Caroline Glick , THE JERUSALEM POST
Russia’s invasion of Georgia should serve as proof that there are some regimes that simply cannot be considered strategic allies of the West. And as the US and NATO try to assess the wreckage of their attempt to forge a post-Soviet alliance with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, another erstwhile ally is showing that it too, cannot be trusted.
On Wednesday, Iran’s genocidal, nuclear weapons-seeking leader, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, will arrive in Istanbul for a “working visit” with Turkish leaders. This visit represents a diplomatic triumph for Teheran. Since assuming office three years ago, Ahmadinejad has feverishly pursued diplomatic ties with Western-allied states in an effort to weaken the West’s will to take action to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Turkey is the first NATO member to welcome him to its territory.
According to media reports, during his visit Ahmadinejad is scheduled to meet with President Abdullah Gul and with Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan. On the agenda are Iran’s nuclear program and Turkish-Iranian financial ties. Turkey favors advancing both.
In recent months, the Turkish government has become one of the most outspoken advocates of Iran’s nuclear program. At least publicly, Turkish leaders credulously accept Iran’s dubious assertions about the peaceful intent of its nuclear program – which it refuses to fully expose to the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspectors.
As for financial ties with Iran, Turkey is working feverishly to expand them. From 2002, when Erdogan’s and Gul’s Islamic fundamentalist AKP party first assumed leadership of the country through 2007, Turkey’s trade with Iran expanded from $1.2 billion to $6.7 billion. In July 2007, Turkey signed a $3.5 billion deal to develop one of Iran’s oil fields. Over US objections, Turkey is planning to finalize that deal with Ahmadinejad this week. Trade between the two countries is expanding so quickly that most Turkish businessmen will tell you that Iran is their hottest market.
TURKEY’S WARM ties with Iran are matched by its embrace of Iranian satellites and proxies like Syria and Hizbullah. Turkey was the first Western-allied state and NATO member to host Syrian President Bashar Assad on a state visit after Assad’s regime assassinated former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. In 2006, Turkey sided with Hizbullah in its war against Israel. It even allowed Iran to transfer weapons to Hizbullah through Turkey.
Then there is Turkey’s open support for Hamas. After Hamas’s victory in the January 2006 Palestinian legislative elections, Turkey became the third non-Arab state after Iran and Russia to openly embrace Hamas. Hamas’s Syrian-based leader Khaled Mashaal paid an official visit to Ankara where he met with then foreign minister Gul and senior AKP party officials a month after his Iranian-sponsored terror group’s electoral victory.
The Turkish government’s support for Hamas is complemented by its support for al Qaida financiers. In the summer of 2006, Erdogan endorsed his top advisor’s donations to senior al Qaida financier Yasin al-Qadi after they were exposed in the Turkish media. And since entering office, Erdogan, Gul and their AKP colleagues have repeatedly accused Israel and the US of committing genocide against Muslims in Gaza, Lebanon and Iraq.
While both the US and Israel have voiced their displeasure with Turkey’s embrace of their enemies, neither country has taken any steps to either discredit Ankara or to distance themselves from the Turkish government. To the contrary, both Israel and the US continue to praise Turkey as a strategic ally. Both insist that under the AKP, Turkey is demonstrating that it is possible to be Islamic fundamentalist and pro-Western. And both are enabling and indeed encouraging Turkey to act as an intermediary between them and their sworn enemies.
In Israel’s case, Turkey has been mediating the Olmert-Livni-Barak government’s negotiations with Syria. And in the US’s case, it appears that Turkey has played a mediation role between Washington and Teheran. On July 17, both US National Security Advisor Steven Hadley and Iranian Foreign Minister Manoucher Mouttaki just happened to be visiting Ankara on the same day. Two days later, US Assistant Secretary of State William Burns met with Iran’s nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in Geneva.
In both cases, it is far from clear that either Israel or the US have benefitted from Turkey’s increasingly prominent role in their foreign policy. In fact, in both cases, Israel and the US have weakened their position by allowing Turkey to serve as a mediator between them and their adversaries.
IN THE case of Syria, as Assad’s recent visit to Teheran showed clearly, Israel’s attempt to use negotiations with Syria to pry Damascus away from its strategic alliance with Teheran has failed. To date, the only thing its decision to hold indirect negotiations with Syria in Turkey has done is end Syria’s isolation from the West.
As for Iran, the Bush administration’s decision to allow Turkey to mediate between it and the ayatollahs has arguably emboldened Turkey to move forward with its Iranian oil deal. Beyond that, Turkey’s success in convincing the Americans to actively pursue diplomacy with the Iranians paved the way for the US’s humiliation in Geneva last month. During that meeting, Jalili made no attempt to reach an agreement with the US and its partners. And by joining the Europeans and the Russians in directly engaging Iran, the US facilitated Russia’s announcement last week that it sees no reason to impose additional UN Security Council sanctions against Iran for its failure to agree to temporarily suspend of its uranium enrichment activities.
Like Russia under Putin, Turkey under Erdogan’s leadership has masked its rapid transformation from a flawed but pro-Western democracy under its previous governments into an anti-Western – and in Turkey’s case Islamist – regime by paying lip service to the West even as it has taken steps to purge its power structure of pro-Western voices. Just as Putin’s popular government has taken brutal action against his political, intellectual and financial foes, so too, Erdogan’s popularly elected Islamic fundamentalist regime has worked steadily to discredit, criminalize and intimidate its pro-Western rivals.
SINCE TAKING office in 2002, the AKP under Erdogan has taken control over Turkey’s bureaucracy. It has weakened women’s rights. It has launched brutal campaigns against its foes in the media, taking over opposition television stations and arresting and intimidating anti-Islamic editors and reporters. It has taken over the Turkish secret police and regular police forces. It has stacked the Turkish courts with its loyalists. It has enabled the opening of radical Islamic madrassas. It has penetrated the military and demoralized and intimidated the senior officer corps. It has ignored court judgments against it.
Through the police, it has launched a massive wire tapping campaign against its political opponents and has leaked embarrassing transcripts of these tapped phone calls to its loyalist press to humiliate and intimidate its rivals. It has used wiretaps of opposition journalists in police interrogations of their editors.
The only remaining secular check on Erdogan’s government is Turkey’s Constitutional Court. Last week, the court narrowly rejected the court’s chief prosecutor’s lawsuit calling for the outlawing of the AKP party on the grounds that it is seeking to overthrow Turkey’s secular constitutional order. In their ruling, ten out of eleven judges did agree that the AKP is seeking to weaken Turkey’s secular identity and ruled that it be denied government funding.
In an apparent bid to both distract the public from the court case and to further delegitimize its opponents, the government claims that it uncovered a conspiracy by senior opposition officials, including leading journalists, businessmen and generals, called the Ergenekon plot to overthrow the government. It alleges that most of the terror attacks carried out by Islamic terrorists over the past several years were actually carried out by members of this secularist cabal. Last month the police arrested two retired generals, a prominent industrialist and a respected journalist along with 17 others in its prosecution of the Ergenekon plot.
In all of this, of course, Erdogan and his associates are mirroring Putin’s actions in Russia since he assumed office in 2000. Like Putin, the AKP replaced a deeply corrupt, unpopular pro-Western government. While Putin has built his popularity on xenophobia and hatred of the West, Erdogan and the AKP have built their popularity on a rejection of secular Turkish nationalism in favor of pan-Islamism and hatred of the US and Israel. And as they have moved their countries away from the West, both Putin and Erdogan have managed to maintain good relations with Washington by going through the motions of supporting its war against terror even as they have both embraced terrorists and their state sponsors.
THE LESSON moving forward from all of is not that Israel and the US should turn their backs on Turkey. In an international environment that is increasingly hostile to liberal democracies, there is no reason to cut off ties with hostile regimes just because they are hostile. But at the same time, neither the US nor Israel should delude themselves by thinking that Turkey remains their strategic ally. It is not. And there are consequences to this fact.
For the US, beyond ending immediately Turkey’s role as an intermediary with Iran, it would make sense to float the notion of removing Turkey from NATO due to its expanding ties with Iran. Just the suggestion of such a move would no doubt have a profound effect on the Turks. Certainly, the US should be reaching out to regime opponents and calling for Erdogan and his associates to end their attempts to repress the anti-Islamic media and secular politicians, businessmen and military commanders.
If the US is concerned about inflaming Turkish sentiment against it through such moves it should consider that since Erdogan took power, and as the US has bent over backwards to be nice to him, anti-US sentiment in Turkey has risen steeply. According to a recent Pew international opinion poll, today the Turks are the most anti-American society in the world.
For its part, Israel should reassess its willingness to sell sensitive military equipment to Turkey given its close ties to Israel’s enemies. It should certainly stop its Turkish-mediated talks with Syria and reject Turkish offers to mediate between Israel and the Palestinians.
Like Russia, Turkey’s anti-Western regime is promoting itself to the West by pretending not to be anti-Western. And as was the case with Russia up until it decided to invade defenseless Georgia over the weekend, the US and its allies have been willing to endanger their strategic interests to believe this lie.
It can only be hoped that the West will abandon this policy before it inadvertently paves the way for a new Iranian-allied axis of evil populated by the likes of Russia, Turkey and Pakistan. All of these governments owe much of their power to the West’s willingness to believe that their anti-Western regimes could be trusted as strategic allies until it was too late.
Sunstar:
Me too!!
How was “Gog” pronounced?
A key to the mystery of what or who is Gog, might be to know the way that this name was pronounced at the days of Ezekiel, in ancient Hebrew.
Gog is written in Hebrew with 3 letters. First is Gimmel with Dagesh, second Holam Male, and third Gimmel with no Dagesh. The Babylonian Jews have the longest tradition of the way of reading the Bible in the synagogues. When they read Gog, it is pronounced Gogh, which sounds in English like Gorr (“gh” like Arabic for “Baghdad’).
We can also try another way to see how it was pronounced. On the 7th century the Islamic religion arose in Arabia. In their book they used many Jewish phrases. They probably pronounced it in the way that Jews used to pronounce it back then. Gog is called in the book of Islam: Joj.
So we have JOJ and we have GORR. Someone combined the two possible ways, and created the name GEORGE. But this is a big change from Gog.
Another interesting thing is that the name of Gog does appear one more time in the Bible, but in a rare place. In 1 Chronicles (5,1):
“Sons of Joel: Shmayah his son, Gog his son, Shim’i his son”
REVELATION 20:9 & EZEKIEL 38 “GOG AND MAGOG” DIAGRAM
GOG Interpreted in NIV Study Bible as a Russian Ruler. (Satan)
He is the Chief Prince of Turkey (Asia Minor).
John’s letter to Church of Pergumum says – “I know where
you live, where Satan has his throne.” (Rev. 2:13)
Pergamum was also in Turkey (Asia Minor)
LAND OF MAGOG (Ezekiel 38:1) Interpreted in NIV Study Bible as Scythians in Russia
Magog was the second son of Japeth (Genesis 10:2)
MESCHECH & TUBAL
SHMSH, SHEMESH, the Sun Interpreted in NIV Study Bible as Turkey (Asia Minor)
In Genesis 10:2 Meschech & Tubal are the 6th & 7th son
of Japheth. NIV Map shows them settling in Turkey
(Asia Minor) Currently Islamic State. This could also be a
Hebrew unscrambling of SHEMESH [MESCHECH].
PERSIA Currently Iran/Iraq/Afghanistan, Islamic States.
Persia (Iran) is joined with Gog, Meschech & Tubal. Iran also conquered the Babylonians (currently Iraq)
CUSH First son of Ham (Genesis 10:6) who settled in either Egypt
or Ethiopia. Egypt or Ethiopia is joined with Turkey & Gog.
Egypt & Ethiopia are currently Islamic states. Ethiopia was
the first nation to convert to Islam outside of Arabia.
PUT Third son of Ham (Genesis 10:6) interpreted in NIV Study
Bible to have settled in Libya or Sudan.
Daniel 11:43 says – “He will gain the treasures of gold
& silver and all the riches of Egypt with Libyans and Nubians
in SUBMISSION.
GOMER The first son of Japheth (Genesis 10:2) interpreted in NIV
Study Bible as settling in either Greece or Bulgaria.
BETH-TOGARMAH The third son of Gomer (Genesis 10:3) comes with Gomer
from the “far north.” Them and their many troops.
SHEBA & DEDAN &
MERCHANTS OF TARSHISH Approached by Gog, Turkey, Egypt/Ethiopia, Libya,
Greece/Bulgaria, Russia, Iran who will gather their hordes to
Loot what NIV interprets as Saudia Arabia (Sheba & Dedan)
and Spain (Tarshish). Sheba & Dedan were the grandsons
of Ham, and the sons of Raamah (Genesis 10:7)
ISRAEL Nation is surrounded and attacked by these nations allied
together:
1. RUSSIA
2. TURKEY
3. GREECE/BULGARIA
4. EGYPT/ETHIOPIA
5. LIBYANS/SUDANESE
6. SAUDI ARABIA & SPAIN
COASTLANDS IN SAFETY Unclear if this is European coastlands or American
coastlands or perhaps both. There is a time of peace &
security which the Islamic alliance under Satan breaks.
DANIEL 7
THE 4TH BEAST & 10 HORNS Muhammad’s Arab Nations of Islam allied together
DANIEL 11
THE KING OF NORTH
& SOUTH Egypt & Syria
DANIEL 11
THE KING WHO
EXALTS HIMSELF IN JERUSALEM Palestine will become his throne as he invades.
Muhammad/Arafat/PLO fit the profile.
HOW DOES THE ARAB LEAGUE BEAST MEASURE UP?
THE 22 COUNTRIES OF THE ARAB LEAGUE
· Algeria
· Bahrain
· Comoros
· Djibouti
· Egypt(Nation allied with Gog in Ezekiel 38)
· Iraq (Nation allied with Gog in Ezekiel 38)
· Jordan(Nation allied with Gog in Ezekiel 38)
· Kuwait
· Lebanon
· Libya (Nation allied with Gog in Ezekiel 38)
· Mauritania
· Morocco
· Oman
· Palestine (Nation allied with Gog in Ezekiel 38)
· Qatar
· Saudi Arabia (Nation allied with Gog in Ezekiel 38)
· Somalia
· Sudan
· Syria (Nation allied with Gog in Ezekiel 38 And King of North in Daniel 11)
· Tunisia
· United Arab Emirates
· Yemen
SEVEN OUT OF 22 ARAB LEAGUE NATIONS ARE RECORDED IN EZEKIEL 38 AND DANIEL 11 – ALLAH IS ANTI-CHRIST!
1. EGYPT
2. IRAQ
3. JORDAN
4. LIBYA
5. PALESTINE
6. SAUDI ARABIA
7. SYRIA
7 CAPITOL CITIES UNDER 7 DIFFERENT NATIONS REPLACED BY 7 ISLAMIC RULERS:
1. Saudi Arabia – Mecca 629-630 A.D.
2. Syria – Damascus 635 A.D.
3. Persia (Iraq) – Baghdad 641 A.D.
4. Spain – Cordova 711 A.D.
5. Egypt – Cairo 641 A.D.
6. Byzantine Greece – Istanbul 1453 A.D. (By Ottoman Turks)
7. Palestine – Al Quds (Jerusalem) 1964 to Present
No islamic country can ever be trusted. Turkey should be considered an enemy of America and Israel.
Russia too, should be considered an enemy and treated as such.
Bland if you have a different JPS reference let me know!
Mysticism in Judaism
When non-Jews ask about Judaism, they commonly ask questions like: Do you believe in heaven and hell? In angels or the devil? What happens to the soul after death? What is the nature of God and the universe? The answers to questions like these define most religions; in fact, some people say that the purpose of religion is to answer these kinds of questions. Yet from a Torah viewpoint, most of these cosmological issues are wide open to personal opinion. The areas of Jewish thought that most extensively discuss these issues, Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism, were traditionally not even taught to people until the age of 40, when they had completed their education in Written Torah and Oral Torah (in other words, in Bible and practical Law).
Mysticism and mystical experiences have been a part of Judaism since the earliest days. The Bible contains many stories of mystical experiences, from visitations by angels to prophetic dreams and visions. The Talmud considers the existence of the soul and when it becomes attached to the body. Jewish tradition tells that the souls of all Jews were in existence at the time of the Giving of the Torah and were present at the time and agreed to the Covenant. There are many stories of places similar to the Gentiles’ heaven and hell. The Talmud contains vague hints of a mystical school of thought that was taught only to the most advanced students and was not committed to writing. There are several references in ancient sources to ma’aseh bereishit (the work of creation) and ma’aseh merkavah (the work of the chariot [of Ezekiel’s vision]), the two primary subjects of mystical thought at the time.
In the middle ages, many of these mystical teachings were committed to writing in books like the Zohar. Many of these writings were asserted to be secret ancient writings or compilations of secret ancient writings, and some probably are. It is important to remember, however, that such secret writings that are not the results of public debate in authorative rabbinical courts must never be understood (actually misunderstood) as contradicting the laws that were openly discussed and properly enacted. All too many Jews as a practial matter have rejected the law and have prefered to practice their misunderstandings of Kabbalistic books or their rabbis’ misunderstandings of them. This is simply inexcusable: The proper subject for such writings is why we do what we do when we observe the Torah, not what we need to do to observe the Torah.
Like most subjects of Jewish belief, the area of mysticism is wide open to personal interpretation. Some traditional Jews take mysticism very seriously. Mysticism is an integral part of Chasidic Judaism, for example, and passages from kabbalistic sources are routinely included in traditional prayer books. Other traditional Jews take mysticism with a grain of salt. One prominent Orthodox Jew, when introducing a speaker on the subject of Jewish mysticism, said basically, “it’s nonsense, but it’s Jewish nonsense, and the study of anything Jewish, even nonsense, is worthwhile”. While we do not say that Kabbalah is nonsense, many things said in its name are clearly nonsense.
The mystical school of thought came to be known as Kabbalah, from the Hebrew root Qof-Bet-Lamed, meaning to receive, to accept. The word is usually translated as “tradition”. In Hebrew, the word does not have any of the dark, sinister, evil connotations that it has developed in English. For example, the English word “cabal” (a secret group of conspirators) is derived from the Hebrew word Kabbalah, but neither the Hebrew word nor the mystical doctrines have any evil implications to Jews.
Kabbalah: The Misunderstood Doctrine
Kabbalah is one of the most grossly misunderstood parts of Judaism. Some non-Jews (and even some Jews) describe Kabbalah as “the dark side of Judaism”. Many of these misunderstandings arose largely from distortions of the teachings of Kabbalah by non-Jewish mystics and occultists. Kabbalah was popular among Christian intellectuals during the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods, who reinterpreted its doctrines to fit into their Christian dogma. For example, one such source (the Kabbalah Denudata, commonly available in new age bookstores) states that the Ten Sefirot have something to do with the Christian Trinity because they are sometimes divided up into groups of three, despite that the Sefirot are divided up into many groups of varying numbers, that these groupings overlap, that the grouping he refers to is not comprised of a father, son, and spirit, but of a male, a female, and neutral, and so forth. Others have wrenched kabbalistic symbolism out of context for use in tarot card readings and other forms of divination and magic that were never a part of the original Jewish teachings.
We do not mean to suggest that magic is not a part of Kabbalah. The most hidden, secretive part of Kabbalah, commonly known as “practical Kabbalah”, involves use of hidden knowledge to affect the world in ways that could be described as magic. The Talmud and other sources ascribe supernatural activities to many great rabbis. Some rabbis pronounced a name of God and ascended into heaven to consult with the God and the angels on issues of great public concern. One scholar is said to have created an artificial man by reciting various names of God. Much later stories tell of a rabbi who created a man out of clay and brought it to life by putting in its mouth a piece of paper with a name of God on it. Some of these stories are no doubt untrue, at least as understood literally; but some are true. However, this area of Kabbalah is known by very few, and practiced by even fewer. One great rabbi has said that these practices should be totally avoided, except when the Temple stands; that seems very sound advice to us.
Ein Sof and the Ten Sefirot
To give you an idea of the nature of Kabbalah, we will briefly tell about one of the better known, fundamental concepts of kabbalistic thought: the concept of God as Ein Sof and the Ten Sefirot. This explanation is, at best, a gross oversimplification.
The true essence of God is so transcendent that it cannot be described, except with reference to what it is not. This true essence of God is known in Kabbalah as “Ein Sof”, which literally means without end, which encompasses the idea of His lack of boundaries in both time and space. In this truest form, the Ein Sof is so transcendent that it cannot have any direct interaction with the universe. The Ein Sof is said to interact with the created universe through ten emanations from this essence, known as the Ten Sefirot.
The Sefirot are not deities, as some think by taking this too literally. They are God’s separate created mechanisms for dealing with the world, and they are in contact with the universe in a way that the Ein Sof is not. The Sefirot connect with everything in the universe, including humanity. We would say that the point of the Sefirot is to give an explanation of how God really is ultimately in control of the world, sees all, and rewards and punishes as He sees fit; but he does this by way of these mechanisms, not directly. And do not make the mistake of worshiping them or praying to them or by way of them, as all too many have, as that is idolatry punishable by death, exclusion from the Jewish people, and exclusion from the World to Come.
Suggested Reading
Readings in this area should be undertaken with extreme caution. There is entirely too much literature out there under the name “Kabbalah” that has little or nothing to do with the true Jewish teachings on this subject. Any book on the subject of practical Kabbalah should be disregarded immediately; no legitimate source would ever make such teachings available to a faceless mass audience.
Unless you are an expert in both the whole of the Hebrew Bible and the whole of the Law as summarized in the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah (both in the original Hebrew, not in English translation), you should not even bother about learning Kabbalah.
If you are really serious about Kabbalah, once you have properly qualified yourself by learning Bible and the Law, you must get yourself a teacher that you can work with one-on-one, in person. But be very careful about choosing a teacher, as some will teach you to worship idols in the name of our Holy Torah, as we have witnessed with our own eyes and heard with our own ears! It is distasteful for us to mention this, but we would be irresponsible if we did not warn you.
Yamit, I see that you call the JPS of TaNaKh a “Christian” source. You are REALLY dinged out.
Zohar was written in the Middle Ages, by a Spanish Jew. When asked to produce the “original docunments”, the author’s wife confessed that her husband had made the whole thing up.
Zohar is Judaism’s “Book of Mormon”, a complete fraud. I look forward to the day you return to Judaism.
Oat: I doubt you will read what I have posted but this is small peek at Jewish, view of our sources. I repeat our sources and scripture. If you discard Jewish wisdom and truth and favor ersatz versions of corrupted and false Christianity your choice but know that you cannot sell Christian bullshit here without a Jewish rebuttal in kind. Measure for Measure!!!
Oat con’t:
The HAFTARAH of the week of the attack
Who is this who comes from Edom,
With dyed garments from Bozrah,
This One who is glorious in His apparel,
Traveling in the greatness of His strength?
“I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”
Why is Your apparel red,
And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress?
“I have trodden the winepress alone,
And from the peoples no one was with Me.
So I have trodden them in My anger,
And trampled them in My fury;
Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments,
And I have stained all My robes.
For the day of vengeance is in My heart,
And the year of My redeemed has come.
I looked, but there was no one to help,
And I wondered
That there was no one to uphold;
Therefore My arm brought salvation for Me;
And My own fury, it sustained Me.
I have trodden down the peoples in My anger,
Made them drunk in My fury,
And brought down their strength to the earth.”
This amazing Haftarah, about the Latter Days, was read by some Jewish religious people (which read ‘Hok Le-Israel’) daily at the week of the attack. The other read it together in the synagogue on the Shabath of the week of the attack.
The interpretation of the Haftarah is simple:
Who is this who comes from Edom …?
Edom is always refered in Jewish literature as a Christian Empire (because the people of Edom were exiled by the Assyrian king to Rome, they later become the Romans, and at a later stage adopted the Christian belief as the official Roman religion). So the question is – who comes from the Christian Empire, wearing clothes with blood on them? And the answer:
For the day of vengeance is in My heart, And the year of My redeemed has come.
The Hebrew year of 5752 was one week away from Sep 11th. This is the year when the Jews will be delivered. And that’s the reasoning given.
By no means the implication is not that the terrorist act was an act of Ha-Shem (G-d), but the total destruction and the collapse of the twin towers at WTC must have been made by an intervention from Above, since no one thought that the whole building would collapse (not to mention both of them), even after they were hit (this is why so many rescue forces were killed in the collapse).
And the question is: Why in the United States, which is a friend of the Jewish state. and the answer is given –
I looked, but there was no one to help, And I wondered That there was no one to uphold.
The RADAK (acronym for Rabbi David Kimhy) interpreted this verse hundreds of years ago like this: HaShem (G-d) watches Israel in their trouble (in this case, tens and hundreds of terrorists attacks against Jews in Israel and abroad. There are wounded and killed Israelis almost on a daily basis, men women and little children), and HaShem (G-d) looks around to check whether there is a nation in the world that wants to help Israel, but no one wants to help them. So HaShem (G-d) himself take vengeance from the nations.
That was the RADAK’s interpretation. If we adjust the interpretation to the current events, We would see that HaShem (G-d) saw the not only the nations do not help Israel in the war against terror, but also urging Israel no to retaliate and not to kill terrorist leaders, because it is “improper”. So HaShem (G-d) had given the strike to the same nation that urged Israel not to retaliate, and condemned Israel’s targeted killing of terrorist leaders. Now this nation asks other nations to join her with war against terrorism, and targeting terrorist leaders, and killing (by mistake) hundreds of citizens…
And brought down their strength to the earth
Very simple. WTC twin towers, and the Pentagon – symbols of pride and strength of the US were brought down to the earth.
The ‘prophecies’ of the Ben-Ish-Hay
Haham Yosef Hayim (the ‘Ben-Ish-Hay’) Z.Z.U.K.L. who lived in Baghdad some 150 years ago, and was a great rabbi in Kabbalah Halacha Talmud and all, wrote commentary on Psalms named “Life and Peace”, where he writes commentaries of Psalms by the PARDES (the 4 meaning of the text), and writes many signs of what will happen in the Latter Days:
The severe blow that was transferred to another nation
Psalms 55,19:
G-d will hear, and answer them,
And will bring it back as before
Because do not have a replacement,
And they do not fear G-d
This is his commentary:
If there is a severe blow that is supposed to come on Israel (that was sentenced by HaShem: ‘GZERA’), to be handed over to another nation, to be killed and looted for their sins, and then they repented, and the repentance priored to the creation of the world, the severe blow will be canceled.
But – if the nation (that Israel was supposed to get the blow from) knows HaShem (G-d) and respect Him, and believes in Him, then HaShem (G-d) will allow this nation to give its blow to another nation, as a replacement for Israel. And this is what’s written “G-d will hear and answer them” – answer Israel to cancel the severe blow, because they repented “back as before” – since they did repentance that priored to the creation of the world.
This commentary is amazing because:
A) The timing that is written: ‘before the creation of the world’. The date of the creation of the world is Elul 25th. The date of the attach was Elul 23rd. The attack came ‘before the creation of the world’
B) The interesting implication: This blow was supposed to come, G-d forbids, on Israel. But because of the many people who repented at the last period, the blow was transferred to another nation.
C) The blow was suppose to be given by a nation that “knows and respects” HaShem (G-d). If a blow was supposed to come to Israel, it must have been by the nation of Islam. Since Islam believes in HaShem (G-d) and that there is only one G-d, the blow was not canceled but was transferred to another nation “as a replacement for Israel”. As a KAPARA.
Oat:
The complete list of dates (?)
The book of Haggai is one of the shortest books of prophets in the Bible. He who looks literally in the book thinks that it talks about events before the establishment of the 2nd Temple. But he who looks deeper, and so is the Zohar’s opinion, the verse at Haggai 2,9: “The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former” shows that this is a prophecy for the future.
The book includes a few dates. The most vague date is Elul 24th (at Haggai 1,15: “on the twenty forth day of the sixth month (Elul)”), and that’s because nothing is written that is suppose to happen in this date.
Viewers of the Christian version of Haggai might not pay attention to the fact that this date is vague, because it appears at the end of Chapter 1. The dividing of the Bible to chapters was a late division done by Christians. The more ancient, and accurate division is the Jewish division to PARASHAs. According to this division, Parasha 4 begins at Haggai 1,15 (and ends at Haggai 2,5), and reads as follows:
On the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.
In the seventh month, on the twenty-first of the month, the word of the HaShem came by Haggai the prophet, saying: Speak now …
So the Jewish version further demonstrates that this date has a special meaning. At the night of this date, Elul 24th, the United States had declared official state of war, and recruited the whole world to this war.
Now we understand. This is the key to the dates mentioned in Haggai. It means that the dates are for the war.
The next date that is written is Tishrey 21st (“In the seventh month, on the twenty-first of the month”), the date of the Jewish holy-day “Hosha-na-Raba” (=deliver us please, oh Great One). At the exact night of Tishrey 21st – the war in Afghanistan began! Amazing !!
Nevertheless, Haggai 2, 6 adds about Tishrey 21st: “For thus says HaShem of hosts: Once more I will shake heaven and earth the sea and dry land”. At Tishrey 21st there was an earthquake in Israel (Less than 5 on the Richter scale). It source was in the Arava, in South Israel (“dry land”).
The next date given is Kislev 24th (Haggai 2,10).
Afterwards (not clear if it is on the same date, or on the 24th of another month), it is written that HaShem says (Haggai 2, 21-22):
I am shaking heaven and earth.
I am overthrowing the throne of kingdoms;
I am destroying the strength of the Gentile kingdoms.
I am overthrowing the chariots
And those who ride in them;
The horses and their riders shall come down,
Every one by the sword of his brother
This description is of the end of the Gog and Magog war. The latest phrase: “one by the sword of his brother” emphasizes it, since the same is written at Ezekiel’s prophecy of Gog and Magog war, on Ezekiel 38,21: “Every man’s sword will be against his brother”.
Oat; again you quote Christian sources and not Jewish. Since it is our book and not yours ask any decent Orthodox rabbi for a Jewish explanation then throw your Christian Bullshit where it belongs in the trash!!!
The Zohar: Before Redemption –
Moslems will fight against Christians
The holy Zohar (written some 2000 years ago by rabbi Shim’on Bar-Yoahi ZYA”A), prophesied the next passage (brought in the commentary on Exodus, VaEra parasha, page 32):
And the Ishmaelites shall rule the holy land, at the time when it is empty, for a long time, as their circumcision is empty, and not whole (Moslems only remove the prepuce (ORLA). Jews have another stage for the Brith called PRIAA), and they shall prevent the Israelites from returning to their homeland (Since the beginning of Jewish immigration to Israel, Arabs used violence against the Jews, wars and terror attacks. This still prevents the majority of Jews which is in the Diaspora to make Aliyah to Israel) until that privilege of the Ishmaelites will expire.
And the Ishamelites shall ignite big wars in the world, until they will make the Edomites (which are Christians by Jewish tradition) gather to a war against them.
And shall make wars: one on the sea, one in land and (one) near Jerusalem. And those shall rule over those. And the holy land will not be handed over to the Edomites (Christians).
At that time, one people will be awaken from the end of the world to the big sinful city, and there he will ignite a war that will last three months. And peoples will gather there, and will fall in his hands.
Until all the Edomites (Christians) will gather on him (from all the ends of the world). Then HaShem (G-d) will be awakened on them.
This is the meaning of the writing (Isiah 34,6): “For HaShem has a sacrifice in Bossrah” etc. and at the end of it, it says (Job 38,13): “to take hold of the ends of the earth”
And shall destroy the Ishamelites from us, and will break all the armies of Above, and there shall not remain any army Above for a people of the world, except for the army of Israel exclusively.
This is the meaning of the writing (Psalms 121,5): “HaShem (G-d) is your shadow on your right hand”, because the holy name is in the (spiritual) right side, and the Torah is also in the (spiritual) right side. Therefore all depends on the right side.
And we have learnt orally: He who come to pray, will put his right hand over his left hand, as it was established in Jewish Halacha.
At the Latter Days (Psalms 60): “Deliver your right and answer me”, and at that time it is written (Zefaniah 3): “For then I shall turn to peoples in a clear language, all to call the name of HaShem (G-d), to worship him together”. And it is written (Zechariah 14): “And HaShem (G-d) shall be the King of all the land, on that day HaShem (G-d) will be one, and his name will be one”.
HaShem shall be blessed for ever, Amen and Amen.
We definitely see here an amazing prophecy of Moslems “making troubles” to Jews in the Land of Israel, but – more important – that the Moslems will ignite a war which will bring most of the Christian nations to fight them, as we see the beginning of the process right before our eyes with the Sep. 11 attack and the war in Afghanistan. We know as a fact that bin Laden wanted to start a war with Christianity, because Islam believes that the last war will be made between “believers” (in Islam) and “Romans” (Christians).
The outstanding thing is, that the Zohar was written about 2000 years ago, when Christianity was only in the beginning and Mohammed wasn’t even born yet…
The Zohar: The end of the war
The Zohar, at VaYera parasha, page 119 it is written how this war will end, before the appearance of the Messiah. Pay attention that the Zohar uses the phrase “hailstones” (AVNEY- ELGAVISH), which is the same phrase used at the description of Gog and Magog war (Ezekiel 38,32).
In the 70th, on three (months?), all the kings of the worlds shall gather to the (big) city, and HaShem (G-d) shall awake on them hail and hailstones, and they will be lost from the world. And only the kings that shall not go there will remain in the world, to return for other wars.
From that time the Messiah King will be awakened all over the world, and will gather with him few peoples and few armies from all the edges of the world.
And all of the Israelites will be gathered, in all their places.
In the fallow year wars will occur
(fallow=SHMITA)
The Babylonian Talmud talks in big extent on “Sanhedrin” about the time when the redemption will come, and the Messiah will appear (see more details on the redemption year signs page). It is written there that on the fallow year (SHNAT SHMITA) which will be one year before the appearance of the Messiah, there shall be wars.
The year of 5761 was a fallow year. Just at the beginning of this Hebrew year, The Arabs in the holy land started what they call “Al-Aqsa Intifada”. The terrorist attack came on the last week of the year.
It’s interesting to mention, that based on this prophecy of the Talmud, Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak of the Shofar organization said in a public appearance in Britain just 2 days before the attack on the US, that before the end of the Hebrew year (which was just 10 days away) a major war will emerge. A skeptic man in the crowd asked him how can he know this for certain. The Rabbi answered – “I am basing my words on Jewish writings throughout the centuries”. 2 days later he proved to be right…
Gog and Magog begins in Tishrey
(Rabbi Daniel Zer SHLITA)
The rabbi “Hafetz-Hayim”,is the author of the “Mishna Brura” (a commentary of the Shulhan Aruch, the book that summarizes Jewish Halacha), who lived at the beginning of the 20th century,
As it is known, in the holy festival of Succoth (Tishrey 15-22), according to Jewish Halacha, Jews in the synagogues read the Ezekiel 38 – the description of Gog and Magog war. The Haftarah is called “Gog” Haftarah. The Rabbi Hafetz Hayim, wrote in his commentary WHY this is what we read in Succoth:
Because in the time to come, the Gog and Magog war will start on Tishrey
And we all now that the war in Afghanistan broke on Tishrey 21st
Gog and Magog begins in Hosha-Na
(Rabbi Daniel Zer SHLITA)
The famous Rabbi called the ADMOR of Zejichov, who lived some 200 years ago, wrote in his book a commentary about Exodus 4,13. The rabbi asks, how come the word “NA” (which is translated in English to ‘please’) is written in the verse. And he writes:
Know this: Gog and Magog war will start at Hosha-Na Raba
And as he foresaw, the war broke EXACTLY at Tishrey 21st, which is Hosha-Na Raba. 9/11
The terrorist attach on the US had actually triggered the war, which according to the ancient writing that we have, is the Gog and Magog war, the same war that is mentioned by Ezekiel (38-39) and by many other prophets. This page demonstrates how the terrorist attack on the US does indicate the start of the great last war, Gog and Magog war, and also details what's supposed to happen is this war.Midrash: Terror in a big city before Redemption
The YALKUT SHIM'ONI, which is a collection of Jewish ancient rabbis (HAZAL/RAZAL) brings in "clue 506" a commentary on the Haftarah that was read in synagogues on the exact week when the terrorist attack occurred. This is the commentary according to the old Midrash ("Pirkey Rabbi Elie'zer"):
Rabbi Ishmael says: The Ishmaelites shall make three wars of panic in the Latter Days, as it is written (Isiah 21,15): "For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword".
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One in the sea (there): "from the bent bow"
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One in land (there): "from the drawn sword"
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One in a big city, which is heavier than both, as it is written: "from the distress of war"
And then [the Messiah] son of [King] David shall emerge, and will show us the destruction of those and those, and will come from there to the Land of Israel, as it is written (Isiah 63): "Who is it who comes from Edom" etc.
When HaShem (G-d) comes from Edom, the SHARET angels come before him and find his closes red as scarlet. They say (there): "Why is your apparel red". He says to them, I had a small winepress and I have trodden it, as it is said (there): "I have trodden the winepress alone". At the same time, HaShem (G-d) takes all of the sins of Israel and puts them on the evil Esau, as it is written...
This extraordinary Midrash, from about 2000 years ago, describes in a clear manner an amazing thing: The Islamic Terror (Ishmaelite=Arabs and Islam in Jewish tradition, "war of panic" must be terrorist attacks, not ordinary war) will eventually strike a huge city (Hebrew phrase: "KRACH"), and that will be the last war that the Ishmaelites will start, and after this war - the Messiah will be revealed, and the people of Israel shall see destruction of two great religions.
It is interesting, that about the question of what happens with the sins of the people of Israel, it is written that HaShem (G-d) is transferring all the sins of Israel to Esau, which in Jewish tradition represents Christianity. This resembles the Ben-Ish-Hay prophecy about the big blow that was transferred before Elul 25th
I don’t know how often I have to repeat the obvious: Turkey is a Moslem nation, with historical designs on Israel. Let me quote from Ezekiel 38:
Yamit says this will be a battle between the US and Russia; but you really need a cipher book to get that from the scriptures. What is written is very plain; all the nations mentioned existed in the Middle East in Ezekiel’s time, and we have a fairly good idea where they were:
1. Gog. This was Beth Gyges, the ruling house of Lydia, named after Croesus’ ancestor. Croesus was proclaimed by his contemporaries to have been the richest man in the world. Lydia covered what is now western Turkey, and Croesus held sway (was the “chief ruler” over smaller kingdoms in eastern Turkey:
2. The Land of Magog. This land is probably the least defined of all the places once inhabited by the sons of Japheth. It is always associated with Meshech, Tubal and Gomer (in Eastern Turkey, see below), Javan (Ionia, or the formerly Greek western coast of Turkey — and by extension, the Greeks) and Tiras (from whom we get the names Thrace, Troy and the Tyrrhenian Sea. They were the “Sea Peoples”, or “Pelasgians” mentioned by Heroditus and others).
3. Meshech & Tubal. These people lived in southern Turkey, just north of the Taurus Mountains; they were mentioned by their neighbors such as the Assyrians
4. Gomer. These were the Cimmerrii, who used to live on the Ukrainian steppes; but by Ezekiel’s time, they had been driven into north and northeastern Turkey. Josephus identified them with the Galatians, though the Galatians were Gauls who invaded the area later.
5. Beth Togarmah. The ancient Til Gurmu, in what was then Armenia (in far eastern Turkey, now part of Turkish Kurdistan).
Put all the above together, of course, and you have modern Turkey. Now for their allies:
1. Persia. In a word, Iran — the Parsi majority there.
2. Cush. Sudan, site of ancient Nubia.
3. Put. Probably the modern Puntland, a semi-independent state in eastern Somalia.
I think you can see the rough map of this coalition. It consists of Israel’s declared enemies (Iran, Sudan and Somalia); along with one, the leading nation of the group, which has been sliding closer into this camp every year: Turkey. Iraq is not mentioned, because it is American-occupied now, and will likely be torn apart by its neighbors if we leave. Syria & Lebanon likewise aren’t mentioned — They don’t have to be, seeing that they are becoming Iranian puppets. Egypt and Jordan have treaties with Israel.
All in all, Ezekiel 38 is a picture of the Middle East today, with the notable exception of Turkey. That may change soon.
Shalom shalom 🙂