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31 December 2020

It's time for elections. Where's Mashiah? Who is he?

 17 Tevet 5781


My first words for this article were: 

If haShem expects me to vote for Mashiah, he has to show up and be identified, even if he doesn't say a word. His actions will speak for him.

Well, we in Israel have been on a roller coaster for the last month or so, between the announcement of new elections, the killing of a young settler by police who drove the car he was in off the road (I'm tempted to call him our George Floyd, but there is a lot of difference between the two, so it is hard to put them together...even though someone made a cartoon of Ahuvya Sandak, z"l, with a policeman's knee on his neck; rabbis have called for an investigation)...

...and now the return to Israel of Jonathan and Esther Pollard just yesterday. Does he want to be in politics? An emphatic no! "I've suffered enough."  Welcome home, Jonathan and Esther!

Not to mention that we are in the midst of a grand worldwide experiment called the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine (none of the choices are officially approved by any health agency; in the US all approvals have been for emergency use only (EUA) and instructions explicitly state that nothing is promised in terms of benefits.) Germany (co-creator of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine) is jealous because we got ahead of them to deploy vaccines. Apparently we paid twice what Europe paid per dose, so we received it sooner, that's all. I only hope our prime minister's concern is not misguided. He called Pfizer's CEO personally (same link as the one immediately above).

Just before that, the three girls who were in prison in Bulgaria were freed just after Jonathan Pollard's onerous parole was declared over. I look forward to seeing other Jewish prisoners who are on the receiving end of punishments that are highly inappropriate for the crimes they committed, or who are innocent of them because others committed these crimes using them for bait, go free.

My head is spinning. Too much is going on, my computer hasn't been working and I am typing on another one for now. It has slowed me down on the blog, among other things. I hope the links are enough to explain and give substance to this article, so that my precious readers understand that it isn't just my opinion.

Happy secular new year 2021. I hope it won't be as scary as some are predicting, and that we'll see Mashiah ruling Israel instead of the crazy, immature organization that poses as our government!

(Ahuvya z"l's mother actually had to cry out, "Have you no shame?" when summoned by telephone to testify at the police station! And where is our government's response to that?)

 

I'm finding this "new normal" confusing. Do you? Perhaps R' Alon Anava can help us...



10 December 2020

Happy Hanukkah 5781!

 1st Candle - light of 25 Kislev 5781

Just a couple of my favorite Hanukkah songs...


Ocho Kandelikas - Kenny Ellis


Six13 - Bohemian Chanukah




19 November 2020

Hebrew birthday blessings, a 'bombshell calculation,' and more

3 Kislev 5781

 

This low-carb cake was made for Rosh haShana, but it's great for any occasion...someday I'll post the recipe, be"H, b"n

  in honor of the
yom neshama of my mother's mother, whom I never got to meet (she passed after I had just turned two)...Nazira bat Sarah

***

I wrote up these blessings on my recent Hebrew birthday, 29 Heshvan, to be passed along. I hope you like them. Here they are:

1. That your relationship with G-d, your health and your wealth will increase.

2. That your children and all generations after you will serve G-d, have a proper moral compass and prosper accordingly.

3. That we will all live to greet Mashiah together.

4. And that all the prisoners of Zion will be delivered out of jail and be with us.

They do not need to necessarily be in that order!

***

And now for the great part.

Reb Dov Bear commented the following (very light editing, links and emphases by HDG) recently:

Rav [Alon] Anava gave us a bombshell calculation [discussion begins approximately 29m, 30s into the video -HDG]. Most people count the Midway point between Adam and Mashiach ben David to the BIRTH of David in the year 2854. So since אדם is from Adam to David to Mashiach ben David, with David exactly in the middle, most simply double 2854 to get 5708, which was the year of the Founding of the State of Israel. So they trace the Birth of David to the "Birth" of Mashiach, not the actual Rise of Mashiach and the beginning of the New Era. So Rav Anava rightly pointed out that David actually became king in Hevron at Age 30, and he correctly points out that at the time he was co-regent of Israel and Yehudah with Shaul's son Ish Boshet. David was the King of Yehudah, and Ish Boshet was the King of the Rest of Israel. What he does not point out is that in the third year of David's reign, Ish Boshet was assassinated, and the rest of the Tribes came to David so that in the third year of David's reign, he became King of all of Israel.

Although David moved the capital from Hevron to Yerushalayim in the 8th year of his reign, he actually became King of all Israel in the 3rd year of his reign in Hevron with the death/assassination of Ish Boshet. Yet, obviously all the tribes north of Yehudah, which were all the Tribes, were not happy with a situation where the King of Israel ruled from the Judean Provincial capital of Hevron. So David concluded that he could only keep his kingdom together by capturing Yerushalayim which was somewhat in "no man's land," at the actual border between Yehudah and Binyamin in the Jebusite city that had not yet been conquered. So from a practical perspective, the Davidic Dynasty was cemented when David was 37 years old and had conquered Yerushalayim from the Jebusites. So once again double that 37 year period to add 74 years or (ע"ד years) to 5708 to get the year of our Joy, 5782. So there you go, an additional calculation besides the ones that I have brought you on this blog such as the 1335 years since the setting up of the cornerstone of the Golden Dome (the Abomination that Makes Desolate) in 687 ce, leading to the exact same year 2022 (5782-early 5783)! Now since 5782 is the Shmittah year of destiny, Ben David sets up his Messianic kingdom in the immediate aftermath of 5782 in the Motzei Shmittah year 5783, but Chaza"l tell us that the Geulah is actually in force in the 7th year even if Ben David sets up his kingdom in year 8. It is why HaShem alone as Go'el Yisrael is the 7th brachah of Shmonah Esrei.

It seems to me that this has been revealed now because the n w o people have done such a good job in frightening large numbers of people into believing that the world has no choice but to submit and follow them, using the coronavirus as an opportunity...and until the Kadosh Baruch Hu reveals Himself, choice must continue to exist. 

***

UPDATE this section: "Youth for Pollard" has designated today a SPECIAL DAY OF PRAYER for Jonathan Pollard. We can always pray that the p t b will be so busy for today & the next few days that they won't be able to do what they usually do in the case of "Israel's agent." See Alan Dershowitz: Cautious, optimistic that Pollard will go free.

Two things we can all do to bring our geula closer by helping America's longest-lived standing prisoner of Zion, as far as I know (he is currently at what we hope and pray is the end of a 5-year-long house- and neighborhood-arrest, and has not been able to work because of the conditions placed on him) are:

 1. Pray for Jonathan Pollard (Yehonatan ben Malka) and for his wife, Esther (Esther Yocheved bat Raizel Bracha, for her health), that he be released on time this Friday. Suggested prayers

2. Write to President Trump and ask him to commute Jonathan's sentence to time served.

I personally believe that millions of Israelis owe Jonathan their lives for what he did for their country — not against America, but for Israel — more than 35 years ago.

***

May my readers have a joyous Kislev, the happiest of Hanukka celebrations, and a great next couple of years...until Mashiah is revealed. 

Don't worry, I have material I'll continue to develop and post in the meantime.😀


29 October 2020

A partial answer to a fascinating question

light of 12 Heshvan 5781


This is the picture on the "Fourth Revolution in Torah Learning" article.


 The question, on the Tomer Devorah blog in her article "'Fourth Industrial Revolution' or Fourth Reich?" was:

I know this question will be off-putting to many people, but my inquiring mind needs to know, is the The Fourth Revolution in Torah Learning somehow part of all this, too?  If anyone has a serious answer to this, please respond in the comments section below.  Thanks!

I ended up with a post-sized reply, so I got permission to put it here instead. I don't actually think I can answer it; but I am pointing out some signposts I found along the way. 

Whether she finds something here or not, I pray that Devash will find what she is looking for. After all, I believe she is asking whether the Jewish People (or people who are perceived to be Jews and may or may not be) are contributing to the world's domination and demise by evil people who wish to be worshiped and obeyed as god, when our mission is the repair of the earth and all who live on it, when HaShem is openly King of the domain He created and made. It's a really important question!

You might want to read the articles linked to above before coming back to read mine. Or read them in reverse order. Whatever will help you understand better and help answer her question.

***

To attempt even a l-i-t-t-l-e bit to answer your question, Devash: First of all I probably had this question too, but in a different form. I have a post coming up that takes on at least part of what it will take to bring us back from the brink of utter submission to the "Fourth Industrial Revolution" — or Fourth Reich.

 I think we have to examine each "revolution" along with the path all of them take, and ask ourselves whether we'd arrived at the place we were meant to. Or were we deviated just a little bit each time? Maybe a lot?

The justification for each one of them is "The time has come “to act for God [by their] transgressing Your Torah." I think a hint to the answer to your question is found in this sentence. What kind of statement is this? Can we really act for the One who defined transgression (averáh) by transgressing? Is this a challenge, to see how far H' can push us away and still have us struggling to find our way back, or praying for help to find the way? 

Or, maybe it's an opportunity for others to try to pick off the ones who have deviated from the path. And this is where the "Fourth Industrial Revolution" may come in, if it does. If we have deviated too far, or our goals meshed sufficiently with theirs, even accidentally, it might be easier for the NWO people to demand of those among us what they want from the rest of the world. And what if they are really among us, living where we live and so on? I shudder to think about it.

Back to the path our revolutions took. It seems that each revolution was an answer to an exigency:

1. Transcribing the Oral Torah: We're about to lose our land and be scattered all over the world. How are we going to cling to our oral understanding of Torah without ending up completely different from where we started? Like the author of the article, I'm not sure we had a choice in the matter. And it may have contributed to a certain lack of ease in how we understand Torah from the Talmud that was created. The "Jewish Body of Knowledge" does keep getting bigger and bigger...and bigger...I'm wondering who the next contemporary sage is, to have his interpretations considered like part of the Talmud, after R' Moshe Feinstein, or maybe after R' Ovadia Yosef.

2. "His Torah is his Trade": We're in a dilemma: Can we balance Torah study with a profession in our country of exile and still do both well enough to keep each one, and still teach our children and otherwise engage with our family? And where are we now? In the end some of us were shamed into giving up Torah study and working harder (I'm looking at you, Christian Europe.). Some of us were ashamed to even go out at all because of all the humiliations (I'm looking at you, Muslim countries, mostly in the Middle East and North Africa.). Some of us may not have had enough Jewish women to marry, the exile we were in loved us so much (I'm looking at you, Kaifeng, China.). All these took place over vast periods of time. And earning money for teaching Torah was eventually permitted, as the article states. 

Someone has to teach the children...if Abba can't do it, he has to hire someone. The more Abbas that can't, the more the moréh can make while charging each one less.

3. Torah Study for Women: A very real issue: With non-Jewish girls getting education around them, were Jewish girls expected to continue to receive almost none, and meanwhile have the strength to withstand the temptations to go outside our boundaries? Has it turned out to be good for the Jewish people until now? (Please take this in the best sense: I do wish that the sages responsible hadn't been so quick to lower us in their opinion. If we weren't smart enough to avoid belittling important Torah teachings, then HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO TRUST US TO RAISE YOUR (really OUR) CHILDREN??? After all, it takes intelligence to prioritize according to importance. And our children are really our most important priority when it comes to the future.)

I don't think that is really why women weren't educated: It costs money. The more school education the girl receives, the less children the grown woman ends up bearing. (Bill Gates pointed that out when speaking of the poor women of Africa (and India?), but I don't have time to find where he said it right now. It applies to all of us.) We kept needing to make up for all the slaughters and still maintain a holy people while we were in exile (and for many, while we ARE in exile)! But the real question here is whether the quality of Jewish education, both for boys and for girls, is better today or worse, is more appropriate or less so, and is even available or not (you'd be surprised at how many Jewish children have no opportunity for Jewish education! Chabad to the rescue — in many places.). 

And there are other reasons I can't think of right now. But this has proved to be an open door for sneaky organizations with a hidden motive to steal away Jewish women from true Judaism! I'm looking at you, Open Orthodoxy, Tikkun Olam and others as well.

Now, to bring up the theoretical revolution, #4, Torah Study for Gentiles — which hasn't really arrived yet in the manner our author (whoever he may be) seems to be writing about. He acknowledges "...modern Judaism is suffering from a deep crisis. Many individuals (and even groups) have distanced themselves from Torah study and even from their Jewish identity." Maybe it's because they were taught by the Gentiles, or even the Jews, who secretly want to further divert their path?

And the author of the article you asked about really believes that by teaching Gentiles our Torah beyond the laws of Noah it's going to help Jews who are far from HQB"H? We have to take a few steps before going there:

1. Make sure we start that only when non-Jews in general have the proper respect for the people who have been carrying Torah and living by it as best we can for close to 3,500 years, despite all their machinations and conspiracies — from Ephron the Hittite until this very day. 

Hidden antisemitism will come out if it's there. It shouldn't embarrass us to expose them, no matter how much a fuss they make of it, once we decide they have crossed a line they shouldn't have.

2. Are they firmly grounded in Noah's Laws? They should be. The Seven are the basis of ALL LAW on the earth, as we both, and our readers, know well. 

Further, it is dangerous for them to learn Torah before derekh eretz, the basis of Noahide law. It is poison to the person who lacks it, whether s/he be Jew or not. We all needed to learn to say "please" and "thank you" before we reached the age when we would learn any Torah precept.

There may be more steps. If I think of any more, I may update them here in the body of the post. Take this as a call for comment on the part of others who think of more!



26 October 2020

A mixed message: Miracle above, and what's going on below

 Light of 9 Heshvan 5781

 

Dedicated to the neshama of Yehuda Leab ben Aharon Yitzhak uShifra, whose petirah and levaya were today.

 

Several days ago in mid-afternoon (Tuesday, 20 October / 2 Heshvan) it rained pretty heavily in my Yerushalayim neighborhood for about an hour, then moved on elsewhere in the Holy City. I heard the rain before looking out the window, but I was way too slow. No pics of mine here. But you can see some here, thanks to Neshama, who also lives in Yerushalayim.

Consider this picture, taken for the Times of Israel (first link above). How many times has anyone seen a solitary cloud hanging over Jerusalem at the beginning of the rainy season? (I was hoping that the north of the country would also benefit; but, alas, it seems that no other part of our ancestral homeland did. I'd like to know if other parts of Israel got some precious rain as well.)


I don't know where it went from there, or if it just dispersed. 

Meanwhile, on the same day, while the ground was still drying from the rain and surfaces were still dripping, a Jerusalem neighborhood saw a young girl arrested and her face pepper-sprayed because she wasn't wearing a mask, in front of the apartment building where she lives. It's not in a strict haredi neighborhood, either. If you examine the video carefully (3rd tweet down; it's 1 minute, 36 seconds long), you'll see that her feet are bare. I think that means she wasn't going anywhere. 

We don't know how it ends because someone came home in a car and wanted to park in the parking lot out of our view; that's where the video stops.

Abba sheh'baShamayim, what's the message here, besides that we have a way to go yet before we can have an unmitigated redemption?



06 October 2020

"19 Reasons to Thank Hashem for Covid-19": One that stands out

 18 Tishrei 5781


Shmuel Sackett, known as Moshe Feiglin's sidekick assistant since long before I left the USA for my ancestral homeland, sometimes writes divre Torah and sends them by email (which is how I got the material for this post). Within them he often comes up with thought-provoking points. I present to my readers an especially good one to ponder, that he included in honor of this past Yom haKippurim. Shmuel explains:

My outlook on this – and things like it – is simple. While I do not ignore the sadness, tragedies, and danger, I try – as best as I can – to see the positive as well. Unfortunately, I am far from being a “Gam Zu Le’Tova” (this too is for the best) guy, but I do try to see the good and focus on it. During this past Shabbat Shuva I pushed myself to see the good in the Covid-19 challenge that Hashem has sent our way… and then I went one step further. I not only want to see the good, I want to thank Hashem for the good!

Therefore, even though we are still extremely far from this being over – and many challenges still lie ahead – I plan on thanking Hashem, on Yom Kippur, for the following 19 things. When a daughter of mine asked me what the connection was to Yom Kippur, I answered the following: Maybe we have to do teshuva for not recognizing these good, positive things. Obviously, Hashem has sent this pandemic for a reason and it will continue until we learn these lessons. Everything our King does has a purpose and a message and if we don’t understand that message… the lesson may still continue. So, dearest friends, let’s stop complaining and start focusing. I don’t have all the answers – and I struggle with many of these things myself – but after 7 months of living with the Covid-19 pandemic, let’s do our best to see the good that has come out of this and ask forgiveness from Hashem for only seeing the bad.

And I've picked out the best one, in my humble opinion:

18. Less people dying – Although many have died from Covid, the overall death rate in Israel in the last 7 months is lower than ever! I checked the numbers myself with several “Chevra Kadisha” workers who have told me that it’s 100% true… less people have died in Mar-Sept 2020 than in the same period in the last 10 years!

Can you believe that?! It even lends itself to analysis, and could lead to more with some hard numbers from his cited source and from elsewhere. I attempted a synopsis in the next two paragraphs:

  • Any Israeli Jew who knows what the Hevra Kadishah is, knows that these are the "boots on the ground" here, and that they ought to know what they're talking about! 
  • That fewer Israelis have died from all causes in the seven whole months between March and September 2020, during the period of coronavirus contagion in Israel up until now, than in the same period since 2010 without the magefah, is highly significant and noteworthy for the Qiddush haShem  (sanctification of G-d's Holy Name and Reputation) it represents!

Here's how the חֶבְרָה קַדִישָא operates in Israel under Bituah Leumi (National Insurance Institute). (CAVEAT: This page does not specify the rules for handling those who passed due to Covid-19. I searched, and found none, not even links.)

Read the entire Shmuel Sackett article here. (Yes, he posted as well as emailed. But I had to search for this link! Could he have sent the email before posting it? -HDG)

***

29 September 2020

Counting the uncountable

the light of 12 Tishrei 5781

The Hubble spacecraft took this pic on its 28th "birthday" in 2018. Can you find all the stars here?

 Since Israel came back into existence as a nation in its designated land, the Hebrew language we use has been discussed, with both praise and criticism, by people everywhere since the days of Eliezer ben Yehuda (who is credited with bringing it back "from the dead"). Here is a smattering of the current conversation in English:

Why is Ivrit not considered an artificial language? | Does Modern Hebrew/Israeli count as a constructed language? | How Yiddish influenced Modern Hebrew | An overview of the Hebrew language (Wikipedia)

(I wish I could see an article by someone more familiar with Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) or Judeo-Arabic.)

Remember where it comes from. Hebrew is one of the "classical" languages that used to be studied in the West along with an ancient form of Greek, and Latin. Easterners may have studied Arabic, Sanskrit, and others. Hebrew is a deep language with lots of meaning for those who give it the respect it deserves, even in its modern form. 

As a non-native speaker with over 50 years of a foreign language (this one, that I'm using right now) prior to my move to Yerushalayim, after my time in Hebrew language school (called ulpan, which is an Aramaic word), I could read and understand parts of the Book of Genesis (Bereshith - really ancient Hebrew there) easily. Not so with Old English, which is not nearly as old as Biblical Hebrew (which we call lashon hakodesh, the holy tongue). Native speakers and people who spent a greater percentage of their lives learning it, of course, understand it far better than I.

But I am not completely language-illiterate. I am still working on making my spoken Hebrew more fluent. I learned Spanish as a high-schooler and college student way-back-when, and became more fluent and literate later; also, to a lesser extent, I learned some Russian in high school. Upon reflection later, I realized that this reflected my dual Jewish background as both Sephardia and Ashkenazia. No Orthodox synagogues nearby, therefore no available Hebrew education for me!

For about a year recently, I attended "seminar" (a borrowed word used for the women's equivalent of a yeshiva) with a group of Spanish-speaking women, of varying ages and was thus prompted to revive my own Spanish, and I became fluent again, even more so, BC (before "corona"). So I am used to thinking of the words I use in different ways other than my first language.

Turning back to Hebrew, I have found that I could find meanings in old words that don't seem to appear in these discussions. The process is ongoing, and I've only just begun.

Here is only one example of defining a Hebrew word that even highly learned scholars (mostly non-Jews) have missed completely: limnót למנות, to count, is the infinitive, from which I'd like to look at several forms over the course of time, be"H, b"n (with the help of G-d, and I'm not vowing - that's a very serious matter Biblically.).

 ***

UPDATE: I have a debt to pay here: I had forgotten to give credit for this idea where credit is due, until the day after I posted this article. The class above that I had attended was actually a return to an old class I had attended 10 years ago, but it was an English program for the most part then, until the pause in my journey there, as the Spanish program was starting up.

Machon Roni was the place in the Old City of Yerushalayim, where the Spanish program continues, and Rabbanit Mollie Goldstein was my teacher, both 10 years ago and in the last year or so before corona

We were studying the book of Bereshith, where the first mention of limnót למנות occurs in parashath VaYetze, as a noun. It is where Ya'acov Avinu accuses Lavan of changing his wages 10 moním (where the usual word for times would be pa'amím) - we learned that each mon does not refer to a single instance, but multiple. I hope to go into more detail when the parashah comes around again this year, be"H, b"n.

***

Here it is, from the Book of Psalms: 

Tehillim 147:4 (Sefaria)

We're not going to go over the entire verse; it's more than I'd planned on writing this time around. 

The first word (on the far right), monéh, is actually the third person singular present tense (Sefaria translates the entire verse in the past tense. I prefer more the translation in my favorite Psalms book, also in both languages, that, in present tense, says: He counts the number of the stars; to all of them does He give names. It is more literally correct...), just as the verses before and after it are. 

I think this may mean He constantly keeps a count of the stars — which is a lot more than we can do, even with our most sophisticated equipment. Here is more about the Hubble craft, which circles the earth and takes all its pictures (more than 1.3 million since 1990) from a low earth orbit (LEO).

For us it is enough to know that the usual word for counting, lispór לספור, is not being used here. As far as anyone in the world is concerned, even the most dedicated space scientists, we cannot count the number of the stars in space. Can we even count the stars in the Milky Way without missing one or more? 

Include the fact that stars are born and die, and that it takes a long time for us to see and note the occurrence, due to the "slowness" of the speed of light across the universe.

Has any medical researcher counted the exact number of cells in a given human being? Or do we make do with mere estimates?

 I could ask similar questions about the number of water molecules in each of the many types of clouds or earth molecules in a dust cloud, the number of insects in a swarm, the number of air molecules that enter our lungs with each breath. I believe it is highly likely that researchers in all fields would (and if not, they should) use the infinitive limnót rather than lispór to describe their acts of counting.

For us the stars are still uncountable, as are many other things; and there are even more uses for the infinitive and the words that come from it. That's why I define limnót למנות as "to count by moním" or "to count in terms of magnitude or uncountable quantities." Maybe H' counts the stars by galaxy? Who knows? I have no idea, but this is just to convey the magnitude of what, and how, we're counting whenever this word is used.

By the way, even the days of our lives are uncountable until they're over. That one's in Psalm 90:12. The infinitive limnot is the first word in the Hebrew verse. 

[I should note here that I don't hold responsibility for the English translations of these verses. I only provide them because I think it might make my readers (and me) more comfortable, with the caveat that we shouldn't rely on them to relay the true meaning of King David's prayers. This also applies to other parts of the Tana"kh as well.]

All this, and much more, points to the Kingship and magnificence of the One True G-d of the Universe. Only He can count the uncountable. Is there another language that expresses this, other than Hebrew?

***

NOTE: I apologize for not finishing this essay before Yom haKippurim, let alone Rosh haShana. If I have offended anyone unnecessarily or caused stumbling by not updating parts of the blog on time (which I'm sure I did at some point), I beg forgiveness. I forgive others of the same. May we all be blessed and merit to see the coming of Mashiah in our days, with our very own eyes.




13 September 2020

A world guided by the Seven Noahide Laws...think about the contrast between that and what's going on today.

24 Elul 5780

Click image to go to the source



In my last post I suggested that Jews really must discuss Noahide law and its place in the world.

Here is an excellent article I just found that should be read everywhere: A World Guided by the Seven Noahide Laws by Rabbi Yirmeyahu Bindman. May it be a beginning we can turn our aspirations to even before Mashiah is revealed.

Here's a taste...

It is well known that the Jewish faith does not seek to make converts, and so it is generally supposed that since the Jewish people do not want to make other people into Jews, they are happy just to leave them alone. 

The world is often very surprised to discover that the Jewish faith includes a complete provision for all non-Jews — regardless of race, social class or national origin — perfectly attuned to their needs, and deriving from the same source in Divine revelation through the prophecy of Moses, without any intermediary whatsoever. Only the true universal faith of the Jews continually offers something to those who are not its members, and this is its sign of authenticity.

This provision is known as the Noahide Laws. Though Adam and Eve, the first man and his wife, were commanded to observe them, the Laws emerged fully only after Noah had survived the flood that wiped away violent sinners whose wrongdoings had engulfed the world in his time. The ancestors of the Jewish people were also commanded to observe the Laws until they were given the whole Torah at Mount Sinai; they were then reaffirmed through Moses for all the other nations.

Their wisdom has been recognized by non Jews in modern times. In 1991, the U.S. Congress enacted a law recognizing their universal truths, stating, “... these ethical values and principles have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization, when they were known as the Seven Noahide Laws.”

Regarding the last paragraph above, I had no idea that the US had already taken a look at the Laws, well before they made same-gender marriage a law of the land...Hmmm.

I'll be preparing for the New Year this week, so if I don't write again before then, I'm wishing all my faithful readers a Shanah Tovah uMevarechet | שנה טובה ומברכת

despite all the illness and lockdowns, violence and basic lawlessness going on in the world around us today.

---

BUT BEFORE I GO...this includes people from ALL religions and nations. I am thinking now of the Arabs who supposedly want to make peace with Israel, starting with the United Arab Emirates and continuing with the nations "lining up" to make peace with us. One thing must be clear: ANY nation that wants to make peace with Israel must renounce any nation that continues to act belligerently with her — including the "Palestinians"! They cannot "have their cake and eat it too."

Otherwise, I will assume that these nations are playing fast and loose with us, faking the whole thing until they can make war on us. I expect, indeed, DEMAND, that any human being who considers him- and herself decent, whether Jew or non-Jew, do the same and act accordingly. 

No compromising on this issue from me: Despite what you have heard or read, we, the Jews of Israel, are the beleaguered ones here. We have come to our ancestral homeland. Every single one who calls us thieves is a thief himself and herself, and conspires with thieves to steal, not only our land, but our very lives as well. The very land itself bears witness, with fires burning it down coming from the palestinians from Gaza (which is ours, too, by the way, under their occupation — or that of Iran).

Almost a thousand years ago, our beloved sage Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, known as Rashi, knew that we would be called thieves when we returned, and commented on it in Bereshith Alef (Genesis 1) of the Torah (the Holy Bible to the vast majority of those who have one — you will have to look that up in a Jewish version with commentaries; look for Rashi specifically. Or, you can look here.The print is rather small, but most will be able to enlarge it onscreen.).

The Arab League, in which most of these nations take part, was founded back in March 1945, before the end of WWII the following September. On 29 May 1964 the League created two Palestinian organizations: the first, the Palestinian National Council, which then gave birth to the second, the Palestinian Liberation Organization the following week (2 June) to replace Israel with a Palestinian state by "ending the occupation" (read: get rid of the Jews and their state). 

(That rabbit hole has an end: see the sad story of Jessica Krug. I hope she gets to do teshuva, please G-d. There may be more like her, who cancelled their real Jewish identities their whole lives in response to the Jew-hatred they experienced. But now I've gone off the deep end as far as this article is concerned.)

The League hopes that the Internet doesn't remember that their ultimate goal is to finish off the State of Israel. You'll have to "page down" 3 or 4 times to see this source. As of today they (David Bedein (Israel Behind the News) cites the UAE as an example here) have not denounced this strategy. 

UPDATE: I received David Bedein's interview with Avi Abelow of Pulse of Israel after posting my article. MUST WATCH.

We have to be ultra-careful and firm about our own interests when dealing with our "cousins" in the Middle East. Or else, G-d forbid, we may be accomplices in our own murder as a nation, G-d forbid!!! And that would not please Avraham Avinu very much, let alone Noach, and less Moshe Rabbenu, and much less the Creator who made them all, may they be blessed, without any aspect of curse.

Have a Good, Happy, Healthy and Blessed New Year 5781 | שנה ה'תשע"א טובה, שמחה, בריאה ומבורכת