Tu BeShvat and Earth Quakes

In Ta'anis 23a-b there is a story about "Choni the Circle maker" (no it's nothing to do with baking Biegals) who came across a man planting a Carob tree. He asked him how long until the tree bears fruit. Seventy years came the reply. He asked the man if he thought that he would live another 70 years to receive benefit from the tree. The man replied no, but his grandchildren would receive the benefit. Choni sits down in a field to eat his lunch and falls asleep for seventy years. (I wonder if the author Washington Irving knew of this gemara when he wrote "Rick Van Winkle"?). Upon waking he sees who he thinks is the same man who planted the Carob tree, only this time he is harvesting the carobs. Choni inquires who this man is and is told that he is in fact the planter's grandson.

I remember that when I was a teenager I read a remarkably similar story in a book about supposedly true stories of the early chalutzim who made aliyah from Poland to settle the kibbutzim. The book was written in Polish around the 1930s and translated into English by a youth movement shaliach in the 1980s. I suspect the author of this story drew slightly more than inspiration from this gemera relying on the fact that 99.9% of his audience would be secular madrichim and the chances of them having heard of meseches Ta'anis would be almost zero. The story goes like this:

Some Arabs from the local village came up to a group kibbutz settlers and asked them why they were planting carob trees. "Don't you know that they won't bear fruit for 70 years!" the Arabs mocked. The Jewish settlers calmly replied that they were planting carob trees not for themselves but for their grandchildren. This will show everyone that the Jews have returned to their homeland after 2,000 years of exile and are now here to stay.

Chaza"l say that the mitzvah to plant fruit trees when we enter Eretz Yisrael (and the source of Tu BeShvat) comes from Vayikra 19:23-24. As well as teaching the halachic issues of Orla and kidushin, the Rabbanim tell us that it shows us that we have a responsibility to the next generation even though we ourselves may not benefit from our actions. We benefit from the actions of past generations who did not see their efforts "bare fruit" (forgive the pun). We should do the same for future generations.

(To play video click here)

This leads me nicely into a worrying article I read yesterday in the Jerusalem Post entitled '16,000 Israelis could die in quake'.

Dr. Avi Shapira, the head of the interministerial steering committee on preparation for an Earth quake in Israel told the government that we were ill prepared for a quake of the same magnitude as that which took place in Haiti, (that is, above 6 on the Richter scale).

He warned that it wasn't a matter of if but when the quake would hit. Dr. Shapira explained that most deaths would be caused by collapsed buildings; buildings which should have been built according to Government standards but were not. It was the government's responsibly to invest in reinforcing all buildings so that they would withstand a quake without collapsing.

He said that the thousands of buildings that were built on stilts in order to provide car park space for the residents have a 100% chance of total collapse and loss of life to whoever is inside. Some residence committees have investigated the cost of reinforcing their building and had been given astronomical price quotes. They insist that the government step in to (a) oversee the work so that building contractors do not take advantage of the situation and massively overcharge and (b) to subsidise the work.

So far the government has failed to do anything. I suggest that the government start by demanding payment of fines from all those building contractors who built buildings after 1980 that did not meet government building quake standards. Those fines however would not actually have to be paid back. The money should be spent on fixing the buildings instead.

I was speaking to a Russian friend at work and his response was that he felt that the government had no obligation to spend any money on something that might happen tomorrow or may not happen for another 60 or 70 years. He expressed the opinion that he'd be long dead by then so why should he have to pay for it?

Earthquake damage at Beth-shean in the Jordan Valley around 749 ce

Tu Beshvat teaches us that we do have a responsibility to the next generation. We benefit from the previous generation's efforts and we must reciprocate for future generations.

The story is told of a Rebbi who gave a regular weekly shiur (no it's not me). That week it was raining hard and only two students turned up for the shiur. Despite this, the Rebbi proceeded to give the shiur with the same enthusiasm he always gave. The students asked him why he wasn't despondent and behaved as if there were 20 students in the room instead of 2? The Rebbi replied that there were in fact far more students in the room than 20. In fact he was teaching Torah to these two student's children and grandchildren as well. From those two students his words would reach out far beyond the physical confines of the walls they were learning in.

Chaza"l teach us that everything we do in this world should be beShem Shamayim. We should not expect reward in this world but in the next. If we do receive benefit then count it as a bonus!

Victims or Persecutors?

I was amazed at the amount of Catholics who wrote into The Jerusalem Post claiming that the Catholics were also Nazi victims in response to an article about an anti-Semitic Holocaust denying Polish bishop called Tadeusz Pieronek. This is the same lie as that contemptible chain-email about remembering the six million Jews and the 10 million Xtians and 1,900 Catholic priests that I wrote about here.

In fact, most of Hitler's aids including Heinrich Himmler, Josef Goebbels, Reinhard Heydrich, Rudolf Hoess, Julius Streicher, Fritz Thyssen, Klaus Barbie, and Franz Von Papen were all practicing Catholics. Most of the SS who ran the death camps were practicing Catholics.

Just do a Google for "Catholic Nazi" and see all the photos of Catholic priests in Nazi salutes. Catholics were victims like the Jews? Disgusting, obscene! They were the major persecutors!

Catholic priests accompanied the german troops

There were of course many Catholics who risked their lives and were murdered by the Nazis for trying to hide Jews. These were the exception though. They did not do this because of their Catholic faith but despite it.

China? Iran? No its Great Britain

Melanie Phillips writes today about a student blogger – Seismic Shock (nothing to do with Haiti) who comments on anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in the Church of England. The piece is called "The British police forget what country they are in".

Seismic Shock has been reporting on a particularly nasty Church of England vicar called Rev Stephen Sizer of the village of Virginia Water, which is just off the M25/M3 turn off near Windsor.

Apparently the Rev Sizer has an obsession with Israel and the Jews and spends most of his time blogging and writing books about the latest terrible inhumane things we Israelis have got up to.

A quick look at his blog, sick bag in hand, shows the usual "Israel is like South African Apartheid" accusations and how the Israel Lobby somehow controls Britain's Middle East policy (I wish!). He tells us how Israel is an illegitimate rogue state. He has written books trying to show that the Bible doesn't really show that the land of Israel belongs to the Jews. It's just Zionist propaganda. In short he is an example of the kind of pompous bigoted CofE guy I commented on in my blog here.

Melanie writes how the Rev Sizer used his influence in the Police force to locate this student and send some officers round to informally tell the Leeds University student to remove all references to Sizer from his blog or else! The police threatened him that he could be prosecuted for using university resources to make political comment. (Presumably that means that the student used computers at the university to post some of his blogs). From my experience of British universities there are many students who spend the vast majority of their time using university resources to make political comment but this is the first time to my knowledge that the police have gotten involved.

Melanie's headline implies that she cannot believe that this is not a story out of China or Iran for instance but actually about the British police trying to censor a British student blogger.

I would suggest that someone buy the Rev Sizer a ticket to Ben Gurion airport on the pretext of inviting him to visit his beloved Chamas Gaza and when he arrives at passport control, the Israeli Police can take him aside and have "a friendly informal chat" with him. See how he likes it!

Update: I have just read that Seismic Shock is a Xtian who calls himself a Messianic Jew, that is a Jew who believes in Yoski Poski. He is not a "Messianic Jew"; there is no such thing! If he has a Jewish mother then he is just a Jew who converted to Xtianity. Moreover, there is (from what I've read) no evidence that his mother was even born Jewish. I erred when I linked to his site without checking it sufficiently and have sinced removed that link. However I still stand by everything I've written above.

Who is worse? The BBC or The New York Times?

The New York Times must have been in a real panic having to face the possibility of reporting something positive about Israel but of course our own Israel's loony-left comes to their rescue. They give the newspaper enough fodder to feel justified in proclaiming:

"For Israelis, Mixed Feelings on Aid Effort"

Israel feels a mixture of pride and deep shame apparently over Haiti. How so?

The article comments:

“Many commentators argued that the work in Haiti was a reflection of a central Jewish value. Michael Freund, a columnist in The Jerusalem Post, wrote on Thursday, “Though a vast gulf separates Israel from Haiti, with more than 10,500 kilometers of ocean lying between us, the Jewish people demonstrated that their extended hand can bridge any gap and traverse any chasm when it comes to saving lives.”

But on the same page, another commentator, Larry Derfner, argued that while Israel’s field hospital in Haiti is a reflection of something deep in the nation’s character, “so is everything that’s summed up in the name of ‘Gaza.’ ” He wrote: “It’s the Haiti side of Israel that makes the Gaza side so inexpressibly tragic. And more and more, the Haiti part of the national character has been dwarfed by the Gaza part.”

Early in the week, Akiva Eldar, a leftist commentator and reporter with the newspaper Haaretz, made a similar point: “The remarkable identification with the victims of the terrible tragedy in distant Haiti only underscores the indifference to the ongoing suffering of the people of Gaza.”

Read the full article here if your stomach can take it:

Akiva Eldar is a paid up member of the loony-left. To give you an example of just how left leaning this guy is, he still supports the failed Oslo agreement. He is considered left-wing even by Haaretz standards and this is the person The New York Times chose to quote.

As for Larry Derfner. Anyone who regularly reads The Jerusalem Post knows that good old Larry is their court jester. His weekly piece is entitled "Rattling the cage" and there is a big question as to whether he actually believes all the crazy nutty things he writes. He is probably simply playing devil's advocate in order to invoke angry feedback comments and get people foaming at the mouth. Just a quick look at the comments on the article quoted in The New York Times and you'll get the picture.

Larry's article here.

The talkbacks point out the obvious which is that it's obscene to compare innocent Haitians trapped under rubble to Palestinian terrorists trapped in tunnels and bunkers, designed and built to murder Israelis.

It shows the desperate position that The New York Times found them selves in, having to resort to quoting Larry.

The bottom line is that the reporting that Israel is bemoaning the fact that they did not help the poor Palestinians is a figment of the imagination of the loony-left and an outright lie to report it as fact.

I'm not sure which is worse; the total silence of the BBC or the outright lies of The New York Times. Comments anyone?

More evidence of Auntie Beeb's Anti-Semitism - Israel and Haiti

First of all a big "hat tip" to fellow frum ex-Brit blogger Living and Writing in Israel for her latest post entitled "Rolls Royce of Field Hospitals". It's a great piece about the Israel Field Hospital in Haiti. As she says, it’s a tremendous Kiddush Hashem. Please see her media links. One was to a Daily Telegraph blog by American writer Stephanie Gutman which was hilariously tongue-in-cheek. This fact however seems to have escaped many of the Brit's talkbacks who somehow took her seriously. Perhaps this is a case of American humour going over the British heads rather than the other way round for a change.

Also a must read is Melanie Phillips' excellent blog post in The Spectator entitled "A disproportionate response?" I suggest you read the whole piece but I couldn't help copying and pasting her closing statement:

“Israel sent a team of 220 aid workers. Israel has a population of six million. The population of Britain is 60 million. I’d say that was a disproportionate Israeli response, wouldn’t you?”

They say that pictures are worth a 1000 words. These are the results from a search of +"israeli field hospital" +haiti on the CNN News site:

13 results, all of which feature prominently Israel's incredible rescue efforts in Haiti.

And now let's do the same search on the BBC News site, "The No.1 most respected, most comprehensive and most believed News site in the world" .

One entry! Actually it's no entries because looking in that entry you find that it's not even a news article! It’s a collection of short eye-witness reports from Haiti. Two of the eye-witnesses mention the Israeli's presence. Apart from that, Israel's rescue team is "Judenfrei" from Auntie Beeb's site. We've known for a long time that the BBC has an automatic pro-Israel news filter with the radio button permanently set to "Block". With all the world’s media reporting on the IDF’s field hospital in Haiti, is there any other explanation besides an editorial policy of anti-Semitism, for this astonishing news blackout at the BBC?

I'll finish with a wonderful quote from one of Melanie Phillips' talkback comments (I assume also tongue-in-cheek?. At least I hope so):

Remove the Email Trojan-virus known as Hydraq

Re my last post on Hotmail/Gmail/Yahoo email accounts being highjacked.

(See the post here: http://rebmordechaiwrites.blogspot.com/2010/01/is-your-email-account-sending-out-links.html)

Latest news is that it is indeed of Chinese origin and what makes this special is that it was not written by some criminal gang or even by some kids trying to break into computers for fun. This virus was created by the Chniese government to monitor its own people using online email accounts.

See article in The Daily Telepgraph here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/7034995/Security-specialist-has-evidence-of-Chinese-attack-on-Google.html

The Virus has been given the name: Hydraq

How to identify the virus:

There will be a registry key like this:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RaS[FOUR RANDOM CHARACTERS]

To view the registry entry:

START -> Run
Type: regedit.exe and hit Enter (or click OK)

Open the relivent tree nodes until the key is found (or not).

If this key is present then it means that the virus has been installed as a system Windows Service on your computer.

To see the service do the following:

START ->Run
Type: services.msc and hit Enter (or click OK)

Sort the header by Name field and look for a Service with the same name as the registry key.

This will be RaS[the four characters from the reg key]

Note: This should not to be confused with Microsoft Remote Access Connection Manager - RASMANS.DLL which is a genuine Windows Service.

Obviously our Chinese friends chose the name in order to make it look as if it was a standard Microsoft Windows Service.

We need to stop this Service:

1. Right click on the RaS Service and select STOP.
2. Wait for the Service to stop.
3. Right click again on the Service and select Properties.
4. In the Properties window, change the Startup Type to Manual.

Removing the Service:

You can delete the following registry keys or use a tool to do it for you:

The keys are these:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RaS[FOUR RANDOM CHARACTERS]

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RaS[FOUR RANDOM CHARACTERS]\Parameters

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RaS[FOUR RANDOM CHARACTERS]\Security

Alternatively you can download this file which contains a Windows Service removal tool:

http://www.vbrad.com/ondadl/dl_srvany.zip

Once downloaded, extract srvinstw.exe from the zip file.

This is a very simple tool which can be used to create and also  remove Windows Services.

In fact the tool makes it too simple to remove services so be very careful when using it so that you don't remove the wrong one.

Double click to execute srvinstw.exe and wait for the Window to come up.

Choose "Remove Service" option and click Next.

The next screen will have a drop downlist box whoes contents is a complete list of every service installed on your computer.

From the Drop down list box. Select the RaS[xxx] Service. Make sure that the RaS[xxxx] Service is highlighted in blue or the tool will delete the first on the list!

Run Services.msc again to confirm that the Service (virus) has been removed.

Don't forget to check your email account options to remove all virus references.
(See my post on this. Use the link is at the top of this page)

Lastly, run a full Antivirus scan to remove the virus files.

Thats all folks

Four plus hidden one in the Haggadah Updated!

In honour of parshas Bo I have updated my post on the topic of "Four plus one hidden in the Haggadah" with a new 4+1

See updated post here:

http://rebmordechaiwrites.blogspot.com/2009/04/four-plus-hidden-one-in-haggadah.html

If you know of any other 4+1s in the Haggadah that I have not mentioned then please let me know.

Is your email account sending out links to Chinese Electronic stores?

In the past month I've had to deal with a new phenomenon of email accounts being hacked into and high jacked. One was a Hotmail account, the other a Gmail account.

Symptoms are that persons sending you emails or those you have sent emails to, have received emails from your account similar to this:

Dear friend:

I would like to submit a good store that sells all kinds of electronic products:
mobile phones, portable computers, TV, camera, etc..
I bought a bicycle there. It 'very nice and at a lower price. I think it is reliable and
competitive, with excellent quality and reasonable prices. There is a possibility.
The website: [DELETED]
I hope I can go shopping for this company!
Regards

Sometimes they appear in other languages:

Estimado amigo:

Me gustaría presentar una buena tienda que vende todo tipo de
productos electrónicos:
teléfonos móviles, ordenadores portátiles, TV, cámara, etc.
He comprado una bicicleta allí. Es muy agradable y en un precio
inferior. Creo que es fiable y
competitivo, con excelente calidad y precios razonables. Hay una posibilidad.
El sitio web: [DELETED]
Espero poder ir de compras para esta empresa!
Recuerdos

These are not "spoof" emails. That means that the sender's email address has not been forged to make it look as if the email has been sent from your account which has been the trick that spammers have used up until now. This is something new. The emails have actually been sent from your account. You will see them in your "Sent" folder.

According to Microsoft, it seems to be a new worm-virus originating in China although I cannot find a name for this virus on any of the anti-virus sites yet. According to the Windows Live forums site, the worm-virus will have been installed on one or more of your computers that access the infected email account. I successfully removed the spamming problem but until this worm-virus is actually identified I reserve judgement as to how the spammers are managing to do this. Despite what Windows Live says, I suspect that it might be a security hole in Internet Explorer.  Anyway, this is how to get rid of the problem.

1. Do a complete Virus and Malware Scan

Make sure that your anti-virus is up to date with the latest version and virus database files. This assumes that you have an anti-virus. If you don't then install AVG Anti-virus Free immediately.
http://free.avg.com/us-en/download?prd=afg

This page will give you a link to CNET where you can download it from there (See first red arrow) or there is a secret hidden link at the bottom left hand corner where you can download it directly from AVG (See second red arrow).

Please note: Do not install two anti-viruses at the time as they'll fight against each other.

Very often a virus will attack an anti-virus that is out of date so it will not update or scan. If your anti-virus will not update or refuses to scan then try and uninstall it and install AVG Free. If you cannot uninstall the anti-virus then call a qualified technician.

If your anti-virus is up to date then do a full scan of all drives. Before the scan though, check the scan options and select the option to scan all files and not just the most common files. Viruses are becoming increasingly sophisticated and can hide in files with extensions that make them look like a picture or music file. Set the scanner to automatically delete all viruses.

2. Install the latest version of Internet Explorer (Currently its Version 8).

3. Do a manual Windows Update

If the Windows Update does not work then call a qualified technician to fix this problem as soon as possible.

4. Change your email password to a strong password

A strong password is defined as a string of at least 10 characters with a combination of Uppercase and lowercase letters as well as numbers and special characters in non-sequential sequences.

Special characters are for example: ! " £ $ % ^ &* ( ) _ +

Note: some email services may not allow certain special characters.

An example of a strong password would be:

AStrongPa$$word%1972

5. Your Alternative Email address

Make sure that your alternative email address (that will be used if your email account gets locked out or you forget your password) is up to date and working.

6. Your Personal Question

Make sure that your personal question you defined in order to retrieve your password is sufficiently easy for you to remember but extremely difficult for others to guess. Don't use information that could be looked up on the Internet, details on Face Book for instance.

7. Fix your email account properties

Log into your email account and go into properties / Options.

Look for changes made to the following:
 * Signatures
 * Vacation / Out of Office message
 * Filters
 * Look for contacts you don't recognise

Other things will be specific for your email service such as:

 * Safe sender's list is deleted
 * Deletion of Junk messages is set to "Immediately"
 * Junk Mail Settings is set to "Exclusive"

Delete all suspicious changes. Don't forget to save your changes before exit.

If any of the spam text returns then this probably means that you have not yet successfully removed the worm-virus.

VOIP Free Internet calls

 

VOIP, which stands for “Voice Over Internet Protocol” was invented and developed in Israel. The designers sold their technology to large corporations and made millions.

It seems that the vast majority of people using this technology to make free phone calls use Skype. This product is fine for powerful machines and offers Video as well as voice calls. However the quality is varied depending upon the amount of users using the service at any one time. If you happen to have an older machine then Skype is virtually unusable as it takes up a load of CPU as well as a ton of memory, even when you aren't using it. For instance, one user I know has to close down every nonessential process on their Pentium III / 512mb Windows XP machine to make a call and even then, the service stutters throughout and occasionally turns the person’s voice into a very good impression of a cyberman (Doctor Who reference).

If you are in this situation or resent the fact that Skype is taking up so much of your PC’s resources then there is an alternative. Virtually unheard of, it’s called “VoipStunt”. Yes I know its a terrible name and difficult to pronounce but its free, extremely light on resources and works great.

Voipstunt only offers voice calls, not video but the voice quality is stunning. I’ve had conversations with people in the UK that were crystal clear for over 30 mins. The service is not perfect though. Sometimes the voice on one side cuts out so that one person can be heard but the other can’t. When this happens I just hang up and redial. All you need is a headphone or speakers and a mic to get started. Highly recommended.

To download and open an account click here: http://www.voipstunt.com/en/download.html

One chain email with a hidden agenda

In the past four years I along with millions of others have received this chain email more than once.

Some idiot even translated it into Hebrew. 

 

בשביל סבא וסבתא וההורים שלנו והמשפחות שלהם השבוע באנגליה , הסירו כל אזכור על השואה מתוכניות הלימוד של בתי הספר , בטענה שהדבר פוגע ב אוכלוסיה המוסלמית , המכחישה את קיום השואה . זהו סימן לבאות של האסון שבהדרגה פוקד את העולם , עדות מבהילה של הקלות שבה המדינות נכנעות תחתיו . עברו יותר מ -60 שנה מסיום מלחמת העולם השנייה באירופה . האימייל הזה נשלח במטרה ליצור שרשרת זיכרון לזכרם של 6 מליון יהודים , 20 מיליון רוסים , 10 מיליון נוצרים , 1900 כמרים קתוליים , שנרצחו , נאנסו , נשרפו , הורעבו למוות , והושפלו על ידי אותם אלה שחיפשו דרך אחרת ! עכשיו , יותר מאי פעם , על רקע מאמציהם של איראן ואחרים , שהצהירו על השואה כ ' אגדה ', הכרחי ביותר לעשות כל שניתן כדי שהעולם אף פעם לא ישכח .. האימייל הזה צריך להגיע לפחות ל -40 מיליון אנשים בכל העולם . הצטרפו אלינו וקחו חלק בשרשרת הזיכרון , עזרו להפיץ אותה ברחבי העולם

Many of you have been duped into forwarding this email to all your friends and as a consequence have become victims of anti-Semitism. Yes, you read that correctly, I believe that the chain email is anti-Semitic.

First of all I want to explain that according to the chainmail internet sites, it is a fact that 95% of these chain emails you receive (identified by the line near the bottom which says something like "Send this to all your friends") are nonsense and should not be forwarded. This means that anyone who does forward these chain-emails along is either or both (a) responsible for sending false information (b) made to look very foolish when someone writes back telling them that what they sent to everyone on their contact list was a bunch of baloney!

Some general advice about chain-emails:

1. If you cannot be bothered to check their validity then DON'T FORWARD THEM!

2. If you insist on forwarding them, make sure you check the validity of the contents on a chain-email site such as http://www.snopes.com/.

This will prevent you looking really stupid.

So, taking my own advice, lets look up this email:

You go into www.snopes.com and type the keywords of the email into the Search field. You'll almost definitely find it in their database. In this case it is found here:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/holocaust.asp

So we see that the basis for the email is untrue!

The second and much more troubling problem is that this was written by Xtians not Jews and they have an agenda which you no doubt completely missed.

Many Xtians believe that their religion supersedes Judaism. They believe that they are the new chosen people because the Jewish people did not accept G-d's true Messiah when he came. This is another topic entirely but the idea that their half man/half god pagan man, Yoshki Poshki was the Jewish Messiah is absolutely ridiculous and that is why the Jewish people rejected him then and that is why we reject him now! Therefore the Xtians have a theological nightmare when it comes to the Holocaust.

Why is it that the Germans chose to single out the Jews in the Holocaust? Well it's true that they also murdered Gypsies as well as homosexuals and handicapped. However they chose to uniquely identify their greatest enemy in all their Manifestos, starting with Mein Kampf, as the Jew. Their intention was to wipe out the entire Jewish people. The Final Solution conference was directed exclusively at the Jews.

If this is the case then the Xtians have a serious theological problem. You see, the Nazis are considered today the definition of  poor evil. When evil comes into this world it should seek out the source of good in order to destroy it. The Nazis singled out the Jewish people. Moreover, after the Jews experienced this unique suffering, why did Hashem allow the Jews to return to the land of Israel after a gap of 2,000 years? All this must mean that we are still Hashem's chosen people and therefore Xianity is false!

In order to sweep this problem under the carpet the Xtians have to completely down play the importance of the Holocaust. This is why the email mentions along with the 6 million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Xtians and 1,900 Catholic priests.

This sentence is a disgusting anti-Semitic statement.

20 million Russians died mainly from Stalin's hand, not Hitler! The ones that were killed were killed just like the Europeans, that is, because there was a war going on! They were bombed or shot. There was no policy of genocide. They died because that’s what war does. It kills soldiers and civilians.

10 million Xtians is a meaningless figure which can include not only Europeans and Russians but also the Nazis themselves. They were also Xtians killed by the Allied forces!

Now what about the statement of 1,900 Catholic priests? There were Buddhist priests and Hindu priests also killed but none of them were singled out for a specific policy of genocide. There was no policy to search out and murder every Catholic priest either. In fact the Vatican in Rome continued "business as usual" throughout the war. To lump the priests in with the victims of the Holocaust is frankly obscene and morally repugnant.

The real heinous purpose of this sentence is to remove the uniqueness of the Jews who were murdered by including them in a list of people who died as a result of war and revolution. The 20 million Russians and 10 million Xtians figures are designed to show you that the 6 million Jews figure is small in comparison and therefore not unique or even particularly important along side much larger figures.

But six million Jews were murdered because the Nazis singled them out for special treatment. Their programme was to exterminate every single Jew. To illustrate this: against the advice of his generals, Hitler pushed for the invasion of Russia. Why? Because Russia contained the greatest concentration of Jews! Murdering Jews was a major component of German war planning.

One more point. Who actually did the murdering?

The majority of German SS officers were Xtians, (with a minority being Muslim). Most were Protestant Xtians, the rest were Catholic Xtians. Many of these officers would describe themselves as religious people, yet they had no problem murdering Jews. The reason for this is because the church had preached hatred towards Jews for almost 2,000 years. Most Xtians simply saw the Final Solution as an extension of their Xtian belief. Only a few refused.

This email was written by Xtians with an agenda to belittle the Holocaust and Jews and by sending this email on, you have become a victim of anti-Semitism.

The proper response and the greatest revenge for the murder of 6,000,000 Jews including 1,500,000 children is to have as many Jewish children as possible.

Every Jewish child that is brought into this world means the Nazis failed.

"Take Revenge" found after the war on the wall of the camp, written in blood, Kovna, Lithuania

They are NOT our friends!

 

Please note: I have used “Xtian” for the Notzrim like “X” is used to write Xmas in shorthand.

 

The characters in Melanie’s Talkbacks

 

I am a regular reader of Melanie Phillips' Blog in The Spectator. Her articles are always excellent and (with the one exception of a simply uninformed piece criticising the Orthodox settlers in Judea and Shomrom last year), she pretty much gets everything right, whether it's about British politics, the Global Warming scam or anti-Israel bias in the British press. It's also fascinating to read the talkback comments of which there are many.

 

Melanie's blog attracts a number of different characters. There's the old school British Jewish Zionists (I would guess all over 40 by the style of their writing, that is, no shorthand Internet slang). There's the young left wing brain-washed Pro-Palestinian English university student who gets his/her information from the trendy English broadcasts of Al-Jazira. I can just imagine him/her, sitting in the University Library writing furiously to Melanie, the tassels of his/her fashionable kefiah getting in the way as he/she types for the battle to save the poor Arab freedom fighters (sic) from the Nazi Zionists (sic and very sick).

 

Then there is the standard anti-Semite racist who rants on about the Global "Jew" conspiracy. There are however more subtle characters. These are the pompous English Xtian cleric types who waffle on as if they've swallowed a dictionary and explain that they are not anti-Semitic at all but are simply sick and tired of the Jews whining all the time. They are anti-Israel they say because Judaism is in fact an old defunct religion and not a national identity and therefore, in their not so humble opinion, the sooner the Jews accept the British C of E view of "who is a Jew" the better. They explain with the patience of a school master talking to a bunch of 12 year olds that the Jews have no right to the land of Israel and should accept the superiority of the British cultural system in which they live and stop being so outwardly Jewish. They consider it so distasteful. They are so concerned with correcting the mentality of the lost Jew that they totally ignore the threat of Islam which is sweeping "England's Green and Pleasant land" (to borrow from the words of William Blake). I read somewhere that there are now more Muslims who go to Mosque than there are Xtians who go to church in the UK. Of course, always true to their scriptures, "To the Jew first" (Romans 1:16) they march on valiantly in pursuit of their cause - in the wrong direction, reminiscent of a scene from Dad's Army!

 

In the talkbacks to one of Melanie's recent posts, a number of  Jews were wondering what Jewish law had to say about a certain issue so being your friendly local Orthodox Jew I wrote in (under a pseudo name) explaining the halacha on this topic. First I quoted Gemara, then siifim from Shulchan Aruch, followed by pesukim from Torah, particularly from sefer BaMidbar and sefer Devarim. My post was directed specifically at the Jews who had asked a specific question on halacha. This however prompted one of the Xtian cleric types to blow a gasket and write to me fuming that what the "Rabbis" had to say was irrelevant and that in all future posts I should endeavour to use the correct English terms like "Old Testament", "exegesis", "Numbers" and "Deuteronomy" if I wanted to continue to contribute to the discussion.

 

Despite what one might think from this blog, I do actually have to do a full days work and simply had no time to respond to his post that day. However it did get me thinking of the nonsensicality and incongruity of his position.

 

He rejected the words of the Rabbis out of hand yet had no idea that the names for the books of the Bible that he was using actually come directly from Chazal! We Jews generally tend to use the names Bereishis, Shemos, Varikrah, BaMidbar and Devarim which are the Hebrew words appearing at the beginning or near the beginning of each of the seferim. However Chazal use thematic names for the sefarim as well, as found in Gemara. For instance "Shemos" is called "Sefer Yetziah" or "The book of Going out". The early Xtians took Chazal's name and translated it into Greek, hence "Exodus". Chazal called BaMidbar "Sefer Bikurim" or "the Book of Countings" because Hashem counted Israel. The Xtians used the name that Chazal gave it and translated this into the Greek as "Numbers". Likewise, sefer Devarim is called by Chazal "Mishna Torah" which means a repetition or revision of Torah. The early Xtians translated this directly into Greek as "Deuteronomy".

In fact the Xtians wouldn't have any "Bible" at all if it had not been for those Rabbis! First of all they forced the Rabbanim under threat of death to translate the Torah into Greek. (Incidentally despite what Missionaries claim, it was only Chumash that was translated. The rest of Tanach was carried out by Xtians themselves, intentionally corrupting the text in order to retroactively corroborate Xtian theology). The only reason why they could read the Hebrew in the first place to understand it sufficiently in order to translate it into Greek 2,000 years ago was because Chazal added vowels to the words based on mesora (oral tradition passed down from Rebbi to Rebbi). A Sefer Torah contains no such vowels. Without these little dots (or nikudot), the Torah can be understood in many different wrong ways because obviously the vowels entirely change the meaning of the word. So, without the Rabbis interpretation of each and every word, the Xtians would have no Bible at all.

 

Missionaries in the Jewish chat rooms

 

When the virtual chat rooms were popular around 5 years ago, Xtian Missionaries often frequented the so called Jewish chat rooms looking for easy prey amongst the secular Jews who chatted there. (I believe Yahoo chat is still running). When I had time I used to enter the chat rooms in order to confront these missionaries to show the Jewish members that there were answers to their lies and trickery. These missionaries were almost always Evangelical Xtians, a very different kind to your regular C of E Xtian. These Xtians would tell us that in order to be a completed Jew you had to believe that Yoski Poski was the Jewish Messiah. They would then proceed to (mis)quote from the Bible and challenging anyone to respond. They would often say that they had once challenged a Rabbi with these “proofs” and the poor man could not respond. I would then respond with a Monty Python style sketch about a Quiz Show.

The Messiah Quiz Show

(Transcript of broadcast)

Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the 2000 year old family quiz show "Is he the real Messiah?"

Yer Yer Yer, (rounds of applause) Thank you thank you thank you.

And tonight's contestant is Jeeesus of Nazareth. Please give him a round of applause. Thank you thank you.

Now Jeesus, you realize that getting even one of these requirements wrong for candidate for the Jewish Messiah means INSTANCE KNOCK OUT! Ok, here we go...

Requirement No. 1.

The Messiah must come from the line of King Solomon. (I Chron 22:10, II Chron 7:18).

What? Your "New" Bible admits Jeeesus did not!

AHHHH What a shame what a shame, you lose on the first requirement. Never mind, for the fun of it lets carry on shall we for the entertainment value...(crowd gives a round of applause)

Ok. Requirement No.2

The Messiah must gather the Jewish people from exile. (Isaiah 27:12)

What's that? Soon After Jeeeesus, the Jews were exiled! No no no!

(Crowd begins to hiss.).

Alright, let's see if you do any better with this one?

The Messiah must rebuild the Temple. (Micah 4:1)

What's that? Soon after Jeeesus, the Romans DESTROYED the Temple!

(Crowd shouts "get him off...boooooo")

OK, How about this one?

The Messiah must bring World Peace (Isaiah 2:4)

HAS Jeeesus brought World Peace? I THINK NOT!

(The crowd is tearing the seats out now...)

OK, the last requirement before we go for a commercial break...

The Messiah must influence the whole world to acknowledge and serve G-d! (ISAIAH 11:9, Zeph 3:9)

Has Jeeeesus done that? DONT THINK SO!

OFF YOU GO JEESUS and thanks for being the WORST EVER candidate we have ever had on the show...(The crowd cheers with sounds of laughter....)

(End of transcript)

 

Of course the missionaries would respond to this by talking about "The Second coming". This is a piece of nonsense specifically designed to get around the problem that Yoski Poski died before fulfilling any of the prophesies. The Xtian will tell you that yes it's true but when he returns he will.

 

I would answer them by telling them that I know that Yoski Poski wasn't the messiah because actually my grandfather was! I'll further explain to them that he didn't actually fulfil any of the prophesies but he promised before he died that he'd be coming back and would fulfil them then. I would explain to them that there is as much proof that my grandfather was the Jewish Messiah as their candidate.

After 2,000 years of persecution, the Evangelical Xtians decide to change their tactics towards Jews

 

Rabbi Tovia Singer from "Outreach Judaism" (an anti-missionary organisation) explains the obsession of Xtians for Jews.

“Jews should have been the first to embrace "J", if in fact "J" was the prophesied Messiah.

This has always been a troubling reality to the Church since its inception. It is for this reason that only the conversion of a Jew to Xtianity can lend credibility to the church -- never the conversion of the gentile."

At the end of the book of Matthew (23:39), "J" is quoted making a very important statement. He says, "I will not return until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" Because "J" was speaking to a Jewish audience at the time he made this statement, Xstians have always understood this statement to have one meaning: "J" will not make his second coming until the Jews are converted.

So in the eyes of the Evangelicals, The Jews, therefore, are holding up the show!”

In actual fact, all of this was an extremely long introduction to a comment I wanted to make about an article that appeared in the Jerusalem Post today entitled "Good friends... but are they true friends?" by Nathan Burstein.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1262339415654&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The Xtians for the past 2,000 years have traditionally used violence, economic boycotts and threats of expulsion and executions to encourage Jews to convert. Jews however are like hard boiled eggs. Most other foods get softer the more you cook them. The egg however gets harder the more you boil it.

 

Rabbi Tovia Singer explains that the Evangelical church had a series of conferences to discuss the reasons why they were not more successful and decided that the problem was one of public relations. 2,000 years of Xtian anti-Semitism did not exactly put the church in a positive light with Jews. Consequently he explains, they decided to change tactics. Missionaries started smothering Jews with love. They would come up to a Jew and ask:

"Are you Jewish? G-d loves the Jews. We love the Jews. You are the apple of G-d's eye. We just love Jews. Hmm Hmm Hmm yummy yummy we lovvvvvvve the Jews. No, we hate anti-Semitism. Those who persecuted the Jews in the name of the Church weren't real Xtians! We condemn them!"

They have effectively denied the existence of Xtianity for the past 2,000 years and pretend that they are part of an entirely new religion. Then the next stage comes:

"Have you heard the good new? The Jewish Messiah Yeshuah has come.."

Despite putting a spin on it by making the message sound more Jewish, this technique was not as successful as they had hoped. The approach was right but it needed more deceptive techniques to catch their prey.

Today the church uses two additional strategies:

1. Massive Funding of Messianic “synagogues”. These are Evangelical churches dressed up to look like synagogues. They meet on Friday night and Saturday mornings. You'll see no crosses or statues anywhere. They have an ark and a reading table. The pastor dresses in a tallit and kippa and sprinkles his sermons with sweet Hebrew words to make his message more palatable.

Obviously no one would mistake these Messianic churches for Orthodox shuls. However they do look remarkably similar in appearance to Reform temples. This is not surprising when you consider that there has been major Xtian influences to the interior of the Reform temple since their foundation over 150 years ago.

2. The second technique they have began to use is the enthusiastic support for the state of Israel. Evangelical Xtians see the State of Israel as the rounding up of Jews in the Holy land so that they can more easily be converted. They see the general Anti-Israel position of the world as an opportunity to gain influence in Israel and Israel's trust and even reliance with their support and funding for such things as Aliyah and public services. It's the "We love you and have you heard the good news" technique but just done on a much larger scale.

They are NOT our friends!

We can already see the effects of this Evangelical influence on the Israeli government by their reluctance to enforce existing anti-missionary laws for fear of upsetting "our friends".

Moreover, it is particularly worrying that at the same time that missionaries are becoming more sophisticated in their methods as they fine tune their message to the secular Israeli public, we are also seeing a gradual decrease in real Jewish education in secular Israeli schools, making the non-religious Israeli more vulnerable to attack.

This is actually not the first article I've seen in the Israeli press that warns of the dangers from these organisations. I'm glad that the subject is being more widely discussed now and hopefully Israelis will begin to question the motives of our new "friends". Hopefully this will be the real "good news".

One last point. I was discussing this subject with colleagues at work and many brought up the point Israel needs all the friends we can get and we shouldn't be too choosy considering our Arab "cousins" are out to kill us. My response to this is to ask them what the difference between Purim and Chanuka is? The answer is that on Purim we thank Hashem for saving us from physical annihilation. On Chanuka however, we thank Hashem for saving us from spiritual annihilation. Both pose a danger to Israel and should be taken seriously.