BOTCOTT AM:PM

Did this happen in Alabama? No. Idaho? No. Where in the world would Jews be forced to work on Yom Kippur?

Why, Israel of course!

From Yeshiva World News:

In a move that will most likely increase the boycott against AM:PM convenience stores and its affiliates, it has been learned the company compelled Jewish employees to work on Yom Kippur.

The story was covered in the secular media as well, as there too, the move was condemned, with the explanation that Yom Kippur was until now an understood day on which the Jewish People refrained from work.

Employees of AM:PM apparently were compelled to work for fear of losing their jobs as the stores continue to celebrate their total disregard for Shabbos and other Jewish holy days.

According to secular media reports, in Tel Aviv, at least two AM:PM stores compelled Jews to work, stocking shelves and cleaning the store. They were paid 300% overtime for their efforts.

Degel HaTorah MK Moshe Gafne turned to the Ministry of Industry & Trade, demanding the ministry use the full authority of the law against the company. Minister of Industry & Trade Eli Yishai (Shas) has ordered a full investigation into the incident.

Over the past months, the AM:PM chain has opened three additional Tel Aviv stores on Shabbosim. AM:PM is owned by the parent company as Shefa Shuk.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel – This article written after the first day Sukkos in Eretz Yisrael)

YOU can make a difference. Boycott all AM:PM stores whether in America or Israel.

Am Yisrael Chai!

See Rav Amnon Yitzchak Shlita!

Film of his Nassau Coliseum appearance is: HERE

My dream

I dreamed a few nights ago and in it I was shown a large scorpion. I understood in the dream that that meant that Mashiach will arrive during the sign of the scorpion (Scorpio). I was then shown a building that didn't rest on earth, it rested on the ocean. I was shown a beautiful apartment that was huge inside and filled with clarity and beauty. The walls were lined with seforim and a Jew sat at a dining room table learning. I was to understand that this was NOT to be my apartment. I was then shown a very humble and mediocre apartment where I was to dwell.

Then I was taken to an auditorium where all of Klal Yisrael was seated. We were all waiting for Mashiach to appear. The usher took me to the left side of the auditorium in the middle (not the front or the back). I wanted to sit up front but was not permitted. The Jews sitting in my row were talking sheker and divrei chol like some do on Shabbos in shul. I was very embarassed.

May Hashem reverse my gezeiros kashos and accept my teshuvah. May we strive to have the best in Olam Ha-Ba and not in Olam Ha-Zeh.

Ain Od Milvado.

Birkat Kohanim from the Kotel! New for Sukkot!

What a fabulous turnout! May we ALL be in Yerushalayim: Kohanim, Leviim and B'nei Yisrael by Hoshana Rabba, greeting Mashiach Tzidkeinu!

Mass March in Jerusalem, Holy Temple Laver to be Unveiled

Arutz Sheva:

Despite the intermittently heavy rains, close to 10,000 people have showed up for the traditional Sukkot holiday march in Jerusalem.

They set out from two different points outside the capital - the Kastel near Mevaseret Zion, and the Sataf brook not far from Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital - as well as from the Armon HaNetziv neighborhood in southern Jerusalem. All three spears will meet in Sacher Park near the Knesset, from where they will set out in the afternoon towards Liberty Bell Park.

Very many downtown roads have been or will be closed in the city, adding pressure to the expected traditional holiday traffic jams. The list of closed streets reads like a Who's Who of Jewish history and culture, and includes Rabbi Akiva, Jabotinsky, Ramban (Nachmanides), Hillel, Shammai, Nathan Strauss, Ben-Yehuda, Ben-Tzvi, Betzalel, Shmuel HaNagid, Eliezer Mapu, Mendeleh Mocher Seforim, HaMatmid, Histadrut, Kakal (Jewish National Fund), Gaza, Shalom Aleichem, Achad HaAm, Keren HaYesod, HaAri, Saadiah Gaon, Benjamin MiTudela, and more.

Among the marchers are or will be some 3,000 tourists from abroad who have arrived to show solidarity with Israel. Labor unions will also take part, including from Israel Aircraft Industries, government offices, banks, Israel Electric Company, the Postal Authority, and more.

A relatively new arrangement is being instituted in Jerusalem, whereby motorists can park their cars for the day and receive bus tickets for travel around the city for only 15 shekels. The parking lots are located at or near the Supreme Court and downtown Safra Square. Free parking and bus rides begin at the Teddy Stadium and Ammunition Hill parking lots.

Thousands more people are expected to descend on the capital for the various holiday activities, including the Hak'hel reenactment in the Old City at 4:30 PM. The event is sponsored by the Temple Institute and the Jewish Quarter Reconstruction and Development Company. It will feature public Torah readings by leading rabbis, the sounding of Holy Temple-type silver trumpets, a short film describing the Sukkkot water pouring festival, and the unveiling of the just-completed Kiyor HaNechoshet (brass laver), which the Temple Institute hopes will be used in the Holy Temple when it is rebuilt.

Hundreds Visit Temple Mount

An unprecedented 400 people were allowed onto the Temple Mount this morning, though only in separate groups, and the police allowed them - for the first time in memory - to read Biblical verses aloud. Another group is scheduled to visit Judaism's holiest site for 12:30 PM. All the visitors followed the precautions prescribed by those rabbis who allow ascent to the Temple Mount, including immersing in a mikveh (ritual bath), prior to and during their visit.

Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute explained the significance of the unveiling of the laver at this point in time: "The kiyor is the first thing used by the Priests in the Temple every morning, when they sanctify their hands and feet before beginning their daily service. Essentially, they are washing their hands of the misconceptions of G-d and of life that they had yesterday, and are beginning the new day with a new slate. The laver is thus all about looking forward. We ourselves must do the same thing; in this generation, we have to cleanse ourselves of mistaken conceptions regarding the Temple, such as that we need to stand by passively as it is brought down from Heaven. We must be proactive, constantly working, praying and thinking towards the rebuilding of the Temple and its restoration to its proper place as the central pillar of Jewish society."

Oy lanu...

It has been many months since I have posted. On one hand I felt like I was letting everyone down. On the other I was just physically, mentally and spiritually unable to. So much has happened in the past month... I there any question that the Geulah is near? Everyone I know is is going through one or more of the following:

Financial problems
Health problems
Marital problems

I have seen friends and family lose their homes, go off the derech, be diagnosed with major health problems like cancer. It seems everyone is suffering. My own healing of my broken leg is going much slower than expected.

Iran, Russia, Syria, Lebanon... the collapse of our economy... war... panic... fear...

Were that these were our biggest problems! Why am I frightened? I am frightened becuase Mashiach Tzidkeinu is here and ready to reveal himself very soon. Oy lanu! We were warned for centuries! We were told to prepare! The Chofetz Chaim wrote that all Kohanim must learn the Avodah and be ready. We hold each of his precious words about Lashon HaRa as sacred, but when it comes to this... everyone disregarded it! I am trying to up my learning and trying to understand the complexities that I need to know... but how can I? I am an am ha-aretz. I am nothing. And I have no leader or teacher to help me. Who knows these intricate halachos? Who will step up and teach B'nei Aharon?

I tremble with fear. The Melech sits in judgement and my merits are few. Oy lanu!

I publically ask forgiveness of anyone I have hurt or offended and I forgive anyone who has ever hurt or offended me. May no person be punished on my account.

Enjoy your bonfires!

Israel hit by Bible burning row - BBC NEWS

Messianic Jews in Israel say they want an inquiry into the burning of hundreds of copies of the New Testament by Orthodox Jews in Or Yehuda last week.

The books were given to the town's Ethiopian Jews by the Messianic Jews, who believe in Jesus as a saviour.

Or Yehuda's deputy mayor says he received complaints about the books, and arranged for them to be burnt.

He has now apologised after his actions have been compared to those of Nazis who burnt Jewish holy scriptures.

Proselytizing to Ethiopian Jews is sensitive because historically they were the target of missionaries who converted many to Christianity in Ethiopia - though they later argued the conversion was forced and they had never really abandoned their Jewish faith, the BBC's Frances Harrison says.

The dispute is revealing growing tension between Messianic Jews and their Orthodox opponents who do not recognise them as Jews, our correspondent adds.

'Dumped and burned'

Many of the details of exactly what happened in Or Yehuda are now disputed.

But the deputy mayor says Messianic Jewish missionaries had targeted an area of the town where many Ethiopian Jews live, distributing packages containing New Testaments and pamphlets.

He says he received complaints and then drove around the area with a loudspeaker urging people to hand over the material to Orthodox religious students who went door-to-door collecting it.

The books were then dumped in a pile and burned.

Messianic Jews complain of institutionalised discrimination and are demanding all those involved be put on trial.

Meanwhile, Orthodox Jews are applauding the destruction of texts they say urge Jews to convert.

me: Happy Lag B'Omer everyone!

BOYCOTT URBAN OUTFITTERS!

This disgusting tee shirt is the latest in Urban Outfitters propaganda. It glorifies terrorism, martyrdom and child abuse and paints the "Palestinians" as victims rather than aggressors.

The original page can be found HERE

I urge you to contact the company and protest. Their contact page is HERE

Little Green Footballs brought this to my attention. Check out their post and the reply that was received from Urban Outfitters.

Please pass this on to as many people as you can. My wife would like to organize a flier distribution outside the local store.

A Navi?

My dream on Shabbos.

I had a dream that my wife was pregnant and quickly gave birth to a boy named Michael. He had long hair like a Nazir and looked about two to three years old. Suddenly I was standing at the bima reading from the Torah and a Mohel came and did a bris on him. I had a feeling in the dream that the baby represented the Angel Michael. Not knowing much about him, when I awoke I looked up where he was mentioned and found this in Sefer Daniel:

"13. And the prince of the kingdom of Persia has been standing against me for twenty-one days, and behold Michael, one of the first princes, has come to help, and I remained there beside the kings of Persia (Iran)."

14. And I have come to enable you to understand what will happen to your people at the end of the days, for there is yet a vision for those days."

"1. Now at that time (the end of days), Michael, the great prince, who stands over the children of your people, will be silent, and it will be a time of distress that never was since a nation existed until that time, and at that time, your people will escape, everyone who is found inscribed in the book.

2. And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awaken-these for eternal life, and those for disgrace, for eternal abhorrence.

3. And the wise will shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who bring the multitudes to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.

4. And you, Daniel, close up the words and seal the book until the time of the end; many will run to and fro, and the knowledge will increase."

Nava does it again!

Two excellent posts from Dreaming of Moshaich.

The first one deals with the Tzadik Rabbi Meir Ba'al HaNess. My wife and I named our last child after him. May we all see miracles in the Zchus of the Tzadik Rabbi Meir Ba'al HaNess! She writes: "...a tradition has remained that when a Jew finds himself, in any sort of crisis, he gives charity, and dedicates the charity in memory of R' Meir Baal Haness. He then says, “God of Meir - answer me! God of Meir - answer me! God of Meir - answer me!” and in that merit will hopefully have salvation from his crisis." Please visit her site and please donate in the zchus of the Holy Rabbi Meir Ba'al HaNess.

The second article is about the end of Al-Qaida (yemach shemam). Interestingly enough, she quotes the Zohar about the descendants of Reuvain going against Israel. As many may not know, the prevailing Taliban rulers are from the Pashtun Tribes of Afghanistan and some of them trace their lineage back to Reuvain! In fact, they call themselves Bani Rabani (B'nei Reuvain).

She writes:

"On the above, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, zs'kl, wrote 2,000 years ago in the Zohar HaKadosh in Parshat VeYechi...

אמר רבי שמעון, זמינין אינון בני ראובן לאגחא תרין קרבין בגו ארעא כחי , וראשית אוני , יתר שאת , ויתר עז

The people who fight these wars are the sons of Reuven; descendants of Reuven. This does not mean that they are Jewish because these descendants lives in these areas for hundreds of years and during the long exile, lost their path and religion.

They will make 4 wars during certain periods of history but the last one will be excessively daring 'יתר עז' - and the last war will be during our period of time.

יתר עז : לזמנא דמלכא משיחא יתער בעלמא אינון יפקון ויגחון קרבין בעלמא וינצחון ויתתקפון
על עמממיא , ובני עלמא ידחלון קמייהו וירתתון מנייהו .

During the time that Moshiach will be revealed, they will go out and organize battles and wars thruout the world. Their wars will succeed and the nations of the worlds will fear them very much.

זמינין אינון לאגחא קרבא בארבע סטרי עלמא, ולמשלט בקרבייהו על כלא, וינצחון עממין סגיאין וישלטון עלייהו.

Their wars will not be in one or two positions like regular wars, rather it will be decisive and rough in all areas of the world. They will succeed in their wars and take control.

ויחשבו לאתגברא במלכותא...

The success of their gain thru their war against the nations of the world will cause them and the world to believe that they are controlling the world, but...

ולא ישתארון ביה, הדא הוא דכתיב פחז כמים אל תותר. מאי טעמא לא ישתארון ביה, ואפילו בסטרא חד דעלמא, בגין כי עלית משכבי אביך, דזמינין לאעלא ולאגחא קרבין בגו ארעא קדישא, משכבי אביך דייקא זו ירושלם.

In the end, their strength will dwindle and they will be extinguished from the world*, till not even one of them will live anywhere in the world."

Here are some interesting links on the Israelite origin of the Pashtun (Pathans):

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"There is interesting evidence about the preservation among the tribes of family trees on their origin, and on their relationship to the fathers of the Israeli people. These family trees are well preserved. Some of them are penned in golden lettering on deerskin. The names of the tribes speak for themselves: the tribe of Harabni (in the Afghan tongue) is the tribe of Reuben, the shinwari is Shimeon, the Levani – Levi, Daftani – Naftali, Jaji – Gad, Ashuri – Asher, Yusuf Su, sons of Josef, Afridi – Ephraim, and so on."

"Even though the Pathans accepted Islam voluntarily and forcibly, they maintain Jewish customs preserved from the recesses of their past. The book contains considerable evidence taken from Jews of Afghanistan who lived in the neighbourhoods of the Pathans and had contact with them. The evidence doesn’t relate to all the Pathans or to all the tribes and places. However, it does prove the existence of Jewish customs among the Pathans. The research on this subject still requires completion, both quantitative and qualitative. Let us note the customs in headline form only: sidelock, circumcision within eight days, a Talith (prayer shawl) and four fringes (Tsitsit), a Jewish wedding (Hupah and ring), women’s customs (immersion in a river or spring), levirate marriage (Yibum), honouring the father, forbidden foods (horse and camel food), refraining from cooking meat and milk, a tradition of clean and unclean poultry, the Shabbat (preparation of 12 Hallah loaves, refraining from work), lighting a candle in honour of the Shabbat, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) prayer (some of them pray turned in the direction of Jerusalem), blood on the threshold and on the two Mezzuzot (in times of plague or trouble), a scapegoat, curing the ill with the help of the Book of Psalms (placing the Book under the patient’s head), a Hebrew amulet (Kamia), Hebrew names (also. for neighbourhoods and villages), Holy Books (they especially honour ‘the Law of Sharif’ which is the Law of Moses), and rising when the name of Moshe is mentioned.

As for the Pathan law, they have laws similar to the Jewish law. The Magen David symbol is found in almost every Pathan house on an island in the Pehshauor district. The rich make it of expensive metals, the poor from simple wood. The Magen David can be seen on the towers of schools and on tools and ornaments."

I'll stop here. Fascinating stuff, though!

Thank you, Nava for continuously inspiring and educating!

Sick Chilul HaShem.

Just stumbled upon this woman's blog. She is a self-described "Crunchy kosher parent..." from Beverly Hills.

She is also an Obama supporter.

The other day she found the pictured note on her windshield.

Really? Is this what some of us have become? This woman is exercising her first amendment rights by publicly stating her political opinion and someone who disagrees calls her names and leaves her a hate message?

To that coward who left the note: No, sir or madam, shame on YOU! YOU are not a Jew! Jews do not terrorize fellow members of Klal Yisroel when they disagree with them.

I am certainly no Obama(nation) fan. Regardless, this is a free country and this woman has the right to have a bumper sticker on her car without the fear of hate mongers leaving threatening messages.

Wonder how he or she will defend themselves when they stand in front of HaShem.

She writes regarding the note:

"Thank you.

When my children reach the age to ask, "Ima, why do all these bad things happen?" I'll have this great teaching tool. I'll be able to show them this note and tell them that when we say these types of things to other people we are still in need of learning compassion. So Hashem lets horrible things happen to teach us to care for our fellow humans and share in their grief.

I don't mind if you disagree with my political opinions (like my husband does). However, using hate and fear-mongering is not right on any level. And to do so anonymously is just plain childish.

And, I find it slightly ironic that the bumper sticker under the Obama one is "Lo Loshon Hara." (Roughly, "No Evil Speech.")"

Please visit the original post HERE

Incredible. It just keeps going.

Is anyone really going to say that thing aren't getting scary?



Chinese earthquake.



Tornadoes.





Cyclones.

Please visit a great new site.

Bar Kochba has once again shown his love and devotion to Am Yisroel with his new site The Truth About Moshiach.

Please check it out!

New Birkas Kohanim Video!

What I'm listening to to make me feel better...

Ha Rav HaGadol Amnon Yitzchak Shlita

Worth Seeing.