Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: Jewish prayer

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Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Even Selichot prove you cannot separate Judaism from love of Zion

During the weeks before Yom Kippur, Jews throughout the world add special supplications to prayers called Selichot. The theme of Selichot is repentance and praying for forgiveness. But even within that theme, you cannot separate Judaism from the longing for Zion that comes in all prayers.

Here are some of the selections from today's Selichot (Nusach Ashkenaz):

The Lord is great and highly extolled in the city of our God, the mountain of His Sanctuary. Beautiful in its panoramic vista, the joy of all the earth is Mount Zion, on the northern edge [of Jerusalem] the city of the great King. Do good as You see fit, to Zion, may You rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Turn away Your anger and Your rage from Your city, Jerusalem, Your holy mountain. To recount in Zion, the Name, Lord, and His praise in Jerusalem. And may the Lord be pleased with the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem as in the days of old and in earlier years. The builder of Jerusalem is the Lord, the banished ones of Israel, He will gather. For the Lord will not cast off His people, and His inheritance, He will not abandon.

Then comes an entire piyyut (poem) with 23 stanzas, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet, all discussing the Jewish longing for Jerusalem and its rebuilding.

[Inhabitants] of Jerusalem, praise the Lord. O God, exalted with myriads of [angelic] hosts, seeking its welfare from the beginning to the end [of the year] providing it with benevolent rain. Your beautiful daughters [without sin] are like the corner of a king’s palace which are adorned with decorations. Open your mouths and sing together ruins of Jerusalem [when you are rebuilt].

One stanza even refers to the Stone that is the rock of the Dome of the Rock.

Let Jerusalem be called the throne of God in the coming times. The precious stone (the Temple’s foundation) will be recognized by throngs for its grace when all Israel comes to be seen when they beseech the Lord of Hosts [for His kindness] in Jerusalem.

I would bet that this poem alone mentions Jerusalem more times than all of published Arabic poetry between the 10th and 19th centuries combined.

And then in every day of Selichot we say:

Remember Your congregation which You have acquired of old, You have redeemed the tribe of Your inheritance, this mountain of Zion where You have dwelled. Remember, oh Lord, the affection of Jerusalem, the love of Zion, forget not until eternity. Remember, oh Lord,, to the sons of Edom, the day of Jerusalem, [it was they] who said, “Raze it, raze it to its very foundations.” You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to be gracious to her, for the appointed time has come.

One can understand that the Kinot - the poems said on Tisha B'Av - would be filled with references to Jerusalem and Zion. But Jewish prayers and poems, piyyutim and pesukim quoted, are intertwined with Jerusalem and Zion and the longing for the Land of Israel. While we do pray for personal things, Jewish prayers also ask for national redemption. Even the short prayer for rain is asking for rain in Israel, not the Diaspora.

Judaism without Israel is simply not Judaism. "Anti-Zionist Judaism" is an oxymoron.

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1639: The Jews of Jerusalem escape destruction when their prayers end a drought

This story was written as an appendix to "AN INFORMATION, CONCERNING The Present STATE OF THE JEWISH NATION IN EƲROPE and JƲDEA," probably written by Henry Jessey of England in 1658.

The state of the Jews at Jerusalem hath been many hundred years of late such, as that they ever lived of the supply and Contributions from their brethren abroad; because the place doth yield but little occasion for them to maintain themselves: and besides those that betake themselves thither, are either Old men or Women, only to do penitency and lay down their bones near the Sepulchers of their fore-fathers: or of younger men that for respect to the holiness of the place (as supposing God to be nearer there, and that all prayers must needs ascend that way into heaven) come thither, there to ply devotion and penitency for the sins of themselves and the whole Nation: and therefore cannot attend any trading, but all their time is taken up with praying, reading and hearing Sermons; as also with fastings and watchings and the like penitential Exercises: which intent and endeavours their Brethren abroad amongst the Nations well knowing, and with all desiring to keep (as it were) possession, or at least a footing in Jerusalem, and to shew their holiness till a full restitution come, have been ever willing to uphold them in it: and to that purpose, wherever any Synagogues of Jews are, on every Sabbath-day a Collection is made for the poor at Jerusalem; and what so is gathered, they are to send thither every year., therefore the Jews of Poland, &c. By the Turks (and especially their debts made for want of supply amongst the Citizens) being rigorously exacted, they were haled into prison, &c.

An Instance hereof is this, that in the year 5399. from the Creation, which is now nineteen years ago, there was a great drought in Jerusalem, which had put all Inhabitants to prayers, the Necessity being extream: but the worst of all was this, that an apostated Jew going out to the Turks, persuaded unto the then Bassa, the Lord Mahomet Bassa, that the sole cause that the heaven were shut up, were the Jews by reason of their disobedience unto God; whereupon an Edict was put forth, commanding all Jews, great and small, young and old, to be cast out of the Town presently.

Whereupon some eight of their Eldest were sent up to the said Bassa: which Eldest with great Expences bestowed partly on the Bassa, and partly on his Consellours, had much to do, to crave only three dayes delay: If perhaps within that time the Lord should accept of their prayers and penitency: If not, and that the Lord gave no Rain, he might do with him what he pleased.

This being so stated, it was proclaimed throughout the City, that if within three days no rain came, all the Jews should be expelled, and their goods made prize to the Turks: and whosoever should be found remaining, was to be killed.

Hence arose a doleful lamentation amongst the Jews: a continual fasting for those three nights and days was put upon all, except Babes and Women with Child or in Child-bed, who were bound only to one day and night: So they prayed and humbled themselves all that while with great Cries and Weepings, so that the voice of it was heard throughout the City; and on the Evening on the second day, they seeing no likely-hood their prayers should be heard, and judging their sins to be too great, they took a Resolution, like to Saul, rather to kill one another, one Brother the other, the Father his Children, the Husband his Wife, &c. then to suffer themselves to be polluted by the merciless Turks.

Yet one thing they would first request of the Bassa. viz. That they might all go out to the Sepulchre of the Prophet Zacharia, which was out of the Town, and whither they could not come without his consent. So one R. Emanuel Albachry was sent unto him, who hearing of their desperate Resolutions pitied them and said, Go ye and make your prayers there, if perhaps God might hear you and save you from being killed.

So on the morning of the third day early, all went forth and laid themselves down at the Sepulchre of Zacharia, and there wept bitterly. One R. Asaria made a very pathetical Sermon, and caused all the people to weep, and so did R. Meyer likewise. And at Length arose one R. Samuel, who put the people in mind of the sins of their forefathers, and against this Prophet, at whose Tomb they now were prostrated, how they arose against him, and stoned him most cruelly: how (said he,) shall we here obtain mercy at his feet, seeing our Fathers had no mercy on him? At which words the people wept bitterly, and struck their hands together, and poured out tears as water, and lift up their voices, men and women, young and old: and the Lord remembered.

These are the words of R. Samuel Ben Seth, as the next page show his surety: and he made this R. Samuel to think on the words of the Prophet Elijah on the Mount Carmel, when he said to his man go up and see, &c. and therefore commanded the people to go seven times round about the Sepulchre, at the first Circuition he ordained Psalm 24. and certain prayers to be pronounced; at the second he assigned Psalm 48. and other prayers, and so at each of the seven Circuits some peculiar Psalm and prayer till the Vespertime came. And then the people going forth saw a little Cloud on the West side of Heaven as large as the palm of a hand.

That very day it had been very hot, even as it had been Mid Summer, so that no man could have believed any rain could have fallen that day; which made that the Turks had already gathered up stones, wherewith they thought to have stone the Jews at their return into the City: But such was God's providence that even that day before Sun-setting the said Cloud grew thick, and a wind began to blow, and then came Thundering, and Lightning, and such a blessed shown of Rain, that in two or three hours all the Cisterns were brim-full; so that for the Rains sake the Jews were forced to remain that whole Night in Holes and Concavities of the Sepulchre. And when on the next morning the Women went first of all toward Jerusalem, the Turkish Women met them by the way, and Congratulated them, that God had heard their prayers; and so likewise many of the Chief Turks met with the men, and brought them some presents of fruits and Confitures; and the Bassa bestowed a suite of apparel on every one of their Rabbis.

This is an extract drawn out of an Authentique Copie, written by the said R. Samuel, and signed by all the Elders of the High-Dutch Synagoge at Jerusalem, 1657. April. 22. An other Instance of the same kind we could add of the year (as we count) 1651. and another yet since while Rab. Nathan was here; but this afore mentioned being most Considerable and most Authentical, and exactly pend, whereas the others are but received by word of mouth, we shall here desist. This being sufficient to manifest unto us, that however despised this people is by men, yet that the Lord doth yet own them and accept of their prayers, when none but he can help, when ever with a penitent and contrite heart they repent of their sins and call for mercy, as we have seen here at the Sepulchre of the Prophet Zachary.

Some say the events happened in 1651, others say 1639 which seems more in line with this narrative (5399 Hebrew year.)

The book also describes how poverty-stricken the Jews of Jerusalem were, relying on charity from Jews in Europe. It describes how Christians contributed to their welfare one year when they were punished by the Ottoman authorities for not coming up with the amount of taxes they normally were able to raise because of a war in Poland, causing controversy since the Christians were known for wanting to convert all the Jews, but the fundraiser rabbi assured Jerusalem's Jews that this was voluntary - he hadn't asked for the money - and there were no strings attached.

[S]ince the desolation, brought by war upon Poland, and the other parts, whence that supply was sent unto them, they have been in great extremity of want; insomuch, that in the year one thousand six hundred to death, and the taxes laid upon them by the Turks, being rigorously exacted, they were haled into prison, their Synagogues were shut up, their Rabbi's and Elders beaten and cruelly used. So that to find relief, because none came from Poland, Lithuania, and other parts of Europe, by the late war, and none could be had in those parts form their own, by reason of the general Pressures, which the Turks without Mercy laid upon them all, they send two of their chief Rabbi's to their Brethren in Europe, to acquaint them with their state, and to desire some help from them. The chief of the Rabbi's was called Nathan Saphira, son to the high Lord, Ruben David Tavel, a man of great learning, and skill in their Cabala, and of a very pious, holy and humble disposition, who coming with his companion from Jerusalem upon this errand, and finding at Amsterdam little relief from the Portugal Jews, became accidentally acquainted with some of our Christian friends, who pitied their Condition, and were of their own accord moved to procure some relief unto them among their other Christian friends...

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The Turkish leader who banned Jews from the Kotel in 1915

The American Jewish Yearbook for 1916 described several events about the Kotel that year, all of which were ascribed to Djemal Pasha, the military governor of Syria (which included Palestine) at that time.

JUNE 11 1915. Djemal Pasha examines reports of various Zionist congresses and other Zionist literature, and warns Jewish colonists that despite their success in the past the Government would in future make establishment of colonies more difficult.

JUNE 18 - Djemal Pasha prohibits Jews to pray at the Wailing Wall, because their prayers include plea for the re-establishment of Jewish State.

AUGUST 13. Djemal Pasha announces that the Government has become convinced of the necessity of destroying the entire Jewish colonization work in order that the colonies should not become a danger to the integrity of Turkey.

NOVEMBER 2. Jaffa Hebrew weekly, Hapoel Hazair, reports that Djemal Pasha, commander of Turkish Army, orders barricade to be placed across approach to Wailing Wall, thus preventing Jews from visiting it. Order said to be based on sanitary grounds.

MARCH 3 (1916) . Djemal Pasha offers to give Jews free access to Wailing Wall for from eighty thousand to one hundred thousand francs.

Pasha was a monster, killing Arab leaders right and left, and possibly involved in the Armenian genocide. But I hadn't heard abut restrictions at the Kotel in the 1910s, and notice that he gave different reasons to bar Jews - both because they always pray for Jerusalem to be rebuilt and then the bogus "sanitary reasons," before deciding to shake down the Jews to pay for the privilege of praying there.

I confirmed a couple of these incidents:

This December 1915 article adds that Pasha considered all Jews in Palestine to be spies, and his Turkish authorities stole charity funds intended for impoverished Jews:

Also December 1915:

March 1916 news articles in Jewish newspapers confirmed the desire to charge an exorbitant fee to visit the Kotel in Jerusalem:

100,000 French francs in 1916 was worth about $17,000 US dollars at the time - which is equivalent today to $470,000, a truly exorbitant amount.

I don't see any indication that this was paid. I see photos of Jews at the Kotel in 1917 before the British took over. Either that particular story was a rumor, Djemal Pasha didn't enforce it or somehow an amount was paid quietly.

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The eternal Jewish attachment to the Land of Israel can be proven by a single word

Anti-Zionists like to claim that Jews have no right to Israel because they were absent from the land for so long, and therefore the rights have been extinguished over time.

The proof they are wrong, of course, is that Jews have always maintained our emotional attachment to the Land of Israel. Our absence from the land was forced upon us and not a choice. The most famous example is the phrase at the end of the Passover seder and at the end of Yom Kippur services, "Next Year in Jerusalem!"

And, of course, every day, Jews in their prayers ask God to restore us to the Land and rebuild the Temple.

However, that argument has a flaw. Those examples may prove only that Jews want the Messiah to arrive and then return to the land of our forefathers. But what abut the ongoing attachment to the land in the two thousand years of diaspora? How can the ties that each Jew has in each generation, not a theoretical future, be proven?

This attachment can be proven by a single Hebrew word, and that word is אַרְצֵֽנו.

"Artzeinu" means "our land. " It is used about a half dozen times in the Hebrew scriptures, but the use of the word multiplied after our exile began.

Almost invariably, the term "our land" in Jewish literature refers to the Land of Israel - and no other.

The Sefaria database of Jewish texts finds אַרְצֵֽנו is used scores of times in the Talmud, 145 times in the Medrash, dozens of times in Jewish liturgy and hundreds of times in Jewish legal texts. And the passage of time does not lessen the use of the word - on the contrary, it can be found in texts written in the 19th and 20th centuries as well, by scholars who were not Zionist at the time.

From Psalms: "The LORD also bestows His bounty; our land yields its produce."

To the Mishna: "One who sees a place from which idolatry was eradicated recites: Blessed…Who eradicated idolatry from our land."

To the Talmud:"Rav Ḥisda said to Rav Yitzḥak: This balsam oil, what blessing does one recite over it? Rav Yitzḥak said to him, this is what Rav Yehuda said: One recites: Who creates the oil of our land, as balsam only grew in Eretz Yisrael, in the Jordan valley."

To the Grace After Meals: "May the All-merciful break the yoke from off our neck, and lead us upright to our land."

To Maimonides: "It is forbidden to sell [non-Jews] homes and fields in Eretz Yisrael....It is permitted to sell them houses and fields in the Diaspora, because it is not our land."

To the Chofetz Chaim (early 20th century) saying that the sin of loshon hora, speaking negatively about others, is "so severe as to have caused us to be exiled from our land!"

And on and on, through commentaries, works of philosophy, and responsa literature.

There is no need to qualify the term to say "our land of Israel" or to give it any other name. The phrase "our land" needs no explanation to the Jewish people that read these texts. Everyone knows what "artzeinu" refers to. No one would think for a second that "our land" refers to Babylonia or Egypt or Poland or Lithuania or anywhere else the authors and writers lived.

No matter how far we moved away, how much we were dispersed, how bleak the future looked, Jews always knew that there was a land - and only one land - that is ours.

And this one word, used in so many ways by Jews throughout history but always with the same meaning, proves it.

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Every time anti-Israel activists sing "lo yisa goy" it is a self-own

IfNotNow tweeted on Sunday, "BREAKING: 13 Jewish IfNotNow activists were just attacked by security at the Israel Bonds Conference as they prayed Maariv to protest the visit by genocidal Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who called for a Palestinian town to be wiped out."

The video doesn't show them praying Ma'ariv. It shows them singing one of their favorite songs, "Lo Yisa Goy."

They love the song because the translated lyrics mean, "Nation shall not take up sword against nation; they shall never again know war. "

The verse is from Isaiah 2:4, where the prophecy describes Messianic times.

But what does it say before this part?

In the days to come, The Mount of the LORD’s House shall stand firm above the mountains and tower above the hills; and all the nations shall gaze on it with joy..And the many peoples shall go and say, "Come, Let us go up to the Mount of the LORD, to the House of the God of Jacob; that He may instruct us in His ways, and that we may walk in His paths. For the Torah shall come forth from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem."

Before there can be the peace described in the song, the world must recognize that the Lord of Israel is the true God and the Temple will have to be rebuilt - on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Zion.

I don't think that IfNotNow's Palestinian friends want them to sing that message.

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Self-described Zionist rabbi refusing to say the prayer for the welfare of Israel doesn't make sense

Jodi Rudoren, editor in chief of the Forward, sent out in her weekly Friday newsletter:

When Ansche Chesed, a Conservative synagogue in the liberal bastion of Manhattan’s Upper West Side, convenes for Shabbat services tomorrow, three familiar words will not be recited from the bimah: raishit smichat gi’ulateinu.

Hebrew for “the initial sprouting of our redemption,” it’s the signature line from the Prayer for the State of Israel that Jews worldwide have been saying each week since shortly after the modern state was founded almost 75 years ago. But Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky, Ansche Chesed’s longtime leader, feels he can no longer honestly and full-throatedly pray for the success of Israel's leaders, ministers and advisers, as this liturgy calls for, since its new government includes right-wing extremists he considers akin to the Ku Klux Klan.

“I don't hope that this government succeeds; I hope that this government falls and is replaced by something better,” he explained in an interview. “I just could not imagine us saying this prayer that their efforts be successful. I think their efforts are dastardly.”

Rabbi Kalmanofsky is a staunch, lifelong Zionist — a liberal Zionist, as most American Jews would describe themselves, but also a religious Zionist, in the sense of seeing a Jewish homeland in the holy land as a fulfillment of a fundamental tenet of our faith, which makes the radicalization of Israel's Religious Zionist party feel particularly personal for him.

Rabbi Kalmanofsky did not think it was enough to join hundreds of his colleagues in signing a letter last month vowing not to let the Religious Zionist party's leaders speak at their synagogues....

These facts do not fit together: claiming to be a Zionist from a religious perspective and refusing to say the Prayer for the Welfare of the State of Israel because it is a prayer that the government succeeds. Because that is not what the prayer says.

It says,

Our father in Shamayim (Heaven),
Rock-fortress and redeemer of Yisra’el —
bless the State of Israel,
the initial sprouting of our redemption.
Shield her beneath the wings of your lovingkindness;
spread over her your Sukkah of peace;
send your light and your truth to its leaders, officers, and counselors,
and correct them with your good counsel.

That is not at all inconsistent with being against some ministers. The prayer asks God to help them make the correct decisions.

If Rabbi Kalmanofsky doesn't think that God has the power to guide Israel's ministers to do the right thing, then his theology is suspect.

The other part that makes little sense is that Kalmanofsky, while claiming to be a liberal, religious, Zionist in his letter to the congregation, also signed the letter that said that he would actively oppose not only the right-wing MKs from speaking at their own congregations, but protest them if they are speaking at any synagogue in their communities. Of course every synagogue can choose whom they allow to speak at their own temples, but even imagining that they would picket the (presumably Orthodox) shuls that might consider these MKs to be worth listening to is a huge chilul Hashem - public desecration of God's name that makes all Jews look bad. I have never seen Orthodox congregations picket outside Reform or Conservative temples for any reason, even though they invite speakers and have activities that are thoroughly offensive to many Orthodox Jews. The thought of such a protest being broadcast in the evening news is anathema to anyone who claims to care about klal Yisrael, the Jewish community.

Rabbi Kalmanofsky says the right things about his love for and support for Israel, but it simply doesn't jive with these two letters. He does not seem like an extremist or a fanatic, but his actions are as divisive and improper as those of BDSers.

I tweeted a response to him on Friday making my point about the prayer, but he did not respond.

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Moroccan Jews pray for rain in the Kingdom, and it is in the forecast

Various Moroccan media report:

On Saturday, the Moroccan Jewish community held prayers for rain in all synagogues in the Kingdom, praying to the Almighty to bestow rain on the country.

A communiqué of the Council of Jewish Communities in Morocco stated that holding the rain prayer comes in implementation of the lofty instructions of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Commander of the Faithful, may God grant him victory.

In its communiqué, the Council stated that, in implementation of the high instructions of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Commander of the Faithful, the rain prayer was held on Saturday, December 3, 2022, in all temples in the Kingdom, as a request from the Almighty to grant relief to all parts of the Kingdom.

It is noteworthy that on November 29, the prayer for rain was held in chapels and mosques in the various regions and regions of the Kingdom, in implementation of the Royal Mawlawi order of the Commander of the Faithful, His Majesty King Mohammed VI, in accordance with the Sunnah of his grandfather, the Chosen One, may God bless him and grant him peace, in praying for rain whenever the rain withheld.

Rain was forecast this week, so maybe the Jewish prayers are more effective than the Muslim ones.

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Last night's battle in Nablus proves that Palestinian nationalism is just repackaged antisemitism

Palestinian terror apologists like to say to clueless Westerners, "Don't Palestinians have the right to defend themselves?"

On the surface, it sounds like a reasonable question. Only when you know a little about what's going on do you realize that shooting rockets at civilians is in no way "self defense." It is terror.

We now have proof positive that Palestinians are not motivated by self defense but by Jew-hatred.

Palestinian armed groups announced on Tuesday afternoon that they intended to start a battle in Nablus last night.

The reason? To stop Jews from performing "Talmudic prayers" at Joseph's Tomb.

The IDF entered Nablus last night, not to arrest a wanted militant, or to frustrate a planned terror attack. Unlike most incursions, this one was known to all ahead of time. Because the terrorists knew that the Jewish pilgrims were visiting and they wanted to stop them from visiting, and that the IDF would be there to protect them.

The terrorists - part of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which is part of the Fatah group headed by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas - started shooting towards the worshipers. The IDF fired back.

One of the attackers was apparently killed when the homemade bomb he was holding exploded before he could throw it to the IDF, although the specific circumstances are unclear - the IDF admits to shooting towards him.

The dead terrorist was apparently 15 years old, although some Palestinian media say he was 17. Either way, he was a child soldier - another little fact that won't get mentioned by self-proclaimed progressives whose interest in such matters vanishes when it comes to Palestinian antisemites.

There was no pretense of "self defense." The entire reason to attack, freely admitted by the Palestinians themselves, was to stop Jewish prayer at a Jewish pilgrimage site.

It is pure hatred of Jews and denial of Jewish rights.

In fact, the terrorists complained that the Jewish pilgrims apparently didn't arrive on buses, as they usually do, but in armored vehicles - making it more difficult for them to kill Jews.

This isn't "self defense." This is hate for Jews.

_________________________________________________________

A few more points:

Under existing agreements, Jews should have the right to freely visit Joseph's Tomb anytime they want without fear of being fired upon. Clearly, the Palestinian Authority has not held up their end of the deal.'

Usually, Palestinians pretend that the site isn't really Joseph's tomb, but a tomb of a Muslim scholar coincidentally named Joseph (Yusuf) as well. But Iranian media, reporting this story, refers to the site as the tomb of The Prophet Joseph, meaning that they agree that this is a Jewish holy site.

Whether it is indeed the exact site of Joseph's real burial place is controversial, but there is no doubt that Jews have been visiting and praying at this site for hundreds of years, as this 1839 account attests - and local Muslims in the 19th century didn't dispute that this was Joseph's burial spot.

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Another day, another threat of war if Jews are given equal rights

Ra’am party leader Mansour Abbas says that allowing Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount “will lead to war.”

Threatening war is a time-honored Muslim tradition, and even though they have made such threats hundreds of times over the past 150 years without any resulting war occurring, it never fails to frighten the West.

I noted that Rabbi Eric Yoffie, former leader of the US Reform Judaism movement, has himself campaigned against Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount because he is frightened of a holy war.

Equal rights is important - but submitting to constant Muslim threats of war is more important.

Can you imagine anyone saying that Blacks shouldn't have equal rights because white supremacists would resort to violence?

It is outrageous - but that is mainstream thinking when it comes to Jewish rights to the holiest Jewish spot.

Fortunately, we know that Jews have been praying on the Temple Mount from the early days of Muslim rule, without any war breaking out.

The Los Angeles Times noted that Jews visiting the Temple Mount would sometimes pray aloud ten years ago.

Unofficially, Jews have been praying on the Temple Mount with a prayer quorum starting about six years ago.

I myself was privileged to join such a gathering in 2019.

Despite headlines in Arabic media about "Jews storming Al Aqsa to perform Talmudic rituals," literally every weekday for many years, that feared holy war has not materialized.

But, according to the "experts," the remote threat is still more important than the human rights of Jews to worship in their holiest place.

And the people who scream all day about how Israel violates international law seem to lose interest in international law when it supports Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.

This has nothing to do with Zionism. This is pure antisemitism - and it is antisemitism that is supported by much of the world, using the excuse of worries about Muslim threats of war.

Which just proves that the people who pretend to care about equal rights, international law and fairness are quite happy to not only excuse antisemitic positions, but to adopt those positions themselves.

There's always an excuse for antisemitism.

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Without evidence, Palestinians warn Jews want to build a synagogue in Qattanin Market

Lately, Palestinian media have been warning that Israel plans to convert the famous Qattanin (Cotton) market, adjacent to the Temple Mount, into a synagogue.

Apparently, Jews went to pray there during Sukkot and to avoid friction the Jerusalem authorities closed the stores in the market for several morning hours. (Arab media say that their lulavim and etrogim were "vegetable offerings.")

Different "experts" have come to the same conclusion, all without pointing to any evidence.

Palinfo says: "Al-Maqdisi researcher Radwan Amr said, in a press statement, that the occupation and settlement groups are working to transform the Qattanin Market into a roofed synagogue."

Felesteen says, "The occupation is trying to convert it into a synagogue, according to the head of the Jerusalem Committee against Judaization Nasser Al-Hidmi."

Masa News says, "The researcher in Jerusalem affairs, Fakhri Abu Diab, told Safa news agency that the occupation and the alleged temple groups are keeping their eyes on the Qattanin market, as it is the closest to Al-Aqsa Mosque and a main view of the Dome of the Rock."

Three different "experts" coming to the sane conclusion at the same time? It sounds like another orchestrated rumor meant to rile up Muslims.

There is an inexhaustible supply of both rumors to incite against Jews and an inexhaustible appetite for such rumors.

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Elder Comix: When the Left realizes that they hate most Jews

Inspired by this.

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The Palestinian Authority is officially antisemitic. It calls all Jewish prayer "racist Talmudic rituals."

The Kotel last week during Sukkot

The official Palestinian Authority news agency Wafa, which reflects the official Palestinian Authority positions, reported about Jews worshipping at the Kotel, the Western Wall on Saturday.

Not on the Temple Mount - but the Western Wall that Jews visit and pray at every single day.

The article says:

Hundreds of settlers performed today, Saturday, racist Talmudic rituals, at Al-Buraq Wall (the western wall of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque) .

Our correspondent reported that hundreds of settlers stormed the western area of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and performed Talmudic rituals, on the sixth day of the Hebrew "Sukkot", under the strict protection of the Israeli occupation forces, which launched a reconnaissance plane in the sky of the city .

There is no difference between the Shabbat prayers yesterday at the Kotel from the prayers at every traditional synagogue on Earth.

The official position of the Palestinian Authority is that every Jew who visits the Kotel is a "settler."

The official position of the Palestinian Authority is that every Jew who visits the Kotel is has no right to be there and is "storming" a Muslim site.

The official position of the Palestinian Authority is that the term "Talmudic," which is the source for virtually every detailed Jewish law from kosher to Chanukah, is an epithet.

The official position of the Palestinian Authority is that everyday Jewish prayer said daily, worldwide, is considered "racist Talmudic rituals."

Wafa has previously used the phrase "racist Talmudic rituals" to describe Jewish prayer, but up until now it was always in the context of Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount. This is the first time, as far as I can tell, that they are mimicking the same antisemitic language attacking Jewish worship on the Temple Mount to apply to the Kotel as well.

By extending its bigoted language to apply to mainstream Jewish worship at the Western Wall, the PA is saying that all Jewish worship is racist and therefore immoral.

This is officially sanctioned antisemitism, and officially sanctioned antisemitic incitement, by the Palestinian Authority.

It is undeniable - and indefensible.

Which means that it will be almost certainly be roundly ignored.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

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Vatikin Minyan: Where the Seats and the Light are Free (Judean Rose)

(photo: Aharon Epstein)

Vatikin—the sunrise prayer service—was a revelation. I’d thought about it before—about getting up at the crack of dawn to pray with the faithful on the High Holidays. And the idea held some appeal. I liked the idea that I’d be finished with the endless hours of holiday prayer way before the rest of my family. I’ve always been the sort of person who prefers to get things out of the way.

I pictured it like this: I’d finish davening and be free as a bird. I could see myself in that space, in the afterglow of duty fulfilled. I could wiggle my toes and rest on the cool bed linen to rest until the afternoon meal.

I also just liked imagining myself as someone who rushes to shul to beg for another year from God, the very moment when it becomes possible to do so. I liked seeing myself as a zealot, at least in this matter if not in others. But the idea remained something I toyed with only. Vatikin was for me, a vague temptation, but not an altogether persuasive one. My bed was too comfortable, the hour of departure too dark. I’d stay in bed rather than stumble about and wake everyone, possibly hurting myself in the process of getting to shul on time.

The catch was that a seat in shul costs a hefty sum. And while our 12 kids are now grown, back then, finding a way to seat us all was a serious problem. You would have had to be a millionaire to pay for 14 seats. And so I decided to give the sunrise minyan a try, because the seats at the Vatikin minyan are free.

As it turned out, I liked the Vatikin service for its own sake, irrespective of cost or lack of same. In a Vatikin minyan, every congregant is absorbed in the act of prayer. No one is yawning with boredom or riffling the pages of the mahzor prayer book to see how much longer we have to mumble before we can go home and eat.

Vatikin is a pleasure. It’s prayer without vanity or status. You wear your comfortable shoes because prayer—and not your Manolo Blahniks—are what counts. It's one of the pleasures of Vatikin that begin before you even get to shul. Imagine —if you are of the gender that wears them—not having to walk to shul in heels.

As a child I was a morning person, who liked to greet the sun and the promise of the new day ahead. But the dark was equally enchanting. The night was fireflies blinking in your hands and the hope that our mothers would give us a little longer before calling us in for bedtime. Night was both quiet and loud, with purple-black skies and crickets that were heard but not seen. Now, as an adult, I find that Vatikin holds all of these elements, elements of morning and night.

I have to tell you what it feels like to get up before dawn, when all is dark, and everyone else is fast asleep. You get ready in silence and leave quietly, armed with your supplies—tissues, a scarf for kneeling on, a bottle of water, and a High Holiday prayer book—in a plastic bag slung over the crook of your arm. As you walk out under the glow of the street lamps, you feel caught somewhere between the light and dark, in the hush of your own private world.

As you inch closer to the building designated for the Vatikin service, you see, here and there, others who like you, have ventured out into the silent dark to be first at prayer. One may nod at an acquaintance, but mostly all are quiet, intent on getting to the main task of the day: prayer. Besides, it’s too early to talk.

Once inside the building, we concentrate on the task at hand, heads to our books. And at a point somewhere between the prayers—it always surprises me when it happens—I look up from the page to see through the window that night has become day and I have missed the moment.

Sunup is like that: like a watched pot of water that never boils. You look away for a second, and that’s when it chooses to happen. That’s when light comes to slowly lift the coverlet of night, to peek into the windows of a small room somewhere in the Judean Wilderness. The light rises in company with the voices of a handful of supplicants, raised in prayer.

I have always felt that the in-between times of night and day are different in Israel, where night and day seem to tussle for pride of place. You still hear the dissonant call of the muezzin creeping in through your open bedroom window, even as the dew begins to sparkle on the golden stones of Jerusalem with the first light of dawn.

The light in Israel is big and powerful, the night forcing your gaze upward. As you look up at the stars, you wonder why the hairs on your arms are standing up and if you really belong in this, deserve to be in this: the holiest spot on earth.

These doubts have no place in the Vatikin minyan; there's no oxygen for them to breathe. There's always this moment when the congregation lifts its voice in prayer, and your heart fills, because now you know that you belong here in this room with these people, and the only light that matters is the light that comes from prayer.

Shana Tova to all my readers, their families, and friends.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!