THE RETURN OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL to the land of Israel continues to inspire the rediscovery of ancient scientific, cultural and practical knowledge, all necessary for the reemerging sovereign nation of Israel, the rebuilding of the Holy Temple, and the renewal of the Divine service. The Temple Institute plays a formidable role in these efforts as the recreation and renewal of Temple vessels and priestly garments requires a working knowledge of the materials and methods commanded by Torah. Knowledge lost over two millenia of exile must be relearned. This rediscovery is itself part of the redemptive process that we are experiencing in our day. The following words describe once such leap forward toward the redemption and the rebuilding of the Holy Temple. The feeling of all who took part in the events described was one of being an active participant in G-d's unfolding plan for mankind.
ON THE AFTERNOON OF THE 13TH OF TAMMUZ (JULY 16TH), the Temple Institute organized an historic event: the first tola'at shani - crimson worm - harvest in the land of Israel in perhaps 2000 years. The location of the harvest was the Samarian hilltop village of Neve Tsuf. The immediate purpose for the ...   more »

The government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is in the final stages of surrendering control of a major piece of property in downtown Jerusalem to Russia, reported The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
Former Russian President Vladimir Putin laid claim to Jerusalem's St. Sergius Church and its grounds about four years ago. Already then, Olmert expressed his willingness to relinquish the property, which also houses a branch of Israel's Agricultural Ministry and several environmental protection organizations.
The official transfer is expected to take place in the coming weeks, according to a Foreign Ministry official.
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President Hugo Chavez met with Jewish leaders on Wednesday, pledging to work together against anti-Semitism and open up channels of communication despite strong differences on Mideast politics.
Both Chavez and leaders of the World Jewish Congress called the meeting a success.
"There may be some differences of opinion on some issues - on major issues such as Iran and also the Middle East," Michael Schneider, the organization's secretary-general, said after the meeting. "But when it comes to anti-Semitism, I think we're on the samepage."
"We mentioned our concerns about anti-Semitism and asked him what his position was," Schneider said. "And he said he was certainly not an anti-Semite."
The socialist president said it was a "very important meeting," but did not elaborate.
Schneider said Chavez offered to meet with his Brazilian and Argentine counterparts to jointly condemn "all forms of anti-Semitism, discrimination against minorities and anti-Muslim sentiment."
Chavez has repeatedly vilified Israel while expressing sympathy for the Palestinians. During the 2006 Israeli bombing of Lebanon, Chavez withdrew his top envoy from Israel and threatened to cut off diplomatic relations, calling the attacks "a new Holocaust."
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By Nadav Shragai 
The "shelf agreement" that the Israeli government has proposed to the Palestinian Authority, whose details were released Sunday, would leave within Israel some 220,000 settlers living in 48 settlements in settlements blocs. This area, west of the separation fence, more-or-less overlaps the seven percent of land in Judea and Samaria that Israel will annex according to the "shelf agreement."
Another approximately 70,000 settlers in 74 settlements east of the fence will have to leave their homes, according to the agreement. Most of these settlements are hard-core ideological communities where opposition to evacuation is likely to be strong and perhaps even violent.
A 20-year resident of the northern West Bank settlement of Yitzhar and father of 10, Yigal Amitai, says he and his friends "don't need to be loved, and therefore the evacuation of Yitzhar will look like the evacuation of Umm al-Fahm [would]."
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"Remember, for example, Land Day," he said, referring to the sometimes violent protests in that large Arab city in central Israel.
Regarding evacuation, Amitai says: "When a prime minister is involved with only a few percentage points of support, I am not worried."
Moshe Maiersdorf of Tapuah in the northern West Bank, ...   more »

Matthew Wagner ,
Jordanian border officials refused to allow a group of Israeli tourists carrying religious objects such as talitot and tefillin to enter their country on Tuesday, saying it was "a safety measure" to avoid potential terror threats.
Thirty-six Israeli tourists on their way to Amman for a three-day tour were detained at the Sheikh Ali Hussein Crossing near Beit She'an at 6:30 a.m. and notified of a new regulation that prohibits entry into Jordan with tefillin, talitot, prayer books, Bibles or the Talmud.
"Our group was presented with two options," said Alan Novetsky, a recent immigrant from New York who was accompanied on the tour by his wife. "Either enter Jordan without religious objects or go back to Israel."
Novetsky said the group's suitcases were thoroughly searched for religious items. "They seemed to know exactly what they were looking for.
"It was very demeaning to have such a negative experience in what is billed as a friendly country. People in the group, including the tour guides, were quite shocked. No one had ever heard that Jordan imposed religious restrictions," he said.
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