Ma'oz Tzur and the "End of Christianity"

Ma’oz Tzur is an intense anti-Christian text reflecting the mood and experience of Ashkenazi Jews during the Crusades, when dozens of Jewish communities were slaughtered in the name of the cross.^[1] 

 

A 12^th/13^th Century Ashkenazi Hymn

Ma’oz Tzur is the most popular of the Chanukah hymns. It was written in late twelfth- or early thirteenth-century Ashkenaz. The poem’s style attests to the influence of the literary devices and norms of the Sefardic Piyyut. Through the centuries the hymn was adopted by the vast majority of Jewish communities, and became the piece of liturgy most associated with the festival of Chanukah.^[2]

The poem is comprised of six stanzas. The acrostic formed from the first letters of the first five stanzas give us the name of the author: Mordechai [מרדכי], though little if anything is known about the identity of this Mordechai.^[3] Quite ironically, even though it has strong anti-Christian elements, its most famous mellow melody derives from a sixteenth-century Protestant Choral.

Six Stanzas – Two Units

The six stanzas of the poem are divided into two main units. The four middle stanzas narrate, in the past tense, the events of four persecutions of the Jews: the Egyptian exile, the Babylonian exile, the persecution of the Jews by Haman in the Persian Empire as narrated in the Book of Esther, and finally, the Greek attempt to enforce Hellenistic religion and culture during the Hasmonean period. (This, ostensibly, constitutes the official reason for the association of the hymn with the festival of Chanukah.)

The first and last stanzas are both written in the present tense and complement each other, and thus express the mindset and wishes of the poet at the time of the composition of the hymn.

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Chief Rabbi Lau to Diaspora rabbis: You must vaccinate, dangerous not to

 

The Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, David Lau, has started speaking to rabbis in the Diaspora to tell them to encourage their followers to vaccinate in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

As part of a campaign to strengthen Israeli relations with the Diaspora, vis-à-vis virtual meetings with other chief rabbis in a wide variety of countries, Lau stressed the importance of preventing the continued spread of coronavirus. 

Among some of the meetings that have already taken place include a discussion with the rabbis of the congregations of Vienna, Austria, where Lau provided words of encouragement and halachic responsa. 

Lau also virtually met with rabbis of the communities in France to discuss halachic issues and the coronavirus crisis, particularly the need to vaccinate, which included special meetings with the rabbis from Marseilles, Strasbourg and the Beit Din of France. 

Lau told the rabbis of the congregations that they need to vaccinate, and that they should act by example and explain the importance of vaccination, saying in a statement that there is a danger in not getting vaccinated. 

The special campaign for Israel-Diaspora relations led by Lau will continue into the next week, when he will meet with rabbis from Australia and Panama, along with further meetings expected with rabbis from the United States, Argentina and Canada.

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Only In the USA Can A Congressman Sleep With a Chinese Spy and Sit on the Intelligence Committee

 

"He was the most over-the-top critic of President Trump on Russia collusion, and it turns out he's sleeping with a Chinese spy."@RandPaul says @ericswalwell "ought to just resign from Congress," after his association with an alleged Chinese spy was revealed. pic.twitter.com/84bmxfmHsn

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) December 16, 2020

Seattle Politician Who Defunded The Police Called 911 To Report A Crime She Wants To Legalize

 

Seattle City Councilwoman Lisa Herbold has been one of the drivers of the defund the police movement in that city. She also is pushing a law that would give blanket immunity for misdemeanor crimes as long as the person committing the crime was “poor, homeless, drug-addicted, or (had) a mental illness.” Apparently, like so many other liberals, Herbold thinks her wonderful ideas shouldn’t apply when she’s the one being victimized.

On Friday, a man tossed a rock through her living room window and Herbold called the police. You know, the police she wants to defund because vandalism, a crime she doesn’t think the poor, homeless, drug-addicted, or mentally ill should be punished for, was committed against her.

According to Herbold, “she was on the west side of the living room near the kitchen when she heard a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot and dove into the kitchen for cover.” When one of those awful cops she wants to defund showed up to help, she told the officer, “her staff has received anonymous phone threats recently, but nothing in particular that links the threats to today’s incident.”

So, interesting question. If Lisa Herbold’s law passed and someone were to pay poor, homeless, and mentally ill people $5 to throw rocks at Lisa Herbold’s house, would they be convicted of a crime even if they didn’t fit into those categories? Maybe, but what if that person paid someone who was mentally ill to do it for them? These sound like jokey, ridiculous questions, but Seattle is getting so detached from reality that these are issues that need to be considered. Meanwhile, police officers are leaving the Seattle force in droves and the city is on pace to have the highest number of homicides that it has seen in years.

At the end of the day, mistakes like the ones Seattle is making tend to be self-correcting problems because guess what? People can virtue signal all they want, but no one wants a rock thrown through their window.

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California Will Prioritize Blacks Over Elderly in Covid Vaccine Saying 'old people in this country are too white to save'

 

Tucker Carlson has told his viewers he believes that the coronavirus vaccine is being distributed based solely on race, claiming that elderly old white people are not receiving the shot first in many places because they are from a 'disfavored race'. 

On his Friday night show, he said that the government's plan to prioritize non-healthcare essential workers over the elderly is an example of eugenics because 'racial and ethnic minority groups are disproportionately represented in many essential industries'.

'Old people in this country are too white to save. They even put it in writing,' he claimed, while blasting the vaccine rollout as 'entirely racial'. 

He also cited examples in California and Oregon where health officials have announced measures that will ensure black and brown communities have extended access to the vaccine. 

It comes after black and Indigenous Americans were shown to have the highest death rates from the virus. Black, indigenous and latino Americans all have a COVID-19 death rate of more than 2.7 times white Americans, who experience the lowest age-adjusted rates, according to APM Research Lab. 

But Carlson hit out the measures, claiming it tells Americans 'when you're the right color, you're essential'. 

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Rand Paul Gives You the Real Truth About the Election Fraud Cases

 

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RABBIS SLAM RAPHAEL WARNOCK for ANTI-ISRAEL COMMENTS

 Orthodox rabbis are speaking out against Rev. Raphael Warnock just days before his Georgia Senate runoff, saying they have concerns with some of his past remarks about Israel.

“We are concerned and hurt by the manner in which the Reverend brushed aside his past rhetoric against Israel and the Jewish community, and even blamed his opponents for ‘trying to use Israel as yet another wedge issue,’” wrote Rabbi Ilan Feldman from Atlanta and Rabbi Avigdor Slatus from Savannah in a letter to Warnock’s campaign this week, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The letter was also signed by two out of state rabbis from Coalition for Jewish Values.

The Democratic Warnock is facing off against GOP incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler. Polls show an incredibly tight race.

For months Warnock has been dogged by allegations of being anti-Israel — an issue a growing number of Democrats have faced as their left flank has grown more ascendent.

Rabbi Feldman cited a letter Warnock signed, along with other clergy in 2018, that compared Israel’s presence in the West Bank to “military occupation of Namibia by apartheid South Africa” and another sermon the same year in which he accused Israelis of shooting down “unarmed Palestinian sisters and brothers like birds of prey.”

Warnock has denied any allegation of anti-Semitism and had said his remarks were taken out of context. In another letter, nearly 200 rabbis have expressed support for Warnock. The clergyman is also backed by Jon Ossoff, the Democrat running for the other Georgia Senate seat.

It’s not the first time the reverend has taken heat from his ecclesiastical peers. Earlier this month a coalition of conservative Georgia ministers took him to task over his pro-abortion views, which was also first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“You have publicly expressed your views that abortion is an exercise of ‘human agency and freedom’ that is fully consistent with your role as a shepherd of God’s people,” the letter read. “We believe these statements represent grave errors of judgment and a lapse in pastoral responsibility, and we entreat you to reconsider them.”

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Zera Shimshon Parshat Mikeitz

 

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'I’m a Breslover - I go out to the fields and talk to Hashem'

 

Nissim Black is passionately, assuredly, confidently in love with God.

Not in love with Judaism, though he’s fastidious in prayer and observance. Not in love with spirituality, though most mornings, you can find him meditating in the Israeli hills after sunrise. Not in love with ritual, though he’s a devoted Hasidic Jew.

No, Nissim Black is in love with the creator of the universe, with whom he has an intimate and fierce connection. He’s faced no shortage of adversity, experienced myriad modes of connection with the divine. Yet he’s unapologetically who he is, doing what he loves — rapping — with the undeniable gifts — perceiving and conveying clear-eyed truth — he’s been endowed with.

Days after his 34th birthday, on which he released “The Hava Song,” the Jewish Telegraphic Agency spoke to Black at length about his music, his faith and his communities.

TA: You just released a totally transformative version of “Hava Nagila.” Walk me through how that happened.

Black: It was really a story of divine providence. Thank God, I have been out there enough that producers send me beats all the time [musicians frequently utilize sample tracks to layer under their own lyrics]. My brother-in-law is my producer. He’s really a tzaddik [righteous person], so I let all of the beats go to him. Because if it’s good, he’s gonna tell me.

I went home — I have a studio now in my house because of COVID — and I think within a few days, I had the song.

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Obama trafficked in anti-Semitic tropes — lefty media didn’t notice

The words leap out and grab you. Former President Barack Obama characterizes no other world leader in anything like the terms he reserves for former French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

In his recent memoir, Obama tells us that Sarkozy is a “quarter Greek Jew.” Little wonder, then, that Sarkozy has “dark, expressive, Mediterranean features,” which resemble the exaggerated, often distorted figures “of a Toulouse-Lautrec painting.”

Little wonder, too, that he is “all emotional outbursts and overblown rhetoric,” while his conversation, which reflects unbridled ambition and incessant pushiness, “swoops from flattery to bluster to genuine insight.”

One might have thought Obama was deliberately directing at Sarkozy the insults notoriously hurled at Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), the first person of Jewish birth to become Britain’s prime minister. The colonial administrator Lord Cromer said of Disraeli that he was driven by “a tenacity of purpose” that was “a Jewish characteristic.” With his swarthy, “Oriental features,” Disraeli was consumed by an “addiction” to the “passionate outbursts” and “excesses of flattery” that were the hallmarks of his “nimble-witted” race.

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Chareidi Suspects From Bnei Brak Arrested For Rishon LeZion Shooting Incident

Following an in-depth investigation, the prosecutor has filed their statement with regard to a shooting that took place in Rishon Letzion two months ago. The shooting was perpetrated in the direction of a woman and two Chareidi suspects from Bnei Brak were arrested. The suspects have been remanded into custody until Monday.

The incident took place on October 29th, when a masked individual approached a woman who was walking on HaNevi’im Street in the city and attempted to shoot towards her with a pistol from close range.

For some unknown reason, the gun jammed and would not shoot. The suspect, seeing this, fled the scene and ran into a waiting car that was being driven also by a masked individual. The pair of assailants fled the scene.

Following the incident, the police opened an investigation and began gathering evidence to determine the identities of the masked individuals. One suspect, a 16-year-old teenage male from Bnei Brak, was arrested at the end of November. One week later, a second suspect, a 21-year-old man also from Bnei Brak, was arrested as well. Their reprimands have been extended until this coming Monday as evidence was being gathered against them. The district attorney is supposed to file an indictment against the two suspects on Monday in court.

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Police Stop wedding of 14 year-old girl to a 24- Year- old in Meah Shearim

 

Police prevented a Charedi wedding of a 14-year-old girl to a 24-year-old man in Jerusalem, at the last minute.

The ceremony had been slated to take place last week, Channel 12 said Thursday, reporting that police were tipped off shortly beforehand and arrested the girl’s parents.

They have since been released to house arrest, but the child has been placed in the custody of welfare services.

In a recorded phone conversation with Channel 12, the girl’s mother insisted that she was not aware Israeli law bars marriages of children under the age of 18, and insisted there was nothing wrong with the arrangement.

“I didn’t know this was like a person stealing or murdering or that it is something that harms anyone,” the woman claimed. “I know a lot of girls who get married at the age of 15. It happens a lot [in our community]. There are a lot of girls who are ready for it.”

She lamented that relationships between teenagers in the “secular world” are deemed legitimate, while the marriage of children in Haredi communities are not. The mother went on to demand that authorities return her daughter home.

The mother’s defense attorney Hila Yehezkel told Channel 12 that “now that the parents have been told the minor’s marriage would have been illegal, they have understood this.”

Meanwhile, police were probing whether the planned marriage was part of a widespread phenomenon or an isolated incident.

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Video of Crash that killed Chareidie couple

Warning: Very Disturbing 

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Meshiginer Benny Gantz: 'There's room for Palestinian capital in Jerusalem'

 

A "farikter tzedreiter meshiginar" it's no wonder he is finished 

Defense Minister Blue and White Chairman Benny Gantz gave an interview to Saudi newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat which is distributed in the Arab world, and presented his doctrine for resolving the PA-Israel conflict.

Gantz said that in his view, "Jerusalem will remain united - but there is also room for a Palestinian capital."

He called on Abbas to join the recent peace process between Israel and Arab countries and not to be left behind. Gantz emphasized that Israel would not return to the 1967 borders, but that there could be an exchange of territories with the "Palestinians".

"I live in Rosh HaAyin on the border with the West Bank, I have friends in Taibeh and Araba and I visit them and they visit me and I want it to happen with Nablus and Hebron and Ramallah," Gantz said in an interview translated by Kan journalist Nurit Yohanan.

As for Jerusalem, the Defense Minister said "Jerusalem should remain united - but there is room for a Palestinian capital."

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'What hassidic women have to say (eye-opening experience!)'

Peter Santenello: 'An eye-opening experience full of surprises and golden nuggets of wisdom.'

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Mi Sheberach Lakahal .... We all need it now!

 

Mi Sheberach Lekahal Shalom Kinori Cantor Simon Cohen accompanied by the Hallelu Choir

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Watch: Israel Philharmonic plays Hanukkah songs

In honor of Hanukkah, the Israel Philharmonic engaged in a special project, releasing a new arrangement of a traditional Hanukkah song for every night of the holiday. Each arrangement ends with a festive rendition of "Rock of Ages." For the first night - "Ner Li Dakik" for one player. For the second night, "Hava Narima" for two players. For the third night, "Baanu Hoshesh Legaresh" for three players. For the fourth night, "Mi Yemalel" for four players. For the fifth night, "Hanukiah Li Yesh" for five players. For the sixth night, "Hanukkah, Hanukkah" for six players. For the seventh night, "Sevivon" for seven players. The eighth and final video is being kept as a surprise. It is to be released tonight, the eighth night of Hanukkah, on the Facebook page of the Philharmonic. KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS THANKS SO MUCH, IT MEANS A LOT ESPECIALLY IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES!

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Israel Just Got Another New Party ..... 'New Hope - Unity for Israel'

 

Gideon Saar and Yifat Shasha-Biton

Former MK Gideon Saar on Thursday morning registered his new party with the Registrar of Parties. The party requested the name "New Hope - Unity for Israel."

It should be noted that in doing so, Saar finally decided in favor of establishing his own political platform and setting aside the possibility of running in the elections on the base of the Derech Eretz party of Yoaz Hendel and Zvi Hauser.

In the application for registration, the goals of the party were stated, including:

Activity for the realization of the natural and historical rights of the Jewish People in the Land of Israel.

- Establishing the identity of Israel as the state of the Jewish people, whose government is democratic, protecting its values ​​as the nation state of the Jewish people, which upholds human rights and practices equal rights for individuals.

- Promoting the education system and making it one of the leading education systems in the world, while emphasizing excellence, reducing gaps and providing equal opportunity for every child, strengthening the status of teacher and educator in Israeli society.

- Development of the country, encouraging policies of population dispersal and strengthening of the social and geographical periphery. Encouraging settlement and agriculture in the Galilee and the Negev, in Samaria and Judea, and on the eastern border - from the Golan Heights, along the
the Jordan and the Arava to Eilat.

- A free market economy while ensuring fair opportunity for all and a commitment to concern for others.

-Promoting reforms in all state authorities, including law enforcement and judicial systems.

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A Window "Decides" To Kill Murder Suspect

 

I guess the window was the Witness, Judge and executioner..

A man who was sought in a murder investigation died during an attempted burglary Saturday after a window closed on him, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office reported Monday.

Jonathan Hernandez, 32, a man with a significant rap sheet, was attempting to burglarize a home on Nora Avenue and 46th Street SW by climbing through a window. While he was partially through the window, it slammed down on him.

Hernandez’s neck was caught in the window, according to the incident report. He was dead by the time deputies arrived on scene, LCSO reported.

The sheriff’s office said that Hernandez has a lengthy history of run-ins with the law and was a suspect in a murder case.

A public records search indicates that Hernandez, who also went by the name Jonathan Hernandez-Zuluaga, has been booked on several occasions for theft and larceny as well as driving without a license.

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Siberian Ice Menorah Melts the Heart of an Atheist Israeli News Anchor

 

As in many other places with temperatures below freezing, there are a number of towns in Siberia where a special ice menorah was built in honor of Chanukah and serves as a beacon for the local Jewish population. 

One such ice menorah stands proudly in the city of Tyumen, Siberia where the local Chabad emissary is Rabbi Yerachmiel Gorelick. The menorah is 4 meters high and generated considerable publicity in the town.

It was even featured on a prominent Israeli television show, which described how the menorah was built and featured the lighting of the first light of Chanukah on the ice menorah. Israeli anchor Amnon Levi,a self-described atheist, was visibly moved and answered Amen to all of the blessings on the menorah.

However the story had another twist as on the day after it was aired on first night Chanukah, the local priest contacted Rabbi Gorelick and told him that the lighting was for him as well since he is also Jewish (His mother and grandmother were both Jewish). Gorelick said that it was unusual that a priest comes to confess to the rabbi, but added that the light of Chanukah reaches very far.

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