Challenging Times

On my desk I have a little plaque that says:”Before you go to bed, give your troubles to God”. Everyone who read it said that they liked it.

Faith comes natural to all people. Otherwise, we wouldn’t step onto a plane. How do we know that the pilot is properly trained to fly the plane? How do we know that all parts of the plane are in working order? As a passenger I must believe that he knows what he is doing.

The question is where we invest our natural faith. Do we have faith in other people? Do we have faith in our own abilities? Or do we have faith in G-d?

Some people think the Bible is just a fairytale story. In Israel I am wondering how unbelievers explain the existence of all those biblical towns that have been there for thousands of years.

Today we seem to live in an age of anxiety, as the scenario the Bible predicted for the end times is being fulfilled before our eyes. Our faith is challenged, because the world doesn’t seem to make sense the way we thought it did. Our hearts become fearful. We look at things that happen around us with our natural eyes - the human viewpoint. Despair is rising within us.

Everyone has troubles. We face problems, affliction, suffering, and hardship. We need strength, endurance, and patience.

This is why we need to know how to trust in G-d's promises.

Only when we see the things that happen around us through our spiritual eyes - from His divine viewpoint - can we experience inner peace and freedom from worry and anxiety.

How can we know his promises? Well, they are found in the Bible. – The more we study the scriptures, the more we increase our knowledge base about G-d and that causes our faith to grow. Since God is unchangeable, He will continue to be mindful of us in the future as He has been in the past. - God never takes back or changes His promises. It's in the Bible, (Psalm 89:34), "I will not break my covenant or change what my lips have spoken."

When reading our newspapers and watching television here in Israel it is easy to lose faith and see the miracle of modern Israel about to melt away. But the newspapers and television cannot and will not portray the reality of Jewish faith.

It was impossible to even dream that a Jewish State could be reborn in 1948. It was a logical certainty that the June war of 1967 would see the Jewish State destroyed. Today it looks even worse; rockets are pointed at Israel from every surrounding state.

But G-d promised: “I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel; they will rebuild and inhabit the ruined cities; they will plant vineyards and drink their vine, cultivate gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their own soil, no more to be uprooted from their land, which I gave them.” (Amos 9:15)

The living G-d of Creation gave us a precious tool to enable us to live a good, happy and fulfilling life on this earth. Faith in G-d is our most powerful weapon.

"Islam", Got Questions? Get Answers!

After the collapse of Communism almost everyone seemed to be relived. Many thought that all threats to the American way of life had finally vanished. Then the sad events of
9-11 destroyed those hopes.

Today another force is working inside of America. This movement is far more malignant than Communism could have ever been. The movement is Islam, determined to bring our nation under its submission. It poses a much more realistic threat, because we naively believe the politically correct hype about Islam being a peaceful religion being fed to us on the evening news. The fact is - it is a religious as well as a political, economical and social system that demands rule over every aspect of life.

Daniel Pipes wrote in the New York Post: “The ambition to take over the United States is hardly a new one. The first Islamic missionaries from abroad arrived in the 1920s and unblushingly declared, ‘Our plan is, we are going to conquer America.’”

Shamim A. Siddiqi wrote a book on establishing "Islamic rule" in the United States, with the goal of Muslims creating "a strong lobby in Washington for the promotion of Islam in this country as well as elsewhere in the world." Some organizations also expressed a hope that one day soon Muslims would take over in the United States. – Only about one month after the Sept. 11 atrocities, a delegate at the American Muslim Alliance convention, held in San Jose, announced: "By the year 2020, we should have an American Muslim president of the United States."

I remember when the PBS documentary, “Jihad in America”, first aired nationwide in 1994. It was produced by investigative reporter Steven Emerson. Shortly thereafter it was however suppressed by the media, and I had difficulties getting the video tape.

Emerson was the first American journalist to document in chilling video the militant Islamic support networks and terrorist groups secretly operating on American soil. Emerson successfully infiltrated key conferences and rallies with hidden cameras in an effort to track down the people responsible for supporting and abetting terrorist activities on U.S. soil. At these events, and on this film, these extremists state their chilling intentions in their own words.

Counter-terrorism officials from the National Security Council, Justice Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) acknowledged that Emerson's documentary demonstrated that he had more reliable and accurate information about the secret terrorist networks on American soil than the US Government.

Today, a large army of Muslim activists is active in America and its soldiers are working fervently to achieve their goal. It is nothing less than converting Americans to Islam and turning it into an Islamic State. Sadly, in this battle, the most powerful nation on earth is losing ground.Muslim activists have learned how to manipulate us through our democratic laws and liberal immigration policies. We swung open our doors and they have launched an invasion that is undermining the very fabric of our civilization.

Just last month, an Islam advertisement was displayed on several Chicago Transit Authority buses. American Muslims launched a campaign to inform people about Islam via a bus, - with a simple sign: "ISLAM" Got Questions? Get Answers! GainPeace, an outreach project of Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), was initiated to share Islam with non-Muslims to clarify many misconceptions they may hold due to “biased” reporting in the Media. The Islam ad campaign does not run in Chicago alone. ICNA, a New York-based grass-root organization that has 22 chapters across the US, has organized similar campaigns in Seattle and New York, Islam newsroom said. Each metro bus was covered on its side and on the top panel with beautiful message of Islam, Inshallah. The group spent $30,900 to place signs on 25 public buses serving across Chicago.

As the buses roam through our cities, making frequent stops, they are promoting the worship of Allah, inviting Americans to study and convert to Islam.

Got any more questions on Islam?

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The Truth is, - there is no Truce!

When Islam is involved, a truce not a truce as we Westerners understand it. I tried to explain this concept in an earlier blog: http://lilo97423.wordpress.com/2008/06/20/truce-or-hudna .

The Arabic word “hudna”, is often translated as "cease-fire”, and has a distinct meaning to Islamic fundamentalists, well-versed in their history. The term comes from the story of the Muslim conquest of Mecca. Instead of a rapid victory, Muhammad made a ten-year treaty with the Quraysh tribe. In 628 AD, after only two years of the ten-year treaty, Muhammad and his forces concluded that the Quraysh were too weak to resist. The Muslims broke the treaty and took over all of Mecca without opposition.

Hamas uses a “truce” as a tactic aimed at allowing the party declaring the hudna to regroup while tricking an enemy into lowering its guard. When the hudna expires, the party that declared it is stronger and the enemy weaker. Whenever Hamas has acquired enough weapons, they use them again against Israel. – So, you see, in truth, - there is no truce!

The “hudna” began to unravel last Tuesday. Who started it? The Palestinians had used the time during the cease fire to build another one of their militant tunnels. When IDF troops discovered it, they entered Gaza to destroy it. That set off battles in which seven Palestinian gunmen were killed. The fighting sparked a wave of rocket attacks from Gaza at Israeli border towns.

It seems to happen every time Condolezza Rice travels to Israel trying to create “peace” according to the Saudi peace-plan. Hamas is either celebrating her arrival with rockets or trying to say: “That’s what we think of you!” - But she doesn’t seem to listen either way.

Gaza’s 10-day missile blitz has damaged homes and parked vehicles, forcing tens of thousands of inhabitants in the towns and villages around the Gaza Strip to spend hours in shelters or under cover.

Israel National News reported on Friday that Gaza terrorists aimed a barrage of Kassam rockets at the coastal city of Ashkelon, just a few hours after attacking Jewish communities in the Gaza Belt. They were not certain if the rockets were Kassams or the longer-range Katyusha rockets. One 70-year-old woman suffered shrapnel wounds in the attack and was taken to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. A number of people in the city – including children -- were treated for emotional trauma and shock. Earlier in the day, Hamas terrorist launched ten Kassam rockets at Jewish communities in the western Negev. Seven of the homemade missiles exploded in the rocket-battered city of Sderot. Two slammed into areas close to Ashkelon, further to the north.

An eyewitness reported: “Here in Ashkelon we had today a barrage of missiles or rockets falling. I was shopping downtown for Shabbat when the siren start sounding, the store was with a lot of people and there was no place for shelter anywhere. We heard the bombs falling behind us, and I decide to go home right away, when I go out again the siren sound and people where running all over, crying it was awful then the bomb fell about a block of where I was standing, just midst to a huge school with thousand of kids there. Kids were let out and they were crying and running home. The traffic was stacked and crazy and everybody was shouting or crying. Finally I got home with a headache and the blood pressure very high. All the rockets fallen down near my home for I live in the center of the city. What else can I say it is hard to see all the people out of control and suffering. So far the economy here has been sustained but people had lost the jobs in the region and stores have no customers. Now it is 4 PM, they stop the Kassams, Baruch Hashem and we hope to have a peace full Shabbat….”

Yet, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, defense Minister Ehud Barak, and chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi decided at a special conference Friday evening, Nov. 14, to refrain from responding to the Palestinians’ 10-day missile blitz from Gaza.

Sderot Mayor David Buskila told reporters: “It is sad to be a citizen of a country that cannot deploy its army to give an immediate response to this phenomenon.”

How many more rockets will it take until Israel responds and defends its citizens?

I Reject Islam and Love Israel

This article was published by Arutz Sheva News. The name and personal details of "X-Muslim" remain confidential for reasons of personal safety, as he still lives in an Arab country hostile to Israel.

Cheshvan 14, 5769, 12 November 08 10:19by "X-Muslim"

(IsraelNN.com) Shalom. As an Arab Muslim I once asked myself: Why do I hate Israel? I really thought about this question. After only a little deliberation, the answer was clear: because I am a Muslim and Islam is extremely intolerant.

It's intolerance to everything non-Muslim that is the problem. But today I have rejected the teachings of Islam for this very reason. I have left Islam.

As an Arab "Palestinian", living in an Arab country, coming from a Muslim family, I was brought up with hatred of Jews, Christians and all non-Muslims. Now I'm older, I have matured enough to view the world from a different perspective. I reviewed real history and studied the sequence of events before and since the restoration of the State of Israel. I decided to step outside the mindset of a typical Muslim. It didn't take long to realize that I was on the wrong track and I moved quickly to the other side. In order to be at peace with myself, I have come to reject the hatred of Israel and now love my former enemy. I have not embraced another religion, but I am seeking a new spiritual path.

Why do the Arabs and Muslims have to reject the presence of a Jewish state in a tiny percentage of the land of the Middle East? Why does Islamic intolerance forbid other nations their right to exist in their own land? The whole world should realize that Islam is at war with all nations on the planet. In our Muslim societies it is not "the extremists", but the whole society infected with this hatred. It is in the mosques, the schools, in the media and in the homes of nearly every Muslim family. It isn't just Israel they hate, but America and Christians as well. Islam hates all other religions.

In the case of Israel, its only fault is that it's a Jewish state that wants to live in peace within its borders. It's not a struggle of so-called "Palestinians" to establish a country and retain some land, which was never theirs - I know, because I studied the real history. The real problem is racism and the intolerance of Muslims, the blind hatred and jealousy when seeing a flourishing, strong and modern country where people from other faiths can live peacefully.

Why are the Jews forbidden to have a country? These people have contributed much to the world's culture and offered the best scientists, artists, doctors; and they have been victims of intolerance throughout history. Why are they forbidden to live in their national Zionist dream and return to their homeland, which was some desert which they cultivated and transformed into one of the most beautiful landscapes on earth? Why do the Arabs and the Muslim world have to take everything and claim every land they step on as theirs?

"Palestine" never existed and should never exist - and this is coming from me, an Arab classified as a "Palestinian." The creation of a Palestinian state would be the biggest threat to the existence of Israel and would not bring one day of peace to Israel. I know how my people think. Promoting such a state would be the equivalent of supporting the Nazis in their quest to destroy the Jews.Israel has already made the mistake twice of giving land for peace, once in Southern Lebanon and secondly in Gaza. We all know the terrible results: the expansion of Hizbullah's power in Lebanon and the creation of a terrorist state in Gaza. Hamas and other terrorist organizations now have the space to launch more terrorist attacks and hostile activities on Israeli cities and villages.

Israel's right to exist shouldn't be open for discussion. Hamas, Hizbullah or Islamic Jihad, and the people behind them, must be destroyed. Nothing should hinder Israel's army to do whatever it takes to protect their people and ensure the safety of Israel, from Tel Aviv to the smallest settlement inside Israel, which should include Judea and Samaria (the West Bank).

I don't blame the Israeli army for any defensive measure it takes. It fought Islamic terrorism long before any other nation faced their atrocities. The Israeli soldiers have been on the front line on behalf of the whole free world. I am proud to support the Israeli Defense Forces, the most civilized and humane army in the world, no matter how the media might try to portray them. One can't but respect the brave Israeli army, which puts its soldiers' lives at risk in order to protect civilian life in Gaza or Southern Lebanon, the same civilians who, in both places, voted terrorist organizations in to power. The same "innocent civilians" who deny Israel's right to exist, who never are held accountable for the democratic choices they have made. Yet still, the Israeli army, and in the most critical times of war, tries as much as possible to avoid harming them, even at the expense of losing lives on their side, as well as suffering tactical and strategic disadvantages because of their moral behavior. I salute the Israeli army; I can't but support these heroes, and bow in respect to the memory of their fallen ones. I can't but stand with Israel in its fight for its existence in this crazy part of the world.

I used to hate Israel with a passion, but today I am proud to say that I have shed my hatred for Israel and it has transformed to a deep love, passion and respect for Zionism and all the values it stands for.

I am proud that today I support the full restoration of Jerusalem. For the first time in my life I'm at peace with myself and in great harmony with what I believe in; standing with Israel and the Jewish people, who are the most forgiving and tolerant people on Earth. They must be praised for their deep dedication to their cause, and for their patience in their endurance of harm and hatred.

Jerusalem should never be divided and the Temple Mount should also be liberated. All other religious groups in the world have free access to their most sacred sites; yet, the Jews still watch their holiest place, Solomon's Temple, under occupation. I can't but feel compassion for their dream; and I know that their fight is now my fight.

Israel's existence and survival is really a test and responsibility for the whole civilized world. It's the battle against Islam's imperial quest to conquer the whole world. Israel is the fortress and stronghold for freedom and tolerance in the Middle East, the front line in the world's war against the tyranny of Islam.

I have held my tongue for too long, but today a great burden has been lifted from my heart. I don't care if I've been considered a traitor by my people for loving Israel. It's an honor for me. If supporting Israel's right to exist is a sin, then I'm a sinner. I'm proud to be an Arab who stands with a country that should be emulated by all its neighbors. For the sake of its people and for the sake of the world's stability and freedom, I'm proud to say I love Israel. Even if I don't have Jewish blood in my veins, I know I am Israeli at heart.

Long live Israel!

Elections in Israel

In Israel, I see election banners everywhere, draped on fences and buildings. In America, people used to post campaign signs along the streets. Most European countries would not allow their towns to be littered that way.

I wonder about the purpose of the ridiculous number of election signs lining the highways and byways? In Jerusalem, huge pictures of candidates were draped on buildings. Does anyone vote for a person just because they see his or her picture on a poster?

Yesterday, on our way to the store, we passed several voting booths here in Kiryat Shmona. They were open until 10 pm. Every possible party had a candidate for the mayor’s position, each one of them promising to do wonders for the town.

In Jerusalem 4 interesting candidates ran for the seat of the mayor:

1. Meir Porush, an ultra-orthodox, haredi rabbi from the United Torah Judaism party.

2. Nir Barkat, his opponent, a secular businessman and hi-tech millionaire.

3. Arkady Gaydamak, a Russian-born businessman and owner of Jerusalem's Beitar football team, who is being tried in absentia by a Paris court for selling arms to Angolan rebels during the 1990s. He tried to get the votes of the Arabs.

4. Dan Byron, a former director of public television turned bar owner, ran on behalf of the Green Leaf party and called for legislation of cannabis.

Oh my! - Dozens of haredi religious Jerusalem activists tried to prevent voters from reaching polling stations. In doing so they battled policemen in what TIME magazine called a "bizarre election." This took place in the Beit Israel neighborhood of Jerusalem and involved rival religious groups. It was the only reported incident of violence in Jerusalem. Police broke up a demonstration by extremist ultra-Orthodox Jews who do not recognize Israel. Police said they were trying to prevent people from voting. At least one policeman suffered head wounds from stone throwers, one of whom was arrested.

Nevertheless, the voter turnout was extremely low - I think less than 30%? East Jerusalem’s Arab residents didn’t vote because Islam forbids Arabs to vote for Israeli leaders - and not because Israel didn’t allow it. That didn’t help Gaydamak, who split the remaining few % of votes with Byron who got even less votes. Thank goodness, now we know that not too many people in Jerusalem smoke pot!

According to the final results released by Israel's interior ministry, Israeli secular politician Nir Barkat defeated the ultra-orthodox rabbi to become the new mayor of Jerusalem. Barkat won outright with 52% of the vote while Meir Porush received 43%. Mr. Barkat opposes dividing Jerusalem as part of any peace agreement with the Palestinians and has promised to build extensively in what the rest of the world regards as occupied East Jerusalem.

Now –after the election – the banners are still there. Will they keep hanging there until the next election?

The Path to the Final Solution

Please watch and then circulate this 10 minute documentary that explains the real issues that face World Jewry and Israel today.

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/191066.php

Thanks - Lilo

Blessed is the Match

The other day I watched the movie “Blessed is the Match”. http://www.blessedisthematch.com/ . It was the first time I saw it, and it was very inspiring to see the documentary about the life of a true Jewish hero.

It the story of Hannah Szenes (sometimes spelled phonetically as "Senesh"). She was born in 1921 in Budapest, Hungary.

Her father was a playwright and newspaper columnist who died when she was six. After his death, she and her one-year-older brother, George, were raised by their mother, Catherine, in a middle-class home. Hannah inherited her father’s literary talent and began a diary at the age of thirteen - recording her travels, relationships, day-to-day life, and desire to become a professional writer.

With rising anti-Jewish activity in Hungary, Szenes became a Zionist and yearned to go to the Jewish homeland. Much to Hannah's surprise, George also became a Zionist while studying at a university in France.

Just after her 18th birthday, Szenes got her papers to immigrate to Israel, where she went to agricultural college in Nahalal and worked the land on Kibbutz Sdot Yam. - Sdot Yam was established in 1936, just north of Haifa. It was founded at the urging of David Ben-Gurion during the period when the British were refusing to allow Jews to enter the Promised Land. The Kibbutz was ostensibly based on fishing, but was in reality used for smuggling in then-illegal immigrants. It served as a base for the Haganah (unofficial army of the Jewish community during the British Mandate of Palestine). Yossi Harel, famous for the Exodus and three other such ships, is buried at Sdot Yam.

As news of the fate of the Jews of Europe reached Israel, an unwavering desire to help her brethren grew in Hannah. She and 32 other Jews formally joined the British army and were trained as parachutists in Cairo. Their mission was to parachute into Europe to help allied pilots who had been shot down, to assist local efforts against the Nazis and, finally, to aid in smuggling Jews to safety in then the British Mandate of Palestine. She wrote in her diary: “I must go to Hungary, be there at this time … and bring my mother out.”

Szenes was sent to Yugoslavia, to help pilots and partisans. There she wrote ", the poem, "Blessed is the match” (Ashrei ha-Gafrur), which today nearly every Israeli can recite from memory:

“Blessed is the match that burns and kindles the flames.
Blessed is the flame that burns inside the hearts.
Blessed are the hearts to know when to stop with dignity.
Blessed is the match that burns and kindles the flames.”

When Germany started deporting Jews from her native Hungary, Szenes bravely crossed the border with a French partisan and two Jews who were escaping. Unfortunately they were caught by a Hungarian Nazi patrol. Despite being brutally beaten, Szenes refused to give information regarding her mission. November 7, 1944, she was sentenced to death for treason and faced a firing squad without a blindfold.

In 1950, Szenes's remains were flown to Israel and reburied on Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem along with the six other parachutists who died during their heroic mission.
Hannah became a symbol of courage, fortitude and a pioneering spirit - a prime example of Israeli heroism - bridging the gap between the Holocaust and the rebirth of a sovereign Jewish nation.

If you can watch the documentary - it is will inspire you!

Shalom from Israel - Lilo

Tremping to Menara

Yesterday we were in Kibbutz Menara.

For those of you who don't know what a kibbutz is, a kibbutz is a form of communal living that combines socialism and zionism, and was traditionally based on agriculture. In 1909, the first Kibbutz was established at the southern end of the Sea of Galilee. Kibbutz members found immense gratification in bringing the land back to life by planting trees, draining swamps, and countless other hard-graft activities to make the land (invariably wetlands) productive. The desert began to blossom, just like the prophet Isaiah predicted (Isa.35:1-2).

Kibbutz Menara is way up on the mountain above Kiryat Shmona. You can either take a cable car or the road to get up there. There are only about three buses driving up the hill during the day, so we ended up walking and "tremping" up the hill. Its actually called hitch-hiking and still an accepted form of alternative transportation here in Israel. In Europe or the USA we would never do such a thing, because of all the crazy murders we have heard about.

Kibbutz Menara is right on the border to Lebanon. That was the closest I was to the border so far. Here was the street - next to it the fence - and there I could see Lebanon. And I saw it with my very own eyes first a UN post and within only about 30 meters a Hezbullah holdout. I wonder why the UN is there? To observe how many weapons they stockpile so close to the border? - I have heard a lot of stories, but until today I had never seen it myself.

After we got back to our apartment my feet hurt because I wore my cheap sandals instead of my hiking shoes. But it was all worth it.

I have now a better understanding of the threat that is luring all along the borders of Israel.

Shalom from Israel - Lilo

The "Shuk" in Kiryat Shmona

Every Thursday we have a Shuk (open-air market) here in Kiryat Shmona. The term "shuk" translates into "market". My husband prefers to buy his food at the supermarket where it is cleaner and the store is odorless. He says he doesn’t like to buy food that everyone had touched before.

I love to look for bargains at the Shuk where many things are cheaper. I love the atmosphere. A Hebrew word that describes it best is “balagan”. It simply means messy, chaotic, and can be used to describe anything, from my hair in the morning to the current state of the Middle Eastern peace process. - The Shuk is at the same time crowdy, noisy, boisterous and colorful.

The Shuk has a large number of small vendors who operate from open stalls. They offer all sorts of clothing and house wares, shoes, and of course also produce. Kiryat Shmona’s covered outdoor market bursts with fruit and vegetable stands, bags of spices: paprika, chili pepper, and curry…, baskets of roasted pecans, dried apricots, and dates, many different sorts of olives, and a few scattered bread and pastry stalls, selling crusty breads and phyllo-wrapped treats. This is the place for treats such as freshly baked pita and honey and plump dried berries.

The stalls function a little like the Kiddush table at Shul, with grandmothers and youngsters elbowing each other out of the way to edge themselves closer to the best goods. – I have learned that you need to “push” your way through to the vendor if you want anything.

The best way to enjoy the Shuk is to simply wander its alleys, look all around, touch, smell and taste the produce. I can not only touch the produce, squeeze it, but in some cases even taste it. Most importantly, it is usually reasonably priced and fresh. My senses are accosted with the brilliant colors of the fruit and vegetables, gifts and haberdashery. The mixture of aromas of spices and baked goods enhance that exotic sensation, and the sounds of merchants shouting their bargains, and buyers haggling about prices, freshness and flavor, is almost musical.

Yet, in spite of all the busyness, people are in almost a leisurely mood as they casually chat, sip coffee, and greet the passersby they recognize. - But let me warn you, watch out for the banana peels, broken eggs, and fruit pits underfoot!

A shuk is in a way a picture of Israel, a colorful and vibrant mixture of people. A mix of people who came from many nations to gather and join together. It’s a blend of old and young, rich and poor, well educated and simple, religious and secular. It’s a place where one glance shows you a bounty of the G-d-given harvest of every imaginable flavor, aroma, color and texture.

The biggest impression I get from the “Shuk” is that it is thriving and bustling. If you want to experience the sounds of a shuk, click on the link below:

Shuk in Jerusalem

Visiting Friends in Efrat

A few days ago we visited our dear friends in Efrat .

We took the bus to Jerusalem and from there the last 8 miles south, to the beautiful garden city that blossoms in the Judean hills. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. Very peaceful.

Thanks to the new Jerusalem-Gush Etzion highway that was opened in August 1996, Efrat can now be reached in less than 10 minutes from Jerusalem.

The highway features the longest and highest bridge in Israel as well as the longest tunnel in Israel. It bypasses Bethlehem today, and one has to drive through tunnels to arrive safely at the destination. Palestinians used to aim gunfire and threw rocks at the cars driving from Jerusalem to Efrat or Hevron. - Bethlehem used to be a town Christians loved to visit because it is the birthplace of Jesus. But today, even the Arab Christians fled that town because of Islamic hostilities. - Well - what can I say - the businesses in Bethlehem today suffer because nobody goes shopping there anymore. The Palestinians cause their own problems all by themselves!

Efrat was founded on March 15, 1983, in a magnificent mountainous location, in the heart of the Etzion Bloc (Gush Etzion). The town's name actually means "Towards Efrat", since the Biblical Efrat was actually located in modern Bethlehem, which is somewhat north on the main road from modern Efrat(a). The name "Efrata" would thus indicate that ancient Efrat was nearby, but not at exactly the same location.

Located in the Judean hills, it was a series of bare hilltops in 1980 when it was established, one of several yishuvim (settlements) in the Gush Etzion area. Historically, Gush Etzion was settled by Jews before the War of Independence, but fell to the Jordanians in 1948. Following the Six Day War in 1967, the children of the families who had lived in Gush Etzion (many of whose parents had been massacred in 1948 defending the area) requested to move back and led the movement to re-establish a Jewish presence in Gush Etzion.

It lies 960 meters above sea level and has dry mountain air. The summers here are hot but dry, and the nights cool down to make sleeping with the windows open very pleasant.

Today, Efrat is inhabited by over 9,000 people (1500 families) including both native Israelis and immigrants from the US, Canada, South Africa, England, Russia and elsewhere. One thing they have in common; they believe that this is their Jewish homeland, and that they have the G-d given right to live there.

Many people refer to this place as a West Bank settlement, even though the hills of Judea have always been the very heartland of Israel. As a matter of fact, this part of the Land of Israel is the biblical, historic and exclusive homeland of the Jewish people.

I want to re-emphasize that the “Israeli-occupied Arab West Bank” is the very cradle of Jewish civilization. It was in the West Bank that Abraham stood when God told him to look to the north, to the south, to the east and to the west, promising that all the land he could see would be given to his descendants, “forever.” Israel’s founding fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, lie buried there. It was in Efrat where Ruth met Boaz, who wooed and married her in this “Israeli-occupied Arab West Bank.” Their grandson, the Shepherd King David, was born in Bethlehem, in this “Israeli-occupied Arab West Bank.” King David ruled the first 7 1/2 years in Hevron, and our Patriarchs traveled on the road from there to Jerusalem.

The hills of Judea in this ancient region in Israel, have been inhabited by Jews for thousands of years.

This is something not everyone knows: - the word "West Bank" has only been created since the Arabs lost the 6-day war in 1967. In all of history the land has only been known as “the West Bank” for 19 brief years!!

On the way back we got a ride with a woman who took a shortcut through an Arab town, where she had to stop to let people with two donkeys cross the street. That's when she said: " I better start praying that we get through here safely." She prayed the Traveler's Prayer (Tefilat HaDerech) out loud while we kept driving until we were on the main street again. I prayed silently with her while Uri put his hand on his pistol in the back seat.

But we arrived safely in Jerusalem.

Shalom from Israel - Lilo

Understanding Obama: The making of a Fuehrer

Watching some of the presidential debates and the reaction of Americans to the candidates, in particular to Obama, I was stunned by the level of hysteria that the crowd displayed towards this man. Why could this man arouse such raw emotions?

To me he was just a young, black man, promoting talking about “change” in an eloquent way.

His ideas of spreading the wealth to everyone sounded to me much like communist propaganda. When I was young I had similar ideas, until I visited Czechoslovakia and Hungary behind the Iron Curtain, and witnessed the reality of what was happening in those countries.

So why is the American crowd almost like under a spell, when he speaks? Don’t they hear what he is saying? Yet the crowds are cheering Barack Obama, the charismatic senator like he was a rock star or another such American idol.

When I heard a TV commentator say: "Here was the American dream embodied in a young man running for Senate, a new Jack or Bobby Kennedy", I suddenly remembered John Kennedy. As a European I could never understand why Americans had such a personality cult. In Switzerland we have a group of 7 men who take a yearly turn to represent the government. It is set up that way so no man (or woman) can ever gain personal power. It is a democracy where the people decide their destiny.

Recently I watched a You Tube presentation entitled: “Understanding Obama: The Making of a Fuehrer” by Ali Sina, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVnRzn4rjbY .

I am not a psychologist and didn’t know anything about the Narcissic Personality Disorder, but the video made me understand a little bit why Americans give up their own reason to “worship” Obama.

What is downright scary is how many people fall for his empty words to choose him to be Commander In Chief and Leader of the Free World ....

Source: http://www.faithfreedom.org/obama.html