It is great to have you back Home, Ms. X

Life can be one amazing rollercoaster for some. Mine has been. It is not only what happens to us that makes it that way, it is also those we attract and invite into it and those we inadvertently meet on our life’s path.

 Ms. X, the person whose story I am about to share with you, has been my friend on FB for sometimes now. Today, for some unknown reason, she shared it with me for the first time. Several hours later, I am still deeply touched by that revelation.

I decided to tell her story for two reasons. The first has to do with my desire to expose missionaries and their antics, an undertaking I have chosen as our people are very dear to me and I will fight to defend them against any efforts to steal our souls. The second, Ms. X’s story is an inspiring and in my view, a heroic account of a young woman who, despite repeated efforts to drown her spiritually and emotionally was able to unshackle herself from the chains that held her captive for a long time, educate herself about our great Jewish tradition, came back Home and is doing her share to educate young Jewish children so that they do not fall pray to missionaries and their devious antics.

Ms. X was born in the U.S. to two Jewish parents. Her biological father passed away when she was about 6 years of age. He mother remarried a Yisraeli man and they ended up living here for about two years before moving back to the U.S.

When Ms. X attended school in California, she met her first husband, a non- Jew. They settled in the Bible Belt area.

In a way, Ms. X represents a growing segment of the Jewish population in the U.S., the assimilated kind. Though born and raised in conservative Judaism, she felt that something was missing in her Jewish upbringing. It was her need to establish a personal relationship with G-d.

She was fertile ground for missionaries who rushed to fill in the void.

It happened one bright day when she was driving with her step daughter past a building which looked like a synagogue. It had Yisraeli and American flags flying side by side in front of it. The following Friday night, she to attend services there.

As she soon learned, it was a “messianic synagogue.” Upon arrival, she was greeted by a Jewish woman who befriended her and “took her under her wings” instantaneously. That woman and the “rabbi” explained to her how she could “have the best of both world” by becoming a member. They spoke to her about their close relationship with god, something they evidently learned was missing in her life and capitulated on it. They also offered solace for her terminally ill daughter and sensed that she was lonely with no family and no friends as her then husband was trying to isolate her from them. Naturally, he approved of her new affiliation. In short, she was the ultimate and perfect target for the missionaries’ mission.

At one point, her “benefactors” discovered that one of her close friends was dying of cancer. That is when they started to apply pressure on her to try and convince her dying friend to become a follower of their messiah. They laid on her that if her friend died without having accepted him, he was doomed to damnation and go to hell which, of course would be her fault.

When she tried to leave that group after over 5 years, she faced threats, pressure and intimidation. “As I was leaving the Messianics, I found you,” she told me. “I found your articles beyond helpful. I learned so much from you,” she added much to my surprise.  It was that dying friend, Ms. X told me, who had directed her to my articles. In fact, it was this mutual friend of ours that helped her during those days and bring her c back to Judaism.

Fortunately for her, Ms. X also turned to Chabbad and they, as always, were extremely supportive. It was the Chabbad Rabbi who told her, “The colour of your soul has always and always will be Jewish even if you were lost for a while.”

Ms. X is now happily married to a Jewish man. She teaches at a local Jewish school and volunteers at Chabbad Torah time. She is active in exposing missionaries, especially those targeting Jews. “My heart goes out to all those lost Jews. I want them to know that hope is not lost and that they can always come back Home.”

“I will help you in any way I can to expose their antics,” she later wrote to me in a private message. “Missionaries need to be stopped. They go after Jews and lie to them. They go after the vulnerable and the weak and exploit their need to be loved and supported.”

I will be going to sleep with a smile on my face tonight. Unbeknown to me, I have helped save a Jewish soul. According to our sages, that is akin to saving a whole world. Life is beautiful!


Happy Purim and may our Jewish People continue to go from strength to strength

Moses nailed it!

The figure of Moses in the Torah is mostly remembered as the leader who took the Yisraelites out of Egypt

How many, though, are aware that he was also a Prophet?

A few days ago, I happened to read the Song of the Sea which Moses sang with the children of Yisrael after they crossed the Sea of Reeds. It was then that it dawned on me how his role as a Prophet was underestimated. The following verse from the song he sang struck me as so relevant to our times.

It describes the goal of an enemy, a threat to Am Yisrael and what it had wished to do to us.

אמר אויב: ארדוף אשיג אחלק שלל ......תמלאמו נפשי תורישמו ידי. (שמות ט"ו פס' ט')

“The enemy boasted, 'I will pursue, I will overtake them. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge my soul on them… .…..my hand shall inherit them.' (Exodus 15,9)

The ancient Egyptians may have been the subject of Moses's song. Today, however, it is not only those that wish to annihilate us that this verse is applicable to. Today, Jews have an enemy of a different kind, one that secretly weaves and stealthily preys upon Am Yisrael and the Jewish people with the aim of depriving us of our Jewish essence. They are the Christian missionaries. Their maneuvers are focused in the spiritual realm which poses no less of a danger than the one Moses was referring to in her song.

When addressing Yisrael’s enemies physical and spiritual with regards to Moses's song, I am particularly referring to the part where this verse mentions spoils, that which the enemy appropriates after it has triumphed. The Hebrew word for spoils is שלל (Shalal. Shin, Lamed, Lamed).

Our wise sages ((חז"ל suggest that this word is an acronym for מותיהם לשונם לבושםש, (Shmoteyhem, their names, Leshonam, their language, culture, Levusham, their garb).

Studying the manner in which the enemies of Yisrael operate, that is exactly how they go about their efforts to steal and destroy Jewish lives and souls.

They adopt our names, our titles.

Zionists, is one example of a name/title which belongs to Jews only (for various reasons which are listed in articles written by myself and others) is being usurped by various faiths while its members define it as they see fit. I have seen “Christian Zionists.” I have seen “Muslim Zionists.” I have even heard that there are some who suggest that Mohammad, since he claimed that Eretz Yisrael belongs to the Jews and since he came Before Herzl and his Political Zionism movement, is the original Zionist…..

The name “Palestine” is another example.

Though it was not Christian missionaries that adopted the name which was arbitrarily given to us and to Eretz Yisrael, the Land of the Jews, still the fact remains that someone else stole it from us and now tries to convince the world that this has been their homeland forever and a day.

As far as language is concerned, need I mention all the examples where Missionaries have given themselves and their organizations Hebrew terms, language in order to convince ignorant Jews that they are part of us and that one day we will all become one?

Let me start by mentioning a group called HaYovel. It is a clan of Christian Evangelicals who have joined hands with some Jewish enablers and moved to Eretz Yisrael where they have been given land. Though they claim that their sole purpose of coming to Yisrael is to help the farmers of Judea and Samaria with harvesting their crops, many of us suspect, based on their own words that there is more to it.

They adopted the name HaYovel (Hebrew for Jubilee) with the stated purpose to “share with them {Jews} a passion for the soon coming of the Jubilee in Yeshua, the messiah." 

(http://palmtreeofdeborah.blogspot.co.il/2017/05/waller-shocker.html)

A source called “Talmidei Yeshua Fellowship,” describes HaYovel on their FB page as: “a ministry that helps Israeli farmers farm and harvest their crops. As well as helping them work they also bring the gospel message to the farmers.”

It is not only our language that is being appropriated by those who wish to “pursue us, overtake us and divide spoils,” as Moses prophesied. It is also some of the symbols of our few millennia old and endowed culture that they have targeted.

Yerushalayim, Zion, the eternal capital of the Jewish people, the heart of the Jewish people has also been a subject to efforts by many to claim as their own. Islam has sanctified Yerushalayim for political rivalry reasons, according to Dr. Mordechai Kedar. Now, we also have Christian evangelicals claiming that Yerushalayim , rather, the “New Jerusalem” is where “Jesus Christ will reign for 1000 years and every knee will bow down to him.” (Pastor Hagee, March 2013).

Now if that is not usurpation, please enlighten me of what is.

How about all those evangelical Christians who observe Shabbat, or keep Kashroot?

We cannot tell anyone what to do or not do. However, it is important to note that Shabbat was given to Jews as a sign of the Covenant Am Yisrael made with G-d on Mount Sinai. Kashroot laws are part of the Torah which, again,  was given to Am Yisrael only (except for its moral code that was given to them AND to humanity).

Those who follow those laws, claim that they love us,  and insist that they are our friends. Friends respect that which belongs to friends and do not just take what belongs to them and claim it as their own. That is what enemies have done to each other throughout history with the spoils that they took after they had won the war.

Now we are getting to the last acronym of the Hebrew word Shallal (spoils). Targeting the garb.

I shudder each time I see a non-Jew wearing a tallit, a prayer shawl. The commandment to wear one was decreed for Jews only. It breaks my heart when I see non-Jews wear it and for the purpose of practicing Jewish customs which have been misconstrued by those who wear it either to deceive of to further their agenda of eventually removing the Jewish essence from Judaism towards their goal of making us “complete Jews.” They wear it, for instance, during  the “seder” which they conduct more as a commemoration of the last supper than the Exodus from Egypt.

“Look what they have done to my song ma,” is a song by Melanie from the early 70’s that comes into mind when I write these lines.

Unlike, Melanie’s song, however, the song of the Prophet Moses offers Hope for Am Yisrael. In verse 13, he says,

עד יעבור עמך ה‘, עד יעבר עם זו קנית, תבאמו ותטעמו בהר נחלתך.

(In your unfailing love, you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength, you will guide them to your holy dwelling).

Let our enemies be warned. We are the People of Eternity. The Eternal of Yisrael Shall Never Lie. We are named Yisrael for a reason. No matter what, we shall always prevail!

Shavua tov.