One
hundred years ago the Jews of Palestine suffered terribly from hunger, disease
and oppression. The territory was ruled with an iron fist by the Ottoman
(Turkish) army. The Middle East teetered on the brink of World War I, and
in 1914 Turkey abolished the “capitulation” agreements with European powers
which granted them elements of sovereignty over their subjects in the Ottoman
Empire. For many Jews of Eretz
Yisrael their French,
British and Russian protectors were gone. The financial assistance they received
from their European Jewish brethren evaporated. In late 1914, the war in the
Middle East began with Turkey massing troops in Palestine and the Sinai to move
against the British along the Suez Canal. The Turkish army prepared for
the attack by forcibly conscripting locals, including Jews, and by looting
(so-called “levies”) supplies, food and animals from residents of Palestine.
See pictures and read the complete article at -- http://jcpa.org/u-s-navy-saved-jews/
The witnesses, laying their coats at the feet of Saul, were the men that would cast the first stones at Stephen in Acts 7. Why did they all lay their coats at Saul’s feet? The Talmud contains a very interesting account of the act of stoning that may provide the answer. “When the trial was over, they take him [the condemned person] out to be stoned. The place of stoning was at a distance from the court, as it is said, ‘Take out the one who has cursed.’ [i] A man stands at the entrance of the court; in his hand is a signaling flag [Hebrew sudarin = sudar , ‘scarf, sweater’]. A horseman was stationed far away but within sight of him. If one [of the judges] says, ‘I have something [more] to say in his favor,’ he [the signaler] waves the sudarin , and the horseman runs and stops them [from stoning him]. Even if [the condemned person] himself says, ‘I have something to say in my favor,’ they bring him back, even four of five times, only provided that there is some substance to what he
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