Sunday, November 2, 2014

Pray for Peace in Jerusalem. ............

Pray for Peace in Jerusalem. 




A Torah scroll
Shabbat shalom!
Welcome to Lech Lecha (Go Forth), this week’s Parasha (Torah Portion).
We know you will be blessed as you read along with us this portion of Torah that will be read in synagogues around the world during the Shabbat (Saturday) service.  Enjoy!
PARASHA LECH LECHA (GO FORTH!)
Genesis 12:1–17:27; Isaiah 40:27–41:16; Matthew 1:1–17
“Adonai said to Abram, “Go forth [lech lecha] from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you ... and I will bless you.”  (Genesis 12:1–2)
Our last Torah study, Noach (Noah), concluded with a genealogy of Shem, Noah’s son, ending with Terah, father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.  Terah took his son Abram and Abram’s wife Sarai, as well as Lot, son of Haran, who had died, out of Ur of the Chaldeans and headed toward the Land of Canaan. 
Instead of reaching their destination, however, they settled at Haran where Terah lived out the rest of his days
In this week’s Parasha, at God’s command, Abram carries on with his father’s unfinished mission—to reach the Land of Canaan, the name given to the Promised Land at this time.


Abram's Journey from Ur to Canaan, by Jozsef Molnar
The Covenant of God and the Promised Land
“Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh.  And the Canaanites were then in the land.”  (Genesis 12:6)
Abram and his wife, Sarai, become the first settlers of the Holy Land by packing up their belongings and settling in Elon Moreh, near Shechem (modern day Nablus).
God, as the original Zionist, made an eternal promise to give the Land to Abram and his offspring: "To your offspring will I give this land.”  (Genesis 12:7) 

Although the Canaanites at that time had control of Canaan, God reassured Abram that it would one day belong to his offspring—the Jewish People.
We may see a clear correlation to the political situation in the Middle East today. 
The Palestinians have gained control of large tracts of land within Israel, which leaves many Israelis wanting to see the Promised Land divided.  They believe that establishing a separate Palestinian state beside a Jewish state will create peace.

A Jewish man and an Arab man share the
street in Israel.
Many around the globe also think that this is a fair solution because some of the Arabs that live in Israel have lived there for centuries.
Some even wonder if the Jewish People have returned to the Land in vain.
Rivers of tears and pools of blood have been shed in order to re-claim our God-given land.  Did all those who risked or even sacrificed their lives to drain malaria-infested swamps, to re-build the cities, and to defend this nation against the hordes of enemies do so in vain?
Have the Jewish People survived the threat of extermination throughout 2,000 years of persecution—pogroms and inquisitions and even the Holocaust—in the lands of their exile, finally to return to their Promised Land, just to be driven out once and for all by hate-crazed, religious radicals?
Only if God breaks His covenant.
“‘Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,' says the LORD, who has compassion on you.’” (Isaiah 54:10)


Two Jewish boys stand before the Torah scroll.
God made more than a promise to Abraham.  He made a blood covenant to give this land to Abraham's descendants through Isaac and Jacob as an eternal inheritance:
To Abraham: 
“I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.  The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”  (Genesis 17:7–8)
To Isaac:
“To you [Isaac] and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.”  (Genesis 26:3)
To Jacob:
“I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.  I will give you [Jacob] and your descendants the land on which you are lying.  Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and ... all peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.”  (Genesis 28:13–14)

Abram Guarding His Sacrifice, by James Tissot
Abram had to do nothing to establish this covenant with God.  In fact, in Chapter 15 of Genesis, God alone walked through the animals that Abraham offered, indicating thatthe covenant he cut with Abraham was unconditional.
God had actually caused a deep sleep to fall on Abram when He made the covenant with him, probably to emphasize its unconditional character and prevent Abram from walking through it (Genesis 15:8–20).  In ancient covenant practices, both parties would walk through the offering if it were conditional.
With so many Scriptures declaring God's everlasting promise, our claim to this land is not political but by Divine right.
Of course, there is great opposition to God’s Word.  The Canaanites had their weapons and allies, and so do the enemies of Israel today; both gained some temporary victories in their efforts to claim the land as their own but, ultimately, God owns the land and can give it to whomever He wishes.  His everlasting covenant with Abraham will stand.

A father walks with his sons in Israel.
Walking the Land as the First Hebrew
“Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.”  (Genesis13:17)
When God commanded Abram to walk the length and breadth of the land, it was not just for a little sightseeing stroll; it fulfilled a legal custom in ancient times to claim ownership of a property by walking through it. 
Egyptian and Hittite kings would regularly leave their grand palaces to take a ceremonial walk through their countryside in order to confirm their ownership of the land.
In Mesopotamia, according to ancient records, the seller of a property would lift his foot off the land and purposefully set the buyers foot upon it.  This may further explain the cultural context of the Scripture in which God promises Joshua “every place the sole of his foot treads upon.”
“I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.”  (Joshua 1:3)
Legally, then, when Abram walked the length and breadth of the land, he took possession of it for himself and his descendants as an eternal possession.

A young man reads the Torah using a yad (Torah pointer).
Talmudic rabbis have compared Abram’s walk through the land to a vial of perfume that only gives scent when moved, wafting the fragrance of faith throughout the Promised Land.
Whereas Noah walked “with” God; Abraham walked “before” God, paving the way for the world to come to the knowledge of faith in the one true God.
Abram had an ability to cross over borders:  He not only crossed from Mesopotamia to Canaan, he courageously crossed from a world of idol worship to a world in which the one true God was worshiped, instead.  The world stood on one side and he stood with truth on the other.
He crossed over into his destiny, and his descendants inherited the reward and blessing as well as the characteristic of being those who cross over.
For this reason, Abram became the first person to be called an Ivri—the one who crossed over.  This word comes from the Hebrew verb la’avor (to cross over) and is transliterated into English simply as a Hebrew.
Lech Lecha, therefore, is one of the most exciting chapters in the Torah, since it chronicles the adventures of the first Hebrew with God.
May we, too, come to this life-altering place where we “cross over” into a new, exciting adventure in our life with Him.


A Jewish man prays at the Western (Wailing) Wall in Jerusalem.
Lech Lecha: Finding Ourselves and Hearing the Call
The Zohar, an ancient book of Jewish mysticism, interprets the opening words of this Parasha, Lech Lecha, as go to yourself.
Lech means go and lecha means to you.
Therefore, according to Jewish metaphysical thinking, the first crucial step in life is to go within—to our own inner self—to discover who God has called us to be, to discover our higher mission in life.
Once we come to a realization of our God-given destiny, when we hear that Divine call of lech lecha (go forth), then our outward journey may begin with purpose and courage.

A Jewish mother prays at the Western Wall
using a siddur (Jewish prayer book).
Abraham Wins the War of the Kings
“And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock.”  (Genesis 13:7)
In chapter 13 of Genesis, Abram and his nephew Lot have become quite wealthy.  Their herds are so large that the land cannot support all of them.  (Genesis 13:6)
Consequently, strife breaks out between the herdsmen of Abram and Lot, and instead of diffusing the situation, they decide to part ways.
We may perhaps see a hint of the underlying source of strife through the choice that Lot makes.
When Abram offers him first choice of the area, Lot chooses the best for himself, instead of insisting that his uncle, who has treated him much like a son, take the best.
Lot chooses the green, fertile plains of the Jordan near Sodom and Gomorrah and Abram moves on to the plains of Mamre (Hebron).
“And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar.  Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east.  And they separated from each other.”  (Genesis 13:10–11)


The Jordan River Valley on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Although the grass may be greener on the other side of the hill, that fact does not mean it is better, nor does it mean we should go there.
Soon after parting company, Lot needs Abram’s aid when four powerful kings capture all of Sodom, including Lot.  Abram rounds up a small army of 318 men and frees the captives: 
“And he [Abram] and his servants deployed against them at night and struck them; he pursued them as far as Hobah, which is to the north of Damascus.  And he brought back all the possessions; he also brought back his kinsman, Lot, with his possessions, as well as the women and the people.”  (Genesis 14:15–16)
Not only did Abram reveal military prowess and valor in the War of the Kings, he also showed great self-sacrifice and kindness toward his nephew Lot.  With a very small army, vastly outnumbered by the four kings and their armies, Abram risked his own life to save his nephew’s.
Such valor was recently demonstrated by our Israeli Defensive Forces (IDF) soldiers who went into the terrorist stronghold of Gaza to find and destroy over 30 tunnels that had been constructed for the purpose of kidnapping and murdering Jewish Israelis.
Here in Israel, we are all mishpacha (family); therefore, just as with Abram, the IDF soldiers did not allow themselves to fear the possible consequences of entering into battle, but protected the collective Israeli family at the risk of their own lives. 
Let us pray that the leaders of Israel will be strong and of good courage, sincerely seeking God, as the end-time threat of annihilation plays out against this nation.


Israel Defense Forces soldiers entered Gaza to destroy terrorist tunnels
that posed a serious security threat to Israelis.
The Destiny of Abraham—Eternal Salvation
Parasha Lech Lecha spans Abram’s life from the age of 75 to 99.
That means he lived most of his life without really knowing his destiny—not until God revealed it to him through a covenant that led to a name change.  And Abraham waited a long time before he began to see its fulfillment through a son named Isaac.
In this Parasha, God tells him, “No longer shall your name be called Abram [אַבְרָם] but your name shall be Abraham [אַבְרָהָם]; for I have made you a father of many nations [or Gentiles—אַב-הֲמוֹן גּוֹיִם].”  (Genesis 17:5)
With the addition of only one Hebrew letter—the letter hey (ה)—Abram (exalted father)became Abraham—exalted father of a multitude of nations.
The letter ה is often used as an abbreviation for the name of God and is found twice in God’s personal name.  So by adding this letter to Abram’s name, God added Himself as Abba Father to Abraham’s nature, character and destiny.
By adding the letter hey to Abraham’s wife’s name, it changed from Sarai (My Princess) to Sarah (Princess of the whole world).
For this reason, it is traditionally believed that a change of name can change one’s destiny.


A 13-year-old Jewish boy prays at the Western Wall.
God did not only promise Abraham the land of Israel, but also that he would be a blessing to the nations (Genesis 12:2; 18:18; 22:17–18; 26:3–4).
Today, there are countless ways in which God fulfills this promise to Abraham through the nation of Israel.  Israel's technological, agricultural, and medical innovations and advances are helping people around the globe.

But the most meaningful fulfillment of this promise is the Word of God that the Jewish People have faithfully protected and brought to the world, as well as eternal salvation through faith in Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah):
“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. It is by His great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Yeshua the Messiah from the dead.  Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.
“And through your faith, God is protecting you by His power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.”  (1 Peter 1:3–5)
God’s destiny for Abraham to become the father of a multitude of nations (even Gentile nations) is fulfilled in a significant way through Yeshua, who is a direct descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Matthew 1:2).
Anyone from any tribe, tongue, or nationality who declares faith in Yeshua becomes an heir of Abraham: 
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua.  And if you are Messiah’s then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”  (Galatians 3:27–29)

Time is short and the vast majority of Jewish people do not yet know Yeshua.
We need your help to complete the Messianic Prophecy Bible, which is being specially designed to show the Jewish People how Yeshua fulfills God's feasts, prophecies and promises.


Please Pray for Peace in Jerusalem.



"The LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where He scattered you."  (Deuteronomy 30:3)
Shalom,
“When they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so abhor them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God.”  (Leviticus 26:44)
Yesterday, November 2, was the anniversary of a letter issued by the British government favoring the establishment of a national home for the Jewish People.
That letter began the process of the fulfillment of Bible prophecy concerning Israel in these last days.
The consequences of that letter, the Balfour Declaration of 1917, still reverberate around the world 97 years later.
"Today we remember and welcome those people among the nations of the world who have not forgotten history and who remember our link to our land and our right to [a] state of our own," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday.


Jerusalem
According to And the Hills Shouted for Joy; the Day Israel Was Born, "The Balfour Declaration was the first public acknowledgment by a Great Power of the Jewish connection with Palestine as well as an undertaking by that government to help restore the Jewish people to its homeland.  For the first time a sovereign government had entered into a pact with a people scattered over the face of the earth to return them to a land."
The Balfour Declaration—the fruit of 12 months of intensive negotiations between Foreign Office officials, Prime Minister David Lloyd George and leading British Zionists—was issued by Arthur James Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary, to Lord Walter Rothschild, a British Jewish leader who was to convey the news to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland.


The first High Commissioner Herbert Samuel (left) in the governor's
house in Jerusalem stands with Lord Arthur Balfour (middle) and
General Edmond Allenby (right), who captured Jerusalem from the
Ottoman Empire.
Here is the complete text:
Foreign Office,
November 2nd, 1917.
Dear Lord Rothschild,
I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.
“His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country”.
I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.
Yours sincerely,
Arthur James Balfour 


Lord Rothschild was an active Zionist who worked
to formulate the draft declaration for a Jewish
homeland in Palestine.
Bible Prophecy Fulfilled
The Balfour Declaration was incorporated into the Sevres peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire and the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, which gaveinternational sanction for the establishment of a national Jewish homeland, and therefore, became the legal cornerstone for the Jewish State.
The door opened by the Balfour Declaration helped fulfill Bible prophecy that foresaw God would “gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”  (Isaiah 11:12)
God was moving through a world power to fulfill countless Bible prophecies concerning Israel, as well as His covenant promises to return His people to their land.
Apparently Lord Balfour was aware of God’s plan for Israel.  According to the Jewish Chronicle, “The Balfour Declaration was born out of religious sentiment.  Arthur Balfour was a Christian mystic who believed that the Almighty had chosen him to be an instrument of the Divine Will, the purpose of which was to restore the Jews to their ancient homeland—perhaps as a precursor to the Second Coming of the Messiah.
“The Declaration was thus intended to assist in the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.  This appealed to Lloyd George, whose private immorality did not prevent him from believing in the prophecies of a Bible he knew inside out.”

Arthur Balfour
Bringing His People Home
“I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out My sword and pursue you.  Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins.”  (Leviticus 26:33)
We read in the Torah (Five Books of Moses) that God set before the Israelites blessings and curses.  The blessings would flow from obedience to God’s law.  The curses would flow from disobedience to His laws.  Part of the curse called for exile from the Promised Land, but God nevertheless promised that He would eventually bring His people home.
Israel’s disobedience did not take God by surprise.  From the beginning, the Lord knew that the people whom He had chosen were stiff-necked and that they would eventually be driven from the land that He had given to Abraham’s seed as an inheritance. 
This first happened to the northern tribes of Israel.  Following the reign of King Solomon, about 980 BC, the kingdom of Israel was split.
The ten northern tribes rebelled against King Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, the son of David, of the tribe of Judah.

The United Kingdom of Israel
After King Solomon died in 931 BC, his son King Rehoboam told Israel that rather than making their burden lighter than what it had been under his father Solomon, he would make it heavier.
“My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions,” Rehoboam said.
This caused the ten northern tribes to rebel, cutting themselves off from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin; still, 1 Kings 12:15 states:
“This turn of events was the will of the LORD, for it fulfilled the LORD's message to Jeroboam son of Nebat through the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh."
This refers to a prophecy near the end of Solomon’s reign, when the prophet Ahijah told Jeroboam, the future king of the northern kingdom:
“Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to you.”  (1 Kings 11:31)
As king, however, Jeroboam worried that he would lose control over those people who went up to Jerusalem to worship.
To deliberately distance the people from worship at the Holy Temple, he set up false gods in local towns to be worshiped by the northern tribes.  This resulted in further moral deterioration. 
“‘If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.’  So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, ‘It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.’  He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.”(1 Kings 12:26–29)


The Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom
of Judah.
The Fall of Israel
By about 712 BC, the immorality and pagan worship of the northern tribes brought about the collapse of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.  The Assyrians invaded and took the ten tribes captive.  (2 Kings 17:6)
The Assyrians scattered them throughout the Levant, which brought about the beginning of the Diaspora (dispersion).
Why didn’t the Assyrians also invade the Southern Kingdom of Judah?  The obvious answer is that it was not God’s will for them to do so.  The king of Judah at that time, Hezekiah, “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord."  (2 Kings 18:3)
Nevertheless, due to rebellion against God, around 606 BC the Babylonians invaded the Southern Kingdom taking Judah captive to Babylonia.
Seventy years later, in fulfillment of Bible prophecy, the Babylonian kingdom fell to the Medes and Persians and the Jews were permitted to return to Jerusalem, at which time the walls and the Temple were rebuilt.
But many of the Jewish people had assimilated foreign practices and worship, practices they brought back to Israel.  As well, many were assimilated into the land of their captivity and did not return to the Promised Land.


Hanukkah, which celebrates the restoration of Jewish worship under the
valiant leadership of Judah Maccabee and the miracle of the Temple
menorah remaining lit for eight days with a one-day supply of oil, is still
celebrated today.
By 200 BC, Israel had become a part of the Greek Seleucid Empire until the revolt of Judah Maccabee resulted in the Hasmonean dynasty of kings who ruled Judah for over a century.
The Maccabees destroyed pagan altars that had been set up in the villages, and reinstated circumcision of newborn male offspring which had been outlawed by the Greek Hellenistic government.  They also re-entered Jerusalem and ritually cleansed the Temple, re-establishing traditional Jewish worship.
Judah Maccabee, the Cohen (priest) who led the revolt against the Seleucid Empire, made an alliance with Rome, instead of trusting in God alone.  (1 Maccabees 8:17–32)
Nevertheless, the alliance with Rome did not prevent the Greek Empire from sending in massive military forces.  Judah decided to stand his ground instead of withdrawing and died in the battle.


The Death of Judah Maccabee, by José Teófilo de Jesus
So for a brief period of about one hundred years devout observance of the law returned to Judah under the Hasmonean Kingdom.
When the matriarch of the Maccabees died, the two sons rivaled for power over the kingdom.  Even during their feud, though, they agreed to keep up the sacrifices of sheep and goats at the Temple—until one day one of the sons sent a pig to the altar.
The Talmud states that when the pig swiped his hooves against the Temple, Israel shook for 400 miles.
Not long after, the Roman invasion of Jerusalem in the first century BC brought this period of religious and civil independence to a close.  (JewishHistory)


In order to perpetuate his name for eternity, King Herod undertook a
massive renovation and reconstruction of the Second Temple.
Under Rome, Herod the Great ruled Judea until his death in 1 BC.  Following his death, his kingdom was divided among his three sons as a tetrarchy.
This was the political situation in Judea at the time when Yeshua (Jesus) was born.
Yeshua prophesied regarding the impending destruction of the Temple and the scattering of God’s people.  (Luke 21:5–6)
He also warned his Talmidim (disciples) of events that would occur within their lifetime, as well as in the last days.  (Matthew 24:15–22)
In fulfillment of His prophecies, after His death and resurrection, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70 during the Jewish Revolt, further scattering the people throughout the world and into distant lands. 
Seventy years later, the Jews again revolted under the leadership of Simon bar Kokhba and established the last Kingdom of Israel, which lasted three years.
The final destruction came when the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who was determined to wipe out the identity of Israel, completely destroyed the Jewish city of Jerusalem, plowing it under and building a city called Aelia Capitolina on top of it.  In AD 135, Hadrian changed the name of Israel to Syria Palaestina, essentially in honor of Israel's enemies. 


The Prophecy of the Destruction of the Temple, by James Tissot
Zionism Emerges 
"For I will give the command, and I will shake the people of Israel among all the nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, and not a pebble will reach the ground.”  (Amos 9:9)
In 1800, only 6,700 Jews lived in what was then Ottoman Palestine. 
Although the Jewish People were spread virtually everywhere on the planet, God had not forgotten His people, nor had He forsaken His promises and covenant with them.
By the 19th century, it was evident that God was actively at work among His people, drawing them to Himself.  And it was evident that end-time Bible prophecies concerning the land of Israel were in the process of being fulfilled.
By 1880, the emerging Zionist movement worked to return of the Jewish People to the Land, and at that time about 24,000 lived there.  By 1915, that number had more than tripled, reaching 87,500.  (New World Encyclopedia)


Theodore Herzl is considered the father of
modern Zionism.
The term Zionism is derived from the word Zion (ציון—Tzi-yon), which refers to Mount Zion—originally Mount Moriah, where Abraham brought Isaac.  It was here that King Solomon built the first Temple.
Generally, Zion now refers to all of Jerusalem and even Israel.  Today, anyone who supports the right of the state of Israel to exist and the return of the Jewish People to Israel is a Zionist.
God is a Zionist too:
“So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who dwells in Zion, My holy mountain.”  (Joel 3:17)
A major leader behind the Zionist efforts was Theodore Herzl, the Austrian journalist who had worked to restore the Jewish people to their land.  He created the World Zionist Organization (WZO) and held its first congress at Basel, Switzerland in 1897.
In 1917 during WWI, the British replaced the Ottoman administration of Palestine and occupied the region including Jerusalem allowing for the Balfour Declaration to have political leverage. 


British General Edmund Allenby, who captured Jerusalem from the
Ottoman Empire, reviews an honor guard of British soldiers in
Jerusalem's Old City.
The Balfour Declaration
“Then it will happen on that day that the Lord will again recover the second time with His hand the remnant of His people, who will remain….  And He will lift up a standard for the nations and assemble the banished ones of Israel, and will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”  (Isaiah 11:11–12)
With the British in Palestine, the hopes and aspirations of the Zionist cause to return the Jewish People to their land reached a new height. 
During the First World War, the Russian chemist Chaim Weizmann (who would become the first president of the Jewish state) invented a process to produce the explosive cordite without the use of calcium acetate, an ingredient available in Germany, but not in England.
Without cordite the British would have lost the war.
When Lord Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary, asked Weizmann what payment he required for the process, Weizmann responded, “There is only one thing I want: A national home for my people.”
Before WWI, in 1906, the British offered Kenya (some say Uganda) to Zionists as a Jewish homeland.  The Zionists rejected this.

President Chaim Weizmann was a science
professor before becoming Israel's first president.
When Balfour asked Dr. Weizmann why only Palestine could be the Jewish homeland Weizmann said, “Anything else would be idolatry,” adding, “Mr. Balfour, supposing I were to offer you Paris instead of London, would you take it?”
“But Dr. Weizmann,” said Balfour, “we have London.” 
Weizmann responded, “That is true, but we had Jerusalem when London was a marsh.”
Some say that Weizmann was rewarded for his service on November 2nd, 1917 when the Balfour Declaration was handed to Rothschild.
Although God used this declaration to set in motion a series of events upon which the Jewish state was reborn in one day, it was not without challenges.
As God began drawing larger numbers of the Jewish People to their homeland, much treachery erupted.
The British did not hold fast to their promises to help establish and protect the new nation, and the British Mandate for Palestine continued, causing the Jewish People to once again struggle for their very survival as they held their own against British and Islamic intrigue.


Israeli children
While some governments do renege on their promises, God does not.
Though things may look bleak for Israel 97 years later, as Palestinians riot in Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount and anti-Semitism once again rears its ugly head around the globe, we know that with God, Israel has a hope and a future.
God has miraculously re-established the Jewish state and the Hebrew language—something that has never happened for any other country or people.
As we thank God for the Balfour Declaration, we can also thank Him that He is true to His Word.
Even if we cannot see the end from the beginning, we can be sure that God always keeps His promises to all Believers and to Israel.
Israel is and will be a nation and a people forever.
“’I will bring my people Israel back from exile.  They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.  They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.  I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,’ says the LORD your God.”  (Amos 9:14–15)

“In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.  There I will enter into judgment against them concerning My inheritance, My people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations and divided up My land.”  (Joel 3:2)

The Balfour Declaration played a role in the prophetic fulfillment of Israel’s rebirth as a nation in May 1948.
While this important anniversary reminds us that God's hand is on Israel, the Bible links the creation of the State of Israel to the end times when the nations will come up against Israel and be judged in the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
Since we are living in the Last Days with Yeshua's (Jesus) return not far away, let us be diligent to redeem the time.

"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."   (Psalm 90:12)

 Pray for Peace in Jerusalem. 


A

The Temple Mount in Jerusalem
 
 
Shalom,
 
 
Abbas Calls Closing Temple Mount a “Declaration of War”

"I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke.  The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord."  (Joel 2:30–31)
 
After the second blood moon marked this year's Feast of Tabernacles, Israel saw a worsening of the situation in Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount, with Hamas and Islamic State members attempting to control the Mount, Judaism’s most holy site.
 
Since the appearance of this blood moon, chaos seems to have broken loose in Jerusalem.
 
 
A total solar eclipse will occur between the two Blood Moons of 2014 and
the two of 2015. Although a Blood Moon Tetrad falling on the Jewish
holidays is something of a statistical improbability, eight fall between AD 1
and AD 2100.  After this eighth tetrad is complete, another will not happen
for another 500 or 600 years.
 
After weeks of clashes and the killing of two people by a Palestinian driver who drove into pedestrians at a train stop, on Wednesday, a Palestinian Arab terrorist attempted to assassinate Rabbi Yehuda Glick, who is the head of HaLiba (The Initiative for Jewish Freedom on the Temple Mount) and former director of The Temple Institute.
 
Glick is at the forefront of a movement to win religious freedom for Jews and non-Muslims on the Temple Mount.  He is hated by Palestinians because he advocates that Jews should have the same right as Palestinians to pray there.
 
In the days prior to his shooting, Glick’s photo had been widely distributed and his name had become a household word among Palestinians.
 
Knesset Member Moshe Feiglin said that Glick had filed five police complaints connected to death threats—all of which were ignored according to Feiglin.  He is also actively pursuing equal rights for Jews to visit and pray on the Temple Mount, and his photo is now appearing widely on Arab social media and websites.  (JP)
 
Jerusalem Police Chief Danino responded saying that police were not aware of any immediate threats to Glick, whose condition has now improved from critical to serious.
 
Glick was shot in the stomach and the chest following a presentation at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem.
 
 
Yehuda Glick, who is well-known for advocating the rights of Jews and
non-Muslims on the Temple Mount was shot twice on Wednesday following
a presentation at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem.
(Photo: Sharon Altshul)
 
The suspected shooter is 32-year-old Muataz Hijazi who was released from Israeli prison in 2012 after serving 10 years for his involvement in the 2002 intifada.  After his release, he said in an interview, “I’m glad to be back in Jerusalem.  I hope to be a thorn in the Zionist plan of Judaizing Jerusalem.”  (Ynet)
 
Hijazi worked at the Begin Center’s Terasa restaurant, ending his shift a half hour before shooting Glick outside the Center.
 
On Thursday morning, the elite Border Guard counter-terrorism unit, Yamam, surrounded Hijazi's home and killed him when they returned fire by Hijazi.
 
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen) sent a condolence letter to the family of Muataz Hijazi.
 
"While we are trying to calm the tense situation, Abu Mazen sends a condolence letter over the death of someone who tried to commit an abominable murder," Netanyahu said.
 
"The time has come for the international community to condemn him for such moves," he said.
 
 
Yehuda Glick helps a child understand the history of the Jewish Temple
on the Temple Mount.
 
 
 
Attacks have risen in intensity following several "calls to arms" from Abbas and other Arab leaders.  There has been repeated vandalism and attacks with projectiles, including Molotov cocktails.  The incitement also allegedly provoked a Hamas motorist to drive into a crowd at a Jerusalem Light Rail station two weeks ago, killing 3-month-old Chaya and 22-year-old Ecuadorian native Karen Yemima Mosquera.
 
Victor Araujo said the death of Mosquera was felt even in Ecuador.
 
"Here in Ecuador we face terrible opposition,” he said.  “After the Ecuadorian convert, Karen Mosquera, passed away in the terror attack in Jerusalem, even the president rejected the violence from the Palestinian terrorists.  I think it allowed some people to understand how far their [Palestinian leadership] calls to violence can go."
 
This past week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced remarks made by Abbas, stating at the Israeli Knesset's opening session last Monday that Abbas has radicalized his discourse.
 
Abbas is "encouraging the escalation we see in Jerusalem.  And against that escalation we will take action until we restore quiet," Netanyahu said.  (BIN)
 
After the shooting on Wednesday, tensions escalated throughout Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount, prompting police to completely close the Mount on Thursday.
 
Danino received reinforcements for Jerusalem's security presence last Thursday, deploying an additional 1,000 officers to defuse the chaos that has crept into the capital city in recent weeks and months.  This past Thursday, after the assassination attempt on Glick, 3,000 additional officers were deployed to keep the peace.
 
 
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (second from the left) held a special
discussion on Thursday morning at his Jerusalem office in the wake of
Wednesday night's terrorist attack in which Yehuda Glick was shot.
 
Abbas called the closure of the Temple Mount "a declaration of war on the Palestinian people and its sacred places and on the Arab and Islamic nation." (JPost)
 
“Jerusalem and Islamic and Christian holy sites are a redline and we won’t accept any harm to them,” he said.
 
Thursday saw escalated violence with crowds of rock throwers pelting police and civilians.  Molotov cocktails and fireworks were also thrown.  Meanwhile, inciting ever more volatility, Abbas’ political party, Fatah, called for a day of rage on Friday.
 
Despite that, the Temple Mount was open on Friday.
 
“A strategic decision was made to close it in order to prevent any incidents or disturbances from taking place there,” said Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.  “After security assessments were made Thursday afternoon, the decision was made to reopen the Temple Mount Friday morning.”
 
 
Israeli police are tasked with keeping order on the Temple Mount.
 
Jewish residents of Jerusalem expressed dismay at the situation, including employees of the Temple Institute, where Glick formerly served as director.
 
"The Israeli government’s response to the attack is criminal and yet another gift to the Muslim agitators.  While they have announced that the Temple Mount will be closed to both Jews and Muslims, pictures have already emerged showing known Muslims troublemakers roaming freely on the site, while Jews are locked out," states a formal response from the Temple Institute.  "We call upon our government to enforce full entry and full Jewish prayer rights immediately."  (Yeshiva World)
 
As tempers continued to flare, Netanyahu called on Israeli and Palestinian officials to show restraint.
 
“The Temple Mount is the most sensitive kilometer on Earth,” Netanyahu told his cabinet Sunday.  “It is easy to start a religious fire but much more difficult to extinguish it.”
 
 
Although the Dome of the Rock is situated on the Temple Mount in the
very spot that the ancient Holy of Holies was once located, the Bible
indicates that a third Jewish Temple will be built there and connects
it to the coming of the Messiah.  (Photo credit: Go Israel)
 
According to historical analysis by Israel HaYom's Zalman Shoval, Israel's agreements with Jordan after the 1967 Six Day War permitted limited autonomy to the Muslim Waqf and Islamic worshipers, as well as freedom for Jews to visit the holy mountain.
 
"While Israel has maintained its side of these agreements, the Palestinians have violated them almost since day one, both in their words and in their actions," Shoval writes.
 
Shoval adds that the Arab infringement on Jewish rights includes the recent incitement by Abbas pushing Arabs to "defend al-Aqsa" (referring to the Temple Mount plaza) and the claim that the Jews' mere presence on the Mount desecrates the area containing the Aqsa mosque.
 
"The use of the word 'desecrate' shows the racist, anti-Semitic character of his remarks," Shoval writes.
 
 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
 
 
Tikkun Olam: Israelis Advance Unmatched Medical Technology
 
"He sent out His word and healed them; He rescued them from the grave.  Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for mankind."  (Psalm 107:20–21) 
 
Among God's wonderful deeds for mankind, He has given the keys of countless medical secrets to the doctors and researchers of Israel, who have improved or have been developing treatments for ills such as paralysis and cancer.
 
One of the most recent advancements is the treatment of acute radiation syndrome (ARS).
 
Haifa-based Pluristem Therapeutics, alongside the U.S. National Institutes of Health, has been working for eight months to tap the tolerant cells of the placenta tissue for use in countering ARS. This proprietary method of cell therapy uses donated placentas from a hospital in northern Israel.
 
“We found that these placenta cells have the ability to potentially increase the survival rate of animals following exposure to lethal doses of total body irradiation,” said Pluristem's lead investigator Raphael Gorodetsky, who heads the Biotechnology and Radiobiology Laboratory at the Jerusalem-based Hadassah, Hebrew University Medical Center.
 
"Pluristem’s placenta-derived cells could potentially be used to reduce complications associated with life threatening ARS,” he said.  (Times of Israel)
 
 
Pluristem is based in Haifa's Matam Technology Park, an international
technology center where some of the world's leading hi-tech companies
maintain research and development facilities, including Intel, IBM, Microsoft,
Yahoo!, Philips, and Google.
 
Pluristem processes the placental cells in a way that enhances their therapeutic potential, building packages of "generic" cells that could be used in virtually all forms of cell therapy, including the reversal of the loss of bone marrow caused by genetic diseases, leukemia and immune-system disorders, CEO Zami Aberman said.
 
For people who have been exposed to high levels of radiation, such as in spaceflight or in nuclear accidents like the 2011 Fukushima meltdown, wholesale damage to human tissues and cells (ARS) can have devastating consequences.
 
Even as Japan reopened its first nuclear plant since 2011 last week, Israel and the United States together have sought to address ARS—whose degrees of impact can cause anemia through a drop in blood cells causing mortal infections and neurovascular symptoms almost always leading to death.
 
 
Two months after the tsunami and crippling of the Fukushima nuclear
power plant, Japan's Emperor Akihito (L) and Empress Michiko visit an
area devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Soma,
Fukushima prefecture, about 50 km from the nuclear power plant.
 
Another area in which Israel is making progress is in the treatment of trauma.
 
For more than 50 years, Israeli hospitals have stepped up during both natural and man-made disasters to treat trauma victims—reversing accepted ideas that orthopedic trauma cannot be treated.
 
Hadassah Medical Center has been on the frontlines of discovery, with its medical research reaching more and more into robotic surgery, computer-assisted surgery and the re-growth of bones.
 
“I still believe, more than ever, that medicine is a bridge,” said Hadassah's Dr. Rami Mosheiff, who was in California last week to speak about Israeli progress in treating orthopedic trauma.  “We speak the same language in surgery.”
 
 
Hadassah Medical Center
 
Last December, Jerusalem-based Regenecure issued a statement about a breakthrough, as well, with a "wrapping paper" membrane implant that would create an enclosed space for bones to heal faster with less chance of infection or inaccurate healing.
 
"After a fracture there is a competition going on in the human body between soft tissue and bone,” Regenecure CEO Moshe Tzabari told NoCamels last year, which describes the potential of "cells, vigor or soft tissue … getting to the bone" without a membrane shield.
 
"If there is no barrier, soft tissue will infiltrate the wound and stop the bone from growing or make it grow in unintended ways,” Tzabari said.
 
Other bone-engineering companies in Israel include CoreBone, which harvests high-quality coral for bone implants.
 
"On the one hand, a coral is perfect for growing bone.  It is made of calcium, which is a main component in human bones and is also as strong as human bone, and on the other, it is porous, so blood vessels can grow inside it,"CoreBone CEO Ohad Schwartz said.  (NoCamels)
 
“We grow the corals on a bioactive mineral diet.  These are the substances that can attract bone cells to them when the coral is implanted in the body," Schwartz added, noting that the calcium frame is removed from the living coral before being implanted.
 
 
Dr. Geoffrey Raisman recently told Bloomberg
News that he believes that within ten years, people
will no longer be confined to wheelchairs. 
(YouTube capture)
 
Jews in the Diaspora are also making headway with medical miracles.
 
Britain's Dr. Geoffrey Raisman of Leeds, brought the chilling diagnosis of paralysis to a thaw in the case of 38-year-old firefighter Darek Fidyka, who was paralyzed from the waist down after he was attacked with a knife four years ago.  (Jspace)
 
Raisman said he has succeeded in developing "a safe technique for transplanting cells into the spinal cord," which enabled Fidyka to walk again using a frame.
 
"I believe we have now opened the door to a treatment of spinal cord injury that will get patients out of wheelchairs," Raisman said.  "Our goal now is to develop this first procedure to a point where it can be rolled out as a worldwide general approach.”
 
"I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."  (Genesis 12:3)
 
 
The Israeli Knesset (parliament) building and Knesset Menorah.
 
 
 
Netanyahu Rejects Undue Criticism of Building in Jerusalem
 
"I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night.  You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give Him no rest till He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth."  (Isaiah 62:6–7)
 
Several international bodies recently lashed out at Israel after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued approval for building in Jerusalem.
 
"For some there is never a convenient time to build homes in Jerusalem, and if it had depended on them, we would never have built one home during the last 60 years because it was never the appropriate time," he said at the opening of the winter session of the Knesset (Israeli parliament) on Monday.
 
"There is wide agreement among the public that Israel has the full right to build the Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem.  Every Israeli government in the last 50 years did that, and it is also clear to the Palestinians that those places will stay under Israeli control in any mutual agreement," he said.  "The French build in Paris, the English build in London, the Israelis build in Jerusalem.  Should we tell Jews not to live in Jerusalem because it will stir things up?"
 
 
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the opening of the
Knesset's Winter Session.  To his right is Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. 
(Photo: Kobi Gideon / GPO)
 
US State Department Spokesperson, Jen Psaki, stated that the new building is “incompatible with the pursuit of peace.”
 
Prime Minister Netanyahu rejected the claim that adding housing for the residents of Jerusalem is poisonous to peace.
 
"We have built in Jerusalem, we are building in Jerusalem and we will continue to build in Jerusalem.  I have heard a claim that our construction in Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem makes peace more distant.  It is the criticism which is making peace more distant," Netanyahu said on Tuesday at a cornerstone laying ceremony in Ashdod.
 
"These words are detached from reality.  They foster false statements among the Palestinians.  When Abu Mazen incites to murder Jews in Jerusalem, the international community is silent and when we build in Jerusalem they are up in arms.  I do not accept this double standard," he emphasized.  (Examiner)
 
 
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the cornerstone-laying
ceremony for Ashdod's new southern port.  (Photo: Kobi Gideon / GPO)
 
With a Jewish population of 500,000 living in Jerusalem, the majority—300,000—live in the city's expanding neighborhoods of Gilo, Ramot, Pisgat Ze'ev and Har Homa located in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank).
 
Last month's approved building projects of 400 units in southern Jerusalem's Har Homa and 660 in northern Ramat Shlomo will only slightly grow the housing supply in Israel's capital city, giving Jerusalem residents a few more options for finding affordable housing.
 
Netanyahu said it is imperative that the Palestinian Authority (PA) comes to the negotiating table instead of making unilateral moves in international circles.
 
 
A street in the Gilo neighborhood of Jerusalem.
 
"What the Palestinians are asking of us is the establishment of a Palestinian state, without peace and without security," Netanyahu told the parliament members.
 
"They are demanding a withdrawal to the ‘67 lines, entry of refugees, and the dividing of Jerusalem.  And after all those exaggerated demands, they are not willing to agree to the basic condition for peace between two peoples: mutual recognition," he said.
 
While Netanyahu refuses to relinquish Israel's "basic demands for life, peace and—foremost—security," the PA has continued to move along efforts to secure statehood by September 2015, based on the armistice lines of the 1967 war—the Green Line.  (Al-Monitor)
 
In addition, the PA is seeking UN approval to expel all Israeli residents from Israel's heartland of Judea and Samaria (also called the West Bank) by November 2016.
 
 
The Green Line refers to the
demarcation lines set out in the
1949 Armistice Agreements
between the armies of Israel and
those of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon
and Syria after the 1948
Arab–Israeli War.
 
Some nations, though, are not waiting for UN approval or negotiations.  As of last week, Sweden became the first European country to overstep the peace process and recognize a state of Palestine outside of the negotiating table; Israel has since withdrawn its ambassador.
 
The Kingdom of Jordan, which occupied Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem in the 19 years between Israel’s independence in 1948 and the Six-Day War of 1967, rushed to request from the UN Security Council an emergency session on behalf of the PA in response to Netanyahu's Jerusalem construction notice.
 
Jordan's foreign minister, Nasser Judeh, called Israel's approval of the 1,060 homes "a slap in the face."
 
PA demands for a state have named east Jerusalem as its future "eternal capital," while Netanyahu and his supporters have held fast to the position that Jerusalem will never be divided.
 
"I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.  There I will put them on trial for what they did to My inheritance, My people Israel, because they scattered My people among the nations and divided up My land."  (Joel 3:2)
 
 

Because many Palestinians work in Israel's construction industry, increased
construction is actually beneficial for everyone.
 
 
Southern Israel Tenses After Hamas Rocket Is Fired Into Israel
 
"Who will rise up for me against the wicked?  Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?  Unless the Lord had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death. … When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy."  (Psalm 94:16–17, 19)
 
On Friday night, a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip into Eshkol, Israel.
 
In response to the rocket, Eshkol Regional Council Chairman Haim Yellin expressed concern saying, “The military achievement of [Operation] Protective Edge is slipping away, without a political strategy to give real quiet to southern residents and all the citizens of Israel."
 
After the rocket landed, some area residents began preparing once again for war, accusing officials of neglect, since Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) now grips nine out of 10 children in Sderot, which is about one kilometer from Gaza.
 
 

Past Israeli President Shimon Peres tries to bring some joy into the lives
of children in southern Israel during Operation Protective Edge.
 
Recently, an international psychological expert concluded an assessment of Israeli children growing up near the Gaza border, confirming the widespread damage to their psychological health from the barrage of rocket fire.
 
According to Eliasz Gocal-Czerwinski, who is the child affairs adviser to the International Human Rights Council's secretary-general, throughout this region, Israel's children are under a "kind of emotional siege."  (Israel Today)
 
“From my point of view as a clinical psychologist, [I am] concerned about the needs of youth and their development, [which] you achieve not through economics, but through … having a stable and safe environment,” Gocal-Czerwinski said.  (Cry for Zion)
 
“As you can see, this isn’t safe, not for the Palestinians and especially not for the Israeli children," Gocal-Czerwinski said.  "You look at people 40–50 years old (who face such traumas in childhood), and the constant fear for their lives, the instability becomes a part of their personality."
 
Israel responded to Friday's rocket fire by closing its two crossings on the Israel-Gaza border to everything but humanitarian aid, which Hamas negotiator Moussa Abu Marzouk rebuked as a violation of the Hamas-Israel ceasefire.
 
"This is irresponsible behavior and contrary to the understandings reached at the beginning of the ceasefire," Marzouk said.  (Times of Israel)
 
 

Yitzhak Rabin, Bill Clinton, and Yasser Arafat during the Oslo Accords on
September 13, 1993.
 
At a rally on Saturday night to honor the memory of Yitzhak Rabin (19 years after his assassination), Yellin urged a military response to either Hamas or "rogue organizations" who attack Israeli citizens but also pressed for a diplomatic strategy.
 
In Tel Aviv's Rabin Square, Yellin addressed part of his public message to former Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh, several of whose family members have been treated in Israeli hospitals over the last few years.
 
“Exchange your missiles for words, swap the tunnels and the darkness you give to your people for the building of a vision, for light, universities, education,"Yellin said to Haniyeh.  "Think about it, if you could send your family members during the war to Ichilov (Hospital), then think what great cooperation we could have if you put terrorism aside and extended your hand to diplomacy.”  (JPost)
 
Yellin added to the rally crowd, "We have a country with great potential, but for years it has not been able to provide its citizens with real security and the horizons for a real peace."
 
"As long as there isn’t a diplomatic solution, we will continue to live from war to war to war," he said.
 
Yellin indicated that while the rockets start at a close range, affecting southern Israelis, it is only a matter of time before the center of the country sees fire again. 
 
“The hourglass has already been turned ahead of the next war,” he told reporters.  “Today it is Eshkol, tomorrow Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and so the military and political response must be in accordance [with the threat].”  
 
 
Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz greets Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.
 
 
Rivlin Visits Poland for Opening of New Jewish History Museum
 
This week, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin made his first trip abroad as President when he flew to Poland for the opening of the Museum of the Polish Jews in Warsaw, amid meetings with Polish heads of state to whom he stressed the need for a strong Polish-Israeli relationship.
 
"Our two countries have, already for 25 years, enjoyed a relationship that has not been simply between governments, but has become a close relationship between two peoples, looking to the future, without requiring either you or us to forget the past—the wonderful past in which Poland was home to so much of the Jewish people, and also the horrific years of the Holocaust, of catastrophe, and of heroism,” Rivlin said to Komorowski last Monday.  (GPO)
 
 
The President of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, inspects an honor guard at the
Presidential Palace in Warsaw during a welcoming ceremony.
(Photo: GPO / Mark Neyman)
 
The museum is built on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto.  It is the first museum to showcase the 1,000-year history of Polish Jews, who made an indelible impression on the identity of Europe.  (Israel HaYom)
 
Prior to the Holocaust, 3.5 million Jews had called Poland home.  By the end of 1944, only 350,000 Jews remained in Poland.
 
Today, according to the country's chief rabbi, U.S.-born Michael Schudrich, only 25,000 Jews remain.
 
Rivlin's first visit abroad reflects a return to his own family roots, as the president's ancestors immigrated to the Land of Israel from Poland in the early 1800s after a call from the Vilna Gaon (influential rabbi of Vilna) to non-Hasidic Jews to make aliyah (immigrate to Israel).  (YNet)
 
The Warsaw museum is "not a Holocaust museum, but a museum of life," Rivlin saidTuesday at the ceremony, placing at the museum entrance a wreath of remembrance for the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising heroes.
 
 
Although the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw first
opened on April 19, 2013, it opened to the public this October.
 
Despite the life-affirming focus of the museum, Rivlin acknowledged in his public address that "as a Jew, even if you were not born in Poland, the very name, Poland, gives rise to a shuddering in your body and a longing in your heart."  (JP)
 
Poland is "to our great sorrow … the largest graveyard of the Jewish people," he said.  (JPost)
 
Concerning the connection between the creation of the State of Israel and tragedy of the Holocaust, Rivlin stated, "There are those who mistakenly think that the State of Israel is compensation for the Holocaust.  There is no greater mistake.  The State of Israel is not a compensation for the Holocaust.  The State of Israel was established in its own right."
 
"Jewish history did not begin in Warsaw, and doesn’t end at Auschwitz. … the Jewish journey does not start there, just as it does not end there," Rivlin said.  "The Jewish journey begins in the Land of Israel and it is there that we always strive to return to, against all odds and restrictions." 
 
 
A reconstruction of the synagogue in Gwozdziec at the Museum of the
History of Polish Jews in Warsaw.
 
Before Tuesday's opening ceremony of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, the Israeli president and First Lady Nechama Rivlin met privately with their Polish counterparts, with the Rivlins giving President Bronislaw Komorowski a menorah from the Israel Museum.
 
The seven-branched Temple candelabra is engraved with a Scripture verse: 
"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; may they that love you prosper."  (Psalm 122:6)
 
On Wednesday, Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz asked Rivlin to urge Israel's youth to visit Poland in order to further strengthen the connection between Israel's Jews and Poland.  (Times of Israel)
 
"Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west.  I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’  Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made.”  (Isaiah 43:5–6)
 
 
 
 
Please stand with us in these last days as we bring the Good News of Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah) to the Jewish People and the nations.
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