Chag Shavuot Sameach!

5 Sivan 5780
Erev Chag Shavuot
Day 49 of the Omer

In case you missed it the first time around...



What is the Story of Shavuot?

The "stories" of many things, their background and purpose, can be told by explaining what they are called. To a great extent, this is true in general of the Jewish holidays and, in particular, it is true of the holiday of Shavuot. The names of this holiday are:

"Chag Shavuot" - The Feast (or Holiday) of Weeks
"Z'man Matan Torateinu" - The Time of the Giving of Our Torah
"Chag HaBikkurim" - The Holiday of the First Fruits
"Atzeret" - The Holiday of "Being Held Back, or Restrained, Close to Hashem, in the Temple"
"Chag HaKatzir" - The Holiday of the Cutting of the Crop

The holiday is given this name because it is the climax of the Counting of Days and Weeks which make up the Sefirat HaOmer. Sefirat HaOmer connects Passover and Shavuot. Passover is the holiday on which we commemorate our Redemption from slavery in Egypt. That was our "Physical Redemption."

But physical redemption is not enough. It would have left us "free" people, but with no purpose to our lives. The purpose of the Jewish People is to serve G-d. The way we serve G-d is by studying and practicing his Torah. On Shavuot, G-d Himself appeared to us on Mt. Sinai to give us the Torah. By accepting it, we earned the title of "A Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation."

Thus, Shavuot is the purpose of the Exodus from Egypt. Seven weeks had to pass before we were able to shake off the feeling of being subject to our Egyptian taskmasters. The Jewish Religion believes that there is no legitimate master for a human being other than G-d. This is probably the most important lesson of Shavuot.

"Z'man Matan Torateinu" - The Time of the Giving of Our Torah

The Jewish People arrived in the vicinity of Har Sinai (Mt. Sinai) on Rosh Chodesh Sivan. The purpose of their assembling there was to receive the Torah from Hashem. Three days passed before the Jewish People recovered from their six-week sojourn in the desert. Moshe was instructed by Hashem that the Jewish People would have to prepare themselves for another three days before they would be ready to receive the Torah.

Before giving the Torah to the Jewish People, Hashem had, so to speak, "shopped it around" to the various nations of the world, but there were no takers.

Moshe "Rabbeinu," Moses our Teacher, according to another Midrash, had to overcome the objection of the Angels, who claimed that the Jewish People weren't sufficiently deserving to receive the Torah. But, fortunately for the Jewish People, and for the world, Moshe won that debate.

"Chag HaBikkurim" - The Holiday of the First Fruits

This name commemorates the New Grain Offering, which was brought at this time; its offering made it permissible to bring Grain Offerings from the "Chadash," the New Grain.

This was also the time that the first fruits of all the Seven Types of Produce with which the Land of Israel is Blessed (wheat, barley, wine, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates) were brought to the Temple. This procedure is described in the Talmud in Masechet Bikkurim.

"Atzeret" - The Holiday of "Being Held Back, Close to Hashem"

This is the name used exclusively for this Holiday in the Talmud. It suggests a similarity to Shemini Atzeret. The latter comes at the end of Sukkot, while this "Atzeret" comes at the conclusion of a process which began on "Pesach," or Passover.

One way of understanding the idea of "Atzeret" is that Hashem wants the Jewish People to feel close to Him at all times. But to have them come back to the Temple in Jerusalem several weeks after Sukkot would have required difficult travel in the winter. So Hashem just held them back for one day after Sukkot, to show his special love for them.

Whereas, Shavuot and Pesach have a special relationship which makes them really, in a sense, almost like one holiday, namely, the Holiday of Redemption, Physical and Spiritual, of the Jewish People.

"Chag HaKatzir" - The Holiday of the Cutting of the Crop

This refers to the wheat crop, which is the latest of the crops to be harvested, which took place at this time. There is also a reference here to Megillat Ruth, which places the time of the events described in the Megillah as "at the beginning of the cutting of the barley crop."

"Shavuot: A Lesson From The Torah"

4 Sivan 5780
Day 48 of the Omer

Shavuot: A lesson from the Torah
by Daniel Pinner

Of all the Festivals in our calendar, Shavuot can easily seem like the “unloved child”. Each of the other Festivals has its own special mitzvot: dwelling in the Sukkah and waving the Four Species on Sukkot, the Seder Night and the distinctive chametz-free foods on Pesach, blowing the Shofar on Rosh ha-Shanah, fasting on Yom Kippur. Even the post-Torah Festivals have their own special mitzvot: lighting the candles on Chanukah, and reading the Megillah on Purim.

Alone among the Festivals, Shavuot has no unique mitzvot.

Each of the Festivals has a complete tractate of the Talmud dedicated to it – Rosh ha-Shanah, Yoma (for Yom Kippur), Sukkah, Pesachim. Even Purim has its own dedicated tractate, Megillah.

Shavuot has no tractate of its own. In the absence of a Tractate Shavuot, the custom has arisen to study Tractate Bikkurim (“First-Fruits”), which is appropriate to the season.

Our legal codes – the Mishneh Torah of the Rambam, the Shulchan Aruch of Rabbi Yosef Karo four centuries later, the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch of Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried 130 years ago, the Aruch ha-Shulchan of Rabbi Yechiel Epstein a decade later – each contains a section which lays forth the general laws of Festivals, and then separate sections for the specific mitzvot of each individual Festival.

But since Shavuot has no special mitzvot of its own, it does not merit any individual section in any of our legal codes: it is subsumed under the general laws of Festivals.

The Rambam begins the Mishneh Torah with a listing of all 613 mitzvot, including: “#161: To count 49 days of the Omer… #162: To rest on the fiftieth day”. In the Introduction to the Laws of Festivals, the Rambam writes: “There are twelve mitzvot of Festivals, six positive mitzvot and six negative mitzvot… (5) To rest on the Festival of Shavuot; (6) not to do any work thereon”.

He then lists “six days on which the Torah forbids any work to be done. These are the first and seventh days of Pesach, the first and eighth days of the Festival of Sukkot, the day of the Festival of Shavuot, and the first of the seventh month [i.e. Rosh ha-Shanah], which are called Yamim Tovim [“Good Days”, i.e. Festivals]. And the cessation from labour on all these days is the same – all labour other than that which is needed to prepare food for that day is forbidden” (Laws of Festivals 1:1).

That’s all the mention of Shavuot in the Mishneh Torah. All its laws are subsumed under the general Laws of Festivals.

The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim chapter 494) covers Shavuot in three brief halachot:

“(1) The fiftieth day of Counting the Omer is Shavuot, and the prayers are the same as on Pesach except that we say ‘this day of the Festival of Shavuot, the Season of the Giving of our Torah’ and we say the complete Hallel. We take two Torah-scrolls out of the Ark; we read from the first starting with ‘In the third month’ (Exodus 19:1) until the end of the chapter, and the Maftir reads from the second Torah-scroll ‘On the day of the first-fruits…’ (Numbers 28:26), then reads the Haftarah [Reading from the prophets] from Ezekiel’s vision of the Heavenly Chariot (Ezekiel Chapter 1), then adds the verse ‘Then a wind lifted me…’ (Ezekiel 3:12)”

The second halachah specifies the Torah-reading for the second day (which of course applies only in the Diaspora).

The third halachah says simply that “it is forbidden to fast at night after Shavuot has concluded”.

That’s all that the Shulchan Aruch has to say on the Festival of Shavuot.

For the Festival that commemorates the Giving of the Torah, there is a surprising paucity of mitzvot. Would we not have expected Shavuot, of all the Festivals in our calendar, to be replete with impressive rituals?

Indeed the custom of staying awake and learning Torah through the night may well have gained popularity over the last three-and-a-half centuries or so precisely because Shavuot has no other unique customs to distinguish it.

Let us add another question. The Torah itself gives two reasons for Shavuot. First, it is the season when the first fruits ripen and are ready to be offered in the Holy Temple (Numbers 28:26). Second, it is the end of the grain harvest, referring to the reaping of the wheat, which is the last grain of the year to ripen (Exodus 23:16, Deuteronomy 16:9-10).

Nowhere does the Torah itself tell us explicitly that Shavuot celebrates the day when God gave it to Israel; the Talmud (Shabbat 86b and Yoma 4b) derives this from the chronology that the Torah relates in Exodus Chapter 19. Is this omission not at least as puzzling as the paucity of rituals connected with Shavuot? Would we not have expected the Torah to command the Festival which celebrates its own Giving by telling us directly what we are celebrating?

I suggest that the answer to these two questions can both be derived from the Midrash. “A man’s pride will humble him, but one of humble spirit will attain honour” said King Solomon (Proverbs 29:23), and the Midrash expounds: “‘A man’s pride will humble him’ – this refers to Mount Tabor and Mount Carmel which came from the ends of the world, proudly saying: We are tall, so upon us God will give the Torah! ‘One of humble spirit will attain honour’ – this is Mount Sinai which humbled itself, saying: I am low. And because of that God bestowed His honour upon it, by giving the Torah upon it” (Bamidbar Rabbah 13:3, and compare Bereishit Rabbah 99:1).

By choosing Mount Sinai, the lowest and humblest of mountains, as the place to give us the Torah, God taught us the attribute of humility. Don’t look for honour and glory amid the loftiest peaks; rather find the greatest glory in the world on the humblest peak.

The Torah itself teaches us this same attribute with Shavuot. It does not demand honour and glory for itself. Though the Torah commands us to celebrate Shavuot, it self-effacingly does not even mention that what we are celebrating is the Torah itself! It humbly leaves all the honour of Shavuot for the Land of Israel and its produce (fruits and grains). It keeps the celebration of its own Giving in the shadows, and makes its own celebration the humblest and simplest of all the Festivals.

As the Talmud tells us, “the glory of Torah is wisdom, the glory of wisdom is humility, the glory of humility is fear [of God], the glory of fear [of God] is [obedience to] mitzvot, the glory of [obedience to] mitzvot is modesty” (Derech Eretz Zuta 5:4).

And the Midrash expounds, “The Sages taught: Be long-suffering and modest to all people – and to the people of your family more than any. Where do we learn this from? – Go out and learn this from God Himself, Who was long-suffering and modest with His nation in all places; He did not go with them in their ways, neither did He judge them according to their sins, but rather He was for them in His attribute of modesty. From where do we learn this? – From the 120 days from the day that the Torah was given to Israel until Yom Kippur, which were the 120 days from when Moshe first ascended Mount Sinai to bring the Torah to Israel his nation until he descended from Mount Sinai for the third and last time. And had God not dealt with them with His attribute of modesty, the Torah would not have been given to Israel” (Tanna de-Vey Eliyahu, Seder Eliyahu Zuta 4).

The true leader leads by example. The Torah, the truest Leader of all, teaches us modesty by its own example. Shavuot, the Torah’s own celebration, the one-day Festival with no special rituals of its own, is the outstanding lesson of modesty and humility.

Slow Train Wreck - Economy Off the Rails

3 Sivan 5780
Day 47 of the Omer

Not Your Grandma's Vaccine

2 Sivan 5780
Day 46 of the Omer

As explained before (My Experience With and Thoughts on Vaccination), I've never been an "anti-vaxxer." However, that might be changing and that's because vaccines themselves are changing.

To put it the simplest way possible, the vaccines we have had up until now depended on a natural process whereby the body would be purposely exposed to a dead or weakened strain of a virus or bacteria prompting the immune system to create antibodies to it, preventing a more serious and debilitating infection in the future.

Scientists are now experimenting with a brand new vaccine delivery system which is much more invasive and manipulative of the body at the cellular level. It's important for us to try to understand this new system because the so-called COVID-19 vaccine will be the first of this kind to be given to human beings. Until now it has been used on "humanized mice."

The race for a vaccine against the novel coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2, is on, with 54 different vaccines under development, two of which are already being tested in humans, according to the World Health Organization. And among the different candidates is a new player on the scene – mRNA vaccines.

...If an mRNA vaccine was approved for coronavirus, it would be the first of its type. ‘It's a very unique way of making a vaccine and, so far, no (such) vaccine has been licenced for infectious disease,’ said Prof. Bekeredjian-Ding.

Vaccines work by training the body to recognise and respond to the proteins produced by disease-causing organisms, such as a virus or bacteria. Traditional vaccines are made up of small or inactivated doses of the whole disease-causing organism, or the proteins that it produces, which are introduced into the body to provoke the immune system into mounting a response.

mRNA vaccines, in contrast, trick the body into producing some of the viral proteins itself. They work by using mRNA, or messenger RNA, which is the molecule that essentially puts DNA instructions into action. Inside a cell, mRNA is used as a template to build a protein. ‘An mRNA is basically like a pre-form of a protein and its (sequence encodes) what the protein is basically made of later on,’ said Prof. Bekeredjian-Ding.

To produce an mRNA vaccine, scientists produce a synthetic version of the mRNA that a virus uses to build its infectious proteins. This mRNA is delivered into the human body, whose cells read it as instructions to build that viral protein, and therefore create some of the virus’s molecules themselves. These proteins are solitary, so they do not assemble to form a virus. The immune system then detects these viral proteins and starts to produce a defensive response to them.

...There is still a lot of work to be done to understand this response, the length of the protection it could give and whether there are any downsides. (Source)

If the old tried and true system worked so well for so long, why change it?  Good question.  Every site I looked at agreed that "RNA vaccines are faster and cheaper to produce than traditional vaccines,...."  And there is something else they all agreed upon: "...we need a better understanding of their potential side effects, and more evidence of their long term efficacy."

Important challenges

The methods to make mRNA vaccines can be very effective. However, there are technical challenges to overcome to ensure these vaccines work appropriately:

Unintended effects: the mRNA strand in the vaccine may elicit an unintended immune reaction. To minimise this the mRNA vaccine sequences are designed to mimic those produced by mammalian cells.

Delivery: delivering the vaccine effectively to cells is challenging since free RNA in the body is quickly broken down. To help achieve delivery, the RNA strand is incorporated into a larger molecule [what would that be?] to help stabilise it and/or packaged into particles or liposomes. (Source)

The rush (Operation Warp Speed) to get this COVID-19 vaccine to market may excuse shortcuts in testing that could have unexpected and even tragic consequences.  No one should be forced to take this vaccine against their will.
_________________________

RELATED: The Top Twelve Lies about Covid19

Masks Don't Work: A review of science relevant to COVID-19 social policy

Unmasking the Truth: Studies Show Dehumanizing Masks Weaken You and Don’t Protect You

"John Lennon's 'Imagine' and Mount Sinai"

2 Sivan 5780
Day 46 of the Omer

What Will Rosh Chodesh Sivan Bring Us?

1 Sivan 5780
Rosh Chodesh
Day 45 of the Omer

Were you aware that Israel and Iran are at war and have been for the past month?

For the entire month of Iyyar, Iran and Israel have been openly engaged in a major cyber war.

It was Rosh Chodesh Iyyar I and II (April 24-25) when Iran attacked Israel's water system...

6 facilities said hit in Iran’s cyber attack on Israel’s water system in April

Six facilities were hit in an Iranian cyber attack last month on the country’s water infrastructure that succeeded in impacting some systems but did not cause any disruption in the water supply or waste management, the Ynet news site reported on Tuesday.

It was the 15 Iyyar (May 9), the day after Pesach Sheini, when Israel made a counterattack against the Shahid Rajaee port facility in the Iranian coastal city of Bandar Abbas...

Israel reportedly responded to the incident with a sophisticated cyber attack on an Iranian port facility, causing widespread chaos in the Islamic Republic.

On Thursday last, 27 Iyyar, Al Quds Day in Iran and celebrated as Yom Yerushalayim in Israel, Iran attacked again...

Israeli Websites Hacked in Cyberattack: ‘Be ready for a big surprise’

300 sites defaced with clip of Tel Aviv burning; security agencies have been bracing for Iran-linked attack for Quds Day, after port hack blamed on Israel

Yesterday, Debka reported this exchange between Khameinei and Netanyahu/Gantz:

In another poisonous speech marking Al Qods (Jerusalem) Day. Iran’s supreme leader declared on Friday, “The Zionist regime will not survive and will be obliterated.” Israel, he said, “is a cancerous growth in the Middle East.” He spoke after an upsurge of cyberwarfare between the two enemies.

PM Binyamin Netanyahu said on Friday: “Let us repeat – those who threaten Israel with destruction will bring the same peril on themselves.” Defense Minister Benny Gantz warned: “Don’t try and test us. Israel and the Zionist dream are an accomplished fact, unlike the Iranian pawns attempting to destabilize the region,”: he said. “The boasts of our enemies betoken weakness. We will deal with every threat by every means.” Khamenei’s depiction of Israel as “a cancerous growth in the Mid East” destined for destruction was condemned by the European Union

Each Rosh Chodesh since the beginning of the year has heralded a major shift in our reality...

Rosh Chodesh Shevat  (Jan 27) - 

• Dow posts worst day since October and turns negative for the year as coronavirus fears grow
• Netanyahu and Gantz in Washington to Meet with Trump Ahead of Release of  'Deal of the Century' the Following Day
• Gantz Hails Trump Peace Plan

Rosh Chodesh Adar  (Feb 25-26) –

• WORLD ON LOCKDOWN
• EPIDEMIC ESCALATING
• STOCKS TURN RED

Rosh Chodesh Nissan  (March 26) –

• Number of jobless Israelis nears 1 million
• Mandatory stay at quarantine hotels finally imposed on all arrivals from abroad
• Police begin handing out fines for lockdown breakers

I can't help wondering what Rosh Chodesh Sivan might bring. 

~ Shavua Tov!  Chodesh Tov!! ~

PS: My profoundest apologies to anyone who was offended by a website for "Hebrew-speakers" which I recommended without properly vetting it first.  It has been removed.

Awaiting the Day

28 Iyyar 5780
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Yom Yerushalayim
Day 43 of the Omer

In honor of Shabbat...

Parashat Bamidbar by Rabbi Pinchas Winston

And in honor of Yom Yerushalayim,...

Holy Jerusalem as you've never seen her - shops shuttered, streets empty.

Thank You, Hashem, for returning Yerushalayim to us.  Now, we await the day that Your Holy Shechinah will return to Your Holy Temple.

~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~

HOT MISSIONARY CHANNEL UPDATE

27 Iyyar 5780
Day 42 of the Omer

The result of last Tuesday's hearing was to give a 1-week extension before a decision would be made...

To protest HOT Cable Service's J4J Missionary TV program called Shelanu...

• Call HOT CABLE CUSTOMER SERVICE - Number: *6910  Hours: 8 am to 4 pm

• Contact Minister of Communication Yoaz Hendel

Twitter: @YoazHendel1

Email:  Yhendel@knesset.gov.il 

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/YoazHendelpage/

• Sign the Petition:   SIGN HERE

"1 week extension to HOT/God TV = 1 more week to make an impact on Israeli leaders, and alert the public* to let their voice be heard.  This is an issue that unites all Jewish people (and Bnei Noach) from around the world - all walks of life.  THIS ISN'T OVER - Please continue to advocate for the Jewish people!"

SEE ALSO: WAR ON THE JEWS! A PLEA FOR YOUR HELP!

"DIGITAL CERTIFICATES" YOUR "IMMUNITY PASSPORT"

25 Iyyar 5780
Day 40 of the Omer

If you've even heard the terms Digital Certificates or Immunity Passports, did it conjure in your mind an image of some kind of paper document?  Think again.

Condemned by their own words.  They admit everything.  See particularly 16:30 - 19:43.  Even more important!  See 8:52 - 13:12 with particular attention at 12:30.



RELATED: (Hat tip Rav Richter) Alan Dershowitz: State has right to 'plunge a needle into your arm'
_______________________

VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE ON CORONAVIRUS NEWS

Could wearing a mask for long periods be detrimental to health?

70% of coronavirus cases in Israel started in the US - new study

What the state is hiding about the coronavirus outbreak

TIME IS RUNNING OUT...

25 Iyyar 5780
Day 40 of the Omer

...to let your voice be heard about the licensing of a missionary TV channel on Israeli cable television.

The hearing regarding the license for God TV to broadcast the gospel of J**** C***** into Jewish homes throughout Israel is tomorrow, Tuesday morning.

Please let your voice be heard and urge the new communications minister, Dr. Yoaz Hendel, to do the right thing for the Jewish people and immediately revoke the ill-advised decision to allow this dangerous interloper into our homes.

Please share widely. Time is of the essence. The most powerful impact will made via social media, especially Twitter...

@YoazHendel1
Yhendel@knesset.gov.il
https://www.facebook.com/YoazHendelpage/

This Ward Simpson is quite the chutzpan saying "shelanu - he's one of 'ours' " since he himself is very likely not even Jewish.

Simpson is the son of Barbadian businessman and philanthropist, Sir Kyffin Simpson and his wife, Lady Roberta Simpson. After growing up in Barbados, he became a senior executive with the Simpson Group of companies, managing an international automobile distribution corporation.

What's Happening With the Temple Mount?

24 Iyyar 5780
Day 39 of the Omer

Yehudit's Prophecy: "The Erev Rav government will deceive the nation and secretly weave dangerous deals. They will hand over holy places, including Yerushalayim, and this will cause a 'storm' in Am Israel."

While everyone is distracted by the pandemic, what kind of secret deals have been in the works? Are revelations coming? Will news about the Temple Mount be the first test for the stability of the new Israeli government?

Israel's Supreme Court to hear Temple Mount access petition

Israel's Supreme Court is due to hear a petition Monday to allow Jews to once more ascend to the Temple Mount, which has been temporarily prohibited during the coronavirus crisis.

A recent Jerusalem Post article highlighted the petitioners' - Yehuda Etzion and Arnon Segal - claim that Israel activated a secret arrangement with the Kingdom of Jordan to keep both Muslims and Jews off the Temple Mount while the coronavirus pandemic was at its height.

The applicants' lawyer, activist Itamar Ben Gvir who also leads the far-right Otzma Yehudit party maintained that Jordan's Waqf (Islamic religious authority), which has day-to-day control over the Temple Mount, was allowed back, while Jews were still banned.

The petitioners argue that preventing Jews from ascending, while Muslims are allowed up is unconstitutional. They further claimed that banning Segal, who is also a journalist, was a violation of the freedom of the press.

Ben Gvir added that the state's request to not allow the petitioners to be present at the hearing and a refusal to publicize its policy was a tacit admission that the secret deal with Jordan was in effect.

WAR ON THE JEWS! A PLEA FOR YOUR HELP!

23 Iyyar 5780
Day 38 of the Omer

Received on WhatsApp...

HOT cable is airing a missionary channel in Hebrew geared towards converting young Israeli Jews. There is going to be a hearing on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 on whether the communications license should be revoked because they are going against the law to not proselytize. This station is not optional it comes in HOT's basic package. If you have HOT please contact them and tell them if this station remains, you will go to another cable provider. This is the least we can do for the souls of our brothers and sisters.

Please share with anyone you know who has HOT cable service.

E-mailing Members of Knesset is not going to help.  Messianic Jewish Israeli citizens are asserting their "democratic rights," with US government backing, to freedom of religion in Israel, so no one in the Israeli government is going to do anything.  Money is what "talks" to these business people.  Mass cancellations, or even just credible threats to cancel, may scare HOT into taking this station off the air, but let's not also forget to be praying as one, especially on the day the hearing takes place, to enlist HKB"H's help in the campaign against the spread of idolatry across our Holy Land. 

Many thanks! Tizku l'mitzvot!

This could be the most important 18 minutes of your day...

Constitutional Protections?

23 Iyyar 5780
Day 38 of the Omer

Last week, I received the following comment:

"I feel like in America we have a chance to fight the mandated vaccines that they will want to push onto us, because we have the constitution."

Apparently, this "Unknown" person does not know that rights under the US Constitution could be suspended during a declared State of Emergency.

A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to perform actions or impose policies that it would normally not be permitted to undertake. A government can declare such a state during a natural disaster, civil unrest, armed conflict, medical pandemic or epidemic or other biosecurity risk. Such declarations alert citizens to change their normal behavior and orders government agencies to implement emergency plans.

...States of emergency can also be used as a rationale or pretext for suspending rights and freedoms guaranteed under a country's constitution or basic law, sometimes through martial law or revoking habeas corpus. The procedure for and legality of doing so vary by country.  (Source)  

From Whitehouse.gov...

Trump's emergency powers worry some senators, legal experts

WASHINGTON (AP) — The day he declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency, President Donald Trump made a cryptic offhand remark.

“I have the right to do a lot of things that people don’t even know about," he said at the White House.

Trump wasn’t just crowing. Dozens of statutory authorities become available to any president when national emergencies are declared. They are rarely used, but Trump last month stunned legal experts and others when he claimed — mistakenly — that he has “total” authority over governors in easing COVID-19 guidelines.

That prompted 10 senators to look into how sweeping Trump believes his emergency powers are.

They have asked to see this administration's Presidential Emergency Action Documents, or PEADs. The little-known, classified documents are essentially planning papers.

The documents don’t give a president authority beyond what's in the Constitution. But they outline what powers a president believes that the Constitution gives him to deal with national emergencies. The senators think the documents would provide them a window into how this White House interprets presidential emergency powers.

Our "Unknown" commenter  may have faith that American civil liberties are safe in President Trump's hands, but who is to say who will be the president when the vaccine is ready for distribution?

US begins ‘warp speed’ vaccine push as studies ramp up

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump vowed to use “every plane, truck and soldier” to distribute COVID-19 vaccines he hopes will be ready by year’s end — even as the country’s top scientists gear up for a master experiment to rapidly tell if any really work.

Trump on Friday declared the vaccine program he calls “Operation Warp Speed” will be “unlike anything our country has seen since the Manhattan Project.”

U.S. Likely to Get Sanofi Vaccine First If It Succeeds

Americans will likely get Sanofi’s Covid-19 vaccine before the rest of the world if the French pharmaceutical giant can successfully deliver one.

Trump Mobilizes Military To Deliver COVID Vaccine As HHS/DoD Unveil Massive Contract For "Injection Devices"

President Trump is reportedly mobilizing the U.S. military to distribute a novel coronavirus vaccine when one becomes available and will focus first on older Americans.

...According to [a] press release, a 138 million dollar contract has been awarded to ApiJect Systems America for two projects known as “Project Jumpstart” and “RAPID USA”. Apparently the goal of these projects is to have vast numbers of “injection devices” ready to go once a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available.

...on Tuesday Dr. Anthony Fauci openly admitted to a U.S. Senate committee that there is no guarantee that a vaccine “is actually going to be effective”…

...In addition, because there are multiple strains of COVID-19 already running around out there, one vaccine may not be able to cover them all. So this could create a need for “multiple vaccines”, and this is something that NIH Director Francis Collins has openly acknowledged…

We can't put all our faith in any person or institution.  Only HKB"H is worthy of our complete trust.  Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.  And PRAY!

"BEHAR"

21 Iyyar 5780
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Day 36 of the Omer
Parashat Behar-Bechukotai

~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~

DARK WINTER or DARKEST WINTER?

20 Iyyar 5780
Day 35 of the Omer

Keep repeating to yourself:  There is no such thing as coincidence.

IMAGE WHICH ACCOMPANIES STORY LINKED AS "RELATED" IN PREVIOUS POST

NOTE...

OPERATION DARK WINTER - It was designed to carry out a mock version of a covert and widespread smallpox attack on the United States. Tara O'Toole and Thomas Inglesby of the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies (CCBS) / Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and Randy Larsen and Mark DeMier of Analytic Services were the principal designers, authors, and controllers of the Dark Winter project.

Objective

Dark Winter was focused on evaluating the inadequacies of a national emergency response during the use of a biological weapon against the American populace. The exercise was solely[citation needed] intended to establish preventive measures and response strategies by increasing governmental and public awareness of the magnitude and potential of such a threat posed by biological weapons.

Scenario

Dark Winter's simulated scenario involved an initial localized smallpox attack on Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with additional smallpox attack cases in Georgia and Pennsylvania. The simulation was then designed to spiral out of control. This would create a contingency in which the National Security Council struggles to determine both the origin of the attack as well as deal with containing the spreading virus. By not being able to keep pace with the disease's rate of spread, a new catastrophic contingency emerges in which massive civilian casualties would overwhelm America's emergency response capabilities.

The disastrous contingencies that would result in the massive loss of civilian life were used to exploit the weaknesses of the U.S. health care infrastructure and its inability to handle such a threat. The contingencies were also meant to address the widespread panic that would emerge and which would result in mass social breakdown and mob violence. Exploits would also include the many difficulties that the media would face when providing American citizens with the necessary information regarding safety procedures.  (See external links.)

So, is "Darkest Winter" a covert reference to what has happened in 2020?? And could religious Jewish communities around the world have been targeted specifically for higher rates of infection???

"The Dead Zone TV Episode 'Plague' from 2003 has coronavirus from China, a lockdown and chloroquine as the treatment."  (See May 14 corbettreport.)

Who Is Worthy of Our Trust?

20 Iyyar 5780
Day 35 of the Omer

Among our fellow observant Jews is a subset of people who admire Science and Technology, even embrace it, and who pride themselves on having one foot firmly planted in both the Modern as well as the Torah world.  They feel superior to those who shun the secular study of Math and Science.  They are forward-looking people and these others are backward-looking.  These others don't want to "progress."  One could argue that these others should be left alone as it is their choice and they are not hurting anyone else, except NOW, one can and does argue that these others are hurting everyone else by their stubborn insistence on trusting God alone.  These others are plague-carriers infecting the rest of the world.  Yes, that is what it comes down to.  

Despite the history of Medical Science and Technology used in the service of the Third Reich's eugenics programs with the full participation of the Experts, the Modern Frum Jews put a lot of faith in the opinions, proclamations and decrees of the Medical, Scientific and Technological "Experts" ruling the post-Corona world.  Interestingly, there are quite a number of dissenters coming out of that same group, but they appear on Youtube, while the real Experts and Authorities are featured in the Mainstream Media and speak from the White House.

There is an old saying: "Your freedom to wave your fist ends where my nose begins."  Since no one can see a virus and because it floats on the air and enters the body through mucous membranes, no one can control where it begins and where it ends.  Therefore, say the Experts and Authorities, individual freedom must be suspended for the good of the many, even, and especially, if it means suspending religious obligations.  And since SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) acts contrary to every other disease known to mankind, i.e. multiple strains circulating at the same time; confers no immunity; will require multiple vaccines to control; will never actually go away, individual liberty is quite possibly gone forever.  Unless more people begin to question the actual wisdom of the "Accepted Wisdom" of the "Recognized Authorities."
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RELATED: Rick Bright will warn Congress of 'darkest winter in modern history' without ramped up coronavirus response  (See Rick Bright's deep ties to Pharma and vaccines.)

In any other area of life, could you trust someone with such an obvious conflict of interests?  Only ONE is worthy of our complete trust.  All others must be questioned!!

"We have no one upon whom we can 

depend except our Father in Heaven."

How Can the Reshaim be Defeated? What Can We Do?

20 Iyyar 5780
Day 35 of the Omer

The entire planet is now as enslaved as the Nation of Israel was in ancient Egypt. Borders are controlled, movements are restricted, the vast majority of people labor at subsistence wages, guinea pigs in a planet-wide "lab."  Human beings are just a commodity to The Powers That Be in this world.  People are sick and dying, diseased and infertile, even including the animals and the plants.  All life on earth is crying out for deliverance as the Reshaim attempt to re-ceate HKB"H's world in their own image.

We are as helpless to save ourselves as we were in Egypt. And like in Egypt, it is only HKB"H who can save us!

"And He saw that there was no man, and He was astounded for there was no intercessor, and His arm saved for Him,...."  (Yeshayahu 59.16)

The Holy Zohar tells us...

"...in the year 600 of the sixth millennium (the year 5600, approximately 1840) the lower depths of wisdom (science) will be revealed in preparation for the final redemption, and the storehouses of the wisdom of the Torah will be opened from above."  (Source)

The year 1840 is considered to be the completion of the First Industrial Revolution or the beginning of a technological era that would revolutionize humanity and eventually enslave it.  In that same year, HKB"H began to accelerate the very processes which would bring about its downfall.  [See also The Fourth Industrial Revolution: what it means, how to respond]

This graph demonstrates the rate at which Earth's magnetic field is weakening. (See Earth’s magnetic field is acting up and geologists don’t know why)

Everything the Reshaim have built depends on electric power.  The weakening magnetic field makes all their gadgetry, especially satellites, vulnerable to the effects of the Sun, from solar flares to coronal (a hint?) mass ejections (CMEs) and solar radiation.

King Solomon wrote in Kohelet (1.9):

"What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun."  (A hint?)

Just as HKB"H used natural forces to upend and overturn Egypt, so it will be again.  And just as He waited to act until we cried out for Him from the depths, so it will be again.

When we recognize that we can no longer go on this way, that we are in deep need of rescue and we are powerless to help ourselves, dependent 100% on HKB"H and we CRY OUT to Him, then He will save us.

That is why I am writing these blog posts, trying to expose the depth of the depravity to which we have sunk.  That is the point of exposing the plans and deeds of the Reshaim.  So that all of us will really and truly understand the depth of meaning in the words "there is no one upon whom we can depend except our Father in Heaven."  

If you close your eyes, if you refuse to look and ignore what is staring you in the face, pretend nothing has changed and try to go on with business as usual, you will be the loser.  You will not possibly be able to cry out to HKB"H with enough intention.

"God heard their cry, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob." (Shemot 2.24)

"And the Lord said, "I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their slave drivers, for I know their pains.

"I have descended to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land, to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivvites, and the Jebusites.

"And now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression that the Egyptians are oppressing them.

"So now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, and take My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." (Shemot 3.7- 10)

We have to cry, cry, CRY to HKB"H. With the voice of Ya'aqov we must cry out from the depths of our souls, let go of everything else and cling only to Him - our only hope and our only source of deliverance. From the pain of this exile and from the torture of our enslavement and what it means for our future generations - CRY OUT!!!
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PS: This will be difficult, if not impossible, for most people to accept.  They want to think that there is something else they can do, something they can do on their own.  They have a problem with accepting that they are 100% dependent on HKB"H because they don't 100% believe He is there.  They don't 100% believe He can be trusted to come through for us.  That's why this is the ultimate test of faith.

PPS:  These are the same reasons people can't bring themselves to make aliyah. 

Truly Shocking! Globalist Blueprint for the Future of the World

19 Iyyar 5780
Day 34 of the Omer

Just when I think I've seen it all...



NOTE: I wanted to browse this World Economic Forum site myself, but neither Google Chrome nor Firefox would allow the page to open due to security issues.]

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TECHNOLOGY TARGETING CHILDREN

Israeli smart baby monitor...

Benjamin Netanyahu suggests microchipping kids...