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 »

by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) The Chief Rabbinate of Israel, after hearing more testimony, reiterated its ban on Jewish participation in the Christian-sponsored conferences in Jerusalem this week.
The rabbinate's Committee to Stop Missionary Dissemination met for a second time on Thursday, this time with MK Benny Elon, the Chairman of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus. Though Elon demonstrated his opposition to working with missionaries and the care his groups take to ensure that no missionary work is tolerated, the rabbis reaffirmed the previous ban.
The committee's first decision was a unanimous vote, agreed upon by Rabbis Simcha Kook (Chief Rabbi of Rechovot), Yitzchak Peretz (Raanana) and Yehuda Deri (Be'er Sheva). At the second vote, however, Rabbi Deri was not present, and Haifa's Chief Rabbi She'ar-Yashuv Cohen, who replaced him, voted against the decision.
Also participating in the meeting were Jerusalem Councilwoman Mina Fenton (NRP), a long-time activist against missionary activity, and Ze'ev Shtieglitz of the Netanya-based Lev L'Achim anti-missionary organization.
Elon Will Not Participate in Conference
MK Elon expressed disappointment with the decision, but said he would honor it: "I feel that the evidence presented to the rabbis was not complete, but the bottom line is that as a religious ...   more »

MUSLIMS are outraged that prospective citizens will have to acknowledge the Judeo-Christian tradition as the basis of Australia's values system.
Australia's peak Muslim body said the proposed citizenship question - revealed in the Herald Sun - was disturbing and potentially divisive.
Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Dr Ameer Ali said the "Abrahamic tradition" or "universal values" would be less divisive ways of describing the nation's moral base.
Dr Ali said use of the term Judeo-Christian was the result of "WWII guilt", and before 1945 Australia would have been called only Christian.
"That question must be rephrased," he said.
Dr Ali was backed by Democrats senator Lyn Allison, who said the answer to the question was highly debatable.
But Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews stood firm on the merit of the question.
Mr Andrews said Australia's Judeo-Christian heritage was indisputable historical fact.
"We are not asking people to subscribe to the Judeo-Christian ethic," he said.
"We are simply stating a fact that this is part of the heritage of Australia in terms of its foundation.
"This is not an exercise in political correctness. It is trying to state what has been the case and still is the case."
But Health Minister ...   more »

By Solly Ganor
Five years ago, I had a conversation with a young Palestinian student who in short precise terms explained how Islam will defeat the West. The conversation opened my eyes to a much larger picture in which Israel plays only a minor role in the Islamic game of conquest. Since then I tried to speak to some Arabs who come to pray at the Mosque, but they were not as outspoken as the student.
Last week, I had another conversation with an Israeli Arab construction boss by the unlikely name of Francis who was in charge of building a villa near our house in Herzelia. He told me that his family was Christian, and his name was given to him in honor of the Franciscan monks. Our conversation was as interesting as the first conversation I had with the Arab student five years ago and I would like to share it with you. Francis frequently parked his car near our house and we would exchange polite greetings.
About a week ago, the water was shut off for repairs in the house he was building, and Francis asked me if I could give him some hot water for his ...   more »

Grant McArthur
FOR five years, Graeme Stuart has been living with a cancer that normally claims sufferers within 3 1/2 years. And thanks to a new medication, he is hoping for many years more.
The Hepburn grandfather is one of just 200 Australians being offered a treatment for multiple myeloma, a blood cancer.
Each year, 1200 cases are diagnosed.
Though it will be at least two years before Revlimid is assessed by the Therapeutic Goods Administration for use in Australia, six Victorian hospitals have been granted limited access to the drug.
Tests that have already been conducted in Australia have added an average of 14 months to patients' lives.
Mr Stuart, 75, gained an early taste of the benefits of the drug in a clinical trial three years ago.
And thanks to the limited release, he has now been taking the drug for two years.
"I thank my lucky stars I am getting this treatment. It's wonderful, and I'm responding to it," Mr Stuart said.
"I counted myself very lucky to be offered a chance in the original trial. When they put me on the real thing, I had a remarkable improvement.
"And for the last six months or more, ...   more »

Jose Nemesio Lugo Felix was appointed last month as head of a drug intelligence unit in Mexico's attorney general's office.
Less than 30 days later, he was shot and killed in a sophisticated street ambush that is being characterized as a "planned execution" – another assassination presumably by one of the Mexican drug cartels.
He hadn't even finished unpacking boxes in his new office.
The list of atrocities of this kind in Mexico grows on a daily basis:
Last weekend, two journalists for the Azteca television network who had previously covered the drug wars in Mexico were reported missing and assumed to have been kidnapped in Monterrey.
About the same time, an army captain was kidnapped and killed in Chilpancingo.
A federal police investigator was found shot dead in Tijuana.
A severed head was left at an army base in Vercruz, a day after the central government said it would send troops to the Gulf Coast to battle the drug trade.
Four government bodyguards assigned to protect the children of the governor of the state of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto, were killed while taking the kids to the beach.
Mexico City's El Universal newspaper reported more than 1,000 people have ...   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 »