Vendyl Jones - We'll Sorely Miss You

A dear friend of the Jews has passed away. Vendyl Jones sought truth and found it in Torah tradition. His archeological foundation bore truth in its logo. He became a Noahide, and then a teacher and leader among them. I learned of his passing here. Here's a 13 min. video of his life and works. One could not help but love this Texan. We offer sincere condolences to his dear wife Anita, may she live and be well.

UPDATE (2/15/15): A Biography Video "Lecture" here. (Vendyl was the real "star" of the movie, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, the real "Indiana Jones".)

Rashi's Protracted Explanation of "That" Donkey

"Moshe took his wife and sons, mounted them on that donkey, and returned toward Egypt, taking in his hand G-d's staff."

(Ex. 4, 20)

Rashi comments on the words, "that donkey", saying: "That donkey Abraham saddled up to take Isaac to be offered up as a sacrifice; The same animal upon which King Moshiach will reveal himself, as it says, 'A pauper that rides the donkey.'"

At first glance, Rashi seems to explain why scripture invokes the demonstrative adjective in "that donkey", instead of just "a donkey"; To reveal to us it wasn't just any donkey, but, in fact, a miraculous donkey with a significant history.

But if this were Rashi's intent, he could have just said, "That donkey used by Abraham", and nothing more. Yet Rashi goes on to elaborate the purpose of Abraham's mission, and then provides additional information about Moshiach's use of the animal. It therefore implies Rashi has more to tell us than just explain the word "that".

To understand Rashi's real intent, we must step back and put into context a previous scriptural episode. When Hashem appeared to Moshe in the burning bush, asking him to lead the Jews out of Egyptian exile, Moshe resisted. Only after 7 days did he finally submit to Hashem's "anger", but we still have no idea how Hashem answered Moshe - who asked, "Why can't my older brother, Aaron, a prophet, go instead of me?"; And his next question, "Why not send the same leader who will one day lead the Jews into the Messianic era?"

So why did Rashi tell us the donkey was used to take Isaac to be sacrificed? To hint to us what Hashem answered Moshe on his first question. When asked to sacrifice his son, Abraham saddled his donkey unquestioningly, first thing next morning. Well, if Abraham could fulfill a request to sacrifice his son unhesitatingly, what big sacrifice faced Moshe in comparison, even if his older brother would take offense at his younger brother's assuming a leader's role? Moshe thus had to lay aside his first suggestion.

As for couldn't King Moshiach himself bring the ultimate salvation to the Jewish nation right now, instead of him being their 1st leader, Hashem explained that the Egyptian exile served as a vital prelude without which a final exile could not happen. All exiles were actually one process - all connected with the first. That is to say, the future redemption by King Moshiach cannot be actualized without the actualized essence of Moshe. This because Moshe and Moshiach are not two distinct entities; Moshiach will inherit the powers cultivated and finessed by Moshe. Hearing this Moshe finally capitulated.

Had Rashi not elaborated, we'd never have a clue what dialogue took place to persuade Moshe to finally accept his leadership assignment.

(Who else if not one with the powers of Moshe himself could decipher the intent of Rashi's extra verbosity to explain the conversation Hashem had with Moshe regarding Moshiach. Rashi, the leader of his generation, inherited these powers and hinted to them. The Rebbe, the Moses of our generation, inherited them, understood Rashi's intent and divulged them.)

Ariel Zilber Jettisoned from Rock Band's Show

A man who lives by worthy principles.

He sang this song (below) to forestall the horrible uprooting of families from the Gaza Strip, some there 3 generations, by the weak Israeli administration that wanted to appease Jewish haters by handing this cherished strip of holy land to their own worst enemies.

The song is about a sardine eager to garner acknowledgment from the shark; It promises the predator its fins, eyes and tail - "anything!"; Hearing this, the shark agrees to say "Hello." Later the shark proceeds to swallow the sardine whole. The fish analogy was a tongue-in-cheek attempt to skirt a government crackdown on vocal opponents to the expulsion plan.

Singer Ariel Zilber Boycotted by Israeli Band

Arutz-7 News Article

A famous Israeli rock band announced on Sunday it would cancel an appearance by Israeli singer Ariel Zilber at its upcoming show, simply because of his political views.

Tislam, which was active in the late 1970s and early 1980s and is currently on a reunion tour marking 30 years since the release of its first album, said it was uninviting Zilber from making a guest appearance in their show. The reason cited for the cancellation is Zilber’s support of a letter by rabbis disallowing the sale of lands to Arabs. [Below, Zilber tells the real reason.]

“We respect and appreciate Ariel Zilber as a singer and songwriter and we have no problem with his political views, even if we do not agree with them,” the band said in a statement. “We do, however, have a problem with his statements that do not reflect the values of our band.”

Zilber, who took part in last week’s memorial for the late Rabbi Binyamin Ze’ev Kahane and his wife Talya, said during his appearance there that he supports the rabbis’ ruling regarding selling land to Arabs.

The singer has been criticized for the past several years, ever since he began to identify with the residents of Yesha (Judea, Samaria, and Gaza). In 2005, he moved to the Gush Katif community of Elei Sinai in order to express solidarity with the Jewish residents there prior to their expulsion from their homes by the Israeli government.

Zilber himself was by unfazed by Tislam’s move and told Arutz Sheva’s daily journal on Monday that the band’s actions are nothing short of a publicity stunt. “Tislam is probably not selling tickets so they’re doing some advertising on my back,” he said. “After all, they knew my opinions before they invited me and now they’re saying I hurt them.”

He also rejected the suggested notion he is racist. “Anyone can be a Jew,” he said. “This is not a question of racism, but today anyone who talks about love for Israel becomes an outcast and this hurts me because people fought and were killed for this country.”

According to Zilber, the Arab integration into social life in Israel leads many to carefully choose their words towards Arabs. “When I was young and living in a kibbutz, one girl married an Arab and wanted to live on the kibbutz, but the kibbutz did not allow it. Looking for a reason not to accept it they said that they would no longer be able to say the phrase ‘what is this, Arab labor?’ It is just an excuse. They did not accept it because the land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel. We need to love the people of Israel. If G-d loves the people of Israel why should we not love the people of Israel?”

He referred to the self confidence exhibited by leftist artists, be it whether they boycott him or the theater in Ariel. Zilber said this happens because these artists “know who is financing them, so they express themselves this way. After all, for each performance they get a lot of money. Much of that money comes from international organizations like the EU and others so they know they can speak the way they do. Rightists, on the other hand, do not get paid for performances. They tell me: ‘there’s a demonstration, come and play,’ and when I ask how much they pay, they tell me: ‘we do not have money to pay,’ yet I still come and play.”

Meanwhile, the Shomron Regional Council called on Monday on all Israelis who love Zilber’s music to come out to his performances.

“In recognition of the singer who is not ashamed to express his views even if they are inconsistent with those of the rest of the leading Israeli artists, the Shomron Regional Council has decided to devote a special page on its website to advertise Ariel Zilber’s performances,” the council said in a statement. “We call on all Israelis who love Zilber’s songs and who dislike the phenomenon of boycotts to check the website for the dates of his appearances and come out. This is the best answer to the band Tislam who is attempting to sell a few more tickets while presenting the issue as a disagreement over ‘values’.”

The council added: “We praise Tislam for its loyalty to its ‘values’ and for joining other bands in the world that are boycotting Israel. We prefer the values of Ariel Zilber that express loyalty to Israel and to the heritage of our people, and not those values that encourage the establishment of an Iranian-funded terrorist entity in the interior of our land.”

The Chilean Miners - Spiritually Revisited

The Cave, the Real World & the Legacy of the Elders

By Tzvi Freeman

Let's allow ourselves a little imagination. Let's imagine that instead of miners in Chile, a father and mother with small children found themselves trapped within the earth's bowels. Maybe two such families. Let's say that the people above managed to lower to these two families food, light and energy, but without any communication. And let's say this remained the status quo for 100 or so years, until technology advanced to the point that they could be rescued.

Now let's imagine what might be happening down in that almost-forsaken cavern all those years. Children are growing up with no memory of the world above. The parents take it upon themselves to educate them. The class goes something like this:

"Child, you must know that this is not the real world. The real world is up there. See, where that light comes from, where the rope lowers down food and energy for us down here."

"What's up there, Mommy? What's up there, Daddy?"

"Up there, there are people. They walk upon the soil, upon which grows grass and trees. Up there, there is a big sky, all blue, with a bright sun shining over it."

"What is a sun?"

"A sun is a bright ball of fire that shines in the sky, lighting up all the world!"

"What holds it there?"

"It is just there, burning in the sky."

"You saw it?"

"We saw it every day."

"Wow! Can we go? Can we go?"

"Yes, my child, if we keep digging. We dig and those up there who send us the food also dig, and one day we will meet. Then you will also see the real world. In the meantime, remember always, this is not the real world."

Now imagine those children growing older and bearing children of their own. In the stale air of the cavern, the older generation has already passed on. And now it is up to the children to hold that same conversation with their children:

"Children, you must know that this is not the real world."

"Say what?"

"No, the real world is up there—where the food and energy comes from."

"So what's up there?"

"I've never seen it, but my father and mother told me there are people there, but not in caves. They walk on soil on which grass grows, beneath a sky…"

"What is a sky?"

"It's big and blue, and bright ball of fire called the sun hangs there."

"In the middle of the sky?"

"Yep, but it doesn't burn anything."

"Weird. You sure about this stuff?"

"Like I said, that's what my Mom & Dad told me. I trust them. You should too. And they said that if we keep digging, according to the instructions they gave us, one day we'll connect with that real world."

Keep that imagination going. Fast forward to the next generation:

"Okay, kids, class time."

"More tunnel geography today?"

"No, today is a special class. Something our parents told us that their parents said we must teach you all. It's called real world studies."

"That's okay, we already know how to live in the real world."

"No you don't, because you've never been there. This is not the real world. The real world, they said, is up there, where the food and energy comes from. There are people up there walking around on grass underneath a sky."

"Walking on what? Under…"

"Don't be disrespectful. This is what our parents taught us. And they heard…"

"So who says they got it right. Sounds like another fairy tale to me."

"You have to have more faith in your elders. They said that in the sky is a big ball of fire called a sun."

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. You can't have a ball of fire just suspended there!"

"Well then how does the food and energy get down here? Who sends it to us?"

"That's a lousy question. It just comes. That's just the way the world works."

Now imagine the rebellion seething, boiling and overflowing as the elders hopelessly attempt to defend a position they never really got straight to begin with.

And then, just as the legacy of the elders seems crushed to the ground, the ceiling bursts open and in crashes a real live person.

"Whoa! Where did you come from?"

"Oh, I'm from up there."

"Up where?"

"You know, up there beneath the sky, where the sun shines."

"You believe in that stuff, too?"

"Believe? Hey, that's where I'm from!"

"Tell us about it."

So this real live person begins to tell. And now even the most jaded among the cynics are sitting up to hear his words.

Now let go of the imagination and enter back into our world—where all this tale has happened and continues to happen again and again.

The tale is told in different forms about Abraham, about the Arizal and about the Baal Shem Tov. Where tradition had failed, these men of vision succeeded—because for them it was not just a story of the past; it was real, more real than the earth they stood upon. In that sense, it could be applied to many of the great tzadikim, each one in his or her own way.

And now, perhaps the event of the Chilean miners for whom we all prayed and cheered will help us apply the tale to yet another tzadik, one for whom we have waited all these years, the one who will be called the Moshiach.

May the ceiling burst open very soon.

More by Tzvi, here.

A Time to Love and a Time to Hate, a Time of War and a Time of Peace (Eccl. 3, 8)

The Jewish Quarter

(of Jerusalem)

The Reality Quarter

by Gutman Locks

at the Kotel

Here, in the Old City (Jerusalem), we live normal lives. Well, normal for our part of the world. Pictured here is a young man rushing around doing the kind of things we all have to do. He is shopping, with his small daughter on his shoulders. Except for unusual architecture, you might think it is like any other Jewish neighborhood you have seen … lots of young children, noise, not enough time to do everything that needs to be done.

But, if you look carefully, you will notice one big difference. Look what he has tucked into his belt right next to his tzitzis (fringes). Do you see it? It is a loaded, nine-millimeter, 16 shot per clip, automatic pistol. Yeah, it’s real, and because he is carrying this, Jewish children can play in the streets.

Shabbos afternoon at the Kotel, a new oleh (immigrant) from Latin America who is in the army asked me, “What kind of religious thing is this… me being in the army learning to kill people? How does this make G-d happy?”

I told him, “The Torah teaches that when someone rises up to kill us, we are not to turn the other cheek, or run away. We are obligated to rise up and kill him first. We do not want war with these people. We want to live in peace. We would even let them live here as long as they would stop trying to kill us. But they rise up against us time and time again. We have to defend ourselves.

"Even the world’s greatest example of kindness, Avraham, had to fight a war in order to free his captured nephew. And it seems that until the Messiah comes, we too will have to fight. You are doing a tremendous mitzvah by being in the army. If you weren’t there, the Jewish people couldn’t be here.”

The “Old” Testament

There’s nothing “old” about The Testament. Calling it "old", implying it's outdated, rejects its divinity; Calling it "old" denigrates its author, creator of the universe.

A more fitting name would be “The Living Testament”. Even more fitting is the translation of its Hebrew name, Torah -– “The Manual [of Life]”.

Torah serves as the framework from which mankind must draw its behavioral guidelines – forever. The book is absolutely perfect. It never underwent revision and never will. The work of an infinite G-d needs no revision. The words in Torah today are the same words G-d dictated to Moses over the course of 40 years in the desert South of Israel, between the years 2448 - 2488 [since creation].

Jewish people today, e.g., Yemenite Jews, who until recently had been separated by millennia and by continents from their brethren in Europe, possess the exact same Torah, down to the last letter.

The entire Jewish literature over millennia in the whole world: all books on code of law, all the writings of the sages, former and latter, all customs and all oral tradition in everyday life, every synagogue prayer book, every book in schools of Torah learning - this huge mountain of Hebrew/Judaic literature (and Jews are prolific writers) stands on one essential premise - that every Hebrew word in Torah, every letter, every punctuation, cantillation and mathematical attribute, the shape of every letter, even the "serifs" of each letter - all of this - depends on this unalterable, singular absolute truth - that Torah and its oral tradition are perfect. Like a vast, upside-down pyramid standing on its tip, the foundational tip that holds it all up, is the single premise - that Torah is perfect, infallible and eternal.

And just to forewarn anyone who gets the bright idea to modify any of it, G-d warns us in His Torah, not to add to it nor subtract from it.

To imply it has built-in obsolescence simply belittles the greatness of The Creator!

More than audacity hides behind the drive to outdate Torah. It maneuvers to undermine the unity, perfection and goodness of G-d, as well as the Jewish religion and its people.

Torah naysayers have no shame to defy G-d, defy His eternity, His perfection and oneness; They defy His people, defy His plan for Israel as the ultimate Jewish homeland, defy the status of Jerusalem, defy the eventual rebuilding of the Temple and defy the Jewish Messiah. Their own agenda supersedes G-d’s agenda.

Just as a producer of complicated machinery offers a user’s manual on how best to use his product, so too G-d gave guidelines to mankind -– all of mankind –- how best to have a good world and a good life. That manual is the Torah. It speaks for Jews and Gentiles alike.

Noah and his family, the progenitors of humanity, after “The Great Flood” in 1657, received 7 laws to live by –- the “Seven Noahide Laws”. On the other hand, Jews received 613 laws from the Torah.

Jews are special in G-d’s eyes because of a mission He gave them. They are meant to be His nation of Priests. They have the obligation to enlighten a world caught up in spiritual darkness. Jews are G-d’s lamplighters, teachers of Torah, an eternal people/nation vested with the responsibility to convey the 7 Noahide laws to the other peoples of the world. To be sure, it was not a glorious task during anti-semitic times. But today, when persecution of Jews has much abated, it again becomes a task to undertake.

Yes, Torah is old; In fact, it’s now 3,323 years old; But it’s as relevant for everyone today as the day it was first given. It is a blueprint for contemporary living.

The ONE to Rely On

This week's Torah portion is named, "At the Conclusion of". ("מקץ" in Hebrew)

Its content speaks of how Joseph, having been a slave, becomes the king's viceroy - the highest office in Egypt next to the king's. What's more, this positions he attains suddenly, by way of a miracle, while in captivity.

Joseph had tried to free himself, relying on his own resources, by seeking favor with the king's wine butler. This is why, our sages tell us, Joseph was punished. This is why his imprisonment had been lengthened by an additional two full years. Thus the verse, "And then, at the conclusion of two years, …."

The lesson this teaches us is - a person's salvation comes only from Hashem; And we should request only Hashem's help and only in Hashem should we put our hopes.

With our own powers, or with the support of people with better connections, we can lighten our travails, but we cannot do so if we completely rely on them and forget that without Hashem's help nothing can be accomplished.

So, how do we achieve redemption and emerge "At the Conclusion of" our troubles? Not by toil or seeking favor even with ties to royalty. Rather, we must hope Hashem will release us from punishment and only then will our problems conclude. Only then would we secure the solace we seek, although the source of which we'd not know wherefrom it comes or in what manner it will arrive.

What's true for the individual holds true for the collective body as well. A salvation "At the Conclusion of" exile will come when sin is forgiven, and not by any other means. And it will come in a most unexpected manner.

First Words of G-d to Mankind in Torah

Painting by Maoz Toledo

The very first time G-d actually speaks to Man, as quoted in Torah, takes the form of a simple question - "Where are you?"

Because Torah is our Book of Life, an eternal source of instruction, that question, rather than being a mere historic anectode, is a question always being asked of Man. Over time, man finds himself, hopefully, advancing in life with a meaningful purpose, and every time he should consider the question G-d asks him - to see if in fact his answer indicates he's made real progress.

Perhaps many of us don't lose much sleep over our spiritual shortcomings, as much as we do over our materialistic shortcomings. Thus, the question of G-d, as it reverberates continually when we think of it, should shake us out of our spritual complacency - because that's where that question points to: Where does our soul stand today compared to where it stood yesterday?

G-d expects of us to move forward, to toil to achieve more - not more money, not a better job, not a better physique, not more respect, power or honor. He wants us to become better Jews as Torah beseeches us. After all, we were born with relatively empty vessels, and the world was created purposely with imperfections. Our souls were given this mission down here on earth, to enable the future world for divine revelation. By elevating ourselves spritually, we force a physical change in the world that improves it and raises it a notch; A real cause an effect reaction.

Adam was told, "Don't eat from that one tree!" There were hundreds of trees, and thousands of fruits to eat from in the Garden of Eden. What would it harm the world if one fig, or date, or grape, whatever tree it was, were eaten? What damage could consuming one little fruit wreak on the world?

Well now we know. That tiny act changed the world drastically. Death came to Mankind. Truth and falsehood no longer were clearly delineated. Sin could now become desirous. Man was given to struggle to achieve greatness.

Even a small deed of the person can take a big toll, or render monumental change for the better. Only man has the power to connect G-d with physicality. Only he is the gateway through which the universe becomes transformed. Little man has G-dly powers. One little smile, nice word or deed - can make or break. His behavior, and only his behavior, mediates between supernal G-d and our nether universe. We are G-d's fulcrum.

With so much power at our behest, we'd only be foolish to squander it. Let's resolve, therefore, to jump quantum leaps. Let's dare ourselves with lofty goals. Every day is an auspicious day. So, my friend, to quote G-d, "Where are you?"

Saving a Jew - One Soul at a Time

Here's another story from the Jew who "works" the Kotel.

What! Are You Nuts?

by Gutman Locks

This has to be one of the strangest cases I have ever had the privilege to straighten out.

A group of non-Jewish Americans walked into the Kotel area yesterday. Judging by their appearance, they had to be evangelical christians. I was surprised to see two or three Jewish faces among them. It is pretty rare, but sadly, sometimes we do see a confused Jew drawn into that religion. So I assumed these Jews were also trapped in that idolatry.

I was wrong. I pointed to one of the Jews and said, “You’re Jewish. You certainly have a Jewish face.”

“Of course I’m Jewish, through and through!” he happily confirmed.

“Come, put on tefillin.” He did not know what I was talking about. “We’re going to take your Jewish blood pressure,” I joked. I took his arm and started to put tefillin on him. One of the other Jewish-looking men leaned over and said, “He was baptized this morning!”

“What!” I yelled, “Are you nuts? You’re not a christian. You’re a Jew!”

It turned out the entire group was on a tour that was organized in their hometown somewhere in Florida. Except for the 3 Jews, they were all christians. That morning they had gone on a tour to the Jordan River, and the evangelicals had all baptized each other. As usual, they love to spread their particular brand of confusion, so they tried to lure the 3 Jews traveling with them into being baptized, too. These christians believe it is a huge victory to convert a Jew to their beliefs.

They had a sales pitch: After all, this was the actual Jordan River; the very river where yashka himself was baptized 2,000 years ago. (At least that’s how the story goes.)

When they tried to coax the Jews into joining them, 2 of the Jews had enough brains to refuse, but this nice old guy was up for the adventure. Wading out into the river with your clothes on was certainly something he could tell his friends about when he got home, so the friendly old Jew agreed to join them, and he let them baptize him!

“Listen to me,” I insisted, as I continued to put the tefillin on him. “You are a Jew. Baptism is not for Jews. It is what goyim (non-Jews) do when they accept that false religion. You didn’t accept anything. You are not a christian, you’re a Jew.”

I wanted him to be able to defend himself when they later try to convince him he actually became a christian, G-d forbid!

I told him Jews are a people and not a religion. “But if you want a religion, then we have our own. We do not need theirs.” I told him their religion contradicts our beliefs. “They worship their god, which has three parts, a trinity. Jews worship the one G-d Who is everywhere. G-d does not have parts.”

I told him the baptism he went through did not mean anything, that he did not accept any of their religious foolishness, and that he was not going to follow that religion.

It turned out he is 81 years old, and this was the first time in his life he had ever put on tefillin! I told him that it was his bar mitzvah! (Actually, bar mitzvah means a Jewish boy has come to the age [13] when the Torah says he is old enough to begin to be responsible for his own spiritual life. One of the first things he can then do is put on tefillin.)

I made sure he had pictures of himself wearing tefillin on to remind him he is a Jew. “While christians have baptisms, Jews have tefillin and bar mitzvahs.”

He was very happy, and he has absolutely no intention of joining any christian religion. And they are not going to be able to fool him into thinking he became a christian.

Thank G-d he met us, or who knows where he'd have ended up.

The Middle East Conflict - in a Nutshell !

The lowdown on the Middle East problem - short and to the point.

That Missile Seen from the California Coast- The Regime is Playing Dumb

The regime in the White House is lying to us - again. And, if you believe the Pentagon, or any of the "mainstream" media sources (who take their "talking points" from a conference call every morning with the White House), who tell you that missile seen last week over the Pacific ocean off the California coast, streaking high into the sky with its heavy trail, "was not a missile" - I bet you're being lied to!

(E.g, MSNBC headline reads, "U.S. sees no threat in alleged 'missile': Pentagon says it's baffled ... bla, bla bla.")

Here's a forum entry that spoke to this issue, apparently by someone in the know. I have no reason to doubt its veracity, because - it speaks for itself. (I changed nothing. I even left spelling errors intact.)

dated: Nov 11, 2010

Finally there is something that has occurred, in which I am actually an expert and qualified to give a real answer about.

I am a retired U.S. Navy FireControl Technician, who is platform certified in the gun and missile systems on board Adams class guided missile destroyers, I have also worked with the Navy's Harpoon, Tomahawk and ASROC missile systems. (FireControl Techs operate, maintain and repair the computer, radar and periphial systems used to launch and guide the various naval weapon systems, we are the guys who "PUSH THE BUTTON")

Anyway, what I saw in the recent video concerning the object 30 miles off the coast of CA. Is blatently a foreign made, Large Cruise or ICBM missile, being launched by a sub-surface aquatic platform. First I know its a large missile because it did not exhibit the typical "corkscrewing" trajectory of a beam riding missile as it trys to aquire the targeting beam. This tells me its a Big Boy with a complete guidence system installed in it, what is nicknamed a "fire and forget" missile, as once its launched its internal guidance system takes over and there is no real need for external guidance.

Secondly, I'm fairly confident its not one of ours, as the vapor trail appears "dirty" it looks brownish. I have personally been involved in (5) SM2 missile launches, and (2) ASROC missile launches, and have been on safety observation for at least 15 more launches of Harpoons, Tomahawks and other missiles. We put alot of sweat and money into our "birds" and part of that is the fuel cells, they burn very clean, a whitish-blue infact, not a dirty blackish brown. That missile had rather crude fuel cells, which tells me its not one of ours.

I bet the brass in Washington is freaked out big time, because of what I know of our "defenses" they should really have had a pretty good idea this thing was sitting there, and they should have been watching it, not only that the moment it broke the surface of the water and ignited our early warning dopplar should have picked it up, and relayed the info to NORAD, and the CAP units flying patrol over the country...

Any high ranking expert who believes this is a condensation trail off of a commercial airliner is lying or stupid. I hope you hear from other Fire Control Techs who saw the same thing I did!

I forgot something, as any Firecontrol Tech or Gunnersmate will verify, the protocals to launch a missile are so complex, there is no way this was an "accidental" launch. I do not want to share too much info, but there is no "one red button" to launch a missile, thats all hollywood B.S. Yes two keys are turned to arm the system, but it takes at least three other things to occur in proper sequence to launch a bird, so thats at least 5 people all doing something at the right time. Its impossible to accidently lauch a missile!

UPDATE: Heard about this Nov. 10 incident with China? (see here)

UPDATE (Nov. 21): President's muted response (link here)

UPDATE (Nov. 24): It was a missile "message"- Limbaugh. (link here)

UPDATE (Nov. 28): The Chinese are jabbing us. (link here)

UPDATE (Dec. 2): Good reporting and video here.

The Self-Extinction of Reform Judaism

With the festival of Chanuka approaching, the war to reform the Jewish spirit comes into focus.

The above chart (copied from here), based on researched American data, crystallizes the specter "Reform Judaism" casts upon Jewish sanctity, showing that its adherents cannot withstand the test of time beyond 3 or 4 generations before they are swallowed up and lost from the Jewish people. Even a Hitler could not have devised so good a strategy to quietly annihilate so many Jewish souls.

Leaving aside the reason for their fragility or vulnerabilty to self-extinction, by the time their grandchildren are born, most of these will already have been subsumed under Gentile persuasion; Their Jewish genomes will have migrated out of the collective Jewish gene pool and their Jewish souls will have lost their moorings to Jewish tradition and intimacy with G-d.

But there is a strange twisted logic many Reform Jews apply. If they were to admit they prefer chiselling away at tradition to relieve their anxiety about perceived constraints on their mode of easy living, that would at least be refreshing. But rather, at least if a representative website's reasoning is any indication, convenience isn't at the core of the issue. Here's how that website rationalizes their philosophy:

"The word 'Reform' in the name of our Movement is a recognition that reform is part of our way of life, as it has been for Jews throughout the centuries."

While the assertion that reformism has been around "throughout the centuries" is authentic, it conceals a spurious statistic the above chart addresses - and we must separate the authentic fact from its spurious justification. It may well be true a fringe of Judaism always prefers assimilation or reform, but that does not mean that they - as a collective body - are perpetuated. This is the crucial point: Reform Jews of today are definitely not descendants of Reform Jewry of the past. Reform Jews - as Jews - self discard. After 2 or 3 generations, most are already intermarried and their assimilation into the Gentile world is complete.

Their claim of a centuries-old "tradition", therefore, is deceptive. Their duration, in fact, occupies miniscule fragments of history. In the space of a few generations, they will have lost their Jewish identity.

Every generation has fringe elements that might drift to reformism ("conservative" or "reconstructionist" included). But these offshoots simply disappear from the Jewish horizon in a few generations. There simply is no longevity to their compromising way of life. In fact, they fare no better than secular Jews, most of whom have been "kidnapped from birth" by their foreign culture, in preserving a Jewish identity.

The permanence of Judaism rests in Torah-true tradition. Torah is the glue of Jewish civilization. The Reform "movement" does not survive. To attribute tradition to reformism is the voice of lemmings taking comfort in mass flight from Torah -- headlong to self-extinction.

The Chabad Banquet for its Emissaries - 2010

Mr. Gennady Bogolubov speaks at the International Conference of Shluchim 2010 from Jewish Educational Media on Vimeo.

“My Heart Swells with Joy”

By Yosef Y. Jacobson

Mr. Benny (Yechiel Benzion) Fishhof, a prominent New York businessman and a member of the Chassidic group of Ger, stood at the gala banquet of 4,000 Chabad shluchim (ambassadors) from across the world last Sunday evening, and chatted with Rabbis Mordechai Avtzon and Boruch Jacobson, the Chabad ambassadors to Hong Kong and New York’s Hunter College.

“You will never understand what I am feeling here tonight,” said Benny Fishhof, who as a youngster in the 1930’s still traveled to the Polish city of Ger, some 20 miles from Warsaw, where the Gerer Rebbe, Rabbi Abraham Mordechai Altar, presided over hundreds of thousands of followers, and saw most of them exterminated in the Holocaust. “I survived the death camps. I watched my closest kin marched into the gas chambers. In 1950 I lived on Montgomery St in Crown Heights and I walked into ‘770.’ It was a little shtibel with a few Chabad Chassidim present.

“Tonight I return to the international convention of Chabad emissaries from around the world. I listen to the words and watch the dancing, and my heart swells with indescribable gratitude. The joy has returned! Here in one room are assembled 4,000 individuals who created a Jewish renaissance around the globe.

“My friends and I saw only mounds and mounds of ashes, the remains of our six million brothers and sisters. Never had Judaism's everlasting light come closer to being extinguished. The Shoah destroyed the core of Jewish life: men, women and children who were the most vibrant, animated elements of the Jewish people. An entire world went up in smoke.

“What happened next will one day be told as one of the great acts of reconstruction in the religious history of mankind. A handful of Holocaust survivors and refugees set about rebuilding on new soil the world they had seen go up in the smoke of Auschwitz and Treblinka. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menahem Mendel Schneersohn, together with other Jewish leaders, refused to yield to despair. The Rebbe urged every person he could touch to bring the stick back to life: to marry and have lots of children. He built schools, communities and yeshivas and encouraged and inspired countless Jewish people to do the same. He sent ambassadors to the entire world to rekindle the Jewish spark.”

The gala banquet of the “Kinus Hashluchim” had 4500 people packing Pier 12 in Brooklyn for an evening of inspiration. There were few dry eyes when a Dvar Torah was delivered by ten-year-old Moshe Cohen of Manchester, son of Esty Cohen, a young Chabad shlucha who passed away earlier this month at the age of 33, shortly after giving birth to a new baby. “I know my mother is looking down at me from heaven and is proud of the fact that I am continuing her life’s story,” Mosheleh Cohen said.

And few faces could avoid a smile when billionaire Mr. Gennady Boglubov of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, told the shluchim: You just come and ask, and I will give…

Original link: Here

In Commemoration to a Most Beautiful Woman

Irena Sendler

98 year-old Irena died May 12, 2008.

During WWII, Irena got permission to work in the Warsaw ghetto as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist.

She had an ulterior motive.

Being German, she knew what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews.

Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried. She also carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack - for larger kids.

She also had a dog in the back of the truck she trained to bark when Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto.

The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog; And the barking covered any noises made by the children.

During this time of her employ, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 infants and children.

Then she was caught. The Nazi's broke both her legs and arms, and beat her severely.

Irena kept a record of the names of all the children she smuggled out. She kept it in a glass jar buried under a tree in her backyard.

After the war, she tried to locate any parents who may have survived, to reunite the family.

Most parents had been gassed. For these children she helped get placement into foster or adopted homes.

In 2007 Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize. She was not selected. The degenerates gave it to idiot Al Gore - for a slide show on the "global warming" hoax.

(See also this related post.)

Caroline Glick - On the Present Mode of Concealing Truth

The Age of Dissimulation

by Caroline Glick

Years from now, when historians seek an overarching concept to define our times, they could do worse than refer to it as the Age of Dissimulation. Today our leading minds devote their energies and cognitive powers to figuring out new ways to hide reality from themselves and the general public.

Take US President Barack Obama's senior counterterrorism advisor for example. On Sunday, John Brennan spoke on Fox News about the latest attempted Islamic terrorist attack on American soil.

Since the Obama administration has barred US officials from referring to terrorists as terrorists and effectively barred US officials from acknowledging that Islamic terrorists are Muslims, Brennan simply referred to the Islamic terrorists in Yemen who tried to send bombs to synagogues in Chicago as "individuals."

Today, practically, the only individuals willing to speak honestly about who Islamic supremacists are and what they want are the Islamic supremacists themselves.

For instance, in an interview last week with Reuters, the Islamic supremacist Hamas movement's "foreign minister" Mahmoud al- Zahar told the Christian West, "You do not live like human beings. You do not [even] live like animals. You accept homosexuality. And now you criticize us?"

Al-Zahar also made the case for Islamic feminism. As he put it, "We are the ones who respect women and honor women ... not you. You use women as an animal. She has one husband and hundreds of thousands of boyfriends. You don't know who is the father of your sons, because of the way you respect women."

Finally, al-Zahar claimed that Westerners have no right to question Islam or criticize it. In his words, "Is it a crime to Islamize the people? I am a Muslim living here according to our tradition. Why should I live under your tradition? We understand you very well. You are poor people. Morally poor. Don't criticize us because of what we are."

Al-Zahar can sleep easy. The citizens of the West have rarely heard anyone in any positions of power and influence criticize Islamic supremacists "because of what they are."

In fact, the most remarkable thing about al- Zahar's interview was not what he said but that Reuters decided to publish what he said. By letting its readers learn what al-Zahar thinks of them, Reuters inadvertently gave Westerners a glimpse at the simple truth its editors and their counterparts throughout the Western media routinely purge from coverage of current events.

Rather than discuss the nature and threat of Islamic supremacism, the Western media along with nearly all Western political leaders and academics deny and dissimulate. Rather than address the threat, they accept the Islamic line and blame Israel for everything bad that happens in the world.

The ONE group of people that can almost be forgiven for this crime against reality is the non-Muslims who live under Islamic rule. On Sunday, we received a grim reminder of the plight of such minorities with the Islamic terror attack on Baghdad's largest church, the Our Lady of Salvation Catholic church.

As some one hundred worshipers celebrated evening mass, Islamic terrorists stormed the church. According to an eyewitness account, they walked straight up to the priest administering the mass and executed him. The Muslim terrorists then took the Christian worshipers hostage.

As Iraqi military forces stormed the church under US military supervision, the Islamic terrorists threw grenades at the worshipers and detonated their bomb belts. By Monday, the death toll had reached 52.

Read it all - here.

The Ten Commandments - Why All the Pomp?

Something about the "Ten Commandments" event needs explaining.

The spectacular, awesome pomp surrounding the giving of the Ten Commandments led to what appears as an anticlimax - such simple rules as "Don't steal" and "Don't kill". Without these basic rules a community could hardly function properly, let alone thrive. After all, wouldn't plain common sense require them?

So what necessitated this amazing show of divine power as a backdrop for receiving society's most rudimentary moral standards? What sense does it make to introduce trivial news with fireworks? What's so big a deal about telling folks to "Respect your parents", or not to kill?

Our sages tell us, G-d thereby indicated that morality cannot be upheld unless it's coupled with belief in The Creator. Without belief in divinity behind the commandments, the resulting morality will necessarily be unjust. Leave up to man alone to devise judicious rules of behavior, and they will fail.

Look at history, and look around you; Man cannot compile a decent set of moral values based on his own intellect. In Sparta they reasoned it wise to eliminate weak or handicapped children, to ensure a strong army and progressive society. The Eskimos reasoned it wise to eliminate the sick and the elderly so they not be a drag on the rest of society. The Japanese believed it best never to surrender. The Germans figured it's okay to annihilate "inferior" human species. The Muslims think it's okay to kill, mutilate or torture anybody for the slightest grievance, and trash women.

Right here in America, abortion became legal decades ago and ever since, hundreds of thousands of innocent little people are murdered - until today, all because some are convinced as long as the baby did not breathe air, he/she isn't yet considered human; Or, because the bother to the unwed mother justifies the death. This is another example how man's arbitrary godless rationale (usually fostered by the "liberal" mindset) can lead to no less than a holocaust.

Only when man submits to The Almighty's wisdom and has fear of The Eye Above, acknowledging the awe and trepidation associated with any of His Commandments, can a society function fairly and lawfully.

- - - - - - - - - - -

A story that happened:

Once an Israeli young man left to Thailand and became involved in their spirituality. He joined the Buddha priesthood to learn more. Over the years he advanced steadily.

His parents tried desperately to dissuade him, but to no avail. This young man dearly loved his aging grandmother. For her birthday, he succumbed to go back to Israel, but only for a week. During that week the parents invited rabbis to come and speak to him, to persuade him to stay home. But he remained adamant.

On Shabbos, he agreed to go to a Chabad shul with his father. They entered during a Talmud session where the subject was - can we rely on our minds to distinguish right from wrong. The rabbi taught, "No, we can't, because the love we have for ourselves blinds our reasoning." At the end of the lesson, the man and the rabbi got into an argument. He did not accept the rabbi's contention that man can easily pervert what's right to suit himself. The young man argued that the lofty ability of man's mind can determine right from wrong.

He returned to Thailand to pursue his career. He had one final exam upcoming in a few days to reach the highest rung in the Buddhist hierarchy. He and a few others were to take this exam on the peak of a high mountain they would climb.

During their climb up the mountain, the young man spotted a wallet up ahead. His instructor, walking before him, saw it too, picked it up, opened it and then pocketed it. Noticing the instructor's happy face, the man asked him when he expects to return it to its owner. The instructor said, "I won't. It was meant for me to have. Divine providence wanted to reward me and did so by giving me this opportunity to merit the lost wallet."

Suddenly the man remembered the argument he had with the rabbi of Chabad regarding reliance on one's own mind to determine right from wrong. He stayed at the peak only for a few moments then dashed down the hill and took the very first plane home to Israel.

We Have Liftoff - into Messianic Times A Prediction from the Zohar

The Kabbalistic book, the Zohar, written some 2,000 years ago, reveals for us many levels of depth underlying Torah text, divulging secrets embedded therein we'd not have the intelligence to determine for ourselves. (Why did they know, back then, what we know not today? Because prior generations had more intelligence and wisdom than pursuant generations [in contradistinction to the belief held by today's "evolutionary theorists"]. The closer a generation was to Moses' generation, the greater was their wisdom.)

This is, by the way, one good reason why a translation of Torah cannot possibly do justice to the script it translates, because the Torah's Hebrew language, unlike any other language, is G-d's language, with infinite layers of profundity beneath the surface text. In fact, a translation of scripture actually does a disservice - because it implies existence of only a surface layer.

One such revelation in this book predicts Moshiach's arrival and the Era of Final Redemption will happen during the 6th millennium. Some people err to think this will happen only in the next millennium, but this the Zohar clearly rejects, "In the 6th millennium and not at its very end" (New Zohar, Beraishis, 21, 1). In other words, although the 7th millennium will have its own ideal features, a preceding period is necessary in order to prepare the world for this Sabbatical millennium. And the first Messianic era will happen towards the "evening" of the 6th millennium. This parallels our requirement to taste on Friday from that which is cooked for the morrow, to get a foretaste of the day of Sabbath.

The verse from which the Zohar learns of the pre-Sabbatical, inaugural, preparatory phase is based on Genesis 7, 11 (where the Torah begins to narrate the onslaught of The Great Flood): "In the year of 600 years in the life of Noah … all the wells from deep down burst open and the floodgates from heaven opened." This verse alludes to comparable future phenomena. Explains the Zohar, "During the 6th millennium, the presence of G-d will begin to unveil itself, to shake off its dust [so to speak], and the unveiling will proceed gradually. But then a critical milestone will be reached [from when such events shall proceed rapidly], when in the 6th century of the 6th millennium the gates of wisdom will open from above and the wellsprings of wisdom from below, and the world thereby will be fixed to enter into the 7th millennium." (Zohar, Vayera part 1, 117, 1)

The Zohar speaks of two wisdoms whose advent will precipitate meteoric changes in the world starting in the year 1739 (or in the year 5500 from creation), one from "above", which refers to Chassidus breakthroughs (the innermost aspects of Torah), and one from "below", which refers to the secular technology breakthroughs, both happening simulataneously. In fact, the secular breakthroughs come as a direct result of the Chassidic breakthroughs.

It's quite understandable how Chassidus, lofty concepts that relate to G-d and Torah, can prepare the world for its ultimate elevation, but how, you might ask, does secular scholarship and technology provide such a boost? For one thing, Jews today can better disseminate the concepts of Chassidus using modern technology. The airwaves and other signals too carry this knowledge to all corners of the world. The big world is being networked together so the ultimate moment can easily be broadcast and appreciated far and wide. The unity sought for and to which physics is inching closer also renders the concept of G-d as One much more comprehendible. In this way, the world is being "fixed" from a secular perspective.

Ezriel - Reaching Out to Other Jews

Another story by the chassid that "works" the Kotel's tefillin stand.

My Hero!

by Gutman Locks

Ezriel is here in Jerusalem learning for the year. He comes from a large family in New York. He is the youngest of 13 children. His father is a rabbi in a shul (synagogue) and learns all day. His mother, besides raising the family, supports the family by running a kindergarten that has 70 children.

When he first told me that he is the youngest of 13, I said, “You must be really spoiled, having 12 older brothers and sisters.” He answered, “I used to have 12 extra people telling me what to do. Now that they are all married, I have 24.”

He comes from a Chassidic tradition, but not one that teaches reaching out to bring Jews to Torah. For some reason, when he would come late afternoon to daven (pray), he would stand by the tefillin stand and watch me bring Jews over to put on tefillin. I would speak to him, trying to get him to become involved:

I said, “If you saw a Jew whose donkey fell down, surely you would help him to pick it up. If you would help him to pick up his physical donkey, how much more so should you help him to pick up his spiritual donkey?”

Slowly, he began to help. At first, he would only hand me the tefillin for me to put on the people I brought in. Little by little he did more and more, until he learned to go ask Jews if they had put on tefillin, and bring them over and put tefillin on them.

Right before the holiday he told me he was upset. His father had asked him to go home for the holidays, and Ezriel wanted to stay in Jerusalem. I told him G-d was sending him to New York to help a particular Jew, and he had to keep his eye out for that Jew so he would not miss him. I said that he was the only one who would help that Jew.

He emailed me a couple of times, telling me he had not been able to find the Jew he was supposed to help. I told him to go out onto the street with his luluv (the four species for Succos) and walk around looking for him. He couldn’t find him.

When he went to the airport to return, he looked around -- last chance -- but no luck. He got on the plane, happy to be returning to Jerusalem, but a little sad he did not find that Jew he was supposed to help. He did not look forward to telling me he failed.

The plane had a three-hour stopover in Germany (of all places). He was in the airport lounge and saw a couple of Chabad boys looking for people to help, but they couldn’t find anyone. Then a passenger told him his tefillin were with his baggage and he could not get to them. He asked Ezriel if he could borrow his tefillin. Obviously, he was glad to lend them to him, but he thought, “Could this be the guy I went all the way to America to help?” It didn’t seem to be enough.

The man finished with the tefillin and returned them. Before Ezriel put them away, he saw another Jew sitting there, and asked him if he wanted to put them on. He said no; he was not interested.

Ezriel said, “Look, you have 3 hours to wait here in the airport. What else do you have to do?” The guy agreed and Ezriel helped him to put them on. Boy, was he happy. Then, when this one was finished, he looked around and found 3 more Jews who agreed to put on tefillin. Now he was flying!

He came up to me at the tefillin stand knowing that the last I heard from him was he was going to the airport to return to Jerusalem, without having found the Jew he was sent to help. Then, he told me what happened. I burst into laughter. Boy, was I happy. He made my day, and a few more days, too.

There is no better way to help the world than to bring someone to the love of G-d through a mitzvah.

An Incredible One Minute !! - America's Destruction is in High Gear

65 Years After Hiroshima

America, 65 years ago, in August 1945, dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Today, Hiroshima looks like this:

Here's what Detroit looks like 65 years after Hiroshima was bombed:

So what caused greater damage in the long run, the Atom Bomb or stimulus packages by American governments to buy the votes of those who wanted something for nothing?

America - it's time for some soul-searching and account-taking.

Professional Baseball at its Best

If you enjoy baseball, when the microseconds make the difference, and unrehearsed broadcasting, watch the few minutes of this half inning - until its very end!

(By the way, Mel Gibson is an anti-semitic American actor.)

The Power Behind Words

Gossiping to a 2nd person anything negative about a 3rd person, even in the latter's absence, transgresses the Jewish prohibition of "Lashon Hara" - or "bad mouthing" (even if truth is being told). One outcome of this transgression is it empowers the evil inclination of the 3rd person! In the battle between inclinations, the bad versus the good, the bad one thereby gains some advantage, whether or not that person even knows about it.

This demonstrates the enormous power inherent in speech. (Even thought has power to influence the environment, but that's another issue.)

If speaking negatively has this power of influence, then certainly this power holds true, that much more, when speaking about somebody's good features. It is for this reason our sages coined the axiom, "When mentioning a righteous individual, invoke his praise."

Last week's Torah portion, Noah, provides an example. The 1st verse reads, "These are Noah's descendants, Noah the righteous, the pure one in his generation, always walking the path sanctioned by G-d. Noah had 3 children ...." (Genesis 6, 9). See how Torah interjects praise of Noah, just after mention of his name, before his ancestry is again addressed.

But wait, you might ask, this isn't the first time Noah's name is mentioned in Torah; In fact, twice before his name is mentioned and neither time is any praise interjected thereafter?

The Rebbe explains - the context here is important. Noah was the sole individual in his generation who walked the righteous path. This was no easy accomplishment when everyone else trangressed the Noahide laws. He was the only one going against the grain. The Torah, by injecting praise here after the mention of his name, and not before, indicates that the power delivered from verbal invocation of his praise here, where he needed it most, had given Noah's good inclination the boost it needed to dominate over his evil inclination in his struggle to walk the straight path.

An Open Letter to the Continent of Europe(Kissing Europe Goodbye)

Europe, Prepare for the Flood

Open letter to Europeans, who killed Jews and are now contending with radical Islam

by Avi Rath

Good evening Europe!

Hello to you, dear continent. For a while now I've been meaning to write you a few words, as a close neighbor here in the Middle East who loves traveling through your beautiful landscape, and whose roots lie deep within the continent.

You were our home for thousands of years, and especially for the past 1,000 years. We've known good times of neighborly relations as well as economic, cultural and spiritual prosperity. Yet we had also known difficult days of hatred, expulsions, humiliation, and blood libels. Oh, did we ever know such days.

Somehow, we survived; both you and us. To our regret, and shamefully for you, we were not the ones who chose to end our affair with you, dear continent. We could have maintained neighborly relations and cooperation for many more years, yet for reasons of your own you chose to put an end to this partnership, literally.

The plan was formulated on your soil, the camps were built there and the trains traveled there; the graves were dug on your soil, and the blood flowed to your rivers. Within a short period of time, you cut off a significant, 1,000-year Jewish presence. You murdered and expelled millions of loyal Jewish citizens. You eliminated not only them, but also all their contributions to the culture, economy, art, humanities, academics, literature, medicine, education, commerce, banking, and life in general.

I've been meaning to write you for a long time, yet it hasn't worked out. However, this week, after seeing two things, I decided that I must say a few words.

First, I saw reports drafted by all sorts of demography and sociology experts, who claim that within a few years, you, Europe, will be turning Muslim. In some European states, 50% of all births at this time already are Muslim. If we add this to the low birthrates of non-Muslim Europeans, white, Christian Europe shall soon enough turn into a Muslim continent.

You are indeed trying to engage in rearguard battles against this phenomenon – against mosques in Switzerland, against burqas in France, against immigration, and against all sorts of other things. Yet you too realize that this train cannot be stopped. Nobody will be able to forbid a Muslim woman from putting on a veil. Indeed, the liberal, enlightened, and scantily-clad European women realize that a day may come where radical Islam gains enough strength to end the party.

The second thing I saw was the travel advisories issued by many states to warn their citizens against heading to Europe for fear of terrorism. Someone already noted (and it wasn't necessarily a Jew) that while not all Muslims are terrorists, for some reason most terrorists are Muslim.

Slowly, our dear continent, you are starting to understand what you're dealing with here. You are starting to understand the kind of religion and culture brought along by radical Islam. Suddenly, you discover hatred and the culture of martyrs, as well as intolerance and isolation, alienation in the face of real democracy, and the shunning of human and women's rights.

Suddenly, radical Islam is stuck like a bone in Europe's throat. You cannot eject it – because that would immediately raise cries of racism, human rights, and the usual babble – but you cannot swallow it either, because the white, democratic, liberal and Christian European culture cannot contain such radical cultural and religious elements. It will end with a major explosion, in more than one way.

Dear continent, there is no vacuum in the world. You expelled and exterminated us, and got the Muslim world instead. At first it was nice, getting a little Mideastern atmosphere and breeze, yet with the passage of time the radical Islamic storm arrived and now threatens to sweep you away, our dear neighbor.

Now you are starting to sleep in the bed you made. Suddenly you are discovering women wearing veils, zealous eyes, and mosques at every corner. Suddenly you need to contend with high birthrates, a culture with radical characteristics which you cultivated, and terrorism and violence which you ignored. You cannot deny this for much longer. The confrontation is already here. Unfortunately we are already experts on the issue, even though here too there is no shortage of naïve, self-righteous individuals.

The first time the Creator decided to raze the world as result of our conduct, he agreed to grant humanity another chance. He asked Noah to go into the ark in order to create a new basis for the world and produce a more decent humanity. The ark was the world's chance; a momentary shelter.

So dear Europe, will you be wise enough to prepare ahead of time a physical and cultural Noah's Ark in order to survive and preserve yourself? Or will your aggressiveness, arrogance, and hypocrisy not allow you to admit to the disaster you brought upon yourself, turning into a continent living on borrowed time?

Regards,

Your Jewish neighbor from the Middle East

(original here)

Japanese Synchrony

It's worth the 8 minute watch, because you've probably never seen something like this, although I can think of much better ways to spend so much time as it would take to perform in this show.

Floods in the Israeli Desert

This week we read about The Flood, in the year 2656 after creation (3,115 years ago), that wiped out Noah's generation.

Speaking of floods, they can happen - in a desert too! Here are two, in Israel. It looks harmless at first, but woe to he who underestimates its torrential power.

Noah's Ark

Noah's ark was no small chore to accomplish, especially because he undertook to do it all himself ("Build for you an ark …."). It's dimensions, in yards, were circa:

In length - 150 yards

In width - 25 yards

In height - 15 yards

To give you an idea of the real size of this boat, here's a very close approximation of it: Take a football field, and attach to it half of another football field (halved at the 50-yard line). The length and width of this extended field defines the floor of the ark. Then imagine you build a box on top of this area, with a height that's about as high a 3 goal posts one on top of the other.

At least he had 120 years (+ 7 days) to build it. [Rashi; Genesis 6,14]

(Why did G-d ask Noah to build the ark 120 years earlier? To raise the curiosity of by-passers who would ask, "What are you building?". Noah was then to answer, "G-d has decreed to destroy mankind by bringing a flood, because the people have transgressed by resorting to lewdness and robbery." And if they would ask, what wood are you using, he would say, "From the Gofer tree," and explain its significance: Making use of "Gofer" (can be rendered to mean "sulphur" in Hebrew) is another indication of pending destruction, implying it will be from the heat below. Just as their excessive transgressions have taken them to a state of lowliness, their destruction, too, will include a hot source from deep down.

After 120 years of such rumors in circulation, we can be sure the whole wide world in those days would have known and been forewarned about it. Because they ignored the warning and refused to mend their ways, the rest is history.

The additional 7 days [Genesis 7, 4] was to spare those mourning Metushelach the righteous, in whose honor the flood was delayed.)