I’ve spent the morning talking to friends, calming nerves, reassuring. Civilians here are visibly nervous. We check up on one another. I’ve found safe housing for people living in the Tel Aviv area. We know there is a great army encamped about us. Our loved ones are assembled at the fronts to repel them. We know that through misinformation and propaganda, the world turns against us. We hold life….all life precious. We are created in the image of G-d with a certain dignity. The loss of any innocent life anywhere pains us greatly.
The people of Israel are completely united. We have Jews, Christians, Bedouins and Druze fighting side by side to defend our Land. We have faith in G-d. There are several interesting things I’d like to bring to mind: the Gaza massacre in Israel occurred on 7 October. I feel this was no coincidence and hear me out. It was a Shabbat, a holy Shabbat, also Simchat Torah. On this holy day, the end of our fall feasts, we celebrate the Torah, the gift of the Five Books of Moses given to us at Sinai. We finish the last chapter of Moses and roll the scrolls back to the very beginning and start reading Genesis 1:1. It is supposed to be a time of great rejoicing. For the Catholics, October 7 was the Feast of Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. It, too, is a holy day for Catholics. For those who know history, October 7, 1571, was another auspicious day. It. Was the Battle of Lepanto. The radical Islamic forces had waged jihad, holy war, on the West. They had infiltrated into Spain, Portugal, France and other points in Europe. Lepanto was a decisive battle in which the forces of all Christendom overcame the Islamic jihadists. It marked the day of their defeat. They have never forgotten this.
In Judaism, this Shabbat, we are reading Noah. As I stated in a post a few days earlier, the story begins : “in those days violence and lawlessness covered the earth.” In Hebrew, in Aramaic and early Arabic, this word is Hamas. (Despite what they say now, that it is just an acronym for another group of words). It stands. Hamas means violence, lawlessness. They are a people’s not ruled by a law, morals or ethics. But the story is Noah. He is righteous in the eyes of the L-rd. He is obedient to do what G-d commands. He makes his Ark of wood. He covers it inside and outside with a red, sticky pitch which will keep it afloat. Tradition says it took 120 years (no Home Depot nearby, folks). During that time, he tried to warn people as they mocked him. Noah equipped his Ark with food to last for a long time, with animals, with his family. And when the time came, the Ark closed and G-d did what he had to do to wash away the Hamas. Noah, Mrs. Noah and family came out to a rainbow.
During the Passover, the Children of Israel, under the bonds of slavery in Egypt, sacrificed a lamb. One lamb for a family. They painted the blood on their doorposts on their lintels. It must have been one hell of a night as the angel of death passed over. But in the morning, they emerged to freedom. We stay in the Ark. We stay under the blood on our doorposts. Every Shabbat we commemorate this at the Kiddush, e blessing over the wine.
We are nervous. Our bodies are doing weird things. But we are strong people this morning. The army, the whole army, is singing the Psalms and the praises of HaShem. We are prepared as much as we can possibly be. All we civilians have to do is close the little doors of our arks and wait.
We pray for an easy time. We pray for as few casualties as possible. We pray there is no escalation. We pray for no interference from foreign governments and militaries. We’ve got this one. G-d is in total control. He is in charge. We pray He goes before us. We are strong and courageous people. It’s been a long time, thousands of years, since we have truly been in a position to defend ourselves, but now we can. The IDF is the strongest army in the world. And the Spirit runs strong this morning as I get feed from different bases.
I am getting ready for Shabbat. Making challah. Preparing food. Showering. Putting on my good clothes to greet the Sabbath Bride. May it be peaceful, angels of peace, surround us. May it be quiet. May it be holy. I leave you with three songs:
you can look this one up on YouTube. “Kol ha’olam kulo. Gesher tsar meod:”
The whole world is a very narrow bridge. The main thing is not to be afraid, not to be afraid at all. -Rebbe Nachman
Roll into dark. Roll into night. Night becomes day. Day turns to night. And so it goes. Day follows night and joy comes int the morning. One day nations shall turn their swords into plows and there will be no more war.
And of course, my mind completely blanks on the third. But we are praying Psalm 83. Psalm 91, Psalm 121. We’ve got this one…. Todah l’haShem.
Ah yes! Of course. The beautiful prayer/song we sing every night:
Help us, Adonai, to lie down in Peace, and awaken us again, our Sovereign, to life. Spread over us your shelter of peace; guide us with your good counsel. Save us because of your mercy. Shield us from our enemies, pestilence, starvation, sword and sorrow. Remove all the evil forces that surround us. Shelter us in the shadow of Your wings, O G-d, who watches over us and delivers us, our gracious and merciful Ruler. Guard our coming and our going. Grant us life and peace, now and always. Spread over us the shelter of Your peace. Praised are You, Adonai, who spreads His shelter of peace over us, over all His people, Israel, and over Jerusalem.
Craig Taubman does my favorite version of this song. It can be found on all streaming platforms. Craig Taubman “Hashkivenu”. A beautiful, peaceful lullaby.
חזק ואןמץ!!! עם ישראל חי!!!! (Kha ZAHK’ v’ oh METZ) Strength and courage!
(Ahm Yisrael khai!) The people of Israel live.
More on Sunday…..a new and brighter morning
Israel Dreams 
Once again a most beautiful description of what’s happening. I am in tears of joy and hope. Seeing Israel united as never before is an amazing blessing for you, us and the world.
Bless you, your family, and all the brave and selfless defenders of Israel. We are here doing what we can to help – attending rallies, prayer meetings, collecting needed clothing, tools, praying, studying Torah. May this war be quick and completely successful.
We stand strongly with you at this time and always!
Hazak, hazak, V’nithazek!!!!
Dalya
LikeLiked by 1 person
Amen and amen! Strength and hope amidst the raging foe~~trusting in Shomer Yisrael! Baruch HaShem for the unity! I can feel the shift amongst K’lal Yisrael. Shabbat Shalom….chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Shabbot Shalom with a heavy heart!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You and all of Israel are in our prayers. We love you! There was a two night, all night adoration vigil at TAC this past week for Israel. Also, please keep Armenia in your prayers. They are surrounded by Muslim enemies who want to annihilate them, as do the enemies of Israel.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I get better updates than what I hear in the news networks. Stay safe. We pray for you and J and M. Alex
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stop and consider: According to the Apostle Paul, Goyim not under the law. The Torah commandment of Moshiach, a key part of Jewish law. What distinguishes between Roman statute laws from Jewish common laws? No Xtian priest or pastor has ever asked or considered this fundamental question. Yet Xtianity assumes that its Gospels narishkeit holds a lock and key monopoly over the Torah commandment law known as Moshiach! LOL What a total joke. Can’t have your cake and eat it too. Can’t not be under the Law and at the say time declare absolute expertise over a key Torah commandment. Just that simple.
The Talmud by stark contrast learns the Torah commandment of Moshiach to the Baali T’shuva. What Torah commandment defines a Baali T’shuva? The commandment to shoo the mother bird from off sitting upon her eggs. How? Torah law delves primarily into tohor middot. Notice the noise new testament never once considers this key subject. For a Cohen to do service in the Mishkan the Cohen had to stand “tohor”. This word, a completely alien term to Goyim. Why? Goyim not under the Law.
To shoo the mother bird away from her eggs, a tohor middah. Another strange alien term to Goyim, for the exact same reason: Goyim not under the Law. Middah means “measure”. As in the judicial concept of justice: Measure for Measure. Judicial justice not important to Par’o of ancient Egypt and equally not important to any European courtrooms, who never held the Church accountable for its many war-crime guilts against Humanity.
The commandment of Moshiach qualifies as a tohor time-oriented commandment. Another alien term to Goyim for the same identical reason: Goyim not under the Law. All tohor time- oriented commandments stand upon the foundation of “fear of Heaven”. Meaning a person has to intend to dedicate holy to HaShem a tohor midda. In the case of shooing the mother bird from off her clutch of eggs, the midda dedicated holy to HaShem, the tohor midda of not inflicting unnecessary pain upon the mother bird.
What example of a rabbinic mitva/commandment perhaps best exemplifies this midda? Kosher slaughtering of animals. By the law learned in the Talmud kosher slaughter of animals learns from the slaughter of sacrificial animals dedicated unto the altar. What fundamentally separates the animal flesh burnt upon the altar in Jerusalem from butchering meats for consumer consumption? The first thing the Cohen throws upon the altar “the living blood” of the sacrificial offering. This means the Cohen had to cut the carotid artery which runs parallel to the thorax wind-pipe.
The common butcher does not require this ‘living blood’, which squirts out of the wound due to blood-pressure produced by that the beating heart of the sacrificial animal. Hence the Talmud on laws for butchering meat does not directly mention cutting the carotid artery, b/c the butcher does not require this ‘living blood’. Nonetheless, a sage in the Talmud, rabbi Yechuda, teaches that a person with “fear of Heaven”, ((the foundation of all tohor time-oriented commandments)), should cut the carotid artery. Why? Because not cutting this artery, the animal can live for some time there-after its throat gets cut. As a slaughter house rav, I personally have witnessed cattle getting up and walking around due to the failure to cut the carotid artery.
Not causing unnecessary animal suffering, a tohor midda learned from shooing the mother bird away from her clutch of eggs, this tohor midda defines the reason why Rabbi Yechuda of the Gemara warns butchers to, despite not requiring, needing, nor wanting the living blood of the slaughtered animal, nonetheless, to cut the carotid artery of the animal so that it dies immediately, like 2 seconds after, its throat being cut.
The concept “tohor time-oriented commandment” learns from Moshe going to Egypt. Recall that Moshe opposed going to Egypt! Moshe went to Egypt as a “baali t’shuva”. What defines a “baali t’shuva”? That a person arouses to address a current national crisis afflicting the Jewish people at that moment in time. The Torah anointed Pinchas “Moshiach of War” in the war fought against Moav and Midian & Bil’am the prophet.
The failure of the church abomination to learn the Torah commandment of Moshiach from Torah sources, proves that that false religion as an utter counterfeit of alien Roman origins. The Gospels, written after all in Greek – not Hebrew or Aramaic, the common languages spoken by the Jewish people at that time! The Romans, based their pantheon of Gods upon the Greek Gods of mount Olympus; Romans commonly spoke the language of the Greeks, something like Czar Peter the Great spoke French, as did all his court. The God-father of JeZeus and Hercules, an identical mythical story.
Hence, the tohor time-oriented commandment of Moshiach stands on the foundation of “fear of Heaven”; and “fear of Heaven” most essentially requires the dedication holy to HaShem of some specific tohor midda. Like as found in the tohor time-oriented commandment of shooing the mother bird away from sitting upon her eggs. The Torah commandment of anointing a baali-t’shuva Moshiach, the tohor time-oriented commandment of anointing a person dedicated to save Israel during a time of national crisis.
Hence Rabbi Akiva considered Bar Kochba as moshiach. Alas the Bar Kochba revolt collapsed. But this does not change the facts on the ground. Jews confronted the Romans in a national crisis and anointed a General to fight the Romans. Just as Moshe anointed Phinehas to fight the war against Moav and Midian/Bil’am. Phinehas anionted eish Moshiach milchamah, the messiah anointed for war.
LikeLike