Jewish and Israeli Holidays
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo derides the Supreme Leader’s “faux concern” for the Palestinian people, and says that the Iranians “deserve leadership behaviors that reflect their greatness.”
Police initially closed the site to non-Muslims before opening it for short periods later in the day, enabling a record 1,700 Jews to visit.
The ninth of Av, which this year starts at sundown on Saturday, Aug. 10, and ends the next night, culminates a three-week period of mourning for devastating losses over the centuries.
“There is no such thing as a perfect election day, especially in a country as diverse as Canada,” wrote Canada’s chief electoral officer Stéphane Perrault. “There are always Canadians who are unable to vote.”
It coincides with the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret, when Jewish tradition prohibits writing, driving, using electricity and working.
Agriculturally, it commemorates the time when the first fruits were harvested and brought to the Temple.
“Even if children don’t get all the complexities, just by feeling the specialness of staying up late, and imagining what it must have been like to stand at that mountain and hear the Ten Commandments all together—that and a piece of cheesecake, and altogether they’ll get a sweet taste of what it means, a new family tradition they won’t forget,” says Meredith Lewis, director of content, education and family experience for PJ Library.
Arab riots on the Temple Mount have not discouraged hundreds of Jews from ascending to their holiest site, as thousands arrive in the Old City of Jerusalem to take part in Jerusalem Day celebrations.
The three-day program was the largest of its kind for Jews across the former Soviet Union, with participants from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Georgia.
Italy, Croatia, Greece and Cyprus are sending firefighting planes to help. Egypt, on the order of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, has already sent two helicopters.
The Galilean town of Meron welcomes massive crowds to the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the father of Jewish mysticism.
Temperatures in the more temperate Judean mountains are expected to reach 97 degrees Fahrenheit, while the heat is set to reach a scorching 116 degrees in the Dead Sea region.
