tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62911828074228608852024-03-06T00:51:31.695-08:00Rebuild the Temple NowCamie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-23230894558135116602013-11-27T12:36:00.000-08:002013-11-27T13:01:38.648-08:00Chanukah – The Miracle of Resisting Cultural Normalcy<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEBArvqicPkTwRtEs9Y2NwRJER6ML9rIIAR3pNKqJzPmQT6fAMFKA2QKr11tvS-dD3lOQqIcIyBuxUM1e6Laai5GRFlJxTu5Wtr0wTcFuNvY3YlORJjpgMfTHLsUnNvbMr30G-ocZ2-no/s1600/th.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEBArvqicPkTwRtEs9Y2NwRJER6ML9rIIAR3pNKqJzPmQT6fAMFKA2QKr11tvS-dD3lOQqIcIyBuxUM1e6Laai5GRFlJxTu5Wtr0wTcFuNvY3YlORJjpgMfTHLsUnNvbMr30G-ocZ2-no/s1600/th.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Camie Davis</div>
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<br /></div>
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My eleven year-old son loves learning about history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The American Revolution and WW II have
captured his attention for the moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For the next eight days though, I hope his attention will be captured by
a time in history that is mainly celebrated by Jews, but that we, a non-Jewish
family, will commemorate as well. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Chanukah commemorates a military victory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That victory involved untrained Jewish
farmers turning into soldiers, like minutemen, and battles against Greeks on
elephants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know, the kind of
stuff an eleven year-old boy finds fascinating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And although I find underdogs and elephants
fascinating too, the message of the Maccabees’ resistance resonates strongly
with me for other reasons. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m a
mother who wants to raise her children to be brave, strong, and to be people
who don’t always follow the crowd, especially when the crowd is heading in the
wrong direction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Unfortunately, that is what many Jews did centuries ago when
the Greeks came to town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
followed the wrong crowd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During
the Second Century BCE, the path of a Greek king of the Seleucid Empire named
Antiochus crossed with Israel. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Antiochus changed his name to Epiphanes, which means “visible
God.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, he had a few egocentric issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He liked to think that he and the
god Jupiter were identical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because of little idiosyncrasies like that people called him “the
Madman.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And unfortunately the madman
took out his “issues” on the Jews in Israel.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Antiochus had his sights set on ruling Egypt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the rode to Egypt went through
Israel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hence, he wanted to
conquer the Jews.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he didn’t
want to conquer them physically.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The madman was actually quite brilliant on one level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He knew that the real way to conquer a
Jew was to conquer him spiritually, for that is where the true power of a Jew
resides - in his connection to God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Bottom-line, Antiochus wanted to Hellenize the Jews.</div>
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<br /></div>
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He implemented his goal of Hellenization by forbidding the
keeping of the Sabbath and Rosh Chodesh (the observance of the New Moon, hence
the observance of life according to “Jewish time”), circumcision (the sign of
being in covenant with God), and the study of Torah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, in essence, he banned the cornerstones of the Jews’
connection to God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also had the
audacity to put up a statue of Jupiter in the Holy Temple because it resembled
him, and more importantly he thought he was God, so as madmen go, he thought he
should be worshipped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And to add
insult to injury, he slaughtered pigs on the altar of the Holy Temple too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Unfortunately, many Jews went along with everything
Antiochus did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They liked the
Greeks <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">modus</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">operandi</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though seen
as extremely intelligent, the Greeks way of thinking was actually much more
simplistic than Judaism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
Greek mindset was often one-dimensional; a <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">totally external approach to the world,
emphasizing physical pleasure disconnected from anything deeper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sound familiar?</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Hence, the Greeks elevated the
physical to be of utmost importance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Greek’s glorification of the physical left little to no room for spirituality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this way of
thinking made Judaism, or more aptly put, made Torah observance look rather
foolish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A Torah/Biblical outlook
in life imbued godliness and spirituality into everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Greeks spurned that notion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And sadly, many Jews joined the
Greek’s way of thinking and shrugged off the fact that the most important
things in life can’t be seen with physical eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They traded in their spirituality for . . . drum roll
please . . . cultural normalcy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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And that, my friends, is why my family and I will light
candles for eight nights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because
we are right smack in the middle of that same kind of battle. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are living in a culture that is
anything but normal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet everyday
our culture would love for you and I to believe that being a person who
includes spiritual insight in our day-to-day lives is not only abnormal, but also
absurd. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are in the midst
of a battle of continuing to elevate the spiritual aspects of life while living
in culture of materialism, self-gratification, and the glorification of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“if it feels good, do it.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We live in a one-dimensional
culture where the belief in, much less the implementation of spiritual values
is often considered foolish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
though it might seem unimportant, menial, or silly to some, lighting candles
during Chanukah is a way of reminding ourselves to be light in a culture of
darkness.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The Maccabees represented Jews who did not fall prey to the Greek
mindset.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They stood up to the
cultural normalcy that the Greeks tried to implement and said, “No!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They stood up for their beliefs,
because their beliefs represented the fact that there is a God in this world,
and if they didn’t include Him in their world, their world would be nothing.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So no, my family won’t be celebrating Chanukah like our
Jewish friends do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know
how to cook latkes or kugel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I
do have a candleholder that has places for eight candles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eight for the number of days the great
menorah in the Temple burned with the little oil that was found when the Temple
was finally taken back from the Greeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yet, what I will think about this year when I light the candles is not
so much about the miracle of oil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But the fact that in a culture that tried to suck the heart and soul out
of spiritual people, there was still a group of people, though they be few in
numbers, who remained spiritual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
I will think of all the “miraculous” people I am privileged to know today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who in the midst of darkness
still shine God’s light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who in a
one-dimensional culture, see beyond the material world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And who are as abnormal as they come,
in a cultural of "normalcy."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-50906353384780334032013-10-02T09:46:00.001-07:002013-10-02T09:46:39.361-07:00Let the Sacrifices Begin
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Camie Davis</div>
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<br /></div>
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My husband and I ate lunch with a dear friend the other
day. Our friend is an
avid hunter so we conversed some about hunting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has two sons and a
daughter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He told them that he
didn’t expect them to want to hunt just because he did, but if they ever wanted
to learn, he would be happen to teach them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Long story short, his daughter did indeed desire to learn to
hunt, so they found themselves in a deer blind, deer in her rifle scope, and
her finger on the trigger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
moment she pulled the trigger, even before the bullet hit the dear, she started
sobbing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not from regret, but from
the seriousness of the moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
had pulled the trigger with the intent of taking a life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Granted it was an animal’s life, but a
life nonetheless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our friend ended
the story by saying, “It was a very important life lesson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although the act of hunting is serious
and can even be disturbing, it is not wrong.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Bells started going off in my head when he said those
words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“He just described the act
of offering a sacrifice at the Holy Temple!” I thought to myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Killing an animal, even at the Temple,
is serious and is most likely disturbing to the participants, but it is not
wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Never was wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it will not be wrong when resumed
in the near future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, what
is wrong is that the entire world has gone haywire without the animal
sacrifices of the Divine service and the world is desperate for their
resumption.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I don’t pretend to scratch the surface of knowledge
regarding the Temple sacrifices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But what little knowledge I do have has led me to believe that the world
is in desperate need of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most
people believe otherwise.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Archaic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Barbaric.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cruel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unnecessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Done away with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Replaced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are just a
few reasons people believe that the Temple sacrifices are not needed,
especially in the 21<sup>st</sup> century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But let me counter those reasons with a few questions:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did you read or hear the news
today?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many people were
murdered in a 24-hour period?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How
many people were abused?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many
terrorists’ attacked civilians?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How many acts of political injustices occurred?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many lonely, numb people relied on
drugs to make it through another day of misery?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet someone would argue that the Temple sacrifices are
unnecessary?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyone who argues against
the need of Temple sacrifices has a gross misunderstanding of the sacrifices
and has forgotten, or perhaps never knew, that the main intent of the
sacrifices, the “<i>korban</i>,” were to draw near to G-d.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And to remind man, “You are not an animal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So stop acting like one.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But before I further try to justify or show the need for the
sacrifices, let me remind us all of the biggest reason the Temple sacrifices
are needed: because G-d said so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And borrowing from the Book of Job, “G-d is unique, and who can contradict
Him?” Job 23:13.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Job called G-d,
“The One of Perfect Knowledge.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yet because we don’t fully understand why He desires sacrifices, or why He enlisted such a system, we dare to call the system wrong or outdated?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps we need to pause, and be reminded of some of the
questions G-d asked Job:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Where were you when I
laid the earth’s foundation?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tell,
if you know understanding!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who set
its dimensions or stretched a surveyor’s line over it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did you ever in your life command the
morning, or teach the dawn its place?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Were the gates of death revealed to you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did you tie up the bond of Pleiades, or unbind the cords of
Orion?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you know the laws of
heaven, did you place its rule upon the land?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did you dispatch lightening bolts?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you know who imbued the heart with understanding?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did you give the horse its strength?</i>
. . . and so on and so on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Job 38
& 39 are a little reminder that there is only One Source of wisdom, and it’s
not me or you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, if we’ve
never pulled a bolt of lightening out of our pocket, we really shouldn’t tell
G-d or anyone else that animal sacrifices are wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To do so would be quite audacious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The One of Perfect Knowledge designed and implemented animal
sacrifices as part of the Divine Temple Service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sacrifices were pleasing to Him on one condition - that
man’s heart was fully part of the service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because that is what the One of Perfect Knowledge has always
and still wants – our hearts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
knowing us better than we know ourselves, the One of Perfect Knowledge knew
that one way man’s heart could draw nearer to Him was via an animal sacrifice. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And remember, unless you can pull out a
bolt of lightening, you really shouldn’t argue against that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You may not understand it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Few do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
lack of understanding the Divine service shouldn’t lead to being against animal
sacrifices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Man learns visually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What is more visual than watching an animal be killed?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It must have been a very serious moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It must have been disturbing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as I said above, it was not
wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What it was though, to
borrow a phrase from my rabbi, was a psycho-drama.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A vivid reminder of man’s role in the universal scheme of
things, and how <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">everything</i> gets off
kilter, to say the least, if he doesn’t fulfill his role.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have never heard anyone describe with such clarity the
psycho-drama of the Divine Service and its role of realigning man with his
purpose, as Rabbi Chaim Richman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The following is his description of the Divine Service from a broadcast
of Temple Talk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Open your hearts
in the deepest way as you read his words:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“The Divine Service is
a psycho-drama.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The offerings
involved every level of man identifying with various aspects of his own
personality and life force and rectifying them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The service had a profound effect on the mentality of the
people involved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can try to
smooth talk over it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can try
to be genteel and delicate about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But the fact of the matter is, that these are animals being offered on
the altar of the Holy Temple.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">There is blood, there
is slaughtering because Hashem said to do it this way, and therefore, for man
to go through a deeper understanding of his own life force and where he has
gone astray.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And to ultimately
make sure his Divine image is elevated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And this experience draws a person closer to Hashem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The </i>korban<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> literally means to “draw
close.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But the fact is today,
we are no so close to Hashem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
the </i>korban<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> does it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what it’s
really all about, without apologizing, is a psycho-drama; it is extremely traumatic,
it is extremely jarring and unnerving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And that’s okay, because it is real.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We are spoiled rotten
in our generation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t know
what it means to realign ourselves, to figuratively receive a “kick in the
head” as it were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To see with a
certain kind of bold clarity that our lives are quickly running out like sands
through an hourglass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And with the
Divine Service we are given an opportunity when Hashem says, ‘I’m going to
shake you up and make you realize that life is precious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stop being an animal!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And start living the life of a man.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what happens in the Divine
Service.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Do you have a problem
with the One G-d of Heaven and earth running the show?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’ve got a problem with that,
maybe you should step back and take a long, hard look at the universe and where
you fit into it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because it’s
about you fitting into the universe, not Hashem fitting into your little
universe that you carry around like an app.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Strong,
bold words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Divine Service is
part of the One of Perfect Knowledge’s design for our world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And look where we are without it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did you read the details of what the
Muslim terrorists did to the women and children in the Nairobia mall?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Man is not living like an animal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Man has gone to an even lower
level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The world is desperate for the Divine Service of the Temple
because the world is desperate for a real reminder of how to live like a man in
G-d’s Divine image and how to draw near to the One True G-d.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I once read that one of the many miracles of the Divine
Service is that all the animals being led to slaughter would go with perfect
compliance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was no balking,
no hesitation; the animal did not try to get away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because the animal knew, it knew what we as humans have
forgotten.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It knew that it had no
higher calling, that there was no greater role for an animal than to be part of
the Divine Service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To be part of
reminding man, “This whole grand thing called life . . . it only works if you
act like a man and don’t act like me.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or worse, act lower. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sacrificing animals at the Temple was not a cruel act.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not sacrificing them, however, that is
what is cruel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most people long
for the day when swords will be beaten into plowshares.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet most people don’t connect the dots
to what precedes the advent of world peace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The prophets Isaiah and Haggai state simply and clearly
where peace will be begin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Temple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Ezekiel explains very
clearly and extensively what will be happening at that Temple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Animal sacrifices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isn’t it time we admit that our plans
are not working and instead accept the One of Perfect Knowledge’s plan?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s time to rebuild the Temple and let
the animal sacrifices begin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-36806863244782897502013-08-18T15:16:00.000-07:002013-08-18T15:38:20.255-07:00Weight of the Fall<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">It’s
Elul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I love Elul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this year I feel like my record player is stuck on Tisha B’av and won’t move on to the next
song called “Elul.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">I’m an
optimist; the-glass-is-half-full kind of person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I easily see beauty all around me: a pristine blue sky being
overtaken by thunderheads . . . a spontaneous hug between my children . . . a
beautiful wedding picture posted on Facebook . . . I see beauty everywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But instead of going
out into the beauty of the field this Elul to meet the King, I feel like staying inside
with the door locked and curtains drawn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My record seems stuck on the recurring thought that despite all the
perceived beauty, life is so lacking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I feel hit over the head with the reality that the true essence of each
moment is missing and that the beauty I see is like fool’s gold; it may shine,
but it’s not real.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it’s not
real because the building blocks of reality were broken.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They crumbled the day the Temple
fell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so, it seems, we have
been trying to build all the moments of our lives with dust instead of with
solid stones. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">The sages
teach that all of life was diminished by the fall of the Temple. The fall which was preceded
by the departure of the Divine Presence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the Divine Presence left, the
Temple was a mere shell, as was everything on earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is no wonder that the Temple fell after the very Presence that holds the Universe together left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it is no wonder that the world, in its entirety has been falling ever since. There is just enough life-force left to get by.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">I think the
sky is beautiful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it’s not as
blue as it once was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the
love between me and my children and between me and my husband is precious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it’s only mere sparks compared to
the original flame that once burned when the Divine Presence was here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you ever wonder what it will be like when we as mere mortals are privy to experience what love originally felt like? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or do you ever wonder what blue really
looks like? We have lived so long in a diminished state, we have forgotten we were made for so much more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">When my
daughter was younger she asked me why people cry when they are happy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She wondered aloud why she felt like
crying when she watched a movie with a happy ending.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And she asked,
“Mom, why do you get tears in your eyes when you tell me how much you
love me?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">Perhaps we
cry when we are happy because we know deep inside that even the best life has
to offer is incomplete; that even when we are happy, there is a part of us that
is not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And no matter how grateful
we are for the life we are privileged to live, we know that we are not fully living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We cry when we are happy, because deep
down we know it is not enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mazol Tov</i>!” is shouted, but the breaking
of glass resonates louder within us all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The sages teach that it is a mitzvah to be happy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I am happy, despite penning such
melancholy thoughts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But would it
sound too paradoxical to say that in every moment of my happiness, there is a
measure of sadness?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a
dark corner in my mind that thinks, “This moment is so wonderful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it’s a moment without the fullness
of the Divine Presence.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">I don’t
pretend to remotely comprehend all that the Temple stood for; all that it
housed, all that it did for mankind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Therefore, I don’t pretend to remotely comprehend all that was lost in
the world when the Temple was destroyed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But even without full knowledge, I still long for its
return.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">There are
those who do comprehend the weight of the destruction of the
Temple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I marvel at how they live
daily without buckling under the pressure of carrying such a weight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I wonder what the rest of us
“normal” people could do to help them carry the weight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the rest of us searched deep enough in the recesses of who
we once were, would we feel the weight of what the sages of Israel carry? Would we remember when beauty and
love were complete?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would we
remember when Heaven kissed the earth?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Would we remember when the spirit realm wedded the physical inside a
House of stone?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would we remember
those stones were anchors keeping the Divine Presence on earth?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would we remember what warmth really
felt like, what light really looked like? If we remembered, then surely we would stop relying on
sparks and do whatever it takes to bring the fullness of the Light back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we remembered, then surely we would
do whatever it takes to start the rebuilding of the Temple, which in essence
would be the rebuilding of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">Every
beautiful song is the sound of longing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Every beautiful poem is plea for a return.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every beautiful piece of artwork is an attempt to recreate
what once was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And every beautiful
moment of loved shared between people is a remembrance of what was and a
beckoning for what could be again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">The daily here
and now, though, no matter how incomplete it may seem, is what we have been given and are
expected to make the most of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Every moment in our lives, the way we choose to live it, can either be a
moment of destroying the Temple all over again, or rebuilding it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every act in our lives can reject the
Divine Presence or create a dwelling place for the Divine Presence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And no matter how tiring it is, or how
hard it may seem, we are expected to keep searching for and finding the sparks
that hid when their source reluctantly left the Temple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are expected to live each day to the
fullest, even while knowing the “fullness” we experience is an illusion of what
once was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And for those reasons, I
will go sit in the field with the King in silence. And then I will ask Him if He wants to talk of
things that once were and are destined to be again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will ask Him if He, too, is tired of sitting out in the
elements of a field, when He has memories of having a Home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I will ask Him what I can do to
ensure that next year, by Elul, He along with us all will experience a
Homecoming.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-51184102494264762732013-08-05T08:20:00.002-07:002013-08-05T08:23:37.026-07:00A Call to Remember<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">After the Israeli government recently closed the Temple Mount to Jews until August 11, MK Moshe Feiglin, who vehemently disagrees with the closure, issued a clarion call asking that at least 1000 Jews assemble at the locked gates of the Temple Mount to protest the closure. Will the Jewish populace in Israel react to this call with a yawn or with the roar of a lion?</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">Sometimes one can become so accustomed to his surroundings that he forgets to be fully aware of, much less appreciative of what is right in front of him. I'm afraid this somnambulistic state afflicts many Jews who live in Israel when it comes to the Temple Mount.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">Rabbi Nachman once said, “Wherever I go, I go to Jerusalem.” No matter where he was physically, his heart and mind were always in Jerusalem. Was Rabbi Nachman’s sentiment equivalent to Tony Bennet leaving his heart in San Fransico? Hardly. Rabbi Nachman’s spirit was attached to Jerusalem deeply because he knew it was the point of his attachment to Hashem.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
</span>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">Being the King of the Universe, God could have chosen any location in the universe “to place His name,” “to dwell,” and “to rest His presence.” Where did He chose do to this? Jerusalem, and more precisely, the Temple Mount. (Deuteronomy 12:5, I Kings 8:29 & 11:36, Isaiah 37:16 & 60:13, Ezekiel 43:7, Zechariah 8:3, Joel 4:17, Psalm 32:13)</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">If God is incorporeal and omniscient, why or even how could there be a precise location for His Presence to dwell? Couldn’t Rabbi Nachman have directed his sentiments anywhere, since God is everywhere? Yes, God is everywhere. Yet He chose to manifest Himself more intensely and to associate His Name with one specific place, Jerusalem. And even more precisely, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 49.0pt; margin-left: 48.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">“In many places, when speaking of the Jerusalem, the Torah calls it, ‘The place that G-d will choose to make His Name dwell there.’ To the extent that we can understand it, this means that G-d associates Himself with this place. This is very difficult for the human mind to comprehend, and indeed, Solomon, the wisest of all men, found it impossible to understand. He thus said to G-d, ‘Behold, the heavens and the heavens of Heaven cannot contain you, how much less this House that I have built’ (1-Kings 8:27). Yet, he knew that G-d had somehow associated Himself with this place, as G-d Himself had proclaimed.” Aryeh Kaplan</span></i><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">The Temple Mount, where God chose to place His Name, is literally the point of creation; the place where the physical realm came into existence. And it is the place where everything we can’t see, i.e. the spiritual world, attaches itself to the physical. It is literally the portal between heaven and the earth. This precise point of creation on the Temple Mount is called the <i>Even</i> <i>Shetiyah</i>, the Foundation Stone. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">It appears to me that the primeval point which G-d created out of nothing is what the sages called the foundation stone from where the world was founded.” - Nachmanides, Commentary to the Torah, Genesis 1,1</span></i><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">“When the Holy One, blessed is He, created His world, He created it like an infant born from its mother. For a fetus born from the mother, begins from its navel and expands outward to all four directions so too, the Holy One, blessed is He, began to create the world from the Foundation Stone and from that, the entire world was established.” - Midrash Tanchuma – Pikudei #3</span></i><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">Jacob saw a vision of this primeval point of creation that links heaven and earth. His vision is famously known as “Jacob’s ladder” and is recorded in Genesis 28.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">Jacob departed from Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He encountered the place and spent the night . . . he took from the stones of the place which he arranged around his head, and lay down in that place. And he dreamt, and behold! A ladder was set earthward and its top reached heavenward; and behold! Angels of God were ascending and descending on it . . . Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely Hashem is present in this place and I did not know! And he became frightened and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the abode of God and this is the gate of the heavens! Jacob arose early in the morning and took the stone that he placed around his head and set it up as a pillar; and poured oil on its top . . . and said this stone which I have set up as a pillar shall become a House of God.</span></i><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">Did you catch that? Even prior to the Temple standing, Jacob called the Temple Mount the "abode of God" and "the gate of the heavens." Wow. Just wow. I’m afraid that many Jews have forgotten this, even Jews who live in Jerusalem. It’s as if the Temple Mount has become just another historical relic or an off-limits religious site and they have forgotten what it really represents; the place where God dwells and the link between this world and the world above, the gateway to heaven. That has never changed. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">Currently, there is a structure, built by Muslims in 691, on the Temple Mount called the Dome of the Rock. Have you ever asked yourself or wondered why there is a dome over a rock? Although the Muslims have their own beliefs about why the rock is special, some Jews know the primary reason; because it is the <i>Even Shetiyah</i>. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">It's interesting that the spot where Jacob slept was simply called “the place.” Such an ordinary description for such an extraordinary spot. Yet at the same time what an apt name - the place - as if it is the only place of real significance in the world. Jacob slept at the precise location of the future alter of the Holy Temple. No wonder it was the place where Adam, Cain, Abel, and Noah made sacrifices, according to Pirke de Rabbi Eliezar 31. And it was the place where Abraham bound Isaac to the altar. In fact the 12 stones Jacob gathered around his head before he slept came from the alter Abraham made and bound Isaac upon. And a few feet away from the site of the alter rests the <i>Even Shetiyah</i>. So obviously it was no coincidence that all of theses auspicious events occurred at “the place” because it was the place of the <i>Even Shetiyah</i>; the foundation stone from which the entire universe emanated.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">As the navel is set in the center of the human body, so is the land of Israel the navel of the world . . . situated in the center of the world, and Jerusalem in the center of the land of Israel, and the sanctuary in the center of Jerusalem, and the holy place in the center of the sanctuary, and the ark in the center of the holy place, and the Foundation Stone before the holy place, because from it the world was founded. (Roman-Era Midrash Tanchuma)</span></i><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;"> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">I’m not Jewish, but when I pray I face towards Jerusalem as described in Kings 8:41-43 and Psalm 138. I face east in reverence of God's dwelling place on earth, in acknowledgment that my prayers ascend to heaven via the portal Jacob saw over the Temple Mount, and in acknowledgment that all physical blessings still come through that same portal as the Psalmist acknowledged in 128, “May Hashem bless you from Zion.” </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">So yes, I will be facing east the next few days as I pray for Jews to awaken from their spiritual slumber and have the same reaction Jacob had after he awoke and said, “Surely Hashem is present in this place and I did not know! How awesome is this place!” I will be praying that Jews answer the call to amass at the Temple Mount on Wednesday, August 7 at 7:30 at the Mughrabi Gate. Abraham called the Temple Mount, “Hashem <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yireh</i>,” meaning Hashem will see. How apropos if many Jews are seen by Hashem at the Temple Mount on Wednesday. </span></div>
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</span>Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-91958543335065202732013-07-24T15:27:00.002-07:002013-07-24T16:33:02.025-07:00MK Feiglin Takes Up the Fight for Rights on the Temple Mount<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Camie Davis<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Did you hear about the Imam on the Temple Mount, Ismat Al-Hammouri, who recently called for the destruction of America? Yawn. No big deal. Just another day in the life of the religion of peace. Or maybe you heard about Jerusalem’s most senior Muslim cleric, Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammed Hussein, who instigated chairs being thrown at Jews on the Temple Mount? At least that incident got the attention of the U.S. State Department. They quickly jumped into action and told Israel to “calm down” after Israel detained and questioned the Mufti. After all, when the Arabs’ <i>modus operandi</i> is throwing firebombs and rocks at Jews, what’s a few chairs?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Speaking of firebombs, did you hear about the Arabs who threw firebombs at the Israeli police on the Temple Mount? No, that probably didn’t make the evening news either. The good news is that at least the Arab women who congregate on the Temple Mount have decided to show a bit of decorum. Instead of throwing chairs or firebombs, they have recently started throwing insults at the Jews on the Temple Mount. I know, I know, stunning revelations for those who believe in the Obama induced fairytale known as the “Peaceful Religion of Islam.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But for realist like you and me, the violence perpetrated by Arabs against Jews on the Temple Mount is not a big surprise. Luckily, the Israeli government has faced the Arab instigated violence on the Temple Mount head on . . . by preventing Jews, especially religious-looking Jews, from ascending the Temple Mount. Appeasement and illogic have always gone hand-in-hand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">To the growing frustration of many Israeli Jews, the Israeli government continues to deal with Arabs who hate and want to hurt Jews by appeasing them. Part of the appeasement involves giving the Arabs just what they want – very little Jewish presence on the Temple Mount. After all, no Jews on the Temple Mount corroborates well with the Arab narrative that there is no Jewish history connected to the Mount.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Thankfully, not everyone in the Israeli government is riding the appeasement train. There’s a newly elected Knesset Member on the scene, Moshe Feiglin. He’s very conservative. Instead of speaking like a politician, he speaks forthrightly and with common sense. He does not accept, nor defend the status quo. And he is anti-establishment. In other words, he is the antithesis to Israel’s current appeasing government. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Because of the recent escalation of Arab instigated violence on the Temple Mount and continued discrimination against Jews ascending the Mount, there have been several heated discussions in the Knesset regarding those issues. According to the <i>Jerusalem Post</i>, MK Ibrahim Sarsour (United Arab List-Ta’al) asked why Jews cannot pray somewhere other than at al-Aksa Mosque and stated, “Jews in Israel need to understand that one day Jerusalem will return to Palestinians and Muslims. The solution is to maintain the status quo.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">MK Feiglin responded to the propaganda by saying, “The Wakf’s problem isn’t prayer, but the sovereign symbolism of prayer. As far as they are concerned, [Jewish prayer] eats away at the total Muslim rule over the Temple Mount.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Feiglin has quickly become an outspoken proponent for not only Jews retaining their right to ascend and pray on the Temple Mount, but regaining Jewish sovereignty over the Mount. Feiglin recently wrote on his Facebook page, “As a Knesset Member, I am obligated to actualize Israel's sovereignty on the Temple Mount.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Thankfully, Feiglin understands on a spiritual level, which seems to be lacking in this day and age, and on a practical level, the importance of the Temple Mount as he echoed the words of Israeli poet Uri Tzvi Greenberg, "He who rules the Mount rules the Land." Don’t think for one minute that the Arabs don’t know that. Arabs are resorting to acts of violence to keeps Jews from ascending and claiming sovereignty over the Mount. And the current Israeli government, barring Feiglin and a few other like-minded MK’s, has played right into the hands of the Arabs. The Arabs literally throw a fit or worse, harm Jews, and the Jews get punished.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Part of this punishment includes Prime Minister Netanyahu banning Feiglin from going on the Temple Mount. For ten years, Feiglin has ascended the Mount on a regular monthly basis. After he was recently elected to the Knesset, Feiglin went for his regular ascent. He was stopped. On orders from Netanyahu, the police told him he could no longer ascend. Although perhaps the most prominent Jewish person to have his religious rights violated on the Mount, Feiglin is not the first. Sadly, he is part of a long list of Jews whose own government has turned their backs on them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Three years ago, Rabbi Chaim Richman, of The Temple Institute in Jerusalem, spoke on his radio show about the religious discrimination against all non-Muslims on the Temple Mount. He asked his listeners to participate in signing a petition against the discrimination to send to Netanyahu. Rabbi Richman efforts got the attention of many people, including an officer from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv who indicated that he was very interested in the work of the institute. After Rabbi Richman was visited by the embassy official, he was also visited at night at his house by Israel's National Security Agency, known as the ISA or Shin-Bet. During the "visit" Rabbi Richman was told to desist from all his efforts to influence the public or the government into taking action on issues regarding the Temple Mount. His actions, he was told, were “damaging the relationship with the United States, placing a stumbling block in the path of the peace process, and inciting Arabs to violence.” He was then threatened with being arrested. That's right. A rabbi, with a petition, is indeed dangerous. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The founder of the Temple Institute, Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, also experienced the discriminatory and illogic behavior of the Israeli government. Muslim clerics in Israel are notorious for crying “wolf!” (i.e. “Jew!”) causing the Israeli police to detain Jews. When a Jewish holiday approaches, Islamic clerics work their followers into a frenzy over the possibility of Jews visiting the Temple Mount. On one such occasion before Jerusalem Day 2012, a leading Muslim cleric, Sheikh Yousef Ideis, made such claims. He warned Arabs to "be alert for possible infiltration of fanatic Jews" onto the Temple Mount. Instead of ignoring the obviously staged incitement, the Israeli police validated the cleric’s claims, and criminally investigated Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, a national hero, who had the audacity to pray on the Temple Mount.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Rabbi Ariel fought in the 1967 Six Day War. He was one of the famed Israeli paratroopers who took part in the liberation of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Marking the liberation of the Mount, Rabbi Ariel along with other Jews, including Knesset members, visited the Mount on Jerusalem Day. Surprisingly they were uninhibited by both the Islamic Wakf officials and Israeli police for a few moments, so they took advantage of the rare occasion and sang and prayed. Rabbi Ariel’s prayer was captured on video and he can be heard saying, "I have waited forty-five years to be able to say the <i>Shehechianu</i> (literally, "He who has kept us alive,") here on the Temple Mount." He then said a memorial prayer for his fallen comrades.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">After Jerusalem Day, Rabbi Ariel tried to ascend the Temple Mount again, but to his surprise was prohibited from doing so by the Israeli police. He was informed that he was barred indefinitely from the Mount and that he was under criminal investigation for actions, “that were not in compliance with the law.” Which begs the question, which law? Sharia law? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is not against Israeli law for a Jew to pray or show any type of reverence on the Temple Mount. But by acquiescing to Arabs who get upset over a Jew moving his or her lips on the Temple Mount, the Israeli police have made it common policy to escort Jews off the Mount, or worse, arrest them if they appear to pray. For instance, Yosef Hacohen, age 76, felt ill while touring the Temple Mount and needed some water. Before drinking the water he said a blessing. Accorinding to <i>Israel National News</i>, Hacohen’s actions, “aroused the ire of three Muslim Wakf officials who had been following the 30-member group of which Hacohen was a participant.” So naturally what did the Israeli police do? They arrested Hacohen "on suspicion of reciting the Priestly Blessing." And just this week, four Jewish teenage boys were arrested for what appeared to be bowing on the Temple Mount.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The Israeli police capitulate to the demands of the Arabs to such an extent that on Holocaust Memorial day they warned Jewish visitors on the Mount not to stand still while the memorial siren sounded because it would “upset the Muslim Wakf officials.” The sentiment, “Never again!” seems to have been lost on the police.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">As Jews become aware of the discrimination on the Temple Mount, many are beginning to protest. A few months ago, youth group Bnei Akiva held a protest rally in Jerusalem against the discrimination. When they applied for a permit they were told by police that they could not hold banners with the famous words, "The Temple Mount is in our hands," because it would be a provocation against Arabs. Thankfully, MK's at the time, Aryeh Eldad and Michael Ben Ari, attended the rally and held a sign with the forbidden words.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The most recent act of discrimination against Jews was on <i>Tisha</i> <i>B’Av</i>, the day Jews mourn the destruction of the First and Second Temple, yes the Temples the Arabs claim never existed. Hundreds of Jews, including Deputy Foreign Minister Ze'ev Elkin and MK Shuli Mualem, arrived early to ascend the Mount on such an auspicious day. However, they were locked off the Mount. The gates were literally shut and locked in their faces by order of Netanyahu, who some believe had taken his orders from Jordanian officials, who administer the Wakf.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">A contentious Knesset meeting was held the day after the group was locked off of the Temple Mount. Feiglin, not satisfied with the vagueness of Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich’s “reasoning” for keeping Jews off the Temple Mount, demanded that the minister admit that the actions were not security related but rather, the Israeli government feared a confrontation with the Muslim Wakf, which administers the Temple Mount, and with the Jordanian government.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">With a growing number of Jews supporting him, Feiglin continues to keep the sovereignty of the Temple Mount in public debate. He boldly spoke of the white elephant that has been sitting on the Mount since 1967 when Moshe Dayan immediately gave administration of the Temple Mount back to the Arab Wakf. He said, “Israel’s government did not want to liberate Jerusalem. Or to be more specific, the Labor and National Religious Party ministers did not want to liberate Jerusalem.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Because of the Israeli government’s continual policy of keeping the status quo intact, i.e. pandering to Arab demands, Feiglin has acknowledged that it will take a grass-roots movement by Jews to instigate change. As he said in a 2012 Temple Mount Awareness Day interview, “Every Jewish step on the Temple Mount will bring back sovereignty of the Temple Mount to the Jewish people.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Even some members of the Israeli police have expressed that an increased presence of Jews on the Temple Mount would create drastic changes. At a conference in Jerusalem in 2009 regarding Jewish ties to the Mount authorities said, “If only more Jews would visit the Temple Mount on a regular basis, the entire balance of power would shift. There would be a paradigm shift; the attitude of the government and the police would be different towards the Jewish visitors on the Temple Mount. The Muslim terror would be abated. Many Jewish people visiting the Temple Mount would be the cure to the overall security situation.” <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Perhaps the millions of Jews who visit the Kotel instead of the Temple Mount will take those words to heart soon. Yet, currently, because very few Jews try to exercise their rights on the Mount, it is convenient for the Israeli police to dismiss the lawful rights of Jews and instead indulge the demands of the Arabs. The adage "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" rings true. The Arabs simply make more noise than the Jews do over the Mount. Thankfully, that is beginning to change.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The novelist Anthony Trollope once said, “My belief is that in life people will take you at your own reckoning.” If only Israel would grasp that concept. When Israel takes its own rights, sovereignty, and destiny seriously the world will follow suit. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">As a government official, Feiglin has taken on the mantle established by Temple Mount activists such as Rabbi Ariel and Rabbi Richman, and is leading the way in taking the issue of Israel’s sovereignty seriously as recently demonstrated by his words to the Arab MK’s. He said, “When a guest is in my home, I give him respect. As long as they understand who is the host, and who is the guest, everything is fine. We have to speak the truth: this is our land, not yours. You are guests. The minute that you are guests, you deserve every individual right. But when it becomes a national struggle – you do not deserve anything.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Feiglin also told the Arab MK’s recently, “I know of no other minority in the entire human race that receives so much, and wails so much.” Perhaps soon the rest of the Israeli government and the Israeli police will share Feiglin’s sentiments and implement their rightful position of sovereignty throughout the entire Land of Israel, but especially on the Temple Mount, instead of giving in to the wails of the children of Ishmael. After all, unless I'm mistaken, it is called the Land of Israel for a reason, not the Land of Ishmael.</span></div>
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Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-55396483136987028662013-06-12T15:05:00.001-07:002013-06-12T15:39:52.383-07:00Tikkun of Tammuz<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">Have you done an
“idolatry check” lately?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tammuz is
the perfect time to do so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">“I’m a
monotheist!” you might exclaim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But before you get too defensive hear me out. Being
monotheist is no guarantee that you aren’t involved in idolatry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">Do you know what
caused the rabbinical establishment and top Israeli leaders to immediately give control of the Temple Mount back to the Arabs in 1967, right after “liberating”
the Mount?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s the same thing
that caused the spies to return with a negative report after scoping out The
Land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Idolatry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">Idolatry comes
in many forms and fashions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure,
it’s easy to point at people who believe and worship forms of so-called deities that
they think share duality with Hashem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But a more subtle form of idolatry is to believe that anyone or anything
has power outside of Hashem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">Many Jews, and
people who have attached themselves to the G-d of the Jews, proclaim the Shema
everyday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Hear, O Israel, the
L-rd our G-d, the L-rd is One.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Why do people cover their eyes when saying this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a reminder that true reality is
much different than what we see with our physical eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If a person is not careful and
extremely consciousness of the fact that Hashem is the only Reality, it is easy
to forget that He is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Circumstances can play tricks on our minds, or more importantly, with
our beliefs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So while we maintain
that Hashem is One, our actions can sometimes, G-d forbid, contradict that belief.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">It’s safe to
assume that the rabbinical establishment today, and in 1967, were diligent
about proclaiming the Oneness of Hashem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yet, their actions regarding the beloved and holy site of the Temple
Mount, the place that Hashem chose for His Abode, were and continue to be diametrically opposed to the belief in Hashem’s Oneness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">In 2009, the
late Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv emphasized that Jews should not
visit the Temple Mount because their visits could provoke
bloodshed. "I have declared this in the past, and I repeat once
again my statement that beyond the halachic aspect, it is also a kind of
provocation of the world's nations that could lead to bloodshed, and this would
be one sin leading to another.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">The esteemed rabbi was not looking through the lens of Hashem's Oneness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isaiah 2:2
described the true reality of Jews ascending the Temple Mount.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isaiah viewed the world through the
scope of Hashem’s Oneness. If Hashem is the only reality, then doesn’t it
reason that His desires and opinions are the only ones that matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isaiah saw the nations streaming to the
Temple Mount, hungry to hear the words of Torah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isaiah did not shy away from the reality of Hashem’s desires, nor did he give a tepid prophecy in hopes of not offending the nations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">In an <i>Arutz</i> <i>Sheva</i> <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122460#.Ubjtshwvh9t" target="_blank">interview</a>,
Rabbi Yisrael Ariel bemoaned the fact that the Chief Rabbinate in Israel
instructed Moshe Dayan to immediately give control of the Temple Mount back to
the Arabs. “He handed over the key [to the Temple Mount], because he was the
one who held it, but someone persuaded him to do this," Rabbi Ariel
said. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">Rabbi Ariel learned this
from a <i>Bamishpacha</i> magazine article, and then verified the
truth of the claim with hareidi former Knesset member Rabbi Menachem Porush,
who was quoted in the article. Rabbi Ariel stated, "According
to what he [Porush] said, the greatest hareidi rabbis, led by Rabbi Yechezkel
Abramsky, went to Dayan and told him to tell Levi Eshkol to give the Arabs the
Temple Mount since, 'The People of Israel have no interest in the Temple
Mount.' They also said the UN should be notified that we have no interest in
the Temple Mount."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">The esteemed rabbinical
establishment did not view the incredible gift of sovereignty of the Temple
Mount through the lens of Hashem’s Oneness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They saw the Temple Mount as the spies saw all of The Land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their view lent to the notion that
there is power outside of Hashem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their
view was idolatrous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">In a recent Israel
National News <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/13417#.UbjugRwvh9u" target="_blank">article</a>, Dr. Tuvia Brodie had an unexpected
conversation with a refrigerator repairman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The older repairman was a Jew who had immigrated to Israel
from Tunisia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The repairman
quickly shot down Dr. Brodie’s view of who controls the land of Israel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Dr. Brodie described: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I asked the repairman about Israel’s leadership
surrendering </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">land. He was unimpressed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"This is not their land," he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I objected, "They control the land."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">He was still unimpressed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"Never forget," he replied, "This land belongs only
to G-d.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Quickly realigning his thoughts with that of the repairman, Dr. Brodie
concluded, “His point was clear: who cares if Israel has anti-land leaders?
They are nothings. They own nothing. G-d owns everything—and Israel is His
alone.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">If only the rabbinical establishment and political leaders of Israel
were as wise as the repairman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
only they saw with such clarity, rather than through eyes of idolatry; eyes
that ascribe power, and thus duel ownership of the Land, to any other entity than Hashem. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Centuries ago Israel was guilty of idolatry that involved a god called
Tammuz.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is interesting that the
sages of Israel allowed a month of the Hebrew calendar to be named after this
god.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps part of the sages’
reasoning was as a perpetual reminder that as long as Jews, or any people for
that matter, live in the realms of this physical world, they are part of
an on-going fight against idolatry guised as duality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyday we are presented a “Tammuz” as it were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are presented with the opportunity
to see the world with our eyes wide open to the only Reality – Hashem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or we can see the world with our eyes
wide open to idolatry – reacting to the idea and illusion that there are <i>any</i> other forces outside of Hashem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">May this month of Tammuz be a time of tikkun for individuals on a
personal level, but also for the rabbinical establishment and political leaders
of Israel to open their eyes to the Oneness of Hashem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May they no longer make decisions based
on the illusion that there are any other powers outside of Hashem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May they ascend to the Temple Mount
themselves, to the Gateway to the Heavens, and once and for all repent for eyes that focus on any kind of illusional forces guised as opponents of Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In Psalm 16 David stated, “Hashem is my allotted portion and my share,
You guide my destiny.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To believe
anything else is idolatrous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">On a personal level you may need to remind yourself that no one or no circumstance guides
your destiny other than Hashem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When your plans aren’t “working out,” when the economy continues to “go
south,” when the doctor's report says “there’s no hope,” remind yourself that
those are all illusions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And don’t
weep over those illusions as the people of Israel wept over the illusion of
Tammuz so long ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead remind
yourself as often as possible that Hashem and Hashem alone guides your
destiny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">On a nationalistic level, join me in praying for the nation of Israel
and its leaders that they will unify around the belief that Hashem is their
destiny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Period. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May a beautiful tikkun happen during
this month of Tammuz.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And may the
nation of Israel arise from the idolatrous beliefs that lead to continual bowing and cowering before the nations. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Arise! Shine! For your light has arrived, and the glory of Hashem
shines upon you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For, behold
darkness may cover the earth and a thick cloud may cover the nations, but upon
you, Israel, Hashem will shine, and His glory will be seen upon you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nations will walk by your light and
kings by the brilliance of your shine,” Isaiah 60:1-3.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: xx-small; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">What an auspicious time for Israel to arise and shine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To once and for all arise from bowing
before Tammuz and sweep the illusions of idolatry into the dust bins of
history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And instead, replace it
with an Abode for Hashem’s Oneness, the Holy Temple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hear, O Israel, the L-rd our G-d, the L-rd He is One.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Open up your heart in a deeper way each
time you say the Shema this month, to the reality of Hashem’s Oneness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And may Hashem hear and respond to the
intention of our declaration as we call out to all of Israel to hear and to see that Hashem is One; He is all there is. </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-802254546860787382013-05-01T09:55:00.000-07:002013-05-01T10:07:50.537-07:00In Defense of Evyatar<i>Camie Davis</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwpA8k0krmPki2Iyt_XYtWyiTisVWSXF8JP80gCKNK6AHS1b1sYxUxq5O90RlfbJz0H-TXwr9xP-gHpVUZ_FReEN4FPKExIOPopXdX8a4zBnghytnCe0Mt2N6fp2DFEX9I4xrLSuWsg88/s1600/240a1231633b86a5c31a4ab359986e68.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwpA8k0krmPki2Iyt_XYtWyiTisVWSXF8JP80gCKNK6AHS1b1sYxUxq5O90RlfbJz0H-TXwr9xP-gHpVUZ_FReEN4FPKExIOPopXdX8a4zBnghytnCe0Mt2N6fp2DFEX9I4xrLSuWsg88/s320/240a1231633b86a5c31a4ab359986e68.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<i><br /></i>
I asked permission to speak to the Judge.<br />
I spoke.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I cannot say if He listened.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I said, “Why did You give Evyatar a heart of flesh?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps a heart of stone would have deflected the
knife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A heart of flesh absorbed it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Why did You let his blood flow out?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A man can only keep the mitzvot You told him to keep</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
if his blood flows in his veins.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Why did You tell Rachel to stop weeping?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She watched her son return to his border.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She then watched him return to the dust of Kfar Hassidim.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Do You totally despise Judah, do You loathe Zion?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No one hopes for peace more than those living in The Land.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet they are given terror instead.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Why have You abandoned Your heritage?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Evyatar, the love of Your soul, the love of Tzofiya’s soul,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the love of five pure souls, was delivered into the palm of his
enemy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Why have you misled Your people and Jerusalem,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
saying, 'You will have peace.'</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet the sword reached Evyatar’s very soul.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Why did You tell the watchmen to never be silent?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What did You tell them to keep reminding You?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They dropped to their knees as Evyatar did to his.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘A son of a stranger was not supposed to drink his wine, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
much less his blood,’ the watchmen whispered.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They have not spoken since.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Did Evyatar honor his father even after death?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Did he tell You, ‘I am the last sacrifice?’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Did You hear him?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Did You agree?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Did Evyatar agree with You when You handed him his last
script?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He played roles to help people heal.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now who will help his own wife and children heal?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Did You send five messengers down the Ladder</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with instructions to
heal and to guard?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘Look, five orphans,’ Tzofiya said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Did You look?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did You see?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Why did Evyatar’s right arm, wrapped and bound to You</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
so often, not get a chance to save?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Approached from behind, he could not see.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But you could.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why did Your right Arm not save?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You promised You would afflict the descendents of David.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But You also promised it would 'not be for all time.'</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It feels like all time.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After I spoke, I handed the Judge the paper.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On it, I had documented what He had once documented, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and from which my questions derived.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ezekiel 36:26<br />
Jeremiah 31:14 <br />
Jeremiah 14:19 <br />
Jeremiah 12:7</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jeremiah 4:10</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Isaiah 62:6-9</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I Kings 11:39</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He looked at the list.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He looked at me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He said nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So I left and said under my breath,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Blessed are You, the One True Judge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some day I will understand</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Your Name as One.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Today I do not.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-48638277696121248842013-04-02T15:03:00.000-07:002013-04-02T16:43:19.301-07:00Imagine There's No Seder, It's Easy If You Try<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">When despair for the
world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my
life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood
drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into
the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.
I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind
stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world,
and am free. </span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><b>— Wendell Berry</b></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;">Last week I admit I felt an inkling of the
despair that Berry described. I’m embarrassed to admit what I was
doing when I felt despair. I was getting ready for a Passover seder that
my husband and I were hosting. As I prepared for the seder, the sighs kept
escaping. And no, the sighs weren’t because I was tired from working so
hard cleaning my home. I’m not Jewish, so I don’t clean the chametz from
my home like Jews do. We do have a seder, though, to commemorate and
teach our children about the great miracles the G-d of Israel performed and
still performs today. A wonderful, joyous occasion, no? So why did
I feel a sense of despair? </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;">Passover 2013 would be spent gathered around
tables. And gathering around tables meant one thing. No Temple.
Another year had passed and not only had Israel not offered the <i>Korban</i> <i>Pesach</i>,
they also had not built the Temple. And quite frankly, the thought of
another year passing without the Temple left me feeling despair.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;">The despair increased with the consideration that
maybe Jews around the world would enjoy their seder too much. What if
they enjoyed their seder so much that they wouldn’t notice the void of the
missing Temple? What if in the contentment of their seders there was no
room for discontentment over the missing Temple? In fact, what if they
went so far as to dismiss the idea of the Temple? After all, the Temple
would interrupt what they have come to enjoy, what they have learned to accept
as normal. And even more than just what has become normal, what has
become dear and sacred to them. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">I sighed as I thought about this possibility.
And I sighed as I realized again for the umpteenth time that I have no idea
what I’m really longing for when I feel the void of the missing Temple.
So how can I blame Jews for not acting upon a longing that perhaps is abstract
and vague in their galut-adjusted lives. Besides, change is scary.
But scarier still is the thought of one year after another passing and the
world going on as is without the Temple. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Yes, these were the thoughts I had as I vacuumed
and then as I made the chasoret. But I chastised myself quickly and
remembered what I had heard about redemption. It comes in steps. Sometimes
baby step and then, who knows, maybe in huge leaps and bounds. But it
will come. So as I finished my preparations, I imagined what it would be
like. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">I imagined Jews becoming fed up with saying “Next
year in Jerusalem!” I imagined them pushing back from the seder table
with a new desire, a new determination, a madness really, which could only be
consoled by bricks and mortar. And I imagined them sharing my despair.
Of awakening in the night with a fright; frightened of what their lives and
that of their children might become without a Temple to rebuild their lives
around. I imagined them frightened that they might die without ever really living. I imagined them taxed with the forethought of grief of not
experiencing the fullness of the Divine Presence in the Land of the living.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">I imagined the shared DNA of David, Solomon, Ezra and
Nehemiah awakening from its dormancy in their 21st century kin; awakening to
action that would chase away all complacency. I imagined the national pride
felt as Jews accepted their Divine mission and of the utter amazement as the
task was completed and the House unveiled. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">I imagined stories whispered to children on ships
and in airplanes heading east, telling of the lost days when a seder around
a table used to suffice. And I imagined the incredulous reaction of the
children who walked faster as their feet hit the ground in a place marked 31°
30' N and 34° 45' E on a map. But they knew better. They knew they
were at the Center of everything. I imagined the children’s brisk walk
turning into a run as they felt the draw of the Divine Presence, the Heavenly
magnet pulling their souls. I imagined their eyes seeing the magnificence
of the structure, hearing the bleating of the lambs, and feeling the
contentment of finally being home. I imagined them asking incredulously, “Why did you wait so long?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">As I sat at our seder table with my imaginings, I
couldn't help but feel a bit hollow yet very hopeful. Hollow that the thoughts were
not reality yet. But hopeful that the children asking their parents, "Why
did you wait so long?" would forever replace the four seder questions
asked far too long.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-8097889308829916942013-03-27T08:58:00.000-07:002013-03-27T15:07:22.763-07:00A Time to Fight<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIDBnuNj5MlPA9eUw-gJZzaLlD_Td9rYfEMtrdPcGdl9zrdlrG5Bx4bzNjzw5UpsaOXDK9fsqxl9-f32Z03Uhnxbb6MgmbuyqYpLL_W1a7jS9DsC96ytXcpDktkfAirqOMQuFrgfaDqQc/s1600/hands-reaching1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIDBnuNj5MlPA9eUw-gJZzaLlD_Td9rYfEMtrdPcGdl9zrdlrG5Bx4bzNjzw5UpsaOXDK9fsqxl9-f32Z03Uhnxbb6MgmbuyqYpLL_W1a7jS9DsC96ytXcpDktkfAirqOMQuFrgfaDqQc/s320/hands-reaching1.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div>
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Recently in my daughter's 8<sup>th</sup> grade art class the students had some free time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So she and her friends were telling jokes to each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were laughing and having fun, but the laughter abruptly stopped after one of the girl’s “jokes.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said, “What’s the difference between a cake and a Jew?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A cake doesn’t scream when you put it in the oven.”</div>
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My mouth dropped open when my daughter repeated the “joke.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> It was the same reaction my daughter had when she heard it. The older she gets, the more she speaks her mind, but this time she was shocked and literally rendered speechless by such crudeness. I'm sure her feelings were accentuated by the fact that she had been reading <i>The Boy in the Striped Pajamas</i>, a book about the Holocaust. But even more so because two of our dearest friends are Jewish. In fact, they are more like family to us than friends. "How could anyone make fun of such a tragic event?" she wondered out loud to me. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> And then she said, </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"All I wanted to do was cry when I heard it, so I sat there stunned trying to hold back my tears."</div>
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Thankfully, two of her best friends, who happen to be boys, jumped in and basically jumped down the girl’s throat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They asked her how she could even let something like that come out of her mouth and told her that it was not funny on any level whatsoever.</div>
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After class, the girl who had told the joke was tripped by someone (whether inadvertently or on purpose, I don't know) causing her to fall down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When my daughter saw her on the floor, she said, “I thought for a split second, ‘Good, you deserve to be on the floor.’ But then I saw that no one was helping her up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I reached out my hand and helped her up.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And with that, she concluded her story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At which point, I was the one trying to hold back tears.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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I used to be a Bible teacher and public speaker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stopped speaking though when I had my son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was several years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve frequently mentioned to God that the teacher in me was ready to speak again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When and where though I haven’t a clue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I’ve felt the frustration of not “teaching” others what I know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After hearing how my daughter had helped the girl up, I figured I’d been teaching more than I had realized and to the most important audience I would ever be privileged to be in front of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Yet as I write that last paragraph, I realize that it is a bit misleading. Actually, very misleading. And very pompous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I doubt I would have offered a hand to help the girl up; back at age 14 or even now at age 45.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact I know I wouldn’t have helped her up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So in reality, my daughter “the student” has quickly become my teacher. </div>
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When I see the famous Martin Luther King, Jr. quote which says, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that," I cross my arms and say "Humph!" I relate more to Bruce Cockburn who said, "Gonna kick the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight." </div>
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It's people like my daughter, though, who remind me that sometimes offering a hand to lift someone up is a better "fight" than knocking them down. And perhaps offering a hand is more than a physical act too. Perhaps in some unseen cosmic way it helps lift that person's soul out of the mire and muck of ignorance that he or she is stuck in.</div>
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Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us that there is a time to fight. My daughter reminded me that there is more than one way to fight. Also, the Hebrew translation of Psalm 89:3 says, "The world is founded (built) upon kindness." I was humbly reminded by my daughter that it usually takes more strength to help a person up than to knock them down. It takes strength to be kind. And there is no doubt that she is much stronger than me.</div>
Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-41678116993959096612013-03-06T09:12:00.001-08:002013-03-06T10:03:20.325-08:00MARCH 10 TEMPLE MOUNT AWARENESS DAY HOSTED BY THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE IN JERUSALEM<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>AS THE 4TH ANNUAL TEMPLE MOUNT AWARENESS DAY APPROACHES, ARE YOU AWARE THAT:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Out of all the places on earth, the G-d of Israel
chose the Temple Mount as the place to reveal the fullness of His Presence on
earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Jacob referred to the Temple Mount as the
"Gateway to Heaven," yet few Jews express the desire to pray there
today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">When all the nations desire to and are allowed to
pray on the Temple Mount, war will end, per Isaiah 2.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In 1967 when the Temple Mount was liberated by
Jewish soldiers, hareidi rabbis went to Dayan and instructed him to tell Levi
Eshkol to give the Arabs the Temple Mount since, "The People of Israel
have no interest in the Temple Mount." They also said the UN should be notified
that, "We have no interest in the Temple Mount."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Only a few thousand Jews per year show interest in
the Temple Mount by going up on the Mount. Meanwhile millions of Jews
pray with their faces against a retaining wall known as the Kotel.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"> Many Torah-learned rabbis ascend the Temple Mount
halachically and teach others to do so correctly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Jews are arrested by Israeli police for praying or
even moving their lips while on the Temple Mount. For instance, recently
an elderly Jew was arrested for saying a blessing before drinking his bottled
water on the Temple Mount.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Arab kids play soccer on the Temple Mount.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Arab wakfs continue to routinely destroy artifacts
and remnants from the Holy Temple on the Temple Mount.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Religious Jews are consistently prohibited from
ascending the Temple Mount by the Israeli police.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Arab men and women purposely block Jews from
ascending the Temple Mount, hence the Israeli police close the Temple Mount to
Jews to prevent any "trouble."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The Prime Minister has failed to include the Temple
Mount in the "Heritage Plan," which is a plan for sites of Jewish historical, cultural, and religious significance to receive
funding for improvements for access, upkeep, and beautification of the
sites.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Arab propaganda saying that a Jewish Temple never stood
on the Temple Mount is gaining validity.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"> Do you care about any of this? If so, what are you doing about
it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">
Learn more about the 4th Annual Temple Mount Awareness Day at: <a href="http://www.templeinstitute.org/temple-mount-awareness-5773.htm">http://www.templeinstitute.org/temple-mount-awareness-5773.htm</a></span></div>
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Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-4913606191357091132013-02-07T11:08:00.004-08:002013-02-07T15:27:57.291-08:00Open Letter to a Rabbi <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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An open letter to a rabbi in Florida who asked a member of
his congregation, who had recently merited to ascend the Temple Mount in
Jerusalem, “What’s this obsession with the Temple Mount?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dear Rabbi,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Jewish fashion, I’ll answer your question with a few
questions; the real question being: “Why aren’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i> obsessed with the Temple Mount?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Did you forget?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Forget the reason that you and your fellow Jews were chosen?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As you know, there is a reason the
Torah was given.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a reason
your ancestors were delivered from Egypt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is a reason the Land of Israel was given to the Jews.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I fear you might have forgotten the
bottom-line reason; to build the Temple.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps since you live in Florida, at times you feel like you already live in
paradise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But while you live in
Florida not obsessing about the Temple Mount, others of us not only obsess
about the Temple Mount, but long for what should be standing atop the Temple Mount.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And every day that passes and the
Temple remains unbuilt, we agonize for ourselves and for our fellow man.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Ah, the Temple.” you might reply, “That was then, this is
now.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And you’re probably
right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean it was one thing for
your ancestors like Isaiah to obsess over the Temple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But a Jew in 2013?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s almost crazy, maybe even a little embarrassing to think that the
Temple could somehow fit into our modern society, huh?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> A</span>fter all, a rebuilt Temple
would mean, ahem, I’ll whisper it . . . animal sacrifices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How antiquated and barbaric is that? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, as a modern society we
have evolved into such civilized people. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Or have we?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
sometimes can’t fathom the news I hear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I can’t fathom how barbaric mankind is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you ever lay awake at night, rabbi, wondering when the
barbarism is going to end? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you ever wonder what would happen if man once again
participated in the animal sacrifices at the Temple?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you think that the holy service of the Temple would
awaken mankind from his stuporous enslavement to his animal instinct and remind
him that he is a holy soul? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If only, rabbi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If only.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Do you ever think about the Temple when you hear news from
around the world?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I hear of businessmen who take
trips to Thailand to participate in sexual perversions with children that is
beyond imagination, I mourn for the Temple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I hear of the brothels in India where little girls are
caged prostitutes yet the government turns a blind eye because it is a
money-making business, I mourn for the Temple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I hear of women and girls who take up to 30 minutes to urinate
due to pain induced from female “circumcision,” I mourn for the Temple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I hear of homeless children in sub-zero
temperatures in the Ukraine living in underground manholes, I mourn for the
Temple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I hear about
teenagers medicated on anti-depressants walking into schools and shooting
children, I mourn for the Temple.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You know as well as I do that the world we live in is less
than perfect, to say the least.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Do you ever wonder what colors really look like?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What food really tastes like?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What music really sounds like?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What love really feels like?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What being connected to Hashem could
really be like if this world were not so diminished?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Do you ever miss Hashem?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you ever have a momentary flash when the veil is lifted
and you experience a glimpse of What and Who He really is?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A chilling, but exhilarating glimpse of
His Oneness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you were the obsessive
type, those moments would make you long for the Temple even more.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Do you ever feel frustrated because the daily routines of life
keep you from being more active in working towards building the Temple?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you ever think to yourself that if
the Temple is not built in your lifetime, then you will have failed at what is most
important?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You would feel that
frustration, at times, if you became an obsessor. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Do you ever daydream about the Temple being built in your
lifetime?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would it interest you to
know that a fourteen year-old non-Jew living in the Bible-belt does?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When her teacher asked the class to
envision what a world at peace would be like, she envisioned the rebuilt
Temple?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would you call her
obsessed?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or do you think that
perhaps she sees the world a little more clearly than adults do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps she knows that we are beyond
politicians and policies fixing our world. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps she senses that we are to the point of Isaiah’s
vision of a rebuilt Temple ushering in world peace being our only hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So again, I ask rabbi, why aren’t you obsessed with the
Temple Mount?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I assume you must be
surrounded by Torah and Torah observant people who continually usher Hashem’s
presence in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But deep
down, you must know that is not enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If not for your sake or your Torah community’s sake, then isn’t it time
for you to become obsessed for the world’s sake?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of the world is living in abject desolation, devoid of
the knowledge, much less the Presence of Hashem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So frankly, the world could use a few more rabbis obsessed
with the answer to that void; obsessed with the Temple Mount.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ll end with one last question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have you ever seen or heard the desperate pleas and cries of
people whose loved ones, G-d forbid, are missing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They become a bit obsessed with finding their loved ones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which is why, I suppose you could say,
people are obsessed with the Temple Mount.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their dearest Loved One is missing from this world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And rebuilding the Temple is the only
thing that will guarantee His return.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sincerely,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An Obsessor</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-34710041477276606732012-09-05T06:11:00.001-07:002012-10-04T18:51:13.344-07:00Jews on the Mount Will Change Everything<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOlI0FGu6yJxY9br8mMxyxYElbNbm9vh_lIzY1j1aYdCZCmO2IiNxDYkPYddXTKr4uqaxJ9aVWbTYeuF26WYNIs0bNSGlhZef8BlldhWUUZtTbKKUDgeQwWWvnJqkkveBoAvygzMXRYhA/s1600/564608_440134229363185_1874204542_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOlI0FGu6yJxY9br8mMxyxYElbNbm9vh_lIzY1j1aYdCZCmO2IiNxDYkPYddXTKr4uqaxJ9aVWbTYeuF26WYNIs0bNSGlhZef8BlldhWUUZtTbKKUDgeQwWWvnJqkkveBoAvygzMXRYhA/s320/564608_440134229363185_1874204542_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">By </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Camie Davis</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px;">
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</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It couldn’t have been easy for the Orthodox
rabbi who suddenly found himself living in the Bible-belt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was from Jerusalem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But due to a rare disease that his
daughter had, he was in the southern United States with her as she received
special medical treatment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thankfully, after several months she vastly improved and they were able
to return to Israel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not before, however,
my friends and I, who are Noahides, gleaned from him all we could about Israel
and about Torah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
</span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When we found out he was from Jerusalem one of
the first questions we eagerly asked was, “How often do you visit the Temple
Mount?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He simply answered, “I
don’t.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We were stunned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our naïve bubble had burst.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We wrongly assumed that a Jew, especially a religious Jew,
living in Jerusalem would visit the Temple Mount routinely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sighed upon hearing his answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And over a decade later I’m still
sighing over Jewish mentality regarding the Temple Mount.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Last year
10 million people, mostly Jews, visited the Kotel/Western Wall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many Jews visited the Temple
Mount?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nine thousand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What keeps Jews standing with their faces
against a wall instead of ascending to the most important spot on earth?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How often does a person get to go to the
very place that G-d described as “the place of My feet?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Which
according to many of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, I just answered my own
questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because of the holiness
of the Temple Mount Jews should not visit it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">As Jewish desire
to visit the Temple Mount increases, the Chief Rabbinate declarations for Jews
to keep off the Mount also increases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They declare that it is halachically forbidden to ascend the Mount.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They warn that it is a spiritual risk
for Jews to walk on the Mount in case they tread somewhere impermissible,
therefore risking spiritual excommunication.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though the </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Temple buildings occupied only 15% of the original Temple Mount, which
size has doubled over the centuries due to construction by different occupying
forces; hence, there is ample space for a Jew to safely walk on the Mount.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Although some
of the Chief Rabbinate acknowledge that great rabbis throughout history visited
the Temple Mount after the Second Temple’s destruction, they still believe that
letting the common Jew visit the Mount today would be logistically challenging,
i.e. Jews would have to be educated on proper halachic requirements and a
Jewish presence would change the political status quo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Rabbi Ratzon Arusi, a member of the Council of the Chief Rabbinate, said
that issuing a blanket permit for Jews to ascend would be “very problematic.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Problematic?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s look at a few other situations
that might be considered problematic in Israel today:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Arab
propaganda is becoming the accepted narrative regarding no Jewish historical
ties to the Temple Mount.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">An Arab mosque
continues to stand in the place where G-d asked the Jews to build Him a house.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Scaffolding
used during repairs in the Dome of the Rock was nonchalantly placed on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Even</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shtiya</i>,
the Foundation Stone of the universe. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Arabs play
soccer on the Temple Mount (after all they’ve got plenty of room since Jews are
discouraged from going up).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">A Palestinian
flag was recently hoisted atop the Mount.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Over 10,000
rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Jews have been
killed on a monthly by terrorists basis despite the “peace process.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Iran is
planning to nuke Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">The funny thing is
that even I, a non-Jew, realize that the answer to every problem mentioned
above lies squarely on the Temple Mount.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because that is the precise spot where the Temple will be rebuilt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which will be the seminal event to
usher redemption into the entire world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">The real problem in
Israel today is not whether Jews are halachically permitted to ascend the
Temple Mount.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps the problem
is that many of the religious leaders in Israel believe that the Temple will
fall out of the sky or be built by the Messiah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, why risk or bother to go up on the Mount when one
can sit back and wait for events to unfold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Chief Rabbi </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Itzhak</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Nissim said after the liberation of the Temple
Mount in 1967, "We have entered the palace, and even reached the table but
we are not yet accepted before Him. We have done all that is in our powers to
do. All that is left to be done is in the hands of Heaven.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How ironic to say these words after
witnessing Heaven give Jerusalem back to the Jews via the blood, sweat and
tears of the IDF and Jewish people. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">I don’t ask lightly,
but what if some of the Chief Rabbinate are wrong regarding the Temple
Mount?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if they are as wrong
today as the Chief Rabbinate were in 1967?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">In an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Arutz</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sheva</i> interview, Rabbi Yisrael Ariel bemoaned the fact that it was
the Chief Rabbinate in Israel who instructed Moshe Dayan to immediately give
control of the Temple Mount back to the Arabs. “He handed over the key [to the
Temple Mount], because he was the one who held it, but someone persuaded him to
do this," Rabbi Ariel said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
article goes on to say that Rabbi Ariel learned this from a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bamishpacha</i> magazine article, and then
verified the truth of the claim with hareidi former Knesset member Rabbi
Menachem Porush, who was quoted in the article.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rabbi Ariel stated, "According to what he [Porush] said,
the greatest hareidi rabbis, led by Rabbi Yechezkel Abramsky, went to Dayan and
told him to tell Levi Eshkol to give the Arabs the Temple Mount since, 'The
People of Israel have no interest in the Temple Mount.' They also said the UN
should be notified that we have no interest in the Temple Mount."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Why should the world
today think that Israel feels any differently from the sentiments expressed by those
rabbis in 1967?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recently, a
Palestinian flag was hoisted atop the Mount.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Israeli leadership shrugged its shoulders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hence, so does the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only 9,000 Jews showed enough interest
in the Temple Mount to actually take the time to visit it last year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So why should Israeli politicians, or
politicians around the world for that matter, think that Jewish rights on the Temple
Mount are a priority?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Thankfully, there is
a growing outcry among Jews in Israel over discrimination of Jews who do ascend
the Temple Mount.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But actions
speak louder than words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If Jews
really do care about the Mount, and I believe a great many do, then it is time
for them to put feet to their sentiments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As Moshe Feiglin said in a 2012 Temple Mount Awareness Day interview,
“Every Jewish step on the Temple Mount will bring back sovereignty of the
Temple Mount to the Jewish people.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">It is time for a
grassroots movement among Jews to show Hashem and the world that they actually
do care deeply about the Temple Mount.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is time to upset the status quo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is time for Jews to leave the Western Wall, which is a
symbol of exile, and ascend the Temple Mount, a symbol of redemption, sovereignty,
and freedom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Even some members of
the Israeli police have expressed that an increased presence of Jews on the
Temple Mount would create drastic changes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At a conference in Jerusalem in 2009 </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">regarding
Jewish ties to the Temple Mount authorities said</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">, “If only more Jews would visit the Temple Mount on a regular
basis, the entire balance of power would shift. There would be a paradigm
shift; the attitude of the government and the police would be different towards
the Jewish visitors on the Temple Mount. The Muslim terror would be abated.
Many Jewish people visiting the Temple Mount would be the cure to the overall
security situation.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Yet, the
fact that very few Jews try to exercise their rights on the Temple Mount makes
it convenient for the Israeli police to dismiss the lawful rights of Jews and
instead indulge the demands of the Arabs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The adage, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease,” rings true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Arabs simply make more noise over
the Temple Mount than Jews do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">The
novelist Anthony Trollope once said, “</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">My</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">belief</span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">is that in life</span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">people</span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">will take</span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">you</span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">at your</span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">own</span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">reckoning.”</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If only Israel would grasp that concept.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Israel takes its own rights, sovereignty, and destiny
seriously the world will follow suit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Yet, as
stated earlier, leading rabbis staunchly disagree with the idea that a Jewish
presence, much less a proactive Jewish presence, on the Temple Mount could lead
to anything positive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 2009, the
late </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Rabbi </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Yosef Shalom Elyashiv emphasized that Jews should
not visit the Temple Mount because their visits could provoke bloodshed.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">"I have declared this in the past, and I repeat
once again my statement that beyond the halachic aspect, it is also a kind of
provocation of the world's nations that could lead to bloodshed, and this would
be one sin leading to another." <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Again, I don’t ask
lightly, but what if he and rabbis like him were and are wrong regarding the
Temple Mount?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How has “keeping the
peace” worked out for Israel so far?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No one truly knows how the fulfillment of the Prophets’ visions of peace
will come to pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will there be
bloodshed first?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t
know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what I do know is that
the Torah and Tanach are filled with incidents of the Jewish people following
the commands of Hashem that led to bloodshed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, if the enemies of Israel will not relent what
rightfully belongs to Israel, including Israel’s right to exist, Biblical
history and modern history shows that it has to be taken by bearing arms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what if bearing arms could be
avoided by Jewish feet ascending the Mount? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s somewhat incredulous
that some Jews have fallen into the belief that a Temple Mount left in the
hands of the nations will bring peace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Who was chosen?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ishmael or
Isaac?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then why do the descendents
of Isaac continue to let the descendents of Ishmael influence and even dictate
decisions made regarding the Temple Mount?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Temple Mount is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the</i> portal for redemption to enter the
world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Jews were chosen to
usher in redemption.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were
given back the keys to the portal in 1967, but tragically shunned the
privilege.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">However, there is a
growing number of Jews who feel the intensity of the Divine Spark within them
leading them to action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are being
drawn to the Temple Mount.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Should
the Chief Rabbinate continue to reign in this innate desire within these Jews?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By trying to prohibit Jews from
ascending the Mount, they seem to be asking Jews to continue to sit back and
take the chance that things will take care of themselves when the Temple falls into
Israel’s lap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Answers rarely fall
into one’s lap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A person has to
become the answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Torah has always
called Jews to action - into an active partnership with Hashem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And rabbis like Rabbi Yisrael Ariel and
Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute, along with other Jewish leaders
are putting feet to that call.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Temple Institute is not a corner curio shop for tourists to visit and see how
things used to be. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a living,
breathing call to action for Jews to fulfill their destiny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it is the perfect place for Jews to
learn how to ascend the Mount according to halachic standards based on years of
Temple research.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In summation of
events surrounding the liberation of the Temple Mount and the Chief Rabbinate’s
reaction to it, Yoel Cohen of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jewish</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Political</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Studies</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Review</i> said, “</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The capture of the Temple Mount presented two
possible scenarios: the reintroduction of Temple worship - bringing the biggest
revolution in Jewish religious life for 1900 years - or to seek to
‘incorporate’ the Temple Mount within existing patterns of Jewish religious
behavior.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Hindsight reveals which
scenario the religious establishment chose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The current state of the world and of Israel begs the
question whether they chose correctly.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The world desperately
needs the Jews to fulfill their destiny of partnering with Hashem to bring
about redemption.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I, along with
the nations, can only hope and pray that the Jews will rise to the
occasion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Literally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Arise and ascend the Temple Mount.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jewish footsteps on the Temple Mount
are equivalent to the footsteps of redemption.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment--></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-41704821494385795782012-07-19T09:47:00.001-07:002012-07-19T10:45:41.967-07:00Criminals on the Temple Mount<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s maddening when government organizations which are supposed to protect the public against terrorism
and crime, trade logic and proficiency for appeasement and political
correctness. Think TSA officials
searching a 95 year-old woman. Unfortunately, Israeli officials seem to have taken a page
out of the TSA handbook on how to humiliate its own citizens while placating
its enemy.
</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Muslim clerics in
Israel are notorious for crying “wolf!” (i.e. “Jew!”) causing the Israeli
police to spring into action. For
example, whenever a Jewish holiday approaches, Islamic
clerics work their followers into a frenzy over the possibility of Jews visiting
the Temple Mount. Recently, before
Jerusalem Day, the day that marks the reunification of Jerusalem and the
liberation of the Temple Mount, a leading Muslim cleric,
Sheikh Yousef Ideis, made such claims.
He warned Arabs to "be alert for possible infiltration of fanatic
Jews" onto the Temple Mount.
Instead of ignoring the obviously staged incitement, the Israeli police
validated the cleric’s claims. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to the Israeli police, “fanatical” Jews
did “infiltrate” the Temple Mount on Jerusalem Day. Rabbi Yisrael Ariel was one such “fanatical” Jew. His actions were so fanatical that he
has been barred indefinitely from ascending the Temple Mount and is under
criminal investigation by the Israeli police.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rabbi Ariel, who is 78, fought in the 1967 Six Day
War. He was one of the famed Israeli paratroopers who took part in the
liberation of Jerusalem. He was at
the Temple Mount when Lt. Gen. Mordechai Gur famously declared, “The Temple Mount is in our hands.” What elation Rabbi Ariel must have felt that day. The elation was mixed with grief
though, as 180 of his fellow comrades fell that fateful day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As you can imagine visiting
the Temple Mount on any occasion is special for Rabbi Ariel, founder of the
Temple Institute in Jerusalem, but especially on Jerusalem Day. Marking the 45<sup>th</sup> anniversary
of the liberation of the Temple Mount, Rabbi Ariel along with other Jews,
including Knesset members, visited the Mount. Surprisingly they were left uninhibited by both the Islamic Waqf
officials and Israeli police and so they sang and prayed. The special moment was captured on
video and Rabbi Ariel can be heard saying, "I have waited forty-five years
to be able to say the <i>Shehechianu</i> (literally, "He who has kept us
alive,") here on the Temple Mount." He then said a memorial prayer for his fallen comrades.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Jerusalem Day,
Rabbi Ariel tried to ascend the Mount again, but to his surprise was prohibited
from doing so by the Israeli police.
He was informed that he was barred indefinitely from the Mount and that
he was under criminal investigation for actions, “that were not in compliance
with the law.” Which begs the
question, which law? Sharia
law? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The lauded democratic
law in Israel assures the freedom of all religions at holy sites. How pathetic that the Israeli police
and government would set aside their own laws, logic, and decency to capitulate
to the demands of Muslims. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Who would have
thought that Jews, of all people, would be criminally investigated for praying
on the Temple Mount? But <span style="color: #000731;">due to “delicate status quo
agreements,” (which translates into the asinine belief that appeasing Muslims
will somehow lead to peace), Jewish worshippers are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sometimes</i> allowed to visit the Temple Mount during certain hours
but are not allowed to openly pray. </span> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rabbi Ariel is
not the first Jew to be under investigation for disrupting the “delicate status
quo.” Another fanatical Jew recently
visited the Temple Mount. <span style="color: #000731;">Yosef Hacohen, age 76, felt ill while
touring the Temple Mount so he needed some water. Before drinking the water he said a blessing. Hacohen’s actions made members of the
“peaceful and tolerant” religion of Islam angry. So naturally what did the Israeli police do? They arrested Hacohen. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #000731; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
Israeli police have even stopped Knesset Members from praying on the
Mount. MKs Michael Ben Ari and Uri
Ariel also joined a pilgrimage to the Mount to commemorate Jerusalem Day. While on the Mount, Ben Ari and a
number of the other members of the group started praying. Police immediately
asked Ben Ari to stop. After a
number of the group refused to stop praying, they were arrested. Itamar Ben Gvir, spokesman for Ben Ari,
accused the police of “doing the work of the Waqf." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #000731; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In
recent years, Israeli police have also threatened activist for merely raising awareness
of the need for religious freedom on the Mount. Rabbi Chaim Richman, Director of the International
Department of the Temple Institute, who has a radio show on Israel National
Radio, encouraged his listeners to write, call, or fax the Israeli government
and request religious freedom for all on the Temple Mount. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rabbi
Richman’s efforts got the attention of many people, including an officer from
the US Embassy in Tel Aviv. The
Temple Institute was established in 1987. No US government official has ever expressed interest in
their work. But suddenly, after Rabbi
Richman publically decried the fact that Jews were not allowed religious
freedom on the Temple Mount, an official from the US Embassy couldn't wait to
talk to Rabbi Richman about the "work of the institute."<span style="color: #000731;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #000731;">After
Rabbi Richman was visited by the embassy official, he was also visited at night
at his house by </span>Israel's National
Security Agency, known as the ISA or Shin-Bet. During the "visit," Rabbi Richman was told to
desist from all his efforts to influence the public or the government into
taking action on issues regarding the Temple Mount. His actions, he was told,
were “damaging the relationship with the United States, placing a stumbling
block in the path of the peace process, and inciting Arabs to violence.” He was then threatened with being
arrested. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sadly, the treatment of
the esteemed Rabbi Ariel, along with other Jews, is an indicator that Israeli
officials still believe that appeasement is a viable method of dealing with one’s
enemy, while throwing their own law-abiding citizens under the bus. As Rabbi Richman said, “It is unconscionable that Rabbi Ariel, who served with the
paratroopers that liberated the Temple Mount in the 1967 Six Day War, risking
his life and burying his comrades for the sake of the Jewish sovereignty of the
Temple Mount, should be served with an order distancing him from the Temple
Mount indefinitely. His ‘crime’ was giving thanks to God, in that very spot for
the return of the site to the Jewish people. Has it indeed returned to the Jewish people? Is the Temple Mount ‘in our hands?’
Every day that this situation is allowed to continue is a step backwards for
the State of Israel.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thankfully, secular and religious members of the
public are speaking out against the recent actions of Israeli officials against
their fellow-Jews. A demonstration
was organized outside of the Prime Minister’s residence. Also, it should be noted that some
members of the Israeli government are publically coming to the defense of
religious freedom for Jews on the Temple Mount. MKs Uri Ariel, Aryeh Eldad, Danny Danon, Tzipi Hotovely, and
Moshe Feiglin are among those who have been the most vocal regarding the recent
actions of the police. Hopefully,
their voice of passionate reason will be heard and acted upon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-63518477259135498652012-07-11T16:03:00.002-07:002012-07-11T18:22:42.843-07:00The Ultimate SoapboxI don’t like reading propaganda against Israel. It’s a bit hard to avoid though, as daily a barrage of propaganda makes its way into the media via people or organizations whose favorite sport seems to be Israel bashing. The U.N., Mahmoud Abbas, Jimmy Carter, the newly elected Muslim Brotherhood leader of Egypt Mohamed Morsi, EU's Catherine Ashton, actress Emma Thompson; they, along with countless others, provide a litany of lies about Israel that the media feeds upon and then regurgitates to the masses.<br />
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Even more vexing though, is when some of the “best” Israel bashers are Jews. You know the kind I’m talking about. The ones who can’t say Israel without tagging on the phrase “brutal occupiers.” The ones who blame practically every problem in the world on the “radical right-wing settlers.” The ones who can’t speak about terrorism without a tagging a “but” as big as a double-wide onto their sentence. It’s the sick “blame the victim for getting raped” song and dance. “I hate the violence that is perpetrated against Israel, BUT __________.” And then they fill in the blank with an absurd example of moral equivalence.<br />
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I joined a dialogue on Facebook recently with one such Jewish basher of Israel. When another Jew boldly defended the sovereign rights of Jews in the Land of Israel, he immediately launched into defending and championing the rights of Arabs who according to him “have lived under the brutal occupation of Israel for 45 years.” After asking him what his favorite flavor of Kool-Aid was that he shared with his drinking buddy Jimmy Carter, I found and read some of his other posts and articles on Facebook. Oy vey! Unfortunately, since he is a writer, his propaganda is prolific.<br />
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The more I read of his postings the more my heart rate went up. I found it both peculiar and infuriating that he didn't seem compelled to label terrorists who are killing Jews as “brutal” or as “left-wing radicals.” He didn't seem compelled to address and blame Jordan or the other Arab countries who created the Arab refugee “problem” in the first place via warmongering and have used the "plight" of the Palestinians ever since as pawns in their continued quest to wipe Israel off the map. He wrote with passion and emotion (and probably with Itzhak Perlman playing in the background), as he described standing side-by-side with Arab farmers “as they gaze across the metal barriers to their former land.” (Of course he fails to mention why the metal barriers are needed.) His penchant for solidarity with Arab “victims” made me wonder if he had ever stood side-by-side with Tamar Fogel as she longingly gazed at her family’s gravesite because terrorists got through the metal barriers and brutally killed her parents and siblings.<br />
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The pinnacle of his warped view of Israel came when he wrote about the Gaza rocket fire. Part of his sentence read, “Regarding continual rocket fire from Gaza (which thankfully the army and government do not seem to want to escalate . . .)."
That was the last straw. I couldn’t read anymore. Do you understand what he was saying? He was basically saying that he was thankful that Israel did not fight back. Which in his warped view wouldn’t even be deemed fighting back. No, if Israel responded to the over 10,000 rockets fired at them from Gaza, it would be an <i>escalation</i>. An offensive affront. Basically, Israel defending itself is a provocation.<br />
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Do you understand the ideology the Jewish basher of Israel is really deeming as the only appropriate action for Israel? To do nothing. Or even better, in the basher’s opinion, to surrender. Unfortunately, the Jewish bashers of Israel have joined the world not only in blaming Israel for most of the ills of the Arab world, but also for simply wanting to exist in their own Land. As the character in the Princess Bride was want to say, “Inconceivable!”<br />
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In some ways, the Jews have miraculously arisen after the Holocaust. But in many other ways, and who could blame them, they have remained curled in a fetal position hoping that any hatred or violence directed at them will pass. And as tragic and illogical as it sounds, the Jewish bashers of Israel are the ones kicking Israel the hardest. Kicking Israel mercilessly hard, not in hopes of awakening and prodding their brothers to get up and fight. But kicking Israel harder and harder to make them stay down.
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The propaganda continuously manufactured against Israel makes me as a writer want to find a bigger and better soapbox to jump upon to defend Israel. But as my heart rate slowed and my anger lessoned after reading the Israel basher’s articles, I realized there is no soapbox big enough for me or any other defender of Israel to get on right now. Except for one. And it’s not even really a soapbox for me, a non-Jew, to get upon, yet. The Jews need to get on it first.<br />
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The biggest and only soapbox, if I dare even call it that, is the Temple Mount. It’s time for the Jews to rise up from the defensive fetal position and to ascend. Ascend the Temple Mount. And as loud, direct, and compelling of a message that would be to the world, the real message would be to Someone else. Jews ascending the Temple Mount en masse would be the boldest and loudest message to the world, counteracting the world-wide bashing of Israel. Yet at the same time, it would be the most intimate and personal message to the G-d of Israel.<br />
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A Jew ascending the Temple Mount, is a Jew who is changing the world, changing reality. Or perhaps better said, pulling back the veil and illusions of this world and saying, “Psst, this is what life is really supposed to be like.” Because a Jew ascending the Temple Mount is acknowledging that, “This is where reality began and can begin again. This is the foundation stone; the portal between Heaven and Earth. This is where my Beloved left, where everything went wrong. This is the place to make it right again. This is where I will wait for my Beloved to return and while I wait, I’ll make ready our Home.”
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Sadly, the Jewish Korach’s and the goyim Balak’s, i.e. the modern bashers of Israel, are literally fighting tooth and nail to keep the Jews out of the Land. Because if the Jews are out of the Land, the House on the Hill will never be built. And if that House is never built, everything can continue as is, which serves the powers of this world quite well. If the Jews are out of the Land then the ultimate unification between the Jews and Hashem, which will bring unification to the world, will never happen.
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But alas, the plans of this world will not and are not standing. Miraculously, Jews are in the Land. So it is to those Jews whom I appeal to. Please get up. Go. Run. Ascend the Mount. Get on the most powerful soapbox in the world. Send a message to me. To the world. To Your G-d. Tell us, tell Him, that you are ready for everything to change. Tell Him that you are ready to be to your Beloved as He is to you.Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-40937738579682852632012-04-11T12:41:00.009-07:002012-08-09T12:47:00.120-07:00A Challenge to ChristiansChristians, how can I put this delicately? Okay, I can’t. So I’ll just say it. “It’s not all about you.” When the Bible speaks about Israel, it’s not talking about you. The End Times that you seem to get a bit overly excited about, are not all about you. And when the Bible speaks about a Temple, it’s literal, i.e. its about a building, it’s not waxing poetic about a figurative you.<br />
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Okay, I’ll be nice now. Because if you are a Christian I really do want you to keep reading. So let me start over with a little story. My sister and her husband just returned from a business trip to China. As their tour guide showed them Tiananmen Square she said, "I heard that there might have been some demonstrations here several years ago. But I've never been able to find out if that is true or not. Is it true?" <br />
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That is one of the saddest commentaries on life that I've heard in a long time. Suppression of information. Disinformation. People are kept from truth in so many areas, be it religion, health, governments, the economy, etc. Being a card-carrying Temple fanatic though, my thoughts quickly jumped to one particular subject in which people are sadly, and even pathetically uniformed or misinformed. The subject being Christians' beliefs about the Temple.<br />
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For those of you who don’t know, the Christian Bible consists of the Chistian books attached to the Tanach. It’s great on one hand that Christians can so conveniently read the Tanach. What’s not so great though, is a nasty little theological habit Christians have. They write-off whole books of the Tanach in favor of a belief they have based on one or two New Testament scriptures. This is partially how the Holy, awe-inspiring, haven of peace, dwelling place of God, desire of God, command of God became reduced to a temple for the malevolent boogeyman known as the anti-Christ. Christians read the lines in 2 Thessalonians 2:3&4 and snub everything the holy Prophets of Israel had to say about the importance of the Temple, not only in the past, but in the future as well. <br />
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So I’ll just stop right here and commence to begging. Please. Please. If you are a Christian who associates God’s Holy Temple as the temple of the anti-Christ, don’t do that. Ever again. Take a break from reading fictional books about the End Times. Take a break from reading theological guesses about the End Times. Instead read Books like Isaiah (especially chapter 2 & chapter 60). Read Ezekiel (especially from chapter 40 to the end of the Book.) Read educational <a href="http://www.templeinstitute.org/study_tools.htm">material</a> based on Jewish thought and theology. Come on, I dare you. And read these things without the ignorance or arrogance of “it’s all about me.” It’s not about you. It’s about Israel. Yes, Israel meaning the Jews. Still God’s chosen people; i.e. still the chosen representatives of God, still the Light to the nations. <br />
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I’m not interested in challenging all of Christian theology. But I know so many Christians who love and support Israel, yet remain clueless about the Temple. To them the Temple is just another game-piece in events they think must happen in the End Times. <br />
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When I read the following quote from the novel <span style="font-style: italic;">The Sweetness of Tears</span>, I thought it was an apt, sad summation of most Christians’ mind-set about the Temple, “When I see your friends on television, going around rubbing their hands with glee at the thought of Armageddon, it makes me cringe. All this talk of End Times! It’s like they’re playing some kind of board game with the Bible. Like the war and death they see happening in the world is just another move forward, roll the dice, and full steam ahead. Yippee! Jesus is coming! And we’re all going to win!”<br />
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If you are going to get excited about the so called End Times then get excited about how an original Jewish source, Isaiah, said it would end. The affluence of the West will be turned over to Israel. Kings and leaders from the nations will lick the dust at the feet of the Jews. A Body of Justice will be established in Jerusalem that the entire world will look to for decisions. No more suppression of information or disinformation as the Torah will be taught to all and will be accepted as the supreme Truth. The Jews will live in peace and security in the Land of Israel. People from around the world will come to Jerusalem, to the Holy Temple, each Sabbath and New Moon to worship the God of Israel. And the Jewish leader and figure-head known as the Messiah will partake in the Divine Service and offerings at the rebuilt Holy Temple.<br />
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Not exactly the scenerio you are expecting? That’s okay. It will happen whether you believe it or not. But do you know what else could happen? You could let go of man-made traditions and theology and jump on board to God’s way of thinking. You could ask God to show you what to believe about the Temple and perhaps for the first time open your heart and mind to the beauty, the holiness, and the need for the Temple. Come on, I dare you.Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-14509769963050209552012-04-04T08:41:00.003-07:002012-04-04T09:03:20.523-07:00Passover for the Non-JewLife wasn’t easy for the ultra-Orthodox rabbi who suddenly found himself living right smack in the Bible-belt. He was an anomaly, to say the least. He was from Jerusalem. But due to a rare disease that his daughter had, he was instructed to bring her to a hospital in the States to receive special medical treatment. Thankfully, after several months, the daughter vastly improved and they were able to return to Israel. Not before, however, my friends and I who are Noahides invaded every spare moment he had. <br /><br />That’s another anomaly; a Noahide in the Bible-belt. The rabbi was just as curious about us as we were about him. We were like scientists who had heard of a particular species, but had never actually had the opportunity to observe it. Observe we did. Whenever he wasn’t attending his daughter’s needs, the rabbi would teach us about his life in Israel. He also eventually, and trepidly, started teaching us the parts of Torah that were relevant to us. <br /><br />The rabbi had never met non-Jews who were interested in learning the Torah. He was a bit suspicious and rightfully so. After all, non-Jews have a long history of either trying to usurp the Torah for their own religious purposes or trying to destroy the Torah all together. So we couldn’t blame him for questioning whether it was kosher for him to teach us Torah and kosher for us to learn it. His reservations weren’t unwarranted even in our small community. Besides the small number of Noahides who were interested in learning Torah, there was a group of Messianic Christians who were interested too. However, they were interested in reshaping the Torah to fit into their own religion. But we finally convinced the Rabbi that we were interested in the Torah reshaping our lives. So although his reservations never quite left, he did agree to teach us. And in return, we would answer all the questions he had about us. <br /><br />We first met the rabbi in the spring when Passover was approaching. One of the first questions that he asked me was, “You are not Jewish. Why are you and your family observing Passover?” I naively shrugged my shoulders and answered back with the question, “Why wouldn’t I observe it?”<br /><br />(Please note, I use the word “observe” very loosely. Perhaps it would be better to say that my family and I commemorate Passover. Since we are not Jewish, we realize that this holiday is not about us, per say. There’s a t-shirt that says, “It’s all about me.” Usually I roll my eyes at such arrogant sayings. But in my opinion, that is the perfect saying for a Jew. I look at the world a little bit differently than most of society does. I see the Jews and their relationship with Hashem as the center of everything. World history, current events, spiritual blessings, physical blessings; it all revolves around the Jews and their relationship with Hashem. It literally is, “All about the Jews,” and how they spread Hashem’s Light to the rest of the world.)<br /><br />Continuing my answer to the rabbi, I said, “My children learn history; Texas history, American history, world history. So why shouldn’t they learn the most important history of all? Biblical history.” He didn’t have an argument for that. <br /><br />That’s one of the reasons that my family gathers with other Noahides to “observe” Passover. My kids are growing up in the information age. Besides learning at school, they are constantly bombarded with information from the technology that surrounds them. Yet, the sedar competes with modern technology. The sedar is good ole’ fashion story telling. The children listen, they experience, and they remember. But it’s more than a story that I want them to remember. I want them to remember the kind of God that the story reveals.<br /><br />The story of Passover is a story of Divine intervention and deliverance. It is a reminder that the God Who performed miracles so long ago, is the same God today, with the same capabilities. I want my children to know first and foremost, that there is only one God, the God of Israel. Second, I want them to know that God is not only watching over Israel today, but that He watches over them as well. <br /><br />Passover isn’t just a history lesson. It points to the future. Israel is in dire need of deliverance again. She is surrounded by enemies bent on her destruction. Passover instills faith. Though it seemed to be long in coming, the Children of Israel were finally liberated from Egypt. Sometimes I get discouraged as I watch from afar what my friends in Israel are going through, and how the nation as a whole bears the brunt of so much hatred from around the world. But just as the redemption from Egypt happened, we can rest assure the final redemption for Israel, that will spillover into the rest of the world, will happen. "Just as a lion roars over its prey, so shall Hashem, Master of Legions, descend to do battle upon Mount Zion and upon its hill. Like flying birds, so will Hashem Master of Legions protect Jerusalem, protecting and rescuing, passing over and delivering," Isaiah 31.<br /><br />May this Passover remind us how powerful God is. And even though He is the God of the universe, we should remember and take advantage of the fact that He takes the time to meet us in our individual lives, on our level, to bring about personal redemption in areas that we are living in bondage.<br /><br />On Passover, as a non-Jew, I will do my best to remember and I will teach my children to remember. I will also ask Hashem to remember. “Remember me, Hashem, when You show Your people favor; recall me with Your salvation; to see the good of Your chosen ones; to rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, to glory with Your inheritance,” Psalm 106:4,5.Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-73388602570383147922012-03-28T08:43:00.006-07:002012-03-28T09:14:45.693-07:00The Psycho-Drama of the Temple Offeringsadapted from Rabbi Richman on <a href="http://universaltorah.com/programming/2012/03/27/temple-talk-radio-in-like-a-lion-out-like-a-lamb.htm">Temple Talk</a> March 27, 2012<br /><br />"The Temple offerings are symbolic on a cosmic level. They symbolize man identifying with various aspects of his own personality and life force and rectifying that. There is a tremendous amount of symbolism in the Temple offerings, but the main thing regarding the offerings is that Hashem takes pleasure when man does what He said to do.<br /><br />"The Temple service is a 'psycho-drama.' It is a drama that has a profound effect on the mentality of the people involved in it. You can try and smooth talk your way out of the need for offerings today. You can try to be genteel and delicate about the Divine Service and just talk about the incense offerings. But the fact of the matter is that there are animals being offered on the alter of the Holy Temple.<br /><br />"There is blood. There is slaughtering. Hashem said to do it in this way so that man can go through a deeper understanding of his own life force. And so that he can understand where he has gone astray and how he can make sure his Divine image is once again elevated. The experience of the Temple offerings draws a person closer to Hashem, hence the meaning of 'korban,' to draw close. <br /><br />"The fact is today that we are not so close to Hashem. But the korban will draw us back. And again, without apologizing, the Temple offerings are a 'psycho-drama.' It is extremely tramatic. It is extremely jarring and unnerving. And that's okay, because it is <span style="font-style:italic;">real</span>.<br /><br />"We are spoiled rotten in our generation. We don't know what it means to realign ourselves; to receive a 'kick in the head' as it were, figuratively. We don't know what it means to see with a certain kind of bold clarity that our lives are sands running quickly through the hour-glass of time. The Temple service is an opportunity when Hashem says, 'I'm going to shake you up and make you realize that life is precious. Stop being an animal! Start living the life of a man.' That's what happens in the Divine Service.<br /><br />"Do you have a problem with that kind of Divine Service? Do you have a problem with the One G-d of Heaven and earth running the show? If you've got a problem with that, look at the universe and where you fit into it. Because it's about you fitting into His universe, not about Him fitting into your little universe that you carry around."Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-85206027189428386642012-03-23T07:36:00.003-07:002012-03-23T08:02:43.138-07:00Rebuilding the Temple Will Ruin EverythingRebuilding the Holy Temple will ruin everything. Well, almost everything.<br /><br />The Temple will ruin the plans of terrorists to destroy Israel.<br /><br />The Temple will ruin the plans of terrorists period.<br /><br />The Temple will ruin the domination of regimes, dictators, and so-called democratic governments who care more about power than the people under their power. <br /><br />The Temple will ruin the lies and idolatry of religion.<br /><br />The Temple will ruin the business of human trafficking.<br /><br />The Temple will ruin the grips of famine.<br /><br />The Temple will ruin the inflated ego of mankind.<br /><br />The Temple will ruin the lies of the media.<br /><br />The Temple will ruin the mental apathy and slumber that has gripped mankind.<br /><br />The Temple will ruin the business of war.<br /><br />The Temple will ruin almost everything. Not because it's a magical building. But because of Who it will house. There is not enough room in this world for both the Divine Presence and all that is listed above. Ezekiel saw the remedy for the world. He saw the Divine Presence return. But there is only one place this will happen. In the rebuilt Temple. Man has shown what he can do. Isn't it time to give the Divine Presence a chance?<br /><br />Become an advocate for the only lasting change in the world. Join the efforts of the Temple Institute's 3rd Annual Temple Mount Awareness day:http://www.templeinstitute.org/temple-mount-awareness-5772.htmCamie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-4088271323348294512012-03-21T12:32:00.006-07:002012-03-21T14:26:05.335-07:00The Esther FactorAs so many others do, I feel such sadness over the children and Rabbi who were murdered in Toulouse. After the murder of the Fogel family, perhaps I naively thought that nothing could match the magnitude of that tragedy. I was wrong. But beyond sadness, I feel anger too. <br /><br />Of course it's no surprise that the world would express a moral equivalence between seeking out Jewish children to murder in cold-blood versus Palestinian children getting killed in the crossfire of Israel defending itself, just as the EU's Baroness Ashton was so quick to do. But what bothers me even more so is Jewish leaders' reaction to the tragedy.<br /><br />Yes, Jews across the world were quick to express outrage and sadness at the tragic events. But then what? The status on PM Netanyahu's official facebook page today was in regards to the cost of cable TV in Israel. Really? That in itself made me want to go sit in a corner and cry all day. Jewish children are gunned down by a wild beast masquerading as a man, and the Israeli government seems to be back in a "business as usual" mode.<br /><br />"We must now wage war against these fundamentalist political and religious groups that are killing our children, that are killing Christian children, Christian young men, young Muslim men and Jewish children." How I wished these were the words of the Israeli government ready to wage a <span style="font-style:italic;">real</span> war against every enemy of the Jews, no matter where they exist. Instead they are the words of French politician Ms. Marine Le Pen. Jewish leaders in France were quick to distance themselves from Le Pen's viewpoint. Joining in the appeasement and political correctness charade they pointed out that the gunman was a lone extremist. <br /><br />How can Jewish leaders, who I assume just recently read the Book of Esther, forget how the story ended? Did it end with Esther believing and stating that Haman was a lone extremist? Esther asked for the blood of ALL those who were against the Jews. And she got what she asked for - the deaths of over 75,000 anti-Semites. She understood the words of her ancestor King Solomon. She understood that there is a time to kill. <br /><br />I have pondered for a few weeks a quote in one of the Temple Institute's <a href="http://www.templeinstitute.org/archive/megillat_ester-5765.htm">articles</a> about Esther. It is a bold, audacious quote that stands out in this day and age of appeasement. Deriving from the actions of Esther the article states, "Torah teaches us that violence must be met with violence. Passivity and victimhood do not bring peace. Strength and victory bring peace." <br /><br />Esther seemed to have understood that principle. When will the Jewish leadership understand it again?<br /><br />It is hard to hear of the deaths of children. It is even worse knowing details. It is said that the animal masquerading as a man chased down 8 year-old Miriam Monsonego, pulled her by the hair, and put a gun to her head. The gun jammed though. So the animal switched guns and then shot her in the head. The switching of the gun only took a second. But it is agonizing to think of the fear running through little Miriam's mind during that split second. <br /><br />Miriam Monsonego is Klal Yisrael. She was corned by an animal and killed. It seems as if Israel is in that same corner. When will Israel decide to fight back? And how do we maintain hope that Israel will decide to fight back when Hashem says, "For a day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redemption has come. I looked, but there was not helper, I was astounded that there was no supporter." I suppose in writing that I have just answered my own question. Ultimately, there is no one to put our hope in other than Hashem.Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-31475527418139609872012-03-08T09:10:00.005-08:002012-03-09T16:02:08.357-08:00May You Be Like Esther<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRaOrYLPCtXiHenkLKnZmJpjsTIJWTCzsHyLU72W7v7nef0OAzmd_RcLB9pcJvbMQTsoVrl3MoonTo0rodLfgRy-vhC2Q3xNeM3QKTCusKA3bDYE43D153xvisAfkIDhIUBOuKdTwNnEw/s1600/38984352993904523_QhX0pUE6_b.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 192px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRaOrYLPCtXiHenkLKnZmJpjsTIJWTCzsHyLU72W7v7nef0OAzmd_RcLB9pcJvbMQTsoVrl3MoonTo0rodLfgRy-vhC2Q3xNeM3QKTCusKA3bDYE43D153xvisAfkIDhIUBOuKdTwNnEw/s320/38984352993904523_QhX0pUE6_b.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5717572384211132610" /></a><br />May you be like Esther fulfilling your appointed role, never missing your cues, continually doing the Creator’s bidding clothed in dignity and strength.<br />As Esther, may you remain patient in your “hidden” times, trusting that Hashem’s perfect timing coordinates your affairs. <br />May you be confident yet humble when it is your time “to shine,” acting with conviction, courage, and bravery; a catalyst to turn the tide towards good, and thwart the efforts of evil on every scale - in yourself, in your home, in your community, in the world. <br />May you be like Esther, a messenger of timely, direct words. May you boldly approach Hashem and people around you with words that change the course of events. May your words bring relief, healing, and encouragement to those around you. <br />May you be like Esther, shedding any masks no longer needed. May any negative emotions or negative perceptions of yourself drop and dissolve, leaving you not your old self, but a person perhaps you have yet to be.<br />As Esther may you be blessed with comrades to support you in your designated role. May “Mordechais” offer you advice, protection, and belief in who you are. <br />May lessons learned long ago by a queen in Persia, learned by Sages who have clinged and continue to cling to Torah, learned by brave men and women who have fought and continue to fight the evils of Haman, guide you and bring you courage as you go on grocery shopping trips, when you sit down to dysfunctional family dinners, when you are cut off in traffic, when you hug and soothe a hurting child, when you feel like the child who needs to be hugged and soothed, when your beliefs and choices are misunderstood, when you watch loved ones suffer, and when you wonder if you are adequate enough to maintain the tasks at hand, day in and day out. <br />May you be blessed to be you. The real you, conceptualized so long ago, brought into the physical realm not too long ago, and destined to spend a particularly long time in the World to Come. May you one day enter the World to Come with the satisfaction that Esther must have felt, knowing that she had done all that she could do, that she had done what she was meant to do, and that she chose to believe in herself, and more importantly, had full faith in the One who made her.Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-90386088575122144212012-03-07T11:30:00.024-08:002012-03-07T21:19:52.541-08:00Who Is That Masked Man?Jews around the world will soon celebrate Purim. One celebratory tradition is to wear masks and costumes. There are a number of reasons for dressing in disguises on Purim, but on a simple level it is to remember how G-d saved the Jews while staying "anonymous." G-d worked behind the scene but His works remained masked or disguised as naturally occurring events. Hence wearing masks is a major theme of Purim.<br /><br />I want to delve a bit deeper and suggest that wearing a mask on Purim is like a wink to Hashem as we say to Him, "We are willing to play your Own game as we realize life is nothing as it seems." What do I mean by that? Many Jews, and non-Jews like me, proclaim on a daily basis the Oneness of Hashem. His Oneness is the core of our faith. The more we understand the Oneness of Hashem, the more we as individuals, or perhaps I should say the illusion of our individual self melts away. Hashem is the only reality. Our individuality and our separateness is an illusion. We live, move, and have "our" total existence in Hashem. <br /><br />You've most likely heard the story of the four sages who were allowed to enter Paradise. Of the four, only one, Rabbi Akiva, processed and reacted correctly to the Truth he was shown and therefore he left in peace. Rabbi Nachman's teaching on this story helps us understand the "correct" vs "incorrect" way to process and try to understand G-d's Oneness while living a life of "separateness." Rabbi Nachman teaches that the concealment of G-d's Oneness and Allness was necessary so that man could exercise free will and receive G-d's Lovingkindness. Rabbi Akiva accepted the fact that Hashem designed a system, i.e. a world of "separateness," in which His Unity could be fully appreciated. He was able to accept and appreciate the value of living in a world of illusion and separateness because ultimately and ironically this is the place in which G-d's Oneness can be discovered the most. Rabbi Akiva went behind the "curtain of separateness" so to speak, but had the wisdom not to question why Hashem had set up this illusion. Instead he nodded to His Master. A nod that said, "As any man, I will never fully understand You, but I accept Your Ways, and I will play by Your rules."<br /><br />Esther and Mordechai had this same kind of faith. Even though they must have felt completely isolated and separated not just from their fellow Jews, but even from Hashem at times (read Psalm 22 as the sages teach that Esther prayed this to Hashem) they ultimately displayed the kind of faith that attested to the fact that their feelings of separateness were but a mere illusion. They appeared to stand alone as "individuals" but the reality is and was that they did not exist outside of Hashem's Oneness. <br /><br />Donning a mask on Purim is a way of declaring the same kind of faith that Esther and Mordechai had and the same kind of understanding that Rabbi Akiva had. Deep down our spirits know that Hashem is the only reality. I, like many others, who daily proclaim the Shema, close my eyes when saying, "The L-rd He is One," because I realize His Oneness cannot be perceived by my senses; I cannot "see" His Oneness with my physical eyes. But my spirit can "see" His Oneness. Our spirit is aware of being perpetually attached to His Oneness. Our highest level of spirituality knows no separateness. But our physical eyes and our mind tells us different. We see our individual self. We see other people around us. We feel things that no one else feels. We experience things that no one else experiences. But our spirit knows that this is a mere illusion designed by Hashem in order that we might ultimately find ourselves in His Oneness.<br /><br />I loved the analogy that Rabbi Chaim Richman recently used in describing how Hashem garbs Himself in nature so that we can "see" Him. Just as the character Griffin in the H.G. Wells novel <span style="font-style:italic;">The Invisible Man</span> had to wrap himself in gauze, an overcoat and hat to be seen, so too does Hashem wrap Himself in nature and events to be "seen." Stay with me here. The deeper we delve into understanding G-d's Oneness, the more the illusion of our individuality falls away. We as individuals start to disappear, so to speak. We become more and more invisible. Yet on Purim we don garb, like the character Griffen did, so that we as individuals can be seen and used by Hashem. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhQes3OhbFDJcytPJJ2E5GrqI0sFbB3cuhHs7i2C3cevTfrwKd1_sxxxdt94ovkc9qk0-Js-uB-HQZ4CV-O03YI7Ri39D6FLFZidYiyBwiiyrbQ7nDAz6-zkNe0TRksIOiZYreAVl45dc/s1600/invisibleman.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 194px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhQes3OhbFDJcytPJJ2E5GrqI0sFbB3cuhHs7i2C3cevTfrwKd1_sxxxdt94ovkc9qk0-Js-uB-HQZ4CV-O03YI7Ri39D6FLFZidYiyBwiiyrbQ7nDAz6-zkNe0TRksIOiZYreAVl45dc/s320/invisibleman.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5717257066317859138" /></a><br />So even though on Purim it is a physical hand that reaches up to put a mask on a physical face, deep down it is our spirit giving a wink and a nod to our Master as we say, "We are willing to play your game. We are willing to appear as individuals and do what each of us needs to do. Just as Esther and Mordechiai played their roles, we are willing to play our roles. But we know it is just a show. We know we really only exist in Your Oneness." If we truly believe this, then we can have faith like Esther and Mordechai had. <br /><br />It is a great irony and mystery that Hashem is hidden in us. His Oneness is hidden in the illusion of our individuality. Our comfort comes in knowing that He "separated" us from Himself for a reason and that if we let Him, He will use us as "individuals" solely for His purposes and that ultimately we will find our true selves in Him and Him alone.Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-33354416705966966032012-02-01T08:44:00.001-08:002012-02-01T08:44:58.770-08:00The Perfect WildernessI know you know this. But just in case you've temporarily forgotten, let me remind you of a few things. 1. Hashem always has your best interest in mind. 2. Everything He does is for good. 3. He knows you better than you know yourself, therefore, He knows better what you need.<br /><br />In this week's parsha, we read about Hashem taking His people out of Egypt. As they are leaving we are privy to Hashem's musings about His escape route for His people. He said, "'Perhaps the people will reconsider when they see a war, and they will return to Egypt.' So God turned the people toward the way of the Wilderness."<br /><br />The Jews were leaving slavery; both physical and mental. They had led a very hard life in Egypt, to say the least, and their deliverance had finally come. Yet, God being God, knew something about the human psyche that still holds true today. No matter how bad a situation was or is that we are leaving behind, at some point or another we forget how bad it really was, and even though it defies logic we ponder returning, and sometimes, God forbid, we do return to the very same horrible situation we couldn't wait to get out of. <br /><br />God had a plan for His people to prevent such a return. It was called, "the Wilderness." We've all been in our own personal wildernesses. A place that seems void of life, of direction, of purpose. We cry out to God from the wilderness and ask, "Why did you bring me here?" And perhaps we even think at times that we were better off in the slavery from whence we came.<br /><br />But hold on! Hold on, even if you are in the wilderness right now. It is all part of God's plan for you. Remember that He knows you better than you know yourself, and He knows just the right path for you. Even if it includes "the Wilderness." Your Promised-Land is coming. You will get to where you need to be. But remember too, that on the way to get where you need to be, you are also just where you need to be.Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-37740882715628616782012-01-22T10:14:00.001-08:002012-01-22T11:58:34.958-08:00The Return"Hashem said to Moses, 'Come to Pharaoh, for I have made his heart and the heart of his servants stubborn so that I can put these signs of Mine in his midst; and so that you may relate in the ears of your son and your son's son that I made a mockery of Egypt and My signs that I placed among them - that you may know that I am Hashem,'" Exodus 10:1,2.<br /><br />In our sophisticated world of daily expanding knowledge, sometimes we forget the simple basics and truths of life. The Exodus of the Jews from Egypt was a seminal event in world history. Besides the obvious of the Jews escape from slavery and the beginnings of their nationhood, the Exodus was a message to the world. The Exodus was a reminder that their is One and only One Being in control of everything, including nature. And that Being is who Moses and Aaron told Pharoah they were coming in behalf of - the God of the Jews.<br /><br />Perhaps in 2012 we need a fresh perspective. A reminder that the God of the Universe, Who controls everything, is controlling world events with one main goal in mind. Psalms 105 reminds us of what that goal is. After giving a synopsis of all the events Hashem orchestrated through Joseph and Moses, He reminds us that He did everything so that He could give the Jews the Land of Israel where "they will safeguard and observe His teachings."<br /><br />A theme runs throughout the Torah and the Prophets; a return. Hashem states repeatedly that the Jews will return to Him via returning to the Land of Israel and returning to the Torah. This return is literally what the world still revolves around. <br /><br />Hashem is orchestrating <span style="font-style:italic;">every</span> world event around His desire and "end game," so to speak, of the return of His people to Israel and to the Torah. When is the last time you viewed the world this way? Every world leader is in place to prod His people to return. Every weather pattern is in place to prod His people to return. Every economic upswing or downturn is in place to cause His people to return. Every election result is to cause His people to return. Everything is funneling His people to Him. And every person is their own Pharoah. Every person has a choice to aid and abet the return, or to resist and inhibit the return.<br /><br />Everything is predestined, except for the fear of heaven (Tractate Berachos in the Gemara). Yes, every person has a free will. But the Great Mind of the Universe orchestrates every choice every person makes within His plans. He is the only reality. We live, and move, and have our being within the "confines" of Him. We exist in Him. We have no control, power, or existence outside of Him. We live in the illusion that we do. And those who believe that the illusion is reality literally are living a grand illusion. <br /><br />World leaders who believe they are controlling the destiny of nations are living within the grand illusion. Business men who believe their decisions control the economy are living within the grand illusion. Groups or individuals who believe they can destroy the nation of Israel are living within the grand illusion. Even when you or I, God forbid, forget for a moment Who the world exists within, then we are living within the grand illusion.<br /><br />Aaron and Moses had a clear message in Exodus 10 - even the most powerful leader and nation on earth was but a pawn in Hashem's hand. Hashem made a mockery of and brought down a kingdom so that the Jews could have a story to tell their children and grandchildren. And that story is "Psst, remember. Remember that everything I do is so that you will know that I am your God. And one day when your children forget that I am their God, the stage will be set for a return to Me." <br /><br />If you are a Jew living outside of Israel and outside of the pages of Torah, the question is, "When will you return?" And as a non-Jew, the question is, "Are you aiding and abetting the return, or God forbid living as Pharaoh and trying to inhibit the return."<br /><br />"He took us out of Egypt in order to bring us, to give us the Land that He swore to our forefathers. And He commanded us to perform all His decrees, to fear Hashem, our God, for the good, all the days, to give us life," Deuteronomy 6:23,24.<br /><br />"And they will return from the enemy's land. There is hope for your future, the word of Hashem, and your children will return to their border," Jeremiah 31:15,16.<br /><br />"Remember this and take it to heart, O evildoers: recall the early events of ancient times, see that I am God and there is no other, I am God and there is none like Me. From the beginning I foretell the outcome; and from earlier times, what has not yet been; but I say and My plan will stand, and I will carry out My every desire," Isaiah 46:8-10.Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-73104947794315711242012-01-19T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-19T10:04:00.761-08:00Have You Met the Torah Today With Fresh, Child-Like Wonder<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoY0wvv4T_EPS3cgNZmGt8Sd3dmxKv5uNfjvmNcTZYg-_O5Z6uiPHduTg5ZjoaMUl0zFaJ3Y1v3EZVZJbKZJk0y2xUhk8IBaj85XwlGdJjomuSfOlh7gwXDXPNYt6CbrFm8PWwQb49rYc/s1600/149111437632021035_4iPiWP5c_c.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoY0wvv4T_EPS3cgNZmGt8Sd3dmxKv5uNfjvmNcTZYg-_O5Z6uiPHduTg5ZjoaMUl0zFaJ3Y1v3EZVZJbKZJk0y2xUhk8IBaj85XwlGdJjomuSfOlh7gwXDXPNYt6CbrFm8PWwQb49rYc/s320/149111437632021035_4iPiWP5c_c.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5699397771518793282" /></a><br />After I recently posted a blog, a reader felt inclined to promptly inform me that I knew nothing about Torah. I'm as vulnerable as the next person, and can get defensive when criticized. This time though, I shrugged my shoulders and thought, "He's right." <br /><br />In reality, what I know about the Torah doesn't even begin to scratch the surface. The Torah is like the universe; infinite. My knowledge of the Torah is like one grain of sand in the universe. But that grain of sand, that I hold so dear, has changed my world. Or as Blake so aptly penned, "To see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower. Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour."<br /><br />In the big scheme of things, I really hardly know anything about the Torah. But here is what I do know: The Torah is the blueprint for everything. The DNA of the universe. The revealed knowledge of Ein Sof. A glimpse into the mind and heart of Hashem. Instructions on how to make tikkun. Instructions on how to bring Heaven on earth. The Yud that connects the material to the spiritual. An endless resource. A map guiding us back to our true self. A gift.<br /><br />The Torah, to say the least, has changed my life. And the real kicker is, I'm not Jewish. It remains a wonder to me that Hashem allowed my path to intersect with the truth of the Torah and in the midst of the Bible-Belt, no less. And as if becoming conscious of the wonders of the Torah wasn't enough, Hashem has put teachers in my life, who live and breathe the Torah and make it palpable to a soul like mine. I often think, "If Hashem drew me to Torah, imagine what can happen to a Jewish soul who needs to return to Torah."<br /><br />As mentioned above, I live in the Bible-Belt. The town I live in has a very small Jewish population, very few with whom I am acquainted. I had the privilege, though, of meeting a Jewish lady from New York, who headed a charitable Jewish fund, who was visiting my town. I am not a talker. And I am peevishly annoyed by people who talk too much. That's why much too my surprise, when I met her, I couldn't stop talking. I jumped at the chance of having a conversation with a Jew. So I started talking Torah and couldn't stop. I found myself talking about learning to have the will to receive in order to bring Hashem pleasure and to benefit others. "Isn't it odd," I commented, "that we think, 'Of course I have the will to receive. I'm completely open to all that Hashem has for me and for all the right reasons,' but in reality we often close ourselves to what He wants to give us . . . " My voice faded as I saw the look on her face. She didn't say anything as she started shaking her head. Great! I had become the-person-who-doesn't-know-when-to-stop-talking and she couldn't hide her exasperation.<br /><br />She surprised me, though and said, "My husband needs to meet someone like you. He's an orthodox Jewish non-believer." I gave her a strange look and laughed, and she said, "Exactly. How can such a thing exist? He grew up learning Judaism, but now it doesn't mean much to him. He needs to see someone like you who . . . " She couldn't find the word for it, so I finished her sentence with, "Someone who it is all new to and who can't get enough?"<br /><br />Do you know why I can't get enough of Torah? Because Hashem brought teachers into my life that keep the Torah in a way that is pleasing unto Him, i.e., they keep it with their whole heart, mind, and soul. They convey that the Torah is a living entity that is relevant to every facet of our lives today. How I pray that Jews who aren't passionately in love with and committed to the Torah will find teachers like I've had and latch on to all the beautiful truths they have to offer.<br /><br />You've heard of Torah Tots. Non-Jews like me are quick to realize we are like children when it comes to learning Torah. But if Jews, who perhaps study Torah out of obligation or rote, or who don't study it at all, could learn anything from "tots" like me, I hope it would be to come anew to the Torah with a child-like wonder.<br /><br />For those of you who are parents and own a car, do you remember the first time you turned your child's rear-facing car seat towards the front? I have two children. And both times when I turned their car seats around, they had the same reaction when I started driving. Their mouths opened as wide as their eyes did and they said, "Ooohhhh!" as they looked at everything around them from a fresh vantage point. <br /><br />I am still very much a child in a car seat when it comes to spiritual learning. I thought I knew something about G-d. Then I discovered the Torah. The Torah has been the vehicle of learning and the wise teachers Hashem placed in my life turned my car seat around and said, "Here. It's time to go forward and see G-d from a much better vantage point." <br /><br />If you need a fresh vantage point or need a spark helping you return to Torah, I highly encourage you to listen to the teachings of the Universal Torah Network at <a href="http://universaltorah.com/">universaltorah.com</a>. Your heart will say, "Ooohhhh!" as you see the wonders of the Torah from Rabbi Richman, Rebbetzin Richman, Shmuel "Sam" Peak, and Rabbi Sutton.Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6291182807422860885.post-37075252243873845482012-01-10T14:05:00.000-08:002012-01-10T14:06:58.249-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwtXWAF9QFFKuzUpTGD4puPtVLmvg4cXxOtLtwfAbGxUkpNgBqUGT4eROxqM5uBvv631I_wB_T4W2xYLKF94KdN6Maq7E7ts8O_k3IHq1DAFujc_6U0AePk81DfhLf-T1L-I9QrRViz9E/s1600/IMG_1244.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwtXWAF9QFFKuzUpTGD4puPtVLmvg4cXxOtLtwfAbGxUkpNgBqUGT4eROxqM5uBvv631I_wB_T4W2xYLKF94KdN6Maq7E7ts8O_k3IHq1DAFujc_6U0AePk81DfhLf-T1L-I9QrRViz9E/s320/IMG_1244.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696128244864618818" /></a>Camie Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14649796223868956977noreply@blogger.com0