From the Mail-Bag

Jameel is on assignment in a foreign land, a land fraught with the dangers of Islamo-fascist terrorism, a land across the ocean, were getting a good internet connection can sometimes be a pain in the neck...

In any event he has requested I post this for him:

I got this by email the other day...since I'm not web-connected, I have no way of knowing if it's been posted on other blogs. If it has, my apologies...

--Jameel

I WANT TO LIVE IN A COUNTRY...

...that the 7th day of the week is Shabbat and not Saturday
...that your elected officials live on your block and daven in your Bet Kenesset
...that Torah is taken SO seriously
...that people do not spend a year's salary on an SUV
...that a person's home is not a measure of his success
...that my forefathers walked in.
...that the street names are from the Tanach or names of Torah sages
...that the guy delivering water can tell me where the closest minyan may be found.
...that the land itself has Kedusha
...that the land itself is a gift from Hashem
...that the spoken language is the language G-d used to create the world.
...that even secular Jews invoke the name of Hashem
...that has the mountain upon which the Bet HaMikdash will be built (bb"a)
...that we daven for three times a day!
...that you don't have to explain to your employer why you need to leave early on Friday.
...that you can eat Chametz on the "Eighth Day" of Pesach
...that the majority of events in Tanach took place in
...that many of its soldiers DAVEN!
...that people are passionate about politics
...that you can FEEL Shabbat is coming
...that you can FEEL that it is Shabbat
...that it is not Saturday night but it is Motzaei Shabbat
...that Sunday is not "Shabbat Sheni shel Galuyot."
...that Jews have died PROTECTING the land
...that one can be proud to be a Jew
...that SHALOM is not only the name of a cemetery but it is the fervent hope of every resident

Addendums...

...where Erev Rosh HaShana kids from the local Scouts pass out apples & honey and wish you a Shana Tova
...where you can walk around the Old City walls every Erev Rosh Chodesh and Tish'a B'Av
...where you can get a Dvar Torah from the taxi driver (and a political dissertation, as well!))
...where the nightly TV station ends with "Psuko shel Yom" (Torah quote of the day)
...where the local radio station begins with "Shema Yisrael" and the Hebrew date ...where you hear Birkat Kohanim (Priestly Blessing) every day
...where you can hear Havdala and Daven in the President's house
...where you have Parshat HaShavua every Erev Shabbat on TV and a special Melaveh Malka program after Shabbat
...where you have radio stations which play only acappella (i.e. no music) songs during mourning times (Sefirat haOmer, the 9 days)
...where you can write the Hebrew date on checks...and they won't bounce!
...where you can get a one line Dvar Torah on your grocery cash register tape (in particular neighborhoods)
...where the mayor and Chief Rabbis invite the public to visit them in their Sukkot
...where public school kids bring home homemade Sukka decorations
...where they grow bug free vegetables
...where you can buy Shabbat toilet paper with a Hechsher, declaring that it is produced in a Shomer Shabbat factory, not using G’niza (!)(remnants of Holy texts) ...where you can buy cleaning supplies with a hechsher for Pesach (though is this REALLY necessary?)
...where on Rememberance Day, cars stop in the middle of the highways and people get out at 11:00 to collectively remember their fallen...not go on picnics!
...where you smell Gefilte Fish, chicken soup and homemade Challot Erev Rosh Hashana as you walk down the block
...where Chametz is sold collectively for the whole country
...where you leave the hospital after having given birth to your baby, and the staff says, "See you next year"!

What would you add?


Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael