14 Kislev 5779
22 November 2018
SPECIAL NOTICE:
Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers who celebrate the holiday. May your day be filled with family and friends–and lots of food!
The News On The Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
In Judea and Samaria:
*A Palestinian terrorist armed with a knife and gun attempted to infiltrate Har Gilo in the evening but was captured.
*A Palestinian terrorist armed with a knife was captured before he could penetrate the security perimeter at Kochav Ya’akov.
*Palestinian terrorists shot and wounded an IDF officer in Shechem. The soldier is in fair condition today; the terrorists escaped.
*Palestinian terrorists attacked Israelis with “rocks” and Molotovs on the Nebi Elias Bypass Road, at Migdal Oz, Deir Nizam, Al-Aruv, Karmei Tzur, Migdalim, Neve Tzuf, just outside of Hevron, and at a number of other places.
The Iranian missile threat draws ever closer . . .
Fresh on the heels of our 25-hour war with Hamas last week during which Hamas fired a Cornet anti-tank missile which had been supplied by Iranian proxy Hezbollah come two other pieces of highly worrisome pieces of news.
It is now being reported that Hamas is in possession of Iranian-made “volcano” missiles which have been used to highly destructive effect by Hezbollah in Syria. The missiles are relatively cheap to produce, but carry a heavy payload that can destroy wide swaths of territory.
In addition, the French newspaper Le Monde reported yesterday that Iran has vastly expanded its missile production facilities in Syria, and is churning out an array of missiles:
X marks Syria–where Iran is now producing the above missiles on an industrial scale.
Excellent news from Ir David (the City of David) . . .
As you may not be aware, dear reader, the Israeli Knesset passed an amendment to the National Parks Law earlier this week.
That amendment allows the Elad Organization to build 200 residences in the national park known as the City of David. The City of David, the oldest part of Jerusalem (which is now located outside the southern wall of the Old City) was the home of King David’s palace.
The Elad Organization works fervently to reclaim eastern Jerusalem by reestablishing Jewish residences there. As we have often stated on israelstreet, Elad is to be admired for tenaciously fighting for the area house by house in legal actions that often take decades.
In a somewhat surprising ruling given its leftist leaning, the Israel High Court of Justice rejected a petition yesterday by more than 100 residents of Silwan against their eviction from homes that they had either squatted in or were still living in after their having been purchased by Elad.
In a completely unsurprising action, the first country to express condemnation for the amendment to the National Parks Law and the High Court ruling was . . . you guessed it . . . Jordan. A spokesman for the Jordanian government said: “The kingdom opposes all Israeli steps aimed at forcing a new reality in the field and changing the identity of the occupied lands from 67.”
What a joke. Lest we forget, the city of Jerusalem before Israel’s so-called “occupation” in 1967 had been ethnically cleansed of all Jews and had all of its Jewish synagogues destroyed by the Jordanians as they attempted to “force a new reality in” and “change the identity” of Jerusalem.
It was only after Israel liberated eastern Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967 that the idea of freedom of worship was introduced.
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TODAY’S BLOG:
Rare Finds And Fascinating Discoveries!
Three items caught your humble servant’s eye in the past couple of days:
1. A new painting of Jesus has been found.
Ordinarily, this would not really be news; however, this painting was found in the northern church of long-abandoned Shivta in the Negev (abandoned around the time of the Muslim conquest in 636 CE). It is an extremely rare piece of early Christian imagery dating back to the Byzantine period (around 4th and 5th century CE).
What is even more rare perhaps is that the image is of a young Jesus with “short curly hair, an elongated nose, large eyes, and a long face” (Antiquities Journal).
Picture one:
The face of Jesus high on an apse in the church beside an image of John the Baptist (the paintings depicted Jesus’ baptism. Can you make it out? If not, don’t feel badly, no one else could for some 1500 years.
But after archaeologists exposed the red ocher in the paint (not visible here), and exposed it to unusual lighting, the outline of his face appeared:
The face of a young Jesus as depicted in the church.
2. A half shekel weight was discovered at the Emek Tzurim sifting project.
Not just any weight, but one from the First Temple period. The weight was actually a substitute for a coin–since no coins were available at that time 3000 years ago. The amazing facet of this weight is that the word “beka” is actually written on it.
Jewish history comes alive. The half-shekel, beka, tax that was required. It was found in the area of Robinson’s Arch.
Biblical scholars among you dear readers may remember this passage from Exodus 38:26:
“One beka per head, half a shekel, according to the holy shekel, for each one that goes through the counting, from 20 years old and upward, for 603,550 men.”
Every day that passes, another fact from the Torah is confirmed.
3. Vanilla is found in Bronze Age tombs near Megiddo.
We’ll end our short tour of fascinating discoveries today with this one of vanilla announced this week.
As noted by the scientists who discovered the vanilla residue in the tombs: “People in this period probably used oil containing vanilla as an additive to food, medicines, ceremonial goals or even the embalming of the dead.”
Not a bad way to be embalmed if that is your choice, but your humble servant prefers it as a food additive. Today alone, I am putting it in Thanksgiving pecan pies, sweet potato souffle, and even corn pudding.
In any case this discovery challenges the notion that vanilla use began in central America and spread to the rest of the world. The type of vanilla found at Megiddo dates to 3600 years ago and is similar in composition to vanilla found today in east Africa and India.
Again, happy Thanksgiving to all today!
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.