Best Unifying Israel News Item Contest

Hey JBlogworld!

The JGooders.Com organization is dedicated to making the world a better place.

They're offering a chance to win a $25 "do good" card to the participating charitable project of your choice. I get to run the contest, so I decided that in honor of Rosh HaShana, the upcoming Jewish New Year -- the contest will be who can email or comment-in the best "Best Unifying Israel News Item Contest."

Find that news item that demonstrates unity in Israel. With all the political strife going on, religious/secular tensions, and stress in general -- I'm looking for feel-good news stories -- submit the best one, and win a JGooders $25 tzedakka donation.

Here's a good example:

This past week, I posted about a rather nasty Chareidi website that had some rather awful things to say about fallen IAF pilot Assaf Ramon, the son of fallen Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon.

Within an hour, Lurker posted a followup about how the general Chareidi/Ultra Orthodox population has tremendous respect for Israel's soldiers, and how the majority of the chareid community is mourning Assaf Ramon. One Charedi website (B'Hadrei Haredim) even set up a campaign throughout the haredi community for people to learn mishnayot in Ramon's memory. This is a traditional Jewish mourning practice, that represents an effort to contribute "extra points" in heaven for a beloved person who has passed away.

My contribution to this story would be that the editors of the website, paid a shiva call (condolence call) to the bereaved mother, Rona Ramon. They introduced themselves as from the website, and told Rona about the outpouring respect from people on the website, and those learning mishna in the memory of Assaf Ramon.

Rona Ramon told them: Your actions touch me, and make me happy. How good is it to see for a second when there isn't strife within the nation. Everyone, everyone is with us [in our pain]. I very much thank you for your visit, and I very much appreciate and value the mishnayot study [in my son's memory] -- it's heartwarming. I wish it wasn't needed [for this reason.] A son who left us...during a training exercise on behalf of the security for all of us.

There wasn't a dry eye in the room. (B'Hadrei Haredim)

Wishing all our readers, commenters and submitters a wonderful new year!

A year of health, happiness and prosperity. A year of unity, redemption and the ingathering of the exiles.

תש"ע = תהיה שנת עליה

Shana Tova!

Jameel and crew
The Muqata



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Yeshiva High School Students refuse to give journalists crash photos

The Pnei Chever Yeshiva High School is 1200 meters (about a mile) from where Assaf Ramon's F16 crashed on Sunday, and many students managed to film and photograph the f16 crash.

Reporters from all over descended on the hapless students, offering thousands of shekels for the exclusive photos.

However, not even one student acquiesced to the lure of money -- instead, they turned over all the photos and videos to the IDF who are investigating the crash.

Kol HaKavod.

Sounds like that's a yeshiva with quality education.

source: A7 in Hebrew
hat-tip: Daily Challenges.

Exclusive Muqata update from a student at the Yeshiva: Some kids took photos with their cellphones and were offered a hundred shekels or so per photo, but the student who knew what he was doing, and used a digital camera was offered 2500 per photo. The army used his photos to decide where to search.


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Haredim remember and mourn for Assaf Ramon

by Lurker

Assaf Ramon z"l and his mother Rona, at his Air Force graduation ceremony a few weeks ago

The article from the Tzofar website about which Jameel wrote in the previous post is incredibly revolting. However, people should not mistakenly assume that this sick article represents the overall haredi attitude towards the tragedy of Assaf Ramon z"l. Because it most certainly does not.

In fact, the very reason why that website put up that disgusting article, was, in their own words, to "warn about sycophants, masquerading as 'Haredim'". In other words, they are trying to attack the very positive, warm, and sympathetic attitude towards Ramon and his family, that has been seen in the haredi community over the last two days.

In particular, they are angry about this wonderful, heartwarming article in Ramon's memory that appeared on the haredi website B'Hadrei Haredim. The article speaks of the importance with which Assaf Ramon treasured his Jewish heritage, as did his father Ilan z"l.

Even more than that, the haters at Tzofar are furious about the campaign that has been launched throughout the haredi community by the same website (B'Hadrei Haredim), for people to learn mishnayot in Ramon's memory. This is a traditional Jewish mourning practice, that represents an effort to contribute "extra points" in heaven for a beloved person who has passed away. Even the usually haredi-bashing Haaretz wrote about this:

An ultra-Orthodox Web site dedicated to studying Mishna in memory of Israel Air Force pilot Capt. Assaf Ramon was set up on Sunday.

The "Behadrei Haredim" Web portal devoted its headline to the initiative, which represents a small breach in the official Haredi policy of distance from Israeli national tragedies in general and in the army in particular. People who respond to the memorial effort will commit to study all six books of the Mishna, as is customary in times of mourning.

The manager of Behadrei Haredim, Rabbi Dov Povarsky, said the strong response to the initiative shows that "the Haredi public, really all of it, identifies with and is pained by the death of Assaf Ramon. As opposed to the rabbis, who carefully weigh how such a move would be interpreted, we don't make such calculations. We are Internet journalism that grows from the bottom up and expresses the public's true feelings."

As Jameel said, "unfortunately along with the crazy riots in Jerusalem, the Chareidi population looks worse and worse on a daily basis". Often, however, this negative image is a distortion of the truth, perpetrated by a minority of low-lifes in the haredi world. The despicable people at Tzofar would like to distract us from the outpouring of love and sympathy for the Ramon family that the haredi community has shown, as have the Jewish people as a whole -- and instead focus exclusively upon the sinat hinam spewed forth by the miscreants at Tzofar and their ilk.

Let's not let them do that.


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IDF and MDA Forces responding in South Hevron Hills

6:35 PM Released for publication. In a tragic IAF F16 air crash in the South Hebron hills, Assaf Ramon the son of Ilan Ramon's -- Israel's first astronaut was killed. Ilan Ramon was killed when the Space Shuttle Columbia exploded on re-entry.

JPOST:

IAF commander Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan and head of the IDF Manpower Division Avi Zamir personally went to Rona Ramon's house to deliver the news.

News of the crash and the identity of the pilot resonated widely throughout the IDF and particularly in the Air Force where Ilan Ramon was a legend.

"This is shocking," said one senior IDF officer.

The cause of the accident was under investigation and was complicated by the large crash scene. Officials said that the debris was spread over a large piece of land near the settlement of Pinei Hever.

Ilan Ramon became the first Israeli in space aboard the fatal mission of Columbia which exploded during its reentry over Southern Texas in 2003. Ramon was a colonel in the IAF and before joining NASA he held a number of staff positions at the branch's Tel Aviv headquarters.

Assaf Ramon announced his plans to follow in his father's footsteps shortly following the Columbia tragedy. In 2006 he enlisted in the IDF and successfully passed the IAF's grueling examinations and trials for the prestigious pilot's course.

Assaf was the valedictorian of his class which graduated in June. Several months ago, during a routine training flight in a Skyhawk A4, Ramon encountered a technical failure when the engine suddenly died. Instead of injecting, like protocol dictates, Ramon, together with the flight instructor, succeeded in restarting the engine and safely returning to base.

6:24 PM Any Blogger posting information about the security incident in the South Hevron Hills is in direct violation of the IDF censor.

6:22 PM IDF Censor continues tight blackout, yet the details keep showing up on Israeli websites, only to be deleted within seconds due to the sensitivity of the report.

6:01 PM IDF Military censor forbids publication as of now. Details soon

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