ISRAEL MAKES BIG CHANGES AT THE WESTERN WALL - TouchPoint Israel

SINCE ISRAEL REGAINED CONTROL OF JERUSALEM IN 1967, THE WESTERN WALL PLAZA HAS BEEN OPEN TO PUBLIC PRAYER. BUT UNTIL NOW, IT WAS EXCLUSIVELY UNDER THE OVERSIGHT OF THE ULTRA-ORTHODOX RABBINIC LEADERSHIP AND STRICT RULES WERE ENFORCED TO PREVENT NON-ORTHODOX PRACTICES. WOMEN AND MEN WERE SEPARATED BY A BARRIER JUST AS THEY WOULD BE IN AN ORTHODOX SYNAGOGUE, AND WOMEN WERE NOT ALLOWED TO CARRY TORAH SCROLLS OR LEAD PRAYER SERVICES.

For years, groups within Israel have worked to break the ultra-Orthodox monopoly on the site, but the highly-sensitive religious nature of the topic has caused tremendous controversy. Two years ago, Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed a committee to work on finding a solution. This week, the Prime Minister’s cabinet voted on a compromise and it passed 15-5.

Israel will construct a separate platform against the Western Wall for egalitarian prayer, with it’s own entrance, so that the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox worshipers may continue their traditional practices on one side and the Conservative and Reform worshipers may worship freely in a mixed-gender setting on the other side.

As with any compromise, not everyone is fully satisfied with the result, but those who are opposed are still relieved that the controversy is at an end.

Shmuel Rabinowitz, chief rabbi of the Western Wall, gave a statement expressing relief that there would no longer be quarrels at the Wall among Orthodox and non-Orthodox worshipers. In part, he said, “The Western Wall will continue to remain open to any worshiper — man or woman — at all hours of every day, with respect and loyalty to Jewish tradition and Jewish heritage, as the Western Wall is the clear symbol of these.”

Anat Hoffman, Chairwoman of the controversial women’s rights group Women at the Wall, celebrated the news. She said, “This is a dramatic and meaningful victory for the women of Israel and the people of Israel.”

While the new prayer platform is being built, the current ultra-Orthodox practices must still be followed at the Western Wall. Once the project is complete, all visitors will have full access to either side to pray, but must follow the customs assigned to each.

Israeli Unity? Only in Times of Crisis

Tuesday, July 28, 2015 |  Israel Today Staff

RELATED STORIES

• College student? Netanyahu wants you to fight for Israel!
• The People Choose God
• Netanyahu to hold official Bible studies

Topics:

Israel

The results of a new survey published by Israel’s Ynet news portal this week suggest that Israelis are united only in times of crisis, such as wars or other disasters, and that the norm for the Jewish state is division and internal conflict. This is especially true when considering the secular-religious split.

The survey was conducted to mark Tisha B’Av, the solemn fast day held this week in commemoration of the destruction of Jerusalem’s Temple, considered a divine punishment for division within Israel.

While the results painted a fairly bleak picture, they also provided reason for optimism.

Participants in the survey were asked how much attention they pay to the various divisions between Israel’s Jews. A 45–46 percent plurality said that religious and economic divisions were of great concern to them, while 44 percent said that the ethnic divide between Ashkenazi (western) and Mizrahi (eastern) Jews was of little importance.

Deeper analysis revealed that the religious divide between “secular” and ultra-Orthodox Israelis was of much greater importance to secular and traditional Jews than it was to the ultra-Orthodox community.

A full 80 percent from all societal groups recognized that Israel as a people are only united in times of crisis, and a 41.5 percent plurality expect the situation to get worse.

One of the biggest contributing factors to this is a lack of willingness to integrate between the groups. While daily contact is frequent in such a small country, the survey found that, for instance, both secular and ultra-Orthodox Israeli Jews are largely to marry someone from the “other” side. When it came to doing business together or living in close proximity, both sides were a little more tolerant.

On a positive note, a 43 percent plurality of Bible-believing religious Israelis (situated somewhere between “secular” and ultra-Orthodox) expect the situation to improve. Furthermore, most of the respondents from all sectors agreed that despite the differences, the Jews of Israel are in this together, and that their shared heritage does provide common ground for unity, even if only temporarily.

Asked how to solve this problem, 40 percent wanted better education on the topic, while 23 percent called for increased dialogue.

Ilan Gal-Dor, director of the “Gesher” research institute that conducted the survey concluded optimistically: “The results indicate a willingness for dialogue amongst the different sectors. However, there is much work before us. We [Israelis] attach great importance to dialogue and understanding between ourselves as a nation, in service to a better common future - especially [considering the lessons] of Tisha B’Av.”

Want more news from Israel?
Click Here to sign up for our FREE daily email updates from ISRAEL TODAY.

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

A Jewish man walks past a synagogue, with bullet holes in its window, that was attacked by two Palestinians earlier in the morning in the Har Nof neighborhood in Jerusalem on November 18, 2014. (photo credit: AFP/ JACK GUEZ)

NEWSROOM

• Email the Newsroom
• Facebook
• Twitter

RELATED TOPICS

• ULTRA-ORTHODOX JEWS
• HAR NOF SYNAGOGUE ATTACK
• BENJAMIN NETANYAHU

AFP — Tuesday morning began as normal in the leafy west Jerusalem suburb of Har Nof, with residents gathering to pray in their local synagogue.

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email
and never miss our top stories   FREE SIGN UP!

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.

An ultra-Orthodox man prays at the scene of an attack in the Har Nof neighborhood in Jerusalem on November 18, 2014. (photo credit: AFP/ JACK GUEZ)

“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.”

Men stand inside the entrance of a synagogue that was attacked by two Palestinians earlier in the morning in the Har Nof neighborhood in Jerusalem on November 18, 2014. The Hebrew writing in candles says ‘House of God.’ (photo credit: AFP/JACK GUEZ)

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
Follow us: @timesofisrael on Twitter | timesofisrael on Facebook

Football (Soccer) in the Holy Land 80 Years Ago

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)

---

Football (Soccer) in the Holy Land 80 Years Ago Was a Religious & Political Issue -- Version of an Earlier Posting Posted: 03 Feb 2014 Original caption "Police intercede in Orthodox attempt to break up  the Maccabee football game" (1930s) The neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo in northern Jerusalem is known for the dust-up between Israel and the U.S. Administration several years ago when Israel announced plans for expansion of the ultra-Orthodox housing project.   Aerial photo of the sports field, adjacent to the ultra-Orthodox Meah  She'arim neighborhood (1931).  See a view of the bleachers here, and the field here. Originally, Jerusalem's legendary mayor Teddy Kollek planned that the area, known as the Shuafat ridge, would house a 50,000-seat football stadium, sports facilities and tennis courts. But access to the stadium would have to be through Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, and Sabbath protests and demonstrations were a certainty.  "Crowd of mixed Orthodox Jews who arrived on the scene en masse to force the discontinuing of the Maccabee football game" Eventually, the stadium was built in southern Jerusalem near Malcha, and the Shuafat ridge became part of a contiguous stretch of ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods.   The Sabbath tensions over public sports games on Saturdays were documented by the American Colony photographers some 80 years ago.    Some of the photographs identify the field as "near Bokharbia," meaning near the Bukhari Jewish neighborhood adjacent to Meah She'arim.  "Close-up of an Orthodox Jew in the  crowd."  View another close-up with the police - here (1930s)

What is Truth? (Part 1) by Zev Porat

What is Truth? (Part 1)

by Zev Porat

Until now, very few ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel have made a leap o faith to find salvation through Messiah Yeshua and fewer yet have proclaimed it publicly. This is the amazing story of one who did... 

I was born in Israel,raised in Bnei Brak – considered the most ultra-Orthodox city in Israel. There famous Rabbis live and thousands of men spend their entire life studying in the yeshivot (rabbinical schools). 

To religious Jews, our ancestry is very important to us. So here is mine: My father, grandfather and ancestors were rabbis. Some were “dayans,” meaning “judges of rabbis.” My grandfather, Rabbi Pinhas Porat, escaped from the holocaust in Poland. As he fled, he helped two women who were sisters escape with him. One sister died on the way to Israel and the other became my grandmother. 

My mother wasn’t born into a religious home. Her father, Zev Goldman, was a member of the Knesset in the Likud party – now headed by Benjamin Netanyahu. But when she met my father, she was ready to become part of the ultra- Orthodox community and in 1965 I was born. 

My father was offered a job in Los Angeles to be principal in a Hebrew day school and Rabbi of a synagogue, so I was raised in southern California. One day when we were leaving school, a group of Christians stood across the street handing out tracts and Christian literature. 

My father was furious and told us to stay away from those people because they were dangerous. He told me that God would be angry with me if I just mentioned the name of Jesus because it was blasphemy and against Judaism. 

I remember growing up being particularly scared of two things – the name of Jesus and pork. 

After junior high my father sent me to a very Orthodox yeshiva – a rabbinical school – called “Emek” in downtown Los Angeles. I wore black clothes with the shtreimel, the big black hat, and peias, the long sidecurls. 

My father and grandfather - the whole family - was expecting me to continue the tradition of becoming a rabbi - the most honored profession by far among Orthodox Jews. 

But I never actually wanted to be religious. It was just too difficult for me, too intense with rules, rules, rules, and I begged to go to a public school. My father finally agreed on condition that I study in the afternoons at the synagogue. 

I didn’t really connect with the kids in public school as I was “the rabbi’s son,” and not allowed to mix with the outside world. So I grew up without many friends. 

Then my father suddenly died of a heart attack and we returned to Israel and buried him in a special cemetery in Bnai Brak – where rabbis and religious soldiers are buried. 

I Join the Air Force

My grandfather, Rabbi Pinhas Porat, was still alive and he took the place of my father, making sure he made time to keep me studying the Torah and Talmud. I loved my grandfather and was thankful that he cared for me as he did. 

But it was time to make some decisions in my life. I decided to join the air force – something that ultra- Orthodox men don’t often do. But by this time I had taken off my shtreimel and was only wearing a yarmulka – a knitted skullcap. And I shaved off my beard. I was becoming less inclined to ultra-Orthodoxy. 

In the air force I began to drift away from religion altogether and did everything that I was not allowed to do as an Orthodox Jew. I started going to bars, to drink and to get into fights. Eventually the Internet came along; I was doing everything on the Internet except the will of God. 

I went to work for a large insurance company, and for extra money was a clerk at reception in a hotel two evenings a week. One night a tour group from China arrived to visit a food exhibition in Tel Aviv. Out of the entire tour only one woman, Lin, could speak any English, and so I registered the group and helped them settle into the hotel through Lin. 

I found out she was a top chef from Shanghai and somehow we clicked. Soon we married. At home I still had pictures of rabbis on the wall and icons warding off the evil eye, while Lin lit incense to a statue of Buddha. 

I Meet a New Friend

One day when I was in an Internet chat room someone asked me where I was from. When I said “Israel,” the guy began to talk with me about Jesus, about Yeshua. I of course told him I am Jewish and I don’t want to hear about the New Testament because it is not for Jewish people. “Secondly,” I said, “I came to the chat room in order to run away from God and I don’t want to talk to you!” 

The easiest thing would have been to press the delete button and this guy would have been out of my life. But for some reason (which I understand now) I didn’t. So this guy – his name was Todd – told me his story. He was from Southern California (where I grew up), and he began to chat with me about the Good News. I couldn’t press the delete button. 

Todd then told me, “Listen, I’ll teach you the truth that’s found in the Bible. I’ll show you from the Old Testament.” Thank God this person knew the Old Testament! So for four years, almost on a daily basis, Todd taught me about the Messiah from the Tanach – the Old Testament. I started to understand Isaiah 53, Isaiah 9, Micah 5, Genesis 3, Psalm 2, Psalm 110, Psalm 122, Isaiah 7:14.

It began to register. But then I told myself, “Even if this is true, I can’t believe it because I am a Jew!” 

Zev and his wife Lin, a top Asian chef from Shanghai. They met when Lin visited Israel to attend a food exhibition.

I Go on a Two-Year Search

But then, after about two years of Todd’s teaching, I began to have a terrible time sleeping. I had had problems in the past, but now it was worse. As I tossed and turned, I decided I was going to do my own investigation about the real Jewish Messiah. 

Todd would teach me on the Internet and then I carried out my own search. I combed through the libraries to do a history check. I studied the history of Judaism and Christianity. I became more confused. 

Then I decided the best place to determine the truth would be to go to whom else? The rabbis, of course! First I went to my grandfather, Rabbi Pinchas Porat. He was 86 years old at that time and was a very calm man. I didn’t go to him and ask, “Who is the Messiah?” I never spoke to him about Yeshua. I simply showed him various places in the Bible – the Jewish Bible – that Todd had shown me on the Internet. 

I showed him Isaiah 53. I showed him Isaiah 7:14. I showed him Jeremiah 31:31 – about the New Covenant. I showed him Genesis 3 and then I showed him Micah 5:2. (Micah 5:1 in Hebrew) 

My grandfather became very nervous about my questions. Very nervous. The more nervous he became, the closer I found myself moving toward the unthinkable – THE TRUTH! I knew there was something wrong with my grandfather’s behavior and I was determined now to get to the bottom of it. 

Here was my question: Who is this baby in Micah 5:2? I wanted an answer. 

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting. 

In Hebrew the end of the verse is even stronger than in English. It says, “Mi Kedem, Mimey Olam” meaning “before the foundations of the world.” 

I wanted an answer from the rabbis: Who is this child that has been in existence before the foundation of the world? One who would be the Ruler of Israel? Who was this Baby? 

I Interview 32 Rabbis

After work I actually conducted a series of interviews with rabbis - 32 in all - during a period of over two years. I received 26 different answers to that same question. At the same time Todd was still speaking with me over the Internet. 

I finally decided to go and meet with the Chief Rabbi of Israel – at that time Rabbi Israel Lau. Rabbi Lau knew my family very well because he had flown to California to conduct my Bar Mitzvah. I asked him a simple question, “Rabbi Israel Lau, I interviewed 32 rabbis, one of them being my own grandfather. I have received 26 different answers to this same question. Isn’t there one Bible?” 

He just sat there smiling at me and said, “Zev, you asked 32 rabbis and received 26 answers. It’s OK, because there are 70 faces to the Torah – 70 faces to the Bible.” 

Rabbi Lau’s answer was not only disappointing, not only shocking, but he confirmed to me THE TRUTH at that very moment. 

I left the office, being totally convinced of the Truth, but still in denial. I still said to myself, “I am a Jew. If I believe that Yeshua is the Messiah of Israel I will lose my family, my friends, my job, my life. I cannot believe this.” 

That was my conclusion after four years of discussion on the Internet and two years of research and evaluation. The Bible truly speaks about the Jewish people being stiff-necked. As far as I was concerned, that is an understatement! 

I Hear a Voice

The next night a cold wave had hit Israel and we had no heating at that time in our bedroom. I went to sleep, but about 3:00 a.m. I broke out in a heavy sweat and began to shake. I realized instantly that I was having a supernatural visitation. I felt electricity going through my body and over my head I saw a cloud. 

Usually a cloud is “cloudy,” but this cloud was shiny and through that cloud was a very bright light. Then I heard a voice call my name twice. The voice said in Hebrew, “Zev, Zev, Isaiah 53 is the Messiah of Israel! Isaiah 53 is the Messiah of Israel! It is true!” 

I began to shake violently. I knew that I knew THE TRUTH. 

As a religious Jew from a rabbinical family, I had been raised to believe that I had a relationship with God because I am a Jew. But this was the first time that I had ever actually experienced the presence of God. I was feeling something I had never felt before in my life. I had connected directly with God the Father through His Son Yeshua. 

I woke up my wife who had heard and seen nothing, and I said, “Lin! It is true! The Messiah of Israel is Yeshua!” Lin, still a Buddhist, said, “Go back to bed, Zev. The guy from the Internet is brainwashing you.” I said, “No, Lin! He is the Messiah!” 

Then she saw that the whole bed was wet from my sweating – on this very cold night. She knew something had happened to me. Within a week she too accepted Yeshua as her Messiah and Lord… 

Rabbi Kaduri reveals name of Moshiach before he dies (Ariel Sharon death connection)

Uploaded on Aug 6, 2011

Rabbi Kaduri died in February/Tevet of 2006/5766. About five months before his death, the rabbi wrote something on a note and ordered that the envelope remain sealed until a year after his death. Everyone wondered about this, but his wishes were honored. When the note was finally read, it took the readers (all kabbalists) about 20 seconds to figure it out and go nuts. 

The note

Here is what the note said, originally in Hebrew, of course. "He will lift the people and prove that his word and law are valid. This I have signed in the month of mercy, Yitzhak Kaduri" "The Hebrew sentence (translated above in bold) with the hidden name of the Messiah reads: Yarim Ha'Am Veyokhiakh Shedvaro Vetorato Omdim

The initials spell the Hebrew name of Jesus, Yehoshua. Yehoshua and Yeshua are effectively the same name, derived from the same Hebrew root of the word "salvation" as documented in Zechariah6:11 and Ezra 3:2. The same priest writes in Ezra, "Yeshua son of Yozadak" while writing in Zechariah "Yehoshua son of Yohozadak." 

The priest adds the holy abbreviation of God's name, ho, in the father's name Yozadak and in the name Yeshua. With one of Israel's most prominent rabbis indicating the name of the Messiah is Yeshua, it is understandable why his last wish was to wait one year after his death before revealing what he wrote. 

When the name of Yehoshua appeared in Kaduri's message, ultra-Orthodox Jews from his Nahalat Yitzhak Yeshiva in Jerusalem argued that their master did not leave the exact solution for decoding the Messiah's name. Only the Hebrew websites News First Class (Nfc) and Kaduri.net mentioned the Messiah note, INSISTING it was authentic.

Israeli News "Maariv" claimed that it was a forgery. two of Kaduri's followers in Jerusalem who admitted that the note was authentic, but confusing for his followers as well. "We have no idea how the Rabbi got to this name of the Messiah," one of them said.

The note said that after Ariel Sharon's death 

the Messiah would be revealed. 

Sharon died Jan. 11, 2014.

Yeshua - "salvation" 

in Hebrew.

He came the 1st time 

as the 

Suffering Servant.

He is coming back soon

as the 

King of kings.