My Italian Jewish surname (last name)… could it be Jewish? Researching Italian Surnames for Possible Jewish Roots

Have you wondered if you have Jewish ancestors? Does your family history include stories of Jewish heritage or Jewish traditions? Some experts state that as much as 50% of the populations of Calabria and Sicily (the most Southern regions of Italy) were Jewish before the Inquisition. During the Inquisition, some of these families moved north in Italy and then east into Greece and Islamic countries to pursue their religion without fear of death. Some were already inter-married with Catholic families and were blending into that society and not openly practicing the Jewish religion so they didn’t need to move. Some were converted to Christianity as adults to stay in their towns and keep their lives.

There is a Jewish congregation in Salonika (Greece) dating to the Inquisition, so that now most of them aren’t even aware of their Italian roots! Rabbi Barbara (see below) has traced her family as it traveled around the Mediterranean and eventually settled in Calabria.

Some of these traveling families returned to Italy after the Inquisition, some didn’t. Knowing that among the emigrants to the US, the Italians were the most likely to return to their homeland, I suspect the same applies to these people.

Here’s an alphabetical list of Jewish surnames (last names) who had lived in Italy.

A lot of them don’t sound to be Italian but they’ve maintained their original foreign writing even if established in Italy: Also a few of them are also used by Christian families and hence it’s impossible to know which is their religion just by their name.

Italy has a very important role in Jewish history and genealogy: it is located centrally on the Mediterranean sea and serves as an important crossroad and an intersection between North and South, East and West, Sephardic and Ashkenazi culture. If your ancestors came from Europe, there are many possibilities that a branch of your family went throuh Italy. In Italy there is not a central collection of records for genealogical purposes, but there are numerous places in which administrative, civil, religious, and military records are stored.

Here you’ll find information and resources on the places where most Jews lived: Ancona, Livorno, Roma, Venezia, Sicily and others.

A

Aadith, Abadì, Abeles, Abenaim, Abeniacar, Abib, Abigdor, Aboaf, Abramson, Abravanel, Abulaffi, Abulaffia, Acco, Acher, Adagnia, Aderca, Ades, Adler, Aelion, Aghib, Ahrens, Ajar, Alatri, Alba, Albahari, Albaum, Albert, Albina, Albini, Alcalai, Alfaquain, Algranati, Alhaique, Allalouf, Allan Civita, Alrnagià, Almansi, Almansi Macchioro, Almeda, Alphandery, Alpron, Alt, Altarass, Altaress, Altberger, Alter, Alticheh, Amar, Ameriglio, Amati, Ambonetti, Ambron, Amì, Amman, Amy, Anau, Ancona, Andrè, Angel, Angeli, Angelini, Anguillara, Anticoli, Ara, Arbib, Archivolti, Arditti, Arditi, Ariani, Arias, Ariccia, Ariete, Arieti, Arnstein, Artom, Aruch, Ascarelli, Ascer, Aschenazi, Ascher, Ascoli, Ascoli Marchetti, Assajcas, Asseo, Astein, Asti, Astrologo, Attal, Attias, Aub, Avigdor, Auerbach, Awerbach, Azankot, Azavei, Azavey, Azria, Azriel, Azzaria.

B

Badalassi Orvieto, Baer, Bachi, Backschmiedt, Bagdalli, Bahorjudà, Baiona, Bak, Balachovsky, Ball, Ballanti, Balog, Banon, Banti, Baquis, Baracchi, Barchi, Barmè Mazloun, Baroccio, Barroccio, Baruch, Barzilai, Barzillon, Basevi, Basilea, Basola, Bassan, Behor, Bassani, Bassano, Bassi, Batò, Battino, Bauer, Beck, Bedarida, Bedussa, Beer, Behar, Beilinson, Belaise, Belforte, Belgrado, Belimbau, Belleli, Bellom, Belmonte, Bemporad, Benadì, Benaim, Benamozegh, Benarayo, Benedetti, Beniacar, Beniamin, Benigno, Benoliel, Bensillun, Bensussan, Benusiglio, Benveniste, Benvenisti, Benzimrà, Benzouan, Berahà, Berer, Bergmann, Bergholz, Bermann, Bernardoni, Berni, Bernheimer, Bernsteir, Bertel, Beruchel, Besso, Betrich, Betti, Bettinelli, Bettmann, Biach, Bianchini, Bienenfeld, Bigiavi, Bigio, Biks, Bingen, Bischof (vescovo!), Bises, Bisi Mantovani, Bisogni, Bisson, Bivak, Blanes, Blaskopf, Blau, Blitz, Bloch, Blotzek, Blum, Blumberg, Blumenthal, Boaz, Bobek, Boccara, Boffi, Boghen, Boehm, Bolaffi, Bolaffio, Bollag, Bolle, Bologna, Bolosca, Baustein, Bonaventura, Bondì, Bonfiglioli, Bonomie, Bonucci, Boralevi, Borgetti, Borghi, Borlenghi, Borseti, Bows, Bracci, Brandenburg, Brandes, Brandi, Braeuer, Braun, Brauner, Braunschweig, Braunstein, Bravermann, Brecher, Breiner, Breinin, Bresner, Brill, Brisi, Brociner, Brok, Brod, Brodanka, Brunner, Buchbinder, Buchsbaum, Bueno, Bunzel.

C

Cabibbe, Cademann, Cadorini, Caffaz, Cagli, Caimi, Caimmi, Caivano, Calabi, Calabresi, Calderoni, Calef, Caleff, Calfoa, Calimani, Calò, Calvo, Camaioli, Camerini, Camerino, Camhi, Camis, Camis de Fonseca, Cammeo, Campagnano, Campos, Canarutto, Cannaruto, Cantoni, Capato, Capua, Carasso, Carrara, Carcsson, Cardoso, Carijo, Carlì, Carmi, Carmona, Caro, Carpanetti, Carpi, Carsen, Caruba, Casanova, Cases, Cases Pellegrini, Cascinelli, Cassin, Cassuto, Castelbolognesi, Castelletti, Castelli, Castelfranchi, Castelfranco, Castelnuovo Tedesco, Castiglioni, Castro, Cattelani, Cava, Cave Bondì, Cavaglieri, Cavaglione, Cavalieri, Caviglia, Cendraissousa, Cervetti, Cesana, Cevidalli, Clerido, Clava, Clerle, Cludnevitz, Chajes, Chapira, Chimichì, Ciaroff, Cingoli, Citone, Citone in Alvarenga, Citoni, Cividalli, Civita, Coen, Coen Cantarini, Coen Gialli, Coenca, Cogoi, Cohen, Coifmann, Colasanti, Colia, Colombo, Colonna, Colorni, Confino, Conforte, Conforti, Confort, Conigliani, Consarelli, Consigli, Consiglio, Consolo, Contini, Corcos, Cori, Corinaldi, Coscas Majon, Costa, Costantini, Cotton, Covo, Cramer, Cratz, Crema, Cremisi, Creo, Croccolo, Curiat, Curiel, Cusin, Cutti, Cuzzeri, Cuzzi, Czachi, Czatzkis, Czimmer.

D

Dadone, Da Fano, D’Agata, Daldon, Dalla Torre, D’Ancona, Daniel, Danitti, Dann, Da Zara, De Abravanel, De Alvarez, De Angelis, Deangelis, De Benedetti, De Castro, De Cori, De Farro, De Frigessy, De Funel, De Leon, Della Riccia, Dell’Ariccia, Della Rocca, Della Seta, Della Torre, Della Volta, Dello Strologo, Del Mar, Del Monte, Del Sole, De Luisa, Del Valle, Del Valle de Paz, Del Vecchio, Demajo, De Medina, De Montel, De Nola, Depace, Depangher, De Paz, De Rossi, De Semo, De Sousa, Dessau, Deutsch, Diamant, Diaz, Di Capua, Di Castro, Di Cave, Dickmann, Di Cori, Diena, Dienstfertig, Di Gioacchino, Di Laudadio, Dina, Di Nepi, Dinkelspiel, Di Nola, Di Porto, Di Segni, D’ltalia, Di Tivoli, Ditz, Di Veroli, Dolfo, Donati, Donner, Doerfles, Dorn, Dowek, Dragoner, Dresner, Dreyfus, Drucker, Dubinsky, Durante, Duranti, D’Urbino.

E

Eckert, Edward, Eibenschuetz, Effendi, Efrati, Ehrenfeld, Ehrenfreund, Ehrenteil, Ehrlich, Eisenstaedter, Elfer, Elia, Elias, Eliazon, Eliezer, Elseo, Eltbogen, Emdin, Eminente, Engel, Enriquez, Eppinger, Epstein, Erber, Ergas, Errera, Esdra, Esquenasi, Essinger, Ettlinger, Evangelisti.

F

Falcini Servi, Falco, Faldini, Faldino, Falk, Fano, Faraggi, Farber, Farchi, Fargion, Farinelli, Farkas, Fasano, Fassel, Fasulo, Fatucci, Fein, Feiner, Feistmann, Felberbaum, Felici, Fellner, Fernandes, Ferrarese, Ferro, Ferusciany, Fiandra, Fiano, Fieder, Fifer, Fink, Finkelstein, Finker, Finzi, Fiorentino, Fimberg, Fischbein, Fischer, Fischl, Fischmann, Fiz, Flack, Flaschel, Fleisher, Fleischner, Foà, Fodor, Foligno, Fonseca, Fontanella, Forlì, Formiggini, Fornari, Forti, Franchetti, Franco, Frank, Frankental, Frankl, Franzes, Frascati, Frassinetti, Freiberger, Freisinger, Frenkel, Fresco, Freund, Fried, Friedenthal, Friedlaender, Friedmann, Fries, Frizzi, Frischmann, Fruchter, Fuà, Fubini, Fuchs, Funaro, Fuerst.

G

Gabbai, Gabriel, Gaensler Frankenstein, Gaggio, Gori, Galinidi, Galletti, Galli, Gallichi, Gallico, Galligo, Gandus, Gani, Garda, Garsen, Garza, Gasperini, Gattegno, Gattinara, Gazes, Geddes, Geller, Gemelli, Genazzani, Gentili, Gentilli, Gentilomo, Gerold, Gerstel, Gerstenfeld, Gesess, Gerschanovitz, Ghersfeld, Ghiron, Ghissin, Giaconi, Giavol, Ginzburg, Giovanelli, Giroux, Giuili, Giuli, Glanz, Glass, Glattstein, Glicenstein, Glueck, Godell, Goetz, Goetzel, Goldbacher, Goldberg, Goldberger, Goldenberg, Goldfinger, Goldfrucht, Goldmann, Goldring, Goldschmiedt, Goldstein, Goldstaub, Golembiovski, Gomel, Gondelmann, Goudstikker, Graf, Granichstaedten, Grassetti, Grassini, Graziani, Greco, Greco-Siglina, Grego, Greiger, Gronich, Gruen, Gruenbaum, Gruenberg, Gruenland, Gruener, Gruenfeld, Gruenwald, Gruss, Guagnacchi, Guetta, Gugenheim, Guggenheim, Guglielmi, Gurewitsch, Guttierez, Guttmann.

H

Haardt, Haas, Haber, Hackl, Hagmann, Hahn, Haim, Haimovici, Haimovitsch, Hajek, Hajon, Hakin, Haliffi, Hamburger, Harmer, Hanania, Hanau, Handler, Hanemann Toff, Hanen, Harrari, Hasdà, Hassan, Hassid, Hasson, Haussmann, Hasan, Heilbrunn, Heimann, Heinhorn, Heischmann, Heitler, Helfer, Heller, Hensel, Hepner, Herbatschek, Herbert, Herlitzka, Hersch, Herschmann, Herzer, Hirschfeld, Hirsch, Herzog (duca), Hochwald, Hodara, Holberg, Hollaender, Hollinger, Honig, Hoenisberg, Horitzky Orsini, Horn, Horniker, Horovici, Horvat, Huesca, Hupperi.

I

Ichainer, Illes, Isciaki, Ismalun, Israel, Israeli, Issel, Issmann, Italia.

J

Jacchia, Jacobson, Jacur, Jaffe, Jahni, Janowitz, Janni, Jarach, Jarè, Jenda, Jenina, Jenna, Jenni, Jesi, Jesurum, Jessulam, Job, Joffe, Johanan, Jolles, Jones, Jona, Jos, Joseph, Josz, Joung, Jules, Just.

K

Kabiglio, Kach, Kagnaff, Kahn, Kajon, Kalk, Kalmus, Kaminka, Kaptan, Kasman, Kastner, Katz, Kauffrnann, Kaula, Keller, Kern, Kessler, Kirsch, Kirschen, Kitt, Klauber, Klein, Kleinzeller, Klippel, Klugmann, Koch, Kohn, Kohner, Kolb, Koltzinsky, Koenigsberger, Konti, Konrad, Koerber, Korn, Kornell, Kornfeld, Koschiltzki, Kostoris, Krassner, Kraus, Krauterkraft, Krebs, Kreh, Kreilsheim, Kremer, Kron, Kries, Krikunetz, Kron, Kropf, Kruskah, Krzentowski, Kuehn.

L

Lacis, Lackenbacher, Lacomba, Laden, Lager, Laide, Lakin, Lamberg, Lampronti, Landesmann Laudi, Landau, Langbank, Lanternari, Lanzana, Lapajowker, Lappert, Lascar, Lassejower, Laz, Latis, Lattes, Latzer, Lavagno, Leblis, Lehrecht, Lecerf, Lechner, Lenner, Lee, Leipziger, Lekner, Lenghi, Lennox, Leone, Leoni, Leonino, Leonzini, Leperer, Lerner, Lessmann, Levi, Levi Bianchini, Levibran, Levi-Cases Momigliano, Levi de Veali, Levi Minzi, Levi Montalcini, Levin, Levis Levitsch, Lewish, Levy, Lewy, Lichetnstadt, Lichtenstein, Lieblein, Liehmann, Limentani, Lindemer, Linder, Lipschuetz, Liscia, Liuzzi, Livoli, Lob, Locascio-Goldschmiedt, Lodeserto, Loeb, Loeffler, Loevy, Loewy, Loisada, Lolli, Lombroso, Lopes, Lopez, Lopez-Rabello, Lorant, Loria, Loschitz, Loethe, Loevinson, Loew, Loewental, Loewenthal, Loewinson, Loewy, Luft, Luftschuetz, Luisada, Lumbroso, Luria, Lusena, Lust, Lustig, Lutomirsky, Luttinger, Luzzatti, Luzzatto.

M

Macchioro, Macerata, Maendl, Maestri, Maestro, Magrini, Mahlberg, Maimann, Maino, Maionica, Maissa, Majò, Malvano, Manara, Manasse, Mandel, Mandelberg, Mandler, Mandula, Mangold, Mann, Mannheimer, Marach, Marcaria, Marcheria, Marcus, Margulies, Mariani, Marino, Marini, Mariotti, Maroni, Marradi, Marsiglio, Massa, Massarani, Massarek, Massiah, Matalon, Mattatia, Mattersdorfer, Mautner, Mayer, Mazzola, Mazoleni, Medina, Medvedieff, Medoro, Meinster, Melgrano, Melli, Menasci, Mendel, Mendes, Menz, Merkl, Mesha, Mestre, Michelis, Michelstaedter, Mieli, Migliau, Milano, Milla, Millul, Minerbi, Mingardi, Mires, Misan, Misan-Saia, Misano, Misul, Misrahi, Modena, Modiano, Modigliani, Modigliano, Modona, Moeller, Moisé, Molco, Molnar, Momigliani, Momigliano, Mondolfi, Mondolfo, Mondovì, Monferini, Monreale, Monselise, Monselles, Montag, Montagnana, Montalcini, Montalcino, Montalti, Montebarozzi, Montecorboli, Montefiore, Montefiori, Montel, Montiglia, Morais, Moravia, Mordo, Mordoh, Morel, Morelli, Morello, Moreno, Moreschi, Moresco, Moretti, Morgenstern, Mori, Moroni, Morpurgo, Mortara, Mortera, Morway, Moscato, Moscé, Moskowitz, Moully, Mrad Esses, Mosseri, Muggia, Mugnai, Muehlstein, Muia, Muelberg, Mueller, Musacchi, Musatti, Mussafia, Mustacchi.

N

Naar, Nacamù, Nacamulli, Nacmias, Nacson, Nador, Najschitz, Nahmias, Nahon, Nahum, Naim, Namen, Namer, Nathan, Navara, Navarra, Navarro, Negrini, Neiger Nepi, Neppi, Neri, Neppi Modona, Neris, Netter, Neumann, Nibal Raimondi, Nigris, Nissim, Nizza, Nordlinger, Norlenghi, Norsa, Norzi, Nossal, Nunes, Nunes Franco, Nunes Vais, Nuernberg, Nussbaum.

O

Oberdorfer, Oblath, Ocvirk, O’Hara, Ohlsen, Olivieri, Olivetti, Olper, Olschki, Oppenheim, Oreffice, Orefice, Orefici, Ortona, Orvieto, Oser, Osimo, Osmo, Osta, Oesterreicher, Ottolenghi, Ottolenghi Boccara, Ottolenghi di Vallepiana, Ovazza.

P

Pace, Pacifici, Padoa, Padova, Padovani, Padovano, Paggi, Panerai, Panzieri, Paoli, Paper, Pardo, Pardo – Roques, Parente, Parenzo, Passigli, Pattin, Pavia, Pavoncello, Pegna, Perez, Perlmutter, Permutti, Perpetui, Perugia, Pesaro, Pesaro Maurogonato, Pescarolo, Philipson, Piattelli, Piazza, Picard, Picciacci, Picciaccio, Pick, Pieboni, Piesen, Pignero, Piha, Pincherle, Pinto, Piperno, Pines, Pirani, Pirola, Pisa, Pisanty, Pisetzky, Pisinger, Pitigliani, Pitteri, Plankenstein, Plaskis, Platzek, Plaschier, Poggetto, Poggibonsi, Poggiolini, Polacco, Poliakoff, Politi, Politzer, Pollak, Pomeranz, Pontecorboli, Pontecorvo, Pontremoli, Popper, Porges, Porta, Portaleon, Portaleone, Portnoff, Porto, Post, Pozinak, Prato, Pregel, Pressburger, Priester, Procaccia, Prohatzka, Provenzal, Pugliese, Puritz, Puttermann, Putti.

Q

Quercioli.

R

Rabà, Rabbeno, Rabelio, Rabinovici, Racah, Radau, Raffael, Raffaelli, Rahamin, Ram, Randegger, Rappaport, Rath, Ravà, Ravà Longhi, Ravenna, Ravicz, Reah, Recanati, Reder, Redzinsky, Reeson, Reggio, Reghini, Reich, Reichenback, Reichmann, Reinach, Reiner, Reinert, Reinhardt, Reinisch, Reis, Reiser, Reis, Reissner, Remondini, Renier, Resignani, Restani, Reuben, Revan, Revere, Revici, Riboni, Richetti, Richtmann, Riedler, Rieger, Rieti, Rietti, Rignano, Riftin, Rimini, Rocca, Roccas, Rodriguez, Roganti, Rogers, Roumann, Romanelli, Romani, Romanin, Romanin Jacur, Romano, Romoli, Roques, Rosel, Rosen, Rosenberg, Rosenfeld, Rosenholz, Rosenstein, Rosenthal, Rosenzweig, Rosselli, Rossi, Rotbart, Roth, Rouff, Rouzel, Rovighi, Rubert, Rubinstein, Rudoi, Russi.

S

Sabatello, Sabbadini, Sacerdote, Sacerdoti, Sacerdotti, Sacerdotti di Carobbio, Sachs, Sacuto, Sadok, Sadun, Saadun, Saffaro, Sagà, Saiegli, Salem, Salmon, Salmona, Salmoni, Salom, Salonicchio, Saltiel, Salto, Salus, Samaia, Sambulovich, Samuele, Sancò, Sanguinetti, Sanguski, Santillana, Saporta, Saralvo, Sarasson, Saraval, Saravalle, Sarfatti, Sariette, Sarsowski, Sasson, Savani, Saxel, Scazzocchio, Scandiani, Scaramella, Scarpa, Schjowitz, Schalmon, Schamasch, Schapira, Schaerf, Schick, Schiffer, Schiller, Schischa, Schlesinger, Schloss, Schmitz, Schmoltz, Schmukler, Schnur, Schoen, Schoenfeld, Schoenhaut, Schoenheit, Schoenstein, Schor, Schostal, Schotte, Schreiber, Schreider, Schultz, Schunnach, Schuessler, Schuetz, Schwarz, Schwarzkopf, Schweiger, Schwob, Sciaky, Scitrug, Sciunnach, Sdraffa, Sed, Sefardi, Segal, Segrè, Seidel, Seidmann, Seif, Semak, Semania, Semo, Senigaglia, Senigallia, Sepilli, Serena, Sereni, Sereno, Sergi, Sermoneta, Serravalle, Serrera, Servadio, Servi, Sessa, Sessi, Sestieri, Sforni, Sermann, Siccoli Bondì, Siebzehner, Sierra, Silbermann, Silva, Sivera, Sinai, Singer, Sitri, Slvaja, Smolensky, Smolesco, Soarez, Soliani, Soavi, Somenzi, Sommer, Sommermann, Sonne, Sonnenberger, Sonnino, Sorani, Sorbi, Soria, Sornaga, Sorraga, Soschino, Spagnoletto, Spagnolo, Specos, Spiegel, Spierer, Spitilli, Spitz, Spitzer, Spizzichino, Sprinzeles, Sraffa, Stein, Steindler, Steiner, Steinhardt, Stern, Steinhaus, Sternberg, Sternfeld, Sternschuss, Stettner, Stipanowitsch, Stock, Straaten, Stransky, Strossberg, Stucovitz, Stuetzel, Suarez, Subak, Subert, Sullam, Sulmona, Sun, Supino, Susani, Susin, Suess, Suessland, Sviadoschitz, Szabados, Szamatolsky, Szeynberg, Szirmay.

T

Tabet, Tagger, Tagiuri, Tagliacozzo, Tailor, Tajar, Tannenbaum, Taenzer, Taubert, Taussig, Tazartes, Tedeschi, Tedesco, Teglio, Teichner, Temin, Terni, Terracina, Terracini, Tesoro, Teubal, Tewich, Thuretzky, Tiano, Tivoli, Toaff, Todeschini, Todesc, Todros, Toledano, Tolentino, Tolosa, Torres, Toscano, Toschi, Tramer, Treulich, Treves, Treves de’ Bonfili, Trevi, Trevis, Trieste, Trietsch, Trionfo, Turba, Tuerk, Turra.

U

Udine, Ullmann, Umano, Ungar, Urbini, Urbino, Urovitz, Usigli, Usiglio, Uziel, Uzielli.

V

Valabrega, Valch, Valensin, Valenti, Valentin, Valenzin, Valobra, Valmarano, Valmarin, Varadi, Varios, Varsano, Velicogna, Venezia, Veneziani, Veneziano, Ventura, Vercelli, Veroli, Verona, Verreano, Vigdorcik, Vigevani, Vigevano, Vilcher, Visser, Vita, Vitta, Vitale, Vitalevi, Vitali, Viterbi, Viterbo, Vitta Zelmann, Vivante, Vivanti, Vovante, Vogel, Vogelmann, Vogler, Voghera, Volli, Volterra, Vretermann, Vucenovich.

W

Wachsmann, Walch, Wallfisch, Waschitz, Wassermam, Wax, Wehli, Weichsel, Weiger, Weil, Weiller, Weil-Schott, Weinstein, Weisberg, Weischel, Weishut, Weiss, Weiss Dodi, Weisser, Weissmann, Weizmann, Weleminsky, Welisch, Werblowsky, Wernikoff, Wilhelm, Windspach, Winternitz, Wohl, Wolf, Wolfler, Wolff, Wolfsohn, Wollemborg, Wollner, Wolner, Wortmann.

Z

Zabban, Zaccaria, Zaccuti, Zacun, Zacutti, Zagdun, Zalai, Zalman-Finzi, Zamatto, Zamorani, Zanotti, Zarfati, Zargani, Zarzovsky, Zebolun, Zeller, Zelman, Zemanek, Zevi, Zibell, Zibren, Ziffer, Zipper, Zitrin, Zmigrod, Zoller, Zuccari, Zuckermann, Zurk, Zweig, Zwillinger.

I strongly recommend that you research a fascinating and tragic period of Jewish history that stretched for more than three hundred years yet is little known.

The story of the Anusim, the Secret Jews, is a valuable and significant, yet rarely discovered, Jewish event that, in its world range, the numbers of Jews killed or affected by it for centuries can be called the longest genocide in world history.

I refer to the fate of the Spanish and Portugese Jews at the hands of the Spanish Inquisition.

The campaign of the Catholic Church to eliminate the Jews went beyond the borders of Spain and Portugal. The plague of Ant-isemitism swept through north Africa, across the Atlantic to South and Central America, and to the Caribbean in pursuit of the Jews.

Under threat of deportation, torture, and death by being burnt alive at the stake many Jews adopted an overt Christian image while covertly maintaining their Jewish rituals and prayers.

I attended “The Worldwide Awakening of the Descendents of the Secret Jews: Conference . This major conference marked the launch of a new international institute for the study of Anusim (the Secret Jews) at the Netanya Academic College.

Gloria Mound, an impressive English lady who has just moved to Netanya to be close to the college, has researched this subject for decades compiling an impressive two thousand five hundred books and over five thousands documents and files that record a cruel oppression of the Jews that outstrips in time and range anything seen in human history. Her archives will be a precious addition to the research centre but, as one important speakers at the conference pointed out, research is insufficient if it is not linked to practical application. This should apply to the Anusim who should be encouraged to openly adopt their heritage to the extent of making Aliyah to Israel. Early research reveals a startling statistic that as many as six million Portugese were descended from Anusim (Secret Jews).

Even today many thousands of Spanish speakers on three continents are fearful or wary of announcing their Jewish heritage. Others are not aware that they have Jewish blood in their veins as this part of their history has been kept from them for generations out of fear, and out of shame.

The Spanish Government is loath to open its official archives to researchers of this horrendous period in Spanish history. The Vatican, similarly, keep documents and records secreted away in the Vatican vaults.

Increasingly, though, Anusim people are making their way to Israel to fulfill a new life that had been forbidden for hundreds of years to their family. And here lies another problem. Israeli authorities do not know how to receive these people. Are they truly Jewish and welcome in the Jewish state under the Law of Return? Or are they, as they publicly claimed, really Catholics?  The feeling at the conference was that Israel should welcome these people home with open arms. They have suffered centuries of persecution for holding secretly to their faith and it should not be down to local politicians or bureaucrats to question the ambition of these people to come and live as free Jews in a state of their own.

I knew about the Spanish Inquisition but never fully appreciated the scope and size of the persecution of the Jews. I read a book tantilisingly called “The Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean” when I was on vacation that opened my eyes to this episode of history. Now this conference revealed more amazing stories and detail.

Please research this rich and dramatic story and be prepared to be moved by the human tragedies, tales of ingenuity, and learn about a period of Jewish history long forgotten but slowly being discovered. The effect of its telling will affect Israel, the Jewish people, and Christian conscience.

The View from Israel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5AsREe7TEQ

The Jewish history of the Jews of Arabia

The Arabia Peninsula lying between the mainlands of Africa and Asia. It is separated from Africa on the south by the Red Sea and on the north by the Sinaitic peninsula and the strip of land which in modern times has been cut through for the Suez canal. On the south and southeast its shores are washed by the Indian Ocean, which has been constantly receding and allowing more of the land to emerge. On the east it is separated from Persia by the Persian Gulf, and on the north is bounded by the Syrian desert, which is but a continuation of the great desert lying in the heart of Arabia itself. This desert is relieved by a number of oases, on which grow palms and tamarisks in abundance, providing food and shade for the Bedouins. Arabia has no rivers, but is artificially irrigated. The land outside the desert is very fertile, especially on the western side; it is known on this account as Arabia Felix. Arabia has an average width of 600 miles and alength of about 1,200. Egress from the country is possible by the two land routes to the east and west; the eastern road leads into Babylonia and thence northward into Syria, the western into Egypt and thence southward, or directly north along the coast plain, which at some places furnishes an entrance into the interior of Palestine.

The first mention of Jews in the areas of modern-day Saudi Arabia dates back, by some accounts, to the time of the First Temple. Immigration to the Arabian Peninsula began in earnest in the 2nd century CE, and by the 6th and 7th centuries there was a considerable Jewish population in Hejaz, mostly in and around Medina, in part because of the embrace of Judaism by such leaders as Dhu Nuwas (who was very aggressive about converting his subjects to Judaism, and who persecuted Christians in his kingdom as a reaction to Christian persecution of Jews) and Abu Karib Asad.

The History of the Arabia Peninsula:

• Arabia
• Religion
• The Jews of Arabia
• The North
• The South
• Mohammed
• Mohammed and the Jews
• Mohammed’s Jewish Adversaries in Medina
• Mohammed’s Conquest of the Jews
• Influences on Mohammed

Mohammed, the Prophet of Islam, was born in Mecca in the year 570.

The world at that time had its physical centre somewhat around the Eastern edge of the Mediterranean sea. There for many hundreds of years the two great ‘world’ empires of Rome and Persia had confronted each other in a state of perpetual warfare, punctuated by brief periods of peace.

Our world was ready for change in the seventh century as conflict everywhere had undermined the old-established patterns of society.

The surviving Byzantine Eastern half of the Roman Empire, ruled from the splendid city of Constantinople, still controlled a broad swathe of territory in the Balkans, North Africa and the Middle East. Remember that the coast of North Africa then was not arid as it is today, but covered with trees and very fertile.

The Jews helped the Persians in their conquest of Jerusalem in 614. The Byzantines exacted their revenge when they recaptured Jerusalem in 629. But the Persian and Byzantine empires were now in a state of utter exhaustion and impoverishment.

Arabia

The vast and mostly arid peninsula of Arabia adjacent to both the Roman and the Persian empires.

By the time of Mohammed, the merchants of Mecca controlled much of the transit trade between East and West. They bought goods off the ships at Aden and then transported them along caravan routes for sale in Egypt, Syria and Persia. The proceeds were used to buy manufactured goods, which were then brought back to Mecca and sold at the trade fairs.

Religion

The rudimentary and barely developed pagan worship of the Arabs was centred on the three hundred and sixty idols which surrounded the shrine of the Ka’aba in Mecca, to which the Bedouins flocked in annual pilgrimage. The Ka’aba housed a black stone sacred to all Arabs – which was most probably a meteorite that had once fallen flaming from the skies.

Some Arabs had developed an admiration for the more developed religions of the Jews and Christians.

This feeling manifested itself in signs of spiritual discontent such as the rejection of idol worship by a small number of seekers after the one God, who practised a religion of their own. There were also converts to both Judaism and Christianity in the settled populations of the desert oasis and in the deep South.

The Jews of Arabia

Before the coming of Mohammed, the Jews of Arabia, were few in number, and I have found only two references to them in Jewish sources. All we know of them comes from Arab historians, and from the Qur’an itself.

The North

I Will start on the Jews of the North.

Before Islam, they dominated many of the main oasis in the West of Arabia and had also settled in the present-day Gulf States – Bahrain in particular. There was even a tiny Jewish community with its own cemetery in Mecca. Curiously enough, Naim Dangoor told me that a Saudi Arabian father of many children from the Gulf area visited him with his family, about 8 years ago to ask for help in emigrating to Israel. He claimed to be one of a large group of Muslims of Jewish origin who had always maintained a separate identity, praying together and marrying only amongst themselves. Naim believed the story and contacted the Israeli Embassy on the man’s behalf – but without success.

Arab historians mention some 20 Jewish tribes, including two tribes of Kohanim. The Jews spoke Arabic, were organised into clans and tribes just like the Arabs, and seem to have fully assimilated the values and customs of desert society.

A contingent of 500 Jewish soldiers was supplied by Herod to accompany the Roman expedition set to conquer the Yemen in 25 BCE. It paused for a time at a place said in the Talmud to contain Jews. We may legitimately ask ourselves whether the Jewish soldiers were sent to act as links between the Roman armies and the Jews of Arabia.

Arab sources maintain that the Jews of Medina were survivors of the Jewish revolt against Rome.

Another theory is that the Jewish date-growers – and the cultivation of dates was the most common occupation – might have come from the Jordan valley as refugees from Christian Byzantine persecution.

Another obvious source of immigrants was, of course, Babylonians.

The Jews were engaged in agriculture, not trade which was exclusively in the hands of the Arabs.

According to Arab legends, Jews introduced the date palm and the honey bee into Arabia. Also, advanced irrigation and other new agricultural crafts.

The Jews appear to have been educated. It was their ability to read and write that made Bible stories and Midrashim generally familiar to the pagan Arabs – and those were the seeds from which Islam developed.

Perhaps most importantly of all, Jews also familiarised the Arabs with the belief in the coming of the Messiah.

The South

Many legends refer to early Jewish settlement in Himyar, present-day Yemen.

The first is that Jews accompanied the Queen of Sheba when she returned from her visit to King Solomon.

Arab historians claim that very large numbers of Jews – the figure of 80,000 is mentioned – arrived after the destruction of the First Temple, to join others already established there.

There is a story that Ezra the scribe cursed the Jews of Yemen for ignoring his call to return to Israel and help rebuild the Temple. In retaliation from then on, they refused to name their sons Ezra.

Arab legend ascribes the conversion to Judaism of the king and people of Himyar to two Jewish Rabbis from the oasis of Medina who cured the kind of a terrible illness on an expedition to the North of Arabia. The king was so impressed by the Rabbis that he and his generals converted to Judaism on the spot. He then took the Rabbis back with them to Himyar where they also converted part of the population – presumably members of the court and leading families. Himyar fell to the Christian Ethiopians in the year 525.

Persia sent an expedition to expel the Ethiopians and take control for itself. The Jews prospered for a time under Persian rule and maintained contact with their brethren in Babylon. But the economy of Himyar was in steep decline during this period, partly because of the warfare, and partly because of a catastrophic failure of the great dam that controlled its irrigation system.

Mohamed

Mohammed was born in Mecca in the year 570, at a time when guardianship of the Ka’aba and successful international trade had greatly enriched its ruling clans. We are told that the Meccans were swollen with pride and their society was an unhappy one, differing from that of other Arabs because of its rivalries, greed, and great disparity between rich and poor.

Mohammed came from one of the poorer and least influential of the ruling families of Mecca. Orphaned at an early age, he had a reputation for honesty and reliability.

Mohammed had already accompanied his uncle on trading missions to Syria, where he had come into contact with Christian monks and with Jews, when he was asked to lead a similar expedition himself on behalf of the wealthy widow Khadijah. This was successful; and he accepted Khadijah’s proposal of marriage on his return to Mecca. The marriage was a happy one. Khadijah bore him six children; and Mohammed took no other wife or concubine until after her death.

Thus freed from financial anxiety for the first time, Mohammed was able to devote himself increasingly to spiritual concerns. He made his own family live frugally, distributed much of his money to the poor, and was conspicuously kind to slaves.

He used to retire alone to an isolated mountain cave for days at a time in order to meditate and pray.

Mohammed received his first revelation in the year 610, when he was forty years old. An angel appeared to him in his cave and commanded ‘Iqra’ – recite! When Mohammed demurred, the angel ‘overwhelmed me in his embrace until I reached the limits of my endurance.’ Then the angel proclaimed what was to become the first verse or sura of the Qur’an:

‘Recite in the name of your Lord, the Creator, who created man from clots of blood.’

At first Mohammed doubted his own sanity. It was only three years later, when other revelations began to follow in quick succession, that he recovered his self-confidence and commenced his mission to the Arabs as the ‘Messenger of God.’

The revelations, transmitted by the angel Gabriel to Mohammed when in a state of trance, were taken down in writing by his followers as he repeated them later. They were collected together after Mohammed’s death, to form the Qur’an.

The message of the Qur’an is similar in essence to much Jewish and Christian teaching.

There is no God but Allah, the all-powerful Creator, and Mohammed is his Messenger.

There will be a Day of Judgement.

There is an afterlife in which the good will be rewarded and the wicked will burn in hell.

Life is to be lived according to divine law, with prayer and fasting, the giving of alms and the supporting of widows and orphans.

Mohammed had some success with the young and the poor, but he was ridiculed by the leaders of Meccan society.

The fact that he could not work miracles was held against him. His prayer ritual of repeated prostrations was alien to their proud Bedouin spirit; and the required total allegiance to the new community of Islam cut right across traditional tribal loyalties.

More important, Mohammed’s teaching that their idol-worshipping ancestors were burning in hell, outraged the Arabs, who had always venerated their forefathers.

Above all, the concept of only one God, and the resulting rejection of idols, seemed almost to have been designed to ruin the cult of the Ka’aba, the basis of Meccan prosperity. It would, quite simply, have been disastrous for business.

Mohammed made some converts to Islam among pilgrims who visited Mecca on the haj. A group from Medina, a desert oasis some two hundred and fifty miles away, secretly invited Mohammed and his followers to join them there to become their judge in disputes between their tribes.

So, in the year 622, Mohammed and seventy of his followers fled from Mecca to Medina. And that is counted as year one of the Muslim calendar.

Medina was occupied by three Jewish tribes and two pagan tribes who had once forced their way into the oasis; each tribe lived in its own fortified village. Mohammed was soon accepted as leader by the pagans and concluded a treaty with the Jews.

Unlike the Meccans, the pagans of Medina – who had long lived alongside Jews – were not shocked by the demotion of their gods to mere spirits under the new order. It did not affect their livelihood, and they were thrilled by the presence in their midst of the Prophet for the Arabs, with his revelations in their own tongue. There was a rapid tide of conversions to Islam; and Arab historians praise the Jews for preparing the ground for the favourable reception of the Prophet’s message.

Mohammed and the Jews

As a fellow monotheist, Mohammed looked to the Jews as his natural allies; and he no doubt hoped they would accept him as their long-awaited Messiah. Some Jews did so at once and I quote an Arab historian’s account of the first Jewish convert to Islam.

Many other Jews converted to Islam later and I am obliged to Naim Dangoor for his account of the Jewish ruler of Afghanistan visiting Mohammed at the peak of his power and accepting Islam.

The leading Afghan tribes, you may remember, still claim with pride to be descended from King Saul of the tribe of Benjamin – as again confirmed by Naim Dangoor’s account of the meeting of Eliezer Kedourie and King of Afghanistan in 1925, and also by official guidebooks of the country.

In a deliberate attempt to reconcile the Jews and gain their acceptance, Mohammed promptly adopted the Aramaic name ‘Medinta’ used by the Jews (‘al-Madinat’ in Arabic) in place of Yathrib, the old name of the oasis.

His followers were directed to face towards Jerusalem in prayer and to recite three daily prayer services and special Friday evening prayers in imitation of the Jews.

Ablutions and forms of worship were modelled on Jewish patterns. It seems that the Muslims had misunderstood the solemn Jewish fast of Kippur to be a celebration of victory over Pharaoh, for they too adopted the same day to celebrate their own successes.

Mohammed repeatedly compared himself to Moses and clearly regarded himself as his successor. According to the Qur’an:

‘Before this book there was Moses’s book…. and this book confirms it in the Arabic language.’

And again, in response to taunts arising from the Jewish origin of one of his wives, Mohammed proudly declared:

‘Aaron was my father and Moses my uncle.’

Above all, the Qur’an itself is full of Jewish elements.

Mohammed’s Jews Adversaries in Medina

It is clear that Mohammed knew the Torah only from hearsay and that he was much confused by imperfect knowledge of scripture and rabbinic legend.

"The Messenger was a proud man who could not tolerate public ridicule; and so, only eighteen months after his arrival in Medina, he began to order the assassination of Arab poets who had satirised him and also of certain Jews who had opposed him in one way or another.

His attitude to the Jews also changed radically. Mohammed demonstrated his displeasure with the Jews as a whole and his growing self-confidence and his independence of them by adopting measures designed to steer his followers firmly against Jewish practices."

Mohammed’s Conquest of the Jews

Mohammed next moved to eliminate the three Jewish tribes of Medina, by then considered a threat to the Muslim community in its struggle against its pagan enemies in Mecca.

One by one he accused them of treachery, of having broken their treaty with him by conspiring with his pagan enemies in Mecca. As already mentioned, the Jews were also accused of making common cause with the waverers within the ranks of the Muslims of Medina.

Curiously enough, the Jewish tribes made no attempt to defend one another against the common foe when pretexts were found to attack and besiege each of their villages in turn. They were eliminated one by one.

The first tribe was called on to accept Islam. When its members refused, a pretext was found to besiege its village. The Jews were expelled on condition to leave most of their possessions behind.

The following year saw the expulsion of the second tribe, accused of planning to kill the Prophet by dropping a rock on his head as he rested under a wall outside its village. Mohammed, who received divine warning of the plot, returned home unharmed before anything happened.

The second tribe, being in a less vulnerable position managed to depart carrying all their possessions with them. Muslims were ordered to turn towards Mecca in prayer and no longer towards Jerusalem – now with five daily prayer services instead of the Jewish three.

All traces of the Sabbath were eliminated when Friday was declared a day of public prayer on which work was allowed. The month-long fast of Ramadan was instituted in place of Kippur. The extra month instituted by the pagan Arabs long before Mohammed to reconcile the lunar year with the solar year, as practised by the Jews, was abolished. Since then the Muslim year has consisted of 12 lunar months, with no correction at all for the solar year.

In a complete change of emphasis, Mohammed began to lay far greater stress on Abraham, whom he claimed as the first Muslim, than on Moses.

Influences on the Mohammed

Though respecting Christians – Christian monks in particular, and accepting Jesus as a major prophet, Mohammed vehemently rejected the notion that Jesus was the Son of God a well as all idea of the Trinity. The Qur’an itself is full of unmistakably Jewish elements – Bible stories and midrashimin particular.

However, a major puzzle remains. Although Moses is mentioned over one hundred times and Jesus only twice in the Meccan period of the Qur’an, Mohammed’s often repeated dread of the Day of Judgement and hellfire is certainly more akin to Christian monasticism than to rabbinic Judaism.

Mohammed died of natural causes in the year 632, leaving the whole of Arabia united under the rule of Islam.

By definition, Mohammed – as Messenger of God and the last of the Prophets, was irreplaceable. Yet, a new leader had to be found at once if his achievements were not to be squandered.

The Arabs found it very difficult to elect a successor and bitter struggles between rival clans resulted in the violent death in office of three out of the first four Khalifs. One of them, and this is significant, was killed by a revolt led by a Jewish convert to Islam.

Those early controversies persisted; and it was the refusal of some to accept the legitimacy of any but a descendant of the murdered Khalif ‘Ali (cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet) that created the Shi’a movement, which permanently split Islam.

Welded together by Islam, their poverty and their greed, the half-starved Bedouin nomads erupted from Arabia with extraordinary vigour. The Byzantine Empire was humbled and the Persian Empire totally destroyed during their first twenty years of warfare.

By 732, one hundred years after the death of Mohammed, the Arab Empire stretched from the Atlantic in the West to modern Pakistan in the East. At one stage, the vanguard reached a point in France only two hundred and fifty miles from Dover before falling back into Spain. Progress was slower after that, with Sardinia, Sicily and parts of Southern Italy gradually added to the Islamic world.

Many hundreds of years later, of course, the Muslim world expanded again to include the Balkans in Europe – though Spain was lost to the Christians, much of the Northern half of the African continent, the whole of Northern India and parts of South East Asia, such as Indonesia. In retrospect, it is not difficult to find convincing reasons for the astonishing success of the comparatively small body of Bedouin tribesmen in defeating the armies of two mighty empires and then going on to conquer much of the civilised world.

There can be no doubt that Mohammed himself had the rare ability to inspire unlimited devotion in most of those who met him in Arabia.

Also the essential simplicity and egalitarianism of Islam suited the mentality of the Arabs, already discontented with their primitive form of paganism and aspiring to a nobler expression of their religious yearnings. The new creed of Islam, combined with the old fighting traditions of the Bedouin tribes, provided the Arabs with the self-confidence they needed to challenge the rest of the world.

Once the invasions started, belief in the one God who had chosen the Arabs and rewarded them with success after success became inspirational. Fighting, Arab-style, seemed to be the way of God as the Bedouin warriors used the deserts like seas – appearing suddenly from nowhere and, whenever necessary, retreating back where none could follow.

Looked at in another way, the Arab conquest was a classic invasion of the world’s settled lands by semi-starved nomads, seeking bread and booty – but this time, spurred on by the powerful missionary zeal of Islam.

It should not be forgotten that the Arabs exploded into a world exhausted by twenty-six years of constant warfare, a world whose inhabitants longed for peace and stability and had come to believe that great changes were inevitable. Christian heretics and Jews in the Byzantine Empire, to whom almost any change must have seemed for the better, welcomed the Arabs with open arms. The Christians and Jews of the Persian Empire too, weary of civil and religious strife, also willingly accepted the prospect of change.

Another important factor in the overwhelming success of the Arabs was the generosity of their surrender terms. For most pagans, the choice of Islam or the sword was not onerous; they too could join the ranks of the conquerors by simply declaring: ‘There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his Messenger.’ Also, it soon became widely known that Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians would not be harmed by the triumphant Muslims so long as they submitted to the new order by paying the poll tax, which often amounted to no more than the tax demanded by the former regimes.

The result was that, in time, almost all the defeated nations aspired to the name ‘Arab’. Though strict social barriers between Arabian and non-Arabian Muslims were erected in the first century following the conquest, those dissolved and merit alone became the key to advancement for Muslims in the expanding empire.

According to surviving records, Jews helped the Arabs in many places. From Syria to Spain, they opened city gates to the besieging armies; and in Spain, they often garrisoned the captured cities to enable the Muslims to sweep on to further conquests.

In 658, Gaon Yizhak of Pumbeditha, at the head of 90,000 Jews, was reported to have welcomed Khalif ‘Ali into Firuz-Shapur. The Exilarch Bustanay was even awarded one of the Persian King’s daughters by the grateful Arabs – and as another daughter was given to Husain, grandson of the Prophet, that was no mean gift.

The conquests of Islam united both halves of the Jewish people under a single political and cultural system. Arabic became the universal language, replacing the Aramaic, Persian, Greek and Latin they had previously spoken.

Jews, accustomed to adversity, found their change of masters an improvement. They survived the hardship brought about by the conquest and were eventually able to participate in the creation of the new Arabic civilisation that followed.

Islam, claiming to be God’s last and perfect revelation to mankind, extended limited toleration to members of the older monotheistic faiths on condition they submitted humbly to its rule. In contrast, the only choice open to polytheists was Islam or the sword – though the less wasteful alternative of slavery was often substituted for the sword.

The Qur’an frequently refers to Jews and Christians, who had received earlier revelations from God but had then distorted and corrupted them.

Though some of its suras (verses) mention Jews and Christians in friendly terms and are quoted in support of Islam’s tolerant attitude to fellow monotheists, others display very different sentiments. The Qur’an it must be remembered, came to Mohammed in stages throughout the many years of his ministry – from the time he was a persecuted outcast to that of his final role as the undisputed master of all Arabia.

Non-believers, though protected by Islam, were generally despised because of their wilful persistence in refusing to accept the words of God recorded in the Qur’an. However, unlike Jews in Christian Europe, they were neither hated nor demonised.

Mainstream (Sunni) Islam and Judaism have more in common with each other than with Christianity. First and foremost, they both share the basic concept of the absolute unity of God. Though Muslims accept Jesus as a major prophet, they strenuously deny that he was the Son of God. In the words of the Qur’an:

‘…Allah is one, Allah the eternal. He begets not and is not begotten. Nor is there anyone like him’.

Abraham is accepted as the first man to have received God’s revelations: and most other Jewish patriarchs and prophets are also revered by Islam.

Both religions are based on divinely given books. The Qur’an like the Torah, is the unchanging word of God; and every letter of its text is holy. Sunni Muslims go even further and believe that the Qur’an is eternal and untreated – as is the view of the Torah held by some Jewish mystics.

Muslim forms of worship are far closer to those of the Synagogue than the Church. Neither Islam nor Judaism employs priests with supernatural powers to serve at symbolic alters of sacrifice. Indeed, Jewish Rabbis and Sunni Alem receive similar training and perform much the same function. Other concepts such as the sanctity of Jerusalem, forbidden and permitted foods, and many others, appear to have come directly from Judaism.

The equivalent position of law in Islam and Judaism may not be a coincidence, for Islamic law first developed in Iraq, home to the great academies of Jewish learning. In both faiths, holy law governs every aspect of human activity and its very study is an act of worship. Both distinguish between ‘written’ and ‘oral’ law in much the same way; and in the development of ‘oral’ law, the mufti’s fatwa serves the same purpose as the Rabbi’s responsa (an authoritative statement of the law on an obscure or disputed point).

Another common feature of the two systems is that neither was imposed by the state or by a central ecclesiastical authority – as was the canon law of the Church – but was developed by the deliberations of independent scholars.

Condensed from a recent lecture at the Montefiore Hall, London. by Lucien Gubbay. This Article is split into ten sections :

Every one who knows the problems of territory, religion, education, and simple racial hate and international involvement, knows that the greatest problem of all is related to the Bible. Jews have for the two thousand years of exile among the nations dreamed of returning to the land of their forefathers, the land of Israel, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

People who believe that the Bible is the Word of God give this ancient document the authority of an international contract between God and mankind. The Bible is for those who believe it a living Word that not only tells the story of past ancient history, but also predicts the future and makes a road map for the rest of man s days on this Earth. Those who believe that the promises of the Bible are to be understood literally are called, Fundamentalist.

What is in the Bible that relates to the Land of Israel and causes Jews and those who believe the Bible as Fundamentalist to reject any compromise with the Arabs on the Land of promise?  Here are some Biblical facts on this issue:

1.God s promise to give the land of Israel to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their seeds forever is repeated more times in the Bible than any other promise. In Genesis alone it is repeated close to twenty times.

2.The promise of God to give the Land of Israel (Canaan) to Israel is given to every one of the patriarchs, to Moses, to Joshua, and to the prophets of Israel.

3.Israel is the only nation that has been exiled for more than one hundred years that has returned home to the land of their forefathers. In fact Israel has returned to the land already three times. Our forefathers returned from Egypt to the Land of God s promise with Moses and Joshua.

After 70 years of exile in Babylon Ezra and Nehamiah returned with a large number of the Exiles back to Jerusalem and the Land of Israel. Modern Zionism is a third time that
God s promises of return to the Land and inheritance of His promises. We are actually living witnesses of this return and rebuilding and restoration of this land and all this is happening before our own eyes and the eyes of the whole world.

I believe that, although, the Biblical promises made by God seem unrealistic right now, they are the most realistic and since God has the power to change people and nations, we who believe Him and believe His Word, must hold on to God s promises and never stop hoping that He will keep His Word in the future as He has kept it in the past.  Who would have believed 150 years ago that there is going to be a Jewish State in the land of Israel and that it will have an army and Jewish farmers, and win wars against the whole and joint force of the Arab countries.

These promises of God to Israel bring a special rational to the people who believe that the Bible is God s Living Word and want to live according to what the Bible teaches. People stand on God’s Word and say to themselves the following:

How can we give this land that is promised to us by the Creator of the World as an inheritance forever to the Muslim/Arabs who have always opposed God and His Word. We read that the Arabs opposed the return of the Exiles from Babylon in the days of Nehemiah also just as they do today: "Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repair of the walls of Jerusalem went on, and that the breaches began to be closed, they were very angry. 8 All of them conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause a disturbance in it." (Nehemiah 4:7-8)

Our God is able and His Word is living and every one of His promises will be fulfilled. Our hope is in God and in His promises, and even if we at times misunderstand God s Word and misinterpret his promises, we know that not one word from God will fall empty.  What to us seems virtual and unreal for God is real and already accomplished.

By Joseph Shulam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MdsolNljD8

SCENE: The water cooler at the office. An Anti-Semite is trying to convince a co-worker that the Jewish people should be blamed for "everything"

• Anti-Semite:  "All the world’s troubles come from the Jews"
• Average Joe: "Oh really, from the Jews??!"
• Anti-Semite:  "You know they have all the money in the world"
• Average Joe: "All of it? Seems to me that Bill Gates and Donald Trump have some, not to mention the Saudi Royal Family"
• Anti-Semite:  "They’re taking over the government too"
• Average Joe: "I can’t seem to remember any Jewish Presidents"
• Anti-Semite:  "Besides, they’re not pure Americans anyway"
• Average Joe: "My ancestors are from Italy, where are yours from?
• Anti-Semite:  "Never Mind! Like I said, our troubles are from the Jews"
• Average Joe: "OK, from the Jews,… and the Bicycle riders"
• Anti-Semite:   "Why the Bicycle riders??"
• Average Joe:  "Why the Jews?!!"

“Believing in Yeshua does not produce anti-Semitism. It may have been the convenient scapegoat for some, perhaps for many. For prejudice runs deep in the core of men’s experience. But belief in Yeshua the Messiah is not the cause of anti-Semitism. In fact, one Jewish source claims that modern anti-Semitism is not religiously motivated at all, "Modern anti-Semitism is thus built on racial, not religious foundations and the adoption of the prevailing faith no longer provides an escape route for persecuted Jews."

For a professing believers to side with the anti-Semite is to side not only against the Jewish followers of the Jewish Messiah who penned the Besora Tova HaGeula (Good News of Redemption), but it also invites the sternest judgment from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To court God’s judgment doesn’t seem very rational or logical. But then foolishly blaming all of our troubles on the bicycle riders doesn’t either!

First, anti-Semitism is totally inconsistent with the stated attitude of Yeshua toward the Jewish people. To believe that our Rabbi Yeshua is the Messiah and then not reflect His attitude toward the Jewish people is the height of hypocrisy, let alone a fallacious inconsistency.

Yeshua was born a Jew, He lived as a Jew, and He died a Jew,… He lived in the midst of His Jewish people and He loved them with a love unparalleled in the annals of Jewish history. Those guilty of such an attitude show by their fruits that they don’t follow Yeshua the Messiah at all.”   You cannot claim to have the King of the Jews in your heart and also hate the Jewish people? Absurd!

A true follower of the Jewish Messiah loves the Jewish people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dbnc7hCoM9A

No solamente los israelíes son engañados, sino también los palestinos mismos. Ellos son usados tan solamente como medio para alcanzar la meta, ya que de ellos se está haciendo un pueblo que en realidad nunca ha existido. El nombre “palestinos” deriva de la palabra “filisteos”. Sin embargo, estos provenían originalmente de Creta (Caftor), ocuparon partes del territorio y destruyeron su población. En Deuteronomio 2.23 leemos: “Y en cuanto a los aveos que vivían en las aldeas cercanas a Gaza, los caftoritas procedentes de Creta los destruyeron y se establecieron en su lugar.” (vea también Jos. 13.3; Gn. 10-14; Jer. 47.4; Am. 9.7). Pero como los filisteos provenían de Caftor (Creta) ni siquiera eran árabes.

La palabra “Palestina” sencillamente es una expresión general para la tierra de Israel, la cual fue inventada por el emperador romano Adriano. Este sin embargo odiaba a Dios y a los judíos. En el año 135 d.C. reprimió el levantamiento de Bar-Kochba de los judíos. El quería destruir toda memoria de Israel y de Jerusalem, y de ahí en adelante dió a la ciudad de Jerusalem el nombre de Aelia Capitolina. A la tierra de Israel también le cambió el nombre por el de sus más encarnizados enemigos, los filisteos.

Con una honestidad increíble, uno de los líderes representantes de la OLP, Zuheir Mohsen, en el año 1977 confesó el bien calculado mal uso de ese nombre, por parte de los árabes que viven en la llamada “Palestina”.

“No existe un pueblo palestino. La creación de un estado palestino es un medio a favor de la continuidad de nuestra lucha contra Israel y a favor de la unidad árabe… Pero en realidad no existe ninguna diferencia entre los jordanos y los palestinos, los sirios y los libaneses. Todos nosotros formamos parte del pueblo árabe. Solamente por razones políticas y tácticas hablamos de la existencia de una identidad palestina, ya que está en el interés nacional de los árabes el oponer al sionismo una existencia separada de los jordanos. Por razones tácticas, Jordania que es un estado con fronteras fijas, no puede reclamar a Haifa y Jaffa. Yo como palestino, por el contrario, puedo reclamar Haifa, Jaffa, Beersheba y Jerusalem. Pero en cuanto se hayan restablecido nuestros derechos por la totalidad de Palestina, no esperaremos un minuto más para la unificación de Jordania y Palestina.”

El pueblo palestino es engañado, abusado y usado como punta de lanza contra Israel. En esta tierra sencillamente vivían árabes que mayormente provenían de Siria y Jordania, pero también judíos. En este sentido, también los judíos son palestinos. Por eso en su tiempo la Primera Ministra Golda Meir dijo: “Yo también soy palestina.” También fue Golda Meir quien dijo: “Recién podremos tener paz con los árabes, cuando estos amen más a sus hijos de lo que nos odian a nosotros.”

Las tierras del oeste del Jordán y Gaza se encontraban entre 1948 y 1967 bajo dominio árabe, es decir, jordano. Si hubiera existido una cuestión palestina en el sentido actual, ¿por qué entonces no se les dio un estado mientras se encontraban bajo el dominio árabe? Porque ellos nunca fueron reconocidos como pueblo independiente, sino que como árabes pertenecían a Jordania, a Siria o a otros países.

El nombre “palestinos” surgió recién en el año 1964, cuando el comité mayor árabe pidió a la Liga Arabe a favor de Palestina se le otorgase la formación de una Organización de Liberación de Palestina (OLP). Acerca de esto escribió el semanario egipcio El Mussawar:

“Una nación palestina es el resultado del avance de una planificación, ya que el mundo difícilmente aceptaría una guerra de cien millones de árabes contra una pequeña nación israelí.”

Antes del año 1964 los habitantes de “Palestina” sencillamente eran llamados “árabes”. Cuando el 15 de mayo de 1948 siete ejércitos árabes atacaron el recién nacido estado de Israel, los árabes de “Palestina” fueron llamados a evacuar sus territorios por un tiempo limitado y a ponerse a salvo hasta que Israel hubiera sido derrotado. Fueron los mismos estados árabes quienes animaron a los palestinos a hacer esto. Ellos no fueron echados por los israelíes. El 68% de ellos se fueron sin jamás haber visto un soldado israelí. Un refugiado palestino resumió la situación de la siguiente manera: “El gobierno árabe nos dijo: Salgan ustedes, para que nosotros podamos entrar. De modo que nosotros salimos, pero ello no entraron.”

Norbert Lieth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQVNy3C9bLk

The Land of Israel is the only place on earth which God says He owns in terms of property ownership that can be transferred. (Of course, we know the whole world is His, yet this one parcel of land on the earth has a unique relationship to Him.) About Israel, He says, "The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine: for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me" (Leviticus 25:23).

When we come to the modern-day Israel-Palestine issue, people often ask the question, "Just what right do Israel and the Jewish people have to this land?" Arguments are continually brought forth concerning the rights of the Palestinians and the rights of the Israelis that seem logical to the people who present them. But a basic question still remains in my mind as I listen to the many conflicting viewpoints concerning this parcel of land: "Who has the ultimate authority to determine rights concerning this special piece of real estate?" The biblical answer to that question is that God alone determines the "rights" that any of us have. Something is right or wrong because of Divine decree, not human feeling or human reason.

The existence of God previous to the creation of the universe and mankind gives Him the right to determine our "rights."

Let’s look together at what He has to say about the Land of Israel, the people He chose to possess it, and why:

Bereshit / Genesis 17:7-8 states: "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. And I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojourning, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."

Summary … There is a myth hanging over all discussion of the Arab problem: the myth that this land was "Arab" land taken from its native inhabitants by invading Jews."

• As a strictly legal matter, the Jews didn’t take Palestine [sic] from the Arabs; they took it from the British, who exercised sovereign authority in Palestine under a League of Nations mandate for thirty years prior to Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948. And the British don’t want it back.
• If you consider the British illegitimate usurpers, fine. In that case, this territory is not Arab land but Turkish land, a province of the Ottoman Empire for hundreds of years until the British wrested it from them during the Great War in 1917. And the Turks don’t want it back.
• If you look back earlier in history than the Ottoman Turks, who took over Palestine over in 1517, you find it under the sovereignty of the yet another empire not indigenous to Palestine: the Mamluks, who were Turkish and Circassian slave-soldiers headquartered in Egypt. And the Mamluks don’t even exist any more, so they can’t want it back.

So, going back 800 years, there’s no particularly clear chain of title that makes Israel’s title to the land inferior to that of any of the previous owners. Who were, continuing backward:

• The Mamluks, already mentioned, who in 1250 took Palestine over from:
• The Ayyubi dynasty, the descendants of Saladin, the Kurdish Muslim leader who in 1187 took Jerusalem and most of Palestine from:
• The European Christian Crusaders, who in 1099 conquered Palestine from:
• The Seljuk Turks, who ruled Palestine in the name of:
• The Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad, which in 750 took over the sovereignty of the entire Near East from:
• The Umayyad Caliphate of Damascus, which in 661 inherited control of the Islamic lands from
• The Arabs of Arabia, who in the first flush of Islamic expansion conquered Palestine in 638 from:
• The Byzantines, who (nice people—perhaps it should go to them?) didn’t conquer the Levant, but, upon the division of the Roman Empire in 395, inherited Palestine from:
• The Romans, who in 63 B.C. took it over from:
• The last Jewish kingdom, which during the Maccabean rebellion from 168 to 140 B.C. won control of the land from:
• The Hellenistic Greeks, who under Alexander the Great in 333 B.C. conquered the Near East from:
• The Persian empire, which under Cyrus the Great in 639 B.C. freed Jerusalem and Judah from:
• The Babylonian empire, which under Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. took Jerusalem and Judah from:
• The Jews, meaning the people of the Kingdom of Judah, who, in their earlier incarnation as the Israelites, seized the land in the 12th and 13th centuries B.C. from:
• The Canaanites, who had inhabited the land for thousands of years before they were dispossessed by the Israelites.

As the foregoing suggests, any Arab claim to sovereignty based on inherited historical control will not stand up. Arabs are not native to Palestine, but are native to Arabia, which is called Arab-ia for the breathtakingly simple reason that it is the historic home of the Arabs. The terroritories comprising all other "Arab" states outside the Arabian peninsula—including Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria, as well as the entity now formally under the Palestinian Authority—were originally non-Arab nations that were conquered by the Muslim Arabs when they spread out from the Arabian peninsula in the first great wave of jihad in the 7th century, defeating, mass-murdering, enslaving, dispossessing, converting, or reducing to the lowly status of dhimmitude millions of Christians and Jews and destroying their ancient and flourishing civilizations. Prior to being Christian, of course, these lands had even more ancient histories. Pharaonic Egypt, for example, was not an Arab country through its 3,000 year history.

The recent assertion by the Palestinian Arabs that they are descended from the ancient Canaanites whom the ancient Hebrews displaced is absurd in light of the archeological evidence. There is no record of the Canaanites surviving their destruction in ancient times. History records literally hundreds of ancient peoples that no longer exist. The Arab claim to be descended from Canaanites is an invention that came after the 1964 founding of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the same crew who today deny that there was ever a Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Prior to 1964 there was no "Palestinian" people and no "Palestinian" claim to Palestine; the Arab nations who sought to overrun and destroy Israel in 1948 planned to divide up the territory amongst themselves. Let us also remember that prior to the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, the name "Palestinian" referred to the Jews of Palestine.

In any case, today’s "Palestine," meaning the West Bank and Gaza, is, like most of the world, inhabited by people who are not descendants of the first human society to inhabit that territory. This is true not only of recently settled countries like the United States and Argentina, where European settlers took the land from the indigenous inhabitants several hundred years ago, but also of ancient nations like Japan, whose current Mongoloid inhabitants displaced a primitive people, the Ainu, aeons ago. Major "native" tribes of South Africa, like the Zulu, are actually invaders from the north who arrived in the 17th century. India’s caste system reflects waves of fair-skinned Aryan invaders who arrived in that country in the second millennium B.C. One could go on and on.

The only nations that have perfect continuity between their earliest known human inhabitants and their populations of the present day are Iceland, parts of China, and a few Pacific islands. The Chinese case is complicated by the fact that the great antiquity of Chinese civilization has largely erased the traces of whatever societies preceded it, making it difficult to reconstruct to what extent the expanding proto-Chinese displaced (or absorbed) the prehistoric peoples of that region. History is very sketchy in regard to the genealogies of ancient peoples. The upshot is that "aboriginalism"—the proposition that the closest descendants of the original inhabitants of a territory are the rightful owners—is not tenable in the real world. It is not clear that it would be a desirable idea even if it were tenable. Would human civilization really be better off if there had been no China, no Japan, no Greece, no Rome, no France, no England, no Ireland, no United States?

Back to the Arabs.

I have no problem recognizing the legitimacy of the Arabs’ tenure in Palestine when they had it, from 638 to 1099, a period of 461 years out of a history lasting 5,000 years. They took Palestine by military conquest, and they lost it by conquest, to the Christian Crusaders in 1099. Of course, military occupation by itself does not determine which party rightly has sovereignty in a given territory. Can it not be said that the Arabs have sovereign rights, if not to all of Israel, then at least to the West Bank, by virtue of their majority residency in that region from the early Middle Ages to the present?

To answer that question, let’s look again at the historical record. Prior to 1947, as we’ve discussed, Palestine was administered by the British under the Palestine Mandate, the ultimate purpose of which, according to the Balfour Declaration, was the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine. In 1924 the British divided the Palestine Mandate into an Arabs-only territory east of the Jordan, which became the Kingdom of Trans-Jordan, and a greatly reduced Palestine Mandate territory west of the Jordan, which was inhabited by both Arabs and Jews.

Given the fact that the Jews and Arabs were unable to coexist in one state, there had to be two states. At the same time, there were no natural borders separating the two peoples, in the way that, for example, the Brenner Pass has historically marked the division between Latin and Germanic Europe. Since the Jewish population was concentrated near the coast, the Jewish state had to start at the coast and go some distance inland. Exactly where it should have stopped, and where the Arab state should have begun, was a practical question that could have been settled in any number of peaceful ways, almost all of which the Jews would have accepted. The Jews’ willingness to compromise on territory was demonstrated not only by their acquiescence in the UN’s 1947 partition plan, which gave them a state with squiggly, indefensible borders, but even by their earlier acceptance of the 1937 Peel Commission partition plan, which gave them nothing more than a part of the Galilee and a tiny strip along the coast. Yet the Arab nations, refusing to accept any Jewish sovereignty in Palestine even if it was the size of a postage stamp, unanimously rejected the 1937 Peel plan, and nine years later they violently rejected the UN’s partition plan as well. When the Arabs resorted to arms in order to wipe out the Jews and destroy the Jewish state, they accepted the verdict of arms. They lost that verdict in 1948, and they lost it again in 1967, when Jordan, which had annexed the West Bank in 1948 (without any objections from Palestinian Arabs that their sovereign nationhood was being violated), attacked Israel from the West Bank during the Six Day War despite Israel’s urgent pleas that it stay out of the conflict, and Israel in self-defense then captured the West Bank. The Arabs thus have no grounds to complain either about Israel’s existence (achieved in ’48) or about its expanded sovereignty from the river to the sea (achieved in ’67).

The Arabs have roiled the world for decades with their furious protest that their land has been "stolen" from them. One might take seriously such a statement if it came from a pacifist people such as the Tibetans, who had quietly inhabited their land for ages before it was seized by the Communist Chinese in 1950. The claim is laughable coming from the Arabs, who in the early Middle Ages conquered and reduced to slavery and penury ancient peoples and civilizations stretching from the borders of Persia to the Atlantic; who in 1947 rejected an Arab state in Palestine alongside a Jewish state and sought to obliterate the nascent Jewish state; who never called for a distinct Palestinian Arab state until the creation of the terrorist PLO in 1964—sixteen years after the founding of the state of Israel; and who to this moment continue to seek Israel’s destruction, an object that would be enormously advanced by the creation of the Arab state they demand. The Arab claim to sovereign rights west of the Jordan is only humored today because of a fatal combination of world need for Arab oil, leftist Political Correctness that has cast the Israelis as "oppressors," and, of course, good old Jew-hatred.

Lawrence Auster, FrontPageMagazine.com
Published: August 30, 2004

ארמלגוס – Armi-what?  2. Who, what, where and when is Armilus / Armilgus?  3. Does anyone know?  The Armilus is virtually unknown to the vast majority of people, even those who are Jewish and consider themselves religious!  A handful of Bible scholars have looked up the word in various encyclopedias and then take the person for which it stands about as seriously as do the encyclopedias.  If you do not believe this, just ask a rabbi, or any person who professes to have a knowledge or interest in the Jewish religion, about Armilus ("the Jewish Anti-Messiah" or "the last evil king against Israel and the Messiah").  I am willing to bet that they either look completely bewildered, or look at you like you should be put in an asylum! 

Many believe the Anti-Messiah or anti-Christ is a Christian concept, having nothing to do with Judaism.  This is not true!  The ancient rabbis wrote about him under the name of Armilus.  In this chapter we will quote rabbinical commentaries (such as certain Midrashim, Targums and selected writings of Bar Yohai) to illustrate this point.

In The Jewish Encyclopedia, it is admitted that a "Jewish Antichrist," called Armilus in ancient Jewish legend/tradition, will come to wreak havoc on the Jews of Jerusalem just prior to the Messiah coming to destroy him and save them.  The Jewish Encyclopedia says:  "ARMILUS:  In later Jewish eschatology and legend, a king who will arise at the end of time against the Messiah, and will be conquered by him after having brought much distress upon Israel.

The origin of this Jewish Anti-Messiah (as he can well be styled in view of his relation to the Messiah) is as much involved in doubt as the different phases of his development, and his relation to the Christian legend….[Rabbi] Saadia (born 892; died 942)…speaks of Armilus.  He mentions the following as a tradition of the ancients….If the Jews do not prove themselves worthy of Messianic salvation, God will force them to repentance by terrible persecutions.  In consequence of these persecutions, a scion of the tribe of Joseph [known as Messiah ben Joseph] will arise and wrest Jerusalem from the hands of the Edomites….Thereupon the king, Armilus, will conquer and sack the Holy City….then begin a general campaign against the Jews, forcing them to flee into the desert [Petra], where they will suffer untold misery.  When they have been purified by sorrow and pain (Zechariah 12:10), the Messiah will appear, wrest Jerusalem from Armilus, slay him, and thereby bring the true salvation….This creature, Armilus by name—the Gentiles called him Antichrist, says the ‘Otot’—will set himself up as Messiah, even as God Himself, being recognized as such by the sons of Esau….Armilus, inflamed against the Jews, will march against the Messiah.  But now God Himself will war against Armilus and his army and destroy them;  or the Messiah, as one version has it, will slay Armilus by the breath of his mouth."

Incredibly enough, The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia admits, in so many words, that Armilus is the Anti-Messiah.  In this encyclopedia, under another heading near Antichrist and Armilus, there is a section called "Anti- christ."  This encyclopediareads:  "ANTI-MESSIAH, legendary opponent of the Messiah and leader of the heathen forces in the battle against the latter which will take place at the end of time.  Such a figure, under the name of Armilus, becomes a definite part of Jewish eschatology….[who] will overcome and destroy the Messiah of the house of Joseph and rule over the entire world, but will ultimately be defeated and slain by the Messiah of the line of David.  In Pesikta Rabbathi (edit. Friedmann, p. 161b) the Anti-Messiah is apparently identified with Satan and the Angel of Death…. According to Bousset and Moritz Friedlaender, the idea of an Anti-Messiah goes back to…Ezekiel’s prophecy of Gog, the prince of Magog, who was to attack Israel and to be miraculously overcome (Ezek. 38 and 39).  The pseudepigraphic writings describe him as a powerful tyrant, with the characteristic traits of Antiochus Epiphanes, Herod the Great, Caligula or Nero, or else as a false prophet, who established his power by means of deceptive signs and miracles (Ascension of Moses 8;  IV Esdras 13:33 et seq.;  Sibylline Oracles 3:46-92)."

The greatest of Satan’s deceptive miracles, which he will use to fool the world into receiving the Anti-Messiah as the Messiah, will be a counterfeit of the resurrection of our beloved Rabbi, Maran Yeshua!  Hitgalut / Revelation 13:3 speaks of this world leader receiving a fatal wound to his head, which is supernaturally healed.  This is the way Satan will catapult himself onto the world’s stage as the Messiah and Savior, and as the answer to the world’s quest for peace, including the solution to the Middle East Crisis.  He will accomplish this through a false miracle that will appear to be so great, all the world’s people will sit up and take notice—a man resurrected from the dead. 

The Mahdi, is the anti-Messiah too, who is the one and the same as the Armilus, to whom Islam sees as the saviour of the world, but in contrast to their anti-Messiah (for Islam), the mahdi hates Israel, and its goal is to bring Islam to the whole world. To us, Bible believers, this is the anti-Messiah, Armilus, the incarnation of pure evil. (Important Note: It is worth noting, that several visits from Mahmoud Aminajad to Bashar Al-ASAD, Mr. Mahmoud came back saying that he met the Mahdi.)

Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders…." (II Thes. 2:9).

View this videos, it will be enlighten. This man explains the idea conveyed in this article quite good. Although, be warned, he uses the assume holy Name of HaShem. The video lenght in its total is about 2 hours or more.

httpvp://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A3FCFF56D37AFEAD&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL

Ask someone coming out of Synagogue on a Shabbat, “Do you believe in God?” and the worshipper is shocked. “What type of question is that? Of course I do!” Then ask him, “Do you consider yourself religious?” and you’ll hear “Certainly. That’s why I’m here!” This is normal. These conversations make sense. We now look forward to the full revelation of Mashiach, therefore we can say “We want Mashiach now? But some will tell you, but now I’m not ready. I don’t want to be judged the way I am (I need to do teshuva, but I am not ready). I need more notice. When Mashiach comes, what’s he going to find? How do we know who he will be? Am I ready to meet him? Do I really need to know more about him?

Does Judaism need Mashiach? We do need Mashiach, it is included in the Rambam’s 13 principles of faith: "I believe with complete faith in the coming of the Mashiach and even though he may tarry, nevertheless, I yearn every day for his coming."

To believe in the Mashiach is to believe in God, the Torah and all the commandments. It is one of the footstools of Judaism and one of the main roots of all faith. Mashiach is the crown of what God desired of His people, a relationship with roots. If Mashiach comes today, would he find that our longing of his coming is growing cold. Are we suffering from a loss of connection to our ancestors. Is our faith, our belief very cold. But we can ask: whose fault is that? Who is he coming for? All Jewish people, some? the Gentiles? to who or for whom?

Truth be told, we are bringing Mashiach closer and closer every day with your physical performances of the Mitzvot (commandments). Doing good deeds (all that HaShem asks of us to do via the holy scriptures), praying and learning torah, teaching others concerning his revelation, reading of who he is from the Hebrew Scriptures, etc… Are you willing to say, I’m ready, Do I want Mashiach Now, and risk it all for the sake of his coming? Do you really want to know him?

Know this, Mashiach’s full revelation eminent!

We want Mashiach Now. But we must ask: In what merit does the Mashiach comes? Would our long cry bring Mashiach Now?

Every Shabbat has its own special Kedusha (holiness), revealed by its very own Parasha (thus every week we must strive to live out the weekly Parasha!). It is no coincidence that we read a specific Parasha on a specific Shabbat. It’s all in the plan of HaKodesh Baruch Hu (the Holy One, Blessed be He).  Thus, the special spirit that exemplifies this coming Shabbat is alluded to in Parashat Bereshit (Genesis). " ‘And the Spirit of Hashem hovers upon the surface of the waters (Bereshit 1:2)’ — this [refers to] the spirit of Mashiach… (Bereshit Rabba 2:4)."

"Rabbi Eliezer says, In Tishrei the world was created… and in Tishrei we are destined to be redeemed. Rabbi Yehoshua says, In Nisan the world was created… and in Nisan we are destined to be redeemed (Rosh HaShana 10b-11a)." Note that according to both opinions, redemption will occur in the same month as creation, for as we have learned, creation contained within it the seeds of Mashiach.  (As we have been saying all along, the first coming of Mashiach was demonstrated by all the spring Festivals)

Thus, the special Spirit (the Spirit of Mashiach) that exemplifies this coming Shabbat is alluded to in Parshat Bereshit. " ‘And the Spirit of Hashem hovers upon the surface of the waters (Bereshit 1:2)’ — this [refers to] the spirit of Mashiach… (Bereshit Rabba 2:4)."  ‘…hovers upon the surface of the waters’ — In the merit of Teshuva, which is compared to water, as it says, ‘Pour out your heart like water. (Eichah / Lamentations 2:19)’ "
Of course, one can always do Teshuva. But the time is ripe now. If ever we needed redemption, the time is now. The coming year holds many surprises in store for our nation. How can we afford not to do Teshuva?  Pour out your heart like water…! 

וְהִבִּיטוּ אֵלַי אֵת אֲשֶׁר-דָּקָרוּ

And it is written: Zecharya 12:10 I will pour on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; וְהִבִּיטוּ אֵלַי אֵת אֲשֶׁר-דָּקָרוּ and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn.

Learn why the Mashiach is the pierced one from the Tanach, and learn who the Mashiach is. Do not be affraid, Mashiach will be revealed to you today!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPTwGF6ufwA

What מרן רבינו ישוע מלך המשיח / Maran Rabbeinu Yeshua HaMashiach and HaShlichim / the Emissaries began in Jerusalem was not the church, it was not Christianity.  It was a realization that Melech HaMashiach (King Messiah) and Yemot HaMashiach (days of Messiah) had Arrived! 

After the fall of Jerusalem and after the Jewish Emissaries had died they were replaced mostly by non-Jews leaders and because of their shallow roots in the Torah were influenced by the increasing anti-Semitism of the times to cut of themselves from Israel and its people.  Soon the grafted in branch (non-Jews) were breaking away to form the Jewish believers to form a new institution called "ekklesia / church". (The word ekklesia was a political term, not a religious term).

The Jewish believers were known as "the Way" and because they were fully Torah observant they were ostracized by the non-Jews, this happened in places like: Especially of Rome, Alexandria, Carthage, and Antioch. The Council of Nicea and the many that followed took aim at destroying the doctrines of the Jewish Emissaries and creating or perverting them into a new religion called "Christianity". From then on "the Way" or Messianic Jews were persecuted and were known as the Pasagii or Pasagini by the Church of Rome.

The early Jewish followers of ישוע המשיח / Yeshua HaMashiach saw the perfect fulfillment of what Yermiyahu (Jeremiah) and the Prophets had foretold. The New Covenant had been promised, the Messiah would be the mediator of this Covenant… and our Rabbi Yeshua of Nazareth fit the description. It never occurred to them that they were not Jews anymore; indeed, they had come into the fullness of the Promised Covenant. They were "Messianic Jews" in the true sense of the word! This community of Messianic Jews continued to fit into the framework of Judaism at that time, with many Cohanim (Priests), Perushim (Pharisees), etc., becoming believers in our Rabbi Yeshua HaPerush. This was a Jewish revival movement that would survive beyond the destruction of the Temple and influence significantly the reconstruction of Judaism by the Pharisaic movement in the years to come. History records the vitality of this movement in various parts of the world until well into the fourth and fifth centuries and beyond.

Starting in the late 1960’s and continuing until today, there has been a dramatic move of God’s Spirit. As God was moving to restore His people physically back to the land of Israel, so too He was moving spiritually in the hearts of many Jewish people. Thousands upon thousands have been coming to believe in our Rabbi, Maran Yeshua HaMashiach and even forming their own congregations where they can worship the God of Israel through the merit of our Rabbi in the fulfillment of their Jewish identity. These "Messianic Congregations" are characterized by a number of distinctive elements: worship on the Shabbat and other Jewish biblical holidays, joyful Messianic prayers and songs, and other customs that are consistent with the Scripture. What a wonderful way this has been for Jewish believers in Melech HaMashiach to express their faith and heritage! We should also note that many non-Jews have found special fulfillment in Messianic Jewish congregations as well, since they are grafted into "the rich root of the olive tree" of this Jewish, biblical, faith. (Romim / Romans 11:17 ff.) Together, Jews and non-Jews are returning to their roots of faith through our Rabbi Yeshua the Messiah.

Many of our Jewish people have simply given up on any belief in a Messiah. Some have accepted many other substitutes in Eastern mysticism, New Age groups, Christian cults, etc. But יהודים משיחים Messianic Jews say that there is indeed a Messiah promised to Israel and that we can recognize Him. It is through the Tanach (Hebrew Scriptures) that we have read the description of Messiah. It’s simply a matter of studying the Scriptures to see what they actually say. If our Rabbi Yeshua of Nazareth does not fit the description, then we should not follow Him. But if He does? Read the Tanach for yourself and decide!

PS: It is time for Messianic Judaism to come back to Judaism and let go Christianity. It is time for Messianic Judaism to stop looking for instructions of the Bible from the Christian pastors, but go back to our Rabbis, to our Jewish wisdom. Christianity has not future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPiMhZNvsR8

After studying the Karaite movement, we have determined that it’s primary aim in sharing its theology with Messianic Jews, is to get it to legitimize its authority over them, by attacking orthodox Judaism’s authority on matter of halacha, especially the moedim, and to establish itself as the rightful interpreters and authority on scripture. This is done through preying on anti-orthodox sentiments that exist within the greater Messianic movement; and is thus accepted by those all-too eager to stay away from an orthodox Judaism.

What Messianic believers who have subjected themselves to Karaite halacha don’t realize is that they’ve been sold a package of counterfeit goods by a sleight-of-mind which exchanges the authority of orthodox Judaism and the majority of Israel’s leaders, with that of the Karaites, under the guise of doing what is “biblical” – again, usually also defined and taught according to the authority of the Karaites. This sleight-of-mind, coupled with unjustified, emotional anti-orthodox sentiments produces the result of a Messianic Judaism inundated with Karaite observers who ascribe to a “do it my own way” halacha at worst (and eventually slide into the lunar Sabbath camp and its derivatives), or “do it like the Karaites and not like the orthodox,” setting up ourselves as the authority or simply replacing that authority with that of the Karaites. Doing so creates general discord and disunity with the rest of Israel where we aren’t even gathering on the same day to observe the moedim which are themselves holy convocations with the aim for all Israel to gather together. You can’t have a moed with all Israel if all Israel isn’t observing your moed.

Many arguments have been raised, and none of them are without debate, but the primary cause for us to accept the orthodox calendar concerning the moedim, as well as their related halacha, is that we as an organization have given up assuming the orthodox are wrong. We have given up assuming that their arguments, positions, reasoning, and halacha are not worth investigating from the start. We have given up assuming that we know all the answers, or assuming that we could figure them out alone without the input of the Sages (which leaves a vacuum for solid halachic authority that the Karaites are more than eager to rush in and fulfill). We have finally given up our Protestant baggage and stopped protesting; and we have surrendered our rebellious hearts to HaShem, trusting that he is the one who leads us all to truth through his Torah, and through those he has placed in authority over Israel (which at it’s head is Messiah Yeshua). And ever since we did, we have come to respect the learned wisdom of the Sages, and even the authority of orthodox halacha as it applies and is practiced by all Israel. Certainly some differences in halacha abound, and even more so within orthodoxy. But concerning moedim, all Israel is united on the dates we should all be convocating on, and only the Karaites, and the lone Messianic independents they’ve managed to deceive, stand apart and alone from all Israel in this regard. We as Messianic Jews must recognize the sleight-of-mind that is being pulled on us by the Karaite movement, and recognize why we were so vulnerable to fall for its deception: our rebelliousness. We need to repent, and recognize that HaShem calls us all to convocate as one people, not as a splintered faction.

It is clearly known that there were deceivers in the days of the old Sanhedrin who would come in and “witness” to the sighting of the new moon – for the sole purpose of causing confusion and getting people to not observe the established calendar. The Karaites today appear to continue in this tradition of sending ” witnesses” in which to cause confusion from the established orthodox calendar.

What some do not realize yet is that there is a new Sanhedrin, though they have not ruled on establishing a new calendar based on witness sightings in Israel, they have continued to uphold the orthodox calendar established by the previous Sanhedrin, and last I checked, even Messiah and his disciples submitted to that Sanhedrin – even at the cost of their lives. The Karaite argument in this regard simply shows its ugly face for what it is when it denounces the new Sanhedrin: in that the Karaite movement truly is designed to replace the authority of the leaders of Israel with that of the Karaites. It is nothing short of a heart of Korach that desires to rebel and separate from all Israel under the guise of “doing what I think is biblical,” and until we realize this, we will continue to be duped as long as we sit on the throne of our hearts, and not submit to Messiah Yeshua’s words “do everything (the Pharisees who sit in the seat of Moses) tell you.”

We as a generation are not left without our leaders. Make teshuvah and return the Torah. If our leaders are wrong about the date, the sin is upon them, not us. We are not called to break the Torah, yet who are we to decide the Torah concerning moedim for all Israel? Since when did we become the established judges for all Israel in this regard? According to the Torah, we are not to rebel against the judges that are established in our day, but to do everything they tell us – and even much more so when we are submitted to Messiah Yeshua who is King over all Israel! So then it naturally follows that deceivers will always exist to draw us away from being in unity with the rest of Israel and to cause us to separate even further. As Messianic Jews we are already separated from the rest of Judaism by our acceptance of Yeshua as the Messiah; why must we add to that the separation of our convocations? If we do, then we’d be just as guilty as if we were the Council of Nicea mandating Sunday worship – and that is certainly the result of those who rebelled against the leadership of Israel in that day too.

At this point, we can only conclude then that it is better to err on the side of Orthodox authority – one that is established and tested and accepted by the majority of Torah-observant Israel, recognized by Messiah Yeshua, and unifies rather than divides, than err on the side of Kararaite authority which is established from a root of rebellion against the leadership of Israel; especially concerning the matter of setting the dates of convocation required for all Israel. Based on this, Orthodox authority should be given the benefit of the doubt concerning halacha for all Israel. We have found it to be a safe starting position for any halacha, with Messiah Yeshua as the boundary, and we hope you do too.

By The Jerusalem Council - A Global Association of Orthodox Jewish Believers in Messiah Yeshua

"LaShannah Tovah" is the greeting common at this time of year among Jewish people everywhere. It means "A Good Year." According to the calendar of our forefathers, we have begun a new year. It has been 5769 years since HaShem created the earth, according to the reckoning of the rabbis. On the Feast of Trumpets, we celebrate Rosh Hashanah (The Head of the Year). It is on this day, according to tradition, that God fashioned man. Why does the first of Tishri mark the sixth day of creation and not the first? Because after Elohim had created the earth and all of its glory, there was still no one to proclaim Him Melech HaOlam, King of the World. Yes, the angels knew Him to be the supreme ruler, but to be crowned King of kings was the task of man. A ruler may be a despot, but the king is acknowledged by the people as lord of their lives. So today, we are to continue to declare Him King of kings and Lord of lords; for He is good; He is very good.

Therefore, just as the Holy One blessed be He created man in the 6th day of creation, so Mashiach is revealed then, which we near to it. (Note: the Hebrew calendar has an error of 220 years off, so really we are near: 5990 from creation. Which leaves us only 10 more years to the final revelation of Mashiach, and his kingdom here on earth).

So begins "The Ten Days of Awe" solemn days that end with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.  We will look at this important Fast Day next week.

Five days after this Time of Forgiveness, we enter into booths, in which we dwell for the eight days. This Feast of Tabernacles is, for all of Israel, the culmination of a year-long cycle in which HaShem has revealed His character and His ways to His people.

So are the Fall Feasts, a time of Remembrance.  Each of the seven annual Appointed Times reveals more of the character of God and of His ways to each of us, too. Each Feast holds, for the believer, a further and deeper understanding of Who God is and of who we are in Him. I pray that each of you will be established in present truth through your study of God‘s Holy Word in the light of the Jewish context in which it was written. I pray that in some way, the Ruach HaKodesh will work through us so that we become the light of revelation of Mashiach that would lead us to see, to know, the ultimate revelation, which is Mashiach this new coming year, 5770.

HaShem’s ways are perfect and all of His paths are right. He is the Light of the World and He has called each of us to be vessels in which to carry that light. This is a time for new beginnings. I pray that you will recommit yourself to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for the full revalation of Mashiach to the Jewish people that you know, Shalom al Yisrael (peace upon Israel).

Why the Shofar sound?

Rosh Hashanah is called in the Torah "yom teruah" – the day of the sounding of the teruah. This refers to the shofar sounding which serves as the special ritual commandment that dominates the Rosh Hashanah holiday. The Talmud teaches us that the teruah sound must be preceded by a tekiah – a straight unbroken sound – and followed by another tekiah. Though the teruah is therefore placed at the center and in reality as the focus of the service of the sounding of the shofar the exact sounding of the teruah is a matter of halachic debate. The Talmud records that the difference of opinion revolves as to whether the sound of the teruah is one of a deep heartrending sigh or whether it is a staccato sound of a wail or a call to arms. The Talmud reaches a compromise on this question and both sounds, the deep sigh sound which is now called shevarim and the wailing staccato sound which now assumes the name of teruah, are sounded. Even though the shevarim sound has this different name it is in reality also technically a teruah as far as the Torah is concerned.

The sound of the shevarim is the sound of sadness, lost opportunity, regret and even tragedy if you will. The rabbis of the Talmud stated that a deep gut-wrenching sigh breaks a person in half, physically and mentally. The deep sigh that emanates from within our souls is matched by the sound of the shevarim, the deep sigh that comes forth from the hollow of the shofar. We appeal to God to help us because we fear that we are broken in spirit and will and ability. We are only able to break our bodies and visions with a deep sigh, the sound of shevarim. God wants our hearts and they are only available once we have forfeited our unwarranted hubris and arrogance. Better a deep inner sigh than a public boast. How many seemingly great and powerful people were brought low this year and publicly humiliated! We cannot come to an encounter with the Lord, so to speak, unless first we are broken and humble.

The staccato sound of the teruah conveys a different message. It is also a wail of mourning but in another context it is also a call to arms, a rallying sound for a charge to be mounted against the foe. The Torah tells us that the ancient army of Israel went into battle to the sound of the teruah that urged them forward. Victories are not won with broken hearts alone. Yehoshua is commanded many times to be strong and powerful and not to give in to moments of defeat and frustration. There are no easy victories in life, in a family or a community or a nation. Life is a constant daily struggle and the teruah comes to rally us to strength, loyalty, determination and ultimate triumph. Therefore this staccato sound of the teruah must be included in the shofar service for otherwise we will be tempted to give up and half broken already allow ourselves to become completely defeated. I think therefore the rabbis of the Talmud included both sounds of the teruah – the shevarim and the teruah – in the shofar service to indicate this need for correct balance in approaching our service to God and humans. Humility and strength, a broken heart and a stiffened resolve to improve is the message of the teruah to us.

The seasonal feasts of HaShem – Holidays in Israel. The Hebrew Scriptures tell us: “These are the appointed times of HaShem, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them.” – Leviticus 23:4

Israel’s Feasts, outlined in Vayikra / Leviticus 23, are worthy of serious study. There is much redemptive and prophetic meaning packed into these divinely ordained feasts. They were–and still are–God’s object lessons to Israel, and by extension, to all people in all ages. Believers who study / do them will be blessed with a deeper understanding of redemption, and a greater sense of God’s overall plan for the ages.

Facts: A Jewish holiday or festival is a day or series of days observed by Jews as a holy or secular commemoration of an important event in Jewish history. In Hebrew, Jewish holidays and festivals, depending on their nature, may be called yom tov ("good day") (Yiddish: yontif) or chag ("festival") or ta’anit ("fast").

The origins of various Jewish holidays generally can be found in Biblical mitzvot (commandments), rabbinical mandate, and modern Israeli history. Let’s see them:

Shabbat / the Sabbath

Shabbat Right back in Creation God laid down the principle of a day of rest on the seventh day. He commands his people to observe this day at the beginning of Vayikra chapter 23. Shabbat is the sign of God’s covenant with his chosen people and it is a focus of family life and bringing up children.

Pesach / Passover

Pesach (or Passover) is a great time of remembrance for God’s people, as it commemorates the Jewish Exodus from Egypt thousands of years ago and our own exodus from the “Egypt of sin and shame” through the merits of our holy Rabbi Maran Yeshua. These two themes, Maran Yeshua’s deliverance of the spiritual Egypt and the Exodus, are central to how we celebrate Pesach here at the Harvest.  The focus of Pesach is not the resurrection of Maran Yeshua but His death, as He has commanded us to partake of matzo and wine during the Passover Seder in remembrance of him (Mashiach).

Hag HaMatzot / Unleavened Bread

Pesach is followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which lasts for seven days. During this time, everyone in the community is encouraged to rid their houses of anything containing yeast or leaven. This ceremonial cleansing reminds us that we need to cleanse our hearts of leaven, which is symbolically referred to in the Bible as sin. Only unleavened bread (matzo) may be eaten during these seven days. As a community, we celebrate Pesach in homes by sharing a Passover Seder together as family.

Shavuot / Pentecost

Shavuot (or the Feast of Weeks) is celebrated in commemoration of the giving of the Torah and the giving of the Holy Spirit after Maran Yeshua’s ascension into the presence of HaShem. It is also known as Pentecost. It is celebrated during a period of 50 days (7 weeks) during which the Israelites in Moshe / Moses’ day were making their way from the sea of Reeds to Mt. Sinai, where they were to be given the Torah. During the 50 day count down, the wheat harvest in Israel is ripening, and by the end of this period it is fully ripe and ready to be brought into the temple as a first fruits offering. For this reason, we count the omer. Each day, a head of wheat is taken from a bundle and blessings are said as we purify ourselves and eagerly wait for Shavuot. In our community, Shavuot is commemorated with an amazing time of worship, many songs centered around the fire of God and the power of the in our lives to do HaShem`s commandments.

Yom Teruah / Day of the sounding of the Trumpet

Yom Teruah (or the Day of the Awakening Blast) calls God’s people to repentance. Other names for this day include Rosh Hashanah and the Feast of Trumpets. We blow the shofars on this day which begins the Jewish New Year. More importantly, it begins the Ten Days of Awe, during which we cleanse ourselves and repent of sin in preparation for the most solemn day of the year – the Day of Atonement. Making teshuvah (repenting, returning to God) is the central theme of this feast day. Traditionally, the shofar blast was used to sound a warning, as of impending danger or war. For us as believers, it is meant to call us to wake up and get ourselves ready for the Day of Atonement. We are given ten days to search our hearts and examine ourselves with thoroughness. While this feast day is more solemn than some of the other feast days, it is with great joy that we remember the mercy of Yeshua in giving us time to repent. He warns us with the shofar blast that His judgment comes to those who have not repented; but to us who take seriously His warning trumpet blast, there is grace upon grace as we make teshuvah. It’s hard not to be taken up into the theme of this feast day as everyone, young and old alike, is encouraged to bring their shofars and fulfill this mitzva.

Yom Kippur / Day of Atonement

Yom Kippur (or the Day of Atonement) is the most solemn assembly of the year. The Ten Days of Awe culminate in this feast day, which is actually a day of fasting and prayer. Is still important for us to search our hearts and humbly beseech God’s throne for forgiveness and mercy. We prepare ourselves for the coming year by bringing to mind those areas that we need to work on as we grow in Him. The day is not only about personal repentance, but corporate repentance on a national level. During this feast day we look forward to the day when “they will look on Him Whom they have pierced” and “all Israel will be saved.” This prophetic passage speaks of the Day of Atonement when at last the olive branch receives the Messiah. As a community, we honor this day by fasting together from sundown on Erev Yom Kippur through sundown on Yom Kippur when often we will break the fast together. Some fast from food and water, but many fast only from food. We wear all white to commemorate being been washed white as snow and have a long service of worship, reflection, and prayer.

Sukkot / Tabernacles

The feast of Sukkot (or the Feast of Tabernacles) is one of the greatest times of rejoicing all year long. The feast last for seven days, with the eighth day being another holy convocation. Sukkot commemorates the wandering of the children of Israel in the wilderness when God commanded them to live in booths. God’s tabernacle was among them during their 40 year wanderings. Even in their paying the consequences for disobedience, God did not abandon them but lived in a tent right along with His children.  God as a good and loving Father is seen clearly in this feast day. At Beth HaDerech we celebrate this feast day with great fervor. Everyone is encouraged to build their own sukkah. It is a booth with three sides and a roof that is only covered with braches. During the seven days of the festival, people are invited into one another’s homes to celebrate, praise, fellowship, and dance. Sitting in the sukkah and telling about the greatness of God is one of the best times of the year. Many people even sleep in their sukkah in recalling the time when the Israelites lived in booths with no walls and no roofs.

Sh’mini Atzaret / Eighth Day of Assembly

Shemini Atzaret (or the Eighth Day of Assembly) is the last feast from Lev. 23. There are many purposes for this feast day. It is almost as if God wanted just one more day fellowshipping with His children because He has enjoyed Himself so much. Shemini Atzaret gets us ready for the final festival of the year, Hanukkah (or the Festival of Lights). God invites us to stay behind for the purpose of enjoying some intimate time alone with him. This day can also be viewed as a private time between God and each one of us – a sort of spiritual honeymoon during which we celebrate His love for us and our love for Him. God has chosen us and desires for us to be intimate with Him. When the days of Sukkot are finished with all their feasting and celebrating, we can take this eighth day to sit back and relax in awe of our King. Our community celebrates this day with yet another holy convocation.

Other Feasts and Fasts within Israel.

• Jewish Weddings
• Bar Mitzvah
• Chanukah or Feast of Lights
• Purim or The Feast of Esther
• Tu B’Shvat or New Year of the Trees
• Tisha B’Av,  Yom HaShoah
• Yom Yerushalayim
• Fast of Gedaliah
• Yom Ha’atzmaut.
• Brit Mila or Circumcision is the entry of a Jewish male into the covenant with God.
• Redemption of the Firstborn applies to a firstborn child who is a boy. (Pidion ha-ban)
• Moon Rosh Hodesh was also a holy day of rest and worship.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb8AXxdG-_8

Lo único que los palestinos modernos tienen en común con los antiguos filisteos es que ambos fueron invasores, ambos llevaron a cabo una ocupación de territorios que no les correspondían. El significado de palestinos es exactamente eso, invasores, o peleshet, del verbo pelesh, significando divisores, penetradores, o invasores.

Los filisteos (los peleshati) eran originarios de la isla de Creta. Siendo gente de mar llegaron hasta las costas del sur de Canaan donde se les llamó Peleshtim y Keretim. El primer territorio que ocuparon fue Gaza, una franja de territorio junto al Mediterráneo algo más ancha que la moderna Gaza.

Nunca llegaron a ocupar ninguna tierra relativamente cercana a Jerusalén, Hebrón y Jericó. Esto deberían tenerlo en cuenta los palestinos que tienen la pretensión de que Jerusalén les pertenece.

Si los antepasados de los palestinos son los filisteos, como algunos reclaman, la audacia de reclamar Jerusalén para ellos es una burla al mundo entero.

Los filisteos fueron en última instancia derrotados por David y reducidos a un grupúsculo insignificante. Los mejores de sus guerreros fueron escogidos para constituir la guardia personal de David. El resto fue avasallado por Sargón II de Asiria, desapareciendo consecuentemente de la historia para siempre.

A continuación un escrito relatado:

Escritas por Yoshiro Shagamori en 2002, estas preguntas siguen teniendo la misma validez y hasta el momento, no conozco nadie que las haya podido responder. Esto es un extracto de un artículo que escribió en Noviembre de 2002 denominado " Quienes son los palestinos?":

Si Ustedes están tan seguros que Palestina, el país fue fundado hace muchos siglos, o generaciones y registrada a través de la Historia escrita, espero que estén capacitados para responder a las siguientes preguntas:

¿Cuándo Palestina fue fundada y por quién?

¿Cuáles eran sus fronteras?

¿Cuál era su capital?

¿Cuáles eran sus grandes ciudades?

¿Cuál era la base de su economía?

¿Cuál era su forma de gobierno?

¿Uds. pueden citar por lo menos un líder palestino antes de Arafat?*

¿Palestina fue reconocida por algún país cuya existencia, en aquel tiempo no deje margen a interpretaciones?

¿Cuál era la lengua hablada en el país Palestina?

¿Cuál la religión que prevalecia en el país Palestina?

¿Cuál era el nombre de su moneda?

Escoja una fecha en el pasado y responda

¿Cuál era la tasa de cambio de la moneda palestina frente al dolar, yen, franco, etc.?

Desde que tal país no existe hoy, explique ¿por qué dejo de existir?

Si Ud. se lamenta por el destino de la pobre Palestina, responda:

¿En que época este país fue orgulloso e independiente?

Si el pueblo que Ud., por engaño, llama palestino es algo más que una colección de gente salida de otros países árabes y si ellos tienen realmente una identidad étnica definida que les asegure el derecho de la autodeterminación

¿Por qué ellos no trataron de ser un país árabe independiente desde 1947 y hasta la derrota devastadora en la Guerra de los Seis Días?

¿Por qué desdeñaron la oportunidad de establecer un Estado Palestina, basado entonces en la Resolución de Naciones Unidas de 1947, que establecíó simultáneamente el derecho del pueblo judío a tener su propio estado, que actualmente es el Estado de Israel?

Espero que Ud. no confunda a los modernos Palestinos con los bíblicos Filisteos.

Cambiar etimología por historia no funciona.

Es curioso que los palestinos quieran hoy lo que rechazaron en 1947, y que sigan insistiendo en la eliminación del Estado de Israel, legítimamente creado por Naciones Unidas, y que integra las mismas.

Conclusión: No existe una sola persona que pueda reclamar hoy lazos sanguíneos con los filisteos.

The question who is a Zionist is often a sterile (difficult) debate over semantics, rather than one of any substance. Contrary to popular concept, one does not have to be Jewish to be a Zionist. A Zionist is anyone who believes that God gave the land of Israel to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants forever. "Forever" includes today!  Zionist is a term often heard, but it’s not always understood. Many people assume that to be a Zionist, someone must also be Jewish, or conversely, that all Jews are Zionists. This is not the case.

The Zionist movement is not universally supported by Jews. Even today, there are a number of Orthodox Jewish groups that believe that Zionism violates the Torah. For instance, the Neturei Karta, founded and based in Jerusalem, refuses to acknowledge the state of Israel, and makes the false argument that that Torah requires that the land seized from the Palestians in the 20th century must be returned to them.

On the other hand, a number of fundamentalist and evangelical Christians do support ideals of Zionism (The term Zionist can refer to non-Jewish supporters of Israel as well). Their support is religious in nature, sopported by the holy Scriptures. Contrary to popular opinion, Zionism did not begin with the Jewish holocaust, but the (Tanach) Hebrew Scriptures.

Zion is the city of the great King: The references in Scripture to Zion and Jerusalem are to be taken literally as the context may indicate, though they may also be spiritualized since they are a type of His heavenly abode. Those, therefore, who speak against Zion, speak both against God’s earthly and heavenly city.  The Hebrew Scriptures say concerning Zion:

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of HaShem’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. (not to Palestine) Yeshayahu 2:2  "And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of HaShem, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the Torah, and the word of HaShem from Jerusalem. Yeshayahu 2:3

Coming world redemption through Mashiach, peace and prosperity from Zion, the Hebrew scriptures speak:

"For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth." Yeshayahu / Isaiah 62:1

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings [Mashiach's work] of good, that publishes salvation; that saith unto Zion, Your God reignet!” Yeshayahu 52:7

"HaShem will reign forever; your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise HaShem! " (Tehillim / Psalm 146:10).

Biblical Jewish eschatology envisions the construction of The Third Temple in Jerusalem associated with the coming of the Jewish Messiah, and thus, adherents of Orthodox Judaism anticipate a Third Temple. The al-Aqsa Mosque (the golden Pimple) or the abomination that causes desolation will be removed soon, so that it can open the space for the holy Jewish temple. The prophet Daniel says:

He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him” (Daniel 9:27).

The sons of Yishmael (Ismael) say:

The deputy chief of the Islamist movement in Israel Kimal Al-Khatib told thousands of children in a Saturday Islamist protest on the Temple Mount that the Jewish Temple will never be rebuilt. His speech was published in the Jerusalem-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper Monday morning. “If the Jews think that their mourning will end and they will rejoice by destroying the Al-Aqsa mosque and building their Temple, we say to them that their dream will not be fulfilled and they will continue to mourn. Al-Aqsa is for Muslims only,” he said.

WorldNetDaily’s editor said:

"For the life of me, I don’t know how anyone can ignore what the Bible says about Israel and Jerusalem being the center of things. The very existence of Israel as a reborn Jewish state is a testament to God’s covenant with his chosen people. The United Nations may have been the worldly vehicle to proclaim the nation born in a day in 1948, but it was part of a heavenly plan. Has there ever been another nation that ceased to exist for nearly 2,000 years and was and reborn in a day, just as the prophet Isaiah predicted? I don’t know of any… If we don’t take the Bible seriously, … the Middle East conflict is reduced to a materialistic struggle over worthless real estate. There are forces at work in this conflict that cannot be seen or understood by man. It’s not only the focal point of the world, right now, it’s also the focal point of the spiritual universe."

The funny thing is that the Ismaelim / Edomim (Muslim) say that the Jewish temple never existed at Temple Mount, that its existence is "Zionist propaganda". Now they the say "never be REbuilt", so they admit they were lying before.

This abomination is the Dome of the Rock causes desolation for the worshippers of the true God. 

I think is time to stop thinking that all pictures of Jerusalem should include the GOLDEN PIMPLE. It is time to begin to hunger for the holy Temple of HaShem. The Golden Pimple (Dome of the Rock ) is not holy. It is time to ask HaShem to drop it. And to allow us to rebuild the holy Temple. Amen.

Just remember, it is not the end of the world. It may be just the beginning — or the birth pangs — of a new one." We must fight back, strengthen Israel, and influence.