Temple Institute: Count for Yourselves

Count for Yourselves
Iyar 2, 5767/April 20, 2007

"And you will count for yourselves from the morrow after the shabbat (the first day of Passover), from the day that you brought the omer as a wave-offering; seven complete weeks; including the day following the seventh week you will number fifty days; and you will present a new meal-offering unto HaShem."

(Leviticus 23:15)

While the children of Israel were still slaves in Egypt, and the battle between HaShem and Pharaoh was still in full force, they were given by G-d their first commandment: "'This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you." (Exodus 12:2) The responsibility thereby being handed the Israelite nation was much more than simply bearing witness to the appearance of the new moon. They were being handed the keys to time itself. They were being given the keys to their future.

Torah does not understand time as a calibration of physical motion, or expenditure of energy. Torah recognizes time as a source of spiritual potential. Given the keys to access that source, we can gain control over our destiny. Being able to tap into wellsprings of time, we can begin to make use of our G-d given freedom of choice between right and wrong. Every moment of every day is a point of infinite Divine light and every moment is distinct from the next. Therefore, to be fully alive to the reality of G-d, we must seek out every moment as a means for spiritual growth. The Hebrew calendar helps us in this endeavor by providing a map delineating the spiritual makeup intrinsic to every day of the year. We are presently in the midst of the counting of the omer. This forty nine day period, beginning on the second night of Passover and extending to the night preceding Shavuot, provides a path for the spiritual journey necessary as preparation for the receiving of the Torah, which we commemorate and strive to re-experience, on the festival of Shavuot.

The Divine service of the Holy Temple provides a metaphor for describing this journey: on the second day of the Passover festival (the first day of the omer), the priests make an offering at the altar of the new barley (omer) harvest. Barley is a course grain, one our sages describe as "fodder for livestock." Fifty days later, following the completion of the forty nine day period of the omer, on Shavuot the priests made a unique offering of bread baked from leavened wheat. Bread, the staff of life, is itself a symbol of man. Food fit for beasts has over a forty nine day period matured and become refined, rendered fit for human consumption. When the children of Israel left Egypt they were free men, but in terms of their spiritual makeup they were little more than cattle released from the pen. In order to become bnei adam - human beings - capable of receiving Torah, a great spiritual distance had to be traversed in the forty nine intervening days, which brings us back to the commandment concerning the new moon. By being given the means to map out their own spiritual growth, the children of Israel were able to make proper use of the time alloted them between the rushed exodus from Egypt and the revelation at Mount Sinai.

Before partaking of bread, a Jew pronounces the blessing praising G-d, Who "has brought forth bread from the earth." This is a curious expression being that every loaf of bread we eat is the result of a long process which requires much human effort. It makes sense to bless G-d for "the fruit of the tree" before taking a bite out of an apple. After all, an apple ripens and is completely edible. But why do we employ such a blessing before eating bread? The answer takes us back to the loaves offered on Shavuot: by completing the process of spiritual growth set out before us on Passover, we are becoming the very people we were always intended to be, and as a result, have drawn closer to G-d. This process is reflected in the making of bread: as a result of our great effort the bread is brought forth from the earth, just as we were brought forth from Egypt, and perfected, just as we were perfected in preparation for receiving Torah. By voicing this in our blessing over bread, we make known our Divine relationship with G-d.

Join Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven on this week's Temple Talk, as they discuss Sefirat HaOmer - the counting of the omer, the unique spiritual qualities of wisdom and healing contained in the present month of Iyar, and the spiritual ascent toward Mount Sinai, Shavuot, and the receiving of Torah.

The Iyar calendar, In Light of the Holy Temple, is now available online. Click here to see it.

In this week's Universal Torah Network's Light to the Nations, Rabbi Richman teaches about Rosh Chodesh Iyar: Mystical insights into the new month of Iyar. To view this week's show, please click here.

DVD collections of past Light to the Nations shows are available for purchase at the Universal Torah Network's online store.

Rabbi Richman's short teaching on this week's Torah reading of Tazria-Metzora (Leviticus 12:1-15:33), also on the Universal Torah Network, will be posted next week.

Shavuot, one of the three festivals of aliya le-regel le-Beit HaMikdash, is five weeks away. Enrich your observance and appreciation of this holiday with the Temple Institute's Machzor HaMikdash. Beautifully illustrated and containing fascinating commentary by the Institute's own Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, along with the complete festival service, the machzor is available in both nusach Sfard and nusach Ashkenaz. To learn more about Machzor HaMikdash LeChag Shavuot, and to order, please click here. (Note: the machzor is available in Hebrew only.)

To see a behind-the-scenes preview of the current progress on the Temple Institute's latest project, the construction of King David's lyre, please click here.

With G-d's help, Rabbi Chaim Richman will be arriving in the United States together with his wife Rena, for a number of special Torah presentations in the Texas - New Mexico area, Vancouver BC and in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area, all during the first two weeks of the month of May. For more details, please click here.

Time is precious to HaShem. May we all use our time wisely,
Yitzchak Reuven

THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE

PO Box 31876

Jerusalem, Israel 97500

www.templeinstitute.org

Purification of Memory – a Vatican Euphemism for the Whitewashing of History

How can any honest self-professing "penitent" Pope have glossed over his predecessors' pogroms against the Jews? (It was the Vatican's own 'Monsignor' Tiso, Head of the Slovak State, who delivered the first trainload of Jews to Auschwitz.) How can he have failed to mention the Crusades against Islam; the hundreds of thousands of auto da fé victims in the Middle Ages burned as witches; the brutality and torture of the centuries-long Inquisitions; the slaughter of the Protestant martyrs; the Roman Catholic Ustashi who carried out the 'Quiet Holocaust' of Serbs and Jews in the Vatican's puppet Nazi State of Croatia; the disappearance of loved-ones in countries run by Roman Catholic bishops and generals; the countless political assassinations aimed at imposing the will of the Vatican upon the civil governments of the world; the genocide perpetrated by Roman Catholics in Rwanda; the mad monks led by Saint Cyril, the patron saint of arsonists, who burned the Great Library at Alexandria and destroyed 600,000 volumes of knowledge of the ancient world – surely the greatest crime of vandalism in the history of mankind; the Counter-Reformation which resulted in the death of half of Germany's population; the slave-trade of which the Roman Catholic Church was an instigator and promoter; the destruction, rape and pillage of the native peoples of the Americas, the eradication of their cultures and the imposition of Popery upon them; the almost successful attempt, commemorated by a medal, to murder every Protestant in France; the knowledge that the so-called Donation of Constantine was a forgery and that Pope Adrian IV did not own Ireland and had no right to give it to England; the deliberate forgery and falsification of documents for centuries, even during John Paul II's own incumbency when Nazis were enabled to obtain Vatican passports and flee from Europe to escape prosecution for their crimes; the castration of male children to make them into Papal singers; the paedophile priests; the hunger of the Third World, due, principally, to Papal decrees on birth control? Truly, "[…]her judgment reacheth unto heaven." (Jer. 51:9)

Purification of Memory – a Vatican Euphemism for the Whitewashing of History

by Professor Arthur Noble

Jews-the Beast and False Prophet-and Rome's Destruction
Grand Master Turns Up The Heat On Jerusalem; Trouble Brewing In The North
Catholic Europe in Vogue?
Bavarian Pope Entrusts Germany To Lead Europe, Others Wary Of The Grand Inquisitor
Vatican Envoy Bares Teeth Against Christian Zionists
God Save Us From Islam and Europe!
Pope John Paul II Was No Saint
Germany's Fourth Reich Spreads Its Wings Over the World
Europe Misses the Mark - Will It Return as the Sign of the Cross?
Europe to Take Out Iran for Jerusalem
Bavarian Pope to Sweep Europe Off Its Feet?
Europe Swings Both Ways
Bavarian Pope to Pump Life into EU Body
Will the Atlantic Times Address the German threat?
EU to Conquer Anglo-Saxons and Jews
Germany Behind the Mask: Monster or Marshmallow?
Vatican Linked to the Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin
Plea to Diehard Catholics & Protestants to Repent
Sorcerer-Pope to Bewitch Europe and Mislead the Masses!
Mt. Zion Under Siege: Who Will Be King of the Mountain
Europe's Bitter Roots
Herbert W. Armstrong Was Ahead of His Time!
The Secret Nazis Covet the Temple Mount
The Vatican Must Return the Temple Treasures!
UN Resolution 181: Blueprint of the Beast?
The Intelligence Summit Misses the Mark: the German-Jesuit Threat to World Peace

Herbert W. Armstrong

The Sabbath-keeping Church of God is to teach the plain truth of the Bible - whether folks believe it or not.

I was a baptized member of the Worldwide Church of God when Herbert W. Armstrong was alive. Since his death there has been a monstrous betrayal of the brethren by Protestant wolves who were among us, resulting in those faithful to the truth of the Bible (over traditional error) fleeing that present corrupt organization of deceived and deceiving men to new congregations and organizations that reflect and teach our biblical views.

There has been, as with every group or organization that undergoes changes, strong disagreements on how best to continue with what we are convicted is the plain truth of the Bible, but we all basically agree on our foundational doctrines.

For those interested in the plain truth about Herbert W. Armstrong & the Worldwide Church of God and some differences between the branches of the Sabbath-keeping Church of God:

The Plain Truth about Herbert W. Armstrong & the Worldwide Church of God

The Work of God Must Go Forward!

Raymond McNair Rejects God's government

David Pack & the Restored Church of God

PCG: Carrying on "Business as Usual"

Philadelphia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Part 1)

Philadelphia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Conclusion)

Israel Work History (Worldwide Church of God)

The Church of God Must Warn the World!

Herbert W Armstrong and Worldwide Church of God Mentioned in Israeli Newspaper

The Great Mideast Commission: Reaching the Cities of Judah

Stephen Flurry and the Philadelphia Church of God

A Country that Eats its People (Part 1)

A Country that Eats its People (Part 1)

Beyond Babylon ^ | 04-17-07 | by Aryeh Weiss
This story is about an American family that made Aliyah to Israel
Arrived 1987 - Departed 1989

Temple Mount Faithful on Holocaust Day

The Holocaust Day 16^th April 2007
commemorating the most terrible event in the life of the Jewish people and the history of mankind when 6,000,000 Jews were murdered in Satanic ways by the Nazis between 1939-1945

The rebirth of Israel in the Promised Land, in Jerusalem and the Temple Mount of G-d is a clear answer and message of the G–d of Israel to all the many enemies of Israel who want to destroy her and make another Holocaust to the people of Israel

This is a warning and a message to all the world

Today the 16^th of April 2007 Israel is commemorating the most terrible event in the life of the Jewish people and the history of mankind when 6 million innocent Jews including 1.5 million babies and children were murdered and taken to death by the Nazis in Germany and people from other nations that helped them to take them to death in terrible ways that the human mind can not even imagine that it could happen.

They were taken by these messengers of Satan from their houses in the exile of Europe, East Europe, North Africa, and other places in the world, where the Nazi monster occupied during the Second World War in 1939-1945 and sent them to the gas chambers, where they were killed in terrible ways. They forced Jews to dig their graves and then they shot them and other Jews, including their own sons and daughters were forced to cover and bury them. It was called by the Nazis “actzion” when at one time in a few hours each day could be killed tens of thousands of Jews; men, women and their children together at the same time. They took them to concentration camps where they were tormented and died from starvation after they became skeletons. They took from them their human image. They took babies from their bed and threw them out from their high houses to the floor. They played music while they saw their heads crushing on the floor. They raped Jewish women and then killed them. These are only a few examples of how they murdered during these six years of the Second World War 6,000,000 Jews! The list is much longer of these satanic ways of its industry of death which was planned and made very logical. They were so unhuman and satanic that I do not have the strength to write them here.

Their goal was to make a genocide and to cancel the existence of the Jewish people all over the world. This terrible event is called “The Holocaust” but it is not enough to describe it. There is no word in the human language to describe it. When I watched last night the films that showed terrible parts of this genocide and Holocaust I could not stop weeping and thinking that even Satan himself, which is the symbol of evil, could not be evil enough to do such murder that continued for six years day by day by German soldiers, that were born from the womb of a woman and had fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers and children but they did not hesitate to murder in terrible ways other parents and children just because they were Jews. How they did not stop at least for one minute before they murdered them. When I watched these films I asked myself again and again how this could happen. Why the fathers and the mothers of these murderers, how the German people, besides a few righteous people, accepted it and did not try to stop it? More than this I could not understand how all of mankind was silent and did not even try to stop this satanic genocide of the Children of G-d. Almost no country opened its gates for Jewish refugees who ran away from the satanic monster. This cruel and systematic murder and genocide did not continue only one day, one month or one year but for six years. The Nazi monsters, led by Hitler, started and made also a systematic murder of gypsies and other similar communities.

It was not the only Holocaust in the life of the Jewish people in the exile. During almost 2,000 years of exile Jews were persecuted and millions of them were murdered, especially in Europe by the pogroms and the Inquisition of the Catholic Church. They were forced to convert themselves to Christianity and if they did not do so they were burned in the fire of the Inquisition. Again, the question should be asked: “How could so many nations, especially in Europe, do it to the innocent people of G-d who were called a thousand years ago by G-d to carry a godly mission to the nations to share with them the one living G-d of Israel and the universe and His holy Word?” The Jewish people really fulfilled this mission not in simple circumstances and shared with all mankind the one living G-d of Israel and His Word in the holy book. Instead of appreciation and helping them to return from the terrible exile to the holy land of Israel they persecuted them in terrible inhumane ways.

I should immediately mention that among the nations in Europe there were righteous people that G-d dwelled in their hearts and did everything to save Jews from the hands of the Nazi monsters, sometimes even by sacrificing their own lives. One of them was Oscar Schindler who after the Second World War was invited to Israel together with other righteous people like him to be called in the eternal book of Israel “ Righteous Gentile”. He was buried in Jerusalem after he died.

Today there are also righteous gentiles all over the world who call themselves “Zionist Christians” or “Lovers of Israel” that are doing so much to stand with Israel, to encourage and help the people of G-d to replant his roots in the holy land of Israel which G-d gave them in an eternal covenant from where they could complete their mission to be a holy nation, kingdom of priests and a light to the nations (Exodus 19: 5&6). They stand with Israel at a very great godly time of redemption of Israel and a very critical time when so many enemies around Israel and behind them more than a billion Muslims are fighting against Israel. Until this moment their goal is to destroy Israel and to make another Holocaust, this time in the land that G-d gave to his people Israel. The speaker of all of them today is the President of Iran, Ahmedinejad, who is preparing nuclear weapons and missiles to destroy Israel. He states very clearly again and again that his goal is to remove and to eliminate Israel from the map of the world. What is so terrible again is that most of the world so often joins or supports or arms them and in another case stand passive when they hear the new Hitler from Iran making all the preparations for another Holocaust against the people of G-d with even more cruel means and weapons. All these nations are putting pressure on Israel permanently to give up parts of the holy land that G-d gave only to Israel and even to establish, against the Word of G-d, a terrorist so called “Palestinian” state that never existed in the history as a state or a nation in the land of Israel or in any other place. The goal of such a false anti-godly state is to be the messengers and the pioneers of all the Arab and Islamic world to destroy Israel from inside the land after they did not succeed in doing it from outside.
I see with my eyes how most of the world and the nations are passive and don't do anything to stop the new Hitleric and Satanic monster before Iran soon completes the building of the nuclear bomb. The history of the passive mankind in the Second World War repeats again.

In the Second World War when the German forces came close to the gates of the holy land of Israel they were stopped by G-d in the south in Egypt and in the north in Russia and Baku as He promised to Israel that He will fight for them in the field of battle against their enemies when they will come to eliminate Israel in the holy land (Zechariah 12 & 14, Ezekiel 38 & 39 and Joel 4). Exactly as G-d promised to Israel He defeated the Arab countries and their allies all over the world that came especially since 1948 to destroy Israel in eight wars. The G-d of Israel is standing again on the walls of Jerusalem and the holy land of Israel to protect His people Israel and to stop and judge terribly the new Hitler from Iran and all his Arab and Islamic allies and nations and their supporters all over the world when they come soon to make the end-time war of destruction against Israel. G-d will not allow mankind to make another Holocaust to His people Israel. The eyes, the heart and the attention of the G–d of Israel and the universe are day and night on His people and land to protect them and to allow them to complete the mission that He gave them. The prophet Isaiah shared with us with exciting words what is the mission that G-d gave to Israel to bring to pass in these days:

“The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 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 2:1-4)

The call of G-d to Zion is again heard on the mountains of Israel and in front of all the nations:

“Awake, awake; put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; from now on there shall no more come to you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake yourself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem; loose yourself from the bands of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace; who brings good news of good, who announces salvation; who says to Zion, Your God reigns! The voice of your watchmen is heard; together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord returns to Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together, you ruins of Jerusalem; for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” (Isaiah 52: 1-2, 7-10)

Everyone is called today to pray for the souls of the 6 million Jews including 1.5 million souls of Jewish babies and children and to ask forgiveness from G-d for all mankind in the Day of Judgement that is soon to come.
The G-d and the people of Israel will never forget the righteous Gentiles of the nations of the Second World War and the Holocaust and the righteous Gentiles today that stand with such a pure love with the people of G-d, Israel. These righteous people of G-d are giving a great hope for a better mankind. They are lighting the darkness that covers mankind for such a long time. Thanks to them will not come a complete destruction as in Sodom and Gomorrah.

Everyone is called today to read and pray with deep attention from the bottom of his heart Ezekiel 37. This is the great prophetic Word of G-d that delivered His people Israel from the deep valley of the exile, destruction and Holocausts and replanted them in the holy land of Israel that He gave them in an eternal covenant so that they can be again a light to the nations and to complete the mission that He gave them. This mission can be fulfilled only when the people of Israel dwell in the land that He gave them and when He dwells among them on His holy Temple Mount in Jerusalem:

“ The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the wind of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And he led me around among them; and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, you know. And he said to me, Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O you dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live; And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord. And I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And as I beheld, behold, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them. And he said to me, Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. And I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, a very large army. Then he said to me, son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off. Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up from your graves, And I shall put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land; then shall you know that I, the Lord, have spoken it, and performed it, says the Lord. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: And you, son of man, take one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the people of Israel his companions; then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions; And join them one to the other into one stick; and they shall become one in your hand. And when your people shall speak to you, saying: Will you not tell us what you mean by these? Say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions, and will put them with him, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand. And the sticks on which you write shall be in your hand before their eyes. And say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from among the nations, where they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land; And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, nor shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all; Nor shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them in all their dwelling places, where they have sinned, and will cleanse them; so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd; they shall also follow my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, where your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell in it, they and their children, and their grandchildren for ever; and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. And I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the nations shall know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.” (Ezekiel 37)

Everyone in the world is called to come to Israel and to see with his own eyes how this exciting prophetic Word of G-d is becoming a daily reality in Israel. Everyone is called to stand with Israel and to encourage the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement to complete the great godly redemptional event that is taking place in Israel by the rebuilding of the Temple of G-d on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem so that He will again dwell among His people Israel and among all His creation all over the world and open the door for the coming of Mashiach ben David.

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

The Vatican and its Friends are Not Your Friends

Israel and the Vatican have NEVER been allies and God forbid they ever become allies as that would mean Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem was sacrificed on the pagan altar of the Babylonian Mystery religion, Israeli officials duped and bought off by treacherous Babylonian envoys.

The Vatican and its Friends are Not Your Friends
By Shelomo Alfassa April 4, 2005


This article was written before the death of John Paul II

In February, the Vatican blamed Israel for not protecting Christians in violence that took place in a Galilee village, when members of the Druze community attacked Christians. The Vatican demanded that Israel place a permanent police force in the village to protect the Christian citizens; however, when Israel places a police force in towns to protect Jews from Palestinian attacks, the Israelis are labeled as occupiers. This type of double standard has become par for the course when dealing with the Vatican.

The Vatican knows about terrorism, about Palestinian Arabs attacking Jews, but when Israel decided to make a defensive move by constructing a security fence, Israel was criticized by the Church. The Pope's spokesman, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray said the Israeli fence, "inevitably creates a geography of apartheid, which provokes rather than controls violence... it lacerates the human fabric."

We really need to wake up and reexamine if the Vatican is our friend. Last week, world newspapers ran stories and photos of 160 Jews "blessing the Pope." The Pave the Way Foundation, which organized the meeting in Rome, said, "We have traveled here with the blessings of millions of our faith in order to thank you." Well, with all due respect to that group, I doubt millions of Jews were sending blessings to Vatican City.

Halacha (Jewish Law) was nowhere to be found at that event. In the presence of the chief rabbis of Italy, the Pope was praised, Catholic saints were spoken of and the Jews presented the Pope with a cross. The media referred to 160 "world Jewish leaders", which immediately begged the question - what Jewish leaders? They were not political leaders of Israel, nor were they top American politicians that happen to be Jewish. Who they were, were mostly businessmen from New York, none whom wore a kippah, but who all shook hands with the Pope, calling him "Your Holiness". For a Jew, what is holy about the Pope?

Website photos show the founder of the Pave the Way Foundation posing with monks, nuns and members of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem. The latter is the Church led by Irineos I, the very man who wrote last year that Jews were "descendants of the crucifiers of our Lord," the same man caught trying to smuggle a pistol into Ramallah to meet Arafat, a loyal friend of his. Irineos' spokesman, Atallah Hana, caused controversy for the Greek Orthodox Church after statements he made in favor of suicide attacks. Israeli police detained and questioned him regarding his pro-terrorism statements, his illegal travels to Syria and Lebanon, his meeting with the head of the Hizbullah and his remarks of support for "martyrdom by Palestinian men and women."

The Jews operating the Pave the Way Foundation desire to have part of the Kever David HaMelech (traditional tomb of King David) on Mt. Zion handed over to the Vatican. Currently, the building belongs to the State of Israel, but this group feels it should be taken away from the Jews and given to the Vatican. This is the very building where until the liberation of the Old City of Jerusalem in 1967, people migrated to pray as it was the closest location to the Western Wall. David Ben-Gurion planted trees in its ancient courtyard, Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira (the "Baba Sali") made a pilgrimage there and the place remains holy to Jews; yet, this husband and wife team that runs their organization from Long Island, New York are working to convince the Israeli government to transfer this building to the Vatican. As the husband has been knighted by the Pope, he can represent him to the Israeli authorities, some of whom he has met with previously, such as Chaim Silberstein, the chief of staff of the Minister of Tourism, and Director of Religious Affairs Gadi Golan.

The Pave the Way Foundation, representing itself as leaders of the Jewish world, have said the Pope has made it a "sin to be anti-Semitic," and that he has "been a friend to the Jewish people and has tried to bridge the ancient gap." These statements are baseless, made by "tikkun olam pagans" in their self-fulfilling desire to play quasi-ambassador of the Jews.

Note, the Papacy they are talking about is the same one currently considering making a "saint" of Isabella of Castile, the 15th century queen of Spain who initiated the Inquisition. The Vatican already has taken a step forward towards this, officially granting Isabella the title "Servant of God." Where is the outrage of the Jewish community? This scenario would be like Gerhard Schroder, Chancellor of Germany, taking steps to make Adolf Hitler a saint. As revisionists, and the Vatican, turn Isabella into a saint, this same Pope plans to canonize Pope Pius XII, who was largely silent about the Nazi genocide against the Jews when he reigned during World War II. On his sick bed just two weeks ago, the Pope stated, "I will not die before I canonize Pope Pius XII."

The Church has a precedent for making Isabella a saint. In the 15th century, the Vatican canonized Vincent Ferrer. Vincent was a man who was responsible for inciting furious mobs that burned Jewish shops and homes and murdered Jews throughout Spain starting in 1391. When order was restored one year later, it was estimated that 100,000 Jews had been killed, another 100,000 had converted to Christianity, and another 100,000 had survived by going into hiding or fleeing to Muslim lands. Today, schools named Saint Vincent Ferrer are dotted across the globe, everyone seeming to have forgotten who he was. The Catholic Encyclopedia praises Ferrer, saying, "multitudes were won over by his preaching."

Many in the Jewish community forget there is a well-crafted, strategically minded and highly funded crusade to convert the Jewish people, and the Vatican is conspiring in this cause. There is a secretive group called the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism, which was founded in association with American preacher Billy Graham. The Vatican has participated in this conference, which strategizes on how to target the Jewish people for conversion. One of the Lausanne Occasional Papers stated that God has forsaken the Jews for not believing in the Christian scriptures and Jesus. Their statement is purely anti-Semitic, for what type of greater anti-Semitism exists than telling Jews that their God has forsaken them?

In 2001, the Vatican initiated a meeting among Christians who call themselves Messianic Jews. These people are part of the Presbyterian-funded proselytization movement known as Messianic Judaism, which is growing in Israel and remains problematic across the globe. Shockingly, Israel just issued the world's largest messianic proselytizing group Jews for Jesus an amutah, official non-profit recognition from the government to operate in Israel. When The Passion of the Christ was released, it was met with criticism from Orthodox Jewish leaders in Israel and around the world. But even in the face of criticism, the Vatican thought differently. Reports released said the film portrayed the death of Jesus as accurate: "It is as it was."

The Vatican consider themselves supreme rulers of the world, superior to all common people, kings, prime ministers and presidents. All that is missing is a title of power, and the Pope almost had that. Only a few years ago, the Catholic leader sought the ultimate authority, he was going to announce himself as the Holy Roman Emperor, reigning from the Urals to the Atlantic.

Just last month, the Vatican "graciously" opened its "secret archives", which contain a large amount confiscated Jewish property. The repository will "loan" to Israel papers of Maimonides, which they have held captive since the 12th century. For hundreds of years, Jews have wanted these documents, among other items, but the Vatican has denied access to them. If the Vatican was intrinsically good, if they really wanted to make a gesture towards peace, they would hand over all of the Jewish material to the Jewish people. These games of "letting us borrow" our own materials is preposterous and juvenile.

Planning the conversion of the Jews; working with non-Israelis to obtain Jewish holy places and give them to the Vatican; holding priceless historical materials of the Jews hostage; and making people like Isabella of Spain a saint -- how much more absurdity can we stand? Some keep denying the fact that the Vatican is not a friend of the Jews; how can they remain so foolish?
****************************
The Vatican Must Return the Temple Treasures
UN Resolution 181: Blueprint of the Beast?
The Secret Nazis Covet the Temple Mount
Mount Zion Under Siege: Who Will Be King of the Mountain?
Vatican Linked to the Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin?
Israel's Chief Rabbi Invites Foreign Occupation
Europe to Take Out Iran for Jerusalem
Pope John Paul II Was No Saint
Vatican Envoy Bares Teeth Against Christian Zionists
Bavarian Pope Entrusts Germany To Lead Europe, Others Wary Of The Grand Inquisitor
Woe to Ariel! (Jerusalem to Suffer EU Occupation)
Grand Master Turns Up the Heat on Jerusalem
Exposing the German-Vatican Plot to Occupy Jerusalem
Mount Zion Coveted by Rome
Will the pope act like Belshazzar or Cyrus?

Why I went up to the Temple Mount

Why I went up to the Temple Mount
MOSHE DANN, THE JERUSALEM POST
April 11, 2007

Jewish historical memory is focused on several fundamental experiences, among them: hurban - the destructions of the First and Second Temples, and korban - ritual temple sacrifice, both of which are grounded in the Land of Israel.

I thought of this when I was recently told of a tour of the Temple Mount on a Sunday morning. I hesitated. The last time I'd been at the site was just after the Six-Day War. I had joined a group of volunteers who came to Israel from all over the world in response to what the Arabs and the media predicted would be another Holocaust.
Israel's victory turned the situation into a huge party.

Not observant then, I joined thousands of people who thronged into Jerusalem's Old City for the first time in almost 20 years, walking through dust and rubble to witness the devastation and visit the site that is the center of Jewish consciousness: the Temple Mount.

Entering the golden Dome of the Rock, a Muslim shrine built at the end of the 7th century CE and prohibited to Jews by both Muslim and Christian conquering armies for 2,000 years, I saw a piece of the mountaintop (the "Foundation Stone") where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob encountered God, and where the First and Second Temples stood. It was like a vindication of Jewish suffering, perseverance and strength. Ravaged throughout history, Jews once again - some say miraculously - controlled the Temple Mount. And somehow, I was part of it.

After conquering the site, however, as a gesture of good will, minister of defense Moshe Dayan returned partial sovereignty to the wakf, the Muslim trust. Most Orthodox rabbis (and all haredi rabbis) prohibit their followers from treading anywhere on the Mount, especially near where the Temple's holy of holies once stood (a spot restricted even in Temple times to the High Priest on Yom Kippur). That area is presumed to be where the Dome of the Rock is today.

I VERY much wanted to join the tour of the Temple Mount, so I asked my Orthodox rabbi for his approval. That was not forthcoming, but knowing me, he cautioned that I not walk near the Dome of the Rock; I was to follow the path around the perimeter.

"Mikve" [ritual bath] and no leather shoes," he added.

I was still hesitant, feeling the weight of rabbinic injunction.

At the end of morning prayers, I read the Psalm of David for Sunday: "Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord, and who may stand in the place of His sanctity?"

Was I worthy of such an experience? Was I violating Halacha?

Not to go, however, would also be to make a statement. The wakf was illegally and systematically excavating on the Temple Mount, and destroying all Jewish remnants. Archeologists from around the world reported desecrations of the site. The wakf had excavated the area beneath al Aksa mosque at the Mount's southern end (called erroneously, "Solomon's Stables") and dumped what they had dug up as garbage. The Israeli government, despite Jewish protests from around the world, refused to intervene.

IN CONTRAST, a few months ago, minor excavations and reconstruction by Israeli authorities of an area adjacent to the Western Wall (outside the Temple Mount area) led to Arab riots, calls for terrorist attacks and condemnations from around the Muslim world.

What's "ours," and what's "theirs"? And where did I belong in all of this? Pessah is one of the three holidays during which Jews in ancient days were required to come to the Temple with offerings. Unable to bring a Pessah sacrifice, should I instead re-enact this ancient tradition of ascending the Temple Mount?

Still unsure of what I should do, I prepared myself and arrived at the walkway leading to the Mughrabi Gate - the only entrance allowed by the wakf to non-Muslim civilians. And, according to their rules, we had to be out in two hours, by 10 a.m.

Passing workers digging and filling pails, I joined a few dozen people, mostly non-Jewish tourists, as we were checked for weapons and prayer books. The wakf does not allow non-Muslims
to pray on the Temple Mount.

As I stepped through the gate and onto the broad plaza, I suddenly felt lighter, as if another atmosphere surrounded me. Arab guards located throughout the area with walkie-talkies watched as I walked past the mosque to the eastern side of the compound.

Standing alone in stocking feet, two tall lanky Orthodox young men with long payot dressed in white greeted me.

They told me they were from a yeshiva, and gave its name.

"Where's that?" I asked.

"Yad Binyamin. In Gush Katif."

Shaking inside, I remembered the yeshiva in Neve Dekalim, the synagogues and thriving community that were destroyed a year and a half ago. A thousand five hundred families, some 9,000 people thrown out of their homes, many remaining unemployed and without permanent housing or adequate compensation. Twenty-one thriving communities bulldozed. A stain on the Israeli nation; an ongoing trauma. Jewish refugees. Exile and destruction.

Walking along the pathway on the eastern side of the plaza, we were accompanied by two wakf guards. I pointed to garbage strewn around; a guard shrugged.

Piles of rubbish and building materials were scattered all around.

On the northwestern side of the compound I stopped to chat with another guard. He told me he has a degree in history from Hebron University.

"There's no Jewish history here," he informed me.

"Nothing Jewish."

"The Temple?" I asked innocently.

"Maybe another hill. Not here," he said curtly and pointed to his watch and the exit.

It's 10 am.

The writer, a former assistant professor of history, is a journalist living in Jerusalem.


=============================================
Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
mailto:wfit2@womeningreen.org
http://www.womeningreen.org

Miriam Weiss: Holocaust Survivor and Kibbutz Mother

Miriam Weiss: Holocaust Survivor and Kibbutz Mother

Miriam Weiss: June 29, 1915 - January 4, 1997

On that precious list of "Righteous Gentiles" (rare individuals who assisted Jews during the Holocaust) is the great name of Jan Bulski who risked his life and family in Poland to save my "kibbutz mother" -- Miriam Weiss -- who I met and was "adopted" by at Kibbutz Ramat Yohanan near Haifa in Northern Israel while a volunteer there from October 1982 to February 1983.

This is an excerpt from my "Life is a Trek" blog article "Kibbutz Ramat Yohanan, Restal Hotel, Tiberias, "Israel -- a letter I wrote an American friend (without touching it up for spelling), July 27, 1989 from Kibbutz Ramat Yohanan, Israel:

"Miriam & I cried yesterday when she received a letter stating the man in Poland who hid her & saved her from the Gestapo & Holocaust, died. She opened up last week & told me what I hadn't known & how wealthy she was raised, how wealthy she married w/jewellery & furs & extensive rich contacts & travel in Europe & how happy she was, and had a cook for her & her husband & a maid also, & how after Hitler invaded Poland her husband immediately joined the underground buying weapons & insisting she move in w/friends for safety sake & how he was later captured by the Gestapo & murdered in Matthausen, Austria concentration camp & how sick w/grief & pain she was, she so loved him. And how one of the women who risked their lives to help save her later was caught attempting to save others & was murdered herself after being shipped to Ravensbruck concentration camp & how her mother was in the Warsaw Ghetto & sent to the gas chambers in Treblinka concentration camp. She cried when she spoke of how much pain can one take after her husband's death. Miriam just turned 74 about a month ago. I don't know how they handle such hell... She's been ill for the last 2 months & I feel helpless to help her..."

While writing this article to honor Miriam's memory and share history, I've practically gone mad looking for the fuchshia-colored paper I knew I had with her maiden name and the name of her Catholic Polish husband, a Gentile, one of four brothers who each owned the largest industrial banks in Poland, a paper I typed up in her home the day after she gave me detailed information about her life. I can't find it and wonder if I threw it out figuring Yad Vashem already has the information or what, but I can't imagine doing that as I would want to add my personal touch and memories to it. Perhaps it's all symbolic of the fears and frustrations of looking for lost family members, Holocaust survivors, and it's out of your control and so overwhelming.

Miriam said when Heydrich (Himmler?) thought things were going too slowly in Poland, he decided to round up a lot of people on "Black Saturday." That's when they took her husband away since he was involved in the Polish Underground. Miriam said she was in the Warsaw Ghetto with her mother (Miriam's parents were Zwi and Hana Hampel) but got out and was hid by a woman who was later sent to Ravensbruck herself for helping to rescue Jews. One night some drunk Poles came and banged on the door and told the woman they knew she was hiding "schwein, Jewish schwein," pretending to be Gestapo, and only left when they got a fur out of it. That's when the lady told Miriam she would have to go back into the Warsaw Ghetto until some other place could be found for her.

Miriam said that she had dyed her hair blond to look as Aryan as could be and wore a widow's veil and that the Nazi guards at the Warsaw Ghetto made a comment about how young she was to already be a widow. Later when another place was found for Miriam, she said her mother was so happy for her to get out but it was the last time she saw her and Miriam attributes her survival to her mother's prayers. Miriam said her mother was sent to Treblinka where she died, but a letter from Henia Seidman [Miriam's best Israeli-Polish friend] to me says she died in the Warsaw Ghetto. Miriam also said, if I remember correctly, that she was hid in a hole in the ground at Jan Bulski's place, and that the only thing to comfort her was a small vial of perfume she kept. I always gave her a gift of perfume for Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). Henia wrote Miriam was hidden in their kitchen. One thing for sure is Miriam said after the war everybody talked about where they were during the war and how hardly anybody could believe where she was hidden, as Jews weren't welcome there before the war! Miriam felt the Poles were more anti-Semitic than the Germans.

Miriam told me that she later arranged, after the Russians came, to make it to Berlin but you could never know for sure if the one you paid to help you get there would show up or come through and her help did, but she ended up in the Russian section of Berlin on Christmas Eve and was in a small room with no windows and mattresses on the floor with about 50 other people crammed in there. She said everybody hoped to get into the American quarter. She also said after the war there was so much food, almost too much food.

Miriam married someone I think she met that Christmas night in Berlin or knew him in Poland, Hanoch Eisenberg, and wandered with him in Europe and as Henia wrote, "the Joint brought her and her husband...to Italy. From Italy they went by ships to Israel, but in the time of English Mandate their ship was kidnapped and brought to Cyprus camps. In Cyprus they were perhaps a year and in 1949 they came to Ramat Jochanan."

Actually, Miriam had some friend or relative visiting Ramat Yohanan from Kibbutz Yagur who was reading a letter from her, as Miriam told me, and she started crying and Henia Seidman, being the soft-hearted woman she's known to be, asked her why and she told her how Miriam was so depressed in Cyprus and Henia said for her to tell her to plan to come to Ramat Yohanan. When Miriam first came to the kibbutz from Cyprus after Israeli independence, they called for Henia who was working in what was then the kitchen (not the big beautiful cheder ochel -- dining room -- they have today, she pointed out), practically a wooden shack, and although she had soot or something on her face her beautiful blue eyes shone through (and Henia had such beautiful blue eyes) and Henia and her mother hugged and welcomed Miriam as family. Henia's family left Poland before the Holocaust.

Miriam divorced Eisenberg who didn't want to stay on the kibbutz and moved to Tel Aviv. She later married - for one day - David Weiss from the kibbutz. I used to say hello to him and often saw him working at the kibbutz factory, Palram. A very short man, older, with white hair. I once ate with David and mentioned the Queen of England continued King David's dynasty, and was surprised he was familiar with the belief but appeared to dismiss it as "a nice story."

Miriam and Henia were both short Polish Jews. We would always sit together in the dining room and eat and they would carry on in Polish and some Hebrew and English. If you didn't know them you would think they were always arguing, but that's just how they talked, as I chuckle remembering them. The mail boxes were in the dining room too, and since it was easier for me to walk with my "long legs" and get Miriam's mail, I would. That's how I brought the letter to her that day when we found out Jan Bulski had died. I had only written him about once and sent him maybe $20 or more through some grateful Polish organization in Toledo, Ohio that would make sure he received it. They said it would be exchanged on the black market for more zlotys. He was a diabetic and did receive something monthly from Yad Vashem after Miriam and Henia saw to it. A tree was also planted in his honor on the "Avenue of the Righteous Gentiles" at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Miriam cried and said he didn't have to risk his life and the life of his family to save her but that he did and that he was such a good man. Henia and I just kept quiet and wept with her.

Miriam told me her family had their money from the tea industry. They bought and sold the famous Lyon tea from England and then repackaged it or whatever they did to make a profit. She loved the European concerts and later travelled with her husband all over Europe and North Africa. She said her love of music came from her mother.

Miriam had another kibbutz "son" like me, also an American, whose name is Joe from New Hampshire. She was going to leave him her photo-album. Joe travelled with her to Switzerland to visit a mutual friend whom Miriam tried to play matchmaker between him and her, but they remained friends and nothing more. Miriam used to ask why Moses couldn't have led the Children of Israel to Switzerland! People would speak of Miriam's sons as "Joe and Hoover." (I was born with the family name of Hoover but legally changed my name to David Ben-Ariel for religious reasons). Miriam used to exclaim, "Do you know how many people would love to have your passport? To be an American?" I would tell her that although I dearly love the United States I want to live in Israel and she would mellow and say something like, "Well, if that makes you happy, if that's what you want." She also worried that I would get killed like Meir Kahane for being so outspoken.

One of my many fond and funny memories is Miriam and I arriving somewhat late to a Sukkot celebration around the swimming pool at Ramat Yohanan, and there were plenty of people standing around and we looked for a place to stand and then she found a bale of straw to sit on near the front and then there appeared to be some confusion as the lady who was to lead the children's singing was frantically looking about and then discovered that Miriam was sitting on the folded banner that had the words to their song!

Miriam used to rest in bed after we ate in the afternoon and listen to her classical music (I gave her Grandma Vivian Hoover's classical albums) and read The Jerusalem Post and then sigh how she hated politics, comment that she was weary of world news, but she would continue to read the newspapers and listen every hour on the hour to the news on the radio as I read a book or wrote in her living room (where she displayed the Austrian crystal glass castle I once gave her for a gift, which I called "the Kingdom of Messiah" -- because of its brilliance -- and Joe's paintings adorned her walls...Miriam had an artist and an author for her sons).

Every time I visited Israel, I would head straight for Miriam's. The last time I saw her was in 1995 when her friends told me she had Alzheimer's. She had been moved from her apartment to the nursing home. They told me if she would remember anybody, it would be me. I went in and she was strapped in a wheelchair, wanting out, and wanting me to get her out and speaking German to me. (Miriam knew German, English, Polish and Hebrew). She held on to my arm so tightly, looking frightened, and I said, "Miriam, it's David. I'm American. Speak Hebrew or English. I don't know German." She was crying and I was crying. Another Miriam, originally from Berlin, was very angry about Miriam's deteriorating situation and said the Germans who doubted the Holocaust should hear Miriam reliving it and crying out for her mother, as if once wasn't enough! Henia wrote me that Miriam was born in Poland June 29, 1915 and died January 4, 1997 at Ramat Yohanan and was buried there and "got a very fine monument at our cemetery."

For greater insight into my beloved Miriam, I'll close with portions of a March 18, 1988 letter of commendation she wrote on my behalf to Joseph Tkach, Jr. of the Worldwide Church of God:

...my kibbutz son David Hoover...first came to our kibbutz seven years ago...he posted [actually somebody else did in the communal dining room] an article he had written about his struggle to free himself from drugs for all the members to read. A very brave thing to do since drug addiction is here considered a terrible social and personal crime. I invited him to visit me and we subsequently got to know each other well. David stayed on our kibbutz six months the first time. He worked hard and thus earned the respect of many members here. There was never any trouble. Quite the contrary. And David shared with us his Christian beliefs that had given him such strength to overcome his addiction...When I say he shared his beliefs I mean that he offered but did not force them upon us. As might be well known to you we are sensitive to any aggressive presentations of Christianity that denigrate our Jewish heritage. But David has a deep and affectionate respect for it. I myself am not religious and must admit that I am sometimes bewildered by his impressive knowledge of the Bible and Jewish customs but if it give his life fulfillment I am very happy for him...Over the past seven years David has come to Ramat Yohanan to celebrate Sukkot. He has stayed with me and is a very well behaved guest. He also corresponds with me regularly and started my subscription to Plain Truth which I do read with interest. Recently I continued the subscription. I might add that several other members of our kibbutz now read it too...I think confidence can be placed in him to represent your church here in the Middle East...

Sincerely,
Shalom,
Miriam Weiss

I yearn to return to Zion and visit Miriam's gravesite, but Ramat Yohanan just wouldn't be the same without her. And the dining room without Miriam or Henia...

Other articles that mention Kibbutz Ramat Yohanan:

Israel Work History (Worldwide Church of God)

Herbert W Armstrong and Worldwide Church of God Mentioned in Israeli Newspaper

Joseph Isn't Jewish!

David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer 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 the Beyond Babylon blog.

Have Jews given up on the Vatican returning Jewish treasures?

Israel seeks return of Temple artifacts
Rabbis urge Vatican to permit search of storerooms for treasures

When Israel's chief rabbis meet Pope John Paul II today, they will seek permission to search Vatican storerooms for artifacts such as the huge golden menorah that stood in the Temple in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago.

Israeli President, Moshe Katzav, asks Vatican to reveal list of Temple treasures and Judaica held by them
On more than one occasion the Temple Mount Faithful Movement demanded that the Pope return the Temple treasures to Israel to be used in the soon-to-be-rebuilt Temple

So the Pope wants good relations?

It is an established fact that the Vatican holds in its vaults priceless Jewish artifacts with both religious and historic significance. This includes a manuscript by Maimonides, which was written by a scribe in the 1400s. Maimonides, also known as Rambam, was the 12th-century doctor and sage in Egypt whose works include the first codification of Jewish law. He is considered one of the most influential of all Jewish thinkers.

Recently, Jewish scholars were allowed to view this manuscript, but it has never been returned to the Jewish people. Can you imagine the hue and cry if, say, a work by St. John were being held by the Jews and not returned to the Vatican? Heck, they'd probably start another Crusade.

The Vatican Must Return the Temple Treasures!

A House of Prayer for All Peoples?

Restore Israeli Sovereignty Over the Temple Mount

Israel's Betrayal of the Jews

Jews Must Demand Rights to Temple Mount

Third Temple Coming Soon to Jerusalem!

Ariel Sharon: Return to the Temple Mount!

Where's the Temple on the Temple Mount?

The Temple of God in Holy Jerusalem

Vatican delegate to shun Holocaust remembrance service

Vatican delegate to shun Holocaust remembrance

Lilach Shoval

Published:

04.12.07, 02:11 / Israel News

Vatican ambassador to Israel Monsignor Antonio Franco has refused to participate in annual Holocaust Day memorial services at the Yad Vashem Museum in Jerusalem.

Franco is shunning the service due a photograph displayed at the Holocaust museum depicting then-Pope Pius XII. The caption beside the photo comments on the pope's dubious reaction to the murder of Jews during the Holocaust...

******

If the Jewish Homeland of Israel were a self-respecting country, they would bar the Vatican delegate from attending any Holocaust remembrance service since its hypocrisy would stink to high Heaven.

Let the bloody Vatican return the Temple treasures they hold hostage; release the Jewish manuscripts and artifacts they've refused to let go; acknowledge their role in the infamous ratlines; stop aiding and abetting the Nazi-Muslim demand for an accursed "Palestine" carved out of the Promised Land of Israel; cease and desist immediately from undermining Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem and a host of other evils they're accomplice to.

The Vatican Must Return the Temple Treasures!

UN Resolution 181: Blueprint of the Beast?

The Secret Nazis Covet the Temple Mount

Mt. Zion Under Siege: Who Will Be King of the Mountain

Vatican Linked to the Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin

Israel's Chief Rabbi Invites Foreign Occupation

Europe to Take Out Iran for Jerusalem

Pope John Paul II Was No Saint

Vatican Envoy Bares Teeth Against Christian Zionists

Bavarian Pope Entrusts Germany To Lead Europe, Others Wary Of The Grand Inquisitor

Woe to Ariel! (Jerusalem to suffer EU occupation)

Grand Master Turns Up The Heat On Jerusalem; Trouble Brewing In The North

Temple Institute: A Nation's First Steps

A Nation's First Steps

"G-d said to Moses, 'Why are you crying out to Me? Speak to the Israelites, and let them start moving." (Exodus 14:15)

Nisan 20, 5767/April 8, 2007

Passover marks the birthday of the Israelite nation. An extended family of seventy souls that went down to Egypt some two hundred and ten years earlier has now been shaped and transformed into a single nation. To be sure, one can follow the birth analogy right through the avodat parech - hard labor - that the Children of Israel were oppressed with. And to be sure, just as the unborn child reaches a point in its development when it can no longer viably remain inside the womb, so too, the Israelites, by slaughtering each family a lamb, (considered to be a deity by the Egyptians), made their continued stay in Egypt a non-option.

The Israelites who emerged on the Passover night from Egypt, like newborn infants, found themselves suddenly in a hostile world, pursued by an army determined to destroy them. And like any infant, scared and overwhelmed, they cried. So it is only natural that, finding themselves, seven days after stepping out of Egyptian bondage, caught between Pharaoh's army and the deep blue sea, they should cry out to their Father in heaven. So why does G-d, our compassionate Father, reject our cries, telling Moshe rabbeinu - Moses - "'Why are you crying out to Me? Speak to the Israelites, and let them start moving?" (ibid)

Our sages teach us that the Jews at the Sea of Reeds aligned themselves according to different schools of thought: some felt the solution was to raise their hands and go back to Egypt, resigning themselves to slavery. Others felt that only prayer could help them out of their untenable position. Yet another group was determined to return the fight, and take on the Egyptians, come what may. G-d's rebuke to Moshe, "'Why are you crying out to Me? Speak to the Israelites, and let them start moving," (ibid) was, in fact, Fatherly advice.

There comes a time in a child's development when he begins to walk. First he picks himself up off his knees. This the Israelites had done when they followed G-d's command and slaughtered the lambs. But a child needs encouragement to make his first concerted steps forward. Often one parent will stand with the child, while the other, with open arms, beckons the child forward. When G-d says to Moshe, "'Why are you crying out to Me?'" (ibid) He is in effect saying, "Don't cling to Me as I appear on this side of the Sea. Walk forth toward Me as I appear on the far side of the Sea."

"'I Will Be Who I Will Be,'" (ibid 3:14) G-d told Moshe when he first asked His name back in Midian. It was now imperative for the children of Israel, as they stood facing the impassible sea, to understand that G-d is not the god of standing still, G-d is the G-d of moving forward, of becoming who we are meant to become. And how did G-d appear to the Israelites on the far side of the Sea of Reeds? The answer to this question is provided in the Song of the Sea itself, the song every Jew repeats each morning in his prayers, and the entire congregation reads together on the seventh day of Passover: "O bring them (Your people) and plant them on the mount You possess. The place You dwell in is Your accomplishment, G-d. The Sanctuary of G-d Your Hands have founded." (ibid 15:17) The Holy One appeared, (and appears), in the historical destiny of the Jewish people, to return to the land of Israel, to establish G-d's Holy Temple, and to worship Him in His dwelling place in Jerusalem. It was this vision which inspired Nachshon, the leader of the tribe of Yehudah, whose very name, (from the root nachush), means determined, to plunge himself into the sea, where he proceeded to walk forward even as the rising waters reached his nostrils. It was this vision that brought the entire nation of Israel safely through the depths of the sea, ready to embark upon their Divinely inspired journey through history.

"The Seventh day (of Passover), shall be a sacred holiday to you." (Deuteronomy 28:25) On the seventh day of the exodus from Egypt, the children of Israel crossed the Sea of Reeds, effectively taking their first independent steps. Baby steps for the nation of Israel. Giant steps for mankind.

Chag Sameach - a happy holiday - to all,
Yitzchak Reuven
THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500
www.templeinstitute.org

Easter Ham is an Abomination!

An unholy trinity if there ever was one:
Easter Sunday ham!

Jesus Upheld Jewish Dietary Laws!
The Plain Truth about Easter
Yeshua is the Suffering Servant
The Suffering Servant
The Passover Memorial
Passover and Pentecost Differences Settled!
Jewish Holidays are Biblical Festivals for God's Church!
Plea to Diehard Catholics & Protestants to Repent
The Plain Truth about Herbert W. Armstrong & the Worldwide Church of God

Immoral Easter activities

Apparently some have never prayerfully studied the Israelite origins of the West, our Hebrew roots. There's no time like the present, especially as our Gentilized Israelite peoples are engaged in the same immoral Easter activities as before (which led to their national destruction, defeat and deportation) but now it's whitewashed as "Christian." However, honest people don't fall for that religious lie but submit to the plain truth: Easter is spiritual adultery and God hates it!

The Plain Truth about Easter
Not All Twelve Tribes of Israel are Jewish?
Joseph Isn't Jewish!
German-American Israelites?
Plea to Diehard Catholics & Protestants to Repent
The Plain Truth About the "Lost Ten Tribes" and Why You Need to Know!
Israel and Judah Must Get House in Order Before King Messiah Arrives

Fatah Threatens Attacks On Jews Outside Israel

Fatah Threatens Attacks On Jews Outside Israel

By: David Bedein, The Bulletin

The threat was made with the condition of Jews continuing to "invade" the Al Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during this week's Passover holiday.

This threat was confirmed on Israel's leading investigative Hebrew news site at:

http://www.nfc.co.il/Archive/001-D-127468-00.html?tag=19-28-10

Why Edward Abington, Jr. Must be Investigated!

Deaf, dumb and blind Christians

Isaiah 29:18
In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.

Isaiah 42:18
"Hear, you deaf; And look, you blind, that you may see."

Matthew 13:14-15
14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
And seeing you will see and not perceive;
15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.'

Why remain in denial of the facts? How can professing Christians be so dishonest and deceitful? (1 John 2:4). Both the Bible and history prove that all of these stolen pagan holidays masquerading as "Christian" are nothing but Rome's replacement theology, pushing God's commandments, the Festivals of the LORD, to the side for idolatrous traditions of men. How plain and simple for those interested in the truth.

Jeremiah 9:6
Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” says the LORD.

Such pagan holidays in Christian drag are done in Satan's spirit of rebellion. It is one thing to not know any better, but folks condemn themselves when they reject biblical and historical facts to keep their tinsel traditions God hates.

1 Samuel 15:22-23

“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices [lip service/sacrifices],
As in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.

23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry..
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
He also has rejected you...

Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
Christmas is About Giving - SAYS WHO?
The Plain Truth about Easter
The Passover Memorial

The Sabbath-keeping Church of God is called to share the plain truth of God's Word. How each individual responds, whether in attitude or post, reveals whether they're swine or not. God knows. He is calling some to abandon the herd and rise above traditions, to FORSAKE BABYLON, and live rather than suffer the plagues for disobedience.

Do You Prefer TRADITION Over Truth?
Is The Plain Truth Too Strong?
The Plain Truth about Herbert W. Armstrong & the Worldwide Church of God
Plea to Diehard Catholics & Protestants to Repent
Sorcerer-Pope to Bewitch Europe and Mislead the Masses!

Will you lose your old-time religion to find God?

Here is a passage from Beyond Babylon:

"Israel had smugly come to view herself as rather advanced, superior in culture and civilization, which they were - as long as they obeyed God (Rom. 2:17). But they were blind to their true spiritual condition. They were ignorant that beneath the glitter and glamor of success, sin was eating away at their nation's very foundations (Amos 6:1-8).

As Isaiah lamented: "Who is blind but My servant, or deaf as my messenger...?" (Isa. 42:19). How unfortunate but true that God's Church and nation throughout history have suffered from various BLIND SPOTS. We know so much, and yet so little!

Patriotic prophets urged Israel to forsake men's traditions for God's commandments (2 Kgs. 17:13). Usually, such stirring appeals to return to the law and covenant of God (our true Constitution) fell upon deaf ears. Everybody was content with the status quo: if it was good enough for others, it was good enough for them, but it wasn't good enough for God!

Israel didn't want their boat rocked. They wanted to remain dumb and blind! They were happy with their national holidays, family traditions and childhood memories: so they were irritated with God's people and attacked His message. They carried on in their stubborn ways, until they were carried away (Ezek. 6:9), carted off like cattle into foreign lands!

Ancient Israel's example proves it's not only possible but probable for individuals and entire nations to became deceived! Israel's religion was meaningless. They were only going through the motions. As far as God was concerned their worship was worthless. He didn't want anything to do with it. God hated their dead faith and despised their hypocritical hymns singing (Amos 5:21-23). Since they refused to lose their old-time religion to find God, they lost their land and found themselves in exile (Jer. 9-13-14)."

Download Beyond Babylon
Read Beyond Babylon online
British-Israelites and Jews in Grave Danger
Death to the American, British & Jewish Peoples?
Israel and Judah Must Get House in Order Before King Messiah Arrives

Tough love against pagan holidays

Revelation 3:19
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.

Some confuse the love of God with hate. TOUGH LOVE is love.

It is not Christian or loving to enable folks to go like sheep to the slaughter, ignorant or indifferent to the pagan origins of holidays that God condemns and will hold our countries accountable for, even permitting us to suffer national destruction, defeat and deportation as necessary.

Isaiah 58

1 "Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression [the Church and Synagogue], And the house of Jacob [the family of Israelite nations - all Twelve Tribes of Israel] their sins. 2 Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God [so religious yet so rebellious].

Do You Prefer TRADITION Over Truth?
Is The Plain Truth Too Strong?

The Plain Truth about Easter

Plea to Diehard Catholics & Protestants to Repent

Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?

Israel and Judah Must Get House in Order Before King Messiah Arrives

Passover and Pentecost differences settled!

Passover and Pentecost Differences Settled!

Why do we differ on Passover and Pentecost? Is it because our Father God left us in the dark? Has the God of law and order left us in chaos and confusion? Are we unable to "prove all things" from the Scriptures - as we're commanded - because we're unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the correct dates to observe God's holy days? DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?

Since there are many questions on this holy subject, we must start from the premise that God's Word is true, consistent and does not contradict itself (John 10:35) We must look for those basic Scriptures that are black and white and build our biblical case upon them. Such supportive Scriptures are actually abundantly available and the biblical evidence is overwhelming! Let us shine the Light of God's Word on our prayerful study with open minds, hearts and Bibles (Isa. 8:20; John 3:19-21; Acts 17:11).

The apostle Paul was inspired to write for the record that "the oracles of God" were committed to the Jews. The sacred calendar is clearly a part of "the oracles of God" (Ex. 12:2; Lev. 23:4). The purpose of the sacred calendar is for the Jews to determine and declare when the holy days of God are to be observed.

Jesus clearly revealed which Jews were responsible for these holy matters. Jesus declared that "the scribes and the PHARISEES sit in Moses' seat" of AUTHORITY (Matt. 23:2). God has ordained that the Jews preserve His Word on the Law, Prophets and Writings - despite themselves (Rom. 3:2-3). God will not renege on giving Judah this special calling and precious gift (Gen. 49:10, Rom. 11:29).

God has also ordained that Church officials can make binding decisions based upon biblical legal precedents, affecting Church issues (such as discussed in Acts 15 at the Jerusalem council of elders), that do not undermine the foundation of the Church - the Law and the Prophets (Rom. 11;18; Eph. 2:20). God has not given Church leaders a license to "kill" the brethren by destroying them doctrinally, uprooting and overturning foundational truths, or "playing God" by stealing divine prerogatives! (Matt. 5:17, 19; 2 Thess. 2:3-4).

The correct dates to observe God's holy days should not be a Church issue, having been settled by God thousands of years ago and preserved throughout the ages by faithful Jews.

So why do we differ on Passover and Pentecost? Because some have refused, rejected, denied and attempted to dismiss the biblical testimony! (Rom. 1:18; 3 John 9-10). We don't differ because God's forgotten or neglected to properly instruct His children in His ways (Deut. 6:7). We don't differ because we're unable to prove from the Scriptures, beyond a reasonable doubt, what's right and what's wrong.

"Come now and let us reason together, saith the LORD" (Isa. 1:18), "for the LORD has a controversy with His people, and He will plead with Israel" (Micah 6:2).

We differ because some have questioned God's right to choose the Jews to preserve the Bible and doubt God's ability to see that they fulfill their serious responsibility (Ex. 4:11; Isa. 45:9).

We differ because some won't submit to the biblical fact that Jesus clearly decreed that the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat and attempt to usurp that authority by forcibly installing the Sadducees in that position instead. God destroyed the power-base of the Sadducees when the Temple was destroyed but preserved the Pharisees. The Sadducees are history! We must make sure that we support God's chosen and not find ourselves in the enemy camp. (I Kgs. 2:27,35; Acts 5:39).

God's Church, as a general rule, has stubbornly followed the blind Sadducean dates for Passover and Pentecost. That is to our shame! We must reject the rebellious traditions of men for the commandments of God, otherwise God will reject us as His Priest-King (Mark 7:7-9; 1 Sam. 15:23). It's that serious!

Some, knowing better, continue to enjoy bitter strife and envying, getting caught up in proud personality clashes rather than humbling themselves before the Word of God ( 2 Tim. 2:23-26; Jas. 3:13-18). Truth is truth. It shouldn't be a matter of "I'm right and you're wrong," but what does God's Word say? God is truth. None of us owns the truth, only God does. Any truth that we might have God's revealed it to us (1 Cor. 4:6-7). We're not to take credit for it - all credit goes to God (2 Cor. 4:7).

Thankfully, a growing number of the brethren are beginning to see that the Bible does prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, which holy dates God would have us to observe. Therefore, may we celebrate God's holy days as He would have us to - "in spirit and in truth" - and praise Him for restoring this truth to His Church!

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.