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20 hours ago
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
DoubleTapper: Israeli Independence Day
Memorial Day ends, as do other Jewish holidays, at nightfall, and the somber nature of the day gives way to the celebration of Israel’s Independence Day.
The late Rabbi Shlomo Goren, the first Chief Rabbi of the IDF and the man who set the date of Memorial Day. explained the transition between the days, "We view the warriors who fall in battle as those who sprout forth life. The life of a nation grew out of this blood... This day must be more than mourning: We must remember, we must grieve, but it must [also] be a day of majesty and vision."
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Yom HaAtzmaut - - Israel is 61 !
On the 5th of Iyar, 5708 (1948), G-d's Name was sanctified. For the first time in two thousand year, the Jewish people had a state in their homeland. Two millenium after the Roman emperor Hadrian burnt our Temple, razed Jerusalem, sold the Jews into slavery and arrogantly declared 'Judea capta! (Judea is captured), the Third Jewish Commonwealth was established. After centuries of oppression and persecution, Crusades and pogroms, Inquisitions and Holocausts, the Jewish people had finally returned home to the land of their forefathers
When the Romans crushed the Jewish rebellion in 70 CE and destroyed the Temple, they carried out the majority of the Jews into exile. They built a huge victory arch in Rome showing the Temple utensils being taken as spoil. The Romans minted coins depicting a conquered a mourning Jewess, along with the words 'Judea capta'. In their minds, the Jewish people had been crushed. The Roman Catholic Church, which became the official religion of Rome, taught as doctrine that the Jews had been replaced and rejected by G-d, never to return to Israel. The Church, along with the scholars of Islam, mocked the Jews and taunted them over their abasement, claiming that their continued exile was proof of their replacement in G-d's eyes. Incredibly, while the Roman empire today is nothing but dust, Jews are once again living in the Jerusalem, the city of King David, in Judea and Samaria, where the Patriarchs lived and in the Galilee, where Bar Kochba and his brave Zionist rebels fought for liberty.
"A song of ascents. When the Lord returned the captivity of Zion, we were like dreamers. Then our mouths were with laughter and our tongues with songs of praise; then they will say among the nations, "The Lord has done great things with these."" (Tehillim 126) Truly, we were like dreamers. Is there any clearer proof of G-d's sovereignty and majesty, of His guiding hand in history, than in the survival of the Jewish people in graveyards of the exile and in our return to the Land of Israel? Has there ever been such a thing in the entire annals of mankind, for a nation to have survived the sword and the stake, the racks of the Inquisition and the Crusading lance, the Cross and the Crescent, the killing fields and the gas chambers, to be returned home? Only by the might and mercy of G-d, through the brave pioneers and committed Zionist leaders, were we able to revive our ancient language, Hebrew, to re-settle the desolate cities, drain the swamps and make the deserts bloom. "For the Lord shall console Zion, He shall console all its ruins, and He shall make its desert like a paradise and its wasteland like the garden of the Lord; joy and happiness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and a voice of song." (Yishayahu 51:3) The land, empty and desolate, bereft of her children, which called out longingly for them for over two thousand years, now blossoms and is settled. For too long did Zion cry out for her sons and daughters in captivity, trampled on by a foreign oppressor.
From the four corners of the Earth, the Jews have begun to return home. "Fear not for I am with you; from the east I will bring your seed, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, "Give," and to the south, "Do not refrain"; bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the end of the earth."" (Yishayahu 43:5-6) Out of the mellahs of Morocco and Tunisia and the shtetls of Russia and Poland, Jews came home. The same Jews who declared year after year their fervent hope and desire of 'Next Year in Jerusalem!' were privileged to see their dream become a reality. From the farthest and most remote reaches, the Land of Israel beckoned Jews home. Jews from Yemen and Ethiopia walked thousands of miles, trekked through dangerous deserts and hazardous terrain, braved intense dangers because they senses the impeding Redemption. When the Iron Curtain fell, the cry of 'Let my people go!' saw fruition as millions of Russian Jews fled the prison that was the Soviet Union and came to Israel to live lives of dignity and freedom. The Ingathering of the Exiles has begun as Jews from Iran and Turkey, Greece and Lithuania, Ukraine and Hungary, India and Afghanistan now live, mix and mingle, in peace together in the State of Israel.
In fire and blood Judea fell and in fire and blood Judea arose. In 1948, and again in six spectacular days in 1967, the myth of the passive Jew whose life was cheap and blood was the gentile's for the taking, was forever crushed. The nation that for so long had been associated with sheep to the slaughter, with massacres and weakness, had arisen like a lion and fought for its life. In 1948, one million crack Arab soldiers, dedicated to driving the Jews into the sea and destroying the fledgling state, were attacked the 600 000 inhabitants of the Jewish yishuv. Just as in the days of David and Goliath, the defenders drove the enemy out. The defenders were outnumbered, farmers and citymen, Holocaust survivors given a rifle as they got off the boat. Some come with horses and some come with chariots but we invoke the name of HaShem our G-d! As the ovens and furnaces of Europe were still giving off their horrible stench, as the smoke was still emerging from the chimneys of Auschwitz, the Jewish state had arise with strength and power. The dry bones that had been murdered and annihilated in Europe had been reborn in the Land of Israel. ""Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel. Behold they say, 'Our bones have become dried up, our hope is lost, we are clean cut off to ourselves.' Therefore, prophesy and say to them, So says the Lord God: Lo! I open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves as My people, and bring you home to the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and lead you up out of your graves as My people. And I will put My spirit into you, and you shall live, and I will set you on your land, and you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and have performed it," says the Lord." (Yechezkel 37:11-14
61 years after the awesome day in Tel-Aviv, we can sit back and feel pride over our many accomplishments. The Jewish language, Hebrew was revived, a feat never before accomplished. Cities and settlements were created. A vibrant and modern democratic state was built. Israel has one of the best and most powerful armies in the world. Close to half of the world's Jewish population now lives in the Jewish state. Israel is a world leader in science and technology and contributed a disproportionate amount to high-tech, medicine and science worldwide. Despite all of Israel's many problems, it has accomplished more in its mere 61 years of existence than most other countries around the world. The State of Israel is far from the fulfillment of the Prophets and there is a long journey to the Ultimate Redemption. Yet, in the words of Herzl: "If you will it, it is no dream." Just as it seemed impossible for there to be a sovereign Jewish state, as it seemed impossible for Jerusalem to be reunited as the capital of the Jewish people, so too will we reach all of our goals. A nation that waited two thousand years to return home is not afraid of a long and difficult struggle.
"Behold days are coming, says the Lord, that the plowman shall meet the reaper and the treader of the grapes the one who carries the seed, and the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will return the captivity of My people Israel, and they shall rebuild desolate cities and inhabit [them], and they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their produce. And I will plant them on their land, and they shall no longer be uprooted from upon their land, that I have given them, said the Lord your God." (Amos 9:13-15) May we see the complete fulfillment of the Jewish Dream, of the Prophets of Israel, of a world where "out of Zion will go forth Torah, and the word of HaShem from Jerusalem", very soon. May we merit the day when "nations will not lift up swords against each other, neither shall they learn war anymore". May the Complete and Final Redemption come speedily in our days, in mercy and love, amen!
Posted by Bar Kochba at 4:32 PM
This text was originally posted by Bar Kochba in the blog For Zion's Sake . To him my thankfulness.
Israel Matzav: Video: Rabbi Shimon Rosenberg speaks at terror victims' memorial
Video: Rabbi Shimon Rosenberg speaks at terror victims' memorial
Rabbi Shimon Rosenberg, father of Rivka Holtzberg HY"D (may God avenge her blood), and father-in-law of Rabbi Gavriel (Gabi) Holzberg, who were murdered at Chabad House in Mumbai in November speaking at the State of Israel's main memorial service honoring terror victims at the military cemetery on Mount Herzl.
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Israel Matzav: Video: Rabbi Shimon Rosenberg speaks at terror victims' memorial
Israel Matzav: Swine Mexican flu comes to Israel
Swine Mexican flu comes to Israel
We now have two confirmed cases and two more suspected cases of swine Mexican flu here in Israel. This morning, it was confirmed that a 26-year old man who has been hospitalized in Laniado Hospital in Netanya has the virus and this evening it's been confirmed that a 47-year old man who has been hospitalized in Meir Hospital in Kfar Sava has it.
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Israel Matzav: <strike>Swine</strike> <i>Mexican</i> flu comes to Israel
Israel Matzav: Hope and pray: A one-term President?
Hope and pray: A one-term President?
The Washington Times reports that Barack Obama has the worst approval rating of any American President in 40 years other than Bill Clinton at this point in his Presidency. Worse than Nixon. Worse than his mentor, Jimmy Carter.
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Israel Matzav: Hope and pray: A one-term President?
Israel Matzav: The Lieberman interview
The Lieberman interview
The holiday edition of the JPost (no hard copy paper tomorrow) features a lengthy interview with foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman. Here are some highlights.
Israel has proved its good intentions, our desire for peace. Since 1978, we gave up territories three times larger than Israel. We invested billions of shekels in the Palestinian Authority. We paid a very heavy price. Thousands of our citizens were killed in terrorist acts. What more can we do?
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Israel Matzav: The Lieberman interview
Israel Matzav: Remembrance Day for Fallen Soldiers and Terror Victims
Remembrance Day for Fallen Soldiers and Terror Victims
Like many of my readers, I grew up in the United States of America. For most Americans, Memorial Day is now a Monday holiday that provides a long weekend to enjoy baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and the first barbecue of summer.
I was even once in England on November 11 (which is Veterans Day in the United States, but as I understand it is England's equivalent to Memorial Day). It seemed like everyone was walking around with red poppies on their lapels, but otherwise it seemed like a normal day
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Israel Matzav: Remembrance Day for Fallen Soldiers and Terror Victims
Israel Matzav: Hezbullah intimidating Lebanese voters says... Ban Ki-Moon
Hezbullah intimidating Lebanese voters says... Ban Ki-Moon
With a little more than a month to go until Lebanon's elections, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has slammed Hezbullah for intimidating Lebanese voters, as well as for its activities in Egypt and in the Gaza Strip.
In a report to the UN Security Council, Ban said, "The threat that armed groups and militias pose to the sovereignty and stability of the Lebanese state cannot be overstated."
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Israel Matzav: Hezbullah intimidating Lebanese voters says... Ban Ki-Moon
Israel Matzav: With Obama's approval, Turkey selling arms to Hezbullah-controlled Lebanese army
With Obama's approval, Turkey selling arms to Hezbullah-controlled Lebanese army
I can now confirm a report that first appeared in DEBKA last week that the Obama administration has approved a massive arms sale from Turkey to the Lebanese army. A Turkish web site is now reporting the same story. The Lebanese army is mostly Shiite Muslim and has collaborated with Hezbullah in the past. This would make it likely that any weapons sold to the Lebanese army could end up in Hezbullah's hands.
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Israel Matzav: With Obama's approval, Turkey selling arms to Hezbullah-controlled Lebanese army
Israel Matzav: Syria to gain access to US, Israeli military technology
Syria to gain access to US, Israeli military technology
There's more to Syrian-Turkish military cooperation than ground exercises. On Monday, Syria's SANA news agency reported that Syria and Turkey have signed a military cooperation agreement "in the fields of defense industries and the exchange of technical and scientific information."
This has gotten the Israelis quite nervous (yes, I am sole-sourcing DEBKA, but what they're reporting in my quote seems obvious):
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Israel Matzav: Syria to gain access to US, Israeli military technology
Israel Matzav: Sanctions? What sanctions?
Sanctions? What sanctions?
Iran's news agency, IRNA, names the country's five largest trading partners for the past year. Yes, Switzerland, whose President is pictured at top left with Ahmadinejad, is one of them.
Iran’s trade exchange with these European countries, comprising Germany, Italy, Switzerland, UK and France, is worth dlrs 15.4 billion, Mehdi Ghazanfari said.
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Israel Matzav: Sanctions? What sanctions?
ANOTHER MINUTE TO SAY GOODBYE
The other day I had a meeting with Dr. Gila Flam, the head of the music department at our National Library, and a musicologist herself. In anticipation of today's day of memory I asked Gila, and she confirmed, that the role played by popular music in Israel is essentially unprecedented anywhere: it is one of the fundamental components of the national identity. Maybe someday I'll write about this.
Here's a popular song called "A Million Stars". It was written on the spur of the moment in July 2006 by Amit Farkasz, upon hearing of the death in battle of her older brother, Tom, a 23-year-old helicopter pilot shot down over Lebanon. She sang it at his funeral; I remember hearing it on the radio no more than a day later. The words reproach him for flying too far and too fast: she wanted one last minute to say goodbye (which she does at the end of the recording).
taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)
OBAMA'S CARD CARRYING MUSLIM !
‘I told you so!’ Obama’s a card carrying Muslim! You will see!
By Arlene Peck
I love it when I have an opportunity to say: “I told you so,” and, never have I had that chance as I am having with Barack Hussein Obama aka “Barry”.
When I kept on saying that I didn’t want the man as my President all my Israeli and American Jewish friends’ acc used me of being a ‘racist’. And when I replied that it wasn’t a black thing, they gave me this disbelieving look. What I told my friends it was and still is, is the Muslim (in him) thing. Of course that went over like a lead balloon and during that time, I think I even lost some of friends.
But I lost more friends when I told everyone who would listen that I didn’t give a diddly-squat if the ‘poor’ Palestinians never had a country to call their own that was carved out of the heart of the Land of Israel.
Unfortunately, Bush showed much incompetency that brought about a great disliked for him, which only helped for the mess we are in to burst. With a nation looking for a leader to love, it gave Obama the perfect climate to appear out of nowhere and within a short time create the “perfect storm” and be elected on a wave of popularity.
I am ridiculed when I suggest that under Obama’s leadership we are fast losing our country’s way of life as we knew it. I used to write about the dangers of illegal immigration but now, I hear on the news how Obama is putting out trial balloons to legalize millions of them as soon as possible. It is a form of dementia with our leaders which is leading up down the path of not only socialism but national suicide.
Did any of you notice that Obama’s first interview after taking office was not on CBS or FOX news? Naw, it was on al-Arabiya News Channel to the Arab/Muslim world; and his first call was not to a world leader but to his terrorists’ friend, Abbas who is the leader of the Palestinian Authority and al Fatah, none are sovereign states, rather terror organizations! I’m surprised that it was not to Obama’s Nazi friend, the Rev., Wright, to say the ‘coast was now clear.’
It still amazes me how Obama can still garner the kind of loyalty that he has. I feel as though I am talking to the wall when I dare to mention that I truly believe that Obama is a Muslim in heart, body and spirit. In disgust, I watched him pander and bow to the king of terrorism from Saudi Arabia. I have no doubt that one of their favorite discussions was how he was in favor of the Saudi Plan as policy towards Israel. Remember? The one that favors a contiguous Palestinian state that connects Gaza with the West Bank—Judea and Samaria—and includes Jerusalem. Remember, the pieces for peace plan?
I listened how his first international appeal was not to his countrymen but to the religion of Islam. Why not? Now that the election is over, he is free to announce how the administration is actively trying to find Muslim employees since they have been so unjustly deprived in the previous administration. Muslim resumes are pouring into the White House via the Congressional Muslim Staffers Assn. who is sifting through hundreds of names to repair, “ The chilling effects that this community has endured over the last eight years with their erosion of civil liberties” Gee, I wonder if they have a Christian/Jewish Staffers Assn.
Would he have announced, as he did in Europe, that the United States is no longer a Judeo-Christian country but a ‘secular’ one now? Or as he announced: “the United States is a Muslim, Christians, Jewish’ society (notice the priorities). When did that happen?
But, hey, our illustrious President wanted to keep everybody happy. In France, who is not known for being our closest allies, Obama said that he” wants to change our behavior in showing the Muslim world new respect.” If that weren’t enough, he also said America has been arrogant, dismissive and derisive. When he spoke to the Arab station, he “apologized for America’s mistakes and said that he wanted to restore the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world… 20 or 30 years ago.” Oh, was that before the weekly be-headings from this advanced society?
Somehow in all this praise for Islam, I failed to notice any reference to their treating their farm animals better than their women. Or, the repression of human rights and the financing of terrorists, probably just slipped his mind when he was bowing.
Obama took office with a ‘list of things to do’ and he was determined to accomplish it before we all catch what he was doing. So things are happening so fast lately that most of us, probably didn’t notice it. We are in the midst of losing our freedom of speech. For sure, we are rapidly lapsing into a socialist country.
But, let me center on Israel.
Deep down I worry a great deal about Israel’s claiming to be its ‘friends.’ I worry about the United States being so ironclad ‘friend’ to Israel as it always claimed to be, especially now, with a man, who I believe to be fundamentally Muslim, at the helm of our country. With friends like us, sometimes they don’t need enemies. Trusting who we have in power now is like being a ‘little bit’ pregnant!
I’ll make a bet that not too many of you know that our illustrious former President, George Bush and his Secretary of State Madam Condoleezza Rice established, with the full acceptance and support of Olmert and Livni, a USA military training program for Mahmud Abbas’—the head of Fatah, terrorist in a blue suit—forces.. Now, you tell me, on whom do you think, the terrorist organization Fatah, that is regularly announcing to the world that they will never accept Israel’s right to exist, plans on using this US type military training knowledge? However, Olmert and Livni took pride in their making ‘overtures and concessions’ to the Arabs/Palestinians no matter how dangerous the outcome could have been, so they could achieve ‘peace ’ with the Palestinians. I wonder if this duo even knows the true meaning of peace. Giving his Middle East policy, I am most certain that our new President will approve this training program policy, once instigated by Israel, and will make sure it continues.
This (not so) ‘friend’ of Israel, set at not so- kosher ‘style” Seder at the White House which immediately made him greater hero to the Jews who voted for him. Never mind that he bankrolled Hamas out of the White House funds to the tune of $23 million. This however is a drop in the bucket to the almost billion dollars that he committed to Gaza and the ‘Palestinians, under the guise of rebuilding that ‘nation’ from all the damages that the Jewish state caused by defending themselves. Where is one dollar for Israel’s South towns that suffer years of damage from Hamas' rockets? Of course, that bonanza of new funds will be used to rebuild alright…new tunnels and to re-arm Hamas.
On reflection, I wonder if the public relations Seder was to balance the quieter e-mail that was sent out on January 8th by the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association announcing the “Muslim Inauguration Gala” with the usual suspects including congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) and a host of others not the least was CAIR Michigan director, Sawud Walid and Johari. Abduolaye Wade, CAIR Michigan Director, Dawud Walid, and Johari Abdul-Malik of the Muslim Alliance of 20North America. Looking at the extensive list it read like the Who’s Who of leading Islamists in the U.S. who share his ideological framework of political Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood. Of course, if any of this happened to become known, he can deny knowledge of their ideology as they did with listening to the Rev Wright for the past twenty years.
This list reminded me of the days of my childhood, when our country took pictures and arrested of the Mafia when. Then it was called the Appellation Meeting and our country knew these men were simply danger. Today, however, the leading Islamists in the United States are all treacherous men who share the political Islam radical ideological and life style like the Muslim Brotherhood. These are the ones who; are now ‘honored guests’ and welcomed by Barak Hussein Obama as a ‘brother’
So my friends, as we were promised, we are having a great change. We are no longer Judeo-Christian country; our leader is now chasing and pandering to our greatest foe—Islam. It was lovely how he became the first president to criticize America on foreign soil. But worse of all, our ‘brother is in the White House is apologizing to the world for who we are…because he wants us to change...To what?
Personally, my thoughts are I’ll keep my money, freedom and guns and he can keep the ‘change’.
taken from : B'NAI ELIM (http://bnaielim.blogspot.com/)
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