Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor | | | | 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 Love Yehuda Lave | | We have the second Moshiach opportunity (like after the 1967 war) to live in the Land that G-d promised us and "The Deal of the Century" I wasn't in Israel in 1967 to see the miracles that G-d gave us. Unfortunately, we were not ready for the miracles and we gave the temple mount to the Jordanians and we did not build the temple. Not enough Jews came home, we were guilty about our victory and we went from the underdogs to the abusers of the supposed Palestinians. We are accused by the world of abusing the Palestinians and becoming the "New Nazis" and not giving them their own state like we have. I grew up with Golda Meir teaching me that if the Arabs would lay down their guns, we would have peace, if we lay down our guns we would be dead! Now thanks to the brilliance of Bibi, Ambassador Friedman and President Trump, there has been a new shifting of the game blame. People were afraid that the "Deal of the Century" would force Israel to give away too much. Well the shoe has dropped and we haven't given away anything. We can now take the high ground. The supposed Palestinians can have a state if they lay down their arms. Of course this can never happen. They are too stupid to give up wanting to kill us for their own future. Just as overnight there is no green line, we are not opposing anyone. Give up your arms and recognize us and you will have your state. So my right wing friends, don't worry. It will not happen, and therefore we will keep the status quo, but we will have sovereignty in our country, and of course the Arabs won't agree, because all they want is to murder us. So don't be stupid my right wing friends. This is the deal of the Moshiach, we have made it. Bibi and Trump are not the Moshiach, but they have given us the ability to take the high road and let the BDS go whistle Dixi. We are not abusing anyone, we have the ability to live in our own land. Please my friends don't let the fact that everything is not perfect in the deal stop you from coming aboard. Bibi fought for eight years against Obama from dismantling our precious and hard won state. We owe him a debt of Gratitude that we made it to our opportunity that we have now. Stand behind him in Gratitude. Vote for him so we can get this deal done. I was fooled into voting in the last election for Otzma that can do nothing and warn of a Palestinian state. I am fully aware of the danger. But this deal shows the Palestinians for the terrorists they are and now we are on the high moral ground. I love it, stop talking with out thinking and help me get aboard this wagon which will take us to Moshiach. Love Yehuda Lave | | Trump's game-changing speech of the century- we have the second opportunity to live in the Land that G-d promised us Those of us who trusted Trump not to pull such a stunt – since nothing in his behavior indicated he would – were not worried about the contents or upshot of the deal. By RUTHIE BLUM JANUARY 30, 2020 US President Donald Trump's speech on Tuesday in which he outlined the "Deal of the Century" that has been three years in the making, was nothing short of Earth-shattering. The fact that Israelis across the political spectrum have been arguing over the proposal – called "Peace to Prosperity" – is thus as understandable as it was inevitable. Unfortunately, however, much of the debate has been focused on the details and viability of the plan, rather than on the significance of how Trump presented it, and why his words were revolutionary. In an effort to downplay the momentousness of the event, his left-wing detractors ridiculed his mispronunciation of "al-Aqsa Mosque" and "United Arab Emirates" with memes and tweets. These are the same haters who have been accusing Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of conspiring to bolster each other's chances of electoral success, the former in November and the latter on March 2. These are the Israelis with the moral and occasional financial support of their counterparts abroad who blame the Jewish state for the plight and antisemitism of the Palestinians. Luckily, such people are in the minority, albeit a vocal one. The majority of the populace came to realize long ago that the "land for peace" formula is nothing but a recipe for an escalation of the ongoing war against the very Jews begging to resolve the conflict through self-flagellation and appeasement. This grasp of reality is but one reason that Netanyahu recently surpassed founding father David Ben-Gurion as the longest-serving prime minister in Israel's history. Another is the way in which he has been able to keep the country moving forward at a meteoric pace, while staving off regional and global enemies – those literally wielding axes and launching missiles – and their apologists at the UN, in the halls of academia and in the bowels of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. That Netanyahu managed to navigate the ship through shark-infested waters even when Barack Obama occupied the Oval Office is particularly noteworthy. Obama's mission from the outset was to undermine American power and particularism. This included signaling to radical Muslims, especially the regime in Tehran, that his version of being the "new sheriff in town" entailed handing his badge, holster and wallet over to the bandits. That worked out really well for the ayatollahs and their proxies. Not so wonderfully for Israel, though, which Obama held responsible for all the ills of the Middle East. Indeed, Obama bought and perpetuated the joint Arab and Western leftist lie that the absence of peace between Israel and the Palestinians was the root cause of turmoil throughout the region .ENTER TRUMP.In a complete about-face from Obama – who made good on his campaign promise to woo the Islamic world and delivered a pandering address at Cairo University to a Muslim Brotherhood-heavy audience – "The Donald" went to Israel. This turned out to be more than symbolic, as Trump proceeded to undertake a series of unprecedented moves that served what he saw, rightly, as mutually beneficial to America and Israel, and healthy for the world at large. He moved the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem; withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal; recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights; halted funding to UNRWA; demanded that the Palestinian Authority cease its pay-for-slay policy; declared that Israeli settlements were not illegal; and never once called Israel to task for defending itself through strikes on targets in Gaza and Syria. To describe this as a breath of fresh air following eight years of the polluted atmosphere created by the Obama administration would be a gross understatement. So incredulous were Israelis at the steady flow of gifts from Washington that some began to fear a heavy price was going to be exacted in the future. The suspicion was that the oft-touted and delayed "Deal of the Century" would reveal the real cost of the friendship. You know, along the lines of a demand for massive Israeli territorial withdrawals and other untenable compromises, all in the name of "peace" with the Palestinians. Those of us who trusted Trump not to pull such a stunt – since nothing in his behavior indicated he would – were not worried about the contents or upshot of the deal. We knew that no overture of any kind would be accepted by the Palestinian leadership. Furthermore, PA President Mahmoud Abbas already had declared the plan to be a non-starter before he even knew what it contained, and he shunned meetings with US administration officials. For the first time in his career, Abbas's tantrums didn't work. Team Trump responded to his snub by shrugging and treating him like the tiny fish in the miniature pond he actually is. The affront to his ego, which gets a far greater boost from the international community than it does among his own disgruntled people, has been so enormous that he doesn't know what to do with his rage, other than call for "days of rage," which is his default position when faced with any situation relating to Israel. But even Abbas wasn't prepared for what Trump had to say this week in the East Room of the White House, with a beaming Netanyahu at his side and a roomful of adoring Republican and Jewish dignitaries punctuating each of his sentences with a standing ovation. To be fair to Abbas, he wasn't the only one who couldn't believe his ears. In fact, the jaw-dropping that ensued crossed all ethnic, religious and geographical lines. The explanation for this is simple. In one fell swoop, Trump reversed the rhetoric associated with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In doing so, he not only exposed the falsehood of the accepted narrative; he made a moral case for the Jewish state based on history and heritage, not Holocaust victimhood, as Israel's sole and long-gone legitimacy. Highlighting his amazement at "what this small country ha[s] achieved in the face of overwhelming odds and never-ending threats," Trump said, "The State of Israel comprises only a minuscule amount of land in the Middle East, and yet it has become a thriving center of democracy and of ancient culture and commerce. Israel is a light unto the world; the hearts and history of our people are woven together. The Land of Israel is an ancient home, a sacred place of worship and a solemn promise to the Jewish people that we will never again repeat history's darkest hour." CALLING JERUSALEM a "safe, open, democratic city that welcomes people of all faiths and all places," he announced that the time had come for the Muslim world "to fix the mistake it made in 1948 when it chose to attack instead of recognize the new State of Israel... since then, the amount of needless bloodshed and... so many squandered opportunities in the name of senseless causes is beyond measure." He then stressed that Jerusalem would remain Israel's undivided capital and that the US would recognize Israeli sovereignty over the areas specified in the plan (i.e. the Jordan Valley, the northern Dead Sea and settlements in Judea and Samaria). In a message to the Palestinians, he said, "We will not allow a return to the days of bloodshed, bus bombings, nightclub attacks and relentless terror.... Peace requires compromise, but we will never ask Israel to compromise its security." He also gave a partial rundown of the conditions that the Palestinians would have to fulfill before meeting the criteria for statehood: "adopting basic laws protecting human rights, protecting against financial and political corruption; stopping the malign activities of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other enemies of peace; ending the incitement of hatred against Israel; and permanently halting the financial compensation to terrorists." If they accomplish all of the above, according to the deal, they will be granted $50 billion in investments with which to build a flourishing economy in their demilitarized state, four full years from now. In other words, when apples grow on cherry trees; or when the Palestinians relinquish their goal of annihilating Israel, whichever comes first. The mere mention of Palestinian statehood has elicited as strong an aversion to Trump's deal on the Right as it has on the part of leftists claiming that Abbas could never accept its pro-Israel slant. In this case, the Left is right: Abbas does not and never will accept it. But the Right is wrong precisely for the same reason. In the meantime, while the Palestinians remain intransigent in their self-imposed misery, Israel can go about the business of extending sovereignty over the settlements. In the event that Palestinian society ever does undergo the kind of fundamental change necessary for peaceful coexistence with Israel, it is a development that should be embraced. A small, non-belligerent autonomous entity would not pose a threat to Israel's Jewishness or historical rights. As Caroline Glick correctly concluded, Trump "didn't offer us a perfect plan, but he offered us a plan that we can live with." | | PMW exclusive: PA gave 517.4 million shekels to terrorists as salaries in 2019 Maurice Hirsch, Adv. | Jan 30, 2020 - As US President Trump demanded "halting the financial compensation to terrorists" PA documents just publicized show the PA admits to paying 517.4 million shekels in salaries to terrorists in 2019, a rise of 15 million shekels compared to 2018.
- Israeli government stipulated that the PA spent 150 million shekels on the payments to wounded terrorists and the families of dead terrorist "Martyrs" in 2018
- PMW has calculated that this figure has grown by at least 1.6 million shekels, in 2019
- Accordingly, in 2020, the Israeli Government must deduct no less than 669 million shekels from the taxes Israel collects and transfer to the PA
According to recently published Palestinian Authority financial reports, Palestinian Media Watch can expose that the PA has admitted to spending no less than 517.4 million shekels ($149.7 million/€136 million) paying salaries to terrorist prisoners and released prisoners in 2019. The PA expenditure on allowances to wounded terrorists and the families of dead terrorists was at least 151.6 million shekels in 2019. Accordingly, the total minimum PA expenditure in 2019 on its payments to terrorists and families of dead terrorists - its Pay-for-Slay policy- was 669 million shekels ($193.6 million/€175.8 million). In accordance with the Israeli law, Defense Minister Naftali Bennet should present the National Security Cabinet with a report showing that the PA expenditure on its Pay-for-Slay policy was no less than 669 million shekels. Israeli law demands that this figure be deducted from the monthly tax transfers Israel makes to the PA.
Background
Since created in 1994, the PA has implemented a "Pay-for-Slay" policy according to which it pays millions of shekels/dollars/euro every year in monthly salaries to reward Palestinian terrorist prisoners and released prisoners and monthly allowances to reward wounded terrorists and the families of dead terrorists (so-called "Martyrs"). The PA codified the policy in the Law of Prisoners and Released Prisoners in 2004. Since then, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, has twice approved substantial hikes in the monthly salaries paid by the PA to the terrorists (2006, 2010). According to sworn testimony given by a senior official on behalf of the PA, the PA payments to the wounded terrorists and families of dead terrorists are not codified in PA law, but rather only stipulated in undisclosed internal documents. While the PA policy has been widely condemned, with four countries (Canada, the US, Australia, and Holland) cutting off all direct aid to the PA until the policy is abolished, and while the PA continues to request (and receive) considerable amounts of foreign aid, the PA itself carries on squandering hundreds of millions of shekels/dollars/euro on terrorist salaries every year, incentivizing and rewarding Palestinian terrorists. In 2018, Israel passed a law to combat the PA policy. According to the law, at the end of each year, the Israeli Minister of Defense must submit a report to the National Security Cabinet detailing the PA expenditure on terrorist salaries and allowances in the passing year. Once the Cabinet approves the report, the PA expenditure in the passing year is deducted in twelve equal parts from the taxes that Israel collects and transfers to the PA in the coming year. The new Israeli law was first implemented in February 2019, after PMW exposed that the PA had admitted to spending no less than 502 million shekels to pay the monthly salaries to the terrorist prisoners and released prisoners in 2018. In response to the Israeli decision, Abbas positively decided to plunge the PA into a self-inflicted financial crisis by refusing to accept all the tax revenues from Israel, if Israel deducted any sum. Since the tax revenues account for almost half of the PA budget, rejecting their receipt had a substantial impact on the PA economy. To overcome the crisis, the PA decided to temporarily cut salaries to the law abiding PA employees by 50% and to suspend referrals of Palestinians for medical treatment in Israeli hospitals. The PA also attempted to hide its financial reports, until PMW highlighted these actions. However, at the same time, the PA doubled down on its commitment to pay the terrorist prisoners, continuing to pay them 100% of their salaries. After 7 months, the PA finally capitulated and agreed to receive the taxes that remained after the deduction. Following an additional PMW report on the subject of the PA payments to the wounded and the families of the dead terrorists, in late December 2019 the Israeli National Security Cabinet decided to deduct an additional sum of 150 million shekels. Since the number of wounded Palestinian terrorists and the number of Palestinian terrorists killed grew in 2019, it is reasonable to assume that the PA expenditure for these terrorists grew. According to statistics published by the PA and Israeli NGO B'tselem, no fewer than 110 Palestinian terrorists were killed in 2019. Taking into account the different PA payments, the additional expense incurred by the PA was no less than 1.6 million shekels. During the presentation of his new Middle East peace plan, - the deal of the century - US President Donald Trump stressed the need for the PA to abolish its policy of rewarding terrorists and murderers: "To ensure a successful Palestinian state, we are asking the Palestinians to meet the challenges of peaceful co-existence. This includes adopting basic laws enshrining human rights; protecting against financial and political corruption; stopping the malign activities of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other enemies of peace; ending the incitement of hatred against Israel — so important; and permanently halting the financial compensation to terrorists." [www.whitehouse.gov, Jan. 28, 2020] Whether the PA will suddenly listen to US President Trump – for whom the PA has only shown contempt - only time will tell, but until then, Israel – if it wants to abide by its own laws – should deduct no less than 669 million shekels ($193.6 million/€175.8 million) from its tax transfers to the PA in 2020. In the meantime, while most of the world agrees that the PA practice of paying financial rewards to terrorists is despicable, the PA continues to waste ever-growing amounts of fungible donor aid to fund this policy. To help put an end to the PA's "Pay-for-Slay" policy, the EU and more countries should make their aid conditional on the permanent abolishment of the policy. This research was made possible by the support of readers like you. Donate to PMW | | "The Deal of the Century" – a Middle East perspective Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, "Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative" January 30, 2020, https://bit.ly/2u5jo7I
US policy:
*The Deal of the Century (DoC) demonstrates the US independence of diplomatic action rather than subordinating its interests to the whims of the UN, Europe and the 3rd World.
*The DoC proves that the US is not trapped in the fallacy of moral equivalence and distorting neutrality, which misrepresent reality, undermining US interests.
*The DoC may reveal that the US has realized that the Palestinian issue is not a core cause of Middle East turbulence, is not a crown jewel of Arab regimes, nor the crux of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
*The DoC confirms that the US recognizes Israel as a unique ally, a battle-tested laboratory for the US armed forces and defense industries, and a force multiplier in the face of the threats posed by Islamic Sunni terrorism and Iran's Ayatollahs' ballistic, nuclear and terrorist capabilities.
*All prior US peace plans crashed against the rocks of the Middle East. Is the DoC consistent with the ruthlessly uncontrollable and unpredictable Middle East?
Middle East reality:
*In pursuing the DoC, one should be aware that Western values – including democracy, negotiation, adherence to agreements and peaceful coexistence - do not apply to the Arab/Muslim Middle East, which is characterized by the following 14-century-old intra-Muslim features: no intra-Muslim peaceful coexistence, unpredictability, instability, religious and ethnic fragmentation, violent intolerance, terrorism and subversion, Islam-driven goals and values (including the unacceptance of an "infidel" entity in the "abode of Islam").
*Middle East regimes are tenuous as are their policies and accords.
*Accords with the "infidel" are non-binding ceasefires (sulh, hudna) until the opportunity arises to overcome the "infidel." "Believers" are advised to dissimulate (Taqiyya) in order to mislead and overcome "infidels."
*In the Middle East – where on words one does not pay custom – realistic policies and accords should be based on the bad/worst case scenario, not on a Western-driven good/best case scenario.
*Most of the Middle East is not driven by a desire to improve standard of living, but by religious/ideological visions.
*Concession, appeasement and gestures to rogue elements have added fuel – not water – to the fire of aggression and terrorism.
*Ensuring national security in the tectonic Middle East, requires extra precaution and tangible security, which would withstand future violation of agreements and volcanic eruptions.
Palestinian state (minus):
*The assumption that a Palestinian state could be effectively demilitarized and de-terrorized should be assessed against the track record of the Palestinians. Thus, the 1993 Oslo Accord and the 2005 Gaza Disengagement were supposed to demilitarize and de-terrorize the Palestinians in return for dramatically enhanced political and economic benefits. Instead, both events intensified terrorism in a dramatic manner.
*A direct correlation exists between the degree of Palestinian sovereignty and the level of Palestinian terrorism. For example, in 1968-70, Jordan provided the Palestinians with an unprecedented platform of operation. Consequently, they triggered a civil war, attempting to topple the pro-US Hashemite regime. During the 1970s, they initiated a series of civil wars in Lebanon. In August 1990, the Palestinians collaborated with Saddam Hussein's invasion of their host county (Kuwait), which triggered the 1991 and 2003 Gulf Wars.
*The Middle East erratic reality, on the one hand, and the assumption that a Palestinian entity could be demilitarized and de-terrorized, on the other hand, constitute a classic oxymoron.
*The Palestinians have been agitated by the existence – not the size – of the Jewish State, as documented by the Palestinian education curriculum and the 1959 and 1964 covenants of the Fatah and PLO, which supersede the Palestinian Authority. They call for the "liberation" of the pre-1967 area of Israel.
*Arabs shower the Palestinians with generous talk, but no effective walk, due to their terrorist track record in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Kuwait.
*In October 1994 Jordan's military commanders advised their Israeli counterparts: "That which the Palestinians sign in the morning they tend to violate by the evening." They added that "A Palestinian state west of the Jordan River would doom the pro-US Hashemite regime east of the River."
*Former Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak (1981-2011): "Jordan's King Hussein does not want a Palestinian state; Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are not concerned about the Palestinians…."
Former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (1970-1981): "Do I want a Palestinian state? Why should I want another Soviet base and another member of the Rejectionist Front?"
("No More War", Israel's first Ambassador to Cairo, Elihu Ben Elissar, 1995, pp. 196, 207, 209).
Israeli policy:
*In 1948/49, Israel's first Prime Minister, Ben Gurion, unilaterally applied sovereignty to West Jerusalem and large parts of the Negev and the Galilee, in spite of US and global opposition. Ben Gurion's defiance established the foundation for the most capable, reliable and systematic strategic ally of the US.
*In the aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War, Israel's Prime Minister Eshkol united the city of Jerusalem, notwithstanding rough US and global opposition.
*In December 1981, Israel's Prime Minister Menachem Begin asserted the Israeli law in the Golan Heights despite brutal pressure by the US, including the suspension of a major strategic pact. Begin's decisive action bolstered the national security of the pro-US Hashemite regime of Jordan, which was lethally threatened by the pro-USSR Syria.
*In June 1981, Israel destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor, notwithstanding brutal US opposition. Begin's unilateral action spared the US a nuclear confrontation in January 1991.
*Israel must maintain independent national security action. A unilateral application of Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley, and additional parts of the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria, would reinforce Israel's posture of deterrence. It would, therefore, enhance Israel's position as a major force-multiplier for the US and the most reliable "life insurance agent" of all pro-US Arab regimes, who face the lethal threats of Iran's Ayatollahs, the Muslim Brotherhood and ISIS. Such a step does not have to be part of a package, which includes a Palestinian state.
| | MLK Quotes 1. "We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope." 2. "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." 3. "Forgiveness is not an occasional act. It is a permanent attitude."
On Aug. 28, 1963, in front of a crowd of 250,000, King departed from his prepared words to share a dream that would mesmerize the nation. 4. "I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear." 5. "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." 6. "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'" 7. "Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness." 8. "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." 9. "We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now." 10. "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." 11. "Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle." 12. "Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend." 13. "There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right." 14. "Let no man pull you so low as to hate him." March on Washington: Newspaper Front Pages Circa 1963 15. "If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward." 16. "Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education." 17. "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope." 18. "The time is always right to do what is right." 19. "Be a bush if you can't be a tree. If you can't be a highway, just be a trail. If you can't be a sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are." 20. "We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now because I've been to the mountaintop… I've looked over and I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land." 21. "For when people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory." 22. "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." 23. "True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice." 24. "There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth." 25. "Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will." 26. "A lie cannot live." 27. "There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love." 28. "Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love." 29. "There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life's July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November." 30. "We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies." 31. "Nonviolence is absolute commitment to the way of love. Love is not emotional bash; it is not empty sentimentalism. It is the active outpouring of one's whole being into the being of another." 32. "We are not makers of history. We are made by history." 33. "Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think." 34. "We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear." 35. "Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred." 36. "Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love." 37. "Hate is just as injurious to the hater as it is to the hated. Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Many of our inner conflicts are rooted in hate. This is why psychiatrists say, "Love or perish." Hate is too great a burden to bear." 38. "Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love." 39. "In some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty." 40. "We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will. And we shall continue to love you." 41. "If one loves an individual merely on account of his friendliness, he loves him for the sake of the benefits to be gained from the friendship, rather than for the friend's own sake. Consequently, the best way to assure oneself that love is disinterested is to have love for the enemy-neighbor from whom you can expect no good in return, but only hostility and persecution." 42. "That's love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There's something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies." 43. "You know, a lot of people don't love themselves. And they go through life with deep and haunting emotional conflicts. So the length of life means that you must love yourself. And you know what loving yourself also means? It means that you've got to accept yourself." 44. "All we say to America is, 'Be true to what you said on paper.' If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn't committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of the press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right." 45. "You can kill the dreamer, but you can't kill the dream." 46. "I want to be the white man's brother, not his brother in law." 47. "Even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream." 48. "A right delayed is a right denied." 49. "Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." 50. "The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict." 51. "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." 52. "The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important." 53. "A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus." 54. "The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice." 55. "I am not interested in power for power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good." | | President Donald Trump's gestures and comments during the announcement said it all: This is a pro-Israel plan. The peace plan is the biggest diplomatic gift the US ever gave Israel (Editorial) The "Deal of the Century" is the biggest diplomatic gift an American administration has ever given to the Jewish state since its founding. Even without reading its contents, one could see during the unveiling at the White House on Tuesday that this plan was orchestrated in tight cooperation with Israel. President Donald Trump's gestures and comments during the announcement said it all: This is a pro-Israel plan And Israelis received the gift with open hands. The Right appreciated the fact that Israel does not have to uproot the settlements. The Left was satisfied that once again peace is on the nation's agenda, and both sides were satisfied by the response of the Arab world, which by large, called on the Palestinians to consider the plan as a basis for negotiations. However, after the lights were shut in the East Room, doubts started to flow. Alongside questions about the definition of the Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem and the tunnel connecting the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, some serious questions also came upon the borders section. According to the plan, Israel will compensate the Palestinians for every inch in order to keep the West Bank settlements. "Land swaps provided by the State of Israel could include both populated and unpopulated areas," the plan reads, a reference to Arab towns and cities located in the northern and southern "triangles" and Wadi Ara – three areas stretching from Rosh Ha'ayin to the Lower Galilee. The Triangle communities consist of Kafr Kara, Arara, Baka al-Gharbiya, Umm el-Fahm, Kalansuwa, Taybeh, Kafr Kassem, Tira, Kafr Bara, and Jaljulya, according to the document. "These communities, which largely self-identify as Palestinian, were originally designated to fall under Jordanian control during the negotiations of the Armistice Line of 1949, but ultimately were retained by Israel for military reasons that have since been mitigated. The Vision contemplates the possibility, subject to the agreement of the parties that the borders of Israel will be redrawn such that the Triangle Communities become part of the State of Palestine."It is true that the triangles, or the Triangle, as it is often referred to by Israelis, and Wadi Ara was supposed to be part of Jordan and were handed to Israel in 1949. But since then, they have been part of Israel and the people who live there are Israeli citizens.The argument could be that the residents identify as Palestinians. But do they really? According to an Israel Democracy Institute poll in 2019, most of the Israeli-Arabs see themselves as being part of Israeli society. Sixty-five percent are proud to be Israeli while 83% say they want to become better integrated into Israeli society and play an active role in it. When asked what was the main component of their identity, only 13% said their Palestinian roots. The most common answer, answered by 38%, was simply "Arab."There is no basis to think that the Arabs living in these areas feel more Palestinian than those living in the Galilee or the Negev. The people living in Taybeh, Baka al-Gharbiya or Umm el-Fahm are integrating into Israeli society. They work and study with Jews and shop in the same places. The State of Israel has always been ambivalent toward its Arab citizens. In the country's first years, the Arabs lived under a military administration. Since then, they were given full citizenship and political rights. Arabs serve as heads of hospital departments, as government ministers and play in the country's different sports leagues. Proposing to hand citizens over to another country is not only insulting, but it is also damaging. A similar idea was already offered by Avigdor Liberman years ago and the Arabs living in these areas completely rejected it.
Despite this, there is no question the issue is complicated. Many of the Israeli-Arabs do affiliate themselves – to a certain degree – with Palestinian culture and history. But it doesn't mean that they are not part of the State of Israel. Israeli society consists of many cultures and identities. After almost 72 years, we should learn how to cope with this complex situation and be more accepting.Trump's plan offers peace. Accepting the Arab minority in Israel could be the first step in that direction. | | The commandment of keeping track of time This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. (Exodus 12, 2) In this commandment G‑d instructed to establish a calendar that is predicated upon the lunar month—the 29.5-day cycle in which the moon completes its revolution around the earth. Twelve such lunar months add up to a year of approximately 354 days, eleven days short of the 365.25-day solar cycle. The complex Jewish calendar is based on lunar months, and compensates for the difference with the solar cycle by alternating between 12 and 13 lunar months in a year. The extra month - Adar Bet (additional month of Adar) is added seven times in a nineteen-year cycle serving to align the lunar months with the solar cycle of seasons. Thus, in a Hebrew leap year there are two months of Adar - Adar Alef and Adar Bet. In wholly solar-based calendars (natural cycle of the earth revolution around the sun) the length of a month is wholly artificial, being merely the division of the solar year into twelve more-or-less equal segments. 365/12=? These months bear no relation to the lunar cycle, or to any other natural phenomenon. In contrast, in wholly lunar-based calendars (natural cycle of the moon revolution around the earth), where the solar cycle has no reference – the length of a year is artificial, made up of twelve lunar months. 29.5*12=? With this calendar being always short of the solar cycle, without any compensation, over the years, same months may sometimes occur in the summer and sometimes in the winter. The night on which the moon is first visible after its hiatus is the first one of the Jewish month (hence the Hebrew word for month חודש - khodesh, from the root khadash, "new"). The month consists of 29 or 30 days, until the next new moon marks the onset of a new month. The first half of the Jewish month is thus marked by a nightly growing moon, which reaches its full luminescent potential on the night of the 15th; but on the 16th of the month the moon is already diminished, and it continues to shrink nightly until a new moon and month are born. Kabbalah says that People of Israel mark time with the moon because they emulate the moon. The story of the moon is the story of the nation of Israel. Like the moon, the People of Israel dip and soar through history; temporary defeats are but preludes to yet another rebirth, yet another renewal. HEBREW CORNER In the Hebrew calendar we mentioned two anchors: 1. Monthly anchor - based on the lunar cycle. 2. Yearly anchor - based on the solar cycle. As mentioned earlier, Hebrew word for 'month' is KHODESH describing a renewal. - Hebrew word for 'moon' is YAREAKH. This word is also sometimes used in Hebrew for 'month'
- In Modern Hebrew the expression ירח דבש
YERAKH D'VASH is 'honeymoon'. - The word for 'year' in Hebrew is שנה - SHANAH.
- Leap year in Hebrew is: שנה מעוברת
SHANAH ME'UBERET - literally meaning 'a pregnant year'. It is interesting to mention that in contrast with the 'renewal' meaning of the word KHODESH (month), the word SHANAH has the meaning of 'steady repetition'. So, it seems that in the Hebrew calendar we always have a renewal within a repeating frame... However, the word SHANAH has an additional meaning - 'different'. Thus, maybe the Hebrew calendar also insinuates that one has to strive for a renewal, to make a difference, yet remain loyal to his roots - his fundamental beliefs. | | See you tomorrow, bli neder Love Yehuda Lave | | | |
