Assuming this article is correct and Sarah Palin is asking Iowa republicans to fork over $100,000 for a speaking engagement, she just made the biggest mistake of her short political life. Palin must be politically tone deaf. The interviews she botched before the 2008 election were embarrassing, but we wrote that off because she was a novice. The $100,000 wardrobe spending spree suggested that she is a lot like the Beverly Hillbillies, but we overlooked that misstep because she needed clothes to wear. When she quit her job as Governor of Alaska, we forgave her because she was the bright shining star in the Republican Party and a likely presidential frontrunner. Charging republicans speaking fees in Iowa…well, that’s a horse of a different color.

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Today’s Feature

Song of Songs

Even when God punishes His people or removes His Divine protection, His love for them never fades.  His love is unconditional.  Solomon wrote Song of Songs.  It is a story about God’s love relationship with Israel.  It tells about a loving God allowing His people to go astray, but a God who knows that in the end they will return to Him.  As much as it hurts Yahweh when His children go astray, He allows it to happen so that when they return to Him it will be because they truly love Him.

Song of Songs is an amazing story that is written as an allegory.  Rabbi Shlomo Yitschaki (Rashi), the foremost Jewish commentator on the Tanach and Babylonian Talmud who lived in the first century of the second millennium A.D., said this about Song of Songs:

“Solomon foresaw through the Holy Spirit that Israel is destined to suffer a series of exiles and will lament, nostalgically recalling her former status as Yahweh’s chosen beloved…And they will recall the goodness He promised for the End of Days.

The prophets frequently likened the relationship between Yahweh and Israel to that of a loving husband angered by a straying wife who had betrayed him.  Solomon composed Song of Songs in the form of that same allegory.  It is a passionate dialogue between the husband [Yahweh] who still loves his estranged exiled wife [Israel], who longs for her husband and seeks to endear herself to him again, as she recalls her youthful love for him and admits her guilt.

God, too,…recalls the kindness of [Israel’s] youth, her beauty, and her skillful deeds for which He loved her so.  He proclaims that…she is still His wife and He her husband, and He will yet return to her.”

Source: Rabbi Nosson Scherman, The Stone Edition Tanach, The ArtScroll Series, Mesorah Publications, Brooklyn, New York, 1996, p. 1681.  I inserted the Name “Yahweh.”  It does not appear in The Stone Edition Tanach, The ArtScroll Series.  Adhering to Jewish tradition, Rabbi Scherman used the Hebrew word “HASHEM” where Yahweh’s Name belongs.  In Hebrew, ha means “the” and shem means “name.”  Thus, according Jewish tradition Yahweh is called The Name , or He is called Adonai which means “Lord.”  Some traditions are important and worth keeping.  This tradition is not one of them.  It should be abandoned because Yahweh commanded us to tell the world who He is by Name, and His Name is Yahweh.

Without a doubt, the best example of God’s love for us is a loving relationship between man and wife.  As Rashi correctly pointed out, throughout the Scriptures Yahweh refers to Himself as our Husband, and we are His bride.  Although there may be problems, Yahweh’s love for us never fades.  True love is unconditional, and it is patient.  Yahweh is patiently waiting for His children to return to Him.

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SnyderTalk® Commentary

Barbary Pirates—Part 2

History is loaded with examples of Barbary pirates, both Arab and Ottoman, raiding European coastal communities in pursuit of plunder and slaves.  For example,

  • 1544—Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha, a Turkish privateer, invaded Ischia, a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea.  He took 4,000 prisoners and deported about 9,000 of its inhabitants as slaves to Lipari, an island off the north coast of Sicily.  That virtually wiped out the population of Ischia.
  • 1551—Turgut Reis, a.k.a. Dragut, invaded Gozo, a Maltese island, and enslaved the entire population.  He sent his booty, between 5,000 and 6,000 people, to Libya.
  • 1554—Barbary pirates pillaged Vieste, a coastal town in southern Italy on the Adriatic Sea.  They took an estimated 7,000 slaves.
  • 1555—Turgut Reis plundered Bastia, a town on the French island of Corsica, and took 6000 prisoners.
  • 1558—Barbary pirates captured Ciutadella, an island in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Spain.  Today it’s called Minorca.  The pirates destroyed the town, murdered many of its inhabitants, enslaved about 3,000 people, and carried them to Istanbul, a large city in Turkey that straddles Europe and Asia.

This short list of examples should give you a good idea about the death and carnage inflicted on the Mediterranean region by the Barbary pirates.  Their reign of terror lasted until the French conquered Algiers in 1830.  All told, Barbary pirates enslaved more than 1,000,000 European Christians between 1530 and 1780.  They took the captives to North Africa for sale in the Arab slave markets, and they destroyed thousands of French, Spanish, and English ships.  Additionally, between 11 million and 18 million black Africans were enslaved by Arab slave traders between 650 A.D. and 1900 and taken east.  Another 9 million to 14 million black Africans were enslaved by Arab slave traders and taken west to the Americas.

Make no mistake.  Today’s radical Arab Islamists are carrying on a family tradition.  As I said in yesterday’s SnyderTalk Commentary, it’s part of their culture.  Stories have been handed down from generation-to-generation about the exploits of the Barbary pirates.  Much like The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights, the narratives tell about the glory of a bygone era.  Below is a picture of a statue of Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha near the Turkish Naval Museum on the Bosporus Strait in Istanbul.  It gives you some idea how he is regarded today.

A statue of Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha

A statue of Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha in Istanbul, Turkey

Radical Arab Islamists regard much of Africa and the entire Middle East as theirs, and they see the Israelis as trespassers.  They really don’t want peace.  They want to destroy Israel.  This isn’t my opinion.  Yasser Arafat probably said it best: “Peace for us means the destruction of Israel.  We are preparing for an all-out war, a war which will last for generations.”  He also said, “We plan to eliminate the state of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian state. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion.  We Palestinians will take over everything, including all of Jerusalem.”  What Arafat said the Palestinians would do is exactly what they are doing right now.

Judging by their actions, the current crop of Palestinian leaders is carrying on the Arafat legacy and a family tradition.  Don’t be deceived by their words.  They will say anything they think world leaders want to hear as they pursue their objective which is the destruction of Israel.  To believe otherwise is foolish.

Barbary Pirates—Part 3 will appear in tomorrow’s SnyderTalk Commentary.

The Slave Market (c. 1884), painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme

The Slave Market (c. 1884), painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme

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Today’s Events Shaping Our World

Spinning Globe

U.S. and Western Hemisphere

American flag animate

Assuming this article is correct and Sarah Palin is asking Iowa republicans to fork over $100,000 for a speaking engagement, she just made the biggest mistake of her short political life.  Palin must be politically tone deaf.  The interviews she botched before the 2008 election were embarrassing, but we wrote that off because she was a novice.  The $100,000 wardrobe spending spree suggested that she is a lot like the Beverly Hillbillies, but we overlooked that misstep because she needed clothes to wear.  When she quit her job as Governor of Alaska, we forgave her because she was the bright shining star in the Republican Party and a likely presidential frontrunner.  Charging republicans speaking fees in Iowa…well, that’s a horse of a different color.

Most republican candidates for president of the United States gladly pay for access to the people who have it within their power to give a rocket boost to their candidacy.  Asking them for a speaking fee says many things, but it most certainly says this.  She doesn’t understand politics at the presidential level.  It also indicates that she is cashing in on her celebrity.  The dems hurled that accusation at her a long time ago, but until her request for a speaking fee, Palin’s supporters didn’t buy it.  As far as I’m concerned, this incident proves that the dems were right.

If Palin had asked for campaign contributions, she would have been in the clear, but according to the article she didn’t.  The difference between a speaking fee and a political donation is monumental.  A speaking fee goes directly into your pocket, and you don’t have to report it to the Federal Election Commission.  You can spend that money any way you want, and you don’t have to report to anyone.  Campaign donations have to be accounted for in great detail, and there are serious restrictions on how the money can be used.  For your information, Palin could have asked for a campaign contribution and used it to pay the expenses incurred on the trip, but she couldn’t divert the money for her personal use.  You don’t have to be a cynic to draw this conclusion.  Palin has joined the ranks of other politicians who capitalize personally on their name recognition to build their net worth.

Andy Warhol said that everyone would have 15 minutes of fame.  Sarah Palin has already had her time in the limelight.  My advice to her is to cash in while you can, because your remaining minutes are numbered.

Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin

Video—scared silent

Video—Jake Tapper on Obama’s Dover AFB visit

Video—Reid: public option in Senate healthcare bill

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Israel and Middle East

Israeli flag Animation

“On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; all day and all night they will never keep silent.  You who remind Yahweh, take no rest for yourselves; and give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”

Isaiah 62: 6-7

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The Hill of Evil Counsel

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Young IDF Soldiers in the Old City

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An Olive Tree in the Garden of Gethsemane: the Tree is More Than 2,000 Years Old

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Herzliya

City of David

The Dig Referred to in the Article is in this Location: the City of David

Video—Gaza conflict

Video—international dilemma

Video—delicate negotiations

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China, Russia, India, and Asia-Pacific

Video—Clinton: fighting extremism can’t be avoided

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Europe and Africa

Video—family of missing Brits meets Somali PM

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There is a wealth of material available for free download on www.hisnameisyahweh.org including the book His Name is YahwehHis Name is Yahweh is also available at Amazon on Kindle for just $5.  If you haven’t read His Name is Yahweh, you should.  The importance of Yahweh’s Name is becoming more apparent with each passing day.

HNIY bookcover in JPEG Kindle edition

Available on Amazon Kindle and it can be downloaded at www.hisnameisyahweh.org

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