Scripture Reading for June 2, 2018
Torah: Numbers 18:1 – 12:16, “Beha’alotekh” (Lift up … ) Haftorah: Zechariah 2:13 – 4:7 New Testament: Revelation 11:1 – 14 Gospel: Matthew 17:1 -13, “Hishtanah” (He was transfigured … )
Messianic Lite: Beha’alotcha, “When You Set up”
This week’s Torah portion covers Numbers 8:1 to 12:16. It begins with divine instructions on how to care for the Tabernacle’s golden seven-branched lampstand, maintaining its everlasting light. It continues with guidelines for consecrating the Levites. At this point in Numbers, it has been exactly a year since the former slaves left Egypt so they…
Ambassador David Friedman: Republicans support Israel more than Democrats
By Times of Israel— Republicans are undoubtedly better friends of Israel than Democrats are, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said Wednesday, lambasting the Democratic Party for failing to sufficiently mobilize its constituents to support the Jewish state. “The argument that I hear from some Democrats that Republicans are seizing the pro-Israel mantle is true,…
The Golan Heights: History and Biblical significance
By Victor Sharpe— Britain gave away the Golan (Biblical Bashan) to France’s Syrian colony in 1923. Syria attacked Israel in 1967 and lost the Golan. Syria had occupied it for 44 years. Israel’s liberation of the Golan has lasted 51 years plus. Who has possessed the Golan the longest? Even as modern day Syria is…
Russia Brokers Deal Keeping Iran Out of Region Bordering With Israel
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, Breaking Israel News— Russia is doubling-down on its demand that non-Syrian forces step back from the border with Israel. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addressed the situation in Syria on Tuesday at the international Primakov Readings Forum, an international think-tank annual summit held in Moscow. TASS Russian news agency reported his…
Understanding Iran’s Plan for Israel and the Middle East
By Yochanan Visser, Israel Today— US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week announced a new policy that aims to roll back Iran’s hegemonistic drive in the Middle East and to prevent the Islamic Republic from attaining a nuclear weapon. Ever since, there has been a lot of criticism, mostly by backers of the Joint…
Netanyahu vows to respond ‘with great force’ to mortar barrage from Gaza
By Michael Bachner, Times of Israel— Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Tuesday to respond “with great force” to a barrage of at least 28 mortar shells fired in the morning at communities in southern Israel, one of which landed just outside a kindergarten less than an hour before children were due to arrive. “Israel views…
Endgame for the U.S. -Turkey Relationship
By Caroline Glick, JPost— On Monday, NATO ally Turkey withdrew its ambassador from Washington. The severe step is meant to punish the U.S. for opening an embassy in Jerusalem on Monday. Also Monday, Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador to Turkey. It had already withdrawn its ambassador from Tel Aviv. In a speech at Chatham House on…
The Jerusalem Embassy and the Triumph of Truth
By Caroline Glick, JPost— Monday’s ceremony marking the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, Israel, had a clear message: It is time to embrace truth. Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, put it plainly when he said, “In December last year, President Donald Trump announced to the world that the U.S.…