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A Is for Ancient, Describing an Alphabet Found Near Jerusalem By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD In the 10th century B.C., in the hill country south of Jerusalem, a scribe carved his A B C's on a limestone boulder - actually, his aleph-beth-gimel's, for the string of letters appears to be an early rendering of the emergent Hebrew alphabet. Archaeologists digging in July at the site, Tel Zayit, found the inscribed stone in the wall of an ancient building. After an analysis of the layers of ruins, the discoverers concluded that this was the earliest known specimen of the Hebrew alphabet and...

In the 10th century B.C., in the hill country south of Jerusalem, a scribe carved his A B C's on a limestone boulder - actually, his aleph-beth-gimel's, for the string of letters appears to be an early rendering of the emergent Hebrew alphabet. Archaeologists digging in July at the site, Tel Zayit, found the inscribed stone in the wall of an ancient building. After an analysis of the layers of ruins, the discoverers concluded that this was the earliest known specimen of the Hebrew alphabet and an important benchmark in the history of writing, they said this week. If they...

The Vatican will loan the work of Moses Maimonides, one of Judaism's most celebrated rabbis and sages, to Israel this year in a gesture meant to improve relations between Catholics and Jews. Jewish community leaders said they are ecstatic to have the opportunity to study the Maimonides document, and at least three other medieval manuscripts. Rabbi Benjamin Blech, a professor at Yeshiva University in New York, said the gesture by the Vatican "strengthens the bonds between Jews and Christians." "We are asking a favor, they are showing us a kindness, to borrow these items," he said. A delegation of about...

ANCIENT PHONICIAN-HEBREW VOWELSThe following ancient witnesses show that the Jewish writing didn't used the actual system of points for indicating the vowels, but specific characters: the character sounded as ah, the character sounded as eh, the letter had two sounds Y/J and ee, as in yearly/January; the character sounded as oh, the character sound as Uh and as V   THE (click to enlarge image) STELE OF KILAMU THE SILOE INSCRIPTION Certainly, the use of points in the Stele of Kilamu and in the Siloe inscription is to separate the words. The Vowels were there all the time In all these writings, from...

Skeleton 'may be John the Baptist' A professor claims a skeleton discovered near where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found may be the remains of John the Baptist. He suggests the phrophet who annointed Christ may also have been the leader of the tribe to which the burial ground belonged. Israeli archaelogists say his theory is far-fetched and that the burial site unearthed is probably that of an 18th century Bedouin man. US professor Richard Freund at a Centre for Judaic Studies in Connecticut, has been art of an expedition in the Judean Desert. Professor Freund says there is "circumstantial...

Thousands of Jews flooded Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem on Friday morning, the day before her Yahrtzeit (the anniversary of her death), in a clear and poignant reaction to the Palestinian resolution passed by UNESCO on Wednesday, declaring it a Muslim religious site. The actual anniversary is on the Sabbath, the 11th day of the Hebrew month Cheshvan. It is customary for worshippers to visit the site at this time, though Arab violence makes this dangerous and in extreme cases, notably during the 2000 intifada, Israeli security closes the site to Jews. The multitude arriving today were not permitted to enter...

BERLIN — With Israelis and Palestinians caught in another widening cycle of bloodshed, Secretary of State John Kerry met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in Berlin on Thursday and urged him to tone down the harsh language that American and European officials believe is fueling the violence. The message delivered on Thursday to Mr. Netanyahu, who claimed this week that a Muslim cleric had inspired the Holocaust, will be repeated in the coming days when Mr. Kerry meets the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, whose own comments Mr. Netanyahu and others have blamed for provoking attacks....

US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday that Israel and Jordan have agreed on steps aimed at reducing tensions at a holy site in Jerusalem that have fanned Israeli-Palestinian violence. Kerry said Netanyahu had expressed a commitment to continue enforcing the status quo, which says only Muslims may pray at the compound, while non-Muslims may only visit. Jordan is custodian of the site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. An Israeli government source told Ynet that Israel has an interest in installing cameras in the Temple Mount in order to...

TEL AVIV – While France is facing Israeli criticism for suggesting the deployment of international observers to the Temple Mount, WND has learned the Kingdom of Jordan is floating its own plan to consolidate power at the holy site, proposing non-uniformed Jordanian soldiers patrol the sensitive complex. The Jordanian proposal was quietly made in recent days to Israeli and U.S. officials, according to diplomatic sources here. The Israeli government immediately rejected the possibility of Jordanian soldiers, uniformed or not, stationed inside the Jewish state. The diplomatic sources said that last month a Jordanian general and other Jordanian military officers held...

Rachel's Tomb, Cave of the Patriarchs now listed as Muslim sites, Israel condemned over Temple Mount 'aggression.' UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) passed a resolution Wednesday listing the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem as Muslim sites. The resolution - which passed with 26 in favor, six voted against, and 25 abstentions - condemned Israel for archaeological excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem and particularly near the Temple Mount. An initial draft of the resolution had also called for the Kotel (Western Wall) to be listed as an Islamic site...

The Paris, France-based UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is making “an attempt to distort history” in favor of Palestinians by voting to declare Judaism’s holiest site, the Western Wall, a Muslim holy site. The JTA notes that the proposal seeks to confirm an earlier UNESCO decision that the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb–which are two West Bank sites holy to both Jews and Muslims–are part of a Palestinian state. On Friday, a Palestinian mob set fire to the Joseph’s Tomb, a Jewish holy site located in the Fatah-controlled West Bank. Fatah still takes direction from the...

Jerusalem TEL AVIV – In a sermon broadcast on official Palestinian television, a well-known cleric claimed that in the future, Jews will build a temple outside of the area of the Temple Mount, where they will worship the devil. The Muslim preacher, Sheik Khaled Al-Mughrabi, who gives classes twice per week in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, further taught that at the “end of time,” Muslims will seek out and destroy Jews wherever they are. In his sermon Friday, Mughrabi referenced a Hadith – the accounts of Muhammad second only to the Quran – foretelling a day when Jews will hide...

'Frustrated' Muslims Can’t Stop Killing Jews… and Everyone Else Muslim “Frustration” caused 9/11 and every other act of terror. October 19, 2015 Daniel Greenfield Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. As Jews were being butchered in the streets of Jerusalem, Secretary of State John Kerry blamed them. “There's been a massive increase in settlements over the course of the last years, and now you have this violence because there's a frustration that is growing," the nation’s greatest diplomat said. “Settlements” are Jews living in parts of Israel...

Thousands of Jordanian citizens went out on Friday to city centers around the country, in mass protests demanding that the government cancel the 1994 peace agreement with Israel. No less than 5,000 Jordanians took part in the main protest, which was held in the capital city of Amman, and which was organized by the Muslim Brotherhood. The protesters shouted "no Zionist embassy on Jordanian land," and, "with the knife and shards stab the son of the Jewess," among other things. A central part of the protests was the traditional burning of the Israeli flag, as protesters waved signs reading: "canceling...

The carnage in Jerusalem and other parts of Israel continued this week with an increased ferocity and barbarity, with stabbings, shooting, bombings, car ramming, rocket attacks, and other assaults on Israeli citizens claiming the lives of five Israelis and twenty-five Palestinians in the past two weeks alone. While the violence intensifies and seems to be spiraling out of control, not only touching Jerusalem but also the West Bank, Gaza, and other Israeli towns, officials are intent on identifying the inspiration for the latest escalation of jihad against Jews.

Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli police on Sunday began erecting a wall in east Jerusalem to protect a Jewish neighbourhood subject to firebomb and stone attacks launched from an adjacent Palestinian village. The wall would effectively divide Palestinian Jabel Mukaber and Jewish Armon Hanatziv, raising criticism among the government's opposition, which considered the move a de facto division of Jerusalem. As of Sunday, police had placed six slabs below Jabel Mukaber, each about 2.5 metres (yards) high and two metres long. Black lettering in Hebrew at the bottom of the slabs read "temporary mobile police barrier". The municipality said the wall...

It seems that Sodom and Gomorrah were not as “destroyed” as previously thought. The ruins of the biblical city of Sodom reportedly have been discovered by U.S. archeologists in southern Jordan. God punished the wickedness of the citizens by destroying the city with brimstone and fire, the biblical story explains. Only the righteous inhabitants were allowed to escape the destruction and were spared by God. The archeological team, directed by Steve Collins of New Mexico’s Trinity Southwest University, has been working for 10 years in the Jordan Valley. It now believes it has uncovered this magnificent historical site. If confirmed,...

Buraq was a flying horse with a woman's head. October 15, 2015 Daniel Greenfield      So the New York Times lapsed into what has been called Temple Trutherism by trying to deny the existence of the Jewish temples on the Temple Mount. Their work was taken down by Liel Leibowitz at The Tablet and others. The Times offered a limited correction. But let's have some equal time here. The Temple Mount is holy to Jews because of the Temples. So the New York Times chose to discuss whether the Temples really existed. It's holy to Muslims because Mohammed...

Palestinians have torched a Jewish holy site in the West Bank city of Nablus, amid soaring tensions with Israel. Rioters set fire to a tomb revered as that of the biblical figure Joseph. The site, where Jews go to pray, was badly damaged. It came hours after Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu called on the Palestinian leadership to stop a wave of attacks. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas condemned the arson and said the site would be repaired. Violence between the two sides has spiralled, with near-daily stabbings by Palestinians of Israelis this month. Seven Israelis have been killed and dozens wounded...

Erdan says idea "distorted," gives "prize" to terrorists. Israel is working together with the US and “others” to thwart a French initiative to place international observers at the Temple Mount, a senior official in the Prime Minister's Office said Saturday night. The French daily Le Figaro reported Saturday that the French envoy to the United Nations tabled a draft text that would be endorsed by the President of the Security Council – currently Spain – to station “independent observers” on the Temple Mount to “identify possible violations of the status quo.” A senior official in the Prime Minister's Office dismissed...