Where the Headlines Meet Scripture

Belgium and Netherlands Ban Products from Biblical Heartland Communities

Both the governments of Belgium and the Netherlands have placed a ban on products from pioneers in Judea and Samaria.

“Belgium has reached a point of no return,” Israeli Member of Knesset Sharren Haskel responded. “(Belgium) can continue importing radical Islam. We will continue exporting products from Judea and Samaria to countries that choose to import innovation, quality and technology.”

The new policy in Belgium was adopted by royal decree following a commitment by the Belgian government last September to impose such a restriction.

Following Belgium's lead, the Dutch government announced on Tuesday its own ban, which will take effect on September 22. Under the new policy, it will be illegal to import such products or to purchase or sell them within the Netherlands. According to the Staatscourant (“Government Gazette”), anyone who intentionally violates the law may face a maximum prison sentence of six years or a fine of up to €103,000.

The new laws implemented by Belgium and the Netherlands underscore a growing trend among Western governments to, God forbid, halt the ever-advancing restoration of the Biblical Heartland.

May their efforts completely fail!

“Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it on the islands from afar, and say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather them together and watch them as a shepherd his flock” (Jeremiah 31:9)

Burnt First Temple Remains Unearthed in Jerusalem

At a most apropos time on the Hebrew calendar, just days before Tisha B'Av (the day on which the Jewish people commemorate and mourn the destruction of both Temples), burnt wooden beams from the destruction of Jerusalem during the First Temple era were discovered in Jerusalem's ancient City of David. The discovery was made during excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University. 

“We are just before Tisha B'Av,” said excavation director Efrat Bocher. “This discovery makes you feel that you are witnessing the very moment of destruction, the moment when it all happened. It's deeply moving.”

Bocher said that the charred beams were part of the roof of an inner courtyard that collapsed in the intense fire at the time of the First Temple's destruction. “We believe that the plaster cladding of the building's walls, melted by the fire, covered the charred wooden beams and ultimately enabled their exceptional preservation,” Bocher added.

The excavation directors said that the exiles who returned and rebuilt Jerusalem decades later may have intentionally preserved the memory of the city's destruction during the First Temple era by leaving behind such remains. 

“Preserving memory is a human need, seeking to preserve what once existed,” explained Dr. Yiftah Shalev, a director of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority. “Here we see it in its clearest form: a deliberate choice to leave ruins in place as a testament to the destruction and build the new layer over them.”

May we soon witness a fully rebuilt Jerusalem rising from those ancient ruins!

“And [those coming] from you shall build ancient ruins, foundations of generations you shall erect, and you shall be called the repairer of the breaches; restorer of the paths, to dwell in.” (Isaiah 58:12)

New Red Heifer Breeding Initiative Launched in the Biblical Heartland 

The Red Heifer Visitor Center, located near ancient Shiloh, announced on Monday the launch of a unique artificial insemination program to breed red heifers. The center has closely guarded and cared for four red heifers imported from the United States. Two of the red heifers have become disqualified from their Biblical status after black and white hairs were discovered on their bodies, making them no longer "perfectly red" as mandated in the Bible (Numbers 19:2).

The other two red heifers are now about four years old. Since they too may soon become disqualified as they age, the center plans to utilize advanced genetic research and specialized reproductive techniques to maximize the chances of producing additional "perfectly red" heifers.

“From the very beginning, our goal has been to study and prepare red heifers for the day when it becomes possible to perform the purification ritual on the Mount of Olives in accordance with Jewish law,” representatives of the center were quoted in the media as stating. “Especially during these days (before Tisha B'Av), when we commemorate the destruction of the Holy Temple, we are preparing for the day when it can be rebuilt in a state of ritual purity.”

Apropos, shortly before Tisha B'Av, Israel's National Red Heifer Institute announced the birth of a red heifer in a herd belonging to Shai Givon, a rancher in the Golan Heights. This is the second calf the institute has reported within the past month and a half. The first was identified by Givon at a dairy farm where he works.

“I feel that we are living in a historic era,” Givon said. “The Jewish people are more attuned than ever to the Temple and to restoring purity to Israel, and God is opening doors and opportunities that have not existed in 2,000 years!”

May we soon witness the reenactment of the very statute of the "perfectly red unblemished heifer!"

“This is the statute of the Torah which the Lord commanded, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel and have them take for you a perfectly red unblemished heifer, upon which no yoke was laid.” (Numbers 19:2)