Hamas War

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Chanukah, The Real Story, Then and Now

Chanukah is Not The "Jewish Christmas"

Celebrating the 8th Night of Chanukah

The simple fact that the Jewish Holiday of Chanukah and the Christian holiday of Christmas come in the same season get people very mixed up. There is no theological nor historic connection between the two. Nowadays it has become customary to give gifts on both of the holidays, so stores market to both Jews and Christians, and that's it.

The Jewish Holiday of Chanukah celebrates a victory over the Greeks who had not only invaded and occupied the Jewish Historical Land, but they did everything they could to prevent the Jewish People from observing the Jewish Religion.



In modern terminology, the Greek "policy" should be considered immoral and against human, civil and religious rights, but in the shadow of the recent United Nations Security Council Resolution and the outrageous and notorious speech by lame duck Obama's lame duck Secretary of State Kerry, and remembering how the "free world" ignored the Nazi Holocaust against European Jewry...

The Story of Chanukah, which happened only a century or two before the beginning of Christianity, is beginning to sound rather modern.
In the second century BCE, the Holy Land was ruled by the Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks), who tried to force the people of Israel to accept Greek culture and beliefs instead of mitzvah observance and belief in G‑d. Against all odds, a small band of faithful Jews, led by Judah the Maccabee, defeated one of the mightiest armies on earth, drove the Greeks from the land, reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and rededicated it to the service of G‑d. (Chabad)
Few Jews fought the Greeks, because many were assimilated. The Maccabees had no allies, no help. It was a miracle that the small band of fighters defeated the mighty Greeks. When things looked black, Gd came in and lit the world. This is so much like the 1967 Six Days War, when small, weak Israel with indefensible borders, was threatened with, destruction, and the United Nations quickly followed Egypt's demands and took away their peacekeeping forces. Then the world patiently watched, expecting the Arab armies to destroy Israel. Jews all over the world prayed for Israel's survival--a victory, and Gd made a miracle.

Yes, those wars were very similar, from the Jewish isolation to the illogical and inexplicable military victory.

There's one big difference. The Maccabees rushed to the Holy Temple and consecrated it as quickly as they possibly could. They recognized that their victory was due to Gd Almighty and not any human prowess. Here in Israel, June 1967, as soon as the proverbial dust began to settle after the State of Israel's great miraculous victory the government, instead of inviting the Jewish Nation to ascend Har Habayit, the Temple Mount and pray together to Gd to thank Him, gave the key back to the Muslims and then thanked the IDF for the victory.

That is why the United Nations, the United States, the European Union etcetera keep insisting that we must give the fruits of that miraculous 1967 victory, including Jerusalem, to the Arab terrorists for a state they want to call Palestine, sic.

Going back to the Chanukah story, the rule of the Maccabees didn't last very long, which is why the Romans ended up here and Christianity began... So, it seems we're still fighting the same war. Gd keeps giving us chances. And now I hope that Prime Minister Netanyahu has gotten sufficiently angry and disgusted enough to recognize that his trying to be a reasonable "Centrist" isn't working. We need a zealot who only tries to please Gd.

Gd willing, speedily in our time...

Chag Urim Sameach
May You Have an Enlightened Chanukah

Friday, December 30, 2016

Best Thing About Hotel... Fox News

Yes, I must say that the best thing about being in a nice warm hotel this week was getting Fox News on television. It was even better than the heat which I kept turning off. Their coverage of Israel and opinions were much better than one hears on the Israeli television news.

Re: Obama on Fox
Of course, considering all the hysteria USA versus Israel because of the Security Council Resolution and then Kerry's horrendous anti-Israel speech, it was the perfect week to watch the station.

But my favorite clip, which I can't find, was when two of Fox's model-like news "men" interviewed someone from the Democratic Party who told them his plans for returning to power.

He made it clear that the Democrats would go further Left to "show America" what's best for it, and those two women thanked him for it. Why? They tried to explain that it would just give the Republicans more seats in the Senate and Congress and more governorships, because American voters in most localities do not want the Obama/Clinton/Democratic policies.

2016 electoral map by county.
As 2016 is about to end, and on the Jewish Calendar it's the first of the Jewish Month of Tevet, Chodesh Tov, and may we all see a better year in 2017.

I wish the world well, really.

Let everyone learn to respect each other. That's stage one.

GUEST POST: WHY MUSLIMS HATE JEWS

*** WHY MUSLIMS HATE JEWS ***
a guest post by Mr. Cohen (updated 2017/8/30)
-------------------------------------
The Koran teaches that Jews are the biggest enemies of Muslims.
The Koran’s 5th chapter [al-ma’idah = the table], verse 82 says:

“You will find that the people most
hostile towards the believers [Muslims]
are the Jews and the polytheists...”
-------------------------------------
Islam teaches that the Islamic messianic era
cannot come until ALL (100%) of Jews
are killed dead – even Jews who never visited
the land of Israel, even those Jews who are
non-Zionist, even those Jews who are anti-Zionist:

Translation of Sahih Bukhari, Book 56:
Narrated by Abu Huraira:

Allah's Messenger [Mohammed] said,

"The Hour will not be established
until you fight with the Jews,
and the stone behind which a Jew
will be hiding will [miraculously] say:

"O Muslim!
There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him!"

SOURCE: Sahih al-Bukhari 2924, Book 56,
Hadith 137, Volume 4, Book 52, Hadith 175

Notice how this classic Islamic teaching
is NEVER mentioned in the mainstream
news media, because it gives the wrong message:
It reveals the truth about Islam!
-------------------------------------
Islam Teaches that Jews are Apes and Pigs:
www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/muslim-clerics-jews-are-the-descendants-of-apes-pigs-and-other-animals

Notice how this Islamic teaching is NEVER
mentioned in the mainstream news media,
because it gives the wrong message:

It reveals the truth about Islam!
-------------------------------------
“Our hatred for the Jews”, Abdul Aziz told Harold Dickson in [year] 1937 [CE], “dates from God’s condemnation of them for their persecution and rejection of ‘Isa [Jesus Christ] and their subsequent rejection later of His chosen Prophet [Muhammad]…

“Verily the word of God teaches us – and we implicitly believe this O Dickson – that for a Muslim to kill a Jew [in war], or for him to be killed by a Jew, ensures him immediate entry in Heaven and into the august presence of God Almighty.”

Abdul Aziz made this statement to [Harold] Dickson as part of his protest at the Peel Report, Britain’s 1937 plan to partition Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab areas, thereby granting the Zionists the basis for the independent state that they dreamed of…”

SOURCE: The Kingdom: Arabia and the House of Sa'ud (chapter 29, page 259)
by Robert Lacey, published in year 1981 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 
New York, ISBN-10: 0006365094 ISBN-13: 978-0006365099 

-------------------------------------
“Arabians are conspiracy theorists, and not afraid to admit it.
Just as they believe in an active power for good intervening
daily in their lives, so they believe that evil and the powers
of darkness are manifest here on earth. 

A Westerner takes the credit for his own successes
and blames himself for his failures.
An Arabian thanks God for the good and blames
the bad on evil influences beyond his control. 
It makes for a guilt-free existence. 

It also makes for deep suspicions,
and nowhere is this more obvious
than in the Arab attitude towards the Jews.”

SOURCE: The Kingdom: Arabia and the House of Sa'ud (chapter 41, page 386)
by Robert Lacey, published in 1981 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,  New York,
ISBN-10: 0006365094 ISBN-13: 978-0006365099 

MICROBIOGRAPHY FROM WIKIPEDIA:
“Robert Lacey (born 3 January 1944) is a
British historian and biographer.
He is the author of a number of bestselling biographies,
including those of Henry Ford, Eileen Ford and
Queen Elizabeth II, as well as works of popular history.”
____________________________________________________________

“Arab journalist Ahmad al Sarraf asked:

Why don’t we have tolerance?

This rhetoric of hatred is in all [Muslim] sermons,
in all [Arab] schoolbooks…”
SOURCE: Longitudes and Attitudes:
Exploring the World after September 11
(page 131) by Thomas L. Friedman, year 2002,
Farrar Straus Giroux Publishers, New York,
ISBN-10: 0374190666  ISBN-13: 978-0374190668
____________________________________________________________
PLEASE help the battle against
internet anti-Semitism by making
a PayPal donation to:

FourCupsOfWine@gmail.com.

THANK YOU!!
____________________________________________________________


OTHER BLOG POSTS BY MR. COHEN:

Ancient Roman historians connected Jews with the Land of Israel and Jerusalem:

https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/02/guest-post-josephus-vs-muslim-liars.html
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/05/guest-post-cornelius-tacticus.html

Rambam Rejected Childless Messiah:
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/08/rambam-rejected-childless-messiah-by-mr.html

Forgotten Muslim Oppression against Jews:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/01/guest-post-forgotten-oppression.html

https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/01/guest-post-jewish-nyc-mayor.html

Why Muslims Hate Jews:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/12/guest-post-why-muslims-hate-jews.html
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/01/guest-post-moynihan-1982.html

Quick Bible Quotes from Joshua and Jeremiah:
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/11/guest-post-joshua-chapter-23-verse-12.html
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/12/guest-post-jeremiah-chapter-17.html

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

Sephardic Jews Reject Reform Judaism:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/07/sephardim-reject-reform.html
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/08/guest-post-persian-rabbis-decree.html

Greek NYC Jews and Syrian NYC Jews:
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/03/greek-jews-syrian-jews.html

How to Convict the New York Times
of Unfair Bias Against Israel:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/11/guest-post-how-to-convict-new-york-times.html
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/11/guest-post-nyt-erases-israel-from-map.html
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/03/guest-postnyt-vs-israel.html

Why Pray for Tzahal-IDF:
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/04/guest-post-why-pray-for-idf.html

How to Pray for Tzahal-IDF:
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/09/how-to-pray-for-tzahal-idf.html

Why Israel’s 1967 Borders are Undefendable:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/03/guest-post-why-1967-borders-are-suicide.html
____________________________________________________________
Pro-Israel Articles from Aish HaTorah:
www.aish.com/jw/me/Ten-Ways-Israel-Is-Treated-Differently.html
www.aish.com/jw/me/13-Facts-about-Israel--the-Middle-East.html
www.aish.com/jw/s/The_Pro-Palestinians_Real_Agenda.html
www.aish.com/jw/me/Why-Are-There-Still-Palestinian-Refugees.html
www.aish.com/jw/me/The-Arabs-Real-Grievance-against-the-Jews.html
www.aish.com/jw/me/Col-Richard-Kemp-on-Israels-Moral-Army.html
www.aish.com/ho/i/Menachem-Begin-on-the-Lessons-of-the-Holocaust.html

Articles Refuting the BDS Movement from Aish HaTorah:
www.aish.com/jw/me/The-BDS-Smokescreen.html
www.aish.com/jw/me/BDS-The-Attempt-to-Strangle-Israel.html
www.aish.com/jw/me/BDS-and-Anti-Semitism.html
www.aish.com/jw/me/Fighting-BDS-in-the-Name-of-Human-Rights.html
www.aish.com/jw/s/Winning-the-BDS-Battle.html
www.aish.com/jw/s/10-Ways-You-Can-Fight-BDS.html

***** END OF MESSAGE *****

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Picture Perfect from the Jerusalem Post

Women's Prayers Rosh Chodesh Tevet, Tel Shiloh

We are now halfway through Chanukah, and that means that the month of Kislev is almost over. Yes, tomorrow is Rosh Chodesh Tevet. The Jewish Calendar is a lunar calendar with extra months added according to a very specific and amazing formula to make sure that our holidays fall in the correct solar seasons.



Chanukah, the Holiday of Light, is in the winter when days are short and nights are long. You may have noticed that the moon is shrinking the more Chanukah lights (candles or olive oil) we light.



We count the beginning of the Jewish Month when the crescent of the moon grows anew.

Tomorrow is Rosh Chodesh Tevet!


Women's Prayers at Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh
Rosh Chodesh Tevet, 5777 
Friday December 30, 2016 
1st of Tevet, 5777, 8:30am 
Hallel and Musaf for Rosh Chodesh 
Tour of Tel Shiloh 
Dvar Torah, Short Torah Lesson 

Please come and invite family, friends and neighbors. 
תפילת נשים ראש חודש טבת
בשילה הקדומה, תל שילה
יום ו' 30-12-2016
 א' טבת, תשע"ז 8:30
הלל ומוסף לראש חודש

יהיה דבר תורה קצר וסיור בתל
כדאי לבוא ולהזמין חברות, משפחה ושכנות


I hope you'll join us!

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Obama and Kerry ANTI-ISRAEL


It has never been accepted for the lame duck president to force policy that contradicts incoming President.

Chanukah Question- Suggestions Welcome

On Friday, before Shabbat, we had no problem getting our Chanukiyot aka Chanuka Menoras all prepared for lighting just after Shabbat and Havdalah.


While I was busy with last minute things in the kitchen, I asked my husband to set it all up. He likes to light candles, while I prefer oil.



And it was nice to be able to light immediately with everything waiting and ready, yes, even the ceremonial blessings and songs. And one is supposed to light immediately after Shabbat and not waste time.

Next week will be more difficult, since we will be lighting for day #7 before Shabbat. So how can we be prepared for the last night of Chanukah with a full chanukiya?

Do you have any ideas?

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

The Menachem Begin Prize to David Levy

There's no doubt that the late Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Z"L, was happy observing the festive event Sunday evening, second night of Chanukah, when the Menachem Begin Prize was awarded to David Levy, who not only held many important positions in Begin's government, but represented the key voters who put Begin's Likud into power.

Menachem Begin, photo credit
Menachem Begin was a very European courtly type of man, known to kiss women's hands. Yes, I know, because he kissed mine! Begin's will-power and sense of justice and propriety kept him from turning the Ben-Gurion/Palmach attack on the Altalena into a civil war.

Begin's background was in the Revisionist Betar and Jabotinsky. He led the Irgun aka Etzel during the struggle for Israeli Independence. Once the state was established, the Revisionists had too small a following to win enough Knesset seats to be able to form a ruling coalition in Israel. That is until the Jews, from Arab countries, from Morocco, Yemen, Iraq etc. discovered  that in Begin they had a kindred soul. And Begin respected them, something they didn't get from the ruling Labor Party.

Those "Eidot Mizrach," Arabic-speaking Jews who had enthusiastically made aliyah in the early days of the state had been sent to live in the Negev desert and the periphery, in small agricultural villages and "Development Towns."

David Levy, from the Development Town, Beit She'an, in the north, became their leader.
He served as Deputy Mayor and Mayor of Beit She'an from 1964-1977, and as Chairman of the Likud Faction in the Histadrut Trade Union from the mid-60's through the early 80's. In 1995 he founded the Gesher movement of which he is the leader. Gesher joined the Likud for the 1996 Knesset elections and in 1999 ran as a faction of the One Israel party.
A Member of Knesset since 1969, David Levy served was Minister of Immigration and Absorption (1977-79), Minister of Housing and Construction (1979-90; 1981-84 also Deputy Prime Minister); Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice Premier (1990-92); and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister (1996-98).
As Housing Minister, he helped solve the acute housing shortage which plagued Israel in the 1960's and 70's and during the 1980's headed "Project Renewal", which renovated urban housing and provided the public institutions and human infrastructure to raise the socio-economic level of 20% of the Israeli population living in deprived urban neighborhoods and semi-rural localities.
In July 1999 he was again appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister, positions which he held until his resignation in August 2000.
In April 2002, he was appointed Minister without Portfolio. He resigned in July 2002. (MFA)
Besides his on accomplishments, like his namesake King David, he has established a dynasty. Two of his children are Members of Knesset, though not from the same party.

Monday, December 26, 2016

Honestly, Blame Israeli Policy for UN Resolution

Here in Israel and for many of our supporters all over the world there's great anger and disappointment about the recent and rushed United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israel for the "settlements" which includes all the Land liberated in the 1967 Six Days War INCLUDING JERUSALEM.

Most people when confronting something they aren't personally involved with see it all, understand it, in basic simplistic black and white. They just can't comprehend the nuances, especially the very strange ones that successive Israeli governments and Jewish groups all over the world see.

Wikipedia

First of all, let's make it clear that the 1967 Six Days War the State of Israel battled three armies and the Iraqi Air Force not only without any allies, but severely restricted in its arms purchases because of the anti-Israel policies of many countries. It was very clear to those of us old enough to understand what was happening, that the rest of the world really wouldn't have cared if we had been defeated and washed into the sea, which was predicted/threatened by Egypt's Nasser. And please don't forget that the United Nations fully cooperated with Nasser and removed its peacekeeping forces, which were supposed to prevent a war.

Thank the Good Lord that we had one ally, Gd Almighty, who took charge, and the State of Israel defeated its enemies and within six days was suddenly a large country with easily defensible natural borders.

Defensible Borders
West Point
Israel had been geographically and militarily vulnerable when the War for Independence ended in 1949. It was clear that at some point, pretty soon, our enemies would attack in order to wipe us off the map.

So, when the proverbial dust settled in June, 1967, after the war, any normal country would have immediately annexed and declared sovereignty over every single millimeter of the land liberated and make it clear to the aggressors and the world that we would be considering all that land ours and no different from Tel Aviv. But instead, every single government since then has made all sorts of incomprehensible distinctions between the areas we held. That's how Menachem Begin blithely gave the Sinai to Egypt and in the process unprecedentedly destroyed Jewish communities and agreed for it to be Judenrein.

Even though all Israeli Governments since the 1967 ceasefire insist that East Jerusalem, including the Kotel, Western Wall, the Golan Heights and a few other locations remain under Israeli control, the world in general does not understand, nor accept all of these distinctions. For them it's all or nothing, and that is why even countries that Israel naively considers as allies had no problem voting for that Security Council resolution.

All I can say is that it's never too late, and now's the time for a total change in Israeli policy. The only thing that can save us is our annexing and declaring full Israeli Sovereignty over what we still hold. And, yes, we will have to cease our support and recognition of the P.A. Palestinian Authority.

It must be done. We have no choice if we want to survive, and Gd will only step in to save us if we do it.

Now we are celebrating Chanukah, the perfect time to rid ourselves of the modern Greeks and Hellenists in our midst. We must fight like the Maccabees of Old! And, yes, Gd willing with the Help of Gd we will be victorious. 

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Chanukah Jewish Blog Post Roundup: HH & KCC

















I'm starting Chanukah with a combined Havel Havelim and Kosher Cooking Carnival, 18 חי Chai, LIFE blog posts from all over.

Enjoy! Remember that you don't have to be a blogger to read, comment and share HH and KCC and all of the included posts! Join our facebook pages for more updates. Havel Havelim and Kosher Cooking Carnival.

As you will see, I do not list the name of the blog, just the title of the post. Dig in and enjoy!
PS no calories.

May You have an Enlightened Chanukah Holiday

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Lame Duck Obama Sneaks a Punch at Israel

Trump and Obama, holding in the bile.
U.S. President Obama greets President-elect Trump in the White House Oval Office in Washington.
(photo credit:KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS) Jerusalem Post
The utter irony of it...
On the Eve of the Jewish Holiday of Chanukah which celebrates our victory over the Greek invaders, enemies from both far and near, both Jewish and non-Jewish who tried to prevent our Jewish independence in our Holy Land and the observance of Jewish Law, the American Lame Duck President Barack Hussein Obama facilitated the passing of an anti-Israel resolution in the United States Security Council.
UN chief welcomes Security Council resolution on Israeli settlements as ‘significant step’
The Security Council votes on resolution reiterating its demand that Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem*. The vote was 14 in favour, with one abstention (United States). UN Photo/Manuel Elias
The Security Council is composed of 15 Members:
I'm listing them, because I want it clear that none of these countries are allies of the State of Israel.

Never before has a country been condemned for holding and developing land gotten in a war for its very survival. Only Israel is condemned for surviving. Of course, if only the State of Israel had fully annexed all of the land we liberated in 1967 immediately, the world would have accepted it as fait accompli. But the Israeli Government thought they could just keep East Jerusalem and the Golan in the north for agriculture and to protect vulnerable kibbutzim, while leaving the rest as "payment" for "peace." And a half a century later, we're paying dearly for that mistake!

Here we are just a few weeks before Donald Trump, the most pro-Jewish and pro-Israeli United States President ever is to be inaugurated, and Barack Hussein Obama insisted on getting in his last kicks licks. I hope that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu finds more ways to get back at the countries that voted for the resolution.
Netanyahu's spokesman to Arab media Ofir Gendelman tweeted later on Friday night that the prime minister had canceled an upcoming visit from Senegal's foreign minister to Israel, as well as Israeli aid programs to the country. Netanyahu has instructed Israel's ambassadors in New Zealand and Senegal to return to Israel for consultations, his spokesman said on Friday, in response to a UN resolution on settlements. Jerusalem Post
Personally, if it was up to me, the State of Israel should just leave the United Nations!

*emphasis mine

Friday, December 23, 2016

Post- USA Elections, A New Middle East

Playbuzz
There's still a month until Donald Trump will, Gd willing, be inaugurated as President of the United States, but things are already changing. Obama had been hoping to inaugurate a State of Palestine, sic, during his presidency, but thank Gd it doesn't seem to be happening. His support support of the Muslim Brotherhood instead of allies like Egypt has alienated the more moderate Arabs.
ANALYSIS: UN saga shows sands shifting

Ties between the two countries were strained as a result of what Sisi viewed as Obama’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood, and because of Washington’s criticism of Sisi’s human rights record. With Trump, Sisi sees the possibility of turning a new page with Washington, and it is clear that following Trump’s statement on the UN resolution on Thursday – and likely messages he received from the Trump team – he realized this would not be the best way to begin afresh. (Jerusalem Post)
David Friedman, Donald Trump's adviser on Israel,
speaks to Channel 10 News on September 14, 2016.
(screen capture: Channel 2) Times of Israel
So, now we are beginning to see a truly New Middle East, nothing like the one that the late Shimon Peres kept trying to create. Trump's choice of David Friedman as American Ambassador to Israel can be best described as revolutionary. Never has there been anyone so pro-Jewish Rights in The Land of Israel in such a high position. Friedman's policies are diametrically opposed to those of Obama and the State Department.

The chances are that Egypt stopped the anti-settlement motion in the United Nations in its tracks in order to curry favor with Trump.
Trump Weighs In on Israeli Settlements While White House Stays Mum
The days of Obama are waning, which is something not only Israelis like myself are happy about. We will no doubt see more Arab leaders acting relieved to have someone who isn't a Radical Leftist in the White House. They hope for more support and stability from Donald Trump.

Let us see what the future brings, and Gd willing it will be good for the world.
Shabbat Shalom U'Mevorach
May You have a Peaceful and Blessed Sabbath

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Chazak! Chazak! Vinitchazek! Matan's Al Haperek, We'll Start Again!

חזק, חזק, נתחזק
Chazak! Chazak Vinitchazek!
Strong! Strong and We'll Get Stronger!

This phrase/command is traditionally said when Jews complete large learning tasks. And last night at Matan, the auditorium was full for the celebration of six and a half years of learning Na"Ch, Biblical Writings and Prophets in the revolutionary Al Haperek program.


Our Thanks
My friends and I, considered by Matan to be the most loyal "chevruta," learning group in the program were invited up to represent the learners, the very grateful participants.

For us this Al Haperek program was a gift from Gd. This was our opportunity to delve into the Bible as never before. And the message of our short presentation was that as we complete this round of the learning, we will reopen the program on our own, and continue as long as Gd gives us the strength and abilities.

Once we finish the last chapter of Mishlei aka Eishet Chayil, Woman of Valor, we will go back to the first chapter of Joshua and relearn it all, but this time with the added benefits of the knowledge we've accrued from Al Haperek. Yes, just like Jews all over the world for thousands of years, complete the Torah, First Five Books of the Bible and then learn it anew, we plan on continuing our Na"Ch studies, Gd willing.

We sincerely thank Rabbanit Malka Bina and the entire staff of Matan for this amazing educational and spiritual opportunity.


Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Terror Ramming Attacks Cross All Borders, Berlin, Too

As you may well know, I'm a victim of one of the first Arab terrorist ramming attacks, which happened just over twenty years ago in Jerusalem. Considering how easy it is for terrorists and apolitical murderers to perpetrate such an attack, I guess we should be grateful that it hasn't become more popular/common.
Killer trucks*: What can the West do to stop the next attack?
Following Monday’s terrorist attack in Germany, what can the Germans and the rest of the West do better to prevent the next terror attack? (Jerusalem Post)
Rescue workers tow the truck which ploughed into a crowded Christmas market in the German capital last night in Berlin, Germany, December 20, 2016. (photo credit:REUBEN BRAND)

I hate to say this, but there really isn't any way to stop such terror attacks. Basically, anyone with a drivers license or access to a vehicle can use it to murder, maim and terrorize. The Arab terrorist who injured me drove a small ordinary car into us, which resulted in one murder and some horrific injuries to others who had been innocently waiting at the bus stop.

The latest report from Berlin is that the terrorist hasn't yet been caught. That makes for a very dangerous holiday season in Germany, Europe and the rest of the world.

Terror and terrorising is becoming too easy.  There's no need to purchase explosive or MacGyver a bomb. Just take your car, or the truck or any large vehicle you drive at work, and...

The modern world keeps getting more dangerous!

*Another really dumb and inaccurate headline. The trucks aren't the killers; they are the tool/weapon used by the killer/terrorist.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Americans, Please Put Down Your Swords and Make Peace

I'm sure that I'm not the only person in the world who has been horrified by the behavior of the American public, American citizens who have been condemning the results of the recent Presidential Elections, not with the usual benign disappointment, but with riots, lawsuits and more.

I don't know how Basic Democracy and Democratic Principles are taught nowadays, but way back when in the middle of the previous century we were taught that you had to accept your loss with dignity. Here in Shiloh, I've been on the Election Committee for almost every local election for thirty years or so, and it has happened many more times than once, that after the votes were counted, I'd discover that none of the candidates I had voted for had been elected. And sometimes I really don't like the results at all. That's life. I've always taken pride in how fairly and legally I've run elections, and that's why now two generations of Shilohnians like seeing me in charge.

Now, after at least two years or more of campaigning and mudslinging and worse, the 2016 American Presidential Elections are finally over. Yesterday was the voting of the Electoral College. And they voted, as is the law/custom according to the state voting results, for Donald Trump.

People protest against U.S. President-elect Donald Trump as electors gather to cast their votes for U.S. president at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. December 19, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Republican Donald Trump prevailed in U.S. Electoral College voting on Monday to officially win election as the next president, easily dashing a long-shot push by a small movement of detractors to try to block him from gaining the White House.
Trump, who is set to take office on Jan. 20, garnered more than the 270 electoral votes required to win, even as at least half a dozen U.S. electors broke with tradition to vote against their own state’s directives, the largest number of “faithless electors” seen in more than a century.
The Electoral College vote is normally a formality but took on extra prominence this year after a group of Democratic activists sought to persuade Republicans to cross lines and vote for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. She won the nationwide popular vote even as she failed to win enough state-by-state votes in the acrimonious Nov. 8 election. (Reuters)
It's time for all Americans to accept the results. That's what true democracy is all about. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose, and sometimes it really hurts.