Yom Yerushalayim!

Wednesday celebrated the unification of Jerusalem during the 1967 war. In English its translated as 'Jerusalem Day'. Besides the unification of Jerusalem, Israel also got the Golan heights, Gaza, the West Bank and the Sinai peninsula. But back to Jerusalem...

Jerusalem is arguably the most fought over piece of land. King David fought the Canaanites for it, the Babylonians fought for it, the Assyrians fought for it, the Persians fought for it, the Romans fought for it, the Ottoman Turks fought for it, the British army's fought for it, the newly formed Israeli army's fought for it in 1948, and again in 1967, and now the Palestinians are fighting for it.


Jerusalem is home to three major religions: Judaism, Christianity and islam.


The modern Israeli armies have always strived to unite Jerusalem. Under David Ben-Gurion, IDF units tried to take east Jerusalem, but failed. During the June '67 war, Israeli paratroopers broke through the Jordanian lines into E. Jerusalem. They fought their way to the Western Wall, the only remnant of the temple. The force had lost close to 90% of their men, but still they pushed on.

The only way to get to the Wall was through a locked gate. Before blasting through it, an old Arab man walked up and unlocked the door. The paratroopers all lined up at the Wall, and began to pray.


And now, with Israel winning and losing Jerusalem many times, the City of David is in danger again. This time from the P.A., or Palestinian Authority. Many people, including American president Barak Obama, are trying to separate Jerusalem again. Please pray these efforts will fail, and Jerusalem will remain the united capital of Israel.

Test your knowledge about the history of Jerusalem here.

Israeli Independence Day

Today is Israeli independence day.

62 years ago today David-Ben Gurion proclaimed the Independence of Israel from the British empire.

Less than a day later the newly formed country was attacked by five large Arab neighbours, Egypt, Trans-Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. The Zahal, or Israeli army, although out manned, out gunned and had little previous experience defeated the Arab army's. The Arabs went back licking there wounds and still remember this day as Nakba day, Catastrophe Day. Israelis have been in war ever since.

In 1956, in response to Egyptian aggression, Israeli troops crossed through the Sinai and took the Suez canal with the British and French. In 1967 Israel launched a pre-emptive strike against Egypt, and was attacked by Jordan and Syria. Israeli troops captured the Sinai peninsula, the Golan heights and east Jerusalem.

In 1976 Arab army's invaded Israel, nearly cutting her in half. Israeli troops struck back with weapons that were just air-lifted in by the United States, and chased the Arabs out. Then came the intifada, or uprisings. Palestinian cowards sent their children out and blew them up to kill Israelis.

Their goal?

To have peace. Peace!? What kind of a coward terrorist nation sends their children to be blown up? And we are just going to forget about that and give them Israeli lands? Lands Israeli's died protecting? A two state solution, as the plan for giving away Israeli lands is called, is no solution.

Just as the Arabs rejected giving the Jews a little parcel of land, the Palestinians won't settle until they've taken every last inch of Israeli lands and until ever Israeli is dead. Do we really want to give them land? A military? The ability to purchase weapons?

Terrorists controlling Gaza, known as hamas, would do any thing for WMD's (weapons of mass destruction), and they would readily use these against civilians. American President Obama is demanding Israel stops building in their own land. WHAT!?!? How many times has Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu demanded Americans stop building in American lands? Zero. Zero times. Huh.

Notice how Obama is president of the U.S., not Israel. Then what gives him the authority to demand they stop building in their own land? Nothing. Nothing at all. During a meeting with Netanyahu in Washington, D.C. Obama walked out. What!? We treat our enemy's with greater respect!

Please pray for Both governments, that they will go in the way the LORD wants them to.

Andrew

Pesach

Well, I haven't written in well, a really long time. Passover began on April 3rd and Unleavened Bread began onApril 4th and ended on April 10th.

We spent the previous week ridding our house of leaven: vacuuming, dusting, beating our rugs, cleaning our chair cushions {and believe me, they needed it. A family of three could have lived off the contents under the cushions and would have been quite happy}, ect.

We had a Seder with our church group on the first day of unleavened bread, and the rest of the week we tried not to eat any leavening, which, believe me, is not as easy as it sounds.

The day after the ending we had homemade pizza, which was greatly appreciated.

Thanks Giving!

This morning at 5:30 I crawled out of bed, put my hunting gear on and walked downstairs to wake dad up. I carried our rifles up and soon Aaron, [a family friend] drives up. We all pile into our truck and are on the rode. We drive into the Bridger mountains. There were spots at least a foot of snow. Why did we do this, you ask?

Elk Hunting.

So far my first Elk has eluded me, but this time I was ready. After about an hour we stumble on some tracks, some several days old, others fresher. We followed the tracks to an opening where several animals have been living. Suddenly I saw something. I motioned for my dad to look where I saw it. He looked for awhile.

"All I see is that tree stump" He said. I looked again, and true, it is a tree stump.

We didn't end up seeing anything but a couple more tracks.

Well, who knows. Maybe next time I'll get my Elk.

So, it's today we remember the Pilgrims escaping England and persecution, who came here to practice their beliefs; those who had more than half die through the winter, who, with friendly natives like Squanto would have all died.

Who knows where the turkey got its name?

It was named by one of the first Europeans to set foot on American soil, Luis De Torres, who sailed with Columbus in 1492. He wrote, in Hebrew, a letter home describing all the exotic animals, including a 'peacock'. The Hebrew for peacock is Tukki, translated into English Turkey!

Happy Thanks Giving!

Sukkot

Sunday night began Sukkot. We set lights up on our Camper and used that as our Sukkah this year. We had a Thanksgiving dinner theme on Sunday. We had our Church group come to celebrate. So far I've slept in our Sukkah every night.
Sukkot is to remember the Israelites in the desert.
Sukkot ends next Monday.

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur {day of atonement} was yesterday. Yom Kippur is a day to pray to God to forgive your sins, and is a really solemn day. Many people chose to fast, as I did this year.


{I went 25 hours with no food or water} It's a day to afflict your soul. Our family always goes to Johnny Carinos restaurant before we began our fast.



The day after I was asked to blow the Shofar, which is no easy task after fasting over a day.



Yom Kippur is also the anniversary of the time Israel was attacked by her Arab neighbors who attempted to throw her into the sea. Which of course, they failed.

Yom Teruah

Monday was Yom Teruah, or day of trumpets.

Me and two other people from our church group blew the shofar's, after which we went out to a river and threw rocks in, symbolizing throwing our sins away.

We then sang songs until 10:00.