Celebrating Passover with a real sacrifice

Can't see images? Click here... Rabbi Yehuda Lave You Run Your Own Broadcasting Show the Entire Day  Imagine hearing this announcement when you start off each day: "Welcome to your own broadcasting show. We're on the air today and every day. We run from this moment on, for the rest of your life. You can't shut off the show, but you can choose what to hear. We advise you to choose wisely. Don't be upset with yourself if the show is not proceeding the way you wish. Instead, thank your mind for working. Be nice and friendly to it. And kindly and respectfully ask your mind to give you a truly great show today. Have a fantastic day, today and every day." If the above represents what you would like to hear on your own mental show, then you can choose it. If you would like to run a different show, just choose what you would like to hear. Your mental broadcast can have any guest you want. What do you want your inner mental guests to say to you? What do you want them to speak about? Choose the subject that you would like your self-talk to be about, for as long as you'd like. You might want to hear a great interview with yourself and your ideals and values. You might want to hear a certain song or many songs that uplift you and help you feel good. You might want to hear a well-known story over again. This could be a story with a lesson that you really need to hear right now. It could be an inspiring story. It could even be an entertaining or a funny story. If you find yourself broadcasting distressful ideas and thoughts, you can switch to uplifting and joyous ones. You can give yourself messages of hope right now and at any time you choose. When you listen to recordings of speakers or speeches you like, you can be grateful for the opportunity to add their messages to your own mental library. Once those recordings are stored in your brain, you can access them as often as you like. Be grateful to the Creator of your mind and your life for giving you your own broadcasting show. The quality of your life depends on the quality of your inner broadcasting show. Keep raising the quality of what you say to yourself, and you will live a happier life, full of self-development and self-empowerment. READ MY MORNING EMAIL EACH DAY TO START YOUR BROADCAST.  Love Rabbi  Yehuda Lave Celebrating this Passover with a sacrifice from the Jerusalem Post   Is the Passover sacrifice more relevant to our times than we think? Jacob Sheep In his legal digest, Maimonides counts 16 different sub-commandments associated with the Passover offering, the sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb. And it is a fact, as rabbis and scholars have long noted, that a number of these sub-commandments identified by Maimonides seem calculated to establish a tight connection between the requirement to offer the Paschal Lamb and the obligation to circumcise our sons when they reach eight days of age. Apparently, at least according to Maimonides, but I believe not only according to Maimonides, the Paschal Lamb and the circumcision ritual are two sides of the same coin. Circumcision marks us physically as Jews; the Paschal Lamb expresses our Jewish identity historically and metaphysically. For this reason, I believe that we can no longer neglect the following gnawing question: is it time to reinstitute the ritual of the Paschal Lamb? And let me add that from a technical halachic perspective, it is absolutely permissible to erect an altar on the Temple Mount, even in the absence of the actual Temple, and offer sacrifices to the God of Israel. Moreover, the inconvenience of our status as being ritually impure is also not an impediment to restarting this one tradition. In fact, if we were to do so we would be treading in the footsteps of R. Yechiel of Paris, who immigrated to Israel in 1260 after the Galican Church burned 17 wagon-loads of hand-written manuscripts of the Talmud. Upon arrival in Jerusalem, R. Yechiel was determined to construct an altar in order to offer the Paschal Lamb. But he failed in his quest mostly because he was unable to determine where upon the mountain the altar ought to be placed. But his effort did not go unnoticed. In 1837 Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer explored the idea of appealing to Mahmud II, the reformist Ottoman sultan who spearheaded the Tanzimat, for permission to reinstitute the sacrifice. Toward this end, R. Kalischer brought the matter to the attention of the Chatam Sofer, the leading halachic authority of that time, who ruled that restarting this tradition was both permissible and preferable. Unfortunately, Mahmud II died just two years later and the reforms of the Tanzimat, which may well have included recognizing the right of the Jews to worship their God on the Temple Mount, came to a screeching halt. The Ottoman Empire re-entered its regressive shell and the sacrifice remained dormant. But 130 years later, the historical narrative was turned on its head. On June 7, 1967, the State of Israel liberated Jerusalem and for the first time in 2,000 years the Temple Mount was directly controlled by the Jewish people. In the inimitable words of Brigade Commander Colonel Motta Gur, "The Temple Mount is in our hands." But both the political and religious leadership of the state failed to seize the moment. Instead of preparing the nation for the renewal of the Paschal Lamb tradition, our political and religious leadership succumbed to their fears – the rabbis conceded due to fears of ritual impurity – and the politicians surrendered to their illusions about peace and reconciliation with the conquered Arab population of Jerusalem. But much has changed since June of 1967. In the half-century since the liberation of the Temple Mount, the rabbis, especially those aligned with Religious Zionism, have shed their fears. Since they will never accede to surrendering the Temple Mount, they have come to realize that the people have a right to use it for sacerdotal purposes which would include the sacrificial tradition. And the politicians have also steadily changed their orientation. Not only has peace not been reached, its achievement seems to be steadily slipping into a future that never arrives. On the technical side, archeological knowledge has made it possible for us to determine with absolute precision the exact location of the altar upon the mountain. Soon enough we will discover the exact size of a cubit. And at that point erecting the altar will be a simple feat of measurement. These developments, which are already pressing on our current reality, suggest that we may no longer be able to avoid the obligation to offer the Paschal Lamb. After all, at least for the Orthodox, religious commandments are not suggestions but requirements. And it would be unseemly for the religious community to wiggle out from under this particular obligation by asserting that the secular political authorities of the State of Israel, those who lead the nation-state of the Jewish people, many of whom are themselves observant Jews, are preventing us from fulfilling our religious duty. The fact of the matter is that with the Temple Mount in our hands, the Paschal Lamb is within our reach. And it behooves us to begin considering if now is the time to restore this ritual as part of the national Jewish renaissance.    Egyptian Amulet Bearing Name of Pharaoh Found in Soil from Temple Mount Published: April 19th, 2016   Neshama Spielman, 12 years-old from Jerusalem, holding the amulet bearing the name of the Egyptian ruler, Thutmose III. - Credit: Adina Graham A rare amulet, more than 3,200 years old, bearing the name of the Egyptian ruler Thutmose III, Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty who reigned from 1479 – 1425 BCE, was discovered at the Temple Mount Sifting Project located in Jerusalem's Tzurim Valley National Park in soil discarded from the Temple Mount, and was only recently deciphered by archeologists. The project is conducted under the auspices of Bar-Ilan University, with the support of the City of David Foundation and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. Thutmose III was one of the most important pharaohs in Egypt's New Kingdom and is credited with establishing the Egyptian imperial province in Canaan, conducting 17 military campaigns to Canaan and Syria and defeating a coalition of Canaanite kings at the city of Megiddo in 1457 BCE," stated Dr. Gabriel Barkay, the co-founder and director of the Temple Mount Sifting Project. "Thutmose III referred to himself as 'the one who has subdued a thousand cities,' and it is known that for more than 300 years, during the Late Bronze Age, Canaan and the city-state of Jerusalem were under Egyptian dominion, likely explaining the presence of this amulet in Jerusalem." The amulet was discovered by Neshama Spielman, a twelve year-old girl from Jerusalem who came with her family to participate in the Temple Mount Sifting Project. "While I was sifting, I came across a piece of pottery that was different from others I had seen, and I immediately thought that maybe I had found something special," said Spielman. "It's amazing to find something thousands of years old from ancient Egypt all the way here in Jerusalem! Celebrating Passover this year is going to be extra meaningful to me." The Passover festival, commemorating the Biblical account of the ancient Israelites Exodus from Egypt, will be celebrated later this week. Egyptian amulet bearing the name of the Egyptian ruler, Thutmose III. – Credit: Zachi Dvira Since the project's inception in 2004, more than 170,000 volunteers from Israel and around the world have taken part in the sifting, representing an unprecedented phenomenon in the realm of archaeological research. The small amulet is in the shape of a pendant, missing its bottom part, measures 21 mm wide, 4 mm thick and its preserved length is 16 mm. A loop on top allowed it to be strung and hung on the neck. The raised decoration displays a cartouche — an oval frame surrounding Egyptian hieroglyphics bearing the name of the Egyptian ruler. Above the oval framing is the symbol of an eye, and to its right are remnants of yet another hieroglyphic symbol depicting a cobra of which parts of the head and tail are preserved. While Egyptian scarabs bearing the name of Thutmose III have previously been discovered in Jerusalem, this represents the first time his name has been found in Jerusalem adorning an amulet. "Objects bearing the name of Thutmose III continued to be produced in Egypt long after the time of his reign, reflecting the significance and lasting impression of this king," said Barkay. The amulet can be reconstructed based upon the discovery of an identical pendant found in Nahal Iron in northern Israel, announced in 1978," said Zachi Dvira, co-founder and director of the Temple Mount Sifting Project. "Along with that pendant, which also bore the name of Thutmose III, was another amulet bearing the name of King Seti I, an Egyptian pharaoh who ruled Egypt during the late 14th – early 13th centuries BCE. This seems to indicate that both pendants date to the same time period, namely the late 14th – early 13th century BCE." The research of the amulet was conducted by Israel Antiquities Authority Egyptologist Baruch Brandl. "A discovery such as this is particularly symbolic at this time of year, with the Passover festival just a few days away, and represents greetings from the ancient past," said Assaf Avraham, archeologist and director of the Jerusalem Walls National Park from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. The Temple Mount Sifting Project, under the auspices of Bar-Ilan University and with the support of the City of David Foundation and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, was initiated in response to the illegal removal of tons of earth from the Temple Mount by the Islamic Waqf in 1999 without any archaeological supervision. "Since the Temple Mount has never been excavated, the ancient artifacts retrieved in the Sifting Project provide valuable and previously inaccessible information. The many categories of finds are among the largest and most varied ever found in Jerusalem. Even though they have been extracted from their archaeological context, most of these artifacts can be identified and dated by comparing them with those found at other sites," said Dvira. In addition to the ongoing sifting of the earth illegally removed from the Temple Mount by the Muslim Waqf, The Temple Mount Sifting Project has focused its efforts on the enormous tasks of processing and studying the finds and preparing them for scientific publication. Presently, more than half a million finds are still waiting to be processed and analyzed in their laboratory. Temple Mount Talk is Cheap   By: Eytan Meir Published: April 19th, 2016   The Flag of Israel flying in Jerusalem with the Temple Mount in the distance This past week the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Association (UNESCO) adopted a resolution ignoring Jewish ties to the Temple Mount and Western Wall. The resolution, which is riddled with polemical condemnations of Israel as the "Occupying Power," refers to the Temple Mount strictly as Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif, the Arabic names for the holy site. The resolution does make mention of the Western Wall, but only twice in quotations following its Arabic name Al-Buraq. The contents of the resolution are quite disturbing. Among other things, UNESCO blasted Israel for creating the new egalitarian prayer section by the Western Wall (so much for pluralism), and accused Israel of "banning Muslims from burying their dead in some spaces [and] planting Jewish fake graves in other spaces of the Muslim cemeteries," an allegation that rings of a modern day blood-libel. Israeli politicians, among them Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, lambasted UNESCO for denying the Jewish people's historic connection to the Temple Mount. Prime Minister Netanyahu's thunderous condemnation certainly fits the absurdity of the resolution, however, the Israeli Government's subsequent inaction regarding its policy towards the Temple Mount is perhaps more absurd than the resolution itself. We can expect very little, if anything, from the UN and its institutions whose hypocritical and virulently anti-Israel bias shows no sign of respite. But we can't expect the UN to be more Zionistic than the Israeli Government itself. UNESCO's resolution is the logical product of Israel's own draconian policies enforced on Jews at the Temple Mount. In the democratic State of Israel in the year 2016, Jews are only permitted to ascend to the Temple Mount at two designated timeslots each day (excluding Friday and Saturday), and are strictly forbidden from praying at Judaism's holiest site. Religious objects such as a tallit, prayer book, or even a Star of David are prohibited. Violators of these regulations are arrested on the spot. To demand from the world to recognize the Jewish people's historic ties to the Temple Mount while simultaneously restricting Jewish access and prayer rights on the Temple Mount is in essence a schizophrenic acquiescence to Muslim ownership of the holy site. If that wasn't bad enough, two days following the resolution, Israel's Police Commissioner announced a renewal of an open-ended ban of Israeli MKs visiting the Temple Mount. For all intents and purposes, the Israeli Government is providing the UN with positive reinforcement for bad behavior. The Government's discriminatory policy towards the Temple Mount lends further credence to the UN's false assertion that the Jewish people have no ties to the spot on which the First and Second Temples stood. After seven years of a right-wing coalition, the unfortunate reality is that the Government has no intention to change the inequitable status quo and provide equal rights to Jews on the Temple Mount. In addition to the discriminatory nature of this policy, the Government's abdication of responsibility over control of the Temple Mount has national ramifications. Israeli poet Uri Zvi Greenberg famously said, "He who controls the Temple Mount, controls the land." Currently, the Islamic Waqf controls the Temple Mount. As for the Prime Minister and the politicians who blasted the UNESCO resolution – talk is cheap. The people of Israel deserve action. Eytan MeirAbout the Author: Eytan Meir is the International Relations Coordinator for the Im Tirtzu movement. Israel's top political leaders and military commanders were stunned and shocked last weekend when they found out that US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to support the return of the Golan to Syria." http://www.americanthinker. com/articles/2016/04/is_obama_ plotting_yet_again_to_harm_ embattled_israel.html   Dear Friends,   Here is my latest published article in American Thinker. The Passover Seder just got a whole lot better… http://goo.gl/jQV3iH This seder sure looked like a lot of fun!! Based on Michael Jackson's Thriller!! Connect with the Pioneers in Judea and Samaria http://goo.gl/0iFic3 The anti-Israel boycott movement continues to grow worldwide. Hundreds of Israeli businesses have been harmed and billions of dollars have been lost. From the heartland of Israel, a grassroots organization has risen up to assist small business owners struggling to hold on to the Land of Israel. Lev HaOlam brings together Israel supporters from across the entire world with pioneers from Israel's outlying communities laboring with faith as their sustenance. Take a decisive stand against the immoral boycotts placed upon Israel worldwide. Your support makes a difference and empowers Israel to survive the boycotts and continue settling in the Heartland of Israel. The most concrete way to show your support for the Jewish communities in Judea and Samara is to subscribe to this fabulous Package Project. Click Here to start receiving a monthly package. 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