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Comments (0)The rule of the Hasmonean dynasty extended south to the Negev, new archaeological excavations have found.
“The Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus, great-grandson of Matityahu, conquered Gaza and the Negev and for decades prevented the Nabateans from using the Incense Road,” said Dr. Tali Erickson-Gini of the Israel Antiquities Authority in a statement released Thursday.
The Nabateans were an ancient Semitic people from southern Jordan, Canaan and the northern part of Arabia.
“We are talking about a revolutionary discovery that will redraw the maps of the region which describe that era and greatly increase the territory governed by the Hasmoneans into the heart of the Negev Highlands as we know it,” said Erickson-Gini, scientific editor of the excavation at Horvat Ma’agurah, near Sde Boker in the south. “This is an important discovery from an archaeological and historical standpoint.”
Israeli Army Removes Yeshiva from Program
A West Bank yeshiva was removed from a special army program after its head rabbi refused to attend a hearing over his urging of soldiers’ insubordination.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak late Sunday evening informed the Har Bracha yeshiva that it would no longer be permitted to participate in the hesder program, which combines religious studies with army service.
The cutting of ties between the army and the yeshiva comes after Rabbi Eliezer Melamed refused repeated requests to meet with Barak over statements the yeshiva head reportedly had made urging his students to refuse orders, such as assisting in the evacuation of West Bank settlements and outposts.
The students will be allowed to transfer to other hesder yeshivas, according to reports.
Melamed told the news service Arutz-7 that he refused to attend a hearing because “One must not sit in discussion under government pressure, and a rabbi must be able to express his inner truth.
“I will not surrender to Barak’s tyrannical pressure, and that is why I did not agree to attend a ‘hearing’ under an ultimatum, expressions that show no respect towards those who deserve the freedom of thought and expression,” he said.
Melamed said that he never advised his students to disobey Israeli army orders and that he would have advised against recent protests.
Hundreds of reservists who studied in hesder yeshivas have written a letter to Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi saying they will boycott their reserve duty unless the yeshiva is reinstated to the program.
The yeshiva will lose 20 percent of its operating budget, or about $185,000, due to its ouster from the program.
Peres Broadcasts YouTube Chanukah Message
Israeli President Shimon Peres broadcast a Chanukah blessing to Jews around the world on his new YouTube channel.
Viewers are asked to reply to Peres’ message with their own comments and video responses, including their personal candlelightings.
“Dear Friends: Yesterday I blessed my Arab citizens because they had their holiday which is called Eid-el Adha, a holiday of good will,” Peres’ message says. “Tomorrow, I am going to bless my Christian citizens; they are going to have Christmas. But now, it’s time of Chanukah, our own holiday; full of light, full of optimism, full of hope. Not that everything is so easy and promising, but it’s a clear declaration that finally light will win the day.
“We are going through a difficult period of time. There are many dangers, the Iranians; there are many difficulties, like the negotiations of peace, but I am in charge of optimism. I have the right to be one. Most of the things we have hoped for came true. We continue to hope they will come true as well. We would like to be a contributing people, we can be a contributing people; not only in science and technology, but also in peace and promise. The greatest of them is that all children, ours, the Arabs’, the Christians’ will arrive to a day when their mothers do not have to worry about their safety, which means peace. Light and peace are the two things on which Jewish heritage are based. Thank you. Happy Chanukah, Chag Chanukah Sameah.”