Stories from the Bulldozer Attack

Six-month-old Efrat Onterman is left motherless after the murderous terror attack on Wednesday evening in Jerusalem. From the time her mother Batsheva Onterman was crushed to death right next to her during the terrorist’s tractor rampage, Efrat was already placed in the hands of a foster family “that first and foremost embraced her.” Afterwards, she was placed in her aunt’s care.

This heart-wrenching story started with the trampling of one of the vehicles during the terrorist’s lethal massacring campaign. Batsheva did not survive, but small Efrat who was by her side was miraculously left untouched.

The 33-year-old mother from Jerusalem will be laid to rest on Wednesday night at 11:30 pm at the Har HaMenuchot cemetery in the city. Elizabeth Goren Friedman, 54 from Jerusalem will be buried there as well. Another person was killed as a result of the malicious attack and dozens of others were injured.

The deadly terror attack in Jerusalem on Wednesday claimed the lives of three people and wreaked havoc on countless families. But perhaps the most touching, and tragic stories remains that of the five-month old baby girl who lost her mother in the rampage.

Eyal Zehavi, a Magen David Adom paramedic who rushed to the scene with his wife treated both the girl and another infant.

“Someone passed the baby to me and screamed, “I just saved her from the car in which her mother was killed,” said Zehavi.

“It took me a minute and a half to check her, I did an extensive examination of her body, looked for broken bones, wounds and breathing difficulties but thankfully she was fine and I transferred her to the ambulance which took her to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.”

Zehavi and his wife, who is seven months pregnant and also in the medical field, helped move the body of the baby girl's mother so it could be evacuated. (YNET)

The Bulldozer of Death

This video shows the path the bulldozer took, including footage showing the terrorist being killed from different angles.

Yet who exactly is this brave soldier?

On IDF "Galei Tzahal" Radio this morning, Orit Struk was interviewed as head of "Human Rights for Residents of YESHA" (West Bank), where she recounted how she knows this particular soldier quite well.

Before the Disengagement, when the pro-settler demonstrations were taking place, this teenager was assigned to film the demonstrations, as testimony to police brutality. While filming from the sidewalk, policemen beat him till he lost consciousness, he was then arrested, denied medical treatment and charged with, "attacking a police officer."

Over the following months, Orit's organization helped the teenager with legal and moral support. The case was eventually dismissed, due to "lack of sufficient evidence", but that is enough to keep a criminal record in Israel, "open". From there his problems only because worse.

When he was of draft age, he tried to enlist to elite units, yet the IDF wanted nothing to do with potential soldiers who had demonstrated against the Disengagement. He was sent to see the "Kaban", the IDF psychological evaluations officer to see if he was "fit" to serve, and was sent to him over and over again, as well as to other committees. He did not give up, and insisted he wanted to fight in Israel's elite IDF units. After close to a year of "bucking the system", he was allowed to join the elite "Egoz" unit. Orit added that this is currently the situation for hundreds of teenagers who demonstrated against the Disengagement.

We clearly see that this brave soldier is truly worthy of being in an elite unit, and its a shame the system tried it's best to discourage him.

Over the past few months, we see more and more "soldiers on leave" who have stopped terrorists. Maybe if we had more soldiers on leave, the country would be a safer place?

Warning: Semi-graphic picture ahead....

And who is this smiling gentleman?

It's the terrorist who drove the bulldozer. His family is complaining that he shouldn't have been shot.

The lawyer representing the family of bulldozer driver Hossam Dawyyat of east Jerusalem, who murdered three people and injured dozens during a killing spree in Jerusalem on Wednesday, said Thursday that had the police cuffed the terrorist's hands and legs and removed him from the vehicle, the incident would have ended at once and "life would have been spared."

The terror attack's third victim, Jean Relevy, 68, of Jerusalem, was laid to rest on Thursday afternoon.

Issam, the terrorist's brother, said the Dawyyat family refused to believe that their son carried out a terror attack.

"My brother did not belong to any organization. He wasn’t even a religious person. After terror attacks he always used to say, 'What is this nonsense? Why do we need this?'"

According to the brother, the incident may have been a road accident which had gone wrong. "Any person responsible for a road accident is alarmed and afraid. This can happen to anyone, and this could have been a road accident. It's possible that my brother was scared when people started chasing him and shooting," he told Ynet.

However, Issam did not rule out the possibility that his brother had lost control and gone on a rampage under the influence of drugs. "It was easy to irritate him. He had a criminal record for violence offenses and he was punished for this." (YNET)

This is what was taken away.

Why do we give up bodies of terrorists for burial? Let our enemies beg us for them.

















Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Attack in Jerusalem

Just got back from the terror attack in Jerusalem.

A tractor (driven by an Israeli Arab, resident of Tzur-Bacher, Jerusalem) went on a killing spree, smashing into cars and passer-byers. The rampage started on Sarei Yisrael street and making a left onto Yaffo st., where it also rammed 2 buses.

Updated Video: See the blue shirted 19 year old soldier, on leave from the army kill the terrorist with 3 shots. (starts at 2:35...)



About 30 wounded; 2 very seriously, 6 moderate, and about 30 less seriously.

Reports now of 5 3 dead, and about 50 wounded. The numbers keep wavering now...down to 3? Perhaps they discounted the terrorist as one of the dead.

See BBC video of the tractor smashing cars, and the the soldier taking out the terrorist.

The YouTube copy above is not bad.

Update: A 19 year old soldier, Moshe Plesser, jumped onto the tractor. Grabbing a pistol from a shell shocked YASAM policeman civilian security guard who was struggling to subdue the terrorist, Plesser shot the terrorist to death. Plesser is the nephew brother-in-law of David Shapira -- the soldier who killed the terrorist in the Merkaz Harav attack before Purim a few months ago.

Now that's a family!

(You can read Plesser's first-hand description of what happened here.)

The aftermath.

Its now a few hours later since the attack, and I wanted to compose my thoughts a bit.

At 11:55 the tractor started its journey of death, smashing into cars left and right. Around 1 minute later, I got a call from a neighbor who was listening to his Hatzala radio's Jerusalem frequency and he heard alot of intense chatter about "something going on."

He called me and told me get going...and I grabbed a co-worker (also a medic), and we ran to my car. Putting on the red strobe light, we flew out of our parking lot listening for directions where to go -- and then the picture became crystal clear.

Our Magen David Adom beepers went off simultaneously, announcing "ARAN, ARAN, ARAN" -- mass casulty attack in Jerusalem, near Yaffo street and Sarei Yisrael street. Flying low, we honked our way through traffic (most cars even go out of the way for us) as the Hatzala radio mentioned 2, maybe 3 different attack locations (many cars had been smashed, each with victims in it), plus buses...

I parked illegally on the sidewalk near the Israel Broadcasting Agency in Romema, putting my MDA sign on my car's dashboard, threw on my emergency vest, grabbed my gear and ran.

I waved to the security guard of the IBA, so he knew the car was "friendly" and he wouldn't try to tow it...ticket it...or have it blown up by police sappers.

Running down the street, towards the sires, the fire trucks, and the crowd, we passed smashed cars. Curious onlookers ran towards the scene, some were quietly on the sides of the street, others running away in panic -- and police and medical teams converged on Yaffo street.

Ducking under the crime scene tape, we ran towards the ambulances, and started helping treat the wounded and load them onto ambulances.

One woman cried and moaned, as we placed her into an ambulance, as someone (no idea if it was a relative, friend, or just someone helping out) held the injured woman's crying toddler. The ambulance sped off, and we looked for more people to help.

A policeman with a bomb sniffing dog scoured the area -- another policeman complete in bomb disposal body armor gingerly picked through bags of construction sand near one of the smashed cars, as he looked for a bomb.

35 minutes later, from the time we left, we returned back to the office.

Peeling off my gloves, my hands still shook a bit.

10 unanswered calls on my cellphone.

Time to get back to work.


Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Banning the iPod

Despite the attempts to elevate the ubiquitous iPod and other similar mp4 recording/playback devices to objects that are "kosher" within the ultra-orthodox Jewish community, the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Geula and Mea-Shearim are now plastered with "pashkevils" posters demonizing the gadget and technology.

"A terrible plague is upon us, calming victims every day… these sinful devices were banned by all the great rabbis, but are still common in the haredi world… their devilish distributors want nothing more than to drive the people of Israel to sin, through movies and other abominations"

"This little device is the devil's way to try and gain entrance to our protected homes and yeshivas, disguised as something you can listen to Torah lessons through"

YNET reports that the fight against the device reached a new level last week, when an MP4 supplier, whose store is located on the outskirts of Jerusalem's Meah Shearim neighborhood, found it vandalized – its window and showcases smashed. A second store, located just off the capital's Shabbat Square, did not fare much better: It too was vandalized and its repair lab burnt down. Some say that was an event waiting to happen: For several weeks prior to the arson, a dozen-or-so yeshiva student used to demonstrate in front of the store every week and protest the sale of the banned devices.

I think it's time that Apple's master of marketing, Steve Jobs, show up with some new headgear and make a personal pitch.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Election Day kiddush

Jameel has expressed reservations about Gidon Sa'ar's new bill that would dock a day's pay from anybody who doesn't vote on election day. Jameel is not so comfortable with punishing non-voters, and neither am I.

There are other, more creative ways to address the problem of declining voter attendance, however: We can try using a carrot instead of a stick. How about providing free food at the polling stations? Of course, that would require funding for the food, so we've got to find a way to come up with the money. Well, how about we have the political parties provide the free food, out of their campaign budgets? They can each set up refreshment tents near the polling stations. Election day would become just like a big shul kiddush -- everyone will want to come. In fact, each party should recruit a sponsor for their Election Day "kiddush": Morris Talansky can sponsor the "kiddush" for Kadima, Ronald Lauder can sponsor it for the Likud, Octav Botner's estate for Labor...


Imagine: You could get hamin at the Shas booth, kugel at the UTJ booth, humus at the Arab parties, borsht by Lieberman, geriatric food at Gil, and sushi at Meretz. (If the Third Way was still around, I'm sure they'd serve bread in a pita, and Shinui would offer a spread of shrimp and lobster.) Kadima can offer free drinks from their mini-bars, and they'll probably promise the most "fun" food to eat (but everyone who does will develop an upset stomach by the time they get home...).

So how about it? It's a sure-fire way to boost election attendance. (Unless, of course, Jameel is serving waffles at the Muqata that day.)


Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Democracy in Action: Vote...or else.

Debate underway today in the Knesset...

Current Status: The National Election Day in Israel is already considered a paid vacation day (national holiday) for anyone who works.

Proposed Amendment by MK Gidon Sa'ar: Any employed person who does not vote in the national election day, will be penalized, and have their pay deducted (equivalent to one day's work).

Result: Its the equivalent of a fine if you don't vote.

Over time, the percentage of voters from the eligible voter population has been decreasing from the founding of the State (86.9% voting...and decreasing to the last election in 2006 with only 63.5%).

So, should one be "forced" to vote? While I'm in favor of voting, I'm not sure this is the best way to education people about democracy.

% Voting; Voter Pop ; Year ; Israeli Election

86.9% 506,567 1949 1
75.1% 924,885 1951 2
82.8% 1,057,795 1955 3
81.6% 1,218,483 1959 4
83.0% 1,271,285 1961 5
83.0% 1,499,709 1965 6
81.7% 1,748,710 1969 7
78.6% 2,037,478 1973 8
79.2% 2,236,293 1977 9
78.5% 2,490,014 1981 10
78.8% 2,654,613 1984 11
79.7% 2,894,267 1988 12
77.4% 3,409,015 1992 13
79.3% 3,933,250 1996 14
78.7% 4,285,428 1999 15
62.3% 4,504,769 2001 (Prime Minister elections)
68.9% 4,720,074 2003 16
63.5% 5,014,622 2006 17



Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Haveil Havalim #171: The Packing for Camp Edition

The Ima has come through again with Haveil Havalim #171: The Packing for Camp Edition.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Freeing Garbage for IDF soldiers

Amid the backdrop of a terrible human tragedy, the Israeli cabinet approved Sunday the prisoner exchange deal with Hizbullah, which will facilitate the return of IDF captives Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser.

Despite all the announcements to the families of Regev and Goldwasser, Israel's intelligence community changed it's mind over the past few weeks and their assessment is that the 2 missing IDF soldiers are dead.

In return for the 2 [dead?] soldiers, among those Israel will be releasing is the notorious Samir Kuntar. In an incredible show of personal dignity, Smadar Haran, the widow of Danny Haran (murdered by Kuntar) wrote to Israel's Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter stating she had no objections to Kuntar's release. The letter was read at today's cabinet meeting.

"The despicable, vile murderer Samir Kuntar isn’t, nor has he ever been, my private prisoner. Kuntar is a prisoner of the State, which sentenced him to five terms if life imprisonment for his vicious crimes," she wrote.

"His fate must be decided now, according to Israel's best defensive needs and moral interests, which should serve the people of Israel, now and in the future.

"I ask that my own personal pain not be taken into account when you deliberate, despite its significance and implications. I cannot overlook the pain and suffering of the Goldwasser and Regev families, or the moral debt I have to all those who have worked for my safety.

To get an idea of what sort of human garbage we are talking about, this is what Smadar Haran wrote in the Washington Post in May 2003. It is must reading to appreciate her current position.

Abu Abbas, the former head of a Palestinian terrorist group who was captured in Iraq on April 15, is infamous for masterminding the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro. But there are probably few who remember why Abbas's terrorists held the ship and its 400-plus passengers hostage for two days. It was to gain the release of a Lebanese terrorist named Samir Kuntar, who is locked up in an Israeli prison for life. Kuntar's name is all but unknown to the world. But I know it well. Because almost a quarter of a century ago, Kuntar murdered my family.

It was a murder of unimaginable cruelty, crueler even than the murder of Leon Klinghoffer, the American tourist who was shot on the Achille Lauro and dumped overboard in his wheelchair. Kuntar's mission against my family, which never made world headlines, was also masterminded by Abu Abbas. And my wish now is that this terrorist leader should be prosecuted in the United States, so that the world may know of all his terrorist acts, not the least of which is what he did to my family on April 22, 1979.

It had been a peaceful Sabbath day. My husband, Danny, and I had picnicked with our little girls, Einat, 4, and Yael, 2, on the beach not far from our home in Nahariya, a city on the northern coast of Israel, about six miles south of the Lebanese border. Around midnight, we were asleep in our apartment when four terrorists, sent by Abu Abbas from Lebanon, landed in a rubber boat on the beach two blocks away. Gunfire and exploding grenades awakened us as the terrorists burst into our building. They had already killed a police officer. As they charged up to the floor above ours, I opened the door to our apartment. In the moment before the hall light went off, they turned and saw me. As they moved on, our neighbor from the upper floor came running down the stairs. I grabbed her and pushed her inside our apartment and slammed the door.

Outside, we could hear the men storming about. Desperately, we sought to hide. Danny helped our neighbor climb into a crawl space above our bedroom; I went in behind her with Yael in my arms. Then Danny grabbed Einat and was dashing out the front door to take refuge in an underground shelter when the terrorists came crashing into our flat. They held Danny and Einat while they searched for me and Yael, knowing there were more people in the apartment. I will never forget the joy and the hatred in their voices as they swaggered about hunting for us, firing their guns and throwing grenades. I knew that if Yael cried out, the terrorists would toss a grenade into the crawl space and we would be killed. So I kept my hand over her mouth, hoping she could breathe. As I lay there, I remembered my mother telling me how she had hidden from the Nazis during the Holocaust. "This is just like what happened to my mother," I thought.

As police began to arrive, the terrorists took Danny and Einat down to the beach. There, according to eyewitnesses, one of them shot Danny in front of Einat so that his death would be the last sight she would ever see. Then he smashed my little girl's skull in against a rock with his rifle butt. That terrorist was Samir Kuntar.

By the time we were rescued from the crawl space, hours later, Yael, too, was dead. In trying to save all our lives, I had smothered her.

And what do I think?

1. The State of Israel gave up thousands of terrorists over the past 15 years to support the Oslo process which has brought nothing but the deaths of thousands of Israeli civilians and soldiers. Rockets continue to pound Southern Israel from Gaza, and terror continues unabated from the West Bank. And in return for giving away thousands of Palestinian terrorists and criminals, we have received exactly nothing. If we are able to tangibly receive captured IDF soldiers (living or dead) by exchanging them for Palestinian terrorists and criminals, then we have a moral responsibility do so. If we "sacraficed" so much for the failed promises of Oslo, then the least we do is get our soldiers back.

2. IDF soldiers grow more cynical daily as they see corrupt leaders of the likes of Ehud Olmert zig-zag on every decision possible. Ensuring the return of Goldwasser and Regev will send a signal to IDF soldiers that despire the corrupt leadership, the country is still willing to "pay the price" for their release. We will not leave them behind, as we have done so often for the past 2 decades.

We owe it to our soldiers -- we ask them to fight for us. The least we can do is bring them home.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Bridging Jerusalem

I can't compete with the "Great Toothpick in the Sky" line, but here are some pics of the Jerusalem Bridge of Strings from last nights ceremony, courtesy of the Jerusalem Municipality. Quite breathtaking.

Of course there's nothing like a little controversy, like when the girls dance troupe were told to cover up their performance.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

An Amazing Graduation -- Living the Dream

I can be proud of my daughter's graduation tonight from sixth grade and that she is starting "Ulpana" (Jr. High). Not proud that she "graduated" (its pretty hard to not graduate from 6th grade) -- but proud of the actual, impressive ceremony. In fact, it was as if the Muqata blog had written and directed the entire evening; sound, light, video, effects, Eretz Yisrael all rolled into one (though no one was wearing a yellow smiley face).

The "theme" of the evening was the "impending redemption" -- and the boys and girls had separate presentations (they aren't mixed in school either). The primary artistic presentation was about a class going on a forced museum trip, where they encountered different historical characters who came alive at the mention of the word "Geula" -- redemption. (The smoke machine and strobe added some cool effects).

Avraham Avinu proudly congratulated them for building up the land, and proving G-d's promise of לך אתן את הארץ הזאת -- "to you I will give this land".

The class comforted Rachel the Matriarch that her children were returning from Exile and rebuilding the land. How poignant was it that the class reminded her that some children were still missing and needed her prayers; Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser, Eldad Regev, Ron Arad... how current events mesh with our lives...and we don't even forget our missing soldiers -- even at a 6th grade graduation.

The class met a group of Jews...who were going to trash the store of "Shmuel the Shoemaker" -- because he was working on Shabbat. R' Kook arrived on the scene and told the crowd that only through "Ahavat Chinam" would the redemption come.

Yoni Netanyahu met the class as well -- one who gave his life for Ahavat Chinam -- on behalf of the Jewish people in his daring rescue mission at Entebbe.

Ben-Gurion, Naomi Shemer, and others characters met the class, all through the theme of "redemption" -- how close it is...how close it can be.

The following background painting summed it all up perfectly:

"Such is the redemption of Israel:
first, it is bit by bit,
but as it goes on,
the light continues to grow..."

(Mevaseret Zion -- here)

As the play ended, the sounds of the shofar erupted from all corners of the gymnasium.

May we merit redemption soon -- I could not be more proud of my daughter, her class, and her school.

Living the dream day by day, in Israel.


Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Singles in Jerusalem (continued) - סרוגים

YNET entitles their article about "Srugim" as "Sex and the holy city." The article itself isn't bad, but to put "sex" in the title is simply poor taste, considering the show (as explained to me by Laizy, the director), had to be "clean enough" for an 8 year old. Then again...we'll have to see as the show progresses. (Our 8 year old's aren't watching it regardless)

At the age of 32, Laizy Shapira is still single. It wouldn’t be so crucial if he were a professional Tel Avivian, but Shapira is a religious man who lives in Jerusalem and leads his sentimental life there, passionately claiming that the capital is the perfect place for a religious pick-up, just like Tel Aviv is the capital of secular pick-up.

"Jerusalem for the religious is like Tel Aviv for the seculars," he explained. "A religious person over the age of 20 who has yet to marry will find himself there. Shavuot, for example, is one of the greatest bachelorhood holidays, when everyone goes on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to the synagogues and our entertainment centers.

"In Jerusalem, by the way, you can find a larger number of girls wearing pants, you will find much more pluralism. It's really different from the image you have of it. It's just like Tel Aviv, with coffee shops, kosher bars and synagogues which are the center of our scene.

"On Fridays you can see large gatherings of people outside the fashionable synagogues, talking and flirting with each other, and a lot of sparkles in the air." (Rest available here)

Last night I was thinking; was this show just a "Jewish/Israeli" version of "Friends" or "Seinfeld"? It could have been, but isn't -- it's much more serious and introspective, and not written as a comedy. Would such a show even work in the US, based on the Upper West Side, Jewish Singles Scene -- if there wasn't a laughtrack constantly running throughout the show?

This show works for Israel, but I don't know if it would for the US...even though I'm sure it would have as much (if not more) source material available...

Laizy based lots of show on the real life experiences of him and his friends.

"My series is the most reliable religious thing I've seen on the screen. Every time religious people are presented on the screen, the skullcap is in the wrong angle or the text doesn’t make sense. I was strict with every single detail. Even the skullcaps were knitted by my niece."

He may deny it, but Shapira created the series mainly for himself, and perhaps in order to meet new girls. The majority of the "Srugim" plot is derived directly from his daily life as a 32-year-old bachelor who has gone on dozens of dates but has yet to find the one.

This may sound like a plot for another of the dating series sweeping the screen, but in Shapira's world this is a real crisis rather than romantic caprices.

"I have gone on many dates over the past decade," he says, "and after turning 30 my parents lost hope. They show a lot of support for what is happening to me now, but manage not to mention the wedding issue. They know I'm working on it."

And why shouldn't he make a TV series, if it gets him a shidduch? FrumSatire's trying to do the same thing with HIS blog.

Good Luck Laizy -- we're rooting for you!

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Dancing With Jameel

Welcome to the Muqata. I am Jack, one of the inmates that haunt this joint and I am pleased to take the helm for a moment. I have had the privilege and the pleasure of being a friend of Jameel's for a short while now.

During that time we have had all sorts of cool adventures. But the coolest and best of them all was that crazy day in Tel Aviv when we go to dance with Matt. If you click here you can watch the video. We're on at about 3:42 or so. If you look carefully you can see Joe Settler doing the cleveland clap step in the back.

It is indeed a wild and wacky world.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Srugim: (סרוגים) Rave Reviews

Israel's internet chats, blogs and media gave a resounding two-thumbs-up to Laizey Shapiro's "Srugim" TV series which debuted last night on YES TV. To the religious viewer, one could laugh, squirm, and ponder at many of the oh-too-familiar scenes in the show -- demonstrating the impressive quality of the acting, writing, and direction.

Normally, Israel's "artsy media" with their traditional anti-religious bias would have a field day with a TV series about religious singles, produced by a religious director. Yet the series has produced rave reviews from "Achbar Ha'ir", Maariv, NRG, and many others -- attesting that this series appeals to both Israel's religious and secular worlds.

Obviously, for the sake of the script, not every scene is typical of the Jewish "Bitza" (Swamp) Katamon singles scene, yet the familiarity allows for every scene to be believable -- and if it didn't happen to you personally, you know people that it could have happened to.

A guy's "tefillin request" sends him to the next door neighbor, where an American accented Hebrew speaking young lady offers HER tefillin to him. Shocked, he returns to his girlfriend and angrily responds that he wasn't looking for a Reform Lesbian's tefillin...but for real tefillin. His girlfriend dumps him rather quickly...and you can easily imagine the scene in Jerusalem.

Everyone says the Shabbat meal scene is slightly uncomfortable to watch, because everyone's been there. Anyone who's ever been single in Jerusalem knows about singles Shabbat meals, where everyone tries and hopes to meet their intended life partner. Sometimes awkward and clumsy, the Shabbat meal is can be a neccessary evil in the Katamon singles scene.

Here is a brief clip of one of a Shabbat meal in yesterday's episode.



Speaking to Srugim director, Laizy Shapiro today by phone, he told me that it was really an exceptional experience making the show, and that there was a special atmosphere with the secular actors when filming...and he said the show could be a bridge between the religious and secular. Judging from the favorable reactions of the newspapers, I believe he's correct.

I wonder how the singles scene in Jerusalem will feel about being reflected in this TV series.

(The whole first episode can be watched here on the YES website.)

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Israel: Reviving the Extinct

Despite the skeptics, Israel is truly a modern miracle.

Hebrew has been revived and is a thriving, vibrant language. While Yiddish still thrives, it is obvious to all that Hebrew is the common language of the Jewish people. One of the sweetest aspects of Hebrew's rebirth are idiomatic expressions based on Jewish history and religion. One of the newest expressions flying around the country now (introduced to me by my brother-in-law in the IDF this past Friday), is "עף לי הסכך" -- my "schach" has blown away, or in modern slang, "I was blown away."

On a physical level, the deserts have bloomed and the trees of Israel have welcomed home the Jewish people with fruits, produce, and agricultural bounty after a 2000 year hiatus.

Yet the miracle continues; the Judean Date Trees, the extinct species of large, sweet dates that once populated Eretz Yisrael is carefully undergoing a miraculous rebirth as well.

Seeds found on Masada in the 1960's were carbon-dated back close to 2000 years ago, and one of the seeds has sprouted! The NY Times wrote up the story in it's science section...

Scientists in Israel have confirmed that an ancient date palm seed retrieved from the rubble of Masada and successfully germinated is about 2,000 years old. That makes it the oldest seed ever to sprout, beating the previous well-documented record holder, a lotus found in a dry lakebed in China, by about 700 years.

The date seed was among several obtained in the 1960s by archaeologists excavating Masada, the fortress in the Judean Desert built by Herod around 35 B.C. and destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 73. In 2005, three seeds were planted by Sarah Sallon of the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center, part of the Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem.

One seed germinated, and three years later, Dr. Sallon and colleagues report in Science that the resulting plant is healthy and more than three feet tall. Radiocarbon testing of shell fragments of the seed obtained when the plant was repotted at 15 months show that it dates from the time of Masada.

The researchers say that the high summer temperatures and lack of rainfall in the desert may have helped keep the seed viable for so long by reducing the generation of free radicals, which cause oxidative damage.

The Judean Dead Sea region around the first century A.D. was well known for its date palms that produced fruit of high quality, but over the centuries this line of plants was lost. Genetic analysis of the germinated seed has provided just limited information about this ancient line. The researchers say more seeds are needed for a more thorough understanding of what made those old dates so good.

Assuming the date tree bears fruit, and is female** the researches hope to repopulate Israel with these trees.

We can add this to the list of amazing accomplishments of modern Israel...along with the revival of the mitzva of tekhelet.

Israel: Where the extinct is reborn.

Update from Lurker:

The revival of this once-extinct species may yield some very important information, and may lend itself to more uses than just cuisine. Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, the Jerusalem Post's medical correspondent, reports that "the date project is part of the NMRC's [Natural Medicine Research Center] Middle Eastern Medicinal Plant project aimed at conserving, developing and researching the rich legacy of medicinal plants in Israel. The extinct 'Judean date' is regarded by NMRC as having particular importance". This is because the Judean date "was renowned in ancient times as a treatment for heart disease, chest problems, the spitting of blood, weakened memory and other medical conditions, possibly even symptoms of cancer and depression."

So it is entirely possible that the anticipated revival of these dates may portend the development of new medical treatments.

**Dioecious (Male and Female) Date Trees. I was unaware that some fruit trees are male and female. Such is the wonder of blogging - you can learn something new every day!

The date palm represents the earliest recognized example of the dioecious condition. As early as 3500 B.C., the farmers of Mesopotamia recognized that there were male and female trees and practiced artificial pollination by bringing clusters of male flowers in contact with female flowers. The methods of bringing about fruit production in the date palm today differ little from those practiced in ancient times. Male trees to provide pollen are grown with female trees, which bear the fruit.

In Arabic lands, the cutting of male trees was practiced when war was being raged between tribes. The opposition would sneak into their enemy's palm grove and destroy the male trees. As a result no fruit would be produced. Since dates were a stable item of the diet, starvation was induced. The reason for removing only the male tree was that only a few were needed for a large palm grove. It did not require as much time or effort to remove the male trees as it would have required to remove the more numerously planted females.


Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

The Srugim Show

Tonight on YES TV (YES STARS Channel) at 10 PM marks the debut of the "Srugim" TV series, directed by Laizy Shapiro.

Focusing on the religious singles scene in the Katamon area of Jerusalem, "Srugim" tackles many situations including; joint shabbat meals, young divorced singles, being shomer negiya (or not), life as a single when friends around you are all married with children, the dating scene, Ohel Nechama, and basically every situation of day to day life for Jerusalem's religious singles.

Though the actors themselves are not religious, the director and screen writers are -- and they needed to quickly get the actors up to speed on what to do...and not do, as religious singles. The previews and behind the scenes show look promising, so this looks to be a decent show.

Of course, personally knowing the director means I'm not biased in the slightest.

If you're going to watch TV, don't waste your time with Hisardut/Israeli survivor trash shows - watch a quality series, by a talented director and graduate of Ma'aleh, Israel's religious film and art school.

Ten Tonight.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Organ Donations: A Dissenting Chareidi View

One particular issue which makes people get all queasy is that of organ donation after death. In the US, HODS (Halachik Organ Donation Society) is spearheading the effort for raising consciousness and educating people about organ donation, and halachik (Jewish religious law) options for organ donations.

In Israel (as could be expected), the issue is even more controversial. The ADI organization is the exclusively approved organization responsible for cataloging potential organ donors -- and they issue cards for those willing to donate organs after death.

Till a few days ago, the final word in the Chareidi world was based on the ruling by Lithuanian chief rabbi R' Yosef Sholom Eliashiv -- who adhere's to the traditional definition of death as occurring with the cessation of cardiac activity. This limits vastly the range of organs that can remain viable for donation.

However, in what is being viewed by many as a potential earthquake to the Chareidi world, R' Zalman Nechmia Goldberg (bio in Hebrew here -- pictured above), scion of a Lithuanian Jewish family (and son-in-law of R' Shlomo Zalman Auerbach), has given a dissenting opinion that religious Jews may sign the ADI card, yet should use the check box "organs may be donated only after approval from a religious authority of the family's choosing." R' Goldberg adds that the card should be modified to include the specific Rabbi the family should consult with.

Though there are many Orthodox Rabbis who have signed up for the ADI card or through HODS (great list with pictures of Rabbis and ADI cards here), the ruling by R' Goldberg has the potential to change the current Chareidi mindset towards Organ Donations as well.

Yes, it makes me queasy to think about the topic, but I still signed up for the card.

Save a Life -- Sign up in Israel for an ADI card, here.

More information about HODS in the USA, here.

List and pictures of Donors, Recipients who lives were saved by organ donations.

Israeli Bill on Organ Donations passes first reading (YNETNEWS English)

הגרז"ן הליטאי: מותר לחתום על כרטיס אדי (YNET, Hebrew)

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Adding Insult to Injury

Crossposted on JoeSettler

Yossi Shwartz is a man with nothing.

Once he was a farmer in Gush Katif (Gan Or). Yossi had a home, had land, had a job, and had employees. And then the Israeli government ripped it all away.

And now he finds himself in an even stranger situation.

A few months after the Expulsion, Yossi found himself sued by 17 of his former Arab employees. They are demanding severance pay from him.

Now while Yossi might agree that his former employees deserve severance pay, he doesn’t feel he is the right address for his former employees. After all, he wasn’t the one that shut down his farm and fired his employees. That was a decision and act of the Israeli government, and just like they still owe him fair value for what they destroyed perhaps they owe the same to his workers.

So Yossi went to Minhelet Sela (The Expulsion Authority) and demanded they provide him with legal counsel to defend himself. They of course refused. Their official response is that as an employer he was responsible for setting aside money for severance pay and he should pay them from that. (Note that he still hasn’t received from Minhelet Sela what is due to him by law).

Eventually he found his way to the organization “Ezri” which was able to provide him money for legal counsel in the form of the lawyer Neil Samulet.

The suspicion raised is that this is a trial balloon (perhaps run and financed by Israeli left-wing organizations?) to see if all the former Arab employees can start suing the former Gush Katif farmers.

The lawyer case’s is simply that the workers must sue the State not Yossi.

The case went to court and the court agreed that the Yossi is not the party that is responsible to pay their severance pay (though Yossi still had to pay, with Ezri's help, the tens of thousands of his legal defense fees).

These same Gaza Arabs are now trying to get at Yossi in another court, clearly implying that there is some serious local left-wing assistance going on here, specifically targeting the Gush Katif farmer, as they know the system so well and specifically didn't go after the government instead.


It was also recently exposed that the Israeli government property assessors received explicit orders on how much to evaluate the homes in Gush Katif. The first 100 homes were accessed properly, and when the senior government officials saw that the actual value of the homes in Gush Katif were easily hundreds of shekels higher than what they had planned for, they gave orders that all homes were to be accessed at a lower fixed rate - which is the way it was done from then on.

Hattip: Basheva and Makor Rishon

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

I live on stolen land too

A guest post by TikunOlam - - Cross-posted at Dovbear

I can’t seem to get this comment written by a commenter named Ahem out of my head. The following is what he or she said on my thread (on Dovbear) linking Rabbi Shlomo Riskin’s poignant and timely (IMO) article, “Why My Torah is Crying.”

“Please. Efrat was built on stolen land. He hears the torah crying? I hear the tears of Arabs, and others he and his fellow zionists displaced in the name of their foolish religion.”

When I think about what Ahem said, I can't help but feel terribly guilty. I live on stolen land too. The land I live on was stolen from Native Americans. The Native Americans who used to inhabit my land were very badly treated. So I have decided to do something about it. I decided to live up to my blogger name and right my wrongs. It is time to give back my land to the Native Americans.

So, I have been doing my research. It seems that, mostly likely, before my land was stolen by the colonists, who after a couple of generations sold it to me, it was inhabited by a Native American tribe called the Lenape. I have read about the Lenape. It seems that these folks were and are very good people. And some good news, there are some Lenape still living whom I can contact to offer my land! So at first I am thinking, YAY!

So here I am thinking this is going to great. I will be doing this wonderful thing. But then it gets more complicated. Of course. Why should doing the right thing ever be easy? I find out, low and behold, before the Lanape inhabited my land, the Munsees may have lived there. The Lenape may have stolen it from them for the natural resources! So what am I to do now? Who is the rightful owner? The Lenape, because they inhabited the land directly before the White Men who sold it to me, or the Munsees, who may have had their land stolen from the Lenape. And what if the Munsees killed off some other tribe in order to steal the land. My head is spinning trying to figure out who to contact here!

And to make matters worse, no sooner am I stressing over which Native American tribe to contact, when it occurs to me that there is a whole other problem that I haven't even considered. Where do I go after I give back my land? I am not even sure where I belong. I don't even know what my native land is. I mean, I know that my recent ancestors were Eastern European. I am afraid though, that when I go to Poland and knock on the door of the house that my great-grandparents once owned before it was seized by the Nazis and tell the people there to move out, they might not comply. And I figure, I know that my family must have lived somewhere before Poland anyway. Jews didn't *always* live in Poland right?

So I figure I should keep looking further back to figure out where exactly my native home is. This might take a while and some serious research. So now this is what I am afraid of. What if, at the end of all the exhausting research, I find out when I trace my ancestry all the way back to when the Hebrews entered the land of Canaan, that my family lived in a little hut in Efrat!

So basically, I am in a serious pickle and it looks like I am going to end up homeless.

Thanks to Jameel and Lurker for the warm welcome at the Muqata!

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Leadership in Action: Another Rabbi Announces their Aliya

As the Shabbat of "Parashat Shalch" (the weekly portion of the "spies") approaches, I'm thrilled to report that yet another Community Rabbi has announced to his community that he is making aliya. Rabbi Ari Berman of the "Jewish Center of Manhattan" is making aliya and remaining in Israel after a year's sabbatical from his shul and community.

Here are some excerpts from his letter to the Jewish Center community:

"As you know from my public and private talks, my personal connection to Israel is visceral and heartfelt. In truth, it would be difficult for any Jew with any level of historical consciousness not to be emotionally connected to Israel. Defying all historical probabilities, our people have returned to our homeland and, as such, we who live today have the duty and the privilege of playing a role in the Jewish story and advancing our people's historic destiny. This past year, living in Israel as a resident instead of visiting as a tourist, has given me new insight into the issues and challenges that Israel confronts. And there are many. But even though Israel is not always an easy place, never a simple place, certainly a complicated place, it is still our place. The rhythm of life, the face of the public square, the culture and undercurrents of society are all rooted in our tradition and heritage. Raising a family in Israel comes with a very different set of challenges than living in the Diaspora, but it also carries with it a very different set of rewards. Before The Jewish Center offered me the opportunity to spend a year of study in Israel, I mentioned to our leadership that it might be difficult for me to leave Israel. I knew that my connection to Israel would only intensify and that the opportunity to raise my children in Israel might be too difficult to let pass.

When I think of the land of our fathers and mothers, my focus naturally shifts to my sons and daughter, and my hope that they will learn to see Israel as not just their homeland but also as their home."

When you read/hear the story of the spies in this week's parasha, remember the Zohar's commentary:

The Zohar asks, how could the Israelite spies from the desert, who were such great leaders of Israel, speak such slander about the promised land?

The answer is frightening.

The Zohar writes that the spies realized that if Bnei Yisrael would cross the Jordan immediately after the spies' return from their mission (which was the correct game plan), then the Beit HaMikdash would be built and a king would be anointed. There would be no destruction of the Temples, no Exiles, No terrible periods of tragedy for the Jewish people -- rather we would have immediately entered the period of ultimate geula.

So what was the downside? The spies figured out that upon the anointment of a Jewish king, their leadership roles would disappear. In order to hang on to their political positions of power, they sacrificed the Jewish people for 38 more years in the desert, the destruction of 2 Temples, 2 periods of exile, and the deaths of countless Jews throughout the ages.

According to the midrash, not only did the spies make their announcement to all of Israel, but they went from tent to tent to personally spread their message of gloom and doom if Israel would enter the promised land of Eretz Yisrael.

How wonderful is it that we can see positive leadership this week -- Community Leaders announcing their aliya, actively demonstrating their love of the land.

You too can correct the misdeeds of the spies -- and help spread the positive message of Eretz Yisrael to your family and friends.

Shabbat Shalom.

--Jameel & Co.

hat-tip: David

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Obama Bumper Sticker

Posted by JoeSettler



Hattip: Jewschool

Jameel Adds:



Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Taking "Kassam Shmassam" to a new level

Only a few days after Amnon Rosenberg was murdered by a Kassam missle in Kibbutz Nir Oz, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai (Labor) has hit a new all-time low: Today, in the Knesset, he publicly insulted and denigrated the battered and besieged residents of Sderot and other western Negev communities for daring to object to the government's abandonment of them -- going so far as to as to openly belittle their pain and suffering:

Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai hit back Monday in the Knesset plenum at Gaza Belt residents who bitterly complained about the government's handling of the constant rocket and mortar attacks against their communities.

"We, here in Jerusalem, suffered hundreds of casualties, hundreds. You know that very well," he said. "In bus bombings and other maniacs trying to hit Israel at its very core, in our Jerusalem. Did we ever complain about not sleeping at night? Or that we cannot do anything? Or that we have been deserted? Have I ever contemplated anything of the kind as a Jerusalemite?" he demanded.

Israelis living in the Gaza Belt have lived with barrages of literally thousands of rockets exploding in their communities on a regular basis, sometimes daily, since the year 2000.

I cannot imagine a statement that more dramatically exemplifies the obtuseness, callousness, and utter degeneracy of the Israeli government.


Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד