1. religion and spirituality
2. judaism

“ISRAEL REJECTED, BUT WITH A FUTURE”
(study of past, current, and future of Israel, based on Romans 9 - 11)
We want to discover what it means ‘..it is that stoniness, to a degree, has come upon Israa’el, until the
Gentile world enters in its fullness…’ and ‘….that it is in this way that all Israel will be saved.
How do we have to read these chapters and what is the position of the congregation of believers
in Yeshua in all of this?
Tefillah
Today I want to start w/ some introductory comments, & then share my main thoughts; later I will go
into specific topics related to our subject. First of all, the MJ world has no single way to look at our
subject matter today. We don’t make statements that everyone has to believe in. We recognize that
there are different ways to view the topic, but we generally agree that G-d is not done loving, having
mercy upon and using our people. We do agree that a good # of promises towards our people have yet
to be fulfilled, and will find their fulfillment in the future.
Most often, we prefer to discuss this subject, as the J. world always does, w/ open minds to other
viewpoints, w/o thinking there should be no other opinion than our own. In fact, in the J. world, it is
thought that if you don’t study other opinions, you are not really well educated. To form our own
thoughts and perspectives, it is thought that we need to see the entire picture. With that being said,
today you will hear how I look at this subject, and how our fellowship in Israel sees it.
Our subject is: “ISRAEL REJECTED, BUT WITH A FUTURE”
So immediately upon learning of our subject matter, I asked myself:
How is Israel ‘rejected’? (verse: rom. 11.1-2=haposato, which means ‘rejected’, & it is answered in v. 2:
ouk haposato: NOT REJECTED. There is no rejection of Israel; v. 11 (eptay-san, stumbled), 15 (casting
aside of messiah), 20 (ex-eklasthesan, a breaking off), 25 (porosis=a closed mind, or ‘stoniness’), 28
(even uses the word ‘hated’ in a very limited context)… but never is it written that G-d has ultimately
rejected Israel. I don’t find ‘rejected’ to be an accurate or biblically used word to described G-d’s rel.
w/my people.
Not in an ultimate sense: (Rom. 9.4-5 [not a language, not terms of rejection]) , Zech. 8.23=future;
Isa. 19.25=future [explain this verse]—for these things to yet happen, G-d could not have ultimately
rejected Israel, nor our nat’l calling); so, our national calling has not been rejected (Rom. 9.4-5 ; Ex.
19.5-6 & Deut. 4.4-8); & our covenants with G-d have not been cancelled.
Jer. 31:34 ¶
This is what ADONAI says,
who gives the sun as light for the day,
who ordained the laws for the moon and stars
to provide light for the night,
who stirs up the sea until its waves roar —
ADONAI-Tzva’ot is his name:
Jer. 31:35
“If these (natural) laws leave my presence,” says ADONAI,
“then the offspring of Isra’el will stop being
a nation in my presence forever.”
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Jer. 31:36 ¶
This is what ADONAI says:
“If the sky above can be measured
and the foundations of the earth be fathomed,
then I will reject all the offspring of Isra’el
for all that they have done,” says ADONAI.
Shaul repeats the same message of Jer., from some 550 yrs. b/4 Shaul lived: Rom. 11.29: “ for the gifts
& calling of G-d are not revocable”).
If Shaul had wanted to indicate that Israel’s covenants w/G-d were no longer valid, he would have put
his verbs in Rom. 9.4 in the past tense in Gk; they are present tense: “the people of Israel—that have the
status as sons, the Presence of G-d [in Temple], the covenants, the gift of the Torah, the Temple worship,
and the promises (in the scriptures re: the future)…” None of this indicates that these gifts have been
revoked. In fact, Shaul’s summary statement in Rom. 11 is this: and he’s referring to the J. people here:
11.28-9:
“The gifts and callings of G-d are not taken back/cancelled”
In Gk. text, “charismata” (gifts) & “klesis” (calling) are not taken back. In present tense. In an affirmative
tense.
Additionally:
Rom. 11:1 ¶ “In that case, I say, isn’t it that God has repudiated his people?” Heaven forbid! For I myself
am a son of Isra’el, from the seed of Avraham,u of the tribe of Binyamin.
Rom. 11:2 God has not repudiated his people, whom he chose in advance
In vv. 1-2, Shaul asks if “haposato” (throwing aside, throwing away) has happened to J. people, by G-d.
His answer is “haleela” (‘Heaven forbid’ in today’s Heb., probably the same phrase then). Today, “ no
chance, no way, never”, “it should never happen”. Very strong Heb. In the Koine, it reads: “me
genoito”==”not in existence”, “may it never come into existence”, “it will not be”. We have a good J.
phrase in the Koine here.
So, to conclude, Rom. 11.1-2, 11.28-29 directly tell us that as of the year 55 or so, Israel had not lost its
place nor function in G-d’s plan. And to further conclude, whatever problems there are in the rel.
between G-d & Isr. that are being talked about here, are temporary ones. They are between G-d &
Israel, & they will be solved.
As you know, much of church history has interpreted Shaul to say that G-d once and for all rejected
Israel’s calling & gifting; but, he was not saying this. If Shaul had said this, he would be contradicting the
verses which I just mentioned, as well as how he lived his own personal life (Acts 28.17: to the very end,
he was a Torah-loving, covenant faithful Jew. If G-d had cancelled the covenants, Shaul would not have
lived this way, or he’d have been hypocritical.
One of the problems that we have is that in our native tongues today, we are studying biblical texts
that are a translation (Dutch) of a translation (Greek)—3rd hand, as we call this in English. In an Israeli
court of law today, if you hear something 3 rd hand (thru 3 sources), it would not be a valid testimony.
It’s too far removed from the original words spoken, so the court can’t be sure it is true to those words.
But this is what we have in our Bibles today. Adding to the problem, we are studying a Semitic set of
rabbinic writings (the Bible, both older & newer test. writings) with a 21st century, Western mindset,
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based on Hellenist ways of thinking. But, our scriptures were written in 2,000 to 3,300 years ago, in a
Semitic/Jewish mindset. Can u see what I am saying? Then, the type of Gk. that the NT writings are
written is is called “koine”. It has recently been categorized (by some, not all) scholars as a very J. type of
Gk., with J. words, concepts and idioms sprinkled thru out each NT book. In fact, my book “James the
Just” isolates and comments upon a dozen of these idioms that we cannot fully understand if we don’t
see their J. context.
(I wrote a commentary to the bk of Jas. In 2011: “Jas the Just”, in which I interpret this book thru 1 st
century J. lenses & thru the 1st cent. J. calendar, which is a key to understanding his points).
Story of Isaiah Gruber’s roommate (I told the story not knowing that Isaiah Gruber was sitting in the
audience!!) Point: biblical Gk. also needs to be understood from its context as the lang. of the Jewish
world in the Gk. speaking Diaspora. Most often, we do not think of this when we study the NT writings.
But it is crucial!!
To understand any biblical topic well, permit me to say: the closer you can get to the original text
language and mindset, the better you can interpret the text. So for those of you who have the
opportunity, if u can study Biblical Hebrew, do so. It will greatly enrich your ability to study the
scriptures. Koine Greek, as well. And this is also why understanding the Jewish world is helpful. Jewish
history, Jewish biblical exegesis and commentaries, can help you better understand the scriptures. So can
some parts of rabbinic literature, such as Tractate Sanhedrin of the Talmud; and Tractate Yoma of the
Talmud; and Tractate Rosh HaShana of the Talmud. All of these look at scriptures that you know, and
address the question of how do we live as a community in light of these scriptures? It is a pity that
instead of learning about their Jewish roots, that the historic church has ignored rabbinic writings. E.g.,
knowing Rabbi Ishmael’s 13 methods of interpreting the Bible would help any student. Knowing Rabbi
Hillel’s 7 methods of interpreting the Bible would do the same. These are all recorded, but mostly
ignored by the xian world. Yet, they can help bring u closer to the world in which our holy messiah lived,
and which he was a part of.
One key to understanding much of Romans chs. 9-11 is 11.17-20.
If all believers understood the truths of these few verses, church history would have very different. And
still today, if you can comprehend the great meaning this has for your lives, you will both see and live
out your connection to Israel in a way that gives incredible meaning to your faith.
Perhaps Shaul saw into the future, and knew that by the 21 st century, very few J. persons would follow Y.
as Messiah. Maybe he knew that there would have to be a major move of G-d among my people, as
described in Zech. ch. 12.10-ch. 13 (read some of this), to remedy this situation. And so “all Israel”
would need to be “saved”.
OTOH, you need to know that:
 all the early students of Y. were Jews
 by the year 60 (30 years after Y. died), 20% of Jlm. (all Jews), believed in Y.: cf. Acts 21.20(‘myriades’, some of these 20,000 men had wives and children=ups the %; it was customary for a
man to wed by 17 yrs. old then; if each man mentioned had 1 child==% could have reached up to half
of the city’s pop. These are not stats that show that the J. people, as a whole, rejected Y. then.
 these J. men & women spread the good news into Africa, Asia and Europe. Without them, Europe
may not have gotten the good news till much, much later
 these early J. believers opened the door for people of all nations to approach the One True G-d and
His messiah (look at Acts ch. 15 and the decisions that were made there). As halakhic decisions, these
were ‘earth-shaking’ decisions. Never b/4 in J. history, had a decision like this been made, granting
anyone access to the G-d of Israel & to Israel’s Messiah & coming king. These J. men, sitting as a MJ
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Sanhedrin (define the term), did u a favor: they paved the way for you to enter the K. of G-d in the
way of “darkay no’am” (Heb. for halakhic decisions that remove difficulties to serve G-d, so they
make serving G-d easier).
there was not an entire rejection of our holy Messiah Y. by the J. people in the 1st century. Not at all.
So Shaul was not saying this.
In fact, Shaul teaches that all nations should be grateful to Israel for Israel’s faithfulness to G-d, which
resulted in the spread of the good news—(verse)
And so, what is this ‘rejection’ that Shaul writes about?
Again, it is not an ultimate rejection…it is like Lk 15 (which BTW, may just be a story about G-d & Israel,
symbolically told as a story of a father & his son). The son wanders, but finds his way back. How many of
you are parents? I am. Don’t answer this, but let me ask: has a child of yours ever had a rough stretch of
relationship w/you, left home, angry at you, & u didn’t know what would become of them? That is what
we are talking about. Did u reject your son or daughter then? I bet not. Neither does G-d ever reject Isr.
when we as a nation wander from our calling. This is what we are talking about: my people functioning
fully in our calling of Ex 19.5-6 & Deut. 4.4-8. To some degree, we’ve wandered. But we will be restored.
Here is the mystery in the entire picture: The rejection from the J. people towards G-d that occurred was
a part of G-d’s plan.
So was, BTW, the rejection that our holy M. Yesh. experienced.
Isa. 53: , ‘it pleased G-d to crush him…;
When Gd is involved in planning something, I don’t think we ought to judge who is responsible for what
happens. Ultimately, G-d does take responsibility for such. I.e.: If the J. people experience a rejection, this
process was a part of G-d’s plan to bring the good news to nations of the world. The J. people, like M.
Yeshua, become rejected only for a short while, and rejection does not mean an ultimate rejection. Y.
suffered, was rejected by man & G-d Himself both planned and allowed this to happen: to his own son.
The J. people, similar to our messiah, experienced rejection that also was temporary, & also was for a
redemptive purpose.
To paraphrase Shaul in vv. 11-15: “A mysterious, tough situation has occurred. Many in Israel do not
believe in Y. as messiah. But G-d will work this for the good…Gentile (& Jewish) students of Messiah can
love & serve Jewish people so much, that it will make us ask, “Why are u doing this, & so make us
jealous of the rel. w/G-d that is experienced. In the end, things will come full circle, and all Israel will
experience life from the dead”.
So there has been a partial rejection, as v. 15 notes. But it is not permanent. Plus, now come some hard
words from me to you. Forgive me if I seem strong here, but I am only letting u know how my people
see the situation. If the church in history had made showing love to the J. people an aim, a goal as Shaul
seems to teach here, then much more love would have been experienced by J. world thru out church
history. Instead, an unfortunate turn of events began, early on in ch. history. Teachers like Marcion &
Chrysostom came and taught anti-Jewish teaching, opposed to Shaul’s very points here. Marcion taught
that there were 2 gods: 1 in the 1st 39 books, and another in the last 27.
Chrysostom taught that G-d rejected my ancestors bcuz we were unfaithful to Him. And these teachers
were wildly popular, setting the foundation for the church’s view of the J. world for almost 2 thousand
years. The church has been a vehicle of rejection, hatred & hostility towards J. people for most of its
history. (My g-ma’s story).
So, you can say, ‘I'm not from the Russ. Orth. church, that’s not me.’ And u are right. But J. people can’t
make that distinction; a xian is a xian, period. If Russ Orth persecuted me, then I think that the xians
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persecuted me, bcuz they are the xians who I am exposed to. If we add the Crusades, the Inquisition, the
e. European pogroms, Luther’s anti-Jewish writings & today’s evangelical ch. being so pro-Palestinian &
anti-Israel, it is no wonder my people say, ‘There go those anti-Semitic xians once again, doing what
they have always done: hating us.” I’m just saying that church history made many J. people reject Y. in
more recent times, for how can the J. Messiah, if he was the real one, hate the J. people? It is not logical.
If his followers hate us, he can’t be the messiah!
The church’s task vis-à-vis the J. people was to love; “don’t boast as if you were better than the
branches”, writes Shaul in 11.18. In 19 he continues: “remember that you do not support the root, the root
supports you.” In this instruction, Shaul still tells them that the J. people continue to serve as their root.
There has been no divorce. There was supposed to be a loving relationship. (Ciocia’s story at deathbed
of survivors).
Such a loving relationship would have drawn the attention of Israel.
The love would draw attention, & also ‘jealousy’ would be a result.
Let’s look at the “jealousy” that Shaul talks about in v.14.
However, to those of you who are Gentiles I say this: since I myself am an emissary sent to the Gentiles, I
make known the importance of my work
in the hope that somehow I may provoke some of my own people to jealousy and save some of
them! (11.13-14).
I believe the jealousy that Shaul talks about here is not ‘jealousy’ about being loved by G-d, or called by
G-d. “We’re jealous of these non-Jews bcuz they know that G-d loves them, & we don’t”. No. “We’re
jealous of these non-Jews bcuz they are close to G-d and we are not.” No. He is not addressing that. The
J. world then, and many of us today, know that G-d loves us as a people and that He has called us to
serve Him. Here I think Shaul addresses functioning in one’s calling. In other words, Shaul hoped that he
would bring so many Gentiles into the k. of G-d, that his colleagues (Pharisees, other Judean scholars &
rabbis) would be jealous of that! He would provoke them to ask the questions: ‘why is Shaul so successful
in shining G-d’s lite? What is making him do what he does? ‘ Why do I think this? Because it was Israel’s
role & calling to bring the nations to the knowledge of the One True G-d. Nothing would make Shaul’s
colleagues want to understand his belief in Y. more than watching him succeed in causing pagans to
become believers in Israel’s G-d and in Israel’s messiah! Read Ex. 19.5-6 & Deut. 4.5-8.
Thru Yeshua, look at the tremendous success Shaul was having as he was carrying out the call of G-d to
Israel!
So the jealousy is not based on Israel losing our position as G-d’s loved nation. It is not based on being
insanely jealous of what the non-Jewish nations possess. Not at all. It is based on what Shaul was doing.
Sometimes I get ‘jealous’ (not in a hateful way; but I think, “I would really love to be like that”)…I see a
teacher teach the scripture, he is amazing, smooth, knowledgeable, people flock to him; they praise him,
they pay him well, he writes books, people read and love his books, they keep inviting him to speak &
teach…”I want to be like that” I say to myself. This is what Shaul is talking about, in my perspective. “We
want what Shaul has, bcuz he is really shining our light to people & causing them to believe in our G-d.
And that is our calling!”
Let me get to the heart of our study today. I was asked to talk about Romans 11.25:
‘..it is that stoniness, to a degree, has come upon Isra’el, until the Gentile world enters in
its fullness…’ and ‘….that it is in this way that all Israel will be saved.
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To understand the context of this verse, let’s understand that not all Jews of the 1st century rejected Y. as
Messiah. In fact, how did the good news spread worldwide? Faithful Jews spread his knowledge to Asia,
to Africa and to Europe! To all 3 continents! That is success in sharing him. I will talk about something
else for 5 minutes, to build the background for this verse.
Often we are taught that the Jewish world rejected Y. Oy! By the year 60, 30 yrs. after Y. died,
remember that Lk. gives us a picture of how popular Y. was in Jlm. Now, 1 st cent. Jlm. was a city of
100,000 people; there were 2 mil. J. people in Isr. then; and 2 mil. J. people in Babylonia (Iraq & Iran); 1
mil. J. people in Egypt; and 1 mil. J. people in Europe. Another 1 mil. J. people were scattered across No.
Africa & ME (Yemen & S. Arabia). Lk., by the way, strikes me as a very careful historian when he writes.
And remember that Lk. tells us that 20-50% of the city believed in him! (we talked about this
already).This is the heart of the J. homeland believing in Y. How precious. Please never forget this.
The other 6 mil. J. people worldwide who did not live in Isr., had not heard about Y. when Y. lived. So
how would they hear about him? MJews would have to reach them (Shaul did this in Cyprus in Acts &
in in Acts). At best, between 20-25% of all J. in the world ever heard about Y. by the year 40. Diaspora
J. communities did not appear to embrace Y. w/the enthusiasm that Jlm. did.
So as we look w/Shaul at his world in the 1st century, there are some similarities to today: there are J.
people who embrace Y. as messiah; most do not. In shaul’s day, most J. worldwide had not heard about
Y.
Today, all J. people have heard: but due to the terrible history between the church & the J. people, my
people are too emotionally hurt by xianity to consider whether Y. is the messiah, or not.
So, in Shaul’s day, there was a ‘blindness’, due to being in the diaspora, on behalf of 80% of the
worldwide J. pop., and we know that the family of the high priest of Judah did oppose Y. and his
students in the 1st generation (up to 70 a.d.)
But the J. commun. in Isr. had many enthusiastic students of Y., and they are the ones who indirectly
brought the good news to you by bringing it first to Europe. Dr. Ray Pritz, in his book, Nazarene J.
Xianity, gives a history of the MJs in Isr & Jordan up to the 4th cent.
And today, there is a ‘blindness’ towards Y, too. Yet, if we are honest, we will admit there is a blindness
towards Y. in every nation of the world. The ‘blindness’ today among my people is the result of the
horrible 2,000 yr. history between the ch. and the J. people.
Events such as the Crusades, the Inquisit. & e. eur. pogroms, all sponsored by ch. officials, has wounded
my people in a devastating way, towards seeing Y. (my g-mother’s story).
And then we add the Hol. to this, when 1.5 mil. J. children were slaughtered, the story of blindness is
complete. All J. people today ask, ‘where was the ch. during the Hol? where were Y’s followers then?
Why did they not speak out, defend & protect us ?’ Some believers did, but on the whole, there was
great silence & cooperation w/hitler.
G-d seemed silent; the ch. seemed silent. So u can and should understand that my people today have
been horrendously hurt in recent times. It is very typical for us to question G-d about this, & many of us,
including some in my own family, refuse to believe in G-d bcuz of the Hol. I understand; the pain blocks
our eyes.
But if we blame the J. people for this blindness, we behave in a way that is v. what is written in the
scripture. In fact, one has to go v. the scripture in Isa. 53.10, where it states: it pleased ADONAI to crush
him with illness, to see if he would present himself as a guilt offering. If he does, he will see his offspring;
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and he will prolong his days; and at his hand ADONAI’s desire will be accomplished.
In order to blame
and dislike J. people for supposedly killing & rejecting Y., you have to be ignorant of the fact that
Messiah pleased G-d when he died: ‘it pleased Adonai…at his hand Adonai’s desire will be accomplished ’,
is what the text says.
So we can conclude that this blindness that thru out the past 2,000 yrs. which has caused my people not
to consider Y. as Mess. is still present today. But it is not permanent. Shaul tells us about this blindness a
little more:
It is by means of their stumbling that the deliverance has come to the Gentiles, in order to provoke
them to jealousy.
Moreover, if their stumbling is bringing riches to the world — that is, if Isra’el’s being placed temporarily
in a condition less favored than that of the Gentiles is bringing riches to the latter — how much greater
riches will Isra’el in its fullness bring them! (Rom. 11.11-12).
Okay, back to our main verse: Rom. 11.25
‘..it is that stoniness, to a degree, has come upon Isra’el, until the Gentile world enters in
its fullness…’ and ‘….that it is in this way that all Israel will be saved.
We see the panoramic plan of G-d here towards Isr.: * a strain in the role of Isr. [for centuries],& when Gd decides that the time is right, then the events meant to restore Isr. to our destiny & role will occur:
Ez. 38, Zech 12,13, 14; Ps 2—resulting in Zech 8.23, Isa 19.
Rom. 11:15 εἰ γὰρ ἡ ἀποβολὴ (lit, “throwing out or away”) αὐτῶν καταλλαγὴ κόσμου, τίς ἡ πρόσλημψις
εἰ μὴ ζωὴ ἐκ νεκρῶν;--‘for if their rejection’… (following CJB, and my own translation, our rejection of
Y., not HaShem’s rejection of the J. people; Shaul argues that G-d has not rejected the J. people)
So, both in Shaul’s time, & today, there is a partial rejection on behalf of my people towards Y. as Mess.
And yet…
A positive sign that confirms that G-d is still working to renew my people & our nat’l calling==when I
immigrated to Isr. 30+ years ago, maybe 150 MJs thru out the entire nation. We all knew each other,
met together. Can’t do that anymore. Over 100 groups of believers in the country. G-d is showing
Himself to my people. Over 40 yrs. ago, to find a mj cong. was rare; we had to look hard. Today, there
are over 150 mj congs. that I am aware of, & probably many more. Zech. ch. 13 will someday happen;
this is a great description of the renewal that G-d will help my people with…& Zech. 8.23 & Isa. 19.25 are
great descriptions of the future of my people.
They describe what Romans 11 refers to.
I was asked to address, “What is the position of believers in Y. in all of this?” I will re-phrase the ques. to
be more direct: “What is the role of Gentile believers in Y. in all of this?”

every generation:
1. Ps 122.6 (do my study on it)
“Pray” is the common translation for the Hebrew word sha’alu, ‫שאלו‬, “ask”. However, this is not the best
translation of this word. Sha’alu in this context is best rendered as “asking with passion, intent, single
focus and energy”. It also includes using one’s resources to insure that something is completed (here, this
would refer to using one’s resources to help Jerusalem be in a state of “shalom”). Jewish jurisprudence
uses the root of this word “sha’alu” to refer to a legal inquiry made by an interested party to a court
judge. Such person then awaits the ruling of the judge upon his inquiry. Y. illustrates what is meant here
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when he told this story: “Then Y. told his students a story to show them that they should always pray and
not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what
people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant
me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what
people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she
won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his
chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see
that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the
earth?” (Lk. 18.1-8).
In vv. 3,5 & 7, we see the attitude that Ps 122 speaks of…persistently asking, asking, asking for
G-d to do what He has promised (in the Bible). V.3: ‘they keep coming to Him’; v. 5:
‘bothering me’; v. 7: ‘cry out to Him day & nite’. Why would we do this for ps. 122, v. 6 to
happen? Because it is the right, just & merciful will of G-d, that Jlm. will be the city of shalom.
We r partnering w/Him in His purposes when we carry out what ps 122.6 states.
TAKE QUESTIONS (half hour)
Bless you
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