a long time.”


_____________________

70% of Israelis don't view Israeli control of Judea and Samaria as occupation. "Those who believe Israel is an ‘occupier' tend to support the potentially dangerous two-state solution, while the 70% who do not believe in the 'occupation' usually reject the 'peace process.’" JPost Poll.

The Law is on Israel’s side but the Nations of the World persist in denying Israel the right to exist.