Philip's posts with tag: religious
 The Jewish Leadership Weekly Newsletter 26 Kislev, 5768 (Dec. 6) Issue 6810 | | We Have Lots to Smile About! |
 The Jewish majority is winning -- and it doesn't even notice! The settlements in Judea and Samaria are growing faster than in any other area of Israel. Many of the settlements have absolutely no room for new families. A new and vigorous generation has grown up in the settlements. Most of them choose to remain in Judea and Samaria after they marry and start their own families. The youth, inspired by the Homesh activists, stubbornly cling to the outposts that they put up on Sukkot and are planning more outposts for Chanukah. A steady and determined group of youth has managed to remain in Homesh since the summer. We are also winning the demographic race. Slowly but surely, the Jewish nation in the Land of Israel is awakening. The birthrate of religious Jews is higher than the Arab birthrate and the general demographic picture is now in favor of the Jews. And most importantly -- our Jewish identity. 83% of the Jews in Israel will be lighting Chanukah candles throughout the entire eight day holiday. These statistics reinforce the yearly Jewish identity polls that show Israel's Jewish identity to be constantly on the rise. "When I began to study Judaism," a once-secular friend recently told me, "my friends were convinced that I had gone off the deep end. Now, if you are on the trendy Sheinkin St. and you don't learn Judaism, you are simply not 'in.'" The Jewish majority is winning! It clings to its homeland and to its identity, its enemies' numbers are diminishing while its own numbers are increasing! Just as during the historical Chanukah, the battle seems to be against Israel's enemies. But the real battle is for the soul and leadership of the large and healthy Jewish majority in the Land of Israel. On that front as well, Manhigut Yehudit is progressing by leaps and bounds. Moshe Feiglin has almost nightly meetings with Likud members throughout Israel, and the positive feedback is tremendously encouraging. We are sure that when election time comes, much of that support will turn into votes for Jewish leadership for Israel!
| | Where is the Right Hiding?: By Moshe Feiglin | | Kislev, 5768
Dec., '08 Translated from the Makor Rishon newspaper  If the Likud would be run according to its constitution, it would have applied Israeli sovereignty over all parts of the Land of Israel that are in our hands long ago. But currently, the Likud is not run according to its own principles. Its ideology has been replaced by pragmatism. Today's Likud is convinced that in order to rule, it must access votes from Israel's Center. There in the Center, the Likud believes, waits a vast pool of voters who determine which party will win the elections. And so the Likud puts its ideology aside and vies for the elusive center of the voter pie. A number of weeks ago, Dr. Asher Cohen, a senior lecturer at the Political Science Department of Bar Ilan University, put a wrench in the Likud's theory. According to a survey that he conducted on the political identity of Israel's citizens, 29% described themselves as Center. 15% defined themselves as moderate Right, and Dr. Cohen logically identifies them with Likud voters. But now for the big surprise: an additional 12% of those right of the Likud defined themselves as plain Right, while a whopping 22% of those right of the Likud defined themselves as extreme Right. All in all, 34% of Israel's rightists -- a full third of Israel's voters -- consider themselves to be politically right of the Likud! Where, then, according to Dr. Cohen, is the Right hiding? His answer is simple. Those who defined themselves as Right and extreme Right by and large voted for Lieberman and Shas. They are currently "hiding" deep inside Ehud Olmert's government. In light of these statistics, we can clearly see how erroneous the Likud's attempt to attract votes from the political Center really is. To the left of the Likud there is a bank of 29% of voters who define themselves as Center, while to the Likud's Right, the bank has 34% of Israel's voters. Why, then, does the Likud consistently attempt to woo the Left/Center voters? Not only are there less of them, but they already have a political home in Kadimah or the Labor party. Clearly, if the Likud wants to return to the 48 Knesset seats that it once held (4 times what it has now) it must appeal to its natural constituency and proudly display its ideology, instead of denying it. But in practice, we see just the opposite. Likud chairman Netanyahu announces that he sees Ehud Barak as a worthy candidate for defense minister in a Likud-led government. In other words, the entire Right "bank" will have no influence on the policies of the Likud. In addition, Bibi is investing much of his energy into an attempt to neutralize the ideological voices in the Likud. His actions send a clear message to one third of the voters in Israel: You are not Likudnicks. This is a no win situation. The first to lose is the Likud, which time and again loses the elections and has become a pale shadow of the Left. The second loser is the National Camp, which remains captive in the hands of the Left -- even when, on the surface, the Likud wins the elections. And most importantly, the entire State of Israel loses its only chance to survive and halt the blind march to its own destruction. It is highly unlikely that anyone can convince Netanyahu to change direction and appeal to the Right bank of voters. As I have written in the past, the foundations of that problem are much deeper than its political reflection. But whether we like it or not, the key to the consolidation of the Right and Israel's rescue is exclusively with the Likud. Instead of splintering off into more and more right wing parties that will remain insignificant as long as the Likud stays connected to the Left; instead of deliberating whether to demonstrate with or without a permit, the Right must simply join the Likud and restore the ruling party to its own hands. Keep up to date with our latest articles and audio updates | |
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October 16, '07 IDF Commander Issues Adminisrative Orders Against Jews ( IsraelNN.com) IDF Central Commander has issued administrative orders against a number of Jewish residents of Samaria. The orders, three months in length, prevents the Jews from being in the region of their residence. The reason given for the orders is that the Jews must be distanced for the duration of the olive harvest. Neriah Ofan Among Those Who Received Restraining Orders ( IsraelNN.com) One of the Jewish residents of Samaria to be barred from returning to his home by IDF administrative order is Neriah Ofan. Ofan was victim to a similar order in 2006, along with 19 others. Prior to the 2005 Disengagement, Ofan was jailed without trial via administrative detention order due to fears by the government that his logistical skills in organizing the monthly encirclement of the Temple Mount were being used to organize opposition to the expulsion. MK Ariel: Administrative Orders Scandalous (IsraelNN.com) MK Uri Ariel (National Union) responded angrily to reports that the IDF has issued administrative orders distancing several Samaria Jews from their homes.
MK Ariel said the renewal of the use of administrative orders for such purposes violates a Knesset decision condemning such use by the security establishment of the administrative orders in the past.
“The actions are even more sever in light of the fact that no such steps were taken against the Arabs and left-wing activists who uprooted 6,000 Jewish-owned vines near Nerya two months ago.” MK Ariel: Administrative Orders Scandalous ( IsraelNN.com) MK Uri Ariel (National Union) responded angrily to reports that the IDF has issued administrative orders distancing several Samaria Jews from their homes. MK Ariel said the renewal of the use of administrative orders for such purposes violates a Knesset decision condemning such use by the security establishment of the administrative orders in the past. “The actions are even more sever in light of the fact that no such steps were taken against the Arabs and left-wing activists who uprooted 6,000 Jewish-owned vines near Nerya two months ago.”
| Women in Combat Units and Inverted Values: By Moshe Feiglin | |  A committee established by Head of IDF Personnel Major General Elazar Stern, decided this week (as expected) to include women soldiers in all military combat units and under all circumstances. This is not surprising. When women were first included in combat units a number of years ago, Moshe Feiglin wrote to the heads of the Religious Zionist hesder yeshivas and stated that if they do not establish an ultimatum against introducing women into combat units, they would also not direct their students to refuse orders to expel their fellow Jews that came a few years later. And that is exactly what happened. Those religious soldiers who received authorization from their rabbis to serve in combat with women soldiers eventually also received directives from the same rabbis to expel their brothers from their homes. Just as the expulsion from Gush Katif became a value in and of itself -- detached from any reason, so the inclusion of women in combat units has also become a value detached from any military or security benefit. The following article, from Moshe Feiglin's book, "The War of Dreams," was written in 2001, when the issue of women in combat units first arose. Women in Combat Units and Inverted Values: By Moshe Feiglin 24 Av, 5761
August 13, 2001 Between a slaughter in a pizza shop and a massacre in a coffee shop, between shootings on the roads of Yesha, shootings in Jerusalem and rockets on the settlements of Gush Katif, the State of Israel has been occupied in the last few weeks with the question of women's service in combat units. A stranger would not understand. Don't the Israelis have enough troubles? Why are they bringing another trouble on themselves? But in truth, it is all the same trouble. It is all the same disease. The State of Israel has entered a sort of values vertigo. The heavens are the earth, the earth is the heavens, good is evil and evil is good. The most obvious expression of this vertigo was Rabin's handshake with Arafat on the White House lawn. That handshake seated all the Israelis on the defendant's bench in the International Crimes Court at The Hague. It implied Israel's recognition of the legitimacy of the struggle of the Palestinian Liberation Organization -- the organization that strives to liberate "Palestine" from the yoke of the Jewish occupation. In other words, that handshake created the Palestinian nation, recognized the fact that it has a homeland in the Land of Israel, that this homeland is occupied by the Zionist colonialist conquerors and that the terrorists are really freedom fighters -- necessarily making the Israelis war criminals. The criminals who perpetrated Oslo rode upon the vehicle of post-modern/feminist philosophy. To understand this on a deeper level, we have to understand the forces at work here. On the most basic level, what is happening in Israel is a war between life and death. Good, morality and life -- are one. Evil and death also embrace each other. "Behold, I have set before you today life and goodness, and death and evil."
(Deuteronomy 30:15) There is good and there is evil -- and not as the pagan post-modernism would have us believe. There is life and there is death. Life is created by separation of the sexes, and not as feminism would have us believe. Life is created by separation. The cell divides, differentiates and develops. The primordial default is death and confusion. In the beginning, there was chaos and disorder and darkness on the face of the abyss. Then the Creator of life began to make separations: between light and darkness, between the sea and the dry land, between animals and humans, between men and women and between the nations of the world and the Jewish People. Life is not static. In order to preserve life, we must always invest energy in making separations. Every mother knows that the natural condition of the house is "a mess" and how much energy must be invested on a constant basis to preserve the separation that transforms the mess into a living and functioning household. Death pulls us inexorably toward its depths. Materials that are not separated will mix together. If we want to keep them alive, we must invest energy to separate them. Chaos and disorder, the blurring of distinctions, the pagan enticement to give in to the whirlpool that draws the world down to its death -- are all forces that the Nation of Israel must face. These forces of death always wrap themselves in an enlightened and preening cloak. They present themselves as the pure beauty of life. They speak in the name of order and civilization. But in truth, they serve chaos and disorder, darkness and death. "Why did you insist on ruling that two men constitute a family?" Chief Justice Barak was asked. "If the homosexual partner is eligible for compensation, you could have awarded it to him on a regular contractual basis. Why mix laws of matrimony into the ruling?" In typical dictatorial fashion, Chief Justice Barak felt no need to explain. It is unlikely that he himself understands the forces that motivate him. But in essence, he uses all the dictatorial tools that he has created in order to foster confusion. Confusion of values, confusion of sexual identity, confusion of the family unit, confusion of our national identity, confusion of our territorial borders, confusion of separation and return to chaos, disorder and death. What motivated the woman soldier who wanted to be a combat pilot to appeal to the Supreme Court? Was it a rare outburst of love for her homeland? Was it eternal Zionism? Or was it the desire to express herself as a man -- the best that feminist confusion has to offer? It was clear from the very start that the Supreme Court would cooperate with her in full. Its ruling broke down the very last separation of the sexes that still existed in the IDF. It makes no difference that women soldiers in combat units critically reduce the operational abilities of the unit -- a fact that has been proven in other armies that have already reneged on the preposterous idea. Trash the IDF, crush the State -- the main thing is that we achieve our goal. We will take advantage of the young women's desire to contribute to the State and channel it for our purposes. We will take advantage of the most respected Israeli value, the security ethos -- the basic survival instinct that remains the last justification for the existence of the nation of Holocaust remnants -- and use it to drag this confused and tormented nation down into the whirlpool of chaos, disorder and death. And where do the rabbis come in? "Did I do the right thing?" the brave woman soldier, Chani Abramov asked the Chief Rabbi who came to visit her in the hospital. Did the institutional rabbi think that she was asking his medical opinion? Deep down, she felt the pain of falsehood that added to the pain of her shattered face. The Rabbi mumbled a few word of encouragement and left. Did he understand the issue? The Ultra-Orthodox rabbis have no problem. Their forecasts were precise and they can rub their hands in affected sorrow as they wait for Zionism to self-destruct. In the end, though, all the Jews get thrown into the pits of death together. And where are the Zionist rabbis, heads of the hesder yeshivas and the NRP? How can they accept this situation? They are in Zionist captivity. Their self-imposed dependence on Zionism does not allow them to understand the destructive process that is taking place here. Their arguments against the service of women in combat units are truly humiliating. The Leftist broadcasters have a field day with every stuttering rabbi who explains his opposition to women serving in combat units because it makes it too difficult for the male soldiers to concentrate on their mission. "Aha!" the broadcasters rejoice. "What kind of thoughts do you have in your heads? This is solid proof that when you separate between the sexes, it creates even more severe problems. Separation is death. Chaos and confusion are life. If it is difficult for you, dear rabbis, to face women in combat units and to continue to abide by Jewish law -- no problem. We will create religious reservations for you. Don't worry, we'll work it all out." Manhigut Yehudit Weekly Update Tishrei 8, 5768 (Sept. 20, 2007) Issue: 6801 |
Tuesday, August 28, 2007 by Staff Writer  Israel Today At least 50 percent of young Israeli army officers today are conservative religious Jews, according to a report in Israel's Ma'ariv daily newspaper. Religious, thought not not necessarily Orthodox, Jews are a minority in Israel, but because of their strong Zionist upbringing are “becoming the backbone of the [Israel Defense Forces],” the newspaper noted.
Religious soldiers have long been praised within Israel as the most dedicated and courageous combatants in the army.
However, there is also a growing fear that the Bible-based beliefs of such soldiers regarding Israel's right to the land could result in mutiny if the secular government orders a mass evacuation of Jews from Judea and Samaria as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians. Earlier this month, a group of religious soldiers refused to participate in the removal of Jewish settlers from Jewish owned property in the Judean town of Hebron.
Zionsake Editor, 9 August 2007: I am reposting this article here that I had posted to Zionsake's Forum in 1999, to highlight new information I have obtained about the Haredim that is probably the reason for their fanatical studying at yeshivas and enslavement to legalism, traditions and customs as if their salvation depends on it. It has turned out that they actually believe in RE-INCARNATION. Consequently, their salvation does in fact depend on the level they have reached in studies of the man-made Talmudic writings, their lifestyle, maintaining of customs, "Jewishness," (according to their standards) "holiness," etc. Now, after observing the Orthodox men, with their soft, lilly white hands, for nearly eight more years, I'm convinced that the comments below are as valid and accurate as they were in 1999. All I can now add, is the information that they are enslaved by their belief in re-incarnation.
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IN THE LATEST ISSUE of the Jerusalem Report magazine, Ze'ev Chafets wrote an article entitled "The Talmud Market." The article is an attack on the Talmud and the study of Talmud as it is practiced in yeshivas here in Israel and throughout the world. Chafets himself reveals his direction when he writes "I ask a simple question about the Talmud: What's it good for?" His proof of the uselessness of Talmudic study is purely economic. He writes, "The marketplace is a hard master, it rarely affords a living wage to someone for pursuing a hobby or interest that is of no general use... They [the students of the Talmud] are, as a result [of studying Talmud exclusively], unable to build a bridge, pull a tooth, unstop a drain or grow a tomato. They are fit for nothing but teaching the Talmud to others. Unhappily there is no market for such people." He therefore lumps most of the students of the Talmud into a nasty sounding group of "tens of thousands of holy loafers."
Now Chafets is certainly entitled to his opinions. His vitriolic comments about traditional Jewish life and its beliefs and practices are well-known to those who read his column. However, one would have hoped that he would at least have something new to say about the subject. Instead he is merely repeating the statements made to the rabbis of the Talmud themselves many long centuries ago.
"Of what good are your yeshiva students?" was the question hurled at the heads of the yeshivas in Babylonia in the fourth century. Those students could also not build a bridge, pull a tooth, unstop a drain or grow a tomato. But the rabbis of the Talmud, whose words are still studied and admired today by millions of Jews, stated that "the study of Torah is above all else in Jewish life." And it was and is the study of Torah above all else that has preserved the Jewish people until today. The impractical, non-economically-rewarding, other-worldly study of Torah was the main force that has kept the Jewish people alive, vibrant, creative and stubborn to the core until today.
For the Jewish people itself is basically an impractical entity. And the State of Israel, even today fifty-one years after its founding, is still not a rational or even militaristically or economically justifiable venture. But, since it is Jewish, it need not somehow conform to the rules of the marketplace or the acceptance and blessing of the European Union in order to thrive and survive.
It is the very fact that there are tens of thousands of young men, all of whom could have an easier and more comfortable life if they abandoned the yeshivas (even including army service in the equation), that should cause others to wonder why this phenomenon of intensive and devoted Talmud study continues to persist in our modern society. We should stand back and view the sight of the rebirth and growth of Torah study in our post-Holocaust generations with wonder and echo the words of Moses at the sight of the burning bush - "and, lo, the bush is not consumed!" Torah, the Talmud, its students and adherents are major assets of the Jewish people. They form the link to our past and point us towards our destiny. Without them, we have no claim to this land, to our uniqueness as a people, to our values and system of morals.
While much of the modern world, including many, many Jews, search for meaning and direction in their lives, a meaning and direction over and above what the marketplace dictates, the vast majority of the students of Torah and Talmud have a serenity and stability in life that should be an object of envy and not of spiteful ridicule. But prejudices and shortsightedness are omnipresent in all generations. So I imagine that I should not be surprised by Chafets' repetition of the old worn-out question "What's it good for?" Well, it has been good for Jewish survival for millennia - that is essentially what it is good for. To call full-time students of the Talmud "holy loafers" is not just bad manners and insulting condescension. It is a complete misunderstanding and lack of appreciation of all of Jewish history and Jewish life.
Every educational system and institution is imperfect. There are always misfits, foul-ups and incompetents present in every student body, faculty and educational administration. The schools of Torah are in no way immune from problems and shortcomings. But then neither are the universities or professional schools of this or any other country. It should be the goal of all of our society to attempt to improve the efficiency and performance of all of our schools and students. This includes the improvement of the situation of all schools including the yeshivas and their students in a financial, educational, vocational and national sense.
There is nothing to be gained from a one-sided, bitter condemnation of the Talmud and its students. A large section of even the secular Jewish public senses that there is a hidden, inexplicable and valuable national treasure - the Talmud and its devoted students - that should not be destroyed. It may be very true that many (certainly not all) of the Talmud students are "unable to build a bridge, pull a tooth, unstop a drain or grow a tomato." But not to worry, they will all be able to be columnists. ![[Image]](http://zionsake.multiply.com/journal/JWR-button.jpg) JWR contributor Rabbi Berel Wein is one of Jewry's foremost historians and founder of the Destiny Foundation. He resides in Jerusalem. You may contact Rabbi Wein by by clicking here or calling 1-800-499-WEIN (9346). My first question to defenders of endless yeshivah study as an act of obedience, worship, Jewishness, etc., is, "what did King David beg God not to take from him?" It wasn't the scrolls handed down to Moses or written words or oral laws (made up by men), it was that God would not take his Spirit from him! Yes, David knew God and his Spirit was his source of revelation, knowledge, creativity, worship, etc. He didn't put endless study into what others wrote or said, he did his own writing under inspiration of the Spirit. I wonder what king David would have said about this reciting of prayers? Apparently the Jews still prayed in their own words during the Second Temple Period. Needing to recite shows how artificial and devoid of input and interaction with the Holy Spirit Jewish worship has become. Not to mention this ridiculous dovening that has developed, that surely is a manifestation of religious spirits. It's as ridiculous as the Moslem's throwing stones at the devil and circling around Allah's black rock! - his body actually, since he doesn't have a human body in the person of Messiah (Maschiach Yeshua) the God of Israel (Elohim or Gods) has - see Body, Soul & Spirit. This "shallowing" with implementation of all sorts of traditions, like clothing and head coverings must be the result of the fulfillment of the following prophecy about the execution of Messiah:
Zech 13:7 "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, Against the Man who is My Companion,"Says the LORD of hosts."Strike the Shepherd, And the sheep will be scattered; Then I will turn My hand against the little ones. King David's interaction with God resulted in his conquering of just about all the land Israel was promised. It was an act of obedience, of not questioning the God of Israel's authority or justification in wanting the nations to be driven from the land he wanted for his and his Jews' inheritance. To the contrary, Rabbis of our day don't have that absolute conviction David had, or even the prophet Eliyah, to kill the Baal priests, or king Josiah to destroy altars, towers (what else are minarets or obelisks than towers?) and other objects of foreign gods. This lack of conviction rendered the Rabbis impotent in leading the people in an effective resistance against PM Arial Sharon's resent treasonous abandoning of land to people who are not even a nation. In fact, there is clear evidence that Rabbi Shlomo Aviner of the Yesha Council (a body administering the Settlements), who was supposedly a resistance leader against the expulsion, worked for the Shabak (Government Dept. of Internal Security). Consequently protest actions were organized in such a way that they were bound to fail. Due to this lack of conviction and obedience to clear-cut laws and instructions, this endless yeshiva studying evolved as a means to get around simple rules and to replace them with ever growing dead legalism, a ghetto mentality and a lack of discernment of, for instance, -
The clever lie of the devil that this Allah of Islam must be the same god as the God of Israel - since there is just one God. Ample proof is presented in Zionsake's publications that Allah of Islam is not the same god and that Mohammad does not qualify to be a prophet of the God of Israel. (See Elohim vs. Allah, Who is this Allah? & Islam and the Roman Connection)
It suffices to remark here, that, if it's the same God, how come he is so unfair to let Israel win all their wars against the Muslims? This is, in spite of the nations siding with them against Israel! In fact, we're going to see more of this "bias" of the God of Israel in coming days with the fulfillment of the prophecy that,
"In those days ten men from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, `Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.'" Zechariah 8:23.
It reminds us of the Egyptian's experience in the dried up Red Sea:
He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, "Let's get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt." Exodus 14:25 NIV -
This clever lie has tricked Israel into attempting to contravene the following Mosaic Laws that go with the eternal promise of the Promised Land: | | -
The principle that the spiritual restoration of the Jews goes hand in hand with their return to Israel and the physical restoration of the land - see And all Israel will be saved! -
Handing back control of the Temple Mt. to the Waqf in 1967: I very much suspect that the Rabbis could have prevented the action - if they hadn't been embroiled in legalistic issues about which places on the Mount were too holy for men to step on. Meanwhile it is a spiritual/political principal of the land that "He who controls the mount controls the country." Uri Tzvi Greenberg quoted by Moshe Feiglin. arutz-7@list.israelnationalnews.com Arutz-7 News: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 -
The future boundaries of Israel: True Biblical Zionism is to fight for and hang on to the land promised to the Jews, like the residents of Yesha are doing, but I don't detect a clear perception even from them of the glorious future that lies ahead for Israel - see Factors that should be taken into account when it comes to the borders of Israel. From these "factors" it will be seen that the the plan to transfer the Arabs to Jordan is flawed in the respect that Israel will still get back the east bank of the Jordan as well. -
The future of the Arabs: ... the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, -
"To your (Jewish) descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates-- the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites." Genesis 15:18-21.
All these nations have disappeared, so what chance do the so-called Palestinians, therefore, have? They are not even a nation! -
Furthermore, they, like the nations Israel was commanded to destroy in the past, are contaminated by practices prescribed by false gods, like jihad, honor killings, covering up women like ghosts (to protect men from their own lust), etc. In fact, Muslims have contributed little else to the world than dead legalism, superstition (70 virgins, throwing stones at the devil, etc) and the strategy of terrorism. Secondly, when I as a non-Jew, think about the Jews, I think of them as a super race based on what the One who created them for himself, says about them: | "I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock". Jeremiah 2:21 (NIV)
The Living Bible says: "...when I planted you, I chose my seed so carefully - the very best" | When I look at the Orthodox Jews roaming the streets of Jerusalem at times that regular people are at work, the absolute waste occurs to me of the aptitude, gifting and talent they are bound to have in every field one can think of. I remember the scores of aptitude tests we had to take in our high school days to be able to make a career choice. But these Yeshiva students are not given that choice. Just think what a waste it would have been if Einstein had been buried in a Yeshiva? - to study legalism that has nothing to do with salvation or getting to know God. In my time, becoming a minister in our church denomination was very popular and theological seminaries turned them out in droves because it offered an excellent career. And that was all it was for many, since very few were actually "reborn" believers, walking in the Spirit - to have "called" them into full-time ministry. When I met the God of Israel and committed my life to him and started learning from him and his word, I realized that seminary students are taught what humans say about the Bible and denominational doctrine. I believe it's very much the case with Yeshiva study, especially when it comes to the Talmud. There is no substitute for infusion of understanding by God's Spirit to our spirit, and it comes from self study. One can listen to what others say, but you have to weigh their understanding against the testimony of the Spirit. I perceive that Rabbinical instructions have become traditional beliefs instead of simple Biblical truth. Of these, most importantly, that redemption can only be via blood, not prayer and fasting as the Rabbis had ruled are sufficient - after the destruction of the Temple. | "When I see the blood, I will pass over you" (Ex 12:13)
"It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul" (Lev 17:11) | An example of such a traditional belief is the kosher rule of not eating milk and meat together. It for sure served the purpose of keeping Jews Jewish, but it has no scriptural basis other than the instruction not to boil (it does not say "not eat") a young goat in its mother's milk (Exodus 34:26). As against this, we have Abraham who served "the Lord" curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared. (Genesis 18:8). For good measure, there is also the large numbers of Haredim who smoke, and just simply cannot be convinced that it could be wrong. Obviously it's a contravention of the FIRST Commandment since it is an addiction, an enslavement to another power (god) and something that's really not necessary. In the Christian world, rebirth into a new life in the God of the Bible and smoking just simply don't go together, and I've have seen time and again that a resumption of smoking is the first sign of backsliding in believers. I suppose those who don't agree will only be convinced when they enter into a New Covenant, as in Jeremiah 31:33. In conclusion, what's it with this pre-occupation with graves and bones of the Haredim? Is it forefather worship...? | Humbly for Zion's sake. | | 
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Hebrew is such a beautiful language that it is no wonder that it so singable. | 04 He lo omeret clum | | | | | | | 05 Ligshum | | | | | | | 06 Bat Aliga | | | | | | | 06 Imahiti yeg gola-If I could | | | | | | | 07 Le olam | | | | | |
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