Shiloh Musings
My musings, reflections on life here in Shiloh, Israel. Original, personal, spiritual and political. Peace, security and Israeli sovereignty. While not a "group blog," Shiloh Musings includes the voices of other Jews in The Land of Israel. **Copyright(C)BatyaMedad ** For permission to use these in publications of any sort, please contact me directly. Private accredited distribution encouraged. Thank you.
Thursday, March 16, 2023
Politics vs Democracy: Why The Left Doesn't Want Judicial Reform
Thursday, March 9, 2023
Purim's Over, Rosh Chodesh Nissan is Soon
We meet in Shiloh Hakeduma, Ancient Shiloh at Tel Shiloh, the exact location of the Biblical Tabernacle; yes, Chana prayed here, too. Shiloh's where Joshua established the first Capital City of the Jewish Nation until Samuel the Prophet was told by Gd to appoint David as King. King David then united the Jewish People with a new Capital City, Jerusalem.
Saturday, February 18, 2023
Antidemocracy Rioters Disrupt Life in Jerusalem -- The Truth About Judicial Reform
Does that sound kosher to you?
Who made them god?
Why should the minority have the right utter chutzpah to overrule the majority?
Davka, very much like last week's Torah Portion, Yitro, someone who isn't Israeli explains our situation very well, Mark Levin. Please listen to what he has to say.
Thursday, February 16, 2023
Book Review: Deceit of an Ally, by Bruce Brill
Deceit of an Ally proves yet again that even paranoids have enemies.
I've been in Israel since 1970, and during the 1973 Yom Kippur War I suspected something very fishy in American policy. After reading Brill's book, it's confirmed that I'm a realist, not paranoid.
In 1973 Bruce Brill was working for the US National Security Agency (NSA), and he was told by his supervisor that Israel was going to be attacked. Brill did not contact the Israeli Embassy. He figured that he wouldn't be taken seriously, and it wasn't his job. I also think at the moment he wondered if the guy was really serious. Had he warned the Israelis, he would have been sitting in jail just like Jonathan Pollard about a decade later. Afterwards Brill no longer felt comfortable working there, and within a few years, made aliyah, (moved to Israel.)
The more than two thousand six hundred 2,600 tragic, unnecessary Israeli deaths due to Israel's being totally surprised and unprepared Yom Kippur 1973 has haunted Brill ever since.
Deceit of an Ally is the result of years of research, interviews, painstaking and frustrating search for the truth. How could Israel not have seen the signs that Egypt and Syria were planning to attack? There had even been a contingency plan to meet an Egyptian attack that would have saved many soldiers' lives and given Israel a better and quicker chance to defeat the Egyptians. Who were the high level Americans who had told the Head of Israeli Military Intelligence General Eli Zeira that Israel had nothing to worry about? Trusting Zeira's assessment, the plan wasn't implemented by the IDF.
This true story, Deceit of an Ally, is more suspenseful than the best mystery or detective story, but unlike a fictional book, we're still left with questions. It's real life and can't be neatly wrapped up.
I highly recommend Deceit of an Ally and wonder if Brill will get more information in order to write a sequel, maybe with the answers to our questions. Read Brill's story; I consider it required reading if you're not afraid of the truth.
You can also get the book in kindle from Amazon.
Product details
- Publisher : Aleichem Books (October 26, 2022)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 346 pages
- ISBN-10 : 965930420X
- ISBN-13 : 978-9659304202
Tuesday, February 14, 2023
Goyishe Chutzpah!
Wednesday, January 25, 2023
Israel's Political System and Judicial Reform-- What's Going On?
I almost titled this post "Israeli Judicial Reform for Dummies," but didn't want to antagonize people. Also the topic is no joke. This is serious stuff, and it's complicated.
Oy. Where should I start?
Let's start with the Israeli political system, which may be unique; though others may be similar in some ways. Let the adjectives used here be different or unique. I don't want any judgmental ones like better and worse. It doesn't pay to go there, since there is no country like the State of Israel in size, history, sociology, security needs etc. Being a democracy, Israel has developed into the country we know today, and in most ways it actually works well.
Israel is a Parliamentary Democracy. Our parliament, called the Knesset, has one hundred and twenty 120 members. There are many political parties represented in the Knesset, and certainly even more that didn't get enough votes to be included. Now a party needs 4.5% of the votes, called the Electoral Threshold, to get any of their list in.
Each political party submits a list to election board by a certain date, and it's according to the order on the list that people become Members of Knesset. After the votes are counted, the failed parties subtracted and the numbers of MKs per party calculated, the President of the State of Israel then calls the leader #1 of the largest party and offers him/her to chance to form a coalition.
OK, I know that some of you are jumping in your seats trying to get my attention and ask why we have so many political parties. I'll start with a joke:
"two Jews five opinions"
OK, some say only three opinions, but Israeli society is too complex --remember that Israeli Arabs also vote and have a few political parties-- for two political parties to suffice. The political/social spectrum isn't a simple right/left. It also includes religious observance and many other factors.
The Knesset reflects Israeli diversity, and that diversity isn't reflected at all in the High Court. The democratically elected MKs do not have a say in who sits as a justice on that court. The justices vote in their replacements, and they choose very carefully to find people who follow their ideology, which is far to the Left of the Israeli population. In recent years they have been making legal decisions that go against laws voted in by the elected MKs. That's not democracy.
The justices don't base their decision on laws. They base their decisions on their political ideology, which is what they treasure and want to preserve. They call it "judicial independence." It's davka that "independence" which endangers Israeli democracy.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin's plan will reduce the power of the High Court in a number of ways. I'm not getting into the details of the laws he proposes. You can click Judicial Reform for the details. I just wanted to show that reform is needed.
Nobody has the right to play god, not even High Court justices.
Saturday, January 21, 2023
Rosh Chodesh Shevat ראש חודש שבט תפילת נשים Women's Prayers
Shiloh Hakeduma is just off of the Shiloh Junction and can be reached by car or bus. For more information about all of the activities there for people of all ages, contact 025789111, visit@telshilo.org.il or the facebook page.
Monday, January 2, 2023
The Likud's Time Bomb
![]() |
Likud-Wikipedia |
It's very deja vu hearing all of the complaints frustrations from veteran, loyal Likud MKs once they recognize that yet again there are hardly any senior positions remaining for them. Those who've worked hard and shown their loyalty to Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu and the Likud, some for decades, have had to accept low-ranking or made-up positions, or none at all, as the good stuff has not only gone to coalition partners but also new and relatively inexperienced Likud MKs. At the same time they're not getting any younger. OK, they're not as old as the newly crowned King Charles of England who's barely a year older than Bibi himself.
Charles always knew that as long as he outlived his mother he'd get the crown, but it's not so simple in politics.
Please look at that chart above, which I copied from Wikipedia. Party leadership usually lasts about a decade. OK, yes, I know that Menachem Begin had been a party leader much longer, first Cherut, then GaHa"L and then finally a decade in the Likud. But the Likud party was cobbled together for the 1973/4 elections, and four years later was Begin's first victory and term as Prime Minister. He resigned/retired in 1983 and was replaced by Yitzchak Shamir who was party head for ten years, and then Netanyahu took over.
Besides the six years of Arik Sharon seriously marred by his notorious Disengagement Plan, for most of that time and until today Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu has been leader of the Likud and Prime Minister of Israel. He was young when he took over the party, all of fourty-four 44 in October of 1993, and now there are many, many talented and aging Likud MKs younger and waiting in the wings for their chance to head the party. It doesn't look like they'll ever get the opportunity. Instead of competing against each other for leadership, there's Bibi holding onto those reins. He first grabbed them when they were still in school.
Anger and frustration are bubbling close to the surface. And it's not healthy for the party to have one leader for thirty years. It reminds me of, if you'll excuse the expression, dictatorships. OK, I said it. What do you think?
Sunday, December 18, 2022
Chanukah Rosh Chodesh Tevet-- Women's Prayers
Women's Rosh Chodesh Prayers Gd willing next Sunday.
For other Chanuka events at Tel Shiloh, Shiloh Hakeduma call 02-5789122, write to visit@telshilo.org.il.Monday, December 5, 2022
Will There Be Harmony in Bibi's New Coalition?
![]() |
Political Chaos, my 52frames photo from Chaos album, week 44, 2022 |
Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu, longtime head of the Likud party, had gathered a number of ambitious political parties to campaign as one block calling themselves the "Right" wing.
The chareidi parties are his veteran coalition partners, though "Right" isn't how any honest political expert would label them. Actually, the Likud, which does call itself "Right" is more Center-Left when in power.
But the bloc that Bibi orchestrated of truly Right and uncompromisingly patriotic religious parties of Smutrich and Ben-Gvir was the key to his electoral plan. Bibi had hoped to be able to control them, but they're turning out to be more of a Frankenstein.
Smutrich and Ben-Gvir know very well that many in the Israeli public, even those who didn't vote for them, support or sympathize with their views. It's very much like an Israeli version of Ronnie Reagan's "silent majority." They also know that if Bibi dumps them and makes a desperate deal with Ganz or Lapid, he'd lose the trust/votes of veteran Likud voters. Don't take the media too seriously, as in the rest of the world-- it's Leftist. A majority of Israelis are Right and religiously traditional or religious. That's why Bibi crafted his campaign in that direction and succeeded, though I'm not sure why he sabotaged Ayelet Shaked after approving her.
It seems like these recent elections were the easy part for Netanyahu; coalition negotiations are a very public nightmare. Likud MKs should be used to getting the scraps of what's left after Bibi gives the goodies to those he needs on his team. I wonder if Bibi was surprised at the toughness of Smutrich and Ben-Gvir while haggling over ministries. He may have thought of them as inexperienced, but they certainly aren't. And their followers expect kavod, honor.
At this point, Bibi may almost have all the pieces put together with the exception of the Chareidim and his own people. No doubt the success of Smutrich & Ben-Gvir may embolden the chareidim to make more demands. Nobody wants to be a "sucker."
So far Smutrich and Ben-Gvir haven't gotten in the way of chareidi parties, but considering the amount of rabbis and yeshiva students in their camp it's only a matter of time.
Think about it-- If this is the courtship, what type of marriage will they have? Ironically the Bennet-Lapid government was touted as a coalition of very different parties looking to work together for the sake of the country, and it lasted over a year. It would have lasted longer except for Bibi's dirty tricks.
What's next?
Thursday, November 17, 2022
Women's Rosh Chodesh Kislev Prayers
Women's Rosh Chodesh Kislev Prayers
Rosh Chodesh Kislev 5783
Friday November 25, 2022 8:30am
Tel Shiloh, Shiloh Hakeduma
תפילת נשים
ראש חודש כסלו תשפ"ג
בשילה הקדומה
יום שישי 25\11\2022 ב8:30
You can spend the day at Tel Shiloh, Shiloh Hakeduma. For more information 02-5789122 visit@telshilo.org.il. There's always a lot to see and do there.