Famous US Jewish Astonomer Indicted as a Possible "Spy" for Possessing Hebrew Catalogue of Archeological Sites, Tourist Photos, Map of Israel

B”H

OH NO! A Jew visited Israel several times, worked to try to get contracts for an Israeli company by using his connections to NASA, and . . . Gasp! . . . was in possession of such SHOCKING items as a MAP OF ISRAEL, photos of ASSORTED PLACES IN ISRAEL, and he also had (are you sitting down?) . . . a Hebrew-language catalog of archeological artifacts!

Oh, and he forgot to report that he visited Israel! (Even though his passport was clearly stamped and he obtained a visa. Gee, that is what all spies do, right? Stand in line at Ben Gurion and get their passport stamped, obtain a visa, and drive around the country looking at archeological sites and snapping tourist photos????)

HE MUST BE A SPY!!!!

What we have here is a case of a middle-aged man who read too many spy novels, suggested to someone that he wouldn’t mind working for Mossad (Hello! If he was Mossad, do you think he would mention it to some busy-body??), and was implicated in a “spy sting” by the FBI, pretending to be Mossad, and asking him to obtain some documents for him.

Let’s be clear: ISRAEL WAS NEVER INVOLVED IN THIS and NO DOCUMENTS EVER LEFT THE US.

He wanted to live a “secret agent man” fantasy, and for that, he lost his career as a world renown astronomer.

What did they indict him for, being stupid? That’s about all he is guilty of!

Seriously, if they did a sting operation on every middle-aged Irish-American Catholic who fantasized about working for the IRA, and every middle-aged English-American who fantasized about being 007 (especially if they had such damning evidence as a map of the UK, an English-language catalogue of archeological artifacts, and photos of rural England. SHOCKING!), or if they indicted every governmental employee who began working for a foreign company and tried to use their influence to win contracts for that company, then we wouldn’t have enough courts and lawyers for them all (and we would probably have to indict every person who ever served in congress and the senate!).

This is a complete crock. Why are they wasting their time, when there are some REAL spies, terrorists, and bad-guys to find???

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U.S. Jew indicted as possible Israel spy
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1144093.html
By Yossi Melman

New documents presented in federal court in Washington, D.C. reveal deep ties (more than was known) between Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Dr. Stewart David Nozette, an American astronomer accused of spying for Israel.

The media here covered his arrest on October 19, 2009 and then interest waned, though the American media are still monitoring the case.

Two attorneys in the counterespionage unit of the U.S. Department's of Justice National Security division, Deborah Curtis and Heather Schmidt, presented documents found on the scientist's computer. One document, titled "Proposed Operations for 2005-2006," referred to the need to carry out "a penetration of NASA," the U.S. space agency.

Another document, according to the prosecution, shows Nozette attempted to obtain highly confidential material by using his high-level security clearance and infiltrating other people's computers.

Other documents mention the names of Yossi Weiss and Yossi Fishman. Weiss is a former project manager and today the deputy CEO of IAI and head of the company's missile and space division. Fishman was the IAI's representative in the U.S. and is today the CEO of ODF Optronics.

Fishman told Haaretz he knew Nozette the way he knew other Americans employed by the IAI at the time as consultants. "We did not engage in any kind of spying activity or information gathering, perish the thought. The relationship was business as usual."

The IAI is not mentioned specifically by name in the documents. It is referred to as a foreign company or as a space company owned by the Israeli government." Background talks with administration officials indicate the references are indeed to IAI.

Unreported visits
The indictment and the documents indicate that Nozette was employed for nine years as an IAI consultant. Versions vary as to how much he was paid, from $170,000 to $225,000. His direct superior was Israel Aircraft Industries International, a U.S.-registered company.

The FBI searched Nozette's home and computer and found additional proof of his connection to Israel. He visited here several times, but did not report this - as is required by his high security clearance. The FBI confiscated letters he wrote to Israelis, reports he forwarded to the IAI, a map of Israel, photos of assorted places in Israel, a Hebrew-language catalog of archaeological artifacts and other items.

Nozette, 52, of Chevy Chase, Maryland, was arrested after FBI surveillance that included wiretapping and undercover photography. The operation followed the former astronomer's interrogation on suspicion of tax evasion and defrauding the U.S. government. Nozette worked out plea bargain with the Justice Department; he admitted to fraud and accepted a sentence of up to three years in jail, plus a fine of $265,000. His jail term would have started in November, but he was arrested on the new and more serious charge of espionage.

Nozette, who was born in Chicago, has Jewish parents but there is no evidence he ever went to synagogue or Jewish community centers. His neighbors said he was "a Zionist" but without evidence attesting to this. From a young age, his interest was science. He studied at the University of Arizona and earned a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Immediately, in 1983, he went to work for U.S. agencies, including NASA, the Pentagon and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory near San Francisco, which focuses on nuclear weapons. By virtue of these positions, he enjoyed a very high security clearance. One of the important studies he participated in found water at the Moon's southern pole. Nozette subsequently left government work and set up a private company as a consultant to firms in India and the IAI. The latter continues to refuse, vehemently, to address this embarrassing episode, which apparently has not done damage to the company.

Nozette was not the only person employed by the company as a consultant. Over the years, the IAI as well as other Israeli defense-related industries operating in the U.S., such as Elbit and Rafael, hired as consultants dozens of Americans, mainly retired former army officers and senior officials.

Today as well, the IAI and its subsidiaries in the U.S. continue to do business there and to cultivate ties. It is rather clear to them, and this is indeed fairly routine business practice, that to obtain contracts and win grants from the U.S. administration, doors must be opened. For that, people with connections are needed to open those doors. This was one of Nozette's assignments. Against this backdrop he apparently tried (among other things) to help the "penetration" of NASA. IAI, which produces space missile launchers, satellites and other space technologies, hoped to win contracts and development grants and enter joint ventures.

While he was being investigated for fraud, Nozette told a friend he would be willing to work for the Mossad. This information, along with the fact that he was a consultant to the IAI, led the FBI to suspect Nozette of being a Mossad agent, or at least psychologically ready to be one. So a sting operation was set up. An FBI agent pretending to be a Mossad agent met with Nozette and asked him for information. Nozette reportedly agreed, supplied information and received $11,000. These contacts were documented.

The indictment does not mention Israel nor has the administration made any complaints. Nevertheless Israel since its establishment systematically conducted spying missions on U.S. soil - for around a quarter of a century. Primarily, it was nuclear and technological-military spying.

The Jonathan Pollard case brought an end to all spying activities; there is a clear directive from prime ministers, defense ministers, Military Intelligence chiefs and the Mossad on this matter. But the U.S. media and the administration officials have a hard time believing Israel on this subject, and the Nozette case does not contribute to clearing the atmosphere of suspicion regarding future intentions.

Rifle Sights Used By US Troops Inscribed With References to Xtian Bible Verses

UPDATE 1/23/2010

No More Jesus Rifles

After ABC News Report, Trijicon Announces Plan to Remove Bible Codes from Gun Sights Provided to U.S. Military
By LUIS MARTINEZ, JOSEPH RHEE and MARK SCHONE

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/jesus-rifles/story?id=9618791

More Photos
An ABC News report earlier this week revealed that the Michigan-based company, which has a contract to provide up to 800,000 scopes to the U.S. military, prints references to New Testament chapters and verses in code next to the model numbers of its scopes. The scopes are used by the U.S. Marine Corps and Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, and by U.S. allies in those countries, and for the training of Afghan and Iraqi troops.

"Trijicon has proudly served the U.S. military for more than two decades, and our decision to offer to voluntarily remove these references is both prudent and appropriate," said Stephen Bindon, Trijicon president and CEO in a statement. "We want to thank the Department of Defense for the opportunity to work with them and will move as quickly as possible to provide the modification kits for deployment overseas."

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the Department of Defense "applauds the voluntary actions announced today by Trijicon."

B”H

This is a really interesting case. On one hand, it is a private company, and they can do what they want with their products. I can see how the company feels—they are expressing their right to religious expression—and the inscriptions are small and subtle. I also understand that the company wishes to aid the American soldiers, who are largely xtian, and feels they are doing something positive in that regard (i.e. they have good intentions).

On the other hand, the US military has been allowing (and continues to allow) overt xtian proselytizing, and this is just one more example of their willingness to look the other way when it happens. The inscriptions are small, yes; but it is also one more thing that can make those of other faiths feel less welcomed and less “American” than soldiers who are xtian. This can be bad for moral and bad for troop unity.

I am not sure of the halachic implications of using these sites—they obviously don’t render the gun an idol, but they do invoke the blessings of a foreign god . . . So, are they assur?

Too bad we have to ask this question.

M
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Rifles used by U.S. troops include Bible verse inscriptions
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2010-01-19-Military-weapons_N.htm

WASHINGTON (AP) — Combat rifle sights used by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan carry references to Bible verses, stoking concerns about whether the inscriptions break a government rule that bars proselytizing by American troops.

Military officials said the citations don't violate the ban and they won't stop using the telescoping sights, which allow troops to pinpoint the enemy day or night.

The contractor that makes the equipment, Trijicon, said the U.S. military has been a customer since 1995 and the company has never received any complaints about the Scripture citations.

"We don't publicize this," Tom Munson, Trijicon's director of sales and marketing, said in an interview. "It's not something we make a big deal out of. But when asked, we say, 'Yes, it's there."'

The inscriptions are subtle and appear in raised lettering at the end of the stock number. Trijicon's rifle sights use tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, to create light and help shooters hit what they're aiming for.

Markings on the Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight, which is standard issue to U.S. special operations forces, include "JN8:12," a reference to John 8:12: "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, 'I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life,"' according to the King James version of the Bible.

The Trijicon Reflex sight is stamped with 2COR4:6, a reference to part of the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," the King James version reads.

Photos posted on a Defense Department website show Iraqi forces training with rifles equipped with the inscribed sights.

The Defense Department is a major customer of Trijicon's. In 2009 alone, the Marine Corps signed deals worth $66 million for the company's products. Trijicon's scopes and optical devices for guns range in cost from a few hundred dollars to $13,000, according to the company's website.

Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, says the biblically inscribed sights could give the Taliban and other enemy forces a propaganda tool: that American troops are Christian crusaders invading Muslim countries.

"I don't have to wonder for a nanosecond how the American public would react if citations from the Koran were being inscribed onto these U.S. armed forces gun sights instead of New Testament citations," Weinstein said. The foundation is a nonprofit watchdog group opposed to religious favoritism within the military.

Weinstein said he has received complaints about the Scripture citations from active-duty and retired members of the military. He said he couldn't identify them because they fear retaliation.

A spokesman for U.S. Central Command, which manages military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, said the inscribed sights do not violate the ban on proselytizing because there is no effort to distribute the equipment beyond the U.S. troops who use them.

"This situation is not unlike the situation with U.S. currency," said the spokesman, Air Force Maj. John Redfield. "Are we going to stop using money because the bills have 'In God We Trust' on them? As long as the sights meet the combat needs of troops, they'll continue to be used."

Capt. Geraldine Carey, a Marine Corps spokeswoman, said Tuesday in an e-mailed statement that "we are aware of the issue and are concerned with how this may be perceived." Carey said Marine Corps acquisition officials plan to meet with Trijicon to discuss future purchases of the company's sights. The statement did not say what the nature of those discussions would be.

Gary Tallman, an Army spokesman, said the service was not aware of the nature of these markings and its acquisition experts are investigating to determine if Trijicon violated any procurement rules.

Munson, Trijicon's sales director, said the practice of putting Bible references on the sites began nearly 30 years ago by Trijicon's founder, Glyn Bindon, who was killed in a plane crash in 2003. His son Stephen, Trijicon's president, has continued the practice.

IDF, Zaka on the Front Lines in Haiti

B"H

I won't donate to the Red Cross. There are three good reasons for this.

The first is that the Red Cross doesn't support Israel. In fact, it is openly hostile to Israel and against the use of the Magen David Adom symbol. They constantly publish anti-Israel propaganda, and their ambulances are used regularly to shuttle terrorists around.

The second reason I won't give to them is because they are notoriously bad at properly administrating their money. During Hurricane Katrina, when the people of the world opened their hearts and their wallets to assist the Red Cross, the Red Cross mismanaged the money (so how can we be sure they will use the money for Haiti towards Haiti???)

The third is that the Red Cross knew there was a holocaust going on and reported that there was no holocaust--a report that has been used ever since by holocaust deniers.

So where do you give your money? Consider donating to Zaka. Here's a story about why:

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Jan 15, 2010 20:10 | Updated Jan 17, 2010 1:06

Rescuers describe 'Shabbat from hell'

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1263147904646&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The large field hospital established by the IDF Medical Corps at 10 a.m. Shabbat local time was already treating dozens of patients four hours later, when its commander, Lt.-Col. Dr. Itzik Reiss, was able to take a breather and speak to Israeli health reporters via a conference call.

Children with severe fractures set only with cardboard arrived at the hospital for treatment. Some young patients had been freed from rubble but had to have limbs amputated due to severe gangrene, he said. Within a few hours, operations were performed.

The hospital has an emergency room, pediatric, orthopedic, internal medicine, obstetrics and surgery departments, clinics and other facilities. The delivery room and premature baby unit are prepared to function but have not yet received any women or infants.

The patients started arriving after a local hospital, unable to function normally, announced the IDF facility's existence.

Among the staff are Orthodox Jews who went to Haiti even though it was Shabbat. Reiss said they avoided performing unnecessarily tasks like shaving, but did everything needed to save lives. The military personnel are both regular army and reserve soldiers.

It was not clear how many desperate patients would reach the hospital over the coming days, he said. Reiss said he expected victims of infectious disease would start arriving soon.

Haitians were wandering aimlessly in the streets, Reiss said.

"It is very difficult. There is a bad feeling of destruction. It is very sad," he said.

The field hospital may continue operating under Israeli auspices after getting it restocked in two weeks, or it may be turned over to locals, he added.

Meanwhile, the ZAKA rescue and recovery contingent pulled eight students alive from the collapsed university building, after a 38 operation.

"You have to understand that the situation is true madness, and the more time passes, there are more and more bodies, in numbers that cannot be grasped. It is beyond comprehension," said Mati Goldstein, the head of the delegation.

The six-man team - four from Israel and two from Mexico - arrived in Haiti aboard a Mexican Air Force Hercules cargo plane, immediately after completing their work in recovery and identification in the Mexico City helicopter crash that killed philanthropist Moshe Saba and four others.

On arrival, the delegation was dispatched to the collapsed eight-story university building, from which cries could be heard.

After hours of work with rescue equipment provided by the Mexican military, the ZAKA volunteers succeeded in pulling the eight students out alive.

In a disturbing e-mail that Goldstein managed to send to ZAKA headquarters in Jerusalem, he writes of the "Shabbat from hell. Everywhere, the acrid smell of bodies hangs in the air. It's just like the stories we are told of the Holocaust - thousands of bodies everywhere."

Amid the stench and chaos, the ZAKA delegation took time out to recite Shabbat prayers - a surreal sight of haredi men wrapped in prayer shawls standing on the collapsed buildings. Many locals sat quietly in the rubble, staring at the men as they prayed facing Jerusalem.

At the end of the prayers, they crowded around the delegation and kissed the prayer shawls.

Due to the breakdown in communications in Haiti, the ZAKA delegation was unable to make contact before Shabbat with the IDF Home Front Command contingent that is now in the country.

Moises and Adela Tuahi Saba, Albert and Judith Casal Saba, of Blessed Memory

B"H

This accident took a very valuable group of people from Am Yisrael. Not only was this man and his family wealthy and well known, they were also people dedicated to Torah, mitzvot, and tziddaka.

This article mentions that he was one of the bidders for Channel 10 in Israel, but it doesn't mention why he didn't buy the station: Ovadia Yosef had told him not to because he would be participating in the desecration of Shabbat, as there are Jews working for the station on Shabbat. It was out of his religious dedication that Mr. Saba did not purchase the station.

The sad accident, which also took the life of his son and daughter-in-law, has orphaned the two-month old grandchild that the Saba's were so proud to welcome to their family, and occurred on the heals of a happy Simcha in New York last weekend which celebrated the engagement of his daughter.

May Hashm bring comfort to the family and friends of this dear family, may the grandchild they left behind be raised in Torah and Mitzvot and guided by the spirit of this family, and may the new couple proceed to the Chuppah with joy, knowing that their love for one another and their dedication to Hashm will stand in testament to the love and dedication the Sabas held for them and their future.

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Jan 12, 2010 0:29 | Updated Jan 12, 2010 0:47
Mogul Moises Saba dies in helicopter crash
By HAVIV RETTIG GUR
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1263147868740&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Four members of one of the most prominent Mexican Jewish families were killed late Sunday in a helicopter crash on the outskirts of Mexico City.

Businessman Moisés Saba Masri, his wife, Adela Tuachi, son Albert and daughter-in-law Judith Casal along with the helicopter pilot, plunged to their deaths after the helicopter's rotor hit a building while flying in a dense fog. Local officials told Mexican media that the helicopter, an Agusta 109, exploded when it hit the ground.

Saba, 47, of Syrian Jewish extraction, was head of one of Mexico's wealthiest business clans, owning controlling interests in various Mexican telecom, real estate, pharmaceutical and other companies, together with two hotels in Acapulco. He was executive president of TV Azteca, the country's second-largest television company.

He was also well-known both at home and abroad as a generous contributor to Jewish and Israeli causes. The family are devoted members of the local Jewish community.

The helicopter had been making its way to the family's Mexico City home late Sunday from the nearby town of Toluca, where they had landed on Sunday afternoon after returning from New York. According to the Orthodox news Web site Yeshiva World News, the Sabas had spent the weekend in the SyrianJewish community in Brooklyn to attend a daughter's engagement party.

Saba was a major donor to the Israeli search-and-rescue organization ZAKA. In mid-2009, he held a fund-raising event for the organization in hishome that was attended by former US president Bill Clinton.

By Monday afternoon, a team of four ZAKA volunteers were on a plane to Mexico via the United States, to help recover as many of the victims' body parts as possible. According to Jewish law, burials must include as much of the original body as can be found.

For the ZAKA team, the death is a bitter irony. They were already slated to fly to Mexico City this coming Sunday to lead courses on disaster search-and-rescue for some 50 volunteers from theMexican Jewish community. The course was funded by Saba himself.

Saba "was an extremely generous supporter of the ZAKA organization since its inception," said Lydia Weitzman, a spokeswoman for the organization. "In the [past] 18 months, he became very active in supporting ZAKA's latest project, expanding its International Rescue Unit into regional centers and [Jewish] communities around the world.

"Mexico City is one such community. The unit he funded and trained is going to get him."

Saba was particularly well-known in the Sephardi Jewish world. One of the members of the ZAKA team is Rabbi David Yosef, son of Shas spiritual leader and former Sephardi chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who went as a representative of his father and the Shas movement.

On Monday, the elder Yosef ordered the local Jewish community not to conduct the funeral or burial of the Sabas until the ZAKA volunteers arrived. Yosef, along with Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, are reportedly concerned that the local authorities will not take sufficient care in collecting the body parts from the crash site and burying each part in the correct grave.

In the wake of the crash, Mexican officials are examining the safety procedures that allowed the helicopter to take off from Toluca in conditions of poor visibility. The foothills west of Mexico City are particularly dangerous for helicopter flights due to frequent fog.

"There was not good visibility," according to Mexico City Civil Defense Secretary Elias Moreno. "The question is who authorized the flight."

No deaths or injuries were reported on the ground, even though Moreno said the craft sheared off a railing on the roof of a three-storyhome , then hit two parked cars and a tree before tumbling into a 20-meter-deep creek bed. The wreckage covered a radius of 60 meters in the pine-clad hills on the city's western edge.

"You could say it was a miracle, because this is a populated area," Moreno said. "Neighbors say the blast was so strong it shook their houses."

Mexican President Felipe Calderon sent condolences Monday to the family and to his country's Jewish community.

In 2007, Saba made an unsuccessful bid for a state-held stake in the country's largest airline, Aeromexico. In 2003, he held negotiations over entering into partnership in Israel's Channel 10, but never bought shares in the station.

AP and Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.




Jan 12, 2010 0:29 | Updated Jan 12, 2010 0:47
Mogul Moises Saba dies in helicopter crash
By HAVIV RETTIG GUR
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1263147868740&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Four members of one of the most prominent Mexican Jewish families were killed late Sunday in a helicopter crash on the outskirts of Mexico City.

Businessman Moisés Saba Masri, his wife, Adela Tuachi, son Albert and daughter-in-law Judith Casal along with the helicopter pilot, plunged to their deaths after the helicopter's rotor hit a building while flying in a dense fog. Local officials told Mexican media that the helicopter, an Agusta 109, exploded when it hit the ground.

Saba, 47, of Syrian Jewish extraction, was head of one of Mexico's wealthiest business clans, owning controlling interests in various Mexican telecom, real estate, pharmaceutical and other companies, together with two hotels in Acapulco. He was executive president of TV Azteca, the country's second-largest television company.

He was also well-known both at home and abroad as a generous contributor to Jewish and Israeli causes. The family are devoted members of the local Jewish community.

The helicopter had been making its way to the family's Mexico City home late Sunday from the nearby town of Toluca, where they had landed on Sunday afternoon after returning from New York. According to the Orthodox news Web site Yeshiva World News, the Sabas had spent the weekend in the SyrianJewish community in Brooklyn to attend a daughter's engagement party.

Saba was a major donor to the Israeli search-and-rescue organization ZAKA. In mid-2009, he held a fund-raising event for the organization in hishome that was attended by former US president Bill Clinton.

By Monday afternoon, a team of four ZAKA volunteers were on a plane to Mexico via the United States, to help recover as many of the victims' body parts as possible. According to Jewish law, burials must include as much of the original body as can be found.

For the ZAKA team, the death is a bitter irony. They were already slated to fly to Mexico City this coming Sunday to lead courses on disaster search-and-rescue for some 50 volunteers from theMexican Jewish community. The course was funded by Saba himself.

Saba "was an extremely generous supporter of the ZAKA organization since its inception," said Lydia Weitzman, a spokeswoman for the organization. "In the [past] 18 months, he became very active in supporting ZAKA's latest project, expanding its International Rescue Unit into regional centers and [Jewish] communities around the world.

"Mexico City is one such community. The unit he funded and trained is going to get him."

Saba was particularly well-known in the Sephardi Jewish world. One of the members of the ZAKA team is Rabbi David Yosef, son of Shas spiritual leader and former Sephardi chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who went as a representative of his father and the Shas movement.

On Monday, the elder Yosef ordered the local Jewish community not to conduct the funeral or burial of the Sabas until the ZAKA volunteers arrived. Yosef, along with Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, are reportedly concerned that the local authorities will not take sufficient care in collecting the body parts from the crash site and burying each part in the correct grave.

In the wake of the crash, Mexican officials are examining the safety procedures that allowed the helicopter to take off from Toluca in conditions of poor visibility. The foothills west of Mexico City are particularly dangerous for helicopter flights due to frequent fog.

"There was not good visibility," according to Mexico City Civil Defense Secretary Elias Moreno. "The question is who authorized the flight."

No deaths or injuries were reported on the ground, even though Moreno said the craft sheared off a railing on the roof of a three-storyhome , then hit two parked cars and a tree before tumbling into a 20-meter-deep creek bed. The wreckage covered a radius of 60 meters in the pine-clad hills on the city's western edge.

"You could say it was a miracle, because this is a populated area," Moreno said. "Neighbors say the blast was so strong it shook their houses."

Mexican President Felipe Calderon sent condolences Monday to the family and to his country's Jewish community.

In 2007, Saba made an unsuccessful bid for a state-held stake in the country's largest airline, Aeromexico. In 2003, he held negotiations over entering into partnership in Israel's Channel 10, but never bought shares in the station.

AP and Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.

Return Right of Conversion to Rabbis!

B”H

G-d bless Rabbi Angel! Where there is no man, he is that man. Where no one else will open their mouth for fear of retribution from the Haredi mob, Rabbi Angel will open his mouth.

He is a true tzaddik, and a voice of sense in this Jewish world that has been transformed from a beautiful place of mitzvot to a horrible witch hunt. Everyone is running around scared of the Haredim, afraid of being accused of the unforgivable sin of “modernism” or (let it not be said!) an educated opinion!!

We are all supposed to live like Jewish Amish, shun all electronic devices, throw our women to the back of the bus, subject our children to endless hours of Talmud studies, and turn our backs on the Israeli government or our new name will be “Apikores!”

Anyone who dares to convert is subject to the most ridiculous set of stringencies imaginable, and every single Jew in the world is their critic, a spy, an informant!!

No wonder our dear converts have retreated into a world of silence and fear, those who would have converted have changed their mind. No wonder certain converts have been subjected to blackmail and abuse!

Rabbi Angel has it right—we need to listen to our Sages, and return the right of conversion to our community rabbis. There was a reason why this system had always been in place, and there was no reason to change it.

Meanwhile, the EJF has shown itself for what it is: a defective, abusive, and manipulative organization out for the ultimate power grab. May Hashm show them more compassion than they have shown our converts!!

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Return Conversion to the Rabbis
http://www.forward.com/articles/122774
By Marc D. Angel


For centuries, rabbis steeped in Torah and Halacha have served as the gatekeepers of the Jewish people. They have determined which non-Jews may join the Jewish people as converts.

Halachic literature provides a wide array of opinions and attitudes relating to conversion. In recent years, however, the more extreme views espoused by the Haredi rabbinic establishment have gained predominance — and those Orthodox rabbis who do not share these views have been increasingly marginalized.

In 2006, Israel’s chief rabbinate announced that it would no longer accept conversions performed by Orthodox rabbis in the Diaspora, unless these rabbis were on a pre-approved list (i.e., they were deemed sufficiently Haredi in their approach). The mainstream Orthodox rabbinic group in the United States, the Rabbinical Council of America, essentially went along with the dictates of the chief rabbinate. The RCA set up regional rabbinic courts to oversee conversions. The individual Orthodox rabbi — even if a member in good standing of the RCA — generally will not have his conversions accepted by the rabbinate in Israel, unless the convert has gone through the RCA’s conversion bureaucracy.

The result of this shift in authority has been profound. Good, talented and well-intentioned Orthodox rabbis in the Diaspora have been eliminated as recognized gatekeepers to the Jewish people. Power has been concentrated in fewer hands. The more restrictive views on conversion have become universalized, leaving rabbis with little leeway in dealing with candidates for conversion who are not ready to become fully Orthodox Jews. Rabbi Ben-Zion Uziel, who was the first chief Sephardic rabbi of the State of Israel, sought halachically valid ways to bring such individuals into Judaism and the Jewish people. The current rabbinic hierarchy shuts the door on them.

At a time when many thousands of people in Israel and the Diaspora want to become Jewish, the Orthodox rabbinic gatekeepers are becoming ever more restrictive. They adopt new stringencies not required by the Talmud, the Rambam or the Shulchan Aruch. There are women whose conversions have been denied because they wear pants — loose-fitting, modest pants. I know a woman whose conversion was rejected because the rabbinic court did not think her boyfriend was sufficiently Orthodox. A number of would-be converts have been told that they will not be accepted for conversion unless they first move to more religious neighborhoods — even though they currently attend an Orthodox synagogue in the neighborhood where they presently reside. Meanwhile, rabbinic courts in Israel have annulled conversions when converts lapse from a stringent observance of mitzvot.

These restrictive policies are not mandated by Halacha. They reflect a deep xenophobia and a narrow view of Jewish peoplehood. These policies prevent and deter many people from converting to Judaism according to Halacha. They cause unspeakable pain and frustration to numerous individuals who want to cast their destiny with the Jewish people — but who are rejected, humiliated or threatened by the rabbinic bureaucracy.

In recent months, we have witnessed scandal after scandal involving Haredi rabbis. In a particularly notorious case, Rabbi Leib Tropper — who set himself up as the head of an influential Haredi conversion authority, the Eternal Jewish Family — has resigned his position due to allegations of particularly heinous and repulsive behavior, reportedly involving sexual coercion of a prospective convert.

These high-profile scandals should be cause for alarm. But we should also be concerned about the scandal of what is being foisted upon the public as “true Judaism.” At an Eternal Jewish Family conference, Rabbi Nachum Eisenstein stated that Rabbi Yosef Sholom Elyashiv, one of the Haredi world’s leading authorities, holds that any rabbi who believes the world is more than approximately 6,000 years old should not serve on the rabbinic courts that perform conversions. (Elyashiv is not known to have disputed this characterization of his views.) Indeed, the Eternal Jewish Family includes a question on “the Torah view of the age of the universe” in its testing of would-be converts. Knowing that we have perfectly legitimate traditions in Torah Judaism that allow for belief in a universe billions of years old, should we allow the obscurantists to disqualify all rabbis who dare to accept the clear findings of science? Do we want such people as the gatekeepers of Jewish identity?

The Orthodox rabbinate has become narrower and more extreme, exactly at a time when world Jewry is very much in need of responsible, creative, sensitive and inclusive religious leadership. Can the State of Israel afford to have a bureaucracy of rabbinic gatekeepers who seem more interested in keeping people out than in letting them in? Can world Jewry afford to leave halachic conversion in the hands of a rabbinic hierarchy that refuses to draw on the inclusive opinions within Halacha, that insists on creating higher and higher barriers, that values restrictiveness as a sign of religiosity? Can we really trust a Haredi-dominated rabbinic establishment that does not inspire our respect as a model of morality, idealism and intellectual vitality?

The Jewish people needs and deserves an effective and inclusive halachic framework for accepting converts. The current gatekeepers have not served us well, and there is no sign that they will change their ways if left to their own devices. We would do much better by dismantling the current rabbinic bureaucracy and leaving conversion in the hands of local Orthodox rabbis — as had been the practice for centuries. Let each rabbi draw on the halachic sources that best apply to each situation and not have his hands tied by an inflexible and restrictive hierarchy. Let each halachic convert be fully accepted as a Jew in the State of Israel and throughout the Diaspora.

If some in the Haredi world will not accept the Jewishness of such converts, then that is a problem for the Haredim. The Jewish people as a whole should not be held hostage to the extreme views of the rejectionists.

Halachic conversions performed by local Orthodox rabbis will draw many more converts into the Jewish people more efficiently, more compassionately and with more halachic integrity. Every bona fide member of a reputable national or international Orthodox rabbinic body should be empowered to perform conversions. Each rabbinic organization must ensure that its members conduct conversions according to Halacha, with the highest ethical standards, and without financial remuneration.

The Torah describes the people of Israel as a wise people; let us, then, act wisely.

Rabbi Marc D. Angel is founder and director of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals and rabbi emeritus of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York. He is a past president of the Rabbinical Council of America and the author of “Choosing to Be Jewish: The Orthodox Road to Conversion” (Ktav, 2005).

Silence is acceptance: “sh’tikah k’hoda’ah.” Chabad MUST Do Something NOW About the Yechis!!

B"H

There are too many Chabadniks living a double life--telling those who come to them that they don't believe in this mumbo-jumbo that the Rebbe is the Moschiac, while secretly practicing it.

It is at a point where the non-Chabad orthodox, like me, must turn away from the lot of them because we can't be sure which of them is an authentic Jew and which of them is practicing this new religion of "Rebbianity," "Chabadism," or, as this author terms it: "Schneersonism."

There were some quiet legal proceedings to get the crazies out of 770 a few years back, which failed. Meanwhile, the rest of Chabad, for fear or out of just plain exhaustion, have never answered this problem adequately--which is perplexing to me.

They have a strong and closely-knit organization. Can't they come up with something . . .like a banner across your doorway that says "The Rebbe was a Tzaddik, but not the Moshiac."

I would love to see this expression decorating the doors in Crown Heights instead of the yellow flags and the "Rebbe is King Moshiac" banners. Perhaps, like the yellow crazy flags, the new banner would catch on. At least it would help some of us tell the difference between the different factions of Chabad.

Right now, because I can't tell the difference, I avoid all foods with Chabad heshgakah, I avoid giving money to Chabad, and I avoid associating myself in any way with the Chabad movement because I am so disgusted by this avodah zarah. I know I am not alone.

These people are destroying everything positive the Rebbe did. Don't you think it is time their organization took this to heart and made a public display of rejecting this idea? If they can drive around with a menorah on top of your car, if they can stop every male person on the street and ask them if they are Jewish and if they have tied tefillin today, why can't they post a notification at the door of a shul that states they are not part of that movement, or a banner which proclaims they are not part of that movement, or invent some other color flag to wear on their lapel which indicates they are not part of that movement?

I am sickened and saddened by what they are doing to the Rebbe's work, and I am not one of them. I would think the members of Chabad would be doubly sickened by these crazies and do something clear and public about them.

M
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Lubavitch's Break-Away Religion of 'Schneersonism' is Growing
http://www.alfassa.com/schneersonism.html
by Shelomo Alfassa

They stand on the bustling street corners from Los Angeles to New York City and all places in between. While distributing literature to the passersbys, they joyfully declare "the messiah is here- the messiah is here." But these are not the stealthy anti-Jewish Christian missionary organization Jews for Jesus, these are hasidic Jews who now follow a new upward developing religion of Schneersonism. This break-away religion of Schneersonism, a modern daughter of Judaism not unlike Christianity or Islam, is a new and developing religion-a new and genuine religion.

Schneersonists have a Temple for their adherents, located at the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. This is the address of the large synagogue and attached former residence of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994) known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or just the Rebbe amongst his hasidim.

On the inside of the large synagogue is a banner bearing the slogan "Long Live our Master, our Teacher, and our Rabbi, King Messiah, for ever and ever." The phrase is often printed on pamphlets and posters which also have a photo of Schneerson. The phrase itself, a politically and emotionally charged one, is chanted by many Lubavitch hasidim around the world-it is the mantra of their new religion.

Schneerson was a prominent hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and last spiritual leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement which started in Europe. When he died, he left behind no children to take over for him and continue his legacy.

Immediately upon his death some 15 years ago, some of his followers started to pronounce that he was the long-awaited mashiah (messiah) of which the Jewish religion has long been waiting for-but who has not yet come. Since he died, a generation of Lubavitch children have grown up (many of whom never met Schneerson) and today these men go around, in Hebrew, Yiddish, Russian, French and English, proclaiming "the messiah has arrived."

About 2000 years ago a group of Jews acted exactly like the Schneersonists. After their leader (Jesus) died, they worshiped his dead body-and have not stopped since.

Billboards have been established around the country in cities where Jews live, proclaiming "The Messiah is Here!" Jewish music concerts are being promoted with posters where in Hebrew it proclaims "King Messiah" is alive. Utilizing a fleet of 10 Ford vans topped with loud speakers, flanked with yellow flags and a large image of Schneerson on the side, they drive around tourist areas in Miami, Houston, Chicago, New York, Seattle, Denver and New York City passing out religious tracts reporting "messiah is here."

Last April, Schneersonists drove a whopping 59 RV's in procession through New York City. The words "messiah is here" were written on the RVs in various languages such as English, French, Arabic, Russian and others. And this is not only a U.S. phenomenon, Schneersonists are across the globe spreading Schneersonism with anyone who will listen, this includes to the non-hasidic Jews.

When people make contact with these men wearing black suits and black hats and immediately conclude they are traditional hasidic Jews who dress and follow the traditions of their European ancestors, what they don't know is that they are actually making contact with men that are at the genesis of a new religion--they are speaking with people that whether they know it or not, are the founders of the beginning of an entirely distinct religion, one based on the worship of a dead human being, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

Rabbi David Berger, Ph.D., professor of history at Yeshiva University and visiting professor at Harvard and Yale, says that the Lubavitch who feel Schneerson is the messiah, are virtually identical to those of the early Hebrew-Christians.

Schneersonism is growing closer to Christianity and distancing itself from Judaism - why - because Judaism has no place for messiah worship or the worship of a dead man. It is categorically anti-Jewish to worship a dead man.

Yet, in this case of the Schneersonists, much like the Christians, are conducting messiah worship and the worshiping of a dead person. At the very core of the Schneersonist belief system, is the Christian concept of the Second Coming of the messiah. Because the Hebrew word "mashiah" (messiah) literally means "the anointed" (Christ) in Greek, as strange as it may sound, Schneersonists are effectively supporting "Jews for Menachem Mendel Schneerson Christ."

Lubavitch Jews as well as inline politically correct Jews (especially young ones) are quick to attack anyone who feels that part of Chabad has evolved into the new religion of Schneersonism. However, their emotional responses don't equate for the seemingly millions of dollars spent on Schneersonism propaganda and the overwhelming and quite visible representation of the Christian concept of the Second Coming of the messiah.

There is a large and growing campaign, not by all Lubavitch hasidim but by a clear majority, to get people to believe in their belief system-that Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson is the living messiah who has returned. With Lubavitch conducting such a high rate of outreach, the newly religious Jews are being educated in this paradigm of desiring a dead man to return and be the messiah.

"With Lubavitch conducting such a high rate of outreach, the
newly religious Jews are being educated in this paradigm of desiring
a dead man to return and be the messiah."

Families that have grown up in Chabad or that Chabad has "made religious" won't put much emotional or intellectual capital into understanding the scope of the problem, they just issue a knee-jerk reaction saying that those that warn the Jewish people and those that seek to expose Schneersonism for what it is, are just people who hate other Jews. They very often minimize the problem, saying "there is no problem."

They respond with criticism saying the informers are committing the prohibition of "Lashan Hora" (evil speech), while they themselves overlook the grave sin Schneersonists are committing, the idolatry of worshiping a dead man. The heresy that most Chabad-Lubavitch have committed by their formation of Schneersonism seems to blind those that only see Chabad-Lubavitch as a place for free Friday night meals, overnight hospitality for shabbat, and free Torah education.

These are the very people which are blinded by the "good" that Chabad-Lubavitch does; they are most commonly the newly observant and those that are at the low margin of understanding the history of the Jewish people and the seriousness of the messiah concept in Judaism. Most Jews don't understand how over at least one dozen false messiahs have come and gone throughout Jewish history, nor the damage they have done to the Jewish people.

The large established Jewish organizations, most of which have Chabad members among them, are afraid to speak out of this topic-they won't go near it. However, in the past, the Lithuanian Ponevezh yeshiva in Bnei Brak, Israel has spoken out against Chabad heresy. As did (with vehement opposition) the Rabbinical Seminary of America (Chofetz Chaim Yeshiva) in New York, and the Rabbinical Council of America who issued a weak but import response aimed to Lubavitch.

Rabbi Aharon Feldman, dean of Yeshiva Ner Yisrael: Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Baltimore, Maryland, wrote a widely-disseminated letter in 2004 which stated that Orthodox Jews should avoid praying in Chabad synagogues that avowed a belief in the Rebbe as the messiah. In 2008 a man from Israel who seemed like an sincere convert to Judaism was rejected by the Israeli Chief Rabbinate because the man professed that Rabbi Schneerson was the messiah.

The Jerusalem Post reported a source in the State Conversion Authority said that at least two leading religious Zionist rabbis ruled that messianic Chabad was beyond the pale of normative Jewish belief. "They [messianic Chabad Hassidim] attribute to him supernatural powers years after he passed away. That is not Judaism. It's something else."

The problem is you can no longer tell which Lubavitch hasidim are Schneersonists and which are not. Chabad schools have an overwhelming culture where children grow hearing that Schneerson is the messiah; Chabad leadership seems to be mainly made up of Schneersonists, especially those men and almost all of the thousands of worshipers at the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn.

Posters of Rabbi Schneerson are plastered all over Brooklyn New York with the word"messiah" posted underneath his image.

This writer attended Shabbat at 770 Eastern Parkway and saw men calling for the messiah. There were men wearing the yellow "messiah" flag lapel pin, the symbol of the Schneersonists. There were men and boys worshiping Menachem Mendel Schneerson's empty red velvet chair, and saw there were men bowing to a table where Rabbi Schneerson used to sit.

These men were singing the revered mantra of the Schneersonists, "Long Live our Master, our Teacher, and our Rabbi, King Messiah, for ever and ever" as they danceed fervently with their yellow crown-emblazoned flags. To be sure, the "World Headquarters" of Lubavitch is a center for Schneersonists who worship the dead rabbi and who have made him the center of their new religion.

Rabbis to US Ambassador: Biblical Solution the ONLY Solution for Israel

B”H

I love this! FINALLY SOMEONE SAID IT!!! If you follow what G-d says, if you follow the BIBLE, if you pay attention to the scriptures, you can’t possibly think the pretend “palestinian” people have anything resembling “rights” to our land.

The true path to peace is in the Word of G-d, not in the lies of diplomats and politicians.

I just wish that the rabbis had answered the ambassador's question a bit differently. When he asked, "So what is your solution to the problem?"

They should have answered, "It is not our solution, it is G-ds!"

In Bamidbar 33:53, Hashm says:

• 'Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When ye pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places.
• And ye shall drive out the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein; for unto you have I given the land to possess it.
• And ye shall inherit the land by lot according to your families--to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer thou shalt give the less inheritance; wheresoever the lot falleth to any man, that shall be his; according to the tribes of your fathers shall ye inherit.
• But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then shall those that ye let remain of them be as thorns in your eyes, and as pricks in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land wherein ye dwell.
• And it shall come to pass, that as I thought to do unto them, so will I do unto you.

M
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Rabbis to US Ambassador: Time to 'Go Biblical' with Arabs
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/135283
by Gil Ronen

(IsraelNN.com) A delegation of the Rabbinical Congress for Peace (RCP) met with U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mr. James Cunningham, today and called for a reassessment of the entire U.S. policy vis-à-vis the Israelis and Palestinians. The rabbis told Ambassador Cunningham that it was time to try the Biblical approach to the dispute over the Land of Israel.

"The past 17 years have proven without a shadow of a doubt that every square inch ceded by Israel to the Palestinians was transformed into a platform of hatred and terrorism," RCP Director Rabbi Avrohom Shmuel Lewin told the ambassador. "In other words, the 'land for peace' formula in the Israel-Palestinian context, besides being a formula that goes against the Divine will, is ineffective, obsolete, and an exercise in futility. Most of all it is a dangerous policy that only leads to bloodshed and instability in the region and harms vital American interests in the region as well," Lewin said.

'Land for peace doesn't work'
The delegation was headed by Rabbi Joseph Gerlitzky, Chairman of the RCP, who is also the Rabbi of Central Tel Aviv where the US embassy is located. Rabbi Gerlitzky presented the ambassador with the Halachic (Jewish legal) ruling signed by over 350 prominent rabbis in Israel that it is forbidden to give up even one inch of territory controlled by Israel today because it will bring bloodshed and instability to the region.

"In the name of the overwhelming majority of rabbis in Israel," he said, "we request of you Mr. Ambassador, to convey our Halachic message to President Barack Obama that it is time for a complete reversal and reassessment of U.S. policy in the Middle East. The 'land for peace' policy never worked and harms U.S. interests in the region and the world at large."

The Rabbis handed the ambassador a Halachic Ruling signed by over 350 rabbis in Israel that forbids giving up land controlled by Israel today.

The ambassador was visibly moved by Rabbi Sholom Gold, a leading rabbi in Jerusalem, who described the suffering that the Jewish People have endured ever since the implementation of the Oslo Accords and the agreements that followed. "It's all a play of words, there is no peace process," he said. "From the day that we started conceding and withdrawing we did not have one day of rest and peace. Why should our enemies want to make peace with us when they see that with terrorism they get what they want? Even the U.S., Israel's supposedly best friend, sides with them in demanding a freeze and evacuation of settlements. Is the triumph of Arab terror one of American interests?" Gold asked.

Going Biblical
"Who knows, Mr. Ambassador, maybe this is your defining moment."

Rabbi Dov Lior, the Rabbi of Kiryat Arba-Hevron, said: "G-d gave the US the power and influence to affect the rest of the world and supporting Israel is the key to America's success."

Ambassador Cunningham told the rabbis that he does not see how the problem can be solved “without taking into consideration the Palestinians,” to which Rabbi Gold remarked: "Ever since we started taking the Palestinians into consideration the situation only worsened."

The ambassador asked the rabbis, "So what is your solution to the problem?"

Rabbi Gerlitzky replied: "You must switch the entire approach to the situation. We all believe in the Holy Bible and up until now we tried every formula except for that which is delineated in the Bible. Let's try it and who knows, Mr. Ambassador, maybe this is your defining moment, that G-d Almighty has placed you in this capacity in order to precipitate a new course which will bring a true peace to the entire region."

Hundreds of Greek Christians Stand in Solidarity With Greek Jews Against Neo-Nazi Attacks

B"H

I was touched by this simple, beautiful, and very human extension of support and kindness between two strong groups of faith.

Deeply religious people, no matter their creed, understand the significance of the sanctification of G-d, and the dignity of Human life.

Those without G-d, or those who have twisted G-d's image into something that represents hatred and evil, cannot comprehend the significance of a religious artifact, a religious holiday, or a sacred space.

There is no agenda here beside that of one group of religious people supporting another group of religious people against the evil actions of neo-nazi thugs.

G-d bless them.

M
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Christians Rally to Support Greek Jews
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/135271
by Hana Levi Julian

(IsraelNN.com) A week before what is arguably the most lucrative and religiously important event in the Christian calendar, hundreds of Christians in a small Greek town turned out in the winter cold to express support for their Jewish neighbors.

Joining hands in a “human chain against racism and violence,” Christians in the small northwestern Greek city of Ioannina, surrounded the city’s Jewish cemetery to protest repeated acts of neo-Nazi vandalism there. In the past 12 months Ioannina, not far from the Albanian border, has seen a rise in anti-Semitic incidents perpetrated in the Jewish cemetery by neo-Nazis in town – a trend the protest organizers decided was intolerable.

'Duty of Every Citizen'
“The Jewish cemetery is not only the religious space of the Jewish community but also a cultural monument of our city, the protection of which, like other historic monuments of our city, is the duty of every citizen… Let the world know that we value our Jewish presence, one of the oldest in Greece, and will not allow callous, hateful acts to define us as a community or as a people,” the organizing committee said in a statement.

“Letters and emails of anguish, hurt and recrimination” were sent to local and national Greek authorities over the incidents, said Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos, president of the Association of Friends of Greek Jewry and director of the Kehila Kedosha Janina Museum. “Our intention was to bring to worldwide awareness what had happened.”

That appeals succeeded brought immense joy to the community, she said. “Our pleas did not fall on deaf ears… What then can be more emotionally rewarding than to pass on the news of a recent mass demonstration against anti-Semitism?” Ikonomopoulos commented.

Many of those who showed up for the demonstration held public office, she noted. Organizers stressed that politics was not the issue, and public officials were not identified by their political parties. “All major parties were represented,” she noted. “Let us all applaud the good citizens of Ioannina who organized and took part in this historic event.”

Ancient Jewish Community Dates Back to Second Temple
The Jewish presence in the small Greek town goes back thousands of years, to the destruction of the Second Temple, according to the Kehila Kedosha Janina Museum web site. Those who lived in the city were Greek-speaking Jews who had absorbed the Hellenistic culture of the time.

The community was not a wealthy one; sons succeeded their fathers in their trades, and daughters married and became wives and mothers. If they worked at all, it was in the professions deemed acceptable for the women of the time, such as seamstresses. Education ended at high school or even earlier.

Approximately 2,000 Jews lived in Ioannina at the beginning of World War II, but it came under direct German control in September 1943. The Nazis, on Greek Independence Day just before Passover in March 1944, rounded up the community's Jews and deported them to Auschwitz-Birkenau, almost all of whom were murdered.

Their names are engraved in stone on the walls of the community’s synagogue.

Iraq's "Restoration" of Tomb of Ezekiel Destroys All Connection To Jewish Roots, Replaces Jewish Holy Spot with Mosque

B"H

You had better be sure that Obama and his administration know about this abomination, and they have signed off on it.

I don't believe there is one thing going on in Iraq that the US government doesn't know about and hasn't approved.

Where do you think the Iraqi government has gotten the money for such a project? Obviously, the American people are paying for the Islamic rape of this Jewish site.

I would say, "Turn to your congressman and senator" about this, but I am so discouraged by anything coming out of that cavity of courage, that cestpool of citizenship, that I fear such an action is practically useless.

Perhaps turning to AIPAC, to the ADL, to the JDL is the right action right now. Maybe if we can convince our elected idiots that this is important to the Jewish people, and that it could cost them some campaign cash, they will wake up and smell the Baklava.

Meanwhile, I feel like I have been kicked in the stomach.

M
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Islamists Erase Jewish Identity from Ezekiel's Tomb in Iraq

By Shelomo Alfassa
http://www.alfassa.com/tomb.html

BREAKING NEWS

NEW YORK (December 29, 2009) - The Iraqi news agency Ur News has revived fears that under pressure from Islamic political parties, the original Hebrew inscriptions and ornamentation on the walls around the tomb of Ezekiel are being (or have been) removed, this under the pretext of restoring the site.

According to sources, the Antiquities and Heritage Authority in Iraq has been pressured by Islamists to historically cleanse all evidence of a Jewish connection to Iraq--a land where Jews had lived for over a thousand years before the advent of Islam.

Four months ago a German-based Iraqi journalist tipped off the Association of Jewish Academics from Iraq in Israel that plans were afoot to build a mosque on the site of the shrine of the Jewish prophet Ezekiel at al-Kifl, this was first reported on the "Point of No Return" news blog.

The rumours were investigated by a philo-Semitic Iraqi Shi'a, Dr. Jabbar Jamal al-Din, a lecturer in Jewish Thought at the Kufa University. They were denied by the shrine's director.

Now a report by Ur News revives fears that in the absence of Jews on the ground, nothing, not even UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), stands in the way of politically-motivated plans to erase all Jewish traces of this ancient holy site.

Drastic changes taking place currently at the tomb of Ezekiel will change its character and prompt UNESCO to delete it as a protected site on the World Heritage List, similar to what happened to the historic city of Babylon, where old buildings were demolished and new layers of construction added.

Prof. Shmuel Moreh, the Chairman of the Association of Jewish Academics from Iraqi, Israel Prize Laureate in Arabic Literature and emeritus Professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has indicted that the Arabic news stories have tipped him that the Archeological Authority in Iraq has started a campaign to erase the Jewish aspects of the tomb of the prophet Ezekiel and the original inlay Hebrew inscriptions have been destroyed and covered by new Arabic inscriptions and Islamic symbols.

Here is an extract, paraphrased from an Arabic translation of the Ur News agency report:

• The officials of the Department of Antiquities and Heritage say that their restoration programme will continue until 2011 and is designed to carry out essential maintenance and prevent the dome and roof from collapsing. But their hidden purpose, sources say, is the removal of features that emphasize a historical connection with the Jews who built the shrine and lived in the city for hundreds of years after the Babylonian exile.

Hebrew writings will or already has been erased from the site and from the room that houses the shrine.

Restoration work includes skimming the walls, 3 metres high in the yard, 2 metres high inside the shrine.

Sources say that the media are not allowed to take pictures and visits to the shrine are limited to pilgrims. The city of Kifl contains tens of thousands of acres of land belonging to the Jewish community before their displacement from Iraq in the last century.

The majority of tenants' shops around the shrine still pay rent to their original Jewish owners through accredited mediators. Iraq - the Biblical Mesopotamia -is almost as rich in Jewish history as the Land of Israel.

The tomb of the prophet Ezekiel dates back to the Babylonian exile in the sixth century BCE. It was there in Iraq that Abraham discovered monotheism, and it is where the prophets Ezra, Nehemiah, Nahum, Jonah and Daniel are all buried.

What is the difference between extremist Jews burning down a Mosque and extremist Muslims burning down a synagogue?

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B”H

What is the difference between extremist Jews burning down a Mosque and extremist Muslims burning down a synagogue?

When extremist Jews burn down a Mosque, Israel condemns the act, Jewish leaders apologize and express remorse, and Jewish citizens come out to support those who have been harmed.

When extremist Muslims burn down a Synagogue, Muslim leaders congratulate the extremists, Imams call for more violence, and Muslim citizens dance in the street and hand out candy.

M
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Israel Condemns Mosque Vandalism
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/134954
by Hillel Fendel

(IsraelNN.com) Condemnations from Jewish leaders continue to stream in of the vandalism perpetrated against a mosque in the Shomron late Thursday night - though it is not yet known who did it.

Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger said on Sunday, “I was shocked. Burning mosques is not our way, this is not the proper way to fight, and we condemn this in every sense.”

Rabbis of Judea/Samaria towns, such as Rabbi Elyakim Levanon of Elon Moreh, Rabbi Avi Gisser of Ofrah, and others, also condemned the vandalism, saying that mosques and religious sites are not legitimate targets in our national struggle.

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich, Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Places, similarly said the vandalism is "contrary to all values of Judaism and is worthy of condemnation. Places that are considered holy by followers of all religions must remain outside the framework of political conflict. This is a serious matter that must be investigated, and its perpetrators must be found quickly.”

Many cabinet ministers, including Prof. Rabbi Herskovitz (Jewish Home), Yisrael Katz (Likud), Eli Yishai (Shas), Uzi Landau (Israel Our Home), and Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud) also condemned the vandalism, but Edelstein added: “Let’s not take things out of proportion. Not a day passes that a Jewish target is not attacked somewhere around the world, yet we don’t hear condemnations from Foreign Ministries. We’ve been hearing about the mosque all day on the radio – but hardly anything about the Jewish girl who was stabbed by an Arab in Gush Etzion.”

A group of Jews from Gush Etzion plans to visit the site of the targeted mosque in the village of Yasuf in the Shomron on Sunday afternoon. They will meet with village leaders and express their opposition to such acts of vandalism.

A carpet in the mosque was burnt in several places, as were some holy books. Graffiti reading “Price tag – Regards from Effie” was written on the floor. Price Tag is the name of a Jewish protest campaign in which unknown elements respond to the increased law enforcement against Jews and the freeze on Jewish construction by lashing out at Arabs in the area.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak has ordered the security forces to seek out those responsible for the vandalism. “This is an extremist act,” Barak said, “designed to block the government’s efforts to promote processes for the sake of Israel’s future.”

The Bostoner Rebbe, May His Memory Be a Blessing!

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B"H

This is a beautiful write-up in the Jewish Week about the Bostoner Rebbe. I didn't know him myself, but I had friends in the Boston area who attended the colleges around Boston, and many of them owe their observance to this man's very grounded and loving view of Judaism.

In a time when Hassidim are increasingly attacked for their non-Zionist, judgemental ways, the Bostoner Rebbe reminded them all that you could be Hassidic, Zionist, and encouraging to non-religious Jews to up their observance level. He did it with a light touch (as recalled in this article), and he did it with humor and humanity.

He practiced Kiruv beautifully with a non-judgemental, open, welcoming, and firm view of what was right, wrong, and moving in the right direction (as recalled by my friends).

He was also not afraid to stand up for Israel. He knew Israel was important, and he made a great effort to perform the Mitzvah of Aliyah, finally completing his move last April (even though this reporter gets this one fact wrong it is still a great story).

I am sorry I never knew him.

M
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The Rebbe With A Common Touch
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c37_a17393/News/National.html by Steve Lipman
Staff Writer

A story has circulated in Orthodox circles for a long time about a chasidic rabbi who was invited to speak to an auditorium full of Jewish students at a major American university. The bearded rabbi, according to the story, stepped up to the lectern, outfitted in typical chasidic garb – shtreimel fur hat on his head, and long black coat — and began droning about the Talmud in Yiddish.

The uncomprehending students, most from secular backgrounds, looked at each other, totally confused — until the rabbi stopped after a minute and asked, in English, “Had you worried, didn’t I?”

Then he had a captive audience.

The story sounded apocryphal — until Rabbi Levi Yitzhak Horowitz, the chasidic figure in the story, confirmed it.

I had the opportunity to escort the rabbi between two New York wedding ceremonies where he was officiating two decades ago, and related what I had heard.

He smiled. All true, he said. He shrugged. “I knew I looked foreign to the students,” he explained. “I had to show them I understood.”

Rabbi Horowitz, better-known as the Bostoner Rebbe — the first American-born leader of a major chasidic group — died Dec. 5 at 88 in Jerusalem, where he had lived for a decade after splitting time for several years between Israel and his home in Brookline, a Boston suburb. He had been in ill health since suffering a heart attack this summer.

The rabbi, who won over the university students that day, was a pioneer in the kiruv, or outreach movement, in the United States, opening his home and his Beit Pinchos New England Chassidic Center synagogue to Jewish students from the Boston area’s universities, and to other members of the non-Orthodox community. In one-on-one encounters or in group settings, he proved false the stereotypes of a cloistered, unworldly chasidic leader. He was a serious Boston Red Sox fan, and he spoke English eloquently, albeit with a Boston accent. His shul, named for his late, European-born father, offered the same combination of personal warmth and erudite education that he did.

The rabbi was the scion of a chasidic dynasty that originated in Eastern Europe.

Upon becoming head of a small group of followers in 1944, after his father’s death, Rabbi Horowitz developed a chasidic community in the United States that featured a uniquely American flavor – rigorously observant, but open to the culture, sports and pastimes familiar to most American Jews. Under his leadership, branches of the Bostoner chasidim opened in Brooklyn, Long Island, New Jersey and Israel.

Rabbi Moshe Waldoks, spiritual leader of Temple Beth Zion in Brookline, called Rabbi Horowitz “a transition between the European model and the American model” of a chasidic leader.

The most visible sign of this was Rabbi Horowitz’ decision to be known as the Bostoner Rebbe, not to adopt the name of the European town whence came his forebears, as other chasidic communities have done.

Rabbi Horowitz had a significant influence in many Orthodox circles; he remained accessible to his congregants and students and members of the wider Jewish community, discouraging the type of cultish behavior found in some other chasidic groups.

Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb, who met the Bostoner Rebbe while studying in Boston four decades ago and became a prominent professor of philosophy and Jewish educator, said: “He told me once that being a rebbe meant that you were there when someone needed to make a big decision and needed spiritual guidance.

“There were times when I was motivated in my religious life by false piety and he always insisted on clear logic,” Rabbi Gottlieb told the Jerusalem Post.

Rabbi Horowitz was the founder of Rofeh International, a Brookline-based organization that offers free medical referrals, support services and home hospitality to the infirm and their families.

A member of Agudath Israel’s Council of Torah Sages, he held right-wing political views that sometimes deviated from many haredi leaders’ more apolitical positions. He served as a prominent Orthodox proponent of maintaining a Jewish presence in the West Bank, and took an outspoken position against Israel’s disengagement from Gaza three years ago.

A leading figure in the part of the Orthodox community that usually favors tacit, back-channel approaches to controversial political issues, he was a participant, as a recently married rabbinical student, in the 1943 White House march of 400 Orthodox rabbis, who urged President Roosevelt to rescue Jews from the Holocaust.

The demonstration took place three days before Yom Kippur. “Going to Washington that week certainly made it more difficult for everyone but we all understood how important it was to do something in that situation,” the rabbi said in an interview with Rafael Medoff, director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies.

In 1967, after the outbreak of the Six-Day War, Rabbi Horowitz organized buses to bring Jews from Boston to Washington for a rally urging the U.S. government to support Israel.

Rabbi Horowitz maintained conciliatory relations with representatives of other Jewish denominations.
He and Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik, the late spiritual head of the Modern Orthodox movement who also lived in the Boston area, were “part of the reason why there is very little political divisiveness among the Jewish groups in Boston,” said Rabbi Waldoks, whose “independent” congregation is not Orthodox. “They both were people who understood that there was nothing to gain by Jewish sectarianism.”

I got a glimpse of this while escorting Rabbi Horowitz that afternoon two decades ago. A clean-shaven, newly Orthodox stranger, I was made to feel immediately accepted. Sharing a ride for more than an hour, he asked about my life and my career. I didn’t hear a single negative word about my secular interests or my non-Orthodox writing assignments.

I understood how he had captivated those nervous university students.

Just for fun: The Jewish Husband Store

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B”H

If you are a regular reader, you might have noticed I haven't posted for a few days. I'm a professor, and it's finals week! EEK!

I need something light, so I have revised the widely circulated “New Husband Store” e-mail for a religious Jewish audience. I hope you like it!

:)

Michelle Nevada
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The Jewish Husband Store

A store that sells new Jewish husbands has opened in New York City , where a Jewish woman may go to choose a Jewish husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates:

You may visit this store ONLY ONCE! There are seven floors and the value of the products increase as the shopper ascends the flights.

The shopper may choose any item from a particular floor, or may choose to go up to the next floor, but she cannot go back down except to exit the building!

So, a Jewish woman goes to the Jewish Husband Store to find a husband. On the first floor the sign on the door reads:

Floor 1 - These men are well learned and pray with great kavona.

She is intrigued, but continues to the second floor, where the sign reads:

Floor 2 – These men are well learned, pray with great kavona, and Have Jobs.

'That's nice,' she thinks, 'but I want more.'

Floor 3 - These men are well learned, pray with great kavona, have jobs, and Love Kids.

So she continues upward. The forth floor sign reads:

Floor 4 - These men are well learned, pray with great kavona, have jobs, love kids, and are extremely Good Looking.

'Wow,' she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.

She goes to the fifth floor and the sign reads:

Floor 5 - These men are well learned, pray with great kavona, have jobs, love kids, are good looking and Help With Housework.

'Oh, Baruch Hashm!' she exclaims, 'I can hardly stand it!'

Still, she goes to the sixth floor and the sign reads:

Floor 6 - These men are well learned, pray with great kavona, have jobs, love kids, are good looking, help with housework, and Have a Strong Romantic Streak.

She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the seventh floor, where the sign reads:

Floor 7 - You are visitor 31,456. There are no Jewish men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that Jewish women are impossible to please. Thank you for shopping at the Jewish Husband Store.

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PLEASE NOTE:

To avoid gender bias charges, the store's owner opened a New Jewish Wives store just across the street.

The first floor has wives that are all under 25.

The second floor has wives that are all under 30, but have fathers with money.

The third, fourth, fifth and sixth floors have never been visited.