Why Shavuot in Jerusalem 1967 is So Important to Jews

Nadene Goldfoot
In 1967 Israel was able to retrieve all of Jerusalem just before Shavuot, one of the three holiest days in Judaism.  It celebrates the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai to Moses.  Three million Jews were there witnessing this divine revelation.  The Torah brought monotheism, justice and responsibility to the Jews.  This in turn has been shared with the whole world.  Perhaps the whole world has been changed because of it. 

 The Western Wall, or Wailing Wall is in East Jerusalem.  This was the first time that Shavuot could be commemorated at the Wall since 1948.  It was opened for visitors on this holiday.  Since buses and cars are not used on holidays in Jerusalem, people walked to the wall.  This has been the custom ever since. 

The Wall is usually the first place that Jewish tourists go to when they visit Israel.  The custom is to put a prayer on a piece of paper and put it in the cracks of the wall.  For 19 years Israelis had to wait to have free access to this part of their most important city in all of their history.  They're not about to lose it again.  In their hands Jerusalem has come to life.  Remembering our history is to know how we were made.  The Wall's history goes back to the Temple built by Herod in 19 BCE.  This very wall is the remnant of the wall surrounding the courtyard of that Temple.  It was called the Wailing Wall because people would remember the day the Temple fell to the Romans in 70 AD.  This 2nd Temple brings to our mind Solomon's Temple built in the 10th century BCE.  It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE.  The Babylonians came from what is today called Iraq. 

Under Jordan from 1948-June 1967, no Jew could enter East Jerusalem under any condition.  The cemeteries were violated in every way.  The condition of the area was terrible.  Under Israeli rule the area has blossomed for all: Jews, Christians and Muslims.  In 1980 Israel declared Jerusalem complete, united and Israel's capital.  As the mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat,  has stated, Jerusalem must not be divided. 

Resource: http://www.aish.com/h/sh/t/48959111.html?utm_source=mimi_aish_com&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Aish_com%3A+Get+Ready+for+Shavuot+-+June+6%2C+2011+&utm_campaign=Aish_com%3A+Get+Ready+for+Shavuot+-+June+6%2C+2011&utm_term=ABCs+of+Shavuot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Wall
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nir_Barkat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Jerusalem

Larry Miller With Thoughts on the Middle East's Israel and a Palestine

Larry Miller's.  observations here are right on!A brief overview of the situation is always valuable, so as a service to all Americans who still don't get it, I now offer you the story of the Middle East in just a few paragraphs, which is all you Really need.
Here we go:

The Palestinians want their own country. There's just one thing about that: There are no Palestinians . It's a made up word. Israel was called Palestine for two thousand years. Like 'Wiccan,' 'Palestinian' sounds ancient but is really a modern invention. Before the Israelis won the land in the 1967 war, Gaza was Owned by Egypt , the West Bank was owned by Jordan , and there were no Palestinians.'

As soon as the Jews took over and started growing oranges as big as basketballs, what do you know, say hello to the 'Palestinians,’ weeping for their deep bond with their lost 'land' and 'nation.

So for the sake of honesty, let's not use the word 'Palestinian' any more to describe these delightful folks, who dance for joy at our deaths until someone Points out they're being taped. Instead, let's call them what they are: 'Other Arabs Who Can't Accomplish Anything In Life And Would Rather Wrap Themselves In The Seductive Melodrama Of Eternal Struggle And Death. ' I know that's a bit unwieldy to expect to see on CNN. How about this, then: 'Adjacent Jew-Haters .' Okay, so the Adjacent Jew-Haters want their own country. Oops, just one more thing: No, they don't . They could've had their own country. Anytime in the last thirty years, especially several years ago at Camp David . But If you have your own country, you have to have traffic lights and garbage trucks. And Chambers of Commerce, and, worse, you actually have to figure out some way to make a living.

That's no fun. No, they want what all the other Jew-Haters in the region want: Israel . They also want a big pile of dead Jews, of course that's where the Real fun is -- but mostly they want Israel .

Why? For one thing, trying to destroy Israel - or 'The Zionist Entity' as their Textbooks call it -- for the last fifty years has allowed the rulers of Arab Countries to divert the attention of their own people away from the fact that they're the blue-ribbon most illiterate, poorest, and tribally backward on God's Earth, and if you've ever been around God's Earth, you know that's really saying something.

It makes me roll my eyes every time one of our pundits waxes poetic about the great history and culture of the Muslim Mid east. Unless I'm missing something, the Arabs haven't given anything to the world since Algebra, and, by the way, thanks a hell of a lot for that one.

Chew this around and spit it out: Five hundred million Arabs; five Million Jews.
Think of all the Arab countries as a football field, and Israel as a pack of matches sitting in the middle of it. And now these same folks swear that if Israel gives them half of that pack of matches, everyone will be pals..
Really? Wow, what neat news.

Hey, but what about the string of wars to obliterate the tiny country and the constant din of rabid blood oaths to drive very Jew into the sea? Oh, that? We were just kidding.

My friend, Kevin Rooney, made a gorgeous point the other day: Just reverse the Numbers. Imagine five hundred million Jews and five million Arabs. I was stunned at the simple brilliance of it. Can anyone picture the Jews strapping belts of razor blades and dynamite to themselves? Of course not.

Or marshaling every fiber and force at their disposal for generations to drive a tiny Arab State into the sea? Nonsense.
Or dancing for joy at the murder of Innocents? Impossible.
Or spreading and believing horrible lies about the Arabs baking their bread with the blood of children? Disgusting.

No, as you know, left to themselves in a world of peace, the worst Jews would ever do to people is debate them to death.

However, in any big-picture strategy, there's always a danger of losing moral weight. We've already lost some. After September 11th our president told us and the world he was going to root out all terrorists and the countries that supported them. Beautiful. Then the Israelis, after months and months of having the equivalent of an Oklahoma City every week (and then every day) start to do the same thing we did, and we tell them to show restraint.

If America were being attacked with an Oklahoma City every day, we would all very shortly be screaming for the administration to just be done with it and kill everything south of the Mediterranean and east of the Jordan .

If you agree please pass it on if you don t agree, just delete it
Yes, Dennis, I sure do agree.  This is what I've also been complaining about.  So I'm passing it on in my blog.  Nadene Goldfoot
Evidently Larry Miller's writing had been mistakenly called Dennis Miller at some point.  Corrected at 11:10am.

Flotilla Future Member: Audacity of Hope

Nadene Goldfoot
Professor Rashid Khalidi from Columbia U., Obama's former friend from Chicago and Hamas sympathizer as called by Senator John McCain, belongs to the group, US Boat to Gaza.  They are trying to raise $370,000 to get the ship, Audacity of Hope,  to join the flotilla that intends to break the blockade into Gaza against Israel.

Khalidi is an outspoken critic of Israel.  This boat would hold 40-60 people.  He and the group are calling Israel an illegal occupier of Palestine.  Though this director of Middle East Institute at the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs does not plan to sail with the ship, he is doing his part in soliciting the money needed.  I can see that he must also supply his educational work with his biased outlook on Israel as well.  Actions speak louder than words.  I see that Obama failed in influencing Khalidi with a different outlook about Israel. 

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/ by Gavriel Queenann, Arutz Sheva 
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/144733
http://www.jpost.com/Features/InThespotlight/Article.aspx?ID=227211&R=R1 

My Shavuot in Israel 1982

Nadene Goldfoot
Shavuot this year starts on June 7, on Tuesday (Sivan5)  at sundown, and brings memories of a wonderful experience in Israel.  It happens to be one of the three pilgrim festivals in Judaism and there I was, living right in Safed, Israel.  I didn't have to drive to the synagogue.  We walked as a quaint one was about 15 minutes away.  There I saw costumed men who wore clothes  most all the time of knee britches, long socks, and shtreimels (big black broad-brimmed hats trimmed with velvet or edged in fur) on their heads.

This is a time when the Passover period ends.  People have been counting the Omer for  fifty days.  This commemorates the time when the law was given to Moses on Mt. Sinai.  Kaabbalists and others have observed the eve of Shavuot in study.  The book of Ruth is read in the synagogue and the Ten Commandments.  It mentions the barley and wheat harvests and this is the time of wheat harvesting.  People will have flowers and boughs in their home and synagogue for decoration.  Dairy products are served. 

May 29, 1982 from my book, Letters From Israel. 

Thursday was Shavuot, and Don and Maureen had been invited over for dinner.  I served borsht with sour cream, some delicious cold smoked fish that is better than kippered salmon, salad, cheese blintzes with sour cream and cherry preserves, and for dessert we had cheesecake with cherry topping.  Don was in seventh heaven.  I have to brag that everything tasted so good.  The blintzes came from your cookbook that you had given me.  (This was a letter to my mother, of course.)

The next night we went to their house for Shabbat dinner.  That helps when you have two celebrations back to back to cook for.  The only problem is walking there and back, but the exercise was good for us. 

Thursday night you are supposed to stay up all night and study the Torah.  Don and Maureen conked out and went home, but this 11 year old Moishe came over and studied with us until about 2am.  At midnight we all went outside and said a special prayer, because at midnight the heavens were to open up and your prayer was to go directly up to HaShem (G-d).  Moishe thought the heavens really would open up and was afraid to go out at first.  His father was at the synagogue and really stayed up until 7am.  Anyway, we had lots of fun with Moishe, as he would say, "Stop, I don't understand that," and we would go over some passage.  I think the kid is going to grow up to be a Tzaddick.  He's so smart.  Well, I've had a nice respite from my students, and tomorrow I must be back in the saddle.

Resource: http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2144/jewish/Shavuot-Calendar-2011.htm
Letters From Israel by Nadene Goldfoot
The Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Palestinians Saying One Thing, Doing Another

Nadene Goldfoot
Abbas has been known to have said that Fatah recognizes Israel's right to exist while Hamas doesn't.  The problem is that what he says in English is not the same as what his people carry out on TV and in cultural events. 

Three broadcasts have been the same claiming that all of Israel is Palestinian. in a song with the audience getting all hepped up and clapping.    These happened on February 27th , May 12th and May 27th..   The song incites a land grab of all of Israel. 

"We commit and promise to stand behind you, oh Mahmoud Abbas, until Judgment Day. I am returning to you, the purest land, oh land of the free. No matter how long the nights of exile, I am returning to you, oh land. From Rafah to Rosh Hanikra (northern Israel) our coast, and Beit Shean (Israeli city). Above your soil, oh my land, is a picture of Garden of Eden. From Rafah to Rosh Hanikra our coast, and Beit Shean. Above your soil, oh my land, is a picture of Garden of Eden. From Rafah to Rosh Hanikra, north and south, are the picture's borders. From Haifa (Israeli city) and Tantura to the [Jordan] valley (i.e., all of Israel). I am returning to you, the purest land, oh land of the free." (palwatch org.)


Abbas knows full well what's going on and has done nothing about it, so he must be nodding his head in agreement.  The European countries  on the UN Security Council are expecting Netanyahu to make peace regardless of the situation.  Perhaps they just expect him to give into Abbas and be done with it. 
 http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=5124

UN Security Council Views on Israel and Palestine

Nadene Goldfoot
Obama vetoed the Palestinian attempt to be a state at the UN.  Now they are planning to bypass the UN Security Council by seeking an emergency session with the General Assembly known as "Uniting for Peace".  This is to override any veto.  September is the date this will happen. 

The Palestinians had said, "If peace talks remain deadlocked"  and look who won't even come to the table to talk; the Palestinian's Fatah leader,  Abbas. 

Israel was voted by the UN to be recognized as a state on May 14, 1948.  To this date, they are the only state in the world that is not allowed into the Security Council's eligibility list, which to me shows blatent anti-semitism.  There are 188 member countries.  Only Israel is singled out to stay out.  To be eligible, a country must belong to one of 5 regional groups, and Israel should belong to the Asian bloc.  Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and others have denied them entrance.  The 5 permanent members are: China, France, Russian Federation, UK and USA. 

 UN Secretary Genral Kofi Annan has called for an end to this injustice and the temporary measures he proposed is to be accepted by the West European and Others Group (WEOG) which includes democracies of Western Europe, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA.  The USA, Australia, Canada and Norway support Israel's admission but the 15-member European Union refuses to act.  There's the latent anti-semitism right there.  If not that, what?

As for the temporary membership of the Security Council,  Africa gets to have 3 members and Asia gets 2.  Between them one has to an Arab.  Eastern Europe gets 1, Latin America and the Caribbean get 2 and WEOG get 2 of which one has to be from Western Europe. 

 Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and the only Jewish one and it isn't good enough to be included with every other country's eligibility  on the Security Council.  The U.N. is supposed to be supported for its peacekeeping and democracy-building, but evidently not all the members favor that.  Truly, the fairness of this world is still extremely lop-sided.  It is only in this world that a teeny country can be constantly attacked for the length of its life and when it finds it must fight back or be extinguished it finds itself judged to be the aggressor.  No, rather those betting against its life are just poor losers as Israel keeps on living. 

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/palestinians-may-try-to-sidestep-u-s-veto-in-un-statehood-push-official-says-1.365376
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_members_of_the_United_Nations_Security_Council
AJC American Jewish Committee: the New York Times-Countries eligible to sit on the UN Security Council

Neo-Nazi Websites Here

Nadene Goldfoot
Beware.  You may run into a neo-nazi website.  They have found a home in the USA because of our freedom of speech. 

Austria bans Nazi glorification and Holocaust denial.  These websites are spitting out anti-semitic slurs and racism.  Germany is trying to shut them down.  Hungary makes hate speech a crime.  Gypsies are often the brunt of their hatred. 

Here we thought that World War II had ended such things but this sickness has not been wiped out yet.  We may be in another epidemic. 

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4073269,00.html