BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

by Aaron Klein Netanyahu clashes with White House on West Bank construction The Obama administration wants to abrogate a secret deal that President Bush made to allow Israel to construct homes in previously existing West Bank Jewish communities, WND has learned. "The matter is ongoing and is subject to current talks with the U.S. administration," said a source in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. The source was referring to a 2005 deal Bush made with then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that Israel can continue "natural growth" of West Bank settlements, meaning adding housing to current communities in that territory to account for growth in population. The deal was forged just prior to Israel's 2005 retreat from the Gaza Strip. It was confirmed by Sharon aide Dov Weissglas in 2005, and again last week in statements to the Washington Post by Elliott Abrams, a former deputy national security adviser to Bush who reportedly negotiated the arrangement. The ...

Jewish settler leaders on Tuesday shrugged off President Barack Obama's call for Israel to halt settlement building in the occupied West Bank, saying Palestinians needed to "halt terror first." Dani Dayan, chairman of the West Bank settlers' umbrella organization Yesha Council, said he felt assured that domestic political support would allow settlers to continue to live in the occupied West Bank. "The Israeli electorate set a clear line for this government ... we have strong support in the new Knesset (parliament) and the things we hear among politicians certainly encourage us that if Netanyahu (halts settlement building) the Knesset will stand at our side," Dayan told Reuters. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Obama for talks at the White House on Monday and the U.S. president afterwards reminded Israel of its commitment under a 2003 U.S.-backed peace "road map" to stop settlement building in the occupied West Bank. "Obama's w...

Desires - the Engine of Change Rav Michael Laitman ReligionAndSpirituality.com Desires don't just pop out of the blue. They form unconsciously within us and surface only when they become something definable, such as " I want a pizza ." Before that, desires are either not felt, or at most, felt as general restlessness. We've all experienced that sense of wanting something but not quite knowing what it is. Well, it is a desire that has not yet ripened. Plato once said, " Necessity is the mother of invention ," and he was right. Similarly, Kabbalah teaches us that the only way we can learn anything is by first wanting to learn it. It's a very simple formula: When we want something, we do what it takes to get it. We make the time, muster the energy and develop the necessary skills. It turns out that the engine of change is desire. The way our desires evolve both defines and designs the entire history of humanity. As humankind's desires developed, they ur...

SECOND, THIRD OR FOURTH CHANCES Something I have to explain to those I counsel is that some people can not change. They will go through the motions and give lip service to change long enough to get the spotlight off their secretive and/or bad behavior. I then go through the 'list' of how to know if someone's truly changed. We are taught to give second chances; the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, we do end up being taken advantage of and duped. The one thing we CAN control is our own behavior. We can't tell people we've changed, we have to show them. First we have to start by forgiving ourselves . That seems to be hardest. There are those who just want to "forget" and "erase" what they did and move on. Then there are those who, like myself, aren't able to just 'get over it' - but we adapt, integrate, and move on - using our weaknesses and hurts as lessons in growth. Last week I read a really brilliant piece on Britney Spe...