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.

The Art of "seeing"

“Do you see Palm trees?
I see no palm trees!
Do you see camels?
I see no camels?

Perhaps before my eyes a brief passing shadow -
I see nothing, I see nothing!

it is a sign that we have not yet got there
And the horizon is still far
And your heart is still open
To the four corners of the world
And one needs to continue to walk
And continue to march
And the road is still pulling
Long….”

Thus wrote, Naomi Shemer, the talented Yisraeli Poet, about road signs.
There are sights that one can see – palm trees and camels and a man resting under the fig tree. And if we still do not see them, it means that there is still a road to cross, a lesson to learn, a precision to be reached.
“Perhaps before my eyes a brief passing shadow,” says the wanderer. He means, “I notice that there is a reality that my eyes have yet to get accustomed to seeing.”

“It is a sign that we have not yet got there,” answers him the poet. In order to get there, one has to “see.”

What does one “see?”

Is it an anatomical or philosophical question?

Esref Armagan is a Turkish artist who paints beautiful paintings. Part of his talent is to explore new objects which he had not encountered earlier and interpret them in his pictures. Esref scribbles with pencil and paints with colours. His paintings are astonishingly harmonious.
Except  Esref is a blind man.

Already at birth, he was blind in one eye and later on lost his sight in the other. And still, he does wonders with his paintings. If asked, “Do you see camels?” he will answer, “Camels I do see, draw them and give them meaning.”

And please do not imagine that Esref only paints on paper as is customary in modern painting. He paints the object itself and his picture reflects accurately that which he paints.

Scientists were dumbfounded by the phenomenal painting skill of Esref. They put him through a series of tests, and MRI at different times. They discovered that only when he paints, not through any other cognitive action he engages in, his back brain with emphasis on his visual area functions.

Esref sees in his mind’s eye. He actually sees.

So many years of painting have trained his nervous system to visualize. Not with an eye but through sensual interpretation of what is being caught by the ear through hearing, by the hand though touching feeling and through his other senses, Esref’s brain interprets the pictures.

The power to see is stouter than the seeing eye.

In the Tanach, in Jewish traditions as well as Muslim ones, the prophet is referred to as “The Seer.”

Even Shakespeare planted in his plays such prophetic seers.

“Vision is stronger than the seeing vessels.

It is connected to the heart and the soul.

It is bonded to feelings and faith.

The eye allows it to see in the most basic form.
The other senses will give it volume and Life.”

A recent discovery by a team of Yisraeli researchers at the Hebrew Universiy, revealed that with the help of a newly developed camera, we can now see writings on ancient pottery, writings that until recently were invisible to the eye. A pot, dating back to the first Temple era, that was unearthed revealed the order of wine from a provider by the name of “Elyashiv Ben Oshiahu.” (Who would have imagined that thousands of years after his death, this man’s name would be revealed to us?)

“What is essential is invisible to the eye,” taught us The Little Prince as he was recalling his forgotten Rose on a faraway planet.

The Torah portion of a few weeks ago, “Parashat Shalach,” recounting the story of the spies who were going to tour the Land and see whether it is good.

To see if something is good is not a mission for the eyes only. It is a mission for the heart, the senses, the soul and the great spirit.

Looks are misleading, perhaps a passing shadow and the eye misses camels, palm trees and amazing beauty. Here, Esref Armagan, one blind painter sees more than any eye could see because his heart, the heart is in the right place.

So why do the spies return from the Land and recount a story which gets more and more extreme?
Why did their eyes see only the scary giants and how were they even able to know that they were seen like grasshoppers?

And what really did their eyes see and how much of it was their heart’s fears and concerns?

This story tells of the fear of the new good, about the comfort of habits.

On the physical level, the eye that sat in the darkness will painfully shrink when it is suddenly exposed to the Light. Likewise, the eye that was exposed to bright light will be filled with darkness if it enters a dusky place. In both cases, the eye needs time to get accustomed to the new reality.

Seeing (ראה in Hebrew) which is considered the most factual (and it is not in vain that the legal term for exhibit, fact = ראיה =  in Hebrew is derived from the same root), is indeed conservative, hangs on to the familiar and fears changes.

The well known philosopher Emmanuel Kant, in his work “Critique of Pure Reason,” noticed the distinctions between man perception of reality and reality itself. All of our knowledge, Kant, claims, never stems from the object itself but rather from the traits that characterize it. The eye, the ear, the senses of taste of smell and touch are all tools to teach us about the object while the object itself remains unknown to us. Therefore, the senses that absorb the information and contribute to man’s knowledge of the object  are the result of the manner in which man’s knowledge and thought process operate, and accordingly interpret that which they take in.

So what have we actually learned?
When Am Yisral, while still in the desert, asks to send spies to see for them the Land, the mission is accompanied by fear of change and the notion that the receiving eye accepts only that which the heart feels and is ready to absorb only that which emotion guides it.

Hence is the command : שלח לך!"”Bamidbar, 13 ;2 (Shelach Lecha! Numbers 13;2) “send for yourself.” At the end of the day, each mission of “seeing” for others, can be yours and yours only. It stems from you, from your interpretation of it. The other who have sent you, had he gone by themselves, would have evidently seen what their heart told them to see.

And here is the message to us all. Anyone who has inscribed “mission” on their banner needs to know that testimonies which we gather on the road of our mission are ours only and that the scene, the sight is much broader than what our senses can grasp.

In order to see the deeper picture, one needs a special camera like the one developed by the Hebrew University researchers, or an eye that is powerful and talented like that of Esref Armagan . Or perhaps the knowledge and the realization that there is more, much more, is sufficient, promising and will adjust the mission for the best outcome.

The Iftar meal, celebrating the Holy Ramadan, does not center around the food. Rather it is the gathering of the family and friends, time for unity and love. Our Shabbat meal, likewise, does not surround the food but the bringing together of family and friends. Time for unity and love.
This gathering of our teachers is not about the meal that we are sharing. It is about the gathering of friends, time of unity, love and sharing. It is time of genuine brotherhood. And we know how to see that which we have and not only that which we don’t.

And when I gather all the sights that I see along the road of my mission, I want to come back to them, to Am Yisrael waiting in the desert and tell them:
“The Land is very bountiful. The Land is very good, its sights are breath taking, blessed is its fruit. Mostly, how wonderful and great is its People, how beautiful are its people, all of its people and how amazing and blessed are its many beautiful messengers.”

Shabbat Shalom

(A friend and a colleague of mine who wishes to remain nameless delivered this amazing and very enlightening speech a couple of weeks ago to a group of us. It was delivered in Hebrew. I decided to translate it and share it with the world.
Feel free to share. Thank you.)

One Hundred Years Later.....

This year, on November 2nd, will be the 100th Anniversary of the Balfour Declaration.

The Declaration, for those who are unfamiliar with it, stated "His Majesty's Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country".

The declaration does not provide a map or borders of the proposed state nor any other details of its size or its nature other than a “National Home for the Jewish people,” – a Jewish Homeland.

The following is a map of the area called Eretz Yisrael (AKA “Palestine”) during the times of Lord Balfour

This is also the area part of which was promised to the Jews, in the Balfour Declaration and in San Remo (1920) where a National Jewish Homeland would be founded.

The Balfour Declaration and the San Remo Accord were also the basis for UN Resolution 180 when, thirty years after the issue of the Declaration, in 1947, it voted on a partition plan for Palestine,

Had the Arabs accepted this UN Resolution, there would have been established an Arab State for the Palestinian refugees and the map of the middle east would have looked like this:

But since, in the words of Abba Eban, “The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity,” they rejected this plan and instead attacked the newly founded, Yisrael, the Jewish State.

The Following is a map which is the result of the 1949 Armistice agreement, a map whose borders were never recognized by any International entity and are hence illegal and any call to return to them as expressed by president Obama, for instance, are not in line with International Law:

The ongoing efforts by Arabs state to drive the Jews into the sea (my childhood nightmare which pushed me to force my parents to get me swimming lessons!) eventually plunged them into a reality which made them realize the opportunity they had missed twenty years earlier.

In June 1967, almost 50 years to the day after the Balfour Declaration, Yisrael, subsequent to being pressed into a corner by Egypt, Syria and Jordan, elected to engage in a pre-emptive. That move, the Six Day War, ended with Yisrael getting closer to the attainment of the area allocated for a National Jewish Homeland by both the Balfour Declaration and the San Remo Accord, both of which are anchored in International Law.

It resulted in this redrawn map:

Before anyone jumps to the wrong conclusion that Yisrael entered this war with the desire to reach the borders of the aforementioned Jewish Homeland, let me propose that it was the Arabs in their irrational hatred of Jews and their desire to complete that which Hitler was unable to, that brought about the near implementation of the Balfour plan.

I grew up in Yisrael during the years that preceded the 1967 war. I was a teenager. We did not want that war. If not for Jewish ingenuity and superb military ability, that war would have cost us, according to projections, thousands of dead and tens of thousands of injured. We were happy with the tiny strip of land that we ended up with after Yisrael’s War of Independence.

Furthermore, let me share a secret with you. We would have been happy with the implementation of the UN Partition Plan of 1947. My parents, both Shoah survivors and many like them, along with their children, would have been happy with that.

But not the Arabs! One more state which they could have had then without the bloodshed without the millions that their leaders have amassed while their population of refugees are held as pawns, is what they want now!

Will someone please explain to them that History is NOT a dress rehearsal? Would someone please explain to them that one hundred years of history cannot be washed down the drain, forgotten and replaced by narratives?

Language and symbols – as unique as the culture that they reflect

This article was written jointly by Roger Froikin and Bat-Zion Susskind-Sacks

Languages and symbols are the defining edges and the shapers of a culture and its members. They determine their views and perspectives.  They affect how they interpret their reality, how they decide during adulthood and what their values are in the subtlest of ways. 

Both are also harsh, sometimes, and for a reason.

Ever since early days, mankind has been using, borrowing and adopting symbols and terms of cultures alien to their own. In many case, such usage has helped bridge over differences and mend divides that human nature has erected. Cultures and groups have been willingly sharing ideas, inventions and moral codes, all for the benefits of the many.

What is repeatedly forgotten, however, is that most often in history, words, languages, meanings and symbols are adopted by the dominant cultural group in order to reflect its frame of reference, its world view. When these are, therefore, assumed and used by others, meanings are likely to be changed, often to the disadvantage of the smaller, less numerous and less powerful group that holds those cultural parameters. 

These practices among cultures have been so widespread that, in many instances, it almost seems to us that the game of sharing has turned into Chinese whispers. People are either using terms in the wrong context, or using them in the right one but mispronouncing them.

That could be, at most, funny and entertaining. But not always.

As a result of such misuse, and in an effort to keep original meanings intact, the smaller less powerful culture must make an extra effort to maintain its identity and those cultural artifacts in symbols and language as originally intended,

Moreover, in many cases, people do not only use symbols and terms of other cultures in the wrong context, mispronounce them, misapply them, and sometimes use them as objects of ridicule. In many cases, they also, and worst of all, claim them as their own while trying to convince others that those had always been theirs.

For instance, many of us have heard the famous saying “Love thy neigbour as thyself.” It is being referred to as a “Christian idiom” and has, regrettably, been unquestionably accepted as such.  Those, however, who are familiar with the original Hebrew/Jewish Scriptures would know that not only is this verse taken from the Torah, it was also misinterpreted when translated into Greek and from Greek into other languages.

It first appears in ויקרא   (VaYikra, Leviticus) 9:18. The original Hebrew states "ואהבת לרעך כמוך."  Which translates “You should love your friend as yourself.” Surely not every friend is our neighbour and not every neighbour is our friend. 

Another and more important example of change might be in the popular translations of the 10 Commandments. Some popular versions in the West, while claiming authenticity, actually edit out portions that might be inconvenient to non-Jewish cultures, and mistranslate others while leaving them with the beliefs that were never intended by the original. This does not stop some from claiming with religious fervor that their versions are the word of G-d.  The example that comes to mind is when about 5 years ago, the wife of an Evangelical minister spoke on radio claiming that she believed every word of the Bible because she had read and studied it in the “original English” and knows what G-d commands us to believe.

Unlike language, Symbols, sometimes carry even a deeper cultural meaning. 

For Jews, for instance, Jewish symbols, from the Magen David to the Talit to the symbolism of the care taken when lifting and using the Sefer Torah, all have special meaning that distinguish our traditions, our struggles, or resistance, our identity and, therefore, make them unique to us. 

When Gentiles adopt those symbols because they believe it brings them closer to their Christ, that changes the meaning of those symbols, and, to be blunt, though some Jews mistakenly interpret that as being pro-Jewish, most of us see that as some sort of parody that distorts that which those things mean to us. This is akin to the sentiment of a Christian being insulted when witnessing a Muslim using the symbol of the Cross in some play or another context in a manner which is remote from the intentions of it creators. 

These are just a couple of examples as to why and where harsher and more crisp guidelines need to be adopted and applied by members of the culture whose essence is being hijacked, mistranslated and sometimes misused. It happened in the past albeit in a manner which cannot be repeated or affected, let alone enforced in today’s world.  One example where such measures were used is ancient Rome. There, laws and fines were in place against efforts to usurp that which belonged and was limited to one group.

And before anyone jumps at our throat and puts words in our mouths, let us reiterate that we do not advocate such an approach. We are merely stating a historical fact where members of one group, in this case, Jews, seek to defend, and justifiably so,  that which belongs to them against efforts to appropriate its essence, spiritual and other.

Shabbat

Shabbat is probably the most significant Jewish Holy Day in the Hebrew Calendar. The reason for its importance is twofold. The first is that it occurs fifty-two time a year. It was the first Holy Day marked and sanctified by G-d Himself when he created the Universe.

The second and no less weighty reason is that it is the sign of the Covenant made between G-d and Am Yisrael at Mount Sinai.

As we all know the Ten Commandments were given to Moses on that occasion. The third commandment addresses the tenet of Shabbat.

There are two sets of the Tem Commandments in the Torah. One, in the Book of Shemot (Exodus) 20:1-20, the other in the book of Devarim (Deuteronomy) 5:5-21.

The two sets are identical except for one difference, a difference of one word. It rests with the third commandment, the one dedicated to Shabbat. In the Book of Shemot, we are commended to “Remember” the Shabbat. In the Book of Devarim, we are commanded to “Observe” the Shabbat.

Incidentally, that is why we light TWO candles when we welcome Shabbat. One for the directive to “Remember.” The other for the one to “Observe.” Why, may you ask, is there one word that distinguishes between these two important sets of dictates?

This question has preoccupied me for a long time. I trust it has engaged the minds of many wiser and more learned scholars than myself.

As a Jew who is still in the process of educating myself about my own tradition, as one whose belief in the One G-d of Yisrael is growing deeper and deeper, I believe I have finally realized the reason.

It points, yet again, to the great wisdom and sensitivity of our Torah and the Jewish tradition that evolved out of it.

“Remembering” Shabbat does not require much hard work or great sacrifice. It can be done in the form of lighting candles, having a family dinner, reciting the blessings or singing Shabbat songs.

Observing Shabbat, however, is not as easy. Moving from the mundane matters of the week into the Holy and refined atmosphere of Shabbat requires a shift to a different frame of mind. One must not only cease from all physical activities forbidden by Torah and those decreed by our sages. One also needs to enter a higher and more sanctified Spiritual realm.

Self-Discipline is a key factor when one chooses to embark upon the decision to observe Shabbat. Temptations to break it are always strewn along the way. These are obstacles that avert our focus from the intended goal.

The journey between “Remembering” and “Observing” Shabbat requires maturity and, in my view, also a higher emotional intelligence level (unless, of course, one has been raised according to it from an early age).

But above all, it requires an immersion in Holiness (Kodesh קודש( because that is the very unique nature of Shabbat

I honestly believe that the Torah recognized the difference and what it takes to move from one to the other.

The Ten commandments were first given to Am Yisrael shortly after they came out of Egypt from the House of Bondage.

At that stage, they were not ready to follow the laws and adhere to them.

As slaves, one could not expect this multitude to act independently, become a free People overnight and practice Freedom of choice. They had to be coached into becoming a Nation, a Culture and a Civilization.

Moreover, wandering in the desert for forty years did not make life easy for Am Yisrael. In addition to the harsh surrounding conditions, they had to be taught the laws and the requirements. They had to be given the tools and be prepared to observe them. The old generation that still possessed the slave mentality had to die out and a new generation of free people needed guidance, advice and direction. They had to be cleansed, to be purged in order to reach that level of purity, physical and spiritual which Observing Shabbat requires of us. When they were getting closer to reaching their destination in the Book of Devarim, it was then that they were ready to move on to the next level of becoming an עם קדושים Am Kedoshim (a Holy Nation). It was time for them to move from the stage of “Remembering” to “Observing.”

It was, therefore, at that stage, I believe that the commandment regarding the Shabbat was altered.

Am Yisrael was finally ready to assume the role that G-d had destined for them. They were about to enter Eretz Yisrael and were expected to live, meet and fulfill the terms of the Covenant and reminded of it by adhering to its sign.

“The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” It is through the Shabbat, through “Remembering” it and “Observing” it that G-d will continue to bless and sanctify Am Yisrael.

Shavua tov.

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.

Keeping Friends Closer and Drawn Lines Redder

This article was written jointly by Roger Froikin and Bat-Zion Susskind-Sacks

Picture this, it is Passover. You invite Christian friends, guests, to you family Seder. You start to read the Haggadah, and just when you get to the part where Jews say how we are to see ourselves, not just our ancestors, as being brought out of slavery to freedom, our Christian friends say, “hey that’s not what your Seder means, it is an allegory for the coming of Christ and the resurrection.”

What do you do?

 Some Jews would sit there quietly, smile, and start to discuss what these Christians inserted in the celebration. To their children, this would appear as acceptance of the Christian interpretation.

Well, that is not what Jews should be doing.  Jews need to say, “yes, we want friends, but friends respect one another and these Christians were not acting like friends. The Jews who chose to ignore their lack of manners and aggressive should be ashamed of themselves.”

Yet, In the State of Israel today,  Medinat Yisrael, in Eretz Yisrael the Jewish Homeland, there are places where this scenario is being played out in reality. No one is responsible nor seems to want to draw the line between acceptable and not acceptable. In some places missionaries are telling Jews what Jews should believe, while some Jews look down and say nothing.

They claim to be our friends. They declare that they love us. Moreover, they claim that they are here in Eretz Yisrael to help us, serve us and to fulfill the calling of the prophecy   ו וּבְנֵי הַנֵּכָר, הַנִּלְוִים עַל-יְהוָה לְשָׁרְתוֹ, וּלְאַהֲבָה אֶת-שֵׁם יְהוָה, לִהְיוֹת לוֹ לַעֲבָדִים (And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants,) (Isaiah 56:6).

Some of us ask, and justifiably so, is that the real reason? Rather, is this the only reason?

As a people who has been deprived of love by others for so long, such an offer is, of course, very tempting. For who does not want to be loved. Who does not want to have free servants and volunteers to do the dirty work for them? 

So, they were given a place to set up their camp. They are adorned and adulated by those they help. They invite their friends to come and stay with them. They organize Shabbat events where Jews and Christians meet and mingle. They conduct Christian weddings with Jewish rituals to which they invite local observant Jews and which the latter attend thus condoning such practices.

Frankly, we have no problem inviting strangers as guests to our private home and our National Home, especially those who claim to be our friends. Our issue, however, is when these guests, these friends feel that they have a right to teach us, to expose us to that which is as foreign to us, that which is poisonous to us, spiritually, and nationally. They feel it is their duty, as our friends, to teach us that which we have never asked for, nor ever wanted.

Their upbringing and their belief pave their way toward one and one goal only, to make everyone, especially those that they consider their friends, that which is what they are, embrace and adopt that which they believe in. For them there is one way and one way only, their way.

And their way is to share with and educate Jews about “this Jesus that” they “know.” Their vision is to share with us “this passion, this soon coming jubilee [Yovel in Hebrew] in Yeshua HaMessiah.”

AND, THAT IS WHERE WE MUST DRAW THE LINE

Interestingly, during the Crusades, when Christians, directed by their leaders, were busy murdering Jews on the way to fight the Muslims for Jerusalem, one Roman Catholic Bishop   warned that some Jews should be spared because the Second Coming of Christ would be from among the Jews.  He drew a line. And one might ask Christians, were they successful in converting all the Jews so that Judaism would disappear, how would their Jesus come back?

So, that is our question.  Where will we draw the line?   Where and when will we demand respect for us and our traditions and our Torah?  When will our people understand that friendship does not mean having to beg for it, to ingratiate oneself for it or to compromise one’s own standards for it.

DRAW THE LINE.  RESPECT OTHERS WHO RESPECT US.

And that means no missionary activity directed toward Jews.  No telling Jews what Jewish literature that was written for Jews in the Hebrew language “really” means as interpreted by outsiders.

Moreover, Jews wake up.  See things as they are, not just how you want them to be, desperate for approval and friendship. What do you imagine will happen when Christians who so desperately want us Jews to join them are thwarted?  

Look at history.  Learn from it