Chareidim and the Holocaust Siren

Most Chareidim I know stand for the sirens that wail across Israel on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Commemoration Day) and Yom HaZikaron (Israel's Memorial Day), yet every year the news goes out of its way to get video footage or picture stills of Chareidim who ignore the siren.

As explained in this video, many people think the top 3 commandments of the Chareidim are as follows:

1. Throw rocks at ambulances on Yom Kippur
2. Burn the Israeli flag on Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israel Independence Day)
3. Ignore the memorial sirens on Holocaust Commemoration Day) and Israel's Memorial Day)

Most just want to get home and be off the streets at that time...the following video has an interesting take on it. (It's in Hebrew, but easy to follow)

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

The Post Office Privateers

Posted by JoeSettler

I admit, its not as interesting as banning the Israel National Bible Contest, but for some of us, what's going on at the Israeli Post Office is much closer to heart - or at least our pockets.

Since becoming privatized, the Post Office, must have mistranslated the word, as they have since become Privateers.

If someone sends you a package from overseas, beware. The Post Office now charges a fee for you to get your package (above and beyond any taxes that might be added on by Meches).

There are unconfirmed stories going around now that some overseas packages aren't being delivered anymore to Jerusalem (and are left at Tel Aviv), unless you pay an extra fee for local delivery too!

Now I'm not a big fan of bans, but I've told everyone not to send packages to me, and simply hold on to them until I find a friend who will act as a courier.

I'm also not a big fan of petitions, which I think are a waste of time, but if you personally think they have some effect, Sign Away.

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

A Mother's Right?

Update: ZAKA volunteers possibly find ashes of cremated girl (pics here)

A 14 year year old girl from the Haifa area committed suicide a few weeks back, and her mother cremated her daughter's remains. Cremation is extremely rare in Israel.

The father, who was divorced from the mother (he was against the idea of cremation in the first place) demanded that his daughter's ashes be buried -- and he took the mother to court.

In blatant defiance of the court, and to her ex-husband's dismay, the mother appeared in court and announced that upon receiving the subpoena regarding the burial of her daughter's ashes, she scattered her daughter's ashes -- and refuses to cooperate by even disclosing where she scattered the ashes.

I wonder if King Solomon would have ruled that the ashes be split evenly between the parents?

source: here (in Hebrew)

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

Israel's National Bible Championship in Jeopardy

In addition to blue & white, fireworks displays, barbques, and general day off, Israel's Independence Day is also marked by the annual "National Bible Contest" (or in Hebrew, Chidon HaTanakh, חידון התנ"ך). These champions are truly amazing, and I've met many of them over the years from Israel and the Diaspora; one was my Israeli roommate in Yeshiva in Israel, and when I asked him off the cuff (after looking up the answer in advance) how many times it says "bakbuk בקבוק [bottle]" in the Tanakh, he was able to nonchalantly throw out the correct answer (3), as well as cite chapter and verse of each instance. It's no wonder he's now one of the judges for the annual contest.

However, this year's contest has hit a snag. NRG reports today (in Hebrew) that participation of one of the contestants from Israel...is problematic! The contest is defined on the National Bible website as follows:

The International Bible Contest for Jewish Youth is an impressive annual event, to which a number of young high school students come to Israel and meet with a similar number of Israeli youth, for a number of weeks enrich themselves with many experiences and deepen their connection to Israel, the traditions and the Bible. The process begins with in their own countries tests. The winners of those national contests, arriving in Israel will take part in the contest for overseas youth...and the successful ones will participate in the final contest on the Israeli Day of Independence in Jerusalem.

NRG reports that the counter-missionary group Yad L'Achim is endorsing a ban on this year's contest -- not because one of the contestants isn't Jewish (which is clearly stated in the Mission Statement above), but because the contestant, 11th grade Israeli teenager Bat-El Levy from Jerusalem...is a follower of the "Jewish Messianic" sect of Christianity.

Yad L'Achim is currently in touch with Israel's Ministry of Education and leading rabbis around Israel -- calling for Bat-El to be disqualified from participating...or for all religious participants to boycott the contest.

**Israel's Ministry of Justice has determined that according to Israeli law, Bat-El is in fact Jewish (although she and her family are part of the Jewish Messianic sect), and she can therefore participate. I guess they are of the opinion that once a Jew, always a Jew, despite conversion or acceptance of another faith.

Some say, let her participate and lose -- which will show that Jews in fact, do excel in Bible studies. Other are worried what might happen if she wins.

I'm sure we haven't heard the last of this...

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

Haveil Havalim #163 is Live

I am pleased to announce that Haveil Havalim #163, the Best of The Jewish/Israeli Blogosphere is now live at Tzipiyah.

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

Israel's Intelligence Striptease

Interesting 11 minute video on the reactor which Israel someone bombed in Syria a few months back. These images would have been illegal to broadcast in Israel; due to their extremely sensitive nature Israel's military censor would never allow their publication. Israel's defense establishment worked very hard to obtain this information, yet Israel's Prime Minister wished to earn as many public relation points as possible -- and released them all to the US. (Olmert also bypassed the censor, which is probably illegal in and of itself).

YNET provides an excellent analysis:

The publication of relatively fresh intelligence information is always problematic, but what happened this time can be termed a reckless intelligence striptease. Now, after we praised ourselves in public and boosted our national moral ahead of the 60th Independence Day celebrations, it is time to start monitoring the damage caused by none other than those in charge of classified information security.

Those are the people who explain to us how irresponsible the media are – while they proceed to commit the most severe offences, not to mention turning the military censor into a laughing stock.

Defense officials are now infuriated by the manner and scope of the publication, which exposed our intelligence capabilities. The problem is not with the satellite photos, but rather, with the photos taken in and around the Syrian reactor. We are not talking about mere archive photos, but rather, relatively recent ones taken by someone inside the facility or around it.

It doesn’t matter at all who shot those photos: What we have here is the exposure of capabilities and intelligence sources. We also have a possible exposure of a breach in the Syrian security and intelligence apparatus. The moment these photographs were published, the Syrians were sure to be doing everything in their power to identify and block this breach.

There is no way in the world that an intelligence agency would hand over fresh photos of a target taken by its own agents or other sources to a foreign agency, with the knowledge that these photos will be published internationally almost immediately – as if saying: Look at us, we were here.

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

Hiding Behind Ammunition in Gaza

In today's latest exchange between IDF soldiers and Gaza Palestinians, IDF soldiers were attacked from Palestinian positions in Beit Hanoun (Northern Gaza Strip). One IDF soldier was wounded.

"The IDF reported that it had attacked a group of gunmen spotted near forces operating in Beit Hanoun. Soldier belonging to the Givati patrol brigade exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen in the area. During the military activity, an IDF soldier was lightly injured in the leg and rushed to hospital." (YNET)

Palestinians claim that 4 children and their mother, were killed Monday morning in an IDF strike in the northern Gaza Strip -- a shell hit a house in the town of Beit Hanoun. (JPost)

However, IDF radio reports as follows (something not yet appearing in any English language report).

"Unofficial IDF sources report that Palestinian woman and children were not killed by an IDF tank shell.

IDF Givati brigade soldiers engaged 2 Palestinian terrorists in a gun-battle -- the terrorists shooting from within the house of the woman and children. Each terrorist was wearing an over-sized knapsack, apparently loaded with ammunition. When hit by IDF gunfire, the terrorists' ammunition exploded, causing the deaths of the woman and children inside the house. Source: Galei Tzahal IDF radio, in Hebrew)"

For the first time in recent months, the IDF is not apologizing in knee-jerk reaction fashion for the deaths of civilian casualties in a war zone, making the IDF radio report even more believable.

As a result, even more Qassam rockets have been raining down on Sederot and Ashkelon. The following news story was from Friday, but I didn't get a chance to post the pics till now)

Four Palestinian Qassam rockets were fired at Ashkelon on Friday morning, one of then landing in the city's southern cemetery.

The al-Quds Brigades, the Islamic Jihad's military wing, claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, as well as for a shooting attack which left two Israeli guards dead in an industrial zone in the Sharon region.

Eli Yifrach, the cemetery's manager, told Ynet that "luckily the rocket landed before the employees arrived for work. It fell inside the cemetery and many graves were damaged.

"One of the graves was completely destroyed, and we are now working cautiously with the police so as not to desecrate the dead. This is a very sad sight." YNET Pics Link

Money Quote from PM Ehud Olmert at yesterdays's Mimouna Celebrations:

"Without being arrogant, God forbid, I think that today we can say that the Israeli people have a government that can defend it; that it has leadership that knows how to care for its people's security and future." (JPost)

Olmert? Arrogant? G-d forbid.

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

Thoughts on the Shomronim

Last Thursday I drove to Har Greizim -- the Shomron mountaintop community of the Samaritans, and had a fascinating talk with Yefet Cohen (pictured on the left), the curator of the Samaritan museum (and son of the previous Samaritan Kohen Gadol/High Priest).

While taking a video clip of him reading the "Shma", he curiously pointed to his arm and head during the verses that allude to "tefillin".

Afterwards, I asked him about their tradition of tefillin, and he replied that the Samaritan tradition of tefillin was lost over the years. I can understand. When a community of over a million has been reduced to only 700, certain skills are bound to be lost. I don't know how to manufacture tefillin (in fact, I'd be willing to wager that there are hardly any people in the blogosphere that are qualified to make kosher tefillin). How long did the Jews lose the tradition of tekhelet? (the blue fringe in tzitzit)

Then I asked about tzitzit -- do they still have the tradition for how to tie them? Jews have many different ways to tie tzitziyot, especially when you include the permutations for adding in tekhelet. Again, Yefet shook his head sadly that they also lost that tradition.

"But over there in the corner of your museum, you have a mannequin of a person wearing a tallit, and I assume you use them in prayer -- where do you get those from," I asked.

He laughed -- "Oh, we got those from you, the Jews." While the tallit and tzitziyot are now worn by the Shomronim -- and are purchased from Jews, the Shomronim have not adopted tefillin in their daily religious prayers.

"And you will make for me a Temple, and I will dwell in your midst -- translation from over the doorway entrance to the Samaritan synagogue"

Pictures inside the Samaritan synagogue, during their afternoon prayers (close to sunset). Its customary to remove your shoes before going in (which we did)



Here's their message board at the entrance: Note the "חג שמח וכשר" (A Happy and Kosher Holiday) message from the State of Israel at the bottom right...and the 6:22 time reminder at the left. Anyone gander a guess what it's the time for?


Other interesting things that I'll post about later:

1. The Samaritans reference "613 mitzvot"
2. The Samaritan mentality of being among the "gentiles"
3. The stolen Samaritan "Torah"s -- currently being held in Lebanon for a ransom of 12 million dollars.
4. The Samaritan Torah they claim written by Avisha (son of Pinchas, son of Elazar, son of Aharon the Kohen Gadol) about 3400 years ago.
5. Between a rock and a hard place; Israeli Holon and Palestinian Authority Har Greizim

Note commandment #10 of the Samaritans:

1. You shall have no other gods before me.

2. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God.

3. Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.

4. Honor your father and your mother.

5. You shall not murder.

6. You shall not commit adultery.

7. You shall not steal.

8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

10. You shall keep the mount Gerizim holy.

Some of the differences between Samaritans and Jews:

• Small in number (under 700)
• One level of religious belief -- no divergent streams (i.e., no Reform, Conservative, etc.)
• Only live in the land of Israel
• Patrilineal lineage
• Mount Gerizim is the center of worship -- prayers made facing Mount Gerizim
• Authority of Torah is the Levite Priests (no rabbis)
• Complete list of High Priesthood lineage going back to Pinhas
• Torah not supplemented past 5 books of Moses
• Messiah, called Taheb, from sons of Joseph or Levi
• Passover Sacrifice
• No celebration of Purim or Hanukkah
• Counting of Omer starts day after the Sabbath after Passover
• Do not light candles on the Sabbath
• Samaritans do not have sex on the Sabbath
• Men do not wear head cover all the time
• No required number for prayer (minyan)

More Source info here.

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

[OT] Let them eat (rice) cakes

[Off-topic]

It's kind of freaky how interconnected the world really is.

Take the dollar (who wants it?). Some people think that a weak dollar is good, but they don't consider the long-term effects it will have on the global market, in which the US is the global backbone.

And then consider rice.

A staple food that a significant portion of the world relies on, and which seems to be produced on a massive scale only in third-world countries.

And as those third-world countries stop/slow their rice exports, and with what appears to be the threat of an impending world famine, suddenly there is a run on rice all over the world, with stores limiting purchases, and prices going up easily 50%.

What would happen if the Chinese stopped exporting Chatchkas and fake watches?

I think the world's economy would simply collapse.

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

My Israel, Not Yours

Here is a blog by someone who has holds some very definite opinions, and isn't shy to shout them out loud. Stop by there and tell him what you think.

MyIsraelNotYours

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

Last but not least

Today we spent the day in the Science Museum (again... free) in Jerusalem.

The kids loved it. It's all hands on, and there is something for all ages.

My favorite is the foam brick arch bridge you can build and walk on. It used to be up front, but now they hid in the back of the gardens.

I should mention (just out of fairness), all these museums were opened to the public during the holiday by way of sponsorship by Bank HaPoalim.

I hope you all had as fun a Pesach as the JoeSettler family did.

Chag Sameach.

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Chol HaMoed at Har Greizim

Too late (at night) to post pictures, story, and everything.

Till I get my act together, here's a video I took today of Samaritan Yefet HaCohen reciting the "Shma" in the Samaritan dilaect of Hebrew.



Lots more to follow!


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

A Hot Chol HaMoed

Cross-posted on JoeSettler

Man it was hot outside today. Too hot to go visit Har Greizim in my opinion.

We wanted to do something, but indoors to escape the heat, and not expensive either.

As it turns out, a number of museums were open and free to the public.

We started off the day at the Israel Museum.

But the permanent exhibits (the main buildings) were closed, and only the temporary displays were open. You couldn’t take in baby strollers, and that was just annoying and difficult (and heavy), and walking between buildings was simply too hot.

In short, we didn’t enjoy that section too much.

On the other hand, the Shrine of the Book was open, and it was at least 20 degrees (F) cooler in there, the exhibits are interesting, and you can take in baby strollers. The temporary exhibit is the Aleppo Codex. Very interesting.

We hung out there for at least an hour.

Afterwards we crossed the street to the Bible Lands Museum. Also free.

They had a number of interactive PC/Mac kiosks. The displays are all well documented.

The way the displays and rooms are laid out it feels roomier.

All in all, (I think) it’s a much nicer museum than the Israel Museum.

Baby strollers are allowed in (but children are NOT allowed to touch the antiques, no matter how much they want to and try to – remember that). The displays are much more interesting (to me at least) and they had a nice, cool, shaded garden near the cafeteria on the bottom floor where you could sit and relax (and the very nice workers pushed my kids around on the trolleys).

Definitely a successful Chol Hamoed day.

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

Tzikiyahu's Cave and Shaar Shchem

Cross-posted on JoeSettler

OK, I have no clue as to what is holding the Old City up.

For years I passed by the sign that said Tzidkiyahu’s Cave near Shaar Shchem (Damascus Gate), but I never went in. I always imagined it as a small room under the Old City.

They opened it up for visitors, so I took the family to inspect the “room”. (Entry fee: NIS 10 / adult)

This “room” is actually an ancient quarry from where the stones for the temple were hewn. Later on King Tzidkiyahu hid in it.

This place is huge (and has lots of rooms), and the place was packed with visitors.

There is around 9000 square meters (around 90,000 square feet) of cave running under the Old City, and I suspect it goes even farther and deeper in, but certain areas were blocked off.

I looked for the Ark, but couldn’t find it.

But I did find a pool of fresh water.



Anyway, this place is HUGE. I simply can’t fathom what is preventing the Old City above from collapsing down.

(This is the secret Freemason's meeting room.)

(They say that these are among the main supporting pillars!)


Afterwards we went to the Roman Guard Room literally under Shaar Shchem.

This guard room blocked the original entrance to the Old City. It had and interesting display of photos of the Damascus Gate over time, and some other displays.

Anyone know what this is, and what it says?
Entry is free during Chol Hamoed if you don’t go for the ramparts walk.


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

She's Back.

The RenReb has returned for the first time in months...probably just a cameo appearance, but I get so much site traffic from her blog, a link in that direction is the least I can do :)

Moadim LSimcha...


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

Don't forget to count the Omer

Found this here.

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

More things to do on Pesach

Hevron, Hebron, however you choose to spell it, these past 2 days it was the place to be.

Exactly 40 years on Pesach (or Passover, again however you choose to spell it) the Jewish community returned to our ancient city. As many long-time readers know, my extended family lived and owned numerous homes in Hevron going all the way back -until in 1929 when the family, just barely, managed to escape the massacre through a series of miraculous events.

The story of the return, the first Pesach in the hotel, how they stayed on is an exciting one - but one for a different post.

These past 2 days were days of music, tours, booths, donkey rides, pottery painting, and other fun events for the entire family.

The extended JoeSettler family had a wonderful time.

I know I told you all about it a little too late, so let me tell you now, the JoeSettler family will be doing the Jerusalem scene today. There are tons of events going on, and don't miss the events around the Walls of the Old City in the evening.

One of the sites we want to try to reach today is Zedekiah's Cave.

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

THE IRANIANS ARE ZIONISTS!

[Guest-post by http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/ (when the cat's away, the mice will play).]


According to Ayman azZawahiri, the Iranians are Zionist puppets.

Well, actually, he's saying that Iran is responsible for spreading the story that Israel was behind 9-11.

But what that really means is that they are Zionist puppets.


The logic is this: If Iran is trying to discredit Sunnis and ElQaeda by claiming that Israel was behind 9-11, and if their reason in doing so is to cover up their collaboration with the Americans (who, as everyone knows, are Zionist puppets - Ayman azZawahiri has also averred no less) in attacking Afghanistan and Iraq (which was on behalf of the Zionists, according to several internet sources, Arab commentators, Muslim politicians, and ElQaeda), then the Iranians and the Americans (Zionists) have the same agenda - which can only mean one thing: Iran is a Zionist puppet!


Appropriate brocha: "boruch atta Adonai Eloheinu, melech ha olam, asher flabberei et gasteinu." But you could also say she-hechiyanu.

Omeyn.

We live in a marvelous world.



------B.O.T.H.

The statement by Ayman azZawahiri was reported on the BBC website. He recently posted a long video responding to questions from the faithful. It is awfully lonely in the Hindu Kush, so very very lonely, and conceivably he's losing all moorings with reality.

It is not reported whether he issued any psak halacha regarding the ongoing issue of gittin.


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

Obama panders shamelessly to Muqata voters

Obama: "Lemme Eat My Waffle"
Obama: "Why can’t I just eat my waffle?"
Obama: "Let Me Eat My Waffle!"

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama lost his cool Monday when reporters pressed him to comment on former American President Jimmy Carter's meeting with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Damascus. "Why can't I just eat my waffle?" he said while eating his breakfast, according to MSNBC. The reporter asked him a second time, and Sen. Obama again replied, "Just let me eat my waffle."

Pass the syrup.


Updated Here:



Wherever I am, my waffles turn towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Chag Kasher V'Sameach

See you all here on Motzei Shabbat -- The Coming Year in Yerushalayim;
לשנה הבאה (עלינו לטובה) בירושלים הבנויה

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Think twice before you honk!

So I get a call this evening from the United Hatzala* dispatcher -- they want me to shlep (transport) from Jerusalem the "Pesach (Passover) gifts" for the Hatzala EMT volunteers in my area. I don't really have the time, but I'm a volunteer EMT for Hatzala, so I really should help them out. They put me in touch with another shlepper -- the guy bringing the gifts from Jerusalem to Petach Tikva, and maybe I can meet him there. It's getting complicated.

I call him up and he says he's on his way...I say, "me too"...can I meet him somewhere on the Jerusalem-Tel-Aviv highway so I dont have to go out of my way to Petach Tikva to get the gifts? "Sure," he says, and we agree to meet at a gas station along the way.

He tells me he's driving a ZAKA** ambulance with the gifts in it; that's not really surprising -- there are many organizations like MDA, Hatzala, ZAKA, etc, that all have the same volunteers -- so it doesn't surprise me that a Hatzala volunteer is also in a ZAKA ambulance. (I'm in both MDA and Hatzala).

So we stop at this gas station along the way and I drive behind the ZAKA ambulance. I park behind him (there's hardly any spare room in the parking lot). I get out of my car and some guy starts honking. He wants to back out because a tanker truck is blocking the exit. I tell to hang on -- it will only be a minute. He doesn't care, and gets out of his car to yell at me. I tell him to chill out. He keeps yelling.

The Hatzala Pesach present this year is a large duffel bag/suitcase on wheels -- packed 4 at a time into long, gray, plastic bags.

The guy is now really yelling, and I open the back of the ZAKA ambulance and start dragging these huge "body bags" from the ambulance and throw them into my car.

The guy stops screaming at me mid-sentence and turns white as a ghost.

He stares at me holding these "body bag" lookalikes, as I'm transferring them to my car from the ZAKA ambulance. In a flash, he turns around and runs back to his car, slamming the door shut.

That should teach him not to start up with volunteers from Hatzala and ZAKA!

Chag Kasher vSameach!

Jameel @ The Muqata


*United Hatzala (“Ichud”) of Israel is a non-affiliated non-profit Emergency (EMS) Volunteer Organization that assists in responding to medical emergencies throughout Israel. The primary role of Hatzalah volunteers - trained and certified as EMTs, Paramedics and MD’s - is to provide an immediate response within 2-4 minutes from the onset of an incident.

**ZAKA is a volunteer organization that assists ambulance crews, aids in the identification of the victims of terrorism, road accidents and other disasters, and where necessary gathers body parts and spilled blood for proper burial.

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

IsraelChallenge Video

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Want to see what you can be doing on an IsraelChallenge IDF Experience adventure?

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The Miluim Debreifing

For those of you poor souls who think Jameel was in Syria, that is just part of an elaborate disinformation campaign from his handlers in the Shin Bet.

You see, Jameel was on a mission to spread aliyah one waffle at a time, and my Shul was one of his first targets.

If you're not confused yet the scene is something like this. Shabbos morning I'm sitting in my shul and they announce a brand new Monday morning Halacha shiur, and a waffle Breakfast, all while Jameel is supposedly on Milluim.

Coincidence? I think not!


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

Fastest Flip-flop in Israel's History

Thursday, 04.16.08, 1:43 PM

Three IDF soldiers killed in Gaza by Palestinians. Fuel shipments to Gaza, remain frozen.

Israel says it has frozen plans to renew the fuel supply to the Gaza Strip on Wednesday because of an attack in which three soldiers were killed. Army spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibowich says the soldiers were killed Wednesday morning in a battle with Palestinian gunmen who were approaching the terminal where fuel is sent into Gaza.

Leibowich says the attack prompted Israel to cancel plans to resume fuel shipments. Israel cut off the flow of fuel to the Palestinian territory last week after Gaza militants killed two Israelis in an attack on the fuel terminal. (AP)

Oh no! We can't possible stop the fuel supply to Gaza! The Disengagement's promise was that we wouldn't have to provide anything to Gaza anymore. Not fuel, not electricity, not food, nothing.

Yet they continue to shoot missiles and rockets at us, and we finally shut off their fuel supply.

Have no fear, Israel can flip-flop faster than you can say "Israel deserves a better Prime Minister than Ehud Olmert."

50 minutes pass -- 3000 seconds.

Thursday, 04.16.08, 2:33 PM

Israel resumes fuel supply to Gaza...

Despite bloody clashes between IDF troops, Palestinian gunmen earlier on Wednesday, Israel renews supply of fuel, cooking oil to Strip.

Mahmoud Khuzandar, deputy director of the Gaza fuel station owners' association, says a total of eight truckloads of fuel have been pumped into Gaza. He says half was cooking oil and the other half was diesel fuel for Gaza's only power plant.

An Israeli defense official says Israel sent only fuel for the power plant.

Israel cut off the flow of fuel to the Palestinian territory last week after Gaza militants killed two Israelis in an attack on the Nahal Oz fuel terminal, but on Monday Defense Minister Ehud Barak, at Egypt's request, ordered the renewal of diesel shipments to Gaza's power station.

The Israeli military said earlier in the day the terminal would not be reopened because of a Palestinian ambush nearby that left three soldiers dead. It was unclear why the decision was reversed.

The soldiers were killed Wednesday morning in a battle with Palestinian gunmen who were approaching the security fence in an apparent attempt to infiltrate Israel. (YNET/AP)

Don't worry - Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak have it all under control.


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

Back from Milluim

Yes, I'm back from milluim.

Despite all the well-deserved comments from my kids about what a fun time I must have had, it was exhausting.

Gone are the days of the longtime IDF motto, "hurry up and wait" -- we were training around the clock and the logistical support ran like clockwork.

And now for the final clarification: contrary to JoeSettler's comment that I was kashering/cleaning IDF kitchens for Pesach, or

Rafi G's alleged video surveillance of me...the picture to your left is where I actually was.

I snapped the following picture during a break for mincha.

Was it fun?

No, it wasn't fun.

It was very satisfying -- doing the right thing, but it's not "fun" like watching a movie or playing a game of Motzei Shabbat hockey.

Then again, hockey's been pretty painful the past few few times.

What is fun these days? Blogging, I guess.

Can't think more about it now or write anything else -- must make up for the past 3 days.

Before I forget, thanks to those who posted the past few days while I was gone. Will write up something more appreciative later.

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

Trading Cards

Cross-posted on JoeSettler

Residents of various outposts are "voluntarily" packing up and moving out.

This is part of a larger package where the government will supposedly "legalize" and permit additional housing in existing settlements in exchange for removing the outposts.

This deal is good for the government, who simply controls the permits and the speed they are processed (most settlements have permits to extensively build going back years, but the final signature on the defense department form is then held back for years).

The government can show the Americans that they are taking down outposts (of course, ignoring what the Americans will ask for next once all the outposts are destroyed, as it doesn't stop there).

The Jews get to build some more needed housing in existing settlements - maybe, as that has yet to be seen - after all we saw how the government reneged in the Hebron deal.


But... this is a bad deal.

The government is likely to renege, and while it is easy to say that an outpost taken down is an outpost that can be returned it is not that simple.

First of all, what is called an outpost in many cases are caravans and farms that have been cultivated for years - on Jewish owned land, mind you.

Once they are abandoned, we all know the process of how the land gets stolen, even beyond Peace Now (notice how no one is talking about their alleged massive tax fraud anymore?) and their documented false reports (notice how outside of Makor Rishon, no one discusses how they fraudulently misrepresented and mistitled the data?) .

Unfortunately, the settlements are feeling the crunch of the government's freeze as we have such a high demand from Israelis all over Israel (and our expanding families) who want to move here and join us, but we don't have sufficient housing available for all those myriads.

The government controls the tap (while the Americans spin the faucet).

This is not a deal to be trusted.

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

Sitting Out the Mommy Wars

I made aliyah shortly before marrying my husband while studying for an MA at Hebrew U. So far I've raised two children here in Israel, God willing a third will arrive around Yom Ha'atzmaut (I'm so Zionist I coordinate my births with Israeli Independence Day!)

Though I've never raised children in the US, I read a lot of online and print discussion of the famous "mommy wars" raging over there, and it really mystifies me. (For anyone living in cave or not that interested in media-hyped social issues, the "mommy wars" pit stay at home moms (SAHMs) against working moms as to who is damaging/raising their children more).

I'm mystified because we don't seem to have that war here in Israel. Though we are far from a working-parent utopia, there seems to be a much better work/life balance here than in the US, due to a number of contributing factors . It's accepted and actually expected that women will return to work after the birth of their children, usually after our three month paid maternity leave, though many moms take longer then that, sometimes stretching out the leave to 7-12 months (the latter months being unpaid.) I know that this puts pressure on women who do want to stay home with their children, but it is a contrast to the US, where SAHMing seems to be the "in" thing and moms who dare to work are considered negligent or worse.

When women do return, there are many different childcare options both private and public. Though some options are subsidized, you still get what you pay for here- day care centers are cheaper but have a higher carer/child ratio. And women just recently won the right to have childcare recognized as a business expense for tax purposes.

Working mothers also get a subsidized "she'at hanaka" (nursing hour) for the first year. That's an hour that can be used for pumping breast milk, feeding (if you have your baby near your work) or for leaving work earlier. Which brings me to work hours- most careers and jobs have mom-friendly work hours here, which is usually 8-3:30/4. It is rarely expected that for women to work or even excel in their careers, they must work an 80 hour week. There are also many part-time/3/4 time jobs available that give moms added flexibility.

Moms are also not the only ones with flexible jobs. When I pick up my daughter from late day gan, I see many dads, in addition to the moms, picking up their kids. On the other hand, I barely ever see babysitters picking up kids at gan, even at four pm. Which tells me that many, if not most working parents have found a schedule that allows them to be with their children for a significant chunk of pre-dinner time at the end of the day, something that seems to elude working parents in the US.

Full disclosure: I work part time from home and enjoy an extremely flexible schedule. I don't have to worry about taking off when my children are sick and I make enough money to cover high quality childcare expenses. I've also been able to arrange it so I've never had to put my children in childcare before age 1, a luxury not all working families have.

As I said, things are not perfect here- I know there are moms who consider the expectation that all children be in a "misgeret" (childcare framework) by the age of one to be unhealthy for children, and this could very well be. (I have a theory that this expectation stems from kibbutz children's houses, but I've never had a chance to research this)

However, from what I've observed, Israel is a lot more supportive of working parents than the US, which is crucial for the simple fact that most families could not manage on one salary, even with free schooling and low cost healthcare. Which makes Israel that much more awesome! (Sorry LOZ, I had to get that in there).


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

More Powerful Than The Foreman Grill

We worked closely with a crack team of expert wafflemakers for two years to conceptualize and design a revolutionary waffle maker. The result: this stainless-steel machine that makes the best waffles we’ve ever tasted. The 1" thick golden waffles turn out deliciously crispy on the outside and meltingly tender inside, with deep pockets that hold plenty of tantalizing toppings. The secret to their incredible tastiness comes from an ancient recipe that was discovered on a tiyul in the Negev.
Advanced heating technology ensures perfectly consistent baking and browning, with an indicator light to let you know when the machine has reached the optimal baking temperature. Nonstick cast-aluminum grids release the two 4 1/2" sq. waffles effortlessly, while an overflow trough channels away excess batter for easy cleanup. 10 3/4" x 11" x 5 1/4" high. A Muqata Waffle Hut exclusive.

Whenever I on am miluim I dream of waffles.

Are you sure it's Matza?

I saw this on Am Kshe Oref, who apparently saw it over at Life in Israel (thanks Rafi for providing the link).

Very funny, but doesn't the word in Hebrew look like it says "forehead"?




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

EVEN MORE HATRED IN THE SF BAY AREA

Guest post - Can also be read at the back of the hill (http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/), which I think is a great place, but you may have some valid doubts about that opinion. That's okay too.


The text below represents a new level of anti-Semitism and cotton-wool Jewish self-loathing in the San Francisco Bay Area. It also represents an ignorant and self-righteous welt-anschauung that is truly and utterly dangerous.

Unfortunately it does NOT represent a minority point of view in many circles. I wish to post it here so that you may know exactly what we're up against in California. And note particularly the mention of a "liberation seder" at a Methodist church - to me this is such a series of misnomers and wrong concepts that it does not, cannot, compute. My mind is boggled.

[I will be attending two seders - both in the East Bay, neither in anyway whatsoever resembling the nakba seder.]


--- --- ---

[from e-mail]

Get Involved! Nakba Bay Area Jewish Anti-Zionist Efforts

Dear Bay Area "No Time To Celebrate" signatories and IJSN friends,

Last Thursday 20 people attended the Bay Area organizing meeting for Jewish anti-Zionist actions around the 60th anniversary of the Nakba. The energy at the meeting was great, and people are ready to step up into action this spring! We heard back from many more of you who could not be there and are very committed to being involved. At the meeting, a decision-making process for selecting areas of work to move forward on, was framed by the call to action from the "No Time To Celebrate" campaign


You can read and sign the pledge at:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/notimetocelebrate/
and that from Palestinian organizations calling on international civil society to commemorate Nakba through boycott of Israel celebrations and actions to highlight the history of Palestinian resistance at:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/notimetocelebrate/



Three workgroups were formed to organize the major efforts we identified as most vital:

1. Holding a Liberation Seder is solidarity with 60 Years of Palestinian Resistance;
2. Organizing Nakba Direct Actions;
3. Supporting the Free Palestine Peace and Solidarity Festival.


Following is more information about these efforts and ways you can get involved in each one.

We hope you can all join us for the next meeting on *Wednesday April 16, 7pm at 474 Valencia in San Francisco.
We are so excited to come together with you all to stand with Palestinian resistance on the 60th anniversary of the Nakba!


Areas of work and how to get involved:

Liberation Seder - Sunday, April 20, 5:00-8:30pm, Lake Merrit United Methodist Church, 1255 1st Ave, Oakland.
The Seder will be a community building event and a fundraiser for IJSN and the Palestinian Popular conference. The Seder will be geared towards promoting several Bay Area Nakba activities, including the May 10th Palestinian Cultural Festival, the Handala campaign, and the Palestinian Popular Conference.


What you can do:

1. Come and bring guests! rsvp to jewishsolidaritybayarea@gmail.com
2. Bring an item of food (wine, matzah, parsley, boiled eggs, oranges,
olives, juice, horseradish, a dish). E-mail the Seder Point Person, Eric Romann at ericromann@gmail.com to let him know what you are making!
3. Help with set-up and/or clean-up, be there for all the behind-the-scenes action! E-mail ericromann@gmail.com to sign-up for a shift.
4. Perform a piece of poetry or music, again, contact Eric at ericromann@gmail.com if you have a piece you'd like to offer at the Seder.
5. Spread the word!


Nakba Direct Actions:

We are organizing two major direct actions. We need everyone to participate in order to demonstrate, through our numbers and passion, exactly how substantial Jewish dissent to Zionism is! Please contact the Nakba Actions Point Person Sara Kershnar at skershna@earthlink.net to get involved and/or to join the next workgroup meeting on April 21, at 7:30pm.


Roles to play will include:

1. People to participate in direct actions.
2. People to come as allies and in supporting roles.
3. People willing to develop materials for distribution, design visuals for the action, and plan an art party.

Free Palestine Peace and Solidarity Festival:
http://www.araborganizing.org/concert.html
Saturday, May 10, all day at the Civic Center
This festival is being organized by the local Palestinian Nakba Committee, and will feature a fabulous line up of performers, as well as other cultural and political opportunities.
IJSN has been asked to recruit volunteers, provide logistical support, participate in, fundraise for, and promote the event.

The festival workgroup will be sending out an e-mail in the next few days with a list of ways you can be involved and support the festival.

Please contact Festival Point Person Kinneret Israel at kinneret.israel@gmail.com to get active before then and/or join the festival planning conference call on Thursday April 10th at 5:30pm.

--- --- ---

Please note that the e-mail reproduced above shows a clear link between methodists and the El Awda crowd, who advocate the destruction of Israel. El Awda insists upon a right of return to the Holy Land for Palestinians, and obligatory return to Poland for Jews. They are silent about the Jews expelled from Arab lands. It would not surprise me if they have other plans for them.

The Methodists, of course, are simply mis-informed idiots. We have a lot of those in the Bay Area. The involvement of the Methodists with the nakba crowd and anti-Israel Jews is very disturbing. The divestment movement flourishes at present among such people.

Your guest-poster,


------B.O.T.H.


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

Tzipi Livni Suprises Us All!

Ahmed Tibi must have thought that he was going to have an easy time of it.

After all, Arafat embarrassed Shimon Peres all the time on TV, and poor Shimon never knew what to answer when put on the spot.

So when Ahmed Tibi publicly called Israel an Apartheid state at a conference right after Tzipi Livni spoke, he probably figured he'd get away with it too (I would have thought so also).

From the stage, Livni said in response that, "The fact is that you are an MK in Israel, and represent 20 percent of the public, and can say whatever you please. This is the proof that Israel is a democratic state."

Wow!

Who knew she had it in her. She surprised us all.

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

What to do on Pesach (1/many)

--Advertisement--

Plenty of things to do this Pesach with the whole family:

1) Visit Efrat and buy a home overlooking a park:

Whether as an investment or as your new home, this Pesach, give them a call and visit the construction site. (Barkan also fixed up their website so visit that too).

Give them a call and make an appointment.

2) Go on an IsraelChallenge Adventure

Swing down mountains, bike up mountains, jeep across mountains.

Fun for the whole family.
(Some of our readers already went and had a great time, and now I hear Treppenwitz is getting a free jeep tour - that's just not fair)

There is also a DISCOUNT for signing up through their website.

3) Check out how the other half lives in Israel.

But only if you're a serious potential client of this exclusive Ein Karem villa.

4) It's not over the Green line, but Beit Shemesh is also part of Israel, and that's where Rabbi Rosner and family are moving to and forming his new community.

I'm sure Shelly Levine will be happy to have someone show you around his new neighborhood during Chol HaMoed.

5) If you are going up North, visit the "Leadership Yeshiva Academy". But call first to make sure someone will be there to greet you, as it is Pesach Vacation.




Plenty more tiyullim and fun advice coming up in other posts this week.

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

Four Great Posts

Four Great Posts over at JoeSettler which I'm not going to cross-post over here for a change.

When a Leftwing Kibbutz learns it is located on stolen "occupied" land

What farming is like after the Expulsion

Lost somewhere in Israel

Something Small for Pesach

Enjoy!

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

Pesach Shiurim TODAY

-- Advertisement --


TODAY, Sunday, April 13 WebYeshiva is running a series of Web-conference shiurim on Pesach.


All Shiurim are free!


Rabbi Jeffrey Saks - 10:00am Israel time/3:00am NY time
Inclined Toward Freedom: On Leaning at the Seder

Mrs. Ilana Saks - 11:30am Israel time/4:30am NY time
"Because You Were a Slave in the Land of Egypt"

Rabbi Avi Weinstein - 1:00pm Israel time/6:00am NY time
Different Meanings of Freedom and the Festival of Freedom

Rabbi Moshe Morris - 5:00pm Israel time/10:00am NY time
The Halachot of When Erev Pesach Falls on Shabbat

Rabbi Yitzchak Twersky - 8:00pm Israel time/1:00pm NY time
Where Did Moshe Go? A View of the Haggada from the Vantage Point of Tanach

Mrs. Nomi Berman - 9:30pm Israel time/2:30pm NY time
The All-Nighter in B'nei Brak

Rabbi Yitzhak Zuriel - 11:30pm Israel time/4:30pm NY time
The Meaning of Rabbi Yehuda's Ten Plagues Simanim

Rabbi Yehoshua Geller - 1:00am Israel (April 14)/6:00pm NY time
Reading Maggid: Secrets to the Haggada's Midrash Encoding

Rabbi Chaim Brovender: 5:30am Israel time (April 14)/10:30pm NY time
Why is Moshe Rabbeinu Missing from the Haggada?

So go sign up and learn something.

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

From Slavery to Freedom.

From this past weekend's Makor Rishon newspaper -- is this marketing genius or male chauvinism?



And now I'm running off to milluim. Joe - don't burn down the blog.

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

He Is More Than A Waffle Stalker

My dear friend Yaaqov Ben-Yehudah is more than your ordinary waffle stalker. He is also among the finest hosts of Haveil Havalim.

I strongly urge you to go check out Haveil Havalim #162 - Pesah Edition. You'll be glad that you did.

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

Ki Matta le-Hatam: Community Rabbis in Israel and the United States – Part I

A Guest Posting by AddeRabbi

[cross posted to The Muqata, AddeRabbi]

In the wake of the 'buzz' generated by the impending aliyah of Rabbi Shalom Rosner (click on the 'breaking news' WebAd link above for the story, or just go here), his family, and several members of his kehilla Jameel asked me to guest post about the differences between community rabbis in Israel and the United States.

First, though, a word about Rabbi Rosner’s aliyah. I know a number of successful pulpit rabbis who made aliyah at the height of their careers, but without the fanfare. What makes this so special?

The answer has to do with one person, not Rabbi Rosner himself. I’m talking, of course, about Shelly Levine, the real estate agent who is selling the Nofei Ha-Shemesh project in Beit Shemesh (I actually bought my own home in Modiin through her). She’s selling the project as an American-style community with an American-style rabbi. Her husband, Charlie, is a PR. They cooked up this plan to market this project, and then went and found the right rabbi. This does not take anything away from the sacrifices that the Rosner family is making in order to come on aliyah. It does, however, explain the inordinate amount of hype surrounding them.

Back to the issues at hand – the difference between American Orthodox community rabbis and their Israeli counterparts. The Israeli community rabbinate is a difficult cohort to wrap one’s brain around, because there are at least three distinct elements of it. There’s the official urban/ regional Rabbanut, which operates everywhere in the country, and whose rabbis are paid by the municipality/ regional council. There are the synagogue rabbis. Finally, there are rabbis of small towns (kibbutzim, yishuvim, moshavot, etc.), who are paid by the ‘local council’, but, ultimately, the locales are so small that they are essentially community-based. I will compare these four elements using the following graph:

	Salary	Hired By	Contract Term
American	Full-time	Community	X years - Lifetime
Rabbanut	Full-time	Politicians	Lifetime
Israel – Shul	Part-time	Community	X Years
Small Yishuv	In between PT and FT	Community	X Years - Lifetime

This is obviously a bit of an oversimplification. There are plenty of part-time shul rabbis in the U.S., especially in shteiblach and the like, and there are plenty of others who need to hustle in order to make a few extra $$ - teaching in schools and what not – because they live in an expensive community or because the community simply cannot afford to pay the rabbi all that much. Nevertheless, the differences are clear, and it is also clear that the yishuv rabbinate is closest to the American rabbinate in terms of job description and expectations.

Readers may wonder why I have chosen to focus primarily on the economics of the rabbinate. A former teacher of mine, Prof. Shaul Stampfer of Hebrew U., opened my eyes to the economic pressures which guide the development of institutions. The economic (as well as political and social) circumstances in the U.S. and Israel dictate the make-up and function of their respective community rabbinates, as I hope to describe in Part II.

Note: Rabbi Avi (Seth) Kadish has an excellent article worth reading as well -- A proposal for creating Modern Orthodox Outreach Communities in the cities and towns of Israel. This essay was published in Makor Rishon (now the leading newspaper in the Religious Zionist world) on Erev Shabbat Hol Ha-Moed Sukkot, 5766.


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

The Week Ahead

Jameel's got Milluim and the inmates are taking over the asylum.

There are 3 guest posters this Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday and none are named Jack ( did you catch that hint Jack?). Two of the bloggers were supposed to write last week, but that didn't happen, so they get to take a crack this week instead.

Jameel revised his post about the "Militia Men" something like 10 times, but was unhappy with the results so he decided not to publish it. After all, how many different ways can you say "slanted, yellow journalism"?

If only Yaacov Katz (the JPs military correspondent) had written that article.

Jameel plans to have some good stories when he gets back from kashering IDF kitchens (sorry, couldn't resist).

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

Israel Prayer....Too Offensive

Cross posted on my blog

JTA has a story about an egalitarian shul that are having some problems with this prayer for Israel. Apparently, they think it is too militeralistic, "Conflation of religion and politics, its tone of Jewish triumphalism and exclusivity."

Here are some quotes:

Expecting everyone to stand and recite, in unison, something so political clearly sends a message: If you don't identify with the vision of Israel that is expressed in this prayer, then you are wrong,"

What vision bothers this poor soul?

Alpert says the prayer should account for the consequences of Israel's creation for the land's other inhabitants.

I feel such triumphalism in the face of the conflict in Israel and Palestine is irresponsible."

I think this person needs a hug.

Aviva Bock, a member of the Newton Centre Minyan who teaches psychotherapy at Harvard University, says there is something problematic about simply reciting this formula.

"The prayer should be a reflection of our hopes and prayers in the context of today rather than something that feels to me like it was written at a very different moment in time," she said.

Well, what could you expect from a psychotherapist? Sorry 

Kalmanofsky himself recommended an alteration of the passage that speaks of Israeli soldiers achieving "victory," substituting instead a verse from Isaiah asking that they return in peace

At Manhattan's Jewish Center, a modern Orthodox shul, the congregation for many years had substituted an alternate version of the Israel prayer due to discomfort over the messianic element in the line characterizing Israel as "the first flowering of the redemption."

I really don't understand people sometimes. First of all, it says this shul (not the OJ one) follows a traditional siddur liturgy. Have they opened up the siddur lately. It's full of stuff about Israels exclusivity. Its full of places where we hope God will deliver us from its enemies. And messianic yearnings??? Ya, I think it mentions it there too. I wonder if this shul has a problem with the Torah's telling the Israelites to destroy the original inhabitants of Canaan. Perhaps we should add prayers for the souls of the Hittites. What about Tanakh?

I don't know. The way people conceive the world boggles my mind. Wanting those that want you destroyed, to be destroyed, is now politically incorrect. Victory is assur. It's offensive to the sensitivies of those that are defeated I guess. And why does it bother them calling Israel the first budding of the redemption? I mean, isn't that what these people are davening for? A redemption? In Judaism IIRC, redemption and a return to the land go hand and hand. So why do they get so offended by it all?

I would love to get a list of all the "offensive" things in the siddur and email this shul and see if they have a problem with it too. Or is just Israel? Anyone up for the challenge?

And then you have types like Gil, that have no problem tinkering with the prayer or ommitting it. Why? Two reasons. One, because it is recent. Well, weren't all prayers recent at some point or another? And the second, which I feel is for more sad is the fact that he says its political. The fact that Gil can say THIS prayer is political bothers me. How can it be political Gil? You are praying for its safety. You are praying for it being victorious. You are praying for its leaders to make right choices. And yes, you are praying that it is the beginning of a redemption. A redemption that you OBVIOUSLY believe is coming. If anything Gil, Israel should be a cause for all us to say thank you to God without you having to catogorize it into some sort of ideology first. I am SURE we can scroll through the siddur and even Talmud and find many "political" references.

Wherever I am, people keep hassling me about waffles. Leave me alone. I hate waffles.

But I really was a Terrorist!

Without a doubt, this is one of the weirder stories on the Jerusalem Post.

The Jerusalem Post wrote an article about Walid Shoebat, who claims he was recruited by a PLO operative to carry out an attack on a branch of Bank Leumi in Bethlehem in the 1970s.

At six in the evening he was supposed to detonate a bomb in the doorway of the bank. But when he saw a group of Arab children playing nearby, he says, his conscience was pricked and he threw the bomb onto the roof of the bank instead, where it exploded causing no fatalities.

The JPost investigation had a hard time with Shoebat's version.

Shoebat's claim to have been a terrorist rests on his account of the purported bombing of Bank Leumi. But after checking its files, the bank said it had no record of an attack on its Bethlehem branch anywhere in the relevant 1977-79 period.

Shoebat told The Jerusalem Post that this could be because the bank building was robustly protected with steel and that the attack may have caused little damage.

Asked whether word of the bombing made the news at the time, he said, "I don't know. I didn't read the papers because I was in hiding for the next three days." (In 2004, he had told Britain's Sunday Telegraph: "I was terribly relieved when I heard on the news later that evening that no one had been hurt or killed by my bomb.")

Shoebat could not immediately recall the year, or even the time of year, of the purported bombing when talking to the Post by phone from the US. After wavering, he finally settled for the summer of 1977.

He's adamant that he tried to blow up the bank, despite the discrepancies in his story.

Shoebat converted from Islam to Christianity in 1993 and now goes on tours around the US and Europe lecturing to the West about the dangers of Islamic extremism.

Shoebat describes his conversion to Christianity as a transformation "from hate to love." He told the Post that he believes "in a Greater Israel that includes Judea and Samaria, and by this I mean a Jewish state."

He argued that Israel should retake the Gaza Strip and rehouse Jews there, regarding Gaza as Jewish by right. "If a Jew has no right to Gaza, then he has no right to Jaffa or Haifa either," he said.

He advocates that the government of Greater Israel introduce a law providing for the exiling of anybody who denies its right to exist, "even if they were born there."

He has little sympathy for the PLO or Hamas. "The Palestinians have not met a single demand from Israel," he said, and added, "Both the PLO and Hamas have not given up the goal of destroying Israel."

"The Jews are not aware of the true threat," Shoebat said. "They are still fighting dead Nazis. It is easy to fight dead people. But they don't have the will to fight the living Nazis, the Islamic radicals."

Shoebat didn't appreciate the Jerusalem Post's critical investigation, and replied with his own article, I was a Terrorist.

FOR MY defense of Israel and my battle against Jew-hatred I have addressed audiences at numerous government agencies including the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the United States Air Force and many police agencies. They always scrutinize my credentials and background, and they've cleared me each and every time. My advisory board is comprised of generals and other senior officers from the US military.

It is a shame that the Post was somehow duped into running an article against my character and credentials. The question everyone should ask is why is the media so bent in destroying my claims, especially the Israeli media which should in reality help me get my message out.

He's naive. Israel's media is not about pro-Israel messages.

That's why we have blogs -- someone has to be pro-Israel.

Shabbat Shalom,

Jameel.



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

Out of the Depths, out of the Ashes, Rebuilding Jerusalem

I'll never forget the first time I saw this arch in the Old City of Jerusalem; walking through the Old City on our way to the Kotel, the stark appearance of a single arch reaching towards the sky in the middle of ruins in captivating.

The arch was rebuilt as a tribute to the Churva Shul when Israel liberated the Old City of Jerusalem in 1967. The shul had been destroyed by the Jordanians, as had much of the Jewish Quarter, as had been the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives -- the tombstones from Jewish graves were used to pave roads and build latrines.


The Churva was the most impressive building in the Jewish Quarter once completed and served the Jewish community not only as a shul, but as a communal meeting place as well.

Ze'ev Jabotinsky organized a rally at the Hurva in order to enlist volunteers in the Jewish Brigade. It is also the place where the ceremony to hand over the flag of the Jewish Brigade was held on the day Jerusalem was conquered in 1917. Herzl visited there in 1898. The installation of the Ashkenazi rabbis of Jerusalem and of the Land of Israel took place at the Hurva and from there the call to save European Jewry was sent out during a public fast and day of prayer organized by hundreds of rabbis.

In 1925, when Herbert Samuel ended his term as the British high commissioner in Palestine, he came to the Hurva, was called up to read from the Torah and was honored with the last reading of Parshat Nahamu (the Sabbath immediately after the fast of Tisha B'Av, when the haftorah, the additional reading from Scriptures, begins with the words "Nahamu, nahamu ami" which means "Comfort My people, comfort them"). When Samuel reached the words "and on his throne a foreigner shall not sit" (in the blessing that is recited after the reading of the haftorah), Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook stood up and repeated those words aloud. Haaretz

The Churva was a majestic building with a large dome and large arches on each side of the building. It was impossible to miss among the skyline of the Old City.

And then the war came. Jews were evicted from the Old City...and the Jordanians demolished and desecrated everything Jewish. (To date, almost every Jewish site under Palestinian control has suffered the same fate; from the gravesite of Yosef to that of Yehoshua)

The ElderofZion has a whole description of the history and destruction of the Churva.



However, not to be deterred, we are rebuilding the Churva shul -- and its in the final stages of construction. The familiar lone standing arch is gone; and the shul's rebuilt exterior is almost complete.

Having neighborhood hitchhikers who work in the Old City -- I sent one the other week on a mission to take some pictures for my blog of it's current status. If you want an amazing English speaking tour guide for the Kotel Tunnels, let me know and I'll put you in touch with her...she took the pictures.

Enjoy!

View from above...

This picture is a few weeks older...



May this be the final time this shul will need to be rebuilt -- and may we see more building cranes in the Old City soon.


hat-tip for this pic; YMedad.


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

The Life of Luxury; Palestinian Terrorists

YNET reports:

"Four of the 13 Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades members who fled a Palestinian Authority prison in Nablus last week voluntarily returned to jail Thursday, after receiving assurances that their living conditions would be improved."

The inmates escaped prison, where they were being held as part of the amnesty deal between Israel and the PA, for the second time last Friday.

Why are these inmates being held in prison? Terrorist acts against Jews.

Israel's government believes calculated risks are necessary; they calculate how many Jews might be killed by releasing repeat-offender terrorists, will it affect their standing in the polls, and then they release them.

The Hebrew edition adds the following tidbit:

לפי ההסכם, מבוקשי גדודי אל-אקצה שהסגירו את עצמם נכנסו לתקופת מבחן בת שלושה חודשים, ומבוקש שלא יעסוק בתקופה זו בטרור - יזכה לחנינה סופית

According to the amnesty agreement with Israel; wanted terrorists from the Al Aksa Brigades that turned themselves in are given a 3 month trial period. If they don't commit any terror acts during that time, they will receive a full pardon by Israel.

We've been through this so many times before, it's a pathetic joke. Three whole months with no terrorist acts against Jews and Israel grants them a full pardon. Justice at its best.

The men also complained of the conditions in which they were being held, and said that the PA refused to meet their demands for salaries and employment.

Must be hard living in conditions that inmates don't receive salary and employment. I'm sure if they complained to Israel instead of the PA, the Israeli Foreign ministry would have arranged something.

I'm shocked they didn't ask for waffles.

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

Jack Bauer Tip #21

You never know when you might find yourself next to a suitcase with an Atomic Bomb in it.

These easy to use instructions from Wired Magazine will make your life a lot simpler (and you get to be a hero at the same time)



Print it out and keep in your wallet/pocketbook (or just memorize it, it's not that difficult).




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

Your Israel Bonds - Hard at Work

Sometimes you read something, and you have to read it again, because you can’t believe how stupid some people really are.

Let’s take the Israeli Foreign Ministry for example.

Here’s a group that really, really, doesn’t understand the internet and social networks.

First, they decide officially tackle the anti-Semitism on facebook by convincing pro-Israel people to start pro-Israel groups and other activities.

Talk about being late to the game.

Hell, there’s one guy on facebook named Ashley Perry who is like an Army-of-One when it comes to that and he certainly didn’t need FM approval or urging to tackle this whale.

And there are plenty of others who beat the Foreign Ministry to the gate.

Meanwhile, while the Foreign Ministry is so busy patting itself on the back that they had themselves another brain-spasm.

Hold on to your chairs.

The Foreign Ministry decided to invite the most influential Israel-bashing bloggers around to a free, all-expenses paid trip to Israel.

That’s right!

Because if these people couldn’t find enough stuff to write about, make up, or just spew against Israel, they can now write that Israel tried to officially “bribe” them to see another side of things.

Let me ask you, do you think the idiots in the Foreign Ministry think that blogs are like newspapers and need to be balanced? Do they really think that these bloggers write their remarks out of ignorance? Do they think that flying over Sderot in a helicopter will actually change their perspective?

How stupid are they over there?

I remember once when Arafat and Peres were on TV, Peres starts his idiotic peace ramblings, and Arafat (as always) suddenly made outrageous claims against Israel. Peres stood there flabbergasted, unable to even muster a response (much less say that Arafat was lying).

Remember that, because the Foreign Ministry’s tour also includes meeting our “Peace Partners” (such as enemy negotiator Saeb Erekat) who surely want to correct how these blogger are portraying Israel in their blogs.

10 parts of stupidity were handed down. We know who got them all.

(I heard the Foreign Ministry plans to invite ISM members on free trips to the Rachel Corrie Pancake Memorial tour, to help "open their minds" too).


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

Emerging Community: Efrat

-- Advertisement --

As part of the ongoing Aliyah series that is unfolding on the Muqata, we'll now discuss another "emerging community".

Not a community lost somewhere in the United States where there are barely enough Jews to make a kosher-style deli, but one just 10 minutes from Jerusalem.

The neighborhood of Zayit in Efrat is a young, vibrant community. It boasts around 500 families. More than 50% are English speakers. While an Orthodox community, it is also an open one, and one can find both secular and Chareidi Jews living there.

It is also one of the highly demanded neighborhoods around.


A new project by the Barkan corporation called ParkView (Nofei HaPark) has just opened up (and is quickly closing up, due to the high demand).



ParkView consists of 51 quality apartments of 4-6 rooms overlooking a park (to be built soon).

(I was told that those who bought in the similar complex next door had a 30% shekel increase (more in dollars) in the value of their apartments in the last year, though past performance is no indicator of future earnings).


Anyway, I know a few people who live in the Zayit and they say they love the neighborhood and the people.

To find out more, get prices, and buy a home in Israel, I recommend you check out ParkView and contact Barkan directly.

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

Lag Ba'Omer Bonfire = 33 Thousand Dollars

It's not even Pesach, and already kids around Israel are searching for scrap (and not so scrap) wood for the national bonfire night of Lag BaOmer.

YNET reports (in Hebrew) of 5 girls, aged 12, who were already on the hunt for bonfire scrap wood, when they came upon an old wooden closet on Petach Tikva's Salant Street.

Bingo!

Instead of just hauling it to their wood stash, they decided to open it up first and they found in it $33,000 in cash! (Don't forget the gematria of "Lag" Ba'Omer is 33, so if you're going to find a cash cow, it's the right number)

The fair-minded girls split the cash between them and went home. One of the girl's parents heard about the "find," collected all the cash, and brought it to the police.

The police questioned the girls of the location where they found the wooden closet, and located the closet's owner. Apparently, while cleaning for Passover, the closet's owner decided to get rid of the closet, not knowing her mother had left the cash there (she didn't even know of the cash's existence!)

Moral of the story:

1. Cleaning for Pesach is totally out of control. It's NOT Spring Cleaning, but cleaning for bread!

2. Don't throw out usable furniture; you never know when it might be usable. Best to put things like this in your attic (I'm so going to get killed for writing this)

3. If you do decide to throw out furniture, ask first on your local neighborhood email list if anyone wants it/can use it.

4. Before you throw anything out, always check for $33,000 in cash hidden away in it.

5. Petach Tikva kids start collecting wood for Lag BaOmer waaaay too early. They should be helping their parents clean for Pesach.

Note: The wooden closet pictured above is for representative purposes only -- it was not the actual wooden closet found containing $33,000. Other Limitations may apply.



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

Who Is Stalking Jameel?

The inherent dangers of the internet and blogosphere are known to all. While I tip my hat towards those bloggers who have stripped away their own anonymity and blog out in the open like Treppenwitz, Hirhurim, and Serandez; I still try keep my identity to myself (for the most part).

However, the 2 scariest issues for bloggers are as follows:

1. Someone revealing their anonymity
2. Stalkers

I carry a semi-automatic hand-gun with me at all times, and have my automatic M16 assault rifle (complete with close range, urban-warfare, rapid target acquisition sight) at my disposal, so I'm not overly worried about stalkers. However, this past Friday afternoon, a stalker got the better of me.

Driving around on Friday afternoon I noticed a note tucked into a bag in my car. "That's odd," I thought to myself, "what's the blue piece of paper doing here?"

Looking at it, my heart sank...

It was mysteriously signed in a circle, "loag." For those of you who aren't familiar with the "Loag", Wookipedia has the scoop:

The Loag, a group of assassins, oppressed the planet Merisee during the Old Republic. They were apparently wiped out by six Jedi after an effort of a full year. Three of the Jedi were killed in the violent denouncement of the cult. At the end of the campaign, the Jedi took the Loag dagger, which the assassins had sworn their blood oaths on, and it was placed in the care of the Galactic Museum on Coruscant.

So not only do I have a waffle stalker after me, but it's an entire group of waffle-starved assassins!

Fine. If that's the price to pay for having a blog, I can deal with it.

My kids are on the lookout for cloaked figures who may snoop around the neighborhood, my wife is well-trained with her own firearm, our home has security cameras outside, and our community security operations center (as well as the IDF) is in 24x7 contact with me.

The "Loag" think they may be tough, but they've come after the wrong blogger.

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

A Mother's Tears

Apropos my previous posting/video of husbands who "disappear" on business trips (note, I left out the quotation marks from "business trips"), the following story by Molly Green just appeared on YNET (in Hebrew).

Here's my quick and imperfect translation...

The tears streamed down my cheeks.

Yes, even at my mature age, the stubborn tears filtered out of my eyes and joined my angry cries.

At first I was embarrassed. I reached for a tissue. No one cries over a plane that has left. Yet my tears returned. For years I waited for this chance, and in an instant it was cruelly snatched away from me.

At my workplace there are occasional bonuses; perks if you may. At some companies its cash, at my company, its a trip abroad every few years.

The trip could be to cover a seminar, convention, or an important event, and the lucky person gets sent on an all-expense-paid trip to "Chutz La'Aretz"...anywhere outside of Israel.

There's nothing like a small carrot, such as a trip abroad, to throw at employees to motivate them and give them a "high" for weeks on end.

This trip was mine; it was my field, my forte, and yet...while I have 8 years of seniority and tenure at my company, they sent someone who was only with us for 6 months!

The rage bottled up inside me, "How dare they not offer me this trip?" I ranted at my husband. "This is how they reward years of hard effort and dedication? Have I only imagined myself as being an integral part of the company?!"

I was inconsolable.

My husband gently suggested there must be a rational and logical reason why I wasn't sent.

Enough was enough; I couldn't take it any longer -- I called our chief editor.

"Is everything OK, Molly?" he asked.

"No, not really", I answered, trying to sound as calm as possible under the circumstances.

"I have been working here for 8 years. I am not going to detail all my dedication and hard work, but will come straight to the point. I'm very offended you didn't offer to send me to cover the game convention in Italy.

This is my field, it is near and dear to my heart and I cover it professionally for our publication. I have nothing against the reporter you sent in my place, but I am with a doubt the right person for the job -- so why didn't you send me?"

Silence.

"Err, Um, I'm, ah... shocked", my boss stammered.

He barely got the words out, "Your name came up at the staff review, and everyone agreed you were the right person to go, but everyone mentioned the problem."

"The 'Problem'?" I asked. "What 'problem'?"

"The problem that you have 9 children! How could we possibly ask a mother of NINE children to leave for a 3 day business trip! We all had mercy on you and didn't ask you to go..."

A good, nice feeling washed over me. I didn't hear the rest. They honestly thought they couldn't ask me to go.

"Just so that you should know," I stopped his ongoing apology, "of all people, davka (specifically) a mother of 9 is someone who SHOULD go on a trip like this"

"Why?" my editor stammered.

"Believe me," I answered, "a mother of 9 could use a 3 day vacation!"

Jameel adds: And what better time, than right before Pesach! (Passover)

:-)

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

Peace House

So last night I got a last minute invitation to scoot on over to the Peace House in Hebron and permission from the wife to do so (sorry Elchonon, I didn’t see you there).

What an evening.

Everybody who is anybody in the settler world was there, and what super-nice people they all are.

There were speakers (such as Rav Dov Lior and Aryeh Eldad), a movie, tours of the Peace House, and impromptu meetings with the families living there. Rav Levinger was driven by for a few minutes and he greeted people.


Itzkik Halamish was also there, and I spent some time speaking with him.


If you’re not familiar with his story, you should be. It’s about a (becoming more and more common) miscarriage of justice and the lack of proper police procedures that we are seeing more and more of against Jews in Judea and Samaria.

I bumped into Baruch Marzel, and told him I was going to vote for him again, but this time he had better win.

Most interesting was the non-publicized background behind the 100% legal purchase of the Peace House, perhaps one day I will be able to discuss it.

But ultimately, the lesson here is once again, the Arabs are more than happy to sell their property to Jews (as long as they won’t get killed for it).

The government has another problem. They wanted certain influential Arab neighbors to complain and say they don’t want the Jews living there (in an attempt to invalidate the sale).

But the local Muchtar (who I discussed in a previous post about his meeting with the Hebron leaders) openly told the IDF and government representatives that he is quite happy to have the Jews owning and living there. (He is apparently fed up with the Leftists who keep visiting and causing problems).

Bully for him.

Anyway, that was my unexpected Saturday night in Hebron.

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

Haveil Havalim #161 - Pidgeon Break

Friends the Best of the Jewish Israeli Blogosphere is now live at Haveil Havalim #161 - Pidgeon Break.

Go check it out, you'll be glad you did. As always I respectfully request your assistance in promoting it by placing a link on your blog.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

The Week Ahead

What a week Jameel has planned for readers of the Muqata (with some cross-over posts on JoeSettler of course).

First of all, there will be at least 2 surprise guest bloggers blogging about Aliyah, and possibly another surprise announcement.

Next Jameel is going to discuss that preposterously slanted and skewed Jerusalem Post article on Rapid Response Teams.

Next Lurker is hoping to find time to do a Deconstruction on the Two Amotz Asa-El’s of the Jerusalem Post, the left-wing Amotz and the far-left wing Amotz.

From what I hear, Lurker will be discussing why Asa-El’s positions vacillate like the wind, while breaking down his argument style, which Lurker claims tends to rely more on techniques of delegitimization, trivialization, marginalization of opponents and opposing viewpoints rather than actually arguing the argument.

Next, if everything works out, I’ll have some news from Hebron.

And finally on JoeSettler I hope to discuss a Left-winger’s response to yet another of Avi Dichter’s personnel getting hurt near Gaza as a result of the disengagement.

Of course, the above list of posts are subject to change, current events, interest and time.


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

Ba'al-lagan!

This video was made in Chashmonaim -- a community where many of the husbands work part time in the US. The same situation is rampant in Beit Shemesh...so they should appreciate this video as well!

Me, on the other hand -- I travel far less than I used to, and for much shorter trips. And for once, I'm not going on a business trip the week before Pesach this year...just milluim! (really, I didn't schedule it!)

So enjoy this video...gan for husbands!



Discussion next week on aliya...while keeping your job behind.

hat-tip: Tzvi from Talmon, a great yishuv!

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

Eternity in an Instant

My good friend Lurker pointed me to a post on DovBear. It's not political or hashkafa related as some of his posts are...it's pure education (yes, some of his Dvar Torah posts are educational as well, but this one is truly exceptional)

This post is so eye opening and educational, it's one of the best reasons the blogosphere exists -- to spread important knowledge around. DovBear read a fabulous article in the current print edition of The New Republic about the Oyneg Shabes archive -- "a collection of some 35,000 pages of documents written in Polish and Yiddish about life in the Warsaw Ghetto. The archive was hidden in tin boxes and milk cans before the ghetto was liquidated, and uncovered after the war."

The quote from his post that understandably grabbed me was:

On August 3, 1942, with the Germans only a block away from the building at 68 Nowolipki Street, under which he was to bury the first cache of the archive, Israel Lichtenstein hurriedly deposited his testament -- and in that instant gained his eternity. "I do not ask for any thanks, for any memorial, for any praise. I only wish to be remembered.... I wish my wife to be remembered, Gele Sekstein.... I wish my little daughter to be remembered. Margalit is 20 months old today.... She too deserves to be remembered." Working with him were two teenagers, David Graber and Nahum Grzywacz. They, too, left little reminders of themselves in the archive that they were burying. Grzywacz was eighteen years old, and when he heard that the Germans had blockaded his parents' building, he wrote, "I am going to run to my parents and see if they are all right. I don't know what's going to happen to me. Remember, my name is Nahum Grzywacz." The emphasis is in the original.

Set aside some time to read it here and it's accompanying links; you won't be disappointed.

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

The Korban Pesach, today.

Learn more about it here.

I like it a lot.

Who doesn't?

The Temple movements' intention to hold a public slaughter of the Passover sacrifice was slammed by the animal rights movement, Let Animals Live.

The activists demanded that the event's coordinators cancel their plans, and sent letters to Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski, and to the Director of the Temple Institute, Yehuda Glick, threatening to sue if their demands were not met within 24 hours.

According to Let Animals Live director, Reuben Ladianski, the law states that it is prohibited to abuse or torture animals, including slaughtering them in a cruel manner.

"Any use of animals for educational purposes must be approved by the committee for animal experimentation," Ladianski said. "And the law states that permission will not be granted if the goal of the experiment can be reached in other, more humane ways." (YNETNEWS)

While educational, I don't think there's any intention of NOT eating the slaughtered animals.

And if we're already discussing the Beit HaMikdash, I found this video walk through interesting (the colors are ugly, but this sort of video concept has great educational potential)



And this video from last year about the Korban Pesach preparations...

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

Surprise! Another Shas MK Convicted!

Shocking!

"Shas party Knesset Member Rabbi Shlomo Benizri was convicted by the Jerusalem's District Court Tuesday on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, committed during his tenure as labor and welfare minister.

Two years ago Benizri was indicted for passing on advance information to building contractor Moshe Sela which included details on the quota of foreign laborers expected to arrive in Israel.

The prosecution said that in return for this information the Shas member had received perks worth millions of shekels, including large sums of money, expensive furniture, cleaning services, electrical appliances and help in expanding his apartment. The MK was also convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud and disrupting court proceedings.

His spiritual and political patron, Rabbi Reuven Elbaz, was convicted of facilitating and accepting bribes and conspiracy to commit fraud." (YNET)

Money Quote: Regarding the indictment, Benizri stated: "After listening to the prosecutors say this is the most serious case of bribery in the history of Israel (I have to say), this is the biggest lie in the history of Israel."

Wow. The biggest lie! Rather impressive.

Benizri joins ranks with other fellow Shas convicted criminals:

Arieh Deri - convicted of taking a total of $155,000 in bribes while director-general of the interior ministry and later as interior minister.

Raphael Pinhasi - convicted of counterfeiting corporate documents, attempted extortion, acting as an accessory to a crime and giving false witness.

Yair Levi -- convicted of embezzling NIS 300,000 from Shas's El Hama'ayan non-profit association

Yair Peretz -- Peretz was found guilty of receiving a BA in psychology from the now-defunct local extension of Burlington University, after he copied nine essays written by former students at the school and submitted them as his own.

Opher Chugi - Guilty of a number of serious offenses, including aggravated forgery, using forged documents, receiving items through fraudulent means, false registration of a corporation and attempting to receive items through fraudulent means.

Shlomo Dayan - Convicted of Fraud (along with Raphael Pinchasi, see above)

For a political party that names itself for the Oral Torah and claims to act only under orders and directions from Shas Spiritual Leader R' Ovadia Yosef and the Shas Supreme Council of Torah Sages, I would posit that Benizri's conviction is a good definition of the word, "Chilul Hashem" -- a desecration of G-d's name, and an embarrassment to Jews everywhere.

Of course, don't get me wrong; Ehud Olmert's ruling Kadima party is not without it's criminals.

PM Ehud Olmert is currently under 3 different criminal investigations!

Finance Minister, MK Avraham Hirschson (indicted for breach of trust, aggravated fraud, theft and money laundering)

MK Tzachi HaNegbi (indicted, awaiting trial for fraud and breach of trust for allegedly making 69 inappropriate political appointments while serving as environment minister between 2001 and 2003)

MK Yaakov Edri (police recommend indictment for breach of trust and accepting a bribe, awaiting special hearing)

MK Eli Aflalo (under police investigation for bribery)

MK Ruchama Avraham (under police investigation for bribery)

MK Chaim Ramon (convicted sexual predator -- sexual harassment)

past MK Omri Sharon, convicted, currently in prison.

Mighty Impressive.

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

Today's Israeli Hero: Amram Mitzna

How often does The Muqata (tm) blog seriously pay homage to a noted Israeli left wing politician?

Today's Israeli of note is Amram Mitzna.

For the record, Mitzna previously announced his willingness to negotiate with any elected Palestinian leadership at any time – no pre-conditions. He stated his readiness to divide Jerusalem. The exiled MK Azmi Bishara (the one who collaborated with the enemy, during wartime) said of Mitzna, "Despite the image of a former general, Mitzna stands to the left of Beilin." To the LEFT of Yossi Beilin? Why am I going out on a limb to write about him?

Even though Mitzna lost the Knesset election against Ariel Sharon because HIS idea of Disengagement was deemed too odious for the Israeli public (Sharon did the exact same thing anyway), let's see what Mitzna did after leaving the Knesset.

While other failed leaders ran to the business world, such as Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak who both did very well for themselves (as opposed to failed IDF General, Dan Halutz who has been running companies into the ground**), Amram Mitzna has taken up the long ignored ideal of Zionism to actually, help others.

Going to the struggling Negev desert development town, Yerucham, Mitzna took over the reigns of the municipal council after the mayor was forced to step down amidst charges of incompetence.

Already last year, Arutz Sheva noted Mitzna's impressive work:

Yerucham Regional Council head Amram Mitzna explained Wednesday morning how the southeastern development town turned around and became a model of financial responsibility. Failure of debt-ridden regional councils to pay workers on time is at the center of the current Histadrut labor dispute.

Mitzna, formerly mayor of Haifa, took the post at Yerucham in November 2005, when the regional council was saddled with a heavy debt, municipal services were sporadic and the community center was closed. He explained to Voice of Israel government radio that the situation changed after he raised the property tax 15 percent and fired 10-12 percent of public service workers. The Yeruham council now pays its workers on time, municipal services have been restored, the budget is balanced and the economy is growing, Mitzna stated.

Mitzna was only supposed to stay with Yerucham for 3 years -- yet he has put on hold aspirations to run again for Haifa mayoral elections or Knesset national elections. Mitzna announced to IDF army radio this morning that he would be staying in Yerucham for at least 2 more years.

In his parting speech at the Knesset, he said "I believe that by going to Yerucham, I will give from my expertise to revitalize the town and will also be a role model for the spirit of volunteerism in Israel."

Some might say he's only furthering his own future political career by revitalizing Yerucham.

Big Deal; results are results. I'd rather he further his own career while helping Yerucham, than Barak, Bibi, and Halutz's personal financial ambitions. (Then again, I'm glad Halutz didn't go to Yerucham -- he probably would have buried them as well).

Amram Mitzna; Kudos to you! On behalf of the Muqata readership, we wish you a hearty Yasher Koach, and please continue to help Yerucham bloom in the desert.

**Electronics giant Elron, who named ex-top soldier Dan Halutz as its chairman, now faces a growing concern as stock and earning warnings hovers over its head. The company admitted to losing NIS 33 million and to a cash burn of NIS 28 million for the year. It has a working capital deficit of NIS 5 million and a hole in its shareholders equity amounting to NIS 3 million. Haaretz


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

Jewno

Note: The following was posted by the Holy Hyrax blogger. Jameel comments; not the frummest video around. Click at your own risk. Why *do* I let the Hyrax blog here? *sigh*






Wherever I am, my blog turns towards the Holy Hyrax blog

What Happens To Waffle Thieves

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

Knesset Resolution Passed: Waffle Week Starts Today!

Knesset Resolution Passed:
Waffle Week Starts Today!

After months of painstaking legislative lobbying, Prof. Ben-Chorin's hard work has finally paid off; in a landmark Knesset vote today, National Waffle Week has been declared in Israel, STARTING TODAY!

Though Shas MKs were against the law (and voted against it because they favored their own bill, "National Pancake Day"), the Knesset came through and voted 72-19 in favor of Waffle Week!

Instead of the silly customs that are associated with Israeli Independence Day, i.e., plastic whistle hammers, spraying white foam over innocent passerbyers, etc., Waffle day involves 100% Waffles!

Send your waffle blog posts, pictures or videos of yourself wearing waffle apparel, eating waffles, or being seen at an official Waffle House, and we'll post it here. Write a creative waffle posting, involving waffles and Israel, and you COULD be a winner!

Winning entires may be eligible for a waffle breakfasts, AT THE MUQATA! (Fine Print: Unless of course, you spell your first name with a "q" in it).

Examples of fine apparel include:





















In an attempt to keep this appreciation week entertaining, this celebration is EVEN open to registered members (in good standing) of the National Waffle Association! So go out, write a post about waffles, go find some waffle apparel, eat some nutritious and sumptuous waffles, and let us know! Celebrate Israel @ 60 in style; and shows us your spirit of Eretz Yisrael with or without the syrup.












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

Biblical-Astronomical Archeology

בראשית י"ט, GENESIS 19: The Destruction of Sodom and Amorah

24 Then the LORD caused to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; 25 and He overthrow those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. 26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. 27 And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD. 28 And he looked out toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the Plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.

From the Times-Online: "A clay tablet that has baffled scientists for 150 years has been identified as a witness’s account of the asteroid suspected of being behind the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Researchers who cracked the cuneiform symbols on the Planisphere tablet believe that it recorded an asteroid thought to have been more than half a mile across.

The tablet, found by Henry Layard in the remains of the library in the royal place at Nineveh in the mid-19th century, is thought to be a 700BC copy of notes made by a Sumerian astronomer watching the night sky.

He referred to the asteroid as “white stone bowl approaching” and recorded it as it “vigorously swept along”.

Using computers to recreate the night sky thousands of years ago, scientists have pinpointed his sighting to shortly before dawn on June 29 in the year 3123BC.

About half the symbols on the tablet have survived and half of those refer to the asteroid. The other symbols record the positions of clouds and constellations. In the past 150 years scientists have made five unsuccessful attempts to translate the tablet.

Mark Hempsell, one of the researchers from Bristol University who cracked the tablet’s code, said: “It’s a wonderful piece of observation, an absolutely perfect piece of science.”

He said the size and route of the asteroid meant that it was likely to have crashed into the Austrian Alps at Köfels. As it travelled close to the ground it would have left a trail of destruction from supersonic shock waves and then slammed into the Earth with a cataclysmic impact.

Debris consisting of up to two thirds of the asteroid would have been hurled back along its route and a flash reaching temperatures of 400C (752F) would have been created, killing anyone in its path. About one million sq km (386,000 sq miles) would have been devastated and the impact would have been equivalent to more than 1,000 tonnes of TNT exploding."

According to Chabad's on-line calendar of Biblical events, they date the destruction of Sodom to 1714 BCE, so I guess the scientists still have to tweak their computer program of the night skies a bit more.

:-)

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

Brainwashing and War

As almost always, cross-posted on JoeSettler

There is an article/video on A7 discussing the link between the brainwashing the soldiers underwent before the Hitnatkut and the failure to win in Lebanon. I too believe they are connected, but the article/video didn’t present their case very well.

From talking with soldiers back then, the further away they were from the inner-circle, the less brainwashing (sensitivity training) they underwent, and the more guilty they felt, and the more they wanted to do something to alleviate the guilt they felt.

That is in part how we snuck in the first time (until we finally got caught by some police officers whose apparent lack of guilty feelings we couldn’t work on).

Soldiers in the outer circles purposely looked away, or even actively helped us sneak through the barriers.

After the disengagement, while still in Gaza we met soldiers who broke down completely once they realized what they did.

One told us he didn’t understand before he went in as to the immensity of his actions and what the Gaza communities even looked like beforehand, and while he was there he couldn’t think, and only now that he had downtime, did he realize what he did and was involved in.

But clearly when the army is training and fulfilling political missions (or dare I say it, anti-Jewish missions), that means it does not train for its real mission of the defending the State and People of Israel against the real enemy.

Furthermore, it confuses the soldier as to who his enemy actually is and who it defintely isn't.

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