Egypt Intertwined in Jewish History and Present Day

 Nadene Goldfoot                                           

Joseph, 11th of the 12 sons of Jacob but the 1st-born of Rachel, Jacob's true love:  The favoritism that Jacob showed to Joseph caused his brothers to be very jealous, so jealous that they decided to get rid of him.  They sold him to the Ishmaelites traveling to Egypt.  There he was bought by Potiphar, chief of the Pharaoh's household.  Handsome as he was, Potiphar's wife made a pass and he resisted, angering her, who had him put in prison.  While in prison, he interpreted the dreams of those around him.  This got to the pharaoh who also needed his frightening dreams interpreted.  All this got him to be 2nd to the pharaoh.    The story of Joseph has been dated during the Hyksos domination of Egypt (18th-16th centuries BCE by Christian dating.  Jewish dating is usually a little off of theirs.)               

  First, Jacob, grandson of Abraham b: 1948 BCE,  and his family go to Egypt from their home in Canaan.  Joseph’s brothers traveled back to Canaan and told their father Joseph is still alive and that he is the governor of Egypt now.  He wants to see his father.  Jacob settled in Goshen in eastern Egypt, dying there at the age of 147. He wanted to be buried in Canaan in the Cave of Machpelah at Hebron, so his sons walked him back and buried him there.                    

Moses was born in Egypt at a time when the Israelite population had grown, causing the pharaoh to worry.  In trying to stem the growth of the Israelites,  the pharaoh had decreed the slaughter of new-born males. His mother hid him among the reeds of the Nile River and later was found by the pharaoh's daughter who raised him in her own household, telling the pharaoh she had given birth.  When he grew up, he learned of his origin and that changed his life.  He left Egypt to escape punishment, but returned to free his people.  

Moses was born in Egypt 1391 BCE and died in 1271 BCE. His parents were Amram and Jochebed of the tribe of Levi.  When 80 years old, he returned to Egypt and won, with his brother Aaron, the argument with the pharaoh the freedom of the Israelite slaves.  So in 1311, the Exodos began.  They traveled for 40 years, reaching Canaan with 601,730 freed slaves.  Moses died at age 120 outside of Canaan.   Joshua gave all tribes but the Levites land.  Levites would live with others and be the teachers.                                                

    Being guided on the Exodus away from Egypt by:  The pillars of cloud and fire are first mentioned in chapter 13 of the Book of Exodus, shortly after Moses leads the Israelites out of their captivity in Egypt. The narrative states that the pillar of cloud went ahead of them by day to guide their way, and the pillar of fire by night, to give them light. 

By 1271 BCE, the Israelites, led by Joshua, entered Canaan.  They ruled themselves by appointing judges.  Their first king was Saul in the 11th century BCE.  David was the 2nd, ruling from 1010-970 BCE.  His son, Solomon, the 3rd king,  ruled from 961-920 BCE.  When he died, his throne was contested.  His son, Rehoboam was his heir, but Solomon's supervisor of work wanted it, too, Jeroboam.  This turned into a Civil War and the 10 northern tribes ceded from the union and Judea and Benjamin were left alone.   In Israel, Jeroboam ruled from 933-912 BCE.  In Judah, it was Rehoboam who ruled from 933-917 BCE.                                            

Shishak came from a royal Libyan lineage who had the great chief of the Meshwesh as their identity.  He ruled from 945 to 924 BCE.  He is usually identified with the pharaoh Shoshenq.

Our ancestors called Egypt "Mitzrayim."  The history of the Jewish people from our beginnings has been connected with Egypt.  The patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, all visited Egypt.  The beginnings of our Hebrew history are bound up with the 400 year bondage in Egypt and the Exodus.

The 1st Hebrew immigration into Egypt was connected with the period of domination there of the Semitic Hyksos dynasty (18th-16th centuries BCE).  It's possible they were part of that.  Egypt was at that period closely involved in affairs of Canaan, as is shown by the TEL el-AMARNA   letters, which illustrate the background of the 1st Israelite incursions there.  

Throughout the period of the Monarchy, there were constant Judea-Egyptian relations.  Solomon married an Egyptian princess and concluded a trade treaty.                             

Shishak/Sheshonk, about 925 BCE, an Egyptian king of Libyan origin.  When Jeroboam fled from Solomon, he found refuge with Shishak.  

The pharaoh, Shishak, attacked Jerusalem in about 930 BCE to assist the newly-established Northern kingdom.  Shishak's campaign against the Kingdom of Judah and his sack of Jerusalem are recounted in the Hebrew Bible, in 1 Kings 14:25 and 2 Chronicles 12:1-12. According to these accounts, Shishak had provided refuge to Jeroboam during the later years of Solomon's reign, and upon Solomon's death, Jeroboam became king of the tribes in the north, which separated from Judah to become the Kingdom of Israel. 

In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, commonly dated ca. 926 BCE,  Shishak swept through Judah with a powerful army of 60,000 horsemen and 1,200 chariots, in support of Jeroboam. According to 2 Chronicles 12:3, he was supported by the Lubim (Libyans), the Sukkiim, and the Kushites ("Ethiopians" in the Septuagint).

Shishak took away treasures of the Temple of Yahweh and the king's house, as well as shields of gold which Solomon had made; Rehoboam replaced them with brass ones.  According to Second Chronicles,

When Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem, he carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields Solomon had made.— 2 Chronicles 12:9

Flavius Josephus in Antiquities of the Jews adds to this a contingent of 400,000 infantrymen. According to Josephus, his army met with no resistance throughout the campaign, taking Rehoboam's most fortified cities "without fighting". Finally, he conquered Jerusalem without resistance, because "Rehoboam was afraid." Shishak did not destroy Jerusalem, but forced King Rehoboam of Judah to strip the Temple and his treasury of their gold and movable treasures.

Shishak was also related by marriage to Jeroboam. The wife of Jeroboam is unnamed in the Masoretic Text, but according to the Septuagint, she was an Egyptian princess called Ano: And Sousakim gave to Jeroboam Ano the eldest sister of Thekemina his wife, to him as wife; she was great among the king's daughters...  Therefore, Jeroboam's wife was an Egyptian named Ano.                                              

       Necho II, king of Egypt, 609-593 BCE.  Nekō) of Egypt was a king of the 26th Dynasty,  which ruled out of Sais.  At the battle of Megiddo in 608 BCE, he defeated and slew Josiah of Judah and appointed Jehoiakim in his stead.  Necho was defeated at Carchemish by Nebuchadnezzar in 603 BCE.  Necho played a significant role in the histories of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Kingdom of Judah. Necho II is most likely the pharaoh mentioned in several books of the Bible. The aim of the second of Necho's campaigns was Asiatic conquest, to contain the westward advance of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, and cut off its trade route across the Euphrates. However, the Egyptians were defeated by the unexpected attack of the Babylonians and were eventually expelled from Syria.

Josiah 637-608 BCE, became king at age 8 after the murder of his father, Amon.  When a man, he caused religious reforms, removing foreign cults from Judah and established real monotheistic religion.  He had the support of the prophets, Nahum, Zephaniah, and Jeremiah.  They repaired the Temple and in doing so found a book of the law, found by high priest Hilkiah.  In 608 BCE he tried to bar the passage of the Egyptian army under Neccoh/Necho which was moving to assist Assyria against his Babylonian allies.  He will killed at Megiddo.  

King Josiah of Judah (637-608 BCE) was killed in 608 BCE when attempting to check the march of Pharaoh Necho through his territory.  He successor, Jehoahaz (608), was deported, and Jehoiakim (608-598) was installed in his place by the Egyptians.                                                  

I'll skip to 1947 when the UN resolution on Palestine caused Arabs to respond with violence against Jews and lasted until the signing of the armistice Agreements in 1949.  This was THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. Units of Arab irregulars crossed into the country from Syria, Lebanon and Egypt.  

THE SINAI WAR 29 October  to 5 November 1956. The threat was removed and the blockade was broken.  The hostile actions, in which Egypt played a central role, had reached their climax.  USSR had been supplying Egypt and Syria with military equipment.  

THE SIX DAY WAR 5th to 11th June, 1967  Egypt spread, then used false reports saying that Israel was amassed on the border but these were false-truth coming from UN that were ignored.  

In September 1970, President Nasser of Egypt died and Sadat succeeded him.  In July 1972 Sadat expelled the majority of the Soviet military personnel from Egypt.  The war began on 6 October 1973, when the Arab coalition jointly launched a surprise attack against Israel on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, which had occurred simultaneously with the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in that year. ... The Israeli military then launched a four-day-long counter-offensive deep into Syria.   A coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria attacked Israel. 

                                                  

 On 19 November 1977, Sadat became the first Arab leader to visit Israel officially when he met with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and spoke before the Knesset in Jerusalem about his views on how to achieve a comprehensive peace to the Arab–Israeli conflict, which included the full implementation of UN Resolutions 242 and 338. He said during his visit that he hopes "that we can keep the momentum in Geneva, and may God guide the steps of Premier Begin and Knesset, because there is a great need for hard and drastic decision".

The Egypt–Israel peace treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., United States on 26 March 1979, following the 1978 Camp David Accords. The Egypt–Israel treaty was signed by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, and witnessed by United States president Jimmy Carter.

                                                                

Egypt's Flag Carrier Starts Direct Flights to Tel Aviv, in First Since 1979 Peace Accords.  The Cairo-Tel Aviv flight is the first official EgyptAir arrival in Israel. The route, which joins other new regular flights between Israel and the UAE, Morocco and Bahrain, will run four times a week.

                                                           

The production platform of Leviathan natural gas field is seen in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Haifa

(photo credit: REUTERS/AMIR COHEN)

Israeli, Egyptian energy ministers discuss natural gas trade plans

The two ministers discussed ongoing cooperation in the field of 

natural gas, and future plans to strengthen cooperation between the

 two countries.

 

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2021/09/circumcisions-beginnings-in-egypt-with.html

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/egypt-s-flag-carrier-starts-direct-flights-to-tel-aviv-in-first-since-1979-peace-1.10261606

ANTISEMITISM-BOLDLY AND BLINDLY SPREADING and Involving Google

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                 

      Meghan McCain, b: October 23, 1984, Oldest daughter of Senator John McCain, now on THE VIEW.  

"Meghan McCain, John McCain's daughter said on THE VIEW this morning, “it’s very strange to me that Google — who espouses itself to be the most progressive, the most inclusive company on planet Earth or in Silicon Valley — that you have a head of diversity who, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it looks like you probably hate Jews or at the very least, have some serious issues with your antisemitic rhetoric.” 

What sort of person would write in his own blog that "Jewish people have an insatiable appetite for war.?  One would think, Hamas, or Hezbollah terrorists, or Iranian officials.  He wrote this in the conclusion of a personal blog post on Nov. 30, 2007 entitled, "If I Were a Jew." 

                                             

Instead, it was Kamau Bobb, the head of diversity at Google.  Now, what can we expect from Google?  Did the Google executives in charge of hiring ever bother to google him?  This is not all he has said about Jews.  

 Bobb made “revolting, and antisemitic, comparisons between Nazi actions and that of the world’s only Jewish country. He portrays Jews as bloodthirsty.”

 “All of this begs the question whether (1)  @Google did due diligence when selecting  @kamaubobb for the sensitive position of global Google DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) Director and (2) whether he should remain in these positions.  @Google – what say you?”  

He has a blog that he writes in and he twitters, much of this found in his twitters.  

He has quite a background.  "Dr. Bobb is a STEM education policy analyst, whose body of work is helping to shape a brighter future for education in America. He holds a Ph.D. in science and technology policy from Georgia Tech, and M.S. and B.S. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley."  What is a STEM education?  Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)

"Currently, Dr. Bobb is a program officer at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering. He is on a rotation from Georgia Tech, where he serves on the faculty in the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC). His role at NSF is to direct and facilitate research in improving computer science (CS) education that will lead to broader participation in the field, particularly of African American and Hispanic students as well as women of all races and ethnicities."

It is tragic that a person who has such skills turns out to be someone indoctrinated in hatred for Jews.  

He told BLACK ENTERPRISE in an interview the following;

 I see STEM education and particularly CS education in a broad national context. The primary argument for diversity in the STEM enterprise centers on national economic competitiveness and equitable employment opportunities in a critical industrial sector.

While I am concerned about students’ abilities to get jobs, I am more interested in their contribution to the American story. One of the descriptions of black and Hispanic students is that they live in the margin; that they are disconnected and marginalized from the core national narrative. Living in the margin means that their lives are relegated to footnotes; to edits that are referenced against the main story. I reject that premise. Their lives–our lives–ambitions, pursuits, challenges, and history are central to the American story.

Technology leaders today are not only transforming the conduct of engagement across multiple sectors, they are rewriting the national narrative. There is extraordinary power in that. I am inspired to pursue equity in STEM education as one path out of the margin. In my view, the goal of STEM education work is the acquisition of power and the ability to write the American story. 

Dr. Bobb brings to his work a passion to ensure that all students, particularly students of color, have access to seats of power in the technology sector that is shaping contemporary American life. His writing on STEM education and culture has been featured in The Atlantic, Black Enterprise, The Root, Edutopia and on the Obama White House Blog. Dr. Bobb holds a Ph.D. in Science and Technology Policy from Georgia Tech and M.S. and B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

it is interesting that Kamau Imara Bobb's biography is nothing but a resume.  There is nothing in it that tells where he was born or when, who his parents are, nothing like that at all which most bios do.  

                                                                          

With a little hunting, I found it's possible he was born in 1971.  Here is a picture with a Kamau Bobb at 16  from Midwood high school of 1987 of the boys, above, in outdoor track.  He was married to a Lisa in 2000. 

Why he is so anti-Jewish, anti-Israel still remains a mystery.  He may be brilliant in the use of computers, but he has not used them at all in reading up on the history of Jews and what they have gone through with anti-Semitism.

I, on the other hand, can barely handle this blog, but have used my computers to supplement what I have in a zillion books about our history and have written about what I have learned.  Sure wish some computer geek would pass on my blog article for him to read and learn about. 

Google sure didn't google enough, and could have come up with what I have found before McCain heard about him becoming Google's head of diversity.  We Jews will be repeating the Middle Ages idea of diversity-everything but Jews accepted.  How in the world can a man with such feelings be fair to us?  I have a feeling that he has worked with many Jews in the past-maybe even at Google in a competitive manner, because STEM means the areas that Jews are so proficient in.   Just musing. 

 He writes, baring the fact to me that he does not know a thing about why Israel has been in wars from its inception from 1947-48, 56, 67, 73, or any other battles.  At the least, he needs to take a class about Jewish history.  

Resource;

https://decider.com/2021/06/02/the-view-meghan-mccain-accuses-google-of-being-okay-with-antisemitism/?

utm_source=facebook_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons&fbclid=IwAR25Yaw4628fZbc0ol5jWwf1e2O8rd31P1iaslFSvKFYXVU0okJ7P3PCzLg

https://www.foxnews.com/media/meghan-mccain-google-unearthed-anti-semitic-comment-head-diversity

https://www.blackenterprise.com/dr-kamau-bobb-talks-leadership-and-diversity-in-stem-and-computer-science-education-part-i/

https://www.aacu.org/kamau-bobb-biography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamau

Israel Keeps Morals in Fighting; Trump Needs to Learn Why

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                        

Donald Trump has been talking tonight about how he would use waterboarding on ISIS terrorists to gain information need to save our American population.  He would expand the use, do something a little worse,  was his inference.
                                                                         

This is a pretty shocking attitude to many of us.  He had great reasoning as to why.  ISIS was cutting off heads.  They did worse than waterboarding.  The problem is, seeing such vulgar acts causes most people  to want to retaliate in kind.

I was reminded of something I had just read by Gil Troy, a professor of history at McGill University in Montreal in his article in Hadassah Magazine this month, "Courage Under Fire".

PA leader, Mahmoud Abbas 

                                                                           

Yasser Arafat

Lately,  the PA leadership, Yasser Arafat's replacement of Abbas and his former terrorist cohorts, thought up a real doozy of a way to attack Israel without being caught so as to be labeled terrorists again.  They told lies to their Palestinian people that Israel was going to change the status of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.  In fact, they said, they want to tear down their mosque and build their Third Temple there.  At the least, they will take over the Temple Mount shortly !
                                                     

Moshe Dayan, pointing.  (1915-1981) He lost an eye in 1941 when in the British army in Lebanon.  He was chief of general staff of the Israel army from 1953-8 and in 1956.  Was Minister of Defense just before 1967, resigned in 1974. 

Now, the truth of the matter is that Israel, through Moshe Dayan, voluntarily let the Jordanian  Islamic Waqf have religious control there since 1967, after Israel won the 1967 War.

The PA has been "whipping up impressionable Palestinians to kill Israelis in a less violent way like the usual suicide bombings.  This time they walked by Jews and stabbed them with knives.  If that was killing too few Jews,  they got in their cars and rammed them into crowds of people, mostly in Jerusalem, which they want to take over anyway.

What has been Israel's reaction?  We use the Torah for guidance, and from it we learn we may fight when necessary, as everyone should know by now, being Israel has had to fight from the very beginning of its birth in 1948.  That was the War of Independence 1947-1949.  Then they had to fight in 1956 in The Sinai War from October 29 until November 5, 1956.   In 1967 Israel had to fight the Six-Day War from the 5th to 11th of June 1967. .  That was followed in 1973 in the Yom Kippur War.  That's been followed by Two Intefadas and many other battles.

Judaism is the religion of this tiny country, just like Islam is the religion of Pakistan and Christianity is the religion of the USA.    "Judaism is not Christianity preaching "love thy enemy," but still our sages advised us not to gloat, not to turn brutal---for our sake and our adversaries."  

Mr. Troy told the story of a recent attack in Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market.  Two children, age 14 and 16 answered the call of the PA and stabbed an old Jewish man in his head with their scissors!  A shopkeeper came out of his shop and knocked down one of them, a girl, with a chair that was sitting outside the market.  An Israeli radio pundit interviewed him afterwards and asked him how he felt about being a hero and saving the man's life by stopping these two.

He answered that he felt terrible!  He couldn't feel happy about doing it because it was a kid that he had to stop.  His humanity is the opposite of how the Palestinian culture teaches.  They are taught to take part in this insane incitement.  They have a song to help instigate their teens.  "I'tan, I'tan (Stab, Stab).  They celebrate the killing of any Jew, no matter what their age.  They stoop low enough by teaching their children, like these young teens, to turn into murderers.  It's also what ISIS has been doing on an even grander scale.

Terrorists see Israelis as weak because they love their children and do not like to kill.  They just don't get it.  It's the Israeli's strength!  They will not lose their morality and standards just because they have to fight!

 Israelis fight because they have been put into the position of fight or die, so they "fight to keep their moral compass."  Israel is fighting the Palestinians that are Hamas terrorists because they have taken on the role as Israel's enemy, in constantly trying to kill Israelis.  As long as they prefer to be Israel's enemy, Israel will fight them intensely.  Israel intends to stay strong and take pride in keeping their moral standards and not sinking as low as their enemy in their behavior.  They have standards of behavior, perhaps much stronger than the USA's standards.  With it all, they have great hopes and determination to eventually achieve peace with the enemy.

The First Geneva Convention goes back to 1864 to protect sick and wounded soldiers.
It covers such things as treatment of prisoners of war; military necessity, along with distinction and proportionality; and the prohibition of certain weapons that may cause unnecessary suffering.  It's about  the limits to acceptable wartime conduct

                                                                         
Trump has not been in the army or any other service in the USA.  He hasn't been in moralist discussions about how and why it is important to keep standards in fighting.  There are international accepted laws pertaining to how to conduct oneself in a war if a soldier.  He thinks, at this time in history, that it's okay to waterboard just because ISIS has gone back to the dark ages with their cutting off heads and other disgusting way of winning a war. He's going to obey the laws now, but change them to allow waterboarding excesses.    So he's going to lower the boom because the enemy has done so.
                                                                 

Thank G-d Israel has not done that.  Golda Meier, Israel's past Prime Minister, has said many things about having to fight against the enemy. " A leader who doesn't hesitate before 

he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader."

"We do not rejoice in victories. We rejoice when a 

new kind of cotton is grown and when strawberries 

bloom in Israel."   "It is true we have won all our 

wars, but we have paid for them. We don't want 

victories anymore."    "We Jews have a secret 

weapon in our struggle with the Arabs; we have no 

place to go."  But the next is my favorite saying of hers.  "

                                                                              

1914 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Golda at age 16
Born May 3, 1898 in Kiev, Ukraine

“We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us."

Resource: Hadassah Magazine, March 7, 2016, page 224, Commentary, Courage Under Fire by Gil Troy

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_war

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia