Author: David Mark

David Mark is the founder and editor of Israel Rising. Besides Israel Rising, he heads up outreach for Ateret Cohanim in Jerusalem's Old City and acts as the Managing Director for Pulse of Israel. On the side he teaches classes that blend minimalism, mindfulness, and ecology with the teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.
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Hebron: Connecting to Our Roots

Today is called Yom Hevron (Hebron Day). It is the day where the Nation of Israel through one Rabbi, Rav Goren conquered an entire city during the Six Day War.  Hebron is the burial place of our Patriarchs and Matriarchs as well Ruth, Yishai, and many more ancient graves. It is our roots, our past, and the foundation for our future Kingdom. More than anything it is the testament that this Land is ours. The Cave of the Patriarchs is the oldest Jewish building stills standing dating back nearly 2000 years, built by Herod as a monument over the ancient cave where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah are buried.

Hebron is a city of conflict.  It is a place where we the Jewish people have struggled, fought, lost, and now have returned.

Our roots are our source of strength and faith. These roots are what gives us our ability to push forward even at times where we have no strength.

When the 12 Spies entered the Land under the orders of Moses, Joshua and Caleb understood that they would be on their own. Joshua was given an extra letter to his name to strengthen him, yet Caleb had no extra protection.  He split off from the group and the midrash says he went to Hebron, to the Cave of the Patriarchs and laid upon their graves.  This gave him the faith and trust in his true purpose to not fall into the sin of the spies.  Caleb merited to inherit Hebron upon his entering into the Land years later.

We as a nation have come home.  The source of our amazing and miraculous return is the roots that dig deep into the Land.  When Abraham bought the Cave where he buried Sarah and where he himself would be buried, he understood that its acquisition is for perpetuity.  This is the strength of Hebron and this is why the war over it is fought so strongly by our enemies. Without Hebron there is no past and therefore no future, even in Jerusalem.

Over 15 years ago when I first went to Hebron, I was nearly gunned down. Most people would have never returned, yet I was drawn to the struggle, to be close to my ancestors. I returned over and over again and my family and I eventually made our home just South of the city. There has been both joy and pain over the years, but Hebron has been our divine motivation to hold on and build our path to Redemption.

I thank the Almighty for the merit to have returned to the place where my ancestors began their journey to connect with the Divine and where King David began his rule.

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Manchester, Trump, and the Lies of Abbas

On December 1, 2001, two suicide bombers detonated themselves on Ben Yehuda Street, followed by a car bomb set to go off as paramedics arrived. There was mayhem and fear.Thirteen people were killed, including a number of soldiers out of uniform, and 188 were injured. I was 23 then and had been learning in Yeshiva for close to six months.  That night my friends and I decided to finally get out of Yeshiva and do to downtown Jerusalem.  We were sitting in a nearby cafe when the blasts went off. Our hearts were pounding.  We had friends up in the area of the bomb blasts and did not know their condition.  As we waiting inside the cafe, the owner’s boy came inside in a state of shock.  He was holding a bag and inside was an organ from one of the bomb blast victims or even the bomber.  Someone quickly ran to get Zaka to ensure the body part was properly taken care of.  The suicide bombers and the car were packed with nails. One of our friends from yeshiva was hit and spent the next days in the hospital until he recovered.

This was not the first time I had experienced “Palestinian” terror.  Months earlier I was shot at while spending Shabbat in Hebron.  My group and I ran down the street as groups of Palestinian Authority funded terror gangs opened fire on all of us.

In those days Arafat was in control and he had made a direct covenant with Hamas to fight Israel. It was Arafat who came up with the idea of the suicide bomber who would decimate countless innocents with nail bombs. This was his gift to the world.  Suicide bombers with nail bombs.  This was the weapon of choice used to kill at least 22 people in Manchester.  Arafat’s deputy is the very same Mahmoud Abbas who President Trump claims is serious about peace.  The problem with this is that Abbas knew, funded, and supported the suicide attacks on Israel.  In fact it his Fatah who killed many people in last year’s spate of stabbing and car ramming attacks, including our first grader’s rabbi and son, our daughter’s friend, and father to her schoolmate.

For the President to condemn the Manchester attack as undertaken by “evil losers” while standing next to Mahmoud Abbas, a man responsible for the murder of thousands, including the 1976 Israeli Olympic Wrestling team as well as those murderous attacks on innocent Jews throughout Israel that continue today is nothing sort of hypocritical.

I believe Donald Trump is serious about peace, but if he truly want to move it forward the arch terrorist and Holocaust denying dictator of the PA should be the first person he boots if not arrests. By displaying Abbas as a pedestal of peace, President Trump will only encourage more attacks like the terror attack in Manchester. In fact as long as Abbas is not taken to task for his crimes, there is little hope for peace.

The choice is President Trump’s.  He can stop worrying about his image or grandstanding and either decide to stay out of the region or engage it with a bit more humility. After all, it is not the lives of his family or friends that will suffer for misguided policies and peace overtures that keep repeating themselves. Rather it is my family and friends that will ultimately be burdened by his ill fated attempt to make peace in a region whose parties have never been held accountable for their past actions.

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JEWS UNDER ATTACK: Jewish House Near Lions Gate Firebombed

Although deep inside what even Arabs consider to be a dangerous part of Jerusalem’s Old City do to rival Arab clans, Jews have returned to their former property near to the Lions Gate. Despite the isolation from the other burgeoning Jewish areas that have continued to grow througout the Old City, the reacquired building has undergone significant renovations in the past few months.  With two liveable rooms and more to be renovated the, the house near the Lions Gate provides hope that the Jewish return to the entire Old City will continue to all parts of the ancient walls.

With the Lions Gate property showing increased Jewish presence the Arab neighbors have now decided to stop more Jewish residents from moving in.  Over the past week Arab neigbors have violently firebombed the front entrance to the house in the hopes Jewish residents will flee, but the opposite has occurred.

The Lions Gate property is key to continuing the returning of stolen Jewish property throughout Jerusalem’s Old City.  Where Jews move into, safety and security can be established once there is a critical mass. The Lions Gate property will lead to more properties and they will connect the last area once void of Jews to the growing Jewish areas on the main street running from the Western Wall to Damascus Gate.

Redemption occurs in steps.  The Lions Gate property like those Jewish properties in other parts of the Muslim Quarter have become beacons of light, shining the pathway to redemption in a sea of darkness.  Now is the time to strengthen the lights of the Jewish return to Jerusalem.

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Uman, the Engine for the Final Redemption

There is a light growing in the world.  It is hidden behind the veil of our everyday redundancy, but it is still there none the less. We can feel something happening.  A great movement away from the globalist consumerism that has enveloped all of our lives.  Smartphones, Internet, Netflix, Amazon, and so on.  The globalist elite understand there is something afoot.  Something powerful. But they cannot stop it. It started small after the fall of the Soviet Union, bu the awakening promised in the prophets is happening.

In a city in central Ukraine, Rebbe Nachman is buried.  He was the great grandson of the Baal Shem Tov and the young leader of the Breslov movement of Chassidus. At 38 he already knew his life would be cut short by tuberculosis and so decided to travel to Uman with his most trusted followers six months before his death. Rebbe Nachman chose Uman early on as his final resting place for a variety of reasons.  It was there he said, “A place was prepared for me from the beginning of Creation.”

Rebbe Nachaman taught almost 200 years ago that a flood of G-Dlessness would fill the Earth. This would be the real war, a complete spiritual attack on humanity’s belief in a single active Creator responsible for every moment of our reality. This attack would be on what we call Emunah, the pure faith in the Almighty’s providence with every facet of his creation.

This war has filled our lives.  It is the war the globalists who are a manifestation of the husks of the Other Side wage on the common person.  Their war is a war built around money, war, and control.  They spread disinformation and lies, which lead to depression and sadness. These globalists maybe faceless and hide behind the zeros and ones of the computer screen, but make no mistake they are there.

It is for this war that, which is spiritual in its nature that Rebbe Nachman chose to be buried in Uman. Knowing that the Land of Israel would be the foremost target of the forces of evil at the End of Days, a place outside of their radar was prepared for us to recharge for the fight at hand.  Uman is this place.

Uman has always been central to the Jewish experience during the painful exile.  It was there Chmielnicki massacred thousands of Jewish men, women, and children.  He dumped them in a mass grave on the very hill, Rebbe Nachman chose to be buried on over 150 years later.  In 1920, 3000 Jewish inhabitants were murdered by their Ukrainian neighbors, and during World War Two, the Nazis laid waste to the rest.  It is within this place of deep darkness Rebbe Nachman chose to fight his war.  Why in such a place of great pain? Because the forces of evil have no way of attacking him and his mission there. They can issue decrees only in places of overt light, like the Land of Israel, but in Uman the mission is kept hidden as it prepares to burst open.

My first trip to Uman on Rosh Hoshana was nearly eight years ago.  Then there were 35,000 visitors, praying more intensely than anywhere else I had ever seen.  There was no inhibition.  The same person outside of Uman, even in Israel is trapped by his doubts, fears, and worry, but in Uman I saw my fellow travelers experience freedom.  I felt free. This past year the number doubled to 70,000. Rebbe Nachman can be felt everywhere. Singing, dancing, joy, and deep personal prayer can be experienced everywhere. It is this light, that Rebbe Nachman promised he would give us that is so necessary to be brought back to the Land of Israel and spread to throughout the world.

With the above in mind I took my two oldest boys to the Ukraine last week. We visited grave sites of many chassidic leaders and ended our journey in Uman.  We prayed and connected and saw that even during the year, on the quietest of days, there are many visitors from around the world.  Both religious and non-religious are journeying to Rebbe Nachman to reconnect to themselves.  It is said the Tzaddik stands at the center of a great maze. It is this maze each one of us is trapped within, seemingly unable to find the way out.  The Tzaddik can see all of our paths and although physically passed from he Earth, it this ability gained from completing the maze himself that gives him the ability to lead each one of us out of our maze.

Rebbe Nachman told his followers “My Light will burn until the coming of the Messiah.” With Putin spreading war into Ukraine and Syria and Iran and Hezbollah poised to strike Israel. While the USA is set to go head to head against North Korea in a nuclear confrontation, there is one place that has the power to lift us beyond the darkness and depression those in “control” have injected us with.

Rebbe Nachman teaches that the light of the true Tzaddik always shines. It is this light, which has the power to open our eyes to the truth of the Creator’s guidance of all of Creation for tha is the role of the Tzaddik, to awaken and guide us.

 

This light of the true Tzaddik is found, hidden away in Uman, ready for each of us to discover it for ourselves.

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NORTH KOREA AND THE END TIMES: “Then the whole world shook with the violence of battle”

Rebbe Nachman says the following at the end of his famous story The Cripple:

“…all the remaining Whisperers were furious at this injustice, and they went up on earth and brewed trouble among all the kings of earth, so that there was hunger, and pestilence, and death everywhere among men and among demons of the earth; then the whole world shook with the violence of battle, and earthquakes came of war. And then the walls of the Demon’s pit fell inward, and the soil filled the pit and pressed against the Tree, and the water passed through the earth to the Tree, and the Tree drank.

And all the Demons perished.”

The World stands on edge as North Korea, a despotic, brain washed country led by an insane person is about to throw humanity seemingly over the nuclear cliff. How have we gotten to this point? The Cripple’s end is eerily similar to the mayhem the leaders of our World are heading to.

King Solomon teaches us “the hearts of kings are in the hand of G-D.”  When we see nonsensical actions taking place in front of us the chaos unleashed can only have one goal and that is a sort of wiping the slate clean of the past.  Chaos leads to order.  Darkness to light. The “demons” of our world, those creatures we entertain in the dark recesses of our society have no choice but to be destroyed.  These demons of corporatization, globalism, atheism, consumerism, and moral relativism have no place in a rectified World.  Yes, the collapse is on and the chaos unleashed because of leaders gone mad seems incoherent with a Divinely empowered existence, but in fact the crisis flowing from the “End of the Earth” on the Korean peninsula is now the trigger G-D is using to move humanity beyond the demons of its past.

The World’s super system and hierarchy of lies is being destroyed. All we have to do is have the faith to hold on.