The fact of life from worlds oldest religions

Jews throughout the ages have willingly given up their lives, rather than abandon being Jewish. Why? Because until you know what you are willing to die for, you have not yet begun to live.

Over the past 2,000 years in the Diaspora, Jews have had many opportunities to display their courage to stand up for Jewish beliefs. Consider Natan Sharansky - a prisoner of conscience who willingly underwent years of psychological and physical torture for the sake of being Jewish.

The pages of Jewish history are filled with thousands of Sharanskys. Whether during the Inquisition, the Crusades, the pogroms, or the myriad other persecutions and expulsions - Jews have given their lives for Judaism.

To the Western ear, “sacrificing your life for a belief” sounds like a far-too drastic action! Is there logic and reason to what our ancestors did? And where did they find the strength to lay down their lives rather than accept another religion?

RABBI AKIVA AND THE SHEMA

One of Judaism’s most inspiring legends is Rabbi Akiva.Even though he only began to learn the Aleph-Bet at age 40, he applied himself with such determination that he became the greatest sage of Talmudic times.

During the first century, the Romans tried to obliterate Judaism and passed a laws prohibiting Torah study. In defience, Rabbi Akiva gathered together his disciples and taught them Torah.

The Romans arrested Rabbi Akiva and executed him by brutally tearing the skin off his body with iron forks.

As he was being tortured, Rabbi Akiva joyously recited the Shema - “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.”

His students exclaimed: “Rabbi, not only do we give our lives for the sake of God, but we do so in ecstasy?!”
Replied Rabbi Akiva: “All my life, I strove for the level of dedication to sanctify God’s name with my very life. Now that I have the opportunity, I joyously perform it!”

Was Rabbi Akiva superhuman? How could this “opportunity” give him so much pleasure that it completely obscured the agony of death?

KNOW YOUR PLEASURES

A fundamental of Judaism is that there is nothing a human being can do for God. God has no needs. Yet at the same time He gives us everything - air, water, food, sun. And He gave us the Torah as instructions for deriving maximum pleasure from this world.

In the Shema, the Jewish pledge of allegiance, we are commanded to love God B’chol Nafshecha - “with all your soul.” You have to be willing to sacrifice your life rather than deny God.

If mitzvot are for our pleasure ... how does this give us pleasure?!

This is the pleasure of clarity and commitment. If you can perceive something as so important that you will sacrifice your own life for it, then your life has weight and purpose and direction. Because until you know what you are willing to die for, you have not yet begun to live.

Material pleasures are necessary and nice, though they do not compare to the higher pleasures of love and meaning. Imagine you’re offered 10 million dollars in exchange for one of your children. After rejecting the offer, you’d be overwhelmed with the precious value of that child! You may have always known his worth on an intellectual level, but now it becomes real to you.

Similarly, once you have found a cause so meaningful that you would forfeit your life for, when you indeed live for that cause, it is with unparalleled power and pleasure.

This is the secret of Jewish heroism. This is why so many Jews throughout history have sacrificed their lives for what they believe. Because dying for God is a higher pleasure… than living without Him.

Same important teachings found in zorastrianism again one of the oldest religions in the world having most of ther traditions and teachings same like jews

"Struggle for good against Evil With Humata (good thoughts), Hukta (good words) and Havarshta (good deeds). Thus spoke Zoroaster, the great prophet of Iran to his followers who in India are known by the name of Pasis. "There is but one path, the path of ASHA. All other paths are false paths" - YASNA This quotation from Yasna sums up the teachings of Prophet Zoroaster. Asha is a path of action - good thoughts, good words and good deeds - with emphasis on service to the suffering humanity. Every living being according to this religion is believed to posses the eternal principle of FRAVASHI. Zoroastrian is monotheistic in its higher ideology having AHURA MAZDA as its Supreme Deity and AHRIMAN as a lesser power of evil, which continually retards the smooth progress of good-universe is conceived as a battlefield between Ahura Mazda and Ahriman. In this confrontation, Ahura Mazda will ultimately defeat Ahriman. In the Zoroastrian religion, the theory of Re-incarnation does not exist FIRE is looked upon as a visible symbol of godhead and it is believed that the Sacred Fire was brought to earth from heaven by the prophet himself. In Zoroastrian temples that are known as Fire temples, fire is kept burning all the time. These temples are tended by Priests called Jozdalhregavs. Over 3000 years ago Shah Jamshed of the Peshadian dynasty ascended the throne on "NAVROZE" - nav meaning new and roze meaning day. It was the day of the Equinox - a day when light and darkness stand equal on the scale of space and time when the length of the day equals that of the night. That particular day came to be known as Jamshed Navroz and is celebrated even in modern times with lot of feasting. This new day is the beginning of a new year, a new awakening into an inner sphere of spiritual consciousness and anew vision of life. It is the time of questioning of looking within oneself, of seeing the millions of miracles that take place within the vast universe. Navroz means spring when Mother Nature casts off everything that is old or super-flows and dresses herself like a young bride in every vibrant colour and hue, rejoicing in her own pure spiritual beauty. Thus Navroz is a new dawn in everyone's life. Parsis believe that there are six seasons in a year with an important festival in each of them. These festivals are known by the name of GAHAMBARS. These were originally agricultural festivals but as Zorastrianism developed, they assumed religious significance. Parsis celebrate Khordad Sal as the birth of their Prophet Zorastor who was born in theiddle of second millennium B.C. His birth anniversary falls on the 6th day of the first month of the Zoroastrian Calendar and is observed with rejoicings. In each of these festivals Parsis do a lot of charity to the needy. To extend a helping hand to the poor is special characteristic of the Parsis.Important teaching from other one of the oldest religions in the world zorastrainism

Love to Love

LOVE

Probably the only word which has so many interpretations, definitions, yet there is still no universally apt one. The dictionary says it’s “a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection” or “a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.” What exactly is this feeling or attraction?

Every Cinderella longs to find her Prince Charming and live happily ever after. We all want to fall in love. Why? Because that experience makes us feel completely alive. Our emotions get magnified, senses get heightened, and we are flying in seventh heaven. It may only last a moment, an hour, a day, but that doesn’t diminish its value….

It’s so funny how we have absolutely no control over this one feeling. You think you are in love, but then are you? How do you prove it? Does love at 1st sight exist? Can you be in love a second time? maybe a 3rd, 4th? For that matter are you sure it is love and not lust or infatuation??

Have you ever been sweeped off your feet by a man/woman standing next to you in a queue? Is it merely infatuation, a strong shot of chemistry, or budding love – the real thing? Is Cupid playing a prank or bringing you true love forever? Could it be estrogen and testosterone hormones that addict us to our lovers?

I always thought ‘Love at first sight’ is not believable. Love takes time. Lust, on the other hand, at first sight sounds much more accurate. Since time immemorial we are hearing that ‘love is blind’. But that’s a mistake; real love is not blind. Quite the opposite, it is a relationship in full awareness. Over time, through good communication and wisdom, you can start knowing your partner. Gradually, you become aware of his/her flaws and try to work your differences in a healthy way. Lust, on the other hand, could be perceived as being “blind” as it usually distorts reality, especially when you’re so involved that you don’t care to find out the real persona of your partner.

But then again, there’s no hard and fast rule, that love should take its time and it’s not blind and all that. Infact, there’re no set defining characteristics of love.

Eitherway, love or lust, what exactly goes through the mind and heart of the person feeling the sudden burst of emotions for this special someone is what I wonder.

All your life you guard yourself. Build all the defenses and armors, pretend to be strong. Then one day some stupid person no different from any other stupid person enters your stupid life.

They didn’t ask for it. You invited the person in. They must have just smiled, said a hi or maybe only gave you a glance.. but for you, Life changes!

It takes you hostage within yourself. You can’t think of anything else. You start to fantasize. The few minutes that caused all this is replayed a million times in your mind. You want more. So you add scenes to those 5 minutes everytime you replay.

You don’t just give them a piece of you. You give them the whole you. Your thoughts, your heart, your mind.

Years later also it’s not forgotten, its right there in one corner of your heart. It’s getting nurtured, without you even knowing it exists. Or else, why does your heart pound everytime you hear their name.

You let them in, but can you take them out? I don’t think so…try it!

It turns you inside out. And if they reciprocate, how do you know they are not teasing you? How do you know it’s not lust for them, but true love for you?? You want to give yourself to him/her, but then your scared of what is the truth, you are cautious to not get your finger burnt, you probably build the walls higher… but then the need to be loved back by him/her will make you just forget all your inhibitions and enjoy the moment. And then when you are deep into the relation, what if the other person says the ever famous words “let’s take a break” or “I need some space” or even worse “let’s be friends”. Oh believe you me, it’s more painful than a glass splinter piercing your heart a million times, to hear that line.

It hurts. Badly! It really gets inside you and rips you apart, leaving you in a state where death would be considered heaven!

That’s it!, we think. No more relations, no more guys, no LOVE. But then probably a day later, month or even a year, your heart pounds and beats much faster when you see a guy at a party and you feel that you’ve never felt that way for anyone before. So what was it before then?? Love or Infatuation?

I guess we humans fear being in love, but still want to be in it. Always. Because, there’s no better feeling in this world than that of love.

The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread. ~Mother Teresa

Who, being loved, is poor? ~Oscar Wilde

12 Reasons Why Jerusalem Must Remain United Forever Under Israeli Control

1. Jerusalem has been the capital city of the Jewish people (but no one else) for 3,000 years, including both ancient Israel and current Israel. There were caliphates based in Medina, Damascus, Baghdad, and Cairo--never in Jerusalem.

2. Jews lived in Jerusalem for 1,700 years before the Arab conquests in the Seventh century. 3. Jerusalem is mentioned 641 times in the bible and 0 times in the Koran.

4. Jewish legal rights to Jerusalem (and even all of Judea/Samaria) were "irrevocably" recognized in the San Remo conference of 1920 by unanimous agreement of the 51 members of the League of Nations. Moreover, for the past 150 years, Jews have been the majority population in Jerusalem.

5. Jews were ethnically cleansed from eastern Jerusalem when they were attacked by 5 Arab armies in 1948.

6. Without Israeli security control that exists today, Jerusalem would descend into chaos, with rival militias battling each other like in the Gaza Strip. This would make life intolerable to residents and tourists alike. In 1949, 25% of Jerusalem Jews fled when exposed to random sniper fire from the Arab Legion.

7. Unified Israeli control of Jerusalem is crucial for the IDF, as it requires a secure route during wartime to move soldiers/equipment to the eastern border, along Jordan River.

8. Israeli Arab residents in Eastern Jerusalem enjoy social security and health insurance benefits valued at about $10,000 per annum. Removing such benefits and moving this population over to a tyrannical regime (PA or Hamas) is both unethical and immoral. It also violates the wishes of the majority of Arabs in eastern Jerusalem

9. If Israel were to irrationally allow the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state, the PA would not protect the Christian population or religious sites, as witnessed by the PA's persecution of Christian Arabs in Bethlehem. The Jewish sites would also not be protected, as seen in Joseph's tomb in Nablus (Shechem) and the synagogue in Jericho. Between 1948-1967, fifty nine Jewish religious sites were destroyed by the occupying Jordanians.

10. PA control over eastern Jerusalem would create a "magnet" for Sunni terror organizations (Muslim Brotherhood/Al Qaeda/Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Shiite or Shiite-funded terror organizations (Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas) to undermine and then take over, as in Lebanon, Gaza, and now Egypt. In fact, Jerusalem would become the focus of the rivalry by these two worldwide terror organizations. Hamas is now formally a partner for the second time of Fatah in the PA. Hamas actually hosted al-Qaeda groups in Gaza since 2006.

11. The increased hostilities, guaranteed to be created by the inevitable war, would lead to unnecessary tensions worldwide between Jews, Muslims, and Christians.

12. The division of Jerusalem is not in the interests of Israel, US, EU, PA, or local Arab residents. It is only in the interests of Iran, thereby aiding its goal of world domination.