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
After bittersweet end to year, Netanyahu puts hopeful spin on 5777-Ahead of Jewish New Year, prime minister declares he’s more hopeful than ever, and says Israel will pursue peace efforts — though only in English-By Times of Israel staff October 2, 2016, 10:05 am
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu broadcast a message of optimism ahead of the Jewish New Year, which begins at sundown Sunday night, trumpeting the state’s accomplishments and vowing to pursue peace efforts — a statement he made only in English.Closing out a year bookended by a wave of deadly violence and the death of former president and peace pioneer Shimon Peres last week, Netanyahu attempted to telegraph a message of hope for the coming year --- 5777 by the Jewish calendar.“Shimon was a man of vision and optimism,” he said in an English-language video distributed Saturday night. “And I think Shimon would want us to celebrate Rosh Hashanah this year by looking back with pride and looking forward with hope.”“He was the strongest representative for a better hope, and with the entrance of the new year, I as well, more than any other time, am filled with hope.”The video was sent out a day after leaders from around the world gathered in Jerusalem to bury Peres, considered the last of Israel’s founding fathers and a major figure on the international stage.Netanyahu in the videos touted increased ties with the US and the world and, at least in English, said Israel “will continue working for peace.”The words about peace, however, did not appear in his Hebrew message, which focused on advances in Israeli society.“This year too we will continue to do our great work, continue to build the country, continue to develop it, to boost the economy, to ensure our security, to make our lives easier, to work toward your future, our future,” he said the clip.In English, he called on “Jews around the world to remain hopeful and continue pursuing justice and truth.”The Jewish New Year, marking the start of the High Holy Days, is typically celebrated as a time of looking forward to the year to come as well as reflection on the past year. Many Jews celebrate the holiday with a festive meal marked by special foods meant to symbolize good omens, such as honey for a sweet new year.But a year ago, the holiday marked for many the start of over six months of deadly violence, starting with the stoning of the car of Alexander Levlovitz in southeast Jerusalem, leading to his death on the first night of the holiday.The deadly wave of violence that followed claimed the lives of over 30 Israelis and some 200 Palestinians, many of them attackers, in what came to be known as the “lone-wolf intifada.”As in years past, the IDF announced it would seal off the West Bank and Gaza Strip from Sunday to Tuesday for security reasons over the holiday.The military said it would make exceptions for medical emergencies and “humanitarian cases,” with the approval of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).The closure will take effect on Sunday at 12:01 a.m. and is expected to last until Tuesday at 11:59 p.m., dependent upon a “situational assessment,” the army said.The closure comes as Muslims will also mark the Islamic new year, Raʼs al-Sanah al-Hijrīyah, which falls on the same day as the Jewish holiday in a calendrical quirk.The holiday, which will herald the start of the year 1438 in the Islamic calendar, is generally marked by Muslim Arabs with large festive meals and many sweets.While neither Netanyahu nor President Reuven Rivlin, who also put out a holiday greeting Saturday night, mentioned the Muslim holiday in their videos, Rivlin spoke of the need for “connections between the various and varied communities within Israel, religious, secular, Jewish and Arab. We must build together a shared hope for Israel for our shared future in this land.”According to population figures released by the Central Bureau of Statistics last week to mark the new year, the State of Israel has a population of 8.585 million, including 6.4 million Jews and 1.8 million Muslims.Jews make up close to three-quarters of the population at 6.4 million residents, while Israel’s almost 1.8 million Arabs make up one-fifth of the population.Israel’s Jews make up about half the world’s Jewish population, and Rivlin in a video in English pleaded with Diaspora Jewry to visit and to strengthen the bond with Israel, noting as well the need to combat anti-Semitism.“We must work to help them continue to be proud to be Jewish, with security, free from anti-Semitism, and free to wear a kippa in the street. Every Jew will always have a home in Israel, but they should have the right to live without fear where they wish, and we must stand up for this right,” he said. “To the Jewish students and young families in Europe, North America and all over, I want to say, ‘Do not take Israel for granted, do not forget that our destinies are tied together.’”
In Rosh Hashanah message, British PM vows to uproot anti-Semitism-Theresa May pledges to stamp out ‘sickening and shameful’ hatred of Jews, which ‘I never thought we would see again’-By Times of Israel staff October 2, 2016, 5:03 pm
British Prime Minister Theresa May pledged to protect the UK’s Jewish communities from anti-Semitism, in a Rosh Hashanah video message released hours ahead of the Jewish New Year on Sunday.“As the Jewish New Year begins, I want to renew my unshakable vow to stand by our Jewish community now and for the years to come,” May said. “And as prime minister, and working in partnership with you, I will do everything in my power to protect your community, and indeed all communities in Britain.”“I want to ensure that Britain is a place where all our communities can flourish, and that means stamping out sickening and shameful hatred, including anti-Semitism the like of which I never thought we would see again,” the prime minister said.Last month, May addressed Britain’s Jewish communities for the first time since her July election, praising the relationship between the UK and Israel and reaffirmed the British government’s long-held position of support for Israel’s right to self-defense.Writing in the latest edition of the magazine for the Conservative Friends of Israel, a pro-Israel group in her ruling Conservative party, May said that the UK’s relationship with Israel was “as strong as ever.”May highlighted the fact that the UK and Israel will soon mark the 100-year anniversary of affirmation by then Conservative foreign secretary Arthur James Balfour of the “UK’s support for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people” — in a document now known as the Balfour Declaration.
Rosh Hashanah fruit is in focus for food bank-Leket, which organizes volunteers to pick crops for the needy, trains its eye on apples, pomegranates and carambolas for the New Year-By Jessica Steinberg September 29, 2016, 1:50 pm
Leket, the crop-picking and food donation organization, is all about new fruit at this time of year.While Leket’s teams of volunteers usually harvest anything from potatoes to lemons, at this time of year it’s mainly about the apples. And pomegranates.Leket — the Hebrew word for gleaning or gathering produce from the fields — chooses the fruits and vegetables it picks based on the needs of the groups that receive its produce, as well as the farmers who need help in harvesting their crops.For much of the year, its volunteers pick the vegetables that make up the classic Israeli salad, such as cucumber, tomato and onion.There are, however, special requests, such as apples before Rosh Hashanah, as well as pomegranates and carambola aka starfruit, which are often used as the “new fruit” eaten during the New Year.This September, the food bank helped out Golan Heights farmers, the growers of many of Israel’s apples, and picked 300 tons of apples that will be provided to 140,000 families in need over the holiday. An average day of apple-picking yields about three tons of the fruit.For pomegranates, they gathered 300 kilograms of yellow carambola from a moshav near Ra’anana, providing 150 families with the unusual ridged fruit that resembles a star when it’s sliced across.
Where Ivanka Trump and Chelsea Clinton may pray on Rosh Hashanah-No matter who the next president is, a Jewish son-in-law is sure to visit the White House some time before the next Jewish New Year-By Debra Nussbaum Cohen October 2, 2016, 5:47 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
NEW YORK (JTA) – One has attended previous High Holiday services at an Orthodox synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The other has accompanied a college friend to Rosh Hashanah services at Stanford University, and her Jewish husband to services at a Reform temple in Midtown.Inquiring minds want to know how the two potential First Daughters, Ivanka Trump and Chelsea Clinton, are celebrating the Jewish New Year. No matter whether the next president is named Clinton or Trump, a Jewish son-in-law is sure to visit the White House some time before next Rosh Hashanah.Clinton isn’t Jewish but is married to Marc Mezvinsky, who is. And of course Trump became Jewish before her marriage a few years back to Jared Kushner, who has reportedly become one of his father-in-law’s closest advisers on all things Jewish- and Israel-related.“That has never been the case before. Nor have we previously had ‘First Daughters’ who are themselves so close to Jews,” the preeminent historian of American Jewry, Jonathan Sarna, told JTA.Trump underwent an Orthodox conversion and has told Vogue magazine about her family’s traditional Jewish home, including shutting off their electronic devices before Shabbat begins.Mezvinsky wore a yarmulke and tallit at his wedding to Clinton, who was raised Methodist. “Chelsea believes that she can raise her children in multiple faiths,” said Sarna.For Rosh Hashanah, she and Mezvinsky “will go to synagogue,” Rabbi James Ponet, who co-officiated their 2010 wedding along with a Methodist minister, told JTA. Now retired, Ponet was at the time the Jewish chaplain at Yale University. The ceremony included a wedding contract, or “ketubah,” and the traditional seven blessings were recited.Ponet was unsure which congregation they might attend. “It’s not a close friendship but we’ve maintained some contact,” he said.Clinton has long shown interest in Judaism. As a freshman at Stanford University in 1997, she attended Rosh Hashanah services at the Hillel there with a female friend. A year earlier, she reportedly attended Yom Kippur services at George Washington University Hillel, in Washington D.C. She was dating Mezvinsky at the time.Before their wedding, Clinton and Mezvinsky had attended services at Central Synagogue, a Reform congregation in Midtown Manhattan. But current Rabbi Angela Buchdahl told JTA she hasn’t seen them there in about nine years.Clinton has not attended services at any of the Reform and Conservative synagogues in the vicinity of their apartment on East 26th Street, calls to those congregations revealed.“She is incredibly private about that part of her life and historically speaking it’s not something she talks about, because it’s between her and her family,” Hillary Clinton spokesperson Zara Rahim told JTA.Of course, with a newborn son and the time pressures of campaigning on behalf of her mother, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, some say this is a year she may not make it to synagogue.Trump, too, recently gave birth to a son, her third child, Theodore, who is now 6 months old. Her older children with husband Jared Kushner are Arabella, 5, and Joseph, 2.Trump converted to Judaism in 2009 under the auspices of Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, a modern Orthodox rabbi and former spiritual leader of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.The Trump-Kushners used to attend Kehilat Jeshurun on East 85th Street, but haven’t since they moved further downtown, to the East 60s, said Rabbi Lookstein, who declined to go into more detail.Kushner’s family now attends the Fifth Avenue Synagogue on East 62nd Street when they are in Manhattan, Joseph Malovany, the synagogue’s cantor, told JTA, and he has seen Trump and her husband there. “Sometimes they come, sometimes they don’t come,” he said. “I don’t know what their plans are for the holiday.”Neither Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign nor Ivanka Trump’s fashion company responded to inquiries by JTA.But the Trump-Kushner family also frequents a private synagogue hosted by the investor and philanthropist Ronald Perelman, which he had built between his two back-to-back townhouses on East 62nd and East 63rd Streets.“I’ve sung there, he’s [Perelman is] a very close friend,” Malovany said. The Trump-Kushners “came with the children, so it was very nice. The question is whether they are even in the city for ‘yom tov.’ Usually the family gets together either in their home in [northern] New Jersey or at their home at the shore,” which is on the beach in Long Branch, New Jersey. “Sometimes they go to Israel, but probably not this year,” said Malovany, with a chuckle.The candidate’s daughter “really ‘davens’ [‘prays’] with a lot of ‘kavannah’ [‘intention’],” said Malovany, who shared that he once saw Trump and Kusnher walking after Rosh Hashanah services to the East River for “tashlich,” the ritual of casting away of sins into a body of water. “She is a wonderful convert to Judaism with all the trimmings.”Whatever their plans, the 2016 presidential campaign has offered revealing glimpses into the impact and ubiquity of interfaith marriage and Jewish identity, said Sarna, the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University.“In the case of Bernie Sanders, who has a non-Jewish wife, his grandchildren are Christian,” he said of the Vermont senator who sought the Democratic nomination. “In the case of Donald Trump, his grandchildren are Jewish — indeed, Orthodox Jews. In the case of Hillary and Bill Clinton, their grandchildren are somewhere in between.“The impact of intermarriage on American Jewry’s future is both complicated and unpredictable. There are multiple possibilities, as the experiences of the Sanders, Trump and Clinton grandchildren illustrate, and the results are not at all preordained. What happens depends, much as the election itself does, on individual actions,” Sarna said.“That may be the most important High Holiday lesson that this election offers us.”
Service with a smile: Synagogue rethinks the High Holy Days-From the way it sells tickets to the contemplative stitching circle, Pico Union Project is putting the ‘new’ in New Year-By Lisa Klug October 1, 2016, 11:11 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
For a community in Los Angeles, Rosh Hashanah not only represents the evolution of the self and the birthday of the world — it also translates into a reinterpretation of communal finances.To underwrite a dynamic series of High Holiday programs, Pico Union Project (PUP) launched a wildly successful crowdfunding campaign this summer. In less than two months, donations totaled more than $62,000, supporting a wide range of creative events including teen services, meditative stitching and innovative services with musician Craig Taubman, PUP’s founder and artistic director.“We raised the minimum amount needed in order to produce our full schedule of services and still have tickets to spare,” says Dr. Zach Lasker, PUP’s full-time executive director and resident yogi. “Anyone can purchase a single or multi-day pass and those who believe in our work and still want to make a financial contribution are able to do so.”PUP describes itself as a multi-faith center for spiritual exploration, cultural arts, and community activism. Its mission statement reads, “We are rooted in the principle to love your neighbor as yourself, and believe that in order to love your neighbor you must get to know your neighbor.”“Programmatically, Rosh Hashanah at PUP will again be a joyful, soulful, innovative and creative experience that strives to make the old new and the new holy,” Lasker says. “As a non-traditional community, we decided to move away from the dues-paying membership model.”PUP came into being when singer-songwriter Taubman purchased the landmark synagogue in 2013 with his wife Louise, who oversees several administrative functions, such as accounting and parts of event operations. The building dates to 1909, when it was the first home of the Sinai Temple congregation, and was sold to a church nearly a century ago. After the Taubmans took ownership, they hosted the first High Holy services in L.A.’s oldest synagogue structure in 91 years.“My wife and I seized the opportunity to purchase the building and rebuild a Jewish community in downtown Los Angeles and honor the incredibly diverse, multi-faith, and cultural make up of the neighborhood,” Taubman says. “PUP promotes the Jewish principle to love your neighbor as yourself — with the understanding that in order to be loving to others you must get to know them first. We celebrate and honor diversity and promote mutual respect through story, song, theater, dance, food, prayer, health, wellness and acts of loving kindness.”The self-described open egalitarian community witnessed a standing room-only crowd last year.People “came together for an unexpected and unprecedented experience of celebration, prayer, singing, spoken word, diversity, emotion and intellectual stimulation… all with a casual, let-it-loose, eclectic and affordable vibe,” Taubman says.Without traditional membership, PUP can’t say exactly how many people it serves. The sanctuary, Lasker says, is expected to sell out its 375 High Holiday seats. Its Shabbat program accommodates 50 attendees. And about a dozen people regularly attend Lasker’s yoga classes.The goal is “about joining together to form a creative, nurturing, and loving community… something special and uniquely Jewish in the heart of L.A.,” Lasker says. “The holidays will be our launching pad.”This year’s “High Holy Day Gathering” features Taubman as well as Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s Nefesh, Rabbi Susan Goldberg and “Tashlich,” a new dance composition by Deborah Rosen and Company.Also on the High Holidays menu is a stitching circle, spiritual centering through the art of contemplative stitching to create a meditative practice around liturgical themes with renowned instructor, Debra Linesch. Teen prayer services in partnership with Tzedek America and other programs are designed to make the holidays meaningful in a nouveau L.A. kind of way.PUP invites non-Jewish faith leaders to attend services, Lasker says. Reverend Najuma Pollar of the Word of Encouragement Church will make public remarks on Erev Yom Kippur.“There are occasions when other faith groups hold services and events [and] they have attendees from other walks of life, too,” Lasker says.Special High Holy guest speakers include iconic television writer and producer Norman Lear, Palestinian activist and pacifist Ali Abu Awwad, Rabbi Deborah Schuldenfrei and social activist and entrepreneur Joseph Sanberg.Services are led by Taubman, who possesses a unique gift “at holding space and recognizing sparks in other people that he brings into the room,” Lasker says. “The result is that people feel a heightened sense of belonging and meaning.”In Taubman’s eyes, it is a shared effort, “recognizing that no one personality, mode of prayer and singing, or point of view can speak to everyone equally,” Taubman says. “Our team of spiritual leaders includes singers, artists, teachers and rabbis that reflect the diversity of our community. Our hope is to optimize engagement through multiple points of entry.”Taubman, 58, brings to PUP a storied history as a Jewish professional.“Once upon a time, I was an artist with Disney records and performed over 100 concerts a year. I felt blessed for the work, but it was hard on me and my family to be on the road,” Taubman says. “Twenty years ago, Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple asked me to create Friday Night Love with him. This service allowed me the freedom to stay in town more, as well as focus on music for the Jewish community.”Taubman has had, he says, “an amazing run producing recordings since my first of over 60 albums as a high school senior 40 years ago. From vinyl we went to cassette tapes, CDs and digital downloads.”Taubman previously curated 11 mini volumes relating to High Holiday themes under the concept Jewels of Elul for the month leading up to the Jewish New Year.“Twelve years ago, I had no idea how impactful the project would be on my life and many others around the world,” Taubman says. “People want to grow and change and Jewels of Elul gave them the tools to do it.”He recently decided to apply the concept to the universal experience of losing a loved one. His “30 Days” project is inspired by the Jewish mourning ritual of Shloshim. Similar to the Jewels project, it will contain 30 affirmations and healing thoughts from an eclectic group of writers.“The past year has been a challenging one for me with illnesses and deaths including the lives of my wife’s parents,” Taubman says. “With loss so heavy on my heart I have been focused on ways to honor them and the mourning process.”Taubman’s and PUP’s out-of-the-box approach was reflected in its recent Jewcer campaign, which included opportunities to contribute at various price points. Starting at $50, a five-ticket package included seats at Slichot, first day Rosh HaShanah, Erev Yom Kippur, Yom Kippur morning and Neilah services. Two donors claimed a “Tree of Life” contribution starting at $1,250 to support the purchase of trees for the synagogue that will later be planted in the neighborhood. Another donor supported a minimum $1,500 donation to support Chief PUP Storyteller Jason Chu to pen a poem to be read at the High Holy Day services based on a theme of the donor’s choice.Another two donors each donated at least $3,000 each to sponsor and design the menu for lunch on Rosh Hashanah or at a communal Yom Kippur break-the-fast. And two more donors each contributed a minimum of $5,000 to support the composition of a musical piece to be debuted at services. Private contributions and other funding includes a grant from the Office of Homeland Security in California and a $200,000 Cutting Edge Grant from the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles.“Investing in vibrant spaces for Jews to thrive and engage with one another and the wider community in downtown Los Angeles is exciting for us,” said Elana Wien, director of the Jewish Community Foundation of LA’s Center for Designed Philanthropy. “We are confident that The Sanctuary@Pico Union can answer the call for opportunities to engage in Jewish spiritual discovery, social justice and the creative arts.”Rentals for private events, including bar and bat mitzvahs, weddings and “quincineras” (Latin American coming of age parties for 15-year old girls), also generate income.While the Taubmans currently donate use of the building, in the coming year, PUP will phase in a modest rental fee payable to the Taubmans. PUP will retain rental fees collected from the faith community, cultural groups, and private rentals, Lasker says.“I feel as if all of the elements that motivate and excite can be found at the PUP — art, music, community, gardening, making a difference, Jewish culture, all come together in our beautiful downtown space,” Taubman says. “Every day I am reminded that I can not only make change, but be the change in the world I have been blessed to inhabit.”
Hundreds answer Peres family shiva call, pay last respects at grave-Mourners from across the country gather at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, Jaffa peace center-By Times of Israel staff October 2, 2016, 6:48 pm
Hundreds of Israelis, among them Knesset members, diplomats and religious leaders, arrived at the Peres Center for Peace in Jaffa starting on Saturday night to answer a shiva call extended to the nation by the family of Shimon Peres, who was buried Friday in Jerusalem in a state ceremony attended by dozens of world leaders.Hundreds more visitors flocked to the grave at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem to pay tribute to the last of the country’s founding fathers. Peres passed away early Wednesday at the age of 93, two weeks after suffering a massive stroke.On Saturday, Peres’s family began the Jewish mourning tradition of shiva, and invited all Israelis wishing to pay their respects to visit them at the Peres Center for Peace in the coming days.Peres’s son Chemi told visiting mourners Saturday that since his passing “we are submerged in deep grief, and feel that this grief is not only ours but all of Israel’s.”“The love and support we have received from the citizens of Israel and from world leaders envelops us and eases the great pain,” he said.The center was adorned with pictures from Peres’s life. Visitors were invited to walk around and explore the former president’s work. Many approached the family to speak with them.Attendees included US Ambassador Dan Shapiro and Supreme Court Chief Justice Miriam Naor, United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni and former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo.At the grave, Jacques Saul, a new immigrant from France said Peres was “one of Israel’s greatest leaders who advanced the country abroad,” according to Yisrael Hayom.“We will never forget him,” said Rachel who brought her grandchildren to the grave told the paper. “Peres was one of a kind in his generation, and it’s important for me that the next generation will know who he is.”World leaders who attended the funeral Friday praised the former leader for pursuing peace with an indefatigable spirit and optimism, even though his vision of a “new Middle East” was never fulfilled.Peres led Israel through some of its most defining moments: creating what is believed to be a nuclear arsenal in the 1950s; disentangling its troops from Lebanon and rescuing its economy from triple-digit inflation in the 1980s; and guiding a skeptical nation into peace talks with the Palestinians in the 1990s.In 1994, he shared a Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 with former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for negotiating an interim peace accord with the Palestinians.Among the mourners at Peres’ funeral on Friday were US President Barack Obama, former US president Bill Clinton, French President Francois Hollande, Britain’s Prince Charles, German President Joachim Gauck and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.Despite the stalemate in peace talks, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sat in the front row alongside other world leaders. Representatives from Egypt and Jordan also were present.The ceremony was Israel’s largest gathering of international dignitaries since Rabin’s funeral, and was one of the most complicated logistical and security operations ever undertaken.
White House strikes ‘Israel’ from Jerusalem dateline on Obama’s eulogy transcript-Change to dateline on Peres speech confirms to US policy not to recognize Jerusalem as any nation’s until status settled at peace talks-By JTA and AP October 1, 2016, 2:31 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The White House amended its transcript of President Barack Obama’s eulogy for Shimon Peres to remove “Israel” from the Jerusalem dateline.The White House sent reporters an amended transcript Friday afternoon, “with a corrected header,” about nine hours after the transcript was first mailed.Instead of simply removing the word “Israel,” officials struck it through.US policy since 1949 has been not to recognize Jerusalem as belonging to any nation until its status is settled through peace talks.The White House press office routinely issues transcripts of Obama’s speeches and includes the location of the speech at the top. A transcript released shortly after the funeral listed the location as “Jerusalem, Israel.” Hours later, while Obama was still flying back from Israel, the White House issued an amended transcript listing merely “Jerusalem” and with “Israel” crossed out with a line.For decades, Jerusalem’s status has been one of the most difficult and emotional issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, as the capital of their future state, but Israel’s government considers a united Jerusalem to be its eternal capital. Mount Herzl, where Peres was buried, is deep inside the western end of the city, part of Israel since its independence in 1948.US policy refuses to recognize any nation’s sovereignty over Jerusalem until Israelis and Palestinians resolve the city’s status through negotiations. Although Israel’s parliament, high court and government offices are in Jerusalem, the American Embassy in Israel is in Tel Aviv, as are the vast majority of embassies in Israel.The tortured nature of a policy that tries to avoid taking a position about a heavily populated city has occasionally caused the US headaches.Government officials have occasionally had to correct public statements in which they unwittingly lumped Jerusalem in with the country that surrounds it and claims it as the capital. Last year, the US Supreme Court ruled that Americans born in Jerusalem can’t list Israel as their birthplace on their passports, despite legislation Congress passed in 2002 allowing Americans to list Jerusalem in passports and calling for the US Embassy to be moved to Jerusalem.Minor corrections to White House transcripts are not uncommon, and the mistake in the eulogy transcript appeared to be a clerical oversight. The White House declined to comment on the error, but pointed to a statement reiterating official US policy that Jerusalem’s status should be addressed in a way that respects both Israeli and Palestinian rights.“We believe that through good-faith direct negotiations, the parties should mutually agree on an outcome that realizes the aspirations of both parties for Jerusalem and safeguards its unique religious status for people around the world,” the statement 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
After bittersweet end to year, Netanyahu puts hopeful spin on 5777-Ahead of Jewish New Year, prime minister declares he’s more hopeful than ever, and says Israel will pursue peace efforts — though only in English-By Times of Israel staff October 2, 2016, 10:05 am
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu broadcast a message of optimism ahead of the Jewish New Year, which begins at sundown Sunday night, trumpeting the state’s accomplishments and vowing to pursue peace efforts — a statement he made only in English.Closing out a year bookended by a wave of deadly violence and the death of former president and peace pioneer Shimon Peres last week, Netanyahu attempted to telegraph a message of hope for the coming year --- 5777 by the Jewish calendar.“Shimon was a man of vision and optimism,” he said in an English-language video distributed Saturday night. “And I think Shimon would want us to celebrate Rosh Hashanah this year by looking back with pride and looking forward with hope.”“He was the strongest representative for a better hope, and with the entrance of the new year, I as well, more than any other time, am filled with hope.”The video was sent out a day after leaders from around the world gathered in Jerusalem to bury Peres, considered the last of Israel’s founding fathers and a major figure on the international stage.Netanyahu in the videos touted increased ties with the US and the world and, at least in English, said Israel “will continue working for peace.”The words about peace, however, did not appear in his Hebrew message, which focused on advances in Israeli society.“This year too we will continue to do our great work, continue to build the country, continue to develop it, to boost the economy, to ensure our security, to make our lives easier, to work toward your future, our future,” he said the clip.In English, he called on “Jews around the world to remain hopeful and continue pursuing justice and truth.”The Jewish New Year, marking the start of the High Holy Days, is typically celebrated as a time of looking forward to the year to come as well as reflection on the past year. Many Jews celebrate the holiday with a festive meal marked by special foods meant to symbolize good omens, such as honey for a sweet new year.But a year ago, the holiday marked for many the start of over six months of deadly violence, starting with the stoning of the car of Alexander Levlovitz in southeast Jerusalem, leading to his death on the first night of the holiday.The deadly wave of violence that followed claimed the lives of over 30 Israelis and some 200 Palestinians, many of them attackers, in what came to be known as the “lone-wolf intifada.”As in years past, the IDF announced it would seal off the West Bank and Gaza Strip from Sunday to Tuesday for security reasons over the holiday.The military said it would make exceptions for medical emergencies and “humanitarian cases,” with the approval of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).The closure will take effect on Sunday at 12:01 a.m. and is expected to last until Tuesday at 11:59 p.m., dependent upon a “situational assessment,” the army said.The closure comes as Muslims will also mark the Islamic new year, Raʼs al-Sanah al-Hijrīyah, which falls on the same day as the Jewish holiday in a calendrical quirk.The holiday, which will herald the start of the year 1438 in the Islamic calendar, is generally marked by Muslim Arabs with large festive meals and many sweets.While neither Netanyahu nor President Reuven Rivlin, who also put out a holiday greeting Saturday night, mentioned the Muslim holiday in their videos, Rivlin spoke of the need for “connections between the various and varied communities within Israel, religious, secular, Jewish and Arab. We must build together a shared hope for Israel for our shared future in this land.”According to population figures released by the Central Bureau of Statistics last week to mark the new year, the State of Israel has a population of 8.585 million, including 6.4 million Jews and 1.8 million Muslims.Jews make up close to three-quarters of the population at 6.4 million residents, while Israel’s almost 1.8 million Arabs make up one-fifth of the population.Israel’s Jews make up about half the world’s Jewish population, and Rivlin in a video in English pleaded with Diaspora Jewry to visit and to strengthen the bond with Israel, noting as well the need to combat anti-Semitism.“We must work to help them continue to be proud to be Jewish, with security, free from anti-Semitism, and free to wear a kippa in the street. Every Jew will always have a home in Israel, but they should have the right to live without fear where they wish, and we must stand up for this right,” he said. “To the Jewish students and young families in Europe, North America and all over, I want to say, ‘Do not take Israel for granted, do not forget that our destinies are tied together.’”
In Rosh Hashanah message, British PM vows to uproot anti-Semitism-Theresa May pledges to stamp out ‘sickening and shameful’ hatred of Jews, which ‘I never thought we would see again’-By Times of Israel staff October 2, 2016, 5:03 pm
British Prime Minister Theresa May pledged to protect the UK’s Jewish communities from anti-Semitism, in a Rosh Hashanah video message released hours ahead of the Jewish New Year on Sunday.“As the Jewish New Year begins, I want to renew my unshakable vow to stand by our Jewish community now and for the years to come,” May said. “And as prime minister, and working in partnership with you, I will do everything in my power to protect your community, and indeed all communities in Britain.”“I want to ensure that Britain is a place where all our communities can flourish, and that means stamping out sickening and shameful hatred, including anti-Semitism the like of which I never thought we would see again,” the prime minister said.Last month, May addressed Britain’s Jewish communities for the first time since her July election, praising the relationship between the UK and Israel and reaffirmed the British government’s long-held position of support for Israel’s right to self-defense.Writing in the latest edition of the magazine for the Conservative Friends of Israel, a pro-Israel group in her ruling Conservative party, May said that the UK’s relationship with Israel was “as strong as ever.”May highlighted the fact that the UK and Israel will soon mark the 100-year anniversary of affirmation by then Conservative foreign secretary Arthur James Balfour of the “UK’s support for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people” — in a document now known as the Balfour Declaration.
Rosh Hashanah fruit is in focus for food bank-Leket, which organizes volunteers to pick crops for the needy, trains its eye on apples, pomegranates and carambolas for the New Year-By Jessica Steinberg September 29, 2016, 1:50 pm
Leket, the crop-picking and food donation organization, is all about new fruit at this time of year.While Leket’s teams of volunteers usually harvest anything from potatoes to lemons, at this time of year it’s mainly about the apples. And pomegranates.Leket — the Hebrew word for gleaning or gathering produce from the fields — chooses the fruits and vegetables it picks based on the needs of the groups that receive its produce, as well as the farmers who need help in harvesting their crops.For much of the year, its volunteers pick the vegetables that make up the classic Israeli salad, such as cucumber, tomato and onion.There are, however, special requests, such as apples before Rosh Hashanah, as well as pomegranates and carambola aka starfruit, which are often used as the “new fruit” eaten during the New Year.This September, the food bank helped out Golan Heights farmers, the growers of many of Israel’s apples, and picked 300 tons of apples that will be provided to 140,000 families in need over the holiday. An average day of apple-picking yields about three tons of the fruit.For pomegranates, they gathered 300 kilograms of yellow carambola from a moshav near Ra’anana, providing 150 families with the unusual ridged fruit that resembles a star when it’s sliced across.
Where Ivanka Trump and Chelsea Clinton may pray on Rosh Hashanah-No matter who the next president is, a Jewish son-in-law is sure to visit the White House some time before the next Jewish New Year-By Debra Nussbaum Cohen October 2, 2016, 5:47 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
NEW YORK (JTA) – One has attended previous High Holiday services at an Orthodox synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The other has accompanied a college friend to Rosh Hashanah services at Stanford University, and her Jewish husband to services at a Reform temple in Midtown.Inquiring minds want to know how the two potential First Daughters, Ivanka Trump and Chelsea Clinton, are celebrating the Jewish New Year. No matter whether the next president is named Clinton or Trump, a Jewish son-in-law is sure to visit the White House some time before next Rosh Hashanah.Clinton isn’t Jewish but is married to Marc Mezvinsky, who is. And of course Trump became Jewish before her marriage a few years back to Jared Kushner, who has reportedly become one of his father-in-law’s closest advisers on all things Jewish- and Israel-related.“That has never been the case before. Nor have we previously had ‘First Daughters’ who are themselves so close to Jews,” the preeminent historian of American Jewry, Jonathan Sarna, told JTA.Trump underwent an Orthodox conversion and has told Vogue magazine about her family’s traditional Jewish home, including shutting off their electronic devices before Shabbat begins.Mezvinsky wore a yarmulke and tallit at his wedding to Clinton, who was raised Methodist. “Chelsea believes that she can raise her children in multiple faiths,” said Sarna.For Rosh Hashanah, she and Mezvinsky “will go to synagogue,” Rabbi James Ponet, who co-officiated their 2010 wedding along with a Methodist minister, told JTA. Now retired, Ponet was at the time the Jewish chaplain at Yale University. The ceremony included a wedding contract, or “ketubah,” and the traditional seven blessings were recited.Ponet was unsure which congregation they might attend. “It’s not a close friendship but we’ve maintained some contact,” he said.Clinton has long shown interest in Judaism. As a freshman at Stanford University in 1997, she attended Rosh Hashanah services at the Hillel there with a female friend. A year earlier, she reportedly attended Yom Kippur services at George Washington University Hillel, in Washington D.C. She was dating Mezvinsky at the time.Before their wedding, Clinton and Mezvinsky had attended services at Central Synagogue, a Reform congregation in Midtown Manhattan. But current Rabbi Angela Buchdahl told JTA she hasn’t seen them there in about nine years.Clinton has not attended services at any of the Reform and Conservative synagogues in the vicinity of their apartment on East 26th Street, calls to those congregations revealed.“She is incredibly private about that part of her life and historically speaking it’s not something she talks about, because it’s between her and her family,” Hillary Clinton spokesperson Zara Rahim told JTA.Of course, with a newborn son and the time pressures of campaigning on behalf of her mother, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, some say this is a year she may not make it to synagogue.Trump, too, recently gave birth to a son, her third child, Theodore, who is now 6 months old. Her older children with husband Jared Kushner are Arabella, 5, and Joseph, 2.Trump converted to Judaism in 2009 under the auspices of Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, a modern Orthodox rabbi and former spiritual leader of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.The Trump-Kushners used to attend Kehilat Jeshurun on East 85th Street, but haven’t since they moved further downtown, to the East 60s, said Rabbi Lookstein, who declined to go into more detail.Kushner’s family now attends the Fifth Avenue Synagogue on East 62nd Street when they are in Manhattan, Joseph Malovany, the synagogue’s cantor, told JTA, and he has seen Trump and her husband there. “Sometimes they come, sometimes they don’t come,” he said. “I don’t know what their plans are for the holiday.”Neither Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign nor Ivanka Trump’s fashion company responded to inquiries by JTA.But the Trump-Kushner family also frequents a private synagogue hosted by the investor and philanthropist Ronald Perelman, which he had built between his two back-to-back townhouses on East 62nd and East 63rd Streets.“I’ve sung there, he’s [Perelman is] a very close friend,” Malovany said. The Trump-Kushners “came with the children, so it was very nice. The question is whether they are even in the city for ‘yom tov.’ Usually the family gets together either in their home in [northern] New Jersey or at their home at the shore,” which is on the beach in Long Branch, New Jersey. “Sometimes they go to Israel, but probably not this year,” said Malovany, with a chuckle.The candidate’s daughter “really ‘davens’ [‘prays’] with a lot of ‘kavannah’ [‘intention’],” said Malovany, who shared that he once saw Trump and Kusnher walking after Rosh Hashanah services to the East River for “tashlich,” the ritual of casting away of sins into a body of water. “She is a wonderful convert to Judaism with all the trimmings.”Whatever their plans, the 2016 presidential campaign has offered revealing glimpses into the impact and ubiquity of interfaith marriage and Jewish identity, said Sarna, the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University.“In the case of Bernie Sanders, who has a non-Jewish wife, his grandchildren are Christian,” he said of the Vermont senator who sought the Democratic nomination. “In the case of Donald Trump, his grandchildren are Jewish — indeed, Orthodox Jews. In the case of Hillary and Bill Clinton, their grandchildren are somewhere in between.“The impact of intermarriage on American Jewry’s future is both complicated and unpredictable. There are multiple possibilities, as the experiences of the Sanders, Trump and Clinton grandchildren illustrate, and the results are not at all preordained. What happens depends, much as the election itself does, on individual actions,” Sarna said.“That may be the most important High Holiday lesson that this election offers us.”
Service with a smile: Synagogue rethinks the High Holy Days-From the way it sells tickets to the contemplative stitching circle, Pico Union Project is putting the ‘new’ in New Year-By Lisa Klug October 1, 2016, 11:11 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
For a community in Los Angeles, Rosh Hashanah not only represents the evolution of the self and the birthday of the world — it also translates into a reinterpretation of communal finances.To underwrite a dynamic series of High Holiday programs, Pico Union Project (PUP) launched a wildly successful crowdfunding campaign this summer. In less than two months, donations totaled more than $62,000, supporting a wide range of creative events including teen services, meditative stitching and innovative services with musician Craig Taubman, PUP’s founder and artistic director.“We raised the minimum amount needed in order to produce our full schedule of services and still have tickets to spare,” says Dr. Zach Lasker, PUP’s full-time executive director and resident yogi. “Anyone can purchase a single or multi-day pass and those who believe in our work and still want to make a financial contribution are able to do so.”PUP describes itself as a multi-faith center for spiritual exploration, cultural arts, and community activism. Its mission statement reads, “We are rooted in the principle to love your neighbor as yourself, and believe that in order to love your neighbor you must get to know your neighbor.”“Programmatically, Rosh Hashanah at PUP will again be a joyful, soulful, innovative and creative experience that strives to make the old new and the new holy,” Lasker says. “As a non-traditional community, we decided to move away from the dues-paying membership model.”PUP came into being when singer-songwriter Taubman purchased the landmark synagogue in 2013 with his wife Louise, who oversees several administrative functions, such as accounting and parts of event operations. The building dates to 1909, when it was the first home of the Sinai Temple congregation, and was sold to a church nearly a century ago. After the Taubmans took ownership, they hosted the first High Holy services in L.A.’s oldest synagogue structure in 91 years.“My wife and I seized the opportunity to purchase the building and rebuild a Jewish community in downtown Los Angeles and honor the incredibly diverse, multi-faith, and cultural make up of the neighborhood,” Taubman says. “PUP promotes the Jewish principle to love your neighbor as yourself — with the understanding that in order to be loving to others you must get to know them first. We celebrate and honor diversity and promote mutual respect through story, song, theater, dance, food, prayer, health, wellness and acts of loving kindness.”The self-described open egalitarian community witnessed a standing room-only crowd last year.People “came together for an unexpected and unprecedented experience of celebration, prayer, singing, spoken word, diversity, emotion and intellectual stimulation… all with a casual, let-it-loose, eclectic and affordable vibe,” Taubman says.Without traditional membership, PUP can’t say exactly how many people it serves. The sanctuary, Lasker says, is expected to sell out its 375 High Holiday seats. Its Shabbat program accommodates 50 attendees. And about a dozen people regularly attend Lasker’s yoga classes.The goal is “about joining together to form a creative, nurturing, and loving community… something special and uniquely Jewish in the heart of L.A.,” Lasker says. “The holidays will be our launching pad.”This year’s “High Holy Day Gathering” features Taubman as well as Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s Nefesh, Rabbi Susan Goldberg and “Tashlich,” a new dance composition by Deborah Rosen and Company.Also on the High Holidays menu is a stitching circle, spiritual centering through the art of contemplative stitching to create a meditative practice around liturgical themes with renowned instructor, Debra Linesch. Teen prayer services in partnership with Tzedek America and other programs are designed to make the holidays meaningful in a nouveau L.A. kind of way.PUP invites non-Jewish faith leaders to attend services, Lasker says. Reverend Najuma Pollar of the Word of Encouragement Church will make public remarks on Erev Yom Kippur.“There are occasions when other faith groups hold services and events [and] they have attendees from other walks of life, too,” Lasker says.Special High Holy guest speakers include iconic television writer and producer Norman Lear, Palestinian activist and pacifist Ali Abu Awwad, Rabbi Deborah Schuldenfrei and social activist and entrepreneur Joseph Sanberg.Services are led by Taubman, who possesses a unique gift “at holding space and recognizing sparks in other people that he brings into the room,” Lasker says. “The result is that people feel a heightened sense of belonging and meaning.”In Taubman’s eyes, it is a shared effort, “recognizing that no one personality, mode of prayer and singing, or point of view can speak to everyone equally,” Taubman says. “Our team of spiritual leaders includes singers, artists, teachers and rabbis that reflect the diversity of our community. Our hope is to optimize engagement through multiple points of entry.”Taubman, 58, brings to PUP a storied history as a Jewish professional.“Once upon a time, I was an artist with Disney records and performed over 100 concerts a year. I felt blessed for the work, but it was hard on me and my family to be on the road,” Taubman says. “Twenty years ago, Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple asked me to create Friday Night Love with him. This service allowed me the freedom to stay in town more, as well as focus on music for the Jewish community.”Taubman has had, he says, “an amazing run producing recordings since my first of over 60 albums as a high school senior 40 years ago. From vinyl we went to cassette tapes, CDs and digital downloads.”Taubman previously curated 11 mini volumes relating to High Holiday themes under the concept Jewels of Elul for the month leading up to the Jewish New Year.“Twelve years ago, I had no idea how impactful the project would be on my life and many others around the world,” Taubman says. “People want to grow and change and Jewels of Elul gave them the tools to do it.”He recently decided to apply the concept to the universal experience of losing a loved one. His “30 Days” project is inspired by the Jewish mourning ritual of Shloshim. Similar to the Jewels project, it will contain 30 affirmations and healing thoughts from an eclectic group of writers.“The past year has been a challenging one for me with illnesses and deaths including the lives of my wife’s parents,” Taubman says. “With loss so heavy on my heart I have been focused on ways to honor them and the mourning process.”Taubman’s and PUP’s out-of-the-box approach was reflected in its recent Jewcer campaign, which included opportunities to contribute at various price points. Starting at $50, a five-ticket package included seats at Slichot, first day Rosh HaShanah, Erev Yom Kippur, Yom Kippur morning and Neilah services. Two donors claimed a “Tree of Life” contribution starting at $1,250 to support the purchase of trees for the synagogue that will later be planted in the neighborhood. Another donor supported a minimum $1,500 donation to support Chief PUP Storyteller Jason Chu to pen a poem to be read at the High Holy Day services based on a theme of the donor’s choice.Another two donors each donated at least $3,000 each to sponsor and design the menu for lunch on Rosh Hashanah or at a communal Yom Kippur break-the-fast. And two more donors each contributed a minimum of $5,000 to support the composition of a musical piece to be debuted at services. Private contributions and other funding includes a grant from the Office of Homeland Security in California and a $200,000 Cutting Edge Grant from the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles.“Investing in vibrant spaces for Jews to thrive and engage with one another and the wider community in downtown Los Angeles is exciting for us,” said Elana Wien, director of the Jewish Community Foundation of LA’s Center for Designed Philanthropy. “We are confident that The Sanctuary@Pico Union can answer the call for opportunities to engage in Jewish spiritual discovery, social justice and the creative arts.”Rentals for private events, including bar and bat mitzvahs, weddings and “quincineras” (Latin American coming of age parties for 15-year old girls), also generate income.While the Taubmans currently donate use of the building, in the coming year, PUP will phase in a modest rental fee payable to the Taubmans. PUP will retain rental fees collected from the faith community, cultural groups, and private rentals, Lasker says.“I feel as if all of the elements that motivate and excite can be found at the PUP — art, music, community, gardening, making a difference, Jewish culture, all come together in our beautiful downtown space,” Taubman says. “Every day I am reminded that I can not only make change, but be the change in the world I have been blessed to inhabit.”
Hundreds answer Peres family shiva call, pay last respects at grave-Mourners from across the country gather at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, Jaffa peace center-By Times of Israel staff October 2, 2016, 6:48 pm
Hundreds of Israelis, among them Knesset members, diplomats and religious leaders, arrived at the Peres Center for Peace in Jaffa starting on Saturday night to answer a shiva call extended to the nation by the family of Shimon Peres, who was buried Friday in Jerusalem in a state ceremony attended by dozens of world leaders.Hundreds more visitors flocked to the grave at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem to pay tribute to the last of the country’s founding fathers. Peres passed away early Wednesday at the age of 93, two weeks after suffering a massive stroke.On Saturday, Peres’s family began the Jewish mourning tradition of shiva, and invited all Israelis wishing to pay their respects to visit them at the Peres Center for Peace in the coming days.Peres’s son Chemi told visiting mourners Saturday that since his passing “we are submerged in deep grief, and feel that this grief is not only ours but all of Israel’s.”“The love and support we have received from the citizens of Israel and from world leaders envelops us and eases the great pain,” he said.The center was adorned with pictures from Peres’s life. Visitors were invited to walk around and explore the former president’s work. Many approached the family to speak with them.Attendees included US Ambassador Dan Shapiro and Supreme Court Chief Justice Miriam Naor, United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni and former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo.At the grave, Jacques Saul, a new immigrant from France said Peres was “one of Israel’s greatest leaders who advanced the country abroad,” according to Yisrael Hayom.“We will never forget him,” said Rachel who brought her grandchildren to the grave told the paper. “Peres was one of a kind in his generation, and it’s important for me that the next generation will know who he is.”World leaders who attended the funeral Friday praised the former leader for pursuing peace with an indefatigable spirit and optimism, even though his vision of a “new Middle East” was never fulfilled.Peres led Israel through some of its most defining moments: creating what is believed to be a nuclear arsenal in the 1950s; disentangling its troops from Lebanon and rescuing its economy from triple-digit inflation in the 1980s; and guiding a skeptical nation into peace talks with the Palestinians in the 1990s.In 1994, he shared a Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 with former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for negotiating an interim peace accord with the Palestinians.Among the mourners at Peres’ funeral on Friday were US President Barack Obama, former US president Bill Clinton, French President Francois Hollande, Britain’s Prince Charles, German President Joachim Gauck and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.Despite the stalemate in peace talks, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sat in the front row alongside other world leaders. Representatives from Egypt and Jordan also were present.The ceremony was Israel’s largest gathering of international dignitaries since Rabin’s funeral, and was one of the most complicated logistical and security operations ever undertaken.
White House strikes ‘Israel’ from Jerusalem dateline on Obama’s eulogy transcript-Change to dateline on Peres speech confirms to US policy not to recognize Jerusalem as any nation’s until status settled at peace talks-By JTA and AP October 1, 2016, 2:31 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The White House amended its transcript of President Barack Obama’s eulogy for Shimon Peres to remove “Israel” from the Jerusalem dateline.The White House sent reporters an amended transcript Friday afternoon, “with a corrected header,” about nine hours after the transcript was first mailed.Instead of simply removing the word “Israel,” officials struck it through.US policy since 1949 has been not to recognize Jerusalem as belonging to any nation until its status is settled through peace talks.The White House press office routinely issues transcripts of Obama’s speeches and includes the location of the speech at the top. A transcript released shortly after the funeral listed the location as “Jerusalem, Israel.” Hours later, while Obama was still flying back from Israel, the White House issued an amended transcript listing merely “Jerusalem” and with “Israel” crossed out with a line.For decades, Jerusalem’s status has been one of the most difficult and emotional issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, as the capital of their future state, but Israel’s government considers a united Jerusalem to be its eternal capital. Mount Herzl, where Peres was buried, is deep inside the western end of the city, part of Israel since its independence in 1948.US policy refuses to recognize any nation’s sovereignty over Jerusalem until Israelis and Palestinians resolve the city’s status through negotiations. Although Israel’s parliament, high court and government offices are in Jerusalem, the American Embassy in Israel is in Tel Aviv, as are the vast majority of embassies in Israel.The tortured nature of a policy that tries to avoid taking a position about a heavily populated city has occasionally caused the US headaches.Government officials have occasionally had to correct public statements in which they unwittingly lumped Jerusalem in with the country that surrounds it and claims it as the capital. Last year, the US Supreme Court ruled that Americans born in Jerusalem can’t list Israel as their birthplace on their passports, despite legislation Congress passed in 2002 allowing Americans to list Jerusalem in passports and calling for the US Embassy to be moved to Jerusalem.Minor corrections to White House transcripts are not uncommon, and the mistake in the eulogy transcript appeared to be a clerical oversight. The White House declined to comment on the error, but pointed to a statement reiterating official US policy that Jerusalem’s status should be addressed in a way that respects both Israeli and Palestinian rights.“We believe that through good-faith direct negotiations, the parties should mutually agree on an outcome that realizes the aspirations of both parties for Jerusalem and safeguards its unique religious status for people around the world,” the statement said.
