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Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher, and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement.

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Breaking news:

Medical staff and over 65s first: Report lays out Israel's vaccination plan

Five-stage proposal, which has yet to be confirmed, would reportedly see teachers, prisoners, pregnant women and babies receive shot before general population

Israel is planning on vaccinating the public in five stages, beginning with healthcare workers, according to a television report on Wednesday, as a top health official confirmed the first doses could arrive in December.

According to Channel 12, the government's preliminary vaccination program will see medical staff first get the shot, followed by people aged 65 and up and at-risk groups, workers who regularly come into contact with the public, teachers and prisoners, pregnant women and babies, workers at retirement homes, and then the rest of the population.

Health Ministry Director-General Chezy Levy on Wednesday said most of the vaccine shipments would arrive in the first half of 2021, but said a first batch could come as early as December, seemingly shoring up an unconfirmed television report on Monday.

Levy said the ministry was working on delineating "ethically, legally and medically" which populations should first be served a coronavirus vaccine, with the government's plan set to be publicized next week.

Health Ministry Director-General Chezy

Levy during a press conference in Jerusalem about the coronavirus on

Channel 12 had reported that Israel is expected to receive up to half a million doses of the Pfizer vaccine against the coronavirus as early as December, one month earlier than originally hoped for. According to the unsourced report, the country would receive anywhere between 200,000 and 500,000 doses of the vaccine and will devote them primarily to those working in the medical field, while the general population would not be vaccinated this winter.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel had signed a deal with Pfizer to purchase coronavirus vaccine shots, days after the US pharmaceutical firm said data suggested its vaccine was 90 percent effective at preventing COVID-19.

The 29th of November

Newspaper Headline in the Hebrew Newspapers of the time

Painting by Y. Eisensher of Dancing on 29 November

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted in favor of a resolution, which adopted the plan for the partition of Palestine, recommended by the majority of the UN Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP). 33 states voted in favor of the resolution and 13 against. 10 states abstained. UNSCOP was appointed seven months earlier, after Great Britain, which ruled the country on the basis of a League of Nations Mandate, decided that in light of the growing Jewish resistance and violent opposition to its rule, it was unwilling to continue on the existing basis, and handed the whole issue over to the UN. The UN Committee reached the conclusion that the Mandate for Palestine should be terminated, and most of its members recommended the establishment in the territory of Mandatory Palestine of an Arab state and a Jewish state, while internationalizing Jerusalem.

The partition map proposed by UNSCOP allotted the Jewish state only a small part of Western Palestine. Despite this fact, the Zionist Organization and the institutions of the Jewish community in Eretz Yisrael agreed to accept the plan, since it recognized the right of the Jewish people to a state and not only a "national home" as stated in the 1917 Balfour Declaration and the 1922 Mandate for Palestine.

The adoption of the partition resolution by the General Assembly was received by the Jewish community with great joy and thousands went out to the streets to celebrate, even though it was clear that the Arab states and the Palestinian Arabs would embark on a relentless war against the realization of the plan to establish a Jewish state.

UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION 181

Click for Enlargement - Map of the divisions as decided by the United Nations

The Three Musketeers at the Kotel

US: All Settlement Products to be Labeled 'Made in Israel'

During Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's historic visit to Israel last week, the US State Department announced new guidelines on Thursday, regarding products produced in the Land of Israel, and more specifically, products made in Area C (i.e. settlements) and the Palestinian Authority when exported to the United States. The decision on labeling is part of the US's "reality-based foreign policy approach" under President Trump.

Goods produced in areas under Israel control, including very specifically Area C, as defined by the Oslo Accords, will be required to be labeled as "Made in Israel," "Product of Israel" or "Israel".

Goods produced in Gaza shall me marked as products from "Gaza."

Good produced in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority shall be labeled "West Bank."

The US will no longer accept the combined "West Bank/Gaza" labeling, as the administration recognizes that "Gaza and the West Bank are politically and administratively separate and should be treated accordingly."

The statement concludes:

"We remain committed to an enduring and sustainable peace as outlined in President Trump's Vision for Peace.  We will continue to oppose those countries and international institutions which delegitimize or penalize Israel and Israeli producers in the West Bank through malicious measures that fail to recognize the reality on the ground."

Apollonia National Park and Hetzelia 4 0f 4

The fourth of four videos on one of the most beautiful places in Israel
The Apollonia national park near Hertzalia.


The Portion of Vayeitzai A Promise for Generations Following the theft of the blessing from Esau, Isaac blesses Jacob and forbids him from marrying one of the local women from the tribe of Chet. He commands him to go to Padan Aram, to the home of Betuel, Rebecca's father, and to marry a woman from his family. Jacob leaves Be'er Sheva on his way to Charan. The sun sets midway, Jacob lies down to sleep and he dreams. G-d reveals Himself to Jacob in a dream and promises that "I will be with you and protect you along the way…for I will not leave you…" (Genesis 28;15). G-d's promise is not only a personal pledge to Jacob but is rather a guarantee to all of his descendants throughout the generations. The letter "ayin" in the word "e-ezavcha" (I will leave you) is written in such a way that it can be read in the opposite manner. The numerical value of the letter "ayin" is seventy, alluding to the return of Jacob's desendants to Eretz Yisrael following the seventy years of the Babylonian exile and from the seventy natio0ns to which they were exiled.

Will a Candidate Who Expressed Anti-Israel Views Determine Who Controls the Senate?

By Alan M. Dershowitz

Control of the United States Senate may turn on whether the Democrat Candidate Reverend Raphael Warnock defeats the Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler in the January 5^th Georgia runoff.

As a liberal Democrat I would rather see a Warnock victory that could create a 50-50 tie in the Senate capable of being broken by future Vice President Kamala Harris. But as a strong supporter of Israel, I am deeply concerned about the fact that Reverend Warnock signed a statement in 2019 and gave a sermon in 2018 that demonstrated strong antagonism to the nation state of the Jewish people.

A reader of The Jewish Daily Forward would not know of these anti-Israel views, because The Forward deliberately distorted them in an attempt to garner Jewish support for Warnock. Here is the way The Forward described the content of the letter:

"Warnock recently came under fire from some Atlanta Jews after the Jewish Insider noted that he signed onto a 2019 statement from a group of Christian clergy that visited Israel and the West Bank that linked 'heavily militarization of the West Bank' to the 'military occupation of Namibia by apartheid, South Africa.' The statement specifies that its signatories 'support a two state solution.'"

The Forward then quotes Jewish political observers "as suggesting that Warnock is a strong supporter of Israel."

In order to assess the accuracy of the foregoing description by The Forward, let us look at the text of the letter itself.

The letter accuses Israel of "state sanctioned violence in the form of detention, interrogation, tear gassed, beatings, forced confessions and death." It characterizes the separation barrier that has saved so many lives as "ever present physical walls that wall in Palestinians in a political wall reminiscent of the Berlin wall."

Never once does the letter mention why the separation barrier was necessary. The word terrorism never once appears in the letter. The letter goes on to talk about the Gaza Strip and accuses Israel of "excessive use of force by Israel to subjugate the people in collective punishment of whole population in the debilitating confinement that renders Gaza as one big densely populated prison."

There is not a single mention of the thousands of rockets fired from Gaza that have killed, injured and traumatized Israelis living within the 1967 borders. Not a word is said about the terror tunnels, dug from Gaza to the outskirts of Israel Kibbutzim to murder innocent Israeli men, women and children.

The letter purports to describe the "laws of segregation that allow one thing for the Jewish people and another for the Palestinians."

That is entirely false.

There are different rules for Israelis and non-Israeli residents of the West Bank, but they are not based on religion. Palestinians who live in Israel – whether Muslim or Christian — are full citizens with equal protection under Israeli laws. There are no roads for "Jews only" as is often alleged. Because of the threat of terrorism against Israelis, there are secure roads for Israeli citizens, but Muslim and Christian citizens of Israel have full access to those roads.

The letter applauds the Palestinian Authority for its "conscious decision to forego armed solutions to the conflict and pray that this will be responded to in kind."

No mention is made of the "pay-to-slay" policy of the Palestinian Authority that encourages and rewards terrorism and that has been condemned by every American administration and by Congress.

The letter is critical of Jerusalem being recognized as "Israel's official capital," without mentioning that every American administration has pledged to do that.

The letter condemns "the increasing hardening of the hearts of the Israeli powers," without mentioning that Israel has reportedly offered to end its occupation of the West Bank and establish a Palestinian state but that the Palestinian Authority rejected these offers on numerous occasions.

The letter prays for an end of "weapons sales," which would mean a weakened Israel subject to attack by Iran and its surrogates, as well as by terrorists.

Finally, the letter expresses sympathy for "utilizing economic pressure as a means of bringing recalcitrant and dominant forces to the negotiation table." This fails to recognize that Israel has extended an open offer to the Palestinian Authority leadership to sit down at the negotiation table and that it has been the Palestinians who have refused to do so.

I urge everyone to read the entire letter and listen to the entire sermon because not only are their words reflective of a strong anti-Israel bias and one sided criticism of Israel, but their tone is biased in the extreme.

For those who argue that Warnock merely signed onto a group letter that may not have reflected his own views, please access his sermon in which – in his own words – he accused Israel of "shoot[ing] down unarmed Palestinians sisters and brothers like birds of prey."

This is a mendacious blood libel, pure and simple.

Again you wouldn't know that from reading the false and misleading description of the letter and sermon in The Forward. Nor would you know that Warnock is an admirer of The Reverend Jeremiah Wright and a defender of the anti-American and anti-Semitic sermon that President Obama has condemned.

After being criticized for its misrepresentation of the content of the letter, The Forward doubled down, describing the statement as "nuanced." The Forward failed to point out the letter's deliberate refusal to mention terrorism, rockets or tunnels. It also sought to justify Warnock's blood libel sermon by citing a one-sided "United Nations Investigation." I understand the desire to support a candidate who may turn the senate Democrat. I share that desire. But it doesn't justify distorting and erasing what that candidate has actually said.

So it is important for everyone who is considering voting for or supporting Reverend Warnock to read the letter and listen to the sermon in their entirety. I have done so and I find it difficult to support anyone who has such animosity toward Israel. Nor can I believe that anyone who holds such views can be characterizes as "a strong supporter of Israel."

I am prepared to change my mind about the Reverend Warnock, but only if he changes his mind about Israel. The mere fact that after announcing his candidacy, he renounced support for BDS and mouthed some talking points about Israel's security, is not enough for me. (See his recent op-ed https://jewishdems.org/raphael-warnock-i-stand-with-israel/) Nor is it enough that some of his best friends are Rabbis and Georgia Jews. I want to know what he really believes and, more importantly, how he will vote.

Accordingly, I have invited him to join me on my pod cast, "The Dershow," to explore these issues. I hope he will accept and say things that will allow me to change my mind.

The last thing the Democratic party needs is yet another prominent politician who harbors negative views about America's most reliable ally, Israel.

I hope the Reverend Warnock will reconsider his mistake in signing that outrageous letter and giving that bigoted sermon and will express views that allow liberal Democrats like me, who are also strong supporters of Israel, to support him in his quest to become a United States Senator. I genuinely want to be able to support Reverend Warnock and a Democratic Senate, and I truly hope he can convince me and the voters of Georgia that he has become "a strong supporter of Israel."

Buried deep underground in small English town of Margate, Kent; is a grotto shrouded in complete mystery.

Adorned with 4.6 million shells and 70ft of winding underground passages leading to a rectangular chamber, this shell grotto is undoubtedly a remarkable site to behold.

Story has it that in 1835, a labourer was going about his usual field work, but when he struck the soil with his spade, it sank into the earth. The farmer realized that he was standing on something hollow, but was unable to see anything from the surface.

Word spread around town, and a local school teacher volunteered his young son, Joshua, to be lowered into the hole with a candle. Upon emerging from the mysterious cavern, Joshua described rooms filled with hundreds of thousands of carefully arranged shells.

The Shell Grotto is adorned with symbols mosaiced in millions of shells, symbols that celebrate life as well as reminders of death.

The Shell Grotto hosts a passage, a rotunda and an altar chamber.

The shells in the grotto, include scallops, whelks, mussels, cockles, limpets and oysters, all of which can be found locally. However, the flat wrinkle shells must have been brought in from elsewhere.

With so much intricate detail, on a rather large scale, one question still remains, who built this underground cavern?

Shrouded in mystery, some believe that the grotto once had religious significance - primarily due to the vaulted ceilings and altar spaces.

Nobody knows how old the grotto is, but some theories about its origin date its constructions as far back as 3,000 years ago.

Another theory holds that the grotto was created as an aristocrat's folly sometime in the 1700s. This proposed explanation is validated by the fact that shell grottoes were actually quite popular in Europe in the 1700s, especially among the wealthy. The only catch to this theory, though, is that the grotto's location was on farmland - a land that had never been part of a large estate where follies would have been satisfied.

Others believe that it may have been used as an astrological calendar in the past.

There are those also, who say that the grotto must somehow be connected with the Freemasons or the Knights Templar.

Others believe that the grotto may date as far back as 12,000 years ago, maintaining that it is connected to a mysterious Mexican culture.

Its mystery has left people completely stumped, so much so that in the 1930s, some had held séances, in the hopes of contacting the spirits of whoever built the grotto.

Right now, it seems, we will not discover the truth behind this mysterious shell grotto. The age of the shells could be determined through carbon dating according to the Shell Grotto's web site, but it's a pricey process and other conservation issues are currently being prioritized.

One thing is clear though, the arrangement of the shells must have taken countless hours of painstaking work.

Unfortunately, many of the shells in the grotto have faded over time, losing their luster through water damage. In its early days, it would have been full of dazzling color. This recreation shows what they might have looked like at the time, and with over 4.6 million shells, it surely must have looked astonishing!

Since its discovery, the Margate Shell Grotto has been opened to the public, first by Joshua's father, the school teacher. In 1835 he quickly bought up the land and began renovating the grotto to make it suitable for visitors. Two years later, in 1837, the grotto had been opened to the public for the first time and still enjoys visitors today.

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Charlton Heston
actor and political activist.

As a Hollywood star, he appeared in almost 100 films over the course of 60 years. He played Mosesin the epic film The Ten Commandments(1956), for which he received his first nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. He also starred in The Greatest Show on Earth(1952), Secret of the Incas(1954), Touch of Evil(1958) with Orson Welles, The Big Country(1958), Ben-Hur(1959), for which he won the Oscarfor Best Actor, El Cid(1961), The Greatest Story Ever Told(1965), and Planet of the Apes(1968).

In
the 1950s and 1960s, he was one of a handful of Hollywood actors to
speak openly against racism, and was an active supporter of the Civil Rights Movement.

Heston left the Democratic Partyin 1971 to become a Republican, founding a conservative political action committeeand supporting Ronald Reagan.

Heston was a five-term president of the National Rifle Association(NRA), from 1998 to 2003.

After announcing he had Alzheimer's diseasein 2002, he retired from both acting and the NRA presidency.

CHARLETON HESTON QUOTES

The trouble with movies as a business is that it's an art, and the trouble with movies as art is that it's a business.
Charlton Heston

I've played three presidents, three saints and two geniuses - and that's probably enough for any man.
Charlton Heston

Acting,
taken to the highest level, requires a fierce, total focus of your time
and energy at the cost of just about everything else.
Charlton Heston

"I always work on the theory that the audience will believe you best if you believe yourself."
-- Charlton Heston