We Are People OF Our History: Take a Look At Passover

Nadene Goldfoot
                                                                           

Eating matzos during 8 days of Passover; no regular bread
this is unleavened;  flour and water only.

Here we see Jewish children under 6 at a special dinner called a Seder
designed as a teaching lesson about the Exodus.  At the table is a textbook called a Haggadah that tells the story.  The food you see plays a part that reminds us of certain events and facts.  We will recite these facts.  Our youngest child is to ask 4 questions about it:  Why is this night different? Why do we eat bitter herbs on this night?  Why do we dip the herbs twice when we never do this?  Why, tonight, do we all recline when we sat up straight?
We learn that there are 4 types of children:  an intelligent one, a wicked one, a simple one and one still too young to ask questions.

A child's personality and makeup are created by the time they are 6 years old.

  It only takes that long to develop inherited and learned personality traits, and we are set for life.  Luckily, some bad traits can be redefined with the help of a good psychologist, but so much of us affects the genes we inherit
to be good or bad traits.  Whether we were fortunate enough to have wonderful, intelligent parents or the type that were child-beaters,  sometimes our genes outweigh and save us under even the harshest of horrible conditions of our environment. 
                                                               

            

So it is with nations and the people within.  The world's population since cave man has been under attack at different periods of time.  I often feel so lucky to have been born in 1934 after WWI and all preceding it into a modern world to wonderful parents.  My original inbred shyness has been remodeled to become an outgoing teacher with her classes.  Was it my paternal grandmother who was shy?  Was it my mother?  How is it that my Jewish ancestors have suffered so much in this world?  Has it always been so?  Why do the Arabs hate Israelis so much?  Why do some nations continually attack others?  
                                                                             

Jews in Poland being forced into one area to live in,
then to be transported to death camps to be gassed.
This turned out to be the total extinction of 6 million Jews in Europe
and other places.  

From the beginning of the birth of Judaism, Jews have found themselves in hot water.  Christians can read about the Jews' history and have been doing so since the history of Jesus in about 37 CE; that is for the past 2,000 years at least. The Greek Syrians and then the Romans occupied Jerusalem in c 312 BCE and took over the Temple until the Romans burned Jerusalem down in 70 CE.  We first read about it in our story of Chanukah with the eternal light returning to the Temple that lasted for 8 days and nights instead of one night. With that final blow, Jews were massacred while most others escaped to all parts of the world.  We were then in what was called the Diaspora, and found we were not accepted, for our  religion was so different.                                                     

The Old Testament in Deuteronomy 14:2 states:  "For you are a holy people to the Lord your G-d, and the Lord has chosen you to be his own treasure out of all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth."  In other words, originally, G-d chose the Jews as his favorite.  Because of this, the rest of the Christians must have felt a lot of jealousy.  In fact, some Protestant groups insist that they have replaced us and we are no longer special.  Well, as Tevia said in "Fiddler on the Roof," "Ha Shem, why couldn't you have picked someone else?"  What is the "Old Testament?"  "The Old Testament (abbreviated OT) is the first part of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the twenty-four books of the Hebrew Bible (or Tanakh), a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites believed by most Christians and religious Jews to be the sacred Word of God. "  We believe that the 1st 5 books in it were written by Moses himself.  Moses gave the Jews (the Israelites) 613 laws to follow in order to be molded into very special and moral people in order that they would be the light of the nations; the example of good behavior.  Moses saved these people from 400 years of living in Egypt of which most was spent in slavery-servitude to the Egyptians.  All who were these slaves followed Moses to freedom of which we celebrate with the upcoming holiday Wednesday night of Passover.  
                                                     

Hillel, a 1st century BCE also called, "The Elder";  a scholar,
founded a school "House of Hillel"
Born in Babylonia, settled in Eretz Yisrael (Judah) , was a laborer working
with his hands while studying with well-known teachers-Shemaiah and Avialyon, just before the time of Jesus.  

Second most famous Jewish words comes from the original teachings of Torah and is called the Golden Rule written by Hillel who said simply,  "Don't do to others what you don't want to happen to you."  

                                                      

Moses, b: 1391 BCE-d: 1273 BCE at 120 years.
Wandered with 600,000 Israelites for 40 years before
reaching Canaan and could not enter with Joshua and others
because he had lost his temper once.

The ancient Hebrews, as Israelites came to be called because they spoke Hebrew, were the 1st to base their life as a nation under Kings Saul, David and Solomon on the idea of One G-d, the G-d of all nations and all peoples.  In a very real sense, the ancient Hebrews were also "chosen" to bring this message to the world.  The most famous lesson was the Ten Commandments. Just think, laws are made to fix things and make them better.  We have the law of wearing seat belts when driving, and this was to keep people from being killed in an accident.  The Ten Commandments are found in Deut. 4:13;10:4, etc proclaimed by G-d on Mt. sinai and transmitted through Moses to Israel.  This is considered the fountainhead of all the other laws.  They are given in Exod. 20:2-14   The 1st 5 describe man's duties to G-d, and the last 5 his responsibilities to his fellow-man.

 An example: 1. Belief in G-d;  2, Prohibition of idolatry;  3. Prohibition of vain oaths, 4.  The Sabbath,  5.Honor your father and your mother, so that your days will be lengthened upon the land that Hashem, your G-d, gives you.  6: "You shall not kill;  7. you shall not commit adultery;  Prohibition against kidnapping-meaning stealing... you shall not steal;  9. you shall not bear false witness against your fellow, 10. you shall not covet your fellow's house, You shall not covet your fellow's wife, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your fellow.  
                                                    

Esau and Jacob, twins of Isaac
DNA of J1c3d
as different as day and night

So, in our beginning, we were a people who were strong and free with Abraham as our founding father reaching back as far as 1948 BCE or in the 2nd millennium BCE who through his son Isaac and then his son Jacob, wound up during a famine and migrated to Egypt which was our only choice available at the time.  From there our story began.  Since then we have felt the slings, arrows, stones and bullets, rockets, and missiles real and of hatred from so many; Crusaders, Spanish Inquisition, on and on to the Holocaust, and now the Arabs in the Middle East.  For over 3,000 years we have believed in one G-d and the need of our moral compass given to us by Moses to be a compassionate and good people, only to find we are not acceptable in this world.  If Moses were to return to earth today, he would recognize much of the Torah, the Hebrew language, and many of the traditional teachings of our people.  Empires have come and gone since his time here, but ours continues.  
                                                      

That makes our history unique.  Since we have so often been ruled by those who sought to destroy us and they are gone and we remain makes it striking:  like the Hellenizers of Ptolemaic rule and then the Seleucids, the surrounding kingdoms of Israel, Philistines and Phoenicians.  

During our history we have changed the life and thought of humanity, bringing to the world ideals of equality, decency, and morality which, however imperfectly carried out, are the driving forces of today's civilization."

We see the world as good, believing that G-d has a plan for the universe, a plan in which each of us plays a part.  No individual is hopelessly evil.  Every person can choose to do good, and in that way help perfect the quality of life on earth.  
                                                 

Isaiah, painting by Raphael
lived during 740 to 701 BCE, prophesizing in Jerusalem
of a noble family, closely connected with the royal court under king
Hezekiah; against moral laxity;
Kindness, pity, and justice to the poor and underprivileged are more significant to G-d than offering sacrifices.  

                                         As Isaiah  2:2-4 put it: 
And it shall come to pass in the end of days,
That the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the top of the mountains,
And He shall judge between the nations,
And they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nations,
Neither shall they learn war anymore,   

Resource:
My People --Abba Eban's History of the Jews, adapted by David Bamberger
Passover Haggadah with a new translation by Chaim Raphael
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

The World of Moses

Nadene Goldfoot
                                                                           

According to the Jewish timeline, Moses was born in 1391 BCE and died at the age of 120 in 1271 BCE.  That was 3,411 years ago in Egypt.  He was born to the slaves Jochebed and Amram of the tribe of Levi in Egypt.  Israelites had wandered into the Egyptian land many years ago and at this period in time, the Egyptians had become worried about their increased growth and had solved the way to stem it.  They had decreed the slaughter of all new-born males of Israelites.  

Jochebed hid her baby Moses among the reeds of the Nile River where he was found by the Pharaoh's daughter who raised him in her own household as a prince.  When he grew up and learned of his ancestry, he took a great interest in them and wound up killing an Egyptian overlord who was beating a Hebrew slave and knew that he himself had to flee or be killed for it.  
                                                      

He fled Eastward to Midian, which was a Beduin tribe related to the Hebrews where he survived by becoming a shepherd of sheep for the local priest, Jethro, and even married his daughter, Zipporah who gave him two sons, Gersham and Eliezer.  The Midianites would travel in caravans of incense from Gilead to Egypt and later to other countries. 
                                                     

 The strange thing is that later on in the desert period, the princes of Midian cooperated with Moab against Israel, and even later on conducted a plundering expedition against the Valley of Jezreel, repulsed by the Hebrew,Gideon during the period of the judges.  They lived near the Moabites and Edomites.  From the 2nd Temple times of 539 BCE, the Land of Midian was thought to be located in NW Arabia. 
                                                                           

The miracle of Judaism lies in remembering and celebrating this event which was the foundation of Judaism, for Moses became the lawgiver for Judaism, though he never knew the name, Judaism, for that was the name of the last of the 12 tribes of Jacob, grandson of Abraham, the tribe of Judah.  They are the ones who carried on the laws of Moses for about the past 3,293 years.  To be able to want to do this shows us how powerful an event this had been.  That's why we read about it every year since then and remember it in our holiday of Passover where we reenact it at our table of special foods with the unleavened bread called matzos that we eat for 8 days in replacement of leavened (with yeast) bread.  We suffer in this way like our ancestors who were led by Moses to freedom of slavery.  
                                                         

The Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, of that time  was not remembered by his name.  Pharaoh means the "Great House", referring to their royal palace.  People have been guessing since then which pharaoh it was who decreed killing babies to control populations.  

Egypt, the powerful nation

Thutmose IV's rule is significant because he established peaceful relations with Mitanni and married a Mitannian princess to seal this new alliance. Thutmose IV's role in initiating contact with Egypt's former rival, Mitanni, is documented by Amarna letter EA 29 composed decades later by Tushratta, a Mittanian king who ruled during the reign of Akhenaten, Thutmose IV's grandson. Tushratta states to Akhenaten that:"

                                                        

From Thutmose IV's tomb in Valley of Kings in Egypt

Pharaoh Menkheperure Thutmose IV 1400-1390 BCE
Probably he was the pharaoh that Moses and Aaron, his brother,  had to deal with.  Moses is said to have been born in 1391 BCE, the year before his ended.

" Little is known about his brief ten-year rule. He suppressed a minor uprising in Nubia in his 8th year (attested in his Konosso stela) around 1393 BC and was referred to in a stela as the Conqueror of Syria, but little else has been pieced together about his military exploits. Betsy Bryan, who penned a biography of Thutmose IV, says that Thutmose IV's Konosso stela appears to refer to a minor desert patrol action on the part of the king's forces to protect certain gold-mine routes in Egypt's Eastern Desert from occasional attacks by the Nubians."

The first dynasty of pharaohs goes back far more than Moses does.  Moses was quite recent in Egyptian history.  They started having kings in 3,150 BCE or 5,170 years ago.  The pharaoh we are interested in was not of the old kingdom or the middle kingdom but of the New Kingdom who reigned from 1400 BCE to 1390 BCE and that was Thutmose IV. He was the son of Amenhotep II and ruled at the height of Egypt's power.  This was a period of the rulers of the 18th dynasty.                                      

Son of Thutmos IV:  Amenhotep III  

                                                                                                        
Or, it could have been the next king who was Amenhotep III, who ruled from 1390 BCE to 1350 BCE and was the grandfather of Tutankhamun.  He was the son of Thutmos IV. Remember,  Moses was born in 1391 BCE, the year before Amehotep III's rule.  

Notice that the intelligence of the Egyptians at this time could only fathom how to draw profiles but not a full face or even a three-quarter face, yet they could draw the front view of the body.  I remember going through that period as a young child in trying to draw the back of the head showing the hair.  I think this is a sign of their mental development.  We teachers of primary grades could understand a child's intelligence by a drawing test called "DRAW A MAN TEST."  i gave points for each part of the drawing.  Naturally, a stick figure was pretty low in age development.  Yet their ability to use clay and such in creating statues was remarkable for even us today.  It could be they just preferred this artistic style.  

King Tut or Tutankhamun , grandson of the pharoah known to Moses:1342-1325 BCE; this is his death mask.  

                                                     

Limestone crudely carved  Stela of  Pharaoh Thutmose IV
adoring goddess Astarte-of 18th dynasty.

A Torah, First 5 books of Moses:  Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy; in Hebrew
called: Bereishis, Shemos, Veyikra, Bamidbar and Devarim;
read every Saturday (Shabbat) morning in a synagogue
out loud to congregation in Hebrew, starting with the Cohens,
then the Levites, then the Israelites. A man will know if he is
a Cohen or a Levite, information passed on through the centuries.
  

 Compare this with the information given to Moses in laws through G-d.  Not only that, but the whole story of Moses is amazing.  How about the 10 plagues brought onto the Egyptians as a result of Pharaoh's refusal to permit the Israelites to leave the country after being there for 400 years?   They were:
1. water of the Nile turning to blood; 2. frogs all over the place, 3. lice attacking man and beast; 4. flies (tsetse) or wild beasts; 5. murrain affecting the cattle (mad cow disease?)(anthrax)(any infectious disease)  6. boils; 7. heavy hail; 8. locusts devouring crops; 9. 3 days of darkness; 10. death of 1st-born of man and beast.  Part of our Seder tells about this every year.   

Since Moses, we have the return of Jews to Palestine causing the birth of modern Israel on May 14, 1948.  In Israel, orthodox Jewry reign.  There are very few Conservative and Reformed Jews living there.  The opposite is true of the USA.  In 2016 it was found that Conservative and Reform outweigh Orthodox Jews 5 times over.  I must add that after living in Haifa and then Safed for over 5 years, one cannot help but become orthodox in their beliefs.  You are living and breathing in the air that does things to you.  Seeing and living in the paths of ancient people of the bible causes one to have goosebumps.  I myself changed from just teaching to become a writer and producer and actress in my own plays.  I wouldn't have done that in the states.  In Israel in 1980 you were a pioneer, and called upon all your resources in helping to achieve anything.  Moses called upon G-d.  Or was it that actually G-d called upon Moses.  

The laws Moses gave us that shaped Judaism are upheld the most in Israel where it all began.  There are 613 laws total we are to follow, most of which are done normally anyway today.  We can certainly appreciate our ancient laws of food and sanitation, like washing our hands, etc, in these modern days of the Corona pandemic.  In fact, that was where we were in trouble many times living in other countries when a plague hit.  They would die and Jews may have lived through it, thought to have brought it about.  The Arabs are trashing us with this ancient accusation right now from Gaza.  

We will miss our family seder during Passover this year due to the Pandemic virus, and hope that all stay safe during this time.  We will attempt to do what we can in order to remember this time and look forward to doing a bang up job of it next year to help our children to remember.  Samayach Pesach, everyone!!

Resource:  The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pharaohs 
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/03/15/unlike-u-s-few-jews-in-israel-identify-as-reform-or-conservative/
Honest Reporting: We are already seeing antisemites trying to blame Jews and Israel for the coronavirus, journalists accusing Israel of being isolationist or even racist by limiting entry into the country, and of course there’s media bias related to non-virus issues, like Israel’s democracy, borders and security. (4/1/2020)
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Moses-Hebrew-prophet

Terrorist Attack on First Night of Passover in Israel Caused by Incitement

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                      

The Palestinians, led by Abbas, have had a non-stop policy of inciting their Palestinian people to perform acts of murder of Israelis.  It happened under Arafat and continues to this day.  Even during the past 9 month period of peace talks, Abbas has continued inciting acts of hatred, terror promotion and glorification of such acts while all the time demanding the release of past terrorists doing time in Israeli prisons as a condition to even sit down at the table with Israelis to talk.

This week's act was reprehensible.  An Israeli Jew, 40 year old Baruch Mizrahi, his wife and children were traveling with his family to a seder (large dinner)  for the first night of Passover and were driving through Judea/Samaria, the so called West Bank to get to their destination.  He was killed and his 28 year old wife injured.  They were the 2nd of 3 cars to become under terrorist attack on the highway near Hebron (Judea) near the Beit Guvrin Junction.  They had found themselves under AK-47 fire while traveling to this point, going from west to east.  A 9 year old child in the 3rd car was injured.  The 3-car convoy were members of the same family who were also traveling to the  seder.
                                                                         

Of course Hamas terrorists in Gaza praised the killing.  Jihad terrorists also added their praise for killing a Jewish father going to a special dinner.  The IDF (Israeli Defense Force) has a large manhunt out looking for the killers.

PM Netanyahu blames the PA's policy of incitement.  Recently Abbas and PM Dr. Rami Hamdallah honored 2 suicide bombers who murdered 16 people in 2001.  Hamdallah visited the families of the 2 terrorists following Israel's transfer of their bodies to the PA.

Maher Hbeishah was a suicide bomber on a bus in Haifa on December 2, 2001 and killed 15 people and wounded about 40.

Imad Zubeidi killed 1 and wounded more than 40 on April 22, 2001 as a suicide bomber at a bus stop in Kfar Saba (near Tel Aviv).  Israel transferred their bodies to the PA last month.

Hamdallah consoled the relatives and sent condolences from PM Abbas and expressed his wishes that God grant them His Paradise and grant their families forbearance and solace.

Another PA leader glorified terrorist murderers yesterday and justified their acts of terror to the Palestinians as self defense, which is a lie.  Nobody was attacking them at the time.  Showing another side of his face, he condemned the killing of any person when speaking to Israelis.

Dr. Rami Hamadallah supported terror on March 12, 2014 and this made the next day's Al Hayat Al-Jadida newspaper.  Mahmoud Al-Habbash said, "All the Palestinian prisoners who protected our land, honor and homeland are prisoners of freedom;  they are prisoners of war.  They are not criminals, will never be and have never been.  Their hands committed no crime.  They were defending themselves.  (suicide bombers).   they are an inseparable part of this national Palestinian movement and one of its authentic foundations.  We are completely loyal to them.  (Official PA TV on March 28, 2014).

Now Israel will have to start replacing those terrorists freed with new ones in the prisons  It might even turn out that some of those freed are again captured for continued acts of terror.

No wonder there never has been a peace treaty with the Palestinians with an attitude like that.  They wear their own brand of rose-colored glasses and see things much differently than we do.  This alone keeps them in a state of being deaf and dumb to all the offers given by the Israelis in making peace.

Update 4/17/14: from Arutz Sheva:  "Hadassah Mizrahi, whose husband, Chief Superintendent Baruch Mizrahi, was murdered on Monday, described the terror attack on Channel 2 television Wednesday.

"We were driving from Modi'in to Kiryat Arba,” she said. “At the Tarkumia checkpoint, we said hello to the soldiers, and kept going. After the first roundabout, a terrorist was standing at the roadside. Baruch shouted 'A terrorist! Shooting!' and pressed the gas pedal.”

"Then I took a bullet,” she continued, calmly."  They have 5 children.  She took over the car the minute she knew her husband was dead even though she had been hit and must have driven it from the passenger side.  She was able to call the police and also the soldiers came to her aid.  

Resource: Al- Hayat Al-jadida, March 13, 2014
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc.id=11246.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/israeli-killed-in-passover-eve-terror-attack/
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4510148,00.html

President Obama's Upcoming March Visit to Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
President Obama, in his 2nd term of office, is planning to visit Israel in March.  This will be his first visit as a president.  He plans to talk with the Palestinian Authority, Abbas as well and Jordan's King Abdullah II.   He had visited once when he was a candidate for the presidency in 2008.  On June 4, 2009 as a new president he visited Cairo, Egypt  and made an important speech at Cairo University called "A New Beginning."  That was almost a prophesy.  He chose Egypt, he said because it was the heart of the Arab world.  .

One of the top priorities of Prime Minister Netanyahu in his new term is to resume talks with the PA. The PA has been refusing to talk with Netanyahu unless certain conditions they are demanding are met first.

1. A full construction freeze everywhere east of the 1949 armistice line, including much of Jerusalem.  I believe they have upped the ante here from the last time they left the table.
2. The release of terrorist prisoners.
3. Allow weapons imports.
4. Agree in principle to giving the PA all of Judea and Samaria with possible land swaps for their Palestine.

For a group who fought against Israel in 1967, 1973, 1982 and consistently have been shooting missiles, mortars and rockets into southern Israel since 2001 and having just recently agreed to a cease fire, they certainly are demanding.

 The fact remains that Israel was created legitimately and followed all the legal procedures but that the Palestinians have never accepted them.  They have made it quite plain that they plan to drive Israel into the sea for the past 64+ years.  Israel has in the past given up land for peace which has just whet the Arab's  appetite to take a piece more, and another piece of teeny Israel.  The truth is that they want to create a state 65 years later than when they were first offered land, and that the land Israel was promised has already been chopped up so that it was only created on 20% of their original piece.   What gives the Palestinian Arabs the right to be so persnickety?  They're not the ones who have yearned or needed their own state for the past 2,000 years.

Obama said he is not coming to present any new proposals for peace talks, though these issues are bound to come up.  It is to be John Kerry, the new Secretary of State who will be working on that.  Obama is just coming on a visit being both Netanyahu and Obama are starting their new terms and that this is a Presidential visit, being he didn't come in the past 4 years. Obama  and  Netanyahu  will "try to move past the friction of the last four years now that both have won re-election. The relationship between the two leaders has been edgy for years over issues like Israel’s settlements in Judea and Samaria and ways to stop Iran's Nuclear program, but Obama wants to show support for Israel by visiting.  I see a change in the makeup of the government has something to do with it as well which is why Abbas has wanted to talk with the newly elected Knesset members.  .

Exactly when he is coming and for how long is not known yet. He is to come in the Spring, which starts on March 20th.   Palm Sunday falls on the 24th of March and Passover begins at sundown on the 25th of March which is a Monday.  Good Friday is the 29th. Easter is on March 31st.   The 8th and last day of Passover is on April 2nd.  This is a very busy and important month for both Christians and Jews.

He will visit with Abbas and the King of Jordan and their officials.  The PA has high hopes that this visit will lead to the establishment of Palestine on lands "occupied since 1967."  Since his first term started in January 2009, he has visited 35 different countries, but not Israel.  The USA still does not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Resource: Arutz Sheva news@israelnationalnews.com Obama won''t present new peace initiative during Israel trip.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidential_trips_made_by_Barack_Obama
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/06/world/middleeast/obama-to-visit-israel-in-spring.html?_r=0
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/aug/07/mitt-romney/romney-says-obama-has-not-visited-israel-president/
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/05/opinion/the-truth-about-obama-and-israel.html?_r=0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_New_Beginning

Our Muslim Anti-Semitic Cousins, Not Kissing Cousins

Nadene Goldfoot
It's hard for American Jews to accept, but most of the anti-Semitic acts happening around the world are from our cousins, also Semites, the Muslims.

We just experienced one of many acts coming from France.  This time a Rabbi, his two children and a little girl, daughter of the head of the Jewish school, were deliberately slaughtered for no reason other than that they were Jewish.  Mohamed Meharin, French Algerian, had even visited Israel in 2010 for 3 days, getting there through Jordan's Allenby Bridge. 

In 2000, European Jews had more synagogue attacks than what occured in 1938 when the Nazis were coming into power.

Al-Qaeda's Chicago bomb plot after September 11th  2001 attack included synagogues.  There are less attacks on Israeli consulates and other "Zionist" targets showing that Muslims are more anti-Semitic than against Israel.  It's either that or that synagogues are  more convenient and easier targets for them.

However, in 2002 Hamas carried out the Passover Massacre at a Seder in the Park Hotel in Netanya, Israel, a place I have been several times.  They killed dozens and injured over 100. 

Tunisia: after Passover in 2002, a gas truck was set on fire outside the Ghriba Synagogue, the oldest one in North Africa.

In 2004 the PA's Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade (Fatah group)  plotted to detonate a bomb with HIV positive blood during Passover.  They were found out.

In 2007, a car bomb with 220 lbs of explosives was to be detonated in Tel Aviv during a Passover Seder by a suicide bomber who backed out at the last minute and was found out. 

New York, USA -2011 : Two Muslim men, Ahmed Ferhani, Algerian, an unstable criminal and a drug user and Mohamed Mamdouh, from Casablanca, Morocco, plotting to blow up synagogues. They were going to dress up as Hassidic Jews and walk inside with a hand grenade and a gun. They were also planning on blowing up churches. Ahmed's lawyer and Civil Rights attorney, Elizabeth Fink, claimed that he was just an innocent mentally ill violent ex-con set up by the Islamophobic cretins at the NYPD.

Washington DC -2012 Amine El Khalifi, an illegal Moroccan, started out to attack a synagogue but switched gears and tried to attack the US Capitol instead with the help of Federal agents that were under cover agents.  He thought they were al Qaida men.  Synagogues are fair game, it seems. A large percent of Muslim terrorist attacks in the USA are on synagogues.

Milan, Italy: -2012 a Moroccan Muslim, Mohamed Jarmoune, organized a bomb plot against a synagogue. He had set up a covert Facebook group including American and British Muslims to crowd-source the terror using social media. A Muslim woman involved in the same plot was arrested in London, England.

Istanbul, Turkey, Cairo, Egypt and Milan, Italy all are taking steps to stop terrorists.  To attend services in Istanbul you must notify the government in advance and get pre-approval.  Cairo has bomb sniffing dogs outside.  Milan checks bags.  European synagogues must use metal detectors, bulletproof glass and armed guards.  American synagogues are slowly starting to use more precautions. So are community centers.  There are very few Jews left in Egypt today.  I taught with a young lady from Egypt and she thought only a few older people had stayed behind.  Most all 23,000 Jews of Turkey today live in Istanbul.  They have 20 synagogues there.  There are at least 20 synagogues in Milan. 

Yes, in several of the above cases, the NY police involved themselves with these anti-Semitic potential synagogue attackers before the event occurred and was able to prevent harm.  I consider us lucky that they reached them first before the real al Qaida men did, as the stories could have ended like the one in France just did.  There, the police knew about the killer before he attacked the Jewish school but nothing was done to prevent it from happening. 

Resource: http://frontpagemag.com/2012/03/27/terror-for-passover/print/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghriba_synagogue_bombing
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/federal-agents-arrest-man-who-allegedly-planned-suicide-bombing-on-us-capitol/2012/02/17/gIQAtYZ7JR_story.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/14/ahmed-ferhanis-synagogue-bombing-nypd_n_1344433.html
http://www.metro.us/newyork/local/article/859155--ahmed-ferhani-and-mohamed-mamdouh-undercover-cops-foil-terror-plans
http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2010/03/norway-muslims-attack-jews-in-school.html
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4197449/Arrests-in-Italy-synagogue-plot.html
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul
http://www.mavensearch.com/synagogues/C3402Y41806RX