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Parshat Pinchas 5773
20 Tamuz 5773
Parashat Pinchas: the meaning of compassion
by Daniel Pinner
This has been a difficult week, a depressing week, a demoralising week. We have a general rule that no reading ends on a depressing note. This is the reason that when, in public reading, we conclude the Books of Isaiah (Haftarah of Shabbat Rosh Chodesh), Malachi (Haftarah of Shabbat HaGadol), Lamentations (on the 9th of Av), and Ecclesiastes (on Shabbat of Chol ha-Mo'ed Sukkot), we always repeat the penultimate verse of each of these Books: each of them ends with a negative idea, so we repeat the previous verse in order to conclude with a more pleasant theme.
But last week's Parashah breaks that rule: Parashat Balak concludes with the words, "And those [Jews] who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand" (Numbers 25:9). This final verse, the death of 24,000 Jews – equivalent to two days in Auschwitz– has been reverberating in our ears since last Shabbat morning.
This has been a gloomy week on other levels too. Last Tuesday was the 17th of Tammuz, commemorating Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian army's breaching of the walls of Jerusalem in the year 3338 (422 B.C.E.) and the Romans' breaching of the walls of Jerusalem almost half a millennium later. Thus begin the Three Weeks of mourning.
This year, the 17th of Tammuz was particularly depressing, as the Knesset approved the first reading of a bill legalising Bedouin land theft in the Negev, effectively surrendering Israeli sovereignty to an openly hostile Arab nationalist programme of colonisation in Israel.
And then this Shabbat comes Parashat Pinchas. By killing the Jewish prince Zimri son of Salu and his Midianite paramour, the princess Cozbi daughter of Zur, Pinchas stopped the plague – with which last week's Parashah concluded and which killed 24,000 Jews – from spreading.
The Ohr ha-Chayim (Rabbi Chayim ben Atar, Morocco and Israel, 1696-1743) gives a very clear perspective on the opening words of the Parashah."Hashem spoke to Moshe saying: Pinchas son of Elazar son of Aaron the Kohen has turned back My fury from upon the Children of Israel by being zealous for My zealousness in their midst, so I did not exterminate the Children of Israel in My zealousness. Therefore say: I hereby give him My covenant of peace" (Numbers25:10-12).
The Ohr ha-Chayim addresses the phrase "Therefore say: I hereby give him My covenant…", and asks just who was commanded to say what to whom and why. "Apparently He intended hereby that [Moshe] should tell Israel of what transpired, in order that they acknowledge the beneficence that Pinchas had wrought for them, and they would not hate him for having killed a national leader…" (commentary to verse 10).
The Ohr ha-Chayim continues: "'…turned back My fury' – the purpose of informing them of this may be so they would not think that Hashem turned back His fury without anyone earning this merit t oovercome the attribute of justice, and Moshe might thereby have drawn the conclusion that Hashem [habitually] acts this way. Therefore Hashem informed him that it was Pinchas who was the reason for Hashem's fury being turned back…" (commentary to verse 11).
Indeed, had God Himself not have informed them, the Children of Israel could not have been aware that they owed their very survival to this hot-headed zealot who took it upon himself to kill a national leader who was publicly collaborating with an enemy leader. Of course Pinchas would then have been widely hated and excoriated as a murderer.
Yes – Israel's guidance and lessons and moral instruction really needed to be ratified by God Himself. It was notsufficient that Pinchas was vindicated (retroactively) for killing Zimri and Cozbi; that justification had to be visible to all. God had to instruct Moshe:"Therefore say: I hereby give him My covenant of peace" – say to all the Children of Israel (following the Ohr ha-Chayim), so that all will know that he was justified.
The Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, Spain and Israel, 1195-c.1270) in his commentary here says similarly: "He [God] commanded [Moshe] to inform Israel that he [Pinchas] is a Kohen for eternity; the meaning of 'therefore say..' is that he had to proclaim this in Israel".
The Targum Yonatan has a very different interpretation, which nevertheless agrees that God had to sanctify Pinchas and his actions in public. According to Targum Yonatan, God told Moshe:"Swear to him [Pinchas] in My Name: I hereby decree My covenant of peace with him, and I will make him a messenger who will live and endure forever, who will herald the redemption at the End of Days".
There can be no greater and more public ratification of Pinchas than appointing him to "herald the redemption at the End of Days". This, of course, is another way of expressing the idea that Pinchas is Eliyahu (Elijah), the prophet who will herald the Mashiach (Malachi3:23-24); the identification of Pinchas with Eliyahu is a recurrent theme (see Yalkut Shimoni, Numbers 771; Zohar, Volume 2, Ki Tissa 190a; Targum Yonatan, Exodus 6:18).
The meaning of the name Pinchas is uncertain. A simple reading suggests "pi nachash", "the mouth of the snake", or maybe "pi nechoshet", "mouth of brass" – denoting one who speaks fearlessly.
Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch (Germany, 1808-1888), commenting on Numbers 25:11, notes that the "yud"in this particular occurrence of the name Pinchas is written smaller than the other letters (in Masoretic nomenclature, "yud ze'ira"), and suggeststhat maybe his name was originally written without the "yud" (compare 1Samuel 1:3), but the "yud" was added after his energetic stepping forward.Rabbi Hirsch relates "nun-chet-samech" (the second half of "Pinchas") to the root "nun-chet-tzaddi", "nachatz", meaning to urge on. Hence Pinchas connotes "my mouth, the mouth of God, urged me to do it". (Maybe Rabbi Hirsch reads "peh-yud" both as "pi", "my mouth", and also "peh-Yud","the mouth of Hashem.)
I suggest an alternative meaning of the name Pinchas:
As we already noted, last week's Parashah ended with 24,000 Jews dying in the plague before Pinchas stopped the plague by killing Zimri and Cozbi. The nation numbered about 600,000 men (Numbers 26:51), so assuming a similar number of women the overall adult Jewish population was about 1,200,000. When Pinchas killed Zimri and Cozbi, he therefore saved the lives of 1,200,000 Jews.
Hence Pinchas connotes "pi nunchas" – "he had compassion on 50 times as many": 24,000 Jews died in the plague, but 50 times as many – 1,200,000 Jews – survived thanks to Pinchas.
I find support for this in the Ramban's commentary to Numbers 25:12: "God informed Moshe that He would pay a goodly reward to Pinchas for his zeal in being zealous for his God, and for the tzedaka ('righteousness, justice') that he had done with Israel by atoning for them, so that they did not all die in the plague".
In this specific instance,killing Zimri and Cozbi was the greatest compassion and the greatest justice. For sure, had Pinchas asked a Beit Din (a halachic court) if he could kill them ,the court would have forbidden him; Pinchas could only be justified in killing Zimri and Cozbi in the heat of righteous wrath, only in the heat of the moment, only at the instant of the sin (Rambam, Laws of Forbidden Relationships 12:5; Aruch ha-Shulchan, Even ha-Ezer 16:5).
And had Zimri killed Pinchas he would have been exonerated in court, because when Pinchas was coming after Zimri to kill him, Zimri had the right to self-defence (Sanhedrin 82a; Minchat Chinuch, Mitzvah #296; Rambam, Laws of Forbidden Relationships 12:5; Aruch ha-Shulchan, Choshen Mishpat 425:11).
Pinchas knew that by killing a Jewish national leader and a Midianite national leader he was risking his life. And he also knew that under these specific circumstances, this was the greatest compassion possible on the entire Jewish nation. And because he risked his life for the sake of God and the nation, God rewarded him with His covenant of eternal peace.
Wild Weather Update
Major West US Heat Wave in the Making
Temperatures will be at full throttle later this week over the interior West, reaching dangerous levels, challenging records and elevating the wildfire threat.
While many folks over the interior West are accustomed to and expect hot weather during the summer the developing pattern will take the heat to the extreme. In some cities record highs for any date throughout the year could be equaled or breached.
The weather this week will favor an expanding area of sunshine and building heat over the West. As temperatures soar to record-challenging levels, dry fuel and the potential for spotty dry thunderstorms will push the wildfire threat to new areas and raise the risk in other locations.
Storms, floods threaten vast swath of US
Flash flood and wildfire warnings were issued on Tuesday, as severe thunderstorms and torrential rainfall were again expected to hit the Midwest and Northeast.
"Once again, thunderstorms are expected to fire in parts of the northern Plains to Lower Great Lakes on Tuesday," the National Weather Service said.
"A separate area of severe weather is possible in the Northeast. Large hail and damaging winds will be the primary threats. In addition, rainfall could be heavy enough to cause flash flooding and river flooding in the Midwest and Lower Great Lakes," it added.
In Chicago, there were at least 200,000 power outages on Monday as severe weather lashed the area.
The storms forced the temporary closure of O'Hare International Airport....
Felled trees also led to traffic chaos across the city.
In Belmont, N.H., 23 scouts were hospitalized after being struck by lightning as they hid out from a storm.
Meanwhile, in Wisconsin there was almost a foot of rain over the weekend.
...Lightning strikes could also spark wildfires on the northern Plains, experts warned.
Embattled firefighters across the country have already tackled a number of huge blazes this year in Colorado, California and New Mexico.
The massive West Fork Fire in Colorado is expected to burn for some time to come.
Sunday storms add to danger, misery; 99,000 lack power
Sunday morning storms added to what already was a record number of power outages in Minnesota history and brought new flooding and road closures to some communities.
94 in Alaska? Weather extremes tied to jet stream
Lately, the jet stream isn't playing by the rules. Scientists say that big river of air high above Earth that dictates much of the weather for the Northern Hemisphere has been unusually erratic the past few years.
They blame it for everything from snowstorms in May to the path of Superstorm Sandy.
And last week, it was responsible for downpours that led to historic floods in Alberta, Canada, as well as record-breaking heat in parts of Alaska, experts say. The town of McGrath, Alaska, hit 94. Just a few weeks earlier, the same spot was 15 degrees.
...The jet stream usually rushes rapidly from west to east in a mostly straight direction. But lately it's been wobbling and weaving like a drunken driver, wreaking havoc as it goes. The more the jet stream undulates north and south, the more changeable and extreme the weather.
It's a relatively new phenomenon that scientists are still trying to understand....
In May, there was upside-down weather: Early California wildfires fueled by heat contrasted with more than a foot of snow in Minnesota. Seattle was the hottest spot in the nation one day, and Maine and Edmonton, Canada, were warmer than Miami and Phoenix.
Consider these unusual occurrences over the past few years:
— The winter of 2011-12 seemed to disappear, with little snow and record warmth in March. That was followed by the winter of 2012-13 when nor'easters seemed to queue up to strike the same coastal areas repeatedly.
— Superstorm Sandy took an odd left turn in October from the Atlantic straight into New Jersey, something that happens once every 700 years or so.
— One 12-month period had a record number of tornadoes. That was followed by 12 months that set a record for lack of tornadoes.
And here is what federal weather officials call a ''spring paradox'': The U.S. had both an unusually large area of snow cover in March and April and a near-record low area of snow cover in May. The entire Northern Hemisphere had record snow coverage area in December but the third lowest snow extent for May.
''I've been doing meteorology for 30 years and the jet stream the last three years has done stuff I've never seen,'' said Jeff Masters, meteorology director at the private service Weather Underground. ''The fact that the jet stream is unusual could be an indicator of something. I'm not saying we know what it is.''
...''It's been just a crazy fall and winter and spring all along, following a very abnormal sea ice condition in the Arctic,'' Francis said, noting that last year set a record low for summer sea ice in the Arctic. ''It's possible what we're seeing in this unusual weather is all connected.''
(With thanks to Global Disaster Watch.)
When is your car not YOUR car?
When the government started offering people money to take these old clunkers off the road, I should have realized that there was more behind it than safety or environmental concerns. The goal is that every vehicle on the road will be recent enough to have computerized systems. This makes the vehicle owner vulnerable, not only to EMP attack, but to cyber-attack as well!
When I heard about the circumstances surrounding the untimely death of journalist Michael Hastings - that he was traveling at excessive speed at 4 am before hitting a tree and bursting into flames - I immediately wondered if someone had tampered with the accelerator. Little did I know how easy such tampering has become.
There is now so much on-board circuitry that your vehicle can be hijacked and remotely controlled. And that's besides allowing people to monitor your conversations, your travels and your location!
Friend: Michael Hastings Was Working on "Biggest Story Yet" About CIA
A friend of Michael Hastings told Fox News today that the Rolling Stone journalist was working on the "the biggest story yet" about the CIA before his suspicious death and that Hastings drove "like a grandma," making it extremely out of character for him to be speeding in the early hours of the morning.
Sgt. Joe Biggs told Fox News' Megyn Kelly that "something didn't feel right" after Hastings sent a panicked email saying the authorities were on his tail, adding that the story of him driving at high speed in the early hours of the morning was completely out of character.
"His friends and family that know him, everyone says he drives like a grandma, so that right there doesn't seem like something he'd be doing, there's no way that he'd be acting erratic like that and driving out of control," said Biggs, adding that "things don't add up, there's a lot of questions that need to be answered."
Biggs said he had contacted Mercedes asking them if it was normal for their cars to "blow up to that extent" and for the engine to fly out 100 feet from the site of the crash.
Biggs also confirmed that Hastings was working on a story about the CIA and that it was "going to be the biggest story yet."
As we reported yesterday, questions surrounding the death of Hastings are not only the domain of conspiracy theorists. Former counter-terror czar under two different presidents Richard Clarke told the Huffington Post that the fatal crash of Hastings' Mercedes C250 Coupe was "consistent with a car cyber attack."
"So if there were a cyber attack on the car — and I'm not saying there was," he said, adding "I think whoever did it would probably get away with it," and that "intelligence agencies for major powers" have such capabilities.
Clarke's speculation that Hastings' vehicle could have been remotely hijacked is echoed by Salon.com's Andrew Leonard, who cites two studies by researchers at the University of Washington and the University of California, San Diego, "Experimental Security Analysis of a Modern Vehicle," and "Comprehensive Experimental Analyses of Automotive Attack Surfaces."
The studies detail how "it is a relatively trivial exercise to access the computer systems of a modern car and take control away from the driver."
Posted by Devash at 11:32 AM 1 comment:
A Time to Remember the Holy House
Today's date marked the beginning of the end for both Holy Temples. May we finally and at long last merit to see the rebuilding of the Third Beit Hamikdash speedily in our days!!
So said the Lord of Hosts, saying: This people has said, "The time has not come - the time for the house of the Lord to be built." And the word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet, saying: Is it [an appropriate] time for you yourselves to sit in your ceiled houses, when this house is in ruins? (Haggai 1.1-4)
Rabbi Frank: Pray for Amonah
The state has informed the Supreme Court it will respond to the petition for the demolition of Amonah within a week.
Local Rabbi Yair Frank says that the nation must beseech the Almighty in order to avert the plan. Accordingly, a massive prayer service is scheduled Monday afternoon at the Western Wall with the participation of the women and children of Amonah, in addition to a great prayer assembly Tuesday in the local central synagogue. Communities across Israel are requested to add at least two Psalms to daily services.
Rabbi Frank adds, "The issue is only over PA Arab ownership of a few isolated lots, with negotiations under way. The rest of Amonah has been purchased legally by Jews, and there should be absolutely no issue of demolition."
Maybe if we would pray for Hashem's House to be built and really mean it and be prepared to do as much as we are able to bring it about, then Hashem would take care of our houses and we wouldn't be at risk of losing them.
It didn't stop with Gush Katif or the northern Samaria communities and it won't stop with Amona. Until we get serious about fulfilling the mission for which we were settled in this land, I fear we will continue to lose more and more, bit by bit and piece by peace...
Feiglin: We've Handed over Negev to Arabs
..."Never was the fast of Tammuz 17 so tangible for me. The direct link to the destruction of Jerusalem is clear and plain. You gave up on the Temple Mount, you gave up on construction in Jerusalem, you have abandoned the Jews in the eastern section of the city, you have frozen construction in Judea and Samaria, and now you've given away the Negev.
"The Temple Mount, in the land, is like the heart among the body's organs. He who turns his back on the Mount, loses all of the organs."
An Unremitting Cycle of Sorrow
We are standing on the eve of the beginning of the Three Weeks - 17 Tamuz until 9 Av - which have traditionally been a time period full of troubles, tragedies and sorrows for the Jewish People. Looks like we got a head start on it this year. I can't help but wonder if it has anything to do with the sinat chinam rampant in the politcal life of our nation.
When you are fasting tomorrow, remember the widows and orphans of these budding young men who died too soon. We must weep and repent for whatever part we have played and pray: Hashem have mercy and bring a complete end to the tragedies of these days!
Tragedy: Builder Falls to his Death
A tragedy took place in Samaria Sunday (16.06.13). Eliran Amar, 25, a resident of Elon Moreh and a father of four, fell to his death from scaffolding at a construction site in his home town.
Amar was very badly wounded, and Magen David Adom teams made every effort to save him, but failed. A doctor pronounced him dead at the scene of the accident.
Police have begun to investigate the incident.
The Samaria Regional Council said that Eliran "worked at building the Land of Israel as a construction worker in the Har Kabir company. The Samaria Regional Council and Elon Moreh grieve over his early death."
Most construction work in Israel is carried out by Arabs from Judea and Samaria orforeign workers from China and elsewhere. In recent years, however, there is a growing wave of firms that rely on Jewish labor only, as an ideological approach.Entire neighborhoods are being built in accordance with this approach.
Man Who Fell into Well and Died: Hillel Rudich, 32
The man who fell into a well Friday (21.06.13) in Judea and was killed is Hillel Rudich z"l, 32, of Tekoa. His funeral will take place at 9:00 a.m. Sunday, at the Tekoa cemetery.
Police have determined that there was no foul play in the tragic death.
Rudich went with his children to the Hariton Cave near the community for a hike. He tried to pull a play ball out of the well, but lost his footing and fell into the well.
Another hiker found the children crying and called the security forces. Several hours later, divers from the Etzion Rescue Unit succeeded in extricating the body from the water.
Beitar Ilit: Torah Scholar Collapses and Dies at Age 39
Funeral services are scheduled for Monday afternoon (24.06.13) for Rabbi Rephael Avraham Shmuel Kibovitz of Beitar Ilit, southwest of Jerusalem, who died Monday morning. The funeral procession will start from his home.
The 39-year-old Torah scholar complained of shortness of breath during the early-morning hours and the family ordered a taxi to take him to a Jerusalem hospital but he got worse as time went on and collapsed and died en route, in the presence of his wife and daughter.
When 'Extreme' Becomes the Norm
Government-sanctioned assassination???
In late 2001, there was a suspicious rash of deaths of prominent microbiologists and now in 2013 we're seeing the same thing with regard to "truth-seeking" journalists and in both instances there was a strong Israeli connection.
In 2002, Michael Davidson, a graduate of the Syracuse University School of Journalism, put together a report detailing the microbiologists and the circumstances of their untimely deaths. It's entitled A Career In Microbiology Can Be Harmful To Your Health.
A blogpost does not allow a detailed discussion of this report, so I suggest you follow the link when you have some time and read the whole thing. Meanwhile, I'll excerpt the part describing the Israeli connection:
...a commercial jetliner traveling from Israel to Novosibirsk, Siberia was shot down over the Black Sea by an "errant" Ukrainian surface-to-air missile, killing all on board. The missile was over 100 miles off-course. Despite early news stories reporting it as a charter, the flight, Air Sibir 1812, was a regularly scheduled flight.
According to several press reports, including a Dec. 5 article by Barry Chamish and one on Jan. 13 by Jim Rarey (both available atwww.rense.com), the plane is believed by many in Israel to have had as many as five passengers who were microbiologists. Both Israel and Novosibirsk are homes for cutting-edge microbiological research. Novosibirsk is known as the scientific capital of Siberia, and home to over 50 research facilities and 13 full universities for a population of only 2.5 million people.
At the time of the Black Sea crash, Israeli journalists had been sounding the alarm that two Israeli microbiologists had been recently murdered, allegedly by terrorists. On Nov. 24 a Swissair flight from Berlin to Zurich crashed on its landing approach. Of the 33 persons on board, 24 were killed, including the head of the hematology department at Israel's Ichilov Hospital, as well as directors of the Tel Aviv Public Health Department and Hebrew University School of Medicine. They were the only Israelis on the flight. The names of those killed, as reported in a subsequent Israeli news story but not matched to their job titles, were Avishai Berkman, Amiramp Eldor and Yaacov Matzner.
Besides all being microbiologists, six of the seven scientists who died within weeks of each other died from "unnatural" causes. And four of the seven were doing virtually identical research -- research that has global, political and financial significance.
Remember, this was late 2001 to early 2002. Now, in 2009, there was a weird incident in Los Angeles involving an Israeli microbiologist by the name of Yosef Moshe. Here is an excerpt from a report entitled The Strange Case of Joseph Moshe. (See videos there.)
...Moshe was dramatically arrested and detained by the FBI last week having earlier called Dr True Ott's radio show claiming that Baxter was incorporating a bioweapon in its vaccine.
..."Joseph Moshe (Moshe is the man's middle name) is a bio-scientist. He works (worked?) for a unit within Mossad. He is an Israeli citizen.
The Secret Service was not the agency involved in the surveillance of Moshe at his home in California. This was done by the FBI, who had orders to detain him, or "bring him in."
Moshe did not send a threat to the White House. Rather, he communicated that he intended to go public with information he had regarding the flu vaccine that is being prepared by Baxter Labs, an Austrian company.
The information is this: The vaccine is being manufactured in Ukraine. It is not a vaccine at all, but rather an engineered genetically mutated bio-weapon meant to cause sickness and death. Moshe informed the White House he intended to go public with this information. When he became aware that the FBI was about to detain him, he packed some belongings in his car and set out for the Israeli consulate, located in close proximity to the federal building where the standoff took place. FBI pursuit kept him from reaching his destination.
Nothing has been heard from or about him since the described incident.
So, why am I telling you this now? Because now the journalists who are trying to expose the evil deeds of the government(s) are being taken out one by one and there appears to be another Israeli connection. And not just any Israeli connection, but the same Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles, California.
First, they took out Andrew Breitbart on the very day he was supposed to expose new and damaging information about President Obama. (The coroner who did his autopsy died suspiciously a few weeks later on the same day the autopsy report was released.)
Now, the death last week of journalist Michael Hastings has been called into question.
No one satisfied: Suspicion About Michael Hastings' Strange Violent Death Explodes
Although social media sites like Reddit were already coming up with various theories hours after the crash, the internet erupted after Wikileaks tweeted that Hastings "contacted WikiLeaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson just a few hours before he died, saying that the FBI was investigating him."
...For many conspiracy theorists, a major point of speculation are the sensitive stories Hastings was pursuing before his tragic death.
Raw video footage of car after the crash...
A report entitled LA Times Reports Hastings Was Going Into Hiding Before His Death says:
Despite FBI assertions to the contrary, journalist Michael Hastings was under investigation by the agency. In an email sent out hours before his death, Hastings said his "close friends and associates" were being harassed by the FBI and he was going to "go off the radar for a bit," in other words into hiding. The Los Angeles Times reported on the email on Friday.
"Perhaps if the authorities arrive" at the news website Buzzfeed, they "may be wise to immediately request legal counsel before any conversations or interviews about our news-gathering practices or related journalism issues," he wrote.
...Buzzfeed editor Ben Smith added that Hastings had told friends and family "he was concerned that he was under investigation" for his journalism.
...Wikileaks also confirmed that Hastings was under investigation by the FBI.
And now today a (NOT-guaranteed reliable) Russian source claims...
"American journalist Michael Hastings was assassinated by a US military drone strike early this past Tuesday morning (PDT) while attempting to reach what he believed would be a safe haven at the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles, California.
..."at least" 4 cellular communications between this vehicle and the Israeli Consulate located at 11766 Wilshire Blvd, and which further GRU GPS and cellular data analysis revealed Hastings was headed towards at a "high rate of speed."
...As the ShadowHawk attack upon Hastings's vehicle occurred with his being only 14.3 kilometers (8.9 miles) from his presumed safety under Israeli protection at their Los Angeles consulate, this report says, even at that early hour many residents were awakened by the explosion providing "excellent" eyewitness testimony which "severely" conflicts with America's mainstream propaganda organs.
The report ends with this chilling conclusion...
... Hastings assassination is linked to the upcoming "false-flag event" being planned by the Obama regime that many Russian intelligence experts warn is but "weeks, if not days, away."
"Parashat Balak – Israel alone, a precious blessing"
Parashat Balak – Israel alone, a precious blessing – Rabbi Meir Kahane
by Tzipora Liron-Pinner
"Behold! It is a nation that will dwell in solitude and not be reckoned among the nations."(Num. 23:9)
[It is] G-d's decree that the Jewish People must remain apart, separate from the nations, so as to be cut off from their abominations, and their alien culture. Toward that end, G-d established for the Jewish People a special land of their own, the Land of Israel. There and there alone they would live lives of G-dliness and build a perfect state and society based on Torah and holiness.The concept of a Jewish People alone is tied to the concept that G-d is alone. G-d is alone and cannot be compared or equated to anything else. He is One and Unique, as it says (Deut. 4:35), "You are the ones who have been shown, so that you will know that the L-rd is G-d and there is none besides Him"; and, "To Him Who alone does great wonders" (Ps. 136:4).Just so, the Jewish People are alone, set apart from all the nations, as it says (Lev. 20:26), "I have separated you from the nations," and, "It is a people that shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations" (Num. 23:9).
Just as G-d stands apart from every concept in the world, so must Israel remain separate from all the other nations of the world. This is the intent of Ps. 148:13-14: "Let them praise the name of the L-rd, for His name alone is exalted... He has raised the honor of His People, the glory of His faithful followers, the Children of Israel, the nation close to Him. Praise the L-rd!"Although G-d is alone, and Israel are obligated to remain alone, they are still "the nation close to Him". Between G-d and Israel there exists intimacy amidst total isolation.G-d is close to the nation set apart; ready to help them against every trouble and foe. As it says (Deut. 32:12), "G-d alone guided them. There was no alien power with Him"; and,"Israel shall thus dwell securely, alone" (Ibid., 33:28).He [G-d], alone, determines the fate of individuals, nations and kings, and we need not fear mortal man and his armies or being alone.
[As we find in Peirush HaMaccabee,] the Gentile sees physical greatness and might, and measures his chances of success accordingly. Balak, for example, told Balaam, Now, come and curse for me this nation, for it is mightier than me (Numbers 22:6). The Jew, however, knows that he is the fewest of all the nations (Deuteronomy 7:7) – yet he is exalted above all those nations if he is faithful to G-d's covenant: Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand (Leviticus 26:8).Nonetheless, for those of no faith, or even of little faith, isolation is a frightening concept. Even observant and G-d fearing Jews are fearful of this concept. The person of weak faith longs for friends and allies, for help from strong nations against the surrounding dangers. Yet whoever relies on the non-Jew and his aid, and fears that without such aid the Jews and their land will be unable to survive, has been caught by lack of complete trust in G-d, bordering on denial of His existence. The individual Jew and the Jewish People as a whole will not be forgiven if they abandon their faith in G-d, the Supreme, Omnipotent King, Who rules over the world and over the nations. He, alone, is our salvation.Precisely this proves one's true faith and trust, for it is impossible that one who fears mortal man really believes in G-d. Real trust in G-d requires the Jew both to trust in Him and cast off all fear of mortal man and reliance on human aid.When one scorns the non-Jew's aid, this necessarily makes him trust in G-d. Conversely, as long as a Jew lifts his eyes in hope to the non-Jew and his aid, it is impossible that he will completely believe in the existence of G-d as a Supreme Power.
In conclusion, true bitachon (faith) means believing that G-d is all-powerful and is not impeded from saving the many or the few. It also means that if we obey G-d and His most difficult, ostensibly dangerous commands and mitzvot, no mortal power on earth can defeat us as a nation. Not only do we need not fear flesh and blood, but we are forbidden to lift our eyes to the nations and ask them for help.Whoever accepts this principle of bitachon unreservedly, truly believes that G-d is the One Supreme Power, G-d of heaven and earth. Whoever hesitates, whoever fears the non-Jew, shows that he questions G-d's ability to help His people. It is doubtful whether he completely believes in G-d as an Omnipotent Supreme Power."It is a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations" (Num. 32:9)The nations have no say regarding Israel's future. The non-Jew is only a tool in G-d's hands, as it says, "O Assyria, rod of My anger" (Isa. 10:5). That is, Assyria and the other nations are nothing but a tool in G-d's hand, a rod and a staff with which to smite anyone targeted by G-d's anger. Neither Assyria nor any kingdom or monarch can rule by themselves over others, or even over themselves, for indeed, "Like watercourses, the king's heart is in G-d's hand. He turns it whenever he desires" (Prov. 21:1). It thus says, "He shall drive the enemy before you and shall proclaim, 'Destroy!' Israel shall thus dwell securely, alone" (Deut. 33:27-28). Following is Or HaChaim (Ibid.):"Israel shall thus dwell securely": When? When they are alone. "They shall dwell" naturally follows "He shall proclaim, 'Destroy!'" G-d commanded Israel to annihilate every soul of the inhabitants of the land. By doing so, "Israel shall dwell securely, alone".
To our sorrow, those who try to pervert the separatist faith and trust of "a nation that shall dwell alone" (Num. 23:9) by claiming that it is forbidden to rile up the nations, and that the Jewish People, even when powerful, still depend on the nations, have no faith and distort the whole concept of trust in G-d. The Jew who believes and trusts in G-d, will arrive at truth and faith and tranquility, whereas he who trusts in man, in human strength, will arrive at falsehood and tragedy. This is because someone who trusts in G-d will attain the spiritual level of, "Israel shall thus dwell securely, alone" (Deut. 33:28); whereas someone who relies on his own arrogance or on the nations will arrive, G-d forbid, at, "How does the city sit alone" (Lam. 1:1).We must know and grasp this great principle, which is the key to speedy, magnificent redemption, without suffering or tragedy. A brilliant redemption, in which G-d's promise of "haste" (Isa. 60:22) is fulfilled, will come only when the Jewish People are alone, set apart, in isolation, and trusting fully in G-d to defeat our enemies.We must never forget the following great principle: Whoever relies on the non-Jew and seeks his aid, repels the Messiah, pushes off the redemption and brings upon us G-d's wrath and ire. Redemption will come only when Israel are alone, without any outside protection or help. Only when the nations see, with wonderment and mouth agape, how mighty and strong G-d is without help, will G-d's name be magnified and sanctified on earth. Then shall the vision be realized before the eyes of the nations that "The L-rd alone shall be exalted in that day"(Isa. 2:17).
Moreover, Israel , stubborn and insolent, will never believe that G-d is their Redeemer, so long as they have even one gentile nation standing at their side. Only when "the L-rd alone is exalted on that day," only when Israel sees that "G-d, alone, will direct them" (Deut. 32:12), will Israel believe in G-d and in the Torah of Moses His servant. Indeed, this is how it will be: a nation alone with G-d alone, and both of them alone facing the whole world. Only in that manner will Israel's redemption come, and so to speak, of G-d, via, "Thus will I be magnified, sanctified and become known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the L-rd" (Ezek. 38:23).
[Source: Compiled by Tzipora Liron-Pinner from "The Jewish Idea" and "Peirush HaMaccabee- Shemot" of Rav Meir Kahane, HY"D]
"Spiritual Technology"
My teacher, R' Avraham Sutton has a new book out called Spiritual Technology.
Amazon description: On the transition from profane technology to sacred technology in preparation for the advent of the Great Shabbat Probing deeply into the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, focusing especially on the character of the nachash (serpent, snake, sneak), I explain that we are presently in the period of history that corresponds to that fateful Friday in Eden. I show how the teachings of the Torah are the antidote that allows us to finally stop making the same mistake and begin the process of tikun (repair) that will bring healing to our world. I explain the problems with modern technology (and the mindset behind it) and how the inner, prophetic, spiritual technology of the Torah can help us make a major paradigm shift away from the path of destruction to true redemption. The teachings in this book show that the possibility of transforming this world into heaven is actually what the Torah is all about.
Sounds really interesting. He talks about it here on Youtube.
"Israel Tachlis"
There's a new blog in town. I really enjoyed the first blog post. If it's any indication of things to come, it should enjoy great success.
Mazal tov and yasher koach!
Paying the Price on the Tag
We couldn't let the occasion pass without a comment. But then there's time since the actual birthday is not until August. All of the congratulations on reaching this milestone may become irrelevant if he doesn't make it to the 20th of Av. My guess is he is assuming he's going to live forever.
For me, Shimon Peres' birthday is not a cause for celebration. That day will come when he is gone from this world and no longer able to inflict so much harm on Am Yisrael.
Peres Criticized for 90th Birthday Extravaganza
There was much criticism in Israel on Wednesday of President Shimon Peres's lavish 90th birthday celebration, which took place at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem the previous evening.
The extravaganza was attended by some 2,000 people, including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, singer Barbra Streisand and actors Robert de Niro and Sharon Stone, to name a few. The event was broadcast live on Israel's three main television networks as well as on the radio.
You should really read the article. Many of the critical comments are very amusing.
Their Secret Plan
There is only one conclusion that can be drawn from the following reports:
Jews Saved from Arab Terrorist Lynch in Jeusalem
Arabs Attack Home in Beit Shemesh, Part of Ongoing Harassment
Jerusalem: Arab Youths Attack Jewish Children
Aharonovich: Price Tag Vandalism may Lead to Civil War
4 Minors Arrested on Temple Mount
Outpost Defenders Begin 3-Month Sentence
MK: Jewish Values are Israel's 'Core Curriculum'
Ariel Confirms Building Freeze in Judea and Samaria
And this is just a representative sampling. The only conclusion is that 'they' have a 'secret' plan for demoralizing the Jews into abandoning Judaism and Eretz Yisrael.
Well, we have a secret weapon against them. Our faith and trust in HaKadosh Baruch Hu and His goodness and watch care over us. THEY WILL NOT SUCCEED!!!!!!!!!!
And rest assured - PAYDAY IS COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!! They'll get everything that is coming to them - all those who attacked and harassed and demoralized! Not the least of which is the government which fails to secure its own citizens! YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED!!!!!!!!!
What happens when a nation sticks its finger in Hashem's eye
Keep in mind that the number 11 figured prominently in the Twin Towers attack and it is the number of that part of Hashem's name that denotes His actions through natural (hidden) means. The gematria of yad (as in yad Hashem) is 14.
Extreme weather caused $110 billion in damage in 2012
Severe weather cost the nation $110 billion in damages in 2012, the second-costliest in history, according to disaster information released Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
All told the United States saw 11 weather and climate disasters last year with losses exceeding $1 billion in damages.
The total puts 2012 second in total damages behind 2005, which saw four devastating hurricanes, including Katrina and Rita, and incurred $160 billion in costs.
Hurricane Sandy was responsible for more than half of 2012's total, with approximately $65 in claims. The Midwest drought soaked up another $30 billion.
Sandy also incurred the worst loss of life, with more than 130 fatalities tied to the storm that engulfed nearly 500 miles along the East Coast.
But heat waves last year caused more than 100 deaths, and the largest drought in the United States since the 1930s had the federal government declaring drought disasters in 2,600 of the nation's 3,143 counties.
Drought conditions also led to several devastating wildfires that burned more than 9 million acres in 2012, NOAA reported.
The 11 billion-dollar disaster events in 2012 rank second behind the 14 events in 2011. Those 11 events killed more than 300 people and had "devastating economic effects" on the regions impacted, NOAA said.
Black Forest Fire: Most Destructive in Colorado History
Severe Weather to Accompany European Heat
Mini-heatwave as scientists meet to discuss odd weather
Flooding in Germany eases but many still unable to return home
HALEVAI!!
9 Tamuz 5773
And may this be only the beginning of laying claim to ALL of our land!!
Bennett: Palestinian State? Get Over It
Bayit Yehudi head, Economics Minister Naftali Bennett, said Monday that the idea of establishing a Palestinian state has reached a dead end and should be forsaken.
"Never in the history of Israel has so much energy been invested in something so pointless," Bennett said at a conference on the Jewish settlers in Judea and Samaria and their depiction in the media.
Regarding the idea of a Palestinian state, he said, "We need to go from a situation in which we try to convince people that it is a bad idea, to one in which this idea is behind us. Anyone who travels around Judea and Samaria knows that what they say in the hallways of Oslo and Annapolis is detached from reality."
"There are 400,000 Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria, and another 250,000 in eastern Jerusalem," he noted. "More than 10% of the residents of Israel live in what is called the Green Line. The attempt to establish a Palestinian state inside our land is over."
The Kedusha of Eretz Yisrael is Under Assault...
...like never before.
Now the Erev Rav are showing their true colors. Nobody with a real Jewish neshama who is connected to the Creator and His Holy Torah could do the things that they are trying to do here.
Jewish Home Set to Veto Same-Gender Marriage Law
The Jewish Home is expected to exercise its right to veto any religious legislation it opposes and prevent the proposal of the Justice Ministry to allow members of the same gender to register for marriage.
Efrayim Holtzberg, activist for the sanctity of the Land of Israel explained to A7, "This is absolutely essential. We are meant to be G-ds Light unto the Nations. even Queen Elizabeth refused such a proposal saying she was committed to upholding the Set of Values presented in the Bible."
Same-Gender Marriage Registration Proposal Retracted
Following the request of the PM to promote legislation of same-gender marriage registration only with consent of all coalition members, the Justice Ministry decided Sunday to retract its request to put the proposal to a Constitution Committee vote.
Earlier it was reported that the Jewish Home was expected to veto the proposal, exercising its right to block any religious legislation it opposes.
And just in case anyone reading this thinks I'm just another "homophobe," I'll have you know that I feel the exact same way about 'Pride' parades and 'marriage registration' for adulterers. These are shameful sins which destroy society and are nothing to be proud about. The Torah prescribes the same 'remedy' for adulterers as it does for homosexual acts. The "hidden" things are for Hashem to judge, but those brought into the open become a matter for the public. (Devarim 29:28)
It had to happen
Hashem is shaking up every group of Jews - removing them from their comfort zones - because He is not satisfied with the status quo. We should all be moving forward, not sitting still.
The Chareidim got a slap up side the head to wake them up because they want to sit in Eretz Yisrael as they once did in the Midbar with everything provided and all they do is learn all day. So how is it they don't understand from that same Torah that when we come to live in Eretz Yisrael everyone must take up a share of the work wihtout giving up the learning, including guarding the land from our enemies.
Now it is the turn of the mamlachtim - those who worship the State as if it is already the kingdom of Mashiach.
Religious Zionist World in Uproar over 'Death Blow' to Yeshivas
Yeshiva heads plan to hold an emergency conference Sunday to discuss last-ditch methods for fighting budget cuts they fear will end Torah learning in many parts of the religious Zionist sector.
"The yeshiva world's oxygen tank will empty, and yeshivas will close," a source told Arutz Sheva. "The Bayit Yehudi faction and its leader must get themselves together before it's too late."
The Chareidim are going to have to come closer to the so-called religious Zionist outlook on the Land of Israel and the religious-Zionists are going to have to come closer to the Chareidi viewpoint on the character of the ruling regime. Right now, both have good aspects and erroneous aspects that must be corrected. For everyone there is room for improvement. It is when we think that we have "arrived" and everyone should be like us that we are looking for trouble with Hashem.
I wonder what He has in store for the 'chilonim.' I'm guessing we won't wait long to find out.
Parshat Chukat 5773
Parashat Chukat – The Legitimate Rights of the Ammonites - Rav Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane
The modern concept of "Jewish occupied territories" rears its ugly head in Parashat Chukat and our Haftarah of the Shabbat. In our Parashah, the kings Og and Sichon prevent the Jewish People from passing through their borders on their way to the Land of Israel. Not only that, but they even wage war against us – and lose. The children of Israel conquer their land and do not let go. Interestingly enough, the following idiotic idea never dawned on either of the parties involved: O.K., we tried to annihilate you and we did not succeed, so just give us back what you conquered from us during our attempt to wipe you out, and in exchange we promise not to try to wipe you out again. No, such a proposition was never raised. When you lose, you lose, without dictating conditions afterwards.
"Land for Peace": And what if Sichon would have come to Israel and demanded "land for peace"? What would have been the reaction then? To answer this question, we are forced to move the clock ahead another 300 years until we arrive at the Haftarah of our Parashah. That is precisely what happens. The king of Ammon brazenly demands that Israel return to him the territories that were conquered, and if they refuse, there will be war. The difference between him and the Arabs of today is that the king of Ammon is a lot more "moderate". He personally has no previous "record" of hostility towards the Jewish People. He simply makes a very limited albeit uncompromising request."Because Israel took away my land when they came out of Egypt, from Ammon as far as the Yabbok and the Jordan." (Judges 11:13) The king of Ammon does not want everything. He does not seek the liquidation of the Jewish entity. He simply wants that which was taken from him. He is simply demanding to exercise the historical right of his people. And then, as if he jumped off the pages of the Tanach into today's reality, he concludes in the following manner: "Now, therefore, restore those lands peacefully." (Judges 11:13) "Peace". That magic word. What normal Jewish leader can refuse such an offer? After all, it is not an illogical claim; the lands were taken from them. They once even had a sovereign empire with a capital and an army there. And most importantly, here is a genuine opportunity for peace: "No more war, no more bloodshed."
"Not one Inch": But Yiftach's answer is a real knockout. He recounts all the relevant past history, and then concludes: "So now the L-rd of Israel has driven out the Emori from before his people Israel, and you should possess the land?! Will you not possess what your god Kemosh gives you to possess? So likewise that which the L-rd our G-d has voided before us, that shall we possess." (Judges 11:23,24) This is the reaction of a true Jewish leader. A reaction of emunah [faith]. The land is ours not because of any "historical claim" or because we are strong, but rather because G-d gave it to us. And pay attention how Yiftach even mocks the Ammonite god "Kemosh" - take what he gives you, but from us you will get nothing – not an inch.
"How to subdue the Enemy": How can we begin to understand the minds of those Jews, particularly religious ones, who do not grasp all this. The cursed Arab enemy has initiated war after war against us in an effort to obliterate us, and he has failed each time. Each time G-d has granted us great miracles to overcome them, yet we insist on being ingrates, not recognizing the miracles. Only when we understand that our true right to the land is based on the ultimately ethical concept that G-d gave it to us – only then will we get the results that Yiftach achieved, "thus the children of Ammon were subdued by the children of Israel."
[Source: Text taken from "The Writings of Rav Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane HY"D" - on Parashat Chukat]
YAD HASHEM
A massive line of storms packing hail, lightning and tree-toppling winds rolled through the Midwest Wednesday evening driving people into basements for shelter, tearing down power lines and causing flooding in low-lying areas.
Forecasters predicted that by the time the storms were done, they could affect more than one in five Americans from Iowa to Maryland. ... Tens of thousands of people across the Upper Midwest lost power.
Millions in path of storm system as it pushes east
Devastating winds, hail and even tornadoes were forecast for the East Coast on Thursday, caused by a massive storm system that tormented the Midwest a day earlier.
Flood warnings were in effect for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, while severe thunderstorms are also possible in the South and Southeast.
Roughly 62 million Americans are in the path of severe weather, MSNBC Meteorologist Bill Karins said. The worst of it could be in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Richmond, Va., and Philadelphia.
Nearly 100 homes burned as fires rage in Colo.
The Black Forest Fire is reported to have grown to some 12,000 acres and remains out of control near Colorado Springs this morning as dozens of properties have been reduced to rubble.
"I Don't Know What We're Going To Wake Up To Tomorrow…"
With seemingly endless scandals rocking the country, economic malaise spreading across the world, and super powers positioning their military assets on the grand chessboard, one can't help but notice that the entire planet is devolving into complete insanity.
Uncertainty is at such a level that it's impossible to know what happens next.
These people – our leaders, the purported best and brightest members of politics, finance, and industry – have brought us to the brink. What we are witnessing is a complete destabilization of our socio-economic systems and the rule of law, and it's being fueled by pandemonium in the upper echelons of the global power structure.
The Bigger Picture of Governmental Spying? (Part 3)
(See Part 1 and Part 2.)
Progressive Man views history as linear, going from primitive to more advanced and becoming better and better as time goes on. This is a basic premise of Western Civilization. Modern Western Man believes that he has outgrown God and now worships his own intellect, believing with faith that through the power of his intellect merged with his own creation - super computers - he can attain eternal life and godhood for himself.
The reality is far different. Time is not linear. It is circular like the rings which extend out from a pebble when it is dropped into water. (That's why we call it the cycle of time and why a clock generally has a round face.) Like the ripples in the water, the ripples of time and the energy that inhabits them, grows less and less defined as it moves outward from the source.
At the beginning of this current cycle of creation, man was not a primitive being. He was perfect and endowed with all the knowledge of the universe. Even after his fall from perfection, he retained much of his knowledge and passed it down from one generation to the next. We see that even after the Great Flood, by the time mankind was building the Tower of Bavel, God said of the generation: "This they begin to do and now nothing will be restrained from them, ...." To this day, experts in the fields of engineering can not replicate some of the methods employed by the ancients in their building. Mankind once knew how to manipulate the forces of nature to produce "magic," but no longer.
Only those who remain connected to the Source through the yearly cycle of Torah reading and the annual re-enactments of the holidays still maintain the original vision of Truth, albeit with less clarity since the Beit Hamikdash lies in ruins. Those disconnected from the Source, like the ripples of water, lose shape and form and grow flat until they are indistinguishable from the surrounding body of water. In more familiar words, they become completely assimilated and they find this to be the most desirable state of being for all of humanity. The ideal becomes for all differences to be erased, for all individuality to be eliminated for the greater good. Rather than view the ripples as special markers of a unique event in history, they are seen as obstacles to the serenity of sameness and blemishes which mar the beauty of the tranquility of the whole.
Put less poetically, The Nations wish to rid themselves of the only constant reminder of the Truth of their origins and their future destiny - the JEWS and anyone else remotely connected to them by way of the Hebrew Scriptures. Like Lucifer in John Milton's Paradise Lost, they'd rather reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.
They're like the Borg whose spokesperson is interestingly enough a transhuman - human merged with machine:
The People of God are quickly being assimilated into the nations and the Nation of God is also under threat of assimilation. While I've been writing this series today, some related items of interest have appeared in the news feed:
Livni: 'Jewish State' Second to Democracy
Justice Minister calls to override religious disagreement to create a constitution.
Israel must create a constitution – even if the minority groups it is meant to defend do not want one, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said Tuesday. Israel's status as a Jewish state is second to its status as a democracy, she argued.
Livni noted the religious-secular divide regarding legal authority in Israel. "In practice, each person decides his own constitution… There is a battle over our source of authority, is it the constitution and law, with the courts clarifying its meaning? Or is it based in halakha [Jewish law] and rabbis clarifying its meaning?"
"I'm on the side of the constitution and the courts," she continued. "Even if I sometimes disagree with a particular verdict… I don't accept the opinion that the State of Israel is first and foremost a Jewish state, and a democratic regime."
Jail Time Proposed for Israelis Caught Discriminating
The Ministry of Justice on Wednesday issued a memorandum calling for a one-year jail term for anyone accused of discrimination. The memorandum was circulated following a report compiled by the Ministry of Attorney General and adopted by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni. The memorandum read, in part: "Limiting the ability of another person to enjoy equal public space and public services due to illegal discrimination undermines the principle of equality... therefore it is proposed that this behavior constitute a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment."
Fischer: Hareidi Birthrate 'a Problem'
Bank of Israel head makes controversial statements about Hareidi, Arab families in a farewell address.
Well, you get the idea. This is going on everywhere, every day.
Those who refuse to assimilate, they will attempt to enslave or annihilate and in many places they will succeed, but not in Eretz Yisrael. A Messiah will arise for the Jews in Eretz Yisrael and reverse this tide of assimilation, defeating all those whose aim is to make of Israel a nation like all the rest. This will cause Israel to be viewed as the ultimate Terror State, the ultimate obstacle to global unity and quantum leap in planetary evolution - the ascension to godhood by the elite. It is on this basis, that they will come to wield destruction and instead will themselves be destroyed.
However, contrary to Michael Savage's vision which is based on current events as portrayed by the Western media, it is actually the Western nations which will lead the invasion of Israel and here meet their doom.
This event will mark the end of governmental spying and their dissident lists, of transhumanism and visions of a world without God - thank God!! There will be a spiritual evolutionary leap which will bring the long-dreamed of utopia in which the world attains the level of kedusha of Eretz Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael goes up to the level of Yerushalayim and Yerushalayim becomes like the Temple Mount itself. The righteous among the nations will be brought up to the level of Yisraelim and all the Jews will be a kingdom of priests to their God.
We will have come full circle back to our origins - back to Eden.
(See Part 1.)
You've heard of the New World Order:
But it's more, much more, than the establishment of global institutions and infrastructures for global governance, as you'll see a little further along in this essay.
'Terror' is a tool being wielded today not just by religious or political dissidents, but also by governments who are being led by men with a vision for the future which requires first the identification and then the eradication of any who might oppose it. And this is the real purpose behind Prism and Main Core.
THE TERRORIST has become World Enemy #1. No "civilized" citizen of the world holds any sympathy for him or his cause. He has no rights and no protection under the law - witness rendition practices and Gitmo facilities. Once named, he is guilty until proven innocent, which will never happen. And anyone, even YOU can be determined to be a TERRORIST and share in this fate.
Where is this taking us all into the future? Well, let's look at the words of a couple of "futurists" and see...
Michio Kaku is an American theoretical physicist, the Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics at the City College of New York, a futurist, and a communicator and popularizer of science. He has written several books about physics and related topics; he has made frequent appearances on radio, television, and film; and he writes extensive online blogs and articles. He has written two New York Times Best Sellers, Physics of the Impossible (2008) and Physics of the Future (2011). Kaku has hosted several TV specials for the BBC, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, and the Science Channel.
Dr. Michio Kaku on 2057 Humans :
He describes our planetary transition from a Type 0 (international) to a Type 1 (interplanetary) civilization where English will be the planetary language and American culture will be the planetary culture:
"...this transition is the most important transition of all time. Some people don't want it. They fear this transition because this transition is to a planetary civilization that is tolerant of many cultures. These are the terrorists. In their gut they fear this because they know they are witnessing the birth pangs of the beginning of a new planetary civilization and the terrorists want nothing to do with it. ...the rise of international terrorism [is an] obstacle to reaching a Type 1 civilization...."
Dr. Michio Kaku on The Singularity :
"We are fast approaching an event unprecedented in our history - a tipping point known as the technological singularity. When this happens the world will change forever. A new chapter in human history will begin. ...it refers to a time when computer power grows without limit, surpassing human intelligence, sweeping aside everything in its path. ...the technological singularity is inevitable. ...When the singularity arrives, we can not predict what the super-intelligent machines will do. They will have their own goals and will stop at nothing to fulfill them. They may choose to eliminate everything that stands in their path - including us...."
His "solution:"
"I think we should embrace the singularity. ...merge with [the machines]. By merging with machines, we will enter a new age of super-human existence. In the post-human era, we become Homo-Superior. We become a new species. We're talking about humanity becoming like the gods...."
Raymond "Ray" Kurzweil is an American author, inventor, futurist, and a director of engineering at Google. Aside from futurology, he is involved in fields such as optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic keyboard instruments. He has written books on health, artificial intelligence (AI), transhumanism, the technological singularity, and futurism. Kurzweil is a public advocate for the futurist and transhumanist movements, as has been displayed in his vast collection of public talks, wherein he has shared his primarily optimistic outlooks on life extension technologies and the future of nanotechnology, robotics, and biotechnology.
Kurzweil was the principal inventor of the first CCD flatbed scanner, the first omni-font optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, the first commercial text-to-speech synthesizer, the first music synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano and other orchestral instruments,[citation needed] and the first commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition.
Kurzweil received the 1999 National Medal of Technology and Innovation, America's highest honor in technology, from President Clinton in a White House ceremony. He was the recipient of the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize for 2001, the world's largest for innovation. And in 2002 he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, established by the U.S. Patent Office. He has received nineteen honorary doctorates, and honors from three U.S. presidents. Kurzweil has been described as a "restless genius" by The Wall Street Journal and "the ultimate thinking machine" by Forbes. PBS included Kurzweil as one of 16 "revolutionaries who made America" along with other inventors of the past two centuries. Inc. magazine ranked him #8 among the "most fascinating" entrepreneurs in the United States and called him "Edison's rightful heir".
Kurzweil has authored seven books, five of which have been national bestsellers. The Age of Spiritual Machines has been translated into 9 languages and was the #1 best-selling book on Amazon in science. Kurzweil's book The Singularity Is Near was a New York Times bestseller, and has been the #1 book on Amazon in both science and philosophy. His latest bestseller is How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed. Kurzweil speaks widely to audiences public and private and regularly delivers keynote speeches at industry conferences like DEMO, SXSW and TED. His website catalogs his public speaking, publications and media appearances. He has his own website, called KurzweilAI, which has over two million readers annually.
The New World Order entails much more than global governance and concentrating the power and the wealth from the hands of the many into the hands of the few and elite. It is the Tower of Bavel all over again. It is about mankind outgrowing its dependence on a Divine Being and taking responsibility for the next step in its own evolution. It is the Satan's original lie - "You shall not die - you will be like God."
Transhumanism (abbreviated as H+ or h+) is an international cultural and intellectual movement with an eventual goal at fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities. Transhumanist thinkers study the potential benefits and dangers of emerging technologies that could overcome fundamental human limitations, as well as study the ethical matters involved in developing and using such technologies. They predict that human beings may eventually be able to transform themselves into beings with such greatly expanded abilities as to merit the label "posthuman".
The contemporary meaning of the term transhumanism was foreshadowed by one of the first professors of futurology, FM-2030, who taught "new concepts of the Human" at The New School in the 1960s, when he began to identify people who adopt technologies, lifestyles and worldviews transitional to "posthumanity" as "transhuman". This hypothesis would lay the intellectual groundwork for the British philosopher Max More to begin articulating the principles of transhumanism as a futurist philosophy in 1990, and organizing in California an intelligentsia that has since grown into the worldwide transhumanist movement.
Influenced by seminal works of science fiction, the transhumanist vision of a transformed future humanity has attracted many supporters and detractors from a wide range of perspectives. Transhumanism has been characterized by one critic, Francis Fukuyama, as among the world's most dangerous ideas, to which Ronald Bailey countered that it is rather the "movement that epitomizes the most daring, courageous, imaginative, and idealistic aspirations of humanity".
It's Nazi eugenics taken to the next level where an individual's worth is not determined by physical or racial characteristics, but by their mental and spiritual ability to accept the new reality without God. The Transhumanist agenda is at the core of the New World Order. And the digital war on terrorism is how they intend to identify and eliminate all who oppose it.
TO PART 3...
With the recent revelations made by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden of the extent and power of government data theft (Uncle Sam is collecting it and sharing it with interested others), one instinctively knows that this program's aims go way beyond national security.
The world is becoming smaller and smaller as resources are being shared by a greater and greater number of people on the planet. National interests have become international and interdependent, and as a result, those in power see a continued drive toward 'unity' to be the only legitimate goal of mankind. But, in order to have unity, as they see it, all borders, both physical and cultural must be erased. Everything must become 'legal' except resistance to this new world order.
It's a well-known fact of human nature that a common enemy draws people together; therefore, this global paradigm requires a global, transnational, transcultural enemy. Enter THE TERRORIST and THE WAR ON TERROR.
But who or what defines a 'terrorist?' It should be self-evident you say? You might be interested to know that "terrorism has no legally binding, criminal law definition."
(Wikipedia) The word "terrorism" is politically and emotionally charged, and this greatly compounds the difficulty of providing a precise definition. Studies have found over 100 definitions of "terrorism". The concept of terrorism may be controversial as it is often used by state authorities (and individuals with access to state support) to delegitimize political or other opponents, and potentially legitimize the state's own use of armed force against opponents (such use of force may be described as "terror" by opponents of the state).
This is why we can arrive at a situation where "Price Tag" vandalism has now been ruled an act of terror by the Israeli Ministry of Justice (sic) and endorsed by the Israeli Knesset.
And who can forget President George W. Bush's inimical statement:
The mask has been pulled off
God bless and protect Edward Snowden, his family and his friends.
27 Edward Snowden Quotes About U.S. Government Spying That Should Send A Chill Up Your Spine
#3 "The government has granted itself power it is not entitled to. There is no public oversight....
#7 "Any analyst at any time can target anyone. Any selector, anywhere...
#11 "Even if you're not doing anything wrong, you're being watched and recorded.
#12 "Allowing the U.S. government to intimidate its people with threats of retaliation for revealing wrongdoing is contrary to the public interest."
#17 "I had been looking for leaders, but I realized that leadership is about being the first to act."
#19 "The great fear that I have regarding the outcome for America of these disclosures is that nothing will change. [People] won't be willing to take the risks necessary to stand up and fight to change things... And in the months ahead, the years ahead, it's only going to get worse.
#21 "You can't come up against the world's most powerful intelligence agencies and not accept the risk."
#24 "I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions, and that the return of this information to the public marks my end."
#25 "There's no saving me."
#26 "The only thing I fear is the harmful effects on my family, who I won't be able to help any more. That's what keeps me up at night."
#27 "I do not expect to see home again."
Michael of The Economic Collapse Blog:
As an American, I am deeply disturbed that the U.S. government is embarrassing itself in front of the rest of the world like this.
The fact that we are collecting trillions of pieces of information on people all over the planet is a massive embarrassment and the fact that our politicians are defending this practice now that it has been exposed is a massive embarrassment.
If the U.S. government continues to act like a Big Brother police state, then the rest of the world will eventually conclude that is exactly what we are. At that point we become the "bad guy" and we lose all credibility with the rest of the planet.
This is how it has always been, only now the mask has been removed and the illusion of righteousness has been stripped away to reveal the true nature of Eisav. And it isn't pretty is it?
"Cui Bono?"
"Cui bono" is a Latin legal term meaning "who benefits." When a crime has been committed and there is a question as to who the perpetrator is, this is where the investigation begins - who stood to profit from the crime?
Wikipedia says: "It is a Latin adage that is used either to suggest a hidden motive or to indicate that the party responsible for something may not be who it appears at first to be. Commonly the phrase is used to suggest that the person or people guilty of committing a crime may be found among those who have something to gain, chiefly with an eye toward financial gain. The party that benefits may not always be obvious or may have successfully diverted attention to a scapegoat,...."
Twelve years on, it's plain to see that it was not Bin Laden and Al Qaeda who benefited from 9/11...
Is This the REAL Reason for the Government Spying On Americans?
...The United States has been in a declared state of emergency from September 2001, to the present. Specifically, on September 11, 2001, the government declared a state of emergency. That declared state of emergency was formally put in writing on 9/14/2001:
A national emergency exists by reason of the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, New York, New York, and the Pentagon, and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, I hereby declare that the national emergency has existed since September 11, 2001 . . .
That declared state of emergency has continued in full force and effect from 9/11 to the present. President Bush kept it in place, and President Obama has also.
For example, on September 9, 2011, President Obama declared:
CONTINUATION OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARED BY PROC. NO. 7463
Notice of President of the United States, dated Sept. 9, 2011, 76 F.R. 56633, provided:
Consistent with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act, 50 U.S.C. 1622(d), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency previously declared on September 14, 2001, in Proclamation 7463, with respect to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States.
Because the terrorist threat continues, the national emergency declared on September 14, 2001, and the powers and authorities adopted to deal with that emergency must continue in effect beyond September 14, 2011. Therefore, I am continuing in effect for an additional year the national emergency that was declared on September 14, 2001, with respect to the terrorist threat.
This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.
The Washington Times wrote on September 18, 2001:
Simply by proclaiming a national emergency on Friday, President Bush activated some 500 dormant legal provisions, including those allowing him to impose censorship and martial law.
The White House has kept substantial information concerning its presidential proclamations and directives hidden from Congress. For example, according to Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy:
Of the 54 National Security Presidential Directives issued by the [George W.] Bush Administration to date, the titles of only about half have been publicly identified. There is descriptive material or actual text in the public domain for only about a third. In other words, there are dozens of undisclosed Presidential directives that define U.S. national security policy and task government agencies, but whose substance is unknown either to the public or, as a rule, to Congress.
I suggest you read the article in its entirety. September 11, 2001 was the beginning of the end of American freedoms. Now, it is out in the open. The most shocking thing about the enslavement of America to the Fear of Terrorism is the apathy of so many Americans to their new fate:
NSA Polls Find Few Americans Paying Close Attention To Verizon Records Collection
...The newest Post/Pew poll found more generally that Americans value protection against terrorism over privacy concerns by a nearly two-to-one margin,....
You can bet that every Jewish name has made this list - Main Core: A List Of Millions Of Americans That Will Be Subject To Detention During Martial Law
Inside America's $1.9billion data mine: How all your private details will soon be stored in this vast NSA nerve center in Utah Valley
Government will complete its data storing facility in Utah this October / Concerns about what personal information will be stored there as it emerged the government has been extracting data from big companies
"Parashat Balak – Israel alone, a precious blessin...
What happens when a nation sticks its finger in Ha...
The Bigger Picture of Governmental Spying? (Part 3...
Chief Hellenist in the Erev Rav Regime
The Polarization of Society
Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Korach 5773
A Significant Development
Severe Winds, Storms, Floods and Fires
Choose between your 'son' and your 'daughter'
Who Will Win the Clash of Civilizations?


Difficulty: 7.5/10 for section 4, 3/10 for section 5.
Appreciation: 6/10. Section 4 has some nice views. Section 5 I suggest you skip.
Transportation: Take bus 91 at Diamond Hill. Get off at Denon Terrace. Return with bus 81 at Kowloon Reservoir on Tai Po road.
After about 200m walk, you'll see this fork on your left. The sign says "Tseng Lan SHue". Take that way.
Ok, at this point, you're pretty much ok for most of Wilson 4. That's the official trail head.


text:
U of A. Guide to Preparing Theses and Dissertations
Search for University of Arkansas Theses and Dissertations
Dept: Chemistry: Theses and Dissertations
Dept:.Chemistry and Biochemistry: Theses and Dissertations
Theses and Dissertations Research Guide
EBSCO Open Dissertations
Finding Theses and Dissertations in the Catalog
Finding Theses and Dissertations Worldwide
The University of Arkansas Graduate School Guide to Preparing Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


If you spend time in sports bars or at sporting events, more often than not you'll see poor winners and losers. Competition has driven a wedge between people to the point that they rarely feel empathy while celebrating their team's victories.
Fortunately, a young Portuguese boy hasn't lost touch with his humanity and exhibited the type of compassion our world needs more of earlier this year when Portugal beat France 0-1 during the Euro 2016 soccer tournament.
While he and his compatriots celebrated Portugal's victory, supporters of the French team broke down, heartbroken. It would have been easy to ignore their struggle, particularly one man who was taking the defeat quite hard, but a young Portuguese boy decided instead to approach him and offer some consolation.
You can view in the video below how he approaches the crying man and offers a handshake and a hug. The compassionate young activist even waits until the man leaves before continuing his celebration.
It's the little acts of kindness that sometimes have the most profound effect. Truly, good people – of all ages – exist in this world. Sometimes you just need to look for them, or choose to be an inspired activist yourself!


The history of Hyundai Motor Group began with the opening of the A-do Service Garage in 1940 by Chung Ju-yung. Since then the organization has grown into a global corporate group specializing in automobiles and has acquired a top position in the automotive sector through passion and commitment. In 2014 we sold 8 million vehicles worldwide and we are constantly moving forward.
At Hyundai, we believe a competitive edge comes from quality products and service. This is why we are constantly endeavoring to achieve perfection in product quality and to develop people-centered technologies through new thinking and abiding passion.
From the beginning on, it was clear that all our vehicles needed to be adapted to the European roads and customer driving styles in order to be successful in Europe. Our unique global R&D structure links the best specialists together speeding up product competitiveness improvement to be the best. Moreover, the open minded global customer centered group strategy enabled the development of products dedicated to the European market like the KIA cee'd or Hyundai ix20 and innovative body variants like the wagon which seduced new customers. Last but not least, reliability and product durability became more and more well-known by word-of-mouth recommendations through our loyal customers. The Hyundai triple 5 and Kia 7 years warranties speak for themselves and are feared by our competitors.
The combination of all those aspects has been valued by our customers and is reflected in a sale increase which has never been seen before.
Due to the steady growth of our company, the Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Center (HMETC) has claimed an important role in the success story of Hyundai and KIA. Located in Rüsselsheim, we make sure that every Hyundai and KIA which comes to Europe meets the demanding standards of the European customer.
At HMETC we focus on specific regulations and technical requirements for the European automotive market. We permanently analyze the European technologies and market- trends by defining European performance targets.
We are also active members and participants of the most important automotive committees in order to be up-to-date with the latest regulations and tendencies. Additionally, we constantly increase our social networks outside the automotive field with technology-definer stakeholders like: broadcasters, manufactures and network operators.
The result is that Hyundai and KIA vehicles guarantee the full compliance with the European standards whilst keeping their Korean personality.
During the last decade, the European Technical Center has established itself as a successful company that designs and engineers award-winning vehicles in Europe for Europeans to experience. To continue the success story, HMETC will noticeably expand its capacities in the coming years, offering an excellent career perspective for people with a passion for automobiles.


The ADA EZ PRO is an extreme duty, low energy door opener. It is engineered to offer easy access to your establishment for people with special needs or disabilities.
The unit is primarily designed for institutional, high traffic manual opening applications that occasionally require powered operation. An onboard diagnostic system adjusts operation automatically according to changes in the environment. Suitable for doors that are as wide as 48 inches and that weigh up to 250 pounds, the commercial-grade ADAEZ opener is a versatile solution that easily adapts to a variety of applications.
An operation is easy. Simply depress a wireless RF push button and the door will gracefully open. Once the entry has been traversed the door will close automatically. A regenerative drive system charges an onboard battery pack eliminating the need for electrical power in many cases. A fully charged battery can provide up to 2000 consecutive openings. When used in automatic mode 25% of the time or less, the 5800 Series ADAEZ PRO will self-generate enough power to charge the battery pack for up to 12 years.
Banks, retail outlets, schools, hospitals, healthcare facilities and universities all over the greater Houston area have utilized the ADA EZ PRO for a few years now.


text:
PACE to revise its Code of Conduct in response to corruption allegations
Investigation Body
The Rules Committee will be putting a revision of the Code of Conduct for Members to a vote of the Assembly at its forthcoming plenary sitting. The committee believes that the allegations of corruption and fostering of interests recently made against some members or former members have "called into question, as never before, the credibility of the Assembly's actions and positions" and could entail the risk of "lasting damage" to its reputation.
The proposals adopted by the committee, on the basis of the report by Ian Liddell-Grainger (United Kingdom, EC), call for a review of the current oversight of the principles of behaviour and rules of conduct incumbent on members of the Assembly which at present depends solely on the President of the Assembly and which GRECO describes as "excessively discretionary".
The committee believes that the establishment of a new mechanism will allow impartial examination of alleged breaches of ethical rules and principles, including those revealed by outside sources, and fair conduct of, and a faster start to, investigations of these allegations. There shall also be a review of the list of sanctions applicable in the event of proven breaches of the Assembly's ethical standards.
The committee also suggests adopting clear rules on access to, and movement within, Council of Europe premises for third parties during Assembly sessions and meetings, establishing a transparency register and taking effective steps to prevent former members involved in paid consultancy and lobbying from benefiting from specific advantages.
The draft text will be put to a vote of the Assembly on Tuesday 10 October during its plenary sitting (Strasbourg, 9-13 October 2017).
In response to the allegations of corruption, the Bureau of the Assembly approved last January a three-step approach to address the situation: revision of the Code of Conduct for Members of the Assembly, inviting GRECO (the Council of Europe's Group of States against Corruption) to advise the Rules Committee and the setting up of an external investigation body, which began its work last June.
Statement by the PACE Bureau on 27.01.2017
Adopted report
27/06/2018 | Investigation Body
Committee deprives fourteen former members of the right to access Council of Europe premises
Allegations of corruption within the Assembly: committee deprives four members of certain rights
Allegations of corruption within the Assembly: hearing of some members
Zero tolerance for corruption within PACE
Rules Committee delivers findings on some PACE members mentioned in report on alleged corruption
Allegations of corruption: the report of the Rules Committee
Urgent debate on allegations of corruption within the Assembly
The Independent External Investigation Body and PACE President met the press
Allegations of corruption: Independent External Investigation Body publishes its report
Allegations of corruption in PACE: Independent External Investigation Body publishes its report
Press release of the Independent External Investigation Body
Actions by the Bureau in response to the report of the investigation body
Allegations of corruption in PACE: publication of the Independent External Investigation Body report
IBAC-COE | GIAC-COE hearing session
Investigation body: extension of the terms of reference


text:
Q: How to set user agent in: new XmlSlurper().parse(URL) I am launching requests to a web service using Groovy/XmlSlurper:
new XmlSlurper().parse("http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=...")

I would like to set the user agent to let the website know what project the requests are from.
How to set the user agent?

*

*XMLSlurper's constructors do not have anything like this.

*The setProperty method sounds interesting but Google does not lead to anything related to UA.

*I would rather avoid changing the code to abandon XmlSlurper in favor of another library.

A: Looks like Groovy uses the JVM's default SAX parser to connect to the input stream and perform the initial parsing. I saw this answer on SO that might help - all you need to do is set this before your call to the slurper to make it happen:
System.setProperty("http.agent", "my-agent-name");

P.S. This is just a guess - hope it helps.

A: I see p.3, btw there is also Groovy Http Builder, it uses JsonSlurper for JSON results, but it's much more flexible for making http requests - http://groovy.codehaus.org/HTTP+Builder

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Mitchells Roberton Blog
Employment Law 2016 – Key Financial Uplifts
Posted on May 12, 2016 by Paul Neilly
Introduction of the National Living Wage – from 1 April 2016, the National Living Wage took effect in the UK. All workers aged 25 and over are entitled to be paid a minimum of £7.20 per hour.
National Minimum Wage Rates – from 1 October 2016, the apprentice rate will rise to £3.40, the minimum hourly rate for 16-17 year olds will increase to £4.00, 18-20 year olds will be entitled to a minimum of £5.66 and 21 -24 year olds must be paid at least £6.95 per hour. Penalties for employers failing to pay the above rates doubled from 1 April 2016 to 200% of arrears, subject to a maximum of £20,000 per worker.
Unfair Dismissal Awards – from 6 April 2016, in unfair dismissal claims the maximum Compensatory Award has increased from £78,335 to £78,692. The Basic Award, which applies in addition, has increased from £14,250 to £14,370.
Redundancy Pay – from 6 April 2016, the maximum amount of statutory redundancy pay has been increased from £14,250 to £14,370. The weekly figure at which pay is capped for calculating redundancy payments has increased from £475 to £479.
Statutory Sick Pay – from 6 April 2016, the standard rate of statutory sick pay is £88.45 per week.
Statutory Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Pay – from 6 April 2016, the standard rate of statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay is £139.58 per week.
If you would like to discuss any employment law matter, please contact Hugh Grant (hjg@mitchells-roberton.co.uk) or Paul Neilly (pdn@mitchells-roberton.co.uk) or telephone 0141 552 3422.
This entry was posted in Legal by Paul Neilly. Bookmark the permalink.
About Paul Neilly
Paul's first degree was a BA Honours in Financial Services following which he spent five years working for a large insurance company as a pensions specialist. He then completed his law degree at the University of Strathclyde and Diploma in Legal Practice at the Glasgow Graduate School of Law. Paul subsequently joined Mitchells Roberton as a trainee in July 2006 and qualified as a solicitor in September 2008. Principally concerned with civil litigation, Paul specialises in contract disputes, landlord and tenant issues (commercial and residential), debt recovery, family law, employment law and personal injury claims. He also handles cases involving Adults with Incapacity. Paul regularly appears in the Sheriff Courts throughout Scotland and has experience of appearing before Licensing Boards and instructing matters in the Court of Session. Being a general civil litigator Paul is keenly aware of the need to keep step with developments in the law and legal education. This led Paul to join the committee of TANQ, the Trainee and Newly Qualified Society of the Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow, in which role Paul currently organises seminars and networking events for its members. Paul is married with a young son and daughter. In his spare time he enjoys cooking, reading and watching sport, particularly following the exploits of the national football and rugby teams, although this is more of a vocation than a source of enjoyment.
View all posts by Paul Neilly →


What does mean "Internal server error" or "TX_MAX_SIZE_EXCEEDED" when sending MRT?
TLDR: You are trying to send too many MRT at once. Send MRT in more transactions divided in smaller chunks.
This error occurs when your wallet balance is made up of too many small transactions. It's like having a bag full of change instead of larger bills. When you try and send a large amount of MRT that's made up of too much change, it clogs the transaction because it became too big. This is very common, especially if you're pool mining.
Solution to this situation is to send desired amount in smaller pieces. If you tried to send 100 and this error appeared, try to send 50, if it still appears try 25 and so on. Once you're successful with sending, you can send another transaction. In general, you can "clear" your wallet every day by sending whole amount to your own wallet. This way you will be ready to send even bigger amounts of merit at once. Sometimes it's required e.g. when posting sell order on market or trading OTC to save time during trade.
Don't be confused of non-specified "Internal server error", usually it means the same error as "TX_MAX_SIZE_EXCEEDED" described here.


text:
Q: laravel policy not working for CamelCase model I am trying to create policy for the custom method which is not working. Each time it returns 403 for the custom method with camelcase naming in laravel 7
Eg.
class UserPostController extends Controller
{
    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->authorizeResource(UserPost::class);
    }

    public function resourceMethodsWithoutModels()
    {
        return [
            'getListing'
        ];
    }

    public function getListing(UserPostDataTable $dataTable)
    {
        dd(\Auth::user()->can('viewAny', UserPost::class));

//        $this->authorize('viewAny', UserPost::class);
        return $dataTable->ajax();
    }

//Policy:
use App\User;
use App\UserPost;
use Illuminate\Auth\Access\HandlesAuthorization;
use Illuminate\Auth\Access\Response;

class UserPostPolicy
{
    use HandlesAuthorization;

    /**
     * Determine whether the user can view any models.
     *
     * @param  \App\User  $user
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function viewAny(User $user)
    {
        return Response::allow()
    }

I have already added $this->registerPolicies(); in boot method of service provider.
It works with all crud operation of resource but not with custom method.
When I use UserPost::class it returns 403.
If I use User::class it works perfectly.
It seems like some naming issue or I am missing out something.
I tried middleware too but not working for camelcase naming.
Don't know how can I add viewAny policy for getListing method.
Route list:
        | GET|HEAD  | UserPost                              | UserPost.index          | App\Http\Controllers\UserPostController@index                       | web,auth:web,can:viewAny,user_post |
|        | POST      | UserPost                              | UserPost.store          | App\Http\Controllers\UserPostController@store                       | web,auth:web,can:create,user_post  |
|        | GET|HEAD  | UserPost/create                       | UserPost.create         | App\Http\Controllers\UserPostController@create                      | web,auth:web,can:create,user_post  |
|        | POST      | UserPost/getListing                   | UserPost.getListing     | App\Http\Controllers\UserPostController@getListing                  | web,auth:web                          |
|        | DELETE    | UserPost/{UserPost}                | UserPost.destroy        | App\Http\Controllers\UserPostController@destroy                     | web,auth:web,can:delete,user_post  |
|        | PUT|PATCH | UserPost/{UserPost}                | UserPost.update         | App\Http\Controllers\UserPostController@update                      | web,auth:web,can:update,user_post  |
|        | GET|HEAD  | UserPost/{UserPost}                | UserPost.show           | App\Http\Controllers\UserPostController@show                        | web,auth:web,can:view,user_post    |
|        | GET|HEAD  | UserPost/{UserPost}/edit           | UserPost.edit           | App\Http\Controllers\UserPostController@edit                        | web,auth:web,can:update,user_post

A: $this->authorizeResource(UserPost::class);

this method take a second parameter, this parameter must
match the parameter you use in route
so ... to solve this problem you should use
php artisan route:list

then find out what is the route parameter name
( should be userPost ... or user_post) ...
suppose it is user_post ....
then change authorizeResource resource statement to:
$this->authorizeResource(UserPost::class,'user_post');

and another note:
 in
 public function viewAny(User $user)
    {
        return Response::allow()
    }

do not miss setting the parameter name correctly:
 public function viewAny(UserPost $user_post) // make sure you use correct parameter name
    {
        return Response::allow()
    }

it should work ....