AN UNAVOIDABLE TRUTH

The discovery of walls belonging to the actual Second Temple should be cause of excitement. However, this was an unintended result of the Waqf’s laying of electric cables atop the Temple Mount. Any assertion of inadvertence by the Islamic trust is refuted by the fact that most profound link to Jewry’s as well as humanity’s heritage treated as just so much rubbish. Please keep in mind this is coming from the folks accused Israel of attempting a conquest of the Temple Mount by reinforcing the Mugrabi bridge earlier this year.

Of course, this is only the most recent outrage out of many concerning the Temple Mount that should make any Islamic, Arab or international assurances of religious plurality, tolerance , access or sensitivity to other faith communities unreliable, at best to all but the most naïve.

How to react? First after Gush Katif, Amona, Hevron, Sederot and statement by the Israeli government there is little room for outrage. How many times can one’s sensibilities remain intact when constantly being assailed before one become completely numb?

Maybe there is a positive spin to put on this event. It is well known that a competition exists between Israeli/Jewish and Arab Archeologists for artifacts verifying each group’s version of history. An impressive pseudo scholarship denying the Temple’s existence let alone its being located on the Temple Mount itself. How providential is this? The architects of Temple denial become the agency for Temple affirmation!

Verifying the existence of the Temple of course implies an ancient Jewish presence and most likely Kingdom in the location. The embarrassing consequences to the Arabs as well as to the “there is nothing to learn from history” crowd occupying positions of power and influence within Israel. Hence the need for official silence. However among those whose world view revolves around G-D and His Torah there is a basis for rejoicing the plans of evildoers are frustrated.

Further, consider the timing of this remarkable find. Just at the close of the year leading in to a Sabbatical (Shemitah) the Temple’s walls become exposed maybe, just maybe by the end of 5768 the Temple itself will reappear?

OVENS OR WHY HISTORY MATTERS

Recently a religious newpaper disclosed the location of a Jewish owned cremation facility in Israel. The crematorium was burnt down. However MKs have lined seeking legislation on either side of matter.

The presence of or even a debate over cremation in Eretz Yisrael should shock the conscience. An oven for dead Jews has no place in the Jewish State. It is amazing that some survivors’ organization has not yet found an advocate and filed a petition with the Supreme Court to close down and collect damages from the Crematorium’s owners.

With all due respect to the MKs from both Meretz and Shas this is not merely a religious or civil rights issue, not in Israel. Being contrary to Jewish Law only makes cremation a new frontier in Israel’s on going Secular/Religious kulturkampf. However, failure to recognize this facility as evoking the specter of the Shoah speaks volumes on even a more fundamental plane. Tolerance of cremation in Israel lessens the sense of outrage the depraved cruelty of the Final Solution should arouse. A public sentiment that Putting people in ovens is OK is a foreseeable result especially with the ever decreasing numbers of eye witnesses to these crimes against humanity. Imagine the irony the image of a Jewish operated crematorium in the Jewish homeland! Similarly, only addressing cremation to a civil right should be a warning sign of what happens when a people’s educational and philosophical orientation promotes estrangement from its history and heritage. President Peres this why history matters.

POWERFUL WORDS

Dr. Wiess' response to the commander and his statements were a cry of pain in the face of an intolerable scene. However, what the Professor said was personal, and merely speech.How an expression of an opinion with nothing more, not even encouraging others to do more be actionable in a country that values free speech? If the general is offended by Dr Weiss's words but why not the Arab MK who declared Jews have no right to Jerusalem?
Any retaliation against the Dr. Weiss offends any concept of free speach which is sacred to a democracy. Even though Prof. Weiss should not have said such horrible things to another Jew the consequences of Prof. Weiss' actions are for G-D to deal with and man/

However, the positive spin is the voices raised in protest display an acknowledgement of the statements' potency and the G-D of Israel who invested those words of scripture with their power. Even an errant Jew cannot deny who they are believers the sons believers.

May the spark of sincere Jewish connection with G-D grow from a flicker to a full flame of Torah's eternal message.

If I were an Open Minded Leftist,

Out of the gate Jews belong in Hebron even moreso than other places in Judea and Samaria. The oldest recorded real estate transaction is Avraham Avinu’s purchase of the Machpaleh cave and field (Bereshith 23:17). The continued presence of Jews within Hebron gives the city the status along with Jerusalem, Safed and Tiberius as one the “Four lands of Life” [Arba Artzut Hachaim].

However, what if one was ignorant of all that? True, the city at present is mostly Arab and it seems the Jews living there are inserting themselves where they are not wanted. Therefore, the settlers’ dedication and determination and those of their sympathizers to risk arrest and violence is at best a riddle.

Yet, when the Government can’t pay holocaust survivors more than 83 NIS a month but can finance 3,000 soldiers, police, vehicles and other supports materials to remove some one hundred persons from the Hebron marketplace?

Mr. Olmert cannot get rid of the missiles sent to Sederot nor is he able to fund shielding even only for Sederot’s public buildings but can finance 3,000 soldiers, police, vehicles and other supports materials to remove some one hundred persons from the Hebron marketplace?

The Health Ministry does not have the funds for a comprehensive basket of childhood vaccines claim Israeli Doctors can finance 3,000 soldiers, police, vehicles and other supports materials to remove some one hundred persons from the Hebron marketplace?

During the 2006 election campaign it was asserted that one out of three Israeli children lived below the poverty line, this problem remains but the funds are available for 3,000 soldiers, police, vehicles and other supports materials to remove some one hundred persons from the Hebron marketplace?

The former residents of Gush Katif for the most part have not been reintegrated within Israel’s society or economy but the government can finance 3,000 soldiers, police, vehicles and other supports materials to remove some one hundred persons from the Hebron marketplace? This exercise is being touted as the beginning of relocating the majority of 250,000 Jews of Judea and Samaria !!

What are the government’s priorities?
As it is so often the Question contains the Answer. Clearly, Jews who assert the Jewish nature of the land, its connection with its Biblical roots threaten Olmert, Barak, Tamir et al more than any arab could. An orange nationalist Jew stands in the way of a secular Israel as a country of it s citizens.

Why are Israel’s leaders pre-occupied with securing a “right to exist”? Why does there seem to be no concession too painful to PM Olmert or President Peres agree to? Why should anyone care where anyone else lives? Why is a leader without any significant public support charting the course for the state’s future?

The sycophantic need of Israel’s leadership/far left /peace now et al for others’ approval for a sense of self worth is reminiscent of those pathetic Jews of the 1930’s, 40’s, 50’s who gladly jettisoned any vestige of Jewish identity either religious or ethnic in pursuit of acceptance in general society. Their sad conclusion would be very often remorse that they or their children were estranged from their heritage and not fully welcomed by the Von Shaygetzes at the Country Club.

Even if one came from a non-nationalist point of view these questions should take center stage. Similarly, what motivates the settlers and their supporters to risk arrest, prison a criminal record and possible injury?

Additionally, while a soldier’s duty to follow orders is of paramount importance. A soldier’s second guessing commanders may have disastrous results since the soldier on the ground may not have the big picture intelligence available to command. However, when soldiers’ conduct even under combat conditions carry the potential for personal liability blindly following orders is a luxury that is no longer viable. So to set troops even police against civilians would imply either these troops actually agree with the policy being carried out or have been psychologically manipulated to loose whatever part of the brain that makes moral judgments.

All in all the evacuation from Hebron’s marketplace should be turning point, for morality, real self esteem, national pride and purpose.

WHO DEFINES WHO YOU ARE?

Mr. Olmert with his mandate of 3% support is negotiating a declaration of principles for final status issues in the Israel-Arab conflict with Abu Mazen,who has lost control over Gaza and remains in power only through the support of Washington and to a lesser degree Olmert himself.The Final status of borders, Jerusalem, resettlement of Jews from Yesha(after all Israel did so well relocating the 8,500 folks from Gush Katif imagine how well it will do with 250,000!)and the contiguity between Gaza and Yehuda/Shomron etc . . .is going to be left to these two?

Is there anything that would motivate Arab compromise or concession to Israel? Please understand not engaging in and policing against terrorism, struggleism or jihad is not a concession or compromise, this is the minimal behavior expected from a responsible government.

Is there a demand to which Olmert will not acquiesce? Is there price for peace that the people of Israel will be unwilling to allow their government to pay on their behalf?

To consider the present as a Historic Opportunity for Peace is so profoundly out of touch as to call in to question Secretary Rice's grasp of reality. Dr. Rice to proclaim Israel's future lies in the Galil and Negev and not Yehudah and Shomron demonstrates at best embracing the leftist Post-Zionist/Post-Nationalist philosophy espoused by PM Olmert and President Peres. Or at worst a slap in the face of all the generations of Jews who wept for Temple's destruction and exile on Tisha B'Av or punctuated Yom Kippur or Passover Seder with the desire/prayer that "NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM". Jerusalem,Judea and Shomron as well as Gaza are part of my legacy as a Jew. These places connect me to both the past and future. Heritage offers context for where one has come and offers direction where to go from here.

Olmert's Israel (3%)needs Abu Mazen and Washington's blessing to claim a right to exist. The Other Israel(97%)exists because of their Heritage, because of the Mothers and Fathers buried in Hevron, for Mother Rachel in Beit Lechem, because of generations of ancestors who looked three times daily in prayer towards Zion. These are not mere ghosts but the wellspring of Jewry's identity,pride, self esteem and
D-vinely ordained mandate. Even if one is not personally observant where does one's sense of self? from within or without?

To paraphrase Hillel in Pirkei Avot "If I,myself do not define who I am than who will? And if others define me than who am I? . . . ." How fascinating one's arrogance can obscure such a simple fact. Can the ship of state remain in such hands unless as a D-vine message to illustrate there is no logic outside faith in Hashem and His Torah.

NO MORE OUTRAGE

It is time to stop being outraged. The recent headlines notwithstanding. As if the Education Ministry endorsing the Israeli Arab community being taught the establishment of the State was a tragedy.

As if not enough hate was being broadcast through the mosques and other media that the establishment of the Jewish state was indeed illegitimate and the Jews are nothing more than usurpers occupiers and conquerors this point of view must be promoted by the Jewish State itself.

Also in response to the Knesset law requiring the sale of JNF lands be exclusively to Jews Prime Minister Olmert has proposed some 400,000 acres of JNF land to the Israel Lands Authority to facilitate building projects serving both Jewish and Arab communities. Despite the Knesset vote garnering some 64 votes the Prime Minister cynically seeks to circumvent the will of the population. So reports Aaron Klein on World Net Daily, www.worldnetdaily.com. What is even more outrageous is some of these lands were purchased by JNF with the nickels and dimes put in to the ubiquitous
Blue box by generations of Jews from the modern return to Zion in the late nineteenth century.

The nature of these stories are surreal to say the least but there is no room for outrage. Devarim 4:25 –28 describes Israel’s descent in to decadence. The national free fall is characterized by an apparent exchange of Jewish Identity for the ill-fitting mores and values of other nations. Yet, as 4:29-30 explains it will be then when return would began.
Just as an addict’s recovery begins with hitting bottom so too does Israel’s return begin when continuing as something one is not is no longer tenable. There will come a point that adapting foreign behaviors will no longer work for Jewry. Following the nations will only compound bad situations, making them continuously worse.

Has following the lead of the European Union or United Nations or United States regarding the future and security of Israel done anything but embolden terrorists?

Maybe this is why as Rabbi Lazer Brody Shlita told Israel National Radio’s Tamar Yonah that some 50,000 copies of the Hebrew version of B’Gan HaEmuna, The Garden of Emunah (Faith) have been already sold /distributed in Israel. The only truth that explains everything [earlier post not withstanding] is G-D and only G-D is control and nothing else matters or can be relied on. The absurd nature of Israeli government conduct is actually G-D's wake up call, hopefully He is being heard.

A PRESIDENT NETUREI KARTA COULD LOVE

President Peres' remarks before taking office, that we must get rid of the territories (Yehudah, Shomron, the Golan, Jerusalem?) are reprehensible. A country's president should be a patriot, a believer in his country's founding principles. Believing the Medina is separate from Eretz Yisrael displays disdain for every person who ever loved Zion or sacrificed to realize Jewry's hope nurtured over two thousand years. Mr. Peres seems detached from his own heritage and history.

How can such a person be placed in a position of national trust

Olmert's Point of View

When a conversation turns to the machinations of global elites seeking to reshape humanity in to a new world order etc… the eyes would glaze over and frankly the message was reaching a dismissive audience. The notion of a conspiracy being directed through the likes of The Council of Foreign Relations, Tri-Lateral Commission, Free Masons, Illuminati, other secret society or cabal conjures the images and intrigue of secret communications, regular meetings with all the trappings and apparatus a transnational corporate –government partnership would entail. Something so big and all encompassing simply could not hide in the shadows or merely be fodder for the next Dan Brown novel. Additionally, the threads that connect known facts are often woven together in so tenuous a manner that taking them seriously is challenging to one’s sense of logic.

However, maybe the conception of conspiracy as a formal agenda agreed upon by overlord ruling elites may be mistaken. Rather consider the conspiracy of a New World Order (NWO) is more a shared philosophy than anything else.

The demise of the communist economic model resulted in increased international commercial dependence. The growth of capitalist model economies discourages conflict as war would disrupt the flow of materials, goods and services between people and be against everyone’s self interest. The preservation of transnational commerce becomes humanity’s most cherished value as it promotes peace and at least for some, prosperity.

Emergence of a NOW implies there was an Old World Order. OWO apparently one built on nation states’ and their historical and cultural heritage. Such entities are built around individuals with a shared location, culture, mores and interests.

The result is two views of society. are two views what could be called nationalism and globalism. Nationalists see distinctions and differences between people not necessarily in a racist sense but in terms of championing the distinct identities of nations, communities and individuals. Globalists perceive all differences and distinctions between people are artificial and should be sacrificed in favor of transnational cooperation/commerce, the collective benefit of humanity at best, or in reality a general absence of conflict for most and unlimited potential profit for a few.

The conflict between the points of view is irreconcilable as one affirms the value of the individual in context of a society and history. The Nationalist perspective comes from a sense of heritage, tradition and history that all contribute in formulating values, morals and ethics that govern both personal and public behavior.

The Globalist/ NOW perspective values only whatever keeps commerce flowing between nations matters. Transnational cooperation is achieved optimally by mutual self interest or imposed by external control (think the US and Mainland China) Consequently, the elements of identity, individual conscience and free will, those things that make it impossible for a person to control another are the globalists’ greatest threat.

NOW in light of the above Mr. Olmert and his minions make sense. Thinking in terms of history, heritage and narrow national interest is contrary to achieving a utopian society. What does it matter missles land in Sederot ? Or that Israel have a Jewish character? These provincial concerns get in the way of unifying mankind in trade and commerce. {Not that the West cares for a minute about the Human rights of peoples living in Islamic lands as long as petroleum flows unfettered and cheaply} Therefore, to Mr. Olmert and his Global thinking buddies the greatest threat facing the nation is the over 50% of first graders entering Jewish religious schools and not Iran.

Remember the last atempt at unifying humanity was by Nimrod and the tower of Babel and look how that turned out.

Similarly, in other countries the general disdain for religion reflects this nationalist globalist dichotomy. So Olmert is not crazy just embracing a crazy ideology that threatens the value of individual and Humanity’s historical legacy. This shared philosophy of the NOW may not be a classic conspiracy but the pervasive inroads of Globalism within liberal governments sure make it look like one.

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Be Scared be very scared

Recently President Bush visited a Washington D.C. Mosque in an attempt to reach out to moderate Muslims. The President decried the multiple atrocities committed by Muslims against Muslims.

While it may not have been the right place or the right time but from reading excerpts from the New York Post it would seem Radical Muslims hate everyone who are not them and moderates only hate Jews.

Similarly, according to Secretary Rice Hamas is now a resistance group and not terrorist. The fact that Hamas is fighting recent inroads being made by Al-Queda in Gaza is what brought the image makeover is chilling. To embrace the enemy of my enemy might be prudent advice. But,it calls in to question the whole Global War on Terror. Trans national actors as well as state sponsored terror groups must all be opposed there is no room for strange and expedient bedfellows because today's friend could G-D forbid be tomorrow's shahid.

Fundamentals, Leadership 101

"A country cannot protect itself ad infinitum, because there would be no end to it." -- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert

Imagine what this statement does to rally troops, bolster the populace and of course preserve real estate values? Imagine a head of state declaring the citizen's safety is just not government's problem.Imagine what Sederot mayor Eli Moyal must be thinking, hearing this declaration of indifference? That Mayor Moyal is still behaving rationally is remarkable. How could anyone in his position not be beside himself? Mayor Moyal deserves praise for doing what he can for his city. Even so, the numbing callous nature of Prime Minister Olmert's statement goes beyond all comprehention.

Certainly people cannot and should not be wholly dependent on the government for safety and security. But being told by the government a flat out "NO!", the state will not do everything or much of anything to protect a home,a business a community or its people.

Mr. Olmert,it would be an exercise in simple human nature and logic to conclude that this why countries go on the offensive and commit to D*E*F*E*A*T an enemy. Anything short of decisive victory is defeat. What kind of leader can expect to retain power thinking otherwise ? What type of populace allows this type of leadership?