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Showing posts with label Christians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christians. Show all posts

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Discussing Biblical Quotes from "Killing Jesus" From the Eyes of a Jewish Bubba

Nadene Goldfoot   
                                                                                         

                           Zechariah, the king of Israel, died in 744 BCE.  He was the son of Jeroboam II and the last king of the house of Jehu.   His reign only lasted 6 months and he was assassinated by Shallum (743 BCE) who succeeded him.
                          The other Zechariah was the Prophet and priest who lived in the first half of the 6th century BCE when Jews returned from the Babylonian Exile. His prophecies are concerned with his own contemporary events.

Political situations that Jews found themselves in way back in "Old Testament" (in Hebrew, Tanakh,)  days are not much different than situations we find ourselves in today.   Writers of the gospel certainly used them.  I see that Bill O'Reilly also uses them to prove his novel, "Killing Jesus," on page 177, where he is listing Zechariah's ( 6th century BCE) predictions of a coming Messiah.

He is quoted by Bill Reilly to have said, "Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!  Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!  See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.  He will proclaim peace to the nations.   His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth."  

The Zechariah reference given below does not speak of this.  I found it listed in Zechariah 9:9-10.  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem!  For behold, your king will come to you, righteous and victorious is he, a humble man riding upon a donkey, upon a foal, a calf of she-donkeys. I will eliminate any battle-chariot from Ephraim and any war horse from Jerusalem, and the bow of warfare will be eliminated;  and he will speak peace to the nations.  His dominion will be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.  
This was a prophecy by Zechariah against enemy cities for when the Messiah comes to Zion (Jerusalem).  He's saying that the Messiah will be a humble man riding a donkey rather than an ostentatious horse.  It goes on to say that not only the Messiah, but all Jews will be protected and snatched from the waterless pit of exile by merit of the blood of circumcision covenant and the blood of the covenant of Sinai which is spoken of in Exodus 24:8. {This is referring to the covenant the 600,000 took with Moses to follow the laws). We were chosen to follow the laws and to be the light of the world because we were so stiff-necked; a people who when giving a promise would stick by it.  It did not mean we were special in any other way.  This started as Isaac was the son of Abraham and is based on the covenant Abraham had with G-d and this same covenant was renewed in the Sinai.  It is conditional and depends on us following the Torah.  Israel was to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.  Isaiah describes the image of Israel as the chosen servant of mankind whose suffering will bring salvation to the world and Israel is just an instrument.

 What happened for Jews  is that in 70 CE,  Rome, who was occupying Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple and took  Jews as prisoners to Rome.  Many escaped and became the Sephardis, Mizrachis and Ashkenazis who have been in exile for the past 2,000 years until May 14, 1948.  Jews are still waiting for the Messiah. Christians use it to prove that Jesus, who was crucified in 29 CE,  was the Messiah. Many scholars ascribe the chapters from 9 to 14, in which this was found, to another author or authors, possibly of the First Temple Period, on the basis of their language and content.  King Solomon had the Temple built and he reigned from 961 to 920 BCE.

 Zechariah was a prophet who lived during the time of the return from the Babylonian Exile.  He most likely was a priest and his prophecies were concerned with his contemporary events and foretold about material prosperity, the ingathering of the exiles, liberation from foreign yoke, and the expansion of Jerusalem.  His prophecies got the people to rebuild the Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE by Nebuchadnezzar.

Bill writes of all the things that will happen to Jesus(c8 BCE -29 CE, died at the age of 37);  like riding into town on a donkey, being falsely accused of crimes not committed, being beaten, spat upon, stripped, soldiers rolling dice for his clothing, and of course, crucified.  He ends this section with "and those who love him will look on in mourning, unable to do anything to stop the agony.  Then he lists the 12 quotes this all comes from in order.  I had to look these up and read what they were about.

                                                                  

      King David of Israel, b: Bethlehem, youngest son of Jesse, armour-bearer of King Saul at age 25, married Saul's daughter, Michal.  The Tanakh tells of his virtues and vices.  

1. Psalms 27:12:  "Deliver me not to the wishes of my tormentors, for there have arisen against me false witnesses who breathe out violence."  This was written by King David (1010 BCE-970 BCE)  who fought against the Philistines of which the giant, Goliath was one.  The Philistines, who were not native to Canaan,  were eventually routed and the Israelites became a nation among men.  They were not even Semites.  These invaders had been one of the European Sea Peoples who migrated south from the Greek Island to crush empires and occupy much of the Middle East.  Egypt survived their onslaught but was greatly reduced in size.  When Moses had  Joshua and the Israelites enter Canaan  c 1271 BCE,  the Philistines were not there.  It was after their defeat in 1191 BCE by Ramses III, heir of the Ramses II who is thought to have been the Pharaoh in the Exodus story who relented and freed the Israelites from bondage in Egypt, that the Philistines were constructing their 5 cities in Philistia along the south coast of today's Israel.  Gaza was the southernmost of the cities.  Actually, coming from Greece, the Philistines can then be said to be European.

Bill has it on page 14 that the northern portion of the Jewish Homeland, Israel, fell to the Philistines.  Wrong, Bill.  It fell to the Assyrians in 722 BCE.  By 721 BCE they were leading off the best of Israelites into captivity.  Then the Babylonians came along in 597 BCE and again in 586 BCE and did the same thing.

 Today's Arab Palestinians got their name from the Romans in 135 CE after fighting for 3 years against the Jewish General, Bar Kokhba, and were so angry at being involved in a war with him for so long that after killing him, they named Judah and Israel   Palestine after the Jewish enemy, the Philistines, just to be antagonizing.   Israelis today have certainly been suffering from a lot of false witnesses breathing out violence from these very same people, who call themselves "Palestinians."  Actually, before May 14, 1948 when Israel became a legal state being the mandate England held was up, both Jews and Arabs were listed as Palestinians being the land was called Palestine.

2. Psalms 35:11:  "False witnesses rise up, for that of which I know nothing they call me to account."  Here we see that King David was describing the machinations of his enemies.  He had been appealing for help against friends that had turned into traitors.  So too, Israel in exile appealed against nations that repayed Israel's contributions with oppression.  They're repeating the past today.  Israel stands alone but for a few friends, and today's attitude of the USA today has been the worst in many respects since 1948.
How many times has this applied to Jews in the Middle Ages who were accused by the Christians of a blood libel?  If they knew anything about Judaism, they would have known that Jews do not eat blood of any creature at all.  Part of the laws concerning food, (Kashrut) go to great lengths telling about how to not eat blood when eating from cows, sheep, those certain animals allowed.

3. Micah 5:1:  "Bethlehem--Ephratah--you are too small to be among the thousands of Judah, but from you someone will emerge for ME to be a ruler over Israel;  and his origins will be from early times, from days of old."  Ephratah was another name for Bethlehem of Judah as found in Genesis 48:7.  As the city of Ruth, a convert from Moab, Bethlehem was an unlikely source of leadership, but it produced David, the ancestor of the Messiah.  (To Jews, the Messiah is yet to come.)  Christians take this for being Jesus.  This is when Jewish rulers start to emerge.  Judah was created out of southern Israel when King Solomon died in 920 BCE.  He had charged too much in taxes and a rebellion ensued causing the split.  The king following Solomon in Judah was Rehoboam (933-917 BCE).  It was made up mostly of the descendants of Judah-the tribe of Judah, and most of the tribe of Benjamin and presumably absorbed the tribe of Simeon which was isolated in the extreme south.  It was a poor kingdom and did not have access to the sea.  Micah was born in the latter part of the 8th century BCE and was a prophet of Judah.  His future monarch he sees from the House of David would bring peace to the world.  This prophecy was already familiar in the reign of King Jehoiakim (608-598 BCE).  One reason Jews do not accept Jesus as the Messiah is that there hasn't been any peace in the world.  Instead, Jews have suffered more than ever.  It took them 1,878 years to regain their own land and finally have a country of their own again.

4. Isaiah 50:6: "I submitted my body to those who smite and my cheeks to those who pluck;  I did not hide my face from humiliation and spit."  Here Isaiah, a prophet in Jerusalem, Judah,  who started prophesying from the death of Uzziah until the middle of Hezekiah's reign (740- 701 BCE). speaks of both his own readiness to be God's spokesman and God"s readiness to inspire him.  Every morning, God inspires him anew with teachings and prophecies, and does it in such a way that he can understand them clearly.  This is part of the prophet's sacrifice.  Christians use a lot of quotes from Isaiah to prove that Jesus is the Messiah but the writing at that time was actually about the Jewish people.  Prophecies of redemption and comfort have been of supreme importance both in Judaism and Christianity.  No doubt Jesus knew many of them by heart himself.

5. Psalms 22:18: "I can count all my bones;  they look on and gloat over me."  David meant this speaking as an individual and as the king.   Frenzied mobs were comprised of the base people.  He's thinking that the mob wishes to take his mantle of royalty for themselves.  Later,  Jews prayed for a final end to Israel's long exile from its land and its Temple.  (The first exile happened in 721 BCE when the Assyrians attacked and took away 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel  to their own lands.)  Quotes 22: 18 and 16 would have been relevant.

6. Psalms 22:16: "My strength is dried up like baked clay, and my tongue cleaves to my palate;  in the dust of  death You set me down."  David had started 21 with not rejoicing in his own strength, but in Yours (God).  He goes on to say that even if the chain of Jewish sovereignty is interrupted, the monarchy will be restored to the seed of David.  People will bless each other with the wish, "May God make you like him (David)."  He knows more than anyone else, kings and powerful people must set an example by acknowledging God's kindness.

7. Zechariah 12:10: "I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitant of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplications.  They will look toward Me because of those whom they have stabbed;  they will mourn over him as one mourns over an only children and be embittered over him like the embitterment over a deceased firstborn." This is a prophecy of the world of G-d concerning Israel.  The salvation will be so complete that people will be astonished if even one man is killed by the enemy.  The Judeans will be compelled to fight their brethren and see that they were miraculously spared, and they will turn against their enemies who forced them to join their ranks.  It is then that Jerusalem will be restored to its former status. The prophet lived in the 500's BCE.   According to 2 sources, the Targum and the Talmud, 2 events are alluded to here;  the mourning over King Ahab (876-853 BCE) , son of Omri, king of Israel, who was killed in battle by Hadadrimmon, son of Tabrimmon;  and the mourning for King  Josiah(637-608 BCE) , King of Judah, who was slain in the Valley Megiddon/Megiddo.

8. Deuteronomy 21:23: "His body shall not remain for the night on the gallows, rather you shall surely bury him on that day, for a hanging person is a curse of G-d, and you shall not contaminate your Land, which Hashem, your G-d, gives you as an inheritance.  This is part of the 613 laws Moses handed down to the Israelites.  It concerns hanging and burial.  Jews follow this today in that a corpse must be buried within 24 hours.  Bill wrote about Lazaras being dead for 4 days and Jesus raising him from the dead to show a miracle had happened.  .

9. Numbers 9:12: "For Zebulun, Eliab son of Helon.  For the children of Joseph-for Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud;  for Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.  For Benjamin, Abidan son of Gideoni.  for Dan, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai."  This is part of a list of the tribal leaders.  It's from a census taken in the wilderness of the Sinai Desert by Moses and Aaron.They counted men from age 20 and older.  Joseph is represented by his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh as tribes. What is Bill using this for to prove?  I don't know.

10.  Psalms 34:20: "Many are the mishaps of the righteous, but from them all Hashem rescues him." No one becomes truly righteous and great without his share of mishaps.  David conquered despair by composing 34 which is an alphabetical hymn, to show that our every faculty, from aleph to tav (a to z) should be dedicated to G-d.    

11. Exodus 12:46:"In one house shall it be eaten, you shall not remove any of the meat from the house to the outside, and you shall not break a bone in it. "  This is part of the laws of the Pesach offering. and that no alienated person may eat from it.   The Exodus had been discussed in 12:37 previously.   It was saying that the Israelites were in Egypt for 430 years before Moses came along and took them out.
12:  Zechariah 12:10: (repeated reference).  Incorrect.

As I look at all 12 references, only one, that of Zechariah which I found to be from 9:9-10, actually referred to a Messiah.  The rest were comments from contemporary events in the life of the prophets.  Those from Psalms, of course, seem to fit any occasion and are used as comfort for everyone.  As Bill wrote on page 176, "Jesus had led a life that was a continual fulfillment of Jewish prophecy" if taken out of context.  Only the donkey was a reference legitimate to use, and that was a well known reference.  So everybody in Jerusalem could have known it, and certainly Jesus would have known it.  In order to make his point, he could copy this reference to the Messiah.

It was a cruel and horrible punishment to crucify people that the Romans practiced.  It was done by the ancient Greeks and Romans and was derived from Persia (Iran today) but not known to Jewish law.  The custom was introduced into Judah by the Romans and was the usual punishment inflicted by them for rebels. Thousands of Jews suffered this fate under Roman rule.  The New Testament description of the crucifixion of Jesus clearly shows that the Roman procedure was followed.  Jews did not crucify people but were crucified.

 73 BCE-4 BCE Herod I, the Great, king of Judea appointed by Rome.  When he died, there were uprisings by the people so Roman General Publius Quinctilius Varus crucified 2,000 Jews to quell the uprisings.   
30 BCE  Herod the Great by Julius Ceasar, crucifixions; 25,000 Jews till 70 CE.  when Romans burned down the Temple. 
 

Resource: Novel, Bill Reilly's "Killing Jesus"
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://israel-nadene.blogspot.com/2014/08/jews-living-in-judea-samaria-and-other.html
The Northwest Connection Volume 8 #92,  The Eternal War Between Israel and the Palestinians:  Part I in series by Jim Wagner.  About Philistines.
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2012/01/bringing-in-mashiach-messiah.html



Monday, October 7, 2013

Syria's Position Today

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                          

After over 100,00 people have been killed in the Syrian Civil War and 2 million have been forced from their homes out of a population of 22,505,000,  the fighting may be coming to a halt.  The Syrian opposition group against Assad  is the Syrian National Coalition, backed by the West.   These rebels are outgunned by the regime forces who have gained speed since Assad agreed to give up his chemical weapons stocks and has thrown off the threat of of imminent US military action from jet planes. Deadly battles have been taking place, however.

The Sunni town al-Mitras of 8,000  lies in an area dominated by Assad's Alawite Shi'a sect where a lot of shelling has taken place.  Assad's soldiers want the surrender of dozens of fighters in there.  The town's officials persuaded defectors and rebels to surrender to the authorities with the promise of being freed after "repenting."  This ploy has often been used in stalemates in Syria such as the recent one in Talkalakh.  Bayda and Banias, nearby Sunni towns,  is where troops killed 248 people after days of shelling.

Syria is 13% Shia like Iran and the Alawites are a Shia group which is why Iran backs Assad.  The Twelvers and Ismailis follow that sect.  This is a Civil War of religion more than it is about politics with the 2 intertwined.

With either group, the worst thing to be was Jewish even though both Sunnis and Shia could be carrying some Jewish genes since Jews lived in the area since King David of Israel  who lived from 1010 BCE to 970 BCE. Syria was part of Israel-Judah which the Bible called Aram.  The coast had been settled in those days by the Phoenicians.  In the 8th century BCE, Syria had been overrun by the Assyrians who had  also attacked Israel in 721 BCE.  Assyria itself was an ancient state in western Asia whose people were also Semites and had established an aggressive kingdom in the 20th century BCE.  I think a lot of the present day Syrians must have inherited some of that aggressiveness.

Sunni Muslims are the majority and dominate the revolt  which started in March 2011, inspired by the Arab Spring in Egypt.  Christians and other Muslim sects have been on the side of the regime, which is surprising because the regime was so terrible to the Jews of Syria that they finally were forced find ways to escape. In the end, a Canadian woman helped to get them to Israel and the USA in 1994.

After the creation of Israel in 1948 the Jews in Syria were terribly persecuted.  This was far worse than the Jews of the Middle East being treated as dhimmis or 2nd class citizens which was bad enough where they had no rights as real citizens.  Instead, they had restrictions and had to pay a poll tax others did not have to pay.   Rights were taken away such as owning their property, travel or even to practice their occupations.  If they tried to leave the country they were persecuted.  If they were Jews who needed to travel for business purposes they had to travel alone for fear they would flee to a free country.  The big fear of the government was that the men would join the Israeli forces and fight against them in the Israeli army.   Here in Aleppo, the 3,000 year old Jewish history went back to King David.  Damascus's Jewish community also went back to that period and  both went back to Jews entering the country after the 1492 expulsion of Jews from Spain's Spanish Inquisition.  Why the Christians stand with Assad seems artificial if they are for freedom.

Beautiful neighborhoods of modern homes have been bombed away. New homes have been flattened in communities that were modern with all the amenities of a Florida home.  Cemeteries guarding genealogy for families have been destroyed.   Assad has been reported to have secretly moved chemically tipped missiles over to Lebanon, now.  That's what happened most likely to the same chemicals that started in Iraq.

 The last I read was that Assad may not seek another term.  How sad.  He's finally getting the message that he no longer is finding favor with his people.  He'll probably take his money and hide out in South America.

Update: 10/9/13  Since 1,400 people were killed by Sarin gas attacks on 8/21/13 in Syria, 100  experts will arrive in Damascus today to expand on work by the first team that came on 10/1/13 to find and see to the destruction of these chemicals.  They have to identify, sequester and oversee about 1,000 tons of the chemical arsenal and have about 8 months to do the job.  The actual work of it is to be done by Syrian forces.  Their job is to verify that Syria has destroyed the entire arsenal which is to be done by mid 2014.

Resource:  Oregonian newspaper 10/6/13 page A11, Bloodshed precedes cease-fire agreement by Bassem Mrous, AP.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Syria
http://middleeast.about.com/od/syria/tp/The-Difference-Between-Alawites-And-Sunnis-In-Syria.htm
Picture by Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters, lone fighter in Alawite district surveying damage
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Oregonian newspaper, 10/9/13, page A9, 2nd chemical team going to Syria by Ben Hubbard, NY Times

  

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Jews That Never Left Israel and Judah

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                   
                                              Old Jerusalem Walls Near Tower of David
                                         
"Sephardim Jews are among the descendants of the line of Jews who chose to return and rebuild Israel after the Persian Empire conquered the Babylonian Empire About half a millennium later, the Roman Empire conquered ancient Israel for the second time, massacring most of the nation and taking the bulk of the remainder as slaves to Rome. Once the Roman Empire crumbled, descendants of these captives migrated throughout the European continent. Many settled in  Spain (Sepharadi) and Portugal,  where they thrived until the Spanish Inquisition  and Expulsion of 1492 and the Portuguese Inquisition and Expulsion shortly thereafter.  Others went onto Germany and then on up into Eastern Europe.  Because of their initial contact in Germany and France, they are called the Ashkenazim Jews.  

A misnomer is that Zionism started with Jews living in Europe (Ashkenazi Jews).  The facts are that there were Jews that have always remained in the “Holy Land,” even after 70 CE when Rome destroyed Jerusalem. They were the first to be "Zionists."   Life was not easy for them and in later centuries many came to depend on donations from abroad, but they had remained; remained, prayed and suffered through the centuries waiting for their brothers to return.  .

Those Jews living nearby in Arab countries yearned every day to return to their own land.  When World War I was over in 1918, nearly half of the total Jewish population in Jerusalem were Sephardic Jews–Jews of the Middle East which are often referred to as Mizrachi Jews. Sephardis has become the overall blanket term.

Hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees fleeing from Arab persecution also poured into Israel who also had desired to be back in their country.  Arabs had taken over Rome’s position in a conquest of the Holy Land, but had not settled there.  They had their own well developed lands.

Before Islam came into being in 600 CE, the Sabaeans and the Nabataens,  traders with caravans,  came through into area from Arabia.  Greeks came along and pushed them out of the way in the 1st century CE. In 438 CE, the Jews from Galilee were elated when the Empress Eudocia allowed them to pray again at their holy temple site.  They thought this was the end of the exile of their people.

 The Roman Empire (70-395), who had taken Jerusalem in 70 CE were replaced by the Byzantium Empire (395-636) with Constantinople being their capital.  This was Eastern Orthodox Christianity and they spoke Greek.  Then the Sasanid Iranians, another warring empire took the front page in history.  And so it went.  Islam came into being in 600 CE.  It was in 614 CE  that Jews fought along with the Persian invaders of Palestine and overwhelmed the Byzantine garrison in Jerusalem.  They controlled the city for 5 years.  and then the Arabs conquered the land 2 decades later and  the Umayyad Dynasty followed by the Abbasid Empire.  Finally the Ottoman Empire appeared in the 1400's and they owned the property until World War I ended.

The Jews had suffered 3 centuries of Christian intolerance of which violence had been practiced spasmodically during half of that period.  This is when Jews welcomed with lots of hope in their hearts, the Arab conquerors.

Muslim Arabs (636-1072) entering 7th century Jerusalem found a strong Jewish identity.  They found that Jews lived in all parts of the country and on both sides of the Jordan.  They lived in both the towns and the villages as farmers and making many types of handicrafts.  Many lived in Lydda and Ramle-cities Arabs of today think of as Arab towns.  Other larger communities they lived in were Ascalon (Ashkelon today) , Caesarea and Gaza which was their capital when they couldn't get into Jerusalem.  Jericho was home to many Jews.  When Islam was introduced to the world, some Jews became 7th century Jewish refugees escaping from  Khaibar in Arabia.

 Khaibar had been a thriving Jewish community to the north of Mecca and Medina.  They faced death if they did not convert and had to defend their forts and mansions with their heroism as the Prophet Muhammad had "visited upon his beaten enemy inhuman atrocities," by the mass massacre of men, women and children.  What he did was completely exterminate  2 Arabian Jewish tribes.  He did this to Jews who had lived there for centuries living in freedom, peace, labor and trade and now they had been  treated as slaves and  degraded.  They had to see their wives and daughters given out among the Arab men and carried away by these conquerors.  He did this to a people who at  times of famine, would give Arabs who came to them  fruit and water and help them out.  So these Jews that survived struggled back to their Homeland.  When asked later in 1968 at an Arab theologian conference about this detestable act,  a speaker defended it by saying that Mohammad said while dying, "Never do 2 religions exist in Arabia."   He had purified Arabia from Jews.

All this time, it was a struggle for the Jews in the land to survive under these oppressive powers.  The Arabs treated Jews in the Middle East lands as dhimmis or 3rd class people who lived under a lesser quality of life due to the Arab laws.  They also prayed for their return to their homeland.  It was equally desired in both camps; Ashkenazis of Europe and Sephardis of the Middle East.  Both groups had been one in 70 CE when they parted, and both practiced the same religion and did the same things.  There are 2 great compilations of thought on the Five Books of Moses and its Jewish Law.  .  One was the was the Palestinian  or Jerusalem Talmud written before 400 CE..  About 200 years later the Babylonian Talmud  was written before 500 CE  in Iraq with about 2 1/2 million words and more than 3 times as long as the Palestinian Talmud    Each one consists of the Mishnah together with a gemara which is both a commentary on and a supplement to the Mishnah.  Both Talmuds also contain non-legal or aggadic digressions. Ashkenazis were able to study both, though the Babylonian Talmud was much better and longer.

The fact remains that we have had an unceasing strain of “Oriental” or “Palestinian” Jews in “Palestine” for millennia” who hadn’t left.  They were able to stay and hold down the fort in spite of every discouragement.  Jews had not abandoned the land physically, nor did they ever renounce their claim to to their nation.  Their claim to the land is the only continuous claim that exists.  Even though successive conquerors had devastated the Jewish organization structure they once had, the Jews never submitted to assimilation into the various victorious populations even after being devastated.  "Many Jewish scholars living in Roman-controlled Syria Palaestina moved to Persia to escape the harsh decrees against Jews enacted by the emperor Hadrian  after Bar Kokhba's revolt of 132-135.   The remaining scholars who lived in the Galilee area decided to continue their teaching activity in the learning centers that had existed since Mishnaic times".

"Jews arrived in central Europe following the crisis of the 7th century in Byzantine Palestine around the time of Muslim conquest.   Jews probably began settling along the Rhine in Germany, from  Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north, during the early Middle Ages."  They were then known as the Ashkenazi Jews.  It's probable that some Jews got to Germany from Rome where they were taken as slaves.  They could have even been sold to Romans going to Germany's Rhineland where the Romans had also conquered.  In their Roman period,  Jewish soldiers were found to be in Roman garrisons there, so slaves had to become soldiers.   In 321 CE, the emperor Constantine issued regulations in Cologne where Jews had settled on the Rhineland.   

It’s like studying the case of twins who have been separated at birth.  The development of Judaism in both camps appear to be exactly alike, and being they were one people originally, this is not surprising at all.  They both had the same education. They were a people separated by a situation facing exile from their homeland.  They had scattered.

The Crusaders ruled from 1099-1291 calling the land the Kingdom of Jerusalem.  Mamluks ruled from 1291 to 1516.  Jews were killed along with Arabs as the Crusaders couldn't tell the difference.  They all looked the same.  Crusaders massacred Jews throughout the Rhineland and nearby areas.  1298 saw many massacres of Jews in Germany and again in 1336 and 1348 when Jews were accused of creating the Black Death.

  In the 1400's many returned to Safed, the city I chose to live in when I made aliyah in 1980.  . Others came later  escaping the Spanish Inquisition.   Safed  was the going capital of Jewish learning and held many Yeshivahs founded by different rabbis where Jews came to study and learn.  Throughout time, Ashkenazis did try and some made it back to the Homeland and were more successful in the late 1880's with the first Aliyah.

Under Turkish rule of the Ottoman Empire (1516-1917)  the Jews in Jerusalem and in Gaza maintained cultural and spiritual unity and Sultan Suleiman I allowed many Jews to return to the Holy Land.  In 1561 Suleiman gave Tiberias, one of the Jewish 4 holy cities, to a "secret Jew," from Portugal, Don Joseph Nasi, who rebuilt the city and the villages around it.  this attracted Jewish people to come and live there from any areas of the Mediterranean.

The post-Roman Christians had turned around and caused physical violence on Jews and pagans alike.  Despite their cruelty, more then 40 Jewish communities survived and could be traced in the 6th century.  They were 12 towns on the coast, in the Negev, and east of the Jordan which was land that was part of the Palestine mandate that Britain held in 1922.  This land had been dubbed "Transjordan then and was declared the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.  He had just taken it and seemed to get away with it.  The Jews were also living in 31 villages in the Galilee and in the Jordan Valley at that time.

On May 14, 1948, we had 650,000 Jews living in Israel and 126,000 Arabs.   Today we have 6 million Jews, the same number we lost in the Holocaust.  In the 24 years since this date, entire Jewish communities from Arab countries have made aliyah to Israel.  Out of Iraq came 121,000 out of the 130,000.  Out of Yemen came 44,000 of their 45,000.  Out of Libya came 30,500 out of their 35,000.    Moroccan, Tunisian, Poland and other countries   had 165,000 Jews return between 1955-1957.  It wasn't until 1994 that the last Syrian Jews were able to get to Israel being they were held like prisoners.  

Resource:From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters
 The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Text: Middle East Past and Present by Yahya Armajani and Thomas M. Ricks
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/mejews.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Talmud
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_Jews

Friday, June 28, 2013

Archaeology Proves Israel's Past History

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                      

Archaeology has helped to uncover facts about the Jewish past in Eretz Yisrael over the last 3,000 years.  Archaeologists are uncovering the whole story which goes back to Canaan, and Christianity.  Found has been the head of a clay statue from the Neolithic period that was found in Jericho.  A pitcher with a Greek decoration was found at Taanach.  Representation of a menorah was found in the ruins of Gadera.
                                                                             
Israel's Department of Antiquities and Museums is responsible for safeguarding the sites of archaeological excavations and their antiquities which are protected by law.  It carries out  country-wide surveys and prevents damage to sites from development and building, looks after the mapping and registration of new finds and supervises the archaeological work of local and foreign expeditions.

2013's February started off with a dig finding an ancient wine press in Jaffa from the Byzantine period.  In April was discovered a ritual bath from the 2nd Temple period.  May uncovered a dig of a 2,000 year old stone quarry in Jerusalem and a 1,500 year old Mosaic in southern Israel.  This month of June uncovered 2,000 year old cooking pots in Jerusalem.  "
  • "Three complete cooking pots and a small ceramic oil lamp were uncovered inside a small cistern in a drainage channel that runs from the Shiloah Pool in the City of David to Robinson’s Arch near the Western Wall..  A distant cousin, Chaim Goldfus, PhD  was involved in this recent find."  
What they are not in control of is the Muslim site in Jerusalem of the Mosque of Omar or Dome of the Rock which was purposely built in the center of the Jews' 2nd Temple area by the Caliph Abed al Malik in about 738 CE to replace the temporary structure set up by the Caliph Omar a century earlier.  It is situated on the traditional site of Mt. Moriah, where the Torah says is the site where Abraham offered up Isaac as a sacrifice.    This seemed to start a Muslim tradition of putting their stamp on an area saying they were taking over with their Muslim religion.  In this way they thought they were burying the older religion by building theirs over it.  Moshe Dayan (1915-1981) Israel's Minister of Defense, allowed the Muslims to have authority over a very precious Jewish site, so what is going on under it is unknown.
                                                                         
                                         Carmel's Caves in Israel, Neanderthal Findings
Archaeological digs began in the 19th Century CE and had a boost after Israel's birth in 1948.  In the Jordan Valley, Galilee and the Carmel Range, bones of early man, the Neanderthals,  were found with tools and the remains of animals that he hunted.  The oldest discovered date back to over one million years ago and was named Tabun.who lived 103,000 to 80,000 years ago.    The next oldest found was Amud who lived from 55,000 to 47,000 years ago, and the earliest was Kebara who lived 60,000 years ago.  Neanderthals were found to have lived from 130,000 to 28,000 years ago.  The company, 23&Me can find the % of Neanderthal genes in people who take their dna test, for most of us do carry some of those genes. Since Neanderthals were not found in Africa, the average European will have about 2.5% Neanderthal genes, which would include Jews since 3 digs have discovered their bones in caves in Israel.    

Bits of Canaanite settlements in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE were found in the biblical sites of Hazor, Megiddo, Ashdod, Jerusalem and Shechem.  These have proved to be the settlements of the Israelites on their return from Egypt towards the end of the 2nd millennium BCE and especially after the establishment of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.  The digs provide many details about the daily life, architecture, arts and forms of religious worship that went on in that period.

Remains form the 2nd Temple days, especially the Hasmonaean period through the Jewish revolt against the Romans in the 1st century CE were unearthed in Jerusalem, Caesarea, Beit-Sha'an, Tiberias and Jaffa.  The most impressive relics of fortresses in the Judaean Desert were the Masada and Herodion, which were bases for the revolt which ended in 70 CE with the devastation of the land and its conversion into a Roman province.

Archaeologists couldn't get into Jerusalem until 1967.  Since then they have uncovered detailed evidence of the city's fortification and the magnificent public and religious edifices.  They also saw how its burning and capture by the Roman legions left its evidence.  Traces of the camp of the Roman 10th Legion and remains of the Roman Jerusalem where found.  They had named the city "Aelia Capitolina" in the 2nd and 3rd centuries and this evidence was found.
                                                                     
In the Judaean desert are caves which were explored that led to the discovery of the "Letters of Shimon Bar-Kochba, the commander of the 2nd Jewish revolt against the Romans in the 2nd century (135 CE).  This event is comparable in historical importance to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The unbroken presence of the Jewish community throughout the Byzantine period of the 4th to 7th centuries was uncovered by finding beautiful synagogues in the Galilee, Judaea and in the south.  Evidence of the new Christian community that developed at that time was also discovered.

Great edifices built by the Moslem conquerors in the 7th century and after had  been uncovered in the early 70's.  .Found were the palaces of the Omayyad rulers in Jerusalem and the antiquities of Ramla.

The Christian Crusaders' period of knights who came and conquered and held the Holy Land between the 11th and 13th centuries is now better known and understood as their fortresses at Akko (Acre), Caesarea, Jerusalem and Kochav Hayarden have been cleared and reconstructed.

Mamluk and Turkish remains from the Middle Ages at the beginning of the 20th century have been investigated.  Archaeological activity has been expanded and sites are connected with neighboring cultures.  The Phoenicians on the northern seashore, or the Roman period Nabatean settlements in the Negev were receiving closer treatment in the early 70's.
                                                                   
This is a mural of the Jews brought into Egypt as slaves found in Egypt and taken by my cousin, Denise on her vacation there.  This backs up the Exodus story in the Torah.

Outside of Israel has also been found evidence of the Jewish civilization.  Discoveries in Egypt of the 5th to 4th centuries BCE of Aramaic Papri at Elephantine (Yeb), numerous Greek and a few Hebrew papyri of hellenistic and Roman times, the Edfu ostraca, and the Jewish temple at Leontopolis.  Jewish inscriptions of the hellenistic or Roman periods exist in most Mediterranean lands.  The Jewish catacombs in Rome and Carthage and tombstones in the Crimea exist.  Synagogues of the classical period have been found in Greece, Yugoslavia, Italy, Asia Minor and Syria, especially Dur-Europos, remarkable for its biblical frescoes are proof of existence.

The Palestinians have refused to accept the fact that Jews were in the land long before they were.  This is part of their political brain washing of their people, that only they have the right to the land and that Jews are foreigners.  However, they cannot dispute these findings that show we were here long, long ago and have come home to roost.  .  

Resource:  Facts About Israel: Division of Information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem
http://anthro.palomar.edu/homo2/mod_homo_2.htm Neanderthals, great site.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/geo/Mount.html  Excellent information
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/israelexperience/history/pages/archaeological%20excavations%20in%20israel%202003.aspx

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

THE Land, Ha'Aretz- PALESTINE

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                      

Territories for Simeon, Judah, Dan, Benjamin, Reuben, Ephraim, Gad, Manasseh, Issachar, Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali and Manasseh

Palestine was Jewish land.  It was a basic tenet to Christian theology that the loss of the Jews' national independence was an act of G-d.  It was designed to punish the Jewish people for their rejection of "Christ." Christians felt they had to help G-d so that some emperors' minimal criteria of oppression and restriction of the Jews was always maintained as well as the maximum sort, such as in the Spanish Inquisition of 1492.

Eretz Yisrael (Israel and Judea) was the country of the Jews of which even the size and geography is outlined in the Torah/Bible.  That it was his country was a part of his theoretical exercise, an article of his theology and a sophisticated political feeling.  It was a pervasive and inextricable part of his daily life.

Jewish prayers and Jewish literature are filled with the love and longing for and the feeling of belonging to Eretz Yisrael and has been going on for the past 4,000 years.  It's part and parcel of our DNA.  It's in our soul.  "There is no theme so pervasive in the literature of any other nation," no theme that has yielded so much thought and feeling and expression as the relationship of the Jew to his land in Jewish literature and philosophy.  After all, G-d had led Moses back to the land and through Moses directed the people of the Exodus  where they should settle.

Jerusalem was taken and burned in 70 CE by the Romans.  The Jews' attachment to this land has never wavered.  Though many of the Jews were led away then as slaves, there were others, especially in the Galilee, who had never left.  Jewish life was maintained in the country.

In 135 CE, Simon Bar Kochba led a revolt against the Romans which failed. It had been the fiercest and longest revolt ever faced by the Roman Empire.  There were 580,000 Jewish soldiers that died defending their land.  Many civilians died of starvation and pestilence.  985 Jewish villages were destroyed.

 That was over 60 years after the 2nd Temple was destroyed.  The Romans decided to waste the country then in a determined effort to stamp out the Jewish identity.  They plowed over Jerusalem at the direction of Emperor Hadrian.  Then they renamed it Aelia Capitolina, and Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina.

Banished from Jerusalem, Jews went to the Galilee in the northern section of their land.  Refugees returned.  Jews sold into slavery were redeemed and returned.   There arose some of the most important creativity of the Jewish people when the Mishnah and the Jerusalem Talmud were finished.  Most of the people farmed the land.

The Roman Empire became Christian by the 4th century CE.  Their policy was to stop any spark of Judaism that might show up.  Even so, 43 Jewish communities in Palestine in the 6th century were revived:  12 towns on the coast, in the Negev and east of the Jordan,  and 31 villages in Galillee and in the Jordan Valley were reborn.  National restoration was in the hearts of the Jews.  In 351 they staged another revolt which was put down.  In 438 the Empress Eudocia ended the ban on Jews' praying at the Temple site.

This caused the Jews to think that a period of restoration had finally come and they made an alliance with the Persians who invaded Palestine in 614.  Jews fought at their side and overwhelmed the Byzantine garrison in Jerusalem.  They governed the city for the next 3 years.  The Persians made peace with Emperor Heraclius and Christian rule was reestablished.  This meant that Jews were banished from the city again.  The Byzantine persecution started up again but was short-lived because in 632, when Mohammed died, the Moslem Arab invaders came and conquered the land.  By 640, Palestine had become part of the Moslem Empire.

They ruled for 450 years, first under the Omayyads (mostly all Arabs) who governed tolerantly from Damascus, and then under the Abbasid dynasty (mostly all Turkish) who governed from Baghdad.  So Jews were governed either tolerantly or persecuted and then ruled by the Fatimids from Cairo.  The Moslem Arabs took away lands from the Jews that they had held onto for 20 generations after the fall of the Jewish state.  The Crusaders came after them and had ruled Palestine or parts of it for a little more than 2 centuries and it was they who massacred the Jews in the cities.  Under the Moslems and Crusaders, the Jewish communities of Palestine held on with their prayers and chutzpah and survived.  The Jews had been some of the best fighters against the Crusaders.  When the city of Jerusalem fell, the Crusaders had gathered the Jews up in a synagogue and burned them.  Haifa was defended by the Jews for a month from June to July 1099.  In that year, 1,000 years after the 70 CE fall of Jerusalem, there were Jewish communities that had sprung up all over Ha'aretz (Palestine).  50 of them remain well known, such as Jerusalem, Tiberias, Ramleh, Ashkelon, Caesarea and Gaza.

In 1516 the Ottoman Turks were tolerant and fairly  friendly towards the Jews.  30 Jewish communities were recorded then:  Haifa, Sh'chem, Hebron, Ramleh, Jaffa, Gaza, Jerusalem and many in the north.  Their center was Safed (Tzfat) which became the largest in Palestine and took on the spiritual leadership of the whole Jewish world.  The mystic Caballa was developed.  8,000 to 10,000 Jews lived here in 1555 and the population grew to 20,000 or 30,000 by 1600.  Some of the Galilean villages survived, showing that Jews clung to the land for 15 centuries in succession.  Jews brought in the first printing press into Palestine, and Asia, for that matter.  It was brought to Safed and printed in Hebrew.  Maybe it was their prosperity that caused Sultan Murad III in 1576-77 to deport 1,000 wealthy Jews from Safed to Cyprus, where he needed some economic assistance.

                                          Chronology of Jews in Ha'aretz

1250 BCE    Moses' appointed leader, Joshua, led the 600,000 Israelites into the Land of Israel
1000-922 BCE  King David and son Solomon ruled a united Jewish kingdom in Israel
721 BCE           10 of 12 tribes of Jacob  are defeated by Assyrians and taken into exile, slavery
586 BCE           Babylonians defeat kingdom of Judah and exiled leaders, people to Babylon
539 BCE          Cyrus the Great of Persia sends Jews back to Israel, live and rebuild temple
458 BCE          Ezra leads exiled Jews back to Israel
332 BCE          Alexander the Great conquers Israel
167 BCE          Jewish Maccabees revolt against Greek  Antiochus IV Epiphanes
37-4 BCE        Herod, appointed by Rome, ruled over Judea, works on Temple
70 CE              Titus, emperor of Rome, crushes Jewish revolt
135                  Bar Kokhba Revolt
1096          First Christian Crusade massacre Jews across France, Rhineland, Bohemia on way to Jerusalem
1146                Second Christian Crusade, Jewish communities attacked
1453               Ottomans conquer Constantinople, invite Jews to return to the city
1880-1897      Theodor Herzl holds 1st Zionist Congress for return to Eretz Yisrael, Jews have returned
1904-1914      2nd Aliyah, 40,000 Jews from Russia return to Ha'Aretz, 3rd and 4th aliyote followed
Nov 2, 1917   Balfour Declaration of Jewish National Homeland Declared
May 14, 1948  State of Israel Declared; 600,000 Jews in Population
2013               Israel population :  6 million Jews, 1.7 million Arabs

There is no other people in the world who have maintained their love for their original land as much nor as long as the Jews have, nor has there been a people from the ancient days that have existed for so long as this people maintaining their religion.  Though Judaism has grown along with the generations, the main concept has remained the same.  It is not an "old time" religion but one that is prevalent in today's age along with its people who are  among the most creative and intelligent. Judaism is based on social righteousness.   Jews in Israel continue to cling to their beloved Ha'Aretz; the tiny speck of land of Israel;   the granted 20% of what used to be theirs.

Jews were chosen by G-d to carry out a heavy duty, and only G-d knows how hard they have tried to do this.  They were chosen not because they were the best of all people but because they had such a stubborn trait, a stiff-necked people.  They had been chosen to carry the message of G-d's law to the world, based on the covenant between G-d and Abraham and renewed at Sinai with Moses.  Isaiah described Israel as  those whose sufferings will bring salvation to the world.  One thing we know.  Jews have long suffered in the world.  Israel was said to be a kingdom of Priests and a holy nation.  How many people of the world still scoff at the Golden Rule today?

Resource:  Battleground-fact and fantasy in Palestine by Samuel Katz
Jews and Power by Ruth R. Wisse
The Source by Leon Uris

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Anti-Semitic Europe Driving Out Jews

Nadene Goldfoot
The Holocaust caused 6 million Jews to die who were living in Europe.  A few survived and remained there while some survivors moved to other lands to begin a new life, such as the Jews that moved into Malma, Sweden.  Today Jews make up only 0.2% of the whole world population.  That is because there are only 14 million Jews in a world of 6,804,200,000.

Filling that gap have been innumerable Muslims moving out of their Middle Eastern homeland, and there have been innumerable assaults happening on the Jews from them.  Attitudes of Europeans towards Jews are taking on the prevailing attitudes of the new Muslim citizens as a result.

Christians in Egypt are experiencing the same thing, since there are no more Jews left to pick on.  They are so intimidated that they are afraid to go to the polls to vote.  They are now worried about their future. A week before Election Day, 50,000 Islamists marched through Assiut chanting that Egypt will be "Islamic, Islamic, despite the Christians."  At the head of this parade were bearded men on horseback with swords in scabbards on their hips.  One had the picture of the early Muslims conquering Christian Egypt in the 7th Century.

Jews in Denmark are warned to not wear any Jewish symbols in public as it identifies them as being Jewish and thus an available target for hatred that has been taking place.  An old Jewish man was eating a kebab and assaulted by Arab who kicked him and tore his star of David necklace off.  Another wearing a kippah was attacked. Israelis touring are told not to speak Hebrew where others can hear them.   It has been happening all over Europe:  Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, UK, Rome, Spain, and Poland .  They  are all reporting anti-Semitic attacks.   Even the few Jews left in Russia are experiencing anti-Semitism again.  Yet there are such few Jews in each of these countries.  In 2010 the % of Jews was France: 0.77%; UK:0.47%; Netherlands: 0.18%; Sweden: 0.16%; Germany: 0.15%; Denmark: 0.12%; and the others with only 0.05%.

Amsterdam has been warning about their immigrant problem attacking Jews for some time, now.  Jews have been living there since the Spanish Inquisition of 1492.  One young man wrote a letter to the local newspaper, NRC Handelsblad, saying that he couldn't go to public events with any  Jewish jewelry on his body, and could not go out of the house on a Saturday night.  He was orthodox and usually wore his kippah all the time.

Living in the United States, my late husband had also decided to wear his kippah (little knitted beanie-type head covering) all the time.  Having been a conservative Jew, he had begun to study more of our history and ethics and wanted to do that.  He was a USA history high school teacher, so was well ingrained in American mores.  Lucky for him he was in America, as he wasn't hassled, and of course he didn't hassle anyone, either, but then we weren't  in an environment of hatred, either. His area of expertise was "Adolf Hitler" and the Holocaust era. However, one day he picked up a comic book left in his classroom, and it was all anti-Semitic.  He took it to his Kiwanis buddies who included several ministers of various Christian denomination who took immediate action in a meeting and put an end to that problem, but it was enough to make up consider moving to Israel to teach English, which we did.  That and the Nazi skinheads of Idaho meeting in our local restaurant caused the move.

 It was 80 years ago next January, that Adolf Hitler seized power in Germany.  Who joined the Axis powers?  The Ottoman Empire, Turkey, in the Middle East.  When the Allies, with the USA leading the charge, won, the Axis lost, and the Ottoman Empire's land was given to Britain with a mandate to decide its future.  The Muslims are still stinging from their goal to exterminate Jews, still reading Nazi literature as the #1 popular reading material like Mein Kampf, and still plotting to finish carrying out the Nazi goals to the fullest. As in the economic situation of Germany before WWII, we are again facing similar financial problems, and it is again Jews who become scapegoats.  But when Jews were attacked in Germany then, they could not blame Israel on their hatred as it wasn't declared a state until May 14, 1948, well after the war.

The 6 million people, including little 6 year-olds like the ones whose lives were snuffed out in Connecticut recently, and ones younger,  made up 2/3 of European Jewry.  Today we see  Jewish senior citizens living in Malma, Sweden, who had been survivors of the Holocaust,, run out of town by the new Muslim immigrants.  Some seek asylum in Israel, already crowded and living in high rise apartment buildings, but who have open arms.  After all, that's what Israel's creation was all about.  After leaving such an anti-Semitic atmosphere, they are probably frightened over the prevailing war with Muslims there in Gaza, Judea-Samaria, and all the surrounding neighbors far more than Jews who are Sabras (born in Israel) who, like the Sabra plant, are tough and hearty. The prospects of being gassed by Syria or hit with an atomic bomb by Iran are not come-ons.  However, the chance to inwardly and outwardly be proud of their religion is.  We're back to the days of the Inquisition again in being afraid to let anyone know we are Jewish.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism_in_Europe
Pamela@atlasshrugs.com
Oregonian Newspaper 12/20/12  page A7, Egypt's Christians fear polls
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/polish-authorities-shrug-off-anti-semitism-1.466127
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/2020/spain-anti-semitic
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/german-jewish-leader-tells-haaretz-anti-semitism-mounting-in-my-country-1.467474
http://www.adl.org/russia/russian_political_antisemitism_3.asp
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/jewpop.html
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_percentage_of_the_world's_population_is_Jewish
Added  1/7/13 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvjw1oa3c1Y 
 

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Events Leading Up to December 21st

Nadene Goldfoot
According to the Hebrew Calendar, this is the year 5772.  That means that the world was created in 3760 BCE.  The following cultures gave 6,000 years as about the time of existence for our present mankind.

The Mayans had an extraordinary calendar system, better than ours today.  Their date was 3114 BCE for creation.  According to the Hindus, the world was created in 3102 BCE.  The Hopi Tribe of Native Americans have the same sort of history.  They all feel the time is ripe for the end of times; or another calendar.  "Like the Maya, Aztec, and other Native American tribal wisdom traditions, the Hopi tell of a series of 'worlds' which have existed. Each may be thought of as a cycle of civilization. A common aspect is that we are currently in the 4th world.

 The Hopi describe the demise of the other worlds"  They are known to have the Prophecy Rock in Arizona.which goes back 2,000 years.  The first was by volcanoes and fire, the 2nd with a pole shift and the ice age, the 3rd by water which sounds a lot like the story of the flood and Noah's ark.  The 4th or "The final stage, called "The great day of Purification", has been described as a "Mystery Egg" in which the forces of the swastika and the Sun plus a third force symbolized by the color "red" culminate either in total rebirth or total annihilation, we don't know which. But the choice is yours, war and natural catastrophe may be involved. The degree of violence will be determined by the degree of inequity caused among the peoples of the world and in the balance of nature. In this crisis rich and poor will be forced to struggle as equals in order to survive."

2500 years ago King Solomon's Temple was built.  Today it is covered over by a Mosque in Jerusalem built in 691 CE.  Jews have wanted to build a 3rd, for the 1st had been destroyed and a 2nd built on the same spot.  Jerusalem is a sacred city to not only Jews, but the Christians and Muslims as well. Many Christians are all for the Temple being built as it fulfills their requirement to bring on the Messiah they are expecting.  In fact, Jews and Muslims also are expecting their Messiah as well around the same date.  Author Hal Lindsey thinks the Temple could be built next to the Muslim's "Dome of the Rock."  Those interested in this are still looking into a proper site.  Cohens are ready to serve and have been DNA tested for authenticity and have the Cohen gene that shows they are descendants of Aaron, the first priest and brother of Moses.   Moses (1391-1271 BCE) and Aaron were Levites of the tribe of Levi.

This is all very interesting because so many cultures have come to this conclusion using  many different methods.  Now  we again see the end of times being prophesied in the same manner.  December 21, 2012 is seen by many groups as a day that something fierce could happen.  Something like fire could come from the sky.  There is to be an alignment of the planets with the sun in the center on that date that we have never experienced.  It only happens once every 26,000 years.  This comes from the Mayan Indian calendar.

The Dead Sea Scrolls tell us more.  They were found in a cave in Qumran in 1947. That location was in Judah when the scribes lived there near the Dead Sea which is now in the area called the "West Bank."   One one them was the War Scroll that dealt with the end of days.  The creepy fact is that it tells of the final days as fighting the Persians, who are today's Iran, the Mesopotamians who are all the countries east of Israel, and the Assyrians who are today's Iraq.  The sons of darkness are mentioned as Edom, Moab, Ammon, Amalekites, Philistia, and Kittim of Asshur which could be referring to the Romans.

In it, we see Good versus Evil fighting.  There are to be  7 important battles.  People say that 6 have already occurred.  The first could have been the battle of 1948 when Israel was attacked by Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq when Israel was created once again.  The Lost Tribes of Israel are to return.  Some people wonder if they haven't already being Jews have returned to Israel from all corners of the world already of which we know for sure that the tribes of Judah, Levi and some of Benjamin are with us. According to scripture, it is they that will be fighting the sons of darkness.

However, if true,some of the sons of Benjamin  have found their way to Afghanistan and Pakistan along with many of the other tribes that were lost and now bear the new name of the Pashtuns.  They are Muslim and are not about to fight on the side of the Jews against their Muslim comrades.  They carry a convincing argument that they are our lost cousins but they hate us as we refused to accept Islam.  They are strong and mean fighters, according to them.  They are someone that the Russians couldn't bring down, so if one uses their imagination, one can easily see them fighting all the adversaries alongside Judah in the conquering of Canaan.  Tall, good looking men with a fierce trigger-happy temper, they haven't changed a bit.

Then again, all this could be relating about events of the days of the writers.  Perhaps it is just accidental that such correlations can be made.  When you think of it, it is amazing that Israel is in existence now and fighting the same old enemies of the past along with all these events coalesing at the same time.

On top of my computer sits a black and blue Y2K Bug.  He has 2 little white tusks and 2 black antennae on his head.  We thought the living end would happen in 2000 and here we are 12 years later about to embark on the 13th.  Nothing happened when we swung into the year 2000 and I'm hoping nothing happens on December 21st.  Are you ready for it?  One thing to zero in on is that all these horrid TV commercials for President will be finished.  Think of that and feel better.

Resource: TV Program, The History Channel-Program: The Nostradamus Effect channel 128 Frontier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Sons_of_Light_Against_the_Sons_of_Darkness
http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/war
http://www.templemountfaithful.org/
http://www.squidoo.com/templejerusalem



Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Jerusalem, the Most Special City in the World and International Law

Nadene Goldfoot
Judaism is a religion regarding the living.  It does not focus on when we die.  To live, we have rules and regulations regarding ourselves and our fellow man.  We have not only the ten commandments but 613 to follow as well.  Because of this, we have produced a lot of lawyers.  You can say that we are very interested in laws.  One lawyer I admire the most is Alan Dershowitz who has written many books defending Israel and her rights.

Right now the biggest concern is over Jerusalem and international law.  Israel has been very sincere and has found itself in the position to defend itself over having Jerusalem as its capital, which is pretty silly in itself being King David of Israel back in 1000-960 BCE established Jerusalem as the capital.  Remember him?  He was a fighter against the Philistines, son in law of King Saul, first king of Israel.

It was the capital in 586 BCE and again between 516 BCE and 70 CE.  The only people it has ever been a capital for has been for the Jews.   The Jews today are the people with the longest unbroken historical connection with Jerusalem starting from nearly 3,000 years ago.  Jerusalem is the focus of national and religious aspirations.  It is today the seat of the President of the State, the Knesset, the Government, the Supreme Court, the Chief Rabbinate, the Hebrew University and the Israel Museum and Boys Town just for starters.  It is where the Western Wall (Wailing Wall)  is, which is the holiest shrine of the Jews.  It dates back from the time of the 2nd Temple.  It is part of the wall that enclosed Herod's Temple and still stands in the Old City of Jerusalem.  It was very close to the Holy of Holies section of our temple which was at the Western end of the Temple, so is regarded as sacred and this goes back to the Talmudic Period in the 10th Century where regular services were held before it.

For Christians, Jerusalem is the link that begins with Jesus of Nazareth and the places with the story of his life and death.  For them, their holy place is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

For Moslems, Jerusalem rates 3rd in holiness after Mecca and Medina.  The mosque of Al Aqsa on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem which stands over our original Temple is one of the holiest shrines of Islam.  All these religious Holy places are administered by the religious bodies to which they belong under Israeli law.

Israel, the rebirth of which was May 14, 1948, lost East Jerusalem to Jordan in the fight who grabbed it.  That meant that for 19 years between 1948 and 1967, Jerusalem was divided in two parts between Israel and Jordan.  There was a wall of barbed wire and concrete separating the two parts.  The Jordanians forbid movement of people from one part to another.

A paragraph in the Israel-Jordan 1949 Armistice Agreement affirmed the Jewish right of access to the Wall. However,  it wasn't until 1967 that Jews could again go to the wall which now came under Jewish sovereignty for the first time since the 2nd Temple period.  It was on Shavuot 1967 that the public could visit the wall.  200,000 people went there.  Since then it has been the focal point for Jews from all parts of the world.  Lots of work has gone into landscaping the vicinity.  After 1968 excavations in the area uncovered many remains dating from Temple times.

After the 67 War, Israel liberated Jerusalem and it was reunified.  Today is is experiencing coexistence between Jews and Arabs, between the 3 faiths and between the religious and secular ways of life.

There is a 2 day conference in Jerusalem ending Wednesday (today) being held for international legal officials this week focusing on the status of Jerusalem.  The international Alliance for Justice in Jerusalem, a Toronto-based not -for-profit-organization with branches in many cities around the world,  is hosting this event at the King David Hotel.  This is where I met my cousin, Stanley Goldfoot back in 1981. The keynote address was from the Mayor, Nir Barkat, in the opening session.  They had sessions on the political, judicial and diplomatic issues facing the city dealing with the status of Jerusalem under international law.  The rest of the world does not see it as our capital and refuses to agree with Israel including the USA.

On July 30, 1980, the Knesset passed a basic law making "Jerusalem, complete and united…the capital of Israel."
"Under international law Israel has a legal right to its capital Jerusalem, " agreed Jacques Gauthier,   international jurist and human rights advocate who founded the organization that hosted this conference.  .


"Israel has filed strenuous protests  against this policy of not accepting Jerusalem as the capital, asserting that:
  • There is no basis in international law for denying Israel's establishing its capital in Jerusalem, because there is no binding treaty that makes the city a Corpus separatum.
  • The 1980 Basic Law is not a legal innovation and only affirms Israel's long-standing position on Jerusalem.
  • Israel has the sovereign right to establish its capital at the most meaningful place for its people, and its claim is unique.
  • Objections to Jerusalem as Israel's capital are political in nature, and not legal.
In its 2004 advisory opinion on the legality of the Israeli West Bank barrier, the International Court of Justice concluded that the lands captured by Israel in the 1967 war, including East Jerusalem, are occupied territory."


Jerusalem, that city that has been referred to as:
1. Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth (Bible, Zechariah, 8,3)
2. Jerusalem which is bound firmly together (bible, Psalms, 122, 3)
3. Eternity means Jerusalem (Talmud, Berakhot, 58)
4. There is no beauty like the beauty of Jerusalem (Avot Derabbi Nathan, Talmudic Commentary)

Jerusalem was a city with a population of 300,000 people in 1973 enjoying the fruits of unification.  By 2011 there were 497,000 Jews, 281,000 Muslims, 14,000 Christians and 9,000 irreligious making up the city's population which meant that 64% were Jewish and 36% were Arabs.


Resource: Arkutz Sheva: news@israelnationalnews.com  Gathering Focuses on Legal Status of Jerusalem by Chana Ya'ar
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Facts About Israel, Division of Information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_law_and_the_Arab-Israeli_conflict
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/155939
Myths and Facts by Mitchell G. Bard, Joel Himelfarb, pages 220-233 Ch 18 Jerusalem




Sunday, June 3, 2012

The Teacher and the Preacher in Portland: A Miracle

Nadene Goldfoot
A miracle is continuing in the Portland area and is growing in the creation of a radio program called "The Teacher and The Preacher,"  Pastor Dave McGarrah and Charlie Schiffman discuss a number of topics on the air with live callers participating with questions about Judaism and Christianity including Israel.

These two good friends are building bridges between the two religions and cover the theological differences while concentrating more on the things we have in common.  They realized that the USA is built on the principals of the Judeo-Christian faith and they have learned to walk together with mutual respect for each other's views.  There is no desire in the Pastor's heart of converting Charlie, so that the two can dialogue comfortably about what they share along with the differences.  I enjoyed the fact that Charlie answered questions from the audience without blinking an eye.  He told it straight and was truthful.  So did Dave, while the callers were grateful and seemed to understand and appreciate the answers.  Where else can you get such straightforward answers to questions you wanted to know about?  Both men are of the highest caliber to answer some of these tough questions.   They are convinced that America's closest ally in the world today is Israel, and so supporting Israel is both politically and diplomatically important, as well as is Biblically mandated.

People marvel at this but they say it's like a good marriage.  They have love for each other and mutual respect.  they can see the goodness in each other, and that helps when they come to an issue that needs more understanding.

Tonight they were able to reach the Treasure Valley area of Boise, Idaho and Eastern Oregon, my old stomping grounds. They will also be heard in Seattle another time.  Any living out-of-town can go to the KPDQ website and listen online.  They can also call in through the 800 number that they announced.

Charlie had commented to the audience that June 6th is D Day, the day Jews had hope that the war would end.  They had said after losing 6 million to the Nazis, never again.  Pastor Dave commented that his idea of Jesus is that he wants us all to live in peace and not in war.  We can say ditto that as well.  That's why Charlie commented about Iran making plans to do away with another 6 million and we do not want that to happen.

CUFI is another wonderful organization showing their love and concern for Israel and the Jewish people as well.  Charlie commented that it's really a surprise to many Jews who are so used to being confronted by people who only intend to convert them, that it's awesome to find true friends with love in their hearts and that's all.  I can add that the way the European Union and the UN have treated us makes this turnabout of attitude an even bigger and more important miracle, for this is the time that friendship and a showing of love is indeed the most important.

Tonight the program was heard on KPDQ, 93.9 FM at 6pm to 7pm.  The regular show is on at 6:30 pm Sundays.


Sunday, April 29, 2012

Muslims Attacking Israel's Treatment of Christians ?

Nadene Goldfoot

“People that live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.” The pro Muslim people are busy trying to castigate Jews by saying in many BDS movements that they are unfair to Christians in Israel. That’s the opposite of facts. Israel has no reason or inclination to be that way. However, look at what happens in Muslim dominated countries and how they treat Christians.

 In Jos, Nigeria an attack of a blast on Christians just happened where 6 are dead and 9 injured after seeing a soccer game. Spectators were leaving after watching the European Champions Leage semi-final between Barcelona and Chelsea late Tuesday. In the Christian village of Gwa-Rim, the mainly Muslim Fulani ethnic group of gunmen attacked the villagers with 5 people killed. They had gone from house to house, and 2 of the dead were children.

 In fact, thousands of people have been killed in clashes between Muslim and Christians ethnic groups in central Nigeria in recent years. Jos happens to be the capital of Plateau state, is in a middle region dividing mainly Muslims and Christians. There have been lots of bomb blasts there. Why is it that differences of religion come along with the baggage of differences in politics?

 Resource:  pamela@atlasshrugs.com 

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Remembering Israel's Birth Pangs and Stern Group

Nadene Goldfoot
We had 650,000 Jews in  Israel in May 1948.  It went up to 806,000 residents including Arabs.  The 1948 War took 6,373 of their lives, or 1% of our total Jewish population there.  We remember that Moses, born in Egypt, son of Amram and Jochebed of the tribe of Levi,  had left Egypt with 600,000 Jews bound for Canaan. 

The largest city in 1948 was Tel Aviv-Yafo with 248,000.  Today, there are 14 cities with more than 100,000 residents out of which 6 have more than 200,000.  The largest are Jerusalem with 773,800; Tel Aviv-Yafo with  393,900; Haifa with 265,600; Rishon LeZiyyon with 227,600, Ashdod with 211,300 and Petah Tikvah with 197,800.   Portland, Oregon in 2005's population was 533,427.  It's the largest city in Oregon. 

At the time of 1948, Israel had no cannons or tanks, only 9 obsolete planes.  The  Haganah, the Jewish self-defense group organized from 1920 to 1948, brought about for lack of protections for Jews under the British administration,  had only 18,900 armed soldiers.  There were other smaller groups such as the Stern Group (the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel-Irgun Tzevai Leumi or otherwise known as Etzel of which my cousin, Stanley Goldfoot was the Chief of Intelligence) and (Lohame Herut Israel).  Yigael Yadin told David Ben-Gurion that they had a 50/50 chance of survival.  David Ben Gurion became Israel's first Prime Minister.  Yadin served as chief of operations during the Israel War of Independence and as chief of staff of the Israel army 1949-1952. 

64 years later we find that Israel's population has survived the war of 1947-49, 1956, 1967, 1968-70, 1973, 1982 (I was there then), 1991,  and 2006 and more firing into Israel leading to Operation Cast Lead of December 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009  to have a population of 7,836,000.  Of those, 5,901,000 are Jewish.  1,610,000 are Arabs and there are also unidentified 325,000, probably of which many are Christians.  Today 70% of Israel's Jewish population is made up of Sabras, or people born in Israel, compared to the 35% native-born in 1948. 

Among the nations of the world, Israel is a teeny country with a teeny population.  Jews make up less than 1% of the total world population as it is.  In the United States, we make up 2.1% of the population with New York having the most with 8.4% of that state having 1,635,020 Jews and California with 3.3% of that state having 1,219,740 Jews.  Our total population in the USA is at 6,588,065, making slightly more Jews living in the USA than in Israel.  We have just about the same number today in the USA that were killed in the Holocaust.  It's taken 67 years to reach that point. 

Our population as grown and our country, starting off like an arid orphaned  desert with swampy malaria- carrying mosquitoes has become a regular Garden of Eden, which our neighbors now covet.  Our numbers have slowly increased while our accomplishments have abounded amidst the hatred of neighbors surrounding us.  This little group of stubborn people have given much to the world already that they have created and shared.  I hope their love of life also permeates the air people breathe.  L'Chaim!  To Life! 

Resource: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/1948_War.html
Book:  Genesis 1948 by Dan Kurzman
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108588.html
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Modern+History/Israel+wars/CategoryDefaultTop.htm?DisplayMode=print
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/Gazaincursion.html