Parasha Tetzaveh

March 5, 2020

Shalom and Blessings;

The Coronavirus, which the government of Israel reacted to almost immediately after it was discovered, has found its way here anyway. Deaths have been reported, with tens of thousands now under quarantine. Former Hamas captive Gilad Shalit, Euro-Vision winner Netta, as well as many other well-known people and athletes are among those quarantined. I guess we can say that the situation here has spiraled out of hand! There is, however, no panic in Israel, life is proceeding as usual. I guess it is because we are so used to living under the threat of terrorist attacks and rockets that everyone is taking this new threat in stride. 

Wanting to be prepared I contacted the Kenyan Embassy in Tel Aviv and ask what their policy is for allowing Israelis into Kenya. I was told that at present there is an issue with Israelis entering the country. However, I was told to call back in 7 to 10 days to see if anything changed. Needless to say, if Ellen and I cannot travel to Kenya the planned Passover Seder will suffer. Please keep us and this situation in prayer.

Many in North America and Kenya are under the impression that Netanyahu won the last election and I can understand why. Bibi declared that this was the greatest victory in his political career. Yes he may have won big over the Blue and White Party (Gantz), but he still does not have enough seats in the Knesset to form a government. Seats in the Knesset are rewarded according the percentage of popular votes a party gets. The higher the percentage the more seats they get, the lower the percentage the fewer seat they get. Sixty one seats are needed to form a government and even that number would be shaky considering the diversity of opinions within a party. As at this writing Likud has 58 seats total in coalition with its willing partners. Blue and White has 54 seats if they include the Joint List Arab Party into their coalition. Lieberman, the leader of the Yisrael Biteinu Party holds the balance of power with 7 seats. Lieberman has pledged not to join in coalition with Likud. In fact he is drafting a Bill to be presented in the Knesset disqualifying anyone who is indicted from holding the Prime Minister's office. It is also unlikely he will join the Blue and White Party because they need the Arabs to form a government something he was not in favor of in the past. Netanyahu has been trying to sway right leaning members of other Parties to join with him so that he can get his 61 seats, but as of this writing no one has defected to him. Not all votes have been counted and there still remains the chance that the percentages will change and Likud will gain or lose a seat or two; time will tell. Please continue to pray for Israel.

Visit our blog for more teaching and to view previous Torah commentaries: https://weeklyparasha02.blogspot.com/

Attached is this week's commentary on Tetzaveh,

Yours in Messiah Yeshua, our Lord, our God, our soon coming King.

Rabbi Jack & Ellen

P.S. Thank you Lord! After further investigation I discovered that no one has died from the coronavirus in Israel as I previously reported. Thank the Lord for preserving life.

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