Amaliah-Bus Of Angels added a new video: Bus Of Angels.
April 15 at 4:08pm ·
This bus picks up Syrians who need help and takes them to Israel for medical care by Amaliah.
More info at WWW.AMALIAH.ORG
Hatikvah in Bergen-Belsen
World Jewish Congress added a new video: Hatikvah in Bergen-Belsen.
April 14 at 5:20pm ·
On April 15 1945, the British troops liberated Bergen-Belsen, with its 60,000 remaining prisoners. 13,000 corpses lay around the camp, adults and children alike. 50,000 people died there throughout the 5 years the camp was in function, including the beloved Anne Frank. On the first Shabbat service after the liberation, the survivors, although weak and emaciated, sang the HaTikvah with all their hearts. This is the recording.
Love Your Enemy – IDF in Action
This the command: “LOVE YOUR ENEMY” in action, thank you IDF!
On Thursday night, seven Syrians – one man, four women, and two children – approached the border in critical need of medical care. The IDF immediately evacuated them to an Israeli hospital. About 3,000 injured Syrians have received medical care in Israel since 2013.
A True Story About Jewish and Arab Israelis
So you must love the resident foreigner because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 10:19)
In 2015, Sara Zoabi was one of the favorite contestants in the Israeli Master Chef reality show. She didn’t win but announced in front of the entire nation that she was “an Arab Muslim and an Israeli Zionist,” and added, “I may get killed for saying this, but I truly believe that we as Arabs have no better place than Israel.”
Her son Muhammad, a high school student at that time, became famous in 2014, just before the war with Hamas, after he posted a video on Facebook asking for the return of the three Israeli teenagers kidnapped by Hamas, while holding a big Israeli flag in front of him.
After receiving many threats (even death) from Israeli Muslims he had to go into hiding. Today Muhammad has many followers on Facebook where he dedicates his time to promote love and acceptance of Israel. He considers Israel his homeland and says he loves Israel. He sees the anti-Israel propaganda around the world as spreading lies and based on hate, and he wants to speak out against it.
Many are furious with him when they hear him speak the truth in Israel’s favor. But not all Israeli Arabs are anti-Israel. Many are like Sara and Muhammad, but are afraid to speak up.
In January, I (Bella) attended this year’s Likud party members get-together in Eilat. (Last year I joined the Likud party as a member. Likud is the major government party headed by PM Netanyahu.) There I met many Knesset ministers, and heard speeches about their different achievements and plans. I also met Sarah Zoabi there and we talked for a while. She was willing to be interviewed by me for our newsletter.
“I define myself as a proud Israeli, Zionist, Arab, and Muslim.” She said, “and as a Zionist who loves Israel, I support the right of the Jewish people to their own state in the Holy land – the state of Israel. Throughout history and up to today, the Jewish people have been suffering from genocidal attacks and persecutions, so they deserve their own state.
“The Jewish people give honor to humanity. The state of Israel can be an example to the whole world. I was born and raised here, gave birth to my 2 children here. I live here among Israeli Jews and don’t feel like a second class citizen. The Apartheid accusation against Israel makes me laugh. Even the word doesn’t fit Israel. What is apartheid? You could have seen it in South Africa. But here I don’t see Jews living separate from Arabs. On the contrary, we are integrated in the Israeli society, we work together (there are many Arab doctors in Israeli hospitals, Arab actors in Israeli theater, Arab contestants in Israeli reality shows, and even a beauty queen). There are also Arabs in the Israeli government and in the army.
“Israelis honor Muslim women. There is equal rights and equal responsibilities. I don’t hear words of hate because of skin color or religion. My parents raised me to honor the other person without any connection to his or her race, color or religion.
“We (the Israeli Muslim Arabs), have a good life here. I am willing to give my life for the state of Israel. I pray God will keep Israel and the Jewish people safe and alive. The Jewish people are the chosen people. I have learned this also in the Koran. Some say that because the Jews sinned against God they are no longer His people. I don’t know, all I know is that there is a God in heaven and He is the judge. I know this, that the Jewish people are still the chosen people and the Holy land is the gift that God gave to His chosen people, and I have to accept this and honor it.
“Up to today, many promote annihilation of the Jewish state and the Jews. But I, a Muslim Arab who is active in Israel’s advocacy, want to tell all Arabs and especially the Israeli Arabs, wake up. We live in Paradise. About a million Arabs live in Israel among Jews. They are not suffering like the Arabs who live under Arab rulers. In Israel there is freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. In Israel Muslims, Druze and Christians enjoy conditions that in Arab countries are being prevented. I believe that Israeli citizens, regardless of their religion must be Israelis first. For me the Israeli flag is my flag. Hatikva (Jewish people’s Hope) is my national anthem. Thank you so much.”
“Israelis honor Muslim women. There is equal rights and equal responsibilities. I don’t hear words of hate because of skin color or religion. My parents raised me to honor the other person without any connection to his or her race, color or religion.
“We (the Israeli Muslim Arabs), have a good life here. I am willing to give my life for the state of Israel. I pray God will keep Israel and the Jewish people safe and alive. The Jewish people are the chosen people. I have learned this also in the Koran. Some say that because the Jews sinned against God they are no longer His people. I don’t know, all I know is that there is a God in heaven and He is the judge. I know this, that the Jewish people are still the chosen people and the Holy land is the gift that God gave to His chosen people, and I have to accept this and honor it.
“Up to today, many promote annihilation of the Jewish state and the Jews. But I, a Muslim Arab who is active in Israel’s advocacy, want to tell all Arabs and especially the Israeli Arabs, wake up. We live in Paradise. About a million Arabs live in Israel among Jews. They are not suffering like the Arabs who live under Arab rulers. In Israel there is freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. In Israel Muslims, Druze and Christians enjoy conditions that in Arab countries are being prevented. I believe that Israeli citizens, regardless of their religion must be Israelis first. For me the Israeli flag is my flag. Hatikva (Jewish people’s Hope) is my national anthem. Thank you so much.”
When we finished the interview we hugged, and I felt love for this precious woman. She said she loves many of the government members who are her friends, among them PM Netanyahu. As we spoke, we had to stop a few times as some of them came over to say hello to her and hug her. I saw the love they have for her and the love she has for them. Later she told me she is not into politics but sees herself as an ambassador of love to the Muslim Israeli Arabs and to the Jewish Israelis.
Sarah Zoabi has many speaking engagements around the world where she spreads her message of this love and the Ideologies she expressed in this interview.
Please pray for Sarah Zoabi and her son Muhammad, for protection and strength.
The Revival of the Hebrew Language
“Then Eliyakim son of Hikiah and Shebna and Joan said to Rabshakeh,…speak to your servants in the Aramaic language, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in Yehudit (the Jews’ language) in the hearing of the people on the wall.” (II Kings 18:26)
Last week was “Hebrew Day” in honor of the revival of the Hebrew language.
The Shebna Inscription (ancient Hebrew,) from the tomb of a royal steward found in Siloam, dates to the 7th century BCE
Some interesting facts about the Hebrew language:
Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic family of languages. The Hebrew language is the only Canaanite language in use today.
In Hebrew the language is called Ivrit, from the word Avar which means crossed over. Abraham was called a Hebrew because he crossed over (Avar) from his native land of the Chaldean to the land of Canaan. However it was called Yehudit (Jewish) in the Bible after the tribe of Judah (Yehuda) and the kingdom of Judah. The language started to be known as Hebrew from the time of the Second Temple. At the time of the Roman occupation, Jews in Judah also spoke the international languages of Aramaic and Greek.
After the expulsion of the Jews from the land of Israel by the Roman Empire, Hebrew slowly ceased to be the everyday spoken language of the Jews. It survived in the Middle ages mainly as part of the Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, writings and poetry.
Pictured: 1st kindergarten Hebrew teacher in Palestina (Israel in the 19th century)
Hebrew as a common language was revived in the 19th century and is still being developed with the help of the Hebrew Academy of the Hebrew language in Israel. Hebrew is spoken by more than 6 million people worldwide, the largest number in Israel followed by the United States.
Present day Hebrew consists of a mixture from several eras. Biblical Hebrew, the Hebrew of Rabbinical writings, languages from the Middle Ages, and modern languages (mainly English). The highest percentage comes from Biblical Hebrew, more than 60%, but some modern words are derivatives of biblical words. The most common words in Hebrew are lo (no) and kol (all)
The days of the week are named according to their number in the days of creations: Sunday is Rishon meaning first, Monday is Sheni – second, Tuesday is Shlishi – third, Wednesday is Revii – fourth, Thursday is Hamishi – fifth, Friday is Shishi – sixth, and only Saturday the seventh day has a special word – Shabbat which means cease from work, because God finished His work of creation and rested or ceased from all His work.
The original Tanakh, (Old Testament) was written in Hebrew, with the exception of some chapters in Daniel and Ezra who lived in Babylon. God spoke in Hebrew to men and women in the Bible, many times using “plays on words” that cannot be translated, and can only be understood in Hebrew. The angel Gabriel spoke in Hebrew to Mary (Miriam) and told her the baby will be called Yeshua which means Salvation in Hebrew. The letters JESUS are transliterated from the letters YESHUA, but in English the word Jesus has no meaning.
Some English words that have their origin in Hebrew:
- Amen – certainly, verily, comes from the Hebrew word emuna – faith
- Bath or bathtub – 10 gallons liquid measure, from bath in Hebrew
- Cinnamon – Kinamon in Biblical and Modern Hebrew
- Cider – Shekhar in Hebrew – strong drink
- Hallelujah, Halleluya in Hebrew – praise the Lord
- Macabre – In French macabre, probably from the Hebrew word makevet – hammer or naqab – perforate
- Satanic – from the Hebrew satan – adversary, devil
- Camel – in Hebrew gamal