Yom Kippur's Prayer to Include

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                            

Yom Kippur in Jerusalem

Praying for Israel.

May 14, 1948

"Do you realize what has happened in these last 65 years? Our holy tongue has been revived, our inheritance has been claimed, our Land has been settled and today - 5774 - for the first time in 2,000 years; the majority of the world's Halachic Jews are living in Israel!! These facts cannot be ignored and we must give thanks and praise to the Creator of the world for allowing this to happen!" by Shmuel Sackett.  This year, be sure to pray for Israel's well being and continuance.  

This is the time to ask for G-d's forgiveness for our sins.  We're not angels, but we try to be as good as humanely possible.  We've been given 613 rules of conduct to be a civilized nation besides our 10 Commandments. 

 For me, the Golden Rule stands as one of the more important lessons for us: to not do to others what we do not want done to us.  Very often this shows us the differences in people and their standards of morality.  There are those who have never heard of this lesson of life and continue to due inhumane harm to others.  They should know this story:  Once there was a gentile who came before Shammai, and said to him: "Convert me on the condition that you teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot. Shammai pushed him aside with the measuring stick he was holding. The same fellow came before Hillel, and Hillel converted him, saying: That which is despicable to you, do not do to your fellow, this is the whole Torah, and the rest is commentary, go and learn it."(Hillel-from the Babylonian Talmud).                                                         

                                                             Jerusalem Below
To me, it's a sin to believe propaganda which  has said  that we have slaughtered people such as when our IDF had to go into Gaza after being attacked.  They should know by their own research and heart, not by hearsay, what our army does.  If they did they would know our young IDF have been praised by other nation's generals for taking precautions not to injure civilians but have even put their own lives in harm's way to follow our morality established so long ago by Moses. If our own people understand our principals from our religion, they would know how we lead our lives, in sickness, in war and peace.   

We're not complete pacifists like Gandi was in India as we have learned that we must  protect ourselves and our people, for there are people who hate us without reason, but we as a people know how precious life is. For us, to save one life is to save the world.  (Mishnah)-Babylonian Talmud   

• Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.

"If Hamas lays down its weapons there will be no more war, but if Israel lays down its weapons there would be ?  no more Israel" Netanyahu.  

For those who have committed the sin of not defending Israel, but have been sucked into siding with those who want to destroy us, know that the Mandate for Palestine  of July 24, 1922, was a legally binding document published by the League of Nations, which came just before the UN. It was a legally binding document that laid down the Jewish legal right to settle anywhere in western Palestine, the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, an entitlement unaltered in international law.   "51 countries unanimously declared that "whereas recognition has been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country."  

Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour of England simply continued with England's feelings at that time with his Balfour Doctrine showing their favor and sympathy for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.  

Washington added in September 1922 the Lodge-Fish Joint Resolution signed by President Warren Harding which said, "Favors the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish people. "

"Not once are Arabs as a people ever mentioned in the Mandate for Palestine."  We've led an unnatural life since 70 CE when Jerusalem fell to the Romans, and after 2,000 years of constant anti-Semitism, were finally recognized and   rewarded with our ancient territory once again which was without ownership.  Yet 1.7 million Arabs are citizens with us in this, our Eretz Yisrael. of our own choosing .  

Our people are young and busy.  They have little time to worry about Israel if they don't live there, but feel secure, a first in our 2,000 history of living in the diaspora.  It is high time for this sin of omission to be thought about, to ask forgiveness for being so smug about their security, and pray for Israel's life.  

Resource:  http://www.jewishisrael.org/eng_contents/articles/Sackett/sackett018.html?utm_source=Shmuel+Sackett%3A+The+Prayer+You+Must+Say&utm_campaign=update&utm_medium=email
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Netanyahu
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090127063400AALd9Y0
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Quote/hillel.html
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talmud 

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- Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:9; Babylonian Talmud Tractate Sanhedrin 37a