Archive for November, 2007

Annapolis – 60 years to the day after Partition -

By Stan Goodenough – www.jnewswire.com

On Jewish calendar date 17 Kislev 5708 (the evening of November 29, 1947 in Israel), 46 countries voted on United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 – the proposal to partition the Land of Israel (known then as Palestine) into two states, one Jewish, the other Arab.

Thirty-three voted in favor, 13 voted against. The Arabs rejected the outcome, immediately initiating hostilities that erupted into the War of Independence after Israel was established and recognized internationally six months later.

Next week, on 17 Kislev 5768, 60 years to the day after that UN vote, nearly 50 nations have been invited to Annapolis for the US-hosted International Conference on the Creation of Palestine – an Arab state the international community wants to see erected on the biblical heartland of the Jewish people.

Of these nations, only 15 are Arab states. Included among the rest are France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Canada, Poland, Sweden, Norway, South Africa and India.

Observers have noted that this will indeed be a gathering of the nations of the world in a united stand against the rights of the Jews to their sacred soil.

The international community is virtually single-minded on this issue: the theft of Jewish lands for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Not a single invited national representative nor journalist is expected to challenge this position at Annapolis on Tuesday.

The Torah readings this season, taken from the book of Genesis (chapters 12-50) focus on the generations of Abraham and his descendants. It has well been said that the “Bible is the story of one man’s family.” It is quite fascinating the follow the ways in Genesis in which the line/seed of Abraham “splits.” And yet, even before one gets to Genesis 12 with the story of Abram, there are already significant splits. The line of Noah is divided into Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and the children of Ham in particular include tyrants like Nimrod who built Babylon, Asshur who fathered the Assyrians, Mizraim, the father of the ancient Egyptians, and the various nations of the Canaanites. These Ancient Near Eastern peoples surrounded the family of Abraham throughout its history. In contrast, Abraham is descended from Shem, and beginning in Genesis 11:10, it is this smaller branch of the familes of humankind that upon which the Biblical narrative concentrates. Abram is born of Nahor, who is sixth in the lineage from Shem.

In terms of Abraham’s own direct family he first has two sons, Ishmael his firstborn and Isaac, but they are of different mothers and Abraham is told that the “covenant” will be through Isaac (Gen 17:21). Ishmael is to become a “great nation” and God tells Abraham that he will be with him, but he makes it clear the “seed” as it is called, passes through Isaac. Apparently this is because of Sarah, who is of the Nahor/Shem lineage, whereas Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, is likely of the line of Ham. It is the combination of the two descendants of Nahor, Abraham and Sarah, who become one in Isaac that sets the Abraham Plan into motion. Gen 17:5 says she will be a “mother of nations” just as Abram is the “father.” This is very important, and Sarah, the Princess, must not be left out or forgotten. After Sarah dies Abraham marries and has other children, quite a few. But none of them are to be part of this divine Plan, called the “covenant.” This involves, of course, the Gen 12 promises which are repeated to Isaac and Jacob…

Isaac of course has two sons, the twins, Esau and Jacob, who are rivals even in the womb. It is worth noting that he is 40 when he marries, he asks YHVH for children as Rebekah is barren, but it not until 20 later, when he is 60, that his prayers are answered (Gen 25). The two “nations” embody an eternal struggle. It seems the “line” of Abraham & Sarah, which offered the right combination in Isaac, still has “recessive” characteristics that can even yield an Esau. But the line of Rebekah is important, coming from the family of Terah through Nahor, some kind of combination was here needed. Even though the behavior of Jacob seems somewhat selfish and deceptive, the Torah makes clear that it is El Shaddai who has determined that the “covenant” is to go through Jacob, not Esau. Everything else is a playing out of that theme. Rebekah had the perception to know and see this. Jacob was her clear favorite. Isaac seems oblivious to it all, and in his old age at least, enjoys eating the meat that Esau brings in. Rebekah is quite vital here, in producing the lineage that can carry the covenant.

It is very interesting to note that Esau first marries two Hittite woman! Both Isaac and Rebekah are grieved! But notice, later, when he sees that Jacob is sent to marry in the family line he takes another wife–a daughter of Ishmael, thinking that will somehow redeem him.

The Beth-el experience of Jacob is thus crucial. He is singled out for the “covenant” promise and this incredible epiphany at the “gate of the skies” is fundamental for him. He commits his life to El Shaddai, God of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebecca and sets out alone–pledging a tenth or tithe of all that YHVH gives him, to YHVH.

So once again the “line” has split and Jacob is destined to have 12 sons with four woman…thus the “great nation” of Israel–but it is Joseph who is the focus of the next “split.” Though Reuben was the firstborn, in the end, the birthright passed to Joseph (1 Chronicles 5:2). Ultimately, based on Jacob’s prophecies in Genesis 49 the Shepherd/Stone of Israel will come from Joseph (v. 24), and the “septre” will depart from Judah (v. 10)–the tribe that had the rule from the time of King David.

The name Israel is YISRAEL in Hebrew and consists of the Hebrew letters: Yod, Shin, Resh, Alef, Lamed, that are the first letters of the names of the Fathers & Mothers who make up the nation of Israel, namely: Abraham (Alef), Sarah (Shin), Isaac (Yod), Rebekah (Resh), Jacob (Yod), Rachel (Resh) and Leah (Lamed). To readers of the Bible these names, this family, are as familiar as one’s own. They become the root of the nation and the focus of God’s plan to bless all nations.

“And I will bless those who bless you, and treat lightly those who treat you lightly, and in you shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”

Israel the 100th smallest country (size of San Bernadino County), with less than 1/1000th of the world’s population, can lay claim to the following:

• The Middle East has been growing date palms for millennia. The average tree is about 18-20 feet tall and yields about 38 pounds of dates a year. Israeli date trees are now yielding 400 pounds/year and are short enough to be harvested from the ground or a short ladder.
• The cell phone was developed in Israel by Israelis working in the Israeli branch of Motorola, which has its largest development center in Israel.
• Most of the Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel.
• The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel. Both the Pentium-4 microprocessor and the Centrino processor were entirely designed, developed and produced in Israel.
• The Pentium microprocessor in your computer was most likely made in Israel. Voice mail technology was developed in Israel.
• Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in Israel.
• The technology for the AOL Instant Messenger ICQ was developed in 1996 by four young Israelis.
• Israel has the fourth largest air force in the world (after the U.S, Russia and China). In addition to a large variety of other aircraft, Israel’s air force has an aerial arsenal of over 250 F-16′s. This is the largest fleet of F-16 aircraft outside of the U. S.
• Israel’s $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined.
• Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita. According to industry officials, Israel designed the airline industry’s most impenetrable flight security. US officials now look (finally) to Israel for advice on how to handle airborne security threats.
• Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world. Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin – 109 per 10,000 people — as well as one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed.
• In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. In absolute terms, Israel has the largest number of startup companies than any other country in the world, except the U.S. (3,500 companies mostly in hi-tech). With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and startups, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world — apart from the Silicon Valley, U.S.
• Israel is ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds right behind the U.S. Outside the United States and Canada, Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies.
• Israel has the highest average living standards in the Middle East. The per capita income in 2000 was over $17,500, exceeding that of the UK. On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech startups.
• Twenty-four per cent of Israel’s workforce holds university degrees, ranking third in the industrialized world, after the United States and Holland and 12 per cent hold advanced degrees. Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.
• Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship — and the highest rate among women and among people over 55 – in the world.
• When Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, she became the world’s second elected female leader in modern times.
• In 1984 and 1991, Israel airlifted a total of 22,000 Ethiopian Jews (Operation Solomon) at Risk in Ethiopia, to safety in Israel.
• When the U. S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya was bombed in 1998, Israeli rescue teams were on the scene within a day — and saved three victims from the rubble.
• Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. Immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity. (Hundreds of thousands from the former Soviet Union)
• Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the Kimberly process, an international standard that certifies diamonds as “conflict free.”
• Israel has the world’s second highest per capita of new books.
• Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees, made more remarkable because this was achieved in an area considered mainly desert.
• Israel has more museums per capita than any other country.
• Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.
• An Israeli company developed a computerized system for ensuring proper administration of medications, thus removing human error from medical treatment. Every year in U. S. hospitals 7,000 patients die from treatment mistakes.
• Israel’s Given Imaging developed the first ingestible video camera, so small it fits inside a pill. Used to view the small intestine from the inside, cancer and digestive disorders.
• Researchers in Israel developed a new device that directly helps the heart pump blood, an innovation with the potential to save lives among those with heart failure. The new device, synchronized with the camera helps doctors diagnose a heart’s mechanical operations through a sophisticated system of sensors.
• Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the work force, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U. S., over 70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany. With over 25% of its work force employed in technical professions. Israel places first in this category as well.
• A new acne treatment developed in Israel, the Clear Light device, produces a high-intensity, ultraviolet-light-free, narrow-band blue light that causes acne bacteria to self-destruct — all without damaging surrounding skin or tissue.
• An Israeli company was the first to develop and install a large-scale solar-powered and fully functional electricity generating plant, in southern California’s Mojave desert.
• All the above while engaged in regular wars with an implacable enemy that seeks its destruction, and an economy continuously under strain by having to spend more per capita on its own protection than any other county on earth