When I say that it is very difficult for peace to be made between Israel
and the Arabs in the land, I am sometimes scorned. Those informed
strictly by American media feel that the Israelis are being intractable
and stubborn. Their solution is a simple one: give half the land to the
Arabs, and that will satisfy them, and peace will ensue forever after.
Let us imagine, Dan and Mike and all others who are interested, that we have become "Nation Makers." Let us suppose, for the moment, that we have the right to choose just what people will become a new nation. This is a grave responsibility, and we should take it very seriously. Our first consideration will be the politics of the people who want to form a nation. Having only just finished hostilities in Kosovo and looking forward to years of difficulty there, we realize the last thing we should do is prop up a new dictator. Slobodan Milosevic has brought more agony to far more people than any one man should ever do. Closer to home, we have watched Fidel Castro create a nation of paupers and utterly ruin what could be a delightful Caribbean island. I would submit that Yasser Arafat is the same quantity—not truthful, running a corrupt government, and to all evidences, still a terrorist at heart. There are no plans for new elections and, in fact, no Arab nation replaces their leadership with real elections. And so, politically, the proposed Palestine would be very problematic. Our second consideration would be economics. Are the people who are proposing to be a new nation a success in this important area? Actually, the new Palestine would have very little to sell or to trade. It produces almost nothing. Its universities and brainpower seem given over to righteous indignation and constant protest as in Iran. The economy, such as it is, would remain utterly dependent on Israel, which is considered their worst enemy. And so, economically, the proposed new nation would probably fail. Thirdly, we must consider something that could be called a "hostility quotient." Would the new nation fit in to a peaceful world? Here the grades would also be very low. While only a small percentage of Arabs are terrorists, that's all it takes for total chaos. There are only a few peoples in the world who bomb utterly innocent civilians, but the Palestinians are among them. They still utilize terror as a technique of negotiation. In this crucial area, their score would be awful. Fourth, we must consider the religious position of the citizens. Would they be compatible with other nations or be bent on conquering them? In a largely Christian world, would they tend to conduct amiable and courteous relations with Christianity in general? Are they friendly with the other religions? In reality, Moslems are barely compatible with other Moslems, and openly critical and hostile with all other religions. This failing would be a serious consideration in creating a new nation. And finally, we need to consider the potential new nation's alliances in the secular, everyday world. Would the new nation conduct friendly relations with most of the UN? Does it have much in common with the major powers, the US, Europe, or China? Here again, our proposed new Palestine would have some difficulties passing muster. It has mostly rogue nations for friends, including Iran, Iraq, Syria, and the like. It has no real relationships with the powers mentioned above. And so, Dan, Mike, and others, it seems like we would accomplish not peace, but potentially much more conflict by creating this ill-equipped new nation. Believe me when I tell you that I am like every Israeli and every other supporter of that brave democracy in wanting peace in the land, but each person should ask himself, "Does Arafat really want peace with Israel, or does he simply want the land for himself?" Purposely manufacturing a politically, economically, and spiritually disadvantaged dictatorship is not the way to achieve peace anywhere.
For Shalom in the Promised Land,
Modern day traditional Judaism differs from the Old Testament on achieving spirituality. The religion created by the rabbis out of the Biblical elements has several routes to Jewish realization. Nevertheless, in the Bible, spirituality in the T'Nakh (Old Testament Scriptures) is seen differently as in the concept of "fear of the Lord." This not only refers to the regard that one is to have of the Almighty, but it also refers to the awareness and sense that one has of the presence of God. The God of the Old Testament is One with whom Moses was not afraid to disagree and Jacob was not afraid to wrestle. In their divine encounters, each person was not only aware of God, but they were more aware of themselves. Thus Moses says, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." He seems to realize that God could choose to heal the stammer, but God tells him how. Namely, his brother, Aaron, whom he has not seen for 40 years, will be utilized. In wrestling with the angel, Jacob sensed that his life would be changed for the better, transformed, if he can but get the divine wrestler to "bless him." He holds on fiercely until he gets what he wants. In modern Judaism, God would be so transcendent that Moses would not talk back and Jacob would not dare grab hold. The spirituality in the Biblical sense leads to holiness and understanding that God is wholly other, and yet God is not only transcendent but He is imminent. The Old Testament religion is one of the few that recognizes that the things of the Spirit are not that much different than the concerns of men. It is not the flesh versus the Spirit, but righteousness in the Spirit that leads to sanctification in the flesh. The Apostle Paul seems to sense this perfectly in a brief treatise found in Romans the 12th chapter. It begins by saying that it is a reasonable service for each of God's people to place their life on the altar as a sacrifice. That being done, and redemption being assumed through the blood of Christ, the precepts in that treatise are eminently practical. For example, Paul tells us to be kind one to another, to show mercy cheerfully, and to bless those who persecute us.
In the Biblical religion, spirituality comes from being filled with the
Holy Spirit, and being filled with the Holy Spirit proceeds from being
redeemed through the sacrifice and resurrection of Messiah. But New
Testament spirituality is eminently practical and practicable in our
day-to-day relations.
An Icy Dessert from the Desert Patricia Golan meets a Negev professor who's nuts about dromedaries and believes he's found the answer to Third World famine—camel's milk ice cream. Yasmin the camel is shoving her muzzle at my outstretched microphone. She has the longest eyelashes I've ever seen, which she flaps furiously. "Gurgle, gurgle, roar." "Yasmin, there, there, pretty one," murmurs Ben-Gurion University of the Negev physiology professor Reuven Yagil. "Gurgle, gurgle, snuffle, roar." "And this is Anita. Yes, motek, [sweetheart] what is it?" "Gurgle, gurgle." "She's due to give birth soon. Watch it, she'll eat your mike!"
Probably the world's foremost expert on dromedaries, Yagil is convinced that camels and their milk could provide at least a stopgap solution to famine in drought-stricken areas of Africa. One female camel can supply milk for 40 children daily. The camel was the first animal to be domesticated for milk, centuries before cows. It is the only milk-bearing animal that thrives in extremely arid regions and produces huge amounts of milk even during droughts. In Kenya and other sub-Saharan areas, most of the cattle have died because of droughts, but camels survive.
And, says Yagil, nomadic tribes that keep camels usually survive times
of famine because they can subsist on camel's milk.
Our Internet web site of the month is: kingdomnet.com/freebibles/home.htm. When you visit there, you'll be able to download Bibles, Bible dictionaries, commentaries, lexicons and much more. No "shareware;" it's all free . . . like God's love
Enrollment is $35 per single and $50 per couple. Please call 1-214-696-8844 with your credit card or mail us the enrollment form on page 2. Our 1-800 service won't be accepting conference reservations, but if you're using your credit card, you can fax or email us at (214) 696-5885 and . Dear Friends, Over the last few issues of this letter, I have taken on folks who defend false doctrines and who attend nonbiblical churches. This has caused a rash of basically two kinds of letters:
True Christians are guided by Scripture and not by various opinions of people's behavior. Obviously, I didn't grow up in a polite and mannerly church where people were greeted with tolerance and graciousness. In the Jewish community, one more likely knows where one stands because everyone more directly says what they think and what they feel. With that said, let me say clearly I deeply regret any offense I may have given to any letter-writer or any viewer. After all, this ministry is yours, not mine, and I have not been appointed to insult anyone. Biblically, any individual in a ministry leadership position is, in effect, a pastor, and the term "pastor" relates to "pastoral" in the sense of shepherding. The shepherd feeds the sheep; he does not offend the sheep. I recently received a letter that began, "I just completed reading the last issue of the Levitt Letter and can only express dismay and what I perceive as dreadful personal and arrogant attacks on your readers . . ." and that letter went on to remonstrate with me about how I treated Catholic, United Methodist, etc., writers. I guess I should have made crystal clear that I was criticizing the denominations and not the people who wrote the letters. I understand that people who grow up in a denomination become deeply identified with its practices, and it becomes nearly a culture, a way of life. And so a given Methodist may deeply believe in our Lord, may study Scripture, may in every way conform to the Biblical image of a Christian, but his denomination, in supporting the Palestinian side on the Israel question, is simply dead wrong. One could not have even a passing acquaintance with Scripture and hold so unbiblical a position toward the Promised Land and the Chosen People. It is truly hard to know just how to handle such a situation. I'm troubled, and rightfully so, I believe, with denominations which simply won't study Scripture or even glance at Israel, God's timepiece, where prophecy is being fulfilled every day as we live. On the other hand, I am delighted that members of these denominations watch our programs and read our letters and get some Biblical understanding. I guess what mystifies me is the grip the denominational churches seem to have over the members. It is as if the members worship the denomination rather than the Lord. Looking through Scripture for instruction, we have a variety of examples on how to deal with those in error. Certainly the Old Testament prophets did not stop for much tact or diplomacy, but simply gave the truth unvarnished and to the point. Our Lord was most tender with such as the Samaritan woman, who held false doctrines, but He was confrontational with the Pharisees. And He certainly didn't say to the money-changers in the temple, "Now I respect your good intentions and I don't mean to offend . . ." Looking at the teachings of Paul, he was forceful and clear. In the case of the Galatians, who held on to false doctrines, he said this: O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain? (Galatians 3: 1-4) The letter I quoted above (and a number like it) was written in the spirit of love, and I'm sure of that. Ultimately, the writer said, "Zola, the issue is attitude, not necessarily content." And he went on with a compelling paragraph: You have a very important ministry to this world. The world, as a group, is woefully ignorant about the Jewish roots of the Church and the rightful place of Israel in God's plan for His creation. I have encountered people in many groups who have personal salvation and yet don't understand God's plan. Many of the Baptist churches in our town have a long tradition of Amillennialism and are as bad as any Lutheran or Catholic in their understanding about Israel. The issue is leadership, not categories of people. Well, I take the point. I honestly did not feel when I wrote my letter that I was attacking individuals, but I have a few responses that say that I was. Therefore, I apologize sincerely and deeply for any offense. However tactless I might have sounded, though, the problem still remains. Some churches simply do not teach Scripture. Their members are in the dark about such crucial topics as Israel and prophecy. Therefore, I would suggest that those members go to Bible Study Fellowship or Precepts, both excellent organizations for Scriptural knowledge. Both emphasize the importance of Israel and prophecy. In fact, it would be impossible to truly study the Bible without those emphases. On another subject, our upcoming prophecy conference will be held September 18-19 at the beautiful Biblical Arts Center in Dallas. Our speakers will be the same as at our May conference: Moishe Rosen, founder of Jews for Jesus; Dr. Tom McCall, author and consulting theologian; Todd Baker, ministry theologian; and me. The theme is "The Feasts of Our Lord." Children are welcome, and a special program is scheduled for them. Look for the enrollment form on page 2 in this newsletter.
Our December Deluxe Tour (December 11-21) will also visit all the sites listed above. The Grand Tour (December 11-26) has an extension at a luxurious resort hotel at Eilat on the Red Sea. We will tour the beautiful Negev Desert extensively, including En Gedi, where David hid from King Solomon; Ashkelon, ancient seaport and capital of Canaanite kings, harbor of the Philistines, the place where Samson slew 30 men; and Beer Sheba, birthplace of Jacob and Esau (Gen. 25:22-26), where Jacob purchased the birthright of Esau (Gen. 25:29-34), and where Joseph's dreams caused strife between him and his brothers (Gen. 37:1-11). Eilat people will visit Petra, the city carved out of a rose-red mountain, one of the world's great ancient attractions. All pilgrims on the Grand Tour will spend Christmas Eve in the shepherds fields in Bethlehem! Be sure to watch for both our upcoming prophecy special in prime time airing in September and our new series, Prophecy 2000! And, as always, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. — Your messenger,
Parents and students unhappy with a higher education that they say fails to teach about morals and values are flocking to evangelical Christian colleges and universities in record numbers. Enrollment at the 94 schools for the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities has increased by 24 percent since 1990. Nationwide, colleges with religious affiliations have grown by 11 percent, outpacing private institutions, which have grown by about 5 percent, and public schools where enrollment rose by 4 percent through 1996. "There is a hunger in the land for character-building education," says David Burks, president of Harding University in Searcy, Ark., a private Christian college where enrollment has been on a steady upswing for 11 years. "Many parents and students want an education in which the core values of the institution give clarity and consistency to all college activities. And they have a hard time finding it." In fact, colleges and universities have moved far afield of their original missions; many years ago, character education was the main reason colleges existed, he said. The learning experience in the first American colleges was "in every way, religious education," Mr. Burks said. Now schools have replaced religion with relativism, diversity, political correctness and a lack of moral standards, he said, in an attempt to be everything to all people. "Colleges that promote character...are needed more than ever in a world that, perhaps unknowingly, seeks real answers to real questions," he said. "The university that chooses to integrate faith in God into the learning and living process is the one that can provide these answers, but in doing so, it goes against the grain of educational philosophy in America today." Jared Yoeman, a junior at Webster Christian School in Webster, N.Y., makes good grades and already is being courted by several secular and Christian universities. He said he is strongly considering Liberty University, a 5,500-student, Baptist-affiliated school in Lynchburg, Va., and hopes to learn from professors who mingle faith and academics. Jared, who plans to become a doctor, said he is looking for a school where discipline is enforced, character counts and talking about God is cool.
"At a Christian school, you have a secure environment and you don't have
to worry about things that mess up your life," he said. "I recognize
that God saved my soul, so what am I going to do, throw that away in
college? I don't want to throw away my faith."
ALIYAH"This decade [Jews] making aliyah from the former Soviet Union [FSU] have provided Israel...78,000 engineers, 36,000 teachers, 17,000 nurses and medical technicians, 16,000 doctors and dentists and 12,000 scientists." ("Israel's Gain", Operation Exodus, Spring '99, EEF Bournemouth BH2 5QJ, UK)"Israel entered 1999 with... 6,037,000 citizens, of whom 4,783,000 (79.2%) are Jewish... Between [1989 - 1998]... 900,000 immigrants arrived in Israel (769,000 from FSU)." ("Population Up, Immigration Down," ICEJ News, 4 Jan '99)
KING HUSSEIN AND ISRAELHow forgetful the world becomes as she ages! King Hussein is honored as a man of peace, but his history is another story. Elyakim Haetzni writes, "We all support the peace treaty with Jordan. There is also no doubt that, among Arab rulers, Hussein most closely fit the definition of a 'good neighbor. ' And yet...it was Hussein that desecrated the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, even using...tombstones for Arab Legion latrines. With his consent...'West Bank' served as a base for terror attacks until '67... In '67, Hussein joined the Egyptian attack on Israel... Israeli soldiers found written orders for the King instructing his men to kill everybody...[in] two Jewish communities situated between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv."... After '67, Jordan... [served] as a base for terrorist infiltration, resulting in heavy Israeli casualties... During what became known as Black September 1970, the benevolent, smiling, well-educated King killed approximately 20,000 Palestinians...During the Gulf War... [he] conspired with Saddam Hussein to partition Saudi Arabia, and crown [himself] King... All those years, behind the scenes, Hussein maintained good, sometimes intimate relations with all Israeli governments... His explanation for this "two-faced" game: his precarious position in the Arab world.
CHURCH — WAKE UP!... ad in the International Herald Tribune, 8 Feb '99, from "ADIC, International Union for Jewish-Islamic-Christian Dialogue and Peace Education" [emphasis theirs]: "ADIC helped conclude the signing of an historical agreement between the Vatican and al-Azhar (highest institution of Sunni Islam, Cairo)...for creation of a joint committee for dialogue... [for] presenting to Christians the true face of Islam and presenting to Muslims the true face of Christianity'... Pope John Paul II declared, 'the dialogue between our two religions is more important than ever...'"
Y2K STARTS HERE!"...Since the first 2 days of the year 2000 fall on a weekend, the [Tel Aviv Stock Exchange], where Sunday is a regular trading day, will be the world's first stock exchange to trade in the next millennium..."Dear, dear Zola: Thank you so much for boldly standing for God's Truth in spite of the temporal consequences. I am a former Catholic who was taught to obey Rome's dictates without question. I followed Church dogma to the letter, yet never once in 19 years was the Gospel presented to me. I was told in Catholic grade school that "the Jews" killed Jesus, and God has allowed them to be persecuted for the last 2,000 years as punishment for that. The Catholic Church is officially very anti-Semitic. When a co-worker showed me what God's Word actually said, I became a Christian and had to leave that cult (let there be no mistake; the Roman Catholic Church fits every definition of a cult). I am of 100% German heritage. My ancestors emigrated to America in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Between my Catholic religion and my culture, I grew up with a completely unfounded prejudice against the Jewish people. When I became a Christian, I came to realize it was impossible for me to love Jesus and at the same time hate Jews. Please explain clearly to Jews that it was the official Roman Catholic Church that persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and murdered the Jewish people over the centuries; not Biblical Christians. True Christians love Jewish people. Please press on with the good work. Do not be intimidated by the huge volume of Catholic hate mail you are sure to receive. I pray for God to continue to bless your ministry. — Sincerely, S.H. Dear Zola, Just a note to say how much my husband and I enjoy your ministry. Your TV show is aired here at 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning, and we wouldn't miss it! We are planning on joining you on your trip to Israel in December and anxiously await information on it. . . . My husband is Jewish and met Jesus in 1975. We attend an evangelical Methodist church, though we do not support the liberal bent the denomination is taking. . . . — God bless you!, R.G. Dear Zola, I just wanted to add another response to your recent writings in regards to doctrinal error, which has run rampant in many if not most of the major denominations. I was raised in the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America). When I was 16, I was saved through the invitation of a friend in school who attended a different church, which taught salvation through receiving Jesus Christ as personal Savior. In spite of this, my parents still required me to attend their church. After high school, I attended an ELCA-affiliated college, excited because I was going to a "Christian" college. Being young in the faith, I had no idea what awaited me. Immediately, I was served up huge doses of liberal "Christian" humanism, secularism, replacement theology, higher criticism, and flat-out apostasy. One religion professor was using his academic position to promote acceptance of the gay lifestyle. He had even performed a "wedding" ceremony for his son and another man! Others were blatant Atheists. Worst of all, in time I bought into all this horrific teaching because my professors seemed so authoritative, intelligent, educated and informed, but mostly because I was young, impressionable and lacking in sound doctrine. For ten years I believed this garbage, until God finally intervened and led me to a very godly young woman who eventually became my wife. After joining a Bible-based church, getting baptized and, for the first time, having access to sound Bible teaching, my eyes were finally opened to the real Truth of God's Word. Now, I study Scripture daily and continue to grow in the Lord. I can only imagine what God could have accomplished through me those ten years if I had not been led astray by such error. My point is this. Those who are members of congregations in mainline denominations need to know what's being taught and promoted in their church organization and in their affiliated colleges and seminaries. I fear that many would be greatly surprised at what's being taught. And if attempts to correct such error fall on deaf ears, people must have the courage to leave that denomination and find a church that stands up for the Bible instead of tearing it down. Doctrinal error is serious stuff and shouldn't be tolerated. Fidelity to God's Word should be a higher priority than denominational tradition or anything else, for that matter. I will close as I fear the length of my letter will prohibit it from being seen by your audience.
In His service, J.B.
DID YOU KNOW truth does not exist and that all knowledge and values are artificial constructions to serve the interest of the powerful? If you don't know this, then you are obviously not the beneficiary of a recent American college education. A wide variety of academic subjects has appropriated Karl Marx's 19th century idea that "truth" is never more nor less than propaganda that serves the material interest of the ruling class. When the workers took over, as Marx thought they would, truth would be whatever served the interests of the working class. In Marx's day, the capitalists were the bad guys, and the workers were the good guys. . . . The various denunciatory doctrines that reign in college classrooms are a way of unmasking success, achievement, accomplishment, and heroism by placing a qualifier before the subject under attack. . . . It is an easy game to play once you get the hang of it. Everyone gets in on the act —historians, philosophers, English departments, law schools, even music critics. The message is that every positive or affirmatory statement is puffery to serve some vested interest or the other. Only denunciatory statements are considered honest, and denunciation is in full swing exposing Western civilization as the biggest deceit of all—a massive social construct . . . All of these Marxist offshoots masquerade as the latest sophistication, and they all imply a cleansing of one kind or another. Marx thought peace and justice would arrive when the working class exterminated the upper classes. . . . Many liberals, who should be turned off by these Balkanizing doctrines, support them for reformist purposes . . . . The problem is that once these doctrines of hate get into a people's consciousness, it is hard to get them out. There will come a time when the well-meaning liberal, who tried to use hateful doctrines as reformist tools, finds himself in a society overrun with hatreds. Marx's fulminations against the bourgeoisie don't make any rational sense, but his fulminations fueled a class genocide that killed 60 million people in Russia and China. The 19th century German intellectuals who deconstructed the Jews authored a racial holocaust that claimed 6 million lives. Our college curriculums have many voices of hate busy at work preparing a future holocaust, but a voice of Christian love is considered too divisive to be tolerated. Dartmouth College prohibited copies of C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity" from being distributed as gifts to students. A dean ruled the book could be considered offensive.
Hate has such a hold that love dare not be mentioned.
Sir, — Jerusalem is under attack. Arafat wants it to be the capital of his soon-to-be-declared state. Germany (acting on behalf of the European nations) wants it to be a separate entity. The Vatican has called for the internationalization of religious sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Where was the Vatican when Jordan controlled Jerusalem? During that period, Christians weren't permitted to acquire property, were forced to include Moslem teachings in Christian schools, and to permit the construction of mosques next to churches. Where were the European nations and the United States when 58 Jewish synagogues were desecrated and destroyed, gravestones used for latrines, Jews forced to leave the city? When will Israel learn that the world is still indifferent to its plight, 50 years after the Holocaust? When speaking to his own people, Arafat makes it perfectly clear that he wants Jerusalem and all of Israel. Why don't we listen?
We don't have to self-destruct just because the nations want us to.
The government is preparing to evacuate all 30,000 residents
of Dimona in case of "millennium bug" failures in
the computers at the Dimona nuclear reactor, according
to the London-based newsletter Foreign Report. Concern
is focused on September 9-9.9.99 —which is regarded as the
crucial date for testing whether the reactor's computers
are 2000-compliant. According to a source quoted by the
newsletter, computer experts reported successfully solving
95 percent of the millennium bug problems.
— Douglas Davis
"Some of My Best Friends..."Morris R. Beschloss
Unlike the 1930s and '40s, when anti-Semitism was rampant throughout this country, overt acts of anti-Semitism are rare. On the surface, public attitudes toward Jews and Judaism seem to have changed decidedly for the better. Ivy League universities, which previously restricted Jewish enrollment, now have Jewish presidents and large Jewish student bodies. Marriages between Jews and Gentiles have reached levels exceeding 50 percent. THE STATE OF ISRAEL, which gave American Jews a newfound pride in shedding the stigma of "homeless cosmopolitans," has also been overwhelmingly supported by the American public and Congress, if not by the current president. The history of the European Holocaust against the Jews has reached peak interest and sympathy by the American public, exemplified by the fact that two-thirds of all visitors to the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington are non-Jews. So why the underlying continuation of this 2,000-year-old malignancy? Whereas, at one time, the Christian churches could be held responsible for preaching "deicide" [the killing of God] and other anti-Jewish nostrums, this has been reversed, especially by the born-again Christians and the Catholics who emphasize their Jewish roots. The born-agains, in particular, give unswerving support to Israel. Conversely, the mainstream Protestant churches, who belong to the National and World Council of Churches, generally align with liberal Jews socio-culturally, but are pro-Arab in foreign policy. IRONICALLY, sociological fusion of Old Testament theology with New Testament interpretation has made Judaism the object of "Judeo-Christian" derision by some anti-religious preachers and advocates. Also, such marginal hate organizations as the World Church of God the Creator, Aryan Nation, Louis Farrakhan's Muslim extremists and pro-Arab Islamic fundamentalists have combined to attack what they perceive as the foundations of the American-Jewish establishment. The manifestation of Jewish stereotypes, much of it indulged in by self-hating Jewish comedians, only adds fuel to the fringe groups who see Jews as the weakest link in the chain of progressive ethnic minorities, who have abetted and profited by the awakening of the American Dream.
The greatest tragedy implicit in Sacramento-like burnings and the
shootings in Skokie, Illinois, is that it reminds American Jews of the
recent Holocaust and the government sponsored Russian pogroms, posing
the unthinkable question—can it ever happen here in the U.S.?
A 30-year-old Jerusalem mother of six last week gave birth to a naturally conceived set of quadruplets. The odds of having quadruplets without undergoing any fertility treatment are less than one in 512,000. The couple, the woman and her yeshiva-student husband, insisted on anonymity and refused to have photos taken of themselves or of their four healthy babies. They also turned down any proffered gifts from strangers, saying that "God will provide." The Hassidic family already includes a 14-year-old son, a 10-year-old son, a seven-year-old daughter, four-year-old twins (a boy and a girl) and a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter—whom the mother was still nursing when she got pregnant. Prof. Ariel Milwidsky, acting head of the obstetrics department at Hadassah—University Hospital on Mt. Scopus, said the fact that she was breastfeeding at the time makes the occurrence much rarer, as nursing tends to reduce the chances of getting pregnant. Also unusual is the fact that the babies — three boys and a girl born at the end of the 32nd week of pregnancy—were all breathing independently without a respirator from birth. They ranged in weight from 1.43 kg to 1.65 kg and are all healthy. None of them is an identical twin. "When we discovered early on that she was carrying four embryos, we suggested embryonic reduction, but they didn't want to hear of it for religious reasons," Milwidsky told The Jerusalem Post. "Thank God, they are all well. It's one of God's miracles," said the mother, who gave the Post an exclusive interview but declined to be identified, even by her initials. "We have a large extended family, who will help out, and we'll manage fine," said the bespectacled mother, sitting serenely on the edge of her sixth-floor hospital bed.
"We are shy about getting help from strangers; have people donate to
those who really need assistance," added the father.
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Copyright © 1999 by Zola Levitt Ministries, Inc., a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. All rights reserved. Brief passages may be quoted in reviews or other article. For all other use, please get our written approval.
But they certainly don't want to give half of Los Angeles to the gangs
to placate them. Over dinner recently in that city, Dan and Mike, my
Gentile and Jewish friends, treated me with derision as I tried to
explain that the CNN/New York Times/Clinton Administration
ideas for peace in Israel simply would not work. The reason I had to
explain something so elementary is that my friends are misinformed by an
Israael bashing media. In any case, I thought I would present to them
this open letter.
Return to Index
Yagil unashamedly adores camels—and judging by the nuzzles the
female members of his experimental herd are giving him, the feeling is
mutual. Yagil, who is also a veterinary scientist, came to Israel from
South Africa in 1955, and has been experimenting with camels for more
than two decades. He recently began a Jewish Agency-supported
experimental camel farm in Sapir Park, in the center of the Arava.
We asked for him; we got him — someone who really knows Hebrew
and has a sense for what our readers would like to learn.
John has been the one behind our unusually good
We had such an enthusiastic response to our June Kibbutz Tour that we
have planned another 
LAST MONTH'S ARSON against the three synagogues in Sacramento
emphasized that the smoldering embers of American anti-Semitism can
flare up at unexpected times and in unusual places. The most recent hate
attacks against Orthodox Jews (as well as African— and
Asian-Americans) dramatically underscore this point.