Saturday 8 July 2017

Why Am I Not Surprised?








The recent decision by UNESCO to declare the Cave of Machpela (The burial place, according to Jewish tradition, of Avraham, Sarah, Itschak, Rivka, Yaakov and Lea, our Jewish Patriarchs and Matriarchs) as an “Endangered Palestinian burial site” did not come as a surprise to me. How come, you may ask.

For years now, Jews and the state of Yisrael have been giving not only chunks of our Land to strangers, but also slices of our Jewish Zionist identity and heritage to foreigners. Parts of Judaism, Jewish symbols and cherished concepts that have been ours for a few millennia are handed out as prizes, as spoils, as trophies to anyone who claims to love us and support us. So why should anyone be surprised when those to whom we so willingly hand out pieces of our essence, decide to wake up one day while we are still in a deep slumber and claim those as their own?

In case some find it hard to follow my point, let me be specific.

When the Romans arbitrarily renamed our Eretz Yisrael as “Palestine,” in order to add insult to injury and do all they could to disassociate Jews from this Land, those who resided in it were, as a result, renamed “Palestinians.” No, they were NOT Arabs. No, they were NOT Muslims. Those were not around here then. That name was given to us, Jews. It was an offensive name. Palestine was named after a heathen nation, the Philistines (meaning invaders), one of the worst enemies of Am Yisrael. We refused to take on this name and understandably so.

The name Eretz Yisrael along with the name “Palestine,” were later jointly used by the British during their Mandate over the area. The name “Palestinians,” however, was hardly used, if ever, during those years. Those that lived in the area were either Jews or Arabs. The name just laid there collecting dust until a group of Arabs, who moved here from surrounding countries, decided to adopt it and claim it as their own.

Personally, I have no problem with anyone calling themselves or crowning themselves with this or that name or title. I cannot stop them from doing it. I do have a problem, however, with anyone appropriating that which belongs/belonged to others and doing all they can to convince the world that that name, that title, that history was theirs from its inception. And that is exactly what is happening with the name” Palestinians.” They have engaged, sometimes with our backing, in efforts to re-write history to match their imaginary narrative and convince the world that they are the “original Palestinians.”

I am even more upset with those among us who have encouraged and supported such claims by them.

We have given them the keys to Har Habayit (Temple Mount), OUR Har Habayit, and openly. Why then was everyone caught by surprise when UNESCO declared that holy Jewish place as a “Palestinian” site?

We have enabled such a move.

It is not only the Muslims, though, that we have assisted in usurping that which belongs to us only. A year and a half ago, I read the following headline in “The Independent:”
Joseph's Tomb arson attack: Jewish and Christian holy site in West Bank 'set on fire by Palestinians' I was dumbfounded. I knew that since the Oslo Accord, this Jewish Holy site has been under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority. However, when in the world did Joseph’s Tomb become a “Jewish AND Christian holy site?” When did Jews hand out religious property shares in Joseph’s Tomb?
Yisrael is indeed a holy place to many. The Land, however, belongs to the Jews first and foremost (and please do not quote me prophecy which promises this Land to all!). Until such time as the Tanach prophesizes, foreigners are welcome to worship here who and what they please but only as guests. It breaks my heart when I read that Yisrael is selling land to external religious entities and thus giving them chunks after chunks of what is ours, only to see them one day claiming parts of our Jewish Homeland as their own?

Which brings me to another serious concern. We have been handing out titles which are part of our heritage only and are reserved to some only. I have read Jews labelling those who make money out of supporting Yisrael as “Righteous Gentiles,” a title that is saved for the select few special souls who saved Jews during the Shoah while risking their lives. What a spit in the face it must be for those brave individuals to see their memory being diluted.

Likewise, many of us have been letting those who claim to love us and support us call themselves “Zionists,” (as opposed to “Pro-Zionists”) when that hard-earned concept, that idea is one ONLY Jews have harboured and practiced for over two millennia. Hence, we get “Christian Zionists.” We get “Muslim Zionists.” We even get “Koranic Zionism” (which claims that since Muhammad declared Eretz Yisrael belonging to the Jews and since he came BEFORE Herzl, the founder of Political Zionism, he is the “original Zionist.”)

Zion and Zionism belong to the Jews only.  What concerns me is that many non-Jews who crown themselves with the title “Zionist” may be doing that for the purpose of paving their way to claiming parts of Zion as their own. Let me explain.

Some might have heard by now about an Evangelical missionary group called  HaYovel Ministries
http://palmtreeofdeborah.blogspot.co.il/2017/05/hayovel-ministries-sowing-seeds-for.html Yes, they, too, call themselves “Christian Zionists.” Their enablers have even ensured that they get land to set up their encampment on Mount Grizim AKA Har Haberachah (Mount of Blessing). According to Tommy Waller (https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/51659/christian-zionist-family-in-israel-will-leave-you-amazed-biblical-zionism/#FEiibry7Ciubpjlb.97), their patriarch, “Many Christians make a mistake of thinking that Israel is just for the Jews.”

No, Mr. Waller it is NOT A MISTAKE, Eretz Yisrael is for the Jews, you are merely a guest in it.

They have already claimed themselves the holders of “New Jerusalem,” (which of course will replace Jewish Jerusalem!). It will be the one from which their messiah will rule when he comes back to earth. That, at least, is the message https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcRYzssndgc  Caleb Waller bears to his fellow Evangelicals in Nashville.

Frankly, I am not surprised and I do not blame the Wallers and other Christian groups that have set base and camp in Yisrael. Their Jewish enablers and many others among us Jews have allowed them all to cloak themselves with the title Zionists, leading them to believe they have a stake in Zion.

How long do you, dear readers, reckon it will take before UNESCO or any other International body next declares Holy Jewish Site as that of others while we are asleep at the wheel?

Wake up Jews! Is this the legacy we want to leave to our future generations? Will we be able to look them straight into the eyes and say that we have done all that is within our power to ensure their future in Eretz Yisrael, and keep it as the Jewish Homeland?

These are the pressing questions that need to be addressed if you, like me, wish to preserve the Jewish soul.



10 comments:

  1. Thank you ! <3 I give hearts because I can't hug you from afar...

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  2. Thank you, Gaelic. Your support is greatly appreciated <3 Please feel free to share.

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  3. Just reading the bit about them getting land to set up on Mt Grizim (Gerizim?)...and can't help but think of the irony that a group of Jesus believers don't get the irony of that...how much that actually attaches them more to the antics of one Sanballat. That's not too surprising...Christianity probably owes more to the Samaritans that eventuated from Sanballat's perfidy than most people ever realize.

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    1. Thank you George. As always I welcome your knowledge. Can you please, for the sake of those who do not know, expand on the subject of Sanballat?
      Thank you!

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    2. Sanballat was a governor on behalf of the Persians at the time of the return from the 70-year exile, giving Nehemiah a few headaches.

      This is already recorded in Nehemiah. It's also the background to the early part of Zechariah, when a heavenly court is dealing with the "filthy rags of the high priest Jeshua/Joshua who returned with Zerubabbel...Jeshua/Joshua's DESCENDANT had stupidly married Sanballat's daugher and was given a choice of staying married to her and losing his job as a Jerusalem priest...or divorcing her and keeping his job. He stayed married to her, lost his job...and ended up going with Sanballat up to Mt Gerizim to officiate as high priest there. The Zechariah passage records, in keeping with Torah, that Jeshua was NOT judged aversely because of his descendent's wackiness.

      Anyway, Sanballat and a few other people were determined to try to undermine the returning Jews. Sanballat build a RIVAL temple to Jerusalem up on Mt Gerizim. It's kind of obvious he went a bit further and developed a narrative of the Samaritans being a more "original" form of Israelite and rather than tying them to the Northern Kingdom history, made up a story about the rift occuring around the time of Eli. This meant that the Samaritan narrative from Sanballat onwards tried to invalidate everything from Eli onwards.

      The next result was a Samaritan Pentateuch which was NOT identical to the Torah. The Samaritan Pentateuch has 6000 differences from Torah...and at least 2000 commonalities with the SEPTUAGINT Greek translation. This looks to have affected how both Jews and even non-Jews interpretted things...the Hellenicised Jews preferred Greek to Hebrew, so this would have affected them. But it was also the preferred reading of non-Jews, hence why NT writers were also fond of quoting from the Septuagint.

      Essentially Sanballat set up an ALTERNATIVE narrative at the dawn of the Second Temple period...which impacted on a number of groups and their theologies.

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    4. Sanballat? Like all sectarians they either ceased to exist, became so small in numbers that they have no relevance or like christianity have have moved so far from Judaism as to have little to no relationship to Judaism. We cannot possibly accept the postulate that the deity depicted in the “New Testament” and the G-d of Israel are one and the same -- or that, after so thorough a baptism in the falsehoods of the “New Testament”, Christians (even those who do not worship Jesus as a god) nevertheless pray to the G-d of Israel.

      It is no different with Islam.

      Sukkah 52b:

      ארבעה מתחרט עליהן הקדוש ברוך הוא שבראם ואלו הם: גלות, כשדים, וישמעאלים ויצר הרע - There are four that the Holy One, Blessed is He, regrets having created. And these are they: The exile, the Chaldeans, the Ishmaelites, and the evil inclination.

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  4. Excellent article, dear Bat Zion. I couldn't have said it better. They all can call themselves Zionists all they want. The word ציון is a Hebrew word. Is Hebrew the language of all these christian and muslim "zionists"? No it is not. End of story.

    Actually thinking about it, something came to my mind. ציון (Tzion) starts with the letter צ. Why is it so important? What other word comes to mind that starts with and places that letter in a higher status, just like ציון? It is צדיק (Tzaddik). What does that have to with ציון? It's simple, a צדיק is a righteous person. When HaKadosh Baru Hu says to the Nation in Shemot 19:6:

    וְאַתֶּם תִּהְיוּ לִי מַמְלֶכֶת כֹּהֲנִים וְגוֹי קָדוֹשׁ אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר תְּדַבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
    And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the children of Israel."

    What does He mean? He means that each and every Israelite/Jew who entered the covenant (and was born into it thereafter) is supposed to strive to be Holy - with the Kohanim (Priests) by default. If you *really* become holy, then you become a Tzaddik too. A Tzaddik seems the good in people, sees the good in the world and because of this, he/she does only good and shares the words of HaShem with Simcha (joy).

    The letter צ itself shows you this. If you look at it, it looks like a person on its knees, praying to HaShem. Where am I going with this? It is the following:

    HASHEM GAVE THE TORAH TO AM YISRAEL TO BE HOLY AND BECOME TZADDIKIM. HASHEM MADE ERETZ YISRAEL HIS SPECIAL LAND FOR AM YISRAEL TO RESIDE IN, AND ULTIMATELY MADE ZION (JERUSALEM) HIS HOLY CAPITAL, WHERE THE TZADDIKIM CAN WORSHIP HIM AND ULTIMATELY BE A LIGHT ONTO THE (OTHER) NATIONS.

    I won't go into why we experience the problems that we have today, as it would require an entire book to explain and meditate on.

    Sorry for the disorganized thoughts, I wrote this in the way in came to me...

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    1. What a great, enlightening comment, Steven. Yishar Koach! (y)

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  5. Agreed.
    Until we are consistent and unambiguous about the message that this is all holy Jewish land, we cannot claim surprise or outrage at UNESCO votes. Sadly, in all frankness, they and other Israel bashers are just following our own lead. When we are wishy-washy and give away our precious heritage, what ever do we expect the reaction to be?

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