Posted on 05/03/2005 4:50:37 AM PDT by SJackson
The Bush administration's push for quick democracy in the Middle East has an increasingly clear implication: if Islamist organizations such as Hamas are to be likely electoral winners, Western powers should stop classifying them as terrorists and instead come to terms with them.
Will our speeding to save the Arab world from itself wind up with us paying a terrible toll?
This conclusion follows from such efforts as those led by Alastair Crooke and his Conflicts Forum; the European Union's exploration of opening a dialogue with the Islamists; and an astonishing statement in which the White House spokesman referred to Hamas members as "business professionals."
Before this whitewashing of Hamas proceeds too far ahead, it bears noting that the organization has not just murdered over four hundred Israelis but also prepared itself for war with the United States.
The ideological justification for war is in place. In 2003, Hamas declared President George W. Bush "Islam's biggest enemy" and in 2004 it called him "the enemy of G-d, the enemy of Islam and Muslims." A 2004 press release announced that "Hamas considers the U.S as an enemy and as an accomplice to the Israeli enemy aggression against the Palestinians. … The U.S will face responsibility for its position as an accomplice with Israel."
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
What we should have done is endorsed Putin's idea of a meeting between Sharon and the Palestinians in Moscow. Get the Europeans and Russians involved in this process.
Bush is an enemy of Allah. Islam is an enemy of God.
Bush is an enemy of Allah. Islam is an enemy of God.
Jews do not casually write any Name of God. This practice does not come from the commandment not to take the Lord's Name in vain, as many suppose. In Jewish thought, that commandment refers solely to oath-taking, and is a prohibition against swearing by God's Name falsely or frivolously (the word normally translated as "in vain" literally means "for falsehood").
Judaism does not prohibit writing the Name of God per se; it prohibits only erasing or defacing a Name of God. However, observant Jews avoid writing any Name of God casually because of the risk that the written Name might later be defaced, obliterated or destroyed accidentally or by one who does not know better.
The commandment not to erase or deface the name of God comes from Deut. 12:3. In that passage, the people are commanded that when they take over the promised land, they should destroy all things related to the idolatrous religions of that region, and should utterly destroy the names of the local deities. Immediately afterwards, we are commanded not to do the same to our God. From this, the rabbis inferred that we are commanded not to destroy any holy thing, and not to erase or deface a Name of God.
It is worth noting that this prohibition against erasing or defacing Names of God applies only to Names that are written in some kind of permanent form, and recent rabbinical decisions have held that writing on a computer is not a permanent form, thus it is not a violation to type God's Name into a computer and then backspace over it or cut and paste it, or copy and delete files with God's Name in them. However, once you print the document out, it becomes a permanent form. That is why observant Jews avoid writing a Name of God on web sites like this one or in newsgroup messages: because there is a risk that someone else will print it out and deface it.
Normally, we avoid writing the Name by substituting letters or syllables, for example, writing "G-d" instead of "God." In addition, the number 15, which would ordinarily be written in Hebrew as Yod-Heh (10-5), is normally written as Tet-Vav (9-6), because Yod-Heh is a Name. See Hebrew Alphabet for more information about using letters as numerals.
To discuss what? Hama's proposal of a few years ago to transfer the Jews back to Eastern Europe? Abu Mazen has refused to meet even the preliminaries to the road map, disarming terror and ceasing incitement. There isn't much to talk about.
They've already had lots of meetings in which they talked about nothing. I don't expect them to make headway. What I want to do is get the EU and the Russians involved in this so that they have a stake in the outcome, and will be embarrassed the next time the Palestinians blow up a restaurant or a bus.
They're already as involved as we are. The members of the quartet are the US, Russia, the EU, and the UN, essentially the whole world, but the US and Russia sponsors outside the parameters of a multinational group.
Winston Churchill once said "never undermine a strategic ally". Obviously, the State Department hasn't figured that out yet.
That is why observant Jews avoid writing a Name of God on web sites like this one or in newsgroup messages: because there is a risk that someone else will print it out and deface it.
___This sound more like an ancient superstition than a commandment.
I won't quarrel with an individual's desire to express his religious beliefs through symbolism, but I doubt that God's Holiness is affected by printing His Name in permanent form.
They are not nearly as involved as we are. They should be involved directly in the mediation, as are we, so that if it fails, they get as much blame as us. Then they will want to make sure it succeeds.
Deut12:3-And you shall tear down their altars, smash their monuments, burn their asherim with fire, cut down the graven images of their gods, and destroy their name from that place.
4-You shall not do so to the Lord, your God.
It's not related to printing His Name in permanent form, rather to it's destruction.
____I don't think God is affected by printed words or their destruction...but only if their
destruction is caused by a sinful motive..such as blasphemy, for
example.
Otherwise, it's a superstition, like "step on a crack, break your mother's back."
Deut12:3-And you shall tear down their altars, smash their monuments, burn their asherim with fire, cut down the graven images of their gods, and destroy their name from that place.
4-You shall not do so to the Lord, your God.
___Everything from the Bible requires interpretation or "discernment." Those words were written when monotheism was rare
and paganism the norm. Such is not the case today.
Are you sure about that?
monotheism was rare and paganism the norm. Such is not the case today.
Are you sure about that?
1
___Yes..when the Bible was written, you had one tiny monotheistic faith in the midst of a pagan world...now we have 2 billion Christians.
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