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BREAKING NEWS – PLEASE PRAY!

January 21, 2023 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

The massacres against Israeli citizens by Palestinian terrorists continue. Since the September 1993 Oslo agreements that Israel hoped would lead to lasting peace until September 2000, nearly 300 Israelis were murdered in terrorist attacks. Since September 2000, Palestinian terrorists murdered another 1,403 Israelis.

Last Friday night, at least seven innocent Jewish citizens were shot dead at close rage with a handgun outside an East Jerusalem synagogue by a 21-year-old Arab Palestinian from E. Jerusalem.

The attack took place on international Holocaust Memorial Day, which is dedicated to the memory of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust. The Israeli police called the attack a slaughter of innocent Jewish civilians. The Jews were observing the holy day of Shabbat.
After his shooting spree at innocent Israelis, the terrorist fled the scene. When Israeli security personnel intercepted him, he tried shooting at them, but they neutralized him.

The very next day – Saturday morning, a 13-year-old Arab boy from E. Jerusalem opened fire on people visiting the City of David. A father and son were seriously injured. Others were injured as well. The shooter was neutralized.

Please “Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem”.

Filed Under: Conflict, MainStoryWidget-left, Terrorism Tagged With: Palestinians, Terrorism

The System of Voting in Israel

October 29, 2022 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

Only a party or a group of parties that runs together in the elections can present a list of candidates and participate in the elections.

Voting papers in the box. Times of Israel

There is a Basic Israeli Law that blocks any party from registration if any of its purposes or deeds, explicitly or implicitly, contain:

  • negation of the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state;
  • incitement to racism or support for an armed struggle of an enemy state or a terrorist organization against the State of Israel.

The law also prohibits the registration of a party if there is reasonable ground to deduce that it will serve as a cover for illegal activities.

According to the Basic Law:

Knesset elections should take place once every four years, but the Knesset or the Prime Minister may attempt to move up the elections through the Knesset Dissolution Law, for instance. Early elections may also be held if the budget is not approved.

Certain parties hold primary elections. These parties directly elect their candidates for the Knesset. Some parties elect their candidates through their institutions (usually a party’s central committee). In other parties, the candidates are elected by their leaders.

The electoral system is based primarily on two laws – the Basic Law: the Knesset (1958) and the Knesset Elections Law (combined version) – 1969.

Article 4 of the Basic Law:

  • the Knesset is to be elected in general, country-wide, direct, equal, secret, and proportional elections.

General election: the right to elect and be elected

Every Israeli citizen who is at least 18 years old has the right to vote; every Israeli citizen who is at least 21 years old has the right to run for office.

Voting takes place in private, behind a screen, and putting a small note with the letters of the party in a sealed envelope which they insert into a big box called Kalpi.

The principle of secrecy ensures fairness in the elections and prevents the exertion of undue pressure.

Filed Under: Israel, MainStoryWidget-left Tagged With: Elections, Voting

RETURN TO ZION – the Miracle of Modern Israel

September 25, 2020 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

The destruction of Jerusalem and the second temple by the Romans in 70 CE and the banishment of the Jewish people to the far corners of the Roman Empire ended the Jewish nation and the sovereignty of the Jewish people of Judah for almost 2,000 years. During the following centuries, until the 19th century, whenever a Jewish population attempted to settle and gather in the suburbs of Jerusalem, they were warned off by the reigning empire—frequently by force. After the decree of Rome banishing the Jewish people from the city of Jerusalem and the region, the Roman government renamed the land “Palestine.”

Thereafter, the Jewish people suffered prejudice and persecution as a people. There ceased to be a Jewish nation – neither Israel nor Judah. As the Lord warned through the biblical prophets, the people of Israel were scattered around the earth. However, the Jewish people stayed together as a people wherever they lived throughout the world, observing the Sabbath and celebrating the Jewish (biblical) holidays. During the Passover Seder (meal), they recited the story of deliverance from slavery in Egypt, and at the end, they proclaimed: “Next year in Jerusalem!”

The land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem were never forgotten. In the latter19th century, events began to transpire that would eventually give birth, after almost two millennia, to the modern Jewish state of Israel.

The “Aliyah Movement”

The literal meaning of the Hebrew word, “Aliyah” is “to go up.” In other words, no matter where a Jewish immigrant is coming from to Jerusalem or the Land of Israel, he is going up. It is also the term for calling a member of a Jewish synagogue to “come up” to read the weekly portion from the Holy Torah scroll.

The Aliyah movement was a response to the historic and repeated persecution of European Jews. It swept young Jewish adults of Eastern Europe in an almost spontaneous burst of passion for the Land.

The First Aliyah in 1881 to 1882 – a reaction to pogroms (an organized massacre) in Czarist Russia would eventually include almost 35,000 Jewish pioneers, a generation of Jewish young adults determined to leave their countries of origin and “go up” to the land of their forefathers, now called Palestine. Their passion was to rebuild their families and the land. These pioneers frequently overcame monumental obstacles to reach the historic lands of Judah and Israel, at that time known as “Palestine,” in an attempt to build a new life for themselves and the Jewish people.

The First Zionist Congress – The second significant event in the latter 19th century was the emergence of Zionism under the initial inspiration and leadership of Theodor Herzl, a successful secular Jewish journalist from Vienna, who was shocked by the deadly anti-Semitism, prejudice, and persecution of the European Jews at the hand of the gentiles, and was convinced that they were a continual threat. The solution, according to Herzl, was a Jewish homeland in Zion, the ancient land of the Jewish people. To this end, he organized the First Zionist Congress, held in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897 with about 200 Jewish delegates in attendance from different nations.

During the 19th century, as the First Aliyah began to unfold, and the First Zionist Conference was held, Christian leaders were of mixed opinions as to the significance of these matters. Some read the prophecies in the scriptures and were certain the nation of Israel had to be reborn. Others, believing in the replacement theology, were just as certain Israel and the Jews were rejected by God and replaced by the “Church.” Depending on the denomination, churches were for or against, (moral) support to the Zionist cause.

This debate continued right up until the UN voted in 1948 to make a way for a Jewish homeland, and continues to rage to the present day. Is it Prophetic or Political? Whether it is a Russian diplomat acting on behalf of the Czar; or a U.S. President, or the U.S. State, religious and/or political beliefs lie beneath the surface of action or inaction. Even today, beliefs, as well as self-interest and necessities, right or wrong, specifically affect individuals’ and nations’ positions on the events taking place in the Middle East.

Following the death of Herzl in July 1904, the banner for a Jewish state was carried by a new generation of secular, humanist, European Jews. Chaim Weizmann and David Ben-Gurion were the most notable. The motivating force behind the struggle for the creation of a Jewish homeland was driven by these men who were liberal, even socialist in their beliefs and politics.

Religious Judaism was not significantly represented among the early leaders of what became the first Israeli politicians. They were not motivated at all by a historical/biblical longing for the return to the land of their fathers. Their motivation was nationalistic; to the extent that they were convinced, there could never be peace for Jews in any non-Jewish country.

Internationally, and under all circumstances, whenever events turned negative—be they political, economic, or even climate change—the Jews were always the convenient scapegoats for blame. Even in the USA, it was widely held among the general population that “the Jews were behind the banking crisis and the Great Depression.”

The early Zionist founders were Jews but had no real connection to the Jewish religion or traditions. Some barely believed in God, or not at all. In fact, religious Judaism was skeptical of any effort to create a new Jewish state. Many Orthodox rabbis spoke openly against it, even maintaining it was up to the Messiah, when He comes, to reestablish the nation. Many went so far as to say working for a (secular) Jewish state was blasphemous.

The Balfour Declaration – Britain’s Lord Balfour’s declaration was a public statement issued on November 2, 1917, by the British government and published on November 9, 1917. It declared support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, (which was at that time a Muslim Ottoman Empire region with a small minority Jewish population.) 

It seemed to satisfy the vision Herzl had for a Jewish home in their homeland. However, its implementation met with opposition within the British government because England was dependent upon the expanding crude oil development of the Middle East, which necessitated good relations and support of the Arab populations and states that apparently controlled the crude reserves.

At the conclusion of WWI, the victorious Allies, at the encouragement of Great Britain, made several modifications to the map of the Middle East that was previously the undivided Turkish Ottoman Empire. They divided up much of that territory to create a new map. Included in this innovative map-making was the creation of several new countries that had never existed before, such as Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and others. The “Great Nations” behind this new map of the Middle East were Great Britain, France, and, to some extent, Russia.

A New Map

With all of this “new country creation,” the Zionists had realistic expectations, in light of the Balfour Declaration, that Great Britain would only allow for a sliver of land in Palestine for the first Jewish homeland in two millennia.

Unfortunately, even this did not happen at that time, as the national security voices within the British Foreign Office prevailed with the argument that the vast Arab majority of the Middle East, where the largest concentration of future crude oil was certain to be located, would not permit the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine, no matter how small.

The League of Nations (later to become the United Nations) gave Great Britain the mandate over the Palestine area, which included the area that is now Jordan. The British were supposed to be there until the Jews would be able to rule their new state. They were also supposed to keep the peace in this troubled spot. This enabled the British to maintain British dominance in this strategic region.

But, due to England’s growing prejudice and hostility toward world Jewry and their religion, as the 20th Century progressed, it became clear to the Zionists that a Jewish homeland in Palestine might never be achieved. With hostility increasing all over Europe toward the Jews and British policy limiting the immigration of Jews to Palestine, Jews began to resort to “illegal” means to enter and settle in Palestine.

Nowhere to go

Even as Hitler’s final solution to exterminate the Jewish population of Europe progressed, Great Britain continued to forbid entry of additional European Jews refugees to Palestine. Once Hitler was finally defeated, Europe found itself with millions of DPs, (Displaced Persons,) of which the majorities were Jewish survivors of the Hitler extermination machine. These Jewish Holocaust survivors soon discovered they were not even welcome to return to their former European homes or cities. When a few brave ones attempted, they were greeted not as survivors of Hitler, but as “the cause of the war.”

A significant number of those who survived Hitler were killed by angry anti-Semite mobs when they attempted to return to their homes which had been confiscated (among them were Bella’s father’s family.) In Poland, returning survivors were attacked with shouts of, “Hitler should have finished the job! Why aren’t you dead?” The Allies decided it was too risky to allow these Jewish survivors to “just run loose.” So, the Allied Occupation Command decided to convert many of Hitler’s “death” camps to “DP camps,” camps for displaced persons (Bella was born in a DP camp in 1947). Once again, the Jews were locked up!

Although pressure was mounting on Britain to let some of these Holocaust survivors enter Palestine, the British government feared it would provoke an Arab violent reaction, as it saw itself as the only peacekeeping force in Palestine between the Arab population and the growing Jewish one.

By the fall of 1947, the pressure upon the British had grown almost intolerable, with U.S. President Harry Truman leading the way, finally, Great Britain agreed to an option of ending the mandate (trusteeship) submitted to a vote by the newly created United Nations general assembly. Britain lobbied on behalf of a proposal, calling for the simultaneous creation of an Arab state and a Jewish state, dividing the previously undivided Palestine.

However, with the growing aspirations of the Soviet Union in the Middle East and the desire to reduce the influence of Great Britain in the region, the Soviet Union, with all of their vassal states, voted for the end of the mandate and the creation of an independent Jewish state.

The U.N. vote on November 29, 1947, ended the British mandate in the region, as well as the blockade of the European-Jews, immigrated to Palestine.

Declaration of the State of Israel

Immediately upon the withdrawal of the last British troops from Palestine, Ben-Gurion, the leader of the Jewish population in the land declared the independence and statehood of the Jewish nation, calling the new Jewish state and the land – “Israel.” In fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 66:8, on May 14, 1948, a nation, the Nation of Israel was truly born in a day.

Once the U.N. voted to end the mandate, and cleared the way for a Jewish state, it began to establish the permissible, likely borders. Also, it was envisioned that an additional Arab/Palestinian state would simultaneously be created in the former British Mandate Palestine.

The neighboring and existing (Islamic) Arab nations in the region opposed the idea of a Jewish state ever emerging in the Middle East, no matter how small. At the core of the Arab opposition was a fundamental Islamic inviolable precept that “Once a land or territory has been conquered by Islam, from that time that land is Islamic! All true followers of Islam are committed to going to war, and even dying, to enforce this Islamic dictum!” (Israel was conquered by Islam in the 7th century and reconquered in the 11th century)

The Miracle

This is the mantra of organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah as well as nations like Iran. To the secular nations, including the emerging secular leadership of the (then) proposed Jewish state, it seemed impossible to reason with such religious dogma. It appeared war would be the only solution. Jihad (Islam Holy War) was the only honorable response prescribed by Islam.

The outnumbered, outgunned Jews of the new state were seen as having no chance to survive such an attack from the surrounding enormous enemy armies. It was widely believed the Jewish state that was born in one day would not survive even one day. Miraculously, Israel defeated these enemies and God’s word of a reborn Jewish state prevailed.

Filed Under: Aliyah, From the Newsletter, History, MainStoryWidget-left, Our People Tagged With: aliyah, History, immigration

New Moon Celebration

June 28, 2020 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

Exodus 12:1-3

Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month is the beginning of months for you; it shall be the first month of your year. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man must select a lamb for his family, one per household.”

The gentile Gregorian calendar, based on the sun, substituted God’s biblical (Hebrew) calendar that was based on the moon as if saying that the substitute was a better way. They made a different day for the Sabbath, they made different dates for the Set Times of the Lord (the Jewish holidays) and omitted the celebration of the New Moon from the calendar.

This month some nations joined in Jerusalem for the first time to celebrate the New Moon, thereby reconnecting with God’s biblical calendar. It’s a huge thing, since the Gregorian calendar is actually part of the root of anti-Semitism, denying that God chose the Jewish nation to establish His calendar in the world.

When God took Israel out of Egypt and established her as a nation, He declared that this would be the first day of the first month (first new moon.) Our New Moon celebrations fulfill the declaration He made, that Israel and the nations would gather on God’s timetable.

The Lord’s Supper – Victory Meal

In Jeremiah 31, God promises: “The time is coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. God speaks of the new covenant He would give to Israel. We usually stop at the verse where the Lord declares, “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” However, in the very next verse, 35 “This is what the Lord says, He who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar – the Lord Almighty is His Name: 36 “Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,” declares the Lord, “will Israel ever cease being a nation before Me.” He confirms this promise again in the next verse, “ 37 This is what the Lord says: “Only if the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,” declares the Lord.”

God affirms that His commitment to Israel is not dependent on what she does or doesn’t do. It is only because of His faithfulness that He will never reject Israel and Israel will never cease from being a nation before Him. Therefore, taking the Lord’s Supper on the New Moon is a victory meal, like a victory shout, that Israel exists before Him as a nation and that the One who brought us out of Egypt, the One Who was, is still alive and is the One Who is to come. As we line up with this promise, we are on a journey to the throne.

What will all nations sing before His Throne? The song, “Redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb,” and “Worthy is the Lamb.” This journey started in Exodus, when He said in chapter 12:2, “This is the first of your month and the first of your year” and in the next verse He instructs to choose and take a lamb.

At Passover, all the people of Israel passed through the doorposts covered by the blood of the lamb. That event began the journey to the Throne. And each month, more people enter by one thing – by the Blood of the Lamb of God, Yeshua/Jesus. Each month we get closer and closer to His coming – the One Who was, Who is, and Who is to come. We are not just wandering around in this world. We have a purpose; we know where we are going.

The New Moon is a sign of the New Covenant in His Blood, and God’s eternal commitment to Israel. Even before He gave the Ten Commandments, He commanded:

“This is the first of the month”. That was the basis for His people’s calendar. It echoes way back to creation when He made the moon for signs and seasons.

For a long time, it was removed from our understanding. But now we are enlightened. 

People may object saying that it is not in the New Testament. But in the Gospels, we see Yeshua honoring the Sabbath, honoring and celebrating the biblical feasts, so we have no reason to think that He didn’t celebrate the New Moon. On the other hand, there are no instructions to eliminate this set time. 

We can’t know when Passover is if we don’t mark the New Moon of that month. We can’t go up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles if we don’t recognize the first of the seventh month. Colossians 2:16-17 “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.”17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is Christ.”

At the time of the New Moon, the sliver of the moon is so small that you can barely see it.
At the time of the New Moon, the sliver of the moon is so small that you can barely see it.

A shadow speaks of something real, a substance, which is Him. It’s all about Him. The New Moon celebration is not to be removed but to be fulfilled; Yeshua is its meaning. Therefore, it’s so significant that the nations honor this day.

Finally, the nations are saying, “We have joined the New Covenant by the Blood of the Lamb, and we recognize God’s eternal calendar by which He moves.”

May the nations reject the false calendar they set up and celebrate the New Moon to say, “We are joining in and honoring Jerusalem, the city of the Great King, the Coming King.”

Celebrating with the blowing of the silver trumpets in “My House”.

We are thankful for “My House” where we can celebrate every first of the month on God’s calendar until He returns to rule and reign from Jerusalem. This is a thanksgiving feast. To God be the Glory! Amen!

Filed Under: From the Newsletter, History, Holidays, MainStoryWidget-left Tagged With: New Moon, Rosh Chodesh, Rosh Hodesh

The Counting of the Omer

May 10, 2020 By Bella Davidov 2 Comments

“You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the Omer sheaf (sheaf) of the wave offering. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord.” (Leviticus 23:15-16)

the omer and a sicle

In Jewish tradition, the Omer is considered to be a bridge that connects the Exodus from Egypt from slavery to freedom, to the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai seven weeks later, on the holiday of Shavuot (Pentecost.) Passover and Shavuot are two of the three pilgrimage festivals when the people of Israel went up to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem to come before the Lord.

God commanded the Israelites: “Three times a year shall all your men appear before the Lord your God in the place that God will choose [God chose Jerusalem as His dwelling place], on the festivals of Unleavened Bread (Passover), the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), and the Festival of Tabernacles (Sukkot). They shall not appear empty-handed. Each shall bring his own gift, appropriate to the blessing which the Lord your God has given you.” (Deuteronomy 16:16)

The Lord wants to bless His people with abundance, but He wants them to come to Him with the first Omer of their crop, and He will give the increase.

The three festivals are joyous times of anticipation for God’s blessings on their offerings. The time between Passover and Shavuot is truly a happy event, seven weeks of joyous celebration, believing God for a great harvest.

However, since the destruction of the Temple and the Jews dispersed to nations all around the world, the counting of the Omer has become a tradition of strict laws set by the rabbis.

Jews in the Diaspora developed laws regarding what to say and what to do. For example, one stands when counting the Omer, and begins by reciting the blessing in Hebrew translated: “Blessed are you, Lord our God, Sovereign of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to count the Omer.” After the blessing, one states the appropriate day of the count, like: today is the 28-day of the Omer, and so forth for each day. He also states the week, because the biblical text instructs, “you shall count 50 days.”

Furthermore, the text also says to “count seven complete weeks.” Therefore the tradition commands to count both days and weeks with the appropriate blessings as they appear in the prayer books for the evening service. However, if a person forgets to count the Omer on a particular evening, he may count the next morning for the previous day but without reciting the blessing, and then may continue counting, as usual, that evening with the blessing.

If, however, one forgets to count the Omer at night and also forgets to count in the morning, one should still count the Omer on every subsequent night, but should no longer recite a blessing before counting.

In Judaism, the days of the counting of the Omer have become a solemn time of partial mourning. In different Jewish communities, there are different traditions regarding how much of the Omer period is spent in mourning, and what restrictions apply, for at least some portion of the days of the counting of the Omer. Behavior such as listening to live music, celebrating weddings and Bar Mitzvahs, shaving, and getting haircuts are generally forbidden. There is just one day, the 33rd day of the Omer, Lag Ba’Omer, that is a joyous day, which is treated as a minor holiday with singing, dancing, (hair cuts are allowed), and gathering around lit bonfires.

According to the Talmud (Oral Law), the reason for the mourning during the counting of the Omer is to commemorate a terrible plague that killed 24,000 of Rabbi Akiva’s students during the Omer period (a famous rabbi who lived in Israel in the 130’s CE and is considered to be one of the greatest rabbinic sages.) The Talmud explains that this horrible tragedy was a punishment because the followers of Rabbi Akiva did not respect one another. The followers were extremely learned men who devoted their lives to the Torah, mainly the Oral Law; but their lack of respect for one another caused the devastation. Jewish tradition puts great emphasis on the treatment of people one to the other. It is not enough to learn Torah and be right with God without being kind and doing good to our fellow men.

Holding the Omer

Rabbi Akiva also proclaimed Bar-Kochba as the Messiah (a false one) which led to the rebellion against the Romans in AD 132, a rebellion that failed.

As followers of Yeshua/Jesus, the True Messiah, we lift up our attention and focus on God’s Eternal Kingdom. (Colossians 3:2)

During these 50 days of counting the Omer we look forward to Shavuot (Pentecost) and pray for Spiritual Awakening with the promise of God to pour His Spirit on all people. (Joel 2:28)

Filed Under: History, Holidays, MainStoryWidget-left

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Protest Demonstrations in Israel

Unrest in Israel

The battle rages in Israel between the left that lost the elections and the new right-wing government. Thousands of Israelis took to the streets last Saturday evening to protest plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government whose opponents say threaten democracy and freedoms. The protesters gathered in the central city of Tel Aviv days […]

The Override Law

November 18, 2022

God’s kingdom is not a democracy. He is the Supreme Judge and we must abide by His rules and law. We affirm, "the world is filled with His glory." We … [Read More...] about The Override Law

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