Customs: The Mezuzah Defending Our Home From the Meshuganas

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                

There is the custom of having a Mezuzah attached to the doorpost of one's home which is used as another reminder of who lives here, under protection, and their customs.  It's a prayer on the door of a Jewish person, hopefully.  

The origin of the mezuzah, a small box containing a scroll with prayers, lies in the biblical commandment to "write them on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates" (Deuteronomy 6:9). The mezuzah, literally meaning "doorpost," serves as a reminder of the Jewish covenant with God and a symbol of Jewish identity. 

Usually, a rabbi is the one designated to put it on the doorpost for you,  When affixing a mezuzah, the right doorpost as you enter the room should be used, approximately shoulder height or slightly higher. The Ashkenazic custom is to angle the mezuzah with the top tilted inward, while Sephardic custom is to place it upright. The mezuzah should be firmly attached, with screws preferred for ease of removal later. 

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21, known as the Shema, is a core Jewish prayer emphasizing monotheism and the importance of remembering and obeying God's commandments.

 In Deuteronomy 6:4, it states, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." It then emphasizes love for God, instructing the people to keep the commandments in their hearts, teach them to their children, and bind them as signs on their hands and foreheads, writing them on their doorposts and gates.

 Deuteronomy 11:13-21 further emphasizes obedience to these commandments, promising blessings for those who hearken to them and serving as a reminder that failing to obey will result in punishment and potential loss of the land. 

   Josh Shapiro's room for 2nd Seder now destroyed:  April 2025, not Germany 1935

In normal times, a Jewish person thinks about this:  You have now affixed the mezuzahs. Your home proudly displays its Jewish identity, and you've tapped into this unique spiritual connection. But today, with anti-Semitism running into our daily life, one might think twice about their protection.   

The Governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, experienced an anti-Semite attack on his home shortly after the 2nd Seder this year when he had many guests at his home for it.  They burned the inside of the large room that held the seder.  Luckily, no one was hurt.  The anti-Semite blamed him for Gaza since he was a Jew.  That was his reasoning this act, truly a sick person without any logic, but nevertheless, many people are thinking like him who seem to be normal otherwise. 

Pennsylvania governor Shapiro quotes Priestly Blessing, emphasizes message of religious tolerance, but says New York senator’s demand for civil rights investigation ASAP isn’t ‘helpful’  He is against Schumer's call for a hate probe.  

He also revealed that the family had found solace when a fire chaplain recited the Jewish Priestly Blessing for them.  “It’s a prayer we recite in Hebrew for our kids. It’s from the Book of Numbers: ‘The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace.’ That’s a prayer and a hope that we have for our kids every day, that they have peace in their lives,” Shapiro said.    “Obviously, that peace was shattered on Sunday morning, but it is a hope and a prayer that we have, not just for our kids, but every child across Pennsylvania that they live in a society that’s free and peaceful where they are protected and they are watched over by God.”

But you're not finished yet. The mezuzah is a holy object that must be properly maintained.

At least twice in seven years, we take down our mezuzahs and have them professionally checked to ascertain that they are intact. The scribe examines the scrolls to ensure that no letters have been cracked or erased and that the mezuzah is still good. Our vigilance keeps our mezuzahs performing their function: bringing holiness, protection and merit to our home.

After a man tried to assassinate Donald Trump in July at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the state’s Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, quickly issued a statement condemning the attempt on the Republican presidential candidate’s life.“Violence targeted at any political party or political leader is absolutely unacceptable,” Shapiro posted on X that day. “It has no place in Pennsylvania or the United States. I have been briefed on the situation. @PAStatePolice are on the scene in Butler County and working with our federal and local partners.”

Yet three days after an arson attack on Shapiro’s residence in Harrisburg on Sunday, Trump still has not called Shapiro or weighed in significantly to condemn the violence.  The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Do other people use G-d in protecting their homes?  Yes, many Catholics use God in protecting their homes through various practices, including prayer, displaying religious images, blessing the home, and using sacramentals like holy water. These practices are seen as ways to seek divine protection and create a holy environment. Praying for protection is a common practice, with many Catholics praying specific prayers for the home and its occupants. Sacramentals :Holy water, crosses, and statues of religious figures are used as tangible signs of faith and are believed to provide spiritual protection. Blessing the Home: Some Catholics have their homes blessed by a priest, while others may bless their own homes using prayers and holy water. Displays: Displaying religious images, like the Sacred Heart of Jesus or crosses, is seen as a way to invoke God's presence and protection. 

Having a custom such as ours with the mezuzah just makes me feel good; not alone. 

 Meshuganas (crazy people) have always been with us since the beginning of time, so that is

why we need the extra protection from HaShem.(the name).  Practices such as customs arrive 

in our culture when we have the need; and I think this one is here to stay, ever since Moses 

 said it, so is it written, almost in 1200 BCE, about 3,000 years ago.  

Resource:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/gov-josh-shapiro-trump-arson-attack-rcna200907

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/mezuzah/#:~:text=Mezuza

h%20is%20of%20biblical%20origin,the%20traditional%20Jewish%20dietary%20laws.

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/278460/jewish/How-to-Hang-a-Mezuzah.htm

https://www.timesofisrael.com/josh-shapiro-recalls-arson-attack-declines-to-back-

schumers-call-for-hate-probe/

https://acatholicmomslife.com/spiritual-protection-for-the-catholic-home/

What Does Nelson Mandela Have in Common With Marwan Barghouti?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                     

                       Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela  born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013)     

 His Excellency from 1994-1999, Nelson Mandela, was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by fostering racial reconciliation. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as the president of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997. 

After the National Party's white-only government established apartheid, a system of racial segregation that privileged whites, Mandela and the ANC committed themselves to its overthrow.  He was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and was unsuccessfully prosecuted in the 1956 Treason Trial. Influenced by Marxism, he secretly joined the banned South African Communist Party (SACP).

Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in association with the SACP he co-founded the militant uMkhonto we Sizwe in 1961 that led a sabotage campaign against the apartheid government. He was arrested and imprisoned in 1962, and, following the Rivonia Trial, was sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiring to overthrow the state.

Mandela served 27 years in prison, split between Robben Island, Pollsmoor Prison, and Victor Verster Prison. Amid growing domestic and international pressure and fears of racial civil war, President F. W. de Klerk released him in 1990.

Mandela had a job as an articled clerk at the law firm of Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman, a company run by Lazar Sidelsky, a liberal Jew sympathetic to the ANC's cause. At the firm, Mandela befriended Gaur Radebe—a Hlubi member of the ANC and Communist Party—and Nat Bregman, a Jewish communist who became his first white friend.  Mandela attended Communist Party gatherings, where he was impressed that Europeans, Africans, Indians, and Coloureds mixed as equals. He later stated that he did not join the party because its atheism conflicted with his Christian faith, and because he saw the South African struggle as being racially based rather than as class warfare. To continue his higher education, Mandela signed up to a University of South Africa correspondence course, working on his bachelor's degree at night . After he passed his BA exams in early 1943, Mandela returned to Johannesburg to follow a political path as a lawyer rather than become a privy councillor in Thembuland.

Mandela was a controversial figure for much of his life. Although critics on the right denounced him as a communist terrorist and those on the far left deemed him too eager to negotiate and reconcile with apartheid's supporters, he gained international acclaim for his activism. Globally regarded as an icon of democracy and social justice, he received more than 250 honours, including the Nobel Peace Prize. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is often referred to by his Thembu clan name, Madiba, and described as the "Father of the Nation."

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Barely two weeks after he was released from prison in 1990, Nelson Mandela flew to Zambia to meet with African leaders who had supported his fight against South Africa’s apartheid system of forced racial segregation.  One figure stood out among the men in dark suits eagerly waiting to greet Mandela on the airport tarmac: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, wearing his black and white checkered keffiyeh headdress, had traveled to see the newly freed Mandela.

Nelson Mandela supports the Palestinians by bringing a genocide case against Israel (  How can anyone believe the opposite of the truth?  It is the Palestinians plus the rest of the Arab nations that are trying to drive Israelis into the sea;  to get rid of all the Jews. )  It's because no one bothers to educate themselves about the truth.  They will soon accuse Israel of being apartheid practicing.  

South Africa is not a diplomatic heavyweight and is geographically far from the conflict. But its ruling African National Congress, which Mandela led from an anti-apartheid liberation movement to a political party in government, has retained its strong pro-Palestinian stance even after Mandela died in 2013.

“We have stood with the Palestinians and we will continue to stand with our Palestinian brothers and sisters,” Mandela’s grandson, Mandla Mandela, said at a pro-Palestinian rally in Cape Town in October, days after the Hamas attack in southern Israel spurred the war on Gaza. Mandla Mandela, an ANC lawmaker, wore a black and white Palestinian keffiyeh around his neck as he spoke to a large crowd.

On Wednesday, the eve of the court proceedings, Palestinians in the West Bank city of Ramallah crowded around another statue of Mandela, waving Palestinian and South African flags and holding signs that read: “Thank You South Africa.”The Hamas visit to South Africa was not welcomed by all, though.  South Africa’s main opposition party has said it considers Hamas a terrorist organization, as do the United States and European Union, and support for Palestinians in South Africa has complicated racial connotations. Black and mixed-race South Africans, brutally oppressed under apartheid, have been at the forefront of the support for Palestinians.  Evidently Mandela didn't stop apartheid completely.   Support is not as pronounced among South Africa’s white minority.

Interesting that Mandela is on the side of the Palestinians and so have this in common with Marwan Barghouti.  Marwan was imprisoned for 23 years and Nelson for 27 years.  Check out the differences as to why they were imprisoned, and now, who do both back?  They're backing the same people, the Palestinians.  

Like as said:

In 1944, Nazis fired 11,000 rockets at England.  World hates Nazis.

In 2024, Hamas: foreign terrorist organization:   Fired 32,000 rockets at Israel.  World hates Israel for defending themselves.  Anti Semitism; just like the Nazis.  

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/nelson-mandelas-support-for-palestinians-endures-with-south-africas-genocide-case-against-israel

Are Marwan Barghouti and Nelson Mandela Brothers in Goals?

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                        

Barghouti, age 43 in 2002,  being arrested by Israeli soldiers in Ramallah during Operation Defensive Shield in 2002 in Judea-Samaria.  
                                                         

Marwan Hatib Barghouti;now 66,  born 6 June 1959) is a Palestinian political leader possibly considered as the new leader in Gaza,  mentioned by Israel. An elected legislator and an advocate of a two-state solution with Israel, he has been imprisoned by Israel since 2002, the past 23 years.  Why was he there?

    Israeli soldiers in Ramallah;  IDF infantry and armor entered Ramallah on March 29

  Barghouti led street protests and diplomatic initiatives until the early Second Intifada, when he was captured, convicted, and imprisoned by Israel on charges of involvement in deadly attacks.  Ramallah was then placed under a tight curfew as soldiers conducted searches and made arrests. The IDF arrested more than 700 people, among them Marwan Barghouti, a top Palestinian militant leader suspected of directing numerous suicide bombings and other attacks against Israelis. Barghouti was later tried in Israel and sentenced to life imprisonment. The day after Marwan Barghouti's arrest, Ahmed Taleb Barghouti was arrested.

Barghouti declined to recognise the legitimacy of the court or enter a plea, but stated that he had no connection to the incidents for which he was convicted. An Inter-Parliamentary Union report (a UN based in Switzerland affair), considered probably by the UN as the most detailed independent review of the trial, found that Barghouti was not given a fair trial and questioned the quality of the evidence.  Of course;  they always blame Israel no matter what the problem is.  Well, I decline to recognize the legitimacy of the Inter-Parliamentary Union report on this basis of constant anti-Israelism/Semitism.  

The Second Intifada 'The Second Uprising' or WAR was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its occupation from 2000. It started on September 28, 2000 and ended February 8, 2005-lasting 4 years, 4 months, 1 week and 4 days.  

Starting as a civilian uprising in Jerusalem and Israel proper, Israeli security responded  killing over 100 Palestinian protesters within the first few weeks. This led to the uprising devolving into a period of violence in Judea-Samaria and Israel. This violence, including shooting attacks, suicide bombings, and military operations continued until the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit of 2005, which ended hostilities.  Sharm El-Sheikh is a popular resort town located on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, on the coast of the Red Sea. It's a well-known destination for tourism, particularly for diving and eco-tourism due to its rich marine life and coral reefs. 

     Israeli soldiers taking cover behind an M113 APC in Qalqilya, April 2002

Lasting for just over a month, it was the largest combat operation in the territory since the 1967 Arab–Israeli War.  The operation began with an Israeli incursion into Ramallah, where Yasser Arafat was placed under siege at his compound. This was followed by successive incursions into the six largest Judea-Samarian  cities and their surrounding localities. Israel's military moved into Tulkarm and Qalqilya on April 1, into Bethlehem on April 2, and into Jenin and Nablus on April 3, in cities that were Arab dominant.   From April 3 to 21, Israel enforced strict curfews on the Palestinian populace of Judea-Samaria and restricted movements of international personnel, including prohibiting entry to humanitarian and medical personnel and human rights monitors and journalists.

The skinny on Marwan:                               

                              Yasser Arafat holding Marwan's picture

April 15, 2002

Marwan Hatib Barghouti - Ramallah

On April 14, 2002 an IDF force in Ramallah arrested Marwan Barghouti, head of the Fatah supreme committee in Judea-Samaria and leader of the military wing of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, which between September 2000 - April 2002 carried out thousands of terror attacks against Israel, including suicide bombings.        

1. Marwan Barghouti Served as Secretary General of Fatah in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, a member of the Palestinian legislature, head of the Tanzim, and the founder of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades which has carried out a large number of deadly terrorist attacks killing scores of Israelis and wounding hundreds.
    
2. In the framework of his activities, he has received large amounts of funds from different sources both inside and outside Israel. Among these sources is the Palestinian Authority. The specific allocations of these funds were authorized by the actual signature of Yassser Arafat. These funds were used by Marwan Barghouti to finance many activities carried out by terror cells in Judea-Samaria.
    
3. Marwan Barghouti served as the most senior official in the Al-Aqsa Brigades. Nasser Avis, who was recently captured in Samaria, and Ahmed Barghouti, who was Marwan Barghouti's personal assistant, reported directly to him. These two served as his operational officers and, under the initiative of Marwan Barghouti, launched dozens of attacks, including a large number of suicide bombings within Israel.
    
4. The following are some of the more heinous terror attacks for which Marwan Barghouti is responsible:

• Jun 12, 2001 - The murder of a Greek Orthodox monk on the road to Ma'ale Adumim.
• Jan 17, 2002 - The shooting attack during a bat mitzva celebration at a banquet hall in Hadera. Six Israelis were killed in this attack, 26 were injured.
• Jan 22, 2002 - The shooting spree on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem. Two Israelis were killed, 37 wounded.
• Feb 25, 2002 - The shooting attack in the Jerusalem residential neighborhood of Neve Ya'acov. One Israeli policewoman was killed, 9 Israelis were wounded.
• Feb 27, 2002 - The murder of an Israeli at a coffee factory in the Atarot industrial zone of Jerusalem.
• Feb 27, 2002 - The suicide attack perpetrated by Daryan Abu Aysha at the Maccabim checkpoint in which two policeman were injured.
• Mar 5, 2002 - The shooting spree at the Tel Aviv Seafood restaurant. Three Israelis were killed, 31 wounded.
• Mar 8, 2002 - A suicide terrorist was killed in Daheat el Barid as he was on his way to carry out an attack in Jerusalem.
• Mar 27, 2002 - The interception of an ambulance and the confiscation of an explosive belt which was being smuggled from Samaria into Barghouti's terrorist infrastructure in Ramallah.

Marwan Barghouti was also directly responsible for operating the terrorist cell of Raed Karmi in Tulkaram which carried out a series of deadly terrorist attacks.

        Commander in Chief of Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Karmi

Since the beginning of the  wave of Palestinian violence in October 2000, Karmi had been the leading member of a murderous Tanzim cell that was responsible for numerous shooting attacks in the Tulkarem area, in which both Israeli civilians and soldiers were killed and wounded.

In media interviews, Karmi had made it clear that he was determined to continue terrorist attacks against Israel and that he wanted to expand them. In a CNN interview on August 23, 2001, Karmi stated firmly: "We train the teenagers to carry out terrorist attacks inside Israeli territory.We train 17- and 18-year-olds to attack settlers, kidnap soldiers inside Israel." In other interviews, he also described his involvement in the kidnapping and murder of two Israeli restaurateurs in Tulkarem.

Raed Karmi acted directly under Marwan Bargouti, head of the Tanzim in Judea and Samaria and was under his direct supervision.

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Defensive_Shield

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharm_El_Sheikh#:~:text=Sharm%20El%20Sheikh%20(Egyptian%20Arabic,international%20conferences%20and%20diplomatic%20meetings.

https://www.google.com/search?q=members+of+fatah+leadership+including+marwan+barghouti%2C

Iran-born Christiane Amanpour's Explanation of Starvation in Gaza So Slanted

Nadene Goldfoot                                                      

                                           Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980) was the last shah of Iran. In 1941, he succeeded his father Reza Shah and ruled the Imperial State of Iran until 1979 when the Iranian Revolution overthrew him, abolished the monarchy, and established the Islamic Republic of Iran.                                         

         Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 or 24 September 1902 – 3 June 1989)

                                                                          

   Ali  Hosseini Khamenei  born 19 April 1939) is an Iranian cleric and politician who has served as the second supreme leader of Iran since 1989.

Ever since the Shah of Iran was deposed in 1979  and the Ayatollah's stepped into leading Iran's politics, Israel was in danger of its existence.  This is the Shi'ite group of Islam bound and determined to wipe out the Jews forever.

Christiane Amanpour seems to bend to the Iranian politics.  Christiane Maria Heideh Amanpour (born 12 January 1958) is a 67 year old  British-Iranian journalist and television host. Amanpour is the Chief International Anchor for CNN and host of CNN International's nightly interview program Amanpour and CNN's The Amanpour Hour on Saturdays. She also hosts Amanpour & Company on PBS. 

Amanpour was born in the West London suburb of Ealing, the daughter of Mohammad Taghi Amanpour (Iranian) and Anne Patricia Hill (British). She was baptised at the Church of Saint Benedict in Ealing and was raised in Tehran until the age of eleven. Her father was Shia Muslim and her mother was Roman Catholic. So her environment from birth to age 11 was Tehran, Iran under the roof of her father,though only baptised in the Catholic Church.    

Her father worked as an airline executive for Iran Air and later lost his job and fortune after the Iran Revolution in 1979.   After completing the more significant part of her primary school education in Iran, her parents sent her to private boarding schools in England when she was 11.  

After finishing her education in England in Catholic schools, , Amanpour returned to Iran. Due to the Iranian Revolution, she and her family moved in 1979 when the Shah was dethroned to the United States where she studied journalism at the University of Rhode Island.

Did some of her Tehran vibrations affect her feelings towards Jews or Israel in her reporting?  In April 2023, only 2 years ago and a few months before the October 7th Gazan attack on Israel, Amanpour misspoke and said that Israeli shooting victims Lucy, Maia and Rina Dee had been killed in a "shootout" instead of a "shooting," while the family was travelling in a car in the West Bank. Amanpour contacted the father of the family to personally apologize for misspeaking and subsequently did the same on her show.  She should have said  "attack" and Judea and Samaria instead of West Bank. How could she have called such a massacre, the worst in modern ages, be called a  shootout?  A shootout would imply both cars were shooting at each other. 

On 7 April 2023, unknown assailants opening fire from their vehicle on a nearby Israeli vehicle, at the Hamra junction, located in Highway 57. The attack was later claimed by the Al-Qassam Brigades. The Israeli vehicle carried 3 family members from Efrat, a 40-year-old mother and her two daughters, both in their 20s.

The police concluded that the incident was caused by a "suspected Palestinian gunman", while traveling in a car in the West Bank. The victims were reportedly shot a total of 22 times with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, first while driving, and then at short range after crashing.

Both sisters were announced dead on the scene by the Magen David Adom, while the critically injured mother was transported to Hadassa Ein Karem hospital in Jerusalem by helicopter, where she died. The victims were buried in Kfar Etzion; Lucy's organs were donated to five recipients.

There was an upsurge in violence in Israel during April 2023, during which Easter, Passover and Ramadan unusually coincided. On 5 April the 2023 Al-Aqsa clashes, on 6 April the 2023 Israel–Lebanon shellings and on 7 April the 2023 Tel Aviv car-ramming.  How could this reporter call an attack of 22 bullets in their bodies a car ramming??? Especially when this happened in Judea and Samaria???

Getting back to Amanpour, she spoke on CNN blaming Israel for starvation of the population in Gaza.  That was it;  a line saying Israel was responsible for the starvation in Gaza.  She also showed starvation going on in abundance in Africa as well with babies dying of malnutrition, at age 1 1/2 weighing 12 lbs or so; connecting the two thoughts.  Not a word about the fact that Israel does everything in their power as the country attacked by the Gazans through Iran's power to wipe out Israel in the first place, and yet she expects, and Israel has been bringing in food, been bringing in food by the truckful for the Gazan populace not involved in their destruction completely, only partially by backing these terrorists in the first place such as Hamas.  Hamas steals the food and sells it back at high prices to those who can pay; they feed upon the food-marking it only for Hamas terrorists;   the more Gazans that die, the better Hamas fares...Absurd logic practiced by a warped people.  Hamas only wants the power they have to show to Iran  how great they are !!!
Anti-Semitism causing:

Viennese pedestrians view a large Nazi sign posted on a restaurant window informing the public that this business is run by an organization of the Nazi Party and that Jews are not welcome. Vienna, Austria, March-April 1938.  By 1939 Germany marched in Poland for the takeover and killing of Jews.  

Oh no, she couldn't bring herself to keep from creating more anti-Israel, which also means anti-Semitism in the world.  

Seems like I've written about her ever since she started being on TV with how she faults Israel all the time without cause.  Upon checking my genealogy tree, I happen to have 37 Hill people on my tree, who managed to leave England for New York and Vermont-more in Vermont.    

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiane_Amanpour

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Hamra_junction_shooting#:~:text=Both%20sisters%20were%20announced%20dead,were%20donated%20to%20five%20recipients. 

https://www.google.com/search?q=Shah+of+Iran+deposed+when%3F&sca_esv=d6336215de9d5f02&sxsrf=AHTn8zqeK8wBtfxpoqXBGP4xA1DM6xZgpw%3A1745080410449&source=hp&ei=WtADaJHOGK_w0PEPjMGf2AM&iflsig=ACkRmUkAAAAAaAP

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhollah_Khomeini

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Khamenei