JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER.
1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
Scandinavian satirists fight for free speech amid threats-Finding themselves on Al-Qaeda’s hit list doesn’t keep cartoonists and editors from lampooning religion, including Islam-By Pierre-Henry DESHAYES February 20, 2015, 5:21 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — Insults, axe attacks and bullets — nothing deters Scandinavian journalists and cartoonists in the crosshairs of radical jihadists from free speech even if it means living under permanent police protection.The most prominent in recent years, 68-year-old Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, whipped up a storm across the Muslim world with his now storied 2007 sketch of the prophet Mohammed as a dog.Targeted in several foiled plots, Vilks survived the latest attempt on his life last weekend when a gunmen sprayed a hail of bullets at a Copenhagen cultural centre hosting a conference on blasphemy where the controversial cartoonist was a guest speaker.One of four Scandinavians on an Al-Qaeda hit list of 11 enemy targets, Vilks told AFP that despite the violence nothing could prevent him from speaking in public.“I have no plans to give up,” he said this week. “It’s just a question of security. It may not be appropriate to speak publicly, I don’t know yet but it would be tragic if that was the case.”Under constant police protection since 2010, Vilks was moved to an undisclosed location after the shooting where he will continue to work.“I am a fighter who has been through quite a lot,” he said.
‘Wanted dead or alive’
For a decade now Scandinavia has lived under Islamist threat for pushing the boundaries of a free press.The battle began in 2005 with the publication by Danish daily Jyllands-Posten of 12 cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed deemed so offensive in the Muslim world that they sparked global protests.Most controversial of all was the depiction of the Islamic prophet wearing a bomb in his turban, the work of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, now 80 years old.The men responsible for the publication of the cartoons, later reprinted by others including French weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo, were the former editor-in-chief of the large-circulation newspaper, Carsten Juste and its former culture editor Flemming Rose.The three Danes and Vilks are among 11 people targeted in 2013 by the Islamist magazine Inspire as “wanted dead or alive for crimes against Islam.”The list includes “The Satanic Verses” author Salman Rushdie and Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Stephane Charbonnier, one of 12 people killed when jihadist gunmen stormed the Paris office of the weekly last month.Westergaard has been targeted several times, including in an axe attack by a Somali hitman in 2010 in which he made an escape to his high-security bathroom.Now elderly, Westergaard has largely withdrawn from the public eye, as has Juste, who is 67.In Sweden, Vilks is continuing his critique of Islam though satire on religion is less widespread there than in some other European countries.
Return to ‘Middle Ages’
Rose too remains an active proponent of the right to free speech in his role as foreign editor of Jyllands-Posten, where security is tight and where he is constantly accompanied by bodyguards.“A Europe without blasphemy is back in the Middle Ages,” the 56-year-old journalist wrote in a column this week in Britain’s Guardian newspaper.His fight for free speech earned him a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize this year and on Tuesday Danish daily Politiken — having in 2010 apologised for reprinting some of the cartoons — said in an editorial that the threat to freedom of expression “has gradually dawned on even the most staunch multiculturalists.”While hate speech and defamation are punishable by law throughout Scandinavia, Sweden became the first country in the world to legally protect press freedom in 1766.All five Nordic countries made the top 10 list for freedom of expression in 2013 rankings published by Reporters Without Borders.But unlike the rest of the Danish press, Rose’s embattled paper Jyllands-Posten refused to carry Charlie Hebdo’s satirical cartoons after the January attacks, citing security reasons.“Who says that it was a must to reprint these drawings?” Danish media expert Lasse Jensen told AFP.“I don’t think that freedom of expression today in Denmark is any more threatened than a week, a month or 10 years ago. People still express themselves and they do so freely.”Like us on Facebook Get our newsletter Follow us on Twitter
Netanyahu: ‘What is there to hide’ in Iran deal? After US admits to withholding details, PM says he knows specifics of proposed pact; Kerry to be out of town during Congress speech-By AP and Times of Israel staff February 20, 2015, 12:23 am
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he knows the details of the deal being forged with Iran over its nuclear program, asking “What is there to hide?” after the US said it was withholding some information on the talks.Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks came a day after the Obama administration said it is keeping some specifics from Israel because it fears the close US ally has leaked sensitive information to try to scuttle the talks — and will continue to do so.“We know that Tehran knows the details of the talks. Now I tell you that Israel also knows the details of the proposed agreement,” Netanyahu said during a speech at the Public Security Ministry in Lod Thursday.“I think this is a bad agreement that is dangerous for the state of Israel, and not only for it. If anyone thinks otherwise what is there to hide here?” he said.The prime minister’s remarks echoed similar statements he made Wednesday during a meeting with US Senator David Perdue (R-GA): “The Iranians of course know the details of that proposal and Israel does too… So when we say that the current proposal would lead to a bad deal, a dangerous deal, we know what we’re talking about, Senator.”Netanyahu has angered the White House with his open opposition to a deal he believes threatens Israel’s existence, and by accepting a Republican invitation to address Congress about Iran in early March without consulting the White House, a breach of diplomatic protocol.US President Barack Obama and US Secretary of State John Kerry indicated early on that they would not meet with Netanyahu during his visit, with the State Department announcing Thursday that Kerry was likely to be out of town during the speech. Earlier this week, officials in Vice President Joe Biden’s office said he would be on a state visit to Latin America when Netanyahu addresses the joint session of Congress.The planned speech has caused an uproar in Israel as well, coming just two weeks before national elections. Netanyahu has rejected the criticism, saying it is his duty to lobby against the nuclear deal.US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki questioned Netanyahu’s claim to knowing the details of the deal. “Then the fact is that he knows more than the negotiators, in that there is no deal yet,” she said.“Obviously, if there’s a deal we’ll be explaining the deal and explaining why and how it prevents Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. And if that’s the case and we come to a deal, it’s hard to see how anyone wouldn’t see that’s to the benefit of the international community,” she said.Israel views a nuclear-armed Iran as a threat to its very existence, citing Tehran’s repeated calls for Israel’s destruction, its long-range missile program and its support for anti-Israel terror groups like Lebanon’s Hezbollah.Iran insists that its nuclear program is for purely civilian purposes.Netanyahu’s National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen is in Washington for talks with top US officials, despite the strains between the allies. On Wednesday, he met with Obama’s senior Iran negotiator Wendy Sherman, and Kerry made an unscheduled stop at their session, evidently to indicate that communication between the two leaderships was still continuing at senior levels. Kerry is set to resume negotiations with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif at the weekend.
US jury to decide if Palestinian authorities to blame for attacks-In civil trial, American victims of Palestinian terror seek damages that could reach into the billions of dollars-By AP and AFP February 19, 2015, 11:37 pm 2
Palestinian authorities shouldn’t be blamed for a series of deadly terror attacks in Israel that killed or wounded Americans in the early 2000s, a lawyer told a New York City jury Thursday at a high-stakes civil trial.In his closing argument, defense attorney Mark Rochon said there was no proof the PLO and the Palestinian Authority sanctioned the six attacks as alleged in a 2004 lawsuit, even though members of their security forces were convicted in Israeli courts on charges they were involved.“It is not the right thing to hold the government liable for some people doing crazy and terrible things,” defense attorney Mark Rochon said in his closing argument.“There is no conclusive evidence that the senior leadership of the PA or PLO were involved in planning or approving specific acts of violence.”“What they did, they did for their own reasons… not the Palestinian Authority’s,” he said in federal court in Manhattan.The six attacks in question took place between 2001 and 2004, killing 33 people and injuring more than 390 others, including members of the 11 plaintiff families.A lawyer for the plaintiffs was to give his closing argument later Thursday.The civil case in Manhattan and another in Brooklyn have emerged as the most notable attempts by American victims of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to use US courts to seek damages that could reach into the billions of dollars.The suits against the PLO and Palestinian Authority and the other against the Jordan-based Arab Bank had languished for years as the defendants challenged the American courts’ jurisdiction. But recent rulings found that they should go forward under the Anti-Terrorism Act, a more than two-decade-old law that allows victims of US-designated foreign terrorist organizations to seek compensation.The plaintiffs in the Manhattan case have relied partly on internal records showing that the Palestinian Authority continued to pay the salaries of employees who were put behind bars in terror cases and paid benefits to families of suicide bombers and gunmen who died committing the attacks. Jurors also heard testimony from family members of people killed in the attacks and from those who survived but never fully recovered.On Thursday, Rochon argued that it was illogical to conclude that payments made after the attacks motivated the attackers in the first place.“You know a lot about prisoner payments and martyr payments,” he told the jury. “Do you have any evidence that they caused these attacks? No.”Last year, a Brooklyn jury decided that Arab Bank should be held responsible for a wave of Hamas-orchestrated suicide bombings that left Americans dead or wounded based on claims the financial institution knowingly did business with the terror group.A separate phase of the Brooklyn trial dealing with damages, set to begin in May, will feature testimony from victims.
Cleric: Sun revolves around Earth-Sheikh Bandar al-Khaibari dismisses Copernican astronomical model, says moon landing a Hollywood fabrication By Times of Israel staff February 19, 2015, 11:11 pm
A cleric from Saudi Arabia aimed to redefine science in the 21st century by claiming that the sun revolves around the Earth and not the other way around, as scientists have foolishly thought for centuries.Sheikh Bandar al-Khaibari gave a lecture recently about his version of how the universe works in the United Arab Emirates, dropping this groundbreaking discovery on stunned students at a university in the Gulf state, Al Arabiya reported.When one student asked about the movement of planets, the cleric maintained that Earth was “stationary and does not move,” explaining that if the planet did indeed rotate, planes could not reach their destination.The sheikh also joined thousands of conspiracy theorists worldwide in asserting that the moon landing was a “Hollywood fabrication.”
Bibi’s call for aliya: clumsy but correct-February 18, 2015, 10:37 am 10-Gideon D. Sylvester-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL-Gideon D. Sylvester Rabbi Gideon Sylvester is the British United Synagogue's rabbi in Israel and Senior Rabbinic Educator in Israel for T'ruah
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s repeated calls for aliya from European Jewish communities have generated considerable debate. While some support his bold restatement of Zionism, others resent his comments believing that they are clumsy and ill timed. He could, they suggest, have made his point equally well with far greater subtlety.Such tensions are not new. Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion was equally capable of impropriety. When, in 1957, Greville Janner, one of Britain’s most distinguished Jewish parliamentarians, was asked to introduce the Israeli Prime Minister at a fund raising event, he faced an awkward situation. At the appointed hour, there was no sign of the Prime Minister. Time passed, and still he did not arrive. No one knew quite what to do. Oblivious to his commitments, Ben Gurion had been happily browsing in a London bookshop. Eventually, half an hour late, he strode into the room. As Janner attempted to introduce him, Ben Gurion heckled; “You are a proud Jew. Why don’t you come and live in Israel?” Throughout Janner’s speech, the Prime Minister interrupted him demanding to know why he had not yet made his home in Israel.Aliya need not be based on the guilt trips of Israel’s political leadership nor its doomsday predictions for the diaspora. But these are not justifications for staying put either. It behooves us to seek out the many positive reasons for making Israel our home.Speaking at Makom, the Israel educational lab of the Jewish Agency, Israeli journalist, Gadi Taub recalled interviews with Concentration Camp survivors who described their feelings as they were liberated. One woman told a surprising story. “My most powerful moment occurred as I clambered up the gangplank of our ship to Palestine and I saw a large sign engraved with the Hebrew word for ‘entrance’,” she recalled.Explaining its significance, she said, ‘I grew up in pre-war Europe where we were very discreet about our Judaism. It was always private and understated. Hebrew only ever appeared in the small fonts of prayer books and bibles, so I had never seen Hebrew letters written so bold and so big. Now, we were on our way to the future State of Israel and I understood that our Jewish identity could be confident, proud and public’.For Ben Gurion, such displays of our Jewish heritage were not enough; they had to be backed by moral vision. When, around 1914, his own brother began preparing for aliya with a scheme to sustain himself by launching Palestine’s first lottery, Ben Gurion responded by telling him not to bother coming. In a letter written to their father, Ben Gurion explained that with such plans, it would be better for his brother to remain in Poland. “Eretz Yisrael is not just a geographical concept. Eretz Yisrael must be a process of repairing and purifying our lives, changing our values in the loftiest sense of the term. If we merely bring the life of the ghetto into Eretz Yisrael, then what’s the difference if we live that life here or live it there?”This idea was amplified for me by my teacher Rabbi Shlomo Riskin. He once told my class that he made aliya because of peanut butter. We were skeptical; was Israeli peanut butter so superior to diaspora brands? He explained that as a rabbi in America, religious questions centered on technical, ritual issues such as the kashrut of every make of peanut butter. These questions have a sacred place in Jewish life, but Israel offers additional possibilities for religious expression. Jewish sovereignty enables us to engage with bigger challenges such as how to build an ethical Jewish society with an effective education system, a moral army and appropriate health care for all. This is the thrill and the challenge of Zionism and life in Israel.Israel is the national homeland of the Jewish people. Living securely in our Biblical homeland, walking in the footsteps of our ancestors and praying at our holiest places are powerful experiences. It’s the simplest place in the world to uphold Jewish tradition, and it offers unique opportunities to build an entire society based on our Jewish vision of justice, compassion and spirituality. According to the Talmud (Sotah14a) this is why Moses begged to be allowed into the Land of Israel. He was not interested in the physical benefits of the country, but rather for its spiritual possibilities. Israel celebrates our past, but more importantly, it shapes our future. It is the largest project of the Jewish people in thousands of years and possibly the most exciting.If Jewish destiny means anything, here is where we will fulfil it. We face major challenges and we have much work to do. But for those who are excited by their Jewish identity, willing to accept the Jewish mission of building a holy, wholly ethical society, there is nowhere better. That is why those Jews who can should come home to Israel.
Scandinavian satirists fight for free speech amid threats-Finding themselves on Al-Qaeda’s hit list doesn’t keep cartoonists and editors from lampooning religion, including Islam-By Pierre-Henry DESHAYES February 20, 2015, 5:21 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — Insults, axe attacks and bullets — nothing deters Scandinavian journalists and cartoonists in the crosshairs of radical jihadists from free speech even if it means living under permanent police protection.The most prominent in recent years, 68-year-old Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, whipped up a storm across the Muslim world with his now storied 2007 sketch of the prophet Mohammed as a dog.Targeted in several foiled plots, Vilks survived the latest attempt on his life last weekend when a gunmen sprayed a hail of bullets at a Copenhagen cultural centre hosting a conference on blasphemy where the controversial cartoonist was a guest speaker.One of four Scandinavians on an Al-Qaeda hit list of 11 enemy targets, Vilks told AFP that despite the violence nothing could prevent him from speaking in public.“I have no plans to give up,” he said this week. “It’s just a question of security. It may not be appropriate to speak publicly, I don’t know yet but it would be tragic if that was the case.”Under constant police protection since 2010, Vilks was moved to an undisclosed location after the shooting where he will continue to work.“I am a fighter who has been through quite a lot,” he said.
‘Wanted dead or alive’
For a decade now Scandinavia has lived under Islamist threat for pushing the boundaries of a free press.The battle began in 2005 with the publication by Danish daily Jyllands-Posten of 12 cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed deemed so offensive in the Muslim world that they sparked global protests.Most controversial of all was the depiction of the Islamic prophet wearing a bomb in his turban, the work of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, now 80 years old.The men responsible for the publication of the cartoons, later reprinted by others including French weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo, were the former editor-in-chief of the large-circulation newspaper, Carsten Juste and its former culture editor Flemming Rose.The three Danes and Vilks are among 11 people targeted in 2013 by the Islamist magazine Inspire as “wanted dead or alive for crimes against Islam.”The list includes “The Satanic Verses” author Salman Rushdie and Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Stephane Charbonnier, one of 12 people killed when jihadist gunmen stormed the Paris office of the weekly last month.Westergaard has been targeted several times, including in an axe attack by a Somali hitman in 2010 in which he made an escape to his high-security bathroom.Now elderly, Westergaard has largely withdrawn from the public eye, as has Juste, who is 67.In Sweden, Vilks is continuing his critique of Islam though satire on religion is less widespread there than in some other European countries.
Return to ‘Middle Ages’
Rose too remains an active proponent of the right to free speech in his role as foreign editor of Jyllands-Posten, where security is tight and where he is constantly accompanied by bodyguards.“A Europe without blasphemy is back in the Middle Ages,” the 56-year-old journalist wrote in a column this week in Britain’s Guardian newspaper.His fight for free speech earned him a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize this year and on Tuesday Danish daily Politiken — having in 2010 apologised for reprinting some of the cartoons — said in an editorial that the threat to freedom of expression “has gradually dawned on even the most staunch multiculturalists.”While hate speech and defamation are punishable by law throughout Scandinavia, Sweden became the first country in the world to legally protect press freedom in 1766.All five Nordic countries made the top 10 list for freedom of expression in 2013 rankings published by Reporters Without Borders.But unlike the rest of the Danish press, Rose’s embattled paper Jyllands-Posten refused to carry Charlie Hebdo’s satirical cartoons after the January attacks, citing security reasons.“Who says that it was a must to reprint these drawings?” Danish media expert Lasse Jensen told AFP.“I don’t think that freedom of expression today in Denmark is any more threatened than a week, a month or 10 years ago. People still express themselves and they do so freely.”Like us on Facebook Get our newsletter Follow us on Twitter
Netanyahu: ‘What is there to hide’ in Iran deal? After US admits to withholding details, PM says he knows specifics of proposed pact; Kerry to be out of town during Congress speech-By AP and Times of Israel staff February 20, 2015, 12:23 am
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he knows the details of the deal being forged with Iran over its nuclear program, asking “What is there to hide?” after the US said it was withholding some information on the talks.Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks came a day after the Obama administration said it is keeping some specifics from Israel because it fears the close US ally has leaked sensitive information to try to scuttle the talks — and will continue to do so.“We know that Tehran knows the details of the talks. Now I tell you that Israel also knows the details of the proposed agreement,” Netanyahu said during a speech at the Public Security Ministry in Lod Thursday.“I think this is a bad agreement that is dangerous for the state of Israel, and not only for it. If anyone thinks otherwise what is there to hide here?” he said.The prime minister’s remarks echoed similar statements he made Wednesday during a meeting with US Senator David Perdue (R-GA): “The Iranians of course know the details of that proposal and Israel does too… So when we say that the current proposal would lead to a bad deal, a dangerous deal, we know what we’re talking about, Senator.”Netanyahu has angered the White House with his open opposition to a deal he believes threatens Israel’s existence, and by accepting a Republican invitation to address Congress about Iran in early March without consulting the White House, a breach of diplomatic protocol.US President Barack Obama and US Secretary of State John Kerry indicated early on that they would not meet with Netanyahu during his visit, with the State Department announcing Thursday that Kerry was likely to be out of town during the speech. Earlier this week, officials in Vice President Joe Biden’s office said he would be on a state visit to Latin America when Netanyahu addresses the joint session of Congress.The planned speech has caused an uproar in Israel as well, coming just two weeks before national elections. Netanyahu has rejected the criticism, saying it is his duty to lobby against the nuclear deal.US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki questioned Netanyahu’s claim to knowing the details of the deal. “Then the fact is that he knows more than the negotiators, in that there is no deal yet,” she said.“Obviously, if there’s a deal we’ll be explaining the deal and explaining why and how it prevents Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. And if that’s the case and we come to a deal, it’s hard to see how anyone wouldn’t see that’s to the benefit of the international community,” she said.Israel views a nuclear-armed Iran as a threat to its very existence, citing Tehran’s repeated calls for Israel’s destruction, its long-range missile program and its support for anti-Israel terror groups like Lebanon’s Hezbollah.Iran insists that its nuclear program is for purely civilian purposes.Netanyahu’s National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen is in Washington for talks with top US officials, despite the strains between the allies. On Wednesday, he met with Obama’s senior Iran negotiator Wendy Sherman, and Kerry made an unscheduled stop at their session, evidently to indicate that communication between the two leaderships was still continuing at senior levels. Kerry is set to resume negotiations with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif at the weekend.
US jury to decide if Palestinian authorities to blame for attacks-In civil trial, American victims of Palestinian terror seek damages that could reach into the billions of dollars-By AP and AFP February 19, 2015, 11:37 pm 2
Palestinian authorities shouldn’t be blamed for a series of deadly terror attacks in Israel that killed or wounded Americans in the early 2000s, a lawyer told a New York City jury Thursday at a high-stakes civil trial.In his closing argument, defense attorney Mark Rochon said there was no proof the PLO and the Palestinian Authority sanctioned the six attacks as alleged in a 2004 lawsuit, even though members of their security forces were convicted in Israeli courts on charges they were involved.“It is not the right thing to hold the government liable for some people doing crazy and terrible things,” defense attorney Mark Rochon said in his closing argument.“There is no conclusive evidence that the senior leadership of the PA or PLO were involved in planning or approving specific acts of violence.”“What they did, they did for their own reasons… not the Palestinian Authority’s,” he said in federal court in Manhattan.The six attacks in question took place between 2001 and 2004, killing 33 people and injuring more than 390 others, including members of the 11 plaintiff families.A lawyer for the plaintiffs was to give his closing argument later Thursday.The civil case in Manhattan and another in Brooklyn have emerged as the most notable attempts by American victims of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to use US courts to seek damages that could reach into the billions of dollars.The suits against the PLO and Palestinian Authority and the other against the Jordan-based Arab Bank had languished for years as the defendants challenged the American courts’ jurisdiction. But recent rulings found that they should go forward under the Anti-Terrorism Act, a more than two-decade-old law that allows victims of US-designated foreign terrorist organizations to seek compensation.The plaintiffs in the Manhattan case have relied partly on internal records showing that the Palestinian Authority continued to pay the salaries of employees who were put behind bars in terror cases and paid benefits to families of suicide bombers and gunmen who died committing the attacks. Jurors also heard testimony from family members of people killed in the attacks and from those who survived but never fully recovered.On Thursday, Rochon argued that it was illogical to conclude that payments made after the attacks motivated the attackers in the first place.“You know a lot about prisoner payments and martyr payments,” he told the jury. “Do you have any evidence that they caused these attacks? No.”Last year, a Brooklyn jury decided that Arab Bank should be held responsible for a wave of Hamas-orchestrated suicide bombings that left Americans dead or wounded based on claims the financial institution knowingly did business with the terror group.A separate phase of the Brooklyn trial dealing with damages, set to begin in May, will feature testimony from victims.
Cleric: Sun revolves around Earth-Sheikh Bandar al-Khaibari dismisses Copernican astronomical model, says moon landing a Hollywood fabrication By Times of Israel staff February 19, 2015, 11:11 pm
A cleric from Saudi Arabia aimed to redefine science in the 21st century by claiming that the sun revolves around the Earth and not the other way around, as scientists have foolishly thought for centuries.Sheikh Bandar al-Khaibari gave a lecture recently about his version of how the universe works in the United Arab Emirates, dropping this groundbreaking discovery on stunned students at a university in the Gulf state, Al Arabiya reported.When one student asked about the movement of planets, the cleric maintained that Earth was “stationary and does not move,” explaining that if the planet did indeed rotate, planes could not reach their destination.The sheikh also joined thousands of conspiracy theorists worldwide in asserting that the moon landing was a “Hollywood fabrication.”
Bibi’s call for aliya: clumsy but correct-February 18, 2015, 10:37 am 10-Gideon D. Sylvester-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL-Gideon D. Sylvester Rabbi Gideon Sylvester is the British United Synagogue's rabbi in Israel and Senior Rabbinic Educator in Israel for T'ruah
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s repeated calls for aliya from European Jewish communities have generated considerable debate. While some support his bold restatement of Zionism, others resent his comments believing that they are clumsy and ill timed. He could, they suggest, have made his point equally well with far greater subtlety.Such tensions are not new. Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion was equally capable of impropriety. When, in 1957, Greville Janner, one of Britain’s most distinguished Jewish parliamentarians, was asked to introduce the Israeli Prime Minister at a fund raising event, he faced an awkward situation. At the appointed hour, there was no sign of the Prime Minister. Time passed, and still he did not arrive. No one knew quite what to do. Oblivious to his commitments, Ben Gurion had been happily browsing in a London bookshop. Eventually, half an hour late, he strode into the room. As Janner attempted to introduce him, Ben Gurion heckled; “You are a proud Jew. Why don’t you come and live in Israel?” Throughout Janner’s speech, the Prime Minister interrupted him demanding to know why he had not yet made his home in Israel.Aliya need not be based on the guilt trips of Israel’s political leadership nor its doomsday predictions for the diaspora. But these are not justifications for staying put either. It behooves us to seek out the many positive reasons for making Israel our home.Speaking at Makom, the Israel educational lab of the Jewish Agency, Israeli journalist, Gadi Taub recalled interviews with Concentration Camp survivors who described their feelings as they were liberated. One woman told a surprising story. “My most powerful moment occurred as I clambered up the gangplank of our ship to Palestine and I saw a large sign engraved with the Hebrew word for ‘entrance’,” she recalled.Explaining its significance, she said, ‘I grew up in pre-war Europe where we were very discreet about our Judaism. It was always private and understated. Hebrew only ever appeared in the small fonts of prayer books and bibles, so I had never seen Hebrew letters written so bold and so big. Now, we were on our way to the future State of Israel and I understood that our Jewish identity could be confident, proud and public’.For Ben Gurion, such displays of our Jewish heritage were not enough; they had to be backed by moral vision. When, around 1914, his own brother began preparing for aliya with a scheme to sustain himself by launching Palestine’s first lottery, Ben Gurion responded by telling him not to bother coming. In a letter written to their father, Ben Gurion explained that with such plans, it would be better for his brother to remain in Poland. “Eretz Yisrael is not just a geographical concept. Eretz Yisrael must be a process of repairing and purifying our lives, changing our values in the loftiest sense of the term. If we merely bring the life of the ghetto into Eretz Yisrael, then what’s the difference if we live that life here or live it there?”This idea was amplified for me by my teacher Rabbi Shlomo Riskin. He once told my class that he made aliya because of peanut butter. We were skeptical; was Israeli peanut butter so superior to diaspora brands? He explained that as a rabbi in America, religious questions centered on technical, ritual issues such as the kashrut of every make of peanut butter. These questions have a sacred place in Jewish life, but Israel offers additional possibilities for religious expression. Jewish sovereignty enables us to engage with bigger challenges such as how to build an ethical Jewish society with an effective education system, a moral army and appropriate health care for all. This is the thrill and the challenge of Zionism and life in Israel.Israel is the national homeland of the Jewish people. Living securely in our Biblical homeland, walking in the footsteps of our ancestors and praying at our holiest places are powerful experiences. It’s the simplest place in the world to uphold Jewish tradition, and it offers unique opportunities to build an entire society based on our Jewish vision of justice, compassion and spirituality. According to the Talmud (Sotah14a) this is why Moses begged to be allowed into the Land of Israel. He was not interested in the physical benefits of the country, but rather for its spiritual possibilities. Israel celebrates our past, but more importantly, it shapes our future. It is the largest project of the Jewish people in thousands of years and possibly the most exciting.If Jewish destiny means anything, here is where we will fulfil it. We face major challenges and we have much work to do. But for those who are excited by their Jewish identity, willing to accept the Jewish mission of building a holy, wholly ethical society, there is nowhere better. That is why those Jews who can should come home to Israel.
