MICHAEL FREUND: Ezekiel is commanded by God to take two sticks. On one, he is to write "For Judah," and on the other "For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim." Then comes the crucial instruction: "Bring them together into one stick so that they become one in your hand" (37:17). Ezekiel's vision is not one of uniformity. The two sticks do not cease to be what they are. Judah remains Judah; Joseph remains Joseph. Unity does not erase difference – it sanctifies and elevates it by placing it within a larger shared destiny.
Ketriel Blad: In other words, in order for a total restoration to take place, the restored Ephraimites from among the nations will have to become Jewish, in the legal sense of the word, thus accepting the Jewish authorities and becoming obedient to Jewish halachah. In the prophecy of Ezekiel 37:19 the Hebrew text can be understood as HaShem giving Yehuda's stick the function of being over Ephraim's stick and this way both sticks will become one. This teaches us that the Ephraimite movement that comes from heaven cannot rise apart from the Jewish people without submission to the Jewish leaders' authority. This is not for all the gentiles.
DOV BAR-LEIB: Binyamin ben Rachel can only partially defeat Amaleq, never quite destroying him at his root. Only Yosef, who Rav Kessin calls a Chetzi Av, a Half Patriarch, and Ephraim ben Yosef veOsnat can defeat Amaleq at his root in the world. The koach to do this seems to at least in part from Yosef and his descendants being impervious to the Evil Eye. He alone can "stare down Esav whose eyes are Amaleq", and win.
วันจันทร์, พฤศจิกายน 28, 2559
France is labeling Israeli products from Judea, Samaria, and the Golan. Israelis should think twice before buying French products.
בִּנְיָמִין נְתַנְיָהוּ: President-elect Trump, my friend, congratulations on being elected President of the United States of America. You are a great friend of Israel. Over the years, you’ve expressed your support consistently and I deeply appreciate it. I look forward to working with you to advance security, prosperity, and peace. Israel is grateful for the broad support it enjoys among the American people and I’m confident that the two of us, working closely together, will bring the great Alliance between our two countries to even Greater Heights.
Eyal Paltek: Most of the Christian youth are concentrated in the cities of Nazareth and Upper Nazareth and the rest of the Galilee villages. They are not exposed to Israeli society, to the mentality and to life outside of the cities they live in. Enlistment in the IDF in most cases constitutes the first time in their lives that they are exposed to Israeli youth and to Israeli society in general. Beyond that, their neighbors in the cities in which they live are Muslims who do not agree with the growing phenomenon of the enlistment of Christian youth in the IDF and their integration into Israeli society, and the employment opportunities that they have after their release. Therefore, these youth and their families find themselves threatened, cursed at and subject to physical attacks.
Neil Asher Silberman, Israel Finkelstein, David Ussishkin, and Baruch Halpern: The Book of Joshua (12:21) specifically mentions the defeat of the king of Megiddo and the allotment of his territory to the tribe of Manasseh;
NETANYA MUNICIPALITY: thanks to the Lord for giving them {Netan~ya, lot. "gift of God"} the ability to continue the legacy of the 12 tribes who settled in the Land of Israel, and particularly of the half~tribe of Manasseh, which settled in the region.
Stephen Epstein: Some went down the Mekong River into Vietnam, the Philippines, Siam, Thailand and Malaysia, while some of the Israelites moved to Burma and west to India.