These discoveries prove beyond a shadow of a doubt Israel's history and heritage in Jerusalem - ISRAEL VIDEO NETWORK

The Watchman Reveals The Truth About the Temple Mount ISRAEL VIDEO NETWORK An inside look at the amazing discoveries by one of Israel's top archaeologist, Dr. Gabriel Barkay. These finds date from the Biblical era, First and Second Temple periods and beyond, and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt Israel's history and heritage in Jerusalem.

Israel's History - a Picture a Day July 22: Anniversary of the Bombing of the British Military Intel HQ in the King David Hotel 70 Years Ago

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July 22: Anniversary of the Bombing of the British Military Intel HQ in the King David Hotel 70 Years Ago Posted: 24 Jul 2016  King David Hotel 1946 On July 22, 1946, the Irgun resistance organization blew up a section of the King David Hotel, killing 91 British, Arabs and Jews.  The Library of Congress - Matson collection includes several pictures of the bombing's aftermath.  Those photographs pretty much marked the end of the Matson Photo Service's  65 years in Jerusalem.  According to the Library, "In 1946, in the face of increasing violence in Palestine, the Matsons left Jerusalem for Southern California."   King David Hotel 1946 The attack still raises the question of the involvement of the Jewish underground in terrorism.   The following appeared in Myths and Facts, 1989, written by the publisher of Israel Daily Picture. The King David Hotel was the site of the British military command and the British Criminal Investigation Division.  Two events led the Irgun commanders to choose the British military headquarters as a legitimate target.  On June 29, 1946, British troops invaded the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem and confiscated large quantities of documents.  Simultaneously, over 2,500 Jewish leaders from all over Palestine were placed under arrest.  Not only were the documents of crucial importance to the Jewish liberation movement, but papers on Jewish agents in Arab countries were also confiscated, endangering vital intelligence activities.  The information was taken to the King David Hotel.     King David Hotel 1946 One week later, Palestinian Jewish anger against the British and their blockade of Palestine grew.  Word arrived of the massacre of 40 Jews in a pogrom in Poland; 40 Jews who might have been saved had the doors to Palestine been opened for the survivors of Hitler's concentration camps. On July 22, the Irgun planted bombs in the basement of the hotel. Several calls were placed warning the British to evacuate. They refused.  For decades the British denied that they had been warned. In 1979, however a member of the British parliament introduced evidence that the Irgun had indeed issued the warning.  He offered the testimony of a British officer who heard other officers in the King David Hotel bar joking about a Zionist threat to the headquarters.  The officer who overheard the conversation immediately left the hotel and survived.

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta) The U.S. Navy Evacuated 6,000 Jews from Jaffa in 1914/1915

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The U.S. Navy Evacuated 6,000 Jews from Jaffa in 1914/1915 Posted: 27 Jun 2016  The book is moving forward, so we cannot publish new pictures and essays at this time. But, here are two never-before-seen pictures from the book showing Jews boarding and disembarking from the USS Tennessee after their expulsion by the Turks in 1915.  Stay tuned for information on the book's publication. Jewish refugees boarding and registering in Jaffa. Jewish refugees disembarking in Alexandria Egypt.

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta) Jewish Festivals - Shavuot The Book of Ruth

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Jewish Festivals - Shavuot The Book of Ruth Recreated 100 Years Ago This feature is one of our most popular posting Posted: 07 Jun 2016  Reposting a popular feature Photo portrait of "Ruth the Moabitess" (Library of Congress) Ruth said, "Do not entreat me to leave you, to return from  following you, for wherever you go, I will go... Your people shall be my people, your God my God" And Naomi and Ruth both went on until they arrived at Bethlehem The Jewish holiday of Shavuot -Pentecost is celebrated this week.  The holiday has several traditional names: Shavuot, the festival of weeks, marking seven weeks after Passover; Chag HaKatzir, the festival of reaping grains; and Chag HaBikkurim, the festival of first fruits.  Shavuot, according to Jewish tradition, is the day the Children of Israel accepted the Torah at Mt. Sinai.  It is also believed to be the day of King David's birth and death.    Ruth came to a field that belonged to Boaz who was  of the family of Naomi's deceased husband The reading of the Book of Ruth is one tradition of the holiday.  Ruth, a Moabite and widow of a Jewish man (and a princess according to commentators), gave up her life in Moab to join her Jewish mother-in-law, Naomi, in the Land of Israel.  She insisted on adopting Naomi's God, Torah and religion.  A central element of the story of Ruth is her going to the local fields where barley and wheat were being harvested so that she could collect charitable handouts.  She gleans in the fields of Boaz, a judge and a relative of Ruth's dead husband (as such he had a levirate obligation to marry the widow).  The union resulted in a child, Obed, the grandfather of King David.    Boaz said to his servant, who stood over the reapers,  "To whom does this maiden belong?"  The members of the American Colonywere religious Christians who established their community in the Holy Land.  They were steeped in the Bible and photographed countryside scenes that referred to biblical incidents and prohibitions.    Boaz said to Ruth, "Do not go to glean in  another field...here you shall stay with my maidens"  Boaz said to her at mealtime, "Come here and partake  of the bread..." He ordered his servants "Pretend to  forget some of the bundles for her."  Ruth carried it to the city and Naomi saw what she had gleaned We have matched the pictures with corresponding verses from the Book of Ruth. We present a few of the dozens of "Ruth" photographs found in the Library of Congress' American Colony collection.   See more of the pictures here.   Ruth came to the threshing floor and Boaz said, "Ready the shawl you are wearing and hold it," and  she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley.... A major effort was made by the photographers to re-enact the story of Ruth, probably in the fields near Bethlehem.  "Ruth," we believe, was a young member of the American Colony community; the remaining "cast" were villagers from the Bethlehem area who were actually harvesting, threshing and winnowing their crops. Unfortunately, we don't know when the "Ruth and Boaz series" was photographed, but we estimate approximately 100 years ago.   Click on the pictures to enlarge.   Click on the caption to view the original.

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta) The Long History of Jewish/Israeli Ties with Jordan

Weizmann - Faisal meeting, 1919 (Syrian Times) Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)

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The Long History of Jewish/Israeli Ties with Jordan Posted: 29 May 2016  History books provide glimpses of nearly a century of ties between Hashemite rulers and Jewish leaders, starting with the pre-state of Israel.  Dr. Chaim Weizman of the Zionist Organization met with Emir Faisal in January 1919 and signed an agreement of understanding. T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) was the interpreter for the meeting, but it is not certain to this day just how much of an "agreement" it was. Nevertheless the acts of meeting and dialogue were monumental. Days before Israel's declaration of independence in May 1948, Golda Meir travelled to Jordan disguised as an Arab peasant to meet with King Abdullah to urge him to stay out of the pending Arab attack on the soon-to-be state. (He didn't.) On September 25, 1973, Abdullah's grandson, King Hussein of Jordan, secretly visited Israel to warn Prime Minister Golda Meir of imminent attacks on Israel by Egypt and Syria. (Tragically, his warnings were not given their due seriousness.) These two photographs, however, fill in some of the years. The first shows Emir Abdullah's personal bodyguards in 1922 -- armed Jewish Yemenite warriors from the Habani tribe. The three men were brothers -- Sayeed, Salaah, and Saadia Sofer. Notice their traditional side curls (peyot). The men of the Habani tribe were known as tall, muscular and fierce warriors. Hashemites also used Circassian bodyguards. Emir Abdullah with his Jewish bodyguards (1922, Bible Discovered) In 1932, King Abdullah was again in close relations with the Jewish Yishuv when he inaugurated the major hydro-electric power plant in Naharayim located on the Transjordan side of the Jordan-Yarmuk Rivers confluence. The Jewish project was headed by Pinhas Ruttenberg, the founder of the Palestine Electric Company. The joint project required security cooperation between the two sides to protect the plant and power lines. More information on the power plant can be found here, The Great and Electrifying Pinchas Ruttenberg.  Ruttenberg watches Emir Abdullah start the turbines at the Naharayim power plant. (1932, Library of Congress) Is that one of Abdullah's bodyguards watching on the right?

Israel's History - a Picture a Day Passover: Whoever Is Hungry, Come and Partake of this Yemenite Seder

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Passover: Whoever Is Hungry, Come and Partake of this Yemenite Seder Posted: 12 Apr 2016 12:05 PM PDT Passover is one of the three pilgrimage festivals mentioned in the Bible along with Sukkot and Shavuot.  Historians and rabbinic literature refer to hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who filled the streets and alleyways of Jerusalem, bringing sacrifices to the Temple. The Temple Institute's depiction of a Passover seder at the time of the Temple. Note the pascal lamb on the table. Today as well, Jews from all over the world and from all over Israel make their pilgrimages to the holy city. The Library of Congress photographic collection includes a series of photographs of Yemenite residents of Jerusalem celebrating their Passover seder in 1939.  Note their low table and compare it to the painting of a Seder during the time of the Temple, taken from the Passover Seder Haggadah of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem. In 1882, the Christians of the American Colony adopted a wave of Yemenite Jews who arrived in Jerusalem penniless, hungry and sick. The Colony believed the Jews were from the lost tribe of Gad. For decades the American Colony photographers continued to take pictures of the Yemenite community. Yemenite Passover Seder: Drinking wine in the Kiddush ceremony. Note the table is covered at that point, and all men are leaning to their left as prescribed. (Library of Congress) Yemenite Passover Seder, eating the bitter herbs  (1939) Washing hands during the Seder. Note the children's involvement and wonderment. A major theme of the Seder is to teach the children about the Exodus from Egypt. Passover meal.  Note the square matza The Yemenite community has a tradition of a soft matza, similar to Middle East pita or laffa bread, which they bake daily during Passover.   Discussing the local Yemenite matza, an ancient traveler to Tza'ana in Yemen quoted his Yemenite host, "There is no requirement that the matzos be dry and stale because they were baked many days before Pesach.  Every day we eat warm, fresh matza. " The traveler reported, "I enjoyed their special kind of matza -- it was warm, soft and didn't have the usual burnt sections which was present in every matza I had ever eaten until then." Unfortunately for the 1939 Yemenite family, it appears that the only matza available to them was the square and stale machine-made matza.

Israel's History - a Picture a Day - Time to Get Ready for Passover. The Matza Factories Are Hard at Work

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Time to Get Ready for Passover. The Matza Factories Are Hard at Work Posted: 08 Apr 2016  A reprintof a special Passover feature With Passover just weeks away, Jewish households around the world are purchasing or making their matzot (unleavened bread) for the festival. One of Judaism's oldest customs, the baking of matza goes back to the Jewish exodus from Egypt.  Ever since, Jews often went to great trouble to bake their cracker-like bread. Jewish communities in Europe and the Arab world faced "blood libels" for making their matza. Ancient synagogues in France built matza bakeries under their synagogues. Jews in Nazi concentration camps risked being shot to bake their Passover "bread." In the former Soviet Union, Jews baked their matza in secret, lest they be discovered and sent to the Gulag.  During major wars, armies made sure to provide matza to their Jewish soldiers. A matza factory in Haifa.  The signs on the left read "For the purpose of the commandment of matza" -- a reminder to the workers to keep their intentions on the commandment.  The signs on the right, in Hebrew and French,  read "No smoking" and "No Spitting"  (from the "Cigarbox Collection" provided by Othniel Seiden, circa 1925)   "No smoking or spitting" 'Keep in mind the matza commandment"   Children baking matza in kindergarten in the Holy Land. The teacher is in the center, and it appears there is a tiny oven in front of her. (Harvard/Central Zionist Archives, circa 1920) Special feature:   Matza baking in the "New World" 150 years ago  Caption: "General view of preparations and baking matzot, the unleavened bread for the Passover" (Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, New York, April 18, 1858, Library of Congress) Note the rabbi watching.      The Library of Congress Archives has preserved several 150-year old engravings of Jewish customs in New York from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper.  [See Purim celebration]  The story we bring today is unusual because of the writer's attempt to describe the New York Jewish community and the Passover holiday.  The first element, rich in Faginesque imageries,  would be considered anti-Semitic by today's standards.  The second element, a description of the holiday customs, is woefully full of mistakes.  Excerpts below: Any one taking a morning walk through Chatham street will meet enough men whose low stature, shining black eyes, crisp laky hair, stooping shoulders, and eager movements proclaim them of the Hebrew race, to convince him that Jews are prevalent in our city in large numbers.  Exactly how many thousands of the Hebraic people have their present sojourning in New York we have no means of ascertaining, but the number is very considerable, and is on the rapid increase. Weighing and kneading of the flour with the rabbi  The Israelitish race preserve to this day their peculiar characteristics as strongly marked, and their national prejudices is as full force as in the days of Darius, King of Persia.  They exist among us, a distinct race, preserving an identity of their own... but whilst constantly intermingling in trade and business with the Gentiles, keeping themselves as separate from the uncircumcised dogs in all social and religious intercourse....They could not keep themselves more apart if they were walled out from the Christian world.... The eating of the unleavened bread for the seven days of the Passover is obligatory on all of the Jewish faith, and it is observed with the most punctilious exactitude by all, old and young, and no matter how poor or rich.  During the seven days this unleavened bread is the only sort permitted to be used, no meat is allowed, and no drop of wine or spirits or fermented liquors.  Fish and some kinds of vegetables are eaten sparingly....  Click on pictures to enlarge. Click on captions to view the original pictures. Subscribe to Israel Daily Alert by entering your email address in the subscribe box in the right sidebar of the website.

Israel's History - a Picture a Day - The "Other" Passover Commemoration - The Samaritans Still Sacrifice the Pascal Lamb

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The "Other" Passover Commemoration -- The Samaritans Still Sacrifice the Pascal Lamb Posted: 06 Apr 2016  Samarian high priest Yitzhak ben Amram ben Shalma ben Tabia (circa 1900). View other pictures of priests here and here Updated from a 2012 Passover feature The Samaritan population in the Land of Israel numbered more than a million people 1,500 years ago, according to some estimates.  This ancient people lived in northern Israel and claimed to have been descendants of those tribes of Israel which were not sent out into the Babylonian exile.  One line of Samaritans traces their lineage back to Aaron the priest, and they consider their "holy mountain" to be Mt. Gerizim outside of Nablus (Shechem) -- not Jerusalem.    Samaritan family (1899) The Samaritans worship the God of Abraham, revere a scroll comparable to the five books of Moses, and maintain Passover customs, including the sacrifice  of the Pascal Lamb.  The photographers  of the American Colonyphotographed dozens of pictures of the Samaritans' sacrificial service.     Samaritan synagogue in Shechem (1899). Also view here Jews ceased the Passover sacrifice with the destruction of the second Temple. Already in Talmudic days, Jewish authorities rejected the Samaritans' claims to be part of the Jewish people. The Cutim, according to rabbinic authorities, arrived in the Land of Israel around 720 BCE with the Assyrians from Cuth, believed to be located in today's Iraq. Over the millennia, the Samaritans almost disappeared.  Persecuted, massacred and forcibly converted by Byzantine Christians and by Islamic authorities, the Samaritans' community today numbers fewer than 1,000 who are located on Mount Gerizim near Nablus (Shechem) and in Holon, Israel.  Baking matza on Mt. Gerizim (circa 1900) This year, the Samaritans will celebrate their Passover on April 20, 2016.  Preparing a lamb (1900) "The prepared carcasses ready for the oven" (1900)      According to Samaritan officials, on January 1, 2015, the Samaritans number 777 souls.   Praying on Mt. Gerizim (1900)

Israel's History - a Picture a Day - Purim Celebrated this Week

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Purim Celebrated this Week Posted: 20 Mar 2016 10:33 PM PDT Tales of Disguise, Mirth and the Threat of Haman  This week Jews around the world celebrate the joyous holiday of Purim. The Purim holiday commemorates the victory of Queen Esther and Mordechai over the evil Haman of Persia, saving the lives of the Jewish people.   Below are several Purim-related pictures we discovered in the archives of the Library of Congress. This picture appeared in an American newspaper on April 1, 1865.  The wood engraving is captioned, "The Hebrew Purim Ball at the Academy of Music, March 14."  The picture contains a large sign, "Merry Purim," another sign listing the "Order of Dancing," and merrymakers wearing costumes and masks.  The picture was published in Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper, printed in New York, NY. The Academy of Music was built in 1854 and was located in Manhattan at Irving Place and East 14th Street. And in Tel Aviv -- Purim celebration in Tel Aviv (Library of Congress, 1934) The Jews of Palestine used to celebrate heartily at the Purim Adloyada ["until they don't know"]festival and parade held in Tel Aviv in the 1920s and 30's.  Some commentators make a crude The "Queen Esther" of the carnival  in 1934 (Library of Congress) comparison to Marde Gras partying, but the merriment is based on an ancient rabbinic tradition of Jews imbibing on Purim to the point where they do not know the difference between sobriety and drunkenness, between Mordechai and Haman -- but without losing their wits. But the threats to the Jewish people were also apparent to the photographers of the American Colony who photographed Purim celebrations in Tel Aviv in the early 1930s. They photographed parade floats showing the Nazi threats. Purim parade in Tel Aviv with a float  of a dangerous 3-headed Nazi dragon  (Library of Congress 1934) View Yaakov Gross' film of the Tel Aviv celebrations in the 1930s here and visit his wonderful collection of films here.