SIVAN, 5762                Gwen Hamlin, Editor    Ed Christiansen, Associate Editor
                                                                                                           MAY/JUNE, 2002

 THE  JEWISH  PRESS:

Rebbetzin's Viewpoint by  Esther Jungreis,  Special Note: I wrote an article entitled "In Our Loneliness Lies Our Salvation" which focused on the terrible pain and suffering of our brethren in Israel, to whom every day is September 11th.  I also wrote of the unconscionable silence of the world which countenances these savage murders. When it comes to killing Jews, nothing changes. As a small child, I experienced this evil firsthand in the days of the Holocaust, and now, We see it unfolding all over again.
   I am pleased to share with you this response from the non-Jewish world which has been most inspiring. But first, allow me to share with you an E-mail from Jerusalem to which we must all give our attention: Yehonatan Ben Revital, a seven-year-old child, was critically injured in a bombing explosion in central Jerusalem. He was hit in the head by a large metal nut (as in nut and bolt!) and is in critical condition, hanging on to life by the slimmest thread. As there is major swelling in his brain, the doctors are afraid to operate to remove the nut. Please! Your prayer may save this child's life. And now the mail.

Letter #1  Dear Friends: I just want you to know how touched I was by Rebbetzin Jungreis' commentary on Israel, and wept at the sense that you feel alone. I am a U.S. Christian pastor who loves Israel and loves G-d's chosen people - and there are thousands more Christians in the U.S. who hold the same passion for Israel as my husband (also a Christian pastor) and I do. We stand with you and are very disturbed by some of the latest U.S. policies.
   We have a sense of call from heaven that we are to stand as watchmen on the walls and pray for the peace of Israel. We will not hold back our cry to Heaven until this is accomplished through Messiah's coming.  May that be very soon!
   Our prayers and love for you all,
                                                   Pastors Lorna and Jack Sherwood, Boulder, CO.

Letter #2  Dear Rebbetzin Jungreis: Your article stirred deep emotions in our hearts. We are G-d fearing people who study the Bible regularly. I shared your article with my friends and neighbors and am writing to you now in all their names. Israel must stand firm and not cave in to American pressure. Israel made a very serious mistake when she agreed to negotiate with Arafat and signed the Oslo Accords. The Bible testifies that  the Promised Land belongs to the Jewish people, and no other nation, including the Moslems, has a right to it. Israel must only proclaim her sovereignty over all her borders.
   There are a lot of G -d fearing Christians out there who stand behind and recognize the truth of these statements. My wife and I have visited Israel very often and loved every inch of the country and the people as well. We pray for the Peace of Israel and the Jewish people who are truly the People of G-d.
Shalom and blessing, 
                                                                                                                     John Mclain

Letter #3  Dear Rebbetzin Jungreis: Reading of all the wounded and reading your story moved my heart to respond. You are not alone. I was born in Holland. My father was a Lutheran pastor. My father and mother helped and protected the Jewish people all during the war, even if it greatly endangered their lives.
   One Jewish girl was betrayed and taken away from her house by a Dutch collaborator. My uncle asked him to show his ID card. The man showed his ID. Of course, they never heard from the girl again. But after the War, my uncle had the man brought to trial and he was executed for murdering the girl.
   I could tell you many more stories where Christians did what they could. My father and mother taught me about the G-d of creation who loves us like He loved Abraham and Joseph and how the sacred truths were given to the Jewish people.
   You might not know, and you might not believe, but the truth is, every time Jewish blood is shed, Christians hurt with you! I told my wife we ought to go to Israel NOW! - not for tourism, but for solidarity. The G-d that you believe in has not forsaken His people and we have not forsaken you either.
   We love President Bush, but we love the Jewish people more.
   Shalom, we care.
                                                                                          Johan Jacob van den Berg

Editor & Associate Editor (J.P.M., of B.L.I. Publications)
   We stand with Israel and are praying also for this peace, that will come, and not tarry. With the terror on every side we must keep the sanity by our believing  in the G-d that made us all, and His every word shall come to fulfillment or else He isn't G-d. "Remember this and strengthen yourselves; take it to heart, O evildoers: …I am God and there is no other; [I am] God and there is none like Me. …My plan will stand, and I will carry out My every desire. …Listen to Me, O fierce-hearted ones, who are far from righteousness: I have brought My righteousness close, it will not be far; and My salvation, it will not delay; I will establish My salvation in Zion, My splendor for Israel" (Isaiah 46:8-13 Stones, Tanach; Hebrew Scriptures). Also remember this O World; "Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22 KJV).
   The complete salvation promised for the world, is to, and will come from Israel just as G-d promised in His Word. What a thrill to be a part of it, "Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem".

Is Our Generation Part Of The Messianic Fulfillment?
   Rabbi Dr. Isaac C. Avigdor:  There is a deeply rooted Jewish conviction that the Final Redemption will take place in the same fashion as the deliverance from Egypt came about. The Prophet declares: "As in the days when you left Egypt, I will show you wonders" (Micah 7:15) We must not consider the Exodus from Egypt as a one-time incident, but as a symbol of the Redemption to come.
   Let us therefore consider a few details of the Exodus. 1. The Jews were enslaved both physically and spiritually in Egypt. Physically, they had to work with mortar and brick, Spiritually, they were steeped in contamination and idolatry, unable to live by their ideals and spirit. They were in need of a two fold redemption.
   2. The Torah speaks of  two ways of describing the Exodus. It speaks of departure from, and deliverance from Egypt. "Departure" refers to freedom from the spiritual yoke, the culture of Egypt for they had difficulty in freeing themselves from the ideals and styles of Egyptian culture.
   G-d sent Moses to Egypt to fulfill two missions. 1. Demand that Pharaoh let the Jews go. 2. Tell the Jews to prepare to depart from Egypt. In speaking to Pharaoh, "Let My People Go", this was the spiritual reason for letting the Jews go. To worship G-d.
   In speaking to the Jews, however, he was to tell them that the G-d of their fathers had seen their loneliness and suffering, and he described to them the wealth and beauty of the "land of milk and honey". The Jews were so steeped in the contamination of Egypt, they were nearly incapable of comprehending the notion of spiritual freedom, let alone grasping the horrible working conditions.
   Had Moses spoken to Pharaoh about the material reasons, the yoke of slavery was no grounds for sending a million working people out of the country, the working condition might have improved.
   Hearing that the Jews wanted to go to worship he increased the work load for he said, "You are too idle, that is why you suddenly have the urge to go and worship your G-d." The Jews said to Moses and Aaron, "You have placed a sword in their hands to kill us."
   Almost sixty years have passed since WWII and we are still divided into many organizations and denominations from which we do not free ourselves. In Israel we are still in a stage of ingathering of the exiles, fragments which have yet to be fused into one totality.
   "Milk and Honey" (of the land) alone are not yet the fulfillment of the Messianic redemption, or a great abundance of spirituality in the ghettos of Europe, WWII, yet we were in bitter exile.
   Unite, as the forerunner of the Messiah is to unite the generations, "He shall turn the heart of the father to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers" (Malachi 4:6). [So the two kingdoms,  all the tribes,  shall be One, JPM, BLI Editors note]
   Jewish redemption will come about only when we have the Jewish people living in the Jewish homeland, according to the Jewish Torah, a life of love, shalom (peace) and harmony, one nation under one G-d."

WATCH  OUT!  SATAN COMES TO DESTROY, (J.P.M. of  B.L.I.): On March 9, 2002 The New York Times, announced the publication of the "new" version of the Torah. This so-called "New Edition" written by so-called rabbis and scholars, presents the Torah as a human rather than a Divine document. It states, and I quote, "Abraham, the Jewish patriarch probably never existed. Nor did Moses. The entire Exodus story as recounted in the Bible probably never occurred, The same is true of the tumbling of the walls of Jericho. And David, far from being the fearless king who built Jerusalem into a mighty capital, was more likely a provincial leader whose reputation was later magnified to provide a rallying point for a fledgling nation," and there is much more. ((DO NOT BE DECIEVED (J.P.M.)).

Rescue Flight #61:  Amidst the tragic violence in Israel, Chernobyl parents continue to send their children to Kfar Chabad for health care.
   From the contaminated regions of Ukraine and Belarus come the sick children to Israel. Flight #61 brought another plane load of the sick children to Israel for treatment, bringing the total to 2,177 children brought to Israel since 1990.
   According to project director Yossie Raichik, "The parents of these children are more afraid of radiation and medical neglect in the regions surrounding Chernobyl than the threat of terrorism in Israel." Medical care and education will be given to them.
   Future flights are planned to accommodate a growing waiting list of children seeking safety and care in Israel.

FBI  Investigating  Virginia  Man:  The FBI has accused two men of attempting to travel to Israel to become suicide bombers last December. An FBI investigation found that Mohammed Idris and a companion, who tried to enter Israel after flying from New York on El Al, had been carrying a letter from Idris' brother noting Idris' plans to wage jihad, or holy war. The letter, written in Arabic, is described as a farewell letter. Idris and his companion were denied entry and sent back to New York. Idris also was accused of lying to a Virginia grand jury about his views on the Middle East and the use of suicide bombers and of falsifying document to obtain a new passport.

BERLIN: Anti-Semitic Incidents, A spate of recent attacks on Jewish cemeteries in Germany has authorities confounded - and Jewish leaders mad because of the detonation of a bomb inside the entrance of the Jewish cemetery in the western part of the city. The Police are looking for information concerning a car heading the wrong way on a one-way road near the cemetery around the time of the explosion.
   The attack took place shortly after another incident, in which a Soviet-era memorial in eastern Berlin was defaced with Nazi graffiti, including swastikas.  The two incidents may not be connected.
   The president of Berlin's Jewish community, Alexander Brenner, blamed unfair media reports on the Mideast for creating a "superheated atmosphere" that led to anti-Semitic attacks.

Polish  Survivors  Press Restitution Claims:  180,000 Properties confiscated from private owners by the Nazis in Poland, or the Communist Polish government after WWII, were sold to private individuals by the Polish government. This is an injustice that must be resolved. Now as Poland seeks entry into the European Union, the survivors expect to bring their message to the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights.

Cigarette Ring: Four suspects arrested by US federal agency in North Carolina several months ago have admitted to their involvement in a cigarette sales ring that was using the profits to finance activities of the Hizbullah Terror Organization. US law enforcement agents expect an additional three persons in custody to make confessions in the near future.

Quran Removed: Nearly 300 copies of a donated translation of the Quran were removed from every middle school and high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District because of a potentially anti-Semitic commentary. Questions about the book's forward which refers to Jewish people as illiterates who reject knowledge, arose after a history teacher read the comments and told school district officials the book was anti-Semitic.

Congress: 230 US Congresspersons signed a letter presented to US President George W. Bush requesting that Yasser Arafat's Tanzim be added to the list of terrorist organizations along with the al-Aqsa Brigade of Fatah and the Force-17 presidential guard. If Mr. Bush moves to include the organizations on the list, it would result in a freezing of their assets in the United States.

RESPONSE: (Publication of the Simon Wiesenthal center Snider Social Action Institute World Report)

Positive Development in the Sea of Hate; A dozen prominent Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religious leaders issued a joint declaration in Alexandria, Egypt, declaring the killing of innocents a desecration of G-ds's name and defamation of religion. Sadly, the landmark event was virtually ignored by the Egyptian media.

Gallup Poll: Shocking Results
   A Gallup Poll conducted in nine countries where about half the world's Muslim population lives, revealed:
   61 % refused to believe the 9/11 atrocities were carried out by Arabs.
   22% held a favorable opinion of the U.S..
   5% among Pakistanis interviewed held a favorable opinion of the U.S.
   48% of Pakistanis believed, in the aftermath of 9/11, that Jews actually flew the planes into the World Trade Center.  (from the London Sunday Times)

12,000+ STRONG: More than 12,000 people walked through the streets of Los Angeles in solidarity with Israel. The Israel Solidarity Walk-A-Thon benefited Israeli terror victims with a portion of the proceeds going toward the September 11th Fund. The event was sponsored by the The OneFamily/Israel Emergency Solidarity Fund and the Wiesenthal Center.

F.B.I.: Jews No. 1 Target of Hate,  The FBI released its report on bias-motivated incidents entitled, Hate Crime Statistics. One shocking statistic revealed that 74.7% of all religious-based bias incidents targeted American Jews, who represent less than 1% of the population of the United States.

BAR (Biblical Archaeology Review): Temple Mount Wall in Danger An archaeological and political tragedy is in the making. Part of the southern wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem may collapse. The Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine in Islam, may be damaged and underground mosques nearby may also suffer. And if that happens, the Arab (and Muslim) world is sure to blame Israel.
   A bulge in the southern wall of the Temple mount now protrudes more that 2 feet. According to independent engineers engaged by the Israel Antiquities Authority, "Its collapse may cause irreversible damage to the structure." Their time estimate: "The problem is a source of danger in the medium term (in a range of a number of years)".
   At its largest, the bulge is 107 feet long and 32 feet high; it covers more than 2,000 square feet. It begins about 30 feet from the top of the southern wall and 45 feet from the eastern end of the wall. The worst protrusion is about 100 feet from the eastern end of the wall.
   The southern wall is one face of an enclosure wall erected to create a level platform on which Herod the Great could rebuild the Jewish Temple in the first century B.C. The lowest levels of this wall on the south are original Herodian ashlars. The engineers found this part of the wall to be in excellent condition after 2,000 years, even though Herod used no mortar. When the Romans burned Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple in 70 A.D., the southern wall was left in ruins. More than a half millennium later, Ummayad caliphs reconstructed the wall; however, they used much smaller stones held together with mortar. This reconstruction does not have nearly the quality of the lower part of the wall built by Herod, and it is in this upper part of the wall that the bulge appears.
   The surface of the Temple Mount has been controlled by the Waqf, the Muslim religious trust, for decades even after the Old City came under Israeli rule in the Six-Day War of 1967. The Waqf has been guilty of nearly 40 violations of Israel's Antiquities laws since 1967. At present, no non-Muslims are permitted on the Temple Mount. This exclusion applies to news photographers, tourists, Israeli police-and the engineers who studied the bulge for the Israel Antiquities Authority. Accordingly, they could not look for evidence that might be gleaned inside the wall. They were forced to rely exclusively on comparisons with old pictures and laser and binocular scanning.
   One possibility could be erosion, or because of the recent construction by the Waqf. In 1999 the Muslim group began a major clearance project inside the wall adjacent to where the bulge now appears. Using a bulldozer the Waqf removed hundreds of truckloads of dirt (containing archaeologically rich material) and dumped it in the adjacent Kidron Valley. The purpose was to create an impressive entrance to the underground area known as Solomon's Stables, where another mosque is being created. Solomon's Stables are in fact a series of arched vaults that support the platform rather than filling in the area with dirt, because in the southeastern part of the platform the bedrock falls away precipitously.
   One thing seems clear: immediate steps should be taken to secure the southern wall and prevent its collapse. This is something on which Israel and the Waqf could fruitfully cooperate. Perhaps it just might be a first step.

DISPATCH  FROM  JERUSALEM, (Bridges for Peace): Israeli scientists have completed ten years of research and testing in a secret laboratory in the Nes Tziona Biological Center, and are about ready to begin mass-production of their newly-developed vaccine against anthrax.
   The vaccine has been tested and found to be effective, and unlike the American vaccine, causes no side effects. In addition, the "American vaccine must be taken in six doses, while the new Israeli version takes effect after only one injection.

A Quick Course On Real Facts:
   1.  Nationhood and Jerusalem - Israel became a nation in 1312 B.C., two thousand years before the rise of Islam.
   2.  Jerusalem is mentioned 667 times in the Tanach, the Jewish Holy Scriptures; and 144 times in the New Testament. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Quran.
   3.  King David founded the city of Jerusalem. Mohammed never came to Jerusalem in his lifetime.
   4.  For over 3,300 years. Jerusalem has been a Jewish capital. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Moslem entity.
   5. Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Moslems pray with their backs toward Jerusalem.
   6.  Israel's Magen David Adom has never been permitted membership in the International Red Cross, while the Moslem Red Crescent is a member. 
   7.  Israel is the only member of the U.N. that is not permitted membership on the Security Council.