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The Torah portion describing Creation is behind us and now, before we delve into the roots of the Nation of Israel, the Torah's second portion - Noach - describes the beginnings of humanity at large. One point that is obvious in this Torah portion is that since its inception, the human race has been searching for its place in the face of the Creator. And the entire earth was one language and of one speech. (Genesis 11:1) Fukuyama called it "the end of history." The Soviet Union collapsed, the language that rules is internet English, the only thing that matters...

Two Jewish researchers, Joel Gallis and Dr. Robert Wolf, asserted with utter certainty in May 2007, long before Barack Hussein Obama had won his first primary and when it appeared that Hillary Clinton was a sure thing, that he would be the next president of the United States. More recently, in August 2008, the scholars reported that Obama's name "intersects" with a passage in the apocalyptic book of Daniel, Chapter 7, and specifically Daniel 7:25, which speaks of the last "king" who would oppress God's people under the rubric of bringing about "change" to the world...

Approximately one thousand years after the destruction of the second temple and Israel's exile from its homeland, deep in the depths of the harsh exile and one thousand years before the beginning of the return to Zion - the great Torah commentator Rashi opens his monumental commentary on the Torah with the question of the ownership of the Land of Israel. What with all the hardships and troubles facing European Jewry at the time, with the Land of Israel but a vague and distant memory, the most pressing problem demanding Rashi's attention is what we will answer the non-Jewish world...

First, an apology for making this a cacused thread. I know that Fundamentalist Protestant FReepers will feel cheated at having their religious beliefs explained by one not of their number, but to leave the thread open would be to invite thousands and thousands of posts, each and every one of them quoting the "new testament" to "prove" this and that. While I am no longer a Fundamentalist Protestant or chr*stian of any kind, I nevertheless used to be one and feel competent to explain their beliefs to Orthodox Jews--especially when those beliefs are so misunderstood and misrepresented. I also feel...

MY RIGHTEOUSNESS IS ABOUT TO MEET AS ONE , FOR I AM BRINGING TOGETHER MY KINGDOM , NOT A CHILD OUT OF PLACE , NOT A SOUL THAT I KNOW , AS PART OF THE KINGDOM SHALL BE LEFT OUT OF MY FOLD , I AM CALLING MY LEADERS THAT HAVE OVERCOME , TO BRING TOGETHER MY KINGDOM , THE JOSHUAS , THE REUBENS , MANNASEHS AND DANS , THE FOUR LIVING CREATURES SURROUNDING " I AM " , THE SEVEN SPIRITS " THE EYES ON THE STONE " , I AM CALLING ALL MY KINGDOM HOME , FOR WHAT...

Hitler's symbol of obliteration has become a beacon of hope A Torah once belonging to Adolf Hitler has survived 130 years and some of the worst times in Jewish history. Now all it had to do was make it one mile without being dropped. Piece of cake. The Torah will now be housed at Congregation Ahavat Olam, which received the holy scroll on Friday. It was a four year journey for the sacred artifact from a London repository, but the last leg pales in comparison to what it originally was destined for. Hitler confiscated the Torah and kept it...

Think you've got pressure at work? Consider Rabbi Avraham Bloomenstiel's day. His project will take about 18 months to finish, is guided by more than 4,000 Jewish laws and requires absolute precision. One mistake — or even a badly misshapen letter — and the offending page may have to be buried in a cemetery, according to Jewish law. "Unless the text is 100 percent accurate, there is no point in doing what we're doing," said Bloomenstiel, who was admitted to Harvard University at age 16 to study chemistry and later received a master's degree in music from the Peabody Institute...

Rabbi Eliezar was a very, very poor man. He subsisted on a meager diet of bread and garlic. One day, the rabbi was so hungry that he fainted. While unconscious, he had a dialogue with G-d. When revived by his students, he announced, "G-d spoke to me." "What did He say?" "I asked G-d, 'Why couldn't You create me as a rich man? Why do I have to suffer like this?' And G-d answered, 'Rabbi Eliezar, my dear son, would you prefer me to destroy the entire world, and re-create it, and maybe you'll be born with a different destiny?'...

Jews believe that — unlike the Christian Bible, which has been translated from Hebrew and Greek into thousands of languages — the Torah is a near-verbatim copy of G-d's word. Bloomenstiel is a "sofer," or expert in the age-old art of transcribing Hebrew calligraphy, a job Jews believe began with Moses, the first scribe to reduce G-d's laws to writing. Since then, on parchment and using bird feathers for pens, holy men have been copying the document by hand. An elaborate system of editing and proofreading is designed to make sure the Torah is pristine.

Arab-Stolen Torahs Returned to Jerusalem Synagogue Six Torah scrolls stolen from a Jerusalem neighborhood were recovered by police near an Arab village, and three others were saved last week from a fire in Afula. Six Torah scrolls and a host of other religious items were stolen from the Ohr HaChaim synagogue in Pisgat Ze’ev, a northern Jerusalem neighborhood, several months ago. Police detectives embarked on an intensive mission to find them – and their efforts were crowned with success this week. Together with the Torah scrolls, also stolen were shofars (rams’ horns used on Rosh HaShanah and the days preceding...

Desecrating the Sabbath to protest desecrating the Sabbath. Scenes of rioting, rock throwing, and violence have rocked a Jerusalem district. No, this time it's not crazy jihad supporting Arabs acting on cue from Arafat or the Mufti for the jihad supporting media. This time it is misguided anti-zionist, anti-Israel Jews! Some of these misguided Jews have even spit in the faces of Israeli police and called them "Nazis". They are so upset about the opening of a parking lot on the Sabbath to alieviate real problems caused by a severe parking shortage in the city. Hmm... "What man is there...

'Unto these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names. To the more thou shalt give the more inheritance, and to the fewer thou shalt give the less inheritance.' (From this week's Torah portion, Pinchas; Number 26: 53-54). Property rights are a basic value in the Torah. Our Forefathers were all wealthy men. Jacob even endangers himself and re-crosses the Yabok stream to retrieve some small belongings. Our Sages teach us that righteous people hold their money as dear as their bodies. An entire Talmudic tractate deals with the minute details of a "strange"...

"It is a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations." (From this week's Torah portion, Balak, Numbers 23:9) Currently, Israel's very essence is its unrequited ambition to be reckoned among the nations. Official Israel does all in its power to be "normal -" in other words, to be like the nations of the world. Israel yearns to be accepted, to "belong," to enjoy the patronage of the nations. It will settle for almost anything. As long as it will not have to dwell alone. Jewish home in outpost. Sign says "G-d is King." But...

Contrary to popular Egyptologist belief, the Torah does contain numerous hints of contemporary life in ancient Egypt. The western world has a fascination with the culture of ancient Egypt. The image of the great stone sphinx guarding the lofty pyramiding tombs of the mummified pharaohs, as the once all-powerful king journeyed through the world of darkness, adds to the mysterious lure of ancient Egypt. Over 100,000 books have been written on this inscrutable land and its pharaohs, the first one being composed over 2000 years ago. By the time the Hellenistic historian, Manetho, composed his Aegyptiaca in the third century...

On the 2nd December 2002 Claudio Schranz of our group and alpine guide has been able to film clearly a beam of Noah's Ark protruding out of the ice on Mount Ararat. It was found at 4000m between the beginning of the Parrot glacier.

For G-d will not forsake His people for His great name's sake; because it has pleased G-d to make you a people unto Himself. (From this week's reading of the Prophets, Samuel I Chapt. 12:22). In last week's Torah portion, we agonized through the tragically relevant story of the spies and their rejection of the Land of Israel. In this week's Torah portion, Korach, we endure another tragic story; the rejection of the leadership that is ordained to bring the Children of Israel to the Promised Land. The sins of both the spies and Korach revolved around their desire for...

"And we were in our eyes as grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes." (From this week's Torah portion, Shlach Lecha, Numbers 13:33) If you do not know that G-d is running the world, the only way to evaluate reality is through human eyes. That is called being "realistic" and "pragmatic." The spies in this week's Torah portion were not lying. The information that they reported was completely accurate. The only problem was that they observed reality without taking faith in G-d into account. When Israel's leader views reality without the key factor of faith in G-d, it makes...

Of many strange moments in President Obama’s Cairo speech, perhaps the strangest is the conclusion: The Holy Quran tells us, Mankind, we have created you male and a female. And we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another. The Talmud tells us, The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace. The Holy Bible tells us, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. What does the idea of gender and tribe distinction have to do with peace? The answer is nothing, except that Obama’s speechwriters...

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What support is there for the claim that God spoke to all the Jewish people at the foot of Mount Sinai?Who did God give the Torah to at Mount Sinai? Most people reply, "God gave the Torah to Moses." And what were the Jewish people doing while Moses was receiving the Torah? "Worshipping the Golden Calf." Correct answers -- but NOT according to the Bible. The above answers come from Cecil B. DeMille's classic film, "The Ten Commandments." Amazing the impact one movie can have on the Jewish education of generations of Jews. It's a great film, but DeMille should...

The principle is really quite simple. G-d lays it out clearly in this week's Torah portion, Bechukotai (Leviticus 26: 3-12). First, we have the condition: If you walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them;Second, the economic reward: Then I will give your rains in their season, and the land shall yield her produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time; and you shall eat your bread until you have enough,Third, the security reward: And you will...

Mark your calendar for Judaism's once-in-28-year special event.The fact that you're reading this article is a minor miracle. Think of all the things that needed to fall into place: the computer, the hard drive, the labyrinth of the Internet, the web browser -- even the electrical power driving it all. There is incredible complexity built into the simple act of reading this article. And yet, we sit before these machines every day without giving them a moment's thought. Until they stop working. When that blue screen appears and the computer freezes, we hold our breath hoping that nothing has failed,...

Two Jewish researchers, Joel Gallis and Dr. Robert Wolf, asserted with utter certainty in May 2007, long before Barack Hussein Obama had won his first primary and when it appeared that Hillary Clinton was a sure thing, that he would be the next president of the United States. More recently, in August 2008, the scholars reported that Obama's name "intersects" with a passage in the apocalyptic book of Daniel, Chapter 7, and specifically Daniel 7:25, which speaks of the last "king" who would oppress God's people under the rubric of bringing about "change" to the world. The scholars show that...

The Jewish people not only defeated the Greeks on the battlefield, but we defeated them spiritually as well. In fact, the spiritual struggle was the true heart of the conflict. In Greek philosophy, the power and wisdom of man was preeminent. In the Greek worldview, there was no room and no need for G-d. All that needed to be accomplished could be accomplished by man, on his own, with no assistance at all. This is why the Greeks so desperately wanted to crush Judaism. In the case of other conquered peoples, the Greeks were benevolent to their new citizens. They...

Please forgive the vanity, as well as an anti-chr*stian apologetic at this time of year. My purpose is not to hurt or antagonize but to answer this thread. May G-d help me to do so. Most arguments between Jews and chr*stians don't really satisfy anyone on either side because they focus on details--the eternity of the Torah, the identity of Messiah, the prophecies--and ignore the big picture of which these things are but details. Be`ezrat HaShem I will call upon my own prior beliefs as a Fundamentalist Protestant to lay out this "big picture" so that, whether the reader agrees...

(IsraelNN.com) The verse in the Torah that was shot up by Mumbai terrorists reads: "The Almighty spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron's two sons…." It is from Leviticus [VaYikra], Chapter 16, Verse 1. The damaged Torah scroll was discovered when officials examined the Chabad House following the massacre of six Israelis by the Muslim terrorists who staged the mass slaughter at least 10 different places Wednesday night. They saw bullet holes in the Holy Ark where the scroll was kept and then examined it to see if it had been damaged. The verse refers to Nadav and Avihu,...

(IsraelNN.com) The verse in the Torah that was shot up by Mumbai terrorists reads: "The Almighty spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron's two sons…." It is from Leviticus [VaYikra], Chapter 16, Verse 1. The damaged Torah scroll was discovered when officials examined the Chabad House following the massacre of six Israelis by the Muslim terrorists who staged the mass slaughter at least 10 different places Wednesday night. They saw bullet holes in the Holy Ark where the scroll was kept and then examined it to see if it had been damaged. The verse refers to Nadav and Avihu,...

Islamic terrorists and their handlers have always claimed that their problem is with Zionists, not with Jews. The Neturey Karta sect (who dress and talk like hassidic Jews, but are no more than an aberrant abomination, a cruel mockery of what Judaism is) attack Zionism, while claiming that the world truly loves Jews as they embrace and kiss the putrid little maggot Ahmedinajad. It seems that most latent (and not so latent) subtle antisemites claim the supposed moral high ground of anti-Zionism as opposed to the obvious prejudice of antisemitim. I am a Jew, a devout Orthodox Jew, and I’m...

A friend of mine in the media covered the Republican National Convention and brought me back a souvenir: a navy blue yarmulke with “McCain ’08” printed on it in English and Hebrew. I guess there wasn’t time for the campaign to make them up with Sarah Palin’s name, too, which is a shame. With all the disquiet she has evoked in the Jewish community, that would be a collector’s item. Jews themselves, and liberals who feel we belong naturally in the Democratic fold, give reasons for the gathering unease about her. A gaping cultural difference is noted. “Eating moose meat...

In the media, Catholicism is the religious tradition most frequently, and misleadingly, held up for approbation as having no problem reconciling Darwinism with theistic faith. The tradition next most often cited as Darwin-friendly is my own, Judaism. You can bet a new Rabbis’ Letter in support of evolution will garner the usual uncomprehending applause. Boasting 305 signatures so far, the letter holds that "It is possible to be inspired by the religious teachings of the Bible while not taking a literalist approach and while accepting the validity of science including the foundational concept of evolution." The Open Letter Concerning Religion...

The disregard of the past is a common illness in Twentieth Century life. Much of secular society, and secular Jewry, blithely ignore the lessons of our past and of general history at large. Same-sex marriages, blind pagan worship of environment and nature, widespread use of addictive drugs, a disproportionate emphasis in life on sports and unwarranted adulation of athletes and the strong, feel-good and undemanding moral standards, all were staple components of the downfall of society in the Classical Era of Greece and Rome. But our world blithely ignores all of the lessons of the past. We see our society...

Jewish worshippers returning to Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs after Muslims were given exclusive access to the holy site at the weekend reported that the cabinet containing their Torah scrolls had been urinated on. One Jewish resident of Hebron told Israel National News that he and several other men had to move the cabinet to another part of the room because of the strong smell of urine in the area where it is usually positioned. Additionally, green Hamas flags were found placed in the windows that mark the burial sites of Abraham, Isaac, Sara, Rebecca and Leah. The Cave of...

In Cohen's opinion, the relationship between science and religion is a clear one. The two work together and Jews should openly welcome both. "When I first joined the organization, it was in the '60s, and there were strong issues with regard to the question of the synthesis of science and religion," Cohen commented. "Science was quite dominant at the time and people had religious doubts. The issue of whether an Orthodox scientist could really support much of the religious doctrine as viewed from a scientific point of view was something that people saw to be problematic. The early articles dealt...

"And you shall drive out the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein; for I have given the land to you to possess it. But if you will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those that you let remain will be as thorns in your eyes, and as pricks in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land in which you dwell. And it shall come to pass, that as I thought to do unto them, so will I do to you." (This week's Torah portion, Numbers 33: 53, 55, 56) This...

Once upon a time, Jews who found Judaism cumbersome simply declared the Torah obsolete and went about their lives as they pleased. They weren't inclined to intellectual contortions. Some "progressive" Jews today, though, choose instead to twist and torture the Jewish canon, in an attempt to force it to "yield" what they wish it actually did. In a way, their reluctance to just jettison the Torah and Talmud is admirable. Other words, though, come to mind for their merciless manipulation of the Jewish religious tradition. A recent example of such intellectual anarchism is Hillel. The campus organization, that is, not...

What support is there for the claim that God spoke to all the Jewish people at the foot of Mount Sinai?Who did God give the Torah to at Mount Sinai? Most people reply, "God gave the Torah to Moses." And what were the Jewish people doing while Moses was receiving the Torah? "Worshipping the Golden Calf." Correct answers -- but NOT according to the Bible. The above answers come from Cecil B. DeMille's classic film, "The Ten Commandments." Amazing the impact one movie can have on the Jewish education of generations of Jews. It's a great film, but DeMille should...

A recent fire has led to an outpouring of generosity for a struggling synagogue that lost its Torah in the blaze. A Broward County woman who wants to honor her dead parents, and a couple who commute between Miami and New York, are donating new Torahs to a beleaguered Jewish congregation in Miami Beach whose synagogue was ravaged in a recent fire. ''These show people that we're going to come back stronger after a tragedy,'' said an appreciative Rabbi Zev Katz, the head of Miami Beach's Chabad Shul, part of Judaism's Orthodox Hasidic movement. Miami Beach police and fire officials...

In the days when Moses dictated the law of the land, the five daughters of Zelophephad took issue with the rules of inheritance. The Book of Numbers xxvii recounts how the sisters sought counsel with Moses in front of the congregation of travelling Israelites to demand that the laws be altered to accommodate female succession. This bit of biblical history is often brushed over, as are other feminist aspects of the Old Testament, because for thousands of years men alone have interpreted the Hebrew Scriptures, according to a feminist revision of the text. The Torah: A Women's Commentary re-evaluates the...

Libyan leader says the Bible is counterfeit Thursday, 20th March 2008. 11:42am By: Manasseh Zindo. LIBYAN leader Col Muammar Gadaffi, who is in Uganda, on Wednesday March 19 celebrated the anniversary of the birth of Prophet Mohammed with a series of attacks on European countries and the Bible for besmirching the Prophet Gadaffi was speaking to a large crowd at Nakivubo War Memorial Stadium in Kampala after leading the Thuhur (afternoon) prayer, where he said any Bible and Torah (Old Testament) that does not mention the Prophet Mohammed was written by mankind and therefore a fraud. Full article posted here

30 Adar I, 5768 March 7, ‘08 This Shabbat, Jews throughout the world will read the Torah portion, Zachor, in which we are commanded to remember Amalek and his evil schemes to obliterate the Nation of Israel. But currently, Israel is in the throes of a desperate attempt to erase its history. In doing so, it has lost its internal reference point, leaving it completely dependant on its enemies. Without Judaism, we have no right to be here. We are nothing more than foreigners occupying the land of the Hamas, who are simply fighting a war of independence. Those who...

Setting priorities in keeping with your values is a daily task for us all. I may, for example, feel the need to spend two hours exercising every day. But if that conflicts with my family responsibilities, I have to consult an overall worldview, a scheme of values, to decide which imperative comes first. So it goes in public life no less than in private. The world Jewish community is united in few things, but a rough consensus has emerged that our greatest worry, our top priority in need of being addressed, is the threat posed by Muslim extremists. With some...

Israeli politicians are busy 24 hours a day trying to solve the "Arab problem". Deals are made, complicated agreements are signed and dangerous risks are taken. In an effort to make the Arabs happy; terrorists are released, Jews are kicked out of their homes, shuls and yeshivot are smashed and billions of dollars are taken from Jewish poor and given to the "Palestinians". After all has been said and done, there is still no peace. Want to know why??? Because all of these efforts are going towards a problem that simply does not exist. There is NO Arab problem in...

Toledot (Genesis 25:19–28:9) This week Jews will read Toledot on our annual progression through the Torah. The section begins with a depiction of Rebecca's pregnancy which certainly must be the most difficult one in the entire Bible. Did G-d give Rebecca the right to "choose"? The life struggle of Jacob/Israel with his twin, Esau, is described from his time in Rebecca's womb. It continues for the much of the rest of the book of Genesis. The struggle wasn't interrupted for even the moment of birth. Who can read this portion and suggest that "life" begins at birth? ML/NJ

How long since you had to look inside a math book? Because here's a question that might have got by you: A down payment on a home costs $5,000. Housing one brain-damaged man for a year costs $20,000. How many families lose homes to mental retardation? This extra-credit teaser comes from a Nazi-endorsed schoolbook (currency adjusted). It was the first step in curing society of the unneeded. Shortly after, with the country now ready, beautiful killings ("euthanasia" in Latin) began. It is comforting to think that Nazis were demons rather than humans. But following their defeat you couldn't find an...

"We're getting divorced. But we're doing it amicably, with mutual respect." When ex-spouses (or ex-es) describing their divorce sound like "we're withdrawing our offer on the house we looked at Thursday", you can get the idea that they never invested enough to be hurt by the loss. But listen again: you'll hear emptiness in the voice: Pain in the heart. Yes, the stigma is lost. Yes, some koffee-klatch and water-cooler conversations have an "everybody's-doing-it" attitude. No. No one who went through divorce thinks it's painless. But if pain-free divorce is a myth (in the shattering), divorce is a reality, an...

A new “mishigas” (nonsense) has entered the Jewish world. It is becoming more popular by the day. It’s called traveling to Europe to see the great “alter haym” (old home). The goal of these trips is to relive the wonderful life the Jews had back in those good old days. Very often, prominent Rabbis lead these trips, whose frequency and popularity are growing rapidly. Virtually every week, a major Rebbe goes to Hungary, Ukraine or Poland. Thousands flock with him to walk the sacred European ground where his grandfather once stood. Ahhhh... what holiness! What a privilege to travel to...

The State of Israel has entered a sort of values vertigo. The heavens are the earth, the earth is the heavens, good is evil and evil is good. The first obvious expression of this vertigo was Rabin's handshake with Arafat on the White House lawn. It blurred the distinction between friend and foe, good and evil and justice and depravity. "Behold, I have set before you today life and goodness, and death and evil." (Deuteronomy 30:15) There is good and there is evil -- and not as the paganistic post-modernism would have us believe. There is life and there is...

"G-d spoke to Moses on Mt. Sinai and said ... Six years you may plant your fields... and the seventh year shall be Shabbat, you shall not plant.” Why was this Divine commandment of shmita (Sabbatical year when fields are left fallow) particularly related to Mt. Sinai? After all, the entire Torah was taught to Moses on Sinai. Shmita, perhaps to a greater degree than other commandments, tests the Jew's faith in G-d, because it explicitly calls upon him to demonstrate his confidence in G-d's bounty, his belief in G-d's power and providence. "And if you ask what will we...

Most of the Jewish people are so scattered and removed from each other that they hardly ever find a common language, or even any language that makes sense to them as Jews. This is what is called assimilation, which is basically the loss of their common heritage. We therefore have to try to reach some deeper levels of the soul, many of them bordering on the unconscious, to help us get back to talking together, to having some kind of a common language. Jews can hardly be categorized as a nation (even though there is now an emerging Israeli nation);...