A World Divided - A World United

20 Tamuz 5779

The world consists of seventy nations equally balanced between two opposing forces - 35 are under the influence of "Eisav" (Christianity) and the remaining 35 are under the influence of "Yishmael" (Islam).  Above them stands the unique "all-inclusive" nation of God - Yisrael.  Only Torah Judaism unites all mankind in the service of God - each in their own God-given space.

Christianity says you have to become a Christian in order to approach God.  Islam claims you have to become a Muslim in order to rightly relate to God.  Only Judaism says everyone has his own designated path to knowledge and service of the Creator in accordance with the directions contained in the Torah - God's own revelation of His will to mankind.

Here at the End of Days, the time has come for the two Dividers of the world to cancel each other out, leaving Yisrael as the Divinely ordained leader of a world united in submission to the King of the Universe.

Peace Is About To Be Taken From The Earth, And World War 3 Could Literally Start At Any Moment

...A full-blown war with Iran would be the stuff that nightmares are made out of, and it would unleash death and destruction on an unimaginable scale all over the planet. Perhaps it is already too late to stop what is going to happen,....

Many of the survivors of WW3, particularly the ruling elite, will not want to live in a world under the rule of God's representative - Mashiach Tzidkeinu. They will say to each other, "Have we not thrown off religious rule? Is it not religion which has been the cause of all the world's problems, and don't all religions have their source in Judaism?  Now that we have endured so much to eradicate it forever, will we sit by while Yisrael brings us under one yoke?"

Then will come Gog uMagog.

The Fast of the 17th of Tamuz

18 Tamuz 5779
Ta'anit Shiva Asar b'Tamuz

"The main purpose of a fast is teshuvah."

May this fast day soon be turned to one of feasting and joy!

Rabbi Nachum Scheiner

Why We Fast 17 Tammuz Nidcha - The 3 Weeks

Only a Matter of Time

15 Tamuz 5779

For every US citizen calling for Muslim, former-Somalian, currently US citizen, congresswoman to "leave" America, there is another one who wishes the same for the Jews, maybe even more.  It's only a matter of time before this picture features a prominent Jew.

Just in time for the beginning of The Three Weeks...

Iran Revolutionary Guard seizes foreign oil tanker, crew...

US deploys 500 troops plus Patriots at Saudi airbase facing Iraq border...

Judging the Source

15 Tamuz 5779

One of the hallmarks of eastern spirituality is the enigmatic pronouncements of their 'tzadikim'.  Some people feel that their spiritual leaders are demonstrating their superiority by speaking in riddles.  In fact, I don't think it would be remiss to say that all false religions bear this hallmark and rely on it to keep their followers attached to them.

In Christianity, for example, when one asks the logical question, "How can God be One and 'three' at the same time?"  The answer provided out of 2000 years of 'scholarship':  "It's a mystery."  Many times throughout the gospel stories it is recounted how the people could not understand what Yeshu was getting at as he spoke to them in parables.  When his 'chasidim' asked why he didn't speak more plainly to the people, he answered by quoting Isaiah and saying this was in fulfillment of the prophecy:

And He said, "Go and say to this people, 'Indeed you hear, but you do not understand; indeed you see, but you do not know.' This people's heart is becoming fat, and his ears are becoming heavy, and his eyes are becoming sealed, lest he see with his eyes, and hear with his ears, and his heart understand, and he repent and be healed."

In other words, it was their low spiritual level which caused their lack of understanding. The problem lay within them and required repentance.

Curiously, false religions often claim that one may only approach God through a spiritually superior mediator, a 'tzadik', if you will.  Yeshu's followers believe this until this very day -"No one comes to the Father except through me."  They even claimed his lineage back to King David.  Though he hinted at it broadly, Yeshu never came right out and said he was mashiach, but they came to that conclusion anyway.  They expected him to ascend David's throne and rule over Israel in their lifetime which is why the Romans mockingly attached a sign at the top of his cross proclaiming him "King of the Jews."

The greatest leaders in Judaism were notable for their desire and ability to take the most esoteric topic and bring it down to the level where the common people could understand.  The Rambam (Mishneh Torah) and Ramchal (Derech Hashem) are particularly noted for trying to simplify learning in order to make it more accessible to more people.

This is the hallmark of Judaism and it is the hallmark of all Truth, that those with knowledge do not purposely obscure their words so as to produce more uncertainty, doubt and confusion in the world.  Just the opposite.  So, this is a good way to judge the source of a controversial teacher or leader.

True or false?

"Fast of 17th Tamuz - Fasten Your Seat Belts"

14 Tamuz 5779

This is from one year ago.  Parashat Balak is read in the Diaspora this week, but in Eretz Yisrael we are reading Parashat Pinhas.

17th of Tamuz - Fasten Your Seat Belts - Rav Yehuda Richter

The French (Jewish) Connection

14 Tamuz 5779

When you are a convert, a lot of Jews will ask you if there are any Jews in your background.  I started working on my family genealogy in 1985, about 5 years before I became interested in Judaism.  I worked on it sporadically over the years.  When this issue first came up, I thought the most likely Jewish connection might be found in my mother's father's line.  His parents were German immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island in 1880, a time of high German Jewish immigration, and their family name was Beck, which could be either Jewish or gentile.  However, my grandfather was orphaned at a very young age and knew no details about his parents.  What you see here is all I have ever been able to verify.

But a few days ago, I actually found my Jewish connection and in a most unlikely place.  I've had this information for two years, but I didn't understand what I had until this week.

Growing up on the upper Texas Gulf Coast, I had heard about the Louisiana "Cajuns," but I never knew until two years ago that a large portion of my father's family originated with them, and I don't think he had a clue either, a"h.  I learned the poem "Evangeline" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in school and could once recite portions of it from memory, so I had some inkling about the sad history of how the "Acadians" ('Cajuns) were forced out of Canada and wound up in Louisiana.  However, I was very short on the details.

I can't recall exactly what prompted me to look this subject up the other day - something I heard in passing about an "expulsion"....and I'm like "what!?"  In (very) short, French colonists settled in what is known today as Nova Scotia (and also further afield), but what for them was known as Acadie (Acadia in English). They succeeded and prospered and after about 100 years the British arrived and committed atrocities against them in order to illegally confiscate everything they owned.  They purposely separated couples from each other and parents from children and forcibly expelled some back to France, others to Jamaica and Dominica and some went of their own accord to Louisiana.  According to most accounts, about half were killed.

Until I began to read this, I had always believed Anusim (or Crypto-Jews) were to be found only in Spanish-speaking countries, but this sounded so like something that would happen to a Jewish community that it made me wonder if the Acadian-French could have been Anusim.  It turns out that it is a little-known fact that some Jews who fled the Spanish Inquisition went to France.  (Remember that the Spanish expulsion took place in 1492.  The French who founded Acadie across the ocean in North America arrived there in 1640, already 150 years later.) Now, there is a small group investigating the Anusim in Canada.

I went back to my genealogy notes to find the family names.  Quite a few families with the "right" names intersect, but one stands out - Abraham Dugas and Marguerite Judith Doucet - my 9X Great-Grandparents.  Of Abraham, it has been written:

In Acadian genealogy, I believe there is one French Jew by the name of Abraham Dugas. Recent DNA test of his descendants seem to prove a Jewish descent. ...it has long been suspected that Abraham Dugas may very well have been one of the very first French Jews to come to Acadia. ...Others presume that his family was most likely of "Sephardic" descent having converted to Christianity long before his arrival to Acadia.

When I was listening to Devorah Esther's story just one month ago, I had not a clue that our histories might hold a common thread. And now look.

The fact that the descendants of Anusim are being called back home by HKB"H at this stage is yet another "sign" that Mashiach is already at the door. 

EXACTLY!!!

12 Tamuz 5779

HUCKABEE: U.S. IS BEST SERVED WITH NETANYAHU AS PRIME MINISTER

If he could, American politician Mike Huckabee would cast a vote for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on September 17.

The former candidate for United States president and former governor of Arkansas...is in Israel again, this time with the National Council of Young Israel. He told The Jerusalem Post that he came to Israel in March “to campaign with” Netanyahu and that he “genuinely hope he wins.”

...“As an American, I can tell you the US and the rest of the world are best served with the prime minister staying where he is," he said. "I was here campaigning in March. My trip was personal. I paid my own way and I did it because a friend asked me to come. You help your friends. And I also believed that what I was doing was for the good of the world.

“I didn’t think I would have to come back and do it again,” he said with a chuckle.

In case you need reminding. Our "friend" Huckabee "blesses" Israel in the manner of Balak and Bila'am, and Netanyahu is Christian America's main conduit into Israel, Hashem deliver us from such a "leader"!

If anyone has friends or acquaintances among Young Israel, please send them this video clip.  What are they doing in league with Huckabee anyway??!!



ALL THE EVIL IS HARD AT WORK. The Jewish Agency's two-pronged plan for assimilating the Jews of Eretz Yisrael - bringing in goyim as immigrants and connecting Israeli Jews to Diaspora communities. May all their efforts fail!

JEWISH AGENCY EMISSARIES TO BE TRAINED AS DIASPORA EMISSARIES IN ISRAEL

...The initiative is designed to help deepen Israelis’ understanding of the Jewish brethren around the world, and the US in particular,....

Here Comes the Next Phase of the Birur

8 Tamuz 5779

The same forces at work in America are at work here in Israel trying to create a two-party political system which is easier for them to control.  They've even gone so far as to inspire a "Republican" party on the right and a "Democratic" party on the left.

Feiglin:  “A union of Zehut and the New Right is the right thing to do, and could go on to form the foundation for a new Israeli Republican party – a coherent combination of nationalism and liberalism, identity [Zehut] and liberty.”

Barak names new political vehicle Israel Democratic Party

This is why the PM failed to form a coalition for the first time in history.  Israelis still want their small parties, but since the threshold has been raised so high (purposely designed to eliminate them, of course), too many failed to get in.

And instead of anyone suggesting that the threshold be lowered once again to previous levels allowing the public to have more of a say in how they want to be represented, the solution is to encourage greater "unity."  

What most people call "right-wing" has been splitting down the secular/religious divide, but those who see Zionism as their source of unity are still trying to pull together a "technical block."  Interestingly, a large portion of the religious Zionist public, if reports can be believed, has no problem being led by a secular woman or joining with parties with Arab and Gay representation, despite objections from their rabbis, as long as "Kahanists" are not part of the deal.

I was encouraged by a rumor that Otzma Yehudit may join with the hareidi parties.  If so, it will be a clear choice for unity around the Torah.  

Baruch Marzel Talks Election Politics and Torah

...Would you accept Ayalet Shaked as the head of a union of all the small parties on the right – a proposal that some are floating?

The aspiration of a non-religious person to be the head of a group of religious parties is about as connected to reality as my desire to be the lead dancer in the Tel Aviv Ballet.

How about offering her the Number 2 spot on the list after Rabbi Peretz? Bezalel Smotrich said, for the benefit of the country, he wouldn’t stand in the way.

Sometimes we get caught up in the battle for Knesset seats and forget the real issue of who will best safeguard Eretz Yisrael and the Jewishness of the state in the courts, the educational system, the army, and Israeli society and culture as a whole.

People who know me will tell you that I don’t sit down very much. Seats make me uncomfortable. The same is true of other members in our party. We want the representation we deserve on any joint list – not for the seats in themselves – but for influence they will allow us to exert on government policy.

Rabbi Peretz was not the only person who attacked you recently. Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, head of the new Democratic Israel party, accused you and your associates of being messianic Kahanists who are running Netanyahu’s government. Do you consider yourself messianic?

Every day I hope Mashiach will come. Ehud Barak is known for saying a lot of nonsense, and Bibi does what he wants to do without asking our advice.

Barak says his new party will promote democratic ideals based on Israel’s Proclamation of Independence and the visions of Israel’s prophets. Before Ehud Barak slanders G-d-fearing Jews who long to see the visions of Israel’s prophets established in truth, let him sit in a yeshiva for a few years and learn what Judaism and the Jewish people are really all about.

Barak claims Kahanists and extremist rabbis distort the Torah and lead the country away from true Zionism, causing non-Jews to hate us for our oppression of the Arabs.

I suggest that before Mr. Barak makes inciting statements like this, he should pick up a Tanach and read what it says. Again and again, the prophets of Israel envision the ingathering of the Jews to Zion and the re-establishment of Israelite kingship under a king who will lead the people back to the service of Hashem.

The prophets of Israel promise a day when the future Torah government will uproot all the permissiveness and immorality from the Land, as the prophet Ezekiel declares, “I shall gather you from the peoples and give you the Land of Israel, where you shall come and remove from the Land all the detestable things and abominations…that you may walk in My statutes and keep my commandments and do them.”

How is this return to true justice and morality put into practice? Through a judicial system guided by the principles of the Torah. There is no mention of democracy in the visions of the prophets. And peace is achieved, according to the prophets of Israel, not by sharing the Land of Israel with the enemy, but by ousting him completely from Israel’s borders.

NO ONE SHOULD EVER FORGET

Even our "best and most reliable ally in the world" is out to destroy us!  They are always seeking their own interests above our best interests!!  And they will behave nicely as long as it gets them what they want, but if we ever attempt to cross them - look out!

Israel pushes back on US report spotlighting religious freedom woes

...The State Department report on freedom of religion around the world, released on June 21, is a roundup of government policies impinging on religious freedoms in the previous year. The informational summary on Israel, with its dozens of examples, implicitly criticizes the state’s handling of the issue, though it refrains from outright condemnation.

The examples in the report include the Chief Rabbinate’s exclusive control over marriage, divorce, and burials for Jews, and the Orthodox prayer arrangements at the main Western Wall plaza; the status quo arrangement on the Temple Mount and Israeli security measures at the holy site in response to violence, which were accused of hindering Muslim worship; and alleged police violence against Christian leaders....

Pompeo assures Christian Zionists that Israel allows conversions to Christianity

JTA — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has made a point of reminding a conference of Christian Zionists that Israel permits conversions to Christianity, just weeks after his department reported on the difficulties converts face there.

The only justification the Torah gives for allowing non-Jews to reside in Eretz Yisrael is so that they may worship HKB"H in accordance with the Torah path for non-Jews (in a time when this is not possible in their own lands) NOT so that they can pollute this holy land with their avodah zarah!!
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Note that all recent polls (if they can believed) are continuing to show Likud and Blue/White neck and neck without a clear majority:  Prediction: Second Elections Will Fail