Saturday, February 11, 2017

Israel's History - a Picture a Day - Tu B'Shvat Special: The Trees of the Land of Israel

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


Posted: 10 Feb 2017 04:32 AM PST
Pomegranate tree, hand-colored photo
(circa 1900-1920)
The photographers of the American Colony Photographic Department traveled the length and breadth of the Holy Land and the Middle East, from Damascus to Cairo, Malta to Iraq. 
Date palm tree (circa 1900-1920)

Click on pictures to enlarge.

Click on captions to view the originals.




Olive trees. Click here for more. Click
here to see original black and white

Almond tree. See original in black and white

They were also fond of photographing the flora of the land of the Bible and providing the botanical genus name.

Facing the 1915 plague of locusts that hit with Biblical proportions, the photographers documented the life cycle and devastating results of the swarms.

"Cactus figs," called today
cactus pears or "sabras"

Carob tree






































On the eve of Tu B'Shvat, the traditional New Year for trees, we present this collection of photos of trees taken between 1900 and 1920. Some of the pictures were hand-colored 25-30 years later.

Acacia (Shetim) tree in the desert

Gnarled trunk of a sycamore tree








Pine trees (circa 1900)

5 Reasons Why Planned Parenthood Must Stop Receiving Our Tax Dollars - LISA SMILEY/BOUND4LIFE

5 Reasons Why Planned Parenthood Must Stop Receiving Our Tax Dollars

Planned Parenthood makes many lofty claims about its "services" being critical to women's health. But just digging a little deeper into its actual practices and history reveals something much less positive—and a lot more sinister.
As a pro-life blogger and speaker, who escaped abortion myself in Communist China, and chose life for my "imperfect" child, I feel called to expose abortion lies wherever I see them. This weekend, tens of thousands of people will protest Planned Parenthood nationwide; it's a critical moment to raise awareness of the abortion giant and its misdeeds. 
More than any organization in America, Planned Parenthood is responsible for perpetrating lies about abortion—and lies about its own "women's health" services. There's no doubt, the public relations strategy of the abortion giant is built on deception.
If the American public really knew the truth about Planned Parenthood, I truly believe most Americans would immediately stop supporting and defending it. That's why my latest video gives five reasons why Planned Parenthood must stop receiving our tax funding—the entire $553 million dollars they currently receive annually.
In fact, Congress will soon begin debate over a budget reconciliation bill on this issue. We can expect mainstream media to go crazy over this bill, claiming it will harm women's health. But the truth is, all it will do is halt abortion providers from receiving about 75 percent of their current taxpayer funding for one year.
I'd call that a good first step, and here are five reasons why.
1. Planned Parenthood has disturbing eugenics origins.
Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, was a racist eugenicist. She wholeheartedly believed in weeding out the "undesirables" as she called them—like blacks, minorities, the disabled, the poor and the "feeble-minded." She was a white supremacist. She proudly spoke to the KKK.
Sanger openly supported forced sterilization and birth control, especially for the black community. She started Planned Parenthood as a nonprofit to funnel her eugenics goals. Sadly, the organization still honors its disturbing founder with its annual Margaret Sanger award.
2. Planned Parenthood still targets blacks and minorities.
Seventy-eight percent of its clinics are in minority communities! This is evident in abortion statistics. Blacks are three times more likely to have an abortion than a white woman. Hispanic women are two times more likely to have an abortion than a white woman.
And tragically, more black babies are aborted than born alive in New York City.
3. The claim that Planned Parenthood does "so much good" besides abortion is a lie.
In reality, the business is built on abortion, because it is its biggest moneymaker. Former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson has shared at length about the organization's disturbing abortion quotas.
Live Action has debunked the myth that abortion makes up only three percent of its services. In the past, the organization has shut down clinics that didn't provide abortions. 
4. Planned Parenthood does not provide comprehensive healthcare.
A practicing OB-GYN in Tennessee, Dr. Brent Boles has pointed out that these abortion centers actually offers women very limited health care—far less than what you get at a doctor's office or other health clinic.
The organization claimed that it provided mammograms—but that turned out to be a sham. It recently scrubbed the phrase "prenatal care" from websites—because their abortion centers offer no such thing. It claimed that if it got defunded, millions of women would lose health care access—but that is another lie. 
The $400 million it would lose in Medicaid funding (in the soon-to-come budget bill) would actually get redirected to 13,000 health care clinics that offer many more services than Planned Parenthood. Women have far better health care options.
5. Planned Parenthood is guilty of illegally selling aborted baby parts.
In 2015, the Center for Medical Progress led a huge undercover investigation to expose Planned Parenthood's illegal activities. Their footage included scenes of executives bargaining over the price of aborted babies; workers admitting to selling "fresh" aborted baby eyes, hearts and "gonads;" and abortionists illegally changing abortion procedures to get baby organs.
Corruption at the organization has gone on for years. Planned Parenthood has also been caught covering up child sexual abuse, committing Medicaid and taxpayer fraudillegally dumping aborted babies in landfills, and has a history of violating health and safety standards.
No matter where one stands on the issue of when life begins, this budget measure coming before Congress that affects the public funding of abortion providers is one we all should be able to support.
As Planned Parenthood faces greater scrutiny of its practices, women and children will benefit by receiving the care they need from legitimate health providers.
Lisa Smiley is a mother of four precious children, including one now with his creator in heaven. She earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of California-Irvine. Lisa blogs at LisaSmiley.com as well as for Bound4LIFE International, a grassroots movement to pray for the ending of abortion, carry the spirit of adoption and believe for revival and reformation. She and her husband James raise their family in the Dallas area.
Reprinted with permission from Bound4LIFE International.
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Friday, February 10, 2017

Shocking New Poll Shows Majority of Democrats Think Christianity Is as Violent as Islam - JESSILYN JUSTICE CHARISMA NEWS

A Muslim New York City high school student holds a sign during a demonstration by students against U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration policies in lower Manhattan. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)

Shocking New Poll Shows Majority of Democrats Think Christianity Is as Violent as Islam

JESSILYN JUSTICE  CHARISMA NEWS
Though reports flow out of Egypt, Pakistan and beyond of Muslim attacks against Christians, the majority of Democrats see no difference in the violence level between the two.
According to a CBS Poll, 66 percent of Democrats see Christianity as just as violence as Islam. The same poll indicates 14 percent see Islam as more violent. Among Republicans, 63 see Islam as more violent, while 25 percent see it as equally violent as following Christ.
The poll followed President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily blocking immigration from Ir­an, Ir­aq, Libya, Somalia, Su­dan, Syr­ia and Ye­men. 
But recently, violence has broken out among Muslim-majority nations, even among themselves.
In 2012, there were six civil wars worldwide. All took place within Muslim countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. Of the nine rebel groups in these conflicts, seven had an Islamist ideology, The Washington Post reports.
While some Muslim-majority are at war within themselves, many actively persecute Christians.
In Egypt, multiple murders have been linked by one common factor: The victims were all Christians. In Pakistan, Christians stand trial for allegedly blaspheming Allah.
Yet the left holds the ideal that Islam is a religion of peace. 
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Bring Your Faith to the Forefront ✡ "The Borders of the Land of Canaan" - ISRAEL365

And the children of Israel did eat the manna
forty years, until they came to a land inhabited;
they did eat the manna, until they came unto
the borders of the land of Canaan.

וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אָכְלוּ אֶת הַמָּן אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה עַד בֹּאָם אֶל אֶרֶץ נוֹשָׁבֶת אֶת הַמָּן אָכְלוּ עַד בֹּאָם אֶל קְצֵה אֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן

שמות טז:לה

uv-NAY yis-ra-AYL a-kh’-LU et ha-MAN ar-ba-EEM sha-NAH ad bo-AM el E-retz no-SHA-vet et ha-MAN a-kh’-LU ad bo-AM el k’-TZAY E-retz k’-NA-an

Shabbat Inspiration

The Children of Israel were fed manna from heaven the entire forty years they wandered in the desert up until they were literally in sight of the Promised Land. The Jews then, went from being directly sustained by the manna to being sustained by the bountiful produce of the Land of Israel. R’ Samson Raphael Hirsch notes that God intended the produce of the Land to be enjoyed as though it, too, is manna, directly provided by God. This year, bring the Bible closer to your heart and resolve to study God's Holy Book with a focus on Israel.

Poetry in Motion: From the Galilee to the Galaxy

In honor of the holiday of Tu B’Shvat, the New Year for the Trees, which this year falls on Saturday, February 11, a beautiful Bible-inspired poem exploring the divine wonders of the land and the heavens.
 

Shirat Devorah and the Kibbutzniks From the Underground Bullet Factory

There is no stronger symbol of Israel’s remarkable sense of communal responsibility than the kibbutz movement. Nevertheless, one of the most important kibbutzim that played a pivotal role in the formation of the state wasn’t even a real kibbutz, but rather a fake one!
 



Be Like Miriam the Prophetess

 
This week's Torah Portion, which will be read in synagogues around the world, deals with the great miracle of the splitting of the sea. It truly was a great miracle, which is why Moses and the nation sang a song of praise to God once they were saved. Immediately afterward, Miriam the prophetess takes her tambourine and leads the women in song as well. Miriam's tambourine was very special, as tradition teaches us that she got her tambourine ready while still a slave in Egypt. This act demonstrated her complete faith in God that the time will come where He will redeem them, and that she will need her tambourine to praise Him. Get your tambourine to praise God and to prepare for the ultimate redemption!
 
Shop Tambourines - Special Sale - Only $25 »
 

Today's Israel Photo

A rainy winter day in Jerusalem's recent history still evokes inexplicable beauty to the holy city, as the streets are empty while most elect to stay home where its warm and dry.
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"Todah Rabbah" to Ileana Menendez from Florida; Michael & Carol Spink from California; Brian and Bonnie Sheen from Michigan; Ann Katz from California.
Plant a Tree in Honor of Tu B'shvat » 

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“I Can't Get Enough”

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Just subscribed I can't get enough of God's chosen land and His people I am trying to get some Hebrew words in my spirit we pray for the peace of Yerushalaylm it will truly come when Messiah returns. From a Christian friend Canada
Shabbat Shalom,
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RabbiTuly@Israel365.com
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