SOLDIERS OF IDF VS ARAB TERRORISTS

SOLDIERS OF IDF VS ARAB TERRORISTS

Sunday, June 30, 2013

The Story of Yud Beis Tammuz; An exciting four part video series of the story of Yud Beis Tammuz told by entertaining storyteller Rabbi Yitzy Erps.


MyShliach is proud to present their exciting four-part video series of the complete story of Yud Bais Tammuz by Rabbi Yitzy Erps. In his inimitable, engaging style, Rabbi Erps brings the story of Yud Bais Tammuz to life, accompanied by documentary video clips, photos, and illustrations.

ELDER OF ZIYON: UNESCO's bigotry against Jews

From TOI last week:
During a debate at the 37th session of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, currently taking place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the Jordanian delegation, at the behest of the Palestinian Authority, submitted a resolution slamming Israel over its Jerusalem policies.

The resolution censured Israel for a number of developments in the city, including the construction of a visitors’ center, plans to build an elevator by the Western Wall, and accusations of archeological excavations said to be damaging Muslim sites atop the Temple Mount. It also took Israel to task for allegedly failing to hand over to the committee critical information on the state of the Old City.

“The WHC requests Israel to immediately desist from all acts, omissions and the harmful excavations,” according to a joint press released issued Sunday by the Jordanian and Palestinian UNESCO delegations. “The WHC also asks Israel to stop all violations that change of facts on the ground and damages the authenticity and integrity of the Old City of Jerusalem, especially the recent escalatory measures that have been taken against al-Aqsa Mosque and the obstruction of the Jordanian Awqaf’s conservation of the Holy Sites.”

The resolution reportedly passed, with eight of the 21 World Heritage Committee member states voting in favor and 10 abstaining. Only Germany, Switzerland and Estonia reportedly voted against it.

“Passing, once more, a fabricated political decision against Israel, which portrays nothing but the outstanding creative writing skills and unique sense of imagination of both the Palestinians and Jordanians, bears devastating ramifications on the future of UNESCO,” the head of the Israeli delegation said after the vote. “It is rather unfortunate that at such a critical point in time for UNESCO, the Palestinians and their active partners consciously choose to undermine the core values and identity of this organization to an extent that will certainly lead to its ultimate destruction.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry stated that the resolution was adopted against the better judgment of the majority and “is nothing but a heap of disconnected-from-reality statements.” There is no linkage between the language of the resolution and the actual facts on the ground, the statement continued, “as the text only reflects the clichés of the anti-Israel bubble which the Palestinians cultivate within UNESCO at the expense of the worthy causes the organization is supposed to promote around the world.”

Nevertheless, the statement said, “Israel will uphold its commitments and its sovereign responsibility by continuing to ensure freedom of worship to all faiths in Jerusalem, even as UNESCO insists on turning its back on reality and wreaking damage to the interests of member-states through the regurgitation of the dictates of Palestinian propaganda.”

UNESCO has online its synopsis of reports submitted by Israel and Jordan in February about Israeli actions in Jerusalem. 

The Jordanian part starts off by saying who waa behind it:
The report received from the Permanent Delegation of Jordan states that it has been prepared partly in consultation with the Permanent Delegation of Palestine to UNESCO. It provides information based on the observations and report of the Jordanian Awqaf (JA) and the Jordanian National Committee for World Heritage.
Essentially, UNESCO accepted the lies of the Arabs wholesale.

Note that UNESCO never said a word about the massive destruction of archaeological treasures by the same Waqf whose words it is now accepting without question.

My Right Word obtained the actual text of the UNESCO resolution. 

Some of its paragraphs show that UNESCO essentially wants to kill Jerusalem by ensuring that Jordan and UNESCO have veto power over anything Israel does.

5. Deeply deplores the persistence of Israeli archaeological excavations and works in the Old City of Jerusalem and on both sides of its Walls and the failure of Israel to cease such works, and requests the Israeli authorities to prohibit all such excavations and works, in conformity with its obligations under the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 1954 and its related protocols, the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972, and as clearly stated in the Delhi UNESCO Recommendation of 1956 concerning excavations undertaken in occupied territories;

6. Reiterates the necessity of cooperation to facilitate access to the Old City of Jerusalem and both sides of its Walls, including religious heritage sites therein, in the context of the UNESCO Conventions for the protection of the cultural heritage, and expresses its concern regarding the restricting obstacles imposed by the Israeli authorities on the freedom of access provided to Jordanian and Waqf experts to safeguard such sites;

7. Also deplores, in this regard, the damaging effect of the Jerusalem Light rail (tram line), itinerant at few meters from the Walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, which severely affects the visual integrity and the authentic character of the site and urges Israel to restore the original character of the site in conformity with its obligations under the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 1954 and its related protocols and the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972 as well as the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Historic Urban Landscape;

8. Regrets the Jerusalem Municipality plan to build a two-line cable car system to connect the Mughrabi Quarter with the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, and also urges Israel to prevent any damage to the integrity and authenticity of the property by abandoning the above mentioned project in conformity with its obligations under the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 1954 and its related protocols and the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972;

9. Also regrets the decision of the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee, that approved the construction of a visitor centre on the Givati Parking lot in Silwan at a distance of twenty meters from the Walls of the Old City as well as its approval of the so called “Liba House” project, a huge structure of three storeys and approximately 3700 square meters in the Old City of Jerusalem, the extension of the Strauss Building and the Western Wall elevator, and further urges Israel to renounce to the above mentioned projects in conformity with its obligations under the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 1954 and its related protocols and the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972;

10. Requests the World Heritage Centre to continue applying the Reinforced Monitoring Mechanism to the Old City of Jerusalem on both sides of its Walls, including the Mughrabi Ascent, and also requests it to report every four months on this matter;
The resolution also praises Jordan's plan for the Mughrabi ascent and slams Israel's, without explaining exactly why.

Its reference to "both sides of its Walls" is UNESCO's way of saying that the City of David archaeological project should also be stopped.

But if you want proof that UNESCO has been thoroughly taken over by antisemites, you only need to read this paragraph:
23. Further regrets Israeli religious-extremist groups' provocative incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound through the Mughrabi Gate, and urges the Israeli authorities to take the necessary measures to prevent such abuses that violate the sanctity and integrity of the Compound and inflame tension on the ground;
So UNESCO is explicitly calling on Jews to be banned from Judaism's holiest site, because their peaceful and respectful visits are "abuses" and "inflame tension."

Barring Jews from the Temple Mount is nothing short of bigotry against Jews. And now this bigotry is sanctioned by UNESCO.

Once you see that paragraph, you know that the rest of the resolution is just fancy words to cover the Arab - and now UNESCO's - goal to deprive Jews of their cultural heritage. Which means that UNESCO is now explicitly violating its own mandate.

NYT: Arizona Is Fertile Ground for New York Matzo

YUMA, Ariz. — Here, on a Christian farmer’s land five miles from the Mexican border, lies the holiest of fields for some of New York’s most observant Orthodox Jewish communities. Wheat harvested on these 40 acres is destined to become matzo, the unleavened bread eaten by Jews during the eight days of Passover.
It is not an everyday plant-and-pick operation, and the matzo made from this wheat is not everyday matzo.
Yisroel Tzvi Brody, rabbi of the Shaarei Orah synagogue in Borough Park, Brooklyn, stood at the edge of one of the fields on Monday, stooping to rub a grain of wheat between his wrinkled thumb and index finger. Removing his glasses, he brought the grain close to his eyes and turned it from side to side, like a gemologist inspecting a precious stone.
“It is to ascertain that it’s not sprouted,” Rabbi Brody explained. “If it has, it’s not valid.”
For seven weeks, while the wheat grew in scorching heat under impossibly blue skies, two men clothed in the traditional black and white garments of the Hasidim stayed in a trailer overlooking the crop, to be able to attest that the wheat, once matured, had been untouched by rain or other moisture. Workers were prohibited from carrying water bottles in the field. Dust danced in the air as the wind blew, but unpaved roads could not be wet while the wheat was growing. The goal was to prevent any natural fermentation from taking place in the grains before they were milled into flour and the matzo was baked, sometime in the late fall.
Tradition calls for keeping watch over the matzo from the time the wheat is milled. Ultra-Orthodox Jews have carried that practice several steps further, guarding the grains before the wheat is harvested to ensure they are not overripe or wet from rainfall. That can be a challenging task on the rainy East Coast. Nonetheless, one segment of the Satmar sect, the largest Hasidic group in the United States, grows its wheat there, following seasonal weather forecasts to search for areas where rain is least likely to fall right before the wheat matures.
Five years ago, another Satmar group began shifting its wheat-growing operation here, where rain is rare at this time of year. That opened a new front line in the competition for the most rigorous standards in the production of matzo. (In a taste test, though, Vos Iz Neias?, a Jewish blog, chose neither, picking instead matzo made by the Pupa and Zehlem Matzoh Bakery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which is run by Hasidic Jews of the Puppa sect. It is said that they, too, have used Yuma wheat.)
Samuel Heilman, a professor of sociology at Queens College of the City University of New York, whose research focuses on the social ethnography of Jewish Orthodox movements, said the competition between the two Satmar groups — each led by one of two brothers — was about one-upmanship.
“One is always looking to be more authoritative than the other,” Professor Heilman said, “and one of the ways they’re making this happen is over matzo — our matzo is more kosher than yours, we’re more scrupulous and careful over matzo baking than you are.”
Zalman Teitelbaum is the younger of the brothers and a rabbi in one of the Satmar congregations in Williamsburg, where many of the sect’s members live. The bakers who follow him use East Coast wheat.
Aaron Teitelbaum, the older brother, is the chief rabbi of the Satmar community based in the village of Kiryas Joel, N.Y., settled by his uncle, Joel Teitelbaum, the dynasty’s founder and its grand rabbi. Wheat used there comes from Yuma.
On Monday, Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum got something close to a rock star reception when he paid a visit to the farm, straight from New York, to bless the wheat harvest. Rabbis and congregants at the farm formed a tight knot around him, taking pictures and jostling for a chance to touch him.
Rabbi Brody, clad in a bekishe, a traditional ankle-length black coat, approached Tim Dunn, the farm’s owner. “How many degrees is now?” he asked.
“It’s about 108 degrees,” Mr. Dunn told him.
Rabbi Brody sighed.
Mr. Dunn remembers a call five years ago from a man who asked if he had any interest growing kosher wheat. He said yes, without any real idea about what working with ultra-Orthodox Jews would require. The first lesson came when his wife reached to shake hands with a visitor and the man, a rabbi, pulled back. (By custom, men and women are to avoid touching, unless they are related.)
Many more lessons followed. For example, no matter how many times Mr. Dunn cleans his equipment, the rabbis will come by and clean it some more. The purpose, they told him, was to rid the machines of every bit of dirt, a painstaking task that often includes blowing air into the tiniest nooks and crevices.
“When I meet prospective clients, I tell them, if I can meet these guys’ standards, I can meet anybody’s standards,” said Mr. Dunn, who grows 12 varieties of wheat on his farm. Some is shipped to Italy, where it is used to make pasta. Some goes to a laboratory that develops new breads.
Matzo is made from soft white wheat. Once harvested, that wheat must be brought to a warehouse before dark, and when it is transported, the top of the truck that carries it must be covered.
After the grain is cleaned and packed into containers, which are sealed by the rabbis, it is shipped by train to Elizabeth, N.J., then taken by trucks to Orthodox bakeries in Brooklyn and Kiryas Joel.
Rabbi Eli Hershkowitz, who manages the Satmar Central Matzoh Bakery on Rutledge Street in Williamsburg, said the dough is kneaded and rolled by hand and baked in wood-fired brick ovens. It is how it was done centuries ago in Eastern Europe, where Hasidic sects trace their roots, and how it is also done at the Congregation Satmar Matzoh Bakery three blocks away on Broadway, which is run by followers of Rabbi Zalman Teitelbaum, the competition.
A one-pound box of Passover matzo costs about $25; “$14 to $15 is just the cost of labor,” Rabbi Hershkowitz said.
Baking will begin five months before the holiday, which starts on the evening of April 14, 2014. Rabbi Hershkowitz estimated that the Orthodox bakeries of Brooklyn would produce between 80,000 and 100,000 pounds of matzo using Yuma wheat. A family might consume about 20 pounds over eight days, he said. “We’re large families.”
At noon, Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum climbed onto a combine and started the engine to begin the harvest. A Hasidic man was at the wheel. Mr. Dunn’s son, Kirk, who is studying agronomy at the University of Arizona, rode by his side as the combine lumbered across the field, gathering grain, the rabbis cheering from the sidelines.

Israel Matzav: Stolen properties: Jewish land seized in Arab countries

The Ghetto Mentality Award for 2013 It goes to Rabbi Yosef Antebi, the beaten Amsterdam rabbi. By: Paula Stern


Rabbi Yosef Antebi in his wheelchair.


Please Share - It's high time the truth was heard.

From Whiting's photo diary: "Orthodox Jews returning from Western Wall first day of Passover, March 26, 1937." The picture was taken inside the Jaffa Gate. One man covered his eyes to avoid being photographed.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Rabbi Daniel Korobkin in Conversation with Rabbi Dov Lipman

ELDER OF ZION: Abu Dhabi builds its own "Dome of the Rock"

A UAE citizen, perhaps with a lot of extra cash lying around, has built his own Dome of the Rock which he plans to open as a mosque.



I hope he builds an Al Aqsa Mosque next to it .

Then they can ban Jews from visiting. 

ELDER OF ZION: Al Aqsa Foundation declares all Biblical archaeology to be lies

The Al Aqsa Foundation issued a statement today saying that every piece of evidence that points to the existence of any Jewish Temple - first or second - on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is a lie.

The group says that it rejects these myths and confirma the Islamic and Arab character of the area.

According to the statement, they say that all the experts in the Israel Antiquities Authority who claim they found stones and jewelry and seals in the area of ​​the Al Aqsa Mosque, claiming they are archaeological discoveries of Jewish objects dating from the time of the First and Second Temples, are lying, since there were no Temples. The group said "these lies and myths are a figment of the imagination," and said that international and even Israeli archaeologists have confirmed through research and vigorous exploration that was scientific and objective that there were no structures in the area that were Jewish temples. 

They stressed that Arabs Canaanites were the first residents who built Jerusalem, with Jebusites and Amorites living there for thousands of years, while "the Jews" were there for only a short time. 

The Al-Aqsa Foundation says that the Israel Antiquities Authority and other groups are trying desperately to fabricate history of Hebrew presence in Jerusalem, through the myths and legends of the alleged phantom structure in the place of or under the Al Aqsa Mosque, to the point of wanting to demolish the mosque. The groups asserted that the real history is clear and it has proved beyond a doubt that the al-Aqsa mosque is for Muslims alone,

The foundation even says that relics found by sifting through the tons of debris that were criminally excavated from the site by the Islamic Waqf and dumped outside Jerusalem were really not from the Temple area at all. 

They even illustrate the article with some of these lying relics.


It is true that there is only fragmentary yet intriguing archaeological  evidence so far of the First Temple, because it was replaced by the Second Temple and no one is allowed to dig underneath the Temple Mount to look for it. But lots of the Second Temple is still there, as Wikipedia summarizes:

After 1967, archaeologists found that the wall extended all the way around the Temple Mount and is part of the city wall near the Lion's Gate. Thus, the Western Wall is not the only remaining part of the Temple Mount. Currently, Robinson's Arch (named after American Edward Robinson) remains as the beginning of an arch that spanned the gap between the top of the platform and the higher ground farther away. This had been used by the priests as an entrance. Commoners had entered through the still-extant, but now plugged, gates on the southern side which led through beautiful colonnades to the top of the platform. One of these colonnades is still extant and reachable through the Temple Mount. The Southern wall was designed as a grand entrance. Recent archeological digs have found thousands of mikvehs (ceremonial bathtubs) for the ritual purification of the worshipers, as well as a grand stairway leading to the now blocked entrance. Inside the walls, the platform was supported by a series of vaulted archways, now called Solomon's Stables, which still exist and whose current renovation by the Waqf is extremely controversial. The temple itself was constructed of imported white marble that gleamed in the daylight.
On September 25, 2007 Yuval Baruch, archaeologist with the Israeli Antiquities Authority announced the discovery of a quarry compound which may have provided King Herod with the stones to build his Temple on the Temple Mount. Coins, pottery and an iron stake found proved the date of the quarrying to be about 19 BCE. Archaeologist Ehud Netzer confirmed that the large outlines of the stone cuts is evidence that it was a massive public project worked by hundreds of slaves.[30]
Moreover, there is a significant and growing collection of artifacts that verify specific parts of the Biblical narrative.

But I guess they are all fake too.

Also, as I learned during my tour of the Temple Mount earlier this year, the Al Aqsa Mosque itself was constructed on top of the Herodian extensions of the Mount, meaning that the Temple was not underneath it - the Temple was where the Dome of the Rock is.

ISRAEL MATZAV: Israel's heros

Arnold and Frimet Roth received an award on Wednesday for what they've done to commemorate their daughter Malki HY"D, who was murdered in the Sbarro terror attack in 2001. 
Could you take what is, without a doubt, the worst tragedy imaginable – the intentional, violent murder of your sweet little girl – and turn your grief into the impetus to help others?
That is what Frimet and Arnold Roth did after their then-15 year old daughter, Malki, was murdered in the grotesque homicide bombing of the Sbarro Pizzaria in downtown Jerusalem.  Malki Roth and 14 other innocent civilans died violent deaths on the 9th of August, 2001. Eight of the murdered were children.  A woman pregnant with her first child also died in the bombing, and 130 were wounded.
The Roths created Keren Malki (Malki Foundation) within months of the bombing.  What would so understandably have made most parents turn inwards with grief, instead, for the Roths, became a mission to create something positive that would reflect the goodness of the daughter whose future was stolen.  Malki’s little sister is severely disabled and Keren Malki, formed 12 years ago, provides a myriad of services for the benefit of children with special needs and their families.
This week the Roths were honored for the work that Keren Malki (keren is the Hebrew word for ‘foundation’) has done over the past twelve years for the benefit of children with special needs and their families. Israel’s Minister of Welfare and Social Affairs, Meir Cohen, presented the Roths with the Minister’s Shield for Volunteerism – Lifetime Achievement Award.
Read the whole thing

One can only look with awe at all they have accomplished (and I know Arnold...). May Malki be a voice for good in Heaven for her family and for the entire Jewish people, and may her family's good deeds in her memory continue to place Malki on a higher and higher plane, closer and closer to God.

Israeli Airstrike on Iraqi Nuclear Reactor 1981

The Kosover Rebbe's Vort on Parshas Pinchas

This weeks Vort is sponsored by Baruch & Adina Cohen in honor of their daughter Tali Cohen's graduation from Bais Yaakov of Los Angeles

The Rebbe's Vort
A Weekly Dose of Inspiration from the Kosover Rebbe, Shlita 

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN OR TO TO DOWNLOAD

A king, when he is presented to the public, is presented in all his glory.  He dons his crown. He wears royal clothing. He sits in a throne. He is presented as larger than life and dresses and acts accordingly. When that same king sits with his family, there is no pomp and circumstance. He sits with them, sans crown, and is a part of the clan.
  
At this time of year we find ourselves in the Three Weeks, the somber time preceding TIsha B'Av, when the Bais Hamikdash was destroyed. Though two thousand years have passed, we mourn for what was and yearn for what will be. Our King no longer has His throne; He has no Bais Hamikdash in which to dwell. Instead, he dwells with us, like a King with His family. During these sad weeks, He approaches us and seeks us, determining our connection to Him. Are we with Him? He wants to know.
  
Chazal tell us that the month of Tamuz should have had Rosh Hashana;  Av should have had Yom Kippur; and Elul should have included Sukkos. Instead, we have the calendar as it stands now, and Hashem comes to us during these weeks before the holidays to seek us out. These weeks are significant, and the mention of the Yomim Tovim in this week's Parshah, Pinchas, alludes to that. This time is our chance to become close to Him, even before those holy days.
  
Our nation has withstood thousands of years of persecution; we have outlasted everyone. This is the sole greatest miracle we have experienced. We await the culmination of this miracle now: the ultimate redemption. It is said that those who mourn the Bais Hamikdash will rejoice in its rebuilding. This is our chance. Hashem is now knocking at our door, seeking us out. Let us demonstrate our connection to Him during the weeks that seem so dark, and may we merit to rejoice with Him in the final, eternal light when the Bais Hamikdash is rebuilt. 

Wishing you a wonderful Shabbos 
Menashe Silber
347-693-4142

Dedicate next week's Vort in honor in honor of a Simcha or a Yurzeit by emailing msilber@kosov.org.  

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JEWISH PRESS: The Torah Rescuer By: Yori Yanover

The Torah Rescuer
Photo Credit: Steinfeldt Photography Collection of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest
You’d have thought Butcher David Gantman was probably more at home with his cutlets and chickens than he was with the Torah scrolls he held, posing for this picture. And yet, according to the Steinfeldt Photography Collection of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest, some time in the 1930s, Gantman rescued these Torah scrolls from a St. Paul synagogue (possibly the Sons of Moses) which burned to the ground.
The Orthodox Sons of Moses congregation was largely composed of Russian and Rumanian Jews, who worshipped in what had been a church on the West side of St. Paul on Thirteenth and Canada St.
Here’s a picture circa 1945 of David and Joe Gantman at work at Gantman’s Kosher Meat Market, at 682 Selby Avenue. The guy on the left went into a burning synagogue and walked out with two Torah scrolls.
 Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest, 4330 South Cedar Lake Road, Minneapolis, MN 55416
Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest, 4330 South Cedar Lake Road, Minneapolis, MN 55416

Ha Ha Islamophobia

An image from the English Defense League website. This is what they're fighting.

An image from the English Defense League website. This is what they're fighting.

Hebron Jews have long ago been barred from most of their city. Things are largely the same for the rest of the PA run areas.

Netanyahu: No Jews Allowed

Thursday, June 27, 2013

When Helen Keller Confronted the Nazis

JNS.org - June 27 is Helen Keller Day—the annual occasion when students across America learn about the disabilities activist whose remarkable achievements inspired her generation, and every generation since. Less well known, but no less deserving of commemoration, was Keller’s powerful outcry against the Nazis.
One of Adolf Hitler’s top priorities when he became chancellor of Germany in 1933 was to prevent schools from using books that the Nazis regarded as “degenerate.” Eighty years ago this spring, Germany was transformed into one huge funeral pyre for any books that differed from the Nazis’ perspective on political, social, or cultural matters, as well as all books by Jewish authors.
The Hitler regime chose May 10, 1933 as the date for a nationwide “Action Against the Un-German Spirit,” a series of public burnings of the banned books. The gatherings were organized by pro-Nazi student groups under the supervision of the Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels.
The largest of the 34 book-burning rallies, held in Berlin, was attended by an estimated 40,000 people. Books by German Jews such as Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud were burned, as well as books by the British science fiction writer H.G. Wells (author of The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds) and many American writers, including Ernest Hemingway (For Whom the Bell Tolls), Jack London (Call of the Wild), and even Helen Keller.
“No to decadence and moral corruption!” Goebbels declared in his remarks at the rally. “Yes to decency and morality and state!… The soul of the German people can again express itself. These flames not only illuminate the final end of an old era; they also light up the new.”
A New York Times editorial sarcastically suggested that the Nazis might next begin “burning microphones” to stamp out free speech. Time called the Nazis’ action “a bibliocaust,” and Newsweek described it as “a holocaust of books.” This was one of the first instances in which the term “holocaust” (an ancient Greek word meaning a burnt offering to a deity) was used in connection with the Nazis.
The outcry around the world included this moving letter from Keller, addressed to “the Student Body of Germany.”
“History has taught you nothing if you think you can kill ideas,” Keller wrote. “Tyrants have tried to do that often before, and the ideas have risen up in their might and destroyed them. You can burn my books and the books of the best minds in Europe, but the ideas in them have seeped through a million channels, and will continue to quicken other minds. I gave all the royalties of my books to the soldiers blinded in the World War with no thought in my heart but love and compassion for the German people.”
“Do not imagine your barbarities to the Jews are unknown here,” she added. “God sleepeth not, and He will visit his Judgment upon you. Better were it for you to have a mill-stone hung round your neck and sink into the sea than to be hated and despised of all men.”
Various foreign leaders also criticized the book burnings, but the Hitler regime ignored such protests. Perhaps if the words of condemnation had been accompanied by diplomatic or economic consequences, the Nazis would have had to reconsider.
Five years later, protests by American college students helped prevent another mass book burning by the Nazis, this time in Austria. Shortly after Hitler annexed Austria in March 1938, the Nazis gave the Austrian National Library a long list of books to be removed and burned.
Students at Williams College in Massachusetts sent a telegram to the Austrian library, offering to buy the books. Riots broke out on the Williams campus when anti-Nazi students tried to burn Hitler in effigy, and pro-Nazi students used fire hoses to stop them.
Yale University’s student newspaper urged the school administration to purchase the Austrian books, which it said would both add to Yale’s “intellectual equipment” and “administer a well-justified backhanded slap” to the Nazis. Unfortunately, Yale’s chief librarian disagreed, claiming the book-burnings in Germany were just “students letting off steam.”
Nevertheless, the protests by students at Williams, Yale, and other universities appear to have had an impact. The Austrian National Library announced that it the books in question would be locked away rather than burned.
Helen Keller is not known to have commented specifically on the student protests. But one may assume she was deeply proud that at a time when too many Americans did not want to be bothered with Europe’s problems, these young men and women understood the message of her 1933 letter—that the principles under attack by the Nazis were something that should matter to all mankind.
Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies,www.WymanInstitute.org. His latest book is “FDR and the Holocaust: A Breach of Faith.”

Simon Wiesenthal Center Protests French Museum Exhibition Celebrating Palestinian Suicide Terrorism

The Simon Wiesenthal Center expressed outrage over a photo exhibition at Paris’ Jeu de Paume contemporary art museum called, Phantom Home: Death. The exhibition highlights 68 photos of Palestinian suicide bombers, which themuseum labels “Freedom Fighters”, calling them, “Those who lost their lives fighting against the occupation”. 

      

The Museum is visited by millions annually and is subsidized by the French Ministry of Culture and Communications.

The Death exhibit, on display until September 2013, not only honors Palestinian suicide bombers, but also compares them to French World War II, anti-Nazi resistance fighters.
Upon learning of the outrageous exhibition, the SWC took immediate action:
• SWC’s International Relations Director, Dr. Shimon Samuels (pictured above) toured and documented the Death exhibit warning, “The Jeu de Paume’s ode in praise of suicide terrorism serves a campaign to provoke future violence.”
• SWC denounced the exhibition in a Jerusalem Post op-edHimmler Meets Jihad in a Paris Art Museum 

• SWC is one of the principal organizers of this Sunday’s June 30thdemonstration outside the Jeu de Paume Museum, 1 Place de la Concorde at 3:00 pm
• A protest was delivered to UNESCO-based International Council of Museums President Hans-Martin Hinz, expressing outrage and demanding removal of the Death exhibit.
While touring the exhibit, Dr. Samuels also found:
• The exhibit’s introduction in the official museum catalogue describes captured Palestinian terrorists convicted in Israel as “Failed Suicide Martyrs”— who have yet to fulfill their unfinished mission of suicide.
 Israeli Arab volunteers in the Israel Defense Forces are shown as confused or mentally coerced victims and collaborators serving Zionism against the Palestinian cause.
• Palestinian prisoners who signed commitments to desist from terrorism upon their release or exchange were found to be a sham.

If you will be in Paris this Sunday, June 30, or know someone who will, please attend the demonstration in front of Jeu de Paume Museum, 1 Place de la Concorde -3:00 pm

From Chicago to Jerusalem: The Jesse White Tumbling Team

Discovering The Jerusalem Temple

Feud Between Hamodia And The RCA Over Satmar Foley Square Protest Heats Up

Brooklyn, NY - The battle of words between Hamodia and the RCA over the recent Satmar Foley Square protest continued to escalate Wednesday after Hamodia published an RCA response to a previous editorial by Hamodia.
In a Tuesday June 18th editorial  titled "The Hypocrisy of the RCA," Hamodia blasted the RCA over its condemnation of the Foley Square protest. Without mincing words, Hamodia cited several instances of apparent hypocritical interpretations by the RCA with regard to its own policies.
On Wednesday, Hamodia published  the RCA's response By Rabbi Shmuel Goldin President of the Rabbinical Council of America and Rabbi Leonard A. Matanky the First Vice President of the Rabbinical Council of America, to its June 18th editorial in its entirety.
The full text follows:

Dear Fellow Jews,

We are grateful to the editors of Hamodia for giving us an opportunity to explain ourselves, and answer the charges presented in a recent op-ed, “The Hypocrisy of the RCA.”

First, we would like to introduce ourselves. We fear that much as you misunderstood our motives in the RCA statement about the Foley Square rally, you are just as mistaken about who we are.
You might think we are a group of “modern Rabbis” who inhabit a Jewish universe far from the ethereal precincts of the authentic Torah community. The truth is very different. Our members include Rabbis on the left, in the center, and quite a few whose chinuch was entirely in Lithuanian-style yeshivah circles, and whose children and grandchildren identify completely with the chareidi world. Many of us who are not part of that world have very close, positive contact with it.

Don’t get us wrong. We’re not arguing that you should accept us because we are almost chareidi. We are a complete mix. Maybe that is what makes us so different and so inscrutable to you. Other parts of the Torah world aim for more uniformity, in many different ways. There are advantages to that — but also drawbacks. This is not the time or place to explore the pros and cons of diversity. Suffice it to say, however, that almost always, there are issues that are hotly contested among our members, with groups who think that those on the other side are way out of bounds. What might make us unique is that we all still manage to talk to each other, even when we think the others are dead wrong. There are dangers in that — but there is strength as well, and a model of civility and respect that might bring some benefit to other parts of the Torah world.

There is another difference between us, for all our collective differences, and you. We differ in the arenas of our avodas Hashem. You have chosen to keep that avodah strictly within the confines of the Torah community. You try to distinguish yourselves in Torah, tefillah, and raising children loyal to Hashem and His Torah. We work at this as well — and we have much to learn from you about those goals. But we also understand our avodah to include reaching out much further from the centers of the frum population and topics of frum concern. Therefore, we are involved — by choice — with other parts of the Jewish community, with non-Jewish communities, with building and supporting a wider variety of community institutions, with political involvement beyond aid to day schools. This is neither good nor bad. It is just different. The two types of avodah go back to the different derachim of Yehudah and Yosef. Even back then, the suspicion that some of the shevatim had for an avodas chutz led to friction and terrible consequences.

Here is where we might disagree. Because we are involved more with the larger world, we think we understand it better — or at least differently. And this is why we had to respond to the lower Manhattan rally.

The Hamodia op-ed argued that the RCA has protested positions of the Israeli government in the past, and it is therefore hypocritical to argue that this rally served “to aid the many enemies who stand ready to destroy, G-d forbid, the Jewish State.” We say that it is not hypocritical at all. There is simply no comparison between protesting the expulsion of Jews from Gaza, and the nature of the recent protest organized and led by Satmar.

Consider this mashal. Democrats and Republicans argue vociferously about policies, and credit each other with bringing about the demise of the American way. Neither of those parties, however, would argue that the United States is an illegitimate entity, and has no right to exist. When we protested the expulsion, we addressed our deep concerns to a government we recognize — as do most readers of Hamodia, whether they will admit it in public or not. Satmar does not believe that the State is legal or legitimate. You may not know this, but the delegitimizing of Israel is the chief weapon of the Palestinians today. They know they cannot win on the battlefield. They work assiduously for boycotts, sanctions, rejection of Israel in a way that no other country is rejected. If they succeed, the State — the Jewish yishuv, if you will — will not remain viable b’derech hateva.

Review the pictures of the rally, especially the signs speaking of a war on religion, and the lack of freedom of religion in Israel. Can you understand what a victory this is to millions and millions of deep-seated haters of Jews who wish to counter the support for Israel that she asks for as the Middle East’s only democracy? Satmar knows that its sons will never be drafted, and they don’t take money from the “illegal Zionist entity.” What were they protesting, other than the existence of the State itself? We cannot understand — and will not accept — acting in concert with them. We believe that the Gedolei Torah who said to stay away from the rally did not just differ with the organizers about which methods will be effective in countering the proposed measures. It is our understanding that some or all of them understood the terrible effect this could have, consciously or otherwise, on non-Jewish Americans whose favorable image of Israel is under constant attack. Satmar wanted to co-opt the anger and frustration of the Torah community over the Lapid proposals for its own cynical agenda. They wanted to maximize the impact of anti-Israel feeling; our job was to minimize it. Hence, we asserted that those who attended the rally are a small but vocal minority that should not take away from the image Americans have for strong support of Israel. If Americans sense that Jews are not supportive of their own state, they ask themselves why they should be supportive. If any members of Congress were negatively impressed by the rally, organizers will have Jewish blood, G-d forbid, on their hands.

We had one purpose, and only one purpose in our statement: to counter the image of Israel that the rally placed before the American public. We did not comment on the Lapid measures. One reason is that our members are split on how to react to them. We have some members who have been working hard to counter these measures, some of them taking their concerns straight to the Israeli government. We also, however, have members who refuse to label demands for chareidi participation in all parts of the life of the nation and insistence upon the teaching of basic educational skills in schools as a “gezeiras shmad.” Because different points of view are represented among our membership, we sometimes have to stay away from certain issues — just as Agudah does to maintain its fragile alliance between Litvishe and chassidishe elements.

“The most disturbing part” of our statement, the op-ed claimed, is that you think we ascribe our errant positions to the Satmar Rebbe, zt”l. Consider this story, and think again. In 1972, Senators Humphrey and McGovern were vying for the Democratic presidential nomination. McGovern opposed the sale of Phantom jets to Israel; Humphrey, a real friend of the Jewish people, was in favor. Humphrey went to the Satmar Rebbe looking for support. He had previously been told that the Rebbe’s position on Israel was not that which Humphrey encountered in other Jews. No sooner had they all sat down, than the first thing Reb Yoelish said was, “Thank you for helping to protect our brothers in Eretz Yisrael.” Humphrey turned to the others and said, “I thought he was against Israel!” The Rebbe understood what was happening, and explained, “We have a bit of a squabble within the family. But we don’t want to see anyone in the family get hurt.”
Neither do we.

This article appeared in print on page 40 of today's edition of Hamodia. re-posted with permission
And then again Hamodia responded today to the RCA's editorial click here to read

You can view this article online at VosIzNeias.com/134401
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Why Europe Has a Problem with Israel - Prager University



Why do so many in Europe feel so much hostility to the most open and liberal democracy in the Middle East? Daniel Gordis, President of the Shalem Center, zeroes in on the source of the problem in this fascinating look at the complex relationship between Europe, Israel and the Arab World.

Shlomo Wants a Bar Mitzvah

Against All Odds In Search of a Miracle - Trailer

אנא בכח ווקאלי עוזיה צדוק

Money from Drug Sales: How Hezbollah Funds Terror

Moron of the Day: Josef Antebi - an anti-Zionist rabbi said he was attacked in Amsterdam because of Israel

Meet “Rabbi” Josef Antebi.
antebiAn anti-Zionist rabbi said he was attacked in Amsterdam because of Israel.
Rabbi Josef Antebi, 50, an Orthodox Jew who lives in Amsterdam, told JTA he was assaulted on Sunday in the Dutch capital by a young man who “had relatively dark skin and didn’t look very Dutch, or at least didn’t look like his family has been living in Holland for centuries.”
Antebi said he was kicked in the stomach by a driver who exited his car after nearly hitting the rabbi. He was taken to a hospital, examined and released with minor injuries after filing a complaint with police.
A spokeswoman for the Amsterdam police told JTA that police are investigating but are not certain the attack was anti-Semitic.
“Currently we are assuming it is an argument about traffic that got out of hand,” she said.
Antebi took a picture of the attacker with his cellular phone.
“He shouted negative things about my religion and about my people,” said Antebi, who was born in Israel but says he does not recognize its right to exist and describes himself as a Palestinian Jew.
According to Antebi, he turned to a fishmonger operating a street stall and asked him to call the police as the attacker was approaching, but the fishmonger “just motioned ‘no.’ ”
The attacker kicked him in the stomach, the rabbi said.
“I’m not surprised he did what he did, it’s human behavior,” Antebi told JTA. “The one to blame is the Zionist state, which is doing a lot of bad things to people.”
Because Jews were never attacked before 1948.
Perhaps the “rabbi” should consider giving up his phone, because chances are it is operating on an Israeli-made processor chip.
Meanwhile here is Antebi espousing his views to bewusst-tv, an antisemitic, conspiracy theory site.

Coca-Cola Served by the Arab-Israel Conflict

Join Moshe Feiglin for a Temple Mount Visit


If you want to ascend to the Temple Mount with MK Moshe Feiglin, your next chance is tomorrow morning at 7:45 at the lower entrance.

THIS IS NOT A CLOUD

ISRAEL MATZAV: IRS First Post-Scandal Appearance in Court Reveals Effort to Run From Justice

The IRS has learned nothing from all its travails in Congress. It continues to behave as Obama's Gestapo.

As you might recall, Z Street is a Jewish organization that was set up in part to counter the pro-'Palestinian' J Street. Z Street sought exempt organization status as a 501(c)(3) corporation, but has not yet been able to get it because it is pro-Israel (or possibly because it disagrees with the Obama administration's position on Judea and Samaria). In other words, Z Street is the foreign policy alter-ego of the Tea Party organizations that have grabbed most of the headlines in the IRS scandal.

In 2010, Z Street sued the IRS. On Tuesday, the IRS sought (again) to dismiss that lawsuit. This press release was put out by Lori Lowenthal Marcus, the President of Z Street, in response. 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WED., JUNE 26, 2013
CONTACT: Lori Lowenthal Marcus, 610.664.1184 lorilowenthalmarcus@gmail.com    

IRS First Post-Scandal Appearance in Court Reveals Effort to Run From Justice

Yesterday marked a new entry in an ongoing pattern of changing stories and defenses to prevent the light of day from exposing egregiously unconstitutional behavior by one of the most dreaded limbs of government: the Internal Revenue Service. 

“It is no surprise that the IRS is desperately fighting to prevent anyone from learning exactly how the IRS decided to categorize organizations on the basis of their political, religious or other viewpoints, an issue from which the government entity has been reeling for weeks, and with good reason,” said Lori Lowenthal Marcus, president of Z STREET.

Represented by the Justice Department, the IRS filed a brief seeking to dismiss the lawsuit against it brought by Z STREET, a staunchly pro-Israel organization, which was filed in August, 2010.

That lawsuit was the first public utterance that the IRS was discriminating against certain organizations because of their viewpoints, rather than because of a failure to follow the required guidelines of eligibility. 

In May, the admission - after years of denials - by the IRS itself that it had engaged in categorizing politically conservative groups for differing treatment touched off a flurry of congressional and media attention.  Most of the attention was focused on the treatment of “Tea Party” and other politically or socially conservative groups.

Z STREET brought its lawsuit nearly three years ago, after being told by the IRS agent to whom its file had been assigned that the IRS had to “give special scrutiny to organizations connected to Israel,” and that the files of some of those “organizations were sent to a special unit in Washington, D.C. to determine whether the activities of the organization contradicted the public policies of the administration.”  Such treatment by the IRS constitutes bald-faced viewpoint discrimination and is a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

The IRS has defended itself in the lawsuit on several different grounds, including the absurd notion that the government is immune from such a lawsuit. (In fact, of course the Bill of Rights -- which begins with the First Amendment, securing the right to free speech -- was created specifically to protect citizens from unconstitutional behavior by the government).

In particular, the government has repeatedly denounced Z STREET for failing to wait the requisite number of days before complaining and going to court for not receiving tax exempt status.  And as Z STREET explained in every single one of its own court filings, the lawsuit was not brought because it had not been given (or denied) tax exempt status within a particular time frame.  The lawsuit was brought because Z STREET believes, based upon what the IRS agent herself said, that the IRS engaged in unconstitutional viewpoint behavior.  There is no requirement to wait a set period of time before making such a claim.

However, in yesterday’s filing, the IRS claimed - for the first time, not surprisingly, as it completely contradicts every other court filing by the IRS in this case - that Z STREET’s lawsuit should be dismissed because it failed to make out the very claim the IRS had repeatedly insisted Z STREET was making - that it qualifies for, and should have already been given, tax exempt status.

It bears noting that yesterday another set of significant documents was released by the IRS, via the House Ways and Means Committee.  These, in an apparent attempt to prove that the IRS was not just engaging in viewpoint discrimination against politically conservative groups, showed that the IRS had created a category for review it labeled “progressive,” as if that made everything kosher.  But also included in the documents released was a category labeled “occupied territory advocacy.”  In other words, the IRS was indeed singling out applications for tax exempt status on the basis of a particular political viewpoint which is inconsistent with this administration’s.  And that is bald-faced viewpoint discrimination and is the basis for Z STREET’s lawsuit against the IRS.

The first hearing in Z STREET’s lawsuit against the IRS will be held on July 19 at 10:00 in Courtroom 17 before Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, in the Federal District Court of the District of Columbia.
And you thought the IRS acted unfairly to the Tea Party....

ISRAEL MATZAV: Israel's 5th column favors new intifada but still wants to collect benefits from state

Many people refer to 'Israeli Arabs' as Israel's 5th column, and with good reason. They want all the social welfare benefits of being part of the Jewish state with none of the obligations. When I say 'obligations,' I'm not referring to the army or national service or anything like that. I'm referring to the most basic concept of 'do no harm.' Given the opportunity, most 'Israeli Arabs' would likely do us much harm, which has to make you wonder what they think would happen to all those benefits if God forbid they succeeded. 
According to the report, the product of a joint venture between the university and the Israel Democracy Institute, 62% of Arab citizens feel it is impossible to trust most Jews, and 71% think the government treats them as second-class citizens.
The report stated that Arab distress over the current situation was expressed in the finding that 59% agreed with the statement that “it is justified that the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip start a third Intifada if the political stalemate continues,” and the agreement of 58% that “it is justified that Arab citizens in Israel begin an Intifada of their own if their situation does not improve significantly.”
It also found that 73% of Israeli Arabs prefer that Arab political parties would join a coalition government, and a majority believe that their leaders truly represent them.
That last byte is important because it's long been known that the 'Israeli Arab' leadership is more extreme than its constituency, but many pundits have claimed that the leadership is not representative of how 'Israeli Arabs' really think of the state. Apparently, most 'Israeli Arabs' don't agree.
Smooha has been charting Arab opinion since 1976.
Everyone in academia is saying that the Arabs and Jews are on a collision course, he said, adding that “it is avoidable, but it depends on the government’s policies.”
He said Israeli Arabs are interested in receiving the benefits that the state provides them – stability, democracy, services and so on. Therefore, he concludes, they are still interested “in playing by the rules.”
The Arab leadership is more critical of Israel than the Arab public, which is “much more pragmatic than their leaders,” Smooha said.
He noted that even though a large majority of Israeli Arabs support Arab parties joining the coalition, no Arab party today would join the government.
Due to this gap, many Arabs are not participating in the political process, he said.

...

Regarding the establishment of the State of Israel, 82% of Arabs accuse the Jews of committing the Nakba (catastrophe of Israel’s independence) and 48% said they have participated in Nakba commemoration events.
Around 70% of Arab respondents said Israel was not justified in maintaining a Jewish majority and 55% would prefer to live in Israel rather than in any other country. Some 78% fear a grave violation of their rights and 68% fear a population transfer.
Some 48% would vote in a referendum for a constitution that “defines Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and guarantees full citizenship rights to Arabs,” a drop from 71% in 2006.
Still, 42% favor living in Jewish neighborhoods and 37% would prefer their children go to Jewish schools.
Smooha noted differences within the Arab population, saying Druse definitely had the most positive views of Israel and that the Beduin were becoming more religious and affiliated with the Islamic Movement.
Rabbi Meir Kahane HY"D (May God avenge his blood) warned us this would happen

Read the whole thing.