HOW TO ANSWER A CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY

11/08/2014 – ט״ו באב ה׳תשע״ד – ט״ו באב ה׳תשע״ד – 07:21

Jews for Judaism – Responding to missionaries, cults, eastern religions and other challenges to Jewish continuity and connecting Jews to the spiritual depth, wisdom, beauty and truth of Judaism. http://www.jewsforjudaism.ca/
1/2 HOW TO ANSWER A CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY (Jews for Jesus, Messianic Jewish Christians, Michael Brown) Published on Jun 20, 2012 Part #1 of a 2-Part Lecture: Rabbi Michael Skobac presents Step-by-Step Biblical Refutations to many Christian missionary claims, offering a Jewish response to “Jews for Jesus” and other Christian missionaries who target Jews. Questions should be directed to RabbiSkobac@JewsForJudaism.ca.
2/2 HOW TO ANSWER A CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY (Jews for Jesus, Messianic Jewish Christian, Messiah Yeshua) Published on Jun 21, 2012 Part #2 of a 2-Part Lecture: Rabbi Michael Skobac
<span style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" data-mce-type="bookmark" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span> A SIX-MINUTE COUNTER-MISSIONARY COURSE (Jews for Jesus, Messianic Jewish Christians, Messiah Yeshua) Published on Aug 24, 2012 FORMER JEW FOR JESUS Missionary and Messianic Jew, Julius Ciss, responds to evangelical Christian claims that Jesus is the Jewish messiah. Why has Judaism rejected this assertion for 2,000 years? This short video explains how Jesus did not fulfill ANY of the messianic criteria cited in the Jewish Bible and therefore cannot be the Jewish Messiah! All questions should be directed to RabbiSkobac@JewsForJudaism.ca.
Jewish Assimilation, Christian Proselytizing
Christian missionaries in Jerusalem and Jewish Assimilation,Jewish Assimilation, Christian Proselytizing,
Links for help with Christian missionaries and Jewish Assimilation Jews for Judaism Yad L’Achim Outreach Judaism breslev.co.il Love Soul Joy
Christian missionaries ad found near religious area of Jerusalem

By Staff | Posted in General: All about cats in Jerusalem, Video | Tagged cults, eastern religions, Jews for Judaism, Responding to missionaries | Comments Off

Elie Wiesel: Hamas, stop using children as shields

11/08/2014 – ט״ו באב ה׳תשע״ד – ט״ו באב ה׳תשע״ד – 06:55

Elie Wiesel Hamas Child Sacrifice

Click to Download the file Elie-Wiesel-Hamas-Child-Sacrifice

Elie Wiesel Condemns Hamas for Using Children as Human Shields, Calls on Gazans to Reject Hamas’s Child Sacrifice

by Joshua Levitt August 1, 2014 https://www.algemeiner.com/2014/08/01/elie-wiesel-condemns-hamas-for-using-children-as-human-shields-calls-on-gazans-to-reject-hamass-child-sacrifice/

Eliezer “Elie” Wiesel KBE (/ˈɛli vɨˈzɛl/; born September 30, 1928) is a Romanian-born Jewish-American[1] professor and political activist. He is the author of 57 books, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz, Buna, and Buchenwald concentration camps. Wiesel is also the Advisory Board chairman of the newspaper Algemeiner Journal. When Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, the Norwegian Nobel Committee called him a “messenger to mankind”, stating that through his struggle to come to terms with “his own personal experience of total humiliation and of the utter contempt for humanity shown in Hitler’s death camps”, as well as his “practical work in the cause of peace”. Wiesel had delivered a powerful message “of peace, atonement and human dignity” to humanity.

Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel on Friday published a full-page ad in U.S. newspapers condemning Hamas for using children as human shields. Provocatively, Wiesel’s paid Op-Ed was headlined, “Jews rejected child sacrifice 3,500 years ago. Now it’s Hamas’s turn.”The body of the letter “invokes the story of Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac to frame the modern conflict between Israel and Hamas,” said Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, whose organization, This World: The Values Network, created the ad campaign.“Wiesel states that though Abraham lifts his knife to sacrifice his own son Isaac, his hand is stayed by God’s own command, thereby rejecting child sacrifice forever,” Boteach said. “Wiesel argues that while the suffering of those in Gaza is immense and a true tragedy, the blame lies solely with Hamas who use children as human shields and stores rockets and ammunition in nurseries, schools, hospitals, and family homes.”Boteach said the rationale of the campaign was “to bring one of the greatest moral voices or our time and one of the most respected human beings alive, who bore witness to the atrocities of genocide and the Holocaust, to respond to the ugly and fraudulent criticisms of Israel and call for an end to the genocidal aspirations of Hamas.”Boteach said, “Hamas’s charter is clear — they seek the annihilation of the State of Israel and the murder of Jews wherever they may be found.”“Not only is it unreasonable to ask Israel not to defend itself against rockets launched and tunnels dug by Hamas with the intent to destroy, it is also deeply immoral,” he said. “If Israel did not resist the terrorists of Hamas, it would be guilty of contempt for the lives of its own citizens.”“We all lament the loss of Palestinian life brought about by the murderous Hamas regime,” Boteach said. “This is especially true of the children. That is why we have produced this advertising campaign with Elie Wiesel, to stop the terrorist cowards of Hamas from hiding behind innocent children and pregnant women.”Boteach said his mission is “to promote universal Jewish values and the light of the Jewish people.”“Israel is the supreme embodiment of these Jewish values, in which we all take such immense pride. Israel is a culture of life which promotes the infinite value of life while Hamas is a gay-murdering, women-honor-killing, deeply-misogynistic, stone-age, barbaric-terrorist death cult dedicated to genocide.”“Hamas is an affront to peace-loving Muslims everywhere who should join us in its condemnation,” he said. “And we Jews will join the fight with our brothers in Israel against Hamas until peace prevails.”

The full page Op-Ed ad will appear in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Miami Herald, as well as in ads on social media, while a television campaign is also planned.

As well as a long career as an author, professor at Boston University, and humanitarian, Wiesel, 85, is also Chairman of The Algemeiner’s Advisory Board, and was even approached earlier this year by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to succeed Shimon Peres as President of the State of Israel. Wiesel said he was flattered, but turned down the job: “Why should I be president? Leave me alone. I write books,” he said. In the end, Reuven “Ruby” Rivlin, 74, former Israeli Minister of Communications and the speaker of Israel’s Knesset, and whose family has lived in Jerusalem since 1809, was sworn in as Israel’s 10th president, on July 24th, in the midst of Operation Protective Edge against Hamas.

The full text of Elie Wiesel’s paid Op-Ed is below:

‘Jews rejected child sacrifice 3,500 years ago’

More than three thousand years ago, Abraham had two children. One son had been sent into the wilderness and was in danger of dying. God saved him with water from a spring.

The other son was bound, his throat about to be cut by his own father. But God stayed the knife. Both sons – Ishmael and Isaac – received promises that they would father great nations.

With these narratives, monotheism and western civilization begin. And the Canaanite practices of child sacrifice to Moloch are forever left behind by the descendants of Abraham.

Except they are not.

In my own lifetime, I have seen Jewish children thrown into the fire. And now I have seen Muslim children used as human shields, in both cases, by worshippers of death cults indistinguishable from that of the Molochites.

What we are suffering through today is not a battle of Jew versus Arab or Israeli versus Palestinian. Rather, it is a battle between those who celebrate life and those who champion death. It is a battle of civilization versus barbarism.

Do the two cultures that brought us the Psalms of David and the rich libraries of the Ottoman Empire not share a love of life, of transmitting wisdom and opportunity to their children? And is any of this discernible in the dark future offered by Hamas to Arab children, to be suicide bombers or human shields for rockets?

Palestinian parents want a hopeful future for their children, just like Israeli parents do. And both should be joining together in peace.

But before sleepless mothers in both Gaza City and Tel Aviv can rest, before diplomats can begin in earnest the crucial business of rebuilding dialogue… the Hamas death cult must be confronted for what it is.

Moderate men and women of faith, whether that faith is in God or man, must shift their criticism from the Israeli soldiers – whose terrible choice is to fire and risk harming human shields, or hold their fire and risk the death of their loved ones – to the terrorists who have taken away all choice from the Palestinian children of Gaza.

I call upon the Palestinian people to find true Muslims to represent them, Muslims who would never voluntarily place a child in danger.

I call upon President Obama and the leaders of the world to condemn Hamas’ use of children as human shields.

And I enjoin the American public to stand firmly with the people of Israel who are in yet another struggle for survival, and with the suffering people of Gaza who reject terror and embrace peace.

Let us return child sacrifice to the darkest corner of history, and work towards a brighter future with those who choose life, Arabs and Jews alike, all of us Abraham’s children.

Arutz Sheva http://www.israelnationalnews.com/

Captured Hamas Manual Encourages Human Shields

Hamas ‘urban warfare’ manual urges terrorists to exploit IDF’s desire to avoid civilian casualties, says destroying homes bolsters support.

Hamas ‘urban warfare’ manual urges terrorists to exploit IDF’s desire to avoid civilian casualties, says destroying homes bolsters support.

Ari Soffer , 05August2014 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183757

The IDF has published excerpts from a captured Hamas combat manual on “Urban Warfare”, showing how the Islamist terrorist group exploits civilian casualties – and the knowledge that the IDF will seek to avoid them – to its advantage.

The IDF says the manual was captured in Shujaiya suburb of Gaza City, which was the scene of particularly heavy fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.

Among other things, the manual urges Hamas fighters to exploit the IDF’s desire to minimize civilian casualties, noting:

“The soldiers and commanders (of the IDF) must limit their use of weapons and tactics that lead to the harm and unnecessary loss of people and [destruction of] civilian facilities. It is difficult for them to get the most use out of their firearms, especially of supporting fire [e.g. artillery].”

Echoing official Hamas rhetoric, which glorifies civilians used as human shields as “holy warriors” and “martyrs”, the manual says that the “presence of civilians are pockets of resistance”, in that their presence can contribute to the organization’s war effort in three specific ways:

(1) Problems with opening fire
(2) Problems in controlling the civilian population during operations and afterward
(3) Assurance of supplying medical care to civilians who need it

Apart from the use of human shields, the manual also sheds light on Hamas’s use of the civilian infrastructure of Gaza to rally support.

Much of Hamas’s military infrastructure and hardware is stored in residential homes – usually of its members – complicating the IDF’s efforts to reach them in aerial strikes.

An expose by Indian NDTV highlighted how terrorists deliberately set up rocket launchpads in heavily-populated residential areas, risking severe collateral damage in the event of an IDF retaliation. Thee manual illustrates how even if civilians heed IDF warning to leave – which Hamas encourages them to ignore – the destruction to homes can be used to their advantage as well:

manual-shaiya text

“The destruction of civilian homes: This increases the hatred of the citizens towards the attackers [the IDF] and increases their gathering [support] around the city defenders (resistance forces[i.e. Hamas]).”

Illustrating the point, a recent AFP report told of how a Palestinian civilian returned to his house following the 72-hour ceasefire currently in effect – only to find evidence it had been taken over and used as a military position by terrorists.

“Is this is really my town?” asked Khayri Hasan al-Masri, a father of three who returned to heavily-damaged Beit Hanun in the north for the first time since fleeing for his life when the ground offensive began on July 17. Gaping holes have pierced the walls of his home. There is a mortar in the living room, a bazooka upstairs.

“What am I going to tell my wife and children? I don’t want them to see this! They will go crazy. How can I explain all this?” he sighed, crunching over debris.

New map confirms: the Shuja’iya neighborhood is a terrorist stronghold where Hamas uses residents as human shields. pic.twitter.com/NVTPEbydq4

Video of UNRWA Camps Showing Children Calling for Jihad Attracts Renewed Attention

by Deborah Danan August 9, 2014

Video of UNRWA Camps Showing Children Calling for Jihad Attracts Renewed Attention

Camp Jihad from המרכז לחקר מדיניות המזה”ת CFNEPR on Vimeo.

A video of summer camps run by UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, is making the rounds on pro-Israel social media networks again with footage that shows Palestinian children as young as 6 calling for “Jihad against the Jews.”

“The resistance in Gaza is not enough,” says one camper in UNRWA’s school in Balata. “We need to unite and fight together.”

The Lawfare Project, which promoted the video, that was produced by the Center for Near East Policy Research, headed by David Bedein, makes the claim that US and Europe-sponsored UNWRA is abusing children with brainwashing methods that include games aimed at teaching the values of war and the Arab “right of return” to Israeli cities. It portrays children writing names on kites of the Israeli cities that they will one day recapture as theirs.

Children are taught to chant mantras such as “Palestine is an Arab land from the river to the sea. We want Haifa, we want Natanya.” Camp counselors tell stories of how their grandparents lived in places like Jaffa and Jerusalem and the many cars, palaces, villas and ships they owned before the “wolf” came. “Isn’t it true that Jews are the wolf?” asks one counselor.

“I dream that I will return to Sheikh Munis [Tel Aviv],” says one child, roughly 10-years-old. “I hope Abu Mazen will achieve this goal and will not disappoint, he has built great hopes.”

Another adds, “The right of return is our holy right. If not me than my grandchildren [will return].”

The songs that are sung include inciteful lyrics which range from tamer verses like “I will not forget my promise to take back my land” and “collect stones, throw them at Israelis” to the more radical such as “we are the revolutionaries and we are filled with rage”, “when we die as martyrs we go to heaven” and “with God’s help we will wage war.”

Another child who appears to be about 7-years-old is asked who the Jews are. “They are a gang of infidels and Christians,” she says. “I will defeat them.”

An older teenager is filmed as saying, “Attacking stage by stage is not the answer. We need to attack all at once.” He continues by saying “There will never be peace between us and Israel.”

In one instance, an older child explains one of the differences between UNRWA schools and regular schools within the PA. “UNRWA schools teach us about the Naqba,” she says. “Government schools also but the course load is less than our schools. They teach us a lot about the right of return, how life was before 1948.”

The video explains how funding for UNRWA comes from 20 donor nations, with most of the money coming from the US, Canada, and Britain. UNRWA schools hold summer camps on their premises every year in Gaza, Jerusalem, Nablus and Jenin.

UNRWA services 5 million descendants of Palestinian refugees from 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

Lessons from a forgotten war

How a nearly forgotten early 19th century war could provide some guidance in dealing with the Gaza Strip and Mahmoud Abbas.

Joshua Pacht, 22 September 2018 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/22773

While most people don’t know it, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were not the first time the US was involved in fighting terror in the Middle East. In 1801, the United States launched its first war in the Middle East. Known today as the First Barbary War, it shares many things in common with Israel’s current conundrum concerning the Gaza Strip, and may offer some interesting insights into a possible strategy for dealing with the Palestinian Arabs.

In 1801, the North African Coast or the Barbary Coast, as it was known, was a hub of piracy. Nominally part of the Ottoman Empire, the coast which today covered the modern countries of Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, and Algeria was controlled by de facto independent governors known as Beys and Bashaws, whose economies were based on slave trade in non-Muslim men captured at sea.

Western Christan States continually fought unending wars with the Barbary States, never attaining a decisive victory. The Europeans despaired over what seemed to be an unending conflict and capitulated to the local rulers, agreeing to pay tribute to them to ward off the pirate attacks. This strategy only pushed the Barbary States to raise the price of “peace” almost yearly.

This shares much in common with the Gaza Strip, where every ceasefire after every war comes with a higher price than the previous one. In 2014 the ceasefire agreement called for extending Gaza’s fishing zone to six miles off the coast, today it will cost a seaport and airport, and tomorrow you can bet it will cost even more.

Under Thomas Jefferson, the Americans finally had enough. Believing in the concept of free trade on the high seas and no longer interested in paying ever growing tribute payments to the Barbary rulers, The United States sent a naval taskforce to blockade the city of Tripoli.

Sound familiar? Just like in Gaza, The Americans regularly bombarded the city and prevented the entrance of goods and people, and yet this only seemed to increase the local inhabitants’ resolve to fight.

What did the Americans do to force the Tripoltians to surrender? They threatened to switch the leadership.

In 1804, an American army officer and diplomat to the Barbary States named William Eaton led the United States’ first foreign land invasion in its history. Landing in Egypt, Eaton, with a handful of US marines, built a mercenary army to support the claim of one Hamet Karamanli, the brother of Tripoli’s ruler Yusef Karamanli to the throne of Tripoli. The Americans led the force in a 500-mile march to Libya and captured the city of Derna from Yusef’s forces. Facing a legitimate challenge to his rule, suddenly Yusef was a lot more open to a possible peace treaty. Within a couple of weeks, the Tripoltain ruler agreed to a revolutionary new treaty, in which the United States became the first Christian nation to not have to pay yearly tribute to a Barbary State for peace.

What can we learn from this? How we can replicate this in Gaza? The answer may be a man named Mohamad Dahlan, or as he is popularly known, Abu Fadi.

Abu Fadi is the former head of the Palestinian Preventive Security Force in Gaza. During the mini-Palestinian civil war between the PA and Hamas in 2007, it was he who led the PA’s ultimately failed effort to control the strip. Abu Fadi is no friend of Hamas. He has a very good relationship with the US, Egypt, the UAE, and other supposedly moderate Sunni Arab states. The US and indeed much of the world would much prefer to see him in charge of the strip. He also reportedly has a good working (with an emphasis on working as he is an implacable foe of the Jewish State) relationship with Israel and it was he who The US under Bush and the Israeli government supported in the 2007 civil war. Another bonus, he is a sworn enemy of Mahmoud Abbas and could possibly be used to “kill two birds with one stone,” presenting a serious rival to succeed the PA chairman, something which might force Abbas to re-evaluate his continued rejection of peace with Israel.

Abu Fadi is no friend of Israel, having been arrested more than 11 times by security forces in his younger years. However, he is defiantly not the proverbial “devil we don’t know” and during his time in Gaza, he actively cooperated with the Israeli government and proved to be a more moderate leader between the choices of Hamas or himself. His close relationships with the US and moderate Sunni states create an interest for him to work with Israel.

Now more than ever is an opportune time to do this: we have possibly the most supportive US administration in history, Hamas is completely isolated and under siege not just from Israel but from the PA and Egypt as well; On top of all this, Hamas is still struggling to recover from the war in 2014 and has never been more vulnerable..

I propose that Israel stop the trend towards tribute with this new temporary ceasefire deal and invade Gaza with the goal to re-instate Mohamad Dahlan as leader in Gaza. Preferably this would happen through a “treaty” in which Egypt re-occupies the strip and places Dahlan in charge. Even if Egypt refuses to take part, and even without an IDF operation, putting Dahlan in power should be Israel’s goal.

In the best-case scenario, this would force both Hamas and Abbas to surrender and accept peace with Israel and at worst we would have a second PA in Gaza which is still immensely better for everyone Israel, Gaza, and Egypt.

Joshua Pacht is a student studying International Relations and Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

By Staff | Posted in War News and Comments | Tagged Barbary Coast, children as human shields, Elie Wiesel, Hamas, lessons from the past, UNRWA | Comments Off

Gaza War Miracles

05/08/2014 – ט׳ באב ה׳תשע״ד – ט׳ באב ה׳תשע״ד – 06:35

The Mobile Protection Unit

the mobile protection unit torah

the mobile protection unit torah inside

Maran Rav Shteinman: We Are Witnessing ‘Nissim V’Niflaos’

23July2014 http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/249670/maran-rav-shteinman-we-are-witnessing-nissim-vniflaos.html
Maran HaGaon HaRav Aaron Yehuda Leib Shteinman Shlita commented on events regarding Operation Protective Edge, the IDF counter-terrorism offensive in Gaza. The gadol hador is quoted in Yated Neeman saying “Our entire lives are run by miracles and in recent days, we see Nissim V’Niflaos surpassing nature”.

“כל החיים שלנו הם בדרך נס, בימים האחרונים אנו רואים ניסים ונפלאות מעל לדרך הטבע”

Rav Shteinman explains that there is not a single person among Am Yisrael that has not witnessed the miracles taking place around Israel during the military operation and we must be genuinely aware of HKBH’s intervention.

The rav quotes the Ramban from the end of Parshas Bo that the world is run by miracles, and we have become accustomed to these miracles, referring to the day-to-day as ‘natural’ (derech hateva). However, the rav explains, the so-called natural is in itself a miracle, citing the manna that fell daily. Am Yisrael knew it was HKBH’s hand but they became accustomed to the daily occurrence and viewed it as such.

The rav continues;

“אחרי אלפי שנים וכי יש לנו הנהגה כזו שיורד מן – לחם מן השמים, אין הנהגה ניסית כזו, בכל זאת כל החיים שלנו הם בדרך נס. ומה שאנשים לא מבחינים בזה, לפי שהתרגלו לזה, וזה מה שאנו אומרים בתפילה ג’ פעמים ביום, ועל ניסיך שבכל יום עמנו, שכל הנהגת העולם היא נס”.

He adds during the time of Yirmiyahu HaNavi people lacked bitachon in Hashem and when asked why the masses are not engaged in Torah, they explained they had to earn a livelihood. Today explains the rav, HKBH once again is showing us miracles to remind us and compel us to remember that even if we do not see it with our own eyes, it is all miracles.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

One thing that has not been focused upon so much is how the secular public in Israel is reacting. The answer to that question is illustrated by the photo of Gal Gadot, an Israeli model and actress, lighting Shabbos candles.

Gal Gadot – גל גדות I am sending my love and prayers to my fellow Israeli citizens. Especially to all the boys and girls who are risking their lives protecting my country against the horrific acts conducted by Hamas, who are hiding like cowards behind women and children…We shall overcome!!! Shabbat Shalom! #weareright #freegazafromhamas #stopterror #coexistance #loveidf 25July2014

https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/v/t1.0-9/10525766_10152522016708926_794080535950181873_n.jpg?oh=aabd900fec10a71c20bdcd6588cc6c34&oe=545637E6

Soldiers Wearing Tzitzis Escape Upper Body Injuries

04August2014 http://matzav.com/soldiers-wearing-tzitzis-escape-upper-body-injuries

During this difficult period of Operation Protective Edge, Ezer Mizion has provided for many of the needs of both the soldiers and the civilians ranging from refreshment stands at army bases to meals for families keeping vigil at hospitals, from therapy for the traumatized to getaways for families in the South. And so Rabbi Moshe Yisraeli, director of the Ezer Mizion Petach Tikvah branch, was not surprised to receive a request from three soldiers for tzitzis. Of course, they were provided right away.

Rabbi Yisraeli went on to the many other needs of the soldiers, the tzitzis no longer on his mind.

Until four days later.

Five wounded soldiers were hospitalized. Three were wearing the tzitzis he had sent and were being treated for non-life-threatening wounds in the leg. The other two were wounded in the upper body.

You do the math.

{Matzav.com Israel News Bureau}

Preventing exploitation of Jewish Girls in Israel through intervention and Empowerment http://www.learnandlive.org.il/

Saying Shema in Gaza

Aug 13, 2014 https://www.aish.com/jw/id/Saying-Shema-in-Gaza.html

The Jewish prayer may have stopped a would-be suicide bomber who was Jewish.
by Rabbi Nechemia Coopersmith
I am rather skeptical when it comes to “miracle stories” – especially ones that emerge from war. So I did not believe the story about the female suicide bomber in Gaza who flinched upon hearing the Israeli soldier cry out “Shema Yisrael”, allowing them to apprehend her. Turns out the terrorists’ mother was an Israeli Jew who married an Arab, and the would-be suicide bomber was in fact a Jew whose soul was rattled upon hearing Shema.

Well, apparently the story might be true. An unnamed Israeli military source spoke to Breitbart News, revealing details about the attack that killed Lt. Goldin and two other soldiers, and he also mentioned the incident with the Jewish suicide bomber. The article reports:

The officer explained how, after the suicide bombing that killed Lt. Goldin, a second kidnapping team of Hamas terrorists… ran back into the tunnel from which the terrorists emerged. The tunnel led back into a mosque. From the mosque, they escaped in a clearly marked UNRWA ambulance. The terrorists then made contact with high-ranking Hamas officials hiding in the Islamic University.

Israeli intelligence intercepted a conversation between the kidnappers and the Hamas officials at the Islamic University and thus got all the particulars regarding the hiding place of the kidnappers. Within minutes, the IAF attacked both the kidnappers’ location and the Islamic University.

In the midst of this attack, a second force of IDF soldiers–which had gone into a mosque [Editor: via tunnels into the Mosque] looking for weapons, explosives, and rockets– encountered a female suicide bomber who was about to detonate the belt she wore, which would have resulted in the deaths of the soldiers. One of the soldiers instinctively recited the opening words of the holiest Jewish prayer “Shema Yisrael”. The female suicide bomber hesitated and began trembling, giving the soldiers a chance to grab her and disable the device.

The soldiers then took her prisoner and turned her over to a counter-intelligence unit. Their investigation uncovered that the female suicide bomber’s mother was a Jew who had married a Palestinian in Israel and, after the wedding, was smuggled against her will into Gaza. There she lived a life filled with abuse and humiliation, and was basically a captive. In addition to the female suicide bomber, there were two smaller children as well. An armored force went in and rescued the two small children.

Rescued Jewish Girls

The story is reminiscent of Rabbi Eliezer Silver who rescued Jewish children in Europe who had been hidden during the Holocaust in Christian orphanages and monasteries. The children themselves, raised as Christians for years, no longer knew they were Jewish. And there were times the local priest denied harboring any Jewish children. So how did Rabbi Silver discover the Jewish children? Dressed as a high ranking U.S. army officer, he would visit the children during bedtime and loudly proclaim “Shema Yisrael” – “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One!”

During World War II, countless Jewish parents gave their children to Christian neighbors, orphanages and convents in the hopes of saving them. The parents expected that they, or their relatives, would claim them if they survived the war, but when rabbis or relatives finally tracked down the children, the priests and nuns who had been their caretakers insisted that no children from Jewish homes were in their institutions. Thus, they were not only stripped of their entire families, they were also stripped of their souls. Many remain hidden to this day.

Many children burst into tears and cried out “mommy” in the various languages they spoke. The Shema which their mothers had said to them each night was so deeply ingrained in their minds they had not forgotten it. And that is how the chaplains were able to identify the Jewish children.

The Shema saved those Israeli soldiers and rescued three Jewish souls – the suicide bomber and her two children — from the bowels of Gaza. Something she heard startled her. Her Jewish soul, buried by years of indoctrination, hate and abuse, was stirred.

My teacher, Rabbi Noah Weinberg, of blessed memory, would tell the story of Rabbi Silver as a lesson that the Jewish soul always has a pulse. It is our responsibility to find the words that will penetrate. If this story is true, then through his tragic death Lt. Goldin enabled three bewildered Jewish souls to be brought back to their people.

With thanks to Rabbi Stephen Baars

Tefillin, Tehilim, Tilim – A ‘Protective Edge’ Miracle

Rabbi Yosef Mendelevich16August2014 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/15524#.U_LH0Luvgjg

How the first two (Tefillin and Tehillim, phylacteries and Psalms) guarded a soldier from the Hamas tilim (missiles). A must read.

This is the story of a miracle which happened during Operation Protective Edge

In 1980, Russia was still under tyrannical Soviet rule. In spite of all the persecution, a religious awakening began among the Jews of the Soviet Union.

A special envoy of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher (Chabad) Rebbe, arrived in the Soviet Union. He was surprised by the extreme devotion of the younger generation, which, despite the persecutions, had ignited the ember of Judaism, and at the end of his visit he told Dr. Yitzhak Kogan, one of the Chabad underground activists, that he would report back to the Rebbe what he had witnessed and ask him to especially bless Rabbi Yitzhak Kogan.

He was surprised to hear Rabbi Yitzhak ask that, instead of this, Rabbi Menachem Mendel should bless Yosef Mendelevich., a Prisoner of Zion who had been in prison already for ten years. Yosef had been arrested in the Leningrad Airport together with his friends for attempting to hijack a Soviet plan and flee to Israel.

“He has currently been on a hunger strike for 55 days, demanding to give him back the Humash (Bible) and Siddur (prayerbook) they confiscated from him,” said Yitzhak Kogan – “his physical condition is very bad. The Rebbe must pray for his immediate release from the prison.”

And in fact the Rebbe’s prayer was answered, and within a few months Yosef was flown straight from the prison to Israel. On a stopover in Vienna they brought the redeemed prisoner to the Israel Embassy in Austria.

“What is your first request,” the ambassador asked him.

“I need a set of Tefillin to put on before sunset.”

The Ambassador looked at his embassy staff members – Which of them would still have Tefillin?

Suddenly there stepped forward Rabbi Israel Singer, the then Director of the World Jewish Congress.

“Very interesting,” said Singer. “After hearing about the release of Mendelevich I was supposed to fly out to welcome him.”

Before that, I contacted Rabbi Menacehm Mendel and asked him, what I should take for the freed Yosef?”

“Take him Tefillin,” said the Rebbe.

“And here are the Tefillin I have brought you on the orders of the Rebbe.” And so, for the first time in his life, Yosef put on the Tefillin.

After he arrived in Israel, the Tefillin disappeared. Yosef was heartbroken.

Avraham Yitzchak Rahamim Mendelevich – one of Yosef’s sons, a student at the Carmiel Hesder Yeshiva, had been called up to serve in the IDF a year and eight months previously in an Armored Corps battalion.. The commanders thought that he was ideal officer material, and pressed him to continue to serve. But Avraham Yitzchak – (named after Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, Israel’s first Chief Rabbi) refused.

“I am going back to the yeshiva.”

On the day he was due to be released from the IDF, Operation Protective Edge began, and he was sent from the Golan Heights to fight in Gaza. His battalion was stationed on the outskirts of the Zaitoun neighborhood, not far from the settlement of Netzarim.

Avraham Yitzchak very much regretted that he would not be able this year to go to the grave of his grandfather, Moshe Mendelevich, an Aliya activist in Riga in the 1970’s, on his Yahrzeit, 16 Tammuz, the eve of the Three Weeks.,

He did not know that, precisely on that day, the Tefillin which Rabbi Menachem Mendel had ordered to be given to his father Yosef, were found.

It turned out that the Tefillin were with a nephew, Ronen Lisitzin

The moment Yosef Mendelevich received the Tefillin back, he began to think how to get them to Avraham Yitzhak and give him special protection. However, it turned out that it was not possible to send the Tefillin to the battle area. But, as it is known, Hashem turns good intentions into deeds, and Yosef hoped that, thanks to all these things, the Tefillin would begin to perform their mission.

Contact with Avrhaam Yitzchak was very difficult. With the entry into the battle zone the phones were taken from the combatants. In brief sallies to the rear for equipping the tank with ammunition and for repairs, Avraham Yitzchak would contact his parents on the unit commander’s phone. Every such conversation was a gift from Heaven and caused great excitement in the family.

His mother asked her son to observe all the safety regulations and his father asked him to read Psalms from the Book of Tehilim every day.

In the neighborhood where Battalion No. 7 was located, fierce battles were taking place. The terrorists were using anti-tank missiles as well as snipers and attacks from the tunnels. All of Am Israel (the Jewish People) prayed for the success of the soldiers and their safe return.

It happened on Rosh Hodesh Av, the first day of the month of Av…….There was a powerful flash of light in the tank, followed by the sound of a huge explosion. The tank filled with smoke.

Over the intercom they announced “Tank No. 3 has been destroyed.” Avraham Yitzhak relates that his ears were deafened by the explosion. He didn’t know whether he had been wounded and what had happened to his companions. A minute later he heard the commander shouting: “Are you all alive?”

They were all alive. At that moment they received the order to return fire and they scored a direct hit on the one who had fired the missile.

And this is how Avraham described the miracle that had occurred. “There was a ceasefire, and we retreated to a safe position to rest. The commander gave us permission to leave the tank. We had spent 48 hours inside it, it was very hot, we were exhausted. But I decided to remain in the tank.

I had promised Father that I would read Tehilim every day and I had to read the Tehilim of Monday, Psalm 30… “1. A Psalm; a Song at the Dedication of the House; of David. 2. I will extol Thee, O Lord, for Thou hast raised me up, And hast not suffered mine enemies to rejoice over me.” And because I didn’t go out, my fellow crew members also remained with me inside the tank.

Even though we were hidden inside an olive grove, the Hamas lookouts spotted us. They shot at us, apparently with a Sager guided anti-tank missile. In fact, there was no chance of escaping from this missile. But the missile struck exactly the rear of the tank. So, at first, they thought that we had all been hit.”

When the tank crew emerged from the tank, Avraham looked at the place in the tank turret where he was supposed to have stood had he gone out during the rest period. All the equipment was burnt. The missile had passed one meter from that spot.

At the thanksgiving meal (seudat hodaya) which took place in his parents’ home in Jerusalem, Avraham Yitzhak told about the miracle that had happened to him thanks to the Guardian of Israel, and thanks to the Tehilim of King David.

Then his father, Rabbi Yosef Mendelevich, stood up and told everyone about the Tefillin which the Rebbe had sent him 33 years previously, and which had turned up exactly during the current fighting.

Miracles in Gaza

Newspaper Headlines Gaza War miracles

By Moshe Feiglin 27July2014 http://jewishleadership.blogspot.co.il/2014/07/miracles-in-gaza.html
The wounded soldiers are talking about the miracles that they witnessed. “G-d is watching over us,” said one. I thought he was just repeating clichés. But he was referring to concrete facts. I visited a wounded soldier with an entry and exit hole in his helmet – and all he had was a small scratch on his head. A second soldier does not understand how they managed to destroy an ambush that completely surprised them.