Jews Waiting For The Moshiach

Nadene Goldfoot
                                                                           

The world is, according to Jewish history, 5,779 years old.  We use that on our calendars.   We're all Homo Sapiens who go back farther than written history over 100,000 years ago, but we feel that a special spark entered our mankind about this far back. We people are all connected to each other through our mothers who were but a handful of women living  tens of thousands of years ago.  It was only about 10,000 years ago that mammoths ruled the lands with cavemen and women.  They now say that Jews come from 4 unrelated women as well some time ago.  

One of the greatest movies I remember was   10,000 BC which is now   a 2008 American epic adventure film from Warner Bros. set in the prehistoric era, about the journeys of a prehistoric tribe of mammoth hunters. 

I love books by Jean M. Auel like THE SHELTERS OF STONE

Biblically:  
"First, we know that the entire human race consisted of eight individuals at the end of the Flood, around 2350 BC. (This was about 4,369 years ago.) This was one “family,” but four were women who married into Noah’s line. So the maximum number of family lines who brought their genes onto the Ark was five (four potentially unrelated women, and one line of men. 
                                                       

Landed on moon 50 years ago
in 1969

We're at the height of the world's technical inventions and intelligence.  We've been to the moon, have sent a space ship to Mars, can give a person a new heart if his has worn out, such capabilities!  Yes, but the world is in desperate need of Messianic redemption.  So many belonging to Judaism, Christianity and Islam are waiting and expecting THE MESSIAH at any time now as this is considered THE END TIMES.  Maybe it's because things can't get any worse along with these great inventions.  We've got not only the atom bomb but the hydrogen bomb where we could blow up this lovely planet or at least harm it for centuries and make it unlivable.  

People are at the point of hating each other though these 3 religions are meant to foster love and care for each other.  What is lacking, here?   What seems to be man's base nature, anyway?  Religion is supposed to make them better people.  The United States has been at each other's throats with an impending Republican Democrat Civil War.  The Middle East is constantly unsettled, now with Iran trying to take over the world, and Russia is involved with Venuzuela!  What a love affair that is turning out to be with the electric lights continually going out in this South American country.  
                                                     

Israeli doctors at Gaza fence giving medial aid

How are we to help the coming of the Messiah?  The best way is to love all humanity generously, and this already proves to be impossible for the whole world to follow.  Jews are also told that we need to keep the mitzvot of the Torah as best as we can, and to encourage others to do so, as well.  Perhaps the 10 basic rules are those to work on.  They are still hard to follow, even after Moses gave them to us about 3,300 years ago.  Our math skills may be great but not our inner empathy skills that separate us from our Neanderthal genes.
What other explanation can I give and still be nice?

The qualities of the Messiah as seen in Jewish literature  will be:
                                                       

1. Born to human parents, have normal physical attributes like other people.  No supernatural qualities like Superman and will not be a demi-god as seen in Greek narratives.  

2. Genetically, from his father's side he will be descended from King David.  This means to me that his Y haplogroup will show he is of the Cohen gene, a J1 or J2 .  It's only now that we can tell for sure just what the line of Kind David would be, and even that is not 100% to be trusted.  We have not sampled his body's cells to find his haplogroup.  We are trusting in the fact that at least half the Jewish men today carry this haplogroup.  The fact is that most men of the Middle East also carry this haplogroup, which gives credence to the Torah saying that there was Ishmael who was a son of Abraham and that Esau went off to live with Ishmael's people instead of staying with his twin, Jacob and his father, Isaac.  This makes them our cousins.  
                                                   

Rabbi Samson Wertheimer

Right now, genetic testing is not used to declare anything legally.  How one can prove someone is of King David's line without it would need quite a well developed tree to remain readable with the care that the Torah has had.  There are such trees, but continuing on to this day is rare.  There is one on Rabbi  Elijah ben Solomon-who went by the name of THE GAON OF VILNA.  His parents were Rabbi  Shlomo-Zalman who died in 1758 and wife Treina.  Another was Rabbi Samson Wertheimer born 1658 in Worms, Germany.  The tree of RASHI is still in existence and may be the one used.  Rashi -Rabbi Solomon Yitzhaki ben Isaac-born in Troyes, France in 1040 had a tree that did go back to King David and this was well known and well-used.  RASHI was about the best known commentator of our Bible and is still quoted in our prayer books.  Rabbi Wertheimer connected to Rashi as many others did as well.  In biblical days,
your genealogy was very important.  Serving in court systems depended on it.  I connect to this same Rabbi Wertheimer as many others do, too.  

 He will be a rabbi in that he will lead the Jewish people in full Torah observance.  Anyone coming to change the Torah in any way will immediately be identified as a false prophet, and we've had our share of those in more than one claim in the past.  
                                                    

3.  Prophetic passages in the Bible speak of a descendant of King David who will rule Israel during the age of perfection.  This Messiah most likely will be a citizen of Israel.  We will recognize the Messiah by seeing who the King of Israel is at the time of complete universal perfection.   Therefore it will have a lot to do with who the president or prime minister of Israel will be then, or king for that matter if reverting back to kingship should happen.  

4.  What is his duty?  Role?  Messiah or Mashiach simply means the anointed one, a person in G-d's service who was anointed with oil as the initiation.  This is an ancient practice for every king and high priest was initiated into service with this prelude.  Prophecy from our prophets included a promise of a future age of perfection that would be of universal peace and the recognition of G-d.  This is because without G-d, the people would run amok and do wild things like sacrifice people in the hope for better weather, better crops, the appearance of herds of animals for food, and go wild during earthquakes with fear.  Today we again have many atheists who believe they have no need for the concept of a G-d in control of the world.  They have no concrete yardstick of measuring their behavior, which is something religion gives to others who do.  They have no answer to questions such as why do right or not do wrong other than their own civilization's rules.  The Mashiach's duty would be to establish the ushering in of this special period of universal peace.  
                                                  
  A.  He is to build the 3rd Temple.
                                                   

B.  He will gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel.  (This has been going on already with the Israeli government.  We still have yet to bring in some Pashtuns from Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of India.  It may be that there are Christian groups from nearby neighboring states of Israel who also have a claim of being part of the Lost 10 Tribes or from the Babylonian Judaea, Benjamin group.)  Even the Palestinians may also claim to be Lost Tribal members.  The question is, do they want to become followers of the Torah?  Those that have already returned are.  Israel is a teeny state.  Need I say more?  I'm waiting on the Mashiach for that.  If some are left out, he is to do it. 

C. Usher in an era of world peace and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease.  That is one big order.  It would have to be of the END OF TIMES for that to be fulfilled.  Involved would have to be a melding of politics, psychology, sociology, the medical profession, and science.  We're getting close.  

For it says:  NATION SHALL NOT LIFT UP SWORD AGAINST NATION, NEITHER SHALL MAN LEARN WAR ANYMORE.  We can thank Isaiah's prophecy for that.  

D. The Mashiach is to spread universal knowledge of the G-d of Israel, which will unite humanity as one.  As it says, "GOD WILL BE KING OVER ALL THE WORLD--ON THAT DAY, G-D WILL BE ONE AND HIS NAME WILL BE ONE.  The prophet Zechariah said that one.  This covers the fact that Jews have not prophesied at all, were not permitted by the laws of the new Roman Christian church.  Since then, every religion under the sun has been busy proselytizing to us Jews!  We haven't  appreciated this one iota since it hasn't shown any respect for our religion, which happens to be the parent religion of both Christianity and Islam, by the way.  So this last position on the Mashiach's list of to do's makes even me nervous.  I have a Christian friend who has been doing just this; and he follows Judaism, the Torah, studies it with a group, and remains a Christian.  He's a great person.  Perhaps this is what the Mashiach is to do, what his end goal is to be.  We cannot expect more.  I have a lady friend nearby who is also of the same belief.  So people are starting to inquire about the Torah and respect it.  I don't think we could have found even 2 people like this 100 years ago.  

It will not be easy to find the Mashiach.  If an individual fails to fulfill even one of these conditions, then he cannot be THE MASHIACH.  

The Mashiach we await will be the greatest prophet in our history, 2nd only to Moses.  This causes problems.  Prophecy can only exist in Israel when the land is being lived in by a majority of world Jewry, a situation which has not existed since 300 BCE.  Right now there are 6 million Jews living in Israel.  
                                                      

We have about 6 million in Israel and 6 million in the USA and 2 million elsewhere in the world, many of which are still in Europe.  During the time of Ezra when the majority of Jews refused to leave Babylon where they had been taken to by the Babylonians in 597 and again in 586 BCE, prophecy came to an official end upon the death of the last prophets-Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.  

Conditions today as far as anti-Semitism goes, is very bad throughout the world.  Europe again is the scene of a great deal of serious anti-Semitism.  The UN is one of the greatest producers of this thinking.  This is why such a little teeny state has gained such interest to people.  It's one reason why some people care what is happening to 0.02% of the world's population-the Jews. 
                                                           

One apparent sign is that the Jewish people have returned to the Land of Israel and made it bloom again.  A major movement is  that of young Jews returning to Torah tradition.   I've seen this happen in my own city and even in my own family.  I myself had made aliyah to Israel in 1980 and was able to stay for over 5 years.  As Jews become interested in their religion, hatred and accusations are developing such as in our own USA Congress against Jews and Israel.  
                                                   

Judaism is not a belief in miracles.  It's the history of the personal eyewitness experience that our ancestors had, all the men, women and children who stood at Mount Sinai 3,300 years ago.  What happened there were no miracles.  Our belief is not in miracles as then we would have lingering doubts.  Miracles can be performed through magic tricks.  What one might consider a miracle that he pulled in the desert he did because of necessity-and using some kind of basic science, and not as proof of his prophecy. We're a people who have been discouraged from believing in such things as miracles that are used as a base to cause a belief.  
                                                     

 This comes to us through Maimonides, who was MOSES BEN MAIMON who was born in 1135 and died in 1204.  He was a philosopher, halakhist and medical writer.  Born in Cordova, Spain, he would be a Sephardic Jew.  He and his family escaped the Almohade persecutions.  See, anti-Semitism way back then in Spain was happening.   He arrived in Palestine in 1165 at age 30.  One thing he studied was logic;  our thinking skills.  He established a list of the 613 Precepts.  He suffered from the Crusades, kept from  settling in Palestine, so he and his family went to Egypt and later became the physician to the viceroy of Egypt.  He died at age 70 and was buried in Tiberias.  All his life he was a writer about Judaism.  

I remember reading about several rabbis who were walking about looking at the small children, and asking themselves if this could be the Mashiach.  One never knows.  

Resource:  The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
The SEVEN DAUGHTERS OF EVE  by BRYAN SYKES
http://www.aish.com/print/?contentID=48892792&section=/jw/s, Rabbi Shraga Simmons, 5 pages.  

One Way Israel Attempted to Help Palestinians After Deplorable 1967 War

Nadene Goldfoot

1949 armistice lines from attack at birth-May 14, 1948

The shock to Israel and the Palestinian Arabs was that Israel won the war started by all the Arabs on June 5, 1967 and lasted 6 days, ending June 11th. 
In those days, Jordanian Arabs were ruled by King Hussein.  After what the war had cost Israel in lives, started by the Arabs' greed and hatred, Hussein created 242 in the UN asking that Israel go back to the lines before 1967.  In other words, Israel was expected to retreat to where they were before this unwanted, unwarranted war in exchange for peace.  

What the Arabs had done to Jerusalem after 1948 when they took the eastern part was terrible.  "Upon its capture by the Arab Legion, the Jewish Quarter of the Old City was destroyed and its residents expelled. Fifty-eight synagogues--some hundreds of years old--were destroyed, their contents looted and desecrated. Some Jewish religious sites were turned into chicken coops or animal stalls. The Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, where Jews had been burying their dead for over 2500 years, was ransacked; graves were desecrated; thousands of tombstones were smashed and used as building material, paving stones or for latrines in Arab Legion army camps. The Intercontinental Hotel was built on top of the cemetery and graves were demolished to make way for a highway to the hotel. The Western Wall became a slum area".It was wonderful to finally be able to see the Western Wall again, the Kotel.                                         

 Their planned mass attack, like THE WALKING DEAD aiming at Israel  with ammunition and tanks, had turned against themselves.  Both sides were stuck with Israel's surprise win.  Israel had to win; they had no place to run to.  The Arabs sulked all the way back to their own states in defeat.  The aftermath of this short war was monumental, earth changing, and the Middle East would not get over it.  
                                                      
This was the biggest defensive effort Israel had to put into these 6 days.  When it was over, they found they were to administer territories they had won.  The land they received had been held by Jordan, illegally, but they had held it.  
                                                        

1956 

It had started in May, actually, in 5 stages.  Syria, Egypt and the Soviet Union spread rumors-gossip-false news that Israeli forces were on the Syrian frontier.  In those days the UN was telling the truth that Israel wasn't there, and nobody listened.  It was Egypt's pretext for putting their own army in Sinai-90,000 men and 900 tanks.  Then Egypt demanded that the UN Emergency Force leave the scene.  They had been sitting out there between Egypt and Israel.  Good-bye-UN Forces. "In 1950, Jordan annexed the territories it had captured in the 1948 war–-eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank. The April 24th resolution declared “its support for complete unity between the two sides of the Jordan and their union into one State, which is the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, at whose head reigns King Abdullah Ibn al Husain...”

 Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to ships wanting to dock in Israel, and they CALLED FOR WAR.  Egypt led the way, and the Arab States formed a war pact against Israel.  jordan's army followed.  Israel watched for 3 weeks a buildup of men, weapons and their tanks.  The Great Powers and the UN did nothing, so on 5th June, war started.  Syria and Lebanon joined them.  Behind them as backup were the armies of Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation.                                       
                                                         

This meant that there were about 250,000 troops of Arab forces against Israel.  Nearly half of them were in Sinai.  Nasser had moved 100,000 men an 1,000 tanks into Sinai.  The Arabs had more than 2,000 tanks and 700 aircraft which were ringing around Israel, on the ready for attack.  These other Arab states quickly made preparations for a unified attack on Israel, complete with agreements between Nasser and King Hussein of Jordan.  The Arab world was seized with war hysteria.  
                                                      

1967 At the Wall, finally, deprived of praying here since 1948.

Israel had been in stand-by mode for over 2 weeks now.  They did a pre-emptive strike.  At the end of the 6 days, Israel had conquered enough territory to more than triple the size of the area it controlled, from 8,000 square miles of teeny Israel to have 26,000 square miles.  Israel had won the Sinai, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip and  Judea and Samaria (West Bank).  The surprise victory enabled Israel to unify Jerusalem which had had a barricade dividing east from west though it.  
                                                     

Young IDF seeing Wall for first time.

The high cost for Israel for this win was losing 777 to death and 2,586 wounded.  That was a lot for her.  In proportion to her total population, it was like the USA losing what she did after 8 years of fighting in Vietnam.  Yet, if she hadn't won then, what would have happened to Israel and its population?  They would have all been massacred.  Israel would be no more.  Throughout it all, there were times of miracles that saved so many Israelis.  One has to believe that G-d was with them.  

Israel destroyed the armies massed along its frontiers and menaced its vital city centers.  
                                                       

Unemployment seems to be a problem all the time with Middle Easterners.  Before 1948, Emir  Feisal was looking forward to his Arabs learning skills from the Jews entering the country and creating their own homeland.  

"Unemployment rates in Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen (the MENA 7) have remained stubbornly high, particularly among youth (15–24 years) with an average rate of 22 percent for young males and 39 percent for young females . Some estimates show that the youth unemployment rate is as high as 40 percent in Tunisia and even higher in the inland governorates. The latest official figures put the youth unemployment rate in Iran at 25 percent while unofficial estimates suggest that the real figures are as much as double that rate. Except for Lebanon, the gender gap in unemployment is large: the female youth unemployment rate is almost three times the male youth unemployment rate in Egypt and double in Iran, Jordan and Yemen. Female youth unemployment rates in Egypt remains at 65 percent, Jordan and Yemen at 50 percent and Iran at 40 percent."
From 1967's war, the economy of their administered areas has been transformed from a condition of stagnation and unemployment as Israel had found it was in shambles to one of growing prosperity.  Israelis were on a high.  They wanted to do so much good for the people they were administering, so that they would want to be happy, satisfied with their lot in life, and peaceful 
                                                    If you eat the fruit of the labor of your hands, you will be happy and prosperous.     

Arab media praised Israel for treatment of Palestinian workers 

                                                             (Tanakh,   Psalms.  128.2) 

In September 1967, nearly 11% of the labor force in Judaea and Samaria was unemployed.  By September 1972, less than 2% of the force of 134,000 were jobless.  That's an improvement seen within 5 years with a change in administration.  At first, work was found by schemes of public undertakings;  road building and afforestation.  Later, employment in Israel of workers from the areas was permitted and labor exchanges were opened up.  

In the Gaza Strip and North Sinai, 15% of working men were jobless after the war.  By 1972, 98% of a labor force of 64,000 was employed.  Refugees were treated in the same way as local people in the matter of employment, whether for local special schemes or for work in Israel.  The latter is largely provided through 18 labor exchanges.

The number of workers employed daily in Israel rose from 4,000 at the beginning of 1969 to an estimated 55,000 in mid 1972.  Average net daily local earnings rose from IL4.00 in 1966 to IL9.25 in 1972.; daily earnings in Israel were approximately IL13.  Farm workers were 39% of the total employed,  workers in crafts and industry 13.8%, and in building and public works 14.5%
                                                                       

Every minute after the 67  on Israel's side was spent with the goal of having peace within secure borders.  Not the Arabs.  They went home and then straight to Africa, gathering together in Khartoum in August for a Summit Conference about what to do and how to react after losing and well planned attack to wipe out Israel and drive them all into the sea.  They came up with 4 principals.
1.  No peace with Israel.
2.  No negotiations with Israel.
3.  No recognition of Israel.
4.  Demand: Palestinians can live in their "own country" which is their "right".  
     
   Facts remain that this was not their "own country."  Palestinians followed the Jews into the country of Palestine in 1880 when the Russian Jews entered.  Those that had been there had been taxed out by the Ottoman Empire already and with Jews entrance, had found willing buyers for G-d forsaken neglected land laid waste into swamps, attracting mosquitoes carrying malaria, deserts and an occasional marauding Bedouin on camel who was there to raid whomever had wandered into his path.  Land owners asked for ungodly prices for this run-down land,  and the Jews paid.  This was the Jewish ancient land, and had their ancestors' stories lying underground and even above at times.  They and their ancestors had prayed 3 times a day to return and now they had.  They had reached the unbearable point in Europe of life, and needed their home that their ancestors had been burned out of.  Like the swallows of Capistrano, they found their way back!  Dare I say it--the prodigal son hath returned.  

Some Arabs were happy with their return, and the educated and cultured Emir Feisal of Arabia was one of them.  He and Chaim Weizmann worked together in Paris and elsewhere making commitments for each of themselves for the end of WWI and land being held by the allies such as Palestine.   One Arab not happy with the Jews' return was Haj Amin al-Husseini, who had become the Sherif of Jerusalem through the dealings of an English Jew on the mandate team  who rewarded him to this position already.  
                                                     

Lots has happened since then.  Israel removed all their own Jews from Gaza to give to Palestinians in the name of peace, which was not the best move as it gave them a platform from which to attack with rockets, mortars and missiles.  They have been living up to the Khartoum Conference.  
                                                       
Arabs refused to deal with Israelis in the administered areas, and instead had Gaza and their own government.  They voted in Hamas-the terrorists.  Their skills for the work force have turned into tunnel making for sneaky attacks into Israel and in retrieving illegal weapons to use on Israel.  
                                                              

Hamas tunnel digger

Israel is such a small state and so much is expected of her.
She has high expectations for herself.  

                                                
Resource:Myths and Facts by Mitchell G. Bard, Joel Himelfarb
facts about israel, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem, division of information. 
Battleground;  fact and fantasy in Palestine by Samuel Katz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_disengagement_from_Gaza
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia 
http://www.sixdaywar.org/content/jordanianocuupationjerusalem.asp
https://unitedwithisrael.org/arab-media-lauds-israels-treatment-of-palestinian-workers/

Prophets Elijah Elisha,and Malachi Do We Have Any Prophet-Like Leaders Today

Nadene Goldfoot
                                                                       

Worship of Baal in northern Israel with Jezebel's introduction to it. 
It became too popular in northern Israel
Cutting themselves away from Jerusalem caused them
to fill in the need with this opposing religion
Jezebel was a native of the Canaanites who worshipped Baal.  It was a principal god of the sky and fertility sect.  It was originally a name for the many local gods, usually represented in the form of a bull or a man with the main common characteristic of being worshiped as gods of fertility, both of the field and the womb.  After the Israelites entered Canaan they tended to adopt the deities or Bealim of the local natives, even though the prophets protested loudly.  Later this was identified with the Greek god, Zeus, the Abomination of Desolation set up in the Temple by Antiochus which was that of a Baal Shamin, the Lord of Heaven. 

Jezebel, King Ahab's wife and Queen  of the northern kingdom of Israel, had the chutzpah to introduce her cult of worshipping Baal, one of the many gods that her people worshipped, to Israel.  
                                                   

King Ahab had married her to keep the peace of the area, something kings did in those days. He was weak and didn't stop her.  She was beautiful and clever.  She could get him to give her anything she wanted.  Sexy doesn't describe her enough.  
                                                     

   
The Canaanites were steeped in sacrificing human beings in the cult of Moloch.  For starters this was the name of one of the many gods, later for one of the aspects of Baal-used for the Sidonian god of hell.  The Canaanites sacrificed first born children to Moloch by passing them through fire.  The practice is strictly forbidden in the bible in Leviticus, but persisted both in the northern kingdom and even for a time in Jerusalem where altars were built to Moloch at Topheth in the valley of Hinnom.  To the ancient mind, a cult without sacrifice was unthinkable, but the Jews gave sacrificing a monotheistic tendency and concentrated them in the Jerusalem Temple instead.  No animals were slaughtered except by sacrifice until the time of the Mosaic Law.  Moses or G-d attempted to wean them away from human sacrifice.   The sacrifices were of either animal, meal-offerings, or libations.  All animal-offerings had to be perfect and unblemished and were divided into the highest class of sacrifice;  burnt offerings, sin-offerings, guilt-offerings, congregational peace offerings, and sacrifices of a minor grade-a person's sin offering, the first born, animal tithes, and the paschal lamb.  

The prophetical condemnation of sacrifice can perhaps be connected with its similarities to Canaanite worship and the desire of the prophets to purify the Jewish cult.  As explained by Maimonides, the true objective was to attain to the worship that is in the heart.  He was Abraham ben Moses ben Maimon (1186-1237) Court physician to the Sultan Alkamil, who wrote many works in Arabic including the book of Satisfaction for the G-dfearing, an encyclopedic work on Judaism and commentaries on the Pentateuch, the Talmud and his father's book .  

The prophet Elijah,  in that 9th century BCE, known as the Tishbite, was striving his best to restore the purity of Divine worship, something losing out to the many distractions found in northern Israel from the natives.  Ahab felt it had to be this way to help out his political objectives to tolerate the cults of the neighboring peoples in the country, and now with Elijah's interference, he was livid, actively opposing Elijah.  
                                                        
Ahab's rebuttal was so strong that it forced Elijah to flee the land and take refuge in the desert..  The climax of his efforts to free Divine worship from alien influences was the great assembly on Mt. Carmel when Elijah turned to the people asking, "HOW LONG HALT YE BETWEEN 2 OPINIONS?"  Eventually, with the help of his supporters, slew the prophets of Baal.  

Today's people share the same temptations of putting their trust into other areas such as drugs, money, and getting away from all the things that make up a safe community and there are very few Elijah's around to slay the tempters offering these things.  Instead, we have TV and radio commercials singing their praises for them and urging people to do them.  
                                                         

Elijah

What surprises me is that Elijah , with his supporters, which sounds like a small unit of armed men, killed the opposing prophets.  Isn't that the same as murder?  Was it okay to do because they were interfering with the laws of Moses?  We'd never be able to do this today; we've come to no excuse except for self defense.
                                                        

Elijah also fought very hard in the interests of social justice and rebuked the king for murdering Naboth in order to get possession of his vineyard.  Here we see a murderer rebuking another murderer for an unjustified murder.  

People in those days must have thought of nothing for committing murder in order to get what they wanted.  It was the norm.  According the the Biblical account, Elijah didn't die but ascended to Heaven in a fiery chariot.  He occupies a prominent place in Jewish lore.  According to the book of Malachi (3:23-5), Elijah will reconcile fathers and children "before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord."  this led to Elijah's being depicted in later tradition as the harbinger of the Messiah.  
                                                     

   
At the Passover Seder, a glass of wine is traditionally poured for Elijah into a special cup referred to as "Elijah's cup"  and at the circumcision ceremony, a chair is prepared for him.  He is popularly believed to come to the help of Jewish communities, and also individuals, in die distress, and it is believed that he will clarify all obscurities in Talmudic law upon his return.  He is one man we share with Christianity and Islam.  They also love him and they have included him in their legends as well.  
                                                     

Prophet Elisha

Elisha was another Israelite prophet who lived in the 9th century BCE.  He lived in the days of King Jehoram (853-843 BCE).  He was held in esteem by the people who told of many miracles that are attributed to him including the resurrection of the dead.  

His chief importance  was that he was the disciple and successor of Elijah, and, like Elijah, is depicted as earnest, brave and forceful.  He was also interested in politics, so foretold Hazael's accession to the Syrian throne.  Then he anointed Jehu (843- 816 BCE)  as king over Israel.  His activity as a prophet lasted some 60 years.   
                                                         

Moses (1391 BCE) , a lawgiver and prophet, founder of the
Jewish religion.  He was born in Egypt to Jewish
slaves, then taken away to save his life from a pogrom of killing little
babies.  G-d communicated with him through a
burning bush that was not consumed.  He had received
a divine command to lead his people out of Egypt at the age of 80.
It took him 40 years to do the job.  

Prophets served a purpose in those days.  They were designed by G-d to convey His message to men and to give guidance for the future.  I don't remember ever reading about a prophet who shirked his duty.  Prophecy was an ancient institution originating in primitive times.  Though the 800s BCE seems primitive to me, it was a part of civilization then.  Prophecy appeared among early Semitic people in Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Canaan, but in Israel it took on a distinctive form.  The Hebrews implicitly believe that they had been chosen by G-d who had sent them prophets to point out the right path.  

The prophet was primarily the protagonist of monotheism and morality and fulfilled a decisive role in Jewish religious life and development alongside the PRIEST (with the Cohen genes) and the sages.  Only hints and mutilated information throw light on the pre-Mosaic period but thereafter there were main periods;
    The prophecy of Moses decided the main content of the late prophecies and by the means of the Torah-the nation's spiritual content, the way of life and their mission in life.  It was continuous and not the result of a sudden inspiration.  Moses brought on religious leaders guiding the nation in times of difficulty, and they had a lot of that.  
                                                          

   Deborah, a female, and Samuel came with the rise of the monarchy when policy was now handled by rulers and ministers of the rulers, and the prophet became increasingly prominent as a fighter for social morality, with necessary rebuking the King for his moral lapses.  We see Nathan,  and Ahijah the Shilonite in this role.  Together with  their disciples or sons of the prophet, they zealously opposed any manifestation of paganism, in which Elijah and Elisha were trying to do.  They were fighting against the pagan religion that was about to take over.  The rhapsodic prophet appeared early in the 8th century BCE, first in Israel and later in Judah, of the south.  Before, the prophets had mainly contented themselves with the spoken word, while prophetic circles committed accounts of earlier prophets to writing.  from the time of Amos, the prophets wrote their own words, generally in a lofty language that made up the culmination of biblical poetry.  As before, the central motif is the attack on religious corruption, but  Concomitantly the drive against social corruption arises.  The prophet saw national disaster which was followed by consolation.  The rhapsodic seers also told about visions concerning the gentiles, but the central subject was still Israel.  
                                                   

    Where newspapers and TV might take on the role of social morality, we have none of that today, really.  The newspapers or political groups may have chosen a path and work to lead people down the path of their choosing.  We do look for such people and sometimes find them, our today's prophets?  

During the Messianic age, the faculty of prophets would be renewed, so the good book  tells us.  In the Hebrew Bible the title FORMER PROPHETS applies to the historical books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings.  In the Christian tradition, other historical portions of the bible are also comprised;  LATTER PROPHETS is applied to Isaiah,  Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets.  

"G-d communicated to people through prophecy for nearly the entire biblical period, from Adam until Malachi. According to a prevalent Jewish tradition, prophecy ceased with Malachi, not to be renewed until the messianic age. In this article, we will consider a few traditional explanations of why prophecy ceased and some spiritual implications for Judaism over the ensuing 2,500 years and counting."  He was a prophet who lived from 460 to 450 BCE.  Some people identify him with Ezra.  Modern scholars also hold the view that Malachi is not a proper name.  the prophet protested against transgressions in matters of sacrifice and tithes.  The priest must turn the multitude from sin and himself maintain a high level of morality.  Malachi also complained of mixed and broken marriages.  His thoughts were about the vision of the "Day of the Lord" preceded by the advent of Elijah.  It seems all 3 prophets were involved in thoughts of the END OF TIMES AND THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH.  

I suppose that if someone comes along and gives us a  successful prophecy about world events, we might think he has prophetic ability.  So far the pundits haven't been batting 100%.  What they might tell us to do might be received with a shudder.  

Resource: the New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://www.jewishideas.org/article/end-prophecy-malachis-position-spiritual-development-israel

JEWS OF GREECE (YAVAN )

Nadene Goldfoot                                       

                                                     

Greece is  in SE Europe.  Jews came into contact with the Greeks ever since Biblical days.  They settled on the Greek mainland by the 2nd century BCE.  We know this because of inscriptions that have been found.  It was the Greek Syrians who had invaded Jerusalem and had taken over the Temple, putting their gods in there.  This is our Chanukah story.  It goes back to "Alexander the Great, a Greek, who conquered Syria in 332 BCE and, after his death in 323 BCE, the Seleucid Empire ruled the region.   That was one of Alexander's generals, Seleucus Nicator who then established his Hellenistic royal dynasty of the Seleucids.  "
                                                   

Saul of Tarsus was a Jew born in a Hellenistic city in Asia Minor who was born near the very first year of what was to become the Common Era on our calendars.  He could have been born right in Athens or even as far away as Damascus.  "Several Greek cities became dominant in the Hellenistic era. City-states of the classical Greece like Athens, Corinth, Thebes, Miletus, and Syracuse continued to flourish, while others emerged as major centers throughout the kingdoms. Pergamum, Ephesus, Antioch, Damascus, and Trapezus are few of the cities whose reputations have survived to our day."

Saul had studied Greek philosophy and was also familiar with the mystery cults popular at the beginning of the Christian era.  It was said that he had even studied in Jerusalem under Rabbi Gamaliel the Elder, but his writings show little comprehension of Pharisaic Judaism. Gamiel the Elder was descended from Hillel.  They were rabbis in Palestine and the Diaspora.  Saul did show an early zeal in persecuting members of the new Christian sect which contrasts with Gamaliel's tolerant attitude. This must have finally caused him his own torment of feelings of guilt in not following the Golden rule of not treating people like you would not like to be treated.  As Hillel had said," What you do not like when done to you, do not do to others. "  Lev. 19:18-which Rabbi Akiva said was the fundamental rule of the Torah.  
                                                       

 He had a vision, as is written in the New Testament.  He converted to this new religion, Christianity and changed his name to Paul.  He contributed a great deal to Christian theology as the apostle to the Gentile, he was able to convert thousands of new converts who didn't adopt Jewish loyalty or Jewish observance, as converts of the other disciples had done.  Paul's thinking was dominated by the doctrine of ORIGINAL SIN.  

By the 1st century CE, synagogues and organized communities were found by the apostle Paul in all the principal cities.  They suffered the same vicissitudes as Jews in the remainder of the BYZANTINE EMPIRE.  Attempts were then made to enforce wholesale conversion from the 7th century onward.  This was the period of the Eastern Roman Empire with their capital in CONSTANTINOPLE/Istanbul.  They ruled over a great mass of land which included Palestine.  Jews were in this empire as we know from the 4th century on.  
                                                    

Emperor Alexius

Their emperors developed their specific anti-Semitic religious attitudes of the positions that Jews were to have, which just kept deteriorating.  JUSTINIAN ruled from 527 to 65 and had created elaborate anti-Jewish laws in his CODE, and had issued a decree in 553 which interfered with the conduct of the synagogue services.  They were getting that specific.  HERACLIUS in 614 issued an edict ordering the conversion of the Jews.   The practice of Judaism was formally forbidden by successive emperors--by LEO in 723, by BASIL I in 873 -4.  by ROMANUS LACAPENUS in 932-6, etc.  

Paul retained an emotional attachment to the Jewish people and hoped that in the future they would accept the Gospel and be reinstated as G-d's chosen.  Evidently with his theory, they had been replaced, starting today's replacement theory with many Christian groups.  To him, he had lost respect for the Torah's goal  as something unattainable.  He saw it as a measuring rod showing man that he was in a hopeless situation in not being able to achieve righteousness. This came from thinking that all men were contaminated by the guilt of Adam and could not find freedom from it other than this new religion, not the Torah. 

Such guilt does not exist in Judaism, and certainly not Adam's act of eating Eve's apple.  More likely we should feel guilty from breaking one of the 10 Commandments given to us by Moses.  Paul was converting people that were not Jewish and had been if following the going religion of the area, a polytheistic Greek religion about Mt. Olympus.  However, he had been Jewish, yet not educated or believing in the prevailing Jewish belief.   He could not shake his fears till he came across Christianity.  

By the year of 1165 CE, Benjamin of Tudela found Jews in many parts of the country  engaged mostly in silk and weaving it.  There were farmers as well, which is a switch for Jews since in other parts of Europe, Jews could not own land.  
                                                    

At the end of the 15th century, refugees from Spain entered the land and overwhelmed the local communities which lost their former character and became henceforth entirely Sephardi in culture.  Only in Corfu was the original Greek rite of prayer ultimately preserved.  
                                                     

Salonica attracted the most settlers, but there were many other communities, especially in the seaports.  Constantinople was later called Istanbul.  
                                                        

The kingdom of Greece of the 19th century had small and unimportant Jewish communities in Athens and in other places which suffered from on and off anti-Semitic attacks.  The capture of Salonica  of Turkey in 1912, part of the Ottoman Empire,  brought under Greek rule one of the largest Jewish communities of the Mediterranean.  Salonica or Thessaloniki, was a Greek port to the Jewish community dating back to classical times and was visited by Paul in 50 CE.  He died in 65 CE.  
                                                       
This brought about the many exchanges of population between Greece and Turkey which reduced the importance and economic value of the Jews.  
                                                      

Salonika

From the time of German occupation of Greece, wholesale deportations took place of Jews from 1941 to 1943.  Many communities lost up to 90% of their numbers.  The losses added up to 60,332 out of a former total of 76,420 Jews.  The community of Salonica was reduced to 1,100.  Over 2,000 Greek Jews immigrated to Israel after the etablishment of the  state.  By 1990 there were 4,875 Jews living there again.  
                                                       

Greek goddess hairstyle

I met a beautiful Greek Jewish gal when I lived in Haifa, Israel.  She was next door to our ulpan and looked exactly like Sofia Loren on a smaller scale.  She and her young husband offered to care for our German shepherd that I had brought with us to Israel, and then we were told that our dog could not continue living with us on the 3rd floor of the ulpan. The next thing I knew was that our neighbor was pregnant and I got my dog back who was able to stay with us, finally.  

Resource:  The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-major-hannukah-story-judahs.html
https://www.ancient-greece.org/history/helleninstic.html