Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Murdoch: King David Was Right, Jerusalem is the Capital

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, Israel National News

First Publish: 9/11/2012,

Priestly blessing at the Western Wall (Kotel)

Israel news photo

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch said at an investment meeting that, “What was right for King David is right for me. Jerusalem is the capital."

Media mogul and investor Rudolph Murdoch, who is not Jewish, told an “Innovate, Invest Israel’ conference in New York City, "What was right for King David is right for me. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.”

The conference is jointly sponsored by The Wall Street Journal.

Murdoch also said, "Twenty years ago my company invested in a small company in a small Jerusalem apartment, and what I gained from this company in terms of capital returns and technologically was critical to my company in the last few years."

“There are more than $11 billion in foreign investments in Israel. Usually we invest in assets that generate the best returns and Israel is too good for investors to ignore it. "We once thought that G-d chose a Holy Land without any oil or natural resources, but recent years have shown that Israel has incredible resources with enormous oil and gas reserves".

Murdoch added, "What differentiates Israel from other countries is the creativity. Israel is successful because it is one of several countries whose economy revolves around the human mind, and it is really a light unto the nations.

“Bear in mind that everything that happens in Israel happens despite all the threats to the country.”
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz opened the conference, which is aimed at encouraging investment in Israel, which Globes said, “presents Israel as a test case of a stable economy in a stormy global market.”

Foreign investment to Israel has dropped this year, partly due to the threat of war with Iran.
Other business leaders and investors at the conference included officials from CitiGroup, Noble Energy, Credit Suisse and American Express.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/159866

Blowing the Shofar on the New Year 80 Years Ago

- Israel Daily Picture

Yemenite Jew blowing the shofar (circa 1935)

"Blow the Shofar at the New Moon...Because It Is a Decree for Israel, a Judgment Day for the God of Jacob" - Psalms 81

Jews around the world prepare for Rosh Hashanna next week, the festive New Year holiday when the shofar -- ram's horn -- is blown in synagogues.

The American Colony photographers recorded a dozen pictures of Jewish elders blowing the shofar in Jerusalem some 80 years ago. The horn was also blown in Jerusalem to announce the commencement of the Sabbath. During the month prior to Rosh Hashana, the shofar was blown at daily morning prayers to encourage piety before the High Holidays.

Ashkenazi Jew blowing the shofar to announce the Sabbath

Yemenite Rabbi Avram, donning tfillin for his
daily prayers, blowing the shofar

http://www.israeldailypicture.com/2012/09/blowing-shofar-on-new-year-80-years-ago.html?

Monday, September 10, 2012

The High Holy Days in Jewish cinema

By JOEL ROSENBERG/JNS.ORG

08/18/2012, Jerusalem Post

In America’s 1st sound film, Rabinowitz is a cantor’s son whose father expects him to stand by his side to chant Kol Nidre.

Photo: Courtesy of The National Center for Jewish Film

When cinema was still in its youth, Hollywood built a story around the High Holidays. Its tale was a measure of Jewry’s ties to tradition, but also a gentle sign of its loss.

In The Jazz Singer (1927), America’s first feature-length sound film, Jakie Rabinowitz is a cantor’s son whose father expects him to follow tradition and stand by his side in the synagogue to chant Kol Nidre, the prayer that opens the Yom Kippur service. But as the eve of the holiday approaches, the father is told that 12-year-old Jakie is singing in a saloon. The cantor angrily fetches him home and gives him a thrashing. Jakie vows to leave home for good. As the father chants Kol Nidre at shul, the son takes to the streets and embarks on a life singing jazz.

Years later, his career on the rise, his name now changed to Jack Robin (played here by the great Al Jolson, whose life had inspired the story), he visits his parents on his papa’s 60th birthday, announces he’ll soon be starring on Broadway, and hopes to make peace with his folks. Jack’s mama welcomes him back eagerly, but the father orders him to leave. Soon after, the cantor grows ill and hovers between life and death. Jack’s mother appears at the Broadway rehearsals and begs him to sing Kol Nidre in place of his father. But Yom Kippur is also the show’s opening night. The film constructs a virtual morality play around this dilemma.

The film would be incomplete without a Jolson version of Kol Nidre. Or at least it sounds like Kol Nidre—but in Jolson’s handling, the Aramaic-language lines are radically abridged and repeated, over and over, in a reverie of improvisation. In effect, Kol Nidre as jazz. The film here subtly portrays the passing of tradition into a creatively eroded form—symbolic of what New World Jews have done with the old.

In 1937, Jews in Poland did a film version of S. An-sky’s acclaimed Yiddish play, The Dybbuk. In the film, two Hasidic Jews, Sender and Nisn, are longtime friends who meet up only infrequently during holiday pilgrimages to the Rebbe of Miropolye. One such time, they pledge their yet-unborn children in marriage. Soon after, Nisn is drowned and Sender, preoccupied with money, forgets his promise to his friend.

Years later, an impoverished scholar named named Khonen makes his way to Brinitz, Sender’s town, where, as a Sabbath guest at Sender’s, he instantly falls in love with Sender’s daughter Leah, who loves him in return. The father, unaware that Khonon is the son of his long-departed friend, is determined to betroth Leah to the richest suitor he can find. Desperate to win Leah’s hand, Khonen immerses himself in kabbalistic magic so he can conjure up barrels of gold. Intensely ascetic, Khonen grows ever more unbalanced, and when Leah’s engagement to a rich man’s son is announced, he calls on Satan for help, then keels over and dies. When Leah is later about to be married, she becomes possessed by her dead lover’s spirit. Her father then takes her to Miropolye, where he petitions the Rebbe to exorcise the wayward soul.

The film, one of the last great cultural products of Polish Jewry, is a rich portrait of pre-modern Jewish life and custom. Unlike the play, it opens with an impassioned table sermon by the Rebbe on the youthful days of the fathers-to-be. The sermon deals with the Yom Kippur ministrations of the High Priest in ancient times—if an impure thought were to enter his mind in the Holy of Holies, “the entire world would be destroyed.” The Rebbe compares this to the precarious journey of some unfortunate souls, who pass through several lifetimes (these Jews believed in reincarnation) in striving toward their source, the Throne of Glory—only to be cast down, just as they reach celestial heights. As this point in the Rebbe’s sermon, Sender and Nisn inopportunely try to inform him of their pact.

Click for more JPost High Holy Day features

When, a generation later, Khonon fantasizes union with his beloved Leah, he refers to it as “the Holy of Holies.” In retrospect, the Rebbe’s sermon becomes a prophecy of Khonon’s disastrous fall. But The Dybbuk never ceases to exalt the lovers’ bond, though the Rebbe and his court try their best to undo it. The holiest moment of Yom Kippur, though fraught with catastrophe, remains a symbol for the resistance of these lovers to a world enslaved by money and class.

A third film, Barry Levinson’s Liberty Heights (1999), is a nostalgic comedy about growing up Jewish in 1950s Baltimore.

It both opens and closes on Rosh Hashana, when the Kurtzman family customarily attend synagogue. Nate Kurtzman (Joe Mantegna) has his own New Year custom of exiting early from synagogue to stroll to the nearby Cadillac showroom, where the coming year’s models are on display. Each year, Nate trades in his Caddy for a spiffy new one, which he can afford—not from fading profits of the burlesque house he owns but because of his thriving illegal numbers racket. Nate is otherwise a solid citizen, a devoted husband and father, who has raised himself up from humble origins, and had often, in his youth, proven himself a scrappy street fighter against neighborhood anti-Semites.

Most of the film deals with the adventures of Nate’s sons, Van and Ben (Adrien Brody and Ben Foster) and and their relations with gentile girls—Van’s pursuit of a beautiful, Old-Money debutante named Dubbie, whom he met at a party; and Ben’s friendship with Sylvia, a black classmate.

Levinson’s framing the story inside the Jewish New Year and Nate’s Cadillac ritual is important. The Kurtzmans are nominally observant Jews—perhaps even Orthodox, but in a laid-back, assimilated way. Though Nate’s wife shows remnants of clannishness, the Kurtzmans are open to the winds of change. While both the New Year and the “new car year” are equally important to Nate, their overlap seems a portrait of the tradition’s loosening grip since the days of The Jazz Singer.

Even The Dybbuk, flawless as its command of pre-modern tradition had been, was the creation of Jewish moderns: playwright An-sky had been a secularist and socialist revolutionary, folklorist, and humanitarian activist. The film’s creators were immersed in avant-garde theater and Expressionist idioms, and director Mihał Waszyński was a gay man who had left behind his orthodox background and pretended he knew no Yiddish. But what unites these three films is not just their deep awareness (hidden in The Dybbuk) of the secular world, but also their willingness to invoke tradition as a yardstick. The High Holidays might be a site of fading cultural memory, but the theme still strikes a responsive chord among film goers, Jewish and gentile alike.

Joel Rosenberg teaches film and Judaic studies at Tufts University. His articles on the cinema of Jewish experience have appeared in various journals and collections, and he has recently completed a book, Crisis in Disguise: Some Cinema of Jewish Experience from the Era of Catastrophe (1914-47).

http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishFeatures/Article.aspx?id=281688

Israel to West: Follow Canada's lead

Monday, September 10, 2012 | Ryan Jones, Israel Today

Canada's Stephen Foster & Netanyahu

Israel this week loudly praised Canada's decision to cut ties with Iran over its defiant nuclear program. Jerusalem insisted that the only way to prevent armed conflict in the region is for the rest of the West to similarly get a lot more serious about halting the Islamic Republic's quest to attain nuclear weapons.

"I would like to congratulate Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper for taking a daring and moral step...and thereby sending a principled and important message to the entire world," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Sunday's cabinet meeting. "I call on the entire international community, or at least on its responsible members, to follow in Canada's determined path and set Iran moral and practical red lines, lines that will stop its race to achieve nuclear weapons."

Hours later, an Israeli cabinet minister told Channel 2 News that Canada's decision to close its Tehran embassy had significantly lessened Israel's feeling that it must act alone against Iran. Israelis today believe that most of the West is either resigned to the idea of Iran attaining nuclear weapons, or is too weak to do anything about it. But if more nations follow Canada in truly isolating the Iranian regime, Israel will not feel so desperate as it determines what to do about the threat, suggested the unnamed minister.

In an interview with Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Netanyahu said he was in talks with the United States to set red lines of its own for Iran. But later in the day, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blunted hopes that Canada's example would spark a broader international reaction by insisting that the Obama Administration would "not set deadlines" for Iran's compliance.

"We're convinced that we have more time to focus on sanctions," said Clinton.

US presidential challenger Mitt Romney used the opportunity to lay into Obama: "The president has not drawn us further away from a nuclear Iran and in fact Iran is closer to having nuclear capability than when he took office. This is the greatest failure of his foreign policy," Romney told NBC's "Meet the Press," adding, "In the words of [Israeli] Prime Minister Netanyahu, 'Iran has not changed its nuclear course one iota by virtue of this president's policies.' And that's something I intend to change."

Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met in Tehran with Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar, telling his guest that the "arrogant powers and enemies are trying to manage the developments in the region so as to save the Zionist regime [from destruction]."

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/tabid/178/nid/23385/language/en-US/Default.aspx?ref=newsletter-20120910

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani Freed After 3 Years in Iranian Prison

Posted on September 8, 2012 by

Madeleine Morgenstern

The Blaze

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani greets his family as he leaves

Iranian jail after three years.

(Image source: Twitter via @JordanSekulow)

The Iranian pastor who faced execution for refusing to renounce his Christian faith was freed Saturday after three years in prison in his native country, a group campaigning for his release said.

Youcef Nadarkhani, 32, had been jailed in Iran since 2009 on apostasy charges following his conversion to Christianity.

His charges were lowered Saturday to evangelizing Muslims, a three-year penalty, but he was credited for time already served and released, Fox News reported.

“Today our sources in Iran reported that Pastor Youcef was acquitted of apostasy and released from prison. After languishing in prison for almost three years, he has been reunited with his family,” Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based American Center for Law and Justice told Fox News in a statement.

“While we are working on confirming the exact details of his release, some sources report that the court alternatively convicted Pastor Youcef of evangelizing to Muslims, sentencing him to three years and granting him time served,” he said. “Pastor Youcef’s story is an example of how the world can join together to ensure that justice is served and freedom preserved.”

Sekulow subsequently tweeted a photo of Nadarkhani surrounded by others with the caption: “Pastor Youcef #Nadarkhani greets his family as he leaves prison after 1,062 days in #Iran jail.”

ACLJ legal director Tiffany Barrans said the group praised Nadarkhani’s release, but said Iran “felt obligated to save face among its people and continue its pattern of suppressing religious freedom with intimidation tactics.”

“International attention to this matter saved this man’s life, but we must not forget the human right of freedom of religion includes the right to freedom of expression,” Barrans told Fox News.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/christian-pastor-youcef-nadarkhani-reportedly-freed-after-three-years-in-iranian-prison/

1,000 years of rivalry — and a little bit of harmony — at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Whose chapel? Whose step? Whose ladder? The squabbles among differing Christian denominations at the Holy Places can seem petty to outsiders. Yet for much of the Christian world, these issues are vital, and they have been known to provoke bloodshed

By Aviva and Shmuel Bar-Am

September 7, 2012

One chilly November morning in 1847, Catholic clergy entered Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity to pray. As was their custom, they continued into the grotto that had once held a stable. Imagine their dismay when they discovered that the silver star on the floor, which marked the spot of Jesus’ birth, had disappeared.

The Catholics immediately blamed the Greek Orthodox community, which had been upset with the star ever since it was incorporated into the floor over 100 years earlier. What bothered them was the star’s Latin inscription, which seemed to give the Catholics property rights to the Grotto.

But the Orthodox said that the Catholics had stolen the star, claiming that they were raring for a fight. And, indeed, both Russia (the Orthodox sponsor) and France (which looked after Catholic interests) were incensed over the affair. Even the Sardinian consul got involved.

Quickly becoming a dispute over control of the Holy Places, the controversy heated up so rapidly that in 1852 the sultan of Turkey, ruler of the Holy Land, issued an edict that effectively froze all of the religious arrangements in effect at the time — including rights of possession, lighting, decorations and hours of worship. This freeze, specific to the Holy Land’s sacred sites, was called the status quo. It remains in effect to this day.

Christians began jockeying for control of the Holy Places after the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem in 1099. Until that time a variety of Christian denominations — mainly eastern Orthodox — apparently worshipped peacefully in the Holy City. But when the Crusaders took over Jerusalem, the Catholic Church gained control of the sacred sites. The result has been a thousand years of out-and-out rivalry.

The most volatile period was during the era of Turkish rule, from 1517 to 1917, when the success of each religious group depended on the political climate and on how much money passed into the pockets of the authorities. Sometimes the Turks would decree in favor of the Catholics, at others in favor of the Orthodox.

Once they even tried giving two communities rights to the same holy site – and told each that it was to be theirs alone. Nobody was ever pleased with the results.

Provocation was the order of the day, and fights even erupted within Orthodox ranks. In Bethlehem, the Greek Orthodox placed a carpet in front of the Armenian (Orthodox) altar. When Armenians came to worship, the Greek Orthodox assaulted them for stepping on their rug.

Like many disputes between bickering couples, neighbors and nations, the squabbles among differing Christian denominations often seem petty and trivial to outsiders. Yet for much of the Christian world these issues are as vital as the air they breathe.

This is especially true in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, foremost among the sites governed by the status quo.

Greek Orthodox priests at Easter, at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
(photo credit: Shmuel Bar-Am)

In fact, to really understand the status quo it is helpful to examine the church’s interior. Divided both in terms of usage and in geographical area, its common areas include the church entrance, the Stone of Unction, the rotunda, its dome, and the sacred tomb of Jesus.

Large and small candles belonging to each of the main communities flank the entrance to the tomb and indicate common rights. Every one of the huge pillars that surround the rotunda is assigned to a specific group; one column is divided between the Armenians and the Greek Orthodox.

Other portions of the church are, in the main, divided among Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Armenians. Copts and Syrian Orthodox have fewer rights inside the church, although the Copts have a small chapel.

Until the 17th century, the Ethiopians controlled several chapels in the church. Later, however, they didn’t have enough money to offer bribes to the Turks and lacked a powerful patron who could offer support. As a result, they were relegated to the rooftop of one of the church chapels.

During a single hour that I spent recently at the church, Franciscans held prayers at Jesus’ tomb to a background of loud organ music, and at the same time Armenians ascended to the Greek Orthodox altar. Both seemed to be singing at the top of their lungs.

And on Sunday mornings as many as five different liturgies can be heard. But despite the seemingly deafening cacophony of their worship, this was actually an exercise in harmony. For east and west were worshiping, each in its own manner — but from separate, and previously allocated areas.

Tourists at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (photo credit: Shmuel Bar-Am)

The British who ruled the Holy Land from 1920-1948 prepared meticulous guidelines meant to help clarify issues relating to the Turkish status quo. Still referred to today, their memorandum should keep problems to a minimum. Yet a curious atmosphere of distrust and suspicion remains.

Bloody disputes have broken out between the communities over who would clean the bottom step of a flight of steps leading from the church courtyard – property of the Greeks – to the Chapel of St. Mary’s Agony – which belongs to the Catholics.

Unfortunately, the step is uneven: at its lowest point it seems like part of the courtyard; on its tallest side it is indisputably a step. Today, the Catholics sweep the step daily at dawn and the Greeks clean it when they are cleaning the courtyard.

Heavy candlesticks, and sometimes even a cross, have been known to make excellent weapons when a fistfight turns into a first-class fracas. At one time someone even grabbed a beam that covered a crack in the Chapel of the Skull and cracked a few bones instead.

Latin mass at the 11th Station of the Cross at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (photo credit: Shmuel Bar-Am)

When the Church of the Holy Sepulcher required repairs, the groups had a hard time finding the right style. They knew that even the tiniest modification of the status quo could create irrevocable changes in their position.

As a result, although much of the church has been restored and a new lead covering – with a 200-year guarantee — was placed over the rotunda, for decades the various communities were unable to agree on interior decoration. Scaffolding remained under the dome until the end of the 20th century, an ugly reminder of unsolved disputes. Then, as the new millennium approached, all the parties agreed on a design. Today a golden, star-shaped inner dome shines above the rotunda.

My favorite example of the status quo is the ladder that leans against the exterior wall of the Holy Sepulcher, right below one of the church’s second story windows. It was used nearly 200 years ago to haul food up to Armenian monks who were locked in the church. With the situation frozen, probably forever, the ladder seems destined to remain until the ravages of time and weather cause it to crumble.

Aviva Bar-Am is the author of seven guides to Israel. Shmuel Bar-Am is a private tour guide.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/1000-years-of-rivlary-and-a-little-bit-of-harmony-at-the-church-of-the-holy-sepulcher/?utm_source=The+Times+of+Israel+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=59ccc5c6ba-2012_09_08&utm_medium=email

American Jewish leaders call on world to follow Canada’s lead on Iran

Conference of Presidents, ADL leaders praise Ottawa for severing diplomatic relations with Tehran on Friday

By Ilan Ben ZionSeptember 7, 2012

Centre Block of Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada.

(photo credit: CC BY Kumar Appaiah, Wikimedia Commons)

Earlier on Friday Ottawa announced that it would be recalling its diplomats from Tehran and that Iranian envoys in Canada were personae non gratae. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird cited Iran’s “increasing military assistance to the Assad regime,” noncompliance with UN resolutions against its nuclear program, and routine threats against Israel’s existence and “racist and anti-Semitic rhetoric and incitement to genocide” as Ottawa’s rationale for severing ties with Tehran.

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations chairman Richard Stone and executive vice chairman Malcolm Hoenlein praised Canada’s decision to terminate relations with Iran.

“We welcome the announcement by the government of Canada that it is severing ties with Iran, ordering Iranian diplomats out of the country, and closing its embassy in Iran,” they wrote in a statement.

“It is an important moral declaration and a rejection of the extremist threats of the Iranian regime against the US, Israel, and the West, its gross violation of human rights internationally and internally, its support for global terrorism, and its many violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions related to its nuclear program.”

“We hope that other countries will follow Canada’s example. We thank Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Minister John Baird for once again being at the forefront of the cause of justice and standing up for the principles and values that it espouses,” Stone and Hoenlein said.

Anti Defamation League National Director Abraham H. Foxman said, “Canada’s principled stand against the belligerent Iranian regime has set a new example of leadership, integrity and principle for the international community to emulate.”

“Once again, Canada has taken the lead in providing an example for other countries, reinforcing a clear message to the Iranian regime that their nuclear activity and violent anti-Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric will no longer be tolerated by the community of nations,” Foxman added.

He called on other countries to follow suit, and continue ratcheting up diplomatic and other pressures against the Iranian regime.

The United States severed diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran in April 1980 after Iranian revolutionaries stormed the US embassy in Tehran and took 52 diplomats hostage the November before. Washington imposed a trade embargo on Iran in 1995.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/american-jewish-leaders-call-on-world-to-follow-canadas-lead-on-iran/?utm_source=The+Times+of+Israel+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=59ccc5c6ba-2012_09_08&utm_medium=email

Christian pastor jailed in Iran for 3 years is freed

Christian pastor jailed in Iran for 3 years is freed, watchdog group says

By Perry Chiaramonte

Published September 08, 2012

FoxNews.com

An undated photograph circulated by religious rights organizations shows Youcef Nadarkhani and his family.

Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who was originally sentenced to death in his native country for his Christian faith, was acquitted of apostasy charges and released from custody.

Nadarkhani, 32, was imprisoned for three years and waiting execution for refusing to renounce his Christian faith. His charges were lowered to evangelizing to Muslims, which carried a three-year sentence. He was released with time served, according to the American Center for Law and Justice, a Washington-based watchdog group that had been campaigning for the pastor's release.

"Today our sources in Iran reported that Pastor Youcef was acquitted of apostasy and released from prison. After languishing in prison for almost three years, he has been reunited with his family," Jordan Sekulow, executive director of ACLJ said in a statement to FoxNews.com.

"While we are working on confirming the exact details of his release, some sources report that the court alternatively convicted Pastor Youcef of evangelizing to Muslims, sentencing him to three years and granting him time served. Pastor Youcef’s story is an example of how the world can join together to ensure that justice is served and freedom preserved."

Nadarkhani was originally called to Saturday's hearing to answer to "charges brought against him," leading to speculation that the new charges from the Iranian Supreme Court could be for a security-based crime, a charge often handed down to cover-up prisoners being held and sentenced on faith-based charges.

"While we praise the release of Pastor Youcef, we must recognize that Iran felt obligated to save face among its people and continue its pattern of suppressing religious freedom with intimidation tactics," Tiffany Barrans, a legal director for ACLJ said to FoxNews.com.

"International attention to this matter saved this man's life, but we must not forget the human right of freedom of religion includes the right to freedom of expression."

Nadarkhani's attorney, who also has been jailed, maintained that the married father of two faced execution because he refused to renounce his religion. An Iranian diplomat told a United Nations panel earlier this year that Nadarkhani would not be executed.

According to Sharia law, an apostate has three days to recant. The pastor refused to do so and sources close to the matter say executions in Iran can happen at any time, often without notice. The court is reportedly seeking the opinion of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Islamic republic's spiritual leader and highest authority, according to AFP.

The ACLJ worked with the State Department to try to win Nadarkhani's freedom, and the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution earlier this year condemning his imprisonment and calling for his immediate release. Nearly 3 million people have voiced support for Nadarkhani on Twitter through the "Tweet for Youcef" campaign.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Yeshua Is the Light with Lyrics Messianic ישוע הוא האור

Meha Shamayim - "The Remnant of Israel" song

400 Rams Horns to Awaken IDF Repentance

The IDF rabbinate has purchased 400 rams horns, used to arouse Jews to repent during the months of Elul and Tishrei.

By Maayana Miskin

First Publish: 9/7/2012

A shofar - Israel News photo

The IDF Rabbinate is purchasing 400 new shofars for use during the Hebrew months of Elul and Tishrei. The shofar, made of a ram’s horn, is blown to help arouse Jews to repentance before Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Judgment, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

Prior to the purchase, the Rabbinate gathered all of its current shofars to see how many were still fit for use, and any damaged horns were replaced.

The army uses shofars that are kosher according to all rabbinic opinions, in order to ensure that soldiers of all backgrounds will be equally able to fulfill their religious obligation to hear the horn sounded.

The need for hundreds of new shofars reflects a growth in the number of IDF soldiers who observe Torah law.

The army is also working to provide soldiers who can lead services during the holidays. Former and current Hesder yeshiva students will be sent to bases and outposts across the country to ensure that there are public prayers and that the shofar is blown.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/159740

Cardinal Closes DNC with Prayer for Unborn

CBNNews.com

Friday, September 07, 2012

Catholic Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan closed out the Democratic National Convention with prayer last night, stressing the right to life for the unborn.

Dolan is a prominent opponent of abortion and same-sex marriage.

"Thus do we praise you for the gift of life," Dolan prayed. "Grant us to defend it. Life, without which no other rights are secure."

"We ask your benediction on those waiting to be born, that they may be welcomed and protected," he prayed.

At first, Democrats had declined his offer to pray at their convention. They reversed the decision a few days later.

The Obama administration has alienated many Catholic voters during the fight over the health care mandate. The Catholic vote could be critical this election year.

Cardinal Dolan also prayed at the Republican National Convention.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2012/September/Cardinal-Closes-DNC-with-Prayer-for-Unborn/

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Obama: "I am a Muslim."

This has been out before, but we need to remember that out of the heart the mouth speaks. Listen and decide for yourself what the truth is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=tCAffMSWSzY#t=28

At the advice of a friend posting on my Facebook wall, in response to my placement of “Obama – He admits He is a Muslim”, I went and saw the movie “2016 – Obama’s America.” (Now playing, directed by Dinesh D’Souza). I was glad it wasn’t a “hate” movie. It simply laid out where Obama has come from, and where he desires to take America. Honest. Forthright. Eye-opening. I suggest you see it too. http://2016themovie.com/

Americans in Israel Register to Vote after DNC Flap

CBNNews.com

Thursday, September 06, 2012

Marc Zell, co-chairman for Republicans Abroad

JERUSALEM, Israel -- More Americans in Israel want to vote in the U.S. presidential elections in November following the Democrats' initial decision to remove references to Jerusalem (and to God) from its party platform.

That decision could be responsible for a spike by Americans in Israel -- some with dual Israeli-American citizenship -- to register to vote.

Marc Zell, co-chairman of Republicans Abroad in Israel, told CBN News he received 50 phone calls Wednesday from Americans interested in registering to vote.

Zell said that was "more than a coincidence" coming a day after the DNC removed a reference to Jerusalem as Israel's capital from 2012 party platform. They reinserted the reference the next day.

More than 100,000 Americans living in Israel have registered to vote by absentee ballot in the upcoming elections, Zell said, estimating that at least 2 to 1 will vote Republican.

Meanwhile, Speaker of the Knesset Reuven Rivlin said the Democrats' omission of Jerusalem from the platform -- originally adopted with those changes Tuesday evening -- was not a slip-up.

In a radio interview Thursday, Rivlin said he had "no doubt that President Obama restored Jerusalem to the platform because of political and electoral pressure" and "because of the sharp criticism from Israel and the U.S."

Rivlin says the backlash convinced Obama to reinstate the references, a decision, he says, that elicits "no cause for optimism."

"This is not something that can be corrected with the stroke of a pen," he said. "It's a problematic sign indicating the gradual reduction of the American government's strategic commitment to Israel."

The new platform now reads, "Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel...an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths." The party also restored the phrase, "God-given potential" to its platform.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2012/September/Americans-in-Israel-Register-to-Vote-after-DNC-Flap/

Discovery of large man-made reservoir next to the Temple Mount

Cistern dated to First Temple period found in Jerusalem

Discovery of large man-made reservoir next to the Temple Mount shows city did not solely rely on the Gihon Spring for its water 2,500 years ago

By Matti Friedman, The Times of Israel

September 6, 2012

A public water cistern found adjacent to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem sheds new light on the city's water supply more than 2,500 years ago (photo credit: Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority/Vladimir Naykhin)

The cistern, which held 250 cubic meters of water, was discovered adjacent to the western side of the Temple Mount during an ongoing excavation at the site, the IAA said in a statement.

The discovery shows that the city’s water supply at the time did not rely solely on the Gihon Spring, Jerusalem’s only natural water source, but rather included large man-made reservoirs of the kind now uncovered, according to the IAA.

The unique size of the cistern — the largest of its time to be discovered in the city — and its location suggest the possibility that it played a part in the ritual activities at the Temple, according to archaeologist Tsvika Tsuk of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.

“It is possible that the large cistern found next to the Temple Mount was used in the daily operation of the Temple itself, and also served the pilgrims who came to the Temple and needed water for washing and drinking,” Tsuk said, according to the IAA statement.

The cistern was waterproofed with a yellowish plaster typical of the period, with handprints still visible on the walls, Tsuk said.

The First Temple was built around 950 BCE, according to the biblical record, and destroyed by a Babylonian army in 586 CE. Construction of the Second Temple commenced some 50 years later. The Temple Mount as it currently exists dates to an expansion and renovation of the compound by Herod the Great five centuries after that, about 2,000 years ago.

The Second Temple was destroyed by Rome in 70 CE.

The excavation in which the cistern was found is being carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority, an arm of the Israeli government, and is funded by the Elad Foundation.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/cistern-dated-to-first-temple-period-discovered-in-jerusalem

DNC Almighty Nightmare In Charlotte: Now Dems Put God And Jerusalem Language Back Into The Platform

DNC Almighty Nightmare In Charlotte: Now Dems Put God And Jerusalem Language Back Into The - CBN News

David Brody

Now an update to the story that The Brody File first broke across the country: God is back.

This has become a disaster for the Democrats and a boon to the Romney campaign. The DNC has now added God back into their platform language after originally taking it out. They have also added language back in that says Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. When they tried to change the language on the convention floor, there were boos! Oy-gevalt.

Despite the corrections by the Democrats, the Romney campaign can now argue that the Democrats don't know what they believe on two very important topics. They can also argue that the Democrats only did this because of the pushback. That’s true. The Brody File first pointed it out and the media followed, making this a story that the DNC wants to make go away. The problem is it’s not going away. Expect the Romney campaign to push this until Election Day. These last second changes really just make the issue worse and make the Democrat Party look bad.

In a way it’s unfortunate for the party because speakers at the DNC have been talking about God from the stage and there have been plenty of faith-filled events down here in Charlotte. But party officials should have known this would get scrutinized. The issue is either political malpractice or something far worse.

Here’s more info from Associated Press:

Democrats have changed their convention platform to add a mention of God and declare that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.

The move came after criticism from Republicans.

Many in the audience booed after the convention chairman, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, ruled that the amendments had been approved despite the fact that a large group of delegates objected.

He called for a vote three times before ruling.

The party reinstated language from the 2008 platform that said "we need a government that stands up for the hopes, values and interests of working people and gives everyone willing to work hard the chance to make the most of their God-given potential."

The platform also now includes what advisers said was Obama's personal views on Jerusalem.

http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6139670746694843000#editor/target=post;postID=5342720012987746827

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Ahava Love Letter - "His Peace...in the Midst"

"His Peace...in the Midst"

Dear family of friends,

The Lord’s Presence. In the midst of evil. Our heads covered with His anointing oil.

I experienced that recently as I stood with a pro-life group, on the streets of Charlotte, NC, during the 2012 Democratic National Convention. I was a “by-stander”, basically going uptown that day to take in the history happening in our city. The Lord sent me there to pray.

The older man with the portable loud speaker spoke calmly, yet boldly, as he shared the consequences of turning from the Lord and His ways. The gathered Planned Parenthood opposition, across the intersection of College and 5^th Streets, tried to shout him down. More than 40 police stood between them, ready to respond as needed.

In the midst of it all, I was there praying in tongues. It wasn’t planned on my part, but the Lord had me there to intercede. For the pro-life speaker. For the kids holding the unborn kids posters. And even for the pro-deathers opposite us.

I had His peaceful presence with me. I feared no harm, and even thought of what I would do if it came. In confidence I could say I was ready.

Times are becoming more darker. We will be called upon to stand up for righteousness - for the unborn, for Israel, for His purposes in the earth. We can be confident He will be there standing in the midst with us.

Ahava to my family of friends,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA organization. Fed. ID#27-1633858. Tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation.

Pro-life street speaker at DNC, Charlotte, NC

Police standing between the two groups

Planned Parenthood group

(Photos by Steve Martin)

Love For His People, Inc. truly appreciates your generous support. Please consider sending a monthly charitable gift of $5-$25 each month to help us bless Messianic Jews in Israel. You can send checks to the address below. Todah rabah! (Hebrew - Thank you very much.)

©2012 Steve Martin Love For His People, Inc. 12120 Woodside Falls Rd. Pineville, NC 28134

E-mail: ahavaloveletters@gmail.com

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Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA organization. Fed. ID#27-1633858. Tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation.

Ahava Love Letter #43 Date: Sept. 5 in the year of our Lord 2012

Democrats' removal of Jerusalem as Israel's capital from platform - Obama's true face is revealed.

Rivlin: Obama doesn't understand realities of the Mideast

By LAHAV HARKOV, Jerusalem Post

09/05/2012

Knesset speaker says Democrats' removal of Jerusalem as Israel's capital from platform is a bigger problem than disagreements on Iran, may have far-reaching consequences; Ariel: Obama's true face is revealed.

Photo: Marc Israel Sellem

US President Barack Obama's administration does not understand the realities of the Middle East, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said Wednesday, amid ongoing speculation of a rift in US-Israel relations.

"The fact that the Democrats removed a united Jerusalem as Israel's capital from their platform is more worrying than the argument over Iran," Rivlin told The Jerusalem Post. "The change may have far-reaching consequences."

Published earlier this week, the new Democratic platform speaks of US President Barack Obama’s “unshakable commitment to Israel’s security” and describes the security assistance provided by Obama to Israel. It also emphasizes that “the president has made clear that there will be no lasting peace unless Israel’s security concerns are met” and that “President Obama will continue to press Arab states to reach out to Israel.”

According to Rivlin, anyone who thinks that dividing Jerusalem will bring peace is mistaken, and does not understand the Middle East. "A united Jerusalem will help bring peace and stability," he stated.

The Knesset Speaker added that "rumors of a rift between Israel and the US are wrong," and that the two countries have a "sharp, unambiguous understanding" on Iran, whose nuclear ambitions threaten not only Israel, but the whole free world.

Rivlin plans to discuss the Iranian threat with Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi later Wednesday.
MK Uri Ariel (National Union), chairman of the Knesset Caucus for Jerusalem, said Wednesday that "finally, Obama's true face is revealed."

According to Ariel, Obama previously acted against Jerusalem via surrogates and messengers, but now his actions show his intentions. "We must not worry. With or without Obama, Jerusalem will stay united under Israeli sovereignty forever," the National Union MK added.

Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat dismissed the political argument altogether. “The fact that Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel is not a subject for debate, and its status is not affected by foreign political platforms or elections,” he said.

Melanie Lidman contributed to this report.

http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=283920

Israel takes center stage in Obama-Romney election

Israel takes center stage in Obama-Romney election

Wednesday, September 05, 2012 | Ryan Jones

No foreign entity has played so large a role in American presidential elections as the tiny Jewish state, and that phenomenon has only grown as President Barack Obama and his challenger, Mitt Romney, head into the home stretch ahead of the November poll.

Republican critics sounded an alarm this week as the Democratic National Convention (the major party event preceding the election) got underway, noting that Obama's party had removed from its official platform a number of pro- Israel provisions.

In his 2008 campaign for the presidency, Obama openly stated that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, that so-called "Palestinian refugees" cannot be settled in Israel proper, and that Hamas will not be accepted as a negotiating partner until it denounces its goal of destroying Israel.

None of those provisions were on the policy agenda as the Democrats gathered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and instead made do with a vague "unwavering commitment to Israel's security." That bolstered assertions made last week by Romney at the Republican National Convention that Obama had "thrown Israel under the bus."

But Jewish Democratic activists fired back, noting that no one who had actually sat in the Oval Office had been able to keep his promise to move the American Embassy to Jerusalem, including Republican presidents.

"President Bush signed waivers 16 times to avoid moving the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem," David Harris of the National Jewish Democratic Council told The Times of Israel, referencing a six-month national security loophole that every American president has abused since Congress decided in 1995 that the US Embassy be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

http://israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23377/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Dems Scrub 'God' References from Party Platform

By David Brody

CBN News Chief Political Correspondent

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

David Brody, CBN News

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Democrats took to the floor in Charlotte to hear speeches and also take part in a traditional ritual: approving the party's platform. But this year something's different. The Democrats have dropped all references to God from the document.

The move comes after CBN News spoke with DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz about the Democrats' relationship to the faith community. "We really think it's important that we not allow the Republicans to corner the market on the faith community," she said.

Yet the party's language seems to be moving in the opposite direction.

In 2004, there were seven platform references to God. Then in 2008, there was only one mention stating how everyone had "the chance to make the most of their God-given potential."

This year the platform simply says, "In America, hard work should pay off, responsibility should be rewarded, and each one of us should be able to go as far as our talent and drive take us."

But to some, the lack of reference to God is not a problem.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Mississippi Delegate Albert N. Gore said. "It doesn't bother me from the standpoint that I know where I stand and I know that there is one and that's it."

The party's platform is a document that doesn't carry any weight. It doesn't set policy. It just lays out principles.

But a Pew Research study shows that Americans actually are more interested in the platform itself than they are in the speeches from President Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

Some ministers are definitely paying attention.

Rev. Michael Stevens pastors University City Church in Charlotte. Many of his members are still struggling with whether to support the president this time around because of his support for same-sex marriage. That position is also reflected in the 2012 party platform.

"It makes me feel as a pastor that all respect and reverence for the Church and clergy has been removed from the Democratic Party," Stevens told CBN News.

"They're willing to roll the dice and say, 'We can win without their votes, and we can win even if it means full-frontal and being offensive,'" he said.

Unlike in 2008, this platform also leaves out any mention of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel -- an issue that's important to the Christian community.

Democratic officials noted there is a paragraph on the importance of faith in the party platform.

"The fact that we talk about faith more than 20 times in our platform, I'd go toe-to-toe with anybody about how we see the significance and importance of faith in American life," DNC Faith Outreach Director Derrick Harkins told CBN News.

"I think it's a non-issue when you consider the fact that we directly address the importance of faith for every American who chooses to be an American of faith," he said.

Democrats have been holding daily prayer services at the convention, but so far the only headlines on faith coming out of Charlotte have not been flattering.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2012/September/Dems-Scrub-God-References-from-Party-Platform/