Candle lighting time in Indianapolis for Friday, July 30, 2010: 8:43 PM
Shabbat ends on in Indianapolis Saturday, July 31, 2010: 9:46 PM
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Shabbat Shalom!

“Double Challenge”
 
The true test of a Jew’s Divine service is seen precisely when we encounter trials and difficulties. The trial serves to reveal our hidden abilities, and our service of G-d is strengthened by the experience.

The 40 years of wandering through the desert was a trial for the entire Jewish people, a preparation for their service in the Land of Israel. In general, there are two types of tests a person may face: the trial of wealth, and the trial of poverty. The Jews’ trial in the desert consisted of both elements, and this was reflected in the phenomenon of the manna.

In this week’s Torah portion of Ekev (Deuteronomy 7:12–11:25), we read about the manna - a G-dly food, “bread from the heavens.” In the desert, the Jewish people did not have to worry about where their next meal would be coming from; the manna fell predictably from the sky each day. It was entirely digestible, and had whatever taste a person wished. In addition, the manna was accompanied by gemstones and pearls. Thus the manna was symbolic of the epitome of wealth.

At the same time, however, the manna also embodied an element of poverty. Eating manna, the only sustenance the Jews were offered, was not satisfying like regular food. Moreover, the Jews received only enough manna for that particular day; there was never any extra. It is human nature that when a person’s house is stocked with food, he becomes sated after eating very little; when there is nothing in his cupboard, he is never fully satisfied.

Thus we see that the manna was extremely contradictory. On one hand, it was the richest sustenance a person could ask for; on the other, it was poor and non-filling.

According to an internal U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services memo going the rounds of Capitol Hill and obtained by National Review, the agency is considering ways in which it could enact "meaningful immigration reform absent legislative action" - that is, without the consent of the American people through a vote in Congress.

This week Oscar winning conspiracy theorist Oliver Stone joined Helen Thomas and Mel Gibson in the swelling ranks of out-of-the-closet celebrity Jew haters. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Stone said that Adolf Hitler had been given a bum rap and that through "Jewish domination of the media," the Jews have inflated the importance of the Holocaust and wrecked US foreign policy.

In the wake of criticism in Jewish circles, on Wednesday Stone's publicist issued a mealy-mouthed clarification.

Stone failed to retract or amend his statement that "There's a major lobby in the United States. They are hard workers. They stay on top of every comment, the most powerful lobby in Washington. Israel has f---ed up United States foreign policy for years."

He also did not retract his view that Jews use the Holocaust to control American foreign policy.

By Marvin Hier
The Washington Post
July 28, 2010

Earlier this year, eighteen Catholic scholars from the United States, Germany, and Australia, took the unprecedented step of writing a letter to Pope Benedict XVI, urging him to slow down the canonization process that would designate Pope Pius XII a saint of the Catholic Church, until more evidence could be found to defend the action against charges that he failed to do enough during the Nazi Holocaust. Pope Benedict inherited the Pius XII dossier from his predecessors but angered critics, including the Simon Wiesenthal Center, when he issued a decree in December 2009, recognizing Pius's "heroic virtues," moving him one step closer to Sainthood.

Normally, it is not the business of Jews who the Catholic Church designate a saint, but Pius XII must be an exception to the rule because it would require us to teach our children and grandchildren that while history's greatest crime was being committed and 6 million Jews, 1/3 of all of world Jewry were exterminated, a saint was sitting on the throne of St. Peter.

While the Vatican continues to push the candidacy of Pius XII, the other Pope who lived during the times of Adolf Hitler, Pius XI, is never mentioned as a candidate for Sainthood. Yet it is this Pope more than any other that many believe came closest to dramatically changing the course of WWII. Achille Ratti took the name Pius XI in 1922, when he was elected Pope, the same year Benito Mussolini marched on Rome.

But his misfortune was presiding over the church during the advent of the 'age of the dictators,' Mussolini and Hitler. In the early years, Pius XI, despite his misgivings, sought accommodation with them fearing confrontation would weaken the church. So in 1929, he signed a Concordat with fascist Italy which protected the independence of the Vatican, but lessened his ability to confront Mussolini's aggression.

Do you think a political party that seeks to dismantle, ignore or discard a nation's constitution should be permitted to participate in the electoral process?

It is a question that has been asked before in other countries and is still being asked today.

When communist parties, sworn to revolutionary change, competed in elections around the world in previous decades, there were often real fears that upon taking power they would do away with future elections.

The same fear has abounded in elections in nations where radical Islam is on the ascendancy.

And today in Germany the federal office in charge of protecting the nation's constitution is keeping leaders of the so-called "Left Party" under surveillance – a decision affirmed this week by the courts.

The court found that the far-left party included people with "unconstitutional intentions." Germany's domestic intelligence service issued a report saying "there are still many indicators for left-wing extremism in the party. Those are in particular the unclear stance toward left-wing extremist violence and the open acceptance of extremist alliances among its own members."

The extremist alliances referred to are the "Communist Platform" and the "Marxist Forum" within the Left Party.

All of this raises an interesting question in my mind: Is it time for Americans to consider such alliances and allegiances within the Democratic Party?

July 29, 2010

President Obama's assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, Eric P. Schwartz, previously served as the director of a George Soros-funded organization that promoted global governance.

Schwartz also coordinated meetings on behalf of Obama's transition team with a group that advocates placing more blue United Nations helmets on U.S. troops and coercing the U.S. to join the U.N.'s International Criminal Court, which could prosecute American citizens and soldiers for "war crimes" and other offenses.

A 2009 report by Cliff Kincaid, president of America's Survival Inc, warned joining the International Criminal Court "could spark a revolt in the U.S. Armed Forces."

In a separate posting, Kincaid wrote, "Schwartz and his associates are clearly laying the groundwork for the Obama Administration's acceptance of and membership in the International Criminal Court."

Prior to his appointment to the State Department last year, Schwartz served as executive director of the U.S. Connect Fund, a Soros-funded and affiliated organization. The group promotes global governance and states on its website its mission is to influence "policy through integrative collaborative grant making on human rights, non-proliferation, climate change and development, and effective foreign assistance."

Western policy-makers grow increasingly-reconciled to co-existence with a nuclear Iran. They assume that, notwithstanding the radical rhetoric, the Iranian leadership is pragmatic, cognizant of its limitations, unwilling to expose its people to devastating Western retaliation and considering nuclear capabilities as a tool of deterrence – and not as an offensive weapon – against the US, NATO and Israel.

However, a nuclear Iran would constitute a clear and present danger to global security and peace, which must not be tolerated.  In order to avert such peril, it is incumbent to disengage from illusions and engage with realism.

Unlike Western leaders, the Iranian revolutionary leadership is driven by ideological and religious conviction, bolstered by ancient imperialist ethos:

By Caroline Glick
Caroline Glick
July 28, 2010

July 30, 2010

(Israelnationalnews.com) A Grad rocket fired by Gaza terrorists hit an open area near a residential neighborhood in Ashkelon on Friday morning. No physical injuries were reported, although several people suffered shock and required medical attention. A vehicle was also damaged.

Ashkelon had experienced relative quiet following the Cast Lead counterterror operation in Gaza in early 2009.

The attack follows an attack last week that was carried out using an imported rocket more sophisticated than the short-range “Kassam” rockets produced in Gaza. In that case, the rocket failed to explode, and no injuries were reported.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has followed a policy of quick response to attacks from Gaza. Air Force planes have demolished smuggling tunnels and weapons factories in the region following previous rocket attacks.    [end]

(Israelnationalnews.com) Commemorations of the fifth anniversary of the Gush Katif expulsion continue, including the publication of a new book and the role played by the media during the Disengagement period.

A new book by journalist Elyashiv Reichner is entitled Ketom HaMaavak, a play on the word "katom," rendering the meaning of the title both “At the End of the Struggle” and “Orange Struggle” – referring to the official color chosen to symbolize the year-long fight to keep Gush Katif in Jewish hands.

The book seeks to answer many important questions which, despite the volumes of words that have been written about the fall of Gush Katif, have still not been properly addressed. For instance, what exactly motivated most of the thousands of residents to remain in their homes until the very day of the expulsion? How did the leadership of the Katif bloc of communities succeed in keeping routine life going until the very end, despite the sword of destruction hanging over them? Was this “proud last stand” based on blind, naïve faith – or was it a grounded and solid statement of values with a specific objective?

A federal judge's decision a day earlier to block the strict law's most controversial elements didn't dampen the raging immigration debate.

The judge has been threatened. Protesters rallied in cities from Los Angeles to New York. The sheriff of the state's most populous county vowed to continue targeting illegal immigrants. Lawmakers or candidates in as many as 18 states say they still want to push similar measures.

Along the U.S.-Mexico border, life continued as before, with officials sending back people who were captured while attempting to cross.

By David Isaac
Shmuel Katz
July 29, 2010

In the newly released documents Kissinger refers to the Golan Heights as “Syrian territory” and the Syrians as “my friends.” He confides to an Algerian diplomat that “a (new Arab-Israeli) war wouldn’t be so bad for us. … We could show (Israel) we are tough.” Us? This strongly suggests Kissinger identified with the Arab side in the Arab-Israel conflict.

While these documents do not cover the period of the 1973 war (they cover the end of the Nixon administration and eighteen months of the subsequent Ford administration), they bear out Shmuel Katz’s devastating assessment of Kissinger’s role during the war as crucial in turning Israel’s military victory into a bitter strategic defeat. Just a year after the Yom Kippur War, in his 1974 pamphlet, “The Crisis of Israel and the West” Katz described Kissinger’s actions and their repercussions.

(Israelnationalnews.com) If a Palestinian Authority state is created in Judea and Samaria, no Israeli citizen will be allowed to set foot inside, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said this week in a meeting with members of the Arab League. The PA chairman also stated that he would block any Jewish soldiers from serving with an international force stationed on PA-controlled land.

"I will never allow a single Israeli to live among us on Palestinian land,” Abbas declared.

Abbas addressed the Arab League during a discussion over the possibility of holding direct negotiations with Israel. Like Abbas, Arab League members agreed to direct talks in theory, but only if a number of “measures and conditions” were met.

"The agreement depends on what will be discussed [in Israel-PA talks] and the manner in which negotiations are conducted,” said Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin-Jassim bin-Jabor al-Thani.

Abbas has demanded that Israeli completely freeze construction for Jews in areas east of the 1949 armistice line, including north, south, and east Jerusalem, and that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu commit to creating a PA state with borders based on the armistice line. Until those conditions are met, Abbas has said, the PA will not negotiate.

1995

A. Background
       
1.  Isaiah was a prophet-statesman active during the years 740-700 BCE. Though connected with the royal family, he never held any office.  He was consulted and gave advice to his king on foreign policy, which advice was more often ignored than heeded.  But unlike other prophets, who preached lofty ideals, Isaiah also sought to embody Jewish ideas and values in the nation's public policies. 
       
2.  He prophesied in Judah, the southern Kingdom.  He witnessed the destruction of the northern kingdom by Assyria.  He warned what would happen to Judah and Jerusalem.
       
3.  A native of Jerusalem, he so loved Jerusalem so much that he called it “the daughter of Zion.”  Isaiah 2: 3:  From Zion, of course, the Torah, the Truth, would go forth and enlighten mankind.  But Isaiah was profoundly saddened to see Jerusalem – its government -- filled with so many vices and evils that would lead to Israel’s ruin. 
        
4.  Israel was caught in a whirlpool of international politics; Assyria to the north, Egypt to the south, and various small nations on the east.  The problem was: what should Judah do to maintain her independence and find security.

(Israelnationalnews.com) Where does all the international aid money to the Palestinian Authority actually go? Is it being used to help the people of Gaza and Arab towns in Judea and Samaria? Or has it been used for less worthy, or even corrupt causes? 

The following popular new Youtube video by the media activist organization FreeMiddleEast.com, entitled 'Palestinian Corruption and Humanitarian Aid', seeks to demonstrate to the world where its money really goes, and where it could be going.

Palestinian Corruption and Humanitarian Aid  (Video 2:02)

[end]

By Danny Ayalon
Wall Street Journal
July 29, 2010

A couple of years ago, a Palestinian refugee camp was encircled and laid siege to by an army of tanks and Armored Personnel Carriers. Attacks initiated by Palestinian militants triggered an overwhelming response from the army that took the life of almost 500 people, including many civilians. International organizations struggled to send aid to the refugee camps, where the inhabitants were left without basic amenities like electricity and running water. During the conflict, six U.N. personnel were killed when their car was bombed.

Government ministers and spokesmen tried to explain to the international community that the Palestinian militants were backed by Syria and global jihadist elements. Al Qaeda condemned the government and the army, declaring that the attack was part of a "crusade" against their Palestinian brothers.

(Israelnationalnews.com) If you heard about an attack on a Palestinian refugee camp in which hundreds of civilians were killed, would you assume that the attack had been perpetrated by Israel? According to Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, you very likely would - and you'd be wrong.

In an op-ed that appears today in the Wall Street Journal, Deputy Minister Ayalon had harsh words for an international community which berates Israel for its actions, while ignoring similar actions by other countries in a multitude of conflicts.

Vividly describing a brutal attack on a Palestinian refugee camp where 500 people were killed, Ayalon writes, "While most will assume that the events described above took place in the West Bank or Gaza, they actually took place in Lebanon in the summer of 2007, when Palestinian terrorists attacked the Lebanese Army, which struck back with deadly force."

Ayalon highlights the fact that when Israel is not involved, the world is silent. "At the time, there was little international outcry," he writes. "No world leader decried the 'prison camps' in Lebanon. No demonstrations took place around the world; no U.N. investigation panels were created and little media attention was attracted. In fact, the plight of the Palestinians in Lebanon garners very little attention internationally."

July 29, 2010

Quite apart from Israel's flawed system of governance, what has bothered me most since the signing of the Oslo or Israel-PLO Agreement in September 1993 is the flawed character of Israel's Oslovian prime ministers.  What are we to say about these prime ministers without being dismissed as mere polemicists with an axe to grind?  

Let’s assume that these prime ministers— Yitzhak Rabin, Binyamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert, and again Netanyahu—were something other than stupid, that Oslo was simply a mistake.  Charles Krauthammer recently called Oslo "the greatest diplomatic blunder in history." 

Okay, but why—why despite the subsequent and ongoing murder of Jews by PLO, hence, why despite the PLO's repeated and blatant violations of the Oslo Agreement, why didn'tYitzhak Rabin, Binyamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert, and again Netanyahu abrogate that agreement?  Why did they persist in afflicting the people of Israel with the empirically self-destructive policy of "territory for peace"?

It is not sufficient to attribute their fixation on "territory for peace" to wishful thinking or to American pressure.  Since we are assuming that these prime ministers are other than stupid, they had to be aware that continuation of this policy could only result in the murder of more Jews by Arab terrorists.  Nor will it do to attribute their fixation to a Jewish death wish, a hypothesis I have elsewhere refuted.  No, the body count kept climbing, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.

     Every voter must be reminded - up to the day of America’s mid-term elections, November 2010 - of what Obama-Pelosi-Reid brought to America behind closed doors.   President Barack Hussein Obama and his Democratic cohorts told us in speech after speech abut the transparency he will bring to Washington.   However, once in power the doors slammed shut.  Every deal was the old back-room deal behind closed doors.

     The only transparency came after the bribes were made.   Then and only then could we right through Obama’s Chicago political deviousness.   Obama was a Chicago Pol through and through.   Obama was a perfect match with Nancy Pelosi (Democratic Speaker of the House) and Harry Reid (Senate majority leader).   Once they had their hands on the throats of the nation and their fingers into the National Treasury, they began Obama’s pledge to “re-distribute the wealth” of America.

     Regrettably, the Republicans do not know how to remind the voting public in plain words what has been done to them but has been covered over by elegant speeches.   Every bit of trickery planned behind closed doors had a component of how they will delude the public.

     Those skilled as word-smiths, like Rahm Emanuel or David Axelrod knew how to sell rotten fruit as tasty and ripe.   They had an answer prepared for every failed deal, always assuring the gullible public that the blue flies swarming around their pile of garbage were ‘merely passing by’.

July 28, 2010

Some fifteen years ago, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said there isn't enough space between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea for two diverse peoples, hence for two diverse sovereign states.