What Happened to the Jews of Bahrain ?

Nadene Goldfoot                                            

Bahrain is a group of islands which is an Emirate in the Persian Gulf. It is a monarchy with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah. He has a new law.  If anyone insults him, they will be thrown in jail.  The Arab Spring brought out people who wanted more of a Democracy.  "Demonstrators say authorities killed dozens of people and arrested, tortured and imprisoned hundreds of others. Opposition leaders have tried to keep the protest movement alive."  

The present capital is Manama.   The majority are Shiites.   Hajar, the ancient capital, recorded Jews living there in 630 CE, about the time of Mohammad who was born in 570 and died in 632.  They refused to convert to Islam.  Later, Jews who originated in Iraq, Iran and India  first settled there in the late 19th century. The Yadgar family came from Iraq in 1880.

Benjamin of Tudela found in the 12th Century that 500 Jews were living in Qays.  He found 5,000 in al Qatifa who were involved in their pearl industry.   Many came because of being traders and finding the place very satisfactory,  stayed there.  Such was the Nonoo family who went into banking.

 Life was peaceful for them until 1947 and the discussion of the declaration of Israel.  At that time there were anti-Jewish demonstrations here as well as in other Middle East countries.  By 1948 there were 1,500 Jews in Bahrain.  In 1956 there were 400 Jews who lived there. "By the 1960s, about 200 to 300 Jews remained in Bahrain, but once riots broke out again following the Six Day War in 1967, virtually the entire Jewish community left the country..  
                                                                          

 By 1980, very few remained.  Right now there are 36 left of which one, Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo,  a woman, was their ambassador to the USA.  She was chosen in 2008. Her term was up November 2013.   The 36 still  have a synagogue, but it is not being used.  It's closed. One was destroyed in the 1948 riots.  Boys are sent to public school where all the students study the Koran.  Girls are sent to the American school.

These Jews cannot visit Israel if they so wanted to because they hold a Bahraini passport.  Actually, they show, at least publicly, no interest or ties to Israel. Houda said she only learned of the Holocaust when she was 14 years old.

 Since the Arab intifada of 2004, Oman closed their trade office and agreed to stop boycotting companies that dealt with Israeli companies in order to have a free-trade agreement with the USA

This is the same story as all the Middle Eastern countries have of their Jewish population.  Jews were held as Dhimmis, or 2nd-3rd class citizens, and when Israel was about to be created, rioting broke out in Palestine and all over against it from happening.  The result was that Jews were attacked and many were killed, which caused a great influx of Mizrachi Jews to flee to Israel, which is what it was set up to be, a haven for Jews who were being persecuted.  The Arab rioting and nonacceptance of Jews in what they considered to be Muslim only territory helped to expand the Jewish population of Israel.  Jews had been held back from entering Israel before by the British who allowed only Arabs to enter while they held the  mandate which was up on April 14, 1948.  That's when Israel announced it was officially a state, having been voted on in the UN and accepted.

Resource:  http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/meet-houda-ezra-ebrahim-nonoo-bahrain-s-jewish-u-s-ambassador-1.349208
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/bahrain.html
http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/06/world/meast/barhain-new-law/
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/25/world/meast/bahrain-human-rights-activist/

Fatah or Palestinian Liberation Organization's Goals of Taking Over Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                  

                                                                Fatah
The PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) has changed their name to Fatah, the leading political arm of Abbas who is dealing with Israel and Kerry over the creation of a state for the Arabs alongside of Israel.

The PLO was created in 1964 when a covenant was adopted equating the borders of the proposed Palestinian state with the same Palestine of the British Mandate.  This included the whole state of Israel.  They wanted to absorb Israel as their own state of Palestine.  The PLO was made up of all the Palestinian Arab organizations whose goal was the establishment of their own independent state of Palestine.  There had been no interest or desire to do so until the War of 1967 where Israel won in 6 days even though she was attacked by all the surrounding states and then some more.  The Arabs had been offered a chance to have a state of their own at the time Israel was created in 1948 but had constantly turned down the chance throughout the coming years.  They just wanted to destroy Israel.  That was their agenda.
                                                                     

                                       Yasssir Arafat, born 1929 in Cairo, Egypt

After the Six Day War of 1967, the PLO was headed by Yassir Arafat, born in Cairo, Egypt,  and was on a bent of terror inside Israel and throughout the world to gain their goals of destroying Israel.  The major groups in the PLO were Fatah with their leader, Arafat, which was the largest group; the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, headed by George Habash, and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, headed by Nayaef Hawatma.  Arafat had a worldwide program of terror activities aimed at Israeli, Zionist and Jewish targets.  His activities led to the King Hussein of Jordan to expel the PLO from Jordan in 1970,  its ousting from Lebanon in 1982 by the Israeli army with the acts of Lebanese Major Hadad,  and his support of Saddam Hussein during the 1991 Gulf War.  Arafat would have been the president of a Palestinian state, but he died and Mahmoud Abbas took over his position.

By 1974 they achieved the status of an Observer-Member of the UN.  It's acceptance by other Arab nations has been on and off.  There were times when they were excluded by Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.  The last was after the Israeli invasion of 1982 when the PLO were attacking  Israel from Lebanon and Major Hadad of the Christian Lebanese Militia went into the PLO camps and killed many of them.

In 1988, Arafat made a statement which included that he would agree to recognize the existence of Israel, something Abbas still refuses to do today.  Arafat's statement led to a dialogue with the USA.  It ended because it was followed up with more terror attacks and Arafat's support of Saddam Husseini in the 1991 Gulf War.  It had turned out to be an empty statement, meant for stalling.
                                                                     

                                    Hamas, a terrorist organization-developed out of Fatah

Hamas was created out of the group as a stronger terrorist arm and kicked out Fatah from Gaza.  since June 2007, they governed the Gaza Strip by winning a majority of seats in the Palestinian Parliament in their January 2006 elections.  They are still listed as a terrorist organization, but Iran, Russia, Turkey and Arab nations of course do not accept the label.  Hamas  had been founded during the First Intifada as an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.  One only has to look at the Muslim Brotherhood Charter to see that they have the same goals towards destroying Israel. The Hamas Charter affirmed in 1988, that Hamas was founded to liberate Palestine from Israeli occupation and to establish an Islamic state in the land now called Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.    This Brotherhood had been outlawed in Egypt.  It was Obama in his Cairo speech who insisted that they be allowed to come to hear him talk, and representatives were able to have good seats up front to hear him.
                                                                     

In the 1980s, Islamic fundamentalism was gaining acceptance in Islamic countries.  By July 2009, Khaled Meshal, Hamas's political bureau chief, said they were willing to cooperate with "a resolution about the Arab-Israeli conflict that included a state of Palestine based on 1967 borders provided that Palestinian refugees have the right to return to Israel and that East Jerusalem become their nation's capital.  These are impossible demands.                                            
                                                                               

                           Mahmoud  Abbas, Palestine Authority Leader from PLO/Fatah

In 1967, Israel won after being attacked by all the Arab nations and lost many of their own soldiers in that horrific battle.  The established borders are most necessary to keep in this violent and hateful neighborhood.  They are a must for Israel's security.  Also,  if all the descendants of the original Arabs of 1948 were allowed to enter Israel, Israel would be no more.  East Jerusalem is a part of the north, south and west Jerusalem.  It is one city.  It has always been the city of David, the Jewish king.  Israelis do not want to give away a part of their most precious city.  They are highly aware of the goals of the Palestinians.  They wouldn't ever be satisfied with a piece when their goal is the whole state of Israel.  Abbas still refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.  He continues to hold the goals listed by Hamas in the Peace talks.  .

The Palestinian Arabs are not indigenous to the land of Israel.  They never had a country in this land in ancient days.  There never was a state of Palestine.  It was simply a name for a land.  Arabs in the land called themselves Syrian Arabs, not Palestinian Arabs. Palestine is like giving yourself the name of an empty lot.                                                              

                                                    Ishmael Haniyah of Hamas      

Hamas continues to shell southern Israel from Gaza with mortars, rockets and missiles.  Hamas is not so different from Haman, who was the chief minister of Ahasuerus, king of Persia long ago.  He had wanted to exterminate all Jews in the world. In that piece of history, Haman got his comings by being hung by the king when he discovered what his goal was.  Hopefully that could forsee the end of Hamas and their goal of a never-ending war between the Arabs and Jews with their goal of destroying Israel.  The name of Haman has become synonymous with an enemy of the Jews. The Hamas charter says that "The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews and kill them; until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry:  Oh Muslim!  there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!"  This statement is found either in the Koran or other Islamic writings.  The Hamas charter also quotes other Islamic religious texts to provide justification for fighting against and killing the Jews of Israel, presenting the Arab-Israeli conflict as a struggle between Jews and Muslims or Judaism and Islam.  It adds that the only way to be in this struggle between "truth and falsehood" is through Islam and by means of Jihad until victory or martyrdom.  They wrote that renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the Islam.  They also have the chutzpa to write that Hamas is of course a humanistic and tolerant movement of other religions--as long as they do not get in the way of their goals.

Resource: http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2013/07/so-you-want-to-talk-about-six-day-war.html
 The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia   .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/arafat.html

Why and How Jews Came to Settle in Poland and Lithuania

                                                                         

                    The family of Goldfus came from Germany to Telsiai County in Lithuania

In 1096 German Crusaders massacres Jews in European towns.
In 1290 Jews were cast out of England
In 1306 Jews were cast out of France.
In 1355 in  Toledo, Spain, a mob massacred 12,000 Jews.
                                                                       

Poland was made up of farmers who tilled the soil and raised cattle and landowners who became the nobility of Poland, but there was no middle class.  So Casimir the Great invited Jews to settle there.  He needed the Jews to create a commerical middle class of traders and businessmen and they already had this reputation by the 14th century.  Additional information is that the reason he welcomed Jewish refugees from Germany could have been because his mistress, Esterka, the daughter of a Jewish tailor in Opoczno, was the mother of his 2 sons and a daughter.  Casimir became known as the King of the Serfs and the Jews.

Therefore, in the 1300's, Jews came in large numbers from Western and Central Europe where they had to live in  overcrowded and unsanitary ghettos as well as having  suffered from anti-Semitism.  They settled in Poland's countryside and they had a population explosion, which created an overflow into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

German artisans moved with them to the towns of the Grand Duchy that were Vilna, Grodno, Brest-Litovsk, Minsk, Pinsk, etc.  The Grand Duchy then included Belarus which was the main population center, Lithuania, Livonia, Wallachia and many other lands.

The Grand Dukes received the Jews well and they were given a charter that was written into the Law of the Duchy.  It was ratified by each successive Grand Duke and put the Jews into a class very close to the nobility.  One important clause confirmed for the Jews was the right to have all litigation between Jew and Gentile heard at the Ducal court and not at the courts of bishops or others.

By 1495, Jews were cast out of Lithuania.

In 1569, Poland and the Grand Duchy were united at the treaty of Lublin.  This died in 50 years because the nobility of each country couldn't agree on the choice of a king from their own ranks so decided to elect kings from the Royal houses of other countries; France, Sweden, Hungary.

By the end of the 17th century, a king of Saxony became king of Poland-and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
At this time, Peter the Great was involved in the Great Northern War with Eric XII of Sweden and Sigismond II of Poland got involved in it, so Sigismond had Saxon civil servants to run his affairs in Poland-Lithuania.

Jews had many of the same crafts that German artisans had, so there was a lot of competition between them.  The Germans then organized themselves into Guilds and kept the Jews out.  They had price wars.  The lesser nobility were always in debt to the Jews and so threatened the Jews that they would not pay up their debts unless the Jews undercut the German prices.  Jews had become money lenders then because the Christian Church forbade Catholics from usury practices.  Jews, caught in the middle of this economic battle, had to agree and so hatred between the 2 communities grew.

In 1648 to 1656, The Chmielnicki massacres in Poland took place where 100,000 Jews were murdered.
In 1727 and again in 1747, Jews were cast out of Russia.

Sigismond III came to the throne in 1734.  His coronation was in the Warsaw Cathedral.  Then he returned to Saxony and didn't return for 20 years.  The Germans drove the Jews out of the cities during this time.  They went into Belarus and mostly into Lithuania.  Many refugees arrived at the existing Jewish settlements.  New shtetls were formed between 1730 and 1750.  In 1784 a census was taken in Lithuania (the Grand Duchy). At this time, Telsiai was called Telsz or Telszew.   At this time there were 123 Jews living in Luknik and in Varniai there were only 57 Jews.  The 1795 census of Lithuania for the area of Telshe, where Luknik and Varniai were, cannot be found.  It would have given the ages of those counted.  1795 was an important date for Lithuania and its Jews.  That was the year Catherine the Great annexed most of Poland and Lithuania into the Russian Empire and from then on Jews suffered from the administration of the Tsar.  They were not granted any privileges as before but were treated as 3rd class citizens.without any rights.  

The Russians discovered that they had little control over Jews in taxation and the military draft so in 1807 they had a law that Jews had to take a family name (surname).  It took 25 years for all to get one.  The Russians introduced their own form of census, called Revision Lists because they revised and updated the 1795 census of Catherine the Great.

In 1882 to 1890, 750,000 Jews living in Russia were forced to re-settle in the Pale.of Settlement (Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia).

From 1871 to 1921, anti-Jewish pogroms happened in towns of Russia.  Jews remaining there in the Soviet Uniion were denied the right of national identity.


Resource:  http://www.galgut.co.uk/history.htm the Roots and origins of the Galgut Family by Len Yodaiken
Facts About Israel.Division of Information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem.

Are Israel's Settlements Illegal?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                  

                                                                         
Settlements refer to towns and cities built in Judea and Samaria since 1967 by Israelis.  They are a far cry from the settlement built in North America by the Puritans, Pilgrims, or Pioneers which the word implies.

International law is on Israel's side.  These places were part of the Palestine Mandate, which granted Jews the right to settle anywhere west of the Jordan River and to establish a national home there.  Britain was given the mandate which it did not follow correctly.  Going against the vote and ruling, they allowed King Abdullah to take 80% of the land promised to become the Jewish Homeland.  That did not change the law, but broke the law.

In ancient times, after King Solomon died, the kingdom of Judah was formed out of Israel and the first king was Rehoboam, his son,  who ruled from 933 to 917 BCE.  "The core of the Jewish state was the hill country of Judah,  Samaria and Galilee.   Judah was renamed Judea by the Romans.  It had become a vassal kingdom and then later, just a province which came under their rule in 63 BCE before they had destroyed Jerusalem.  Judea was then renamed as Palaestina in 135 CE.  The name, Judea, is also applied to the southern part of the country in distinction from Samaria in the center and Galilee in the north.

 Samaria was the capital of Israel founded in 880 BCE by King Omri of Israel on a hill he had bought from Shemer.  It was 7 miles NW of Shechem, today's Nablus and was on an isolated elevation dominating a wide countryside.  It sat on 25 acres.  It had withstood the siege of the Syrians but fell in 721 BCE to Sargon II of Assyria who resettled it with Cutheans who intermingled withe the remnants or the former population.  They became the ancestors of the Samaritans.  Samaria was in the area of Israel in the north and Judea was made out of the southern part of Israel.  (from Benny Morris, Israeli historian).  Judah did not fall until Jerusalem, its capital, was overtaken by the Romans in 70 CE, 1,003 years later.  So Jewish history in the Middle East started with Israel and Judah starting with Moses leading them out of Egypt and Joshua entering Canaan in c1271 BCE.

The Judean Hills is the mountainous region of central Israel today.  They were neglected and suffered severely from soil erosion through the centuries under all sorts of rule, with the last 400 years under the Ottomans.  Modern resettlement of the area began in 1894 with the foundation of the village of Motza, which is now part of Jerusalem, but from 1948 to 1967, only a small area of the Judean Hills, what is referred to as the Jerusalem Corridor, and some of the foothills, was incorporated in Israel.  The rest had had been illegally taken by TransJordan, later called Jordan.  Since 1967 when Israel won against the attack of all the surrounding Muslim neighbors, the entire area has been under Israeli rule.  Now the Arabs who called themselves "Palestinians" covet it for a state for themselves which will be Judenrein in their planning.  That means they will not allow one single Jew to remain in their homes that they have had, even though there are 1.7 million Arabs living as citizens in Israel.  Until 1967, the Arabs had made no issue about wanting their own state.  They had been offered land for one and continually refused it, preferring to hold off and take all of Israel.  That goal has never died.  It remains in the Hamas charter.  As for Fatah, they teeter back and forth with Hamas, joining them and breaking away.  Hamas continues to harass southern Israel with rockets, mortars and missiles.

Today hundreds of thousands of Israelis are accused of living in "illegal settlements."   Back when Begin was Prime Minister, the government realized that because of 1967's success at protecting themselves from all the neighbors who attacked them, that they had won back their original land of Judea and Samaria.  They had lost 80% of their promised Jewish Homeland to Jordan through Britain's broken promises and found themselves on 20% of the promised land, and 8,000 square miles is not a lot, especially when they had refugees coming from many countries.  They built on land they had won back.  The law established did not become obsolete when it was terminated in 1947.

International lawyer, Eugene Rostow, a Dean of Yale Law School, said, "A trust never terminates when a trustee dies, resigns, embezzles the trust property, or is dismissed.  The authority responsible for the trust appoints a new trustee, or otherwise arranges for the fulfillment of its purpose."  This meant that even though the Jordanians had taken the land, its rules apply still to Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and the Gaza Strip, which have not been allocated either to Israel or to Jordan or become an independent state.

The Palestine Mandate was signed by all 51 members of the League of Nations and codified in international law.  It is recognized as legally valid by the UN in article 80 of the UN Charter.  The International Court of Justice has reaffirmed this  3 different times.

Israel made this decision to build there.  Their position is sound.  A country is entitled to make reasonable decisions on legal issues without being de-legitimized, hounded or criminalized such as what is going on today against Israel.

Israel stopped building for 10 months waiting for the Palestinians to come to a decision, and they did not, so they started building again.  It was just used by the Palestinians as a ruse, a stall so as not to negotiate.  It has been 47 years since 1967.  This is land belonging to Israel and there is no good reason why they can't build on their own land.
                                                                         

Mosaic unearthed in Shiloh with Star of David.  Shiloh, first center for Judaism, 25 miles N of Jerusalem in the mountains of Ephraim.  The Ark and the Tabernacle were kept there during the period of the Judges.  It was the national shrine and object of pilgrimage.  The town and the Tabernacle were destroyed by the Philistines after the battle of Aphek in 1050 BCE when the Ark was captured.  The tribe of Ephraim (one of the 12 tribes of Jacob) lived in these mountains.  Ephraim was the younger son of Joseph.  It also meant the more northern of the 2 Israelite kingdoms.

Kerry and Obama should know that according to international law, the Armistice Lines of 1949, which are part of the Judea-Samaria boundary, were nothing but the position of the contending armies when the final cease-fire occurred in the War of Independence 1948.  These Armistice Agreements provide that the demarcation lines can be changed by agreement when the parties move from armistice to peace.  This means that international law does not consider the 1967 borders as the internationally recognized borders of the State of Israel., except in the matter of Lebanon.

Both the Ottoman Turks and the British Mandate renounced their claims to the Land of Israel years ago, including Judea and Samaria.  Jordan's annexation of Judea and Samaria following   the May 14, 1948 declaration of Independence was never internationally recognized, since it amounted to an act of aggression.  The UN and its security council and the UN General Assembly declared at that time that Israel was a peace-loving state in the 1948 war.  It was only moments after the announcement of their statehood that they were attacked in force.

Another international lawyer, Professor Schwebel, stated that "Where the prior holder of territory had seized that territory unlawfully (Transjordan, Jordan) , the state which subsequently takes that territory in the lawful exercise of self-defense  (Israel) has, against that prior holder (Jordan) , better title.  Israel was always on the defensive between 1948 to 1967.  Israel had the better title in the territory of what was called Palestine, including all of Jerusalem, than do either Jordan or Egypt.

Rallies have been going on in Jerusalem to stop the peace talks with the Palestinians and Kerry as moderator.  Legality is on the side of Israel, and it isn't hard to find.  They have a right to live in Judea and Samaria and are not about to allow the Palestinians to take over and kick them out.  The Palestinians must show good faith is wanting to be a peaceful neighbor, and the first step is in recognizing Israel as the one and only Jewish state in the world.  The world is just embarrassing themselves in the light of history for their boycotting Israel because Israel is just standing up for their rights. 

Resource:  בלוג http://mattotarim1.blogspot.com עכשיו בפייסבוק  http://www.facebook.com/MattotArim
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGYxLWUKwWo Israeli Deputy foreign Minister in 2011 eplains legality-6 minutes
https://www.facebook.com/TheLevy Report
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia 
http://www.jewishpress.com/blogs/united-with-israel/international-law-recognizes-jewish-claims-in-judea-and-samaria/2013/07/30/  from Rachel Avraham, staff writer for United With Israel

RASHI's Family Tree and the Rabbi of Worms, Eleazar ben Judah

Nadene Goldfoot                                                            

                                                     RASHI (2/22/1040 CE-1105 CE)

Jerusalem fell in 70 CE to the Romans who burned it down.  Jews scattered to the four winds.  Many were taken to Rome.  From Rome they could escape to France and then go into the Rhineland, which became Germany.  About 1,000 years later we meet RASHI, Judaism's most famous commentator on the Torah and other Jewish writings in Troyes, France. "  Jews settled there very early.  Thought Ashkenaz means "Germany" in Hebrew, it includes France as well.  In fact, Rashi lived there first before being interested in Germany.  Jews lived in France according to legend sources at the time of the 2nd Temple.  They came with the legions of Rome later when they went there to conquer "Gaul" and make it a Roman colony.  Jews came, some as slaves forced to be soldiers, and stayed there.  Jews settled in France in 3 places:  Provence in southern France on the Mediterranean, the Rhineland, which was controlled under both France and Germany at different times, and Paris and Troyes.  They were only 25 miles apart.  Jews lived in Troyes for hundreds of years, but today there is no sign that they were ever there.  Ashkenazi Jews started as Frenchmen. The migration went eastward into Germany and Central Europe, and from there further east into Poland, Russia and Eastern Europe.  Most of the moving was "due to anti-Semitism and persecution."

Rashi's comments on the Torah are listed in the Jewish prayer books.  He is the most well known commentator of Jewish writings.  Rashi is the abbreviation for Rabbi Solomon Yitzhaki which is ben Isaac.  He was born in 1040 and died in 1105 CE in Troyes, France but had studied in the Rhineland.  He had a livelihood dependent on his vineyard.  He also wrote commentaries on the Babylonian Talmud.  His comments on the Pentateuch became universally popular and his notes on the Babylonian Talmud made that work an open book.  He wrote in a simple but concise style and he wrote with knowledge of Midrash.  " A legend relates that the Jews of Worms were descended from the Benjamites who had migrated from (Israel) to Germany."  The Benjamites were the offspring  and tribe of descendants of  Jacob and Rachel, who 2nd son was Benjamin.  Their first son had been Joseph.  Rachel had died in childbirth.  

Rashi was the son of Rabbi Yitzchak Tzarfati [RASHI father], רבי יצחק צרפתי - אבי רש"יand Leah Miriam Bat Yizchak Tzarfati [RASHI mother], לאה מרים צרפתי - אם רש"י
Husband of Rivkah wife of Rashi
Father of Yocheved bat RASHI Kalonimus, יוכבד קלונימוס בת רש"י; Miriam Bat RASHI, Ben Natan, מרים בת רש"י אשת ריב"ן and Rachel bat Rashi / רחל בת רש"י
                                                                     

                              Jewish headstones in the once Jewish Quarter of Worms
                                                       
One of his descendants 120 years later was Eleazar ben Judah of Worms.  He actually was a native of Mainz, Germany.   "It was the capital of the Electorate of Mainz at the time of the Holy Roman Empire. In antiquity Mainz was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire; it was founded as a military post by the Romans in the late 1st century BC and became the provincial capital of Germania Superior. The city is located on the river Rhine at its confluence with the Mainopposite Wiesbaden, in the western part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main; in the modern age, Frankfurt shares much of its regional importance."  

The Jewish community of Mainz dated from the 10th century CE and was noted for its religious education found there.  Rabbi Gershom ben Judah (960-1040) taught there among others.  At this time he concentrated on the study of the Talmud and created a German Jewish tradition.  Rabbi Amnon of Mainz was also from this city and had been martyred.  He was the composer of the Unetanneh Tokef prayer.  The Jews of Maniz, Speyer and Worms created a supreme council to set standards in Jewish law and education in the 12th century.  

Non-Jews in Mainz sometimes allowed Jews freedom and protected them but at other times persecuted them.  Jews were expelled in 1012 and 1462.  Later they were invited to return, but then in 1474 were expelled again.  They were attacked by mobs in 1283.  The Black Death was usually blamed on the Jews.  At such outbreaks, they were massacred as in 1349 when about 6,000 Jews were burned alive.  

 His full name was Eleazar Ben Judah Ben Kalonymos, or for short, Eleazar Rokeah.  He was born in about 1160 in Manz, Franaconia (Germany) and died in 1238 in Worms.  He was a rabbi, liturgical poet, mystic kabbalist, Talmudist and codifier.  He was a part of the eminent Kalonymos family, which gave medieval Germany many of its spiritual leaders and mystics. Rabbeinu Gershom explicitly prohibited polygamy for the first time in Jewish history.  Both he and Rashi lived in Worms.    Judah ben Samuel, a Hasid of Regensburg was his teacher and spiritual master.
                                                                 

Eleazar's wife was a businesswoman, allowing her husband to study and work on his findings.  In 1196, two Christian crusaders broke into his house and murdered his wife and 2 daughters in front of him.

 Even after going through this traumatic event, he continued to teach a doctrine of love of humanity.  He became a rabbi at Worms in 1201 and in 1223 took part in a synod at Mainz, which debated about problems such as business relations with Christians and the "inequitable exemptions of favored Jews" from the taxes imposed by the government.    His works stressed the idea of repentance.  He wrote "The Book of the Spice-Dealer".

Eleazar had studied Kabbalism, which is an influential body of Jewish mystical writings, and the Talmud, which is the rabbinical compendium of law, lore and commentary.  He tried to unify these opposing aspects of Judaism in his writings, often with interesting results.  He was an angelologist.  He held mystical theories of theurgy, which is the art of persuading or compelling supernatural beings to one's bidding.  Eleazar believed that the Kavod, a ruling angel, was an emanation from G-d and the knowable aspect of him, while G-d himself was infinitely transcendent and unknowable.  He also wrote mystical commentaries on the 5 scrolls of Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther, and on the Five Books of Moses.

"Kalonymos or Kalonymus (Hebrew: קלונימוס‎) is a prominent Jewish family originally from Lucca, Italy, "city of Tuscany, Italy. Its Jewish community is known in literature especially through the Kalonymus family of Lucca, whose ancestor saved the life of the German emperor Otto II. after the battle of Cotrone in Calabria (982), and seems thereupon to have settled at Mayence, where the family had extensive privileges.".  Then, after the settlement at Mainz and Speyer of several of its members, took during many generations a leading part in the development of Jewish learning in Germany. The family is according to many considered the foundation of Hachmei and Hasidei Ashkenaz."

Worms turned out to be an important Jewish city for the Jewish academia.  The city was old, having existed before Roman times, which the Romans had captured and fortified under Drusus in 14 BCE.  The Romans kept a small troop of infantry and cavalry there who were garrisoned in Augusta Vangionum.  Originally the Celtic people had settled there and called it Borbetomagus.  It grew, with the garrison turning into a small town with the regularized Roman street plan, a forum, and temples for their main gods, Jupiter, Juno and Minerva.  On top of these was built the cathedral and another temple for Mars.  Roman inscriptions and altars and votive offerings are now in the city's archaeological museum along with a collection of Roman glass.  Found in this area were fragments of amphoras which show that olive oil that they held had come from Hispania Baetica by sea and then up the Rhine.  At Borbetomagus, Gunther, king of the Burgundians, was set up as a puppet-emperor, Jovinus as he was called during the disorders of 411-13.  Hun mercenaries overwhelmed them in 437 called in by the Roman,  General Aetius,  to put an end to Burgundian raids.

Worms, Germany, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River and about 40 miles SW of Frankfurt-am-Main.  The census in 2004 showed it had 85,829 people.  It  was known in Medieval Hebrew under the name Varmayza or Vermaysa. which anglicized, would be "Worms."    It had become the center of Ashkenazic Judaism.  The Jewish community was established in the late 10th century and the first synagogue was erected in 1034.

By 1096, 800 Jews were murdered by crusaders and the local mob.  The Jewish cemetery in Worms dates from the 11th century and is believed to be the oldest surviving one in Europe.

There is the Rashi Synagogue there, which dates from 1175 and was carefully reconstructed after its desecration on Kristallnacht in 1938.  It is the oldest synagogue in Germany.

For hundreds of years, the Jewish Quarter was the center of Jewish life until Kristallnacht.  That was the year that much of the Jewish Quarter was destroyed.  Today, Worms has a very small Jewish population.  There were renovations in the 70's and 80's.  Many of the buildings of the Quarter can be seen in a reconstuction of the original, preserved as an outdoor museum.

In 2010, the synagogue was fire bombed.  Eight corners of the building were set on fire.  Somebody threw a Molotov cocktail through the window.  Kurt Beck, Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate, condemned the attack and vowed to find  the guilty.  He said, "We will not tolerate such an attack on a synagogue."

Today, with DNA coming out of scientific achievements, people are finding they are part of a group who have had their DNA tested and find they are matching with others who have a direct connection to the Rabbi of Worms, and therefore, to Rashi.  A group is formed at Family Tree DNA called the Halpern and Branches, part of the Jewish Heritage Project. My family genes are connected to the Rabbi of Worms.   I believe that Rashi would have been a Cohen bearing the Y haplogroup of J1, but descendants carrying some of these genes  would be of other lineages because of his only having daughters. The Eshet Chayil Foundation is tracing the descendants of King David, and they list Rashi in their material as well as the Luria family.  Their tree leads to the Gaon of Vilna b: 1720 in Lithuania, of which my oral history is that we are connected to him. Now there could be some truth to this because of our Rabbi of Worms connection and the fact that my grandfather was born in Lithuania.

A Rashi family tree can be seen at http://www.loebtree.com/rashi.html. and at http://www.loebtree.com/rashi.html.   He had 3 daughters.
[1] Rashi: Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac (b. 1040 Troyes/Champagne, France, d. 1105 Troyes/Champagne, France) marriedBatisaak daughter of Isaak BENABUN. They lived in France. Rashi wrote well known concise commentary on the bible.

Reference:  http://www.geni.com/projects/THE-RASHI-LEGACY-Kalonymos-Treves-Luria-and-Spira-Families/56
Encyclopedia Brittanica
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worms,_Germany
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalonymos_family
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/15013-worms
http://www.loebtree.com/rashi.html
http://www.davidicdynasty.org/familytrees.php--including Rashi
http://www.jewishhistory.org/ashkenazic-jewry-in-france/

USA's Foreign Aid for Israel and other Countries Program

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                   
In 2011, The USA set aside $49.5 billion dollars for foreign aid to other countries.  Back in 2002, only $19,153.10 billion dollars was spent in foreign aid.
                                                                               

 They divide the money into two basic categories of need, military assistance and economic assistance.  In 2011 They spent $17.8 billion on military assistance and $31.7 billion on economic assistance for others out of which $14.1 billion went to USAID.  "The government channels about half of its economic assistance through a specialized agency, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Countries they give the money to are: developing countries, countries of strategic importance to the United States, and countries recovering from war.
           

United States foreign aid to Israel is only 6%.  On top of that, 75% of this 6% must be spent in the United States!  This is the law pertaining to Israel's foreign aid.  The reason for this is that in turn, by spending it in the USA, it creates jobs and boosts America's defense industry.  So if Israel needs a new tank, they are going to buy it from the USA and that helps the USA's economy.
     
Israel receives the FMF aid in a lump sum in the first month of the fiscal year. The funds are placed in an interest bearing account and that interest is used to pay down Israel’s debt to the United States, which was $1 billion as of December 2006.  The Bush Administration in 2007 increased the foreign aid to Israel by $6 billion dollars over a period of 10 years.  From 2013 to 2018 Israel is to receive $3.15 billion per year.  

By the same token, the USA's military, intelligence and homeland security and defense systems benefit from dealing with Israel, for they share their knowledge with the USA.  Israel has created battlefield innovations that have helped the USA improve their equipment and tactics.

USA homeland security and military agencies use Israel's technology to solve their technical problems.

Israel provides invaluable intelligence and training to the US forces in the region.

"No other country in the Middle East advances America's interests like Israel."  It's the only Democratic state there and has been since its inception on May 14, 1948.  "While Israel has been the single largest recipient of U.S. aid since the 1970s, that support has established a two-way street and the United States now cashes in on Israel’s experience and know-how."

From 2011 facts, Israel did receive  the 2nd largest amount out of the top 25 countries that receive aid.  They are:  Afghanistan, Israel, Iraq, Pakistan, Egypt, Haiti, Kenya, Jordan, South Africa, Philippines, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Sudan, Nigeria, Uganda, (West Bank's PA government-which Jews call Judea and Samaria) Columbia, Congo, Mexico, South Sudan, Mozambique, Zambia, Somalia, Liberia, and Indonesia.  Note that out of the 25 countries, 15 are in Africa and 7, counting Egypt again, are from the Middle East.  The top 5 receiving the most are from the Middle East.  Egypt, Israel and Jordan are all neighbors.  Pakistan and Afghanistan are neighbors of each other.   Haiti and the Philippines had suffered from weather factors.  Mexico and Columbia are American continent countries of Central and South America.

Israel had received a total of $3,026.40 million dollars whereas Afghanistan had received $12,924.40.  Egypt had received $1,471.20, and their money was threatened to be halted if they didn't reinstate Morsi, head of the Muslim Brotherhood, as President of Egypt after they had recalled him on the grounds that this was not a very democratic move.  The Palestine Authority received $463.60 million dollars.

One of the retired generals in the Obama Administration was asked a question at a well-known American university about how much foreign aid Israel received and he did not know the answer.  Few people do but have had the mistaken idea that they received almost all of it.  This general went along with an assumption that they got at least 25% of it and that was wrong.  America should educate their military personnel as to where all the money is going and how much is used so that people do not continue to have the wrong ideas.

Resource:  http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/42479-a-complicated-matter-america-s-support-for-israel
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/foreign_aid.html
http://www.mythsandfacts.org/NOQ_OnlineEdition/Chapter17/unitedstatesisrael1.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_foreign_aid

Europe's Anti-Semitism Lying Fallow Has Bubbled Up Again With Blood Libel, Etc.

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                           

 Rashi, Jewish biblical commentator who was born in Troyes, France in 1040 CE, studied in the Rhineland and died in 1105 CE.  His ancestors had fled Jerusalem in 70 CE and found refuge in France where anti-Semitism is again very high.  Jews had been living in France before 70 CE, however and most likely were merchants and traders.  When Christianity was introduced there, the Jewish position deteriorated.  By the 8th century under Charlemagne and his house, things had  improved.  Murderous attacks became common after the 1st Crusade of the Christians in 1096.

Anti-Semitism has risen in the past few years in Europe.  In Warsaw, Poland, the acts are happening worse than other places in the world where such acts are happening every day.

1.  13% of Poles still think that Jews are guilty of the "blood libel."   In this country alone, 3 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.  They had held the largest Jewish community in Europe.  That was 90% of the Jews living there.  This was something that came out of Christianity in the Dark Ages.  People made allegations that Jews murdered Christians in order to get blood for the Passover or other Jewish rituals.  The first mention of this was in Josephus (Against Apion II, viii 95) who said that Apion made the charge that Jews sacrificed a Greek every year in connection with the Temple service.  Democritus, a writer, said that Jews sacrificed a stranger once every 7 years.  Many centuries later the charge was used to stir up the masses against Jews.  In the Christian world, the first charge, in 1144 CE,  was that at Easter the Jews martyred a young boy in mockery of the Passion of Jesus.  Easter and Passover happen almost at the same time, so they added that the blood was used in the recipe of making matzos.  A child, William, in Norwich,  England, was said to have been used for his blood. In 1913 in the Beilis trial in Kiev, the blood libel was used which shocked the world.   The charge has persisted in such places as Poland where in 1928 it was used in a ritual murder charge.  It was used in 1929 in Lithuania and in Bulgaria in 1934.  The Nazis made great efforts to revive the libel during their period of power.  The Catholic church of Poland unveiled a very anti-Semitic painting earlier this month that had been kept hidden since 2006.  Why did they do this?  They had protests from both Catholics and Jews who opposed the depiction of Jews murdering Christian children in the classic anti-Semitic blood libel propaganda.  It only added fuel to the fire of anti-Semitism.

The most important fact here is that since Moses gave Jews their Mosaic Law back in c1311 BCE, Jews must make the utmost care not to ingest any blood.  They have rules about what part of an animal is allowed to be eaten, and it is the least bloody part. First, when an allowed animal for consumption is slaughtered, blood is drained out so as not to be eaten.   They must soak the meat in salt water to get rid of any blood.  In cooking, meat is to be well done so as not to ingest any remaining blood.  Blood is regarded in the Torah as the seat of life or even as life itself.  The prohibition of its consumption is one of the 7 laws given to Noah and is repeated many times.  The punishment for violating this prohibition is to be "cut off" from the people.  Jews only eat certain animals such as cows, sheep and goats.  They would never ever eat a human or desire their blood!  This blood libel is an anathema to the truth of what Jews eat, but these primitive people have no sense or desire to seek out the truth, evidently if they continue to believe such a fallacy.

2. 63% of people in a poll believe in a "Jewish conspiracy" to control the banks and international media.  The Jewish people are only 0.02% of the people in the world.  The 6 million in Israel are very busy defending themselves against their Islamic neighbors like the 22 million Syrians, 5 million Lebanese, 6 million Jordans, and especially the 77 million Iranians who wish to drop an A bomb on them from their uranium  goals.  Jews are good at making money and have been forced into this profession from the Christian acts of not allowing them to own property or being in any other business except money lending which they thought was beneath their own Christian people.  Today, more Jews are into being lawyers and doctors and scientists than in banking.  If Jews controlled the international media, they are doing a terrible job as most all of the media is against Jews and especially Israel!  How dumb to believe this.

3. 18% still believe that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus Christ.  The same Christians tell us that Jesus was a Jew, so how the Jewish leaders convinced the Romans, who were nailing thousands of Jews to their crosses every day that Jesus should be included is beyond our mentality but not with the anti-Semites.  It was the execution of the Roman army.  Anyone who threatened their status was put on a cross.  Don't blame the Jews for this.  Being Christians believe Jesus is the son of G-d, surely, in my mind, he would have had the power to not allow this to happen if he didn't want it to happen being he was on a higher level than the average human being.  Take it from this Jewess, he knew it would happen and didn't stop it for his own reasoning.  A thought of mine is that he was never recorded to have claimed he was the son of G-d.  In Judaism, we are taught that we are all the children of G-d.  That's why we should act on a higher level and not have such carnal  behavior as some possess.

4. 35% believe that Israel is a country that does not stop at nothing to achieve its goals.  Jews of Israel do not intend to be slaughtered.  They have the Holocaust as a great reminder of what people were capable of doing to their ancestors.  They are also people of a religion that demands that they follow laws of humanity and justice which does not include harming civilians who are innocent of any wrongdoing.  During the 3 weeks from December 27, 2008 to January 18, 20009 of going into Gaza in Operation Cast Lead, after being hit with rockets, mortars and missiles since 2001,  they used the utmost restraint and put themselves in harm's way many times.

5. 21% believe that Israel gives the Palestinians the same  acts that Jews received from Hitler during WWII.  They may believe in doing that to people, and I believe that many Arabs also felt this way and quaked in their boots knowing how they had treated Jews and expected the same treatment in return.  However, Jews have the opposite attitude.  They know how they felt when oppressed and do not treat people other than humane ways.  Since the Syrian war, many injured have come to Israel's border for help and have been treated in their hospitals, and they are not rich in medications or bandages, but are using what they have on hand for these people.  Do you think that a Jew could have received medical help from the Germans or Poles during WWII.  Those who were helpful towards Jews are recognized in Israel as righteous people and are honored for their behaviors, but they were few and far between.  This idea of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth is not followed.

ACTS OF ANTISEMITISM RISING

1. The reverse Nazi salute or quenelle is being practiced by athletes around the world.  

2. Desecration of Jewish cemeteries and revelations of anti-Semitic violence against Jews is on the rise.  

3.  European governments should be held responsible.  In Malmo, Sweden, the mayor was very anti-Semitic and not even a native Swede and allowed all sorts of atrocities to happen against Jews so much that many were forced to flee to Israel.  Germany's government has taken great steps to enforce anti-Nazi behaviors in order to quell anti-Semitism.  

Resource: Arutz Sheva, news@israelnationalnews.com
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_War
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
.

Differences Between Kosher and Halal Meats

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                      

Kosher                                         

Moses, through G-d,  laid down laws for Jews as to how to prepare the killing of an animal that is allowed to be eaten. Cattle have been domesticated since 6,500 BCE, and Moses  lived from 1391BCE to 1271 BCE, so there must have been a lot of inhumane practices going on before his laws.

 These are found in the Oral Law and by rabbinic regulation.  The basic law is in the Pentateuch.  Dealings with this law  are found in the talmudic tractate HULLIN as well as the Shulhan Arukh code of Yoreh Deah of the 2nd part of it.  Kosher, or the Laws of Kashrut, means: fit, proper, in accordance with the religious law.

 Jews do not eat any animals on the planet, only certain ones.  The slaughter of an animal allowed has certain steps in the laws of keeping kosher, or Kashrut.  Every precaution is taken to avoid eating any blood or eating any meat with milk products.  This means Jews do not drink milk from an animal not allowed to eat as well, such as camel milk or camel meat.  The milk-meat law comes from not wanting to cause pain to the mother who gave us milk who would feel stress and pain if she knew we were eating her milk mixed with her flesh.  This is to teach us to have feelings for animals and thus for people.

  The animal must be slaughtered quickly and humanely.  This means that a special man trained in doing this called the shokhet, does the deed. He must also be very pious and be certified by the rabbis.  This goes all the way back to Deut. 12:21. He says a prayer before the slaughter.    He must use a very sharp knife.  The throat of the animal is cut quickly so as not to cause pain. This severs the trachea, oesophagus, two vagus nerves and both carotid arteries and the jugular veins.  The animal then loses consciousness in two seconds.   The blood must drain cleanly from the animal after death.  This takes away toxins that are released the moment of death that got into the bloodstream at that time.

The killing of the animal is hard on meat packing houses as the killing cannot be done in an assembly line fashion.  The rules for this are called shehitah and are in the Oral Torah.  The rules are for meat and fowls but not fish.  The cows do not see an animal being slaughtered which could cause fright.    Therefore, there is hopefully no cortisol or norepeneherine (stress chemicals) found in the meat.  The animals should not experience the scent of death.  The spinal cord is sectioned which cuts off pain to the brain.  This is done to make sure there was no pain.

We are to eat only animals that have cloven hoofs and that chew their cud.  All others are forbidden.  Cows, sheep and goats are permitted. So is a deer, but one cannot hunt this animal as that would not be a kosher kill.   Camels are not.  Neither are pigs, rabbits, badgers and all the other mammals.  Fish allowed must have fins and scales, so lobsters, oysters, shrimp, clams and crabs are not allowed.  Swordfish and sturgeon are also on the list of no no's.  Birds are mostly allowed but not birds of prey such as eagles, and ostriches, pelicans, storks, herons are not allowed.  We eat chicken, turkey, geese, ducks and doves.  We do not eat amphibians and insects so we say no to mice, rats,, snails, snakes, ants and other insects.  These are said to defile us and are prohibited right in the Torah.  Honey from bees is good.  After all, the bees produce honey from the nectar of flowers.

We do not eat an animal that died from a natural death. This rule would certainly rule out any cow that died from the Mad Cow disease that farmers or meat packers might want to pass on to keep from losing money.

In preparing the meat, it is soaked in salt water to get rid of any blood that might be there.  Then it is cooked to be well done.  This gets rid of any stress chemicals as well.  Also, only certain parts of the animal is used for food and that means parts where the main artery is not in, so this means the tough parts are allowed to be eaten.  Often, this means cooking in  a liquid such as water to help soften the meat.  The steaks so popular are not allowed unless the vein has been taken out originally, something that requires more skill.

Halal
Halal means lawful or permissible according to Islamic law.  It refers to meat that Muslims are allowed to eat under Islamic Shari'ah Law.  Pork is also not allowed, so pigs are not used, as in Jewish law.  This is the only animal mentioned in this law, but other foods can be haraam (not allowed).  The criteria is the source and cause of the animal's death and how it was processed.  Halal processes means the slaughterer is a Muslim and before death invokes the name of Allah by saying "Bismillah"-in the name of Allah, and then three times saying "Allahu akhar"-G0d is the greatest.  They also use a sharp knife and cut the throat, windpipe and blood vessels in the neck while the animal is conscious causing the death without cutting the spinal cord.  The blood is also drained from the veins.  Muslims also exclude blood for consumption.

The method of slaughting animals  is called Dhabihah.  This also excludes fish and other sea-life, per Islamic law.   "

• The animal must have been fed a natural diet that did not contain animal by-products.  Muslims may eat kosher killed meat as the laws are so similar if Halal meat is not available.  
• There are eight Halal stores right in Portland, Oregon's area.  Kosher meats can be found in Albertson's store on Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway.  Two more stores are now selling kosher meat;  Safeway on Barber Blvd and Trader Joes.    

Resource:  http://www.jewsnews.co.il/2013/11/03/some-differences-between-kosher-meat-and-halal-meat-thank-g-d-i-keep-kosher/
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
To Be a Jew by Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin page 97-120
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halal
http://www.thekitchn.com/good-question-what-is-halal-me-60979
Update: 4:11pm  Oregon Kosher
Update: 10/29/15 edit.

Facing 2014 With Problems of Iran, Palestinians, 2nd Temple Site

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                       

As we approach the New Year of 2014, the news only gets more depressing and revealing.  Iran is working hard on enrichment of their uranium and is even busy designing a new centrifuge that will speed things up in this department.  It seems that only Israel is really worried about this since they realize this spells out an A bomb intended for them.  Though the USA is also considered an evil state by Iran, it doesn't seem to phase Kerry in the slightest.  Maybe he thinks his country is too far away to be harmed.

At the same time, Kerry had forced Israel to agree to releasing people in Israel's prisons to satisfy Abbas, and so the time has come around again for a new batch of murderers to be freed.  This will happen Monday according to this disastrous August agreement.  All the men are in prison for murdering.  I'm sure that they would never be released in the USA.  It would be considered a mad thing to do.  Also, the first round released has not appeared to make a dent in the determination of the Palestinian Abbas and troupe to demand more and more and expect to gain Jerusalem as well as all of Israel eventually.

What is worrisome are the agreements Kerry has written out to bring about peace.  The thought of giving up more land to the Palestinians which is necessary for Israel's safety is high on the list for cause to worry.  Giving up part of Jerusalem to some international committee is another thing that just should not happen; not after all the deaths Israel has experienced to people who care less about it.  We know that the forces brought in to help enforce safety in Israel such as the United Nations are always first to give in to the attackers.  They have no stake in the defense of Israel.  Netanyahu knows all this.  I'm wondering what threats are being held over his head to get him to comply to this nonsense.
                                                                     

This leaves problems with the mosque with the golden dome one sees in pictures of Jerusalem. That's snow in the picture above.  Egypt received their first snow in over 100 years.  Jerusalem and Safed are high up, so have had snow previously, but it is fairly rare.  This is the Mosque of Omar, also called the Dome of the Rock.  It's built right in the very center of the Temple area.  It was Caliph Abd al-Malik that constructed it there in 738 CE to replace the temporary structure set up by Caliph Omar a century earlier.  It is situated on the traditional site of Mt. Moriah.  Omar was the 2nd caliph who ruled from 634 to 644 CE.  During his reign, several Jewish communities were conquered; in Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia.  It was on his orders that most of the Jews from northern Arabia were expelled.

He had then made a covenant with Jews and Christians assuring them of protection in return for the payment of a special poll tax.  He included certain restrictions and disabilities  on them.  They could not run for public office, wear distinctive clothes, could not built new houses of worship, and many other things.  This is the dhimmis position Jews have had to live under in the Middle East for the past 2,000 years.

 Moshe Dayan made an agreement in 1967 with Jordan that their religious heads would hold reign in this site.  The Muslim religious leaders do not allow Jews to even nod their heads a little ways away in prayer when they look at the mosque, which is ridiculous.  This was the site of our 1st and 2nd temple of renown.  Since it sits in Jerusalem which is again the capital  city of Israel, one would think that Jordan's religious people would find it in their heart to be a little more gracious and be thankful that Jews also pray to our one and only G-d, but no.

 This has aroused the ire of our young Jews who weren't around during 1967 and didn't know Moshe Dayan, and they are angry about not being able to walk up the steps and stand on such an auspicious historical site and say a prayer.  I don't believe that the Muslims have to pay any such poll tax to continue to visit the mosque Omar or his successor built.  Nor do they have to dress as a Westerner.  The Muslims that are citizens have all the rights of any Jew in Israel.  The Rabbis however, have found a religious reason why Jews shouldn't be on the grounds today.  So this should remain a peaceful decision in this next year and not turn into a problem. Perhaps a 3rd Temple will be built anew at another site in Jerusalem someday.

Resource:  http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/third-round-terrorists-released-peace-talk-deal-despite-protests/?utm_source=Breaking+Israel+News&utm_campaign=b5f1417941-BIN+Email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b6d3627f72-b5f1417941-83518689