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It looked like a scene from year 200 BCE, or the end of days – yet it all played out just two days ago, on Monday, not far from the Temple Mount. Kohanim in authentic attire blessed the excited crowd, Levites sang hymns, and a young lamb was offered up as a Passover sacrifice in keeping with all the dictates of the ancient ritual. This "dress rehearsal," staged every year by members of the Temple Mount Faithful movement, is designed to present the public with an accurate rendition of the ritual that was in practice during the time of the...

Many religious Jews believe deeply that there are no coincidences in life. None...not a one. All that happens, happens within the realm of a knowing God who watches, always watches over His creations. Last summer, when the missiles were falling, a secular friend told me I was lucky because in being religious, I had faith where she had terror, I had trust while she worried. -snip- There are no coincidences in life. Remember that. Believe that. Obama signed this absurd "framework" agreement to secure his place in history. There is a relatively good chance that his place in history will...

“The right-wing government is in danger. Arab voters are coming out in droves to the polls. Left-wing organizations are busing them out.”So wrote Benjamin Netanyahu in a Facebook post on March 17, the day of Israel’s elections. Since then the words have been a cause célèbre among critics of Israel—and not least, American Jewish liberals.The Jerusalem Post reports that a “yawning divide has opened between liberal US Jews and the right-wing Jewish Israeli majority that reelected…Netanyahu,” and that: More than any of the prime minister’s other statements—which included skepticism about the feasibility of the two-state solution and complaints about foreign...

How do you say the Four Questions of Passover in Mende, a language of Sierra Leone? I've been wondering this in preparation for tonight, the eve of Passover. The ritual of the Four Questions kicks off the first Seder dinner by asking, "Why is this night different from all other nights?" to begin the story of how Israelite slaves escaped Egypt to freedom. Chef and culinary historian Michael Twitty writes frequently about what he calls "koshersoul," his African-American and Jewish heritage.i Chef and culinary historian Michael Twitty writes frequently about what he calls "koshersoul," his African-American and Jewish heritage. Courtesy...

Happy Passover to all Freepers from this Messianic Jew and May the LORD give you his power, his meekness, his goodness and his overwhelming victory! "For Yeshua our Passover has been sacrificed for us."

Early risers and people who plan to party until dawn -- take notice. The United States has prime seats for a lunar eclipse set to take over the skies early Saturday morning, marking the third in a tetrad, a series of four eclipses. The lunar spectacle will be the shortest in a century, lasting four minutes and 43 seconds.

Whether in the mess hall or on a battleship, Jewish soldiers stationed all over the world still sang the Four Questions and ate matzo.Seder on the U.S.S. Astoria in the Pacific, 1945. “Lettuce au charoses.” “Kneidlach or borscht a la Sgt. Weinstein.” “Consommè [sic—the accent points the wrong way!] avec Knadlach.” “Palestine wine.” “Roast Beef Ala Yomtov.” “Iced Coca-Cola.” These were some of the dishes enjoyed by Jewish members of the military at their Seders in both European and Pacific theaters of war 70 years ago. The American Jewish Historical Society at the Center for Jewish History has a file...

This year, 2015, Passover and Good Friday fall on the same date, Friday April 3rd. It has happened before. Any thoughts on the religious significance of this at this point in time?...........Israel-US relations are at the worst point that they have ever been, with this anti-semite in the White House.............

Binyamin Netanyahu is once again Finance Minister - thanks to none other than Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef. But according to the Kikar Shabbat web site, the re-appointment of Netanyahu to the post was prompted by phone calls to cabinet members by none other than Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef – who was concerned that, without a Finance Minister, the sale of leaven (chametz) before the upcoming Passover holiday would be nullified. While many Jews consider the personal or commercial sale of chametz, the leavened products from bread to beer that are forbidden on Passover, to be a mere “technicality,”...

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a likely Republican presidential candidate and a vocal pro-Israel hawk, is being advertised as a featured attraction at a string of ritzy resort vacation getaways catering to religious Jews. Cruz, along with several rabbis, is listed as a speaker at four different vacation spots, including Aspen, over Passover, the spring holiday that honors the freeing of enslaved Jews in Egypt. The Prime Hospitality Group is the company behind the offers, according to an email solicitation shared with POLITICO. “4 Questions. 4 Cups of Wine. 4 Sons. And 4 Luxurious Prime Passover Programs,” the invitation reads. “All...

A short while ago, IAF aircraft targeted two terror activity sites in the southern Gaza Strip and a third site in the central Gaza Strip, in response to the latest severe aggression emanating from Gaza. Direct hits were confirmed. Yesterday evening, an IED was activated against IDF soldiers patrolling the security fence in the southern Gaza Strip. 12 hours later; at around 07:15 today, Palestinian militants fired an anti-tank missile at an IDF patrol along the security fence in the same area, causing no damage or injuries. …

Israeli police arrested 16 Palestinians at one of Jerusalem's most revered and politically sensitive holy sites on Sunday as they dispersed protesters opposed to any Jewish attempts to pray there. A police spokesman said officers used stun grenades to disperse dozens of rioters, who threw rocks and firecrackers at them at the site revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and by Jews as the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's walled Old City. Two officers were slightly injured and treated at the scene in the brief clash, the spokesman added. Five Palestinians were also slightly hurt, a Muslim clergyman said. Police...

President Reagan’s Radio Address to the Nation on the Observance of Easter and Passover on April 2, 1983. Reagan talks about freedom and tyranny. I bet Obama’s on the golf course.

With Passover here, it is a propitious time to address the central issue of the holiday: the Exodus. Specifically, did the Exodus happen? My friend Rabbi David Wolpe announced some years ago that it didn’t matter whether the Exodus occurred. In his words, writing three years later: “Three years ago on Passover, I explained to my congregation that according to archeologists, there was no reliable evidence that the Exodus took place — and that it almost certainly did not take place the way the Bible recounts it. Finally, I emphasized: It didn’t matter.” “The Torah,” he continued, “is not a...

May God smite this Pharaonic imposter with every gay fudgepacking STD plague imaginable, to make the original Plagues of Egypt seem benign by comparison.

As thousands of Jewish visitors stream in to visit the Cave of the Patriarchs to celebrate Passover holiday, dozens of rioters throw stones at soldiers in West Bank city. For the second day in a row violent clashes broke out between the IDF and Palestinian activists in Hebron by the Policeman’s Checkpoint in the West Bank city. On Thursday the clashes occurred on the sidelines of a Hebron demonstration to mark Prisoner Security forces responded with riot dispersal means, including tear gas. The checkpoint separates the section of the city that is under control of the Palestinian Authority from the...

HOLY THURSDAY is the most complex and profound of all religious observances, saving only the Easter Vigil. It celebrates both the institution by Christ himself of the Eucharist and of the institution of the sacerdotal priesthood (as distinct from the 'priesthood of all believers') for in this, His last supper with the disciples, a celebration of Passover, He is the self-offered Passover Victim, and every ordained priest to this day presents this same sacrifice, by Christ's authority and command, in exactly the same way. The Last Supper was also Christ's farewell to His assembled disciples, some of whom would betray,...

Slow news day, so let’s catch up on details of our annual White House Seder dinner, held Tuesday, the second night of Passover.Woops! Big Guy forgot his beanie!For starters, we had to bring in extra help to cook everything: But this year, a secret culinary detail was called in – not celebrity chefs, but Washington caterer Vered Guttman, who writes the Modern Manna blog for Haaretz.com, and filmmaker Susan Barocas, a food aficionado who helped launch the Jewish Food Experience in 2012. As is our custom, each guest was provided with their own copy of the Maxwell House Haggadah to...

President Obama said violence against religious groups has "no place in our society" after an elderly man tied to hate groups allegedly opened fire Sunday and killed three people outside a Kansas City Jewish community center and retirement community. "Nobody should have to worry about their security when gathering with their fellow believers," Obama said at the opening of his remarks at the White House Easter Prayer Breakfast. "Nobody should have to fear for their safety when they go to pray." Obama said the tragedy was "all the more painful" because it came as Jews were preparing to celebrate Passover...

Five Jewish Israelis were arrested Monday after allegedly attempting to sacrifice a goat at the Temple Mount in honor of the Passover holiday. The suspects were brought in to a nearby police station for further questioning. The goat was transferred to representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, Ynet reported. In the bible,a special ritual sacrifice is commanded on the Passover holiday and the custom was practiced by Jews during the First and Second Temple periods when their central shrine stood on the same site that today houses the al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock . However, most rabbinic authorities...