Floatin' Powa News Service: Glow Ballin' Cosmo Nots

Laika & The Cosmonauts
Psyko/Mission Impossible/Expose
shot @ at Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ ~ 2008

Israel promises to get out of Gaza before Obama inauguration
Oy to the vey I say. From yesterday's links:

Cease Fire My Jewish Ass
Olmert, being among the most corrupt people on the planet, needs to make sure the way is cleared for Obamanable to give his mystery speech in the Muslim half of the newly split Jerusalem, nu?

DECEMBER 4th, 2008: President-elect Barack Obama’s aides say he is considering making a major foreign policy speech from an Islamic capital during his first 100 days in office....

EXIGENT!

Obama's request: Israel leaving Gaza

Ex-Senator Considered as "Special Envoy to Mideast"

George J. Mitchell, a former Senate majority leader and the chairman of a Middle East peace commission in 2001, was a leading candidate to be the Obama administration’s special envoy to the Middle East.

Google Search: Senator George J. Mitchell

British academics: ‘Israel must lose’

EGYPT: We expected Israel to act differently

Statement by Amb Shalev to the UN General Assembly

This meeting is being watched by millions of victims who see that their suffering will never reach the international stage because the General Assembly gathers today in a cynical, hateful and politicized fashion to delegitimize Israel’s fundamental right to defend its citizens.

Hamas declares victory, vows to acquire more 'holy weapons'

Actual Al Reuters Headline:
Palestinians mourn Gaza dead, gape at destruction

Israel Against the World

Russia welcomes Gaza ceasefire

Oil futures dip after Israel-Hamas cease-fire

Iran urges Hamas to reject ceasefire, target Israeli positions

Iranian Holocaust book to be issued in English

A student-linked Iranian publisher plans to launch English- and Arabic-language versions of a book of caricatures and satirical writings about the Holocaust...

[SNIP]

The book deals with the "big historical distortion" of the Holocaust and the English and Arabic editions would be published at a ceremony in Tehran later this month when a message from Ahmadinejad would be read out, Fars News Agency said.

Fresh Clues of Iranian Nuclear Intrigue

Yesterday: Departing CIA Director Michael Hayden said Thursday that the Islamic Republic’s production of low-enriched uranium does not necessarily substantiate an Iranian objective to build atomic weaponry.

At least 40 al-Qaeda fanatics died horribly after being struck down with the disease that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages

Iran informs 21 oil customers of supply cuts

China defends oil deal with Iran

Gold Man Sacks Sez: ‘Swift, Violent’ Oil Rally Later in Year

Iraq invites oil firms to workshop in Turkey

EU Committed To Turkey's Membership

Rotterdam: Councillor claims Gülen movement is fundamentalist

"Muslims Only" District of Amsterdam

The EU -Russia Gas Pipeline Crisis: Taking Sides with Pipelines

Czechs send emergency gas to Slovakia

Gazprom Sez: Russia, Ukraine to sign new gas deal Monday

Ukraine Bonds Signal Default as Russia Has ‘Upper Hand’ on Gas

Russia sets it's sights on Ukraine's vast pipeline network

Turkmenistan levels serious claims against Ukrainian Co
Czar Bad Vlad sez: Good dog.

Gazprom wants to speed up South Stream

Russia presses Kyrgyzstan to close US base

Texas wildcatter tussles with Russian bear

Canada, UK eye nuclear power deal with India

Mad rush for Indian nuclear pie

2nd Hindu - Jewish Summit

Shoe-thrower seeks asylum in Switzerland

European "evolutionary biologists" rally behind Richard Dawkins
LOL! "evolutionary biologists" ? Can you say Eugenicists?

Richard Dawkins, Atheist Evangelist: "What’s to prevent us from saying Hitler wasn’t right?"

Atheist ads are kicked off the buses in Italy
VIVA ITALIA!

The UK's Giant Bank-Bailout Gamble

UK: Scared pupils wear "stab vests" in schoool

Bill Ayers barred from entry into Canada

Time, Newsweek narrowing their focus, becoming "more liberal"

USA Today won't print "Christian" material
That's the USA, today.

NYT: Bailout via Mexican Mogul?

World's third richest man on verge of $250m stake in New York Times

Thailand sentences writer for insults

The Obamanable Snowjobman's fans will brook no dissent, especially from children

Mason school officials said they are taking a proactive educational approach in advance of next week's planned Inauguration Day activities.

"Inappropriate comments that may make other students, staff or families feel unwelcome or uncomfortable in school or on the bus will not be tolerated," Superintendent Kevin Bright said in an e-mail sent to parents Monday, Jan. 12.

The district, he said, expects students and staff to show respect for President-elect Obama and the incoming administration, as well as President Bush and the outgoing administration, and recognize that "while the election is a competitive process, our nation's greatness is displayed when all sides come together for a united country."

Jeff Schlaeger, Mason High School's psychologist, said "inappropriate comments" occurred around election week when doctored pictures of Obama appeared at the school, including "derogatory caricatures" of him dressed like a terrorist and signs that read "Obama '08/Biden '09."

Obama Acceptance Speech Virus

Barack Obama promises to "reboot the White House"

but first he'll have to navigate the blogosphere and deep layers of federal gobbledygook

Military Leaders to Be Among Obama’s First Priorities
Naturally.

Gay Bishop Robinson's inagurual prayer

"Bless us with anger"

Be careful what you pray for, Skippy. You just may get it. Even though you directed this crap to: "O God of our many understandings" and not to the NAME HIMSELF, trust me, He still heard you.

California Dems push gay rights in wake of Prop. 8 vote

Rahm Emanuel: Blagojevich asked for nothing improper

Dinner With Rice

6.9 in the Loyalty Islands

6.7 in the Kermadec Islands

5.2 in Indonesia

4.9 in Australia

4.6 in Nicaragua

The Red Elvises
Cosmonaut Petrov
Filmed @ some club, somewhere in Moscow ~ 2007

WFRL: Leningrad

Leningrad Cowboys
Leningrad

Floatin' Powa News Service vs The Porpoise Driven Popes of Laodicea

The Prophet Zimmy
Man of Peace

He got a sweet gift of gab
he got a harmonious tongue,
He knows every song of love that ever has been sung.
Good intentions can be evil
Both hands can be full of grease.
You know that sometimes Satan
comes as a man of peace.

The Laodiceans can have this present world and all its kingdoms and glory. It is destined to burn, according to Peter. "But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word, are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men"

[SNIP]

Thank God, there is a sanctified, separated remnant hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, and they cannot be deceived or caught unawares. They are the watchmen who have detected the wiles of the enemy; they are bold to expose the frothy doctrines of demons. Those who hear what the Spirit is saying know what the Lord is about to do. They see the gathering storm -- they hear the approaching thunder -- they know God is already judging the house of God and their nation in particular.

[SNIP]

The Laodicean church has self-elected itself, without any guidance of the Holy Ghost, not to light the world, but to subdue it. She has become the greatest teacher of lies in the universe. She is confident of her own strength and wisdom, while mingling anti-Christ falsehoods with the truth of the gospel. She has decided to break down the great distinction Christ put between the church and the world.
~ David Wilkerson

Stay alert, for you do not know the day or the hour.

~ Jewsus

Cease Fire My Jewish Ass
Olmert, being among the most corrupt people on the planet, needs to make sure the way is cleared for Obamanable to give his mystery speech in the Muslim half of the newly split Jerusalem, nu?

DECEMBER 4th, 2008: President-elect Barack Obama’s aides say he is considering making a major foreign policy speech from an Islamic capital during his first 100 days in office....

EXIGENT!

Israel declares ceasefire; Hamas keeps shooting

Turkey says Gaza cease-fire is 'first step'
Yeah? To what?

Pope condemns violence in Gaza

The pope did not specifically mention either the Israeli or Palestinian side in the conflict but said he wanted to encourage those who believed that "there is room for everyone in the Holy Land."

Jewsus sees you. And your little Porpoise too.

Egypt hosts Gaza summit after Israel declares truce

Iranian FM calls Gaza cease-fire a defeat for Israel

Iranian cleric calls for shooting Israeli FM

Hostile reporters ambush Israeli FM in Washington

Hamas's civilian population in Gaza

Pro-Israel crowd rallies in Madrid

Behold the Mighty Glick:

The US's abstention from the vote on Resolution 1860 is a stunning statement of hostility toward Israel. As former UN Ambassador Dore Gold wrote in The Jerusalem Post on Sunday, Resolution 1860 is drafted in a manner that presumes moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas. Both Israel and Hamas - an illegal terrorist organization - must stop fighting, it says. The resolution also draws a false moral equivalence between Hamas's illegal rocket campaign against Israeli civilians and Israel's assertion of its right to close its borders to enemy traffic.

Did Monty Python negotiate Israel's ceasefire?

Gaza to eclipse Arab economic summit

Executed for breathing while Christian in Mosul

The Christian owner of a car repair shop was killed execution-style in Mosul, police said Saturday, raising concern about the possibility of new attacks against the religious minority in the northern Iraqi city

A Veritable Cavalcade of Inaugural Blasphemies

Homosexuals to Celebrate The One's Coronation With DC Pig Sex Orgy!

EXIGENT!

Muslim Brotherhood affiliate to lead prayers at the National Cathedral during Obama's inauguration
They better hope they find a way to keep the pig fucking fags, the gay bishops, the porpoise driven popes, the phony rabbis and Al Ikhwan's Imams far apart.

The National Prayer Service and the Wahhabi Lobby

Obama, Warren and the new evangelicals
The Popes of Laodicea.

Poet invited to recite at Obama inauguration

Here is a sample of her "work":

Science, science, science!
Everything is beautiful
blown up beneath my glass.
Colors dazzle insect wings.
A drop of water swirls
like marble. Ordinary
crumbs become stalactites
set in perfect angles
of geometry I’d thought
impossible. Few will
ever see what I see
through this microscope..
Cranial measurements
crowd my notebook pages,
and I am moving closer,
close to how these numbers
signify aspects of
national character.
Her genitalia
will float inside a labeled
pickling jar in the Musée
de l’Homme on a shelf
above Broca’s brain:
“The Venus Hottentot.”
Elegant facts await me.
Small things in this world are mine.

[MERCIFUL SNIP.... CAUSE THERE'S MORE]

Your at-home guide to the Obama inauguration
Funny... I can't seem to find the homosexual pig fuckers ball in here


A Church For Atheists

Welcome to the Canadian National Pagan Conference (CNPC), Gaia Gathering, blog
Yea well, I seem to recall some National Pagans morphing into National Socialists the last time. Just sayin'.

Progressives Hope US Shifts Global Social Policy
The Hopium of Glow Balling Asses

U.S. War College member insists Islam does not "promote kidnappings, beheadings and other unlicensed hostile actions"

Bin Laden's Son No Longer Under Arrest in Iran

Iran: Court convicts 4 over alleged US-backed plot

CIA chief: No proof of Iranian nuclear weapons
With CIA chiefs like this, who needs enemies?

European Banks Probed Over Iranian Transactions

Monetary Union has left half of Europe trapped in a depression

Events are moving fast in Europe. The worst riots since the fall of Communism have swept the Baltics and the south Balkans. An incipient crisis is taking shape in the Club Med bond markets. S&P has cut Greek debt to near junk. Spanish, Portuguese, and Irish bonds are on negative watch. Dublin has nationalised Anglo Irish Bank with its half-built folly on North Wall Quay and €73bn (£65bn) of liabilities...

[SNIP]

EU Companies Propose Temporary Plan to Solve Ukraine Gas Crisis

Price details unclear in murky Russia-Ukraine deal
Naturally!

Gas Summit On: Russia seeks permanent transit deal

Russian Gas Majors Expect to Agree With Gazprom During Weekend
NATURALLY! [insert me laughing at this headline maniacally here]

Meet Gérard Mestrallet, Glow Ball Energy Kingpin

Gazprom Seeks to Participate in Nigerian Gas Pipeline to Europe
Africa screams.

Algeria signs $272 mln of energy exploration deals
With Gazprom and friends.

Gazprom, Belarus reach 'understanding' on gas price
He made them an offer they can't refuse.

South Stream created to kill Nabucco

Russia Mulls Metals Merger
Say it ten times, fast!

Gazprom officials killed in ‘illegal poaching expedition’

Israel eyes gas bonanza from large offshore find
GOD's a funny guy.

Putin Reaps Praise at Home for Freezing EU & Ukraine
Please sir, may we have some more?


Putin’s First Painting Raises 37 Million Rubles for Charity
That's over 1 million in USD. Why oh WHY are they always frustrated, shitty artists?


ATTENTION, POST AMERICAN PURPLE PROLES: Meet Your New US Envoy to Russia~

WHEN John Beyrle, the new American ambassador to Russia, appeared on a Russian radio show shortly after Russia’s five-day war with Georgia, the questions he got were predictably in-your-face.

Is it true that the United States is sneaking weapons into Georgia disguised as humanitarian aid? Can you prove that planned American missile defense sites are not aimed at Russia?

And then: Is it true that your father was a Soviet soldier?

Tuvakmammed Japarov appointed deputy prime minister of Turkmenistan

Minister of energy and industry of Turkmenistan fired

Turkmenistan may develop efficient cooperation with US

Turkmenistan aims to double gas output

TURKEY: Why you shouldn't take everything written in the US seriously

North Korea has plutonium ready for up to five nukes
It's only gonna take one.

North Korea Vows to Retain Its Nuclear Status

Prospects of new UO pipe deals for China


China: National Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Chavez: Gas the Uppity Purple Proles!

Hugo Chavez ordered police on Saturday to use tear gas on anti-government protests that block roads, heating up a campaign for a referendum that could allow him to run for re-election.

Somali Islamists execute "spy" for Ethiopians

Paulson's Next Stop: Johns Hopkins

Goldman Sachs to pay $7 million to Enron creditors

Obama backs Treasury pick "absolutely"

Leave the New Deal in the History Books
Meet the New Deal. Same as the Old Deal.

Big risk in Obama's economic stimulus plan

Bedlam breaks out at Circuit City
Fundamentally Sound!

Citigroup Splits Up After Fifth Straight Quarterly Loss

How the Government Forced BofA to Marry Merrill Lynch

Landfills generate 'green' cash in northern Utah
CHA-CHING!

2009 Green Inaugural Ball Selects NativeEnergy As Sole Carbon Offset Provider
UCCCCCCCCCCCCCHH already.... the language of this Glow Ballin' scam just kills me.

Land Deal Is Reached for a 9/11 Memorial

New cloaking surface throws an electromagnetic curveball

Our world may be a giant hologram

7 States File Suit against US on Abortion

4.5 in SW China

4.8 on the Aleutian Islands, Alaska

Avalanches in Afghanistan

Megadeth
Peace Sells (But Who's Buying?)

WFRL: Stockholm Syndrome

Muse
Stockholm Syndrome
HAARP Tour ~ Live from Wembley

and she'll scream
and she'll shout
and she'll pray
and she had a name
yeah she had a name

How Charlie K came to stop worrying
and love The Obamanable:

KRAUTHAMMER: What is interesting is the fact that he would want to do this. And you see that since his election he has kind of reached out to people that may not be ideological allies, to Rick Warren, the pastor who will be at his inaugural, to John McCain, whom he has treated with a lot of dignity and respect, and to a bunch of right wing columnists last night, in part, because I think he is a guy who is intellectually curious and wants to exchange ideas, but also in part he wants to co-opt the vast right wing conspiracy.

And I'm here to tell you that, speaking for myself, he has succeeded. I am brainwashed entirely. I'm in the tank, and I am a believer of hope and change and, above all, audacity.

Floatin' Powa News Service: Seconds Out ~ Los Endos

Genesis
Seconds Out ~ Los Endos
1977

Operation Cast Lead ~ Update #14

Israel to announce ceasefire?

Hezbollah plots bloody vengeance

Amazing video of IDF Heroes

IDF Officer uses Hamas terrorist as shield vs grenade: "Soldiers from the IDF Golani Infantry Division get ambushed by terrorists and respond by killing them." You don't expect to see anything like this anywhere other than in the movies. Fair play to the IDF soldier, takes some guts to do that. Speaking of which I'd imagine there is a fair amount spread over the desert after that grenade went off.

PENTAGON SUSPENDS MUNITIONS DELIVERIES TO ISRAEL

Analysis: A conflict with no name

CAIR: Jesus was a Muslim

Israel’s Gaza Offensive Divides Arab States, Sparks Summit Spat
Good. Isaiah 17 upon yez.

UNGA witnesses brief clash between President, Israel diplomat
Unga, even! Well Bunga back at ye.

OIC president praises Iran’s stance on Gaza

Ahmadinejad's remarks at the Arab Gaza Summit

Russia seeks Syrian and Iranian help on Gaza truce

Pipe dreams

Czech Republic Calls for Eu Summit to Promote Nabucco




Madame Secretary Hillary Sez: US to achieve political agreements on Nabucco

Former Russian satellites in eastern Europe are hit hardest of all
Naturally. Czar Bad Vlad is letting them know there is nothing "former" about it.

Moldovan PM: Chisinau Will Not Take Sides In Gas Dispute

Kremlin: German, Italian and French energy majors ready to join consortium with Gazprom

European gas firms seek deal on Ukraine

Russia to open a ‘second front’ in gas war

Pro-Kremlin youth group brings firewood to Ukraine's embassy

Russia’s new elite grabs another bit of London

Russia Sends Two More Warships To Fight Somali Pirates

Russia seals recognition of Georgia "breakaways"

Russia's Ursa Bank offers to buy back euro bond

Russia invites Europe to weekend gas talks
Weekend at Vladmirs.

Russia "hopes" US will not seek NATO expansion
It's a threat, not a"hope". Russia is telling us NOT TO seek NATO expansion.

Russia to create "National OS" Based on GNU/Linux?

CTC shareholders elect new Board of the Russian Mission

Among private oil companies - participants in the consortium - Chevron Caspian Pipeline Consortium Company (15%), Lukarco BV (12,5%), Rosneft-Shell Caspian Ventures Limited (7,5%), Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company (7,5%), ...

[SNIP]

Turkey-Bosnia should boost coup in energy

Kazakh Opposition Newspaper Found Guilty of Slander

Armenian Police Break Up Opposition Protest

TURKMENISTAN: GOVERNMENT SHAKE-UP TARGETS ENERGY SECTOR


Turkmen Gas Still Earmarked for Russia

PETRAEUS VISITS TURKMENISTAN

IEA sees first two-year oil demand fall in 26 years
Maybe everyone else bought a Jotul too...

Opec Output to Fall in First quarter

Iran's Leader Says He Plans To Avoid Prejudging Obama
Mighty white of him.

Iran trying to buy high-performance metals

Iran urges cutting of ties with US and Israel
Yes, I agree..let us cut off some ties expeditiously.

Evading sanctions, Iran turns to China for banned materials

CIA Sez: Oil price weakness pressures Iran, Venezuela...

..but Russia is better able to manage because of its sovereign investments, CIA Director Michael Hayden said on Thursday..

New US, UAE Deal Raises Eyebrows
Raised mine.

I guess the Obamaphiles figure if Bad Vlad can do it - so can they:
JANUARY 6, 2009: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.

President-elect Barack Obama has promised to create a new position for the country - Chief Technology Officer

[PRESS PLAY]
This is the Central Scrutinizer. It is my responsibility to enforce all the laws that haven't been passed yet.

Norway and China have signed an agreement on enhanced cooperation

Belize & Chinese Petroleum Corporation sign agreement

Gold Man Sacks upgrades China construction material firms

Gold Man Sacks downgrades three EU "capital goods" cos

Gold Man Sacks looking to invest in cement
Concrete: Making excellent shoes for uppity proles since the Roman era!

China bank gains on Gold Man Sacks Say So

HSBC Sez: Buy China Shares as Earnings Outperform Region

Gold Man Sacks downgrades HSBC

Hong Kong shares end morning firmer as China banks offset HSBC slide

US Bank Lifeline Hoists Asian Stocks

Mugging Bank of America

US: Regulators Close Two Banks

Bank bailout: Get ready for next phase


US to lend $1.5 billion to Chrysler Financial

Europe charges Microsoft with abuse of monopoly again

Thousands Of Candidates To Run In Iraqi Local Elections

Islamists Take Over Ethiopian Bases in Mogadishu

In a flourish, Sarkozy stresses global reform

UK: Athiest bus slogan sparks driver protest

Coalition Agrees on Emissions Cuts

"Next Biofuels": Bursting The Green Bubble

.....it's all about the Green

Simon & Garfunkle
The Boxer

I am just a poor boy
and my story's seldom told.

I have squandered my resistance
for a pocketful of mumbles
such are promises...

All lies and jest!
Still, a man hears what he wants to hear
and disregards the rest

WFRL: Excuse Me, Moses

Excuse Me Moses
Godzilla Killa

Moses: The Birth of a Leader
Based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

The parshah of Shemot is the story of a galut - of the exile and enslavement of the Children of Israel in Egypt, which our sages regard as the father and prototype of all subsequent exiles and persecutions of the Jewish people. It is also the story of the making of the quintessential Jewish leader, Moses.

Everything the Torah tells us about Moses is a lesson in Jewish leadership. We are told that Moses' mother, Jocheved, was born "between the boundary walls" of Egypt when Jacob's family first arrived there. This, explains the Lubavitcher Rebbe, means that Jocheved belongs neither to the "old generation" born in the Holy Land, to whom galut will always be a foreign and unknowable world; nor is she of the generation born in Egypt, to whom the state of exile is a most natural and obvious fact of life. Rather, she straddles both these worlds, meaning that she has intimate knowledge of the circumstance of galut as well as the transcendent vision to supersede it. So Jocheved is the woman in whose womb could be formed, and under whose tutelage could develop, the one who could redeem the Children of Israel from their exile.

The circumstances of Moses' birth are a lesson in the selflessness demanded of the leader. Jocheved and Amram had separated when Pharaoh decreed that all newborn Hebrew males be cast in the Nile. Their eldest daughter, Miriam, rebuked them: "Your decree is worse than Pharaoh's: Pharaoh decreed to annihilate the males, and your action shall spell the end of all Jewish children." Amram and Jocheved realized that, as leaders whose actions will be emulated by others, they had to rise above the personal danger and anguish involved in fathering Jewish children in these terrible times. The result of their remarriage was the birth of Moses.

Infancy and Childhood

When Moses is born, the "house was filled with light" attesting to his future as the enlightener of humanity. But right away this light has to be hidden, for he, as all Hebrew newborn males, lives in perpetual fear of discovery by Pharaoh's baby killers. Then he is placed in the Nile, precariously protected only by a reed basket, sharing, if only in potential, the fate of his fellow babes cast into its waters.

Here we have a further lesson in leadership: the leader cannot appear from "above," but must share the fate of his people. This was the lesson which G-d Himself conveyed by first appearing to Moses in a thornbush: "I am with them in their affliction."

But Moses' placement in the Nile was not only a demonstration of empathy with the plight of Israel: it was also the first stage of their salvation. Our sages tell us that Pharaoh ordered all Hebrew male babies to be cast into the Nile because his astrologers told him that the savior of Israel will meet his end by water (this prediction was fulfilled many years later when Moses was prevented from entering the Holy Land because of the "Waters of Strife"). On the day that Moses was placed in the Nile, Pharaoh's astrologers informed him that the one destined to redeem the people of Israel has already been cast into the water, and the decree was revoked. As a three-month-old infant, seemingly a passive participant in the events surrounding him, Moses was already fulfilling his role as a savior of his people.

Thanks to Miriam's ingenious ploy, Moses is nursed and raised by his own mother in his early childhood. But then he is brought to Pharaoh's palace to be raised as a member of the royal family. Moses must be both Hebrew slave and Egyptian prince. To lead his people, he must share their fate; to defeat the forces that enslave them, he must infiltrate the citadel of Egyptian royalty. He must "come to Pharaoh" (Exodus 10:1) and gain intimate knowledge of the essence of his power and vitality.

Defender of Israel

The first of Moses' actions to be explicitly recounted by the Torah delineate two central tasks of the leader: to defend his people from external threat, and to safeguard their internal integrity.

On the day that Moses attains adulthood, he "goes out to his brothers" and "sees their affliction" - his years in Pharaoh's palace have not inured him against affinity with this tribe of Hebrew slaves and sensitivity to their plight. He sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew to death. He is compelled to act, sacrificing, with this single action, his privileged life as a member of the ruling class and binding his fate to that of his brethren.

The very next day Moses acts again, this time to intervene in a quarrel between two Jews. Seeing two of his brethren in conflict, he suddenly comprehends that the source of their enslavement is not the power of Egypt, but their own internal disunity, and that the key to their redemption lies in fostering a sense of mutual interdependency and responsibility among the members of the fledgling nation of Israel.

From these two demonstrations of leadership one would expect Moses to proceed directly to his ordained role as leader of Israel. But first he had to become a shepherd.

The Faithful Shepherd

For the role of a leader in Israel is not only to defend, redeem, preach and govern, but, also and primarily, to nurture. Moses is the savior of Israel and their teacher and legislator, but also their raaya meheimna - their "faithful shepherd" and "shepherd of faith" - meaning that he is the provider of their needs, both materially and spiritually, feeding their bodies with manna and feeding their souls with faith.

So Moses is driven from Egypt to faraway Midian to become a shepherd of Jethro's sheep. The Midrash relates how another shepherd, David, learned the art of leadership by caring for his father's flocks: he would have the small kids graze first on the tender tips of grass before allowing the older sheep and goats to feed on the middle portion of the stalks, and only afterwards releasing the strong, young rams to devour the tough roots. A leader cannot simply point the way and a teacher cannot simply teach; he must "shepherd" his flock, supplying to each guidance and knowledge in a manner that can be absorbed and digested by its recipient.

The Midrash also tells how, one day, a kid ran away from the flock under Moses' care. Moses chased after it, until it came to a spring and began to drink. When Moses reached the kid he cried: "Oh, I did not know that you were thirsty!" He cradled the runaway kid in his arms and carried it to the flock. Said the Almighty: "You are merciful in tending sheep - you will tend My flock, the people of Israel."

The Lubavitcher Rebbe points out that in addition to demonstrating Moses' compassion, the incident holds another important lesson: Moses realized that the kid did not run away from the flock out of malice or wickedness - it was merely thirsty. By the same token, when a Jew alienates himself from his people, G-d forbid, it is only because he is thirsty. His soul thirsts for meaning in life, but the waters of Torah have eluded him. So he wanders about in foreign domains, seeking to quench his thirst.

When Moses understood this, he was able to become a leader of Israel. Only a shepherd who hastens not to judge the runaway kid, who is sensitive to the causes of its desertion, can mercifully lift it into his arms and bring it back home.

The Ultimate Sacrifice

After many years of leadership in the making, the stage is set. He was a Hebrew baby cast into the Nile, an infant at Jocheved's breast, a young Egyptian prince, a fearless defender of his people, an equally fearless campaigner for Jewish unity, a shepherd in the wilderness. Then G-d revealed Himself to him in a burning bush to say: I have seen the affliction of My people, I have heard their cries, I know their sorrows. I'm sending you to redeem them. Go, take them out of Egypt, and bring them to Mount Sinai for their election as My chosen people.

Most amazingly, Moses refuses to go.

He doesn't just refuse - for seven days and seven nights he argues with G-d, presenting every conceivable excuse to decline his commission, until "G-d's anger burned against Moses."

First came the excuse of humility: "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

G-d ends all debate along those lines with the words: "I will be with you." Can even "the humblest man on the face of the earth" plead unworthiness after that?

But I don't know Your essence, says Moses. How can I present myself as a messenger when I can't explain the nature of the One who sent me?

So G-d tells him who He is.

They won't believe me when I say that G-d sent me.

G-d rebukes Moses for slandering His people. Yes, they will believe you. Whatever else you say about them (and there's lots to say), they are believers. But if you're not convinced of their faith, here's a few magic tricks you can perform.

Moses' excuses are running out. He tries: But I have a speech impairment. A leader needs to give speeches, you know.

G-d's answer is so obvious it hardly needs repeating.

So Moses finally just cries: O please, my G-d, don't send me. "Send by the hand of him whom You shall send."

Why, indeed, is Moses acting so strangely? His brothers and sisters are languishing under the taskmaster's whip; Pharaoh is bathing in the blood of Jewish children. The moment for which the Children of Israel have hoped and prayed for four generations has finally come: G-d has appeared in a burning bush to say, "I am sending you to redeem My people." Why does Moses refuse? Out of humility? Because he's not a good speaker?

Our sages interpret the words, "Send by the hand of him whom You shall send," to mean: send by the hand of him whom You shall send in the end of days, Moshiach (the Messiah), the final redeemer of Israel.

The Chassidic masters explain that Moses knew that he would not merit to bring Israel into the Holy Land and thereby achieve the ultimate redemption of his people. He knew that Israel would again be exiled, would again suffer the physical and spiritual afflictions of galut (if Moses himself would have brought the Children of Israel into the Holy Land and built the Holy Temple, they would never have been exiled again and the Temple would never have been destroyed, since "all Moses' deeds are eternal"). So Moses refused to go. If the time for Israel's redemption has come, he pleaded with G-d, send the one through whom You will effect the complete and eternal redemption. For seven days and nights Moses contested G-d's script for history, prepared to incur G-d's wrath upon himself for the sake of Israel.

(This extreme form of self-sacrifice, in which a man like Moses jeopardizes his very relationship with G-d for the sake of his people, was to characterize Moses' leadership throughout his life. When the people of Israel sinned by worshipping the Golden Calf, Moses said to G-d: "Now, if You will forgive their sin--; and if You will not, blot me out of the Book which You have written.")

Nor did Moses ever accept the decree of galut. After assuming, by force of the divine command, the mission to take Israel out of Egypt, he embarked on a lifelong struggle to make this the final and ultimate redemption. To the very last day of his life, Moses pleaded with G-d to allow him to lead his people into the Holy Land; to his very last day he braved G-d's anger in his endeavor to eliminate all further galut from Jewish history. In Moses' own words: "I beseeched G-d... Please, let me cross over and see the good land across the Jordan, the good mountain [Jerusalem] and the Levanon [the Holy Temple]. And G-d grew angry with me for your sakes... and He said to Me: Enough! Speak no more to Me of this matter..." (Deuteronomy 4:23-26).

Says the Lubavitcher Rebbe: G-d said "Enough!" but Moses was not silenced. For Moses' challenge of the divine plan did not end with his passing from physical life. The Zohar tells us that every Jewish soul has at its core a spark of Moses' soul. So every Jew who storms the gates of heaven clamoring for redemption continues Moses' struggle against the decree of galut.