Peace Plans With Terrorists

 Nadene Goldfoot                                       

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was involved in several major peace negotiations that culminated in specific peace proposals, though he was not formally presented with a single, clear number of distinct plans. The most notable negotiations included the Oslo Accords, the Camp David Summit, and the Taba Summit.   All were a bust. Although the U.S. government never designated Yasser Arafat himself as a terrorist, it did consider the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which he led, a terrorist group from 1987 until September 1993. 

Yasser Arafat's relationship with Hamas was complex and marked by both strategic antagonism and pragmatic cooperation. As the head of the secular Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Arafat primarily viewed the Islamist group Hamas as a political rival, especially after the Oslo Accords created the Palestinian Authority (PA), which the PLO led. However, their shared opposition to Israel frequently led Arafat to tolerate, and at times even secretly encourage, Hamas's violent attacks as a form of political leverage. 

Founded in 1987 was Hamas.  Hamas was established in 1987, and allegedly has its origins in Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood movement, which had been active in the Gaza Strip since the 1950s and gained influence through a network of mosques and various charitable and social organizations from the USA, which is again offering much money for buying land by the terrorists.

 When terrorists start breaking the rules, there is no one around to stop them... War prevails.   The United States hadn't officially designated Hamas as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). by the U.S. Department of State until  1997. 

Trump's peace plan:  

   This is a hazy picture as well as Trump's plan, in my judgement.  The TV program, Israel Guys, broadcast from Israel, picked the 21 points apart, one by one, discussing them and pointed out the fallacies.  Personally, the thought is that Hamas will not go for it.  

• 72-hour hostage deadline: The peace plan itself includes a 72-hour deadline for Hamas to release all remaining hostages, both living and deceased, after Israel formally accepts the deal. This hostage release timeline is a component of the deal, separate from the multi-day deadline given to Hamas for their overall response.  The plan, agreed by Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, proposes 
• 1.  an immediate end to fighting, 
• 2. the release within 72 hours of 20 living Israeli hostages held by Hamas as well as 
• 3. the remains of the more than two dozen hostages who are believed to be dead -
• 4.  in exchange for hundreds of detained Gazans. On October 7, 2023, not only Hamas terrorists attacked Israel's citizens, but their own citizens followed them and also attacked the people.  

Today,  Wednesday, October 1, reports indicated that Hamas is studying the proposal but told mediators they need more time, possibly "two or three days". A senior Hamas official also expressed dissatisfaction with some terms and said the group would likely need amendments.

This means that hostages should all be returned by Saturday, October 4, 2025.  

• Israel's position: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to accept the plan alongside Trump during a press conference on September 29. He has vowed that Israel will "finish the job" if Hamas rejects the deal.
• Ceasefire details: The overall plan calls for 
• 1. an immediate ceasefire, 
• 2. a staged withdrawal of Israeli troops, 
• 3. increased humanitarian aid, and 
• 4. amnesty for Hamas members who lay down their arms and 
• 5. commit to peace. 
• However, key sticking points remain, particularly 
• 6. Hamas' disarmament and the 
• 7. potential role of an international security force. 
• Here is the Hamas response:
• October 2:
  • 1. A senior Hamas official told the Associated Press that certain points in the Trump-Netanyahu proposal are unacceptable and must be amended.
  • 2. Hamas continues to deliberate its response, while Israeli airstrikes killed at least 13 Palestinians overnight.  (This was expected if they refused to go for the 21 points.  No more fooling around and stalling.  

  • DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes overnight and into Thursday killed at least 13 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to hospitals, as Hamas was still considering its response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal for ending the nearly two-year war.

    The plan requires Hamas to return all 

  • 1. 48 hostages — 20 of them thought by Israel to be alive — 

  • 2. give up power and disarm in return 

  • for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and 

  • 3. an end to fighting. However, the proposal, which has been accepted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sets 

  • 4.  Accept no path to Palestinian statehood. (They've burned that last bridge.)

• Resource:
• https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/hamas-still-considering-its-
• response-to-trumps-peace-proposal-as-gaza-death-toll-mounts

Updated

What Is The Holiday Of Yom Kippur ?

 Nadene Goldfoot                                       

         Yom Kippur starting tonight October 1st at sundown (Erev) Yom Kippur,

when we start a large dinner with slices of apples and honey for a sweet New Year.   

Yom Kippur is one of the two High Holy Days, or Days of Awe  alongside Rosh Hashanah (which falls nine days previously). According to Jewish tradition, on Rosh Hashanah God inscribes each person's fate for the coming year into the Book of Life, and waits until Yom Kippur to "seal" the verdict. 

A great shofar will be blown in all synagogues, and a small still voice will be heard. The angels will make haste, and be seized with fear and trembling, and will say: "Behold, the day of judgment!"... On Rosh Hashanah it is written, and on the Yom Kippur fast it is sealed, how many will pass and how many will be created, who will live and who will die, who in his time and who not in his time... But repentance, prayer, and charity remove the evil of the decree... For You do not desire a person's death, but rather that he repent and live. Until the day of his death You wait for him; if he repents, You accept him immediately.

Our tradition was for the family to dress in new clothes for the new year. We don't wear leather shoes.   On Yom Kippur, you should wear non-leather shoes, such as sneakers, canvas shoes, sandals, or plastic footwear, as leather is traditionally prohibited. This is part of the day's focus on humility and self-examination, as leather shoes are seen as a symbol of luxury or comfort that is set aside for this sacred day. 

            Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur (1878) by Maurycy Gottlieb
                                                                                                         

Yom Kippur is the most important holiday in Judaism.  It is a day (25 hours) of Atonement described in the Torah under Leviticus 23:32, and a very solemn fast-day observed on the Jewish month 10.  It's a Sabbath of Sabbaths.                              

    Temple group working on details

It is different from other holidays as a man and woman must cleanse himself of all sin (Lev. 1 6:30.  According to Rabbinic tradition,; it is the day on which Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the 2nd set of tablets of the law and announced to the people the Divine pardon for the sin of the Golden Calf..  Besides cessation of all manner of work and abstention from food, drink, and sexual intercourse, the day was outstanding for the elaborate Temple ceremonial.  This included the sending of the scapegoat to the wilderness "for AZAZEL (the goat)."  Only on this the Day of Awe was the high priest allowed to enter the Holy of Holies clad not in his golden vestments but in white linen, symbolic of purity and humility.

On his appearance at the conclusion of the service, he was greeting with rejoicing by the people, confident that their sins had been forgiven.  

                    Saying the Shema

An evening service called KOL NIDRE cancels rash vows between man and G0d  and the ending service of NEILAH  ends with the invocation  of the prayer, (Shema) The first part of the Shema prayer is "Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Eḥad" in Hebrew, which means "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one" in English. The prayer continues with a silent blessing and a passage that commands the love of God with all one's heart, soul, and might, and the duty to teach these words to one's children.                                 

There is also  the declaration:  "Next year in Jerusalem." However, Reform Judaism has retained the general structure of the traditional service.  What is nice is to actually be in Jerusalem at this time.  You are there !  After 2,000 years of praying.  

The Bible Code Experts Disagreement

 Nadene Goldfoot                                        

                       Rabbi  Matityahu Glazerson" Born and educated in Israel, receiving a rigorous traditional Yeshiva education that provided profound textual skills in Hebrew and rabbinic literature.  1964: A Move to South Africa Johannesburg Relocated to Johannesburg, where he established and served as the head of the Yeshivah Torat Emet, demonstrating early leadership in Jewish education.  When I moved to Israel in 1980, this rabbi in 1980  also returned to Israel: He returned as a  Prolific Author , returning to Israel and began a prolific period of teaching and writing, authoring over 30 books and a weekly newspaper column applying his methods to current events.

Above the Zodiac: Astrology in Jewish Thought uncovers the profound connection between Jewish mysticism and classic astrology by citing the many references scattered throughout Jewish literature to the influence of the stars on human destiny. Rabbi Matityahu Glazerson gives a month-by-month rendering of Jewish astrology according to kabbalah, summarizing the complex system of elements in Jewish thought that correlates to each astrological sign. His book also explains the unique relationship the Jewish people have to astrology, and under what circumstances astrological consultations are permitted to individuals."

                        

Equidistant Letter Sequences (ELS) 

The core modern technique. The Torah text is viewed as a single, continuous string of letters. A computer searches for words by starting at a letter and skipping an equal number of letters. When related terms are found in close proximity, it is presented as a statistically unlikely, and therefore divinely intended, encoded message.

With the expectation that we are living in "the end of times"," the bible code" has again come into focus.  What does Dr. Eliyahu Rips say about Matityahu Glazerson's bible coding translating or understanding?  They each take quite a different approach from each other.  

Born in Latvia to Holocaust survivors in 1948, Rips moved to Israel in 1972; his research led to Michael Drosnin’s debunked bestseller ‘The Bible Code’

Dr. Eliyahu Rips, a mathematician known for his work on the Torah codes, distanced himself from sensational and predictive interpretations of the codes, which have been a hallmark of Matityahu Glazerson's work. Rips and his colleagues conducted statistical research on equidistant letter sequences (ELS) in the Book of Genesis, but rejected the use of these codes for specific, real-world predictions. No, Dr. Eliyahu Rips was not a Rabbi; he was a mathematician known for his research in geometric group theory and his work on the Bible code. While he was an Israeli mathematician and a professor at Hebrew University, his public recognition stemmed from his controversial claims about finding coded messages in the Torah, not from rabbinical studies or ordination.  He died at age 75.  

Rips's stance versus Glazerson's approach

Aspect	Dr. Eliyahu Rips (and colleagues)	Matityahu Glazerson
Focus of the work	Statistical research to see if meaningful ELS appeared more often than would be expected by chance. He initially focused on finding the names and dates of famous rabbis in Genesis.	Interpretation of specific tables and encoded words to offer prophecies and insights into current events.
View on predictions	Categorically stated that the codes cannot be used for predictions. In 1997, he denounced Michael Drosnin's predictive work in the book The Bible Code as being "on very shaky ground, and is of no value".	Has used the codes to interpret and predict events, such as linking codes to the events of 2012. This is a key difference in their approaches.
Scientific validity	Rips's own 1994 paper was later rebutted in the same journal, Statistical Science, by other statisticians who found his methodology fatally defective. However, Rips maintained faith in his own work while rejecting the later, more sensationalist approaches.	Glazerson is part of a wave of "Bible code-breakers" whose methods and conclusions Rips came to reject as unscientific and unreliable for predictive purposes.
Distance from interpreters	Following the publication of Drosnin's book, Rips actively distanced himself and his work from those who used the codes for predictive purposes. He even held a press conference to denounce the practice.	While Glazerson is a prominent figure in the Torah codes world, he continued with his interpretative and predictive work, putting him at odds with Rips's public stance.

How Big Is Israel? Updated 2025

Nadene Goldfoot

How Big Is Israel?

The population of the world as of 2007 is 6 billion, 602 million, 224 thousand, 175 as of 2007.  The world population is approximately 8.2 billion as of September 2025. The United Nations estimates the population passed 8 billion on November 15, 2022, and projections show it reaching 9 billion around 2037. 

Israel is very small. The population is 6 million, 426 thousand, 679. It is 10, 733 square miles, or 22,0072 sq km. or smaller than New Jersey. Of that, 76.4% are Jewish, 16% Muslim, and the rest Christians. This means that there are about 5,313,800 Jews in Israel as of 2006.

As of late 2024/early 2025, the population of Israel is approximately 10.1 million people, with roughly 77.6% Jewish, 20.9% Muslim, Christian, and Druze Arabs, and the remaining 2.5% classified as other. This breaks down to approximately: Jewish Around 7.8 million (77.6%)   Muslim Around 1.8 to 2.1 million (about 18.1% - 21%)

 As of October 7, 2023 how many were killed by the Hamas

 surprise attack?  Hamas, a terrorist organization, began this war with its brutal attack on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 innocent people and took 250 hostages. Israel, as any other country, had a right to defend itself from Hamas.  Thousands were injured, and all the families and living hostages are left with PTSD. 

Including East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, the total area of Israel is approximately 8,522 square miles (22,072 square kilometers). This figure includes territory that Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed, which is not recognized by the majority of the international community. While Israel also captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Sinai Peninsula during the war, it did not formally annex them. 

In comparison, 

Portland, Oregon is approximately 145 square miles in area. This total includes both land and water, with the land area being about 133.5 square miles and the rest being water. 

Lebanon is smaller with a population of 3 million, 925 thousand, 502. It's size is 10,400 sq. km of which 170 is water. It is 0.7 the size of 

Connecticut, or just a little smaller than Israel by some 300 sq. km. It is unique in that it is made up of 59.7% Muslims, 39% Christians and no Jews. It does have 17 religious sects.

                                                       

The West Bank "Samaria and Judea"'s population is 2 million, 535 thousand, 927. It is 5 thousand 860 sq. km of which 220 sq. km is water. That's half of the size of Israel. It's a little smaller than Delaware. 75% of the people are Sunni Muslims, 17% Jewish and 8% Christians.

The largest populated Jewish town in the West Bank is Modiin Illit (also known as Kiryat Sefer), with a population of 83,510 as of late 2022. Beitar Illit is the next largest, followed by Ma'ale Adumim. What kind of Jews live in the West Bank?  First of all, they and others 

refer to Judea and Samaria instead, the first names used till 135 CE.  

They are orthodox Jews, Jews that revere our religion and know all about 

the history that lives for 4,000 years concerning our religion.  They are

the historians who keep  the faith. They differ from others in that they are

living the faith in the land of their fathers.     

As of late 2024 and early 2025, the West Bank's population is estimated to be over 4 million, which includes Palestinians, Israeli settlers, and small minority groups. The vast majority of the population is Muslim, with smaller but significant Jewish and Christian communities. 

Gaza's population is 1 million, 482 thousand, 405. It's size is 360 sq. km, and has 0 water. It is more than 2 Washington D.C.'s. It has 99.3% Sunni Muslims and 0.7% Christians. 

While the precise number is difficult to determine due to the ongoing conflict, most estimates from early to mid-2025 place Gaza's population at approximately 2.05 to 2.1 million people. This represents a significant decline from the pre-war figure of over 2.2 million. As of late September 2025, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry reports that more than 66,000 Palestinians have been killed during the Israel-Hamas war that began in October 2023. The ministry's daily report from September 28, 2025, stated the cumulative death toll was 66,005. 

Jordan's population is 6 million, 053 thousand, 193. It's size is 92 thousand 300 sq. km of which 329 sq. km. is water. It is a little smaller than Indiana.

Syria's population is 19 million, 314 thousand, 747. The size is 185,180 sq km of which 1,130 sq. km is water. It is larger than North Dakota.

Iraq has 27 million, 499 thousand, 638. The size is 437,072 square km. of which 4,910 sq km is water. It is as big as 2 Idahos.

Saudi Arabia's population is 27 million, 601 thousand, 038. The size is 2 million, 149 thousand, 690 sq km with 0 water. It is more than 1/5 the size of the U.S.A.

Iran's population is 65 million, 397 thousand, 521. The size is 1,649 sq km of which 12,000 sq km is water.

It is larger than Alaska.

Egypt's population is 80 million, 335 thousand, 036. The size is 1 million ,001 thousand,450 sq. km of which water is 6,000 km. It is as big as 3 New Mexicos.

All of the countries other than Israel and the U.S.A. are made up of Muslims and a few Christians except Lebanon, which has many Christians. Jews are not allowed to live there, but are allowed as tourists in Egypt now.

In comparison, the USA has 301 million, 139 thousand, 947 people. The size is 9 million, 826 thousand, 630 sq. km. of which 664 thousand, 707 sq.km is water. It is half the size of Russia. Jews make up 1.7% of the population or about 5,275,000. Christians are 78.5%, 0.07% are Buddists and 0.06% are Muslims. Of the Christians, 51.3% are Protestants, 23.9% are Catholics, 1.7% are Mormons.

Cities similar in size to Israel are:

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam with a population of 6,424,519.

Hong Kong, China has 6,097,000.

Essen, Germany has 6,559,000.

Cities larger than Israel

Mexico City, Mexico has 18, 131,000.

Tokyo, Japan has 28,025,000.

Reference: CIA World Fact Book. 2007