Australia: Floods

The east coast of Australia is severely affected by flooding: the video  shows the areas currently being hit by heavy rain: [Queensland and New South Wales]

Floods force evacuations in NSW
Worst flood in decades as river levels climb
Queensland town braces for worst flood

NSW Residents Evacuating: ''The town will be cut in two''

Hundreds of residents in rained-out Northern NSW are on standby for evacuation as they face the threat of the biggest floods in 35 years.

Barwon MP Kevin Humphries said as of 9am today evacuation warnings had been issued to 463 properties around Moree, 60 on the Wingham Peninsula, 40 in Taree and 19 in Barraba.

"Throughout the region we have seen close to 160 millimetres of rain fall during the past two days to 6am this morning, with a lot more on the way today," Mr Humphries said in a statement today.

"Unfortunately predictions are that this is going to be bigger than the floods that devastated the region in the 1970s."

The SES had been helping hundreds of residents prepare for evacuation.

The town of Moree is predicted to be split in half by floodwaters later today, NSW SES Deputy Commissioner of Operations Steven Pearce tells AAP.

"We think this is going to be bigger than the floods that occurred in the 1970s," he said.

"The town will be cut in two."

Source: NEWS.com

Sit and Pause

''Speak to the Children of Israel and let them turn back and encamp before Pi-hachiros'' [Beshalach 14:2]

This verse, said the Ohev Yisrael [R'Avraham Yehoshua of Apta], hints at an important lesson.  

It teaches us just how cautious one has to be not to violate the grave sin of lashon hora.

וְיָשֻׁבוּ וְיַחֲנוּ לִפְנֵי פִּי הַחִירֹת - A person is required to sit [lasheves] and pause for a moment [výachanu] - before [lifnei] he lets his mouth loose [pi hachiros].

Source: Rabbi Yisrael Bronstein

Higher

Yud Shvat 5772

This Friday is Yud Shvat [the tenth of the Hebrew month of Shvat] - the anniversary of the passing of the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn. On the day of the passing of a righteous man, “all his effort... for which he toiled throughout his lifetime... becomes revealed and radiates downward.” As such, it is a time to focus on the spiritual message of the Previous Rebbe’s life, and his unbounded commitment to preserve and advance Jewish practice.

For Chassidim today, however, the primary significance of Yud Shvat is that it is the day on which the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, accepted the reigns of leadership of the movement. At the gathering celebrating his acceptance of this position, the Rebbe stated clearly: “Chabad always put the emphasis on individual initiative, not on relying on the Rebbeim.... I will help, indeed, help as much as I can... but of what avail will it be to provide texts to study, sing Chassidic melodies, and to toast LeChaim if there will no effort and initiative on your part.”

At that same gathering, the Rebbe clearly outlined his goals for our generation: “We are at the close of the period when the approaching footsteps of Mashiach can be heard. Our task is to complete the process of drawing down the Divine presence... so that it can rest in our lowly world.”

Source: Chabad

Strange Sounds Explained by Scientists

HT: Moriah

[Basically... they don't really know.... but they have a few theories]

We have analyzed records of these sounds and found that most of their spectrum lies within the infrasound range, i.e. is not audible to humans. What people hear is only a small fraction of the actual power of these sounds. They are low-frequency acoustic emissions in the range between 20 and 100 Hz modulated by ultra-low infrasonic waves from 0.1 to 15 Hz. In geophysics, they are called acoustic-gravity waves; they are formed in the upper atmosphere, at the atmosphere-ionosphere boundary in particular. There can be quite a lot of causes why those waves are generated: earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, storms, tsunamis, etc. However, the scale of the observed humming sound in terms of both the area covered and its power far exceeds those that can be generated by the above-mentioned phenomena.

Full article at: Geochange

Bibi Willing to Cede Judea and Samaria

A senior political source claims Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is willing to uproot most of Yesha in exchange for Obama's backing.

Arutz Sheva has received an unconfirmed report that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu plans to announce a plan to uproot communities and carry out mass evictions in Judea and Samaria.

Due to the political impasse between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Netanyahu is expected to propose a final status solution that would leave Israel with only the major settlement blocs and eastern Jerusalem.

All Jewish communities outside the major settlement blocs would reportedly face destruction under the plan.

The report follows a report Monday morning in the Hebrew-language Ma'ariv newspaper claiming that Netanyahu has agreed to relinquish sovereignty over the Jordan Valley.

A senior political source told Arutz Sheva that Netanyahu will present the plan to retreat from Judea and Samaria to U.S. President Barack Obama in exchange for the U.S. endorsing the principles Netanyahu laid out in his Bar Ilan speech.

Those principles are:

1. The Palestinians must recognize Israel as the Jewish nation’s state.
2. The treaty must be an end to the conflict.
3. The Arab refugee problem must be solved outside of Israel’s borders.
4. A Palestinian state will have to be demilitarized and a peace treaty must safeguard Israel’s security.
5. The settlement blocs will remain within the State of Israel and Jerusalem will remain its united capital.
6. While Netanyahu did not specifically mention the Jordan Valley in his Bar Ilan speech he did specify Israel would retain the strategically critical region "regardless of whatever final status agreements are made with the PA."

Full article: Israel National News

The Last Song

The Mechilta states that "there are ten songs" beginning with the song at the sea led by Moshe, and concluding with the tenth song which will be sung with Moshiach. All the [nine] songs mentioned in scripture are written in the feminine [shirah] since their rejoicing was followed by ["gave birth to"] further servitude. The tenth song of Moshiach is written in the masculine [shir] to indicate that it is permanent.

Chassidic teachings explain that the first nine songs emphasized primarily a desire to come closer to G-d from a distance, like a woman who longs to come closer to and receive from her husband. However, the tenth song of Moshiach will be sung from a feeling that G-d is already close and found openly in our midst, like a husband who is gracefully endearing himself to his wife.

Source: Sichas Shabbos Parshas Beshalach 5752, Lubavitcher Rebbe