56 soldiers added to list of Israel’s fallen since last Memorial Day and Vikings, Jews, and the God of Progress By Forest Rain and Pros And Cons Of Muslims Considering Jewish Holy Sites As Sacred Also By Paul Gherkin -and Palestinians Can’t Lose Yelling Lie, “Al Aqsa is in Danger
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.
The Three are Rabbi Yehuda Glick, famous temple mount activist, and former Israel Mk, and then Robert Weinger, the world's greatest shofar blower and seller of Shofars, and myself after we had gone to the 12 gates of the Temple Mount in 2020 to blow the shofar to ask G-d to heal the world from the Pandemic. It was a highlight to my experience in living in Israel and I put it on my blog each day to remember.
The articles that I include each day are those that I find interesting, so I feel you will find them interesting as well. I don't always agree with all the points of each article but found them interesting or important to share with you, my readers, and friends. It is cathartic for me to share my thoughts and frustrations with you about life in general and in Israel. As a Rabbi, I try to teach and share the Torah of the G-d of Israel as a modern Orthodox Rabbi. I never intend to offend anyone but sometimes people are offended and I apologize in advance for any mistakes. The most important psychological principle I have learned is that once someone's mind is made up, they don't want to be bothered with the facts, so, like Rabbi Akiva, I drip water (Torah is compared to water) on their made-up minds and hope that some of what I have share sinks in. Love Rabbi Yehuda Lave.
Palestinians Can't Lose Yelling Lie, "Al Aqsa is in Danger
Photo Credit: Muammar Awad/Flash90
Masked Arabs hold stones during clashes near Al-Aqsa mosque with Israeli police on Ramadan, June 28, 2016.
For over a hundred years, Palestinian Arabs have been making up the lie that Jews are plotting against the Al Aqsa mosque.
Why? Because no matter how Jews react, Palestinians end up gaining more support.
Incidentally, the lie that "Al Aqsa is in danger" is an example of something that is definitely antisemitic under the EoZ definition of antisemitism (as a "malicious lie against Jews as a people/nation"), and not obviously under the IHRA Working Definition or the others.
Fifty-six soldiers were killed during their military service since Israel's last Memorial Day, according to figures released by the Defense Ministry on Friday.
Another 84 disabled veterans died due to complications from injuries sustained during their service.
The numbers brought the total to 24,068 of those who have died during service to the country since 1860.
The annual figures include all soldiers and police who died in the past year, whether as a result of accidents, illness, or suicide.
Israel's Memorial Day will commence next Tuesday evening when a one-minute siren will blare across the country. On Wednesday morning, a two-minute siren will sound ahead of national memorial ceremonies at Israel's 52 military cemeteries.
Memorial Day is one of Israel's few national, non-religious holidays, during which large swaths of the Israeli public typically visit the graves of loved ones and comrades.
View of the National Hall of Remembrance at Mount Herzl, Jerusalem, on October 10, 2019. (Flash90)
In 2020, during the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Memorial Day ceremonies took place without audiences, and smaller events planned for municipal cemeteries across the country were canceled for fear of coronavirus outbreaks. Last year, there were still some outdoor virus-related restrictions in place, but this year they have been lifted entirely.
A masterpiece of storytelling, writing, and cinematography, the "Vikings" series enthralled me.
I cannot imagine being able to write a sweeping saga so well. The characters are well-rounded and complex – as human beings are. The society portrayed is very different than what we are familiar with and yet, it is presented in a way that makes sense, through the lens of values and norms of that time rather than the judgment of our present-day perspective. This is an extraordinary accomplishment. On top of that the cinematography, lighting, and soundtrack are artfully done.
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And still – I found myself baffled. Why was I so caught up by this series? I have no emotional connection to Vikings or England. I don't particularly enjoy scenes of violence and blood. The characters, while interesting, are not necessarily likable. So… why did I find this saga so gripping?
Jordan Peterson explains that people don't have ideas but rather ideas take hold of people. Ideas are bigger than individuals and they form, push and guide people. Stories teach ideas. People connect to certain stories because they hold something of value for the individual enthralled by them. This concept made me pay attention to the unexplained fascination I had with the Vikings saga.
(See? "Made me," the idea caused me to act)
It took me a while but eventually, I figured it out.
The Vikings series portrays the rise of Christianity and the clash between societies – one that adheres to ancient gods while the other is willing to do anything to promote their new god. The societies struggle to live together but this is impossible. The conflict between ideas and the divide between societies is too large. The new Christian god kills the old gods.
As a Jew, one would think I would identify with the Christians as the rise of their society meant the dissemination of the biblical values that were adopted from my faith. Instead, I found myself identifying with the people whose ancient society and old ways were under threat.
And then I understood – we too are living in a time when "gods" are at war.
My God, the God of the Jews is an ancient God. The God of the bible is a god of rules, definitions, order, and judgment. The rights and obligations of humanity come from God's Commandments. This means that no human has the right to take away what was granted by God. It also means that if we do not fulfill our obligations, we will have to answer to God.
The new god is called "Progress". To triumph, "Progress" must vanquish the God of the bible. That is why "Progress" proclaims that the God of the bible does not exist. This means that rights are given by humans and can be taken away – if the human does not fulfill his or her obligations to the god "Progress".
The god of "Progress" gives no Commandments, aside from demanding obedience to the guidelines of the day. These change from time to time, but all are designed to rip apart the rules and order defined by the God of the bible.
The God of the bible created the universe through the power of words. Through words, order was created and from order, hierarchy: the separation between chaos and order, night and day, the heaven and the earth, animals and humans, man and woman, good and that which is not good.
After every act of creation, God judged and deemed it good.
The god "Progress" claims that words morph according to the agenda of the day. Even his own name is a lie, we hear the word progress and think of improvement, "Progress" has other ideas. In his world, words have no solid meaning; they shift according to the way people feel. One day the word "whiteness" is a description of skin color, the next it is an indication of origin, and then it becomes an accusation of privilege.
"Progress" claims that it is wrong to judge, wrong to define, and separate. The God of the bible created man and woman because both are necessary. "Progress" declares that gender isn't biology, it's a feeling. Men and women are exactly the same, and all differences are a sign of the evils of society.
The God of the bible placed people as custodians over animals and nature. "Progress" says that humans are not separate or in charge of animals, humans and animals have the same value and perhaps animals are to be valued more. "Progress" presents thinly-veiled genocidal tendencies, suggesting that the planet would be better off with no humans on it.
"Progress" looks at the humans created by the God of the bible and deems us bad.
The God of the Jews is rational, can have a conversation with humans, and can even be convinced to change His mind. The God of the Jews defined morality and gave humans the ability to choose. If there was no choice there would be no distinction between good and bad, or anything at all. It would all just be whatever we were told.
To vanquish the God of the Jews, "Progress" must destroy everything created by our God.
Undoing the meaning of words isn't a matter of being flexible in order to prevent hurt feelings, it is a way to undo the fabric of Creation.
Pretending that there is no difference between man and woman isn't a path to equality, on the contrary, it's a tactic to divide and conquer, for man to hate woman and woman to be afraid of man. It's a denial of the spark of the divine in each individual and the rejection of the incredible bond and strength that results when man and woman strive together, in harmony.
The God of the Jews told us that mother and father are sacred and must be honored so that we can live long on the earth. This means that the family is sacred. Family is the institution that provides the stability we need to survive. "Progress" rips apart the hierarchy of family, telling children that they must obey "Progress" and not parents who might be teaching them the old ways.
The God of the Jews determined that stealing and even coveting is wrong. We are not allowed to take what is not ours and even jealous yearning for something we did not earn is forbidden. "Progress" declares that redistribution of wealth and anti-racism is the way to fight disparity.
"Progress" fights hate with new hate. The God of the Jews fights hate by teaching compassion and justice. (Justice is also a word under attack by "Progress"… )
Understanding what is happening in our world today as a modern-day war between gods makes it easier to see a pattern. Seemingly disparate issues are pieces to the same puzzle, individual battles in the same war between the God of the Jews and the new god, "Progress".
It is no wonder "Progress" hates everything connected to Jews, Jewish values, and the Jewish homeland. The Torah of Israel, the Land of Israel and the Nation of Israel are the vessels that carry and protect the ideas that provided the foundation of what we still call the "free world." To reign supreme, "Progress" must kill them all, make them devoid of meaning and erase our understanding of these ideas.
In many places, in many ways, "Progress" has already succeeded.
"Progress" has long been eating away the Judeo-Christian ethos that made America unique among nations. I no longer recognize the country I was born in. Now "Progress" is infesting Israel, attempting to poison our roots, to make them wither and die.
The God of the Jews gave the Children of Israel a choice and we agreed to the special job He gave us – to be a Light unto the Nations. If it wasn't a choice, the title would be meaningless. If it was easy, there would be no need to choose.
Our job has nothing to do with what "Progress" calls "social justice" and everything to do with adhering to the laws given us by the God of the bible, no matter what chaos reigns around us. The God of the Jews created light by separating it from the darkness, creating order from chaos. HE provided Commandments and rules for life that were designed to create order and justice for all societies that chose to adopt those principles. We Jews are separated from all other nations because we were tasked with the role of upholding and modeling these ideas – "being a light" of morality, order, and stability, even when everything else is dark. That is OUR story.
The gods are at war, struggling to determine the future of the world. With each battle "Progress" wins, the darkness and chaos grow. Like the Vikings discovered, the two societies cannot co-exist. One must vanquish the other.
While the gods battle, our light still shines. That means that the war of the gods is not over.
As Passover, Easter and Ramadan all fell at the same time this year, the religious tensions and harmony in Israel came into sharper focus.
Muslims have a history of keeping sites it considers holy intact, even if holy – let alone holier – to non-Islamic faiths. In contrast, they have shown complete disregard for non-Islamic sites that are sacred and important to other faiths.
On April 10, 2022, Palestinian Arabs vandalized the Tomb of Joseph, one of the principle ancestors of the Jews. They smashed the Jewish tomb and set fires to a few rooms in what Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said was a " frenzy of destruction" as Palestinian rioters " simply vandalised a holy place for us, the Jews."
Meanwhile, Palestinian leadership from Fatah and Hamas were claiming that Jews were invading the Jewish Temple Mount (which they refer to as the Al Aqsa Compound) which they view as sacred. Arabs attacked Jews walking to the site, stoned Israeli buses bringing Jews to the Old City of Jerusalem, and hurled stones at Israeli worshippers at the western retaining wall of the Mount.
But the Islamists kept the site intact as they considered the site sacred.
The government of Israel had given religious control of the Jewish Temple Mount to the Jordanian Waqf after it reunited Jerusalem in 1967. The Waqf has banned Jewish prayer at Judaism's holiest site, it blatant disregard of Jews' basic human rights.
But the Islamists kept the site intact as they considered the site sacred.
In Hebron, Muslims appropriated the Cave of the Jewish Matriarchs and Patriarchs which houses six of the seven forebears of the Jewish people. Muslims call the site the "Ibrahami Mosque," as they venerate Abraham as the father of Ishmael, the forefather of Arabs. When Muslims controlled the site, they banned Jews from entering the building or even climbing above the seventh step to Judaism's second holiest site. Israel took control of the site in 1967 after Jordan attacked Israel, and has since divided the holy site into times and sections for both Islamic and Jewish prayer, to the chagrin of Arabs.
But at least the Islamists kept the site intact while they controlled it, as they considered the site sacred.
Jewish history and sacred sites in their holy land has often been destroyed if the location held no religious value to the non-Jews. Last year, the Palestinian Authority demolished part of Joshua's alter on Mount Ebal in Area B under Palestinian Authority control. On the Jewish Temple Mount, the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement conducted illegal renovations and disposed of over 9,000 tons of dirt mixed with invaluable archaeological artifacts which the Temple Mount Sifting Project has been painstakingly sorting even though the objects are no longer in situ.
The Kotel may only be in existence today because Islamists considered it the "al-Buraq Wall."
The Jewish State has done its utmost to respect the history and sanctity of Jewish and non-Jewish locations throughout the holy land. However, Islamists destroyed and vandalized sites significant to other faiths that they do not value, while seeking exclusive control and rights of the religious sites that they appropriated from Jews.
The Islamist scars in the holy land have left Jewish sites destroyed where viewed as un-Islamic, or appropriated within their Islamic religion, and banned for Jewish prayer.
