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Sunday, 31 May 2009
Ric Hochet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ric Hochet
Ric Hochet is a Franco-Belgian comics series created by Tibet (drawings) and André-Paul Duchâteau (scripts). It first appeared on March 3, 1955 in the comics magazine Tintin.[1]
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Ric Hochet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Buddy Longway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Buddy Longway
Buddy Longway is a western comic book written by the Swiss comic book writer Derib. It is published under the Le Lombard publishing house. The first issue came out in 1972, and 16 issues were published until 1987 until Derib restarted the series in 2002, continuing with four further issues until 2006,[1] until he announced that the 20th issue, La Source, would be the last.[2] Both the story arcs and the drawings are praised for the realistic portrayal of the simplistic, rough life as a trapper.[3]
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Buddy Longway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jonathan (bande dessinée) - Wikipédia
Jonathan
Jonathan est un occidental qui parcourt l'Himalaya, à travers l'Inde du Nord et le Népal. Ses pérégrinations lui font traverser le Tibet occupé, rencontrer de nombreux personnages, passer dans des lieux réels comme Leh, Srinagar, Katmandou ou Lhassa. Les aventures de Jonathan sont fortement marquées par des aspects à la fois amoureux (c'est la cause initiale de son départ pour l'Himalaya), amicaux, esthétiques (avec le colonel dans L'Espace bleu entre les nuages, puis Kate dont la rencontre initiale est marquée par l'achat manqué d'une thangka), politiques et spirituels (avec son soutien à la cause tibétaine, et une méfiance constante vis-à-vis du gouvernement chinois).
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Valérian and Laureline - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Valérian and Laureline
Valérian and Laureline (French: Valérian et Laureline), also known as Valérian: Spatio-Temporal Agent (French: Valérian: Agent Spatio-Temporel) or just Valérian, is a French science fiction comics series, created by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières. First published in the magazine Pilote in 1967, its latest installment was published in 2007. All of the Valérian stories have been collected in graphic novel album format, comprising some twenty-one volumes plus a short story collection and an encyclopaedia. Valérian is one of the top five biggest selling Franco-Belgian comics titles of its publisher, Dargaud.[1]
The series centres around the adventures of the spatio-temporal agent, the dark-haired Valérian, and his redheaded female companion, Laureline, as they travel the universe through space and time. Valérian is a classical anti-hero, strong and brave but with a tendency to follow the orders of his superiors even if he feels, deep down, that it is the wrong thing to do. On the other hand, his companion Laureline manages to combine sex-appeal with intelligence and independence making her one of science fiction's most notable heroines. Influenced by classic literary science fiction, the series combines elements of space opera and time travel. Christin's scripts are noted for their humour and strongly liberal political slant while Mézières' art is noted for its vivid depictions of the alien worlds and species Valérian and Laureline encounter on their adventures.
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Saturday, 30 May 2009
Bernard Prince - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bernard PrinceBernard Prince is a Franco-Belgian comics series, featuring an eponymous character and his sailor-adventurer companions. The series was created by Belgian cartoonists Greg and Hermann for the comics magazine Tintin, first appearing on January 4, 1966.[1]
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Bernard Prince - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaTHE CRIME OF SILENCE
President Obama, Pay Attention!...For the sake of Jerusalem I will not be still
The Crime of Silence
May 29, 2009
Rachel Neuwirth
The crime of silence is a crime that most Jews commit against themselves. One of the Ten Commandments says, “Thou shall not bear false witness,” i.e., do not lie. That is a negative commandment – what not to do. Simply keeping silent might satisfy that negative commandment even if one keeps silent in the face of malicious lies. Too many Jews today keep silent in the face of malicious lies by their enemies and thus give the impression that those lies may be true. The prophet Isaiah 62.1 has stated the essential positive side of that negative commandment:
“For the sake of Zion I will not be silent,
For the sake of Jerusalem I will not be still,
Till her victory emerge resplendent
And her triumph like a flaming torch.”
The first official meeting between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama on May 18th was a missed opportunity for Netanyahu to speak truth to power as written by Isaiah. Before the meeting, U.S. officials set the stage for heavy pressure on Israel’s Netanyahu to publicly agree to a “two state solution.” Israel was cast in the role as being “an obstacle to peace” with pressure to agree to quickly relinquish “land for peace” and take “risks for peace” even with no concessions, no recognition and no reining in the terrorists byIsrael’s so-called “peace partners.” The Obama Administration set a diplomatic trap, allowing no escape other than suicidal concessions as part of a U.S.-sponsored (i.e. dictated) “peace plan.” Those concessions were the price for a vague (and essentially worthless) promise by the U.S. to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. In advance, it was clear that any hesitation by Netanyahu would place the onus for failure exclusively on Israel, including responsibility for any future Arab-Israeli war that might result. Netanyahu tried to offer some positive steps short of creating an independent Palestinian state inside Israel’s heartland, but these did not satisfy the Obama Administration and U.S.-Israeli relations are very likely to suffer.
Now let us imagine a different response by Prime Minister Netanyahu, to be delivered in the public news conference following their private meeting. Suppose Netanyahu spoke as follows:
“Mr. President, your ‘requests’ sound more like demands with threats behind them. If we agree to your ‘requests’ Israel will be on the path to destruction, and you must be fully aware of that. In the past, Israel has always tried to acquiesce to American ‘requests,’ even when very painful, to avoid angering or offending the U.S. administration. We have paid a bitter price, time and time again, for subordinating our security to American policies aimed at pleasing or placating the Arab and Muslim worlds. We can no longer afford to place our very survival in jeopardy, not even to placate our dear and beloved friend, the United States of America. It is high time that we speak truth to power in the spirit of the prophet Isaiah. You have made your requests, and you demand clear and timely answers from me. I now present our questions to you, and likewise, we expect clear and timely answers from you.
“Mr. President, you have said that our complying with your requests to create a Palestinian state will facilitate Iran not going nuclear. But there is absolutely no evidence to support this claim. Certainly the Ayatollah’s regime has never said so. President Ahmadinejad, supreme religious leader Ali Khamenei, former President Rafsanjani, and numerous other members of the Iranian ruling elite have made it absolutely clear, time and again, that what they seek is not a Palestinian state but the complete destruction of the ‘Zionist entity’ forever.
“You say that your policy ‘dialogue’ with the mullocracy will dissuade Iran from developing nuclear weapons. But all of the evidence of history indicates that talking to a fanatical, militant regime is no way to prevent it from pursuing aggressive, warlike goals. The U.S. tried to dissuade North Korea from going nuclear. The nuclear bomb test that the North Korean regime has just conducted (May 25th, Memorial Day), demonstrates just how well the strategy of negotiations with a fanatical and inhumane regime works. America’s policy of tolerating Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, and even giving Pakistan hundreds of millions annually in military aid, has also failed. Pakistan is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal even as the threat of Taliban takeover of this strategic country has been steadily growing. And of course, Neville Chamberlain’s strategy of talking to Hitler and relying on his cynical promises was not successful in halting Germany’s weapons development program, or its aggressive actions, either. Mr. President, you need to learn from history. And with all due respect, Mr. President, why should we Israelis bet our very lives on your strategy of friendly conversations with our worst enemies?
“Mr. President, consider the map of the greater Middle East. It shows one Jewish country, Israel, with 10,000square miles, including the so-called ‘occupied’ territories. It shows 57 Muslim states with about 12 million square miles. Please explain why one tiny country is more than enough for Jews, but 57 countries are not enough for Muslims? Why are 12 million square miles so insufficient that they must go to war over another 2,300 square miles, from Israel’s heartland, to expand Muslim lands by an infinitesimal 0.02 percent?
“Mr. President, Jordan was created in 1922 on land previously assigned by the victorious Allies of World War I to Great Britain, as a ‘sacred trust,’ to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish National Home. Jordan, an Arab kingdom, now possesses 77 percent of this original Palestine Mandate territory. Why then, do we need a further partition of the remaining 10,000 square miles of Palestine, an area only the size of the state of Vermont, which the League of Nations set aside for the development of the Jewish National Home? How can you deny that Jordan, all of whose people live within the original mandated territory of Palestine, is already the state of the Palestinian Arabs? Why do we need a second Arab state in Palestine? And how can you deny to the Jewish people the bare minimum of land necessary to protect themselves from attack and to find homes for their rapidly growing population? How can you demand an end to all ‘natural growth’ in Israeli towns and villages (the so-called ‘settlements’), thereby denying thousands of young Jewish couples the right to build homes for themselves and their children? And how can you demand, as indeed you do, that Israel uproot up to 500,000 Jews from their homes, in order to make all of Palestine outside Israel’s June 4, 1967 borders judenrein, and to satisfy through this proposed ethnic cleansing the demands of the Palestinian Authority and the League of Arab States?
“Mr. President, there is a map of Palestine that was displayed by Arafat’s PLO and continues to be displayed on all official offices, publications, websites, on official stationary, and in school textbooks in all areas administered by Mahmoud Abbas’ ‘Palestinian Authority’ government. That map shows NO Israel at all. Why does your administration not object to this Palestinian map of “NO Israel” that matches the PLO Charter, which states that the creation of the State of Israel is null and void? The U.S. government accepted a PLO promise to amend the Charter but has ignored the fact that the PLO and the PA failed to amend it. To this day it remains unchanged, while young Palestinian Arabs are taught in their U.S.-funded schools that Israel has no right to exist, and that all of its territory is “Palestine.” Why have you failed to address these outrages?
“There is a yet another map that is located in the archives of the U.S. government. After the Six Day War, President Johnson asked the Pentagon and the CIA to produce a map showing the minimal territory needed by Israel to insure its security. Their map included the Golan Heights, Gaza, Jerusalem, most of the West Bank and small parts of the Sinai. The map was then classified ‘Top Secret’ and withheld from the public. This map validated Israeli concerns over American demands to move back towards the vulnerable boundaries of May 1967. The Wall Street Journal published this map in 1983, but it remains ignored. Will you now acknowledge this map and its conclusions?
“Mr. President, can you explain why the Arabs attacked Israel repeatedly between 1949 and 1967 when the so-called ‘occupied territories’ were under Arab rule, and there were no Jewish ‘settlers’ permitted to live in them?
“Mr. President, when in May and June of 1967 Egypt and Syria mobilized their armies along Israel’s borders, placed a blockade on Israel’s only outlet to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and openly proclaimed their intention to destroy Israel, the U.S. government declined to lift a finger to assist Israel. Why did the U.S. fail to honor its prior commitment to prevent Egypt from blockading Israel’s southern port? Why did the U.S State Department claim it could not even find the document in which the commitment was made only 11 years earlier?
“And when Egypt and Syria were preparing to attack Israel once again in 1973, why did America fail to warn Egypt and Syria not to attack Israel? Why, when the U.S. knew very well that allowing the Arabs to strike first would cost Israel heavily, did it still insist that Israel let its enemies strike the first blow?(See memo of Conversation – Abba Eban at the U.S. Defense Department, May 20, 1967). Israel lost more than 3,000 of its finest young men and women when it accepted this American “advice.”
“And what is most important, Mr. President, why, in view of this tragic history, should we rely on your soothing but vague promise to treat our security as ‘sacrosanct?’ And why should we rely on your National Security advisor’s somewhat less elegant promise to ‘not throw Israel under the bus?’ Why, when past U.S. presidents have failed to keep much stronger and more concrete promises, should we rely on your vague, meaningless ones?
“There is a stark lesson that these past attempts by the Arab world to destroy us have taught us: when in June 1967, Israel decided to resist American pressure to do nothing in the face of an immediate threat to its survival, it won a great victory in six days; while in 1973, when Israel obeyed the U.S. demand that it not ‘pre-empt’ its enemies’ imminent attack, it barely escaped destruction at their hands.
“Today, Israel faces new demands from your administration which could lead to our destruction. We also know that the U.S. has never placed itself under anylegal obligation to come to our assistance in the event of aggression against us. We must now make a difficult choice: either to comply with your demands, and once again risk the lives of all of our people, or to resist them, and incur your anger and possible retaliation. Mr. President, before you make any more demands on us, I suggest that you provide some credible response to the questions that I have posed for you. These questions are only a small sample of the many that could be posed. And you would do well to also read the book The Secret War Against the Jews – How Western Espionage Betrayed the Jewish People,by John Loftus and Mark Aarons, if you wish to understand why Israel cannot afford to place its people’s lives at risk, even to please its best friend.
“Mr. President, as a self-professed Christian, you should be familiar with the book of Genesis, in which G-d clearly promises the land to Abraham and to the Jewish people in perpetuity. You should also be aware of Genesis 12:3 which contains a promise and a warning to the nations and for all time:
“Iwill bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
“Mr. President, there is much history and many questions that need reviewing in order to set this region on the proper road to peace. I look forward to pursuing that review with you in a spirit of mutual respect.”
This is what PM Netanyahu should have said, and what everyone who respects rational thought would have approved.
Bertram Cohen and John Landau contributed to this article.
Family Security Matters Contributing Editor Rachel Neuwirth is an internationally recognized political commentator and analyst. She specializes in Middle Eastern Affairs with particular emphasis on Militant Islam and Israeli foreign policy. She is president of Middle East Solutions.
May 29, 2009
Rachel Neuwirth
The crime of silence is a crime that most Jews commit against themselves. One of the Ten Commandments says, “Thou shall not bear false witness,” i.e., do not lie. That is a negative commandment – what not to do. Simply keeping silent might satisfy that negative commandment even if one keeps silent in the face of malicious lies. Too many Jews today keep silent in the face of malicious lies by their enemies and thus give the impression that those lies may be true. The prophet Isaiah 62.1 has stated the essential positive side of that negative commandment:
“For the sake of Zion I will not be silent,
For the sake of Jerusalem I will not be still,
Till her victory emerge resplendent
And her triumph like a flaming torch.”
The first official meeting between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama on May 18th was a missed opportunity for Netanyahu to speak truth to power as written by Isaiah. Before the meeting, U.S. officials set the stage for heavy pressure on Israel’s Netanyahu to publicly agree to a “two state solution.” Israel was cast in the role as being “an obstacle to peace” with pressure to agree to quickly relinquish “land for peace” and take “risks for peace” even with no concessions, no recognition and no reining in the terrorists byIsrael’s so-called “peace partners.” The Obama Administration set a diplomatic trap, allowing no escape other than suicidal concessions as part of a U.S.-sponsored (i.e. dictated) “peace plan.” Those concessions were the price for a vague (and essentially worthless) promise by the U.S. to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. In advance, it was clear that any hesitation by Netanyahu would place the onus for failure exclusively on Israel, including responsibility for any future Arab-Israeli war that might result. Netanyahu tried to offer some positive steps short of creating an independent Palestinian state inside Israel’s heartland, but these did not satisfy the Obama Administration and U.S.-Israeli relations are very likely to suffer.
Now let us imagine a different response by Prime Minister Netanyahu, to be delivered in the public news conference following their private meeting. Suppose Netanyahu spoke as follows:
“Mr. President, your ‘requests’ sound more like demands with threats behind them. If we agree to your ‘requests’ Israel will be on the path to destruction, and you must be fully aware of that. In the past, Israel has always tried to acquiesce to American ‘requests,’ even when very painful, to avoid angering or offending the U.S. administration. We have paid a bitter price, time and time again, for subordinating our security to American policies aimed at pleasing or placating the Arab and Muslim worlds. We can no longer afford to place our very survival in jeopardy, not even to placate our dear and beloved friend, the United States of America. It is high time that we speak truth to power in the spirit of the prophet Isaiah. You have made your requests, and you demand clear and timely answers from me. I now present our questions to you, and likewise, we expect clear and timely answers from you.
“Mr. President, you have said that our complying with your requests to create a Palestinian state will facilitate Iran not going nuclear. But there is absolutely no evidence to support this claim. Certainly the Ayatollah’s regime has never said so. President Ahmadinejad, supreme religious leader Ali Khamenei, former President Rafsanjani, and numerous other members of the Iranian ruling elite have made it absolutely clear, time and again, that what they seek is not a Palestinian state but the complete destruction of the ‘Zionist entity’ forever.
“You say that your policy ‘dialogue’ with the mullocracy will dissuade Iran from developing nuclear weapons. But all of the evidence of history indicates that talking to a fanatical, militant regime is no way to prevent it from pursuing aggressive, warlike goals. The U.S. tried to dissuade North Korea from going nuclear. The nuclear bomb test that the North Korean regime has just conducted (May 25th, Memorial Day), demonstrates just how well the strategy of negotiations with a fanatical and inhumane regime works. America’s policy of tolerating Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, and even giving Pakistan hundreds of millions annually in military aid, has also failed. Pakistan is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal even as the threat of Taliban takeover of this strategic country has been steadily growing. And of course, Neville Chamberlain’s strategy of talking to Hitler and relying on his cynical promises was not successful in halting Germany’s weapons development program, or its aggressive actions, either. Mr. President, you need to learn from history. And with all due respect, Mr. President, why should we Israelis bet our very lives on your strategy of friendly conversations with our worst enemies?
“Mr. President, consider the map of the greater Middle East. It shows one Jewish country, Israel, with 10,000square miles, including the so-called ‘occupied’ territories. It shows 57 Muslim states with about 12 million square miles. Please explain why one tiny country is more than enough for Jews, but 57 countries are not enough for Muslims? Why are 12 million square miles so insufficient that they must go to war over another 2,300 square miles, from Israel’s heartland, to expand Muslim lands by an infinitesimal 0.02 percent?
“Mr. President, Jordan was created in 1922 on land previously assigned by the victorious Allies of World War I to Great Britain, as a ‘sacred trust,’ to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish National Home. Jordan, an Arab kingdom, now possesses 77 percent of this original Palestine Mandate territory. Why then, do we need a further partition of the remaining 10,000 square miles of Palestine, an area only the size of the state of Vermont, which the League of Nations set aside for the development of the Jewish National Home? How can you deny that Jordan, all of whose people live within the original mandated territory of Palestine, is already the state of the Palestinian Arabs? Why do we need a second Arab state in Palestine? And how can you deny to the Jewish people the bare minimum of land necessary to protect themselves from attack and to find homes for their rapidly growing population? How can you demand an end to all ‘natural growth’ in Israeli towns and villages (the so-called ‘settlements’), thereby denying thousands of young Jewish couples the right to build homes for themselves and their children? And how can you demand, as indeed you do, that Israel uproot up to 500,000 Jews from their homes, in order to make all of Palestine outside Israel’s June 4, 1967 borders judenrein, and to satisfy through this proposed ethnic cleansing the demands of the Palestinian Authority and the League of Arab States?
“Mr. President, there is a map of Palestine that was displayed by Arafat’s PLO and continues to be displayed on all official offices, publications, websites, on official stationary, and in school textbooks in all areas administered by Mahmoud Abbas’ ‘Palestinian Authority’ government. That map shows NO Israel at all. Why does your administration not object to this Palestinian map of “NO Israel” that matches the PLO Charter, which states that the creation of the State of Israel is null and void? The U.S. government accepted a PLO promise to amend the Charter but has ignored the fact that the PLO and the PA failed to amend it. To this day it remains unchanged, while young Palestinian Arabs are taught in their U.S.-funded schools that Israel has no right to exist, and that all of its territory is “Palestine.” Why have you failed to address these outrages?
“There is a yet another map that is located in the archives of the U.S. government. After the Six Day War, President Johnson asked the Pentagon and the CIA to produce a map showing the minimal territory needed by Israel to insure its security. Their map included the Golan Heights, Gaza, Jerusalem, most of the West Bank and small parts of the Sinai. The map was then classified ‘Top Secret’ and withheld from the public. This map validated Israeli concerns over American demands to move back towards the vulnerable boundaries of May 1967. The Wall Street Journal published this map in 1983, but it remains ignored. Will you now acknowledge this map and its conclusions?
“Mr. President, can you explain why the Arabs attacked Israel repeatedly between 1949 and 1967 when the so-called ‘occupied territories’ were under Arab rule, and there were no Jewish ‘settlers’ permitted to live in them?
“Mr. President, when in May and June of 1967 Egypt and Syria mobilized their armies along Israel’s borders, placed a blockade on Israel’s only outlet to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and openly proclaimed their intention to destroy Israel, the U.S. government declined to lift a finger to assist Israel. Why did the U.S. fail to honor its prior commitment to prevent Egypt from blockading Israel’s southern port? Why did the U.S State Department claim it could not even find the document in which the commitment was made only 11 years earlier?
“And when Egypt and Syria were preparing to attack Israel once again in 1973, why did America fail to warn Egypt and Syria not to attack Israel? Why, when the U.S. knew very well that allowing the Arabs to strike first would cost Israel heavily, did it still insist that Israel let its enemies strike the first blow?(See memo of Conversation – Abba Eban at the U.S. Defense Department, May 20, 1967). Israel lost more than 3,000 of its finest young men and women when it accepted this American “advice.”
“And what is most important, Mr. President, why, in view of this tragic history, should we rely on your soothing but vague promise to treat our security as ‘sacrosanct?’ And why should we rely on your National Security advisor’s somewhat less elegant promise to ‘not throw Israel under the bus?’ Why, when past U.S. presidents have failed to keep much stronger and more concrete promises, should we rely on your vague, meaningless ones?
“There is a stark lesson that these past attempts by the Arab world to destroy us have taught us: when in June 1967, Israel decided to resist American pressure to do nothing in the face of an immediate threat to its survival, it won a great victory in six days; while in 1973, when Israel obeyed the U.S. demand that it not ‘pre-empt’ its enemies’ imminent attack, it barely escaped destruction at their hands.
“Today, Israel faces new demands from your administration which could lead to our destruction. We also know that the U.S. has never placed itself under anylegal obligation to come to our assistance in the event of aggression against us. We must now make a difficult choice: either to comply with your demands, and once again risk the lives of all of our people, or to resist them, and incur your anger and possible retaliation. Mr. President, before you make any more demands on us, I suggest that you provide some credible response to the questions that I have posed for you. These questions are only a small sample of the many that could be posed. And you would do well to also read the book The Secret War Against the Jews – How Western Espionage Betrayed the Jewish People,by John Loftus and Mark Aarons, if you wish to understand why Israel cannot afford to place its people’s lives at risk, even to please its best friend.
“Mr. President, as a self-professed Christian, you should be familiar with the book of Genesis, in which G-d clearly promises the land to Abraham and to the Jewish people in perpetuity. You should also be aware of Genesis 12:3 which contains a promise and a warning to the nations and for all time:
“Iwill bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
“Mr. President, there is much history and many questions that need reviewing in order to set this region on the proper road to peace. I look forward to pursuing that review with you in a spirit of mutual respect.”
This is what PM Netanyahu should have said, and what everyone who respects rational thought would have approved.
Bertram Cohen and John Landau contributed to this article.
Family Security Matters Contributing Editor Rachel Neuwirth is an internationally recognized political commentator and analyst. She specializes in Middle Eastern Affairs with particular emphasis on Militant Islam and Israeli foreign policy. She is president of Middle East Solutions.
taken from : B'NAI ELIM (http://bnaielim.blogspot.com/)
Friday, 29 May 2009
Israel Matzav : US to proimpose terms
US to proimpose terms
Back in 1969, Secretary of State William P. Rogers (pictured) developed a 'Middle East peace plan' that became known as the Rogers Plan. For the remaining years of Rogers' tenure as Secretary of State, Israel and the pro-Israel community in the US lived in constant fear of the Rogers Plan being imposed on us. The Rogers Plan was designed to circumvent the premise that the Arab states (no one thought of a 'Palestinian state' back then) would not talk to Israel directly. So the 'four powers' (US, USSR, Britain and France) would impose a 'settlement' instead to get around that Arab unwillingness to speak to Israel.Read All at :
Israel Matzav: US to proimpose terms
Israel Matzav: Hezbullah talking to EU, IMF
Hezbullah talking to EU, IMF
The New York Times reports that the Hezbullah terror organization is conducting talks with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in a bid to ensure that Lebanon does not lose international financial support in the event that the terror group and its allies win Lebanon's national elections on June 7. The talks this month reflected concerns here about a possible drop in international donor and investor confidence should the political alliance led by Hezbollah — considered a terrorist group by the United States and Israel — gain a majority for the first time. Many analysts believe that outcome is likely, though the race is considered too close to call.
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Israel Matzav: Hezbullah talking to EU, IMF
Israel Matzav: Lautenberg: US expects Israel to hit Iran if all else fails
Lautenberg: US expects Israel to hit Iran if all else fails
US Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) implied to the Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that the US expects Israel to attack Iran's nuclear facilities if all else fails. Interviewed during a short visit, Lautenberg - a consistent backer of Israel who is also a Democratic Party supporter of Obama - said, "Israel didn't ask us permission to drop bombs twice on Syrian nuclear facilities. I didn't hear America scolding Israel for what it did then. Hypothetically, if Israel were able to get rid of Iran's nuclear bomb-making capability, I'm sure that America would not send Israel a chastising e-mail message. We have to give Israel the courtesy of [allowing it to] make its own decisions."
Read All at :
Israel Matzav: Lautenberg: US expects Israel to hit Iran if all else fails
Israel Matzav: Amnesty: The sky is falling in Gaza
Amnesty: The sky is falling in Gaza
In a report whose release was undoubtedly timed to coincide with President Obama's meeting with 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Read All at :
Israel Matzav: Amnesty: The sky is falling in Gaza
Israel Matzav: 'Democracy' in the Arab world
'Democracy' in the Arab world
A Brookings Institution poll ought to give pause to those who believe that 'democratic elections' in the Arab and Muslim world are a panacea for the region's problems. Who’s the most popular ruler across the Arab world? It isn’t Mubarak, who enjoys skyrocketing sympathy that is erasing hatreds and clashes at this time, in the wake of the tragic death of his eldest grandson. It also isn’t Lebanon’s president, with everyone tense in the face of the large-scale terror attack feared ahead of the Lebanese parliamentary elections. It is certainly not Gaddafi either, the most veteran ruler, who enjoys cheers that are orchestrated from above through threats and bribes.
Read All at :
Israel Matzav: 'Democracy' in the Arab world
Israel Matzav: Could today be the day that Iran gets smacked?
Could today be the day that Iran gets smacked?
Remember this joke about Clinton and Saddam Hussein? President Clinton visits Saddam Hussein to talk about the UNSCOM inspections in Iraq. As he sits down he sees three buttons in the armrest of Saddam's chair. When Saddam sits down, Clinton immediately asks, "Why the three buttons in the armrest?" "You'll see," says Saddam. After 10 minutes, Saddam presses the first button and WHACK, a boxing glove hits Clinton in the face. Clinton grabs his nose while Saddam just laughs. Clinton manages to remain calm until, after another 10 minutes, Saddam presses the second button, and another boxing glove hits Clinton in the stomach. While Clinton's gasping for air, Saddam falls out of his chair from laughing. Clinton is highly annoyed by now, but remains outwardly calm. After another 5 minutes, Saddam presses the third button, and from under the table another boxing glove hits Clinton, this time right in the crotch. Clinton is really fed up by it now and breaks off the talks. "We'll continue this next week in the White House," says the President. Saddam has tears in his eyes from laughing, and can only nod in agreement.
Read All at :
Israel Matzav: Could today be the day that Iran gets smacked?
Israel Matzav: Sanitizing Abu Mazen
Sanitizing Abu Mazen
'Moderate' 'Palestinian' President The Washington Post is cooperating with the White House in its effort to make Abu Mazen appear to be something that he is not: a peacemaker.
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Israel Matzav: Sanitizing Abu Mazen
UN : NO, WE WON'T INVESTIGATE WAR CRIMES
UN: No, We Won't Investigate War Crimes
In Sri Lanka.
The idea that there's anything impartial about the UN, in any direction, takes yet another blow. It's a club of interested parties which make proclamations according to their interests. Just as you'd expect... and totally in contradiction to the sanctimonious ideologues of some international community as a source of justice and moral legitimacy.
The idea that there's anything impartial about the UN, in any direction, takes yet another blow. It's a club of interested parties which make proclamations according to their interests. Just as you'd expect... and totally in contradiction to the sanctimonious ideologues of some international community as a source of justice and moral legitimacy.
TAKEN FROM:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
WHO IS ISRAEL KILLING ?
Who is Israel Killing?
Fascinating (and not exactly new) article by Simona Wienglass at TNR about who the dead Palestinians in Gaza were. According to the Palestinian official responsible for the list, Khalil Shaheen, if you weren't armed at the moment of death, you're a civilian, even if you were the top Hamas ideologue of death, say, like Nizar Rayan. Meanwhile, one Jonathan Halevi, a private citizen who lives in Toronto, takes the Palestinian lists as his starting point, and using top secret methods such as Google, punches holes in the Palestinian lists.
As of last month, Halevi has a list of 171 people the PCHR defines as
civilians that he claims he can prove are actually combatants affiliated
with Hamas or other terrorist groups. His contention is based on a simple
principle: When fighters die, they don't just leave behind a body, a family,
and eyewitnesses--they leave a paper trail. Martyrdom posters, photographs
of funerals, articles celebrating heroes' exploits, lists of payments to
families--these sources help Halevi disprove that a particular fatality was
a civilian as opposed to a fighter. Intelligence analysts around the world
are following this paper trail, and they don't just work for the Shin Bet or
CIA. In fact, in the era of the Internet, vast amounts of intelligence are
available to anyone with fluent Arabic, a little training, and a lot of time
and patience...
But even facts can be subjective. For example, Halevi accuses Shaheen's
organization of mislabeling Hamas cleric Nizar Rayan as a civilian. Shaheen
explains that Rayan was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his home. There are
jihadist posters of Rayan all over Gaza, and yet, "I cannot count him as a
militant or fighter," Shaheen says. Rayan was unarmed with his wives and
children when he was killed, Shaheen explains. "I cannot count this case as a
fighter because he didn't participate as a fighter in the offensive. He was a
civilian the whole time--going to the mosque, praying, coming back to his
house."
None of this is petty. The case against Israel, broadcast the world over at high intensity, is that in its callousness it kills large numbers of innocent civilians. Looking closer at the facts, it appears that in order to say this you have to disregard what many of the casualties or their families themselves say: we're proud soldiers in the war against Israel.
taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
DECEIT 101
DECEIT 101 - (Betrayal of a sacred trust)
Deceit 101
The Defense Minister takes pride in threatening the continued existence of many small Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. At least now we know how much “spine” was shown in Washington. The bitter truth of the current Israeli government surfaces, like scum on a pond. It is sadly funny how one by one, each party head proves to be a true politician, all except the defense minister, who remains true to his words.
We are taught, everything is for the good, and so it is with at this stage also. For anyone who was unsure as to the stand of the Likud leadership, now knows. Whoever thought the Ministry of Defense is about protecting the Jewish State now knows better, whoever thought that the left cares about a Jewish State now should know better. They have buried themselves politically for the future, as they have proven, their loyalty lies only within themselves. The numbers of those that believe in a safe and strong Jewish state continue to grow higher, the opponent’s days are numbered. Honestly, how long can this weak union last. I had hoped for at least a little political savvy from our Prime Minister, I had hoped that he would respect the democratic process and the will of a people, but, c'est la vie, he had his chance to be a real leader, a world leader.
As we get ready for Chapter 2 in “Bibi’s Believe It or Not” we must rejoice that the true face of these actors have surfaced. At least now we know whom else we can’t trust, again. Now I know that what the Prime Minister sees, we don’t. Who are we but the small citizen? But what do we see? We see that Jews may be evicted again from their homes, we see that the those that asked us to vote for Likud were wrong, again, and we see that the lack of unity among the right wing parties once again shoots us in the foot. We see weakness in our leaders, again, and treachery in their midst.
When will we learn? Each party and their rhetoric about who is more true to the “cause”, who loves Israel more, who will put up a fight. In the end, because they can’t even get along, we of Yehuda and Shomron and all of the Jewish people in the world will suffer. They love to yell more than they love to do, and in the end they lost out. Now all they have left is to demonstrate and make noise, shout and wave their fists…. big deal.
As they are busy fighting amongst themselves, the left rejoices and plots against the continued existence of the Jewish State. Wake up boys, the game started years ago. Time is not on our side.
Still, one cannot understand the hatred of the left, how they despise our heritage and identity. A law is about to be passed claiming that the celebration of “Nakba” or the Catastrophe of Israel, will be forbidden, makes sense to most normal people. But those on the left say it is a limitation on the democratic right of free speech. Of course they play by a double standard, if it is against anything Jewish in character it is all right, if it causes displeasure and harm to the religious part of Israeli society, it is good, and if it helps the sworn enemies of Israel, then it is democratic. Of course, the opposite is considered fascist and racist.
The rumor mill has it that Obama’s upcoming speech in Egypt will have some of the most damaging elements towards Israel that our people have yet to hear from any US Administration, and we in Israel will once again be asked (or told) to agree to an imaginary peace process, that will almost definitely take its toll in bloodshed.
The Obama Government is proving to be the most arrogant, ignorant and threatening administration Israel has known for quite some time. How they can ignore the reality of Abbas and his ilk is truly an insult to the American people. The “chutzpah” the US shows towards Israel, who are they to dictate how many children we may bear, how many children may live alongside their parents. In the end, we have our own to thank for that, for they too believe the lies and are responsible for this travesty. I doubt they will wake up soon, isn’t “change” wonderful?
How fitting for this speech to be made in Pharaoh’s neighborhood, hopefully we will see the same end result and miracles that we experienced in our past, where the Jewish people emerge a strong and unified people in their land.
Marc Prowisor
Director, Security Projects
One Israel Fund
Office: 516 239 9202 x15
Cell: 972 54 2237727 (Israel)
Global: 856 393 4777
Fax: 516 239 9203
marcpro@oneisraelfund.orgwww.oneisraelfund.org
http://yeshaviews.blogspot.com/
The Defense Minister takes pride in threatening the continued existence of many small Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. At least now we know how much “spine” was shown in Washington. The bitter truth of the current Israeli government surfaces, like scum on a pond. It is sadly funny how one by one, each party head proves to be a true politician, all except the defense minister, who remains true to his words.
We are taught, everything is for the good, and so it is with at this stage also. For anyone who was unsure as to the stand of the Likud leadership, now knows. Whoever thought the Ministry of Defense is about protecting the Jewish State now knows better, whoever thought that the left cares about a Jewish State now should know better. They have buried themselves politically for the future, as they have proven, their loyalty lies only within themselves. The numbers of those that believe in a safe and strong Jewish state continue to grow higher, the opponent’s days are numbered. Honestly, how long can this weak union last. I had hoped for at least a little political savvy from our Prime Minister, I had hoped that he would respect the democratic process and the will of a people, but, c'est la vie, he had his chance to be a real leader, a world leader.
As we get ready for Chapter 2 in “Bibi’s Believe It or Not” we must rejoice that the true face of these actors have surfaced. At least now we know whom else we can’t trust, again. Now I know that what the Prime Minister sees, we don’t. Who are we but the small citizen? But what do we see? We see that Jews may be evicted again from their homes, we see that the those that asked us to vote for Likud were wrong, again, and we see that the lack of unity among the right wing parties once again shoots us in the foot. We see weakness in our leaders, again, and treachery in their midst.
When will we learn? Each party and their rhetoric about who is more true to the “cause”, who loves Israel more, who will put up a fight. In the end, because they can’t even get along, we of Yehuda and Shomron and all of the Jewish people in the world will suffer. They love to yell more than they love to do, and in the end they lost out. Now all they have left is to demonstrate and make noise, shout and wave their fists…. big deal.
As they are busy fighting amongst themselves, the left rejoices and plots against the continued existence of the Jewish State. Wake up boys, the game started years ago. Time is not on our side.
Still, one cannot understand the hatred of the left, how they despise our heritage and identity. A law is about to be passed claiming that the celebration of “Nakba” or the Catastrophe of Israel, will be forbidden, makes sense to most normal people. But those on the left say it is a limitation on the democratic right of free speech. Of course they play by a double standard, if it is against anything Jewish in character it is all right, if it causes displeasure and harm to the religious part of Israeli society, it is good, and if it helps the sworn enemies of Israel, then it is democratic. Of course, the opposite is considered fascist and racist.
The rumor mill has it that Obama’s upcoming speech in Egypt will have some of the most damaging elements towards Israel that our people have yet to hear from any US Administration, and we in Israel will once again be asked (or told) to agree to an imaginary peace process, that will almost definitely take its toll in bloodshed.
The Obama Government is proving to be the most arrogant, ignorant and threatening administration Israel has known for quite some time. How they can ignore the reality of Abbas and his ilk is truly an insult to the American people. The “chutzpah” the US shows towards Israel, who are they to dictate how many children we may bear, how many children may live alongside their parents. In the end, we have our own to thank for that, for they too believe the lies and are responsible for this travesty. I doubt they will wake up soon, isn’t “change” wonderful?
How fitting for this speech to be made in Pharaoh’s neighborhood, hopefully we will see the same end result and miracles that we experienced in our past, where the Jewish people emerge a strong and unified people in their land.
Marc Prowisor
Director, Security Projects
One Israel Fund
Office: 516 239 9202 x15
Cell: 972 54 2237727 (Israel)
Global: 856 393 4777
Fax: 516 239 9203
marcpro@oneisraelfund.orgwww.oneisraelfund.org
http://yeshaviews.blogspot.com/
taken from : B'NAI ELIM (http://bnaielim.blogspot.com/)
Sefer Chabibi Deepest Torah: SHAVUOT: WE ARE ALL GERIM (PROSELYTES) ; movin' to the center, but feeling lonely just the same (also for Nitzavim Vayelech)
The ger, the convert to Judaism, follows in the footsteps of Avraham Avinu, the Patriarch Abraham, and of Sarah Imenu, the Matriarch Sarah, who were themselves gerim. They chose a new path for themselves, following the deepest yearning of their heart for the ultimate truth that there is One G*d who demands righteousness and ethical behavior. The ger is precious to us as a people, and yet the ger may feel a sense of loneliness, as he/she chose this path for themselves.
Our tradition teaches that all the souls of Israel, past, present and future, stood as one at Mount Sinai, together with the souls of all future gerim, those who would accept the Torah, the Covenant between G*d and Israel. The ger is so holy. And as being holy means being set aside and special in the best sense, being holy and pure as the Sabbath is holy and pure, less sensitive and less refined souls may view the apartness as a possible negative, and so the Torah adjures us 36 times not to oppress the ger in any way. It would be like oppressing Avraham and Sarah, their parents.
Our tradition teaches that all the souls of Israel, past, present and future, stood as one at Mount Sinai, together with the souls of all future gerim, those who would accept the Torah, the Covenant between G*d and Israel. The ger is so holy. And as being holy means being set aside and special in the best sense, being holy and pure as the Sabbath is holy and pure, less sensitive and less refined souls may view the apartness as a possible negative, and so the Torah adjures us 36 times not to oppress the ger in any way. It would be like oppressing Avraham and Sarah, their parents.
Read All at :
Sefer Chabibi Deepest Torah: SHAVUOT: WE ARE ALL GERIM (PROSELYTES) ; movin' to the center, but feeling lonely just the same (also for Nitzavim Vayelech)
Thursday, 28 May 2009
Clifton (comics) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Clifton is a Franco-Belgian comics series in the humorous spy-genre, featuring the exploits of Colonel Sir Harold Wilberforce Clifton. It was created by Raymond Macherot in 1959, and has since passed on to other artists and writers.. Over the fifty years of publication of Clifton comic books, approximately twenty full books and twenty smaller stories have been published, totalling about 800 pages.
Read All at :
Luc Orient - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Luc Orient is a science fiction comic series featuring an eponymous hero, created in 1967 by the writer Greg and the artist Eddy Paape. It belongs to the large family of Franco-Belgian comics.
Read ALL at :
Luc Orient - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Israel Matzav: Venzuela and Bolivia providing uranium to Iran
Venzuela and Bolivia providing uranium to Iran
A word of explanation about this post. It was supposed to go up on Tuesday. I started writing it while I was sitting at Logan Airport in Boston. They started to call my flight and I decided to board the plane, thinking I would be able to continue using the airport WiFi from the plane as I have done in the past from planes at the gate. It didn't work.Read All at :
Israel Matzav: Venzuela and Bolivia providing uranium to Iran
DENNIS ROSS : MY JOB IS FUTILE
Dennis Ross: My Job is Futile
Such a nuisance, these democratic transfers of power. A fellow can work for the government for years, then someone loses an election and he's exiled to a think tank. While at the think tank he ponders and deliberates, and eventually puts his thoughts in writing, perhaps even in book form. (Books are hard to delete). Then suddenly another election rolls by, and hey presto, our fellow's folks are back in power, and they call him back to serve, perhaps even a notch higher up on the governmental ladder, since by now he's done all that thinking.
But there's a snag. Over in the ivory tower they've got this strange propensity of saying what they think may be true (sometimes), rather than what the President wants them to say.
But there's a snag. Over in the ivory tower they've got this strange propensity of saying what they think may be true (sometimes), rather than what the President wants them to say.
Dennis Ross, the U.S. Secretary of State's special adviser on Iran, says in
a new book that the United States will not make progress toward peace in the
Middle East with the Obama administration's new plan...
Because of Ross' position, his superiors at the State Department do not
allow him to promote the book or be interviewed about it. In the second chapter,
entitled "Linkage: The Mother of All Myths," Ross writes: "Of all the policy
myths that have kept us from making real progress in the Middle East, one stands
out for its impact and longevity: the idea that if only the Palestinian conflict
were solved, all other Middle East conflicts would melt away. This is the
argument of 'linkage.'"
Oy. What can I say? That I feel for Obama?
taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
PILOT PROJECT WITH REAL MATCHES
Pilot Project With Real Matches
Us high-tech project folks always prefer to launch large-scale multi-year painfully expensive projects with small, limited, contained and inexpensive pilot projects. The idea is that it's hard to sell anyone a project that will bleed their recources, waste their time, consume their attention and exhaust their patience for a decade; a small and painless pilot project, however, three months of inexpensive fun: what could possibly be wrong with that? True, the pilot comes with built in glue that will mean the only way to extricate oneself is by doing that ten-year monstrosity, but hey, high-tech folks have to make a living also, no?
Anyway, the Master of History, or the Divine Screenwriter, or whoever you choose to believe runs the show, clearly has a weakspot for high-tech marketing methods. How else to explain the small pilot project of North Korean nuclear childishness conveniently being set up just before the decisions need to be made on the big project in Iran. Yes Mr. President, we're all watching.
It's not even funny, though laughter is a fine way to deal with bad news.
Anyway, the Master of History, or the Divine Screenwriter, or whoever you choose to believe runs the show, clearly has a weakspot for high-tech marketing methods. How else to explain the small pilot project of North Korean nuclear childishness conveniently being set up just before the decisions need to be made on the big project in Iran. Yes Mr. President, we're all watching.
It's not even funny, though laughter is a fine way to deal with bad news.
taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
GERMAN HISTORY IS WRONG
German History is Wrong
Yep. A big chunk of postwar German history didn't happen, or if it did, what happened wasn't what everybody thought was happening, but rather the opposite, but it doesn't matter because the outcome was exactly not what anyone had in mind, and anyways, it's all a long time ago and why is everyone in such an uproar?
Dialectics meets Sherlock Holmes for history at its funniest. Or saddest. Or confusedest. Or whatever.
Dialectics meets Sherlock Holmes for history at its funniest. Or saddest. Or confusedest. Or whatever.
taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
UNIVERSAL TORAH: NASO
UNIVERSAL TORAH: NASO
By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum
Torah Reading: Numbers 4:21-7:89
Haftara: Judges 13:2-25
THE LONGEST PARSHAH
Parshas NASO, with 176 verses, is the longest parshah in the whole Torah, and the Midrashic commentaries, particularly the aggadic Midrash Rabbah, are also exceptionally lengthy. It is fitting that this parshah is usually read on the Shabbos after the festival of Shavuos celebrating the Giving of the Torah, when our love of the Torah is renewed and we receive new vigor and energy to devote ourselves to our studies. We are now enjoying the longest days of the year, and the long Summer Shabbos should give us plenty of time to explore the beautiful mysteries of this Parshah.
* * *
NO "BEFORE" AND "AFTER" IN THE TORAH
As noted in a number of previous commentaries, the sequence of parshahs and sections in the Torah is not always chronological, and Parshas NASO is one of the prime cases.
The opening of our parshah, dealing with the census of the Levitical families, is a direct continuation of the previous parshah, BAMIDBAR, the closing section of which started the narrative of the Levitical census. The command to Moses to conduct the census of the people was given "on the first day of the SECOND month" of the year after the Exodus (Numbers 1:1) and Moses did so forthwith. After completion in parshas NASO of the account of the census, the Torah JUMPS BACK chronologically to the first day of the FIRST month of the year after the Exodus -- the day of the inauguration of the Sanctuary.
The chronological jump is not obvious immediately. However, the section after the Levitical census deals with commandments that relate to the newly inaugurated sanctuary: sending the ritually impure out of the camp, the sacrifices of the SOTAH (the wife suspected of infidelity), and the NAZIR (who vows not to drink wine, cut his/her hair or become defiled by the dead), the priestly blessing (which was given in the courtyard outside the Sanctuary, and was instituted by Aaron on the day of its inauguration). The lengthy closing section of NASO narrates in detail the dedications and sacrificial offerings of all the Princes of the Twelve Tribes of Israel on the twelve inaugural days of the Sanctuary, starting on the 1st Nissan. Although the date is not written explicitly in our parshah, it says: "It was on the day of the completion by Moses of the erection of the Sanctuary." (Numbers 7:1). We are already familiar with this most auspicious day from our studies in Exodus and Leviticus.
The Torah continues dwelling on 1st Nissan and associated themes into the following parshah, BEHA'ALOSCHA, and there the date is given explicitly: "And G-d spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the second year after their going out from the Land of Egypt IN THE FIRST MONTH" (Numbers 9:1). Rashi (ad loc.) tells us that this verse indeed is the written proof that there is no "before" and "after" in the Torah.
In other words, the various parshahs and sections of the Torah are not necessarily arranged in chronological sequence but thematically. This indicates that adjacent passages in the Torah whose subjects may not on the surface appear to be interconnected do in fact have profound interconnections. This gives rise to the rabbinic method of interpreting passages in the Torah according to their SEMICHUS, "proximity" to one another. Our parshah contains a case in point in the rabbinic comment on why the section about the NAZIR, who vows to abstain from wine, comes directly after that about the SOTAH, the unfaithful wife. "Everybody who sees the damage done by and to the Sotah will want to abstain from wine, which is what brings to fornication" (Rashi on Numbers 6:2).
* * *
THE GIVING OF THE TORAH AND INAUGURATION OF THE SANCTUARY
As noted earlier, NASO is always read on the Shabbos after Shavuos, anniversary of the Giving of the Torah. Clearly there is a deep link between the Giving of the Torah and the Inauguration of the Sanctuary/Temple and its associated commandments, which is the theme of the greater part of NASO. On this, one of the longest Shabboses at the height of summer, when the world is in full bloom around us, the Torah keeps our minds focussed on the 1st of Nissan, the "New Year", time of rebirth, the day of the Consecration of the Sanctuary.
On the day the Sanctuary was consecrated, the Torah descended from Sinai with its awe, thunder, lightning and earthquakes and was brought in the golden Ark of the Covenant, under the wings of the Cherubs, into the ultimate serene tranquillity of the Holy of Holies. This was the vision of Jacob, the founding father who built the House of Israel: that the Torah should come down from its lofty heights and dwell inside the Sanctuary -- not only in the actual, external Sanctuary, but in the home of every Israelite and the heart of every Israelite. When we bring the Torah into our homes and our hearts, it becomes the vessel of peace and blessing that radiates light all around us, just as the blessing of the priests radiates from the Sanctuary (and today, during the priestly blessing in the synagogue, from before the Ark, housing the Torah scrolls): "May the Lord bless you and keep you.". For the study of Torah itself confers blessing. For the entire Torah is woven of the names of G-d, and "in every place where I shall cause My name to be mentioned I will come to you and bless you" (Exodus 20:21).
* * *
IN THE HOME AND IN THE HEART
At the center of parshas NASO are two lengthy sections that bring the Torah of the Sanctuary directly into our very homes and hearts: these are the sections dealing with the laws of the SOTAH, the wife suspected of infidelity, and the NAZIR, who vows to abstain from wine, cutting his/her hair and defilement from the dead.
At the very center of the true Torah home is the love between husband and wife, which is the very foundation of the BINYAN -- the "building" or structure of the family. True love between husband and wife is very jealous: true love brooks no outsiders and third parties. The unity of husband and wife must be complete, face to face, without a trace of a shadow in between.
It is hard even to speak of the purity of love between husband and wife in a world in which third parties are accepted as a normal part of life. It is this rampant immorality that breeds broken homes, broken hearts, children who grow up between one home and another, knowing little or nothing of family, roots and kinship.
Completely opposite is the morality emanating from the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy Sanctuary: "This is the Torah of the Sotah." Strange as it may seem ithe context of contemporary (im)morality, the ceremony of the Sotah, the wife suspected of marital infidelity, one of the most awesome rituals of the Temple, is intended as a bulwark of family purity.
In normal everyday life husbands and wives are constantly coming into contact with all kinds of other people in various different contexts, and it is only natural that relationships can form even in societies that are sexually segregated (as in Temple times) let alone in contemporary mixed society.
The Sotah ritual -- administering the bitter waters to the wife even as she protests her innocence in the face of suspicions of infidelity -- was intentionally very frightening to the woman involved and to all who saw it. Here we see the Temple, where the ritual would take place, as a kind of theatre where a spectacle is held up to the entire nation in order to teach a deep lesson.
The bitter waters are the truth-tester of the Torah (quite different from lie-detectors). Mixed with the water was earth from the floor of the Sanctuary (archetype of the Israelite home as it should be) and the dissolved ink of the letters of Torah verses and curses written on the scroll of the Sotah, including the holy name of G-d. What is the truth? Did she or didn't she? Is she lying or is she telling the truth?
The actual Sotah test in Temple times only works when the husband himself is absolutely beyond reproach on any level in all of the commandments relating to sexuality -- the foundation of the Covenant. On such an ideal level of purity, love is fierce and love is jealous. Suspicions may arise. The holy waters of the Sotah can dispel them. For this it is worth dissolving and washing off even the holy name of G-d: to make peace between man and his wife, or to make them separate.
Today, in the absence of the Temple, the Sotah waters take on a different significance, more allegorical. In actual life, without ideal levels of purity, suspicions and strange thoughts do often creep into the best of relationships. It is not infrequently through the bitter waters of suffering that the truth really comes out, one way or the other. And when the bitter waters prove that there was never any disloyalty at all, the resulting rebirth of love and vigor brings new, stronger children into the world, strengthening the home with the joyous mother of children at its center.
[In the Midrash, the Sotah is the Jewish nation, suspected of infidelity to G-d because of their dalliance with the nations, tested by the bitter waters of suffering.]
* * *
THE NAZIRITE
The Hebrew word NAZIR is today used for a monk, but the Torah has no place for such celibacy, and only the prophet Moses and certain true Tzaddikim were permitted to separate themselves from "the way of the world". The Torah NAZIR was not one who separated himself from the world as a recluse from normal life. (On the contrary, the laws of NAZIR are bound up with family life: a man may make his son a NAZIR, he may invite his wife to take the vow of NAZIR, nullify her vow, etc.) The Nazirite vow is one that would in Temple times be taken on by a regular, normal person who did not want to separate himself from the entire world but did want to set extra limits on his own behavior over and above what the Torah requires of everyone.
Following on from the above-quoted Midrash -- "Everybody who sees the damage done by and to the Sotah will want to abstain from wine, which is what brings to fornication" -- the NAZIR living in the real world full of immorality wants to set for himself or herself extra personal boundaries against anything that may even lead to such immorality -- wine and anything connected with wine, and even fancy hairstyles! The Nazirite may not defile himself with the dead, for while death exposes the folly of worship of the body, fears of aging and death often drive people to seek out the pleasures of the body compulsively.
The section dealing with the NAZIR sets forth the detailed laws of the Nazirite vow, yet implies that taking on specific vows is not encouraged by the Torah. Among his sacrifices the Nazirite has to bring a sin-offering for abstaining from permitted pleasures, as if what the Torah itself prohibits is not enough. When we take on vows, sometimes the tests become overwhelming, and may cause us to break them unwittingly (like the Nazirite who becomes unwittingly defiled by contact with the dead.).
What the Torah wants from us is the true labor of the heart: commitment. A vow is an explicit verbal commitment that we make, creating a Torah of our own, something that goes beyond the letter of the law. It may be in the form of a personal boundary. It may be in the form of a specific commitment. Jacob, the founding father of Israel, builder of the home, was the first one to make a vow. At Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount where Jacob dreamed of the ladder (SULAM = SINAI = Giving of the Torah), he woke up and set up the Temple foundation and vowed to give a tithe of all he received to G-d. The Torah that came forth from the Sanctuary (Leviticus 1:1) begins with a vow -- that of a person who wants to offer a sacrifice in the Temple: "When a person would offer an offering" (Leviticus 1:2).
The Nazirite vow is much more demanding than a one-time sacrifice: it is a commitment to a very strict discipline -- complete abstinence from grapes and wine, no haircutting to emphasize the opposite of body-oriented immorality, etc. In the present day world in which we lead our lives, the actual Nazirite vow is not a practical possibility, but we certainly all know ways in which it is desirable to hedge ourselves in with personal boundaries that help separate ourselves from that which is negative and evil in this world of Good and Evil.
What is asked of us is to make our personal boundaries and adhere to them without expressing them in the form of specific vows. The danger of the vow is that during the initial enthusiasm in which in which it is made, we may not see prospective difficulties that could make it impossible to adhere to it. What is asked of us is not to tie ourselves up in verbal commitments that we cannot keep, but rather, to make an inner commitment -- the commitment of the heart -- to what we know to be good, and then do everything in our power to adhere to our commitment.
* * *
TWELVE STYLES
The concluding section of NASO deals with the sacrifices of the Twelve Princes on the twelve inaugural days of the Sanctuary. It is striking that these were one-time sacrifices, yet we read these portions of the Torah several times during the year: they are publicly read in the Synagogue during Chanukah, and in some Synagogues they are read from a Torah scroll on the first twelve days of Nissan.
In last week's commentary discussing the names of the Princes and numbers of the tribes of Israel in the Wilderness, I made reference to the fact that in the Hebrew Torah, all of these are ciphers, codes and letter-permutations that bring entire worlds upon worlds into being. The same is true of the portions dealing with the sacrifices of the Twelve Princes, each of whom brought identical offerings on twelve successive days.
One of the reasons why the Midrash Rabbah on NASO is so lengthy is because not only does it contain extensive drashos on the SOTAH and NAZIR, etc. It also contains very lengthy drashos showing that although each of the Twelve Princes brought identical offerings, in each case they had an entirely different meaning and intention, each wondrous, each amazing.
And so too each Israelite dons the same Tallis and Tefilin, abstains from the same forbidden labors on Shabbos, gives Tzedakah, does Chessed. But in each case the meaning and intention of each act is entirely different. The hidden intentions in the heart of each one. the hidden efforts.
And G-d has joy from them all. All are His children. All are members of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the House of Jacob.
Shabbat Shalom!!! Chag Sameach!!!
Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum
--
AZAMRA INSTITUTE
PO Box 50037 Jerusalem 91500 Israel
Website: www.azamra.org
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