by Rabbi Ari Kahn
The experience of synesthesia, where the Jews at Mount Sinai actually saw sounds.
Shavuot commemorates the greatest moment in human history -- the Revelation of God on Mount Sinai.
Despite the obvious importance of the event, the nature and content of the revelation remain somewhat obscure. What was revealed? And when? There is also confusion regarding the response of the Israelites to the revelation.
Rashi, citing Michilta, explains that all of the Ten Commandments were revealed simultaneously, in a manner "which a person can not possibly articulate," or, to use the language of the Midrash, "that which a mouth could not say, nor could ears hear."
If, indeed, God spoke all Ten Commandments at once, no one could possibly have understood a thing. But what was the purpose of a revelation that the people could not understand? And, why would God speak in a manner that they couldn't hear?
SEEING THE VOICES
The verse immediately following the Ten Commandments states:
And the entire nation saw the voices and the thunder, and the sound of the shofar, and the mountain was consumed with smoke. The people saw and were frightened; therefore they stood at a distance. They ...   more »

VIDEO) Islamic Jihad warns Israel of 'surprises' should IDF invade Gaza Strip; dozens of female suicide bombers eager to blow themselves up, take soldiers with them
Ali Waked
VIDEO - Islamic Jihad's military branch released a warning Sunday morning that dozens of women were ready to defend the Palestinian people if the IDF invaded the Gaza Strip.
The organization said it was fully prepared to retaliate "if the Zionist enemy committed foolish acts against Palestinians in the Strip."  
"The enemy's threat to act in the Strip will not be fruitful and their goals will not be achieved. The Palestinian organizations are at high alert to handle a Zionist attack in the Strip," the statement said.   
Video clip released by the Islamic Jihad
Islamic Jihad also released a video clip in which a high-ranking Jihad official said that his organization has prepared dozens of female suicide bombers who were eager to blow themselves up along with IDF infantry troops if if Israel was to enter and operate in the Strip.  
One of the women in the clip said that she would like to be the first to commit suicide on behalf of the Palestinian resistance against Israel.  ...   more »

JERUSALEM, May 20 (UPI) -- Israel's defense minister declared a state of emergency Sunday in Sderot, which has been under near constant rocket attack from Gaza.
Minister Amir Peretz's declaration came as a new barrage of five Qassam rockets stuck Sderot Sunday morning. No one was reported killed or seriously injured, though some residents were hospitalized in shock.
Sderot residents called the emergency declaration too little, too late, the Jerusalem Post reported.
"Only after dozens of Qassam rockets and thousands of residents have left Sderot, the government only now understands that there is a state of emergency in Sderot," said Alon Davidi, a Sderot resident.
The declaration gives civilian authority to Israel's Home Front Command to close factories and schools and order medical clinics, the Post said. Peretz declared a similar state of emergency in northern Israel following Hezbollah rocket attacks last summer during Israel's war on Lebanon.
About 4,000 of Sderot's 23,000 residents have left the city for temporary "relief" shelters in safer parts of Israel, the Post reported.
Original Source

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Joining Sderot’s Mayor Eli Moyal Sunday at a press conference at Jerusalem’s Teddy Stadium, international Christian broadcaster, Earl Cox, enthusiastically pledged his support for Sderot, Israel where Palestinians have bombarded them with Kassam rockets for the last five months.
Traveling in Israel for the last two weeks, Cox came in contact with an organization called Operation LifeShield. Their mission is to provide air raid shelters to schools, sports fields, and all open public spaces where there is a danger of rocket and missile attacks from Gaza and Southern Lebanon. Mr. Cox pledged his support to Operation LifeShield and, once again, to Israel and the Jewish people. Since founding Front Page Jerusalem Global Radio Network, now international in scope, Cox has become a fixture of pro-Israel advocacy with officials in the State of Israel and the Jewish people welcome him with appreciation. Cox is asking the Christian community worldwide to join him in his quest to help create, maintain, and sustain a safe Israel. Since 2000, Cox has come to the aid of Israel and the Jewish people as they fight terrorism around the clock.  Last summer when Hezbollah launched the unprovoked kidnappings of IDF soldiers instigating the Second Lebanon War, ...   more »

In the April issue of Commentary, a scholar dared to raise one of the few remaining issues still considered impolite these days for public discussion: Jewish intelligence.
In an essay entitled "Jewish Genius," political scientist and writer Charles Murray -- who is not Jewish -- outlines the historical and statistical data suggesting Jewish intellectual acumen and accomplishment, as well as a variety of theories seeking to explain them.
While most of us Jews will readily admit that we personally know many members of the tribe who are not very smart at all, Dr. Murray insists that "the average Jew is at the 75th percentile" of the IQ scale and that "the proportion of Jews with IQs of 140 or higher is somewhere around six times the proportion of everyone else." Some, moreover, have noticed that a number of world-changing ideas, both religious ones like monotheism and scientific ones like relativity, have their roots in a certain ethnicity.
After exploring a number of theories addressing the anomaly, Dr. Murray is less than satisfied. Recent historical circumstances might have genetically favored Jews of higher intellect, he allows; but he suspects that Jewish intellectual ability is ancient, that the Jews may "have had ...   more »