Is a Divisive Jewry Streaming Toward another Bloody Era?

John R. Houk

© February 2011

There is no doubt in my mind that the Jews are the Chosen people as the physical descendants of Abraham through the line of the son of Promise Isaac. Further the Land of Israel was promised to Abraham and his descendants making the Land inseparable from Jews as the Promised Land. And yet the Jews were warned by God that straying away from Him going after other gods or abandoning God would lead to consequences that would separate Jews from their heritage whenever abandonment occurred. However, part of the Promise is that when the Jews seek the Lord God Almighty, they would always be restored to the Land of Promise.

The current year is 2011. The miracle was the political reestablishment of the Land of Promise in 1948. The Land was named after the name of the Father of the twelve Hebrew tribes – Israel. The Return is part of the multi-millennia coming and going of Jews undoubtedly due to the ebb and flow of the Jewish desire to worship the Lord God. By the time of Israel’s Independence Day this year that will be 63 years of a sovereign Israel where Jews are enabled to reclaim their heritage of Promise.

As a group Jews have had a difficult time of being one mind holding to one of the Holiest phrases in the Bible (Torah): “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!” The duty of faithfulness is expressed in the whole of chapter six of Deuteronomy:

1 “Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, 2 that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’[a]
4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one![b] 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

 
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

  
10 “So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11 houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full— 12 then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 13 You shall fear the LORD your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you 15 (for the LORD your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the LORD your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.

 
16 “You shall not tempt the LORD your God as you tempted Him in Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the LORD swore to your fathers, 19 to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken.

 
20 “When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the LORD our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; 22 and the LORD showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. 23 Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers. 24 And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. 25 Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us.’

This obedience spelled out for the Jews is so “that it may be well with” them and that the Jews “may go in and possess the good land of which the LORD swore to” their Fathers. The implication is that there is a penalty for disobedience. With all those blessings from God the Jews had a habit of taking for granted where those blessings came from. When a person knows God and takes Him granted in that one begins to see the rewards solely as the by-product of his own hands rather than the blessings of the Hand of God, consequences will emerge. The tribes of Israel seemed to forget their lessons first learned from their prophetic leader Moses. One example:

7 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’” 9 And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! 10 Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.”

…

30 Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31 Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! 32 Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.”

 
33 And the LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. 34 Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin.”

 
35 So the LORD plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made. (Exodus 32: 7-10, 30-35. NKJV)

God honors the Jews not necessarily because they are inherently special. Rather the Jews are honored because of Covenant established through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (i.e. Israel). Knowing that the children of Israel had a penchant to move toward unrighteousness, God called them a stiffnecked people and was willing to obliterate the Jews. The intercession of Moses saved the children of Israel from becoming dried grass forgotten from existence. Nonetheless, the warning for future generation came from God through Moses:

24 So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, 25 that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying: 26 “Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there as a witness against you; 27 for I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. If today, while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD, then how much more after my death? 28 Gather to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29 For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.” (Deuteronomy 31: 24-29 NKJV)

This is the point at which a lot of non-Jews that are anti-Semitic begin to indulge in Jew-hate speech. The Biblical narrative of Jewish history demonstrates that God’s anger toward His Chosen People is temporary if they repent and turn from their wicked ways. From Judges to Chronicles Jewish abandonment of God ebbs and flows with God’s mercy delivering the Jews from utter destruction. Until the time when only banishment as a punishment occurs with God using the Brutal Assyrians to empty out the Northern Kingdom of Israel and Nebuchadnezzar emptied the south Kingdom of Judah about a hundred years later. Incidentally it is from the tribe of Judah where the word “Jew” comes from. Significant numbers of the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel disappear from history yet it is a bit of a myth that there are ten lost tribes.

Persian conquerors of Babylon allow the return of Jews to their homeland. The returning Jews rebuilt Jerusalem and built the second Temple built under the management of Zerubbabel. Around the beginning of the Christian Era Herod the Great took Zerubbabel’s Temple refurbishing it to one of the most elegant and wondrous pieces of architecture of its age.

Corruption entered the land among Jewish leadership again and the Romans turned the Land of Promise into a Latin possession. Eventually the Jews grew weary of being a conquered people bringing many acts of rebellion against the Romans. The Romans became weary of constant Jewish upheavals. The Jews mounted a serious revolt which ended with the Roman lesson of conquering and destroying the Jerusalem defensive wall and the utter destruction of Herod’s renovated Temple. This became the first deportation of Jews by Romans which was more of a case of Jews fleeing Roman Legions between 66-72 or 73 AD (or C.E. by secularists). The Great Rebellion ended with the fall of Masada in 73 AD. The last Jewish Rebellion was the Bar Kochba Rebellion roughly between the years 132 – 135 AD. It was at the end of this Rebellion that Emperor Hadrian renamed Jerusalem Aelia Capitolina and forbade Jews to enter the newly named city as well as changing the name of Judea to Philistia. Philistia, after the name of the Jewish ancient enemy of Philistines. The concept was to eradicate the attachment to their homeland. Again after great slaughter and persecution during the Bar Kochba Rebellion more Jews departed. (SEE: HISTORY OF SYRIA AND PALESTINE, Bar Kochba, BAR KOKBA AND BAR KOKBA WAR and Palestine: The REAL Story.)

Although there  have been Jews in the Land of Promise even since Jews fled in 135 AD, millions more began to populate North Africa, Asia and Europe. I believe it is the Hand of God that restored the nation of Israel as a sovereign entity for Jews to return to their heritage in 1948. Including the 1948 defeat of numerically greater Arab armies and flowing through the last official Arab attempt to exterminate Jews in 1973, the Hand of God has produced the miracle of Jews ruling a sliver of land among a hostile ocean of Muslims.

And yet it is amazing there is a huge of amount of Leftist Jews both in Israel and in America that have again abandoned their God’s Covenant to give their heritage to a group of Arabs that only exist as a community because the first invading armies of 1948 refused to take responsibility for losing a war they instigated and take in these Arabic mostly Muslim war refugees.

These Leftist Jews who have embraced the myth that giving up parcels of their heritage to a group of people who have stole the very name Palestinian will bring peace to the Middle East is an act of appeasement that ups the probably that the Jewish Homeland will be destroyed in yet another Jewish Holocaust. You would think that a political spectrum would be irrelevant in the prospect of preserving one’s ancient land. Sadly that is not the case.

Ari Bussel often writes about this disaster waiting to happen. Below is one such essay.

JRH 2/20/11

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Jews Speaking Civilly to One Another?

By Ari Bussel

Sent: 2/18/2011 1:18 AM

“Who hates the Jews more than the Jew?” Henry Miller

The other night I attended a Jewish Federation event about how Jewish people can learn to have a peaceful discourse about Israel and agree to disagree in a friendly manner.

This was apparently necessary because the subject has grown to such aggressive proportions, Jews, who never had the capacity to get along anyway, are actually threatening the very health and welfare of the Jewish State.

Why am I not shocked to learn that Jewish people engage in vicious self-destructive behavior, even where their own people are concerned?

I wish I could say I was surprised to learn Jewish people are incapable of peaceful coexistence, but why on earth would I be?

The very panel that was selected to discuss the issue presented a most perfect example of the schism within the Jewish religion. The differential in language and belief systems that would allow for such a discourse was apparent. When you are speaking different languages, how on earth can you converse?

A conservative, reform and orthodox Rabbis discussing how Jews should get along?

Am I the only one who sees the irony here?

And the only one who sees the hopelessness in the Jewish DNA?

I spoke with my Rabbi and he brought a great perspective to the discussion. One that was never even touched upon at the Federation meeting yet is probably the real crux of the issue. His comments brought a real dose of reality to the conversation.

“There will always be a divide amongst Jews on how to deal with giving away land in Israel,” he said.

“This is because there is a division on what is a Jew's claim to the land. Those who believe that the UN voted for Jews to have a State on Arab land and call it Israel, feel we stole the land from those living there before.

“Then, there are those who claim, ‘I do not need the UN to tell me what is mine. It's been our homeland for 4000 years as dictated by the Torah’ (the same Torah quoted by Christians and Muslims).

“Therefore, as long as Jews feel guilty for stealing land in 1948 with the UN vote, they will always fight and argue, trying to please and appease the Arabs. Those who see the only claim to the land from the Torah will fight for their birthright to the land, with the same vigor as shown by the Muslims.

“My question to those who do not believe that the Torah is the source for the Jews to own the land of Israel is:  What claim do we have to that land, guilt via the Holocaust? Why did you celebrate in 1948 if the Arabs were living there? Why do you continue to donate to Israel, knowing that we have no other claim to the land than our stealing it through the UN?

“I would suggest that Jews should look at the 1948 vote in the UN as follows:  The world finally agreed that this land belongs to the Jews and told the Arabs get off our rightfully reclaimed land.”

The Rabbi’s point that the Jew who understands Israel was given by God, the same God that gave us the Torah, and those Jewish people who see it as a political issue cannot be reconciled.

Therefore there can never be any discussion, because it is being spoken in two different languages.

I am highly suspicious Jewish people are born with a special gene that renders them unable to get along with other Jews, like two magnets repelling one another. Especially, with those that harbor an opinion different from their own.

Jewish people just make me sad. They are an unappreciative lot. They attack one another far more than they attack those who would see them wiped off the face of the earth.

Any enemy with half a brain would understand that the Jewish people will eventually disappear like the Dodo bird through assimilation, the disconnection of the young people from Israel and their religion and through wars with and attacks from enemies.

It is an inherent part of our DNA to separate ourselves from one another. Despite the fact we have always lived in ghettos, Jewish people are experts at the divide-and-be-conquered mentality. That is why it has always puzzled me that we have so many enemies.

Torah teaches one to converse about the issues. Jewish men consider sitting and studying Torah an ultimate obligation.

The old joke about two Jews, three opinions, is not without merit.

The true conundrum rests in the fact that for a people who are considered so smart, Jewish people do the dumbest things and heap the most trouble upon their own. I imagine that is why Proverbs 11:29 actually advises: “He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.”

You would think we would have learned that in unity there is strength.

The Rothschilds escaped an oppressive ghetto in Prussia and became the most powerful banking family in the world despite their Judaism because they spoke with one voice and stood together against a hostile, Gentile world.

Only once have Jewish people spoken with one unified voice.

When the State of Israel was reborn in 1948, Jews throughout the world cried in unison, blessing the miracle. Their cries became Israel’s strength. AIPAC, because it spoke in support of Israel with a strong, united voice, rose to a powerful lobbying position in Washington.

Jewish people gave money, they agreed, every Jewish child planted trees in Israel in Sunday and in Hebrew Schools. Israel prospered and became a light among nations.

Oops. And they’re off and at it again. Just when things were getting good for the Jewish people, they messed things up!

They are like a cancer-ridden body with the bad cells attacking the healthy ones until the body is weakened and dies. That is exactly what is happening to Israel at this very moment. It is being attacked by its own cells, the Jewish people, and cannot possibly survive.

Suddenly, everyone is a critic:  “Israel should do this and that, and what about the poor Palestinians?”

Reminds me of mid-century America when the Jewish people fought for civil rights and helped organize the NAACP.  Any fool can look around and see how much that effort was appreciated. Black leaders are among the most anti-Semitic people in America. Decrying Jewish people and Zionism every chance they get, while they enjoy the very freedom to do so because of Jewish money and blood given for their cause.

Will we ever learn? No way.

The worst enemy of a Jew will always be another Jew.

We have tolerance for every people and religion on earth except our own. No wonder Freud was Jewish. Only a Jew could recognize how sick and self-destructive people can be after growing up a Jew himself.

What these bleeding-heart liberals who have tolerance for everyone except Israel fail to remember is that when the last days come, our destroyers will not ask, “were you a Jew for Peace or ZOA? Were you Orthodox or Reform? Were you a Democrat or Republican?”

Only one vital question will be asked and answered. “Are you a Jew?” Yes, then die.

The Muslims have learned. They speak loudly and in one unified voice. Even the moderate Muslims who do not agree with the extreme elements of their religion are quiet. That is why the Muslims are becoming stronger than any other religion. That voice is why they are allowed to murder Christians and Jews and anyone they care to, even their own people, and no one defies them. Their voice is too loud and too powerful to be stopped.

It is just as the unified Jewish voice was after World War II that brought prosperity to the Jewish homeland.

The Christians believe that multitudes of voices raised in prayer can move mountains. They are correct, and so too can voices of criticism and negativity flow through the world and cause destruction and evil.

After the discussion the other evening about how to speak civilly toward one another and where and how to disagree, one Rabbi summed it all up beautifully with a story.

“It seems the Jewish community in the Venice Ghetto was greatly divided and could not get along.”

Big surprise there!

Anyway, apparently they built five separate synagogues within a few-block area to practice as they wished. In later years when the foundations were being repaired due to decades of water damage, workmen discovered there were tunnels leading from each of the synagogues to the others. This was done in the event one congregation was attacked, they could then flee to safety in another.

This is proof we know better and have the ability to do better for ourselves and for our Jewish Homeland.

The only enemy Israel cannot overcome is its own people. We need our voice back; that one powerful voice for the sake of Israel and for the good of the Jewish people.

It is far past the time to grow up and stop allowing the crazies to run our asylum. We have been at odds with one another far too long and we are quickly running out of time. We need to build some new tunnels or there will be no place left for us to run.

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Is a Divisive Jewry Streaming Toward another Bloody Era?

John R. Houk

© February 2011

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Jews Speaking Civilly to One Another?

The series “Postcards from America—Postcards from Israel” by Ari Bussel and Norma Zager is a compilation of articles capturing the essence of life in America and Israel during the first two decades of the 21st Century.

The writers invite readers to view and experience an Israel and her politics through their eyes, Israel visitors rarely discover.

This point—and often—counter-point presentation is sprinkled with humor and sadness and attempts to tackle serious and relevant issues of the day. The series began in 2008, appears both in print in the USA and on numerous websites and is followed regularly by readership from around the world.

© “Postcards from America — Postcards from Israel,” February, 2011

Contact:  bussel@me.com

First Published February 17, 2011