WHO COULD WELL BE THE ASSYRIAN IN MICAH 5:5,

PROPHECY LABELS AS THE MIDDLE EAST ANTICHRIST!

September 10, 2010

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Please consider Archive Prophecy Updates 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, & 69

Matthew 23:37-39 – O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! [38] Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. [39] For I say unto you, Ye shall not see ME henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is HE that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Micah 5:3-5 – Therefore will HE give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. [4] And HE shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall HE be great unto the ends of the earth. [5] And THIS MAN shall be THE PEACE, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.

I Thessalonians 5:3,4 – For when they shall say, PEACE and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. [4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

In Micah 5:5, we find that “this man” will himself “be the peace” because He personally brings it in by Himself when he returns to be “great unto the ends of the earth” for 1000 years. “This man” who brings “the peace” of a thousand years is, of course, Jesus Christ. He is the primary contextual subject from verses 1 through 5. What happens to motivate His return to bring in the millennial reign is the movement of the Assyrian into the land of Israel. It is the final defeat and destruction of “the Assyrian” that will mark Christ’s Second Advent, and the beginning of His millennial reign.

When Micah wrote his prophecies the Assyrians had already driven into the northern Kingdom of Israel, and all that remained of Israel proper was its southern Kingdom of Judah. So what were the borders of the land of Assyria when Micah wrote the fifth chapter of his book? The borders of the Assyrian territory stretched northward from roughly where Ramallah is located in the West Bank to the present day southern border of Turkey, and eastward to the Mediterranean Sea to establish its western limits, then westward across the Euphrates River to the Tigris River north of modern Baghdad in Iraq. Technically, I suppose one might be able to say this future “Assyrian” might come out of southern Turkey, northern Iraq, or Lebanon, but since modern day Syria occupies some 85% of the area covered by the Assyrian empire at the time of Micah’s writings, I am persuaded the Assyrian antichrist will come out of Syria. The possible argument that Micah 5:5 was fulfilled during the old Assyrian invasion of Micah’s day, is thwarted by the context pattern of the four verses before it all still being unfulfilled at the time they were written, and then being linked contextually to verse 5 by “this man,” and “the peace.” Additionally, this argument is smashed by the verse that follows it.

Micah 5:6 – And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.

From the time of Micah’s writings to the present day, Israel has never “wasted the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof.” I will exposit specifically on both these locations in Prophecy Update Number 67, Lord willing.

The “Assyrian” of Micah 5:5 is not a European, an American, a Russian, an Eskimo, an Aborigine, an Ethiopian, or a platypus. He is an Assyrian, who becomes chief prince of the land where the descendants of Meshech and Tubal were dwelling when Ezekiel wrote his prophecies. I will elaborate on this in future updates, Lord willing. The expression involving “seven shepherds and eight principal men” is most assuredly an oft used Hebrew idiom. It was the Hebrew manner of expressing “more than enough.” Seven is the Hebrew word for “complete,” implying “enough,” and when “eight” is added to it, the expression means “more than enough.” When the Assyrian comes into Israel, and treads within its borders north of Beersheba for 1260 days, then Jesus will return to restore peace for 1000 years on this planet. Christ’s Second Advent is accompanied by some 5/6 of the Assyrian’s armies being destroyed by the brightness of His coming. His destruction of the Assyrian and his false prophet will make whatever force Israel is able to muster up in the Negev for the battle of Armageddon “more than enough.”

When the Assyrian sets on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, as the willful King of the North preparing to launch his final attack on Israel at the battle of Armageddon, he will be beyond all help by men and Satan.

Daniel 11:45 to 12:1 – And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. [1] And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

Revelation 19:19-21 – And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. [20] And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. [21] And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

Begin Excerpt from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs/Daily Alert via the New York Times

Syria’s Solidarity with Islamists Ends at Home

By Hareem Fahim

September 3, 2010

DAMASCUS, Syria — This country, which had sought to show solidarity with Islamist groups and allow religious figures a greater role in public life, has recently reversed course, moving forcefully to curb the influence of Muslim conservatives in its mosques, public universities and charities.

The government has asked imams for recordings of their Friday sermons and started to strictly monitor religious schools. Members of an influential Muslim women’s group have now been told to scale back activities like preaching or teaching Islamic law. And this summer, more than 1,000 teachers who wear the niqab, or the face veil, were transferred to administrative duties.

The crackdown, which began in 2008 but has gathered steam this summer, is an effort by President Bashar al-Assad to reassert Syria’s traditional secularism in the face of rising threats from radical groups in the region, Syrian officials say.

The policy amounts to a sharp reversal for Syria, which for years tolerated the rise of the conservatives. And it sets the government on the seemingly contradictory path of moving against political Islamists at home, while supporting movements like Hamas and Hezbollah abroad.

Syrian officials are adamant that the shifts stem from alarming domestic trends, and do not affect support for those groups, allies in their struggle against Israel. At the same time, they have spoken proudly about their secularizing campaign, though they have been reluctant to reveal its details. Some Syrian analysts view that as an overture to the United States and European nations, which have been courting Syria as part of a strategy to isolate Iran and curb the influence of Hamas and Hezbollah.

Human rights advocates say the policy exacerbates pressing concerns: the arbitrary imprisonment of Islamists, as well as the continued failure to allow them any political space.

Pressure on Islamic conservatives in Syria began in earnest after a powerful car bomb exploded in the Syrian capital in September 2008, killing 17 people. The government blamed the radical group Fatah al-Islam.

“The bombing was the trigger, but the pressure had been building,” said Peter Harling, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group. “After a period of accommodation with the Islamic groups, the regime entered this far more proactive and repressive mode. It realizes the challenge that the Islamization of Syrian society poses.”

The government’s campaign drew wider notice this summer, when a decision to bar students wearing the niqab from registering for university classes was compared to a similar ban in France. That move seemed to underscore a reduced tolerance for strict observance by Muslims in public life. Syrian officials have put it differently, saying the niqab is “alien” to Syrian society.

The campaign carries risks for a secular government that has fought repeated, violent battles with Islamists in the past, most notably in 1982, when Mr. Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, razed the city of Hama while confronting the Muslim Brotherhood, killing tens of thousands of people. For the moment there has been no visible domestic backlash, but one cleric, who said he was dismissed without being given a reason two years ago, suggested that could change.

“The Islamists now have a strong argument that the regime is antagonizing the Muslims,” he said.

The government courted religious conservatives as Western powers moved to isolate Syria amid accusations that it was behind the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, in 2005. The government appointed a sheik instead of a member of the ruling Baathist party to head the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and allowed, for the first time, religious activities in the stadium at Damascus University.

As the country emerged from that isolation, it focused on domestic challenges, including the fear that sectarian tensions in the region could spread — a recurring fear in Syria, a country with a Sunni majority ruled by Alawites, a religious minority.

The government also focused on conservatives. “What they had nourished and empowered, they felt the need to break,” said Hassan Abbas, a Syrian researcher.

The details of the campaign have remained murky, though Syrian officials have not been afraid to publicize its aims, including in foreign media outlets. In an interview with the American talk show host Charlie Rose in May, Mr. Assad was asked to name his biggest challenge.

“How we can keep our society as secular as it is today,” he said. “The challenge is the extremism in this region.”

Mr. Assad has in the past singled out northern Lebanon as a source of that extremism.

“We didn’t forget Nahr al-Bared,” said Mohammed al-Habash, a Syrian lawmaker, referring to battles in that region three years ago between Lebanese forces and Fatah al-Islam. “We have to take this seriously.”

Beginning in 2008, the government embarked on its new course when it fired administrators at several Islamic charities, according to the former cleric, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared reprisal by the government.

The clampdown has intensified in recent months. Last spring, the Qubaisiate, an underground women’s prayer group that was growing in prominence, was barred from meeting at mosques, according to members. Earlier this summer, top officials in Damascus Governorate were fired for their religious leanings, according to Syrian analysts.

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It will be Fulfilled When the Seventh Shofar of Revelation Sounds,

And the saved caught out to be judged by Christ at his Judgment!

The Last of the Feasts (Feast of Tabernacles) Will Begin Fulfillment

At His Second Advent and continue throughout his 1000 year Reign.

The Bible was written over a 1500-1600 Year period by some 40 Men,

Yet It Is The Only Book Ever Written That’s Its Own Best Commentary.

It Is Amazing So Many Men Over This Time Span Could Blend Perfectly,

Unless we accept the Same Holy Spirit individually Inspired the Writers.

September 9, 2010

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

There are two Old Testament Feasts yet to be prophetically fulfilled, the Feast of the Trumpets and the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Trumpets will be fulfilled by Christ’s Coming on the sounding of the Last Trumpet, and the Feast of Tabernacles will be fulfilled during His Millennial Reign.

THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS

Numbers 29:1 – And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you.

Leviticus 23:24 – Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

THE MYSTERY OF THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS BY PAUL

I Corinthians 15:51 – Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, [52] In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

THE TRUMPETS BEGIN TO SOUND BY JOHN

Revelation 8:2-6 – And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. [3] And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. [4] And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. [5] And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. [6] And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LAST TRUMPET BY JOHN BEGINS

Revelation 10:7 – But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

THE JUDGMENT IN HEAVEN AFTER THE LAST TRUMP SOUNDS

Revelation 11:15,18 – And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. [18] And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

THE DESTRUCTION OF GOD’S WRATH ON EARTH IN SEVEN VIALS AS THE SAVED ARE BEING JUDGED BY CHRIST IN HEAVEN

Zechariah 14:12 – And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

THE COMING OF THE LORD WITH THE SAINTS AT HIS 2ND ADVENT

Jude 14 – And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

Luke 21:27 – And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

Revelation 19:16 to 20:4 – And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. [17] And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; [18] That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. [19] And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. [20] And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. [21] And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. [1] And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. [2] And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, [3] And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. [4] And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

CHRIST RULES WITH HIS SAINTS ON EARTH FOR 1000 YEARS

Revelation 1:6,7 – And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. [7] Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

THE LAST FEAST IS FULFILLED – THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES

Zechariah 14:16 – And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.

Isaiah 2:1-4 – The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. [2] And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. [3] And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. [4] And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Zechariah 14:8,9 – And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. [9] And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.

Begin Excerpt from Arutz Sheva

Rosh HaShanah: Sound of the Shofar Heralds Month of Holidays

by Chana Ya’ar

September 7, 2010

The sonorous call of the ram’s horn – the Shofar – will herald the start of Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year on Wednesday evening, and nearly a month of holidays in the Hebrew month of Tishrei.

Some 17,000 soldiers and their officers this year have attended Selichot services – the prayers asking G-d for forgiveness – conducted by the Military Rabbinate during the Hebrew month of Elul prior to Rosh HaShanah. The services were held in Jerusalem, Tzfat, Tiberias and elsewhere around the country.

Throughout the IDF, preparations are nearly complete for the upcoming holiday, with kitchens busily getting ready with a rich and varied menu for a special New Year’s dinner.

The IDF Food Center is gearing up with about 2.8 tons of honey, 28 tons of apples and 4.5 tons of pomegranates. To toast the New Year, the kitchens will be ready with some 7,000 bottles of grape juice, to be followed by a dinner for hungry soldiers that will include 6.5 tons of fish, 15 tons of chicken thighs, seven tons of beef and 22 tons of turkey. For dessert, army chefs are preparing seven tons of honey cake and three tons of dried fruit.

Special preparations are being made to serve those soldiers who are stationed in outposts, submarines, missile boats and Air Force command sites.

‘Three-Day Weekend Holiday’

This year the two days of the Rosh HaShanah holiday, Thursday and Friday, are followed by the Sabbath, creating a three-day weekend for Jews around the world.

Special foods are served at the holiday meal, including an apple dipped in honey to signify a sweet year. A selection of dishes is arranged on the table, symbolizing blessings for fertility, victory over our enemies, strength and being at the “head and not the tail” (“rosh” in Hebrew is head), among others.

Due to the Sabbath, the day-long Fast of Gedaliah, which traditionally follows the holiday, is delayed until Sunday. The fast commemorates the end of Jewish rule in the Land of Israel following the destruction of the First Holy Temple approximately 2,500 years ago.

10 Days of Repentance

Rosh HaShanah also kicks off the 10-day period known as the Ten Days of Repentance that ends with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which this year begins on Friday evening, September 17.

The New Year in Judaism is not a time for parties, but rather is a time of great introspection, and taking inventory of one’s relationship with G-d and with one’s fellow.

Based on the commandment in Numbers 29:1, 100 shofar blasts are dramatically sounded throughout the prayers, “awakening” us to improve our ways.

The “tashlich” prayer is recited on the second day of the holiday over a body of “living” water in which fish are swimming, in which one asks G-d to “throw away” his sins.

Yom Kippur which this year falls on Friday night, September 17, is the only Jewish fast that is not postponed in deference to the holy Sabbath. The holiest day of the Jewish calendar, the Day of Atonement begins at sunset and ends Saturday at nightfall, a total of around 25 hours.

(IsraelNationalNews.com)

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ALL Across the Earth Along its Tribulation Tectonic Plate Boundaries

And All the Land shall be Turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmom

Following the great Tribulation Period Quake of Revelation 6:12

That I believe will shake the Jordan River Valley prior to 2015!

September 9, 2010

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

The land we know today as New Zealand was once a much larger continent known as Zealandia. This will not be a good place to be during the last three and one-half years of the Tribulation Period. If you just happen to be there, I recommend you head for the top (not the sides) of the highest flat non-volcanic elevation you can reach and stay there as long as you can.

The exposed dry land surface of New Zealand was much larger in ancient history. The country we see now used to be the highlands of a continent now submerged under the Pacific Ocean. The great fault circling the Pacific known As the “Ring of Fire,” which fathers so many volcanoes and earthquakes, runs the eastern shoreline of New Zealand’s North Island, then curves west across the northwestern part of the South Island into the Ocean. The Australian and Pacific Tectonic Place react to one another along the Hikurangi Trough Depression connection with the big Alpine Fault.

The mostly submerged New Zealand continent, Zealandia, sits uneasily astride two moving segments of the planet’s surface – the Pacific and Australian plates. In the North Island, the boundary between the plates lies off the East Coast along a depression, the Hikurangi Trough, at the edge of the continental shelf. In the Marlborough region, the boundary cuts diagonally across the South Island to the West Coast. It then continues south-westward along the great Alpine Fault, and runs back out to sea near Milford Sound.

The two moving plates are colliding at a glancing angle. In the process, the sunken New Zealand continent is crumpling to form the land that now projects above sea level. In the north, ocean floor at the surface of the Pacific Plate to the east plunges beneath the continental shelf off the eastern North Island. As it does so, it pushes up the overlying rocks and sediments, creating the hilly terrain of the eastern North Island. In the South Island, the two plates are directly colliding along the Alpine Fault. This causes a much greater uplift, forming the Southern Alps.

At the same time, the country is being wrenched apart. Along the Alpine Fault in the South Island, the West Coast region west of the plate boundary is moving north-east at 2–3 metres per century, relative to the Southern Alps on the eastern side. As this movement continues in the future, the South Island will become more elongated.

Revelation 6:12 – And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

Revelation 6:15 – And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

Zechariah 14:10 – All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses.

See Archive Birth Pang Figures 39 to 42 to be able to understand the paragraph you are beginning to read. Geba was located to the north-northeast of Jerusalem, while Rimmon lay toward the distant south-southwest of the Holy City. If a line is drawn from ancient Geba to Rimmon, it will run through the Tyropoeon Valley that separates the lower section of Old Jerusalem from its upper section. A normal fault exists in the limestone substrata between the lower and uplifted sections of the Old City. It runs north-south at the base of the bluff of the uplifted section, and thereby divides Jerusalem into a fallen eastern and an uplifted western section. Great earthquakes in the Jordan River Valley, between the opening of the sixth seal and the pouring of the last vial in Revelation 6:12 and 16:18, will cause several faults in the Jerusalem environs to shift up, down, and apart to fulfill the prophecies concerning the fantastic geological transformations that will be occurring during these earthquakes. The center section of the Mount of Olives will drop down to form a graben rift valley between two normal faults. Those sections of Jerusalem east of the Tyropoeon Valley fault scarp will fall slightly, and those west of it will be lifted up, which is what usually occurs when major earthquakes occur near normal faults. The locations mentioned in Zechariah 14:10 were all located along, and to the west of, the Tyropoeon Valley fault, and, during this period of great earthquakes, all the land west of the line from Geba to Rimmon, including western Jerusalem, will be lifted up to into a geological feature known as a fault-block mountain chain with a plateau like top. All of these actions will divide the Holy City of Old Jerusalem environs into three parts.

(1) An uplifted section to the west of the north-south Tyropoeon Valley normal fault.

(2) A slightly lower section to the east of the Tyropoeon Valley fault.

(3) A rift valley formed by a collapse of the mount of Olives between two normal east-west faults, one passing through the northern part of the mountain, while the other penetrates the southern part of the mountain.

The results of the actions of (1), (2), and (3) may be seen on Figure 48 in our Birth Pang Archives. These actions by God will create the spring which comes out of the Holy City during the Millennium, the spring reported by Zechariah 14:8, Joel 3:18, and Ezekiel 47:1-5.

Ezekiel 47:1 – Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar.

Begin Excerpt from U.K. Telegraph via World News

New Zealand earthquake: ground moved by 11ft

A massive earthquake caused the ground beneath the New Zealand city of Christchurch to shift up to 11 feet.

By Paul Chapman in Wellington

Published: 6:55PM BST 05 Sep 2010

The magnitude 7.1 quake on Friday night in New Zealand was larger than the one that killed 200,000 people in Haiti this year and appeared to have opened a new fault line.

Mark Quigley, a geology professor leading a team investigating the cause of the quake, said: “One side of the earth has lurched to the right.”

“Up to 11 feet in some places has been thrust up. The long linear fracture on the earth’s surface does things like break apart houses, break apart roads.

“We went and saw two houses that were completely snapped in half by the earthquake.”

Much of the centre of Christchurch remained sealed off and under curfew for a second night on Sunday.

More than 500 buildings have been badly damaged. Two men were seriously hurt by falling masonry but there have been no reports of deaths.

Although it was known that the quake was caused by the Pacific and Australian techtonic plates colliding, the existence of the “blind” faultline had come as a surprise, Dr Quigley said.

There had previously been no physical sign of it on the surface.

Gale-force winds tearing at unstable structures were adding to their fears and heavy rain was forecast to compound the misery.

Plans were being drawn up to evacuate residents from the town of Waimakariri, north of Christchurch.

Civil Defence Minister John Carter said stop-banks which provide flood protection to lower lying areas were damaged in the quake, meaning swollen rivers now posed a serious threat to the town.

John Key, the Prime Minister, who grew up in Christchurch, said: “Parts of the city look like they have been put in the tumble dryer and given a darn good shake.

“You can see utter devastation.”

Strong aftershocks continued to terrify residents as they struggled to come to terms with the extensive damage suffered by their city.

Many were too frightened to return to their homes as the aftershocks, some of 5 and above on the Richter scale, rattled already weakened buildings.

Civil Defence Minister John Carter said stop banks which provide flood protection to lower lying areas were damaged in the quake, meaning swollen rivers now posed a serious threat to the town.

Many houses in the suburbs of Christchurch were unreachable by their owners, surrounded by a morass of sewage-contaminated mud and sludge.

There were stories of close misses from people astonished that they had survived the ordeal, with one motorist escaping after driving into a 6ft deep hole which suddenly appeared in a suburban road.

One resident, Cam Gordon, said of the quake: “It was like a giant hand had picked up our house and was just shaking it, shaking and shaking.”

A young couple who were being married on the day of the quake went ahead with the ceremony but had to transfer the reception from a restaurant which had been badly damaged to a McDonald’s fast food outlet.

Their wedding photographs were taken against a background of rubble.

Hundreds of thousands of litres of fresh water were being shipped into Christchurch in tankers belonging to the dairy giant Fonterra to relieve shortages caused by burst mains.

A big clean-up has got under way, with bulldozers scooping up the fallen masonry that litters streets.

Damage is estimated to cost billions of dollars and will take years to repair.

The Very Reverend Peter Beck said the gothic-style Anglican cathedral, the city’s best-known landmark, was spared major damage because of earthquake-strengthening by the council.

The last major earthquake to strike the South Island, a magnitude 7.8 tremor that hit the sparsely populated Fiordland region on July 16, 2009, moved the southern tip of the country 12 inches closer to Australia.

Begin Excerpt from the Asia Pacific

Asia Pacific NTD Television

New Zealand Quake Emergency Remains

2010-09-08 12:49

Days after a disastrous earthquake in New Zealand, officials extend a state of emergency for another week.

Emergency teams are busy rebuilding the city of Christchurch that was hit by the 7.1 magnitude quake.

Bob Parker, the city’s mayor, said Wednesday it would be days before the city is back to normal.

[Bob Parker, Mayor of Christchurch]:

“I’ve declared a local state of emergency in the city. We did that just a few hours after the initial earthquake. It was due for review today. We’ve reviewed that carefully and we’ve decided to extend it for another week.”

Saturday’s earthquake crumbled buildings and tore apart roads leaving more than 300 people without a place to live.

Although power has been restored to 90 per cent of the city, officials say some 500 people in rural areas are still without electricity.

There have been about 135 aftershocks so far. No casualties have been reported.

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Announcement Allowed Obama To Continue To Hold His Liberal Base

And Allowed Islamic Jihad Forces to Plan For a Withdrawal Slaughter

Knowing the year American AND NATO Forces would Begin Pullout

Americans Arise – Don’t Fall Victim again to his Tales of Struggle

Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and All What-So-Ever

Don’t Fall Again for the Rhetoric of a Charming Silver Tongue

Don’t let the political master sway you with tales of Youth

Don’t leave a novice with a congress he can Manipulate!

Don’t restore his popularity rating to destroy America

By keeping him in political control of a huge Deficit!

September 8, 2010

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Begin Excerpt from THE JERUSALEM POST via THE WASHINGTON POST

The distracted commander in chief

By C. KRAUTHAMMER

09/05/2010 22:44

Some presidents may not like being wartime leaders, but they don’t get to decide. History does.

Many have charged that President Barack Obama’s decision to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan 10 months from now is hampering our war effort. But now it’s official. In a stunning statement last week, Marine Corps Commandant Gen.
James Conway admitted that the July 2011 date is “probably giving our enemy sustenance.”

A remarkably bold charge for an active military officer.

It stops just short of suggesting aiding and abetting the enemy. Yet the observation is obvious: It is surely harder to prevail in a war that hinges on the allegiance of the locals when they hear the US president talk of beginning a withdrawal that will ultimately leave them to the mercies of the Taliban.

How did Obama come to this decision? “Our Afghan policy was focused as much as anything on domestic politics,” an Obama adviser at the time told The New York Times’s Peter Baker. “He would not risk losing the moderate to centrist Democrats in the middle of health insurance reform, and he viewed that legislation as the makeor- break legislation for his administration.”

If this is true, then Obama’s military leadership can only be called scandalous. During the past week, 22 Americans were killed over a four-day period in Afghanistan. This is not a place about which decisions should be made to placate congressmen, pass health care and thereby maintain a president’s political standing. This is a place about which a president should make decisions to best succeed in the military mission he himself has set out.

But Obama sees his wartime duties as a threat to his domestic agenda. These wars are a distraction, unwanted interference with his true vocation – transforming America.

SUCH AN impression could only have been reinforced when, given the opportunity in his Oval Office address this week to dispel the widespread perception in Afghanistan that America is leaving, Obama doubled down on his ambivalence. After giving a nod to the pace of troop reductions being conditions-based, he declared with his characteristic “but make no mistake” that “this transition will begin – because open-ended war serves neither our interests nor the Afghan people’s.”

These are the words of a man who wants out. Most emphatically on Iraq, where from the beginning Obama has made clear that his objective is simply ending combat by an arbitrary deadline – despite the fact that a new government has not been formed and all our hard-won success hangs in the balance – to address the more paramount concern: keeping a campaign promise. Time to “turn the page” and turn America elsewhere.

At first you’d think that turning is to Afghanistan. But Obama added nothing to his previously stated Afghan policy, while emphatically reconfirming July 2011 as the beginning of the end, or more diplomatically, of the “transition.”

Well then, at least you’d expect some insight into his larger foreign policy. After all, this was his first Oval Office address on the subject.

What is the meaning, if any, of the Iraq and Afghan wars? And what of the clouds forming beyond those theaters: the drone-war escalation in Pakistan, the rise of al-Qaida in Yemen, the danger of Somalia falling to al-Shabab and the threat of renewed civil war in Islamist Sudan as a referendum on independence for southern Christians and animists approaches? This was the stage for Obama to explain what follows the now-abolished global war on terror. Where does America stand on the spreading threats to stability, decency and US interests from the Horn of Africa to the Hindu Kush? On this, not a word. Instead, Obama made a strange and clumsy segue into a pep talk on the economy.

Rebuilding it, he declared, “must be our central mission as a people, and my central responsibility as president.”

This in a speech ostensibly about the two wars he is directing. He could not have made more clear where his priorities lie, and how much he sees foreign policy – war policy – as subordinate to his domestic ambitions.

Unfortunately, what for Obama is a distraction is life or death for US troops now on patrol in Kandahar province. Some presidents may not like being wartime leaders, but they don’t get to decide. History does.

Obama needs to accept the role. It’s not just the US military, as Baker reports, that is “worried he is not fully invested in the cause.” Our allies, too, are experiencing doubt. And our enemies are drawing sustenance.

The Washington Post

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I’ve seen more change on this subject than any Other!

I will allow the Bible to be its Own Commentary on This!

News Articles about the Bible may be either True or False

Excerpts about the Bible could well be Correct or Incorrect

Commentaries Interpreting the Bible May be Right Or Wrong

A Bible is really the only book that‘s its own best Commentary

The One who inspired it will soon be revealed at His 2nd Advent

Then Christ will Judge which Interpretations were Valid Or Invalid!

September 8, 2010

http://www.tribulationperiod.com

Romans 1:24-28 – Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: [25] Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. [26] For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: [27] And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. [28] And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

Genesis 19:1-13 – And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; [2] And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. [3] And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. [4] But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: [5] And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. [6] And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, [7] And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. [8] Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. [9] And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. [10] But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. [11] And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door. [12] And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: [13] For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.

Luke 17:28-30 – Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; [29] But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. [30] Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

Begin Excerpt from THE JERUSALEM POST

The times they are A-Changin’

Bu LAWRENCE RIFKIN

09/06/2010 20:24

Jewish religious attitudes toward homosexuality are slowly shifting. “You have to just love and help. In the final analysis, that’s what judaism is all about.”

The road toward acceptance of gays in the religious Jewish world has been, and continues to be, long and arduous.

Members of the ultra-Orthodox and Orthodox communities frequently express their objections by pointing out that it’s right there in the Torah, in Leviticus 18:22: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind; it is an abomination.”

Literalists who go just a couple of chapters on could have a field day, for as it is said (Leviticus 20:13): “And if a man lie with mankind, as with womankind, both of them have committed abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.”

Strong stuff. Except that scholars say there’s no record of anyone having been executed for such an infraction when death was still part of the Jewish legal landscape. More realistically – at least as evidenced in fundamentalist circles today – the punishment, while not deadly, was certainly not benign (Leviticus 18:29): “For whoever shall do any of these abominations, even the souls that do them, shall be cut off from among their people.”

In the US, where attitudes toward gays are relatively advanced, non-fundamentalist religious groups of all faiths have generally followed suit and, in some cases, even led the evolving attitudes. The Reform movement, the largest stream of religiously affiliated Jews in the US, has long espoused a loose interpretation of the Torah’s injunctions against homosexuality, saying they merely prohibit the adaptation of certain customs of other cultures, such as so-called fertility cults. In the 1980s, the movement began to ordain homosexuals and lesbians, with the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), the umbrella organization for Reform clergy in North America, affirming their rights a short time later to “be accorded the opportunity to fulfill the sacred vocation that they have chosen.” A decade later, after having supported the right of homosexuals and lesbians to civil unions, the CCAR affirmed their right to unions “through appropriate Jewish ritual,” leaving it up to individual rabbis to decide whether or not to officiate.

The US Conservative movement has been more circumspect. Four years ago, it began allowing its rabbis to choose among three major responsa on the subject. These run the gamut from a complete prohibition on homosexuality to a stand that, while forbidding male-male anal intercourse and religious marriage for gays, allows gay ordination and favors civil unions.

Even in the modern Orthodox world, the hills and curves in the road toward acceptance of homosexuals – if not of homosexuality – are being leveled and straightened, if only a bit.

Last December, at an open forum at New York’s Yeshiva University, current and former gay students related difficulties they face in the Orthodox world. The event was something of a watershed – made clear by the fact that it ignited an immediate firestorm of recriminations from numerous quarters that eventually forced YU’s president and the dean of its rabbinical school to issue a statement on what they viewed as Judaism’s “absolute prohibition of homosexual relationships.”

Some students complained that the forum had not addressed homosexual behaviors or the attitudes of halakha toward homosexuality, but merely the oppressive atmosphere that Orthodox gays are often forced to confront.

Yet, the uproar continued as revered rabbis and teachers weighed in on websites, in newspapers and magazines, and even in YU lecture halls to lambaste the forum’s organizers and speakers, leading to even more healthy – and respectful – debate.

In the ultra-Orthodox world, there’s been little movement toward the acceptance of homosexuals.

“Look how central God’s exhortation is, that we should be fruitful and multiply,” Dr. Yaakov Fogelman, an Orthodox writer on Jewish topics, a former student of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and editor of the newsletter “A Jerusalem Jewish Voice,” tells The Jerusalem Report. “It’s one of the main things He asks of us.”

Beyond the obligation of propagation, there’s also a matter of visibility. “There are community leaders,” Fogelman continues, “especially among the haredim, who fear the influence a homosexual will have on others, and who therefore prefer to banish them not only from Torah readings and synagogues, but from the community and even their family homes.”

DESPITE A HIGH-PROFILE AND as yet unsolved shooting attack last summer that left two dead at a dropin center for homosexuals, Israel has the most liberal approach to homosexuals and lesbians in the Middle East. Indeed, openly gay individuals serve in the Knesset and the army, where prohibitions against anti-gay discrimination are much more progressive than the “don’t ask-don’t tell” norm in the American military.

In fact, following a lengthy litigation process, a civilian panel some 20 years ago ruled that the partner of an openly gay colonel who had died of natural causes be granted the same survivor’s rights as an IDF spouse and, since then, gays have successfully hitched their wagon to civil laws that recognize common-law marriages and the resulting offspring, and to other progressive legal and social trends.

For the Israeli branches of Conservative and Reform Judaism, policies toward gays have been a bit slower to evolve than they have in the US. The Masorti movement has sided with the strictest approach among the three adopted by the Conservative movement – a complete prohibition on homosexuality – while the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism has more or less followed the North American Reform movement, although it has allowed its rabbis to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies – which, like all non- Orthodox wedding ceremonies, are not recognized by the state – at their discretion only since April.

YET THERE IS MOVEMENT, albeit tentative, even in the modern- Orthodox world. This past July, a long list of modern-Orthodox rabbis and Jewish educators, most of them from Israel and the US, and many of them highly regarded – including Rabbi Haskel Lookstein of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York City, and Shlomo Riskin, chief rabbi of Efrat, a settlement just south of Jerusalem – released a statement of principles on homosexuality.

“Every Jew is obligated to fulfill the entire range of mitzvot between person and person in relation to persons who are homosexual or have feelings of same-sex attraction,” the statement reads. “Embarrassing, harassing or demeaning someone with a homosexual orientation or same-sex attraction is a violation of Torah prohibitions that embody the deepest values of Judaism.”

In addition, the signatories declared that they are “opposed on ethical and moral grounds to both the ‘outing’ of individuals who want to remain private and to coercing those who desire to be open about their orientation to keep it hidden.” They also called on synagogues and schools to welcome homosexuals, saying that “with regard to gender and lineage, they should participate and count ritually, be eligible for ritual synagogue honors, and generally be treated in the same fashion and under the same halakhic framework as any other member…” Daniel Jonas, 28, is living proof that there have been attitudinal changes toward gays in Israel’s national religious and modern Orthodox camps. He’s a board member of Havruta, a support group for Orthodox gays, both in the closet and out, whose website (www.havruta.org.il) is said to be the first of its kind in Israel.

“I’m still Orthodox,” the tall, slim and dark-haired Jerusalemite, who wears a knitted kippa and, in the Jerusalem summer heat, dresses like most young national religious males – that is to say in shorts, T-shirt and sandals – tells The Report. “I have not felt any hostility from anyone in my Orthodox community. No one ever told me I could no longer read from the Torah.”

Jonas, who is studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem toward his master’s degree in the history of Jewish people, says he discovered his sexual orientation “gradually,” starting when he was about 10.

“Others at school would call me a ‘homo,’” he recalls, using the Hebrew term that, over the years, has become less a pejorative and more the accepted word for gay. “I was offended not because I knew what it meant, but because I knew it was a slur. In the eighth grade, I had my first sexual contact with a boy. At that point, I knew there was something going on.”

Born and raised in the national religious community in Jerusalem’s Talpiot neighborhood, Jonas studied in state religious schools where the atmosphere, while not homophobic, could not exactly be considered sympathetic. It was not until he was in the Scouts movement, just after this first homosexual experience, that he found someone he could open up to.

“I spoke with my scout leader,” he relates. “I went to him because I had to speak with someone. He was an exceptional person and I felt I could trust him, that he’d be there for me. I wasn’t disappointed.”

His scout leader suggested that he talk to God.

“If there is anyone I can speak with and say everything to, it’s God. He’s non-judgmental.

I was afraid of people’s reactions. I knew that with Him, I wouldn’t get any hurtful remarks,” he says with a chuckle.

Despite these conversations, “I had girlfriends,” he says, “and I continued to pursue women, hoping that whatever was ‘going on’ would disappear.”

When it came time to serve in the army, Jonas chose hesder, a program that combines yeshiva study with military service over a period of four years instead of the usual three.

During this time, when he wasn’t in a tank, he was at the Otniel Yeshiva in the South Hebron hills, where he continued to struggle with his internal tug of war.

“I wrestled with this issue by myself, but also with friends from the hesder, people I felt comfortable with,” he relates. “The replies I got usually reflected the way I posed the issue, which was that I had a ‘problem.’ So my friends would usually tackle it as one.

It helped to talk about it and to know that people cared, but it didn’t solve a thing.”

Did these conversations have some kind of religious spin? “Not on my part,” he responds. “There was no religious side to wishing these feelings would disappear. It was what so many gay people feel simply as part of society. I believe that homosexuals or lesbians, religious or not, who say they prefer being the way they are, are lying.”

All the while, Jonas continued to date women, hoping his homosexual feelings would fade. “This continued until I was 26,” he says. “I had a girlfriend, but I made the acquaintance of a certain man.

I knew right away that I had met my partner, and I broke up with my girlfriend the next day.”

His family was supportive when he disclosed that he was gay. “There was never a negative reaction from anyone in my family. Apparently, my mother knew all along. My father is a highly respected man in the community and at synagogue.

I feared that coming out would mean I could no longer go there with him. Then he said, ‘I thought about this, but I really don’t care.’” While once he felt he could turn only to God, and later only to a few close hesder friends, Jonas says that today, “there are more and more people I can speak with in the religious community. I won’t say they’re all accepting of me, but there’s no doubt that I’ve been blessed with a family and community that’s understanding and supportive – more so even than many people in the secular world.”

Jonas thinks that several issues have helped change attitudes toward homosexuals in the national religious sector. One is the way Israel’s general gay community has raised its profile through active advocacy and interest groups, clubs and special publications, and annual gay pride parades. Another is the way its rights have gained traction through the country’s relatively liberal human-rights laws, and through the army’s laissez-faire attitude toward homosexuals.

In particular, the ongoing saga of Rabbi Moti Elon has drawn attention to homosexuality in the religious community. One of the country’s most iconic national religious educators, several years ago Elon suddenly left a successful career as head of one of Jerusalem’s most prestigious religious academies to be the rabbi of a sleepy northern town. Several months ago, it finally emerged that Elon’s “exile” had been in response to complaints against him by male students of “inappropriate behavior.” The alleged transgressions are generally understood to have been of a sexual nature, and more recently led police to recommend that Elon be indicted.

“I have no doubt the Elon affair has had an effect on attitudes toward gays among the national religious community,” Jonas says.

“It has showed that even rabbis can be like this. It really brought the issue out of the closet.”

Just how far “out of the closet” have things become in the national religious sector? “A few months ago, at a Havruta event, I was amazed to see all the 17- and 18-year-old religious youths who had come out,” he says.

“And I was amazed not only by the sense of satisfaction that I felt, but also by my sense of jealousy [that they did not have to suffer like I did].”

Perhaps key to understanding the growing sense of openness and acceptance of gays among the modern Orthodox lies in understanding human inclinations, which many in the scientific and medical sectors now say are influenced by genetics, and are therefore irreversible.

While not taking a stand on whether this is so – many Orthodox scholars insist it’s not, and that homosexuals can be made to change – one man with his feet in both worlds says it shouldn’t even be a factor.

“The main thing is something I learned from a teacher of mine in the old country,” says Dr. David Mandel, a Canadian-born Orthodox psychiatrist in Jerusalem, where many of his patients come from the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox worlds. “Changing people is not relevant. And we must remember that in Judaism, the Torah prohibits behaviors, not inclinations.”

Indeed, the signatories to the recent Orthodox declaration on attitudes toward gay people asserted that halakha “views all male and female same-sex sexual interactions as prohibited” and “sees heterosexual marriage as the ideal model and sole legitimate outlet for human sexual expression.” But they went on to note the critical difference in their thinking by declaring that “halakha only prohibits homosexual acts; it does not prohibit orientation or feelings of same-sex attraction, and nothing in the Torah devalues the human beings who struggle with them.”

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin has said the focus clearly should be on the individual.

“More and more Orthodox rabbis have come into contact with people who are gay as the situation has become more open,” he has been quoted as saying. “Like everything else, when you don’t know, you tend to demonize and almost dehumanize. When you know, you’ve met the individual, you’ve seen the sincerity of his prayer, you can no longer demonize and dehumanize. You have to just love and help… In the final analysis, that’s what Judaism is all about.”

INTERESTINGLY, MANY BIBLE scholars point out that the injunctions against homosexuality – whether acts or just inclinations – refer solely to males. There’s no direct injunction against lesbianism. However, another verse in Leviticus (18:3) – “Do not follow the ways of Egypt where you once lived, nor of Canaan, where I will be bringing you. Do not follow any of their customs.” has been parsed to cover this as well. According to renowned Medieval commentator Maimonides, these “ways” included same-sex marriage for both males and females.

Bracha Koren, 30, lives with her partner in Tel Aviv, where she works for a large telecommunications firm. She grew up in a haredi family in a mixed religious-secular neighborhood nearby, but now refers to herself simply as Orthodox.

“I’d describe myself as an ‘out-of-thecloset haredi,’ but that’s an oxymoron,” she laughs. “A haredi Jew is one who agrees to the conditions of the haredi world. Living openly as a lesbian is not covered by those conditions.”

When she was about 20 – at a time when many, if not most, haredi women have already undergone a shiddukh (arranged marriage) and been married – Koren fell in love with a woman, also haredi.

“I understood that I didn’t want it any other way,” she tells The Report. “But it wasn’t simple. At first I lived with my partner as ‘roommates.’ There was no one to speak to. Secular lesbians couldn’t help. I had to tell my parents. They reacted with a lot of tears and great sadness. I imagine that to this day they hope ‘time will do its thing.’” While her parents may not have been as understanding as Jonas’s, Koren says that she feels she’s lucky to have the mother and father she does. “My parents are the types who speak about everything. There was a desire to understand what was going on.”

Koren and her partner eventually had a commitment ceremony – “without a rabbi, but with the religious trappings,” she says.

“We don’t go to any particular synagogue [although] there’s a ‘gay-friendly’ modern Orthodox synagogue we attend,” she adds.

“My dress today, as far as I’m concerned, is modest, although my parents wouldn’t think so.”

Though it was still a bit difficult to attend her brother’s recent wedding, where she met with relatives and friends from her former life, she says that her lifestyle didn’t exactly come up in conversation. “Among haredim, people don’t talk about what they don’t want to talk about,” she deadpans.

Ten years after having left the fold with a feeling that she had no one to talk to who’d understand her, Koren is a leading member of Bat Kol, which on its website (www.batkol.org) describes itself as a “religious lesbian organization… founded to allow women to fulfill both their religious and lesbian identity; to make it possible for women to live in loving relationships, to raise children without deception, but nevertheless stay committed to their religion.”

Unfortunately, she says, many of the women who turn to Bat Kol, which she helped found in 2005, remain in the closet.

“There are many haredi lesbians who simply haven’t come out,” she says. “They remain unmarried. In many cases, people in the community talk about them and even know. But as long as they don’t do anything that’s untoward, they can remain part of the community.”

For these haredi women, as well as for those who have decided to live openly as lesbians, the road is now at least somewhat easier. Having begun with 10 members, Bat Kol now numbers some 150 women, aged 19 to 60-plus. It recently received a grant from ROI, a global initiative founded by American philanthropist Lynn Schusterman to promote diversity and inclusiveness in the Jewish world, and which now has some 500 members from 40 countries.

“They find Bat Kol on the Internet,” Koren says. “They call us. There’s an atmosphere of possibilities. I hope the changes in the attitudes now taking place in the modern-Orthodox world will spread to the haredi world as well.”

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.

You may use material originated by this site. However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.