The children, dressed in specially made priestly garments, enthusiastically practiced the First Fruits ritual, which is central to the Shavuot service. Afterwards, adult Cohanim from the Temple Institute’s Nezer Hakodesh School for Kohanim, demonstrated the full Shavuot service including the First Fruits and Twin Loaves offering.

It is a positive commandment to bring an offering of the first fruits of one’s field, specifically, from the seven species of the Land of Israel, and to present them to a priest in the Holy Temple, as the Torah states: “You shall bring your first fruits to the House of the Lord your God… ” (Ex. 23:19)

In addition to the first fruit offering of the seven species, another offering was brought to the Holy Temple on Shavuot from the first of the harvest: The “twin loaves,” two loaves of wheat bread baked from newly harvested wheat. This special offering, the only leaven ever brought to the Temple, was also “waved” before the presence of God and thus elevated… and these breads represented the blessing of God’s influence and blessing on man’s earthly, physical needs throughout the year. These two breads were waved on the eastern side of the altar by a Cohen, together with an offering of two sheep for the festival.

The event was part of the Temple Institute’s ongoing efforts to prepare for the Third Holy Temple. Having already researched all relevant halakhic information and recreated more than 60 sacred vessels for use in the Temple, the Institute is now focusing on training kohanim in rituals that have not been practiced for over 2,000 years.

Rabbi Chaim Richman, International Director of the Temple Institute commented: “The world has never been so ready for the rebuilding of the Third Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Today’s event was yet another sign of the spiritual awakening that is growing stronger every day in the Land of Israel and around the world, as more and more people, young and old, are joining the effort to rekindle the flame of the Holy Temple and make concrete steps toward the rebuilding of the Holy Temple in our day. Having recreated over 60 sacred vessels and published dozens of books on the topic, the Temple Institute is now proud to be training a new generation of kohanim in the ways of their ancestors.”

Let’s talk about Yellowstone first. In recent months, the big geysers have been behaving very strangely and this is something that my wife and I covered on our television show. And now, just over the past week there have been three very significant earthquakes in the region. On June 9th, there was a magnitude 3.7 earthquake, on June 13th there was a magnitude 4.3 earthquake and earlier today there was a magnitude 4.0 earthquake. Yes, the area around Yellowstone is hit by earthquakes all the time, but most of them are extremely small. For earthquakes of this size to be striking right around Yellowstone is highly unusual and more than just a little bit alarming.

California: A magnitude-5.2 earthquake centered in the desert northeast of San Diego caused shaking early Friday morning across Southern California. The earthquake occurred at about 1 am northwest of Borrego Springs in San Diego County, according to the USGS. The earthquake was initially reported with a magnitude of 5.1 before it was revised to 5.2, according to the USGS.

But that earthquake was not the end of it by any means. It is being reported that this large quake was followed by at least 800 aftershocks. Yes, we normally expect there to be aftershocks after a large quake, but to have that many is very, very unusual. The quakes that have been striking farther north off the coast of northern California and Oregon are also of great concern as well.

Just recently, I wrote about the fact that the federal government has been conducting drills that have attempted to simulate the response to a magnitude 9.0 Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. If such an earthquake were to strike at this moment, the damage caused would be incalculable. And the USGS has confirmed that such an earthquake is very possible and that it “would likely trigger huge tsunami waves”…

Scientists tell us that we are actually way overdue for such a quake and accompanying tsunami, and when it comes large numbers of Americans that are clustered right along the coastline will die. Why all of this is of greater concern now is due to the fact that many areas along the “Ring of Fire” that roughly encircles the Pacific Ocean are roaring to life right now. The crust of our planet is becoming increasingly unstable, and we have seen a series of very disturbing earthquakes and volcanic eruptions so far in 2016.

Here in the United States, in recent weeks we have seen very large earthquake swarms develop under Mount Hood, Mount Rainier and Mount Saint Helens simultaneously. Perhaps you don’t think that this is significant, but many of the experts sure do. At some point there will be major volcanic eruptions along the west coast. At some point there will be major earthquakes along the west coast. Scientists tell us that it is just a matter of time before we see these things. Unfortunately for all of us, these things may start happening with a frequency and an intensity that none of us are expecting.

As part of their increasingly desperate efforts to prevent a Brexit vote, Eurocrats are trying to maintain a discreet silence about their future plans to give Brussels even greater powers. From outlawing high-energy domestic appliances, such as dishwashers, kettles and hair-dryers, to interfering in the running of our ports, EU officials are keeping schtum about their plans. This reticence, moreover, applies in particular to their controversial plans to announce the formation of a European army as soon as the referendum vote is over.

At a time when the EU is involving itself more in undertaking security operations, such as tackling people-smuggling gangs in the Mediterranean and piracy in Somalia, it clearly makes sense for participating states to work together.

But what makes the proposals set out in the EU’s Global Strategy on Foreign Security Policy – to give the initiative its full title – both dangerous and unworkable is the presumption that Brussels will ultimately control the military assets of member states, rather than member states retaining the authority to decide whether they wish to involve themselves in a particular EU security initiative.

Such a proposition is dangerous because, by establishing its own command structure, the EU is setting itself up as a direct rival to Nato. There are many in Europe, particularly in France, who resent America’s dominant role in the transatlantic alliance, even though it is largely due to American firepower that Europe has enjoyed peace and prosperity since the end of the Second World War.

Certainly, so far as Britain’s interests are concerned, preserving the status quo, whereby Nato is responsible for defending the Western alliance, is by far the best option. And, if the EU insists on setting up a rival army of its own, then the only sensible course of action is to vote to leave.

"We are about to make the biggest political decision of our lives. The Sun today urges everyone to vote LEAVE," the editorial begins. The editorial argues that the UK "must set ourselves free from dictatorial Brussels," and that the country's future would be "far bleaker" if it remained.

'Recapture our democracy'. "Our country has a glorious history," the newspaper goes on to say. "This is our chance to make Britain even greater, to recapture our democracy, to preserve the values and culture we are rightly proud of." The Sun also accused the "Remain" camp of using scare tactics to convince voters to support the EU.

The editorial comes just as a new poll, conducted by YouGov for The Times newspaper, found that 46 percent of the country supported the idea of leaving the EU, compared with 39 percent who were in support of remaining. A separate poll in the Daily Telegraph delivered a far closer set of results. Pollsters universally failed to predict the outcome of 2015's general election in the UK.

Britons will head to the polls on June 23 for the referendum, which is raising fears of a possible break-up of the 28-member bloc.

German firms such as Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG have a large exposure to London and would be faced with big problems in a Brexit, revealed Felix Hufeld in an interview with German newspaper Tagesspiegel. Mr Hufeld said the banks were now assessing the consequences of leaving and how their business dealings would be affected. The president of Bafin said the European Central Bank (ECB) is also planning to closely monitor the situation.

But Mr Hufeld warned if Britain doesn't vote to remain "Germany's biggest banks would have the biggest problems… They have the most activities in, and with, London." It came as Swiss financiers described the Brexit effect as a 'tsunami.' Chief economist, Alan McQuaid at Merrion Capital Group Ltd spoke of Brexit as a "game-changer" on Swiss banks. Swiss National Bank President Jordan warned back in April that a so-called Brexit would cause “enormous stress” in Europe.

Support for the Leave campaign has surged in the final days ahead of the June 23 referendum, with out now taking a 19 point lead.

On Saturday, “Mein Kampf” became even more widely accessible in Europe. The Italian newspaper Il Giornale distributed copies of the book to readers of its Saturday edition – a decision that drew heavy criticism from Jewish groups in the country.

“Mein Kampf” has been available in German bookstores since January – but only in an annotated version that is supposed to point out inconsistencies and lies in Hitler’s arguments. There are more than 3,000 additional comments in that version.

According to German law, publishing the book without annotations would be considered seditious. But that is what right-wing publishing company Schelm is now planning to do. Prosecutors are investigating the plans and could file charges even before the book gets published. “This book is too dangerous for the general public,” library historian Florian Sepp told The Washington Post last year, reflecting a sentiment among several German experts on that research field.

It is part of a government-funded drive for schools to be more sensitive to "trans" children who are questioning their gender identity. Diversity campaigners have warned schools that current policies risk discriminating against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender pupils (LGBT).

Julie Robinson, general secretary at the Independent Schools Council, said public and private schools would soon follow suit and that some had already adjusted their policies to accommodate transgender children. But Christian organisations have raised concerns that introducing a choice of uniform could confuse young children and lead older pupils to question their identities at a time when they need reassurance.

It’s surprising to see the mainstream media have tried to keep this silent as even the website of the National Bank of Belgium didn’t bother to issue the press release in English (whereas all other press releases on the home page can be read in English). There’s no statement from the ECB either, nor has this news been translated on the English version of the website of the state-owned national television station.

The situation is so bad the regulator has already immediately tasked the special fund organizing the Deposit Guarantee Scheme to start paying out the clients of the bank, even though Optima Bank hasn’t filed a bankruptcy procedure just yet. The urgency of the need to pay the clients does indicate the situation is extremely bad and even though it’s a very small one (it had closed the savings accounts division last year), there are two more important things you need to keep in mind.

First of all, Optima was one of the banks which tried to attract new customers with sky-high interest rates. Suspiciously high, we might add. This reminded us of the Deutsche Bank promo in Belgium which also promised ultra-high interest rates on some of its products, as Optima clearly had a real need to see a cash inflow.

But secondly, and this is even more important, according to the official filings, the National Bank of Belgium had already effectively taken control of Optima Bank by appointing a ‘special commissioner’ to approve all transactions. Even though the NBB has only revoked the banking license just a few days ago, that special commissioner was already appointed in the first half of May.

That creates a completely new question. Are there other banks in the Eurozone which are under extremely strict supervision by the national (or supranational) regulators? If a Central Bank doesn’t even announce when a special commissioner is being appointed, how can the public be sure its deposits are safe? What else is going on in the Eurozone behind closed doors?

In fact, Banco Popular was one of the banks that had been definitively cleared by the European Central Bank in its 2014 study which was supposed to have a stricter overview of the entire sector. If you thought the crisis in the European banking sector was over, think again. Part 2 is just about to start.