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
Israel to approve almost 4,000 new West Bank homes — report-Construction said set to be green-lighted in Hebron, Beit El and many other settlements, but infrastructure, bypass roads and industrial areas not included-By Jacob Magid and TOI staff-October 8, 2017, 9:48 pm-TOI
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is reportedly set to approve almost 4,000 new homes in Israeli settlements in the West Bank next week.According to a Channel 2 news report Sunday, the 3,829 units are slated to be built in various areas across the West Bank, including in isolated settlements.The approval will include 30 units in the West Bank city of Hebron, 296 in the settlement of Beit El, 453 in Givat Ze’ev, 102 in Naguhot, 97 in Rechalim, 54 in Har Bracha, 86 in Kochav Yaakov, 48 in Ma’aleh Michmash, 158 in Kfar Ezion, 129 in Avnei Hefetz, 120 in Nofim, and 206 in Tekoa, according to the TV report.Two weeks ago, Netanyahu told settler leaders that his government was slated to approve the housing. At the time, the prime minister said US President Donald Trump was prepared to tolerate limited settlement building.During that closed-door meeting, Netanyahu said he successfully convinced the Trump administration to drop its distinction between settlement blocs and so-called isolated settlements, as evidenced by the reported list of construction to be approved, which includes the isolated settlements.The new construction is reportedly to be approved during the next meeting of the Civil Administration Higher Planning Committee on October 16. The committee has pushed off its scheduled quarterly meeting for many months to avoid upsetting the Trump administration.Netanyahu had promised a bump in building permits in Beit El, following the demolition of a number of homes in the settlement in 2012, and the Channel 2 list of buildings to be approved includes almost 300 there.Sunday’s Channel 2 report also said the new bypass roads and industrial areas which the settlers had hoped for will not be approved at this time.The settler leaders had called for the construction of additional bypass roads in the West Bank and argued the infrastructure development would benefit the area’s Jewish and Palestinian residents.An Israeli official also told Channel 2 on Sunday that the government rejected the criticism of the US administration by a settler leader, saying Yossi Dagan’s recent remarks against Washington hurt the settlement enterprise.Earlier on Sunday, settler leader Dagan criticized Trump for both pressuring Israel to scale back settlement building and for his delay in relocating the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Thousands flock to Western Wall for Priestly Blessing-Heavy police presence in Jerusalem as Jews make pilgrimage to capital during Sukkot holiday-By TOI staff-October 8, 2017, 2:50 pm
Thousands of Israelis flocked to the Western Wall in Jerusalem Wednesday for the traditional biannual Priestly Blessing.The ceremony sees male descendants of the Kohanic priestly caste gathering to recite a benediction. It is performed daily by devout Jews at synagogues throughout Israel, while mass blessings at the Western Wall take place on the festivals of Passover and Sukkot.The Western Wall is the closest spot to the Temple Mount where Jews can legally pray. Though they are allowed to visit the Mount, where two ancient Jewish temples stood, Jews are not permitted to pray there according to the status quo in place for decades.Jewish visits to the Mount, today the site of the Al Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock, often spark tensions, and the blessing ceremony took place amid tight security.Police said that a large number of officers were deployed around the city on Thursday, in particular at “flashpoints,” in order to “keep order” and ensure “the safety and well-being of the public,” as well the ability of “various groups to exercise their right to freedom of religion and worship.”Police arrested one Jewish teenager Sunday morning on suspicion that he had prostrated himself while going up to the Temple Mount.A Jew arrested at Temple Mount for bowing pic.twitter.com/yDAYjeWdba— JewishStruggle (@JewishStruggle) October 8, 2017
Where Israeli-American students go to speak Hebrew and connect with their roots-Focused on cultural and national identity rather than religious, IAC Mishelanu is an on-campus home away from home for US-based Sabras-By Josefin Dolsten-TOI-October 9, 2017, 4:32 am
JTA — Being involved with Jewish life was not a priority for Shai Ben David when she arrived at the University of Georgia. The 23-year-old, who moved to the United States from Israel at age 4, had few Jewish friends and was not interested in being involved in a religious community.Besides, her science-heavy course load as a pre-veterinary student filled up most of her time.“It really wasn’t a priority for me to try to be a part of the Jewish community here with Hillel,” she told JTA. “For me, being Israeli is more about the cultural part of being Israeli, not really the religious part.”Yet Ben David now finds herself a leader of a campus group for Israeli Americans that she helped to found.She is a fellow for IAC Mishelanu, an initiative that seeks to engage Israeli-American college students — Israelis who moved to the US as well as the children and grandchildren of Israelis living here.The program recognizes that Israelis in America have an identity distinct from their American-born peers.IAC Mishelanu aims “to give Israeli-American students on campus a safe home where they are comfortable enough to speak in Hebrew and to share their hybrid identities,” said its program director, Tal Zmiri-Willner. “They’re all holding lots of identities: being Jewish, being Israeli, being American.”The Los Angeles-based Israeli-American Council runs the program, which has 90 chapters nationwide and some 1,000 student participants. IAC Mishelanu was launched in 2011 by Israeli parents in the Silicon Valley looking to connect their kids with each other and form a community, and joined with the IAC as a larger nationwide campus initiative the following year.Chapters are led by student fellows, who receive mentoring from regional managers and an $800 yearly stipend. They organize monthly social and cultural events, such as Israeli movie nights and Israeli-style Shabbat dinners, as well as approximately five larger events per year that showcase Israeli culture to the wider campus community. IAC Mishelanu also organizes a yearly conference and leadership retreats.Most members are secular and not necessarily interested in the religious experiences traditionally offered on campus, Zmiri-Willner said.“Hillel is considered to be more Jewish, and they are looking for the cultural side of being Israeli,” she said of IAC Mishelanu participants.Most but not all IAC Mishelanu chapters operate under the Hillel umbrella.Yoni Hirschberg, a 21-year-old film student who leads the IAC Mishelanu chapter at the University of Southern California, said Israeli-American students have a different identity than their Jewish-American peers.“You’re not really Jewish American,” Hirschberg, who moved to the US from Israel with his family at 3, told JTA. “You’re not ‘not’ Jewish, and you’re also an American, you’re also Israeli. But you don’t really fit in because there are barriers of [being from] a different background, so there is a level of alienation.”Ben Avrahami, a 25-year-old biology major at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said he relates to the friends he made through IAC Mishelanu in unique ways.They understand me in some aspects that other people don’t-“I feel very comfortable with them, they understand me in some aspects that other people don’t,” said Avrahami, who moved to America from Israel with his family at 12, later returning to the Jewish state to serve in the military before attending college.“It’s kind of like home,” he said.At meetings, IAC Mishelanu members speak a mix of Hebrew and English, Avrahami said.“If you would step outside and look at it, it’s like another language,” he said. “I can’t even tell you exactly how it works.”Ben David has seen her Hebrew improve significantly since being involved with IAC Mishelanu.“My reading level was like that of a third-grader,” she said. “Even though I went to private [Jewish] school, I was very bad.”She hopes to one day teach the language to her children.IAC Mishelanu straddles the line between a cultural group and an advocacy group. Its website describes the group as “a pro-Israel campus program that fosters leaders and provides a home for Israeli-American students.”Organizers, however, were careful to clarify that it is not political.Our approach is that this is a group that is pro-Israel, but it is a pro-Israel beyond politics-“It’s not an advocacy group,” said Shoham Nicolet, the founder and CEO of IAC. “Our approach is that this is a group that is pro-Israel, but it is a pro-Israel beyond politics. You can see so many students from different political views, from different political organizations, coming to Mishelanu.”Zmiri-Willner said many students are not interested in a political group.“We do find out that some of our students don’t want to see Mishelanu as an advocacy group, as a hasbara group,” she said, using the Hebrew term for Israel advocacy. “On many campuses there are many other organizations to do specifically hasbara. At our regular events they do not necessarily want to speak about hasbara. But they do [hasbara] in a very informal way when they speak about Israel with other students, when they share their own memories and their own feelings about Israel.”Zmiri-Willner estimated that some 40 percent of IAC Mishelanu members are involved with Israel advocacy groups on campus.The extent, if any, of a chapter’s political involvement varies.Lee Setty, a 20-year old marketing major who is an IAC Mishelanu fellow at the University of Georgia, said her group is careful not to get too politically involved.“Yes, students in our group are involved in Israel advocacy,” she said, “but where Mishelanu comes in is more cultural.”Meanwhile Avrahami, who is a campus fellow for the pro-Israel group the David Project in addition to IAC Mishelanu, said he was considering planning a joint event for the two groups.Political or not, IAC Mishelanu helps Israeli Americans connect with each other and non-Israeli Jews.IAC Mishelanu aims to provide “a living bridge between Israeli-American and Jewish-American students,” Zmiri-Willner said, adding that Israeli-American students want to show their peers that there are more sides to the Jewish state than what is on the news.“They want to show what Israel is all about, what the culture is in Israel, what the music in Israel is all about,” she said.But participants also value the distinctions.“It was nice to be able to have that community,” Hirschberg said. “There is a difference between the general Jewish-American community here and the Israeli-American community, and it’s important that there is a space for us.”Ben David said being part of the group has contributed positively to her identity.“It makes me feel proud to be Israeli American,” she said.
Sukkah destroyed by vandals at Kansas State University-Festival booth erected by campus Hillel carried away, broken, and scattered around car of student involved in diversity initiatives-By JTA-October 8, 2017, 10:15 pm
A sukkah erected on the campus of Kansas State University was destroyed by vandals.The sukkah, purchased by the campus Hillel and erected near the main dining hall on campus, was carried away from its place on Friday night and broken apart. The pieces were left around the car of organizer Glen Buickerood, a graduate student who works on diversity initiatives for the campus Housing and Dining department, The Manhattan, a Kansas Mercury newspaper, reported on Sunday.Gregory Newmark, co-adviser for Hillel, and an assistant professor at K-State, said the fact that the sukkah, which was irreparable, has been staked down, as well as the fact that an informational poster about the Jewish holiday of Sukkot had been hung on the sukkah, made him believe the vandalism was an anti-Semitic act.“This was meant to be a place where everyone was welcome, and someone just ripped it down,” Newmark told the newspaper.In April, an anti-Semitic poster was hung up on the Kansas State University campus on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Citing religious freedom, Trump backing off Obama-era rules-Reform Jews slam the move that lets employers opt out of no-cost birth control for workers; could override many anti-discrimination protections-By AP and TOI staff October 7, 2017, 12:15 pm
WASHINGTON — In a one-two punch elating religious conservatives, President Donald Trump’s administration is allowing more employers to opt out of no-cost birth control for workers and issuing sweeping religious-freedom directions that could override many anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people and others.At a time when Trump finds himself embattled on many fronts, the two directives — issued almost simultaneously on Friday — demonstrated the president’s eagerness to retain the loyalty of social conservatives who make up a key part of his base. Leaders of that constituency were exultant.“President Trump is demonstrating his commitment to undoing the anti-faith policies of the previous administration and restoring true religious freedom,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.A statement from the Union for Reform Judaism, Central Conference of American Rabbis, and wider Reform Movement called the move “an egregious assault on women’s rights.”“This decision has been falsely characterized as a win for religious liberty. It is not. In fact, it undoes a rule that delicately balanced religious liberty and conscience claims with the compelling interest of ensuring all women have access to reproductive health care,” the statement said.“A woman’s right to control her own body should not depend on her employer. We staunchly oppose this decision.”Liberal advocacy groups, including those supporting LGBT and reproductive rights, were also outraged.“The Trump administration is saying to employers, ‘If you want to discriminate, we have your back,'” said Fatima Goss Graves, president of National Women’s Law Center.Her organization is among several that are planning to challenge the birth-control rollback in court. The American Civil Liberties Union filed such a lawsuit less than three hours after the rules were issued.“The Trump administration is forcing women to pay for their boss’ religious beliefs,” said ACLU senior staff attorney Brigitte Amiri. “We’re filing this lawsuit because the federal government cannot authorize discrimination against women in the name of religion or otherwise.”The Democratic attorneys general of California and Massachusetts filed similar suits later Friday.Both directives had been in the works for months, with activists on both sides of a culture war on edge about the timing and the details.The religious-liberty directive, issued by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, instructs federal agencies to do as much as possible to accommodate those who claim their religious freedoms are being violated. The guidance effectively lifts a burden from religious objectors to prove that their beliefs about marriage or other topics that affect various actions are sincerely held.“Except in the narrowest circumstances, no one should be forced to choose between living out his or her faith and complying with the law,” Sessions wrote.In what is likely to be one of the more contested aspects of the document, the Justice Department states that religious organizations can hire workers based on religious beliefs and an employee’s willingness “to adhere to a code of conduct.” Many conservative Christian schools and faith-based agencies require employees to adhere to moral codes that ban sex outside marriage and same-sex relationships, among other behavior.The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian law firm, called it “a great day for religious freedom.” But JoDee Winterhof of the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBT-rights group, depicted the two directives as “an all-out assault, on women, LGBT people and others” as the administration fulfilled a “wish list” of the religious right.The new policy on contraception, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, allows more categories of employers, including publicly traded companies, to opt out of providing no-cost birth control to women by claiming religious or moral objections — another step in rolling back President Barack Obama’s health care law that required most companies to cover birth control at no additional cost.Employers with religious or moral qualms will also be able to cover some birth control methods, and not others. Experts said that could interfere with efforts to promote modern long-acting implantable contraceptives, such as IUDs, which are more expensive.The top Democrat in the House of Representatives, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, said the birth-control rollback was despicable.“This administration’s contempt for women reaches a new low with this appalling decision to enable employers and health plans to deny women basic coverage for contraception,” she said.On the Republican side, however, House Speaker Paul Ryan welcomed the decision, calling it “a landmark day for religious liberty.”The new policy took effect on Friday, but its impact won’t be known immediately and may not be dramatic.“I can’t imagine that many employers are going to be willing to certify that they have a moral objection to standard birth control methods,” said Dan Mendelson, president of the consulting firm Avalere Health.Nonetheless, he worried that the new rules would set a precedent for undermining basic health benefits required under federal law. The administration has estimated that some 200 employers who have already voiced objections to the Obama-era policy would qualify for the expanded opt-out, and that 120,000 women would be affected.Since contraception became a covered preventive benefit, the share of female employees paying with their own money for birth control pills has plunged to three percent, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.Many Catholic hospitals now rely on an Obama-era workaround under which the government pays for the cost of birth control coverage. That workaround can continue under the new rules.Despite that workaround, there have been extensive legal battles waged by religious institutions and other parties challenging the birth-control mandate. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops hailed the new policy as a “return to common sense” that would enhance “peaceful coexistence” between church and state.Doctors’ groups that were instrumental in derailing Republican plans to repeal Obama’s health law outright expressed their dismay.The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said the new policy could reverse the recent progress in lowering the nation’s rate of unintended pregnancies.“Instead of fulfilling its mission ‘to enhance and protect the health and well-being of all Americans,’ HHS leaders under the current administration are focused on turning back the clock on women’s health,” said the organization’s president, Dr. Haywood Brown.
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
Israel to approve almost 4,000 new West Bank homes — report-Construction said set to be green-lighted in Hebron, Beit El and many other settlements, but infrastructure, bypass roads and industrial areas not included-By Jacob Magid and TOI staff-October 8, 2017, 9:48 pm-TOI
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is reportedly set to approve almost 4,000 new homes in Israeli settlements in the West Bank next week.According to a Channel 2 news report Sunday, the 3,829 units are slated to be built in various areas across the West Bank, including in isolated settlements.The approval will include 30 units in the West Bank city of Hebron, 296 in the settlement of Beit El, 453 in Givat Ze’ev, 102 in Naguhot, 97 in Rechalim, 54 in Har Bracha, 86 in Kochav Yaakov, 48 in Ma’aleh Michmash, 158 in Kfar Ezion, 129 in Avnei Hefetz, 120 in Nofim, and 206 in Tekoa, according to the TV report.Two weeks ago, Netanyahu told settler leaders that his government was slated to approve the housing. At the time, the prime minister said US President Donald Trump was prepared to tolerate limited settlement building.During that closed-door meeting, Netanyahu said he successfully convinced the Trump administration to drop its distinction between settlement blocs and so-called isolated settlements, as evidenced by the reported list of construction to be approved, which includes the isolated settlements.The new construction is reportedly to be approved during the next meeting of the Civil Administration Higher Planning Committee on October 16. The committee has pushed off its scheduled quarterly meeting for many months to avoid upsetting the Trump administration.Netanyahu had promised a bump in building permits in Beit El, following the demolition of a number of homes in the settlement in 2012, and the Channel 2 list of buildings to be approved includes almost 300 there.Sunday’s Channel 2 report also said the new bypass roads and industrial areas which the settlers had hoped for will not be approved at this time.The settler leaders had called for the construction of additional bypass roads in the West Bank and argued the infrastructure development would benefit the area’s Jewish and Palestinian residents.An Israeli official also told Channel 2 on Sunday that the government rejected the criticism of the US administration by a settler leader, saying Yossi Dagan’s recent remarks against Washington hurt the settlement enterprise.Earlier on Sunday, settler leader Dagan criticized Trump for both pressuring Israel to scale back settlement building and for his delay in relocating the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Thousands flock to Western Wall for Priestly Blessing-Heavy police presence in Jerusalem as Jews make pilgrimage to capital during Sukkot holiday-By TOI staff-October 8, 2017, 2:50 pm
Thousands of Israelis flocked to the Western Wall in Jerusalem Wednesday for the traditional biannual Priestly Blessing.The ceremony sees male descendants of the Kohanic priestly caste gathering to recite a benediction. It is performed daily by devout Jews at synagogues throughout Israel, while mass blessings at the Western Wall take place on the festivals of Passover and Sukkot.The Western Wall is the closest spot to the Temple Mount where Jews can legally pray. Though they are allowed to visit the Mount, where two ancient Jewish temples stood, Jews are not permitted to pray there according to the status quo in place for decades.Jewish visits to the Mount, today the site of the Al Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock, often spark tensions, and the blessing ceremony took place amid tight security.Police said that a large number of officers were deployed around the city on Thursday, in particular at “flashpoints,” in order to “keep order” and ensure “the safety and well-being of the public,” as well the ability of “various groups to exercise their right to freedom of religion and worship.”Police arrested one Jewish teenager Sunday morning on suspicion that he had prostrated himself while going up to the Temple Mount.A Jew arrested at Temple Mount for bowing pic.twitter.com/yDAYjeWdba— JewishStruggle (@JewishStruggle) October 8, 2017
Where Israeli-American students go to speak Hebrew and connect with their roots-Focused on cultural and national identity rather than religious, IAC Mishelanu is an on-campus home away from home for US-based Sabras-By Josefin Dolsten-TOI-October 9, 2017, 4:32 am
JTA — Being involved with Jewish life was not a priority for Shai Ben David when she arrived at the University of Georgia. The 23-year-old, who moved to the United States from Israel at age 4, had few Jewish friends and was not interested in being involved in a religious community.Besides, her science-heavy course load as a pre-veterinary student filled up most of her time.“It really wasn’t a priority for me to try to be a part of the Jewish community here with Hillel,” she told JTA. “For me, being Israeli is more about the cultural part of being Israeli, not really the religious part.”Yet Ben David now finds herself a leader of a campus group for Israeli Americans that she helped to found.She is a fellow for IAC Mishelanu, an initiative that seeks to engage Israeli-American college students — Israelis who moved to the US as well as the children and grandchildren of Israelis living here.The program recognizes that Israelis in America have an identity distinct from their American-born peers.IAC Mishelanu aims “to give Israeli-American students on campus a safe home where they are comfortable enough to speak in Hebrew and to share their hybrid identities,” said its program director, Tal Zmiri-Willner. “They’re all holding lots of identities: being Jewish, being Israeli, being American.”The Los Angeles-based Israeli-American Council runs the program, which has 90 chapters nationwide and some 1,000 student participants. IAC Mishelanu was launched in 2011 by Israeli parents in the Silicon Valley looking to connect their kids with each other and form a community, and joined with the IAC as a larger nationwide campus initiative the following year.Chapters are led by student fellows, who receive mentoring from regional managers and an $800 yearly stipend. They organize monthly social and cultural events, such as Israeli movie nights and Israeli-style Shabbat dinners, as well as approximately five larger events per year that showcase Israeli culture to the wider campus community. IAC Mishelanu also organizes a yearly conference and leadership retreats.Most members are secular and not necessarily interested in the religious experiences traditionally offered on campus, Zmiri-Willner said.“Hillel is considered to be more Jewish, and they are looking for the cultural side of being Israeli,” she said of IAC Mishelanu participants.Most but not all IAC Mishelanu chapters operate under the Hillel umbrella.Yoni Hirschberg, a 21-year-old film student who leads the IAC Mishelanu chapter at the University of Southern California, said Israeli-American students have a different identity than their Jewish-American peers.“You’re not really Jewish American,” Hirschberg, who moved to the US from Israel with his family at 3, told JTA. “You’re not ‘not’ Jewish, and you’re also an American, you’re also Israeli. But you don’t really fit in because there are barriers of [being from] a different background, so there is a level of alienation.”Ben Avrahami, a 25-year-old biology major at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said he relates to the friends he made through IAC Mishelanu in unique ways.They understand me in some aspects that other people don’t-“I feel very comfortable with them, they understand me in some aspects that other people don’t,” said Avrahami, who moved to America from Israel with his family at 12, later returning to the Jewish state to serve in the military before attending college.“It’s kind of like home,” he said.At meetings, IAC Mishelanu members speak a mix of Hebrew and English, Avrahami said.“If you would step outside and look at it, it’s like another language,” he said. “I can’t even tell you exactly how it works.”Ben David has seen her Hebrew improve significantly since being involved with IAC Mishelanu.“My reading level was like that of a third-grader,” she said. “Even though I went to private [Jewish] school, I was very bad.”She hopes to one day teach the language to her children.IAC Mishelanu straddles the line between a cultural group and an advocacy group. Its website describes the group as “a pro-Israel campus program that fosters leaders and provides a home for Israeli-American students.”Organizers, however, were careful to clarify that it is not political.Our approach is that this is a group that is pro-Israel, but it is a pro-Israel beyond politics-“It’s not an advocacy group,” said Shoham Nicolet, the founder and CEO of IAC. “Our approach is that this is a group that is pro-Israel, but it is a pro-Israel beyond politics. You can see so many students from different political views, from different political organizations, coming to Mishelanu.”Zmiri-Willner said many students are not interested in a political group.“We do find out that some of our students don’t want to see Mishelanu as an advocacy group, as a hasbara group,” she said, using the Hebrew term for Israel advocacy. “On many campuses there are many other organizations to do specifically hasbara. At our regular events they do not necessarily want to speak about hasbara. But they do [hasbara] in a very informal way when they speak about Israel with other students, when they share their own memories and their own feelings about Israel.”Zmiri-Willner estimated that some 40 percent of IAC Mishelanu members are involved with Israel advocacy groups on campus.The extent, if any, of a chapter’s political involvement varies.Lee Setty, a 20-year old marketing major who is an IAC Mishelanu fellow at the University of Georgia, said her group is careful not to get too politically involved.“Yes, students in our group are involved in Israel advocacy,” she said, “but where Mishelanu comes in is more cultural.”Meanwhile Avrahami, who is a campus fellow for the pro-Israel group the David Project in addition to IAC Mishelanu, said he was considering planning a joint event for the two groups.Political or not, IAC Mishelanu helps Israeli Americans connect with each other and non-Israeli Jews.IAC Mishelanu aims to provide “a living bridge between Israeli-American and Jewish-American students,” Zmiri-Willner said, adding that Israeli-American students want to show their peers that there are more sides to the Jewish state than what is on the news.“They want to show what Israel is all about, what the culture is in Israel, what the music in Israel is all about,” she said.But participants also value the distinctions.“It was nice to be able to have that community,” Hirschberg said. “There is a difference between the general Jewish-American community here and the Israeli-American community, and it’s important that there is a space for us.”Ben David said being part of the group has contributed positively to her identity.“It makes me feel proud to be Israeli American,” she said.
Sukkah destroyed by vandals at Kansas State University-Festival booth erected by campus Hillel carried away, broken, and scattered around car of student involved in diversity initiatives-By JTA-October 8, 2017, 10:15 pm
A sukkah erected on the campus of Kansas State University was destroyed by vandals.The sukkah, purchased by the campus Hillel and erected near the main dining hall on campus, was carried away from its place on Friday night and broken apart. The pieces were left around the car of organizer Glen Buickerood, a graduate student who works on diversity initiatives for the campus Housing and Dining department, The Manhattan, a Kansas Mercury newspaper, reported on Sunday.Gregory Newmark, co-adviser for Hillel, and an assistant professor at K-State, said the fact that the sukkah, which was irreparable, has been staked down, as well as the fact that an informational poster about the Jewish holiday of Sukkot had been hung on the sukkah, made him believe the vandalism was an anti-Semitic act.“This was meant to be a place where everyone was welcome, and someone just ripped it down,” Newmark told the newspaper.In April, an anti-Semitic poster was hung up on the Kansas State University campus on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Citing religious freedom, Trump backing off Obama-era rules-Reform Jews slam the move that lets employers opt out of no-cost birth control for workers; could override many anti-discrimination protections-By AP and TOI staff October 7, 2017, 12:15 pm
WASHINGTON — In a one-two punch elating religious conservatives, President Donald Trump’s administration is allowing more employers to opt out of no-cost birth control for workers and issuing sweeping religious-freedom directions that could override many anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people and others.At a time when Trump finds himself embattled on many fronts, the two directives — issued almost simultaneously on Friday — demonstrated the president’s eagerness to retain the loyalty of social conservatives who make up a key part of his base. Leaders of that constituency were exultant.“President Trump is demonstrating his commitment to undoing the anti-faith policies of the previous administration and restoring true religious freedom,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.A statement from the Union for Reform Judaism, Central Conference of American Rabbis, and wider Reform Movement called the move “an egregious assault on women’s rights.”“This decision has been falsely characterized as a win for religious liberty. It is not. In fact, it undoes a rule that delicately balanced religious liberty and conscience claims with the compelling interest of ensuring all women have access to reproductive health care,” the statement said.“A woman’s right to control her own body should not depend on her employer. We staunchly oppose this decision.”Liberal advocacy groups, including those supporting LGBT and reproductive rights, were also outraged.“The Trump administration is saying to employers, ‘If you want to discriminate, we have your back,'” said Fatima Goss Graves, president of National Women’s Law Center.Her organization is among several that are planning to challenge the birth-control rollback in court. The American Civil Liberties Union filed such a lawsuit less than three hours after the rules were issued.“The Trump administration is forcing women to pay for their boss’ religious beliefs,” said ACLU senior staff attorney Brigitte Amiri. “We’re filing this lawsuit because the federal government cannot authorize discrimination against women in the name of religion or otherwise.”The Democratic attorneys general of California and Massachusetts filed similar suits later Friday.Both directives had been in the works for months, with activists on both sides of a culture war on edge about the timing and the details.The religious-liberty directive, issued by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, instructs federal agencies to do as much as possible to accommodate those who claim their religious freedoms are being violated. The guidance effectively lifts a burden from religious objectors to prove that their beliefs about marriage or other topics that affect various actions are sincerely held.“Except in the narrowest circumstances, no one should be forced to choose between living out his or her faith and complying with the law,” Sessions wrote.In what is likely to be one of the more contested aspects of the document, the Justice Department states that religious organizations can hire workers based on religious beliefs and an employee’s willingness “to adhere to a code of conduct.” Many conservative Christian schools and faith-based agencies require employees to adhere to moral codes that ban sex outside marriage and same-sex relationships, among other behavior.The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian law firm, called it “a great day for religious freedom.” But JoDee Winterhof of the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBT-rights group, depicted the two directives as “an all-out assault, on women, LGBT people and others” as the administration fulfilled a “wish list” of the religious right.The new policy on contraception, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, allows more categories of employers, including publicly traded companies, to opt out of providing no-cost birth control to women by claiming religious or moral objections — another step in rolling back President Barack Obama’s health care law that required most companies to cover birth control at no additional cost.Employers with religious or moral qualms will also be able to cover some birth control methods, and not others. Experts said that could interfere with efforts to promote modern long-acting implantable contraceptives, such as IUDs, which are more expensive.The top Democrat in the House of Representatives, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, said the birth-control rollback was despicable.“This administration’s contempt for women reaches a new low with this appalling decision to enable employers and health plans to deny women basic coverage for contraception,” she said.On the Republican side, however, House Speaker Paul Ryan welcomed the decision, calling it “a landmark day for religious liberty.”The new policy took effect on Friday, but its impact won’t be known immediately and may not be dramatic.“I can’t imagine that many employers are going to be willing to certify that they have a moral objection to standard birth control methods,” said Dan Mendelson, president of the consulting firm Avalere Health.Nonetheless, he worried that the new rules would set a precedent for undermining basic health benefits required under federal law. The administration has estimated that some 200 employers who have already voiced objections to the Obama-era policy would qualify for the expanded opt-out, and that 120,000 women would be affected.Since contraception became a covered preventive benefit, the share of female employees paying with their own money for birth control pills has plunged to three percent, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.Many Catholic hospitals now rely on an Obama-era workaround under which the government pays for the cost of birth control coverage. That workaround can continue under the new rules.Despite that workaround, there have been extensive legal battles waged by religious institutions and other parties challenging the birth-control mandate. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops hailed the new policy as a “return to common sense” that would enhance “peaceful coexistence” between church and state.Doctors’ groups that were instrumental in derailing Republican plans to repeal Obama’s health law outright expressed their dismay.The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said the new policy could reverse the recent progress in lowering the nation’s rate of unintended pregnancies.“Instead of fulfilling its mission ‘to enhance and protect the health and well-being of all Americans,’ HHS leaders under the current administration are focused on turning back the clock on women’s health,” said the organization’s president, Dr. Haywood Brown.
