by Jeffrey Dunetz
Shabbat became my life raft, my refuge from a cruel working environment.
Every week is bad, but this week's Friday's staff meeting was particularly brutal. But, as always, I kept my mouth closed and didn't say a word.
Even though I have been with the company for less than a year, I knew very well that you were not allowed to disagree with the CEO, even in private. If you try to lay out a case for position that does not agree with his, the response is inevitably, "You're wrong," or " If you think that you can convince me of that, you must think I'm stupid."
Today, when I told him why we didn't get a particular piece of business, he berated me in front of my staff.
My new job started out with so much promise. The company has a great product. Before I came, results weren't what they should be. Half the staff was never on board, the rest were completely unmotivated. I was out of work for over a year, but I had won awards running a sales organization for one of their competitors, so they hired me to get the sales team ...   more »

By Ron Brackin
DALLAS, TX (ANS) -- In the Gaza Strip, Sunday, January 28, a 20-year-old man was shot through the heart and killed. He was the AWANA Club driver for Gaza Baptist Church. The next morning, a bullet stuck the home of another church member, barely missing his head.
On Friday, February 2, Fatah police broke into the church. They commandeered the six-story building to use as high ground to cover the main police station next door.
"The situation in Gaza is very dangerous," says Pastor Hanna Massad. "We are not able to leave our homes much. We continue to hear shooting, especially at night. Streets are blocked. People are afraid and confused. It is the worst situation we ever went through, even more dangerous than any Israeli invasion."
Gaza Baptist Church is the only evangelical church in Palestine's volatile Gaza Strip. The believers are surrounded by nearly 2 million Muslims. Gaza is also the stronghold of the Hamas terrorist organization.
Despite the dangers, the church's prayer team continues to travel house to house to strengthen and encourage believers. The congregation continues to minister to hundreds of impoverished Palestinian families in neighboring refugee cities.
That they remain in Gaza ...   more »

An Israeli archeologist said Wednesday that he has pinpointed the exact location of the Second Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount.
The site identified by Hebrew University archeologist Prof. Joseph Patrich, based on the study of a large underground cistern on the Temple Mount and passages from the Mishna, places the Temple and its corresponding courtyards, chambers and gates in a more southeasterly and diagonal frame of reference compared to previous studies.
Patrich based his research, which is about to be published, on a study of a large underground cistern on the Temple Mount that was mapped by British engineer Sir Charles Wilson in 1866 on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund, along with passages from the Mishna.
The giant cistern, 4.5 meters wide and 54 meters long, lay near the southeastern corner of the upper platform of the Temple Mount. Examining the location and configuration of the cistern together with descriptions of the daily rite in the Temple and its surroundings found in the Mishna, Patrich said that this cistern is the only one found on the Temple Mount that can tie in with the ancient rabbinic text describing elements involved in the daily purification and sacrificial duties carried ...   more »

Arab Israelis from across country gather at Temple Mount to protest excavation works; 'Works could cause situation in entire region to deteriorate and even intensify the intifada,' protester says
Hundreds of Arabs from across Israel arrive at the Mugrabi Gate near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem Thursday afternoon in protest to excavations taking place near the gate, adjacent to the Western Wall.
The protesters claimed that Sheikh Raad Salah, head of the northern branch of the Islamic movement, also plans on arriving, despite a restraining order received Wednesday that bars him from coming within 150 meters of the Old City for 10 days.  
"We oppose the destruction of Al-Aqsa Mosque," one protester told Ynet. "It hurts Muslim pride, the world, and Israel. The works could cause the situation in the whole region to deteriorate and even intensify the intifada."   
A spokesman for the Islamic movement, Zahi Nujidat, said "we came to protest the excavations. The path to Mugrabi Gate is 800 years old and it's only Muslim, not Jewish."
"The current works are a continuation of previous works whose sole purpose was to draw a line on the ground. We suspect that the goal of the current works ...   more »