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Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Kaddish Prayer for Those in Slaughter in Jerusalem Synagogue

Nadene Goldfoot
How to Say The kaddish in Hebrew.  

It's the prayer for the mourners which is now posted on YouTube,  done so well that I wanted it on my blog.  We have just had a tragic slaughter in Jerusalem and this is the reason I find the prayer, the kaddish posted on facebook.  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5dUVhQxLDM&feature=youtu.be

4 rabbis had come to visit Israel and were in a synagogue at 7am in West Jerusalem, one I may have visited when I was there.  3 were American-Israelis with American passports and the other was a British-Israeli.  They were butchered with cleavers, hatchets, knives in an attempt by 2 young Palestinians to behead them, evidently.  6 others davening there with the rabbis were injured and are in the hospital.

There is no excuse whatsoever for such a primitive and bloody act, other than the fact that both Hamas has been inciting all Palestinians and Fatah rewards such people by naming places after them.  If they think that this will weaken Israel's resolve in their government's agenda, they should think again.  This will only make them more resolved to carry out their programs.  You cannot let terrorists dictate what happens to you.

This is being referred to as the start of the 3rd Intifada.  I said it had already started months ago.  It's too bad that Palestinians who want to just live like normal folk have to be led by such conniving men like Mahmoud Abbas from Fatah  and  Khaled Mashal of  Hamas terrorists, both fanatics with different styles.  


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5dUVhQxLDM&feature=youtu.be
Update: http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Palestinians-in-Gaza-celebrate-deadly-Jerusalem-synagogue-attack-382125?utm_source=Newsletter+11-18-2014&utm_campaign=Newsletter&utm_medium=email

Update:1/18/15 copy of Kaddish to print off: http://www.jewfaq.org/prayer/kaddish.htm

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Friday, October 31 Day of Rage in Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                     

                                         Fatah (PLO) Mahmoud Abbas

A rabbi has been shot in a serious assassination attempt by a Hamas terrorist .  The terrorist is now dead  from a shootout with the police and is a martyr according to the Arabs.  The rabbi is in critical condition.  All he wanted was the right to pray on the site where our Temple used to stand.  The Arabs won't allow even a slight movement of the lips, thinking the person is praying.  If this is seen, he is arrested.
                                                                       
 Though all of Jerusalem is Israel's capital, this site, the Temple Mount site on Mt. Moriah, is taboo to Jews as a place to pray through Moshe Dayan's decision at the end of the 1967 war in keeping peace with Jordan.
                                                                               
Now, Friday has been declared "A Day of Rage," as if this attack wasn't enough for the Arabs.  They've been rioting for several weeks as it is in Jerusalem.  They pick on Friday, their day of rest and prayer to rage.  Friday evening is the start of the Jewish sabbath and Friday in the United States is Halloween, the night of trick or treaters out to get candy.
                                                                             
It is Fatah, former PLO, who are led by Mahmoud Abbas that declares this day one of rage.  They even call on their fighters, yes, they do have fighters, to defend Al-Aqsa.  This is referring to the Mosque of Omar, aka Dome of the Rock which was built on the Temple area of Jerusalem by the Caliph Abd el-Malik in the 8th century CE.
                                                                       
El Aksa, which in Arabic means the farthest from Mecca and this site supposedly marks the site of the legendary flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Jerusalem on his flying horse.

Abbas also calls for aid "OCCUPIED" Jerusalem.  They're not as aware of facts like Jordan's King Abdullah, who knows that Jordan lost the War of 1967 and thus lost land that Abdullah I had taken illegally.  Jerusalem is again in the hands of Jews which their king David (1010-970 BCE) had built.  In fact, it's called the City of David.  Palestinian Arabs lived in Jerusalem from 1948 to 1967, 19 years without Jews around.  Jews have lived there for over 3,000 years minus 19 years.  Well, you have to say that they are persistent if nothing else.  Once they start a fable, they stick to it.  They don't want to be confused with the facts.

Abbas is calling for his day of rage big time.  The announcement was published by the Fatah Mobilization and Organization Commission today.  The Day of Rage is to happen throughout Israel and in countries which are home to refugees. 

 They are to express their opposition to ANY  attack on the holy places and foremost among them is the Al-Aqsa Mosque.  They consider desecration of Al-Aqsa as a declaration of a religious war against the Palestinian people and the Arab Islamic nations.

All this is read into their minds from some Jews who just want to pray there but haven't been allowed to do so, even by their own Israeli government.  How terrible!  Praying!

There hasn't been any act of aggression to desecrate any mosque in Israel.  It's what they perceive to happen.  It turns out that what they would do to Israelis they see and think that this is in the works by Israelis.  They don't get it that we don't do things to others that we wouldn't want to happen to us.  It's our Golden Rule.  It's Judaism in a nutshell.

Resource:  http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=12929
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Mount

Jerusalem Temple Mount Faithful Head Suffers Assassination Attempt

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                    

An assassination attempt was made on the head of the Temple Mount Faithful organization in Jerusalem, Rabbi Yehuda Glick, last night, October 29, 2014 outside of the Begin Center.  He had just been in a conference about the Jewish presence on the Temple Mount.
                                                                               
                                           Begin Center, Jerusalem

Glick has dual citizenship with the USA and Israel and has advocated for Jews to have the right to pray on the Temple Mount, which they are not allowed to do because the grounds and Mosque are in Jordan's hands and they won't allow it.  Glick himself was arrested last October for praying on the Temple Mount.so thus was barred from there.  The decision was reversed following a 12-day hunger strike.  He has been constantly threatened all the time for wanting to pray there.

This Temple Mount area is the site of the Jews' Temple built by King Solomon (961-920 BCE). Jews had prayed in their Temple for over 1,000 years before the Romans destroyed it.   The Babylonians had attacked and destroyed the Temple in 586 BCE, but Jews finally were allowed to go back and rebuild it.  Again, it was destroyed in 70 CE by the Romans.
                                                                 
                                             Dome of the Rock (Mosque of Omar)

 Then, a Roman temple was built later on the site, and since the Moslem Period when Mohammad died in 632 CE, a mosque has stood there which is the Mosque of Omar, also called the Dome of the Rock.  It was built in the center of the Temple area (al-Harim ash-Sherif) in Jerusalem by Caliph Abd al-Malik in about 738 to replace the temporary structure set up by Caliph Omar a century earlier.  It is situated on the traditional site of Mt. Moriah.   The area around the western and southern walls of the Herodian Temple compound was excavated  after the Six Day War of 1967 in 1968.  Moshe Dayan agreed to letting the Mosque and grounds remain in the hands of Jordan in order to keep the peace.
                                                                       
 Rabbis have also come out to say that the site is no longer holy to us.  The Temple Mount Faithful have been making plans to build a 3rd Temple.  Plans may have started as early as 1967, but I know that they were in progress in 1980 as I was able to meet my 3rd cousin, Stanley Goldfoot in Jerusalem and he showed me their plans which was a diagram on a scroll of the future Temple.  Stanley had been the chief of Intelligence for the Stern Group before Israel's birth of May 14, 1948.  Like Boy Scouts, they wanted to be prepared for the right time to rebuild, but hadn't decided on where that would be.
                                                                       
The shooter was 32 year old Palestinian Mu taz Hijazi, an Islamic Jihad activist who was wearing a helmet and got away on a motorcycle.  He had shot Glick 3 times.  Hijazi went up to Glick and asked him to identify himself and then shot him in the chest and stomach.

Hijazi was killed early Thursday morning in East Jerusalem after a shootout with the police.  Officers came to arrest him and were then shot at by Hijazi.  They shot back and he was killed.  Hijazi had a record and had been arrested and had served 11 years in an Israeli prison.  He got out in 2012.

Islamic Jihad said they took responsibility.  This was an act of Palestinian vengeance in response to what is happening in Jerusalem.  Right now Glick is fighting for his life and the latest report 2 hours ago is that he is in critical condition.   There has been much rioting going on in Jerusalem lately.  Last week, a Hamas terrorist plowed into a crowd of pedestrians with his car, killing a 3 month old baby girl and a young woman.  Seven others were injured.  Palestinians have been throwing Molotov cocktails and have thrown rocks at Jews.  In order to contain this, Israel had to add on 1,000 security forces around Jerusalem.  The level of readiness is to the 2nd highest level nationwide.  The Temple Mount has been closed to Muslims and Jews.(Update) It was opened after a day of closure.)

Fighting from keeping Jews from praying on their own Mount Moriah!  This is what they are all up in arms about.  If a person is seen from the Mosque to be moving their lips in prayer, they have been arrested or accosted by the Muslim authorities.  .  Of course this makes it all the more paramount to pray there.  You don't tell a Jerusalemite that he can't pray in his own city of Jerusalem!

The Palestinian Arabs are celebrating right now for this attempt.  This attitude is probably the #1 reason why there will never be peace between the Arabs and Jews.  (1).

Resource:  http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/23525/prominent-temple-mount-activist-shot-islamic-jihad-terrorist-assassination-attempt-shooter-killed/?utm_source=Breaking+Israel+News&utm_campaign=2e5a69a977-BIN+Email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b6d3627f72-2e5a69a977-83518689#Jxkm0fLaUsp0ZbDB.97
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Unknown-assailant-shots-seriously-wounds-known-right-wing-activist-in-Jerusalem-380210
http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=12928  (1) 

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Ashkenazi Jews of Today Are 30th Cousins

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                  
Rabbi Solomon Yitzhaki (1040-1105) born in Troyes, France, Studied in Rhineland (Germany)in Worms.  He is better known as RASHI, the great biblical scholar and commentator.  


       I have some chromosomes I share with either Rabbi Samson Wertheimer (January 17, 1658-August 6, 1724)  or his brother, Moshe.  Samson was the chief rabbi of Hungary and Moravia and a rabbi of Eisenstadt.  He was also an Austrain financier, court Jew and Shtadlan to the Austrian Emperor, Leopold I.  He was born in Worms, Germany, the son of Joseph Josel Wertheimer (1626-Maya 2, 1713) and was educated in the Yeshiva at Worms and also at Frankfurt am Main, in Germany.  I'm Ashkenazi Jewish as my grandfather lived in Telsiai, Lithuania.  These brothers are descendants of Rashi.

The Jewish Press newspaper told of a study about Ashkenazi Jews authored by Shai Carmi at Columbia U and medical researchers whose genes were compared with non-Jewish Europeans and found unique genetic markers of the Ashkenazim.  Itaik Pe'er concluded that everyone of Ashkenazi Jews is at least a 30th cousin.
We can trace our ancestry to a "bottleneck" of just 350 Jews dating back about 600 to 800 years ago.  Another study had taken us to only 4 females from another bottleneck.  Bottlenecks are when a whole community is killed and only a few are left in which our genes generate from.  It shows we've lost a lot of potential genes from other who were not able to produce offspring.

800 years ago brings us to the year 1214; the Middle Ages.  to 1414.  What happened between these years? From 1146 to 1391 the Jews of Spain were forcibly converted to Christianity.  Many kept the faith and became Marranos or hidden Jews, now called Anusim who have recently gone back to Judaism.  The big bang for Spanish Jews came in 1492 with the edict to convert, leave, or remain Jewish and die.   For starters, the Jewish community in Jerusalem was massacred by the Crusaders in 1099.  This wasn't a good sign, but showed others that our lives didn't matter to them.  So, by 1290, England threw all of the Jews out for the next 400 years.  Jews were thrown out of France in 1306.  In Toledo, Spain, 12,000 Jews were massacred by their mob in 1355.  Jews were thrown out of Hungary from 1349 to 1360.

Resource: The Jewish Press, Friday, September 19, 2014,  page 54, International News, Study:  Ashkenazi Jews share Close Genetic Ties, Week in Review page edited by Jason Maoz.
http://israel-nadene.blogspot.com/2014/08/jews-living-in-judea-samaria-and-other.html  Timeline of Jews

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Jews Traveling TO the Ukraine To Rav Nachman


Nadene Goldfoot                                                                  
                                                      
Why would anyone brave traveling today with all the terrorists trying to blow up planes and go to of all places, Ukraine?  It's in the middle of a war between Russia and Ukrainian rebels.  If you happen to be one of New York's Breslov Chasids, you might be going there to make an annual pilgrimage.

Who was Rav Nachman to deserve such respect and daring?  His grave is in Uman, Ukraine.  He was born on April 4, 1772 and died on October 16, 1810 at the young age of 38.  Reb Nachman was the grandson of the Baal Shem Tov.
                                                                         
Now, who was the Baal Shem Tov?  He was Israel Ben Eliezer, born in 1700 in Podolia gubernia, Ukraine and died in 1760 and the founder of Hasidism.  In 1735, because of miraculous cures that he performed, he became known as the Baal Shem or Baal Shem Tov.  That means the master of the Divine Name, a title given to men who had the power to work miracles by using the Divine Name.

Rav Nachman had quite a grandfather to follow.  He managed to breathe new life into Hasidic movement by combining Kabbala with in-depth Torah facts.  He attracted thousands of followers during his lifetime and his influence continues to this very day. As a child, he followed the path of asceticism and prayer.  He warned his followers not to abuse themselves physically,  and emphasized having their life full of joy and happiness.  His famous saying is "it is a great mitzvah to be happy."  We can all adopt that one and benefit greatly.  I wonder if the flower children of the 60's weren't trying such a philosophy.

There are now many Hasidic movements besides the Breslov.  His religious philosophy was around the closeness to G-d and speaking to G-d in normal conversation "as you would with a best friend."  Tevia, in Fiddler on the Roof" written by Shalom Alecheim, did this.  This concept called hitbodedut is central to his thinking.  

Rebbe, as he was a Rabbi, was born in Medzhybizh, Ukraine.  Now, Jews went to Ukraine in the first place in waves from Khazaria, the Caliphate of the Ottoman Empire and Byzantium between the 9th and 12th centuries and then again from Central Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries.  Then they came also from Poland in the 16th and 17th centuries.

There were terrible massacres there during the Chmielnicki and Haidamak uprisings in the 17th and 18th centuries.  In the 19th century the Jews came from Galicia and White Russia.  Ukraine was always an anti-Semitic center and the scene of many pogroms in 1905 and from 1918 to 1920.  The soviet government in the 1920's promoted Jewish settlement in the Ukraine using funds of the American Joint Distribution Committee in the regions of  Kalinindorf, Zlatopol and Stalindorf.  By 1930 there were 90,000 Jewish agriculturists there.  About half of Soviet Russia's 3 million Jews lived there before WWII, but under Nazi rule, the Jews were wiped out by the Germans and Ukrainians fro 1941 to 1942.  Jews living there in 1970 numbered 777,126 and by 1989 there were 484,129.

This year in pilgrimage it is estimated that between 2,000 and 3,000 Breslov chassidim will go to Uman from the USA and that about 20,000 to 30,000 will travel there from Israel.  There they will visit the gravesite.  They like to be there for the high holidays of Rosh Hashana, and at Chanukah and Shavuot.  It's because this was when Rav Nachman delivered his formal lessons to his flock.  On the last Rosh Hashana of his life, he stressed the importance of being with him for that holiday in particular.  That's why this annual pilgrimage began.  Uman is 400 miles away from the fighting, so they are not too worried.  Security has been stepped up in Ukraine.

One of the strange occurrences involving the Rav happened in 1800.  Rebbe Nachman moved to the town of Zlatopol and the townspeople invited him to have the final word on who would lead Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur prayer services.  A man was chosen to lead the final prayer service of Yom Kippur, the Neilah.  This man did not meet the Rebbe's approval.  Out of the blue, the man was struck dumb and forced to step down, causing him great embarrassment.  Rav Nachman explained after the fast ended that the man's true intentions were not good and the man was so angry about what was said that he denounced Rebbe Nachman to Rabbi Aryeh Leib of Shpola (the Shpoler Zeide), another prominent Hasidic rabbi.  This started a nasty campaign against Breslov Hasidism.  Well, even rabbis are human.

Being my family came from Lithuania and were closer to the Vilna Gaon (Elijah Ben Solomon Zalman 1720-1797) who practiced Mitnaggedim Judaism (the opposition to Hasidim) , we were not involved in Hasidism in those years.
                                                                           
However, I moved to Israel in 1980 and settled in Safed, in the north close to the Syrian border.  There was a large cemetery there of many famous Rabbis.  A story was told by my friend, Dov Silverman, who put this story into a book he published about when he was walking guard duty on the outskirts of Safed, he had as a partner, a Hasid of the Breslau sect of Hasidim.  The Hasid pointed to a hill on the left of the Safed cemetery and said, "See that hill?  Under it are buried 10,000 tzaddikim.  When the Messiah comes from Meron to Safed, they will all rise and go with him to Jerusalem.
Dov asked when that would be?
                                                                                     

"When our Rabbi moves to Safed and lives opposite Mt. Meron where the famous Rabbi Bar Yokhai and his son are buried," he answered.
Building was already in progress to house the Rabbi and his followers in Safed, located opposite Mt. Meron.  By the time I moved there, I could see it clearly at night in the beautiful black Safed .night-time sky loaded with twinkling stars as it also was lit up with lights.
The word in Safed was that  the time was soon to come; some stretched it to be within the next 200 years.

References: The Jewish Press
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nachman_of_Breslov
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Legends of Safed by Dov Silverman
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Nachman.html


Saturday, September 20, 2014

Discussing Biblical Quotes from "Killing Jesus" From the Eyes of a Jewish Bubba

Nadene Goldfoot   
                                                                                         

                           Zechariah, the king of Israel, died in 744 BCE.  He was the son of Jeroboam II and the last king of the house of Jehu.   His reign only lasted 6 months and he was assassinated by Shallum (743 BCE) who succeeded him.
                          The other Zechariah was the Prophet and priest who lived in the first half of the 6th century BCE when Jews returned from the Babylonian Exile. His prophecies are concerned with his own contemporary events.

Political situations that Jews found themselves in way back in "Old Testament" (in Hebrew, Tanakh,)  days are not much different than situations we find ourselves in today.   Writers of the gospel certainly used them.  I see that Bill O'Reilly also uses them to prove his novel, "Killing Jesus," on page 177, where he is listing Zechariah's ( 6th century BCE) predictions of a coming Messiah.

He is quoted by Bill Reilly to have said, "Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!  Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!  See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.  He will proclaim peace to the nations.   His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth."  

The Zechariah reference given below does not speak of this.  I found it listed in Zechariah 9:9-10.  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem!  For behold, your king will come to you, righteous and victorious is he, a humble man riding upon a donkey, upon a foal, a calf of she-donkeys. I will eliminate any battle-chariot from Ephraim and any war horse from Jerusalem, and the bow of warfare will be eliminated;  and he will speak peace to the nations.  His dominion will be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.  
This was a prophecy by Zechariah against enemy cities for when the Messiah comes to Zion (Jerusalem).  He's saying that the Messiah will be a humble man riding a donkey rather than an ostentatious horse.  It goes on to say that not only the Messiah, but all Jews will be protected and snatched from the waterless pit of exile by merit of the blood of circumcision covenant and the blood of the covenant of Sinai which is spoken of in Exodus 24:8. {This is referring to the covenant the 600,000 took with Moses to follow the laws). We were chosen to follow the laws and to be the light of the world because we were so stiff-necked; a people who when giving a promise would stick by it.  It did not mean we were special in any other way.  This started as Isaac was the son of Abraham and is based on the covenant Abraham had with G-d and this same covenant was renewed in the Sinai.  It is conditional and depends on us following the Torah.  Israel was to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.  Isaiah describes the image of Israel as the chosen servant of mankind whose suffering will bring salvation to the world and Israel is just an instrument.

 What happened for Jews  is that in 70 CE,  Rome, who was occupying Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple and took  Jews as prisoners to Rome.  Many escaped and became the Sephardis, Mizrachis and Ashkenazis who have been in exile for the past 2,000 years until May 14, 1948.  Jews are still waiting for the Messiah. Christians use it to prove that Jesus, who was crucified in 29 CE,  was the Messiah. Many scholars ascribe the chapters from 9 to 14, in which this was found, to another author or authors, possibly of the First Temple Period, on the basis of their language and content.  King Solomon had the Temple built and he reigned from 961 to 920 BCE.

 Zechariah was a prophet who lived during the time of the return from the Babylonian Exile.  He most likely was a priest and his prophecies were concerned with his contemporary events and foretold about material prosperity, the ingathering of the exiles, liberation from foreign yoke, and the expansion of Jerusalem.  His prophecies got the people to rebuild the Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE by Nebuchadnezzar.

Bill writes of all the things that will happen to Jesus(c8 BCE -29 CE, died at the age of 37);  like riding into town on a donkey, being falsely accused of crimes not committed, being beaten, spat upon, stripped, soldiers rolling dice for his clothing, and of course, crucified.  He ends this section with "and those who love him will look on in mourning, unable to do anything to stop the agony.  Then he lists the 12 quotes this all comes from in order.  I had to look these up and read what they were about.

                                                                  

      King David of Israel, b: Bethlehem, youngest son of Jesse, armour-bearer of King Saul at age 25, married Saul's daughter, Michal.  The Tanakh tells of his virtues and vices.  

1. Psalms 27:12:  "Deliver me not to the wishes of my tormentors, for there have arisen against me false witnesses who breathe out violence."  This was written by King David (1010 BCE-970 BCE)  who fought against the Philistines of which the giant, Goliath was one.  The Philistines, who were not native to Canaan,  were eventually routed and the Israelites became a nation among men.  They were not even Semites.  These invaders had been one of the European Sea Peoples who migrated south from the Greek Island to crush empires and occupy much of the Middle East.  Egypt survived their onslaught but was greatly reduced in size.  When Moses had  Joshua and the Israelites enter Canaan  c 1271 BCE,  the Philistines were not there.  It was after their defeat in 1191 BCE by Ramses III, heir of the Ramses II who is thought to have been the Pharaoh in the Exodus story who relented and freed the Israelites from bondage in Egypt, that the Philistines were constructing their 5 cities in Philistia along the south coast of today's Israel.  Gaza was the southernmost of the cities.  Actually, coming from Greece, the Philistines can then be said to be European.

Bill has it on page 14 that the northern portion of the Jewish Homeland, Israel, fell to the Philistines.  Wrong, Bill.  It fell to the Assyrians in 722 BCE.  By 721 BCE they were leading off the best of Israelites into captivity.  Then the Babylonians came along in 597 BCE and again in 586 BCE and did the same thing.

 Today's Arab Palestinians got their name from the Romans in 135 CE after fighting for 3 years against the Jewish General, Bar Kokhba, and were so angry at being involved in a war with him for so long that after killing him, they named Judah and Israel   Palestine after the Jewish enemy, the Philistines, just to be antagonizing.   Israelis today have certainly been suffering from a lot of false witnesses breathing out violence from these very same people, who call themselves "Palestinians."  Actually, before May 14, 1948 when Israel became a legal state being the mandate England held was up, both Jews and Arabs were listed as Palestinians being the land was called Palestine.

2. Psalms 35:11:  "False witnesses rise up, for that of which I know nothing they call me to account."  Here we see that King David was describing the machinations of his enemies.  He had been appealing for help against friends that had turned into traitors.  So too, Israel in exile appealed against nations that repayed Israel's contributions with oppression.  They're repeating the past today.  Israel stands alone but for a few friends, and today's attitude of the USA today has been the worst in many respects since 1948.
How many times has this applied to Jews in the Middle Ages who were accused by the Christians of a blood libel?  If they knew anything about Judaism, they would have known that Jews do not eat blood of any creature at all.  Part of the laws concerning food, (Kashrut) go to great lengths telling about how to not eat blood when eating from cows, sheep, those certain animals allowed.

3. Micah 5:1:  "Bethlehem--Ephratah--you are too small to be among the thousands of Judah, but from you someone will emerge for ME to be a ruler over Israel;  and his origins will be from early times, from days of old."  Ephratah was another name for Bethlehem of Judah as found in Genesis 48:7.  As the city of Ruth, a convert from Moab, Bethlehem was an unlikely source of leadership, but it produced David, the ancestor of the Messiah.  (To Jews, the Messiah is yet to come.)  Christians take this for being Jesus.  This is when Jewish rulers start to emerge.  Judah was created out of southern Israel when King Solomon died in 920 BCE.  He had charged too much in taxes and a rebellion ensued causing the split.  The king following Solomon in Judah was Rehoboam (933-917 BCE).  It was made up mostly of the descendants of Judah-the tribe of Judah, and most of the tribe of Benjamin and presumably absorbed the tribe of Simeon which was isolated in the extreme south.  It was a poor kingdom and did not have access to the sea.  Micah was born in the latter part of the 8th century BCE and was a prophet of Judah.  His future monarch he sees from the House of David would bring peace to the world.  This prophecy was already familiar in the reign of King Jehoiakim (608-598 BCE).  One reason Jews do not accept Jesus as the Messiah is that there hasn't been any peace in the world.  Instead, Jews have suffered more than ever.  It took them 1,878 years to regain their own land and finally have a country of their own again.

4. Isaiah 50:6: "I submitted my body to those who smite and my cheeks to those who pluck;  I did not hide my face from humiliation and spit."  Here Isaiah, a prophet in Jerusalem, Judah,  who started prophesying from the death of Uzziah until the middle of Hezekiah's reign (740- 701 BCE). speaks of both his own readiness to be God's spokesman and God"s readiness to inspire him.  Every morning, God inspires him anew with teachings and prophecies, and does it in such a way that he can understand them clearly.  This is part of the prophet's sacrifice.  Christians use a lot of quotes from Isaiah to prove that Jesus is the Messiah but the writing at that time was actually about the Jewish people.  Prophecies of redemption and comfort have been of supreme importance both in Judaism and Christianity.  No doubt Jesus knew many of them by heart himself.

5. Psalms 22:18: "I can count all my bones;  they look on and gloat over me."  David meant this speaking as an individual and as the king.   Frenzied mobs were comprised of the base people.  He's thinking that the mob wishes to take his mantle of royalty for themselves.  Later,  Jews prayed for a final end to Israel's long exile from its land and its Temple.  (The first exile happened in 721 BCE when the Assyrians attacked and took away 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel  to their own lands.)  Quotes 22: 18 and 16 would have been relevant.

6. Psalms 22:16: "My strength is dried up like baked clay, and my tongue cleaves to my palate;  in the dust of  death You set me down."  David had started 21 with not rejoicing in his own strength, but in Yours (God).  He goes on to say that even if the chain of Jewish sovereignty is interrupted, the monarchy will be restored to the seed of David.  People will bless each other with the wish, "May God make you like him (David)."  He knows more than anyone else, kings and powerful people must set an example by acknowledging God's kindness.

7. Zechariah 12:10: "I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitant of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplications.  They will look toward Me because of those whom they have stabbed;  they will mourn over him as one mourns over an only children and be embittered over him like the embitterment over a deceased firstborn." This is a prophecy of the world of G-d concerning Israel.  The salvation will be so complete that people will be astonished if even one man is killed by the enemy.  The Judeans will be compelled to fight their brethren and see that they were miraculously spared, and they will turn against their enemies who forced them to join their ranks.  It is then that Jerusalem will be restored to its former status. The prophet lived in the 500's BCE.   According to 2 sources, the Targum and the Talmud, 2 events are alluded to here;  the mourning over King Ahab (876-853 BCE) , son of Omri, king of Israel, who was killed in battle by Hadadrimmon, son of Tabrimmon;  and the mourning for King  Josiah(637-608 BCE) , King of Judah, who was slain in the Valley Megiddon/Megiddo.

8. Deuteronomy 21:23: "His body shall not remain for the night on the gallows, rather you shall surely bury him on that day, for a hanging person is a curse of G-d, and you shall not contaminate your Land, which Hashem, your G-d, gives you as an inheritance.  This is part of the 613 laws Moses handed down to the Israelites.  It concerns hanging and burial.  Jews follow this today in that a corpse must be buried within 24 hours.  Bill wrote about Lazaras being dead for 4 days and Jesus raising him from the dead to show a miracle had happened.  .

9. Numbers 9:12: "For Zebulun, Eliab son of Helon.  For the children of Joseph-for Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud;  for Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.  For Benjamin, Abidan son of Gideoni.  for Dan, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai."  This is part of a list of the tribal leaders.  It's from a census taken in the wilderness of the Sinai Desert by Moses and Aaron.They counted men from age 20 and older.  Joseph is represented by his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh as tribes. What is Bill using this for to prove?  I don't know.

10.  Psalms 34:20: "Many are the mishaps of the righteous, but from them all Hashem rescues him." No one becomes truly righteous and great without his share of mishaps.  David conquered despair by composing 34 which is an alphabetical hymn, to show that our every faculty, from aleph to tav (a to z) should be dedicated to G-d.    

11. Exodus 12:46:"In one house shall it be eaten, you shall not remove any of the meat from the house to the outside, and you shall not break a bone in it. "  This is part of the laws of the Pesach offering. and that no alienated person may eat from it.   The Exodus had been discussed in 12:37 previously.   It was saying that the Israelites were in Egypt for 430 years before Moses came along and took them out.
12:  Zechariah 12:10: (repeated reference).  Incorrect.

As I look at all 12 references, only one, that of Zechariah which I found to be from 9:9-10, actually referred to a Messiah.  The rest were comments from contemporary events in the life of the prophets.  Those from Psalms, of course, seem to fit any occasion and are used as comfort for everyone.  As Bill wrote on page 176, "Jesus had led a life that was a continual fulfillment of Jewish prophecy" if taken out of context.  Only the donkey was a reference legitimate to use, and that was a well known reference.  So everybody in Jerusalem could have known it, and certainly Jesus would have known it.  In order to make his point, he could copy this reference to the Messiah.

It was a cruel and horrible punishment to crucify people that the Romans practiced.  It was done by the ancient Greeks and Romans and was derived from Persia (Iran today) but not known to Jewish law.  The custom was introduced into Judah by the Romans and was the usual punishment inflicted by them for rebels. Thousands of Jews suffered this fate under Roman rule.  The New Testament description of the crucifixion of Jesus clearly shows that the Roman procedure was followed.  Jews did not crucify people but were crucified.

 73 BCE-4 BCE Herod I, the Great, king of Judea appointed by Rome.  When he died, there were uprisings by the people so Roman General Publius Quinctilius Varus crucified 2,000 Jews to quell the uprisings.   
30 BCE  Herod the Great by Julius Ceasar, crucifixions; 25,000 Jews till 70 CE.  when Romans burned down the Temple. 
 

Resource: Novel, Bill Reilly's "Killing Jesus"
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://israel-nadene.blogspot.com/2014/08/jews-living-in-judea-samaria-and-other.html
The Northwest Connection Volume 8 #92,  The Eternal War Between Israel and the Palestinians:  Part I in series by Jim Wagner.  About Philistines.
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2012/01/bringing-in-mashiach-messiah.html



Friday, September 19, 2014

ISRAEL: The Land That Rests Every Seventh Year

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                 

The year in Israel begins a little differently from other lands.  The Jewish New Year begins at sundown on Wednesday evening on September 24th and is called Rosh Hashana.  This new year coming up is the once every 7th year that is a holy Sabbatical as mandated by the Bible called "Shmita /Shemittah."  "...the 7th year shall be a complete rest for the Land."  Remember that this was from Moses (1391 BCE -1271 BCE) from G-d.  How long has it taken farmers of today to realize that land cannot be continually used to grow the same crops year after year but must rest?  This was told to the Israelites 3,320 years ago and they've been following it ever since.
                                                                     
This means that during the Shemittah, fields may not be worked.  Fruit which grows of itself during these years is free to all.

This dictum is part of many agrarian laws handed to the children of Israel who were living in Canaan before it even came to be named Israel.  Last month, on August 11th which is the 15th day of Av on the Jewish lunar calendar, most forms of tree planting became forbidden.

So, while Hamas was shooting thousands of missiles into southern Israel last month up to August 11th, Israeli farmers planted thousands of fruit trees in advance of the upcoming Sabbatical year when they would not be able to.  Hanan from Moshav Yavul which is on the Gaza-Egypt border, planted peach trees until the very last moment.  His neighbors planted other fruit varieties.
                                                                         
Fruit trees can be dedicated in honor or memory of loved ones. This is because in the Bible, G-d promises to bless everyone who helps in the observance of Shmita.  Many farmers will suffer financially from not planting or working the land for a whole year.  "I will ordain My blessing for you..."Leviticus 25:20.   Many have already been made in memory of the 3 boys who were kidnapped and murdered in Jukne; eyal, Naftali and Gilad.

Resource:  http://unitedwithisrael.org/brave-israeli-farmers-planted-fruit-trees-before-sabbatical-while-under-rocket-fire/?utm_source=MadMimi&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Islamic+State%27s+Goal+is+to+Destroy+Us+All++%E2%9C%A1++IDF+Soldiers+Yearn+for+Spiritual+Nourishment&utm_campaign=20140919_m122226738_Islamic+State%27s+Goal+is+to+Destroy+Us+All++%E2%9C%A1++IDF+Soldiers+Yearn+for+Spiritual+Nourishment&utm_term=Brave+Israeli+Farmers+Planted+Fruit+Trees+Under+Fire_3B+Dedications+Still+Available+before+New+Year
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Results of Operation Defensive Edge in Gaza

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                
                                                                                                

                                                                                                         
I am truly disgusted with Europeans who demonstrated against Israel during the recent Protective Edge Operation by Israel who had to go into Gaza in order to defend themselves.  This shows anti-Semitism is still alive in Europe.
                                                                       
How quickly they have forgotten what it was like for their grandparents who were attacked by the German air force, or what it was like to be attacked at all by them.  At least they had the USA join their forces and fight with them.  This was the predicament Israel found itself in; the whole little state was being hit by rockets, this time including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and the population of Israel had to find safety in bomb shelters.
                                                                       
                                                       Iron Dome hits incoming rocket

That Israel's government had the where-with-all to pick themselves up and march onto Gaza is a credit to their organization.  Nobody else was stepping up to the plate to come and defend them.  Little Israel had to do it all alone, and they were able to take out 1,923 rocket launchers and storage facilities while their own country was the target of a total of 4,564 launched rockets.  197 of those launched never made it but were duds.  Out of those, only 735 rockets were intercepted over cities and communities by the Iron Dome.  It took the IDF and reservists to answer the call for service to protect their country.  While rockets were screaming down on Israeli cities and villages, young teenagers of 18 and veterans of both sexes dodged them in order to meet together and go into Gaza.
                                                                             

 A few IDF (Israel Defense Force) friends.  All men and women serve in the IDF in Israel, going in at 18.  


The intention and training of Israelis is to not attack citizens, but of course the world now knows that Hamas kept their own civilians as their own protective wall from Israel's weapons and for purposes of using the statistics as a weapon against Israel.  Israel gave more than ample warning to get out of harm's way, which only gave the terrorists the knowledge to keep them there.  Out of the 2,100 Gazans who were killed, a good 1,000 were terrorists themselves shooting at the IDF.  253 were Hamas terrorists, 147 belonged to Islamic Jihad and 603 were militants from the various other terrorist groups working with Hamas.  Israel was able to hit rocket production facilities, command and control centers, and other targets that were part of the IAF's close support for ground forces.  In all, Israel was able to take out 5,226 targets in Gaza, hopefully enough to slow down the rocket attacks that had been coming daily for years of which no one bothered to hold demonstrations about.
                                                                           
It's a good thing that Israel entered Gaza when they did, since they found and destroyed 32 attack tunnels that ended up in Israel.  They were going to be used to kidnap Israelis and for an entry into Israel for attacks.
                                                                   
All this time, amid hits raining down on southern Israel, the Israelis kept up their part of a bargain to keep Gaza supplied with whatever they needed, except ammunition, of course.  That's why they feel they must examine all boats coming into the area.   74,602 tons of goods from Israel went into Gaza by trucks.  Besides that, 1,742 tons of medical supplies were trucked in.  They had no shortage of fuel and gas as 843 tankers rolled in from Israel.  I might mention that the other half of Palestine, Judea and Samaria, owe a lot of money to Israel for their electricity which they've been taking freely with payment.  Any normal company in the USA would have cut off such a customer long ago, but being these are countries, Israel hadn't taken such steps. Since they have declared Hamas and Fatah as unified and are Palestine now, perhaps the accounting books will look at this differently.  Because Gazan Palestinians are sworn enemies with the intent to wipe out Israel, this has to be handled this way.  There is no peace pact between them though there had been a chance to think Fatah was more willing.  It's not a situation like Canada and the USA.  It's an enemy trying to wipe out Israel-who wants peace with all.  Fatah-Hamas unification has already been broken over disagreement of who is the boss.  That seems to be their main problem.  Fatah did embrace Hamas's covenant.

Resource: magazine, The Jerusalem Report, September 22, 2014 pp 18, 19.






Thursday, September 11, 2014

Kiev, Ukraine's Jewish Connections

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                

Kiev is the capital of the Ukraine.  It was a Russian city at one time.  It's possible that the Khazars founded it in the 8th century.  Khazaria, ruled by Bulan, had selected Judaism for the Royal Court out of the 3 religions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism to follow.  It had become a haven for Jews suffering from anti-Semitism in those days. They came to Ukraine from Khazaria, the Caliphate and Byzantium between the 9th and 12th centuries; from Central Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries, and from Poland in the 16th and 17th centuries.  Severe massacres happened there during the Chmielnicki and Haidamak uprising of the 17th and 18th centuries.   This state lay in what is the southern part of Russia on today's maps.  Jewish merchants had visited the Kiev  in the 9th and 10th centuries causing the Jewish population there to grow steadily, despite persecutions which started in 1113.
                                                                         
Jewish scholars from Kiev were known from the 12th century.  The community was then destroyed by the Tatars of Russia in 1240.  From the end of the 14th century, Jews were encouraged to return.  Both a Rabbanite and Karaite community existed there during the 15th century.

Expulsions were decreed in 1495, shortly after the 1492 ones from Spain by the Catholic church.  It happened again in 1619.  Peter the great permitted Jews to trade in Kiev from 1708.
                                                                             
In 1827, Kiev was excluded from the Pale of Settlement, which was land set aside in 1791 by Catherine II.  where Jews were allowed to live. it included Ukraine, Crimea, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,  White Russia, Bessarabia, 25 provinces of Czarist Russia in all.   They were excluded from Russia.  Therefore Kiev became one of the largest Russian communities.
                                                                             
Sholem Aleichem (Shalom Rabinovich 1859-1916) wrote Fiddler on the Roof, about Jews in the Ukraine.  In his most difficult years, he created the character of Tevye the milkman in the story.
Many pogrom happened here in 1881 and on, and even in 1905.  1,200 Jewish families were expelled in 1910.

  The Beilis Ritual Murder Trial occurred in 1913, which is hard to imagine happening at that late date.   Jews do not use blood in any way.  They do not eat blood, either, like some people do.  It's part of the laws of kashrut (kosher) not to do so, so when people say they use blood in matzos at Passover time, it's against all reason.  Here the Russians, who were very anti-Semitic, were accusing a Russian Jew, Menahem Mendel Beilis,  of Kiev,  of this.

350,000 Jews lived in Kiev in 1939, at the height of the Nazi days where Jews were definitely not safe anymore.  Most of those trapped by the Nazi advance were massacred in 1941.  Babi Yar is an example.  This was a ravine outside of Kiev where tens of thousands of Jews were killed in September 1941.  The massacre was a horror.  No memorial was erected until the 1980's to remind people of what had happened which was caused by anti-Semitism.  The Soviet poet, Evgeni Yevtuschenko, used it in his poem, "Babi-Yar" in 1962.  Later the event was used in a symphony by Shostakovitch and the subject of a novel by Anatoly Kuznetzov.  Jews who had lived in Ukraine were wiped out by the Ukrainians and Germans  from 1942 to 1942.
                                                                         
In the post-war period, Soviet anti-Semitism has been felt strongly in Kiev.  In 1988 there were 152,000 Jews living there.  Today Jews are not safe again due to the Russian and Rebels fight over Ukraine as a independent state.  In February, "“The situation here is dire,” said Yossi Asman, a Chabad yeshiva student and son of the chief rabbi. “We have been gathering up families and shuttling them out to safer neighborhoods.”  Two Chabad Yeshiva students had been attacked in Kiev.  Even the food supply in the city was dwindling.  The Israeli Embassy told the Jewish community not to go outside their homes.  Too many attacks had been discovered that were planned on Jews.  Again, 2014, Jews are still the scapegoats  of attacks in the battle between Ukrainians and Russia.   Perhaps Israel is the only answer for them.  

Resource: The New Jewish Encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menahem_Mendel_Beilis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babi_Yar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Ukraine
http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/02/21/chief-rabbi-of-ukraine-urges-jews-to-flee-kiev-after-attack-on-students/

Friday, September 5, 2014

Where Did Abraham Come From?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                    

The Israelites, of which Abraham was from, came into Canaan from the east. "While we use the north as our major direction the Hebrews used the east and all directions are oriented to this direction."  How far east is not known, but it could have been from the area of the Euphrates River. The Tigris-Euphrates Rivers  are  part of  Tigris-Euphrates Palearctic eco-region, which includes Iraq and parts of Turkey, Syria, IranSaudi ArabiaKuwait and Jordan. "And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates."

Abraham is the biblical father of the Jews, Christians and Muslims.  Jews and many Arabian tribes that have spread out all over the Middle East trace their ancestry to him.  He was the son of Terah and the father of Ishmael by his concubine/2nd wife who was the daughter of the Pharoah, Hagar and father of Isaac by his wife and niece, Sarah. As far as I can understand, he carried the haplotype of J1c3d, or maybe back then it was only J1.  After all, through time it should have mutated a bit.

J, J1, J2 haplotype arose 10,000 to 15,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent.  Abraham lived only c 4,014 years ago.   Men who carry this haplogroup includes Jews, Arabs, Armenians and Kurds.  It is found at its highest frequencies in Iran and Iraq, from where it most likely originated, and then was carried by traders much later into Europe, central Asia, India and Pakistan.  J2 is believed to be associated with the spread of agriculture during the Neolithic Period from Anatolia and is found throughout central Asia, the Mediterranean, and south into India.  while the majority of haplogroup J is not Jewish, the majority of Jewish men fall into J.  The Cohen Modal haplotype is found  to be in haplogroup J1 and mainly in J1c3d which is also found in some Muslims.

 Aaron, brother of Moses, was the first Cohen.  He had had many children, and they were the Cohens in the synagogue, which means they were first to read from the Torah, among other duties.  Abraham would have had this haplotype.   Abraham lived in the 2nd millennium BCE.  or 2,000 BCE which was 4,014 years ago.

Abraham, or first named Avram,  left his birthplace of Ur of the Chaldees (probably was Ur of the Cassites).  It was an ancient Babylonian city now a part of Iraq.  Modern excavations in the ruins, conducted by Sir Leonard Woolley, have revealed the highly-civilized nature of the city in Abraham's time as well as evidence of an extensive flood at an earlier date.  Abraham had  pitched his tent among the Canaanites and Philistines of what was to be referred to as Eretz Yisrael by the Jews, or Israel in the days of King Saul, or Judah by King Solomon's son, Rehoboam from 933-917 BCE, or Palestine after 135 CE.  Moses, a descendant of his, lived from 1391 to 1271 BCE.

"Genesis 11:24-12:13  "When Nahor had lived 29 years, he begot Terah.  And Nahor lived 119 years after begetting Terah, and he begot sons and daughters.
   when Terah had lived 70 years, he begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran.  Now these are the chronicles of Terah:  
    Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran;
   And Haran begot Lot.  Haran died in the lifetime of Terah, his father, in his native land, in Ur Kasdim.  
  And Abram and Nahor took themselves wives;   the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and the father of Isaac.  
  And Sarai was barren, she had no child.  .....They left Ur to go to the land of Canaan; they arrived at Haran and  they settled there.

Abraham visited Egypt and then returned to live in Hebron, which is now in Judea or the southern part of Israel.  He had to fight against Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, Amraphel, king of Shinar and their allies  in order to save Lot, his nephew, so he had enough men with him to accomplish this.

G-d appeared to him in a vision and promised that his descendants would inherit the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates river, from west to east.  The test of his loyalty to G-d was when G-d ordered him to sacrifice his son Isaac, the only son with him at the time since Ishmael was the son he had to send away due to friction between Hagar and Sarah over the sons.  Sarah felt that Ishmael, being older, was hurting Isaac. The Muslim narrative has Ishmael being sacrificed by Abraham instead of Isaac, with Abraham being stopped before he does it as has happened in the Jewish narrative.  .

When Sarah died, Abraham bought the cave of Machpelah as a family burial place.  He married a 3rd wife, Keturah.  He died at age 175 and was buried in the cave.
                                                                       
Abraham was the founder of monotheism..  He is the prototype of humility and kindness and was famous for his hospitality.  Circumcision was introduced, possibly from Egypt as they have pictures on their walls of doing this and it became the covenant of Abraham our Father.  The year was 2047 from creation and Abraham was now 99 years old and Sarah was 89 and Ishmael was 13.  He circumcised Ishmael.  This is when Abram's name was changed to Abraham , adding "father of a multitude".  Before his name of Avram was av Aram, father of Aram, his native country.

Aram (Arameans) is pretty much Syria and Mesopotamia.  At the end of the 11th Century, Assyria was threatened with invasion by Aramean tribes, and only at the end of the 10th did she finally succeed in averting the danger.  War then continued between them.   Aram-Dammesek was the most important Aramean kingdom in Syria in the 10th to 8th centuries BCE called after its capital, Damascus/Dammesek in Hebrew.

According to Hellenistic legends, Abraham  was king of Damascus, Syria.  Arab legends claim he laid the foundations for the sanctuary at Mecca.
                                                                       

The first inhabitants of Canaan were called the Canaanites. By 3000-25000 BCE, these people seem to have been largely Semitic speaking;  They introduced the use of bronze and developed cities.  There were 7 tribes which dominated the country.  Egypt in the south and Assyria in the North held long struggles over its control.  The dominated the local scene down to the 19th century BCE and this had already begun.  The country was now divided into large numbers of warring city=-states ruled over by petty "kings."  The Tel El amarna letters throw much light on conditions in the land in the 15th century BCE and on the conquests of the Semitic ""Habiru," denoting or comprising incursions by the Israelite tribes.

The Israelite invasion was a slow and difficult process.  They first established themselves in the plains, and only gradually obtained control of the hill-country;  the process was completed with the capture by David of Jerusalem in c1000 BCE.  Meanwhile, the warring Israelite tribes, sometimes disunited, ruled over by regional Judges, were the prey of other invaders from the north and east.  The most dangerous were the Philistines, who were sea invaders from the Aegean who had firm control of the Maritime Plain in the 12th century BCE and then pushed inland.

                                                                         
 Their threat forced the union on the Israelite tribes at last, through the spiritual dominance of Samuel and the military genius of King Saul who established a monarchy for the entire country.  His work was completed by his son-in-law, King David, who finally crushed the Philistine menace and enlarged the boundaries of the state in all directions.  His son, King Solomon, raised the kingdom to magnificence by his maritime enterprises, lavish court and ambitious buildings, including the Temple in Jerusalem to serve as a religious center.  His heavy taxation caused the northern tribes to revolt.  From then on the land of Israel was divided into 2 states, Israel and Judah.

Reference: http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2012/10/east-of-euphrates-river-came-hebrews.html
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia, Abraham
Tanakh (Old Testament)
Abraham's Children; race, identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People by Jon Entine
http://www.openbible.info/topics/the_euphrates_river
http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/27_eternity.html
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2013/08/haplogroup-j1-and-j1c3d-or-cohen-gene.html