Aliyah, Ma'alot and My "Little Brother" David Sklar z"l

The Military Section of the cemetery in Meona

"A State is not handed to a people on a silver platter" Chaim Weizmann, first President of Israel

My family and I are the "adoptive (Representative) family" of a young American who was also a new "Oleh" to Maalot in 1976, and a "Fallen Soldier" David Sklar z"l.

David was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the 4th of June 1962 and at the age of 9 his family made Aliyah to Hertzliya. David and his family his older sister Deborah and his mother Chaya, who was divorced, arrived to Maalot a very short time before I had entered the IDF as a "Chayal Boded" in September of 1976. His mother Chaya Sklar z"l worked at that time as a secretary to Elaine Kopp -today Levitt, who had also recently arrived in Maalot in charge of a Jewish Agency Volunteer for Israel program.

David and his family lived in the "New Binyan HaMalit"(the only multi storied (8) building in Maalot with an elevator) near today's Shouk (Marketplace). David had only recently entered Yad Netan High School near Akko  and he was like a little brother to me.
David  was constantly coming over to spend time with me talking, listening to my album collection and playing American sports - softball, baseball and football. At that time the Anglo-Saxon community was very small and close and we did a lot of activities together.

David would relate to me his experiences and secrets in life as any younger brother would to an older one. Our friendship was close since he was badly treated and ignored as a child by his father and he was in need of an "older" brother to be there for him.

I had arrived in Israel as a volunteer for Kibbutz in the aftermath of the tragic Yom Kippur in September of 1974. I came here to experience my Jewish heritage up close and I came alone with no family here in Israel and I was very much alone. A stranger in a new land still not sufficient in Hebrew. 
I joined a Garin for a new Kibbutz in the Arava - the prairie north of Eilat-Garin Shikma of Kibbutz Ketura. My Garin went to do Hebrew Ulpan and Hacshira at Kibbutz Kfar Ruppin. Regretfully the Garin came apart and most of the members left Israel. During my time with the Garin I had changed my status to new "Oleh" - Immigrant.
When I left Kibbutz knowing I had a call-up for the army I had to find a place to live. The Jewish Agency offered me a singles apartment in Maalot and I went to see the area and because of the green pastoral setting of the Galilee and the local friends I made I decided to live here.
In those early years there were still very few telephones to call home by and the only means of communication was by the exchange of "aerograms" air mail letters which would take anywhere from 10 days to two weeks to arrive. So to have someone like David, his sister and mother, my fellow "Single Soldier" neighbor Kenny Sherman, my upstairs neighbor from England the painter Elana Black and her young daughter Sharon, Elaine Kopp and her two children Mike and Marla was very nice.

When my future wife Rena made Aliyah in March 1978 to Ma'alot (from Far Rockaway NY)  it was Chaya Sklar who told me about her and her arrival and she encouraged me to meet her. So when I came home on my first leave from "Mivtzah Litani" (Operation Litani) in March of 1978 I waited outside the old Aliyah Center on Ma'ale HaBenim Street at 11PM+ that night, since Rena was working as an RN at Nahariyah Hospital, for her arrival home. Since I was on a short leave and time was of importance and though the hour was now very late I went and knocked on her door and when she opened it I introduced myself and she replied; "Very nice my name is Rena and I am tired" and she than closed the door. That is how we met thanks to Chaya.

As time went by Rena and I married in January of 1979, as far as I know we are the only Americans to marry in Maalot. David was enthralled and was so happy. As time went on our "Anglo" community would meet and play sports at the park of the local symbol – a large tall water Tower, every Saturday. Local kids became participants and David was proud to be part of the "action".

In the spring of 1979 we moved to our new apartment on Karen Haysod, across the street from the original “Anglo Saxon couple” Beronica (An RN From St Louis Missouri) and Peter (An ex Egged Bus Corporation Driver born in Germany but raised in South Africa) Zilberstein and their three boys, Shai, Yoel and Gideon.

When our oldest son David was born David was ever so happy to be the proud "Uncle" he would spend hours with his "nephew". When David graduated High School in 1980 he was eager to join the IDF and to be "Kravi". Despite his handicaps, his small frame and eyesight he strove to be in the Tank Corp.

In the spring of 1982 Rena and I had made a decision to leave Israel so that I could complete my college degree so as to have a "better future". Our last meeting with David was very sad and with the threat of war that was in the air. As he sat on the couch with his "nephew" on his lap, I warned David to take care and asked him to promise me that in combat he would heed my lessons I taught him and to wear his body armor vest.

We separated saying "See you later" and not goodbye. We left for Birmingham Alabama my hometown to live and Rena got a job immediately at the Children's Hospital in the vast Birmingham Alabama Medical Center In June of that year I had just reentered studies at a junior college prior to returning to University, when the First War in Lebanon had broken out. As a Medic in Charge of a Mobile Hospital I quickly prepared to fly back but my commander told me NO stay and get your degree. According to the orders, "We are advancing only to the Litani." so the "war" will be over soon.

Near the end of June fighting intensified and I was torn between going and staying. The family did not want me to go and the pressure was on. I returned from my studies on the 5th of July 1982 to a message that my Dad had received by phone to call our neighbor. I thought that Daphne Even Zohar -our American born neighbor was calling to notify us of the installation of the phone that we had ordered three years before! (In the old days of Bezeq, the Israeli Telecommunications Company was a monopoly and they were king. You could wait years to have the privilege of having a phone installed)

When I returned the call later, due to the 8 hour time difference, Daphne informed me that David who had been gravely wounded in Beirut had died from his wounds in Rambam Hospital in Haifa.

As to how it happened I learned this standing over his grave prior to the ceremony on a very hot Yom HaZichron (Memorial Day) a few years ago. As I stood there beside the grave they came one by one and I

Yom HaZichron 2014

met his entire tank crew and his commander. The years had gone by and they were now in their 40’s with grown children. They came from all over Israel to stand there in silence out of respect for their comrade. As old soldiers do we talked and they told me what exactly had occurred and how David was wounded. What I learned that day was that prior to the beginning of the war the Commander of the Unit had wanted to transfer David to a non-combat role, due to his difficulties in his physical ability to do the heavy work demanded of a member of a tank crew. I asked his commanding officer that fateful what if question. "What if there had been a few more

days of tranquility?" He said that David would more than probably have been transferred. It just goes to show how fickle one's destiny can be and how fate had stepped in and the war had begun it stopped the process of the transfer and it had determined David's life.

They were in South Western Beirut stationed at a road block across from an IDF Field Hospital not far from the Shi’ite Quarter of Dahiya, and the “Falestinian” refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla. They had been under fire from the PLO mortars in the vicinity of the Borj Al Brajne earlier that hot sultry summer morning when one of his crew-mates who had been on duty as the “radio listener” asked David to change with him so he could relieve himself. David eagerly replied and climbed back onto the tank to be “in communication” –listening for orders on the company network. Due to the heavy humidity and heat David had not properly closed his Flak Vest. As his crew-mates and commander recalled there was the sudden renewal of mortar fire briefly and a shell which landed near the tank sent a large piece of shrapnel into David’s back to front. They immediately rushed David to the doctors and medics at the field hospital. An evacuation helicopter was called in and David was evacuated to Rambam Hospital where the doctors labored  some 24 hours to save him but the damage had been too great and he died at the age of 20 the 5th of July 1982.

In April of 1984 we returned to Maalot to a tragic situation. We found that Chaya had "freaked out" over her mourning of David's death and her "Ex" husbands attitude towards her. She could not be consoled her grief was too much. We were informed that she had driven David's sister Deborah into leaving Israel to New York and to cutoff all communication with anyone in Israel. Chaya’s grief and loneliness drove her to attempt suicide several times and than she found religion. She became an extremist in her hatred of Arabs and she lashed out at all her previous friends and when she died in Kiryat Arba she asked to be buried near David in the cemetery in Meona.

Once she died there was no one to represent yet alone mourn or remember David. Since there was "No Family" to officially represent David, I volunteered my family out of our love and respect for him.

Now on every Erev Yom HaZichron at the evening outdoor ceremony one of my children go up on the stage and light the candle for him. And I am always at the next days ceremony at the Soldiers section of the cemetery in Meona at his grave ever year on Yom HaZichron.

Now David is remembered and will be remembered. There is and will be someone to say Kaddish for him. May his memory be blessed -יהיה זכרו ברוך Ei Hiyeh Zichron Baruch.

In the Marble Garden- In Memory of my "little brother" ‎Corporal David Sklar
Written by Yakov Marks

On that day‏,‏
I always wanted to know
When "we" are standing‏,‏
For that minute of silence
as the siren is heard throughout the ‎‎land‎ ‎
Can they see us standing there‏?‏

In the closed eyes of the grieving ‎parents
A full length movie passes
From their birth up to that terrible ‎day‏.‏

For their comrades in arms
There is definitely a different movie
From the date of their first ‎acquaintance,‎
Until that tragic moment.‏

In almost all the "Marble Gardens" ‎across Israel.‎
It's something that is generally  ‎accepted ‎
That their resting place is the most ‎well groomed and hallowed.‎

The Exodus: Myth, Legend or Truth?‎

Is the story in the Bible of the Exodus a myth? More than probably yes. The actual question should be, “Is it based on a cumulative of several narratives?” The answer is yes more than probably. Remember the first five Books of the Bible are based on "Oral Tradition" since the earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE, in the form of primitive drawings.

Now let us examine the possible proofs of the myth that is the Passover narrative described in the Exodus.

The only contemporary Egyptian source which actually mentions Israel is the stele (pillar with inscription) of King Merneptah from the fifth year of his reign (1207 B.C.E.), recording among his many victories: "Carved off is Ashkelon, seized upon in Gezer…Israel is laid waste, his seed

no more."

 This inscription implies that an entity named Israel existed in Canaan at the time, yet it is difficult to determine precisely what it was. One thing, however, may be regarded as certain: if the Israelites indeed emerged out of Egypt, their migration took place before the end of the thirteenth century B.C.E.

In the Leiden Museum in Holland there is a papyrus that was written at the end of the Middle Kingdom, around 1650 B.C.E. that was found in Egypt. It is called, “The Admonitions of an Egyptian” written by an Egyptian known as Ipuwer. Scribes copied it in the 19th Dynasty, in the 1200s B.C.E. In his story Ipuwer recount plagues described in the Bible. (The biblical plagues befell the Egyptians at the time of Moses and the Exodus, which has been dated sometime between (1570 to 1290 B.C.E.) The disparity of the dates between the Ipuwer and the story of the Exodus is enough to convince many scholars that there is no relation exists between the two but the similarities of the plagues mentioned are striking.

One of the most contentious problems regarding the Exodus investigation is the fact that there is no archeological evidence for various places mentioned in the biblical travel itinerary of the Israelites as they fled Egypt for the Promised Land in Canaan. A number of biblical sites have been corroborated by Egyptian map sources done in the Late Bronze age, in Dynasties XVIII and XIX between 1560-1200 B.C.E while most date the Exodus in the range of 1400-1200 B.C.E.  Among the sites recorded are; Dibon (Numbers 13:45), a city where the Israelites' camped on their way to invade Canaan, and Hebron (Numbers 13:22), another city targeted for invasion, Iyyn and Abel (biblical Abel Shittim) both in Numbers 13: 45-50; Yom haMelach (Numbers 34:3); and Athar (Hebrew Atharim) (Numbers 21:1). This evidence is strong that these cities did indeed exist at the time of the Exodus since they are found on the temple walls of ancient Egyptian kings. Most importantly they are documented in the most important extra-biblical source Egypt.

Is the story of Joseph as a Hebrew advisor to Egyptian kings in the narrative of the Bible at the time of the Exodus true? A tomb dated to around 1353-1335 B.C.E.  in the Saqqara region of Egypt was originally discovered by the legendary archeologist Sir Flinders Petrie in the 1880s belonged to a man called Aper-el, the Egyptian version of a Hebrew name. This Aper-el (El-being the Hebrew reference to God indicating that this advisor was a Hebrew/Jew) was a vizier to the famous Amenhotep III (1370-1293 B.C.E., 18th Dynasty) and later to his son, the monotheistic king Akhenaten. In the book of Genesis, Joseph rose from captive to be second only to the Pharaoh, and he was empowered to save Egypt from starvation during a seven-year drought.

Was Aper-el/Aperia indeed a Hebrew advisor to the young king Akhenaten? If so, did Aper-el/Aperia influence Akhenaten's thinking toward monotheism? In any case, it would place a Hebrew advisor to the kings within the range of years claimed for the Exodus just as Joseph was to an Egyptian king hundreds of years earlier.

Next, there is a papyrus from the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, about 1740 B.C.E. possibly from Thebes, in the Brooklyn Museum which contains a list of slaves. On the list is a slave named Shifra and others with Semitic names. As the Exodus narrative goes in the Bible, a Hebrew woman with the same name, Shifra, was one of two midwives the Pharaoh commissioned to kill all the male Hebrew children at the time Moses was born (Exodus 1:15).  

As Jews our prayer book contains the phrases zecher l’ma’asei bereshit and zecher litziyat mitzrayim — “to commemorate the acts of Creation” and “to commemorate the Exodus from Egypt.” Just as the Shabbat Kiddush consists of two paragraphs. The first recounts Creation; the second, the Exodus. So why remember and commererate things that didn't happen?

Apparently God (or, if you prefer, whoever gave the Ten Commandments) thought the Exodus significant enough to open the Ten Commandments with reference to one event — the Exodus: “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the Land of Egypt.” Even one who doesn’t believe that God gave the Ten Commandments would have to explain why reference to something that never happened would so move the ancient Israelites. In addition, the two versions of the Ten Commandments — the one from God in Exodus and the one from Moses in Deuteronomy — differ with regard to the reason for Shabbat. The first version’s reason is the Creation (by keeping the Shabbat, we reaffirm weekly that God created the world); the second version’s reason is the Exodus (“You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt” — and only free people can have a day of rest each week).

So as a story, "Why do we Jews have it?" People don't make up stories like that, certainly not about themselves. So there must be some truth behind the story so that we can be proud of it. There's nothing like a good legend to lift a nation's confidence. That's why most peoples of the world claim to have powerful forebears, like great kings and mighty warriors. "So why do we Jews claim to have come from such lowly and ignoble origins. What purpose could that have served? Why would people invent an embarrassing legend about themselves? Yet we Jews proudly declare a most undignified beginning: we began as a slave nation. Every year we retell the Exodus saga, and say: "We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt." Even the escape from Egypt cannot be accredited to our own power: "G-d took us out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm." G-d had to "reach out" and save us. Such an un-heroic heritage!

So while those who proclaim to be the descendants of demi-gods are today subjects for archaeologists and historians. The children of Israel, descendants of simple slaves, are alive and thriving. The message of Passover to us as Jews is that there is no need to cover up our humble beginnings. The Jewish belief is that greatness is not a thing of our past; it is with us now and it will be with us in the future ahead of us.

So was the story of the Passover and of the Exodus a “Morality Play” as is with many of the stories of the Bible meant to teach the uneducated? More than probably yes. The story of the Exodus of the Jewish people was meant to inspire, not by glorying in an illustrious past, but rather by promising a brighter future. We the Hapiru –the ancient Hebrews were slaves, but we have a destiny to bring freedom to all the oppressed people of the world.

The Arab League

The Arab League - (Arabic: الجامعة العربية‎ al-Jāmiʻa al-ʻArabiyya) (formally, the League of Arab States (Arabic: جامعة الدول العربية‎ Jāmiʻat ad-Duwal al-ʻArabiyya))

Recently Secretary of State John Kerry had stated that he welcomed the "positive steps" in Israel's negotiations with the "Falestians" proposed by the "Arab League", that illustrious body which is hardly a model for peaceful settlement of disputes in the spirit of the United Nations. Evidently the Secretary of State skipped his history classes in University to demonstrate against his fellow Viet Nam veterans and had not learned this. 

Following the adoption of the Alexandria Protocol in 1944 by five Arab states: Egypt, Trans-Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, the Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945. It originally comprised five members  Yemen only joined as a member on 5 May 1945. 

Since the establishment of the Arab League in 1945, it has led the way for the outpouring of Arab hatred and displeasure at the hands of the Imperialistic Colonial powers for the establishment of a Jewish Homeland in “Arab Land”. The members of the Arab League have constantly voiced their anti-Zionist feelings since its creation.

Here are the major points:

December 1945 - The Arab League launched a boycott of 'Zionist goods'

June 1946 - The Arab League established the Higher Arab Committee a radical body that led and coordinated attempts to wipe Israel off the map.

December 1946 - The Arab League rejected the first proposed Palestine partition plans.

October 1947 - The Arab League reasserted the necessity for military preparations along Arab borders for "defending Palestine."

February 1948 - The Arab League approved "a plan for political, military, and economic measures to be taken in response to the Palestine crisis."

October 1948 - The Arab League rejected outright Resolution 181, the UN "Partition Plan" for Palestine.

May 15 1948 - The members of the Arab League; Egypt, Trans-Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and contingents from Saudi Arabia and Yemen were "compelled to intervene" to "restore law and order” invaded and occupied the Mandated Areas. This step is outlined in its "Declaration on the Invasion of Palestine."

"The injustice implied in this solution [affecting] the right of the people of Palestine to immediate independence ... declared the Arabs' rejection of [Resolution 181]" which the League said "would not be possible to carry it out by peaceful means, and that its forcible imposition would constitute a threat to peace and security in this area" and claimed that the "security and order in Palestine have become disrupted" due to the "aggressive intentions, and the imperialistic designs of the Zionists" and "the Governments of the Arab States, as members of the Arab League, a regional organization ... view the events taking place in Palestine as a threat to peace and security in the area as a whole. ... Therefore, as security in Palestine is a sacred trust in the hands of the Arab States, and in order to put an end to this state of affairs ... the Governments of the Arab States have found themselves compelled to intervene in Palestine."

July 15 1948 - UN Security Council Resolution 54 called on Arab aggression to stop. "The members of the Arab League have rejected successive appeals of the United Nations Mediator, and of the Security Council in its resolution 53 (1948) of 7 July 1948, for the prolongation of the truce in Palestine; and that there has consequently developed a renewal of hostilities in Palestine."

October 1949 - The Arab League declared that negotiation with Israel by any Arab state would be in violation of Article 18 of the Arab League.

April 1950 - The Arab League called for severance of relations with any Arab state which engaged in relations or contacts with Israel and prohibited Member states from negotiating unilateral peace with Israel.

March 1979 - The Arab League suspended Egypt's membership in the League (retroactively) from the date of its signing a peace treaty with Israel.

March 27-28, 2002 - At the height of Palestinian suicide attacks in Israel the Arab League adopted the "Beirut Declaration"

"We, the kings, presidents, and emirs of the Arab states meeting in the Council of the Arab League Summit in Beirut, capital of Lebanon ... have conducted a thorough assessment of the developments and challenges ... relating to the Arab region and, more specifically, to the occupied Palestinian territory. With great pride, we followed the Palestinian people's Intifada and valiant resistance. ... We address a greeting of pride and honor to the Palestinian people's steadfastness and valiant Intifada against the Israeli occupation and its destructive war machine. We greet with honor and pride the valiant martyrs of the Intifada."

Where is "Peace" mentioned?
At this same Beirut Summit on 28 March 2002, the Arab League adopted the Arab Peace Initiative, a Saudi-inspired peace plan for the Arab–Israeli conflict. The initiative offered full normalization of the relations with Israel. In return for this the Arab League demands that Israel:

• withdraw from all occupied territories, including the Golan Heights
• recognize Palestinian independence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
• provide a "just solution" for the Palestinian refugees.

No mention of their accepting Israel as the "Jewish State" and no mention of the Jewish refugees from Arab lands and their "Just Solution".

Nostradam‎us Michaelis de Nostredame

Who was this person Michaelis de Nostredame? Interest in Nostradamus has not died out through the ages was he real where his predictions actually made? His name reached many young people through the song of the Scottish balladeer Al Stewart that was released in 1973. So what is the meaning of the name "Nostradamus," the name chosen by ‎the famous astrologer? Could it have some special hidden meaning? Was he as a secret Jew? Had he been a descendant of the Israelite tribe of Issachar and a follower of the Zohar and Kabbalah taught to him by his grandfather Jean de St. Rémy?

It is recorded that Jaume's father, the Jewish apothecary Guy Gassonet, had converted to Catholicism around 1455 (?), taking the Christian name "Pierre" and the surname "Nostredame" comprised of two parts; the Latin word; Nostrum -which means in part ‎‎"a medicine whose ingredients are kept secret", and the French words N‎otre Dame or "Our Lady", a reference to Mary the "virgin mother ‎of Jesus".

This fact is interesting since many "New Christians" converted to ‎Catholicism during this bleak period of European history before the Spanish Inquisition in 1492. Many ‎of these Medieval European Jews continued to remain “secret Jews” or “Marranous." They were so secretive out of fear so as to prevent their discovery otherwise they would be tortured and burned to death at the stake for heresy. Nostradamus's family may have been one of those Jewish families that ‎‎feared the "Inquisitor" and hid their Judaism. The hint of this can be found in the story surrounding his maternal great-grandfather Jean de St. Rémy since there is a persistent tradition that he was educated by him. However he “suddenly” disappears from the historical records after 1504.

Michel de Nostredame was one of at least nine children of Reynière (or Renée) de Saint-Rémy and Jaume (or Jacques) de Nostredame a grain dealer and notary. Michel's known siblings included Delphine, Jean I (c. 1507–77), Pierre, Hector, Louis, Bertrand, Jean II (born 1522) and Antoine (born 1523).

‎

Nostradamus father had been a noted astrologer and apothecary - physician. So ‎when Nostradamus was a young boy his father taught him astronomy, ‎astrology and apothecary / medicine. The young Nostradamus was enrolled at the ‎school of Medicine at Montpellier. While still a student at the academy ‎Nostradamus became well known for his knowledge of astronomy. His ‎knowledge almost cost him his life when he advanced the theory that the ‎earth revolves around the sun. To many this was a "heretical" thought ‎because it went against the teachings of the church.

Nostradamus entered the University of Avignon at the age of 15 to study for his baccalaureate. After little more than a year he was forced to leave Avignon when the university closed its doors in the face of an outbreak of the plague. After leaving Avignon, Nostradamus traveled the countryside for eight years from 1521 researching herbal remedies. In 1529, after some years as an apothecary, he entered the University of Montpellier to study for a doctorate in medicine. He was expelled shortly afterwards by the university's procurator, Guillaume Rondelet, when it was discovered that he had been an apothecary, a "manual trade" expressly banned by the university statutes, and had been slandering doctors. The expulsion document still exists in the faculty library.

Because ‎of his knowledge he was hired by the French King Francis I, ‎of Angouleme, the House of Valois to be the personal physician to ‎his oldest son the Dauphin Henry (1519-1559) the heir to the ‎French throne.‎ During the years 1535-1545 an epidemic know as the ‎‎"Bubonic Plague" reappeared in Europe. As a physician, Nostradamus fame ‎grew with his cures the "rose pill" that supposedly protected against the plague and ‎his prescribed treatment for the "Bubonic Plague" were based on rules of cleanliness ‎and hygiene outlined in the Bible and by the writings of the Mosheh ben Maimon (משה בן מימון), called Moses Maimonides or RAMBAM Hebrew acronym for "Rabbeinu Mosheh Ben Maimon" – English translation: "Our Rabbi/Teacher Moses Son [of] Maimon". Yet despite all of ‎Nostradamus's medical knowledge his first wife Henriette d'Encausse and two daughters became infected ‎by the disease and died of the plague.

‎

After the death of his wife and daughters, around the year ‎‎1545, he became embittered and lonely. He took to traveling until ‎he decided to remarry in 1548. He isolated himself in a tower of ‎a castle that belonged to King Henry the second in Saint Lo near ‎a village in the south of France. Nostradamus turned to the study ‎of astrology and the "occult"(?). It is here that he has his ‎first visions of future events.‎

Nostradamus published his book of predictions "The Cent‎uries" in 1555. The book was called the centuries because it was ‎divided into ten parts, each of the 100 four line verses, stretching ‎from the date of publication (1555) to an indefinite time in ‎the future. Many first editions exist today, so there is no doubt ‎as to the authenticity of the text.

Many of Nostradamus's ‎"predictions” have come true and here are but a few examples:

‎"The blood of the just will be demanded of London, burnt through fire in the year three times twenty and six”‎

Indeed in the year 1666 the city of London suffered from a disastrous ‎fire known in English history as the great fire of London.‎"

"The English Parliament will put it's King to death."

Charles I King of England was beheaded by order of Parliament ‎and Cromwell on January 30, 1649.‎

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 ‎"An Emperor of France shall be born on an island near Italy, his rule will cost his Empire dear, Nay Pol Loron will be more of fire than blood"

Napoleon was born on the island of Corsica near Italy.‎

“Hister, the German of the Crooked Cross, The Captain of Greater Germaine, no law does this man observe. Bloody his rise and fall shall be.”

‎There is no doubt that  Nostradamus is alluding to Adolph Hitler.‎

"In the new lands of America, three brothers now shall come to power. Two men are born to rule, but all must die before their hour."

‎This is a reference to Joseph, John and  Robert Kennedy.‎

A great wall that divides a city at this time is cast aside.

Is this the Berlin wall November 1990‎?

‎

Nostradamus is a reputed seer whose published collection of prophecies have become famous worldwide. He is best known for his book "Les Propheties", the first edition of which appeared in 1555. Since the publication of this book, it has rarely been out of print since his death, Nostradamus quatrains have purportedly predicted many major world events and because of this he has a wide following. He is best known for his book "Les Propheties", the first edition of which appeared in 1555. Since the publication of this book, it has rarely been out of print since his death.

According to the famous English diarist Samuel Pepys, as early as 1667, long before the French Revolution. Pepys records in his celebrated diary s to his prophecies there is a legend that, before his death, Nostradamus made the townsfolk swear that his grave would never be disturbed; but when dug up at the French Revolution, 60 years later a brass plaque was found on his chest correctly stating the date and time when his grave would be opened and cursing the exhumers.

Nostradamus's tombstone, in the Collegiale St-Laurent, at Salon-de-Provence Bouches-du-Rhône, France. As noted on his crypt Nostrad‎amus- Micha Ben Elias or Michaelis de ‎Notredame was born in Saint Reims de ‎la Provence, France on 14th or 21st of December 1503 and died on the 2nd July 1566.‎

The headstone, written in Latin and composed by his wife, reads as follows: "Here lie the bones of the illustrious Michel Nostradamus, alone of all mortals judged worthy to record events of the entire world with his almost divine pen, under the influence of the stars. He lived 62 years, 6 months, and 17 days. He died at Salon in the year 1566. Let not prosperity disturb his rest. Anne Pons Gemelle wishes her husband true happiness."

Richard Falk and “residency rights."

As I was reading this supposed "enlightened" UN BS artist’s article by Ynet and as per usual UN representatives like Falk do not check into fact before spread the lies of the “Falestinians”. Let us review his statement Falk said "that more than 11,000 Palestinians had lost their right to live in Jerusalem since 1996 due to Israel imposing residency laws favoring Jews and revoking Palestinian residence permits." And that Israel is practicing “Ethnic Cleansing” So what are the real facts?

 

View of the two large Synagogues in the Old City prior to their destruction by the Jordanians in 1948

Arab respect for the Jewish Synagogue Tiferet Yisrael in 1948

Hmm first of all Mr Falk before spreading lies one should know facts. As to “Ethnic Cleansing” I would love to have the answer to the question; “Where was the UN when the Jewish Quarter of the Old City and the Jews from the settlements of the Gush Etzion Block who were ethnically cleansed by the invading Jordanians in 1948?? Also where was the UN during the entire illegal Jordanian Occupation of the “West Bank” from 1947- 1967?

Ethnic Cleansing of Jews from Jerusalem and Gush Etzion

It is a recorded fact that between 100,000 to 200,000 of the Arabs of the Mandated Area moved to the Mandated Area in the years of prosperity during the British Mandate. What is not mentioned, is that most of them were not land owners but only those renting or leasing of homes. Property disputes have always existed, especially since the first land registration -Tabu - law was promulgated from the days of the Turks in 1858. It is a historical and documented fact that most of those Arab inhabitants do not have actual ownership / title to the land they claim is theirs. 

“A few months after my family and I moved to Shiloh in 1981, I witnessed a
microcosm of the land problem between Jews and Arabs. A section of land was
to be put aside for security purposes and, as the legal procedure dictated,
the mukhtars of nearby villages were informed and asked to make sure that
any resident claiming private ownership rights should show up on a certain
day to stake his claim.
 Sure enough, at the appointed hour, seven Arabs walked onto the area and
then were asked to stand on what each claimed as his private plot. Within
minutes a difficult situation developed when two villagers stood on the same
fertile section, insisting that each owned it. A minute later and they were
throwing stones at each other.
 We, the residents of Shiloh, the IDF officers and legal officials all stood
around amazed. In the end, with no documents, no tax receipts, no maps nor
any other reliable proof of ownership, the land was confirmed as "state
land" and assigned to its new use.” Yisrael Medad, THE JERUSALEM POST Nov. 22, 2006

The Turks and later the British attempted to register land ownership -by census - but only those who paid taxes could get ownership. Therefore many Arab inhabitants hid or lied to not have to pay taxes and thereby did not admit to ownership. Many -whole primarily Moslem -villages were virtual "serfs" or indentured servants to wealthy absentee land owners residing in Beirut or Damascus. And it is well known that most Arabs of the area immigrated to the Mandatory Areas after the Liberation in 1918 and establishment of the Mandate. So in essence they are squatters and as in most civilized countries of the world you cannot stay on land that is not legally yours.

Jews had purchased 6 to 8 percent of the total land area of Palestine. This was about 20% of the land that could be settled and cultivated. About 46% of the land was registered in the tax registers to Arab villages, to Arabs living on the land, or absentee owners, and about the same amount was government land. However, most of this land was not privately owned. The Arabs of Palestine had received much of their land in leases conditional upon cultivation or used land that was part of village commons.

During the Turkish census according to Beinin and Hajjar there was no administrative district of Palestine. Turkish census figures were for various districts, including the Jerusalem, Acco and Nablus districts for example. The Acre district included areas in Lebanon, outside the modern borders of Palestine in which there were no Jews. So the figure for the Turkish census for 1878 which listed 462,465 Turkish subjects in the Jerusalem, Nablus and Acre districts: 403,795 Muslims (including Druze), 43,659 Christians and 15,011 Jews. Simply cannot represent the population of the Arabs of the Mandated areas.Prior to the British conquest in 1917 of the city of Jerusalem it had a Jewish majority of 70%. since about 1896 - The city of Jerusalem itself there was a Jewish majority since about 1896, but probably not before. The district of Jerusalem (as opposed to the city) comprised a very wide area in Ottoman and British times, in which there was a Muslim majority. This included Jericho, Bethlehem and other towns.  Within the Jerusalem district, there was a sub district of Jerusalem that includes many of the immediate suburbs such as Ein Karem, Beit Zeit etc. In that sub district, the Jews remained a minority, with only about 52,000 out of 132,000 persons in 1931 for example.

Population of Jerusalem until 1945

Year	Total	Muslim	Jewish	Christian	% Jews
1841	15,510	5,000	7,120	3,390	45.9
1876	25,030	7,560	12,000	5,470	47.9
1896	45,420	8,560	28,112	8,748	61.9
1922	52,081	13,411	33,971	4,699	65.2
1931	90,451	19,894	51,222	19,335	56.6
1945	164,330	33,680	99,320	31,330	60.4

1. This figure is quoted widely on the Web and is apparently the Ottoman census figure. It is given for example here.

2. John Oesterreicher and Anne Sinai, eds., Jerusalem, (NY: John Day, 1974), p. 1

3. British Mandate Census of 1922 and 1931

4. Anglo American Survey, 1945

There are those who place the population of the Arabs of the “Mandated Area” in 1893 before the arrival of the waves of Zionist Aliyah at 410,000 Arab Muslims and Christians in Palestine because both Arabs and Jews avoided the Turkish census. Foreigners who were without residence permits did not want to make their presence known. Arabs wished avoid taxes and in the 19th century, only Muslims were subject to the draft, and accordingly, Muslims tended to avoid the census. The British carried out only two censuses - in 1922 and 1931. The Bluebook figures were apparently last compiled in 1945 and reflect figures from 1944 or 1945. The Report of the Anglo American Committee of Inquiry used those figures and others to estimate the population of Palestine at the end of 1946, by projecting birth rates apparently. Between 1946 and the announcement of partition in November 1947, there was significant emigration of Arabs from Palestine.

After the creation of the British Mandate for Palestine, the Jewish population increased due to immigration, especially in the 1930s. The population of the Arabs of the “Mandated Area” also increased at an exceptional rate. When there were more or less reliable records we can see that about 18,000 non-Jews entered Palestine between 1930 and 1939 while in the same period, about 5,000 non-Jews left. This does not count illegal immigration of course, or immigration prior to 1930.  Economic analyses show that by the 1930s the standard of living of Arabs of the “Mandated Area” was approximately twice that of Arabs in surrounding countries, whereas in Ottoman Turkish times it was lower than in surrounding countries.

Some of the farm population may have suffered economic hardship, characteristic of any industrializing and urbanizing society, but in the main, the standard of living improved, and it improved much faster than it did in surrounding countries. There is no doubt that this improvement in conditions was an attractant for immigrants as well as resulting in improved health and larger families. Additionally, British activity in building the port of Haifa during the 1920s and in operating it during WW II undoubtedly attracted new Arab workers from outside of the Mandate. However, there is no hard evidence to show that the actual figure of the Arabs of the “Mandated Area” prior to 1948 numbered between 700,000 to 800,000. It is impossible to determine the exact number since economic conditions did not improve until mandatory times, it is unlikely that the bulk of the immigration occurred under Turkish administration. 

"The area was under populated and remained economically stagnant until the arrival of the first Zionist pioneers in the 1880's, who came to rebuild the Jewish land. The country had remained "The Holy Land" in the religious and historic consciousness of mankind, which associated it with the Bible and the history of the Jewish people. Jewish development of the country also attracted large numbers of other immigrants - both Jewish and Arab. - The report of the British Royal Commission, 1913

In the book "Palaestina ex monumentis veteribus illustrata" - a detailed geographical survey of Palestine in 1696 written in Latin by Adriaan Reland published by Willem Broedelet, Utrecht, in 1714. It states that residents of the REGION mainly concentrated in cities: Jerusalem, Acre, Safed, Jaffa, Tiberias and Gaza. In most cities, the majority of residents are Christians, Jews and others, very few Muslims who generally are Bedouin, seasonal workers who came to serve as Seasonal workers in agriculture or building.

Nablus: 120 Muslims, 70 Samaritans

Nazareth: 700 people - all Christians

Umm al-Fahm: 50 people-10 families, ALL Christian

Gaza: 550 people- 300 Jews,250 Christian(Jews engaged in agriculture ,Christians deal with the trading and transporting the products) note* (no Muslims in Gaza)!

Tiberias:  300 residents, all Jews.

Safed: about 200 inhabitants, all Jews

Jerusalem : 5000 people, most of them (3,500) Jews, the rest - Christian (1000) Muslim (500)

 

Shiloah Jerusalem from the south 1930

Jewish Yemenite migration to the Land of Israel took place in 1881-1882 when a group of Jews of Yemen arrived by foot to Jerusalem.  They belonged to no "Zionist movement." They returned out of an age-old religious fervor to return to Zion. The new immigrants settled on Jewish-owned property in the Shiloah Village outside of the Old City walls of Jerusalem. The Jews of Shiloah were the targets of anti-Jewish pogroms during the anti-Jewish riots in 1921 and again during the 1936-39 Arab revolt when they were evacuated by the British authorities. These Jewish families returned to Silwan/Shiloah after Israel reunited the city of Jerusalem in 1967 to reclaim the Jewish-owned property.

Shiloah/Silwan Today

Joan Peters, in her book "From Time Immemorial," argues that most of the increase in Arab population was in fact due to illegal Arab immigration. Her figures are not accepted by most demographers and historians, including Zionists. Norman Finkelstein and others have criticized her thesis and shown evidence of poor scholarship. Finkelstein's analysis also shows that the largest increases of Palestinian Arab population occurred close to Jewish population centers in Palestine, which would argue against the Palestinian contention that the Zionists were dispossessing Arabs. We do not know if this increase was due to population shifts in Palestine or immigration from outside Palestine.  It is certain that there was at least some illegal Palestinian-Arab immigration, as noted in British mandatory reports. Immigration from Transjordan was not illegal, and was not recorded as immigration at all until 1938. Beginning in the 1920s when they built Haifa port, and especially during and just prior to  World War II, the British recruited Arab workers from the Houran in Syria and elsewhere. Arabs also came to Palestine before the war, attracted by higher wages. However, since much of the depletion of Palestinian population that had occurred in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was due to migration to neighboring countries, many of these returning Arabs may have been families returning to Palestine.

Falk and his bosses at the UN ignore the historical fact and International Law that the "West Bank" territory, was part of the "Mandated Area" given to the British to control in 1919. This area was offered to and refused by the "Arabs of the Mandated Areas" in the partition plan of 1948 that opted for open combat in defiance of the Partition Agreement of the UN. This disputed area refused by the "Arabs of the Mandated Areas" was illegally captured by the "Trans-Jordanian" Army in 1948 and occupied by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan until their defeat in 1967. With the establishment of the border, between Israel and Jordan in the negotiated 1995 peace accords, the "West Bank" officially became Israeli territory as per Der Jure International Law.

Justice Stephen M. Schwebel, who spent 19 years as a judge of the International Court of Justice at The Hague including three years as President. explained; "...modifications of the 1949 armistice lines among those States within former Palestinian territory are lawful (if not necessarily desirable), whether those modifications are, in Secretary Rogers's words, "insubstantial alterations required for mutual security" or more substantial alterations - such as recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the whole of Jerusalem.." and in a footnote he added "It should be added that the armistice agreements of 1949 expressly preserved the territorial claims of all parties and did not purport to establish definitive boundaries between them". Therefore the 1949 Armistice lines are not fixed, as purported by the Palestinians and their supporters. 

In fact in 1948 The Jordanian Government Army invaded the Palestinian Mandated Territory and at the end of the fighting illegally annexed the “West Bank” and East Jerusalem, a move which was recognized only by Britain and Pakistan. In terms of international law, between 1948 and 1967  the entire area of what remained of  the Palestinian Mandated Territory in the “West Bank” was terra nullius, or "land belonging to no one" over which sovereignty may be acquired through occupation. The concept of terra nullius is well recognized in international law. Therefore the “Palestinians” never had sovereignty over the “West Bank” or East Jerusalem. Justice Schwebel concluded that since Jordan, the prior occupying power of the “West Bank” and East Jerusalem had seized that territory unlawfully in 1948; Israel which subsequently took that territory in the lawful exercise of self-defense in 1967 has better title to it.

With the negotiated peace treaty between Jordan and Israel in 1995 the "Mandated Area" for the Jewish Homeland (Article 8 Mandate for Palestine) was returned and therefore the "West Bank" officially became Israeli territory as per International Law termed; Uti possidetis juris or uti possidetis iuris (Latin for "as you possess under law") is a principle of international law that states that newly formed sovereign states should have the same borders that their preceding dependent area had before their independence. So legally there is no need to annex since neither the Jordanians nor the "Falestinians" never claimed sovereignty according to International Law. Thereby reinforcing Justice Schwebel's claim of  “terra nullius”, or "land belonging to no one".

In fact during negotiations for the 1995 peace agreement signed between Israel and Jordan, the Jordanian government made no claim to it. And as East Jerusalem came into Israel's possession in the course of a defensive war, Israel was entitled to annex it and create a united Jerusalem. Consequently, the Jerusalem City Council has jurisdiction over building approvals for Jewish and Arab resident in any part of the city.

HaRav Shmuel Yitzhak Churgin; Teacher Of Teachers, Lover of Zion

HaRav Shmuel Yitzhak Churgin, son of HaRav Eliahu Ben Haim Churgin, was born in 1865 in Karlin near Pinsk, Belarus, in the Polesia region of Russia. He was from a family of rabbis, biblical schloars- Torah and lovers of Zion. He was educated in the Cheder (alternatively, Cheider, in Hebrew חדר, meaning "room") which is a traditional elementary school teaching the basics of religious Judaism and the Hebrew language Shumel excelled in his studies. He had a love for the Torah and the Halachic rulings, Halakha (Hebrew: הֲלָכָה) also transliterated Halocho (Ashkenazic), the collective body of Jewish religious laws, based on the Written and Oral Torah, including the 613 mitzvot and later Talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions compiled today in the Shulchan Aruch, "the Code of Jewish Law." It was this great love for the Torah - the Bible, that he later taught to thousands of students at " Gates of Torah" and Mikveh Israel (Hebrew: מִקְוֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל; "Hope of Israel") the first Jewish agricultural school in Israel

At the age of twenty, in 1885. he married Chasiyah Eisenberg (Daughter of Aaron Eisenberg). A few years after his marriage in 1889, he was offered the opportunity to immigrate to America to study at a university there. HaRav Churgin and many young Jews had been affected by the wave of pogroms of 1881–1884 and anti-Semitic May Laws of 1882 introduced by Tsar Alexander III of Russia. These incidents of ant-Semitic hatred prompted mass emigration of Jews from the Russian Empire. HaRav Churgin decided to join with many other inspired young Jews to heed the call of the Lover's of Zion and to make Aliyah to Eretz Yisrael and to assist the rebuilding of the Jewish Homeland in the backward desolate portion of the dying Turkish Empire. So he became a Pioneer or Bilu (Hebrew: ביל"ו which is an acronym based on a verse from the Book of Isaiah (2:5) "בית יעקב לכו ונלכה" Beit Ya'akov Lekhu Venelkha ("House of Jacob, let us go [up]")) The Bilu'im were part of a movement whose goal was the agricultural resettlement of Eretz Yisrael - the Land of Israel.

Jewish settlers ("Biluim") in Palestine, 1880's

In 1889 he made Aliyah - immigrated to Israel. He went through some very exasperating experiences upon his arrival. as did many new comers in the early days of the First Aliyah to Eretz Yisrael. At that time the area was a sleepy backwater of the dying Ottoman Turkish Empire. Sparsely populated and filled with marauding bands of Arab Bedouin thieves. The land was treeless and barren. It was filled with rocky spaces and mosquito filled swamps with deadly malaria.

"Of all the lands there are for dismal scenery, I think Palestine must be the prince. The hills are barren, they are dull of color, they are unpicturesque in shape. The valleys are unsightly deserts fringed with a feeble vegetation that has an expression about it of being sorrowful and despondent. The Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee sleep in the midst of a vast stretch of hill and plain wherein the eye rests upon no pleasant tint, no striking object, no soft picture dreaming in a purple haze or mottled with the shadows of the clouds. Every outline is harsh, every feature is distinct, there is no perspective--distance works no enchantment here. It is a hopeless, dreary, heart-broken land.
Small shreds and patches of it must be very beautiful in the full flush of spring, however, and all the more beautiful by contrast with the far-reaching desolation that surrounds them on every side. I would like much to see the fringes of the Jordan in spring-time, and Shechem, Esdraelon, Ajalon and the borders of Galilee--but even then these spots would seem mere toy gardens set at wide intervals in the waste of a limitless desolation.
Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes. Over it broods the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies. Where Sodom and Gomorrah reared their domes and towers, that solemn sea now floods the plain, in whose bitter waters no living thing exists--over whose waveless surface the blistering air hangs motionless and dead-- about whose borders nothing grows but weeds, and scattering tufts of cane, and that treacherous fruit that promises refreshment to parching lips, but turns to ashes at the touch. Nazareth is forlorn; about that ford of Jordan where the hosts of Israel entered the Promised Land with songs of rejoicing, one finds only a squalid camp of fantastic Bedouins of the desert; Jericho the accursed, lies a moldering ruin, to-day, even as Joshua's miracle left it more than three thousand years ago; Bethlehem and Bethany, in their poverty and their humiliation, have nothing about them now to remind one that they once knew the high honor of the Saviour's presence; the hallowed spot where the shepherds watched their flocks by night, and where the angels sang Peace on earth, good will to men, is untenanted by any living creature, and unblessed by any feature that is pleasant to the eye. .... The noted Sea of Galilee, where Roman fleets once rode at anchor and the disciples of the Saviour sailed in their ships, was long ago deserted by the devotees of war and commerce, and its borders are a silent wilderness; Capernaum is a shapeless ruin; Magdala is the home of beggared Arabs; Bethsaida and Chorazin have vanished from the earth, and the "desert places" round about them where thousands of men once listened to the Saviour's voice and ate the miraculous bread, sleep in the hush of a solitude that is inhabited only by birds of prey and skulking foxes."  A section from Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad On the land of Palestine

The Jewish community in the ancient seaside port city of Jaffa was very small. It was located within the Arab Old City. From here every day at the crack of dawn he would walk the 25 kilometers to the new Jewish town of Rehovot. It was here in this newly founded colony/settlement he would work alongside other new immigrants. As the evening drew near he would walk back to Yaffo and with the dawn he would return once again to go to work. The work was physical, hard and long but he and the other young Zionists enjoyed the work. They knew that they were rebuilding the Jewish Homeland.

Rechovot 1912

After a few short years he was able to bring Chassiyah and their three children to be with him in Eretz Yisrael. They lived in Jaffa, since the new Jewish City of Tel Aviv had not yet been founded. There were no living quaters available so they rented in the old city of Jaff/Yaffo. Because of this the Jewish women were forced to go out veiled dressed in burqas (an enveloping outer garment worn by Moslem women to cover their bodies) whenever they ventured into the streets out of fear of attack from their Arab neighbors.

HaRav Churgin who had once dreamed of becoming a farmer settling in one of the agricultural settlements, was forced to abandon his dream due to financial considerations and the severity of life in the Yishuv. To feed his family he returned with fervor to his first love as a teacher in the Talmud Torah -"Sharei Torah" or "Gates of Torah". "Sharei Torah" had just been founded and it was the only institution of it's kind for Jewish children in Jaffa. He remained a teacher there for decades eventually moving with them to it's new quarters in Neve Shalom. Thousands of students learned from him his passion for the Halachic rulings and  especially the Torah / Bible. He was able to also inspire in them his love and passion for Torah as well as for the Land of Israel.

In my research I found that it was a high probability that when HaRav Kook moved to Ottoman Palestine in 1904 to assume the rabbinical post in Jaffa, which also included responsibility for the new mostly secular Zionist agricultural settlements nearby. He may have been in contact with HaRav Churgin since they both shared a love for Halacha and the rebirth of Jewish life in Eretz Yisrael. As a respected teacher he may have influenced HaRav Kook as he engaged in kiruv ("Jewish outreach"), creating a greater role for Torah and Halakha in the life of the city and the nearby settlements.

Talmud Torah Sharei Torah 1912 -1938

What is notable of HaRav Churgin is that he had been educated in the writing style of the ancient Hebrew writers. So in his leisure time he began writing poems in the long forgotten oratorical style of the ancient Jewish writers. He soon became recognized throughout the reborn Jewish settlement in Eretz Yisrael as a famous scholar in the rebirth of the Hebrew language and grammar. Dozens of private students from the best houses in the new Jewish city of Tel Aviv flocked to take lessons from him in the reborn language of modern Hebrew. These students -as well as his son Yakov later formed the original core group of new Hebrew speakers and writers.

Despite all the hardships of eking out a living and having a large family. HaRav Churgin was able to participate in public affairs in the Yishuv. As the years moved on and his health began to fail him only than did he stop his love of writing and teaching but not before leaving his contribution to the re-establishment of the Jewish home land in Eretz Yisrael and his love for Torah and Zionism was passed on.



I include below a picture of the daughter of HaRav Shmuel Yitzhak Churgin and Chasiyah Eisenberg (Daughter of Aaron Eisenberg) Rachel Churgin the wife of David Blick and their daughter Esther Blick -wife of Chaim Brownstein grandmother of my wife Rena.