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Showing posts with label synagogue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label synagogue. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Israel Photo Trivia ✡ "Peace Within Your Wall"
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Synagogue Where Jesus Preached Uncovered
Synagogue Where Jesus Preached Uncovered
David Lazarus ISRAEL TODAY
A synagogue where Jesus likely preached has been uncovered on the western shores of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. The 1st century Jewish house of prayer was discovered amidst the ruins of the ancient town of Magdala, home to the most well known female disciple of Jesus, Mary Magdalene.
"This is the first synagogue ever excavated where Jesus walked and preached," said Father Eamon Kelly of the Catholic organization developing the property. "This is hugely important for both Jews and Christians,” he added. The synagogue is one of only seven dating back to the time of Jesus uncovered anywhere in the world.
There is a very high probability that Jesus preached in this very synagogue. Before Tiberius was built, Magdala was the only town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Matthew 15:39 tells us that Jesus landed here as he "he took a boat, and came to the coast of Magdala." According to the New Testament, Jesus traveled extensively through this area teaching and preaching in local synagogues.
Magdala is just a few kilometers south of Capernaum, the fishing village where Jesus met Simon Peter, and not far from the Mount of Beatitudes where Jesus preached his legendary Sermon on the Mount. The town is also situated on the road that Jesus walked from Nazareth and Bethsaida to Capernaum.
This area is on the Via Maris - an ancient trade route that ran from Egypt along the Mediterranean and then up the western shores of the Sea of Galilee all the way to Syria. Jesus spent much of his time here as it provided an important opportunity for him to teach the multitudes passing through.
People tend to think of Bethlehem or Jerusalem as central places in the life of Jesus, but actually Jesus spent most of his life and ministry in the Galilee and northern Israel. "Eighty percent of Jesus' public life was right here," says Father Kelly, pointing to the Galilee region.
In the times of Jesus, the local synagogue was not just a place for prayer, but also a community center where people would gather to discuss the news or share information about current events. Whenever a new rabbi came to town, it was custom for him to come to the local synagogue meet with the people and teach.
According to archaeologists, the Magdala synagogue was destroyed in 67 or 68 CE by the Romans. A sculpted limestone relief depicting a menorah was uncovered in the center of the synagogue. It is the oldest stone-etched menorah ever found.
Archaeologists have also found fishing pools and Jewish ritual baths at the site, which is now open for visitors.
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Thursday, November 20, 2014
Eyewitness Accounts from the Slaughter in Jerusalem Synagogue
Eyewitness Accounts from the Slaughter in Jerusalem Synagogue
UNITED WITH ISRAEL 11.19.14
An extremely brutal moment on Tuesday morning left many people scarred for life after witnessing the worst terror attack Jerusalem has seen in years.
Emergency medical personnel at the site of a Jerusalem massacre on Tuesday by Palestinian terrorists. (Photo: ZAKA Spokesperson)
Just seven minutes of terror indelibly transformed the lives of many Israelis who were witness to the horrendous terror attack on Tuesday in which two Arab terrorists barged into a Jerusalem synagogue, hacking and shooting to death four Jewish worshipers and, later, a responding policeman. Several others were severely wounded.
Worshipers, medics, policemen – anyone present at the attack described what they experienced in one word: Massacre.
Shmuel Goldstein took his 12-year-old son to pray at the synagogue. The terrorists seriously wounded Goldstein, but his son Mordechai managed to escape unharmed – physically, at least – by crawling out the door.
“He crawled on the floor so that nobody would notice him and escaped,” renowned educator Tzipora Heller, Goldstein’s mother-in-law, told Israel’s Ynet. “The boy has been traumatized, he repeats over and over again how Arabs tried to kill everyone who was there. He arrived at his house, knocked on the door, his mother opened it and he told her everything that happened.”
“It is a difficult experience for an adult, so of course it would be for a child. He spoke with a social worker from the hospital. He talks and looks okay but he does not talk of his feelings,” Heller said.
Goldstein, 43, a father of nine, is in serious but stable condition. He suffered wounds to his head, chest, hand and ear. “We spoke to him before he was taken to surgery. We told him the boy was able to escape because he was probably very worried, and [he] said, ‘thank God,’ and then he was sedated,” Heller added.
Yaakov Amos was praying in the synagogue at the time of the attack. “During the prayers, I heard shots and saw a worshiper wearing Tefillin (phylacteries) lying on the floor. The bastard [terrorist] passed me from the right while shouting Allahu Akbar and firing. Three people fell immediately, and I saw him keep on massacring people,” Amos toldYnet. “One of the terrorists did not waste bullets and aimed directly at people. He fired and then looked at me, and chose people closer to him, shooting them at point blank range.”
Tehila, a woman in her 20s, saw the attack unfold from her window. She told Tazpit News Agency: “I was asleep and heard many people screaming. I jumped out of bed and saw policemen, some not even wearing uniforms, running around in what looked like a crazy way. I also saw some injured people. One was full of blood. Afterwards, all the police forces came and I saw what sounded like a firefight. The police yelled at us to go inside and close the windows, since they hadn’t yet captured the terrorists.”
“It’s an hour later, and we are still shivering…The synagogue is a central one, it has a large congregation. You never dream something like this could happen in Har Nof,” she said.
Yehuda Grossbard, an eyewitness, told Tazpit News Agency: “My wife heard shots…I ran downstairs and saw people running out of the synagogue; some were covered in blood. I went next to the synagogue and I heard gunshots, I saw someone outside whose head was full of blood. Then I heard more shots, and that’s when the police came. They told people to get on the ground, and then the terrorists jumped out from the stairs and they shot them there.”
‘I Asked God to Save Me’
Yossi Barzani, one of the worshipers, recounted to Ynet the horrifying experience. “In the middle of prayers, two terrorists entered, shouting Allahu Akbar. The synagogue was in panic, and I tried to flee. At one point, one of the terrorists approached me with a knife, and there was a chair and a table between us. I drew back and ran from him and fled outside. In those moments, I asked God to save me. My prayer shawl got caught. I left it there and escaped. On the way out, I saw terrible sights and bodies.”
Wrong Place at the Wrong Time
Ofer, whose brother was wounded in the attack, told Ynet his brother had been struck in the head by a meat cleaver and was undergoing surgery. He initially heard about the massacre after receiving a message that there had been a terror attack, and he rushed to the scene. He used to live in the neighborhood and his brother was still a resident there. “I didn’t think he would be there,” said Ofer, “but unfortunately he was apparently the first to be stabbed and shot.”
“We all love him,” Ofer told Ynet. “He is an outstanding person; he loves to help people and would never take a shekel from anyone. We hope that my brother will come out of this and keep on teaching and being a righteous family man. My brother was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Bravery Under Fire
Israeli security forces arrive at the scene of the attack. (Photo: Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)
Superintendent A., who serves as a Forensic Laboratory Specialist in the Division of Identification and Forensic Science (DIFS), was the police officer who eliminated the two terrorists.
“It began as a regular morning for me,” he said. “I was sitting in my car when I heard the report from dispatch. We drove as fast as we could. It was absolutely clear to me that this was an unusual event.”
“When I arrived at the scene I saw two policemen at the entrance to the Yeshiva and continued to hear shooting. It was clear to me that if I stay outside people will be murdered inside,” he explained. “The policeman standing near me was shot and wounded and I understood I was in the line of fire. I saw two Arabs; one was holding a gun and a butcher’s knife, and the other one was holding a knife drenched in blood. I understood it was me or them, and I shot them both.”
Superintendent A. entered the building to continue his search for more terrorists. “One look inside and I saw lots and lots of blood. Ultra-Orthodox Jews lying on the ground. Massacre. And basically this is when my role in the incident ended.”
Reminiscent of Scenes from the Holocaust
Medical teams at the scene of the terror attack. (Hillel Maeir/Tazpit News Agency)
Aryeh Shavit, one of the first emergency medical responders to arrive at the scene, said that “two terrorists entered a synagogue and slaughtered the worshipers as they were praying, donning their prayer shawls and phylacteries. We provide initial medical treatment to the wounded with various degrees of injuries; unfortunately, several of them were severely wounded. A quick response by Israel’s police neutralized the terrorists. It was a combined knife and handgun attack.”
One of the worshipers present during the attack described how the terrorists “continued to try and harm anyone who was in their way or who tried to escape.”
Another eyewitness commented that the scene of the terror attack with bloodied bodies of Jews wearing tallitot and tefillin (prayer shawls and phylacteries) was reminiscent of scenes from the Holocaust.
Author: United with Israel Staff
(With files from YNET)
An extremely brutal moment on Tuesday morning left many people scarred for life after witnessing the worst terror attack Jerusalem has seen in years.
Just seven minutes of terror indelibly transformed the lives of many Israelis who were witness to the horrendous terror attack on Tuesday in which two Arab terrorists barged into a Jerusalem synagogue, hacking and shooting to death four Jewish worshipers and, later, a responding policeman. Several others were severely wounded.
Worshipers, medics, policemen – anyone present at the attack described what they experienced in one word: Massacre.
Shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ and Firing
Shmuel Goldstein took his 12-year-old son to pray at the synagogue. The terrorists seriously wounded Goldstein, but his son Mordechai managed to escape unharmed – physically, at least – by crawling out the door.
“He crawled on the floor so that nobody would notice him and escaped,” renowned educator Tzipora Heller, Goldstein’s mother-in-law, told Israel’s Ynet. “The boy has been traumatized, he repeats over and over again how Arabs tried to kill everyone who was there. He arrived at his house, knocked on the door, his mother opened it and he told her everything that happened.”
“It is a difficult experience for an adult, so of course it would be for a child. He spoke with a social worker from the hospital. He talks and looks okay but he does not talk of his feelings,” Heller said.
Goldstein, 43, a father of nine, is in serious but stable condition. He suffered wounds to his head, chest, hand and ear. “We spoke to him before he was taken to surgery. We told him the boy was able to escape because he was probably very worried, and [he] said, ‘thank God,’ and then he was sedated,” Heller added.
Yaakov Amos was praying in the synagogue at the time of the attack. “During the prayers, I heard shots and saw a worshiper wearing Tefillin (phylacteries) lying on the floor. The bastard [terrorist] passed me from the right while shouting Allahu Akbar and firing. Three people fell immediately, and I saw him keep on massacring people,” Amos toldYnet. “One of the terrorists did not waste bullets and aimed directly at people. He fired and then looked at me, and chose people closer to him, shooting them at point blank range.”
Tehila, a woman in her 20s, saw the attack unfold from her window. She told Tazpit News Agency: “I was asleep and heard many people screaming. I jumped out of bed and saw policemen, some not even wearing uniforms, running around in what looked like a crazy way. I also saw some injured people. One was full of blood. Afterwards, all the police forces came and I saw what sounded like a firefight. The police yelled at us to go inside and close the windows, since they hadn’t yet captured the terrorists.”
“It’s an hour later, and we are still shivering…The synagogue is a central one, it has a large congregation. You never dream something like this could happen in Har Nof,” she said.
Yehuda Grossbard, an eyewitness, told Tazpit News Agency: “My wife heard shots…I ran downstairs and saw people running out of the synagogue; some were covered in blood. I went next to the synagogue and I heard gunshots, I saw someone outside whose head was full of blood. Then I heard more shots, and that’s when the police came. They told people to get on the ground, and then the terrorists jumped out from the stairs and they shot them there.”
‘I Asked God to Save Me’
Yossi Barzani, one of the worshipers, recounted to Ynet the horrifying experience. “In the middle of prayers, two terrorists entered, shouting Allahu Akbar. The synagogue was in panic, and I tried to flee. At one point, one of the terrorists approached me with a knife, and there was a chair and a table between us. I drew back and ran from him and fled outside. In those moments, I asked God to save me. My prayer shawl got caught. I left it there and escaped. On the way out, I saw terrible sights and bodies.”
Wrong Place at the Wrong Time
Ofer, whose brother was wounded in the attack, told Ynet his brother had been struck in the head by a meat cleaver and was undergoing surgery. He initially heard about the massacre after receiving a message that there had been a terror attack, and he rushed to the scene. He used to live in the neighborhood and his brother was still a resident there. “I didn’t think he would be there,” said Ofer, “but unfortunately he was apparently the first to be stabbed and shot.”
“We all love him,” Ofer told Ynet. “He is an outstanding person; he loves to help people and would never take a shekel from anyone. We hope that my brother will come out of this and keep on teaching and being a righteous family man. My brother was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Bravery Under Fire
Superintendent A., who serves as a Forensic Laboratory Specialist in the Division of Identification and Forensic Science (DIFS), was the police officer who eliminated the two terrorists.
“It began as a regular morning for me,” he said. “I was sitting in my car when I heard the report from dispatch. We drove as fast as we could. It was absolutely clear to me that this was an unusual event.”
“When I arrived at the scene I saw two policemen at the entrance to the Yeshiva and continued to hear shooting. It was clear to me that if I stay outside people will be murdered inside,” he explained. “The policeman standing near me was shot and wounded and I understood I was in the line of fire. I saw two Arabs; one was holding a gun and a butcher’s knife, and the other one was holding a knife drenched in blood. I understood it was me or them, and I shot them both.”
Superintendent A. entered the building to continue his search for more terrorists. “One look inside and I saw lots and lots of blood. Ultra-Orthodox Jews lying on the ground. Massacre. And basically this is when my role in the incident ended.”
Reminiscent of Scenes from the Holocaust
Aryeh Shavit, one of the first emergency medical responders to arrive at the scene, said that “two terrorists entered a synagogue and slaughtered the worshipers as they were praying, donning their prayer shawls and phylacteries. We provide initial medical treatment to the wounded with various degrees of injuries; unfortunately, several of them were severely wounded. A quick response by Israel’s police neutralized the terrorists. It was a combined knife and handgun attack.”
One of the worshipers present during the attack described how the terrorists “continued to try and harm anyone who was in their way or who tried to escape.”
Another eyewitness commented that the scene of the terror attack with bloodied bodies of Jews wearing tallitot and tefillin (prayer shawls and phylacteries) was reminiscent of scenes from the Holocaust.
Author: United with Israel Staff
(With files from YNET)
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
26 Israeli Children Lost Their Fathers Yesterday
26 Israeli Children Lost Their Fathers Yesterday
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 | Israel Today Staff
The attack on a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood on Tuesday claimed the lives of five men - four Jewish worshippers and one Druze police officer - who in turn were fathers to a total of 26 children.
Twenty-six Israeli children have buried their fathers over the past 24 hours.
But there were signs of hope in the outpouring of love and support for these children. As an example, a local resident of Har Nof who witnessed the aftermath of the synagogue attack conveyed this story:
"I was in a small supermarket in Har Nof. The shopkeeper spoke with an employee about the names of the victims, which had just been released. At that very moment, a handsome seven-year-old boy walked into the store with his rabbi. In a husky voice, the rabbi stated the boy’s name, and the shopkeeper immediately realized this was the son of one of the slain men. The rabbi quickly and subtly signaled that the boy did not yet know what had happened.
"The shopkeeper immediately ran to the boy, holding out candy and said, ‘Here, my dear, you can have what you want - do you like it here?’
"The child smiled and said yes. Then the shopkeeper whispered to him: ‘When you want something from my store, just come here and I give it to you for nothing.’
“The boy whispered back a thank you and looked happy. His rabbi thanked the shopkeeper with a nod and they both left the store. The shopkeeper could hold back no longer and broke down into tears.”
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Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Jerusalem ultra-Orthodox shocked by synagogue massacre
Jerusalem ultra-Orthodox shocked by synagogue massacre
‘Maybe it’s our own fault… for spiritual reasons,’ neighborhood resident says
BY JOHN DAVISON November 18, 2014 THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
AFP — Tuesday morning began as normal in the leafy west Jerusalem suburb of Har Nof, with residents gathering to pray in their local synagogue.
Two hours later, after the holy city’s bloodiest attack on Jews in years killed four worshipers, an ultra-Orthodox man in black and white robes swayed outside as he mourned the dead.
At 7 a.m., two Palestinians armed with a gun and meat cleavers burst into the house of worship and cut down four people before themselves being shot dead by security forces, police said.
Onlookers were kept behind cordons and women wailed as dozens of forensic specialists crowded around the synagogue entrance and inspected what appeared to be the attackers’ car.
Sarah Abrahams, a horrified resident, described scenes of carnage.
“I was going for a morning walk and passing by on the road above the synagogue,” she said.
“Someone told me not to go any closer and that there was something big going on, but I walked down to see.
“There were people running from the synagogue, and a man sitting on the pavement covered in blood, it looked like he has been stabbed,” she said.
“The police were already there, and when one of the terrorists emerged from the synagogue they shot him on the steps.
“Two people came out with their faces half missing, looking like they’d been attacked with knives.”
As she spoke, medics brought out four bodies one by one, each wrapped in white plastic, and loaded them gently into ambulances.
The rare attack on a place of worship sent shock waves across Israel.
It came as months of unrest gripped the city’s annexed Arab eastern sector and amid a wave of deadly attacks by lone Palestinians.
‘Why us?’
Residents were perplexed as to why the attack targeted their neighborhood, far from flashpoint east Jerusalem areas that have seen most of the violence.
“This is a yeshiva (Jewish seminary) community. Ninety percent don’t serve in the army. We’re not violent,” said Moshe Eliezer.
“I woke up 15 minutes late this morning, normally I’d have been there praying,” he said, visibly shaken and fighting back tears.
“I know one of the kids,” Eliezer added of one of the shooting victims. “He was a tremendous scholar, and wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
Both Israel’s government and the public are already blaming Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
“This is the direct result of incitement by Hamas and Abu Mazen (Abbas), incitement that the international community ignores in an irresponsible manner,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Eliezer agreed.
“The Palestinian leadership has been inciting them (would-be attackers) for years, saying we’re a cancerous tumor,” he said. “They want to annihilate us.”
Abbas condemned Tuesday’s attack and “all violent actions.” But he also slammed as “provocations” attempts by Jewish extremists to claim prayer rights at the Old City’s Temple Mount compound — a site sacred to both faiths and one of the most sensitive in the Middle East.
Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas hailed the attack as a response to the death of a Palestinian driver from East Jerusalem found hanged in his bus in disputed circumstances.
“Maybe it’s our own fault,” Eliezer added mournfully of anti-Jewish violence.
“Not for the reasons the left-wingers say, but for spiritual reasons.”
Read more: Jerusalem ultra-Orthodox shocked by synagogue massacre | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/jerusalem-ultra-orthodox-shocked-by-synagogue-massacre/#ixzz3JQxVqXyh
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