Maybe it's time to move to Israel?

Now's the time to move to Israel...before your kids start asking questions like "What tefillin does Santa wear?"

For the story on Santa wearing tefillin...its from here

Yakov Jacobson was doing pre-Chanukah mivzoim in Laguna Beach, CA, when he happened upon a familiar character who - he was surprised to find out - is a Jew! The man had never put on tefilin before, a 'Karkafta,' and Yakov helped him do the mitzvah for the first time in his life.

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

The Tefillin Bomber (not)

"A Jewish prayer box worn by a teen passenger caused a Thursday morning furor on a flight from LaGuardia Airport, forcing an emergency landing in Philadelphia, authorities said.

The mix-up involved the 17-year-old boy's tefillin, a black box filled with Biblical verses and tied with leather straps to his head, said Philadelphia police Lt. Frank Vanore.

Fears of a potential terrorist attack led the Louisville, Ky.,-bound flight to instead land at Philadelphia International Airport just before 9 a.m., authorities said.

All 15 passengers and 3 crew members aboard U.S. Airways Express Flight 3709 were safely evacuated after the sudden landing, said airline spokesman Jim Olson.

Although the teen explained the significance of the tefillin to the crew, the pilot opted to land the plane in Philadelphia anyway, Vanore said.

The tefillin-wearing youth was traveling with his sister from New York to Louisville. The boxes - a second one is tied around the arm - are typically worn by men in certain Orthodox Jewish communities.

The flight was met by law enforcement personnel and officials from the Transportation Security Administration.

The teen was interviewed and the plane swept for explosive devices, with nothing found, the TSA said in a statement.

Vanore said the unidentified youth was cooperative with authorities after the plane landed. (NY Daily News)"

After all, its not like he was carrying a suspicious laptop...

hat-tip: one tiredema, YG, and many others!


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

Jordan: Religious Israelis Not Welcome

(Cartoon courtesy of Shay Charka)

Despite the peace treaty signed between Israel and Jordan, last week Jordan refused entry to 2 Israelis -- claiming that their religious items of a Tallit [Jewish prayer shawl] and Tefillin [phylacteries] would jeopardize their safety in Jordan. After leaving their Tefillin with a friend at the border crossing, Jordanian border authorities once again denied their entry, claiming that the man's beard, and his son's peyot [side locks] and large kippa would endanger their security in Jordan -- and they were forbidden entry to visit the East Bank of the historical Land of Israel.

Hagai Segal commented about this phenomenom in Friday's Makor Rishon newspaper -- apparently the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan is only between secular Israelis and the Hashemite Kingdom. If you happen to sport a beard, kippa, or want to bring in private religious articles for prayer, then "peace" doesn't apply to you.

Similarly, the Palestinians refuse to accept Israel as a "Jewish" state -- secular would be fine, but anything that smacks of Judaism or Jewishness is apparently not applicable when it comes to "peace."

When asked if he could visit Jordan in a month’s time, the Jordanian Consulate told him, “No problem. Just leave your tefillin, prayer shawl, and kippah (skullcap) home.” Israel’s Foreign Ministry says that they are aware of the phenomena and reject the security-risk claim.

The Foreign Ministry said that it is aware of prior incidents of this nature, adding that it rejects Jordanian claims that the traditional Jewish prayer items pose a threat to the country. (ViN)

Looks like I'm going to have to wait a while before I can visit Petra...since the peace doesn't apply to Jews.

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

Tefillin @ Me'arat HaMachpela in Hevron

Do you remember the first time you put on tefillin? (sorry if this is such a guy-centric question)

I recall it more or less...it was an ordinary day in shul a month before my Bar Mitzva.

It wasn't simple putting them on -- the leather chaffed my arm, the straps coming down from my neck kept flipping around...you know what I mean.

A much older friend (like 50 years older) came over to me and took my tefillin box, suddenly flipped it open like a StarTrek tricorder and said, "Kirk to Hashem...Kirk to Hashem...got a guy here putting on tefillin for the first time...he could use some help." That put me a bit more at ease.

Yet other than that, I don't recall much about it.

So...my son put on tefillin last week for the first time as well and we decided to make it more meaningful. Instead of just putting on tefillin at shul in the morning, we drove to Me'arat HaMachpela in Hevron.

We met some relatives at "Tzomet haGush" (the intersection of Road 60 in Gush Etzion where you make a right to Alon Shvut), so those who felt less at ease travelling to Hevron, could drive behind us.

It took about 15 minutes to drive to Kiryat Arba, we drove through it, and then straight through the gate leaving Kiryat Arba into Hevron. There's even a yellow stripe on the road so you can follow it straight to Mearat HaMapchpela. About 5 minutes later we were all parking in the middle of Hevron next to the Me'ara.

We brought our own "minyan" of 10 and had our own tefilla...with my son putting on tefillin for the first time.

While we go to Hevron a few times a year, some of our guests hadn't been there in many years, and were happy to have gone.

We had another simcha to run to after minyan, so my son and I said some Tehillim at each of the "tziyonei kever" in the Me'ara (explanation later if I have time) took some family pictures outside, and then drove back.

Luckily, JoeSettler was available to complete our minyan, (or just read the following posting after this one) but there were so many people there, we could have asked anyone to help out.

I don't know how to properly end this posting, but I would like to hope that my son will remember that day with deeper appreciation of his connection to his heritage and Am Yisrael.

Shavua Tov,

Jameel.





Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael