Showing posts with label Holy Hyrax. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holy Hyrax. Show all posts

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Emuna Threat #237

(Holy "He-Man-Emuna" Hyrax and Friend)


As my good friend, the Holy Hyrax constantly reminds me: "I don't come to your blog to have my emuna challenged. If I want that, I go over to the Godol Hador blog..."

I recall a plane trip a few years back to Israel and I offered the guy sitting next to me, a children's magazine. He recoiled in horror when he saw there were pictures of dinosaurs in it, and told me he would never give it to his kids, because dinosaurs never existed, and they would be a threat to their emuna.

Today, I found something even more chilling than dinosaurs. Check out the following "Iron Age" bronze brooch which was found in an archaeological dig in Uppåkra, Sweden.


Courtesy of the Discovery Channel.


What the heck is Mickey Mouse doing in Sweden in 900 CE? That's over 1000 years before Walt Disney ever dreamed up this cartoon character!

See Holy Hyrax? You don't need to go to XGH's to challenge your "he-man" emuna...the Muqata's got it all.

BWAHAHAHAHA!




Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

Monday, March 19, 2007

I'm back...what a trip.

My heartfelt thanks to the Holy Hyrax, Ezzie, Jack, and Joe for keeping us all amused at the Muqata while I was traveling. Ending Adar with a bang, I think the Holy Hyrax has proved himself not only as a master podcaster, but a graphic artist and blogger par excellence. Though the eyebrows on the yellow smiley of me being "rescued" were a bit much (I think!).

The main issues on my head these days are as follows, and I'll be writing about each of them this week.

1. The month of Nissan is approaching -- the month of redemption. Do we really feel that redemption is something that can actually happen at any given moment? Do believing Jews, specifically Modern Orthodox Jews, actually view the arrival of Mashiach as a reality?

2. Yeshiva students at "The Mir" (Mirrer Yeshiva) in Jerusalem. Relatives of mine who learn there refuse to visit "The Muqata" because "its too dangerous." When I answered point for point that Jerusalem was "more dangerous" statistically, my facts were thrown to the wind. This annoyed me big-time.

3. What's happening here in Israel? Olmert's popularity is at an all-time low (which is bad news, because that means it can only go up). The good news is that the Kinneret's water level is increasing daily! There's still snow on the Chermon!

4. Toys toys toys. My wife always says, that when boys get older, their toys get more expensive. This does NOT have to be the case!

Check out these cool toys (CHEAP) that I'm playing with or ordering these days (and my kids are mega impressed).

Amazing Radio Controlled Helicopter ($20 including shipping) I'm having a blast with this...and everyone at work today was totally jealous.



The Green Laser. As opposed to regular "red" lasers, you can see the entire beam on a green laser (think: Star Wars). This will have Jack drooling with envy...and I'm sure he'll want to order one as well. (Warning: anything above the 5 milliwatt version may be dangerous!) Only $16.75...these things are too cool!



Edmund Scientific has loads of fun stuff, like the drinking bird Only ($7.95 for TWO)



OK guys (and cool women) this is your chance to get yourselves some cool afikoman presents, without breaking the bank.

Will be posting more soon. Good to be back.

Regards,

Jameel







Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Purim's Over. An Explanation of my Delinquency.

Purim’s over.

The costumes have been put back in the attic, the noisemakers have disappeared and my megilla has been safely stored away from harm’s reach. I’ve had 3 different containers for my megilla scroll;

A container from a Glenmorangie 10 year old bottle of Scotch.


An IDF 72 mm mortar round container. (Closest Pic I could find)

A leather “Etzion Art” megilla holder.

(They are pathetic...even if they make great stuff since their web site is down and I can't even get a picture from them)

The last one is where my megilla is kept now.

As people know who have been reading my blog, it’s that time for year again.

With Purim over, there’s only one possible solution…and that means…it’s time for Jameel to be less than helpful with Pesach cleaning.

Obviously, its not intentional. It just somehow works out year after year, right after Purim, I have to fly away on business to some corner of the globe. **

Places include; Manila, Las Vegas, Los Angelas, London…and this year’s lucky location is…New York. Many, many thanks to the Mrs @ The Muqata for her positive spin to this trip, (despite a rather unexpected start), for buying gifts for different relatives we’ll be seeing, for buying last minute food when we found out we might not have kosher meals (and we ended up eating it all during this flight), and in general – for remembering the details that I overlook.

To put a twist on it, I’m not actually flying for business this year, but rather for a family simcha, and I’m flying with 3 of the Muqata kids as well.

That’s why my blogging has been a bit light lately.

Actually, it’s a combination of over-working myself with the podcast, an abundance of work, less sleep than usual, and this trip I’m on now.

So, while the Muqata kids refuse to sleep on the plane, and they zap through 18 channels of airline video, I thought to let you know why things have quieted down a bit.

And while we’re at it, a few observations on the JBlogosphere.

There seems to be an unusual alignment of the planets now or perhaps a hiccup in the time/space continuum – because there’s a sense of contentment among different bloggers that I haven’t seen in a while.

(Updated and fixed...must have been jetlag ;-)

The XGH blogger is now content at being Frum, and while he still has questions…he seems to have reached a new level of serenity. We’re very happy for him!

The Holy Hyrax blogger wrote a great, optimistic piece about creativity and I think it's one of his best submissions to the JBlogosphere. (Then again, while he refuses to do a banner for Chardal, he did the amazing poster for the Purim Podcast!)

The Renegade Rebbitzen, while sort of on hiatus from blogging because she claims she's "busy", is still keeping us amused on a more regular basis (and we even got mentioned here and here!)

Even this post itself is having a good effect on the Muqata kids…and now 2 out of 3 are asleep.

So, I’ll end this now; if you spot me around the Eastern Time Zone of the USA, you’ll be able to identify us by the yellow smiley faces.

Regards,

Jameel

Wherever I am…even on a plane, my blog is facing Eretz Yisrael.

** Having just seen Shifra's post about the NEXT podcast, I will say that if I waste one second of potential "Pesach cleaning time" on a podcast, I would feel forever guilty.

On the other hand, Im getting much better at it -- and with a bunch of volunteers, it may only take up a fraction of time. Hmmm....maybe a post Pesach podcast? :-)







Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

The Purim Poster.

Seems like some of our friends in the JBlogosphere seem to have even more time on their hands than the rest of us!

The Holy Hyrax has come up with this simply indescribable Purim Poster advertisement for the upcoming Purim Podcast.

Not all the characters shown below will be featured (and the West Bank Mama message on that guy's chest is rather odd), but who am I to critique the graphic artist prowess of the Holiest of Hyraxes? I am but dust under his feet.

It's not too late to submit something, if you haven't already!

--Jameel








Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Who are the Mysterious Graffiti Wizards of OZ?


The above word in Hebrew, "OZ" (or Az), is being graffiti spray-painted all over Israel...exactly like it appears above, in the "Torah Scroll" (stam) font (without any attribution to the Muqata, of course, since we don't advocate graffiti).

I have asked all sorts of characters "in the know" if they have any clue what this is about, and I have yet to get an answer. I asked my hitch-hikers in the Shomron if they knew...and they had no clue. I asked my kids...no idea.

I wonder if this new phenomena has to do with the Na-Nach-Nachma crowd which has been painting graffiti for years all over Israel, embarrassingly defacing buildings and antiquities, enough to make anyone crazy.

Top Israeli photographer Abba Richman even has an entire photo collection of "Na-Nach-Nachma" graffiti from all around Israel (here are some of the best).






















The Na-Nach-Nachma people are all misguided Breslover Chassidim who think there's something good about defacing buildings with this message from Rabbi Nachman from Breslev. The history of Na-Nach-Nachma sounds similar to the Abracadabra incantation.

But who are the mysterious graffiti wizards of OZ?

What is their message?

What are they trying to say?

We're still investigating, and will keep taking pictures.


Oz Graffiti near Northern Chawara junction (near Yitzhar)


Oz Graffiti near Tapuach junction.


Oz Graffiti near Tapuach junction.


Oz Graffiti along the "security wall" near Pisgat Zeev, Jerusalem.

More pictures coming soon...

If you have a clue what their message is, by all means, leave a comment!





Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

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