The Cairo Obamination

Before the eyes of billions of people worldwide, the leader of the free world munched happily on Mohammedan tuches. In what is without a doubt the largest example of appeasement before terror and fascism since Chamberlain, Obama brought his message of love, peace and reconciliation to the Islamic world, in Cairo. Crying "peace, peace in our time", he repeated ad nauseum myths and revisionist history about "civilization's debt to Islam", his hope for peace between "all the children of Abraham", and apologized for America upsetting the Islamic world. This speech is extremely significant in light of the declaration of jihad against the United States and the Western world, since the victim of aggression cannot even recognize that he is at war. Here are parts of Hussein Obama's speech, with my comments interspersed.

I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo, and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years, al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning, and for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt's advancement.

Such higher learning is manifested in Al-Azhar's Grand Sheikh's approval of suicide bombings on Islamic grounds.

Together, you represent the harmony between tradition and progress. I am grateful for your hospitality, and the hospitality of the people of Egypt. I am also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: assalaamu alaykum.

We meet at a time of tension between the United States and Muslims around the world - tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate. The relationship between Islam and the west includes centuries of co-existence and co-operation, but also conflict and religious wars. More recently, tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a cold war in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations. Moreover, the sweeping change brought by modernity and globalization led many Muslims to view the west as hostile to the traditions of Islam.

Of course, the United States is to blame for the conflict. No mention of Islamic supremacist doctrine, of the teachings of violent jihad. There is no mention of the Qur'an injunction to "fight them until idolatry is no more, and religion is for Allah" (Q 2:193), or of Muhammad's deathbed last words that he "was commanded to fight until all men testify that there is no god but Allah". According to Obama, the West is guilty of antagonizing Islam, despite the fact that since its founding in the 7th century, Islam has never stopped aggressively expanding and conquering non-Muslim land. He ignores the traditional Islamic division of the world between Dar al-Islam, the House of Islam, and Dar al-Harb, the House of War.

Violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims. The attacks of September 11 2001 and the continued efforts of these extremists to engage in violence against civilians has led some in my country to view Islam as inevitably hostile not only to America and western countries, but also to human rights. This has bred more fear and mistrust.

Again, Obama repeats the myth that the vast majority of Muslims reject terror, even though there is no basis for this claim. A 2007 CBC poll found that 12% of Canadian Muslims approved of suicide bombings and a foiled plot to behead the Canadian PM. 13% of American Muslims support suicide bombings and 40% do not believe that 9/11 was carried out by Muslims. 5% if U.S. Muslims support Al Qaeda specifically, although fully 25% refused to answer the question. 10% of British Muslims pro-actively support terror, while 20% sympathize while stopping short of actually blowing themselves up. 57% of Jordianians and 40% of Moroccans ("moderate" countries) condone or support suicide bombings. In addition to this, no mainstream major American, Canadian or European Muslim organization has unequivocally condemned or rejected the Islamic doctrine of jihad and repudiated the objective of replacing the secular constitution of Western states with Islamic sharia law.

So long as our relationship is defined by our differences, we will empower those who sow hatred rather than peace, and who promote conflict rather than the co-operation that can help all of our people achieve justice and prosperity. This cycle of suspicion and discord must end.

I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect; and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles - principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.

Does this include a rejection of the laws of dhimmitude, under which non-Muslims are second-class citizens, discriminated against and forced to conform to humiliating laws? Or that women are subservient and inferior to men (Q 4:34)? That "non-believers are the vilest of all creatures" (Q 8:51)? More likely, the "new beginning" that Obama would like to inaugurate will be one of American appeasement and apology, concession and retreat.

I do so recognizing that change cannot happen overnight. No single speech can eradicate years of mistrust, nor can I answer in the time that I have all the complex questions that brought us to this point. But I am convinced that in order to move forward, we must say openly the things we hold in our hearts, and that too often are said only behind closed doors. There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other; to learn from each other; to respect one another; and to seek common ground. As the Holy Koran tells us: "Be conscious of God and speak always the truth." That is what I will try to do - to speak the truth as best I can, humbled by the task before us, and firm in my belief that the interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart.

Part of this conviction is rooted in my own experience. I am a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan [the Muslim call to prayer] at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith.

As a student of history, I also know civilization's debt to Islam. It was Islam - at places like al-Azhar University - that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe's Renaissance and Enlightenment. It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens and printing; our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed. Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires; timeless poetry and cherished music; elegant calligraphy and places of peaceful contemplation. And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality.

The idea that Islamic culture was once a beacon of learning and enlightenment is a commonly held myth. In fact, much of this has been exaggerated, often for quite transparent apologetic motives. The astrolabe was developed, if not perfected, long before Muhammad was born. The zero, which is often attributed to Muslims, and what we know today as “Arabic numerals” did not originate in Arabia, but in pre-Islamic India. Aristotle’s work was preserved in Arabic not initially by Muslims at all, but by Christians such as the fifth century priest Probus of Antioch, who introduced Aristotle to the Arabic-speaking world. Another Christian, Huneyn ibn-Ishaq (809-873), translated many works by Aristotle, Galen, Plato and Hippocrates into Syriac. His son then translated them into Arabic. The Syrian Christian Yahya ibn ‘Adi (893-974) also translated works of philosophy into Arabic, and wrote one of his own, The Reformation of Morals. His student, another Christian named Abu ‘Ali ‘Isa ibn Zur’a (943-1008), also translated Aristotle and others from Syriac into Arabic. The first Arabic-language medical treatise was written by a Christian priest and translated into Arabic by a Jewish doctor in 683. The first hospital was founded in Baghdad during the Abbasid caliphate -- not by a Muslim, but a Nestorian Christian. A pioneering medical school was founded at Gundeshapur in Persia — by Assyrian Christians.

In sum, there was a time when it was indeed true that Islamic culture was more advanced than that of Europeans, but that superiority corresponds exactly to the period when Muslims were able to draw on and advance the achievements of Byzantine and other civilizations. But when the Muslim overlords had taken what they could from their subject peoples, and the Jewish and Christian communities had been stripped of their material and intellectual wealth and thoroughly subdued, Islam went into a period of intellectual decline from which it has not yet recovered. (From Jihad Watch)

Islam's history of racism is shocking. Today, the Arab trade of black slaves continues in Niger, Sudan and Mauritania. But, perhaps the most conspicuous example of overt racism in Islam is the genocide in present-day Sudan by the Arab-Islamic government and the refusal of Muslim organizations around the world to condemn it. Over two million black Africans have died from Arab aggression in the Christian south. And 200,000 more were killed by Arab militias over the last four years in Darfur. The Arabs are known for rampaging through villages and hacking black Africans to death in the name of Jihad while screaming things like, "Kill the slaves!"

I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America's story. The first nation to recognize my country was Morocco. In signing the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796, our second President John Adams wrote: "The United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims." And since our founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States. They have fought in our wars, served in government, stood for civil rights, started businesses, taught at our universities, excelled in our sports arenas, won Nobel prizes, built our tallest building, and lit the Olympic torch. And when the first Muslim-American was recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our constitution using the same Holy Koran that one of our founding fathers - Thomas Jefferson - kept in his personal library.

So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed. That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn't. And I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.

Which wars have Muslims fought in (on the side of the United States)? "Won Nobel prizes" --- he should say "won A Nobel prize" (Ahmed Zewail is the only U.S.-based Muslim to have won a Nobel prize). Islam's largest contribution to American history is the smoking crater at Ground Zero in New York City.

Why is it the POTUS's responsibility to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam? What about negative stereotypes of Jews, or Christians, or Buddhists, or Hindus, or Shintos, or Californians, or vegetarians, or blue-eyed people, or redheads, etc.?

[...]

So let there be no doubt: Islam is a part of America. And I believe that America holds within her the truth that regardless of race, religion, or station in life, all of us share common aspirations - to live in peace and security; to get an education and to work with dignity; to love our families, our communities, and our God. These things we share. This is the hope of all humanity.

Unfortunately, Americans tend to project their values on others. In the words of Mr Inyadullah, one of Pakistan's largest Islamic fundamentalist groups, "Americans love Pepsi, we love death". Or to quote Osama bin Laden: “We love death. The US loves life. That is the difference between us two.” Islamic culture simply does not place the same value on life as Western culture does. One need simply think of Palestinian mothers sending their children out to suicide missions and then dancing, rejoicing and giving out candy when they hear that they have successfully blown up and murdered Jews in a Tel-Aviv cafe. This is a culture that wallows in death and hatred.

Of course, recognizing our common humanity is only the beginning of our task. Words alone cannot meet the needs of our people. These needs will be met only if we act boldly in the years ahead; and if we understand that the challenges we face are shared, and our failure to meet them will hurt us all.

For we have learned from recent experience that when a financial system weakens in one country, prosperity is hurt everywhere. When a new flu infects one human being, all are at risk. When one nation pursues a nuclear weapon, the risk of nuclear attack rises for all nations. When violent extremists operate in one stretch of mountains, people are endangered across an ocean. And when innocents in Bosnia and Darfur are slaughtered, that is a stain on our collective conscience. That is what it means to share this world in the 21st century. That is the responsibility we have to one another as human beings.

Yet no peep is heard about the genocide of hundreds of thousands in Darfur. If one fraction of the indignation and condemnation that was heaped on Israel when it had the gaul of defending itself from rocket attacks had been directed towards Khartoum, so many hundreds of thousands would not be dead.

[...]

The first issue that we have to confront is violent extremism in all of its forms.

Like Episcopalian extremism? Those nutty Quakers? Fundamentalist Seventh Day Adventists? Maybe he's talking about those Voodoist fascists? Radical Hindus? Or maybe Islam, the only religion that has carried out over 13 000 violent attacks since 9/11?

In Ankara, I made clear that America is not - and never will be - at war with Islam. We will, however, relentlessly confront violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security. Because we reject the same thing that people of all faiths reject: the killing of innocent men, women, and children. And it is my first duty as president to protect the American people.

Islam condemns the killing of innocent civilians. Yet out definition and the Islamic definition of innocent may be quite different.

[...]

The second major source of tension that we need to discuss is the situation between Israelis, Palestinians and the Arab world.

America's strong bonds with Israel are well known. This bond is unbreakable. It is based upon cultural and historical ties, and the recognition that the aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in a tragic history that cannot be denied.

Wrong! The aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in the hundreds of years of Jewish sovereignty in Israel and in the thousands of years of an unbroken Jewish presence there. Israel does not derive its legitimacy from the ashes of murdered Jews, but rather from the Bible, from the historical fact that the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people, a fact which was recognized by the League of Nations in the 1920s, and then again by the United Nations, and is enshrined under international law.

Around the world, the Jewish people were persecuted for centuries, and antisemitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust. Tomorrow, I will visit Buchenwald, which was part of a network of camps where Jews were enslaved, tortured, shot and gassed to death by the Third Reich. Six million Jews were killed - more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today. Denying that fact is baseless, ignorant, and hateful. Threatening Israel with destruction - or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews - is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve.

Obama apparently loves dead Jews much more than live ones. He has no qualms with forcing Israel back to the indefensible pre-67 "Auschwitz borders" and bringing every single major Israeli city within "Palestinian" rocket range.

On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people - Muslims and Christians - have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than 60 years they have endured the pain of dislocation. Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead. They endure the daily humiliations - large and small - that come with occupation. So let there be no doubt: the situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own.

The incredible chutzpah of implicitly drawing a comparison between Jewish suffering during the Holocaust and "Palestinian" self-inflicted suffering. The "Palestinians" are architects of their own demise. ("Palestinians" have not suffered for 60 years- since there haven't even been a "Palestinian people" for 60 years! The term "Palestinian" only began being used to refer to the Arabs of Israel after Israel liberated Judea, Samaria and Gaza in 1967.) If millions of Arabs would not have fled Israel at the behest of invading Arab armies in 1948, there would be no refugees. Before the founding of the State of Israel, close to a million Jews lived in Arab lands. They were expelled, losing billions of dollars of property, leaving behind homes in which they had lived for centuries or millenia. Israel did not allow them to languish in camps but took them in and integrated them. Somehow, the Islamic world, which stretches from Indonesia to Morocco and is rolling in petro-dollars, could not find place to settle a couple hundred thousand Arab refugees. Rather, they kept them in camps to be used as pawns against Israel, to flood the Jewish state and to destroy it demographically. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A 60 YEAR OLD REFUGEE!!

For decades, there has been a stalemate: two peoples with legitimate aspirations, each with a painful history that makes compromise elusive. It is easy to point fingers - for Palestinians to point to the displacement brought by Israel's founding and for Israelis to point to the constant hostility and attacks throughout its history from within its borders as well as beyond. But if we see this conflict only from one side or the other, then we will be blind to the truth: the only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security.

Arab rejectionism goes too deep. Both the "moderate" Fatah and Hamas have the elimination of Israel as its goals, as enshrined in their respective charters. The Arab goal has never been a "Palestinian" state but rather the destruction of the Jewish one. If that was the case, why didn't the "Palestinians" declare independence when Judea, Samaria and Gaza were under Jordanian and Egyptian control before 1967? Why did the Arabs reject the UN partition plan in 1947? Why did Yasser Arafat walk away from Ehud Barak's offer of a PA state in close to 99% of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, with a capital in East Jerusalem? Why didn't Abbas accept control of half of Jerusalem, when Ehud Olmert claimed to have offered him "even more than Barak ever did"?

That is in Israel's interest, Palestine's interest, America's interest, and the world's interest. That is why I intend to personally pursue this outcome with all the patience that the task requires. The obligations that the parties have agreed to under the road map are clear. For peace to come, it is time for them - and all of us - to live up to our responsibilities.

It is hardly in Israel's interests to set up a terror state a few miles away from Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv, to expel hundreds of thousands of Jews from their homes and to uproot Jewish communities. It is not in US interests to allow Iranian proxies a puppet-state which will be a base of terror and will destabilize the region. It is not in US interests to destroy the region's only democracy to set up a backwards Arab thug state. It is not in US interests to reward terror with independence and to give a state on a silver platter to the same people who danced when they heard the news that the US had been attacked on 9/11. As for "Palestine's" bests interests- they are as fictional as the best interests of Atlantis, El Dorado or Valhala.

Palestinians must abandon violence. Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and does not succeed. For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full and equal rights. It was a peaceful and determined insistence upon the ideals at the center of America's founding. This same story can be told by people from South Africa to South Asia; from eastern Europe to Indonesia. It's a story with a simple truth: that violence is a dead end. It is a sign of neither courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old women on a bus. That is not how moral authority is claimed; that is how it is surrendered.

The comparison between the "Palestinians" and American blacks is absurd and ridiculous. Israel is forced to implement these measures to protect its own civilians from being blown up in cafes, restaurants and buses. Clearly, an Arab's right not to be inconvenienced outweighs and Jew's right not to be blown to smithereens on a Jerusalem bus. As always, the poor Arabs are the victims, never responsible for their own choices, their rejection of Israel, their support of violence and hatred, their choice to go to war against Israel 7 times and to have lost each time.

Now is the time for Palestinians to focus on what they can build. The Palestinian Authority must develop its capacity to govern, with institutions that serve the needs of its people.

People have been calling upon them to do that for years. They have never heeded the call. Mortimer Zuckerman and others spent $14 million to give them Israeli greenhouses during the Gaza turnover, so they would have a way to make a living. They turned those greenhouses into weapons smuggling tunnels.

Hamas does have support among some Palestinians, but they also have responsibilities. To play a role in fulfilling Palestinian aspirations, and to unify the Palestinian people, Hamas must put an end to violence, recognize past agreements, and recognize Israel's right to exist.

Don't hold your breathe for Khaled Meshal to sing and dance kumbaya with Jews on the White House lawn.

At the same time, Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel's right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine's. The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.

Insane moral equivalence. Israel liberated Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem in a war which the Arabs initiated and lost. In the word of Yehuda Z. Blum, former Israeli ambassador to the UN, speaking in 1979: "Anyone who asserts that it is illegal for a Jew to live in Judea and Samaria JUST BECAUSE HE IS A JEW, is in fact advocating a concept that is disturbingly reminiscent of the 'JUDENREIN' POLICIES of Nazi Germany banning Jews from certain spheres of life for no other reason than that they were Jews. The Jewish villages in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza district are there as of right and are there to stay." There is no difference between saying that Jews cannot live in Hebron or Maaleh Adumim in Judea and Samaria, or saying that a Jew cannot walk on a certain sidewalk or sit on a specific bench in Germany or Poland.

It takes a certain amount of gaul for someone living on stolen Iroquois land to turn around and tell Jews that they cannot live in their biblical homeland.

Israel must also live up to its obligations to ensure that Palestinians can live, and work, and develop their society. And just as it devastates Palestinian families, the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza does not serve Israel's security; neither does the continuing lack of opportunity in the West Bank. Progress in the daily lives of the Palestinian people must be part of a road to peace, and Israel must take concrete steps to enable such progress.

Which humanitarian crisis?

[...]

Too many tears have flowed. Too much blood has been shed. All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow up without fear; when the Holy Land of three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed (peace be upon them) joined in prayer.

Only under Israel has freedom of religion in Jerusalem been guaranteed. During the 19 year illegal Jordanian occupation, from 1948 to 1967, every single Jew of the Old City was expelled, synagogues were desecrated and turned into warehouses, Jewish cemeteries paved over and used as latrines and Jewish prayer banned from the Western Wall. Jerusalem is Israel's undivided capital. When London was still forest and Rome still a collection of villages on the Tiber, Jerusalem had already been King David's capital for hundreds of years, seat of the Jewish kingdom, and site of the Holy Temple. It will never again be divided. I highly doubt that Obama would divide up Washington and offer it to al-Qaeda, no matter how strong his desire for "reconciliation".

[...]

Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance. We see it in the history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition.

More historical myth. Even Maria Rosa Menocal, in her extended whitewash of Muslim Spain called The Ornament of the World, admits that the laws of dhimmitude were very much in force in the great Al-Andalus. She says: "The dhimmi, as these covenanted peoples were called, were granted religious freedom, not forced to convert to Islam. They could continue to be Jews and Christians, and, as it turned out, they could share in much of Muslim social and economic life. In return for this freedom of religious conscience the Peoples of the Book (pagans had no such privilege) were required to pay a special tax — no Muslims paid taxes — and to observe a number of restrictive regulations: Christians and Jews were prohibited from attempting to proselytize Muslims, from building new places of worship, from displaying crosses or ringing bells. In sum, they were forbidden most public displays of their religious rituals."

So much for that "proud tradition of tolerance." Also, historian Kenneth Baxter Wolf observes that “much of this new legislation aimed at limiting those aspects of the Christian cult which seemed to compromise the dominant position of Islam.” After enumerating a list of laws much like Menocal’s, he adds: “Aside from such cultic restrictions most of the laws were simply designed to underscore the position of the dimmîs as second-class citizens.”

If Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived together peaceably and productively only with Christians and Jews relegated by law to second-class citizen status, then al-Andalus has absolutely no reason to be lionized in our age. Obama should know that the laws of dhimmitude give his claim of a "proud tradition of tolerance" the same hollow ring as the stories of prominent American blacks from the slavery and Jim Crow eras: yes, Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington were great men, but their accomplishments not only do not erase or contradict the records of the oppression of their people, but render them all the more poignant and haunting. Whatever the Christians and Jews of al-Andalus accomplished, they were still dhimmis. They enjoyed whatever rights and privileges they had not out of any sense of the dignity of all people before God, or the equality of all before the law, but at the sufferance of their Muslim overlords. (From Jihad Watch)

[...]

It is easier to start wars than to end them. It is easier to blame others than to look inward; to see what is different about someone than to find the things we share. But we should choose the right path, not just the easy path. There is also one rule that lies at the heart of every religion - that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. This truth transcends nations and peoples - a belief that isn't new; that isn't black or white or brown; that isn't Christian, or Muslim or Jew. It's a belief that pulsed in the cradle of civilization, and that still beats in the heart of billions. It's a faith in other people, and it's what brought me here today.

Suppress gag reflex...

We have the power to make the world we seek, but only if we have the courage to make a new beginning, keeping in mind what has been written.

The Holy Koran tells u: "O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another."

The Qur'an says a lot of things. Like "slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them" (Q 9:5). Or that non-Muslims must be humiliated and made second-class: "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued." (Q 9:29)

The Talmud tells us: "The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace."

Obama could very well be a Reform rabbi, choosing which parts suit him and lopping off the rest. Remember the part where G-d promised the Land of Israel to the Jews?

The Holy Bible tells us: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."


Jesus the Palestinian said that?

The people of the world can live together in peace. We know that is God's vision. Now, that must be our work here on Earth. Thank you. And may God's peace be upon you.

Barf...

The Hope Lives

World leaders goose-step zealously around the "two-state solution", hovering like vultures ready to carve up and divide Israel. Bibi just returned from Washington where he met with the chief supporter of this plot, President Obama. There, he was told in no uncertain terms that Jewish couples in Judea and Samaria cannot be allowed to have children or build homes, and that the US intends to negotiate with Iran, and not deal with the nuclear ayatollahs militarily. To his credit, Bibi did not fold under the intense pressure. One this is clear: the United States is preparing to sacrifice Israel as a scapegoat for "peace" and "reconciliation" with the Arab world.

The two-state solution is a Final Solution to the Zionist Problem. 80% of Israel's population is concentrated on the coastal plain. If Israel's frontiers would be reduced to the "Auschwitz lines" (as Abban Eban famously dubbed them), every single major Israeli city would be under the threat of rocket fire. The situation that was produced in Sderot following the 2005 Disengagement would repeat itself all over Israel as any new "Palestinian" state would quickly become a launching pad for Islamic terror. Dr. Yuval Steinitz, former Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman, said that the idea of a two-state solution should be dead. “A Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria ,” he said, “would bring about Israel ’s demise. … Such a Palestinian state would immediately become an outpost for Iran ” (Jerusalem Post, September 14, 2008).

Besides the obvious strategic and military threat that a terror-state in the heart of Israel would pose, there is an even greater ideological danger inherent in a two-state solution. In essence, a two-state solution would mean the death of Zionism and the abandonment of the Jewish dream.

The Nation of Israel arose in the Land of Israel. The Bible provides the clearest proof that the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people and to no other nation. For hundreds of years, the Jews lived in the land, established a monarchy under King David and Solomon, and built the First Temple in the capital city of Jerusalem. When the first Jewish kingdom was destroyed by the Babylonians in the 6th century BCE, they razed Jerusalem, burnt the Temple and carried away the Jewish defenders into exile, in Babylon. The Bible records how the Jews bitterly mourned the loss of their independence and homeland, and resolved to return. "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat, we also wept when we remembered Zion... If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget [its skill]. May my tongue cling to my palate, if I do not remember you, if I do not bring up Jerusalem at the beginning of my joy." (Tehillim 137). 70 years later, when the Persian emperor Cyrus allowed the Jews to return home, tens of thousands set out under the guidance of Ezrah the Scribe and Nehemiah. They rebuilt the desolate cities of Judea and reconstructed the Temple in Jerusalem. For centuries, the Jews lived semi-autonomously under Persian and Greek rule, until the Maccabbees revolted against Greek religious persecution. For another 100 years, the Jews enjoyed sovereignty under the Hasmonean dynasty. This independence was brought to an end with the Roman conquest and following several revolts, the Second Temple was burnt and the Jewish population carried into slavery and exile.

During the three millenia since Joshua first conquered the Holy Land until today, there was never another people that established a state in Israel. Never was there a sovereign nation by the name of "Palestine". The Arabs living in the Land of Israel never considered themselves to be part of a distinct "Palestinian" people. The only entity to ever have its independence in Israel was and remains the Jewish people.

Way back on March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview with Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

"Palestine is a term the Zionists invented.... Our country for centuries was part of Syria," remarked Arab leader Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi to the British Peel Commission in 1937. Certainly, Mr. Abdul-Hadi had the honesty to admit the fraud that is "the Palestinian people". Before the State of Israel was founded, Jews and Palestine were synonymous. Jews founded the Palestine Post, the Palestine Symphony Orchestra, the Palestine Electric Company. The Arabs were referred to as Arabs and not Palestinians. Only in 1964 was this bogus term invented when Gamal Abdl-Nasser created the phony nationalism of the Palestinians.

The differentiation between Israel pre-67 and beyond "the Green Line" is entirely arbitrary and simply reflects the armistice line at the end of Israel's War of Independence (a war initiated by 6 Arab countries with the intention of "throwing the Jews into the sea". There is absolutely no difference between the right of Jews to live in Tel-Aviv, Herzliah or Haifa and Hebron, Shechem and Beit El. In fact, Hebron was the first capital of the Jewish people under King David, while Tel-Aviv was only founded 100 years ago. Judea and Samaria are the heart of the Biblical homeland, where our Patriarchs walked, our Kings fought and conquered, our Prophets warned and proclaimed. A judenrein Judea and Samaria would be the greatest travesty of history and would undermine the entire basis of the dream of the return to Zion.

Palestinian Ambassador to Lebanon Abbas Zaki articulated quite clearly how a two-state solution would spell the end of Israel. He was speaking to the Arab media:

"With the two-state solution, in my opinion, Israel will collapse, because if they get out of Jerusalem, what will become of all the talk about the Promised Land and the Chosen People? What will become of all the sacrifices they made - just to be told to leave? They consider Jerusalem to have a spiritual status. The Jews consider Judea and Samaria to be their historic dream. If the Jews leave those places, the Zionist idea will begin to collapse. It will regress of its own accord. Then we will move forward."

For two thousand years, Jews dreamed of going home, of returning to the land of their forefathers and having their own country. Three times a day, observant Jews turn towards the East and beseech G-d: "May our eyes behold Your return to Zion in mercy". Jews declare at the end of every Passover seder and Yom Kippur fast: "Next year in Jerusalem!" The ties that the Jewish people have to Israel are deeper than those of any other people to its land, long preceding the creation of "Palestinians" in the 1960s, or even the birth of Muhammad and the spread of Israel. Before France was French and before Spain was Spanish, Israel was Jewish. When London was still forest and Rome was just a collection of villages on the Tiber, Jerusalem was already the capital and spiritual center of the Jewish people. Jews in the various exiles, Morocco and Poland, Iraq and Russia, Yemen and Greece, did not long for the Holy Land simply for it to be turned over to another people.

Friday marks 42 years since Judea, Samaria and Gaza were liberated and Jerusalem reunified under Jewish control. 800 Jewish soldiers gave their lives in defense of Israel against the Arab invaders during the Six Day War, and bravely liberated our biblical homeland. For 19 long years, the Jordanians illegally occupied Jerusalem, drove the Jews out of the Old City, desecrated synagogues and Jewish cemeteries and closed the Kotel to Jewish prayer. Hundreds of courageous Jews paid for Jerusalem with their blood and in June 1967, for the first time since the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, Jerusalem was reunited in Jewish hands. The sheer euphoria as it was proclaimed on the radio "the Temple Mount is in our hands!" was indescribable. Even the most secular soldier broke down in tears in front of the Western Wall, when he realized the momentousness of the battle.

Today, the battle for Jerusalem and for the Land of Israel continues. We must remember the bravery of Joshua, of David, of the Maccabees, of Bar Kochba and those who fought the Romans, and our modern day heroes of the IDF. We must have the courage to proclaim that the entire Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people and that we do not recognize the legitimacy of the claims of any foreign entity on our land. The State of Israel only exists today because it is sitting on the shoulders of the generations of good Jews who, in all of their lands of dispersion, never forgot the dream, the two-thousand year old hope "to be a free people in our own land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem". A hope that overcame the Romans, the Crusades and Inquisitions, pogroms and persecution, Auschwitz and Treblinka, will certainly overcome the most nefarious plots of our enemies.

A Soldier and an Old Woman

From Aish by Ruchama King Feuerman

The Six Day War had ended. The generals assembled the commanders and foot soldiers for a customary review and analysis of the battle. After the military questions had been asked, and the investigative committee was about to disperse, a commanding officer pointed to one of the soldiers. "Wait a minute. I have a question for you. Yes, you, the soldier who put up the flag on the Temple Mount."

The soldier nodded.

"Where did you get an Israeli flag, and why did you put it up?"

The soldier spread out his hands and smiled, a gesture that indicated that here was more than just a one sentence response. He told the following story:

The night before the Old City was liberated, a contingent of soldiers fighting near the Old City took cover in a shelter in a Jerusalem neighborhood. Hordes of children, mothers, old men and women packed inside the bunker alongside the soldiers. People looked frightened and bereft. The government had imposed a news black-out so that the Arab countries wouldn't be able to figure out their positions. And the news -- originating from Jordan, Egypt and Syria -- was enough to induce hysteria: calls from Saudi King Faisal for the total elimination of Israel, calls from every Arab country to push the fledgling country into the sea.

Things looked so bad, Israelis famously converted public parks into mass graves, in preparation for the expected casualties. (Israel's Chief of Staff, Yitzchak Rabin, had even suffered a nervous breakdown.)

As the soldier sat there in the bunker, hopeless and uncertain, he saw an old woman slowly make her way over to him. "Excuse me," she said, standing at his side. She held a satchel in her arms.

He lifted his eyes. "Yes, Doda. Tell me, what is it?"

"Tomorrow you'll go to the Old City and you'll go to the Kotel."

He shook his head at the absurdity. He said, "No, we won't." There were no army plans to liberate the Old City. First, they were fighting just to hold their positions. Also, overtaking the Old City would entail hand-to-hand combat which was greatly feared: Many people would die. Moreover, any bombardment of the Old City might demolish even more of the holy sites than had already been destroyed by the Jordanians. He tried to explain all of this.

The old woman looked at him, steady-eyed. "No, you will go," she said, not as if she were trying to convince him, but as if relaying simple facts.

He shrugged. An old woman's delusions. He wasn't going to argue with her.

Before he turned away, she said, "I have a favor to ask you." She reached into her satchel and took out an Israeli flag. From the way she touched it, it was clear the flag had some personal meaning for her. Had she made it? Perhaps it had been draped over a loved one's grave? But what was she now saying? "When you go, please take this flag, and when you get to the Temple Mount, I want you to hang it up there." She held out the flag.

The soldier repeated, "We're not going into the Old City."

"You're going," she said. Again, she held out her arm.

A thought struck him. "I can't take it," he told her. "It's against army regulations."

"It'll be all right. Just take it."

"I'll get in trouble. You're only allowed to carry a few specified items."

Please," she said hoarsely. "Do me this favor."

He shrugged again. Why was he arguing with this old woman? Let him take the flag, let him make an old woman feel good. He could always get rid of it later.

The next day, the Israeli army, contrary to everyone's expectations, took the Old City. Sure enough, the soldier's unit ended up at the Temple Mount. As he and the other soldiers came close to the Western Wall, he suddenly remembered the flag and the old woman's words. Yes, he would do it, he would! He enlisted two buddies, and together they draped the flag over the grating on the upper left most side of the Kotel, and there they hoisted and hung the Israel flag.

The commanding officer conducting the investigation said to the soldier, "And what were you thinking when you put up that flag?"

The soldier said, "I was thinking that this was the answer to 2,000 years of Jewish suffering."

And so ends the story of the soldier, our hero.

But there's an unsung hero, too. What about the old woman who supplied the flag? One wishes the investigating officers had tracked her down. What did she have in mind as she entered a shelter with an Israeli flag in her satchel? And who was she, anyway? The only identifying feature is that she was old and carried a bag. But her advanced age already tells us plenty: that she knew something about Jewish history, probably having personally lived through it...World War I, Arab attacks, the Holocaust, the War of Independence, 1956. What hadn't she seen?

There, in Israel's darkest moment, outnumbered and surrounded by enemies, terrified that the next morning there will be no Israel, the old woman sees what no one else can see, what no one else is capable of conceiving. She insists on her vision, she practically browbeats the soldier into carrying out her plan. We'll never know how she knew, only that, like many Jewish women before her -- the Matriarchs, the midwives in Egypt, the righteous women in the desert -- she just knew. There are two kinds of prophecy. One that predicts the future, and one that makes the future.

Jerusalem: Closest to G-d

Jerusalem is the heart of Am Yisrael. If I forget thee Jerusalem...

Straight talk about Jerusalem

Remember Amalek!

As the Jewish world was plunged into sorrow at the brutal slaying of 8 young boys, ages 15-26, in the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva in the midst of Torah study, Arabs in Gaza waved flags, cheered, danced and gave out sweets in mosques. There is no moderation, no compromise, no compassion- those who cheer the murder of teenagers are pure evil and evil must be eradicated.

Just look at this picture. This is not a person but a barbaric bloodthirsty animal, rejoicing over the slaughter of boys, teenagers, cut down in a house of G-d. These cruel animals are not interested in peace or in negotiation but in the utter annhilation of the Jewish people. Smiling, flag waving- this is a people that worships death. Those that worship death and those that treasure life, the Living Nation, cannot coexist.






There can be no peace with evil. It is Rosh Chodesh Adar, the month in which we read the maftir of Zachor. "Remember what Amalek did to you by the way as you came forth out of Egypt; how he met you by the way, and smote the hindmost of you, all that were enfeebled in your rear, when you were faint and weary; and he feared not G-d. Therefore it shall be, when the LORD your G-d has given you rest from all your enemies round about, in the land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it, that you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; you shalt not forget." Evil cannot be tolerated or compromised with. It can only be wiped out. When HaShem finally commanded the king Shaul to wipe out Amalek, he had mercy on them and allowed Agag the king to remain alive. During the time that Shaul allowed him to live, his wife conceived a son who was the ancestor of the wicked Haman who plotted to wipe out the Jewish people. On this the Rabbis commented: "He who has mercy on the cruel will ultimately be cruel to the merciful".

Remember the deeds of Amalek and wipe them out from under heaven!

The names of the eight students murdered yesterday in Mercaz HaRav are:

Doron Mehereta, 26, of Ashdod
Ro'i Rote, 18, of Elkanah in Samaria (Shomron)
Yonadav Haim Hirschfeld, 19, of Kokhav HaShachar (Shomron)
Yochai Lipshitz, 18, of the Old City of Jerusalem
Yonatan Yitzchak Eldar, 16, of Shilo (Shomron)
Neriah Cohen, 15, of Jerusalem
Segev Pniel Avichayil, 15, of N'vei Daniel in Gush Etzion
Avraham David Moses, 16, of Efrat, Gush Etzion

May their memories be a blessing and may HaShem avenge their holy blood speedily in our days.

Cross-posted to Jewish Vengeance and Goat's Barnyard

An Apology, A Clarification and a Summary

Oy vey, what a mess. I wanted to raise awareness of the Universal Noahide commandments in order to demonstrate G-d's love for non-Jews. My goal was to show how non-Jews achieve holiness and become close to G-d and yet it degenerated into name-calling and anger. I do not want to ridicule Christianity or any other faith. All I want is a legitimate discussion and simply saying that you are offended does not prove anything. Please, let us all calm down, take a breath and talk. I have no problem with Christians, obviously, diagreeing and I would love to have some Christian imput to have a great debate. But are we forbidden to analyze because some feathers may be ruffled? From the level of anger and hysteria, it seems like I've hit a nerve.

This will most likely be my last post in this series. I would like to sum up and provide my main objection to Christianity. I am done apologizing. Whoever cannot handle discussion without name-calling and ad hominem attacks is free to leave though I would prefer if we could all just talk peacefully.

Yeishu was a Jew, based himself on Jewish scriptures and preached his message primarily to the Jewish people. In spite of the fact that his coming was supposedly clearly fortold in the Torah, the Jewish people as a whole rejected him. The level on antipathy towards "the Jewish messiah" was so strong that the Gospels, which were meant for the Hebrew-speaking Jews, was written in Greek. The Jews didn't feel the necessity to preserve even one Hebrew manuscript of Yeishu's message and incorporate it into the TaNaKh. (If Yeishu's contemporaries rejected him, what additional information can any Jew have today after 2000 years? Why would they accept him (G-d forbid) if his own coreligionists in his time did not?) When Yeishu saw that mainstream Jews wouldn't buy his message, and that the Sanhedrin of the 72 most learned rabbis and scholars of Torah could not find any signs of his coming, he launched into a tirade cursing the Jews and the rabbis. The man who preached turning the other cheek said to his enemies: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold your house is left unto you desolate.” (Matthew 23.37,38)

“Ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And I say the truth, why do you not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God” (John 8.43-47)

“Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so you do. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers” (Acts 7.51-53)

This is the secret of Christian anti-semitism: Only the Jews were given knowledge of the Oral and Written Torahs and of the coming of the messiah, which give us the power to see through Christian theology. The pagans who converted to Christianity saw a resemblance to their gods, many of whom were demigods born of virgin in caves, performed miracles, were born on December 25 or turned water into wine. Christians saw the inherent contradiction that Yeishu's own people rejected him and resolved to get rid of G-d's witnesses to the truth about the moshiach.

He called the rabbis 'a brood of vipers' and because of this, eternal guilt for his death lay/lies on the Jewish people. At his trial, the Jewish mob is portrayed as crying “His blood be on us and on our children” (Matthew 27:25). This led many Church fathers to condemn the Jews. "St." Gregory, for example, said: “Jews are slayers of the Lord, murderers of the prophets, enemies of God, haters of God, adversaries of grace, enemies of their fathers’ faith, advocates of the devil, brood of vipers, slanderers, scoffers, men of darkened minds, leaven of the Pharisees, congregation of demons, sinners, wicked men, stoners and haters of goodness.” None of this makes today's Christians responsible for the crimes of their predecessors though.

More Jewish blood has been spilt in the name of our so-called "messiah" than by anyone else. What began with the story of the Jews's blood oath culminated in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, in the silence of the papacy, of the murder of 6 million 'Christ-killers'. Today's Christians, who should not be condemned for the past actions of Christians, like to claim that these people were not "real Christians". This, however, is extremely self-serving as the Crusaders or Inquisitors were just as Jesus-intoxicated as the most ardent Christian-Zionist today, and read from the same texts. If simply to honour his ancestors, no Jew can ever accept the man in whose name his ancestors were butchered by a crusading sword, may HaShem avenge their blood. While the moshiach is supposed to return the Jews to Israel, rebuild the Temple, unite the world in service of HaShem and strengthen the commandments, and bring world peace, the Jews were exiled shortly after Yeishu's death and the Temple destroyed, the Church was a major oppostion to the active return to Zion, Christianity often discourages the keeping of the mitzvot and Jesus "came not to bring peace, but to bring a sword". He fulfilled the exact opposite of the requirements of the moshiach.

Christians, if my ancestors did not accept Yeishu and Jews throughout the ages saw through his message, why should I be different? Am I greater than Rabbi Akiva, Maimonides, the Vilna Gaon, the Baal Shem Tov, and all of the hundreds of thousands of tzaddikim and Torah scholars who did not believe in him? Do you honestly believe that all of the Jews of every age are burning now in hell? Are the 6 million swimming in lakes of fire while the murderers who believed in Yeishu are forgiven? No! "Thy people are entirely righteous, they shall inherit the land for ever; the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, wherein I glory."

May HaShem send us His true moshiach speedily in our days, and may we all meet in the rebuilt Jerusalem. Amen, selah!

Bush: Don't Touch My Annointed

(Courtesy of Lazer Beams)



I do have a dilema, though. How can we expect G-d to redeem us if we sit put?

"The sons of Korach said to G-d: 'Until when will You say, Return O wayward sons(Jeremiah 3:14) and they [Israel] say to You, 'You return first,' as it says, Return O Lord, until when? and relent...(Tehillim 90:13). And You say, 'No Israel must take the initiative'. You will nor return by Yourself and we will not return ourselves. Rather, both of us will return simulateneously, as it is written, You have returned the captivity of Yaakov... Return us O G-d of our salvation." (Midrash Tehillim 85:3)

The Israeli gov't is willing to compromise on the Redemption and to give away Jerusalem. Many remain silent. What can we do? How do we bring the Geula? Prayer is not enough. We must couple it with protest, with outrage, with letters, with something. We are not in power so we cannot be expected to do what is impossible. Each of us in our own way must blow the shofar of teshuva, emuna and Torah.

Cross-posted to Goat's Barnyard

See the Deed

The following billboard is being put up all over Jerusalem to greet President Bush when he comes to visit the Holy City some time this month:



All Bible-believers, Jews and Christians, Catholics and Evangelicals, Baptists and Mormons, stand up for G-d's Inheritance. Jews, don't be ashamed to point to our deed to the Land. Our father Avraham bought the Cave of Machpela in Hebron for 400 silver shekalim. Yaakov purchased the field of Shechem, where Yoseph's tomb is located, for 100 ksita, and today Shechem (Nablus) is judenrein and Yoseph's tomb was desecrated. King David bought the Temple Mount from the Jebusites and his son built the Holy Temple there, where today no Jew is allowed to pray. And the entire land was promised to us by G-d Himself. Jews and Gentiles, our rights to the land do not come from any declaration by a hundred non-Jews 60 or 100 years ago. Pick up the Bible and see the deed!

"Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates; 19 the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite." (Genesis 15:18-20)

"And I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." (Genesis 17:7-8)

"He is the LORD our God; His judgments are in all the earth. He hath remembered His covenant for ever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations; [The covenant] which He made with Abraham, and His oath unto Isaac; And He established it unto Jacob for a statute, to Israel for an everlasting covenant; Saying: 'Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance." (Psalms 105:7-10)

"You are crossing the Jordan to come to the land which G-d is giving you, you must settle the land and live there..." (Deuteronomy 11:31)



Whoever rejects Jewish sovereignty over Israel rejects G-d's sovereignty. He blasphemed the G-d of Israel. Woe to he who fights the Master of the Universe!

Cross-posted to Goat's Barnyard

Tenth of Tevet

"Master of the world, the people of Israel are your tephillin; when a simple Jew drops his tephillin on the ground, he picks them up and kisses them. When the people of Israel suffer and are thrown in the dust, isn't it proper that you should pick them up and kiss them?" --Rebbe Levi Yitschak of Berditshev, Ukraine, late 1700's

Tomorrow is the fast of the Tenth of Tevet which marks the day that the wicked Babylonians and Romans began the siege of Jerusalem, the beginning of the end for the First and Second Temples. The Sages declare that every generation in which the Temple is not rebuilt is like the generation in which it was destroyed. Due to our many sins, the Temple has not yet been rebuilt, namely because we have failed 'to set Jerusalem above my highest joy' (Tehillim 137:6). Unfortunately, the Israeli government has not learnt this holy lesson and is prepared to sacrifice Jerusalem.

As long as we don't have a Temple, we are in exile. The Jewish people are in exile physically since we are still endangered and besieged by our enemies, and the world as a whole is in the spiritual exile of agnosticism, heresy, doubt and meaninglessness. When the Temple will be rebuilt, G-d's presence will be manifest on Earth and we will all bask in His glory.


"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. Upon the willows in the midst thereof we hanged up our harps. For there they that led us captive asked of us words of song, and our tormentors asked of us mirth: 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion.' How shall we sing the Lord'S song in a foreign land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I remember thee not; if I set not Jerusalem above my chiefest joy. Remember, O the Lord, against the children of Edom the day of Jerusalem; who said: 'Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.' O daughter of Babylon, that art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that repayeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the rock."

May we merit the rebuilding of Jerusalem, of the Holy Temple, and may Hashem comfort Zion speedily in our days. Hashem, pick up Your holy tefillin and bring us home. Amen, ken yehi ratzon!



PS Sign the Jewish Declaration to the World and "raise Jerusalem above your highest joy"

Cross-posted to Goat's Barnyard

Olmertistan

Jews of the world, you've been misled. The land of Israel belongs to Ehud Olmert and he is free to dispose of it or divide it up according to his whims and schemes, or so he believes. What chutzpah

From Arutz-7:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert informed American Jewish leaders Monday that Jews outside of Israel have no right to intervene in any decision regarding the status of Jerusalem.

Olmert declared at a news conference Monday following his meeting with leaders of U.S. Jewish communities that "the government of Israel has a sovereign right to negotiate anything on behalf of Israel," making it clear that Jews outside of Israel had no right to participate in decisions about the future of Jerusalem. The prime minister told reporters that the issue had "been determined long ago."

Did you catch that last part, how the government of Israel ie. Ehud Olmert and his corrupt cronies have a right to negotiate anything for Israel and the Israeli people or world Jewry have no say in the matter! Yeah, what business of world Jewry is it that their most holy city and eternal capital is being negotiated away to murderers? Who cares if I pray three times a day that G-d rebuild Jerusalem or I end my Passover seder with the words 'Next Year in Jerusalem'? The land belongs to Olmert!

Everything that goes on in Israel directly affects the safety of Jews in the Diaspora. Don't pretend for a second that everybody simply loves the Jews but they don't dare start up due to a strong Israel. A strong Israel means secure Jews, not to mention the fact that I don't take well to the idea of thousands of Jews being uprooted, synagogues destroyed and Jewish rights restricted in Jerusalem all to appease a bunch of bloodthirsty Jew-hating thugs.

Fine, if you want Diaspora Jews to butt out, why don't you test this idea with a referendum over Jerusalem in Israel? That's because Olie is little more than an enlightened dictator. Majority opinion is strongly opposed to nay concessions over Jerusalem. Over 25 000 people showed up at a prayer protest at the Western Wall led by the Chief Rabbis of Israel. MK Uri Ariel (National Union party), among those who initiated the prayer service, said, "It is critical for us to offer prayer to our Father in Heaven when the Prime Minister wants to sell our national homeland. We are here [at the Wall] to say that we trust in G-d, and that Olmert has no mandate to give up Jerusalem." On Monday night, thousands of people protested opposite Olmert's residence in Paris square, Jerusalem and was even attended by members of the governing coalition from Kadima, Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu.

Let's get this straight Olmert: Jerusalem and Israel does not belong to you but was given by G-d to the Jewish people on loan, as an inheritance. It is the property of each and every individual Jew around the world and you cannot give up what does not belong to you. Even should this generation (G-d forbid) abandon Jerusalem, we have no right to forfeit the future generations rights to this holy city.

Cross-posted to the Barnyard

Bring Our Boys Home

I just came back from a solidarity rally for the 3 kidnapped Israeli soldiers, Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. Their families came to talk at the local synagogue and there were easily over a thousand people there, members of Parliament, local Jewish leaders, rabbis... I was on the verge of tears when I heard the parents of the soldiers describing their pain at the disappearance of their sons and the rabbi's stiring closing words about how when our ancestor Avraham heard that his nephew Lot had been captured, he went off to war and did everything that he could to bring him home and only them did G-d make the Covenant between the Parts with him. Our covenant with G-d is conditional on our concern for our fellow Jews. These soldiers were kidnapped over 2 years ago, Gilad by Hamas and Eldad and Ehud by Hizbullah. Even though the UN resolution 1701 which put an end to the Second Lebanon War called for the immediate release of the soldiers, they are still missing and Hizbullah even denied them Red Cross access, which is a violation of the Geneva Convention and of basic human rights.

I beg all of you to please write letters to Congress, to the Senate, to the Parliament, to your representatives, to the heads of the UN and the EU, to never let anybody forget about Gilad, Ehud and Eldad. Please donate to The Keren Maor Foundation dedicated to bringing them home, give some money to tzedaka in their merit, pray for Gilad ben Aviva Shalit, Ehud ben Malka Goldwasser and Eldad ben Tova Regev and recite Psalm 70, 13, 142 and 126 and then this prayer.

"Thus saith the LORD: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuseth to be comforted for her children, because they are not. Thus saith the LORD: Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. And there is hope for thy future, saith the LORD; and thy children shall return to their own border." (Jeremiah 31:14-16)

Don't give up hope. See my previous post and we must not despair because they too shall again see light.



Cross-posted to Goat's Barnyard

My Heart in in the East

"My heart is in the East, and I am at the ends of the West;
How can I taste what I eat and how could it be pleasing to me?
How shall I render my vows and my bonds, while yet
Zion lies beneath the fetter of Edom, and I am in the chains of Arabia?
It would be easy for me to leave all the bounty of Spain --
As it is precious for me to behold the dust of the desolate sanctuary."

These words were written by the great 11th century Jewish poet Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi. According to legend, at the end of his life he decide to realize his dreams of Israel and when he landed in the Holy Land, as he bent down to kiss the sacred soil, he was trampeled by an Arab horseman. If only our leaders had the same love of Israel as Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi...

Flashback in Jewish History: Jordanian Desecration of Jerusalem 1947-1967

Hussein, King of Jordan, in a speech in Beirut on 24, August 1967, claimed "the right faithfully to guard the Holy Places that our Arab band has known how to guard these thousand years and more." This is nothing more than a mockery of the facts of the Jordanian desecration of Jewish and Christian holy sites.

Before the UN passed its resolution 29 in 1947 supporting the establishment of the State of Israel, the Arab Legion of Jordan launched an attack on Jerusalem and tried to besiege the Jewish majority by cutting of its supply of water, food and by blocking all roads. The Jordanians bombarded the city and Egyptian and Iraqi troops advanced from the south to mmet with the Jordanians for the final offensive.

The brave Jewish warriors managed to repel the Iraqi and Egyptian forces but the Old City fell to superiour Jordanian firepower. Once the Jordanians had conquered the Jewish Quarter, it annexed the city, expelled the ancient Jewish population and set out to destroy every last vestige of the long and proud Jewish connection to Jerusalem. The Jordanian forces desecrated 34 out of 35 Jewish houses of worship including the 16th century Hurva synagogue of Rabbi Yehuda He-Hasid and the Yochanan ben Zakai synagogue. For the first time in centuries, not one Jew lived in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem. The Jordanians ignobly burned hundreds of ancient Torah scrolls, thousands of holy books, razed tens of syangogues or used them as stables, coops or latrines and paved a highway through the millenial-old Mount of Olives cemetary, using centuries old tombstones as pavement. During these 19 long years, Jews were forbidden from going to pray at the Western Wall and had to climb the Mount of Olives just to get a glimpse of the holy site. Nor were Jews the only victims. Very limited numbers of Christians were allowed to make pilgrimages to their holy sites during Easter and Christmas. There were severe restrictions on the building of Christian schools and the Qur'an was required to be taught in all of them. The number of Christians in Jerusalem declined from 25,000 in 1949 to less than 13,000 in June 1967.

This travesty came to an end with the liberation of Jerusalem in 1967. After 2000 years of closing every Passover seder and Yom Kippur fast with the words 'Next Year in Jerusalem!', Israel's leaders plan to divide Jerusalem up. The last time that Jerusalem was in non-Jewish hands, it was desecrated. The Pali. Arabs have a very bad track record themselves on protecting the holy sites of other faiths. When Israel handed over Joseph's Tomb to the Palestinian Authority, it was torn apart and the holy books inside burned. The Islamic wakf is engaging in illegal excavation on the Temple Mount and destroying priceless archaeological evidence. Tens of churches were bombed this year. Think! There are absolutely no Jews living in any Arab-majority city in Judea and Samaria. There is no Jewish presence in the Shechem, now known as Nablus, the site of Joseph's Tomb. The Jewish community of Hebron where the Tomb of the Patriarchs is numbers in the hundreds and lives under intense security.

Those who fail to heed the past are condemned to repeat it.

Cross-posted to Goat's Barnyard

Comedy

Hat Tip to Angel:

Apocalyptic Trigger

Throughout history, the Jewish yardstick for measuring events or world developpments was 'but is it good for the Jews?'. Now that the world is about to decide a very harsh and bad decree for the Jews, namely the division of Jerusalem, it is time for the West to ask itself 'but is it good for the West?'.

As we all know, the West is locked in a life and death struggle with the Islamic world. There are literally hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of jihadist Muslims in Europe, Canada and the United States who are ready to fulfill Muhammad's command to fight 'until all men say that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His prophet'. These people hate Western civilization and are ready to conquer to world for Allah. Could giving up half of Jerusalem to be a 'Palestinian' capital possibly diffuse their rage and frustration towards the US as some American policy-makers believe?

Jerusalem had little significance in early Islam and many imams and Islamic leaders warned against giving Jerusalem special status as this would be bid'ah, innovation, which is forbidden in Islam. Controversial Islamic jurist Tadiqq al-Din ibn Taymiyya whose views still inspire Wahabbi groups like al-Qaeda and was very influential in matters of jihad wrote: "And in Jersualem, there is not a palce one calls sacred and the same holds true for the tombs of Hebron". However, in later Islamic apocalyptic tradition, Sunni and Shia, Jerusalem gained an important position as either the capital of the Mahdi (Islamic messiah), or a necessary city to capture before his coming.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran, is associated with a Shiite sect which views Jerusalem as essential for the coming of the Mahdi. Ahmainejad's famous 'Israel must be wiped off the map' speech was given on Oct. 26, 2005. He also declared that 'we are now in the process of an historical war between the World of Arrogance (ie. the West) and the Islamic world. Clearly, a connection exists for him between the destruction of Israel, the Islamic conquest of Jerusalem and the eventual defeat of the West by the Mahdi. According to certain Shiite doctrine, the Mahdi will appear in Mecca, move to Karbala and eventually conquer Jerusalem which will serve as his capital and as the base for the Mahdi's global jihad.

Such views are not unique to Shiism and are very widespread in Wahabbi and Salafi jihadist websites. "Rasulullah [Muhammad] said: "Armies carrying black flags will come from Khurasan. No power will be able to stop them and they will finally reach Eela (Baitul Maqdas in Jerusalem) where they will erect their flags." (Tirmidhi as quoted by Mohammed Ali Ibn Zubair Ali, Signs of Qiyamah) The Mahdis armies will march to Jerusalem and conquer the Baitul Maqdas (Beit Hamikdash, Temple Mount), conquer Israel and eventually the world. In a particularly venomous manner, Egyptian authors, Muhammad ibn Izzat and Muhammd ‘Arif comment on the above tradition:

The Mahdi will be victorious and eradicate those pigs and dogs and the idols of this time so that there will once more be a caliphate based on prophethood as the hadith states… Jerusalem will be the location of the rightly guided caliphate and the center of Islamic rule, which will be headed by Imam al-Mahdi… That will abolish the leadership of the Jews… and put an end to the domination of the Satans who spit evil into people and cause corruption in the earth, making them slaves of false idols and ruling the world by laws other than the Shari’a [Islamic Law] of the Lord of the worlds.

Every single concession in the face of Islam has been met with more terror and violence. Suicide bombigns only started after the Oslo Accords. Rockets began falling on Sderot after the Gaza Disengagement. The Israeli withdrawal from Southern Lebanon led to the Second Lebanon War in 2006. This alone should serve as testimony to why Islam must be answered with strength and not retreat but besides this, Islamic control over Jerusalem will embolden jihadists and prove to them that their struggle is successful. When the millions of jihadist Muslims in Europe hear of Islamic control over Jerusalem and have their faith in the appearance of the Mahdi vindicated, there will be riots in the streets, bombs, explosions and attempts to greet the Mahdi with a subjugated Europe under sharia. In short, Jerusalem will become a powder keg for an emboldened jihadist movement which will gain strength in Iraq, Afghanistan, Europe and all over the Islamic world. The Bush Administration, while trying to supress Islamic terror in Iraq and Afghanistan, will create an umbearable situation all over the world.

Another portent of the 'Hour', the time of the Mahdi's coming, is the massacre of the Jews. Allah's Apostle said, "The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. "O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him." (Sahi Bukhari Volume 4, Book 52, Number 178). When jihadists take over Jerusalem, no Jew worldwide will be safe. The already besieged Jews of Europe will most likely be attacked by Muslim hordes and a weakened Israel will not be able to protect them. Pogroms will happen through the streets of Europe. This is not far-fetched at all. Look at the evil barbarism committed to Ilan Halimi, a French Jew who was abducted by a Muslim gang and tortured for over a month and eventually set on fire. His captors repeatedly called his parents and read them Qur'anic verses and demanded money from the local synagogue.

Jerusalem will be the trigger for a worldwide Islamic attack on Jews, on Europe, on the United States. The West must think clearly and not cede one inch to Islam, especially in such a vulnerable place as Jerusalem. Instead of extinguishing the flames of radical Islam, they will be ignited into a fiery inferno that will consume Israel, the Jewish people, and the West.


Cross-posted to Goat's Barnyard

See Heidianne's amazing post also.

Save Jerusalem

The United Coalition for Jerusalem
Emergency Campaign to Save Israel !

“If I Forget Thee O Jerusalem”
By capitulating to foreign interests and to the tiny but powerful anti-Zionist Left in Israel, the government is shattering the social contract that is the source of its right to govern. By violating the foundational principles and norms of the Jewish State, this government has delegitimized itself.
At the “Munich Conference” in Annapolis, the prime minister intends:
-To establish an Arab terrorist state to be called Palestine;
-To divide Jerusalem and give the Temple Mount to the Muslims;
-To cede all of Judea and Samaria;
-To give the enemy control of the mountain ridge overlooking “little Israel,” placing all the large population centers within range of Katusha rockets;
-To expel hundreds of thousands of Jews from their homes and to destroy their communities.

THEY MUST BE STOPPED.

This is not an “Israeli” issue; it is a Jewish issue.
Jerusalem is the birthright of every Jew.
Jerusalem was the capital of the Jewish People for 3,000 years.By their failure to assert Jewish rights in our city and our holy sites, Israeli governments have set the stage for the ongoing destruction of our 3000 year old heritage. This government has forsaken the State of Israel’s duty to protect our Jewish birthright. If successful, they will sever the Jewish People’s ties to their history, land, and heritage. They will, in effect, deny the very basis of the right of a Jewish State to exist in the Land of Israel.
To divide Jerusalem is to commit national suicide.
To thwart this threat, we have established a coalition dedicated to saving Jerusalem and the Eretz Israel, the United Coalition for Jerusalem, encompassing organizations and groups in countries all over the world. Uniting us is the belief in the centrality of Jerusalem for Jews and Christians alike.
The Israeli wing of the coalition is composed of a long and growing list of extra-parliamentary organizations, Members of Knesset, military leaders, activists, media personalities and, of course, religious leaders. The hallmark of this effort is our inclusiveness. The members come from a wide spectrum of Israeli society: any group or individual opposed to the division of Jerusalem is invited to join.
Short Terms Goals:
To isolate Olmert and his government, and to expose the fact that they are acting against the will of the people and without their support.
To send out a clear and resounding message to the world that Jerusalem belongs to the Jews, now and forever.
To make it clear to Olmert that his government will fall if he proceeds as planned.
Stage One: Building a coalition of forces.

We aim to build as broad a coalition as possible. Everyone who opposes the abandonment of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount is welcome.
Stage Two: Gathering forces.

We envision the active participation of representatives from a wide spectrum of Israeli society, the Jewish world, and Evangelical Christians in conveying the campaign’s message.
The different organizations will operate under the United Coalition for Jerusalem, but will undertake the tasks that they do best. Lobbying the Knesset and Congress, mobilizing Evangelical Christian support, education and public relations in Israel and among world Jewry, and obtaining international support are of utmost importance. The minimum required budget will be $1 million and will include dozens of pinpoint campaigns.
Stage Three: Arousing public outrage and rebellion against the government.
“If I Forget Thee O Jerusalem…” is a non-sectarian, inclusive campaign.
Given a Knesset whose prime motivation is to cling to their seats, our immediate goal is to threaten the stability of the government coalition by arousing a level of public anger and unrest that can’t be ignored. This shall be achieved by worldwide pressure on PM Olmert and his government.
We will organize a massive demonstrations in Israel and in the USA as a show of strength demonstrating a readiness to do whatever it takes to defend Jerusalem.
Our activities will intensify, moving into non-violent civil disobedience, until the government backs down.
This national disaster, which will place Israel’s continued existence in jeopardy, is being orchestrated by a self-serving and corrupt political clique bent on trading the nation’s most sacred and vital interests for a reprieve from their legal problems.
We, therefore, declare that:
We do not recognize the government’s right to cede the Land of the Bible and to blithely discard the Jewish People’s unique heritage of thousands of years. Nor do we recognize its attempt to reverse the Biblical prophecies of return to Zion that were fulfilled in our era at such tremendous human cost.
We do not recognize the right of the government to tear our land into pieces, to destroy cities, towns, and communities, to make hundreds of thousands of Jews into homeless refugees and to steal their property, as was done to the loyal citizens of Gush Katif.
We do not recognize the authority of the government to use the state as a tool to deny our right to the Land of Zion and to nullify the Zionism that built the state on the strength of 2,000 years of Jewish yearning for Zion.
We do not recognize the government’s right to give our homeland to a fake people to establish a fake state.
When a government becomes a cancer, destroying all that it is charged with protecting, the people must cease obeying its suicidal decrees and oppose the destruction.The Jewish People in Israel and throughout the world will not be bound by the criminal concessions made by this government: it severs any and all connection with its immoral acts.
The Jewish People in Israel and abroad will do whatever it takes to save the nation and land of Israel from its degenerate leaders.
We truly believe that the tremendous power embodied in shivat tzion, the return of the Jewish people to their homeland, is dormant but not dead. A tremendous battle lies ahead, but
“Let us ascend and we shall gain possession of it, for we can surely do it!” (Numbers 13; 30)
We can’t do this alone. We Need Your Help! -
Donations
Make checks out to the Central Fund of Israel, Re: L’Eretz Yisrael HaShleima.
Mail checks to:
Central Fund of Israel.
c/o Marcus Brothers Textiles
980 6th Ave
New York NY 10018
Tax ID number: 13-2992985
Telephone numbers:
US: Jeff (212)519-0207
Israel: Jay Marcus: 054-699 8155
Tsafrir Ronen - (Israel coordinator) - 972-52-235 8440

Body and Soul

From YNet News:

The Waqf's director-general Adnan al-Husseini said his decision to shun the committee's invitation [to compile a report about the Wakf's illegal excavations on the Temple Mount] was dictated by the Waqf's year-long policy. "The Waqf does not acknowledge Israel's authority in Jerusalem or the Temple Mount…the Waqf boycotts Israeli politicians all the time."

Al-Husseini stressed that he did not intend to attend any formal meeting on the issue of the Temple Mount dig. "This is an Islamic issue that the Muslims should decide upon."

Al-Husseini implies that Jews have no business about what Islamic authorities decide to do with the Temple Mount an 'Islamic holy site'. In the past few months, the Islamic wakf has been carrying out unauthorized excavations on the Temple Mount and even went so far as to intentionally destroy an uncovered wall dating from the First Temple period. Israeli archaeologists have discovered that Wakf officials have been dumping priceless ancient articles such as the bells that the priests wore in the Kidron valley. Jerusalem District Archaeologist Yuval Baruch uncovered fragments of ceramic table wares, animal bones, and more. The finds date from the 8th to 6th centuries BCE; the First Temple existed between the 9th and 5th centuries BCE, having been built by King Solomon in 832 and destroyed in 422 BCE. The finds include fragments of bowl rims, bases and body sherds, the base of a juglet used for the ladling of oil, the handle of a small juglet, and the rim of a storage jar. The bowl sherds were decorated with wheel burnishing lines characteristic of the First Temple Period.

It has been standard policy for the past few decades of Wakf and Palestinian officials to deny that there ever even was a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. To support their ridiculous claim, they have been destroying proof of the Temple. By doing this, they are able to tell the world that the Jews are colonialist invaders and that the "Palestinians" are the true indigenous people. The Midrash long ago said "Eretz Yisrael is the navel of the world, and Jerusalem is its center, and the Beit HaMikdash is at the center of Jerusalem, and the Holy of Holies is at its center, and the Holy Ark is at the center of the Holy of holies, and in front of it is the Foundation Stone on which the world was founded." It is truely the heart and soul of our nation. Three times a day, we face Jerusalem in prayer and beseech Hashem 'that our eyes may behold Your return to Zion in mercy'. For 2000 years, we ended our Passover Seders, Yom Kippur fasts and Sukkot celebrations with the words 'Next Year in Jerusalem!'. Just as Catholicism is focused in Rome and Islam is centred in Mecca, Jerusalem is the soul of Israel. Without it, we are a body without spirit.

Jerusalem is never mentionned in the Qur'an while it is mentionned over 800 times in the Jewish Bible. The Islamic connection to Jerusalem revoles around a singular verse which some interpret to refer to Jerusalem. 'Glory to (Allah) Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless,- in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the One Who heareth and seeth (all things)'. (17:001). The 'Farthest Mosque' in Arabic is al-aksa, hence the name of the current Muslim abomination sitting on the Mount. However, during the 7th century when Muhammad supposedly was transported to Jerusalem, there was no mosque on the Mount since Islam had not yet conquered Jerusalem. The only reason why the Temple Mount has become important in Islam is religious imperialism, to deny Jews legitimacy and rights over their most sacred site. It is in this sense that Avraham Avinu (read Parshat Lech-Lecha for proof that Avraham was most definitely a Jew) is called a Muslim in the Qur'an or why Muslims converted one of the greatest churches in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the Hagia Sophia, into a mosque.

The true vilains are the Israeli government, corrupt collaborators with the vile Wakf. On the orders of the government, Jews suffer discrimination on the Mount. Jews must obtain special permission to ascend and religious articles are confiscated. A request to build a synagogue on the Mount was rejected while a proposal by the king of Jordan to build a new minaret, which symbolize Islamic supremacy, was accepted. Our ancestors, weeping over their exile by the rivers of Babylon, vowed "if I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither, let my tongue cleave to my palate if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy." (Psalm 137: 5-7) and now the Israeli government is gladly turning over our most sacred site, our birthright.

I'll end on a positive note, with the first Priestly Blessing being recited on the Mount since the beginning of the exile over 2000 years ago.
From Arutz-7:

A historic first: Last week, during a special visit to the Temple Mount, the Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:24-26) was recited there, for arguably the first time since the 1st-century destruction of the Second Temple.

The Blessing is recited daily in synagogues in Israel by descendants of Aaron the Priest, but only on festivals in most synagogues in the Diaspora. During the Priestly Blessing, the "Kohanim" raise their hands.

The special visit was held to commemorate the 842nd anniversary of Maimonides's famous visit to the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site. A group of some 25 Jews, organized by the Temple Institute in Jerusalem, marked the special day with a commemorative visit. Giving extra-special meaning to the occasion was a spontaneous Priestly Blessing delivered to the group by Yehuda Katz, the lead singer of the Reva L'Sheva band, and Eliezer Breuer, originally of the former Soviet Union and now from Kiryat Arba.

Rabbi Chaim Richman, one of the organizers of the trip, said, "This was probably the first time since the destruction of the Temple [1,937 years ago] that the Priestly Blessing was delivered on our holiest site. At times like these, when there is talk of giving away our precious places, and when despair is sometimes in the air, events of this nature serve to remind us that G-d has not forgotten about us, and that He still has big plans for both us and the Holy Temple - and that the Temple will yet become the focal point of the world once again."

Cross-posted to Goat's Barnyard