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)
LUKE 21:28-29
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
Paris Mideast summit postponed over Kerry scheduling clash-French President Francois Hollande says conference opposed by Israel will take place ‘in the summer’; embassy says France ‘looking for a new date’-By AFP and Raoul Wootliff May 17, 2016, 10:35 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
A conference on the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, due to be held on May 30 in Paris, has been postponed, French President Francois Hollande said Tuesday, days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Paris to call it off.“(US Secretary of State) John Kerry cannot come on May 30 so it has been delayed. It will take place in the summer,” Hollande told French radio.The summit, set to be held in Paris, will host an international meeting of 20 countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, to discuss the peace process. Israel and the Palestinians have not been invited and while Jerusalem has rejected the idea, it has been welcomed in Ramallah.A spokesperson for the French Embassy in Israel told The Times of Israel that Paris is “looking for a new date.”Hollande said it was vital for France to take “a strong initiative” in the dispute.“If not… what will happen? Settlement building, attacks,” he said.The US State Department said Monday that Secretary of State John Kerry would be unavailable on the day of the conference, which falls on the US Memorial Day holiday honoring members of the armed forces who died in combat, but that the United States and France are looking into a possible alternative date for the ministerial discussions.“We’ve made it clear that the May 30 date originally proposed by the French would not work for the secretary and for his schedule,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said. “We’re in discussions right now with the French about any possible alternative date that might better work for the secretary.”Kerry’s agenda in May is already “jammed,” Kirby said. The secretary of state is currently in Europe before heading to Asia until May 27, and is expected in China again in early June.Israel has rejected the initiative, saying direct negotiations are the only way to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians.Speaking to ministers ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “any other attempt only makes peace more remote and gives the Palestinians an escape hatch to avoid confronting the root of the conflict.”The Prime Minister’s Office was not immediately available to comment on Hollande’s announcement that the conference would be postponed.The Israeli Foreign Ministry also declined comment and there was no immediate reaction from Palestinian officials.French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault was in Jerusalem and Ramallah on Sunday to present the French peace initiative to Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.He received support from the Palestinians but objections from Israel, with Netanyahu questioning French “impartiality” after Paris voted in favor of a UNESCO resolution on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount that did not mention Jewish ties to the holy site.Ayrault said on Sunday the US “shared our concern” and France would be willing to move the conference “a day or two” in order to allow Kerry to attend, signaling for the first time the involvement and support of the United States.A staunch ally of Israel, Washington has traditionally brokered direct negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians and played down multilateral initiatives, especially within the United Nations.The United States has regularly called for a “two-state solution” to the Middle East crisis since the last US-brokered talks collapsed in April 2014.
Border Police vehicle hit in West Bank shooting attack-Police say no Israeli troops injured during incident at Qalandiya crossing; security forces searching the area-By Raoul Wootliff May 17, 2016, 1:22 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Shots were fired Tuesday morning at a Border Police vehicle adjacent to the Qalandiya checkpoint north of Jerusalem, according to police.Bullet holes were discovered in the vehicle after gunfire was heard by security forces at the crossing.No troops were injured in the attack, police said. It is not clear if anyone was in the vehicle at the time it was shot.Security forces were searching the area for the shooter.Police said were unaware of unconfirmed reports saying the attack targeted a Cypriot military delegation visiting the area Tuesday.The Palestinian town of Qalandiya, and the adjacent crossing between the West Bank and Israel, has been a flashpoint of conflict in the recent wave of violence that has rocked the area since September of last year.As the crossing is located within the Jerusalem city limits, it is under the authority of the police, who guard the site.
REVELATION 11:12-14
12 And they(ELIJSH-MOSES) heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither.(REV 4:1 WE KNOW IS THE RAPTURE FOR SURE) And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.(RAPTURED)
13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
REVELATION 6:12-14
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
ZECHARIAH 12:11
11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
ZECHARIAH 14:4
4 And his (JESUS) feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
5.0-magnitude earthquake shakes southern Israel-Epicenter of tremor some 100 kilometers southwest of Eilat; no reports of injuries or damage-By Times of Israel staff May 16, 2016, 5:45 am
An earthquake rumbled in the Red Sea early Monday morning, shaking buildings in the Sinai peninsula and as far north as Israel’s southern tip.There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage in Israel from the temblor, which struck at about 4:45 a.m. Monday morning.According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the tremor measured 5.0 on the Richter scale with an epicenter in the Red Sea, 25 kilometers northeast of Dhahab, Egypt, and 100 kilometers southwest of Eilat in Israel.Last month, a very small earthquake hit parts of southern Israel as local residents of the city of Arad and the Dead Sea area reported experiencing minor tremors.So small was the temblor, the Geophysical Institute of Israel said, that it could not even be measured on the Richter scale, the Ynet news website reported.The effects could apparently be felt as far as Jerusalem, some 37 kilometers from the Dead Sea resort of Ein Gedi.Prior to that incident, the previous quake in Israel occurred in July 2015, when a tremor measuring 4.4 on the Richter scale was felt throughout the country. That, too, had its epicenter in the Dead Sea area.Israel is situated along the Syrian-African rift, a tear in the earth’s crust running the length of the border separating Israel and Jordan, and is part of the Great Rift Valley, which extends from northern Syria to Mozambique.Experts have warned a large earthquake could strike Israel in the near future, and the government has begun funding projects for buildings to be bolstered against tremors.The last major earthquake to hit the region was in 1927 — a 6.2-magnitude tremor that killed 500 people and injured another 700.
Slain Hezbollah commander said to be succeeded by reclusive nephew-Saudi paper says Mustafa Mughniyeh, son of Imad Mughniyeh, has been tapped as group’s new military commander-By Times of Israel staff May 17, 2016, 1:10 pm
The nephew of Mustafa Badreddine, the senior Hezbollah military commander assassinated in Syria last week, has been appointed his successor, a Saudi-owned paper reported Tuesday, citing “well-informed Lebanese sources.”The nephew, Mustafa Mughniyeh, is the son of Badreddine’s sister who was married to Hezbollah’s previous military chief, Imad Mughniyeh.According to the report in London-based Asharq Al-Awsat, the reclusive Mustafa Mughniyeh became close to his uncle after his father was killed in 2008 in a car bomb attack in Damascus.The report of Badreddine’s successor in the paper — affiliated with the Sunni, anti-Hezbollah movement — was not confirmed by Lebanese or other media outlets.Mustafa Mughniyeh was reportedly named after his uncle, who was then serving time in jail in Kuwait in connection with the 1983 attack on the American Embassy there.Unlike his late brother Jihad, who appeared behind Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah on numerous occasions while he served as the group’s Golan District commander, Mustafa has largely steered clear of the media spotlight.Mustafa remained silent even after Jihad was killed in an allegedly Israeli airstrike in the Syria’s Quneitra Province in January 2015.While Israel was blamed for the bomb that killed Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah has not pointed a finger at the Jewish state over the mysterious death of Badreddine.Last week, Lebanese media reported that Badreddine was killed in an explosion at the Damascus international airport.Hezbollah confirmed Badreddine’s death, and claimed in a statement that he was killed as a result of shelling by unspecified Islamic extremists.The announcement contradicted a flurry of Arab media reports claiming an advanced nation, possibly Israel, was behind the senior leader’s death. On Saturday, a Syrian watchdog group refuted Hezbollah’s claims, saying the country’s opposition groups had denied involvement in his death, and that no projectiles had been launched on the Damascus airport recently.Though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly confirmed in recent months that Israel was actively working to disrupt Hezbollah’s military operations in Syria, there was no confirmation from Jerusalem of any alleged role in Badreddine’s death.Badreddine, 55, had been the mastermind of the Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria’s civil war, which has been crucial to preserving President Bashar Assad’s hold on power against rebels but which has come at a heavy cost for the Iranian-backed Shiite guerrilla force, with more than 1,000 fighters killed.Badreddine was one of four people being tried in absentia for the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others in a 2005 suicide bombing.According to Israel’s Channel 2, he was also the mastermind behind the 2012 Burgas bus bombing targeting Israeli tourists in Bulgaria. The July 18 blast killed five Israelis and a local bus driver, and injured several dozen more.Badreddine’s death was a severe blow to Hezbollah, robbing it of a commander with decades of experience. But observers say the group is not likely to scale back its intervention in Syria, where it has fighters battling alongside Assad’s army on multiple fronts.
Methodist church meeting votes down BDS resolutions-Proposals urging Protestant denomination to adopt divestment measures over Israel’s treatment of Palestinians ‘went down in flames,’ delegate to UMC confab says-By Tamar Pileggi May 17, 2016, 10:02 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The United Methodist Church has rejected several resolutions calling for the 12-million-member Protestant church to divest from companies engaging in business with Israel over its treatment of Palestinians.Church committees over the weekend voted down four Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions resolutions brought to a vote at the church’s quadrennial United Methodist Church General Conference in Portland, Oregon, taking place this week.The resolutions “pretty much went down in flames,” UMC delegate and BDS opponent John Lomperis told Religion News Service on Sunday.The resolutions would have seen UMC divestment from three companies that pro-Palestinian activists have accused of working with Israeli security forces to sustain Israel’s West Bank settlement enterprise: Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola.Instead, the Finance Committee opted to favor a petition that had been amended into a general commitment to responsible investment of church funds.A number of groups, including one called United Methodist Kairos Response, who prepared the resolutions for this year’s conference, had lobbied for the divestment measures at the 10-day church policy-making forum.The group’s co-chair Susanne Hoder told Religion News that while the amended proposal was a reasonable compromise among delegates, positive investments were not a substitute for divestment.“Where we see opportunities to move forward together, we’re going to seize them,” she said.Similar BDS petitions in the UMC failed in both 2008 and 2012.The defeat comes on the heels of Hillary Clinton’s May 9 letter to Jewish leaders reasserting her position that BDS campaigns are counterproductive to Mideast peace and calling for the reversal of the trend of increasing “attempts to isolate and delegitimize Israel.”Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, was raised and remains a practicing Methodist.“I believe that BDS seeks to punish Israel and dictate how the Israelis and Palestinians should resolve the core issues of their conflict,” she wrote in response to an appeal from the Israel Action Network, an affiliate of the Jewish Federations of North America to respond to the church’s BDS resolutions.“When anti-Semitism is on the rise across the world, we need to repudiate forceful efforts to malign and undermine Israel and the Jewish people,” Clinton said. “We must never tire in defending Israel’s legitimacy, expanding security and economic ties, and taking our alliance to the next level.”In January, the United Methodist Church’s US pension fund removed five Israeli banks from its investment portfolio, saying the investments were counter to its policies against investing in “high risk countries” and to remain committed to human rights.BDS activists have scored a series of successes in recent years in advancing similar resolutions, most prominently the United Church of Christ in 2015 and the Presbyterian Church (USA) a year earlier.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
With eye on Jewish continuity, maverick spiritual leader goes mainstream-Ordination as Conservative rabbi will both limit and empower innovator Amichai Lau-Lavie, who aims for a more inclusive, dynamic and nourishing Judaism-By Renee Ghert-Zand May 17, 2016, 1:05 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Although Amichai Lau-Lavie will only be ordained as a rabbi on Tuesday, you could be forgiven for thinking he already was one.This week he was named as one of America’s most inspiring rabbis on the Forward’s prized annual list. And he already leads an inclusive, experimental Jewish spiritual community in New York called Lab/Shul.In fact, for almost two decades Lau-Lavie has been on the vanguard of creative, progressive Jewish spiritual and ritual expression in the 21st century. He has taught Torah and other Jewish texts at hundreds, if not thousands, of congregations and schools through his innovative Storahtelling Jewish ritual theater organization. Founded by Lau-Lavie in 1999, Storahtelling advanced Jewish literacy by bringing performance tools and stagecraft to bear on traditional texts.So what is a rabbi anyway, if not a teacher of Yiddishkeit? Lau-Lavie’s name alone could have led one to assume he is a rabbi, as he is the scion of an Eastern European rabbinic dynasty going back 39 generations. His uncle, Yisrael Meir Lau is the chief rabbi of Tel Aviv-Yaffo and was the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel from 1993 to 2003. His first cousin, David Lau, is Israel’s current Ashkenazi chief rabbi. Lau-Lavie’s older brother Benny Lau is a well-known, Jerusalem-based Modern Orthodox rabbi, community leader and social justice activist.But it took Lau-Lavie, 47, a long time to join the family business, so to speak. And once he finally did join, he did it his own way.Unlike his relatives, Lau-Lavie has not become an Orthodox rabbi. Instead, he will be ordained by the Conservative Movement after completing a five-year course of study at the Jewish Theological Seminary.There are practical reasons for his choosing the Conservative Movement: As an openly gay man, he cannot serve as an Orthodox rabbi.But there are other aspects of the Conservative Movement (which changed its stance on the ordination of gays and lesbians in 2006) that make him feel it is the right fit.“I believe in following halacha [Jewish law], but I also believe that it evolves,” Lau-Lavie told The Times of Israel by phone Sunday from the Salt Lake City, Utah airport as he flew home to New York from a Reboot meetup. The network of young Jewish movers and shakers, of which he has been a longstanding member, works towards re-envisioning Jewish life for contemporary times.“I like how Conservative Judaism straddles halacha and innovation. Jewish law has a vote, but not a veto,” he said.- ‘Jewish law has a vote, but not a veto’-Through his years with Storahtelling, Lau-Lavie, who grew up in a Modern Orthodox milieu in Israel, was exposed to Conservative congregations. However, his interest in the Movement and its philosophy began much earlier, when as a teenager he discovered the works of Zechariah Frankel, the 19th century German rabbi, theologian and historian who applied modern historical criticism to the study of the development of classical sources of Judaism, and is considered the founder of what would become Conservative Judaism.Around the same time, Lau-Lavie (who had just returned to Israel after several years in New York, where his father Naphtali Lau-Lavie served as Israel’s consul general) became a student at the then-new Hartman High School in Jerusalem. There he studied under the late Rabbi David Hartman, who although Modern Orthodox, exposed him to Jewish religious pluralism and the conception of halacha as evolutionary.Lau-Lavie’s search for a spiritual home outside Orthodox Judaism was sparked by the confusing and painful situation in which he found himself at his bar mitzvah, when his Torah portion was Kedoshim, the one in which homosexuality is cited as an abomination.-‘Here I was, having already come out to myself, having to chant and speak about the abomination clause’-“Here I was, having already come out to myself, having to chant and speak about the abomination clause,” Lau-Lavie recounted.Years later, at age 43, he wrote and published what he wished his bar mitzvah speech could have been:And the truth is that I’ve been thinking a lot about this law, and it makes me afraid and ashamed to think about it and to talk about it, but it also makes me angry and confused.I know it’s wrong to question God and the Torah, and maybe I’m too young to understand. But I don’t think that the law about abomination is fair, and I don’t think that people who break it deserve to die.…I am not an abomination. I don’t deserve to die because of whom I love.You are all looking at me now, and it’s not pleasant, but I’ve held this secret, this abomination in my stomach, long enough.If today I am a man, then on this day I tell the truth and face it, like a man. And you, who came from near and far, if you really love me, will love me still, I hope, just the way I am.I know the Torah says it’s wrong.I know it’s disappointing to you, my parents and siblings, relatives, friends.But maybe the Torah does not mean what I’m feeling, because I don’t think — I don’t believe — that God thinks I am dirty, or sinning, or an abomination. Because isn’t that how God created me, in God’s own image, just the way I am? Lau-Lavie’s own three young children are living in a very different world than the one he grew up in. He is co-parenting two daughters and a son with a lesbian couple in Manhattan. Lau-Lavie is the children’s biological father and abba (Hebrew for dad), and he sees them once or twice a week, and spends holidays and vacations with them.Juggling part-time parenting, rabbinical school, Lab/Shul leadership and other professional and communal responsibilities for the past five years has been tough. Despite his reputation for being a consummate multi-tasker, he is glad to now have his rabbinical studies off his plate.He regrets having little time as of late to pursue a romantic life, but he has no misgivings about having gone through the rabbinical training, which is something he believed was necessary for achieving his goals.“I wanted to delve deeply into halachic learning and scholarship. I spent the first 20 years of my career on aggadah, midrash and story. It was time to focus on the evolution of law in our lives as Jews,” he said.He also knew that having “Rabbi” in front of his name would bestow upon him the gravitas and authority that would allow for greater agency.-I used to wave the “artists are the new rabbis” flag. Now I wave the “rabbis are the new artists” one’-“As an artist, I can have an impact. But to have deeper agency, to really be part of systemic growth and change and to be a respected leader in this, I needed to become a rabbi,” he explained.“I used to wave the ‘artists are the new rabbis’ flag. Now I wave the ‘rabbis are the new artists’ one,” he added.According to Lau-Lavie, the Jewish community and Judaism are undeniably at a pivotal moment. He is consumed with the question of how Judaism can resonate in the 21st century, when faith is not a given, and being Jewish is a decision and a choice to be made.“We are in a post-ethnic, post-patriarchy age. It’s happening now. It’s a fluid, complicated and rich time, and I want to lead in it,” he asserted.For Lau-Lavie, the most pressing issue to be dealt with, what he calls “the next frontier,” is finding creative solutions for inclusion of families where one partner is Jewish and the other is not. Conversion is not the solution, because in many cases the non-Jewish partners are not converting.He sees this as a win-win situation, rather than a loss for the Jewish people.“The argument that we are losing Jews is bullshit,” he claimed.He believes Jews and non-Jews alike are attracted to the rich traditions and texts of Judaism, but that they won’t stay part of the community unless the religion markets itself better and speaks to people in a way that resonates with their lives today.-‘The argument that we are losing Jews is bullshit’-“We have a good product, but the packaging and marketing are the challenge,” he explained.Lau-Lavie used a fast-food metaphor to explain what he means.“Even if you have the juiciest, highest quality hamburger, Jews aren’t going to want it if all they have ever known is a year-old, dried-out thing from Wendy’s,” he said.With Lab/Shul (spun off from Storahtelling in 2012) poised for growth, the newly-minted rabbi plans on staying in the US (where he became a citizen two years ago) for at least the next decade. But with his mother and three siblings living in Israel, he doesn’t rule out the possibility of returning there someday.Despite growing reactionary fundamentalism in Israel, Lau-Lavie is optimistic about the possibility of doing the kind of work he is doing in America also in the Holy Land.“It’s true that we are up against fear and resistance to change, but things are changing. There is a good chance for light and love to prosper in Israel. I am already working with Haredim, and with interfaith leaders. Change can happen,” he said.A major challenge ahead for Lau-Lavie lies within himself. He needs to adjust to being part of the Conservative Movement in an official capacity as a member of its Rabbinical Assembly.On one hand, he can benefit from being part of what he calls “a larger ecosystem.” But on the other, he needs to do what is known in kabbalistic terms as tzimtzum, or contraction.“I’m a creative personality and the question is how to squeeze a big, creative personality into a box. Somehow, I have to curb my enthusiasm,” he reflected.For instance, as a member of the Rabbinical Assembly he must abide by its guidelines, which preclude him from officiating at interfaith marriages as he once did.While he will still pursue his “flexidox” or “polidox” ways, he’s also committing himself to working within the system. He recognizes that change will be gradual and will come from within the established Jewish community as well as from grassroots initiatives such as the ones he started.“My eye is on the next 25 years, not only on tomorrow. It’s a sacrifice, but it’s a good one,” he said.
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
Paris Mideast summit postponed over Kerry scheduling clash-French President Francois Hollande says conference opposed by Israel will take place ‘in the summer’; embassy says France ‘looking for a new date’-By AFP and Raoul Wootliff May 17, 2016, 10:35 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
A conference on the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, due to be held on May 30 in Paris, has been postponed, French President Francois Hollande said Tuesday, days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Paris to call it off.“(US Secretary of State) John Kerry cannot come on May 30 so it has been delayed. It will take place in the summer,” Hollande told French radio.The summit, set to be held in Paris, will host an international meeting of 20 countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, to discuss the peace process. Israel and the Palestinians have not been invited and while Jerusalem has rejected the idea, it has been welcomed in Ramallah.A spokesperson for the French Embassy in Israel told The Times of Israel that Paris is “looking for a new date.”Hollande said it was vital for France to take “a strong initiative” in the dispute.“If not… what will happen? Settlement building, attacks,” he said.The US State Department said Monday that Secretary of State John Kerry would be unavailable on the day of the conference, which falls on the US Memorial Day holiday honoring members of the armed forces who died in combat, but that the United States and France are looking into a possible alternative date for the ministerial discussions.“We’ve made it clear that the May 30 date originally proposed by the French would not work for the secretary and for his schedule,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said. “We’re in discussions right now with the French about any possible alternative date that might better work for the secretary.”Kerry’s agenda in May is already “jammed,” Kirby said. The secretary of state is currently in Europe before heading to Asia until May 27, and is expected in China again in early June.Israel has rejected the initiative, saying direct negotiations are the only way to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians.Speaking to ministers ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “any other attempt only makes peace more remote and gives the Palestinians an escape hatch to avoid confronting the root of the conflict.”The Prime Minister’s Office was not immediately available to comment on Hollande’s announcement that the conference would be postponed.The Israeli Foreign Ministry also declined comment and there was no immediate reaction from Palestinian officials.French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault was in Jerusalem and Ramallah on Sunday to present the French peace initiative to Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.He received support from the Palestinians but objections from Israel, with Netanyahu questioning French “impartiality” after Paris voted in favor of a UNESCO resolution on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount that did not mention Jewish ties to the holy site.Ayrault said on Sunday the US “shared our concern” and France would be willing to move the conference “a day or two” in order to allow Kerry to attend, signaling for the first time the involvement and support of the United States.A staunch ally of Israel, Washington has traditionally brokered direct negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians and played down multilateral initiatives, especially within the United Nations.The United States has regularly called for a “two-state solution” to the Middle East crisis since the last US-brokered talks collapsed in April 2014.
Border Police vehicle hit in West Bank shooting attack-Police say no Israeli troops injured during incident at Qalandiya crossing; security forces searching the area-By Raoul Wootliff May 17, 2016, 1:22 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Shots were fired Tuesday morning at a Border Police vehicle adjacent to the Qalandiya checkpoint north of Jerusalem, according to police.Bullet holes were discovered in the vehicle after gunfire was heard by security forces at the crossing.No troops were injured in the attack, police said. It is not clear if anyone was in the vehicle at the time it was shot.Security forces were searching the area for the shooter.Police said were unaware of unconfirmed reports saying the attack targeted a Cypriot military delegation visiting the area Tuesday.The Palestinian town of Qalandiya, and the adjacent crossing between the West Bank and Israel, has been a flashpoint of conflict in the recent wave of violence that has rocked the area since September of last year.As the crossing is located within the Jerusalem city limits, it is under the authority of the police, who guard the site.
REVELATION 11:12-14
12 And they(ELIJSH-MOSES) heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither.(REV 4:1 WE KNOW IS THE RAPTURE FOR SURE) And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.(RAPTURED)
13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
REVELATION 6:12-14
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
ZECHARIAH 12:11
11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
ZECHARIAH 14:4
4 And his (JESUS) feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
5.0-magnitude earthquake shakes southern Israel-Epicenter of tremor some 100 kilometers southwest of Eilat; no reports of injuries or damage-By Times of Israel staff May 16, 2016, 5:45 am
An earthquake rumbled in the Red Sea early Monday morning, shaking buildings in the Sinai peninsula and as far north as Israel’s southern tip.There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage in Israel from the temblor, which struck at about 4:45 a.m. Monday morning.According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the tremor measured 5.0 on the Richter scale with an epicenter in the Red Sea, 25 kilometers northeast of Dhahab, Egypt, and 100 kilometers southwest of Eilat in Israel.Last month, a very small earthquake hit parts of southern Israel as local residents of the city of Arad and the Dead Sea area reported experiencing minor tremors.So small was the temblor, the Geophysical Institute of Israel said, that it could not even be measured on the Richter scale, the Ynet news website reported.The effects could apparently be felt as far as Jerusalem, some 37 kilometers from the Dead Sea resort of Ein Gedi.Prior to that incident, the previous quake in Israel occurred in July 2015, when a tremor measuring 4.4 on the Richter scale was felt throughout the country. That, too, had its epicenter in the Dead Sea area.Israel is situated along the Syrian-African rift, a tear in the earth’s crust running the length of the border separating Israel and Jordan, and is part of the Great Rift Valley, which extends from northern Syria to Mozambique.Experts have warned a large earthquake could strike Israel in the near future, and the government has begun funding projects for buildings to be bolstered against tremors.The last major earthquake to hit the region was in 1927 — a 6.2-magnitude tremor that killed 500 people and injured another 700.
Slain Hezbollah commander said to be succeeded by reclusive nephew-Saudi paper says Mustafa Mughniyeh, son of Imad Mughniyeh, has been tapped as group’s new military commander-By Times of Israel staff May 17, 2016, 1:10 pm
The nephew of Mustafa Badreddine, the senior Hezbollah military commander assassinated in Syria last week, has been appointed his successor, a Saudi-owned paper reported Tuesday, citing “well-informed Lebanese sources.”The nephew, Mustafa Mughniyeh, is the son of Badreddine’s sister who was married to Hezbollah’s previous military chief, Imad Mughniyeh.According to the report in London-based Asharq Al-Awsat, the reclusive Mustafa Mughniyeh became close to his uncle after his father was killed in 2008 in a car bomb attack in Damascus.The report of Badreddine’s successor in the paper — affiliated with the Sunni, anti-Hezbollah movement — was not confirmed by Lebanese or other media outlets.Mustafa Mughniyeh was reportedly named after his uncle, who was then serving time in jail in Kuwait in connection with the 1983 attack on the American Embassy there.Unlike his late brother Jihad, who appeared behind Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah on numerous occasions while he served as the group’s Golan District commander, Mustafa has largely steered clear of the media spotlight.Mustafa remained silent even after Jihad was killed in an allegedly Israeli airstrike in the Syria’s Quneitra Province in January 2015.While Israel was blamed for the bomb that killed Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah has not pointed a finger at the Jewish state over the mysterious death of Badreddine.Last week, Lebanese media reported that Badreddine was killed in an explosion at the Damascus international airport.Hezbollah confirmed Badreddine’s death, and claimed in a statement that he was killed as a result of shelling by unspecified Islamic extremists.The announcement contradicted a flurry of Arab media reports claiming an advanced nation, possibly Israel, was behind the senior leader’s death. On Saturday, a Syrian watchdog group refuted Hezbollah’s claims, saying the country’s opposition groups had denied involvement in his death, and that no projectiles had been launched on the Damascus airport recently.Though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly confirmed in recent months that Israel was actively working to disrupt Hezbollah’s military operations in Syria, there was no confirmation from Jerusalem of any alleged role in Badreddine’s death.Badreddine, 55, had been the mastermind of the Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria’s civil war, which has been crucial to preserving President Bashar Assad’s hold on power against rebels but which has come at a heavy cost for the Iranian-backed Shiite guerrilla force, with more than 1,000 fighters killed.Badreddine was one of four people being tried in absentia for the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others in a 2005 suicide bombing.According to Israel’s Channel 2, he was also the mastermind behind the 2012 Burgas bus bombing targeting Israeli tourists in Bulgaria. The July 18 blast killed five Israelis and a local bus driver, and injured several dozen more.Badreddine’s death was a severe blow to Hezbollah, robbing it of a commander with decades of experience. But observers say the group is not likely to scale back its intervention in Syria, where it has fighters battling alongside Assad’s army on multiple fronts.
Methodist church meeting votes down BDS resolutions-Proposals urging Protestant denomination to adopt divestment measures over Israel’s treatment of Palestinians ‘went down in flames,’ delegate to UMC confab says-By Tamar Pileggi May 17, 2016, 10:02 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The United Methodist Church has rejected several resolutions calling for the 12-million-member Protestant church to divest from companies engaging in business with Israel over its treatment of Palestinians.Church committees over the weekend voted down four Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions resolutions brought to a vote at the church’s quadrennial United Methodist Church General Conference in Portland, Oregon, taking place this week.The resolutions “pretty much went down in flames,” UMC delegate and BDS opponent John Lomperis told Religion News Service on Sunday.The resolutions would have seen UMC divestment from three companies that pro-Palestinian activists have accused of working with Israeli security forces to sustain Israel’s West Bank settlement enterprise: Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola.Instead, the Finance Committee opted to favor a petition that had been amended into a general commitment to responsible investment of church funds.A number of groups, including one called United Methodist Kairos Response, who prepared the resolutions for this year’s conference, had lobbied for the divestment measures at the 10-day church policy-making forum.The group’s co-chair Susanne Hoder told Religion News that while the amended proposal was a reasonable compromise among delegates, positive investments were not a substitute for divestment.“Where we see opportunities to move forward together, we’re going to seize them,” she said.Similar BDS petitions in the UMC failed in both 2008 and 2012.The defeat comes on the heels of Hillary Clinton’s May 9 letter to Jewish leaders reasserting her position that BDS campaigns are counterproductive to Mideast peace and calling for the reversal of the trend of increasing “attempts to isolate and delegitimize Israel.”Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, was raised and remains a practicing Methodist.“I believe that BDS seeks to punish Israel and dictate how the Israelis and Palestinians should resolve the core issues of their conflict,” she wrote in response to an appeal from the Israel Action Network, an affiliate of the Jewish Federations of North America to respond to the church’s BDS resolutions.“When anti-Semitism is on the rise across the world, we need to repudiate forceful efforts to malign and undermine Israel and the Jewish people,” Clinton said. “We must never tire in defending Israel’s legitimacy, expanding security and economic ties, and taking our alliance to the next level.”In January, the United Methodist Church’s US pension fund removed five Israeli banks from its investment portfolio, saying the investments were counter to its policies against investing in “high risk countries” and to remain committed to human rights.BDS activists have scored a series of successes in recent years in advancing similar resolutions, most prominently the United Church of Christ in 2015 and the Presbyterian Church (USA) a year earlier.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
With eye on Jewish continuity, maverick spiritual leader goes mainstream-Ordination as Conservative rabbi will both limit and empower innovator Amichai Lau-Lavie, who aims for a more inclusive, dynamic and nourishing Judaism-By Renee Ghert-Zand May 17, 2016, 1:05 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Although Amichai Lau-Lavie will only be ordained as a rabbi on Tuesday, you could be forgiven for thinking he already was one.This week he was named as one of America’s most inspiring rabbis on the Forward’s prized annual list. And he already leads an inclusive, experimental Jewish spiritual community in New York called Lab/Shul.In fact, for almost two decades Lau-Lavie has been on the vanguard of creative, progressive Jewish spiritual and ritual expression in the 21st century. He has taught Torah and other Jewish texts at hundreds, if not thousands, of congregations and schools through his innovative Storahtelling Jewish ritual theater organization. Founded by Lau-Lavie in 1999, Storahtelling advanced Jewish literacy by bringing performance tools and stagecraft to bear on traditional texts.So what is a rabbi anyway, if not a teacher of Yiddishkeit? Lau-Lavie’s name alone could have led one to assume he is a rabbi, as he is the scion of an Eastern European rabbinic dynasty going back 39 generations. His uncle, Yisrael Meir Lau is the chief rabbi of Tel Aviv-Yaffo and was the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel from 1993 to 2003. His first cousin, David Lau, is Israel’s current Ashkenazi chief rabbi. Lau-Lavie’s older brother Benny Lau is a well-known, Jerusalem-based Modern Orthodox rabbi, community leader and social justice activist.But it took Lau-Lavie, 47, a long time to join the family business, so to speak. And once he finally did join, he did it his own way.Unlike his relatives, Lau-Lavie has not become an Orthodox rabbi. Instead, he will be ordained by the Conservative Movement after completing a five-year course of study at the Jewish Theological Seminary.There are practical reasons for his choosing the Conservative Movement: As an openly gay man, he cannot serve as an Orthodox rabbi.But there are other aspects of the Conservative Movement (which changed its stance on the ordination of gays and lesbians in 2006) that make him feel it is the right fit.“I believe in following halacha [Jewish law], but I also believe that it evolves,” Lau-Lavie told The Times of Israel by phone Sunday from the Salt Lake City, Utah airport as he flew home to New York from a Reboot meetup. The network of young Jewish movers and shakers, of which he has been a longstanding member, works towards re-envisioning Jewish life for contemporary times.“I like how Conservative Judaism straddles halacha and innovation. Jewish law has a vote, but not a veto,” he said.- ‘Jewish law has a vote, but not a veto’-Through his years with Storahtelling, Lau-Lavie, who grew up in a Modern Orthodox milieu in Israel, was exposed to Conservative congregations. However, his interest in the Movement and its philosophy began much earlier, when as a teenager he discovered the works of Zechariah Frankel, the 19th century German rabbi, theologian and historian who applied modern historical criticism to the study of the development of classical sources of Judaism, and is considered the founder of what would become Conservative Judaism.Around the same time, Lau-Lavie (who had just returned to Israel after several years in New York, where his father Naphtali Lau-Lavie served as Israel’s consul general) became a student at the then-new Hartman High School in Jerusalem. There he studied under the late Rabbi David Hartman, who although Modern Orthodox, exposed him to Jewish religious pluralism and the conception of halacha as evolutionary.Lau-Lavie’s search for a spiritual home outside Orthodox Judaism was sparked by the confusing and painful situation in which he found himself at his bar mitzvah, when his Torah portion was Kedoshim, the one in which homosexuality is cited as an abomination.-‘Here I was, having already come out to myself, having to chant and speak about the abomination clause’-“Here I was, having already come out to myself, having to chant and speak about the abomination clause,” Lau-Lavie recounted.Years later, at age 43, he wrote and published what he wished his bar mitzvah speech could have been:And the truth is that I’ve been thinking a lot about this law, and it makes me afraid and ashamed to think about it and to talk about it, but it also makes me angry and confused.I know it’s wrong to question God and the Torah, and maybe I’m too young to understand. But I don’t think that the law about abomination is fair, and I don’t think that people who break it deserve to die.…I am not an abomination. I don’t deserve to die because of whom I love.You are all looking at me now, and it’s not pleasant, but I’ve held this secret, this abomination in my stomach, long enough.If today I am a man, then on this day I tell the truth and face it, like a man. And you, who came from near and far, if you really love me, will love me still, I hope, just the way I am.I know the Torah says it’s wrong.I know it’s disappointing to you, my parents and siblings, relatives, friends.But maybe the Torah does not mean what I’m feeling, because I don’t think — I don’t believe — that God thinks I am dirty, or sinning, or an abomination. Because isn’t that how God created me, in God’s own image, just the way I am? Lau-Lavie’s own three young children are living in a very different world than the one he grew up in. He is co-parenting two daughters and a son with a lesbian couple in Manhattan. Lau-Lavie is the children’s biological father and abba (Hebrew for dad), and he sees them once or twice a week, and spends holidays and vacations with them.Juggling part-time parenting, rabbinical school, Lab/Shul leadership and other professional and communal responsibilities for the past five years has been tough. Despite his reputation for being a consummate multi-tasker, he is glad to now have his rabbinical studies off his plate.He regrets having little time as of late to pursue a romantic life, but he has no misgivings about having gone through the rabbinical training, which is something he believed was necessary for achieving his goals.“I wanted to delve deeply into halachic learning and scholarship. I spent the first 20 years of my career on aggadah, midrash and story. It was time to focus on the evolution of law in our lives as Jews,” he said.He also knew that having “Rabbi” in front of his name would bestow upon him the gravitas and authority that would allow for greater agency.-I used to wave the “artists are the new rabbis” flag. Now I wave the “rabbis are the new artists” one’-“As an artist, I can have an impact. But to have deeper agency, to really be part of systemic growth and change and to be a respected leader in this, I needed to become a rabbi,” he explained.“I used to wave the ‘artists are the new rabbis’ flag. Now I wave the ‘rabbis are the new artists’ one,” he added.According to Lau-Lavie, the Jewish community and Judaism are undeniably at a pivotal moment. He is consumed with the question of how Judaism can resonate in the 21st century, when faith is not a given, and being Jewish is a decision and a choice to be made.“We are in a post-ethnic, post-patriarchy age. It’s happening now. It’s a fluid, complicated and rich time, and I want to lead in it,” he asserted.For Lau-Lavie, the most pressing issue to be dealt with, what he calls “the next frontier,” is finding creative solutions for inclusion of families where one partner is Jewish and the other is not. Conversion is not the solution, because in many cases the non-Jewish partners are not converting.He sees this as a win-win situation, rather than a loss for the Jewish people.“The argument that we are losing Jews is bullshit,” he claimed.He believes Jews and non-Jews alike are attracted to the rich traditions and texts of Judaism, but that they won’t stay part of the community unless the religion markets itself better and speaks to people in a way that resonates with their lives today.-‘The argument that we are losing Jews is bullshit’-“We have a good product, but the packaging and marketing are the challenge,” he explained.Lau-Lavie used a fast-food metaphor to explain what he means.“Even if you have the juiciest, highest quality hamburger, Jews aren’t going to want it if all they have ever known is a year-old, dried-out thing from Wendy’s,” he said.With Lab/Shul (spun off from Storahtelling in 2012) poised for growth, the newly-minted rabbi plans on staying in the US (where he became a citizen two years ago) for at least the next decade. But with his mother and three siblings living in Israel, he doesn’t rule out the possibility of returning there someday.Despite growing reactionary fundamentalism in Israel, Lau-Lavie is optimistic about the possibility of doing the kind of work he is doing in America also in the Holy Land.“It’s true that we are up against fear and resistance to change, but things are changing. There is a good chance for light and love to prosper in Israel. I am already working with Haredim, and with interfaith leaders. Change can happen,” he said.A major challenge ahead for Lau-Lavie lies within himself. He needs to adjust to being part of the Conservative Movement in an official capacity as a member of its Rabbinical Assembly.On one hand, he can benefit from being part of what he calls “a larger ecosystem.” But on the other, he needs to do what is known in kabbalistic terms as tzimtzum, or contraction.“I’m a creative personality and the question is how to squeeze a big, creative personality into a box. Somehow, I have to curb my enthusiasm,” he reflected.For instance, as a member of the Rabbinical Assembly he must abide by its guidelines, which preclude him from officiating at interfaith marriages as he once did.While he will still pursue his “flexidox” or “polidox” ways, he’s also committing himself to working within the system. He recognizes that change will be gradual and will come from within the established Jewish community as well as from grassroots initiatives such as the ones he started.“My eye is on the next 25 years, not only on tomorrow. It’s a sacrifice, but it’s a good one,” he said.
