Grandma's army

  REWRITING HISTORY - I The cumulative effect of the Arab false propaganda has been both counter-factual and unfortunate. Already in 2006, the World Heritage Site Committee of the United Nations Economic, Social, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) passed a resolution referring to the Temple Mount  - the holiest site in Judaism - solely by its Arabic, Islamic name, al-Haram al Sharif In spite of the fact that extensive documentation  from antiquity and countless archaeological finds, continue to confirm  both Judaism's ties to Jerusalem, and the Jewish people's millenia-old presence   in the land of Israel. Among the obvious findings that provide proof of ancient writings about the Jews - and Jerusalem - is the Bible, much of which is magnificently displayed by the new excavation of the City of David. Other proofs are the written histories by Joseph Flavius  (37-100 AD); the History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides; Peloponnesian War by Thuc...

The Gospels were theology, not history. Evangelizing documents that laid the foundation of a new faith. A faith that, by the end of the first century, was in sharp conflict with the one from which it had sprung. The refusal of the Jews to accept Jesus as their savior was regarded as a mortal threat to the early Church, and there were many attacks on the Jews. Numerous critical biblical scholars and contemporary historians have concluded that the evangelists and their editors in the early Church consciously shifted the blame for Jesus’ death from the Romans to the Jews. This was in order to make Christianity more appealing to gentiles living under Roman rule, and less threatening to the Romans themselves. Within a few short years of the crucifixion, the Jesus movement was in grave danger of being reabsorbed by Judaism. There was nothing the Church Fathers could do to change the fact that Jesus died a Roman death at the hands of Roman troops. But if they could suggest that the Jews had f...

  According to Moses, the real test of a nation is, not if it can survive a crisis, but if it can survive the lack of one. Can it remain strong in times of abundance and power? History teaches us that the nations that seemed impregnable in their times, all   eventually declined and lapsed into obscurity. All for the reasons which were foreseen by Moses. Moses did more than warn the people. He also showed how the danger could be averted. He spoke of the prime significance of memory for the moral health of a society. The word “Zakhor” ( remember ) is reiterated by Moses many times throughout the book of Deuteronomy. " Remember " is a "command delivered 197 times in the Bible. As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote:   “It is possible to see Judaism itself as a technology of memory, a set of practices designed to make the past present.” Memory is essential to who we are as a people. It binds us to others. It helps us to know to whom we belong. And in Judaism, memory is not p...

  As proud as most Jews are of being Jewish – some find it hard to understand how someone “normal” would be foolish enough to convert to Judaism. Jews are not exactly popular – in spite of their outstanding contributions to mankind. One particular example of a convert   is Dr. Micah Goodman. His mother came from a wealthy Catholic family from Oklahoma, and converted to Judaism in an Orthodox ceremony. She married a secular Jew and immigrated to Israel with her husband, in 1969. Dr. Goodman is a successful researcher and lecturer on Jewish philosophy, and has written several books on the subject - apart from heading an Academy of Jewish Thought. His latest book, “Moses’ Final Speech”, made its way to the top of the bestseller list very quickly. He writes that the last of the five books of the Pentateuch (Torah) Deuteronomy , is the first book in the Torah that does not profess to be of divine creation, but is a repository of the insights and thoughts of Moses. In his sp...

“WE ARE WHAT WE EAT” Food production is arguably the most important industry in the world – the entire population relies on it. For the best part of human history most of human labour was devoted to it. Today, it feeds over seven billion people and two billion people work in the food industry. Our physical and mental well-being is directly linked to what we eat and drink. The nutritional content of what we eat determines the composition of our cell membranes, bone marrow, blood, hormones, tissue, organs, skin, and hair. Our bodies are replacing billions of cells every day — and using the foods we consume as the source. Israel is known for its first wave of agricultural innovation – the invention of drip irrigation to counteract the country’s arid climate and water shortage. This was followed by the development of cherry tomatoes and other examples of agricultural technology. Today, we see a second wave of innovation – the transition from food security to nutritional ...

THE ECOLOGICAL IMPERATIVE Both wars and terrorism are factors in the most life-threatening problem facing the world today - the environment. The record of human intervention in the natural order of things is marked by devastation on a massive scale.  Almost everywhere human beings have set foot they have crushed the natives of the land and wiped out  many species of living creatures. Today, flooding the land and seas with plastic and other pollutants is one of the most destructive factors in maintaining ecological balance. Not to speak of destroying forests for the sake of cultivating live-stock. It is a biological fact that the various elements of nature have to be anchored in a permanent ecological balance. Human beings are the only organisms  who are able to understand and confront this. Implicit in this view is the understanding that, as long as the culture man develops is consistent with nature, the biological world will remain in harmony. In Biblica...

The dawn is just breaking on the 71 st Israeli Independence Day. A short time ago – while stilI dark outside - I was lying in bed contemplating the modern-day miracle of Israel. It is a miracle because it does not reflect reality in any way. For over 2,000 years prophecies written in the Bible of the ingathering of a scattered and oppressed people were read and believed. Today, we don’t have to “believe” the prophecies any longer – they are coming true right before our eyes. The flourishing of the land? Impossible. The greatest conquerers tried to build in this land and failed miserably - because it remained desolate. Today, we just have to look out of the window, or go for a walk, and see the beautiful trees and blooming flowers. We have even succeeded in making the desert bloom. Israeli agricultural innovations are not only benefitting Israel but many countries throughout the world. In what can be considered a single lifetime, the Jews emerged from the Holocaust weak, ex...

Jews are one of the most ancient peoples in the world. There are more facts about Jewish history than   any other nation. The  Jewish people  originated in the  land of Israel , a nd have maintained physical, cultural, and religious ties to it ever since. Even though Israel is a tiny country it is always in the global news.  This news often reports on the unending conflicts between Israeli Jews and their neighbours, and the search for peace.  Even if there is no actual warfare there is continuous tension.  How did this start?  Many people look back only as far back as the birth of Israel in 1948 - but if we are to understand the situation we need to look back much further. As related in the Bible, it all began over 4,000 years ago with Abraham, who went on a camping trip in this part of the Middle East. The Bible is the oldest source of Jewish history, although religious Jews consider it   as far more than an historical documen...

  And to round up my trio on Latrun , Charles Smith, who joined the Senior Residence complex where I live, together with his wife Shirley, sent me the following   short story. One of many among his reminiscences from their 37 years on a moshav (agricultural settlement) overlooking Latrun . “In 1978, after 3 years in Rehovot, our family moved to Moshav Bin Nun, an agricultural village in the beautiful area overlooking the Valley of Ayalon (where Joshua Bin Nun fought and subdued the locals a few thousand years ago), and the Latrun Monastery. Attached is a picture of the view from our farm and another of our vineyard which is relevant to the story below. At that time, whenever any Israeli – from my barber to taxi drivers - heard that we were going to move to that spot, he/she immediately trotted out the quotation from the Bible in Hebrew: “ The Sun stood still at Givon and the Moon in the Valley of Ayalon” - Joshua   [10:12]. This was, o...

LATRUN - II One of the fiercest and most crucial battles of the War of Independence was the fight for the fortress of Latrun , which commands the main road between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. This series of engagements is important in its own right, and also because some who fought there went on to become important figures. Two would even rise to the office of prime minister: Yitzhak Rabin and Ariel Sharon . The fortress at Latrun, and the nearby Trappist monastery overlook the scenic Ayalon Valley, about 16 kilometers west of Jerusalem Its commanding location along an ancient route gives it great strategic value, making it the site of many battles, going back to biblical times. Here, Joshua prayed for God to make the sun stand still so he could finish defeating the Amorites (Joshua 10:12-13). In 167 BCE the Ayalon Valley was where Judah the Maccabi won an important victory over the Seleucids. The Templars built a fortress there in 1187.   In the late 1930s in Mandatory Pale...

In my last blog I chronicled the battles that Israel has fought since the State was declared. However, perhaps the most significant battle that the Jews fought, and won,   took place in the second century BCE.     Desiring to unify his kingdom through the medium of a common religion and culture Antiochus, the Greek ruler at that time, tried to root out the individualism of the Jews by desecrating their holy Temple and suppressing all the Jewish Laws. We are now at the end of an eight day Festival commemorating this particular victory. The story of Mattitiyahu Maccabee and his sons, who head the Revolt, is told in detail in the two books of the Maccabees.   A small, vastly outnumbered band of Jews waged battle against the mighty Greek armies, and drove them out of the land. Even though Judaism would have disappeared if Antiochus had succeeded in his strategy,   Jewish sages chose to leave these books outside of the Bible. One of the reasons is ...

Pandora was the first human woman in Greek mythology. She was entrusted with a jar, on condition that it remained closed. When her curiosity got the better of her and she opened it, all the world’s sorrows, plagues, etc. escaped. When she managed to close it - only hope remained. Pandora was the first human woman in Greek mythology. She was entrusted with a jar on condition that it remained closed. When her curiosity got the better of her and she opened it, all the world’s sorrows, plagues, etc. escaped. When she managed to close it - only hope remained. Hope is an existential necessity in a life clouded by uncertainty. I believe hope is what enables the survival of the Jewish people. Without hope for a better future, how could a people suffer the unbearable “present” throughout the ages, whether it was programs, exile, persecution, genocide. The stories comprising the narrative of the Jewish people as written in the Pentateuch, invariably show an unforeseen futu...