March is Half Gone

March is half over and we had, an attack in Jerusalem, missile attacks from Gaza, a family slaughtered, a ship with 50 tons of weapons destined for Gaza. And how are these barbaric acts against Israel portrayed? Attenuated condemnation, if any, but always a way to denounce Israel.

As for America's leading role, come on! Let the man-child play. He takes his game seriously.

The Fogel Family Massacre - Revisited

Youtube and Facebook removed the Fogel film (below) 2 hours after it was posted! They figured a few Jewish lives in Itamar shouldn't get so many Muslims and others worked up or angry.

We came into this world to fix it. Everyone has with what to make this a better place for all. Everyone - except Amalek. That's the one exception; That's why Torah calls for Amalek's destruction. For no good, whatsoever, can ever come from their seed. The only "fix" for this source of evil is its utter destruction. The single redeeming value they have is to provide people with a model to reject.

We saw an example of this vile element two weeks ago. Only this beastly lowlife can sneak into one child's room, then into another, and stab the children repeatedly in the heart and slice their throats, while the children snuggle up in warm beds, sleeping or reading. The infant was stabbed most of all!

Don't think only these lowlifes who held the knives possess such depravity. The same worthless soul lives among many of their fellow citizens. Sure some exceptions exist, but most of these folk bubble with joy over such dastardly acts. They parade these killers as heroes, post their pictures in public limelight and grant them honorific titles, as "Shahidis".

A special TV program offers up praise for these murderers. They even have a ministerial position allocated to the cause, "Minister for Prisoner Issues", whose job it is to seek avenues of relief or release for these creatures if they are captured and imprisoned. They name streets or plazas in honor of this scum. And for what? For butchering men, women and children.

For public consumption they'll condemn the action, but you'll never hear from them a clear, emotional censure; You'll never hear them describe the act in terrible terms. At their best, you hear a begrudging response like, "It doesn't serve our interests" in "our struggle" with the Jewish state. Simultaneously they are busy inculcating their children to become murderers. There can be no peace with these people!

These murderers should be hanged. And another thing: To help stem this sort of horror, we have to ensure such acts serve the opposite effect. Instead of questioning the legitimacy of these settlements, build up a brand new one in honor of the fallen. Not by issuing a few hundreds permits to build - but by establishing a brand new settlement. And it is about time Israel annex and claim sovereignty over all "occupied" land, otherwise we continue to placate the enemy, local or abroad, giving them the notion this land is still negotiable, while frustrating Jews who want to settle it securely.

UPDATE One Year Later: LINK

Current World Events in Bright Perspective - Psalm 93's Prophecies

Psalm 93, authored by Moses (B. Basra 14b; Rashi), contains a prophecy relevant to our days. That is to say, 3,300 years ago, the world's greatest prophet foretold how the pre-Messianic era, our present period (as per The Lubavitcher Rebbe), will unfold. The Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, in August 1944 (הקריאה והקדושה), deciphered this Psalm's explanation - and added his own prophetic details of the events to take place. The brevity of these 5 verses is inversely proportional to its profundity.

In outline: The 1st third of the article nails down our current era as the period in question. The middle third predicts the sort of events we will witness, with specificity added by the Rebbe. The final third of the Psalm takes us further in time - into the Era of Redemption.

(Apropos, the 6 days of creation parallel the 6,000 years of prelude to the 7th, Sabbatical millennium. Our daily prayers include a single Psalm they used to sing every weekday in the Temple. Psalm 93 they reserved for Friday, singing it the day before Shabbat. Today, in year 5771, we are in "Friday's millennium", past "12:30 pm", on the eve of "Shabbat".)

Here follows a free-flowing translation of the Rebbe's article in Yiddish. (The highlighting is mine.)

ד' מלך גאות לבש

"Hashem is acknowledged as King when He vests Himself in supernatural grandeur."

Most people think the world runs on its own powers of Nature. Only when supernatural catastrophic events threaten the world with upheaval do they come to realize the greater force of Hashem in control. That's when people recognize the might of Hashem and call him "King". The Psalmist speaks of an era when mankind will acknowledge Hashem vested in supernatural grandeur, at which time He will be deemed "The King".

That this period will occur in the Messianic Era prior to the Era of Redemption, we learn from the next clause.

לבש ד' עוז התאזר

"Hashem will vest Himself in might that He had previously girded Himself with."

"Might" refers to Torah. Hashem had already girded Himself with the might of Torah when He first gave it to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. At that time, thunder and lightning struck so fiercely and frightfully that all mankind believed the world is doomed for destruction.

Among the Gentiles, at the time, only one prophet, Bilaam, knew better. He told his people, "G-d is giving might (which is Torah) to His people (Psalm 29, 11)".

The whole world at the time saw and heard the awesome and the supernatural. This was when Hashem first vested Himself with the might that is Torah. And, says the Psalmist, Hashem will once again vest Himself with this might. This is not a new might, but rather the original might of Torah; And this occasion will not be for a new purpose, but rather for the original purpose - to reinforce Torah, to cast it upon the world, again by demonstrating His dominion over Nature, to be acknowledged as "King". By again coming vested in the same force and for the same purpose ("G-d is giving might to His people."), although this time the whole world will accept Torah, this definitely nails down the period to the eve of Moshiach's arrival before the Era of Redemption.

אף תכון תבל בל תמוט

"The world will actually remain steadfast; It will not falter."

This forthcoming might to be unleashed will arrive - not for the sake of a flood or other catastrophe, as many will believe. The world will remain steadfast, without ruin, only now the Jewish nation and Torah will once again be uplifted. There will be a second "G-d is giving might to His people".

נכון כסאך מאז, מעולם אתה

"Your throne is prepared from long ago, from the universe that is You!"

Since creation, that You alone build, You have already prepared the royal seat. In fact, the entire purpose of creation was to anchor Torah in the Jewish people. As Rashi (Genesis 1,1) stated, "The whole purpose of creation was for the sake of the Jewish people." Already at the world's outset Hashem established that He will arrive vested in might to strengthen Torah. His second appearance vested in supernatural power will come, not to destroy the world, but to strengthen Torah, and so, "It will happen that Hashem will be deemed King of the entire world (Zechariah. 14, 9)." And when will that be? Once the world accepts the Jewish nation, through whom the world will acquire Torah.

נשאו נהרות ד', נשאו נהרות קולם, ישאו נהרות דכים

"The rivers will uplift Hashem, the rivers will raise their sound, the rivers will raise their tumult."

Because of the rivers' tumult, their sounds will be heard and Hashem will thus be uplifted. This can mean only one thing: That Hashem's uplifting will occur by the storminess of the rivers prior to the Era of Redemption. How so? Once the tumult hits, the raucous will raise the voices of man and stir them to recognize Hashem's greatness - thus "the rivers will uplift Hashem."

The tumultuous rivers will wreak much havoc in the world, as, for example, the drowning of an entire nation, or more than its half. Victims of this devastation will experience a change of heart, for they will come to realize their predicament as divine punishment. And quite possibly this will affect the entire world's politics through a whole chain of events that will happen as a direct consequence of the submerged country.

Anyhow, prior to the Redemption, a great stormy water event shall happen. This will lead the world to tremble, and then to a turnaround that will uplift Hashem. This is the meaning of "the rivers will uplift Hashem" and that "the rivers will raise their sound".

מקולות מים רבים, אדירים משברי ים; אדיר במרום ד'!י

"From the sounds of many waters, mighty shall be the breakage caused by the ocean, and mighty will be deemed Hashem in heaven."

The end result of these stormy water events will be to break land-based might; to break world mights by sea - followed by unanimous turnaround of man to acknowledge the Almighty above.

עדתיך נאמנו מאד, לביתך נאוה קדש; ד' לארך ימים!י

"Those bearing witness for You will be sincerely believed; For Your Temple, holiness is befitting. May Hashem maintain this for long years."

This holy prophet concludes his prophecy with what mankind's turnaround will accomplish. Gentiles will testify to the detailed accuracy of all of the Bible's prophets, concerning Hashem and Jewish redemption. This means the Era of Redemption will be a fact and Jews will again have back the Land of Israel** and the Temple. And that all Gentiles will be drawn to this land, to learn about the ways of Hashem; Otherwise the phrase "those bearing witness for You" would be untrue. The Gentiles will also say "For Your Temple, holiness is befitting," meaning to say, the Divine Presence will, as it had in the past, once again rest in the Temple. The Gentiles will also proclaim "Hashem is forever." This implies Jews will experience full-fledged peace, and no nation will harbor anti-semitic thoughts.

Although its words are sparing, this Psalm embraces the entire redemption period - the eve of the redemption, as well as the era in the end of days. The main event that will introduce the redemption will be an awesome water tumult that will display Hashem's might, which will transform mankind's mindset. This very water tumult will define the commencing phase of the Era of Redemption. Then the honor of Hashem, or of His Torah, or of the Jewish nation will be uplifted until all of the prophecies in the Holy Bible will be tangible and supreme peace will reign over all the world.

We need only wait for the great water tumult to arrive, which will force all nations to admit "Hashem is King!" and that it is no natural catastrophe but rather a divine intervention.

** Even in 1944 there was no formal country called "Israel" yet.

Massacre at Itamar, Israel- The Fogel Family

G-d, help us! The pain of being Jewish is sometimes heart-wrenching. Such a great people, such a great nation, yet we have to suffer continually from the world's meanest, most brutal elements, like Arab haters, or like American, cold-calculating pseudo-intellectual haters (e.g., owners of the New York Times) (whom Melanie Phillips calls "armchair barbarians"). What happened to the Fogel family this Shabbat we've suffered for over two millennia, and just when the wound almost heals, another tragedy rips the sore wide open again. What does G-d want from us? 6 million Jews - wasn't that enough? Now 123 children since 2000. Still not enough?

You haven't read about this horror story in the mainstream news. It went unreported for two days, and then either short-scripted out of the headlines, or couched in justifiable terminology. As Jews and Israelis, we are but scapegoats for their sinister agendas. This family was butchered by sub-human creatures; By those who use their own children as shields in times of war with Israel, after provoking the latter. They are those who hand out or accept candies when such atrocities succeed. These people are the scum of the earth.

To add salt to the wound, we have Israeli "leaders" who crave to negotiate a "peace" with this worst element of the human race.

Here's an article by Dr. Phyllis Chesler on this tragedy.

UPDATE: Clip of Fogel family at play in better times:

Courtesy: Arutz 7 & Gruntig.net

UPDATE! 33% of "Palestinians" happy for the massacre (Link)

A Soldier's Story of 20 years Ago

Purim Saddam

By Tzvi Jacobs

"Hi, Mom. Got my orders today," David Zuk said. "I'm going to Saudi. I have to leave first thing tomorrow morning.

"Oh, no," his mother said, her "no" echoing in her 20-year old son's head.

"I was assigned to the 101st," David said with a sinking voice, as he slumped against the glass wall of the phone booth. "I almost cried when they told me."

The 101st Airborne Division, nicknamed the "Screaming Eagles," fought on the front lines during all the wars: World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and Viet Nam. Only a fraction of the early ranks had ever returned alive.

David's mother tried to find encouraging words for her only son, but it was hard. She had never been able to get used to her son's unpredictable life choices. When he was 16, he had become involved with Orthodox Jews and made himself separate from the family by eating only kosher. Two years later when he joined the Army, she just about gave up. Now, upon hearing this ominous news, all she could think was, "I told you so."

The Gulf War had broken out a month earlier, on January 17, 1991. David knew he would be on the front lines, facing the open jaws of the ravenous war. "They said we'll be there at least a year," David said, not knowing when he would see her next. "Take care, Mom. I love you," he added faintly,

David closed the door of the phone booth and ambled back to his barrack. Gazing at the snow-covered hills surrounding Fort Knox Army Base in northwestern Kentucky, he was awe-struck by their quiet beauty, as if seeing them for the first time. He wondered if he would ever see them again. He thought of the preposterous story circulating around the army base that someone had predicted the war would end by Purim, the Jewish holiday instituted to thank and praise G-d for saving the Jewish people from a decree of annihilation some 2,300 years ago.

Read the whole story, here.

Miracles in Gaza

Conventional Medicine Rejects the Main Cause of Disease

We spoke earlier of "The Main Cause of Disease", as per our sages.

A major problem with "conventional" medical outlook today is, it looks at symptoms and "attacks" the symptoms as if symptoms were the disease - instead of determining the root of the problem.

If a person has a cancerous tumor, for example, which is a symptom, they seek to treat the tumor, as if the tumor itself were the disease, when in fact the tumor is not the real problem. The real problem is why the body became so toxic that it lost its ability to regenerate normal growth. Normally, the body, when relatively healthy, attacks and destroys wayward growth.

Perhaps a more common situation, more clearly explains the present rut. Suppose a person goes to the doctor suffering from a cold, with a congested nose. The doctor says, "Oh, you have nasal congestion, let me prescribe for you an anti-histamine." But dear reader, the congestion is a symptom, not the problem. The body, in trying to excrete waste products or toxic substances, sometimes tryies to remove these through the mucous membranes. That's why it's congested. So if congestion is the body's way of taking care of itself, why then should we interfere with this symptomatic healing process? It's best to leave it alone. Certainly not to consider it an ailment that needs treatment.

Similarly, if someone has a cough. That's the body's way of trying to eject an offensive irritant. Should we then take cough syrup to cover up this symptom, or should we try and help the body remove the irritant? But today's doctors look at coughs, congestion - or tumors, as if these symptoms are the problem - when in fact they are only reactions to the real problem. Today's conventional medicine has it all backwards. Which is, by the way, why most tumors regrow despite prior conventional therapy (especially if the patient sticks with his original, poor diet).

Imagine you have outside your house a rat problem. What would you do? You can go outside and put down traps or take a pellet gun and shoot them. Will that solve your problem? Of course not! You can keep shooting them, but they'll keep showing up, despite their losses. Why? Because you haven't corrected the root of the problem; You haven't cleaned up the garbage they come to rummage in! But were you to clean up the mess outside the house, you'll not see rats anymore.

This is how "modern, conventional" medicine tackles disease today. They look for symptoms and "shoot at them", instead of seeking the root of the problem. If a patient has high blood pressure, they give drugs to lower the pressure. If the patient develops high blood sugar, they prescribe insulin. If the patient develops arthritis, they offer pain killers. Then if patients show blockage of their cardiac arteries, they quickly jump to perform surgical bypass.

People fall for this approach without realizing that - that which created the hypertension, diabetes, arthritis and atherosclerosis - still remains in the body, and still causes problems. The patient, internally, with the additional toxicity of the medicines, is only getting worse, not better. (Assuming the patient remains on the bad diet that brought him to his sorry state in the first place.)

Never once, during all these doctor visits of our hypothetical patient, did the doctor seek to determine what brought on the disease. Never once did the doctor ask his patient what he eats. Never did the doctor, in fact, make the connection of the disease with what the person eats because, according to his mindset, nutrition has nothing to do with disease.

I can show you many letters from doctors who wrote me in response to a question of mine regarding nutritional therapy, saying nutrition has nothing to do with sickness. Well if not, what then causes most disease? Most of these doctors really don't know. They "know" nutrition has nothing to do with disease, that they "know". But what, in fact, causes disease - this they admit they don't know. Frankly it's to be expected because in all their years at medical school, doctors never once took (or can take - because it's not offered) a basic course in nutrition. They are too proud, so they scoff at news of alternative therapies that actually work. That's why you have the following absurd situation: When a patient develops cancer, for example, they prescribe chemotherapy, and then, during the treatment period, they tell their patients they can continue eating what they've been eating until now.

Recently I saw a cancer patient in his house, a few weeks before he passed away, drinking black coffee while conversing with a friend. At the time he could barely walk a straight line, was pale, weak and sickly. Another member of the community, with "multiple sclerosis", claims to be treated by the "best doctors" in the "very best hospital" (maybe he meant ornate), taking an injection (of a "special medicine") every day for the past 3 or 4 years. What's the outcome of this "great treatment"? The results are open for all to see: This poor guinea pig went from walking with a tingle in his leg, to an unsteady gait, to walking with crutches, then with a wheeled walker, and now you barely see him because he probably can hardly get up. Had he taken no medicine at all, he'd have been better off for sure.

The problem is - people still cannot make the logical connection between disease and food intake; They do not yet realize their chronic degenerative disease directly relates to what they put into their body. It's so simple, yet so elusive. Why? Because our medical establishment steered this culture and conspired against it in the last 100 years to break that natural, logical connection.

Is it any wonder doctors' offices and pharmacies are constantly flooded with clientele? Is it any wonder cancer and other degenerative diseases are on the rise? Is it any wonder no cures yet exist for these, only "treatments" that last a lifetime? Is it any wonder more jobs are filled doing cancer "research" than there are cancer patients? Is it any wonder those who discover or provide curative therapies are legislatively hounded and forced out of practice, or out of the country? Is it any wonder government colludes with these big money-makers who lavish heavy bribes? Is it any wonder "charities" keep raking in billions for cancer, yet kindheartedness to people goes unheeded? Is it any wonder anything other than poisoning (=chemotherapy), burning (=radiation) and mutilation (=surgery) is illegal therapy against cancer in the USA today?

The Woman's Role in Judaism

A Yemenite Jewish Man

When a Woman Puts On Tefillin

by Gutman Locks

When a woman puts on tefillin [phylacteries], or wears a yalmulka [a man’s head covering] or tzitzit [a man’s fringed garment], her spiritual life becomes confused.

I am not addressing the aggressive Jewish women who wear these objects just to show men they cannot be told what to do.

Here, I am addressing the sincere, but confused, Jewish woman who looks over at the men’s side of the synagogue, and sees men davening [praying] with tallises [prayer shawls] and tefillin and thinks, “That looks so uplifting. I would like to increase my spiritual awareness, too.” So, she secretly takes her father’s or her brother’s tefillin and quietly wraps them on her arm. What happens to her?

When a woman tries to fulfill herself with a man’s spiritual role, if she is “successful” she will pull herself away from the particular role she was created to fulfill.

Jewish men have certain needs Jewish women do not have. For instance, a male can very easily become extremely excited just through his imagination. A woman requires more physicality. This is not merely a physical or an emotional characteristic since the physical and emotional reflect the spiritual.

Women want to be wanted. This is a strong part of their makeup. Men do not particularly want to be wanted. Men WANT!

Men are more competitive and aggressive by nature, so learning Gemora [Talmud] engages these characteristics. Competition and aggression are not primary needs for a woman.

Given these differences, among many others, each gender has been given spiritual solutions to satisfy his or her needs.

Tefillin do elevate the soul. So how does a woman receive this essential spiritual elevation? She receives it from her husband, and from her sons, when they put on their tefillin.

A Jewish marriage is not two equal partners coming together to form a balanced partnership. A Jewish marriage is two halves coming together to form a single one. Each contributes his or her share, according to their nature and abilities so the whole will excel.

It would not be unusual for a woman who excels in learning Gemora, and loves to put on tefillin, to want to forgo the bother of having children, because children would take her away from the spiritual things she loves to do. Where would this leave the Jewish people? Not to mention those souls who are waiting to come into life through that Jewish woman.

Regarding a woman's role in Judaism - Beyond the above brief anectode, if you have the patience while Torah depth unfolds before you, I suggest a lecture by Rabbi Y.Y. Jacobson that shines light on a woman's unique, essential perspective. A lofty kabbalistic concept becomes easy to comprehend by the beautiful metaphor of the mirror versus the window; And he explains why women's mirrors were built into the basin that stood before the Temple's Sanctuary, whose waters sanctified every Kohain who entered the sanctuary. (Link)

Impressive Won-Lost Record

Elijah Tears Into Reform Judaism

A View of Reform Judaism

This week's Haftara relates how Eliyahu the prophet, before an assembly of all the Jews, rebukes a segment of them. He says, "How much longer will you straddle the fence? If you want to worship Hashem, then do so; And if you want to worship the foreign god, then do that!"

Notice what Eliyahu is saying, for his precise words may be mistaken for speaking colloquially. Eliyahu is telling these people that even idol worship is better than straddling the fence! You'd think he'd attack the idolators, but instead he directs his anger at the reformers.

This is amazing because idolatry and monotheism diametrically oppose each other, so much so that idolatry counters everything Judaism stands for. Why does would Eliyahu unleash his contempt on fence straddlers when idolaters you'd think are far worse?

Maimonides asks this question: How is it, if Hashem despises any other gods before Him, that religions that worship false gods or false prophets are given freedom to do so? Answers Maimonides, because Hashem tolerates them for they at least strive to live by the truth! Yes they follow a path diametrically opposed to the right direction, but at least their mindset is anchored in spiritual integrity; Once these people will (eventually) be shown the truth, on a moment's notice they will turn around and align themselves with the correct faith.

Which is untrue of those who straddle the fence. These people dip into the Jewish pool when its suits them, and walk the idolatrous terrain when it suits them. Such people seek convenience more than they seek truth. For them spirituality plays second fiddle to self-satisfaction (or self-worship). These people delude themselves into thinking they are "good Jews" because, after all, much of what they do is congruous with Jewish observance. As for what they do otherwise, their love of self easily rationalizes away those annoyances. These are people whom logic cannot easily budge. Much like a sick person who doesn't recognize he's ill.

If this weren't bad enough, worse still is another effect these people have. They may influence others who lack insight or knowledge. For straddlers cannot be easily identified as idolaters. A Jew realizes idol worship clashes with Judaism, but he may not detect the hidden agenda of his straddler friend. It is for this reason gentile missionaries primarily prey on targets weak on Judaism - under the guise of a Jewish facade!

Who are these straddlers, these "double-dippers" of today? Every generation has them, it seems. In the past, these were the Sadducees, the Hellenists and the Haskalah. Today they are the "Reformists", whether their schools of thought is "Conservative", "Reform" or "Reconstructionist". These wre the people Eliyahu rebuked, to either quit their brand of Judaism entirely or adopt the genuine thing without compromise. Either accept Hashem or don't - but don't turn Judaism into a half-donkied religion!

The Main Cause of Disease

What is the number one cause of ill health in man?

The answer, from The Code of Jewish Law (chpt 32, law 3), may surprise you: "Most disease suffered by man comes from, and from none other than, bad foods, or from filling his belly even with good foods." Note the strong tenor of the assertion. The basis for this ruling comes from Maimonides who stated (De'ot 4, 15), "Most illnesses that afflict man are caused by harmful foods or by overeating, even of healthful foods."

In other words, illness comes from what a person puts into his mouth.

As simple as this sounds, if you think Western culture believes it, think again:

Most people, including most doctors, believe germs cause sickness. This is in direct contradiction to what the Code of Jewish Law asserts, namely that food is the main problem, yet medicine prefers germ theory. This has exceptionally significant ramifications, for if intake of food is the real problem, it follows that a proper dietary regimen could cure or reverse the problem, whereas the germ theory of disease suggests an entirely different approach, in fact one that leaves the bad food habits in place!

In fact, medicine today totally denies the Jewish Law or its implications regarding the healing of illness or seeking cures.

People who are sick, who then visit a doctor who prescribes a pill or a shot, who then put that medicine into their bodies - do so without realizing this "food" they take into them is unnatural and cannot be considered "good", yet the doctor pushes the drug, or the patient swallows the pill, without thinking twice. Depending on the diagnosis, this "treatment" could be an occasional one, or, with degenerative disease, more likely a lifelong "diet".

For the last 100 years, or so, conventional medicine rejected the wisdom of Maimonides. There were doctors in America before that who, in fact, did follow the wisdom of Maimonides, even if they never knew of this sage. To their credit, they derived the knowledge on their own.

Dr. J.H. Tilden, a doctor who practiced medicine for more than 70 years, and lived until the age of 91, wrote in 1921, "The commonest cause of disease is, first, last, and all the time, overindulgence of appetites and passions". Notice how forcefully he states what the Jewish Code of Law also emphatically asserts.

In the late 1800's Louis Pasteur promoted the germ theory of disease. In contrast, Antoine Beauchamp, his contemporary, said, "The primary cause of disease is in us, always in us". In other words, the primary problem was the milieu, the biological terrain. That germs take advantage of this situation is a secondary aspect of the disease.

Whatever the historical reasons, Pasteur's viewpoint overshadowed Beauchamp's and became the holy grail of medical perspective in the West. It prevails until today. Medical education never even broaches a view other than what the establishment prescribes. In fact, the medical curriculum in a U.S. medical school never includes a course in nutrition! Moreover, any attempt to move away from the prevalent viewpoin, to provide therapy based on other premises, immediately draws intense retribution by the powers that be, thus discouraging "unconventional" or alternative medical practice.

Contrast the approach of today's doctor with that of Dr. Tilden, who says:
"As a refutation of the necessity for all the so-called remedies carried into the sick-room - surgery, drugs, prescriptions, vaccination, serum injections; faith, suggestion, and mind cures; the laying on of hands, and every other device known and used as remedial - I offer my simple methods; namely, that of taking nothing into the sick-room, and of doing nothing that can be likened to the modern conception of healing. My methods are devoid of any suggestion of mysticism or supernaturalism, and are not above the understanding of the most commonplace mind, unless its simplicity appears uncanny to distorted understandings.

"I go into the sick-room without a so-called remedy, and, what is best of all, without the need of one. There is no faith cure offered; there is no hocuspocus, legerdemain, nor play on the superstition or credulity of the patient. There is nothing resorted to which may give the impression that unusual or supernatural power is to be used.

"After getting the history of the case, I explain how the patient happened to get sick, how his life differs from nature's requirements, and how he may get well. No drugs, no manipulations - nothing but keep still and don't build disease by foolish acts of mind or body!

"When cause is known, the remedy will be self-suggested to the most commonplace mind. This being as fundamental as truth always is … ." [From his book: Impaired Health: Its Cause and Cure.]

As I said, Dr. Tilden arrived at his understanding of medical disease from pure, rational thought. Let's listen in on some of his wisdom:

"There is no question about the necessary and beneficial action of the bacteria that are in us and about us all the time. The germs that infest our bodies, our food, our atmosphere, our soil, are necessary to our existence. If they were not, they would not be there. Nature never stultifies herself; there is a reason for everything, and that reason is backed by the logic of the Absolute.

"The weakest point in modern medical science is its teachings on bacteriology. It teaches that germs cause disease. If that could be proved, it would establish demonology [as if Hashem acts as a demon], and chaos would reign supreme."

Why germs are necessary we can answer another time. But for now, it should be apparent that germ theory of disease survives not because it's the correct view, but in spite of it.

The Real Shape of the Holy Temple's Menorah

We spoke earlier of the error being propagated by incorrectly portraying the Tablets of the Ten Commandments as rounded at their top (until today, even in orthodox circles), when in fact their front and back surfaces were squares, while their 4 sides were rectangular.

(Dimensions: 1 x 1 x .5 cubits)

Also commonly distorted is the shape of the Menorah of the Holy Temple. Here too the mistake is that they curve or round out the branches, when, in fact - they were straight! Maimonides, in his work on Mishnayot (Menachot 3:7), includes therein his own drawing of the Menorah (see accompanying draft). Rashi too confirms this opinion (Ex. 25, 32).

The Menorah's popular image, with curved branches, originates from the Menorah engraved in the Arch of Titus, in Rome. Titus, the Roman general who conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the second Holy Temple, built this gate to commemorate his illustrious victory.

His craftsmen, however, rendered an inaccurate replica of it; Perhaps because they only retained a general idea of what it looked like. Or because they had many candelabras in their booty and chose one of these others to depict in their sculpture.

Update:
Archeological evidence of the diagonal form of the menorah's 7 branches can be found here.

A Lesson of the Cherubs

Picture by Yoram Raanan

The Cherubs ("Kruvim") atop the Holy Ark were a pair of winged figurines with the "face of a child", says Rashi (Ex. 25, 18). This isn't the first time Cherubs are mentioned in Torah. The first mention of them is when Hashem placed them before the entrance to The Garden of Eden, to prevent Adam and Eve from re-entering and eating of the Tree of Life. These Cherubs, says Rashi, were "Angels of Terror" (Gen. 3, 24). How could Rashi ascribe antithetical definitions to the same term?

The lesson is that, in fact, they are one and the same, only that opposite characteristics emerge from different upbringings, as these two contexts suggest. If the upbringing rests upon a holy foundation, children grow up to become angelic; But if brought up spoiled by giving them most of what their hearts desire, they become demonic.

Let's recall the story of Adam. He was intelligent, handsome, had a gorgeous wife, lived in Eden among the finest and largest selection of delicious fruits, was meant to live eternally, with the whole world as his domain. Only one small constraint limited his freedom - he was told not to eat the fruit of one tree out of thousands.

That little challenge proved to be his downfall.

Similarly, a child raised to get everything he wants, will in the end lose everything he has because the smallest restriction he cannot tolerate will take him down. He will become egotistic, haughty, abusive and have no friends. On the other hand, the same child, if brought up to hold dear the holiness of Torah and its restrictions, will end up being a source of goodness to everyone around him.

From where the Cherubs were atop the Holy Ark, the voice of Hashem emanated to reach the ears of Moses. In contrast, the Cherubs guarding the Garden of Eden had swords swinging in their hands.

Our sages ask (Chulin 139b) "Where is there a hint of (the evil) Haman in Torah?" They answer, referring to the words of Hashem in rebuking Adam, "Have you eaten from the tree I forbade you to eat from?" The Hebrew words "from the" spell out "Haman".

Our sages (Sota 9b) list 10 people in Tanach who lost everything they had because they could not accept the slightest restriction confronting them. One was Haman.

Haman was the viceroy of the King of Persia, whose empire embraced 127 nations. Haman had a large family, including ten sons. He was extremely wealthy. People were ordered by the king to bow down to Haman when he passed by. You could say he lacked nothing.

But one small thing Haman did not have. It angered him that one old man, the Jew Mordechai, refused to budge when he passed by. "Everything I have is as good as worthless," he complained to his wife, "because that [old man] Mordechai won't bow down to me." (Esther 5, 13) This emotional anguish consumed him so he plotted to destroy Mordechai, who in the end, ended up with everything Haman had, and Haman was hanged.

Based on this fine lecture by Rabbi YY Jacobson.

Keen Insight into a Marxist Movement by Michael Savage

A very interesting hypothesis has been put forward by the eminent Michael Savage of the Savage Nation Radio Show. He says, this protest in Egypt (and elsewhere in the Mideast) was anything but "spontaneous", as the media would have you believe. Rather, it was years in the making!

His idea is that the despotic movement that Hussein O. represents wants turmoil in Egypt to create a crisis from which money can be made by his backers, like Soros. Turmoil in the Middle East is a perfect situation for these conspirators.

(We saw how Hussein O. came out in support of the Moslem Brotherhood; We read that Ayers and others of his Marxist friends had been to Egypt earlier; We read how someone in his cabinet met with this terrorist organization in Washington; We note how the high echelon of Mubarak's military were here while the protests were going on, teased into staying in the U.S. an extra day or two, while behind their backs protests were being encouraged, so army intervention to help Mubarak could be harnessed. We note how antagonistic Hussein O. is to the stabilizing force that Israel is.)

You can read the article here.

Jon Voight Assesses Jonathan Pollard's Case