Mt. Zion under siege: Who will be King of the Mountain?

The Vatican has its evil eye on Jerusalem! What better place to start their siege against the Holy City than Mt. Zion? Watch for them to fortify their position and launch an all-out attack to undermine Israeli sovereignty, enlisting Jewish traitors and the international community.

It is only a matter of time before the Vatican exercises their evil influences to enforce UN Resolution 181. Will Israel make the most of this grace period, return to God and secure the Jewish homeland or fall prostrate before the Roman EU?

The Vatican's illegitimate claims to Mt. Zion stem from the extorted belief that Jesus' "Last Supper" was held in the Upper Room of the traditional site of King David's Tomb. I am a Christian and trust Jesus held such a meal in Jerusalem, but there is no way to prove it was at such a site and since the bloody Roman Catholic Church states it to be so, I highly doubt it.

Regardless, the allleged "Upper Room" would not be a holy site in light of the New Testament and is never mentioned again after the fact, but the Temple Mount stands alone as "the most holy place." Isn't that what the Vatican is really after? Haven't they coveted the crown of Jerusalem, and its crown jewel - the Temple Mount - since the Crusades? The leopard has not changed its spots!

Some might contend that there isn't sufficient proof that King David (my forefather) is actually buried on Mt. Zion. However, it is a Jewish belief, it is the Jewish homeland, and it isn't necessary for Jews to prove anything to the world, as it is honestly none of their business.

If Israel were wise, they would immediately cut off all negotiations, unequivocally state Jerusalem is not for sale, and threaten any Jew who persists in such an error and grievous sin with expulsion from the Jewish community. It's that serious! Israeli sovereignty is at stake!

Rabbi Avraham Goldstein is leader of the Diaspora Yeshiva (Yeshiva Toras Yisrael) that has been blessed since 1966 to utilize David's Tomb and the building complex on Mt. Zion for religious classes and services. Goldstein is also Chief Rabbi of the Old City of Jerusalem, and in agreement with all 14 rabbis in the Old City, is convinced that the Vatican's true intent is to ultimately evict the yeshiva and completely empty the complex of Jews.

"Jerusalem is in danger," the rabbi warned his American audience, as reported by The Jewish Voice and Opinion, exposing the disturbing fact that the European Union has joined dark forces with the Palestinian Authority to put undue pressure upon Israel to disengage from half the Holy City and cede the Eastern half to the Muslim Arabs.

How can Israel live with half a heart? Why permit occult designs to forge Jerusalem's future? Why sanction secular politicians to handle such holy issues? Why trust an unholy trinity composed of "Jewish Catholic Knights" (Gary Krupp and David Rosen) and the poisonous Vatican plant (David Bartholdy), Jannes and Jambres and Korah, to have any say in what belongs in the court of the Sanhedrin?

If Israel prostitutes itself and cedes this strategic part of Jerusalem to the Vatican, they will have sold out Jews and Christians, since Christians would have to obtain permission from the Catholic Church to hold services at the site. Why exalt the Roman Catholic Church to such a lofty position? Why fall for the attempt to trump King David at the site or supercede him by towering over his tomb, a Catholic Church over and above his dead body!

As Barry Chamish has duly noted, the German-built Dormition Abbey on Mt. Zion (next to the yeshiva) is an exact replica of the German Church that crowned emperors: Charlemagne's Aachen Cathedral. Can't we see what spirit is at work here and what plans are in store? UN Resolution 181 demands Jerusalem become a separate, international city that will amount to a long-held Catholic dream of Jerusalem serving as the capital of their Crusader-Kingdom.

The German-Jesuit powers that be are busy reconstructing Europe into the final revival of the unholy Roman Empire of the German Nation that Daniel foresaw wreaking havoc on the Middle East and Jeremiah foresaw affecting the whole world (all of Jacob, the unprecedented Time of Jacob's Trouble).

What offer could convince the religious authorities to abandon claims to Mt. Zion? Would a trade-off work? Not of empty synagoges in Spain, but how about international guarantees of protection during the construction of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount? What if Israel were offered acceptance of full Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount, complete with the restoration of the sacrificial system and Temple worship?

Wouldn't the religious prefer such freedom of religion over secular Israeli sovereignty that continues to despise the Jewish heritage and dismantle the Jewish homeland? Not that Israel couldn't immediately restore the Temple Mount to Jewish hands without worldly approval or international "peacekeeping" support, and that would be preferable but it's unlikely.

Will the Israeli authorities fall for Europe's BIG LIE of "peace and security" (and religious freedom and independence upon the Temple Mount) and enable them to station troops around Jerusalem in a clever and deceitful perversion of Bamidbar Rabbah 1,3:

If the nations of the world had only known how much they needed the Temple, they would have surrounded it with armed fortresses to protect it.

Doesn't Zechariah warn of such Roman wolves in sheep's clothing? Must Jerusalem suffer a brutal betrayal and rape, with the violent eviction of Jews from half of the Holy City, all of it under brazen Gentile occupation? Doesn't Daniel warn of Europe's imminent wannabe divine emperor (promoted by the pagan pope) who would leave his designated place at Mt. Zion and seize and pollute the Temple with his unclean presence, slaughtering all who got in his way?

"Why will you die O House of Israel?" If only Israel and Judah would return and trust in God, none of this reliance on foreign promises (that will prove to be worthless, once again) would be necessary. At least during Jerusalem's 3 1/2 years of foreign occupation, captive Israel will be reassured by a Davidic messenger in the spirit of Elijah, like an angel of the LORD (Zech. 12:8), that our God will come and save us and cleanse the Temple and liberate Jerusalem.

For Zion's Sake,
David Ben-Ariel

ISRAEL: VATICAN-MUSSOLINI PACT TOUTED AS MODEL FOR JERUSALEM

ISRAEL: VATICAN-MUSSOLINI PACT TOUTED AS MODEL FOR JERUSALEM



Tel Aviv, 13 Jan. (AKI) - A 1929 accord between the Vatican and Fascist Italy granting 'special status' to several Rome churches could provide a model to resolve the dispute over Israel's control of Jerusalem, a former Israeli ambassador has suggested. Moshe Sasson, Israel's ambassador to Italy from 1973-77, described the Lateran Treaty signed by Benito Mussolini and the Vatican as "a historical precedent that is wonderfully suited to the issue of Jerusalem," in an editorial in Friday's edition of the Tel Aviv daily Haaretz.

Sasson argues that by seeking an arrangement similar to the Lateran Treaty, Israel would prevent the partitioning of Jerusalem while satisfying the followers of the world's main three monotheistic religions - Christianity, Islam and Judaism - who all consider the city holy.

The Lateran Treaty ended a dispute which began in 1871 when the then newly- constituted Kingdom of Italy took over Rome after centuries of Papal rule. In 1929 Italy granted a "special status under international guarantee" for five basilicas that belong to the Vatican, but which are situated outside the territory that demarcates the tiny state.


Sasson says Israel could declare unilaterally, by virtue of its sovereignity, that it is granting a special status to the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock Sanctuary on the Temple Mount, as well as to other places that are sacred to Judaism as well as those Christians cherish as holy.

Israel could grant "free passage to the holy places regardless of religion, gender or race," to anyone wanting to visit Temple Mount for example. Sasson argues that such a move would be welcomed by the international community ensuring that "Jerusalem would remain whole and not divided; each of the three montheistic religions would be soveriegn over the buildings that are sacred to it, would administer them and would be responsible for what happens inside them," he said.

Sasson admits that such a move would not necessarily win the approval of Arab governments who he says want to maintain the "supposedly 'religious aspect' of the Arab-Israeli conflict."

Still, a compromise solution could be achieved if Israel were to allow Arab governments to establish a small policing force to oversee sacred Islamic sites. This, Sasson argues, would help overcome the present problem whereby Israeli security forces responsible for law and order are seen to impart the "punishment of the other."

While the Lateran Treaty model might offer a solution to the dispute over the custodianship of religious sites, Sasson says Israel has another problem that needs tackling - Jerusalem's very large Arab population, which currently numbers 237,100.

The growth rate of the Arab population is currently double that of the city's Jewish community, a situation which will over the years result in the "capital of Israel" having mostly Arab inhabitants.

To remedy this situation, Sasson urges the Isralei government to implement policies that will "attract Israelis and Jewish immigrants to Jerusalem and to keep its Jewish inhabitants living there and prevent them from abandoning it."

Israel defines Jerusalem as its "eternal and undivided capital" a status not recognise by most nations who maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv. Palestinians say Arab East Jerusalem should be the capital of their future state.
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If Israel truly believed, as they should, that Jerusalem is its "eternal and undivided capital," they would expel the treacherous Arabs from its midst, restore the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site, to Jewish hands in preparation for the Third Temple, and permit pilgrims to visit the sites sacred to them in a responsible way.

Instead, Israel is engaged in this danse macabre, letting the German-Jesuit EU lead, and will find they don't only get their toes stepped on, but that the EU jackboot will soon stomp Jerusalem and trample Israel. It's only a matter of time before this grace period is up and the true nature of the EU beast is exposed: the Vatican and their political prostitutes will demand UN Resolution 181 become the rule of law and exalt it to a divine status it doesn't deserve, as if its holy writ when in reality the Israeli Parliament ought to publicly rip it and burn it as an abomination and treason.

The Tenth of Tevet: Time to Lift the Siege

The Tenth of Tevet: Time to Lift the Siege

Tevet 9, 5766/January 9, 2006



"In the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it; and they built siegeworks against it round about." (Jeremiah 52:4; II Kings 25:1)

The Tenth of Tevet, (Tuesday, January 10th), is sometimes referred to as the "easiest" of all the fast days which commemorate the destruction of the Holy Temple. On a strictly physical level, this is certainly true: The fast of the Tenth lasts only from just before dawn to just after nightfall. Falling out always near the winter solstice, the day is the shortest of all fast days. And being a winter month, a faster doesn't have to contend with intense heat or dehydration. And yet, on a spiritual level, the Tenth of Tevet may well be the most difficult of all fast days to contend with; even more than the Ninth of Av, the most well known and universally observed of all the Temple related fast days. Why is this?

The Tenth of Tevet marks the beginning: the beginning of a three year siege that led to the destruction of the first Holy Temple in 586 BCE by the Babylonians; the beginning of the end. Beginnings contain within their internal character a certain logic, a dynamic process that will lead inexorably to the fulfillment in time of that very beginning. Creation itself has a beginning, and that beginning contains within it every bit of information necessary to fulfill creation's purpose in time. We are each born containing within us the genetic material that will guide and shape us throughout life. Similarly, we are imbued while still in the womb with the knowledge of G-d's truth that will lead us through this earthly journey, inasmuch as we tap into that truth and seek it out, and fill our days and shape our deeds in accordance with the Divine truth. There are a few among us, true Tzaddikim - righteous ones - whose lives are an ever upward trajectory, never marred by error or sin. Yet for that vast majority of us, making errors, and overcoming errors, is part of a day to day struggle to raise ourselves up, to better serve G-d, to better perform His commandments. Each error, each misguided step we take is in itself a new beginning. Left unchecked, this morning's error will necessarily evolve in time into an ever spreading net of mistakes and missed opportunities. At the end of the day, looking back, we see the chain of misdeeds, and feel the pangs of remorse. At the end of our life we might likewise reflect on all that was, and all that was not, and find ourselves immersed in regret. But is the end of the day the time for our tears? Is the end of our final day the hour for regret?

Our sages teach us that even before the creation of our world, G-d created the capacity for teshuva - for repentance. According to the Talmudic expression, G-d "created the cure before the affliction." For G-d knew in His infinite wisdom what we learn from experience, day after day: the world cannot proceed without teshuva. The Divine purpose of creation cannot be fulfilled without the capacity for, and the endeavor to do teshuva - to improve ourselves, to draw ourselves ever closer to the Divine will: to make His will our will.

So what day is more worthy of our tears? The Tenth of Tevet, when the walls of Jerusalem were first laid siege upon, or the Ninth of Av, three years later, when the Holy Temple was destroyed, and its priests and vessels driven into exile? Jeremiah, the quintessential "prophet of doom" forewarned the people of Judea, but they listened not. For thirty one months they resisted mending their ways, until the calamity contained in the initial siege of Jerusalem blossomed into the full fledged disaster of the destruction of the Holy Temple. No doubt the Tenth of Av was a day of great teshuva. Imagine if the Tenth of Tevet had been?

The month of Tevet opens in the bright light of Chanuka. The second day of Tevet is already the eighth day of Chanukah - Zot Chanuka. Eight lights are kindled on this day, and eight lights are revealed. These lights are nothing less than a glimpse into the supernal light of creation - hidden away after Adam Rishon - the first man - ate from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Yet a mere eight days later, again, the Tenth of Tevet, we come to a day of profound darkness. Should we write this off as some kind of cruel cosmic joke? Should we end this day with yet another sigh and regret? Or should we internalize that light and call upon it on the day of great darkness. The Tenth of Tevet comes around every year. It is time that we grasp the opportunity it affords us to do teshuva ; to direct our energies toward making the world a suitable haven for the Divine presence; to repair the breach and to return Jerusalem to its rightful glory, as the city in whose midst G-d will dwell.

Updates

Rabbi Richman is currently in the USA on a speaking tour, and will return in two weeks time. The Temple Institute's weekly Temple Talk internet radio broadcast will not be broadcast live again until Monday, January 23rd. Israel National Radio will be running previously taped shows over the following two weeks. This may be a good opportunity to catch up on a missed broadcast, or to listen again to a favorite show. All Temple Talk shows can be accessed and downloaded from our archives.

Israel National TV's Israeli Salad show is currently running an interview with Rabbi Chaim Richman, in which he discusses the recently completed me'il techelet. Click here to get to Israel National News, where you will find the link to the January 5th segment of Yoni Kempinski's Israeli Salad, (#120).

Temple Talk can now be automatically downloaded directly to your computer via RSS feed, thanks to our hosts at Israel National Radio. To learn more about RSS podcasting, and to attain the link necessary to paste into your RSS reader, please click here.

The Temple Institute now also has adopted RSS technology. To have all updates to templeinstitute.org downloaded directly to your computer in real time, just add the following link to your RSS reader:
http://www.templeinstitute.org/rss/Temple_Institute.xml

Final note: Rabbi Richman will not be accessing his email while away and will endeavor to catch up on correspondence upon his return to Israel. He urges all who wish to contact him by email to do so via our online form. This will best insure that he sees your message when he returns.

Wishing all an "easy" fast: May our mourning be turned into dancing, our sackcloth be replaced with joy,

Yitzchak Reuven
THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500

American Detained in Jerusalem's Russian Compound

Nobody arrested me. I was DETAINED when I faithfully reported to the police office at 9 a.m. Monday morning, January 9, 1996 (day before my birthday) the day after The Jerusalem Post published on their front page an article shedding light on what they were doing in the dark.

After my initial interrogation of six and one half hours, the Thursday before, I reported, as demanded, to the police station Friday morning, Saturday morning, Sunday morning, and then Monday morning the fellow who had actually been nice to me, he said his name was Moshe, was ordered to serve me a deportation order. He expected me to sign it and, APPALLED, I purposely dropped the accursed paper from my hands and let it fall to the floor where it belonged! I refused to sign it.

They put me in that dungeon called the Russian Compound, built hundreds of years ago by the Turks, and which has since been toured by Israeli parliament members saying it should be torn down! I was in a cell made for ten and at one time we had twenty one people in it, with mats lying all over the floor and bed bugs crushed on the walls and everyone but me (by the grace of God) had welts on them from their bites!

We had one "bathroom" for all of us in that cell: it was a literal hole in the floor, and the shower pipe (no showerhead) was just over that hole, and a filthy sink, and everyone had to practically beg for toilet paper. I was there for over two weeks before my unjust deportation, after being brought before the Jerusalem magistrate (who refused to release me, being represented by famous Israeli lawyer Naftali Warzberger), and later before Israel's High Court who agreed there was no reason I shouldn't have been set free, that there was no risk of flight, but now they were just going to deport me since my citizenship request was denied.

The Temple Mount Faithful paid for all my legal expenses, recognizing the whole ordeal was politico-religious persecution against all of us, yet the Leftists targeted little ol' me!

Is it a crime to have an abiding love for Israel? To believe what's written in the Law and the Prophets concerning the Temple and our responsibility to construct it? To mourn that it hasn't been done yet? As the Jerusalem Talmud states: "every generation in which the Temple has not been built is as if the Temple were destroyed in it...." Isn't Israel's state emblem a gold menorah in between two gold olive branches?

Must I remain in exile, banished from the Land I love, because my hope, prayer, and dream is for Israel to fulfill what that symbol represents: the Temple and Israel's destiny to become a Light to all nations?

Another chink in Jerusalem's armor...

Fatah Allowed to Campaign in Eastern Jerusalem
16:35 Jan 09, '06 / 9 Tevet 5766
By Hillel Fendel


The Government of Israel, at the behest of the U.S., has decided to allow some PA political campaigning in eastern Jerusalem - even though the Oslo Accords forbid PA political activity in the city.
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How can any "Jewish" government undermine Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem (and therefore throughout all the Holy Land) by permitting sworn enemies to participate in any elections, especially when such Amalekites covet Jerusalem for their capital? With such continued contempt shown to God and His Word, despising our biblical inheritance, no wonder the fascist EU will soon pollute Jerusalem, because clearly foreign ideas and alien ways already rule in too many unclean "Jewish" hearts.

Jews to lose Jerusalem

A surrealist Channukah

A surrealist Channukah

12/26/2005 12:06:00 PM
harry at theviewfromhere.net

The following is a reprinting of something I wrote last year for Channukah. It's kind of cheesy, but totally true and was by far one of the most memorable positive experiences I had in the army.

It was a dark, cold and rainy night at a roadblock on the Green Line somewhere between Beersheva and Hebron. My body was warm due to the hermonit (basically a sleeping bag with legs, sleeves and a hood) but my feet were freezing due to the lack of insulation in IDF issued combat boots. It was the middle of the night and traffic at the roadblock was sparse. Maybe two cars every hour if even that. My mind was occupied (no pun intended) with my imminent military discharge just one week away and thoughts of my future wife. It was Channukah, 1998. A car was approaching the roadblock really, really fast. The horrid trance music was getting louder and louder as the car approached. I motioned with my hand for the car to stop and it complied. As soon as the driver rolled down his window, the pungent smell of weed hit me. Not that I would know what that smells like. Although I believe I once saw someone smoking a marijuana cigarette. Anyway, I also noticed the two striking babes sitting in the back. They were smoking hot.

"This isn't the way to Tel Aviv?" the driver mumbled in Hebrew.
"No," I laughed. "This is the way to Hebron. Turn around, drive five kilometers and make a right at Tzomet Shoket."
"Oy va yoy. Are you American?"
"Yes. A very cold and tired American."
"Stay warm American friend. Don't eat the loof. It is very bad."
"Thanks for the advice."

The car drove off as quickly as it approached and my friend Ohad who remained conspicuously quiet throughout the bizarre dialogue said to me, "Harry, do you know who that was?
"No idea, who?"
"He was an actor from the soap opera Ramat Aviv Gimmel."
"Oh, how funny."

I knew of Ramat Aviv Gimmel but never watched it, for Ohad, it was the highlight of his three years in the army. For me, it was just a surreal experience. Little did I know, the night was going to get even more surreal.

About an hour later, another car approached the roadblock with a hanukia (menorah) attached to the top, blasting celebratory Jewish music. It was of course a Chabad mitzvah tank. The Chabadnikim jumped out of their van grabbed us by the hands and danced with us. A real "what the *** is going on here" experience for me. I usually don't dance with strangers but I let myself go for about twenty seconds.

The chabadnik to my left looks at me and says "Harry?"

I answered "yeah" and I looked really puzzled because I was really puzzled. The only chabadnik I knew was still running Shabbos House in Albany, NY. And needless to say, a remote roadblock on the green line is quite far from Albany.

"It's Tzvi!" he exclaimed in English with a huge smile.
"Hmmm," I thought. "Tzvi...Tzvi....Tzvi. Nope. I don't know anyone named Tzvi." "I'm sorry. I don't know who you are.
"Oh, right. You knew me as Mike Skolnick."

Now Mike Skolnick was a name I was familiar with. I knew him from my Jewish youth movement. Nice enough guy, but not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. Boy had he changed. We chitchatted for a couple of minutes, my army friends commented on how I know more people in this country than they did (I always seemed to bump into someone I knew) and the Chabadnikim gave us a tremendous amount of sufganyot (jelly donuts) and sped off.

Believe it or not a couple of hours later another group of Chabadnikim arrived to deliver sufganyot. They asked us if Chabad had come yet. We said no. Selfish of us yes, ...we were serving our country.

The next morning (although I was sound asleep) we still had about 40 donuts left so my unit gave them to the Palestinian workers who came through our roadblock daily.
It was a weird Channukah. One that I'll never forget.

http://www.theviewfromhere.net

Temple Mount Faithful's Hanukkah demonstration

An Exciting Hanukkah Event of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement in Modi’in the Ancient City of the Maccabees, the Old City of Jerusalem and a March to the Temple Mount on the 8th Day of Hanukkah



The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement performed an exciting event on the eighth day of Hanukkah, Monday the 2nd of Tevet 5766 (2nd January 2006). This event occurred in Modi’in the ancient city of the Maccabees, the Old City of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple Mount the hill of the G–d of Israel. It was one of the most important events of the Faithful Movement and an important stage in our historical struggle and campaign for the rebuilding of the Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem the holy location of the first, second and the third Temple.

It is not an accident that we chose these three holy places for our Hanukkah march to the Temple Mount. These places symbolize so much the struggle of the heroic Maccabees 2173 years ago for the liberation of the Temple Mount from the Greek pagan foreign control and the purification of the Temple from this pagan desecration of the Temple after the Hellenistic Greeks located their idol in the midst of the Holy of Holies. This was the focus and the climax of the Maccabees goal when they began their revolt to liberate Jerusalem and the Land of Israel from Greek rule. They knew that only the liberation and purification of the Temple, the Temple Mount and Jerusalem, the capital of the G-d and people of Israel will open the door for the liberation of all parts of the Land of Israel from Greek rule. They could not live with the shameful and painful situation that the Holy House of G-d and His name were so desecrated and was occupied by pagan foreigners. They felt that their heart and soul was in captivity and as long as this terrible situation continued there was no meaning for them to live. They were ready to sacrifice their lives to relocate their Creator and Father, G–d of Israel, in the midst of their lives on the Temple in Jerusalem.

The Temple Mount Faithful Movement felt the same when they made their Hanukkah march to the Temple Mount. Although the Temple Mount, the heart and the soul of the G-d and the people of Israel were liberated in the g-dly heroic Six Days War in 1967 and it again came under the sovereignty of Israel, the weak leadership of Israel allowed the Arab Muslims to continue their pagan worship on the holy hill of G-d and their desecration of G-d’s Holy Name and the Holy of Holy. The Temple Mount Faithful Movement, like the Maccabees, felt that there was no meaning to their lives as long as this terrible situation continued. We felt the tears of the G–d of Israel in heaven because of what the leaders of His people did. We heard the call of G-d and we immediately answered it. At the same time G–d felt our tears and broken hearts because of this situation. He answered our prayers and call to Him when He anointed and chose us to do our historical g-dly campaign to immediately change this shameful situation and like the Maccabees to reliberate the holy hill of G–d from Arab Islamic pagan presence and worship, to purify it, to rebuild the Temple, to place the G–d of Israel in His Holy House to be a house of prayer and worship for Israel and all the nations exactly as G–d called us to do: “Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56:7).
Like the Maccabees we know that this will open the door for liberation of all parts of the promised land to Abraham and his seed Israel from Arab Islamic presence, violence and desecration and bring to pass all G-d’s end-time prophetic plans exactly as He shared with us through His prophet Isaiah: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. And many people shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for from Zion shall go forth Torah, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall decide for many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war any more” (Isaiah 2:2-4).

When we began our exciting event on the eighth day of Hanukkah we knew that our g-dly campaign was to open a new g-dly end-time era in the life of Israel and all the nations exactly as the exciting prophecy of Isaiah. So, it was not an accident that we made it in Hanukkah, the holy day of the Maccabees, we chose to make it on the eighth day of Hanukkah so that we could light all eight candles of the Hanukkah menorah and we would carry with us to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem a lot of g-dly light that would remove the Arab Islamic darkness from the holy hill of G–d and Jerusalem.

Our holy event started on the morning of that day at Modi’in in front of the tombs of the Maccabees by lighting the eight candles of the Hanukkah menorah and the torch of the Maccabees which we decided to carry to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. It was an exciting moment and we felt the presence of G–d among us and His love to His faithful children. When Ze’ev Bartov from the leadership of the Faithful Movement read from the book of the Maccabees the historical and g-dly statement and message of Shimon the Maccabe, the son of the High Priest Matityahu who started the revolt against the Greeks: “we did not take the foreign land but the land that G–d gave only us in an eternal covenant thousands of years ago and this holy land of Israel was robbed from us by foreigners and now G–d returned it to us by His miracles and noone in the world has any right to it besides Israel the people of G–d”, we felt the presence of the spirit of Shimon the Maccabe among us stating this g-dly eternal message again with the whole world especially with our Arab Islamic enemies who want to rob again from us the land that G–d gave only to Israel in an eternal covenant. We knew that this eternal message to the entire world cannot be changed because only the word of G–d is eternal and will come to pass.

Gershon Salomon shared his words in front of the tombs of the Maccabees about the g–dly heritage of the Maccabees and said that this heritage is actually more important now than at any time in the past. He called on the people of Israel to awake and to create a leadership of vision, faithful to the G–d of Israel and to His word. He called his people not to miss the great opportunity and privilege that G–d gave to our generation to bring to pass all His prophetic end-time plans with Israel and the world. He called them to be a part of the fulfilment of this G–d ly end-time vision that will open a wonderful age in the life of Israel and the whole world under His Kingdom, values, and morals.

The way from Modi’in to Jerusalem started when the youth ran with the torch of the Maccabees to be carried to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. We made our way to Jerusalem in the same path of the battles of the Maccabees against the Romans through the mountains of Beit Horon. It was an exciting biblical area which inspired all of us.

When we arrived at Jerusalem we demonstrated in the midst of the plaza of the Jaffa Gate in the old city of Jerusalem. We again lit the eight candles of the Hanukkah menorah by the torch of the Maccabees. When we swore faithfulness to Jerusalem that will never be divided again and robbed from us we felt the presence of King David and his word among us: “I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand inside your gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built as a city which is bound firmly together; There the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord. For thrones of judgment were set there, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; those who love you shall prosper. Peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces. For my brothers and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within you. Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek your good” (Psalm 122).

Gershon stated in the name of the G–d and the people of Israel that Jerusalem and the holy land of Israel will never fall again or be divided again and we shall sacrifice our lives to avoid it or to allow a foreign so called ‘Palestinian’ state in the midst of Israel, the Temple Mount and Jerusalem, as President Bush, the United Nations, the European Union, our Arab and Islamic enemies and most of the world wish and putting pressure on the weak leadership of Israel to made it happen. He stated in the ears of the people of Israel and the whole world that only the eternal word of G–d and His decision thousands of years ago to give this land, Jerusalem and the Temple Mount only to His people Israel will come to pass.

From Jaffa Gate the Faithful marched through the narrow streets of the old city to the Temple Mount. In front of the holy hill of G–d we again lit the eight candles of the Hanukkah menorah from the torch of the Maccabees with the same prayers that the Maccabees prayed when they arrived at the Temple Mount to liberate it. It was an exciting moment and we felt so strongly the presence of G–d among us so close to the Holy of Holies that is today desecrated by the Dome of the Rock as in the time of the Maccabees when the pagan idol of the Greeks desecrated the same most holy place. We swore to give our lives if necessary for the removal of the Arab Islamic enemy and his pagan shrines from the holy Temple Mount, to purify the holy hill of G–d and to immediately rebuild the Temple as G–d so much desires. Gershon called on the government of Israel to immediately fulfill this expectation of the G–d of Israel from His people Israel. He stated that only this act will bring Israel to a situation where all of our enemies will be defeated and instead of pressure which is now upon Israel from the whole world will come love and appreciation to the people of G–d from the entire world. He started that this is a condition for the opening of G–d ‘s end-time era all over the world exactly according to His word through His prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 2:2-4). He called upon the government and the people of Israel not to miss this major privilege that G–d gave to our generation to be the generation of the fulfilment of all of G–d’s end-time prophetic plans. He calls upon all the world to stand with and encourage Israel who was called and chosen by G–d to be His messenger to fulfill all His end-time vision and to stop any pressure that comes from all over the world. He blessed and thanked so much the friends of the Faithful Movement from outside of Israel who participated in this important g–dly event and opened by this the fulfilment of the end-time vision of the prophet Isaiah and Micah that all the nations will flow to Jerusalem to the G–d of Jacob and His holy mountain.

The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement will continue intensively with our g–dly campaign and the G–d of Israel who was with our Forefathers will continue to be with us and we shall continue to serve Him and all His end-time plans with Israel and with the whole world with all our hearts and devotion. G–d will win His end-time battle against all His enemies who want to stop Him and His people Israel on their way in the Holy Land to establish G–d’s end-time Kingdom and His values and morals from Jerusalem to all over the world. In G–d we trust and He will be with us! Everyone is called to give his hand and to stand with and encourage the Faithful Movement in their holy campaign to bring to pass this holy vision in the life of our generation.



Temple Mount Faithful
4 Yochanan Horkanos
P.O. Box 18325
91182 Jerusalem
ISRAEL
TEL: +972(2)625-1112
TEL/FAX: +972(2)625-1113
Web Site: www.templemountfaithful.org

Shimon Peres abandons the Temple Mount to Europe

www.IsraelNationalNews.com reports:

Politics Creeping Back Up Into Headlines
18:26 Jan 08, '06 / 8 Tevet 5766
By Hillel Fendel


Knesset Speaker Rivlin says it's time for Likud to quit gov't, while Foreign Minister Shalom says he and the three others should remain for now. Acting PM Olmert faces some political challenges too...

The future of Shimon Peres is also not clear. He left Labor several weeks ago to join Kadima, exclusively because of Ariel Sharon. "I do not believe that it is possible to advance the peace process in the current political situation," Peres said at the time, "other than with a coalition. The only one who can lead this is Ariel Sharon." With Sharon all but out of the picture, Peres is now reportedly considering returning to Labor - although aides close to him denied this. He met with Olmert on Friday.

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Of course that bloody vulture Shimon Peres (who came to power over Rabin's dead body) would talk to Ehud Olmert to position himself to return to power. The future of the politicking Shimon Peres is clear: Shimon Peres wants to finish what he has started: the phased destruction of Israel leading to EU occupation of Jerusalem and foreign divisions polluting the Holy Land.

The vulture's German-Jesuit masters have their evil eye on the Temple Mount and have begun their siege against Israeli sovereignty and will soon demand the accursed UN Resolution 181 be enforced with a swift betrayal and swoop to seize the Temple Mount. Watch and weep and save yourselves and your country, O Israel, if it's not too late.

The Kempler Video

Intelligence Summit Misses the Mark: The German-Jesuit Threat to World Peace

The Intelligence Summit Misses the Mark: the German-Jesuit Threat to World Peace


Greetings to one and all, in the name and memory of Herbert W. Armstrong who visited and addressed many leaders of the nations you represent here today. Mr. Armstrong, ambassador for world peace without political portfolio, was a man sent by the Great Creator God (who made all men and determined the boundaries and languages of each nation) to deliver a bittersweet message.

I shall also deliver that bittersweet message, standing before you, facing the nations, dressed in a black t shirt, jeans and sackcloth -- not your typical attire for such important affairs, but these are not normal times and business as usual will soon be history, as you all very much know and express your concern by gathering here in the United States of America to address these issues that threaten all mankind.

The world waits with bated breath to hear the recording of the former tyrant Saddam Hussein and questions whether they will confirm his weapons of mass destruction program and justify President George W. Bush's decision to launch his preemptive attack against belligerent Iraq. Regardless, our American troops have already been dispatched, they have bravely fought and deposed the proud dictator who imagined himself a modern Nebuchadnezzar driven to destroy the Jews, and free elections have now been held in that liberated country - not that democracy alone is the message God has ordained our British-Israelite nations to spread. But I share with you a greater recording that will directly affect each and every one of you, and trouble your nations and bring mankind to the brink of extinction unless that “Strong Unseen Hand from Someplace” intervenes and saves us from ourselves.

From reading Ryan Mauro's book, Death to America: The Unreported Battle of Iraq -- it was impressed upon my mind how mad some Muslims are driven by the jinns of jihad and insanely seek to wreak havoc and destruction upon all the world who rejects their false vision. I gladly testify that not all Muslims share their perverted passion, as is evident in noble men like Sheik Abdul Hadi Palazzi of Rome, Italy.

However, I do solemnly affirm that such spiritual sickness does not only afflict the Muslim world, but that such religious fanaticism is again to rear its ugly head in blood-soaked Europe. Europe's rapid response to jihad will be a new crusade that will slaughter both Arabs and Jews and every Christian who doesn't agree with the Roman Catholic Church!

The Prophet Daniel records some great provocation, an Islamic confederation or network of sorts that is soon to butt heads with Catholic Europe (Daniel 11:40-45), resulting in a blitzkrieg operation that will strike them dead in the Middle East, taking out countries like Egypt and subduing Libya and Ethiopia and undoubtedly overwhelming Iran.

That is good news. Europe -- not America -- will neutralize the Nazi-Muslim threat. However, the bad news is that it will bring out the beast in Europe and only whet their appetite for more blood. Europe will morph into the final revival of the unholy Roman Empire of the German Nation, and demand Jerusalem become an “international city,” as called for by the accursed UN Resolution 181. The Germans and Jesuits have been the major influence behind this strategic move and have their evil eyes on the prize of Jerusalem, especially the coveted Temple Mount.

The whole world has been focusing on Islamic terrorism, as is understandable, but the greatest threat to world peace is the German-dominated European Union! The United States has foolishly been helping to create such a Frankenstein Monster that will brutally betray both the American, British and Jewish peoples. Herbert W. Armstrong warned of this clear and present danger -- as an early warning system -- for years. The weapons of mass destruction that the increasingly fascist EU possess will unleash nuclear terror upon our major cities and rain down death and destruction upon us and those who survive will suffer deportation due to our idolatry and immorality.

These biblical warnings, based upon reliable information obtained from Daniel and the Book of Revelation, are the greatest recording all mankind must hear and heed -- if we're to be spared from WWIII. I'm here to announce this plain truth as a witness and a warning and share it within Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. What you do with it is between you and your Maker, but I encourage you to take it seriously and choose life and help save your respective nations.




David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer in Ohio and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. With a focus on the Middle East and Jerusalem, his analytical articles help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out Beyond Babylon.

Ariel Sharon: Return to the Temple Mount!

THINK-ISRAEL BLOG-EDS

PM SHARON: RETURN TO TEMPLE MOUNT!

by David Ben-Ariel, July 7, 2004.


Dear PM Ariel Sharon:

As you are very much aware, Lubavitcher rabbis presented to the Court of High Heaven a petition against you, signed, sealed and delivered. You have incensed the Great G-d in the Highest Heaven and His servants with your stench of betrayal, despising your biblical birthright and inheritance and expressing a willingness to transfer Jews for a g-dless peace that will only invite bloody German-Jesuit EU intervention and disaster for British-Israelites and Jews worldwide!

The Master of the Universe empowered you to become prime minister of His Homeland and took you from your ranch in the Negev to help shepherd His People and your brethren and protect them from the many wolves within and without the Holy Land. Instead you have been branded as one who would dismember our Mother (Israel) and dismantle the Temple (Jerusalem and the Temple Mount) by following the blind leadership of President George W. Bush with his road map that seeks to throw away the biblical blueprint for a just and lasting solution for peace in the Middle East!

You were rewarded with your position as leader of Judah, sanctified from the day you set foot upon G-d's Holy Mountain and reminded the whole world of its supreme importance. You were to use your G-d given power and influence as a Chariot/Tank of G-d to roll over and crush the enemies of G-d and Israel fearlessly, like the Warrior-King David fought the battles of the L-RD! You were to strike terror into the wicked heart of Amalek and faithfully destroy every threat to the Land and People of Israel (Zech. 12:6) with G-d as your fiery shield! (Zech. 12:6). Just because you're not religious doesn't mean the Great G-d of the Hebrews can't use you to help fulfill His plans and purpose for Jerusalem and Israel. You should have joined hands with your British-Israelite brethen, and encouraged them to utterly defeat our common terrorist foes! (Zech. 9:13). G-D WOULD HAVE BLESSED YOUR EFFORTS!

You can redeem yourself, save your skin and salvation! How? RETURN TO THE TEMPLE MOUNT THAT EMPOWERED YOU! Clearly stake Israeli sovereignty over it in no uncertain terms, throwing down the wicked Nazi Wakf from Judaism's holiest site, just as the Romans evicted the corrupt Sanhedrin from the noble enclosure!

Make aliyah to Har HaBayit with Gershon Salomon, Chaim Richman, Rav Ariel and other men of G-d and pray for Israel's deliverance and receive it! Only then would the aforementioned rabbis letter be returned to sender, marked null and void. This opportunity of a lifetime is yours for the asking. It's your responsibility. It's your choice!

Shema Ariel Sharon: Choose life and live and prosper!

For Zion's Sake,

David Ben-Ariel

David Ben-Ariel is author of "Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall" http://www.pushhamburger.com/david.htm

Tevet: the Babylonian siege begins

This is the month when the Babylonian siege against Jerusalem began (Tevet 10 - the day I was born), and now with the criminal and traitor General Sharon out of the way (who was bribed and sold out Israel to his German-Jesuit masters), the threat of Iran going nuclear, Iraq becoming part of "Greater Iran" (rather than part of Greater Israel as it should be since it's liberated holy land), and Shimon Peres being outed as an accomplice in the murder of Yitzhak Rabin with posters crying out for justice throughout Tel Aviv and Jerusalem stating the "Killers are Free," the pieces are certainly being set up on the international chessboard for a major showdown!

Vatican muscling in on Jerusalem

Vatican muscling in on Jerusalem
By Stan Goodenough

January 4th, 2006

The Roman Catholic Church says the Jewish state cannot be trusted to
exercise control over the city of Jerusalem – ancient and eternal capital of
the people of Israel.

In a statement whose arrogance and contempt he seemingly could not see, the
Vatican’s legal advisor in Israel, David Jaeger, told an international
conference in Haifa Tuesday that Jerusalem was too important a city to leave
in the hands of either “Palestinians” or Jews.

Jaeger’s view was that the status of Jerusalem required the approval of the
international community as a whole.

Ironically the Vatican, which claims to be spiritual home to one billion of
the world’s Christians, rejects the biblical stipulation granting
everlasting possession of ancient Canaan, inclusive of Jerusalem, to the
Jewish people.

Since 1947 it has sought to have Jerusalem internationalized, confident that
with Rome’s massive global constituency the pope will be able to exercise
substantial control over the city.

Jaeger is historically on solid ground when he says the Palestinian Arabs
should have no say over Jerusalem. The city has never been an Arab capital
and the “Palestinians” have no historic or national rights to it (or to any
other part of Israel’s biblical homeland).

The Jews, by contrast, have venerated the city as their holiest site for
over 3000 years. Israel is the only nation that has ever had Jerusalem as
its capital. During centuries of exile, Jews everywhere prayed daily to
return to Jerusalem in order to be able to once again worship their God in
this place.

Jerusalem is described in the New Testament as the “City of the great King,”
referring to Jesus of Nazareth who also bears the title King of the Jews.
The book of Revelation, foretelling Jesus’ return to Jerusalem, calls Him
the Lion of the Tribe of Judah – i.e. He remains Jewish.

In recent history, it has only been while under Jewish administration that
Jerusalem has flourished and that protected access to all of its holy places
(including Christian and Muslim sites) has been guaranteed.

Between 1949 and 1967, when the Arab kingdom of Jordan occupied the eastern
part of the city, the rights of Jews and Christians to visit their holy
places was restricted, sometimes denied. The Jewish Quarter of the Old City
was left to rot, its synagogues sacked and burned.

Despite this, the Vatican believes it should have a say that could deny the
right of the Jewish people to keep their beloved capital in their hands.
Copyright 2002-2004 Jerusalem Newswire Print Close

********************************************************

I'm glad to see Stan Goodenough (a long lost relative - we both descend from Mayflower Pilgrims John and Priscilla Alden, as we discovered in his Jerusalem office where I went to meet him and present him with a copy of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall in 1995) speaking out strongly against the vile Vatican's designs on Jerusalem, and I agree that the Muslims can't be trusted to protect holy sites, and the Catholics can't be trusted, but Israeli rule hasn't guaranteed Christian and Jewish rights to pray or worship upon the Temple Mount as he very wells knows, having been taken into "protective custody" (just like I was once also) for trying to exercise his religious rights upon the Temple Mount.

UN Resolution 181: Blueprint of the Beast?

Vatican also wants Jerusalem?

Vatican envoy: Israel, Palestinians cannot be trusted to safeguard holy sites
Ahiya Raved

Israel cannot be trusted? The Vatican's legal advisor in Israel, David Jaeger, harshly criticized Israel’s policy regarding safeguarding Christian holy sites.
Speaking during an international conference at a Haifa University conference Tuesday, Jaeger said Jerusalem is an important city the fate of which should not be left in the hands of Israel and the Palestinians.

Any solution to the status of Jerusalem needs the approval of the international community, said Jaeger, adding that the Palestinian Authority has also failed in keeping with international conventions on preserving holy sites.

Jaeger said there is a contradiction between agreements signed between Israel and the Vatican on preserving Christian Holy sites and Israeli laws dating from the British mandate in Palestine.

The Israeli government took away the courts' authority to deal with issues related to lands and funds belonging to the Roman Catholic Church, causing legal disputes that have been dragging in courts for years, the Vatican envoy said.

The conference is a unique opportunity to hold academic discussions of issues pertaining to Jerusalem and holy sites, bring together intellectuals and experts from Israel, the territories and the international community.

Dr. Yitzhak Reiter, one of the event's organizers, said: “Our aim is to hold a discussion on the burning issue of Jerusalem – at a time of relative calm – in an attempt to try finding solutions acceptable to all sides. We should remember that the breakthrough that led to the Oslo Accord started with a similar discourse between Israeli and Palestinian intellectuals under international sponsorship."

*********************************************************************


39. UN Resolution 181: Blueprint of the Beast?

This is the latest salvo from the bloody Roman Catholic Church against Jewish sovereignty over their God-given capital of Jerusalem (interesting coming in this Hebrew month of Tevet that marks the beginning of the siege against Jerusalem by the other Babylonians), and will end with brutal EU occupation of the Holy City, betraying both Arabs and Jews.

UN Resolution 181: Blueprint of the Beast?

David Ben-Ariel , Toledo, USA/Menashe (01.04.06)

Remove the mosques, build the Temple!

Moslem Inciters Accuse Israel of Undermining Al-Aksa
16:58 Jan 03, '06 / 3 Tevet 5766
By Scott Shiloh




Moslem incitement on the Temple Mount has reached new depths, so to speak, as the chief cleric of the Al-Aksa mosque accuses Israel of building a synagogue under the mosque.


The cleric, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, said at a news conference on Tuesday that Israel was building the synagogue in order to cause the mosque to collapse.

Israel has formally denied the charges, stating categorically that nothing at all was being developed under the mosque, let alone a synagogue.

A key speaker at the conference was Sheikh Ekrema Sabri, who holds the position of “General Mufti for Jerusalem and Palestine” for the Palestinian Authority.

Sabri told Wafa, the news agency for the Palestine Liberation Organization (the PA’s umbrella organization), that “the Israeli authorities have been exploiting the big gates of the western side of Al-Aqsa since 1996 through conducting a series of excavation works which ended with clandestinely erecting a synagogue.”

Another speaker at the news conference was Sheikh Raed Salah, head of Israel’s Islamic movement in the Galilee. Salah recently finished serving jail time after being convicted of providing assistance to a terrorist organization.

Salah threatened that Israel will be faced with war with the entire Moslem world for opening and excavating an underground tunnel parallel to the Western Wall. That tunnel has been opened to tourists since 1996.

Regarding the purported synagogue, Salah said it contained a model of the Temple and was located 27 meters from the Mosque of Omar, located roughly on the site where the Temple once stood.

Sabri said that the construction of the synagogue, which he described as having five rooms, “proves that the Israelis did not find any sign of the Temple. That is why they made up some rooms to vaguely narrate their religious history.”

The Palestinian Authority has repeatedly used attempts to deny the existence the Jewish Temples as a means to bolster their claim that the Jewish people have no legitimate rights to the land of Israel or Jerusalem.

The PA’s denial of the Temple’s existence was raised in the negotiations that took place at Camp David in the summer of 2000, just before the outbreak of the Oslo War. The issue was one of the factors leading to the breakdown of the talks.

Leading Israeli archeologists and Biblical scholars have accused the Moslem Wakf, or religious trust, of deliberately attempting to wipe out the archeological remains of the Temple. Over the past few years, the Wakf has been carrying out large-scale excavations on the Mount, especially beneath the Al-Aksa mosque, in an effort to expand the size of the mosque to accommodate thousands of worshippers.

Much of the earth excavated from that project, which is suspected of containing rich archeological remains dating from the First and Second Temples, has been dumped as garbage at Jerusalem refuse sites.

****************************************


Enough is enough. It's past time for Israel to reclaim Judaism's holiest site - forget the Wall of Tears designated by a Turk - and worship in the Third Temple with nothing to hide or apologize for to anybody. Let Israel liberate the Temple Mount from its Nazi-Muslim occupation and cleanse it of foreign objects. The House of Prayer for All Peoples can become reality if Israel restores the Temple Mount to their hands and shows a pure heart in doing so.

Hanukkah: the Light at the Door

The Light at the Door

Tevet 2, 5766/January 1, 2006


Eighth Light of Chanuka


One doesn't have to be at home in order to fulfill G-d's commandments; as the Torah instructs us, "you shall talk of them… when you walk by the way" (Deut. 6). It may be difficult, but we can fulfill His will while on the road, as we have for nearly 2,000 years, on the long road of exile. We Jews are no strangers to wandering, and the desert tabernacle itself that accompanied the Children of Israel throughout their journeys was the very embodiment of the concept that G-d Himself wanders along with us in this world, while we are on the way to our permanent home.


In the time of the Holy Temple, proper celebration of the three major pilgrimage festivals meant leaving home. From all over the Land of Israel and from as far away as Babylon, Jewish people departed from their homes and made the long trek to Jerusalem and the Holy Temple "to be seen there by G-d" (Ex. 23). In leaving their homes, they left all their material possessions behind, and received a Divine guarantee that all would be well in their absence, and "and no man shall covet your land" (Ex. 39) while you are away from home.


The Passover offering was not to be eaten at home; it had to be partaken of in Jerusalem, and somehow all of Israel crowded into the holy city and found lodging for the festival. All were considered guests; thus our sages teach that no Jerusalemite charged for lodging, since "all are guests in Jerusalem" – even the locals who live there, for it is G-d's portion.


Obviously, one does not need a "home" to celebrate Sukkot, the festival of Tabernacles… for G-d instructs us that to properly observe this holiday, we must leave our homes behind, and dwell in temporary booths for seven days! (Lev. 23).


Indeed, the true exception to this rule is the holiday of Chanukah, which the entire house of Israel has been observing for the past week. Of all Jewish holidays, the eight day observance of Chanukah is unique. One aspect of this uniqueness is that holiday, the time of the rededication of the Second Temple and Israel's victory over foreign oppression, is the only holiday which really requires that we be at home, in order to observe it properly and fulfill its requirements. The special chanukiah, the eight-branched candelabra used to kindle the lights that commemorate the miracle of the oil that lasted for eight days in the Temple menorah, is preferably to be placed outside the home, next to the entrance. The family gathers together by the door of the home to light these flames, and the light is symbolically brought into the home.


So Chanukah is really the holiday of the home. This idea should come as no surprise… after all, it is the holiday of the Holy Temple, G-d's home. Without that home, without the proper abode for the Presence of G-d among us, what value or significance do our own homes have?


And how ironic that this holiday of the home, of G-d's and ours, is being observed as another homeless festival by the selfless and dedicated Jews of Gush Katif whose suffering rises to heaven, expelled by a Jewish government from their homes, and still wandering, five months later, the majority of whom have still received no permanent housing and no compensation. The story has all but disappeared from most headlines, but the people have not.


But the light of Chanukah is no ordinary light. As we have discussed on recent installments of Temple Talk, the commonplace usage of the word "light" is simply in reference to the absence of darkness. But there is a higher and holier form of light, so bright that we have not the capacity to comprehend its beauty, and it actually appears to us, with our limited intellect and spiritual small-mindedness, as darkness… the darkness which our sages refer to as the secret of "the darkness of holiness." The Chanukah lights we kindle during each night of the holiday are a revelation of the sublime "hidden light of creation" which, we are taught, served Adam in the Garden of Eden before the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, and was then hidden away by G-d for the righteous in the World to Come. This light, also an illumination of the original light kindled by the High Priest in the Holy Temple, is revealed once again during each night of Chanukah.


Another aspect of the uniqueness of Chanukah is the degree in which it is universally commemorated by so many Jews the world over, even by those who are only moderately (or practically not at all) observant. Even amongst those whose Jewish identity is flickering at a bare minimum and who hold to few other practices, gather together to kindle the Chanukah lights. Some writers have minimized the significance of this phenomena and have attributed it to the fact that it's easy enough to light some candles… there's not much effort involved. But according to the deepest sources of our tradition, the attraction is simple enough to understand, for as our sages have stated if the "children of Israel are not prophets, then they are certainly the sons of prophets" (BT Tractate Pesachim) and thus on the deepest intuitive level every Jew knows the truth: this is a chance to rekindle that original holy light and receive the highest illumination of the hidden light of creation… every year, when the kindle the Chanukah lights, this light shines once again in our homes, in our hearts, however briefly, refracted through us, through our families, our children. Indeed, Chanukah, a word denoting "dedication" – as in the rededication of the Temple by the victorious Macabees – is also a form of the word chinuch, meaning "education." Our children, whom we strive to educate in the knowledge of Torah, are the bearers of the hidden light; they are the true secret meaning of the victory of Chanukah, the victory of light over darkness.


The goal of the wicked King Antiochus and the Greek invaders was not the physical annihilation of the Jewish people. True, they slaughtered countless Jews as part of their offensive, but their real goal, as we recall in the special holiday prayers recited during Chanukah, was "to make Israel forget Your Torah, and to cause them to transgress Your will." This war, in which the desecration of the Holy Temple was the focal point, was based upon decrees that were enacted against the Jewish religion, and was designed to conceal the presence of G-d in the world.


Historical sources such as the Book of Maccabees and other writings reveal that the most problematical aspects of this war were not those posed by the Greeks. The brave and heroic Matityahu and his brothers, sons of the High Priest Yochanan, had to confront and do battle against those Hellenistic Jews who fought against the Torah from within the body of Israel. These apologist, rebellious Jews, only too eager and willing to be agents for the Greeks, were ashamed of their Jewish heritage and identity and sought to obliterate the unique spiritual quality of the people of Israel. To find favor with the Greeks, they offered up pigs on the altar, hid the sign of their circumcision, and made every effort to turn their backs on Judaism and emulate the foreigners. The first blow which "Judah the Hammer" struck in the war against King Antiochus, the war of Chanukah, was against these pathetic yet insidious Jewish turncoats. And "Macabee," from which "Judah the Hammer" takes his name from the words that formed his battle cry, which he shouted out while going into war: "Who is Like You, Hashem, among gods?" For there are no other gods but Him. (The Hebrew word "Macabee" is an acrostic formed of the first letters of these words).


Now, as we prepare to usher in the last day of Chanukah, we can reflect upon these things. Chanukah is all about the never-ending spiritual struggle of maintaining our identity and focusing, at all costs, upon our spiritual mission in this world. At this time of political upheaval and the total bankruptcy of Israel's political establishment, Judah the Macabee's battle cry still rings true: The biggest problem that we continue face is from within. There are those amongst us, perhaps at the highest echelons, who seek "to make Israel forget Your Torah, and to cause them to transgress Your will."


Tonight, on the last night of Chanukah, the holiness of this light reaches a tremendous crescendo. According to tradition, all the sanctity and purity of Chanukah, and all of its potential for spiritual growth and progress, is concentrated into this last day of the festival, making it an ideal time for repentance. In fact our sages stress that the same gates of repentance that opened for Yom Kippur are open again now. But true repentance, in the spirit of Chanukah, requires us to bravely and unabashedly declare, at all costs and for all to hear, that there are no other gods but Him.


With blessings of Chanukah light,


Rabbi Chaim Richman
THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500

Hanukkah: against all odds

The irony of miracles


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Freund, THE JERUSALEM POST Dec. 28, 2005

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Thank God it is Hanukka this week - the holiday could not possibly have come
at a more opportune or meaningful moment for the Jewish people.

Israel's elections may be just three months away, but the mud and dirt
associated with campaigning have already begun to fly, filling the air and
the news with a pall of internal dissension and political strife.

The Palestinians continue to fire rockets at Israel's towns and cities and
to dispatch their youth on lethal missions of murder and mayhem, all of
which are aimed at breaking our collective spirit and forcing us off still
more of our land.

Neither Right nor Left seems able to offer much of a vision for the
country's future, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between
them, while a seemingly record number of elected officials have either been
indicted or are under investigation.

In light of all this, it is hardly surprising that some have started to
wonder whether the dream that gave birth to this country might be running
out of steam.

Yet it is precisely at times such as this, when our people are divided from
within and under assault from without, that Hanukka takes on added resonance
and significance.

Consider for a moment the principal ceremony of the holiday. The ritual
centers around fire, which escalates in power and magnitude each night as we
kindle additional candles over an eight day period.

I don't mean to be facetious, but the fact is that our nation's experience
with fire over the centuries has been far from pleasant. From the flames
which consumed the Temples in Jerusalem, to the medieval burning of the
Talmud in places such as Paris and Venice, to the ovens of Nazi Europe, fire
has served time and again to wreak havoc and destruction on the Jewish
people.

In recent years, the shells of burned out buses on the streets of Tel Aviv
and Jerusalem, and the inferno that consumed Joseph's Tomb in Shechem,
served as painful reminders of our enemies' timeless, and searing, hatred.

IT ALMOST seems incongruous, then, to be using fire, of all things, to
commemorate our deliverance from the Syrian-Greeks over two millennia ago.
Couldn't some other less ironic instrument have been chosen instead?

But that is exactly the point, for it is irony which lies at the root both
of the miracles of the past, and of those still yet to come.

Indeed, one of the central themes of Hanukka, as the special Al HaNissim
prayer inserted into the liturgy states, is that God "turned over the strong
to the weak, and the many to the few." In other words, what was incongruous,
inconceivable and downright inexplicable nonetheless became reality.

And it is that theme - the irony of Jewish survival despite the odds - that
embodies not only the story of Hanukka, but of our modern-day return and
rebirth as a nation.

By striking a match and bringing a small flame into the world to light the
Hanukka candles, we are sending a message of defiance. We are telling our
enemies that all their efforts to consume us have and will come to naught,
for we are still very much here.

And despite all the devastation they have wrought on us through the use of
fire, we will not be deterred from kindling our own unique light, with which
we will one day illuminate the world.

But there is, I think, still a deeper message to be found in Hanukka, one
that is especially apt for a nation such as ours that finds itself so
utterly divided.

When you next light the candles, take a few steps back and watch. If you
look carefully, you'll see how the flames dance from side to side, each one
moving with its own unique rhythm, flickering and sparkling independent of
each other.

Some candles will burn faster, others will go slower. There are those which
sit on the right side of the Hanukkia, and those whose place is on the left.
Regardless, all come together at the base, which unites the disparate
branches to fulfill one central purpose: creating a crescendo of light whose
sum is greater than its parts.

That is the challenge facing Israeli society - to craft a framework in which
each flame has room to dance individually while still remaining part of a
cohesive whole. Obviously, this is far more difficult to achieve than merely
kindling a few candles. But the lesson of Hanukka is that it can, and will,
be done.

The writer served as deputy director of communications & policy planning in
the Prime Minister's Office under former premier Binyamin Netanyahu. He is
currently chairman of Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org), a Jerusalem-based
group that assists "lost Jews" seeking to return to the Jewish people.

Religious Zionists Share Hanukkah Light with Secular Israelis

Religious Zionists Share Hanukkah Light with Secular Israelis

By Debbie Berman and Baruch Gordon

In the wake of the Disengagement, the religious Zionist population is taking a more active role in outreach activities directed at engaging the secular Israeli public in an open religious dialogue.

During the holiday of Hanukkah, hundreds of religious volunteers were welcomed into Israeli homes to light candles together and enhance the celebration of the festival of lights.

Under the auspices of the OU Israel Center, Israel Outreach Project Manager Meir Schwartz says the religious Zionist world began developing outreach programs four years ago. "But," says Schwartz, "the destruction of the Jewish communities of Gush Katif and northern Samaria this past summer served as a wake up call for many in the religious Zionist public. People realized after the Disengagement that if we want to connect to the Israeli public, we need to do more than face the challenge of settling the Land. We need to reach their hearts through increasing our outreach efforts.”

Schwartz runs training programs to prepare religious Israeli students and adults to engage in dialogue with secular Israelis. “We are in the middle of our fourth 10-week course right now with close to 100 attendees. Participants always arrive thinking that only when they master the entire Torah can they do outreach work. They think that to engage in outreach, they must be able to answer any and every question about Judaism on the fly. What they see is that there is much room for work on all levels and that they can and must be an integral part of it. They simply get ignited. It's a new kind of activism,” Schwartz said.

“We have special programs for all the holidays. During Hanukkah we sent hundreds of people out to knock on doors, armed with menorahs and candles. Many people were happy to open their homes and let our volunteers in. What was surprising to us was that we really did not need to send the menorahs because people already had their own,” Schwartz said.

“You see, secular Israelis are already celebrating Hanukkah without us. What we added was a religious perspective to a seemingly secularized holiday. We found that people in the State of Israel are happy to keep commandments that are not forced upon them. Hanukkah is a holiday of light, transcending the rational, and appealing to the spiritual. With the increased popularity of the Kabbalah trend, there is a greater familiarity with the concepts of external vs. internal light or black vs. white light,” explained Schwartz.

Meir related a fresh story: "One of our people who went house to house on Wednesday engaged a grandfather with his two grandchildren. The man said that they were at a public Hanukkah candle lighting that night and didn't need to do it again. Our activist, Baruch, explained that in addition to the public lighting, each person must light the menorah in his home or where he is staying. The grandfather hesitated, so Baruch kneeled down and asked the kids if they want to light their very own menorah. Their eyes lit up and a few minutes later, the menorahs were lit as well, including one for the grandfather. Baruch chanted the blessings with them, word by word. Then, he danced around the menorahs singing with his three new friends and spun around the room with the kids like a dreidel."

Schwartz says that his organization has recently launched several programs including face to face meetings and the creation of open Jewish homes throughout the country. He invites people who want to work and help to contact him [050-794-8613, msch@walla.com]. The programs are coordinated with the support and guidance of rabbinic leaders like Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu and Rabbi Uri Sharki.

Schwartz explained, “A ‘Beyit Yehudi’ [Jewish Home] is a vibrant spiritual center where we offer people to come and encounter Judaism in ways they never have before. There are lectures, musical events, evenings of singing, one-on-one study, festive meals, and much more. It's a chance to experience firsthand a taste of Judaism without having to walk into a synagogue. The ‘Beyit Yehudi’ is an open house that invites people.” There are currently Beyit Yehudi homes operating in Ramat Hasharon near Tel Aviv, Tiberias, Ariel, Moshav Lachish and Kibbutz Naan.

Talking about the hareidi-religious outreach organizations, Schwartz said that they have many successful programs. "They were the first to deal with outreach work in Israel. Every hareidi-religious group has their outreach branches, including Belz, Chabad, Breslov, Arachim etc. I speak with their directors and learn from their experience,” explained Schwartz.

“Two problems that the hareidi-religious organizations must deal with is that the black hat and clothes traditionally worn by them are often perceived as threatening to the secular Israeli. Also, the hareidi-religious communities tend to associate only amongst themselves. This creates a situation in which it is more difficult to connect," Schwartz noted.

“We found that on a practical level a person wearing a knitted kipah has a greater chance of being received by the secular population for two reasons: we serve together with them in the army, and we are involved with them on a day to day level,” Schwartz stated.

Schwartz concluded, “The story of Hanukkah is really about a cultural war against Greek assimilation. Although secular Israelis associate themselves primarily with secular culture, most of them are lighting the Hanukkah menorah and reciting the traditional blessings. There seems to be some kind of contradiction. The truth is that deep inside of the secular Israeli is a Jewish soul guiding him to continue lighting Hanukkah candles.”

US Jews Celebrate Chanukah By Moving to Israel

Photo Essay: US Jews Celebrate Chanukah By Moving to Israel

By Ezra HaLevi

A plane filled with North American Jews landed in Israel on Wednesday, the third day of Chanukah, topping off a year or record Aliyah-by-choice to Israel from the United States and Canada.

The holiday of Chanukah?

BS"D

YESHIVAT HARA'AYON HAYEHUDI
Jerusalem, Israel
HaRav Yehuda Kroizer SHLIT"A, Rosh Yeshiva

PARSHAT MIKETZ/CHANUKAH/ROSH CHODESH
30 Kislev, 5766/30-31 December, 2005


AND WHAT IF YOU WERE THERE....

Ever wonder how great it would be to be alive in the times of the
Maccabees? Sitting around the campfire, eating latkes and sufganiyot (jelly
donuts)... Exchanging presents and giving Chanukah gelt (money) to the
kids... Oh, how I love this holiday. And how it falls out at the same time
as the pagan holiday, why, that just adds to the wonderful atmosphere that
there is at this time of the year, with great holiday sales going on all
over... And wouldn’t you know it, why, there's Yehuda Maccabee walking down
the street now. Hey, what's that in his hand??? Oh my, a very big sword, now
what on earth is he doing with that??? Oh my, he just chopped off the heads
of the local Jewish Council. Oh my, why would he be doing that?? I better
get out of here; come to think of it, I do not want to be here at all!

The holiday of Chanukah. Everyone loves it, and why not - it’s a nice
holiday, the Jews get to eat, sing songs and play draidle. But if you lived
in the time of the Chashmona'im, would you be one of the people that Yehuda
and his brothers fought in their 25-year war against the Greeks - or would
you be on the side of the few against the many? In truth, not many were.

More than any other holiday, Chanukah has lost its way. What once was a
fight of the "tahurim"/the pure and just against the wicked - the light
against the darkness - has turned into one big salad. Most people today who
proudly show off their large chanukiyahs and eat their hot, oily latkes -
would have found themselves on the other side of the sword, along with the
Greeks running for their lives from the strong hand of the Maccabees.

Interestingly enough, we find that when our Rabbis, of blessed memory,
wrote the "Al Hanissim" (On the miracles) which we recite in our daily
prayer books during the days of Chanukah, they talk only about the war of
the righteous against the wicked, the few against the many, good against
evil. Strikingly absent is the most famous of all the Chanukah stories, the
story of the small amount of oil that was found among the broken vessels and
which lasted for eight days. How could our Rabbis of old leave out this most
famous part of the Chanukah story?

The war against the Greeks in the Land of Israel was a very hard and
bloody one, with tens of thousands of Jews being put to death by the hands
of the Greeks and their mercenary army. Good people began to question if the
war was really worth the huge cost. True, life under the the Greeks was
unbearable, with yeshivas being closed down, Jews unable to keep Shabbat and
holidays or any other aspect of Jewish life... as the Greeks tried to close
down Jewish life as we know it. But still, with whole villages being razed
by the Greeks, the thought came up that just maybe, the war was not really
worth the price.

With the liberation of our Holy Temple in Jerusalem, the answer came
from on high. More than anything else, the miracle of the oil was Hashem's
way of telling His people that this was the right direction - His seal of
approval, so to speak, on what was going on in the battlefield. That is why
our Rabbis did not place the miracle of the oil in the daily prayer books -
because it came just to reinforce the main aspect of Chanukah, namely, the
culture battle which the Maccabees waged against the Greeks.

The essence of Chanukah is the spirit of the Jew rising up for his
religious freedom, a freedom without which it is certainly not worth living.
For just to be as all the other nations, as the Greeks so much wanted the
Jews to become, has absolutely no meaning. If the Maccabees stand for
anything, it is that it is worth dying for the merit to live as a Torah Jew
dedicated to the service of Hashem.

Now, which side of the fence would you be on if you lived in the time of
the Maccabees?


With love of Israel,
Levi Chazen


****************************************************************************
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Temple Mount Faithful Hanukkah Demonstration

Three exciting events and demonstrations of The Temple Mount Faithful Movement on the 8th day of Hanukkah in Modi’in, the old city of Jerusalem, and on the Temple Mount

On the eighth day of Hanukkah, Monday 2nd of Tevet 5766 (2nd January 2006), the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement will perform three events. We shall gather ourselves at 9 a.m. that day in the parking place of Binyanei Haumah in the entrance of Jerusalem. From there we will travel by bus to the tombs of the Maccabees which are located in Modi’in in the ancient area where the Maccabees lived and started their revolt against the Greeks. From Modi’in we shall return to Jerusalem and demonstrate in the old city of Jerusalem and then march to the Temple Mount.

This important event will occur 2173 years after the great historical uprising of the Maccabees against the Hellenistic Greek Empire which controlled the land of Israel. The Greeks placed their idol in the Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem and desecrated it terribly. They tried to force their pagan faith and culture on the Jews in the Land of Israel in a very cruel way. They used to go from city to city and from village to village and place the idol in their midst and to force the Jews to bow to it and to eat pork.

Most Jews, especially in the big cities were strongly under the impact of the Hellenistic faith and culture after years of cruel subjugation to the Greeks. The Jews lost their land, their independence, and their identity. They were in terrible danger of losing their national existence as the people of the G–d of Israel. However, the Greeks did not understand or appreciate how strong the godly spirit of some of the faithful Jewish people was who still survived in the villages of the country area.

The revolt of the Maccabees, a small minority against a big majority of the greatest empire of that time started in a small village, 20 miles from Jerusalem, called Modi’in. When the Greeks came to the village and forced the Jews to bow to the idol that they placed on the alter which they built there and forced them to eat pork G–d raised his faithful messenger. It was Mattityahu the Hashmonai, the High Priest, the father of the Maccabe family, that created the great Maccabe revolution and revolt and in the name of the G–d of Israel defeated the greatest empire of that time, the Greeks. He called: “Those who are with G–d will come with me”. He killed the Greek soldiers, destroyed their alter and the idol, and burned the pork.

The Maccabees started an heroic revolt which its goal was to liberate the land of Israel and to throw out from the land the Greek rule and their big army and to save the Jewish identity of the nation from the Hellenistic influence. Their main goal was to first liberate the head, the heart and the soul of the Jewish people where the G–d of Israel dwells: the Temple, the Temple Mount and Jerusalem. After very difficult battles by a small minority against a big army that the Greeks sent again and again against the Maccabees they defeated the Greek armies, liberated Jerusalem and all the land, purified the Temple, and renewed the worship to the G–d of Israel. It was the G–d of Israel who fought with the Maccabees and gave them the great victory exactly as in the time of Gideon. Then the Maccabees made their godly national struggle against the Hellenists Jews who were the national majority and renewed the faith in the G–d of Israel, His Word and culture among the Jewish people who became faithful to their eternal G–d and creator, the G–d of Israel. The Maccabees saved the Jewish people from losing their G–d, His Holy Temple, Jerusalem the eternal capital of the G–d and people of Israel and the land of Israel that gave G-d them in an eternal covenant.

Israel is now in a very similar and critical time in our history. Israel is surrounded by so many enemies, the Arab Islamic world who want to destroy her and to rob from her the land that G–d gave only to Israel forever and for a godly purpose. A very strong pressure is coming from all the world, especially from the west and the United Nation organization to give away the main biblical parts of the land and the heart and soul of the Jewish people, the Temple Mount and Jerusalem to the foreign and cruel enemies and terrorists, so called “Palestinians”. All of this is coming in a time of weakness of leadership in Israel while so many Israelis are under strong influence from western secular culture.

The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement decided like the Maccabees to again answer the call of the G–d of Israel and the Maccabees and the call of Mattityahu the Hashmonai: “Those who are with G–d will come with me”. This is a godly and heroic struggle to liberate the Temple Mount to purify the holy hill of G–d from Arab Islamic desecration, to rebuild the Temple and to consecrate it to the name of the G–d of Israel so that He can dwell there. The Faithful Movement decided to liberate Jerusalem from Arab Islamic and international pressure and to liberate all parts of the land of Israel which are under Arab Islamic and foreign control. The Faithful Movement decided to save the godly identity of Israel and to again make Israel to be a biblical nation with a biblical mission faithful only to the G–d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and to His Word and His Law. This is the same battle as the Maccabees and like the Maccabees we shall win together with the G–d of Israel this critical godly battle.

The exciting godly events that the Faithful Movement will hold on Hannukah will be in this context and an important stage of the heroic campaign of the end-time vessel of G–d. When we shall come in the morning to the tombs of the Maccabees, we shall swear faithfulness to the godly heritage of the Maccabees. We shall light the Maccabees menorah and torch and after this special ceremony we shall run with the torch of the Maccabees, carrying their heritage to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. It will be through the same way of the mountains of Bait Heron where the Maccabees made their main battles against the Greeks on their way to liberate the Temple Mount and Jerusalem .In the middle of the plaza of the Jaffa Gate in the old city of Jerusalem we shall demonstrate against the founding of a foreign, terror and anti-godly so called “Palestinian” State in the midst of the holy Land of the G–d and people of Israel which will desecrate the Name of G–d and His Covenant with His people Israel. We shall reject the foreign pressure which is coming from the whole world to divide the land of Israel. The chairman of the movement Gershon Salomon will warn especially President Bush of the U.S.A., the European Union and the U.N. organization from putting pressure on Israel to found a so called “Palestinian” State in Israel. He will tell them in the name of the G–d of Israel that His judgement upon them, which has already started, is soon to come on all of them. Then we shall light again in this place the Channukah menorah with the torch of the Maccabees which we shall bring from their tombs.

From Jaffa gate we shall march in the old streets of the old city to the Temple Mount where we will light the Hannukah menorah with the torch of the Maccabees. We shall swear faithfulness to the G–d of Israel, His Word, and to the eternal heritage of faith and way of life that He gave to His people Israel. We shall swear to continue our godly campaign to rebuild the house of G–d in our lifetime. Gershon will call on the government of Israel to obey the word of G–d to His people Israel, to follow the godly heritage of the Maccabees and to immediately rebuild the Temple and to make it as G–d commanded us a house of prayer, worship and love for Israel and all nations (Isaiah 56).

This event will take place in a very critical time of birth pains of redemption of the people and the land of Israel, like it was in the time of the Maccabees. Everyone should know that despite the critical events which are happening in Israel now, the land and the people of Israel are in the middle of the prophetic godly time of redemption. The pains are just the last stage before the complete redemption of the people and the land of Israel that will open the door before the redemption of all the world and mankind. Like the whole world, the leadership of Israel is unfortunately blind to understand and to accept this. The historical task of the Faithful Movement is to open the eyes of the leadership of Israel and the entire world, to follow the word of the G–d of Israel, and to rebuild His house so that He, His values, Word, Laws, and right way of life will dwell among His people Israel and among His creation all over the world. We shall never stop our historical godly campaign, as G–d expects us to do, until it comes to pass in the life of our generation that needs this revolution more than at any time in the past and G–d will be with us as He was with the Maccabees and our forefathers. In G–d we trust!

Everyone is called on to participate in this historical godly Hannukah event of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement. It will be an important stage in the fulfilment of this great godly vision. If you need more details please call the office at 02-625-1112 or 02-625-1113 or e-mail us. It is time for everyone to be a part of this historical godly campaign. In this opportunity we want to thank so much to so many dear friends of the Faithful Movement and Israel who stand with, encourage and help us in such a devoted way that makes our historical campaign so successful. We are thankful to G-d who put them together with us at such a great and critical time when it is so needed.



Temple Mount Faithful
4 Yochanan Horkanos
P.O. Box 18325
91182 Jerusalem
ISRAEL
TEL: +972(2)625-1112
TEL/FAX: +972(2)625-1113

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The triumph of Chanukah

The triumph of Chanukah
By Jeff Jacoby

Dec 26, 2005


Because Chanukah usually occurs in December, it is sometimes thought of as the "Jewish Christmas." It isn't, of course. And yet it is fair to say that the reason for Chanukah's popularity -- especially in America, where it is the most widely observed Jewish holiday after Passover and Yom Kippur -- is precisely its proximity to Christmas.

Chanukah used to be regarded as a minor half-holiday, cheerful but low-key. It has become something bigger and brighter in response to Christmas, which transforms each December into a brilliant winter festival of parties, decorations, and music. Attracted by the joy of the season, not wanting their children to feel left out of all the merriment and gift-giving, American Jews in the 20th century began to make much more of Chanukah than their grandparents ever had. Today Chanukah is well established as part of the annual "holiday season," complete with parties, decorations, and music of its own. Its enhanced status is a tribute both to the assimilating tug of America's majority culture and to the remarkable openness of that culture to Jewish customs and belief.

Ironically, Chanukah was established to commemorate the very opposite of cultural assimilation. It dates back nearly 22 centuries, to the successful Jewish revolt against Antiochus IV, one of the line of Syrian-Greek monarchs who ruled the northern branch of Alexander the Great's collapsed empire. Alexander had been respectful of the Jews' monotheistic religion, but Antiochus was determined to impose Hellenism, with its pagan gods and its cult of the body, throughout his domains. When he met resistance in Judea, he made Judaism illegal.

Sabbath observance, circumcision, and the study of Torah were banned on pain of death. A statue of Zeus was installed in the Temple in Jerusalem, and swine were sacrificed before it. Some Jews embraced the new order and willingly abandoned the God and faith of their ancestors. Those who wouldn't were cruelly punished. Ancient writings tell the story of Hannah and her seven sons, who were captured by Antiochus's troops and commanded to bow to an idol. One by one, each boy refused -- and was tortured to death before his mother's eyes.

The fight to reclaim Jewish religious autonomy began in 167 BCE. In the town of Modi'in, an elderly priest named Mattathias -- in Hebrew, Mattityahu -- refused a Syrian order to sacrifice to an idol. When an apostate Jew stepped forward to comply, Mattathias killed the man and tore down the altar. Then he and his five sons took to the hills and launched a guerrilla war against the armies of the empire.

When Mattathias died, his third son, Judah Maccabee, took command. He and his band of fighters were impossibly outnumbered, yet they won one miraculous victory after another. In 164 BCE, they recaptured the desecrated Temple, which they cleansed and purified and rededicated to God. On the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev, the menorah -- the candelabra symbolizing the divine presence -- was rekindled. For eight days, throngs of Jews celebrated the Temple's restoration. "All the people prostrated themselves," records the book of Maccabees, "worshipping and praising Heaven that their cause had prospered."

In truth, though, their cause *hadn't* prospered -- not yet. The fighting went on for years. It was not until 142 BCE -- more than two decades later -- that the Jews finally regained control of their land. Geopolitically, that was the moment of real triumph.

But Chanukah isn't about political power. It isn't about military victory. It isn't even about freedom of worship, notwithstanding the fact that the revolt of the Maccabees marks the first time in history that a people rose up to fight religious persecution.

What Chanukah commemorates at heart is the Jewish yearning for God, for the concentrated holiness of the Temple and its service. The defeat of the Syrian-Greeks was a wonder, but the *spiritual* climax of the Maccabees' rebellion occurred when the menorah was rekindled and God's presence among His people could be felt once again.

Chanukah is the only Jewish holiday not found in the Hebrew Bible and the only one rooted in a military campaign. And yet its focus is almost entirely spiritual, not physical. For example, there is no feast associated with Chanukah, the way there is with Passover and Purim, the two other Jewish festivals of deliverance. Its religious observance is concentrated on flame, nothing more. And the menorah's lights may only be gazed at; it is forbidden to use them for any physical purpose -- not even to read by.

The lack of a physical side to Chanukah is unusual but appropriate. For the Maccabees' war against the Hellenists was ultimately a war against a worldview that elevated the physical above all, that venerated beauty, not holiness; the body, not the soul. The Jews fought to preserve a different view of the world -- one with God, not man, at its center. Had they failed, Judaism would have died. Because they triumphed, the Jewish religion survived. And from it, two centuries later, Christianity was born.