BMCR

I have seen some anti Israel people claim the the "Zionist goal" of "Greater Israel" was where it extended from the Nile to the Euphrates.

However, they have yet to bring valid evidence that this is the case.

Here is my criteria for evidence: Is there a valid source that shows some Israeli official, politician, analyst, etc. from the founding of the State (1948) until now saying that that is Israel's goal?

One of the silly things conspiracy theorists sometimes like to bring up (and there are so many to choose from) is the one about the "5 dancing Israelis".

While this claim proves absolutely nothing, I was wondering though how do they know that the Israelis were "dancing"?

As far as I know, there isn't any video footage of them.

Also, I was wondering why the significance attached to them "dancing"? What if they were not "dancing"?

I have seen several people in the past claim that certain US politicians (specified as a general subgroup or point to a specific individual) have dual citizenship. The dual citizenship that they are referring to is with Israel.

And yet when I have asked them for evidence of this claim, they never provide it.

Over the years, I have seen many anti Israel people pointlessly complain about foreign aid to Israel. However, quite a few of them also like to imply (or state explicitly) that foreign aid to Israel reduces spending in other areas. Usually, this is compared to something like funding education, the homeless, veterans, etc.

Why do they not seem to realize that is not how government expenditure works?

Recently and in the past, there have been people who have claimed that many states in the USA require their employees and contractors to sign a "loyalty oath" to Israel.

Yet, none of them, to my knowledge, have linked to or quoted any of the exact texts that demonstrate that the label "loyalty oath" is correct.

In writings authored by people who identify or are associated with what they refer to as "Messianic Judaism" there are many instances where they quote from the Talmud or other rabbinic sources. However, it seems to me that there is a tendency to rely on secondary sources... i.e. they haven't actually looked up the original source itself. (I can give some examples.)

Why is this?

I have seen, over the years, several people complain about the anti Zionism/ anti Israel position being labeled "antisemitic".

It seems to me though that there are three levels to this:

1) No one actually called their anti Israel position "antisemitic".

2) Someone did call their anti Israel position antisemitic, but they were justified in doing so because what was said was, in fact, antisemitic.

3) Someone did call their anti Israel position antisemitic, but that label was unfairly applied.

From my point of view, #1 is the most common while #3 is the least common.

What is your position on the matter?

I should note right off the bat that I actually do not believe this is true.

However, in light of her now infamous "Benjamins" comment I was wondering the following:

The implication of her statement was that the only reason why politicians would support Israel was because they were paid off by lobbyists.

However, on general consideration, there are literally 100s of lobby groups in Washington for literally any issue you can think of. Billions of dollars are spent on lobbying by corporations, organizations, etc.

Thus, it could be said, of ANY politician of ANY issue that they voice support for that the ONLY reason they are doing it is because a lobby group paid them off for it.

Now, since Ilhan Omar is a politician, then that can equally apply to her as well.

So, according to her OWN "logic" we can say she is "paid off".

I have seen some people claim that certain US states require people to sign an "loyalty oath" to Israel.

What is the exact text of the oath they have to sign and exactly how is it a "loyalty oath"?

There is a claim that the late Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri identified the Messiah as being Jesus. (This claim is false, BTW.)

My question is mainly addressed to those who believe that the claim is actually true.

- Before hearing about this claim, did you ever hear about Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri?

- Why do you believe it? More to the point, why did you not approach it with a high degree of skepticism?

- What purpose does such a belief serve?

And did he actually say what is attributed to him?

To explain:

I found a claim on several missionary websites that say a 17th century Jewish historian Raphael Levi "admitted" that Isaiah 53 used to be read in synagogues but was then removed from the reading.

I tried doing a search on this individual and could not find any evidence he existed, let alone say what was claimed he said. (Not to mention, it also doesn't account for the possibility that he was wrong.)

I have seen some people claim that there is a rabbinical curse on those who try to calculate the timeline as specified in Daniel 9.

So, what is the source of this rabbinical curse?

I should note that this source should be a valid one, i.e. it actually exists and is actually referring to Daniel 9.

There is a quote from the Talmud in Sanhedrin 99a that says the following:

"All the prophets prophesied only of the days of the Messiah."

My question is what exactly does this mean?

Is it trying to say that all prophecies in the Bible were Messianic in nature?

Also, this quote has also found its way on several missionary/Messianic websites.

What exactly is their purpose in quoting this from the Talmud?

There is a "Messianic Jew" who operates in Israel by the name of Joseph Shulam.

I have two questions regarding his educational background.

In his own bio on his website, he mentions that he attended an Orthodox Yeshiva in Jerusalem for 3 years. However, unlike other institutions he studied at, this yeshiva is not identified.

So, why would there be this omission on his own website?

Secondly, doing some research, other websites bio of him do identify the yeshiva as the Diaspora Yeshiva and that he studied there in the 1970s.

Has anyone verified that he studied there? The reason I ask is because I find it hard to believe that a yeshiva would allow him to study there if he was a known "Messianic Jew".

Specifically, I'm looking for current examples (i.e. no examples from 100 years ago) and those who were actually Orthodox (as opposed to members of an Orthodox synagogue).

Also, how many of those had a Orthodox Jewish education?

According to this article:

http://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/messianic-...

Quote: "Cahn, who claims to have Orthodox smicha [ordination] from a rabbi who had joined the messianic movement..."

First of all, is it true that he has actually claimed this?

And if true, has he actually identified this 'rabbi' who ordained him?

And also, he says he is a licensed minister. What Christian denomination ordained him?

For the record, "Messianic Judaism" is really a weird form of Protestant Christianity with Jewish trappings. Thus, whether or not he was actually ordained by someone or not is immaterial.

I'm just curious since I find the claim to be very odd.

There is a fairly well known claim that has been made by several people about the late Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri and that he allegedly identified the Messiah as being Jesus.

Here is an example (including my own response to the issue):

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120...

This claim is bogus BTW, but that is not what I want to focus on.

I want to know what exactly is the mindset of those who actually believe this sort of story?

It seems to me that the word "gullible" comes to mind. Would it be fair to use that word?

Another way of putting it... since the chances of a well known rabbi with numerous followers believing in Jesus is nil, then why do some people not approach the claim with skepticism? Why do they so readily believe it?

And another case (this may seem to be a bit of jump) : Dr. David Stern, in his initial editions of his book "Jewish New Testament Commentary", made a claim about the Jewish commentator Rashi that seemed to imply that Rashi supported the concept of the virgin birth. Later on, he was told that this was based on a misquote and he eventually corrected the issue.

Now, it came to light in the affair, that Dr. Stern did not actually do the research on Rashi and instead got the claim from another source (which he didn't cite).

So, my question is similar to the one above? Why wasn't he more skeptical about the claim? Why did he readily believe this claim about Rashi to the point where he didn't bother to double check?

A couple of times when I asked questions regarding Messianic authors and their quoting of rabbinical sources, I was told that the main reason for doing so was to counter arguments that certain Biblical passages were not Messianic prophecies.

See here for an example: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20150...

That got me thinking: How often has this actually happened? In other words, which Biblical passages or chapters were said to be NOT Messianic prophecies, thus the Messianic authors (or the people who quote them) had to respond that rabbinical sources say that it is? And I mean, besides Isaiah 53. (Which rabbinical sources do NOT actually say is a Messianic prophecy but it is claimed as such. That, however, is outside the scope of what I am saying here and for details I would suggest seeing http://www.judaismsanswer.com/Isaiah53TalmudMidras... .)

Secondly, I was wondering about the following:

Dr. Michael Brown takes a teaching of the Talmud regarding the time of the Messianic era and claims it works out to the time of Jesus.

Quote:

“we find ourselves right in the middle of the time of Yeshua. He was the one who came at the time the Messiah was expected to come, and this according to a Rabbinic tradition.”