According to the tradition of some, the timing of events this past week was similar to what happened nearly 2,000 years ago: Wednesday evening the Passover Seder was celebrated, culminating with Resurrection Day this morning according to what was written about Messiah generations before. Regardless, we remember today that the Redeemer of Israel is risen. Indeed.
Or was that "Jesus wept"? According to an article today, Jesus apparently jumped himself out of danger once upon a time.
Israel announced Sunday that it plans to invest NIS 5.7 million in a religious ceremony to be led by Pope Benedict XVI during his visit this May. The pope will conduct a large mass on Mount Precipice, the Nazareth site where Jesus is said to have leapt to avoid an angry mob.You learn something new every day, eh?
File this one under "no good deed goes unpunished." Last week Strings of Freedom, a Palestinian orchestra made up of youth from a refugee camp in the West Bank, performed a concert for Holocaust survivors in Israel.
The Palestinian youths from a tough West Bank refugee camp stood facing the elderly Holocaust survivors on Wednesday, appearing somewhat defiant in a teenage sort of way. Then they began to sing.The conductor is Wafa Younis, an Israeli Arab, who wants to promote coexistence between two peoples who do not know or understand each other.
The choir burst into songs for peace, bringing surprised smiles from the audience. But the event had another twist: Most of the Holocaust survivors did not know the youths were Palestinians from the West Bank, a rare sight in Israel these days. And the youths had no idea they were performing for people who lived through Nazi genocide - or even what the Holocaust was.
Younis, from the Arab village of Ara in Israel, then explained in fluent Hebrew that the youths would sing for peace, prompting the audience to burst into applause.Apparently, for some this sort of thing is completely unacceptable.
"Inshallah," said Sarah Glickman, 68, using the Arabic term for God willing.
The encounter began with an Arabic song, "We sing for peace," and was followed by two musical pieces with violins and Arabic drums, as well as an impromptu song in Hebrew by two in the audience.
Palestinian authorities disbanded a youth orchestra from a West Bank refugee camp after it played for a group of Holocaust survivors in Israel, a local official said on Sunday.It speaks volumes.
Adnan Hindi of the Jenin camp called the Holocaust a political issue and accused conductor Wafa Younis of unknowingly dragging the children into a political dispute.
He added that Younis has been barred from the camp and the apartment where she taught the 13-member Strings of Freedom orchestra has been boarded up.
"She exploited the children," said Hindi, the head of the camp's popular committee, which takes on municipal duties. "She will be forbidden from doing any activities.... We have to protect our children and our community."
"On the Internet there are pictures of the children under photos of the Israeli prisoners, and they performed for Holocaust survivors," one Fatah [Palestinian West Bank governmental] official said. "Hamas accused us of normalization activities, of identifying with the enemy, so we were forced to expel Younis. The subject is now closed."In other words, Hamas terrorists accused Fatah of doing something "normal" people do (you know, being nice and acting like friends) so there was no choice but to punish the Arab woman for having something other than hatred in her heart. Priorities, I guess.
I found this depiction of the casualty footprint of current conflicts interesting on a number of levels.
According to the amount of reporting that goes into the different conflicts, you'd never know proportion of real tragedy that is happening outside of this small strip of land.
via The Augean Stables
Headline of a Jerusalem Post article today: Ancient seals unearthed in J'lem dig:
No, not those. They found seal impressions.
Um, no. More like this:
From the article:
A routine archeological excavation ahead of private construction in an Arab neighborhood on the outskirts of Jerusalem has uncovered a series of seal impressions from the reign of the biblical King Hezekiah 2,700 years ago, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Monday...Old stuff with writing is always pretty cool. Especially seal impressions.
The seal impressions found include those of two high-ranking officials named Ahimelech ben Amadyahu and Yehohail ben Shahar, who served in the Judean kingdom's government.
It was time to get new shoes but we had a problem: my son wanted to get Nike, I wanted him to get Puma. In the Nazareth market we found the solution:
If Nike and Puma can come together in perfect harmony, there's nothing to say that Palestinians and Israelis can't do likewise. (And some have asked, "What good can come out of Nazareth?")
Look to the shoe, people!
Here are some interesting results from a survey among Israeli Jews regarding Christians from a Jerusalem Post article:
Q - How many Israeli Jews believe Christians are "missionaries" (a loaded perjorative term)?
A - 1 out of every 4 (25%)
Q - How many Israeli Jews are bothered by a Christian wearing a cross?
A - 1 out of every 4 (25%)
Q - For Israeli Jews, which is the closest religion to Judaism?
A - Christianity = 40%, Islam = 33%
Q - Are Jews allowed enter a church (according to Jewish belief)?
A - For secular: 1 out of every 5 (20%), and for Religious: 9 out of every 10 (90%), say NO
Q - Is Christianity idol worship?
A - For secular: 1 out of every 3 (33%), and for Religious: 3 out of every 4 (75%), say YES
Not very favorable, but actually better than I expected.
In last week's edition of the Jerusalem Post was an article on Messianic Jews in Israel. I just read it today because I had heard comments by some Jewish believers about it and wanted to see for myself what the fuss was all about. The comments, or I should say "criticism", was over the linking of Messianics with Christianity (mainly due to the history of Christian persecution of Jews throughout history). Messianics like to say they are practicing "Messianic Judaism" (as seen below) and not Christianity.
Before looking at the offending article, Jesus for Jews, most of the controversy about Messianics here is a continuation the long-held Jewish tradition that if a Jew believes in Jesus, he is no longer Jewish. It is part of the age-old unanswered question of "Who is a Jew?" - is one a Jew by heritage, adherence to traditional Judaism, or what? Never mind if the person was born of 100% Jewish parentage and lived a flawless Jewish lifestyle because belief in Jesus cancels it all out, even genetically. It sounds nonsensical, but this has been the standard understanding of Rabbinic Judaism from the beginning (and this understanding applies exclusively to Jews who believe in Jesus, and not to those Jews who may follow other religions or are secular atheists). It is an issue that arouses high passions amongmost everyone in the Jewish world.
This debate is really none of my personal business since I'm a) gentile and not Jewish, b) a believing Christian and don't practice Judaism of any sort, even "Messianic Judaism". But, as usual, I won't let that stop me from wading into the discussion.
Here's the offending section of the article and I'll note if there is any misrepresentation or justification for criticism by Jewish believers in Jesus:However, their enemies are right about one thing: The religion these people [Messianics - ed.] believe in is not Judaism, it's Christianity. The belief that Jesus Christ was the son of God, that he rose from the dead and that he's coming back one day to save mankind - that's not Judaism, that's the essence, the creed, of Christianity.
Is this true? Yes. Jews would agree with this assessment but Messianics would argue that they practice "Messianic Judaism" as opposed to Rabbinic Judaism, which is itself a form of Judaism itself that differs from what the Bible commands.Messianic Jews believe that the New Testament Jesus is the messiah spoken of in the Tanach [Old Testament - ed.]. For evidence, they quote passages from both books, which are combined in one volume as their Bible.
Is this true? Yes.They celebrate Jewish and Israeli national holidays, not Christian ones.
Is this true? Yes. Since holiday observance is not manditory for Biblical Christianity, this is not a theological issue.They have their sons ritually circumcised according to Jewish tradition. But nearly all of them get baptized "in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost."
Is this true? Yes.In terms of identity, those born and raised Jewish are Jews. Beyond that, they're all passionate Zionists and Israeli patriots, with army service being very important to them.
Is this true? Yes. One might even add that most Messianics quite often feel the need to demonstrate their Jewish and Israeli bona fides often, just in case anyone out there might not be 100% sure.But their religion is indistinguishable from evangelical Christianity; they speak of themselves as "Messianics" or "believers" more than as "Messianic Jews." They pray in evangelical Christian churches and evangelical Christians pray in their congregations - they prefer not to use the term "synagogues" - with no changes in text or ritual necessary.
Is this true? For the most part, yes. Form may vary, but content is the same."There's no difference between Messianic Judaism and evangelical Christianity, although most Messianic Jews wouldn't agree," says Eitan Kashtan, an Israeli Jew who, with his wife, accepted Jesus 18 years ago and now publishes Messianic literature and leads a congregation in Rishon Lezion.
Is this true (about the difference)? Yes. Is this true (about Messianics agreeing with it)? Yes, which is evident by the comments I heard."If the Israeli establishment didn't cast such doubt on our Judaism," he continues, "we wouldn't work so hard to emphasize it. I'm a Jew by birth, but in faith, there's no difference between me and an evangelical Christian."
Is this true (about doubt cast of their Jewishness)? Yes. Is this true (about no difference between Messianics and evangelical Christians)? Yes.
It appears that this is merely a semantic disagreement on the part of Messianics. They prefer to call their belief "Messianic Judaism" since they believe they believe in God's promised Messiah and worship him in the way God intends for Jews who obey him, the true and authentic Judaism desired by God. Traditional Jews say that Messianics are Christians since everything about their belief is indistinguishable from and identical to Christianity, no matter how many outward Rabbinic Jewish practices they perform.
Although Messianics can try to create new terminology, categories, and labels about how they describe and identify themselves, as hard as they may try, acceptance by the mainstream Jewish community is not likely. But regarding faith, does acceptance really matter?
One thing is for sure: traditional Jews have never, and will never, accept Jewish believers in Jesus as fellow Jews in faith, practice, or as one of their own. On the other hand, believing Christians unconditionally accept these outcasts not only as brothers in Messiah, but also as true Jews in every sense of the meaning. And, ultimately, isn't the only thing that really matters is what God thinks of us?
Regardless, in this dispute one may not like the facts but it's quite hard to argue with them.
I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I will. I found an interesting video (free registration required) which is a news report from Gaza by an Arabic TV station (translation provided) about the manufacture of rockets which have been shot at Israel. It starts at about the halfway mark of the clip (around the 3:12 mark). Here are some of the interesting parts:(Al-Arabiya reporter) Wael 'Assam: Sheik Abu Dujana is wanted by Israel. Why wouldn’t he be? After all, he is a veteran missile-maker in Gaza. How many missiles have you made in recent years?
How's that for personalizing things? Actually, 99% of the missles shot are during daytime when a) people are not sleeping and b) the likelihood of hitting people out in the open is probable.
(Terrorist) Sheik Abu Dujana: 300-500 missiles. The range of this missile is 16-20 km.
Wael 'Assam: Which areas of Israel have you targeted with these missiles?
Sheik Abu Dujana: Ashkelon, and the Nahal Oz area. In the recent battles, we launched 100-200 missiles.
Wael 'Assam: Let’s see how Abu Dujana makes his missiles, which have deprived the Israelis of their sleep.Sheik Abu Dujana: We compress it all into the warhead in order to increase the blast.
He means "increase the lethality" of the blast. Nice to meet you, too.
Wael 'Assam: You compress the TNT?
Sheik Abu Dujana: Of course, along with shrapnel.
Wael 'Assam: How do you obtain the shrapnel?
Sheik Abu Dujana: We use pins, nails, and pieces of metal, which increase the blast.
Pray for and against these people.
UPDATE:
Here is the video without registration (see 2nd half of video).
