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Report From Israel – Sunday, November 29, 2015
From Breaking Israeli–Christian News – With tensions escalating between Russia and Turkey, many are wondering if the world is being witness to a divine act of messianic intervention.
Just before his death in 1797, an exceedingly well-respected Jewish sage known as the Vilna Gaon (the genius of Vilna) left his followers with a prophetic statement about two specific events that would happen just before the appearance of the Messiah.
After being held as “a closely guarded secret” for over 200 years, Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch, a great-grandson of the Vilna Gaon, shared the full prophecy publically for the first time in 2014. The text of the Vilna Gaon’s prophecy was reported by Rabbi Lazer Brody, an American-born Hasidic rabbi and teacher from Ashdod, Israel in March, 2014.
“When you hear that the Russians have captured the city of Crimea, you should know that the times of the Messiah have started, that his steps are being heard. And when you hear that the Russians have reached the city of Constantinople, you should put on your Shabbat (Sabbath) clothes and don’t take them off, because it means that the Messiah is about to come any minute.”
In this prophecy, the Vilna Gaon mentioned two signs of the imminent arrival of the Messiah – Russia capturing Crimea and Russia invading the Turkish city of Constantinople (now Istanbul). The first prophecy was fulfilled in 2014 when Russia annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea.
Current tensions between Russia and Turkey, including Turkey shooting down a Russian fighter jet on November 24, are setting the stage for the second sign, the Russian invasion of Istanbul, to occur soon.
The prophecy of the Vilna Gaon is strengthened by the existence of a similar prophecy, this one from the Jewish sage known as the Ba’al Shem Tov, the founder of the Hasidic Judaism. Like the Vilna Gaon, the Ba’al Shem Tov lived in the 18th century.
The Kloisenberger Rebbe, a 20th century Hasidic rabbi, echoed the Vilna Gaon’s second sign when he wrote “in the name of the Ba’al Shem Tov, when you see the Russian horse in Constantinople, a city in Turkey, you should know Moshiach (Messiah) is about to arrive.”
According to the Kloisenberger Rebbe, in addition to the Russian military presence in the Turkish city of Istanbul, the Ba’al Shem Tov foretold another sign of the impending arrival of the Messiah – “the Russians will come, they will come and be together with the sons of Ishmael.” That is, when the Russians join forces with the spiritual descendents of Ishmael, who today are identified as those of Islamic descent, it’s another sign of the coming of the Messiah.
Militarily, Russia is already connected with its Shiite Muslim allies in Syria and Iran. As reported in Breaking Israel News, a 75-year-old prophecy connects Russia’s unfolding role in Syria to Gog and Magog. Since late September of this year, Russia has become a central player in Syria, leading many to hypothesize that Putin is Gog and Russia is Magog.
The messianic alliance between Russia and the Shiite Muslims of Syria and Iran was deepened by a recent gesture of friendship off the battlefield. On November 23, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a rare and valuable gift to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Putin gave Khamenei one of five copies of the original handwritten Koran, the Muslim holy text that dates back to the 7th century.
Israel’s defense minister, Moshe Ya’alon
Israel’s defence minister, Moshe Ya’alon Israel’s defence minister, Moshe Ya’alon, said Russia provides warning when it plans to fly near Israeli airspace. A Russian jet recently entered Israeli airspace but was not shot down thanks to an open communication system between the two countries, Israel’s defence minister has said, as tensions continued to flare between Ankara and Moscow afterTurkish troops shot down a Russian warplane.
Israel‘s defence minister, Moshe Ya’alon, said the plane entered about one mile (1.5km) into Israeli airspace by mistake and immediately turned around back to Syria when the Russians were notified. For two months, Russia has been carrying out airstrikes in support of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.
Ya’alon told Israel Radio that after Russia announced its air campaign in Syria, the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, along with his military chief of staff and other officials, met with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and later opened a channel for coordination with Russia “to prevent misunderstandings”.
He said there has been one incident so far of a Russian plane entering Israeli airspace and it was “immediately corrected in the communications channel”. He didn’t say when it occurred.
Ya’alon said: “Russian planes don’t intend to attack us and therefore there is no need to automatically, even if there is some kind of mistake, shoot them down.”
Putin has called for economic sanctions against Turkey, including a ban on some goods and extensions of labour contracts for Turks working in Russia from 1 January 2016. He also called for an end to chartered flights from Russia to Turkey, for Russian tourism companies to stop selling vacation packages that would include a stay in Turkey, and for an end to visa-free travel between Russia and Turkey, and tighter controls of Turkish air carriers in Russia. The decree was issued “to protect Russian citizens from crimes”, a Kremlin statement said.
The decree came hours after the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, voiced regret over the incident, saying his country was truly saddened by the event and wished it hadn’t occurred.
Ya’alon explained on Sunday that the Russians notify Israel ahead of time when they plan to get close to the country’s airspace.
“Just as we don’t interfere with their operations and we don’t get involved, as a policy, in what is happening in Syria, they also don’t interfere with us flying and acting in accordance with our interests,” he said.
Israel is believed to have carried out airstrikes on several weapons convoys in Syria heading for the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim group, fought a month-long war with Israel in 2006.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied the airstrikes, but has said it will not allow sophisticated or “game-changing” weaponry to reach anti-Israel militant groups.
Israel has been carefully monitoring the Syrian war since it erupted in March 2011. While relations with Syria are hostile, the ruling Assad family has kept the frontier with Israel quiet for much of the past 40 years.
Another Israeli border guard watches her friend being stabbed
An Israeli Border Police officer was wounded in a stabbing attack at the Damascus Gate outside the Old City of Jerusalem Sunday morning.
The officer, who is in his early 20s, was stabbed in the next by a Palestinian terrorist and evacuated to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem.
Police identified the terrorist as a 38-year-old Palestinian resident from Nablus. He was shot and killed at the scene of the attack by security officials.
As he was stabbing the policeman, the terrorist was heard shouting “Allah Akbar.” A search of his body after the attack uncovered an additional knife hidden in his clothing.
“When I arrived I saw a young man who was stabbed in the upper body,” explained Yehiel Stern, a volunteer paramedic for United Hatzalah, to Channel 2. “We have him first aid treatment and then transferred him to the hospital fully conscious.”
“Bystanders said that shots were fired at the terrorist who carried out the attack, near the location of the murder of Aaron Bennett and Nehemiah Lavi,” Stern said. “The terrorist was shot dead.”
Commander Doron Turgeman, the David District Commander, praised the “rapid response, professionalism and determination of the soldiers” in the midst of the attack, which “let to the rapid conclusion of the event and prevented a more serious attack.”
“Police and soldiers continue to be a human flak jacket for city residents and visitors and they deserve admiration,” he added.
Over the last couple of months, Damascus Gate has been the scene of numerous terror attacks. Terror attacks on Israeli civilians and security personnel have claimed the lives of more than 20 people. An Israeli Border Police officer was moderately wounded in a stabbing attack at the Damascus Gate outside the Old City of Jerusalem Sunday morning.
In a separate incident on Sunday morning, just hours after the Old City attack, a terrorist boarded the 418 Beit Shemesh bound bus in Jerusalem and began stabbing passengers.
A 39-year-old tourist suffered light injuries and was transferred to Shaarei Tzedek Medical Center for treatment. The terrorist, a 17-year-old Palestinian from Hebron, was taken into custody quickly after the attack.
JERUSALEM, Israel — In his first trip to Israel since last year, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. In between, he met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.
Speaking with the press before sitting down with Netanyahu, Kerry expressed his “complete condemnation for any act of terror.”
“Clearly, no people anywhere should live with daily violence; with attacks in the streets, with knives or scissors or cars. It is very clear to us that the terrorism, these acts of terrorism, which have been taking place, deserve the condemnation that they are receiving. And today I express complete condemnation for any act of terror that takes innocent lives and disrupts the day-to-day life of a nation,” Kerry said.
“Israel has every right in the world to defend itself. It has an obligation to defend itself. And it will and it is,” he said.
Netanyahu, for his part, said the continuing battle Israel faces against Islamic terrorism “is not only our battle, it is everyone’s battle.”
“It is the battle of civilization against barbarism,” he said.
He added, though not publicly, that Israel will not agree to freeze construction in Judea, Samaria or offer gestures to the Palestinian Authority as long as incitement continues.
If the international community wants Israel to approve P.A. building plans, it must also accept Israel’s right to build in its communities, Netanyahu reportedly told the secretary of state.
In Ramallah with Abbas, Kerry told reporters he came at the behest of President Barack Obama.
“I am here at the request of President Obama to see what we can do to try to help contribute to calm and to restore people’s confidence in the ability of a two-state solution to still be viable, to be achieved at some point,” Kerry said.
image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/ecological-pool-in-tel-aviv-660×330.jpg
The Rabin Square ecologic pool in Tel Aviv. (Photo: Ron Henzel via Wikimedia Commons)
The city of Tel Aviv on Monday announced a collaboration with India to create “smart cities” that will use innovative digital resources and systems to improve urban areas.
The Delivering Change Foundation, a Mumbai-based NGO, will be mentored and trained by Israeli representatives from the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yafo to employ Israeli ingenuity in the Indian cities of Pune, Nagpur, and Nashik in the northwestern state of Maharashtra, an Indian municipal spokeswoman told the Jerusalem Post.
Indian cities will be set up to use Tel Aviv’s DigiTel pass, through which citizens can pay water and municipal tax bills, order parking permits, and send photos of potholes or broken park benches to the municipal complaint line; citywide WiFi; digital city services; and GPS-based smartphone apps.
“In recent years, Tel Aviv has managed to become one of the world’s leading smart cities, thanks to innovation, resident engagement, and ‘out of the box’ thinking,” said Hila Oren, CEO and founder of Tel Aviv Global.
By Amir Cohen – Reuters
HAIFA, Israel (Reuters) – To the strains of Madonna’s “Vogue”, the 13 women with a combined age of about 1,050 strutted down the runway cautiously, hindered only slightly by walking sticks and the odd dodgy hip.
The third annual Holocaust survivors’ beauty pageant, honoring women who lived through the concentration camps and death marches of Nazi Germany, was held in the city of Haifa this week with hundreds of relatives turning out in support.
Lipstick was carefully applied, dresses were elegant and jewelry glittered, but the focus was on giving women who experienced horrors in the early years of their lives a chance to enjoy some glamour and attention as they push into their 80s.
“Many of them were children, teenagers or young adults during the Holocaust,” said Jurgen Buhler, the German director of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, a sponsor.
“They were either in ghettos or concentration camps. So this night is giving them something back which they could never experience when they were young.”
Holocaust survivors stand on a stage during a beauty contest for survivors of the Nazi genocide in t …
Rather than being deterred by the bright lights and loud music (Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman”), the contestants were eager to get stuck in, walking up and down the runway with beaming smiles, with the occasional helping hand from family.
They ranged in age from 74-year-old Rivka Stenger, who was born in Romania and made it to Israel in 1948, to 86-year-old Rebecca Kushner, who fled Poland after her mother’s family was killed in the gas chambers and arrived in Palestine in 1942.
The winner was Romanian-born Rita Berkowitz, 83, who since migrating to Israel in 1951 has seen three generations grow up and now has six grand-children and five great-grand-children.
“Maybe I will deliver a message to the entire people of Israel,” she said after receiving a tiara and blue-and-white sash from a former Miss Israel.
“That all Jews from all across the world will come to Israel, all of them…We are not afraid of anyone. Jews will never disappear from the world.”
Holocaust survivors are seen backstage during a beauty contest for survivors of the Nazi genocide in …
Six million Jews were killed by the Nazis before and during World War Two. About 200,000 Holocaust survivors now live in Israel, many of them looked after by organizations such as Helping Hand, another sponsor.
Some have criticized the event for appearing to cheapen the memory of those who died in the Holocaust. But participants and judges said critics were missing the point, saying the contest was about recognition and respect rather than beauty.
“We chose them by their will for life, by their energy,” said Lihi Lapid, a journalist who was among the judges.
“Each one of them mentioned the fact that she is here because she wants us to remember and to talk about it and to never forget.”
(Writing by Luke Baker; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Report From Israel – Sunday, November 29, 2015
Report From Israel – Sunday, November 29, 2015
In a letter from “E.W.” (Edward Winslow) to a friend in England, he says: “And God be praised, we had a good increase…. Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling that so we might after a special manner rejoice together….” Winslow continues, “These things I thought good to let you understand… that you might on our behalf give God thanks who hath dealt so favourably with us.”
Many people felt that this family holiday should be a national celebration, especially Sarah Josepha Hale, the influential editor of the popular women’s magazine Godey’s Lady’s Book. In 1827, she began a campaign to reinstate the holiday after the model of the first Presidents. She publicly petitioned several Presidents to make it an annual event. Sarah Josepha Hale’s efforts finally succeeded in 1863, when she was able to convince President Lincoln that a national Thanksgiving might serve to unite a war-torn country. The President declared two national Thanksgivings that year, one for August 6 celebrating the victory at Gettysburg and a second for the last Thursday in November.
After 1890, representations of the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag began to reflect a shift of interest to the 1621 harvest celebration. By the beginning of the 20th century, the Pilgrims and the Thanksgiving holiday were used to teach children about American freedom and how to be good citizens. Each November, in classrooms across the country, students participated in Thanksgiving pageants, sang songs about Thanksgiving, and built log cabins to represent the homes of the Pilgrims. Immigrant children also learned that all Americans ate turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. The last lesson was especially effective with the recollections of most immigrant children in the 20th century including stories of rushing home after school in November to beg their parents to buy and roast a turkey for a holiday dinner.
The classic Thanksgiving menu of turkey, cranberries, pumpkin pie, and root vegetables is based on New England fall harvests. In the 19th century, as the holiday spread across the country, local cooks modified the menu both by choice (“this is what we like to eat”) and by necessity (“this is what we have to eat”). Today, many Americans delight in giving regional produce, recipes and seasonings a place on the Thanksgiving table. In New Mexico, chiles and other southwestern flavors are used in stuffing, while on the Chesapeake Bay, the local favorite, crab, often shows up as a holiday appetizer or as an ingredient in dressing. In Minnesota, the turkey might be stuffed with wild rice, and in Washington State, locally grown hazelnuts are featured in stuffing and desserts. In Indiana, persimmon puddings are a favorite Thanksgiving dessert, and in Key West, key lime pie joins pumpkin pie on the holiday table. Some specialties have even become ubiquitous regional additions to local Thanksgiving menus; in Baltimore, for instance, it is common to find sauerkraut alongside the Thanksgiving turkey.
Corn, sweet potatoes, and pork form the backbone of traditional southern home cooking, and these staple foods provided the main ingredients in southern Thanksgiving additions like ham, sweet potato casseroles, pies and puddings, and corn bread dressing. Other popular southern contributions include ambrosia (a layered fruit salad traditionally made with citrus fruits and coconut; some more recent recipes use mini-marshmallows and canned fruits), biscuits, a host of vegetable casseroles, and even macaroni and cheese. Unlike the traditional New England menu, with its mince, apple and pumpkin pie dessert course, southerners added a range and selection of desserts unknown in northern dining rooms, including regional cakes, pies, puddings, and numerous cobblers. Many of these Thanksgiving menu additions spread across the country with relocating southerners. Southern cookbooks (of which there are hundreds) and magazines also helped popularize many of these dishes in places far beyond their southern roots. Some, like sweet potato casserole, pecan pie, and corn bread dressing, have become as expected on the Thanksgiving table as turkey and cranberry sauce.
