Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Terumah
Rabbi Mordechai Sitorsky
Parashat Terumah: Preparation for Purim
~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~
Today...ECCLESIA ET SYNAGOGA, the name given to the symbolic representations in Christian art of the Middle Ages of the victorious Church and defeated Synagogue, symbolizing the triumph of Christianity. The representation is often found in medieval Christian manuscript art. It also became a conventional decoration in many medieval churches, especially in France, England, and Germany, and took the form of two graceful female figures, usually on the outside of the building. The Church is shown erect and triumphant, bearing a cross; the Synagogue is usually blindfolded and dejected, bearing a broken staff and sometimes decorated with the Tables of the Ten Commandments symbolizing the Old Testament. The best known statues of this type are on the exterior of the cathedrals of Strasbourg and Bamberg. They are also found in Rheims, Paris, and Bordeaux. In England, they figure, generally in a mutilated condition, in Rochester, Lincoln, Salisbury, and Winchester. The representation of the blindfolded synagogue was paradoxically reflected even in Jewish manuscript art: as for example in the miniature of the blindfolded Torah with her spouse, the People of Israel, in a 14th-century manuscript prayer book (Hamburg, Cod. Lev. 37; possibly having a symbolic meaning, representing the Torah and the People of Israel). (Source)
Some might see the second depiction as an improvement over the first, but that would be a mistake...In 2015, Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia commissioned a large sculpture by Joshua Koffman showing the pair in harmony. The sculpture is aimed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Declaration Nostra aetate. Both personifications wear crowns and hold their respective Holy Scriptures, the pair suggesting the notion of learning one from another. The final, bronze cast version of the sculpture was blessed by Pope Francis at St Joseph´s University in September 2015. (Source)
This "meeting halfway" is accomplished by Christians "embracing" [their Christianized idea of] the "Torah" and the Jews accepting the "Jewish messiah." How has anything really changed??? Practically speaking, it hasn't! This is just assimilation with tallit and tefillin and a kippah or headscarf!In the future, Esau will wrap himself in a tallis, sit down next to Yakov and say to him, "You are my brother"....Yakov will say to him, "My brother, you will not be like me. I will lead you to death, I will be the pestilence that leads you to Sheol (Hoshea 13,14). Had I upheld decrees that you promulgated against me, I would have been guilty at the eyes of Heaven. Had I violated them, you would have killed me (Yalkut Shimoni, Yirmiahu 333).
"That was Esau's intention when he told Yakov, 'Let us travel together and I will go before you' (Genesis 33,12). He wanted them to join together in both this world and the world to come, to meet each other halfway, with each modifying his conduct until they were alike (Yalkut Shimoni, Genesis 133).
"...Our hearts are to see friendship and cooperation built between Jews and Christians and we believe Biblical Zionism is the way to our collective better future."And who is promoting it but Har Brachah Rabbi Eliezer Melamed's favorite "righteous" gentiles - Waller Family and Friends of HaYovel fame.
"In recognition that world peace is impossible without peace first between Christians and Jews, we lay forth these principles which can serve to unite Christians and Jews on grounds held common by all Biblical Zionists."Unfortunately, having only really known the "Messianic" houses of avodah zarah and having only learned at the feet of the Erev Rav "Jews", they are so ignorant of authentic Judaism that they have no clue about the unbreachable chasm that divides real Jews from them.
"The Mount is not in our hands." All you can say to that is, "Duh!!"Tom Nissani, chairman of the Students for the Temple Mount movement, said in response to the incident: “The arrest and handcuffing of a former Israeli MK immediately after a tour with US Congress members emphasizes our shameful position on the Temple Mount — the Mount is not in our hands.” (Source)
They know that they can give us everything else, but if they hold back the Temple Mount, they can prevent the redemption. This was the most important and most distressing part of a very disturbing document, but hey! We gotta take whatever Evil Uncle Eisav will allow, no? I mean, who runs this world anyway??!!Despite a 1967 agreement between Jordan and Israel deeming Jordan as the official “custodian” of Al-Aqsa, Palestinians have long feared and fought against Israeli attempts to change the status quo at the site, citing frequent Israeli police raids and the presence of right-wing settlers.[Trump's] plan suggests that the current agreement between Israel and Jordan remain in place, and “the status quo at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif should continue uninterrupted.”
Asia stocks fall as economic impact of coronavirus weighs on markets
Coronavirus: How it impacts your money
THE COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS AND ITS ECONOMIC IMPACT (UPDATED 18TH FEB.)
Coronavirus could impact 5 million companies worldwide, new research shows
- A special briefing issued by global business research firm Dun & Bradstreet analyzed the Chinese provinces most impacted by the virus, and found they are intricately linked to the global business network.
- Almost half (49%) of the companies with subsidiaries in impacted regions are headquartered in Hong Kong, while the U.S. accounts for 19%, Japan 12% and Germany 5%.
Again, somebody knew what they were doing when they chose this area for the release of a virus which has now been shown to be very mild in children and deadly to the elderly. What's more, the control they've been wielding over people's freedom of movement is practice and preparation for when people discover the real truth about their future.
- Dun & Bradstreet researchers found that at least 51,000 companies worldwide, 163 of which are in the Fortune 1000, have one or more direct or “tier 1” suppliers in the impacted region.
Extreme tailwinds helped 3 planes break records flying from New York to London in under 5 hours
Twin bomb cyclones to merge into one of strongest-ever storms in North Atlantic, hammering Iceland and threatening Britain as Storm Dennis
A potentially unprecedented scenario is unfolding in the North Atlantic on Friday, as a bomb cyclone batters Iceland with hurricane-force winds and blizzard conditions, just as another bomb cyclone, known as Storm Dennis, rapidly intensifies behind it. Ultimately, the two storms will enter into a complex dance around each other before combining into one atmospheric behemoth, with a minimum central air pressure that could rank among the top three most intense storms ever observed in the stormy North Atlantic Basin.[See also: "Climate Change"]
Headline: 10 Feb 2020 - Solar Orbiter launches on mission to reveal Sun's secrets
Headline: 4 Dec 2019 - Parker probe kicks off a golden age for solar explorationAccording to our sources...
The Sheath of the SunSources in Tanach confirm the role of the sun at the End of Days...
The Midrash states that “there is a sheath around the sun” and explains this to be the meaning of the verse: “He has set up a tent for the sun” (Psalms 19:5). This sheath is mentioned in several places in the Sages’ writings, in which they imply that were it not for its existence, life on earth would suffer terribly and perhaps even perish.
Isaiah 13
6 Lament, for the day of the Lord is near; like a raid from the Almighty it shall come.
7 Therefore, all hands shall grow feeble, and the heart of every mortal shall melt.
8 And they shall panic; pangs and throes shall seize them; like a woman in confinement they shall writhe; each man shall be amazed at his fellow; their faces are faces of flames.
9 Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, cruel with wrath and burning anger, to make the land desolate, and its sinners He shall destroy from it.
10 For the stars of the heavens and its constellations shall not allow their light to illuminate, the sun has become dark in its going forth, and the moon shall not shine its light.
11 And I will visit evil upon the earth, and upon the wicked their iniquity; and I will cut off the pride of the presumptuous, and the arrogance of the tyrants I will humble.
12 I will make mortal man dearer than fine gold, and man [dearer] than the collection of the gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore, I will make heaven quake, and the earth will quake out of its place, because of the anger of the Lord of Hosts, and on the day of His burning wrath.
Isaiah 30
26 And the light of the moon shall be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold as the light of the seven days, on the day the Lord shall bind the fracture of His people, and the stroke of their wound He shall heal.
Joel 3
3 And I will perform signs in the heavens and on the earth: Blood, fire, and pillars of smoke.
4 The sun shall turn to darkness, and the moon to blood, prior to the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
5 And it shall come to pass that whoever shall call in the name of the Lord shall be delivered, for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be a deliverance, as the Lord said, and among the survivors whom the Lord invites.
Amos 8
9 And it shall come to pass on that day, says the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to set at midday, and I will darken the land on a sunny day.
Malachi 3
19 For lo, the sun comes, glowing like a furnace, and all the audacious sinners and all the perpetrators of wickedness will be stubble. And the sun that comes shall burn them up so that it will leave them neither root nor branch, says the Lord of Hosts.
20 And the sun of mercy shall rise with healing in its wings for you who fear My Name....
...Many fundamentalist Christian groups have adopted the idea of creationism, a teaching based on the literal interpretation of the Bible. Of course, since gentiles do not take the Oral Torah into consideration, their approach is certain to be very different than ours. Moreover, many of their arguments have been very effectively refuted by some of the best scientific minds. That Orthodox Jews should align themselves with such groups is both dangerous and anti-Torah.
Sabbatical Cycles
The only choice remaining is to look into our classical Torah literature and determine whether there are any pertinent statements regarding the age of the universe. Significantly, there is a very important, though not well known, concept that is discussed in the Sefer ha-Temunah, an ancient Kabbalistic work attributed to the first-century tanna, Rabbi Nehunya ben ha-Kanah. ...[It] speaks about Sabbatical cycles (shemitot). This is based on the Talmudic teaching that "the world will exist for six thousand years, and in the seven-thousandth year, it will be destroyed." The Sefer ha-Temunah states that this seven-thousand-year cycle is merely one Sabbatical cycle. However, since there are seven Sabbatical cycles in a Jubilee, the world is destined to exist for forty-nine thousand years.
There is a question as to which cycle we are in today. ...According to Sefer ha-Temunah, then, there were other worlds before Adam was created. These were the worlds of previous Sabbatical cycles.
...The concept of pre-Adamic cycles was well known among the RIshonim (early authorities), and is cited in such sources as Bahya, Recanati, Ziyyoni, and Sefer ha-Chinuch. It is also alluded to in the Kuzari, and in the commentaries of the Ramban and Ibn Ezra.
"After these troubles awaken upon Israel, all the nations and their kings will seek counsel together against them. They will awaken several evil sentences, unite against them, and trouble after trouble will come, and the last makes the first forgotten. Then the pillar of fire that stands from above downwards will be seen for forty days and all the nations in the world will see it." (Zohar, Shemot)
UN human rights agency releases blacklist of 112 companies that aid settlements
Nearly four years in the making, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Wednesday surprisingly published a list of more than 100 companies that conduct business in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Israeli reacted angrily to the publication of the blacklist, denouncing the UN body responsible for compiling it and vowing to protect Israeli financial interests. The Palestinians, meanwhile, celebrated a “victory for international law.”
Most of the 112 companies on the list are Israeli, including all major banks, state-owned transportation companies Egged and Israel Railways Corporation, and telecommunications giants Bezeq, HOT and Cellcom. It also lists medium-size companies such as restaurant chain Café Café and Angel bakeries.
Huge red star might explode soon and next few weeks are critical
Supergiant star Betelgeuse has been getting dimmer at an unprecedented pace over the past few months, leading some astronomers to wonder if it might be in the process of the collapse that precedes a supernova explosion.
...When it does go supernova, it's expected to result in a dramatic light show that could be visible in daylight and appear brighter than the full moon for a few weeks.
"At that time, the Messiah King will awaken to come out of the Garden of Eden, from the place called “the bird’s nest,” and will appear in the land of the Galilee."
Tencent may have accidentally leaked real data on Wuhan virus deaths
"Tencent briefly lists 154,023 infections and 24,589 deaths from Wuhan coronavirus"