"We could fit three of those little Volkswagens in the same space (our tiny driveway) as the two cars we now have," I told them.That was the standard feeling among American Jews in the 1960's.
"We're not buying German cars," they replied firmly!
April 2, 2007 issue - Historic Revival
Once haunted by memories of the Holocaust, Berlin has become one of the most Jewish-friendly places on the planet. The German capital boasts an annual Jewish film festival and Jewish culture festival, while performances of Jewish plays attract regular audiences at the Bamah Jewish Theater. Visitors can view exhibits on emigration at the Jewish Museum; the music-minded can take in klezmer concerts performed by the Berlin Philharmonic.
Germans are also studying the history of their country's Jews. But it's not all about the Holocaust. "Students want to learn about the empty [cultural] space once occupied by Jews in German society," says Michael Brenner, a professor of Jewish studies at Munich University. "Not about the destruction itself, but about what was destroyed."
Feeling more at home than ever before, American Jews are now moving en masse to the hip German capital. (Estimates show that between 10 and 20 percent of the 12,000 Americans living in Berlin are Jewish.) Even U.S. novelist Jonathan Safran Foer is there, writing a new English version of the Haggadah, the ancient Jewish text on the Exodus. "I like the way the city feels," he says. Evidently, he's not the only one.
-Michael Levitin
![137_Eliahu_Chair[1]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vtf_gWEL05-fQdQpW7SZpXISCirT4uE4ZEaTyovhtekSLBKxlztkfYrY5XBBerJAxMiLPeG-OCj97b9aKVs2ffmzXT9saDUOF4MTJ6hmwivvCWmQUIW1uIz703w3ZW=s0-d)
![078_Waving_the_Flag_on_the_Water_Tower[1]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uzo_wMuoUDEVZgX5AdD0up78DwAvI7ups-Vz2UO8LQe0b5BIUHj0HeN70e9VVw0-8jj0mCPpqpXMGIM4YTBVHagMLrU-0_886gg3XjZsHgOnf7a19Bar6dpuuXrT0=s0-d)
![062_Planting_Avocado_Tree_at_Shuli_Home_1[1]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vt4CcdMGHvi8ObuQu_GPznQFuiNJjEeuaQGe1CJkguD6vPzFMHPt1aKs1GDQRL47XODcfbjK29gEa3JzDrPQp6RDkkCIn7iKR8G7UksKs7ScCT4NqRWMrzEUxlKOc=s0-d)
![010_Cleaning_Hametz_On_Way_to_Homesh[1]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vv6LQdDQdpZcNPB0YXz6EF2G3W5853NKATt2-6ARCsN7-U9ciWMXZhFgGfczNDybX7YX0l5-xClTcIpBis8ntZgh7RoyRtlLYNRC-dPyyMyo616pMZsleCkodo6G7w=s0-d)
![135_Greeting_the_Brit_Bus[1]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_t7cnSWJ-vFPOgJufdq9vcDdV24pJVPjegbjGuTpi_sZv9IzehtTaJDsAqPuoTHu7Tz1BudaNB8pkZYYV5wPm7LFW4CoxiYqf1Jm51NFFcDNwuog2xEWr6f8UDJXgSN=s0-d)
A Year After Elections, Voters Regret Their Decision
...recent polls show that less than three percent of the people trust Prime Minister Olmert, and two-thirds want him to resign, with a majority favoring new elections. Likud and Kadima would exchange rankings in the terms of the number of Knesset seats if elections were held today, the surveys show. (for complete article, click here)
National Union Chairman MK Uri Ariel addressed the issue Tuesday, stating, "The IDF isn't allowing food and water in to the Israeli citizens, including women and children, in Homesh. This is a grave and inhumane act. Even Arafat was provided with food in his Ramallah compound."
March 26, 2007
Contact: Morton A. Klein, 212-481-1500
New York — A major new national poll has found the following regarding American opinion on the Israel and Middle East issues:
By a margin of 2-to-1 (45%-- 22%), Americans believe that a Palestinian Arab state would be a terrorist state rather than a peaceful democracy;
By a margin of 5-to-1 (60% - 11%), Americans believe that Israel should not make more land to the Palestinian Arabs.
By a margin of 10-to-1 (45% - 4.6%) Americans overwhelmingly support Israelis over the Palestinian Arabs.
By a margin of more than 5-to-1 (65% - 11%), Americans believe that Saudi Arabia is not a reliable and trustworthy ally in the war against radical Islamic terrorism;
By a margin of nearly 2-to-1 (46% - 24%), Americans believe that Egypt is not a reliable and trustworthy ally in the war against radical Islamic terrorism; and
By a margin of nearly 2-to-1 (51% - 26%), Americans believe that the US should impose economic sanctions on Saudi Arabia until it stops its support and funding for terrorists and radical Islamic education that teaches hatred of America and Israel.
The poll of 1000 randomly selected Americans was commissioned by the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), the oldest pro-Israel group in the US, and has a margin of error of 3.1%. It was carried out by McLaughlin & Associates, a major national polling company, on March 25, 2007.
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “This poll makes clear that the American public fully understands Israel’s difficult plight in dealing with the Arab war against it. Americans understand that establishing a Palestinian state would simply result in but another terrorist state in the Middle East, which is the last thing America needs in its efforts to bring peace and security to the region. The American public has shown that it is completely against appeasing this Palestinian terror regime by offering any more concessions to it. It has shown that it has a far more realistic view of the Arab war against Israel than governments around the world, including the Bush Administration, which has continued to deal with and even fund Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas, despite the PA’s on-going refusal to fulfill its obligations under signed agreements and the 2003 Roadmap peace plan to dismantle the apparatus of terror and end incitement to hatred and murder in the Palestinian public square that feeds it. This policy remains in place despite the recent formation of a Palestinian Arab national unity government under the leadership of Hamas, which calls in its Charter for the destruction of Israel (Article 15) and the murder of Jews (Article 7). This new Hamas/Fatah government has refused to recognize Israel, forswear terrorism or fulfill previous agreements.
“Members of the House and Senate should become aware that sanctions against Saudi Arabia for its financial support of radical mosques and spreading the extreme Wahhabi Islamic doctrines, including in American mosques, is something that Americans support. The Bush Administration should also be much tougher on the Palestinian Authority and, instead of engaging and rewarding it, hold it accountable for its pro-terror, anti-peace actions. This too would be heeding the American public, which overwhelmingly supports Israelis over the Palestinian Arabs. Congress should also take action to convert all aid flowing to Egypt from military aid to purely humanitarian aid, as Americans now realize that Egypt is not the partner in fighting terror it pretends to be. This can be clearly seen in Egypt’s refusal to end the massive arms smuggling from Egypt into Gaza of weaponry for Palestinian Arab terrorists and the constant anti-Semitic articles, shows and songs that are a staple of Egyptian culture.
“This poll shows conclusively that the typical American overwhelmingly supports Israel, which is why the overwhelming majority of members of Congress, reflecting their constituencies, also support Israel. If they didn’t, they would not be representing the views of their constituencies. This fact refutes the pernicious claim publicized by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt last year that Congressional support for Israel is the result of political pressure by American Jewish pro-Israel individuals and groups and that these pro-Israel policies are against American interests and what most Americans want. This poll should put that anti-Semitic nonsense to rest.
“This poll also indicates that we should stop all talk of establishing a Palestinian Arab state. Americans also understand that the Palestinian Arabs have not taken the minimum steps required to make peace and that peace prospects are consequently next to non-existent. A freeze on funding to the PA and severing ties with it until these vital steps are taken would be well understood by the American public, involve no domestic political fallout and would be the correct response to the situation. Only such pressure has a chance of producing the desired changes in Palestinian society and thus the possibility of peace with Israel.”
* * *
The Zionist Organization of America, founded in 1897, is the oldest pro-Israel organization in the United States. The ZOA works to strengthen U.S.-Israel relations, educates the American public and Congress about the dangers that Israel faces, and combats anti-Israel bias in the media and on college campuses. Its past presidents have included Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis and Rabbi Dr. Abba Hillel Silver.
In 1975, in an interview with McCall's magazine, Ford said that she was asked just about everything, except for how often she and the president had sex. "And if they'd asked me that I would have told them," she said, adding that her response would be, "As often as possible."[4] (click here for entire article) I remember reading that article!
A similar warning letter was sent by the Samaria Police Department to those assumed by police to be organizers of the Homesh return campaign. The department commander, Kobi Cohen, wrote that organizers would not only face charges for a "serious infraction of the law," but they would also be sued for expenses incurred by the law enforcement officers.
Finance Minister Avraham Hirchson, under investigation for possible fraud, is suspected of having given a prominent political personality $200,000 six years ago...Hirchson is involved in such a large corruption scandal that he may be offered to be "state witness."
Initially, police believed that Ovadia Cohen, the former head of Nili, an organization that operated educational institutions and operated under the umbrella of the union, embezzled approximately NIS 5.5 million from the organization, and that Hirchson knew about the fraud but failed to report it.
But police now believe the minister may have received some of the embezzled money and used it to pay his son Ofer's gambling debts. (click here for complete article)
The nine-person Maxim team, including photographers, a reporter, hairstylists and make-up people, will arrive for a five-day photo-shoot on Tuesday, using Tel Aviv-Jaffa - and the old and new motif - as a backdrop for the photographs.
The glossy magazine, launched in the US in 1997, boasts a circulation of "around 2.5 million" and claims to be the "#1 men's lifestyle magazine in both the country and the world."
The magazine features revealing pictorials of scantily clad actresses, models, singers and the "girl next door" interspersed among articles on sports, cars, movies, booze and relationships.
In the wake of media reports to the effect that IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi presented a position to the Security Cabinet that rehabilitation of the IDF would take years, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert would like to make it clear that such remarks were never made* and, in any case, cannot be interpreted as if the IDF is in a situation that requires rehabilitation. In the briefing, the Chief-of-Staff presented the IDF's fundamental and thorough investigation process, including issues and lessons the correction of which will be implemented in the framework of a multi-year working plan.
*Ashkenazi: IDF needs years to become
satisfactorily prepared
By Aluf Benn and Nir Hasson, Haaretz
Correspondents Last update - 07:24
22/03/2007
Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi warned the security
cabinet Wednesday that the
Israel Defense Forces would need time to reach
the necessary level of
preparedness.
"Do not think the army will be ready in three
months," Ashkenazi told the
security cabinet during the meeting. A team of
senior IDF officers briefed
the ministers on the lessons of the Second
Lebanon War.
Ashkenazi said several years would be needed.
Preference would be given to
forces likely to participate in dangerous
operations.
He told the security cabinet that when he took
over as chief of staff, he
considered interfering with the IDF's in-house
investigations into its
problems and performance during the war, and said
he decided not to do so.
Dan Halutz was chief of staff during the war.
The head of the General Staff's doctrine and
training department, Brigadier
General Danny Biton, presented the security
cabinet with the main findings
of more than 20 IDF in-house investigations since
the war.
The ministers commended the army on its openness
in exposing shortcomings.
"We are dealing with the debriefing of the army,
irrespective of the
Winograd Committee," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
said. "It is no replacement
for the lessons that we must learn regarding the
political-military
connection, and the translation of government
decisions into military
objectives."
"We always say it is necessary to move the fight
onto enemy territory as
quickly as possible," Olmert added. "But, when
you are faced with ballistic
missiles and indirect fire, even when you have
penetrated enemy territory to
a certain point, the enemy can still fire
missiles. The question is how to
apply this principle to the contemporary
battlefield."
There are many stories about that first, post-Six Days War seder. Moshe Burt posted one which mentions the late Moshe Shamir. Moshe Shamir differed from most of the Eretz Yisrael activists in that his background and life style were left-wing and secular. His politics evolved, and later he was a Knesset Member for the T'chiya Party, along with Geula Cohen and Rabbi Chanan Porat, but he didn't embrace formal religion.
From my observations, he was more religious, though maybe not observant of the mitzvot, than most. The last time I saw him was at an evening dedicated to the republishing of Benzion Netanyahu's book, The Five Fathers of Zionism (in Hebrew), and Shamir spoke. His comments were different from anyone else's. Shamir complained that the choice of Zionist leaders was completely unbalanced. There were no religious Zionist leaders included. He made it clear that in the revised edition, religious Zionist leaders should have been added. For me, his words were totally unforgettable. Moshe Shamir was a very great man, and he shouldn't be ignored or forgotten.
On a personal note, our very first Passover Seder (1971) was in the Memshal in Hebron as guests of the late Chaim Mageni, Z"L, and his wife Shoshana. Recently, "tremping" home, I caught a ride with their son, who lives in Shvut Rachel, just to the east of our home in Shiloh. I told him of that first seder, a couple of years before he was born. There are customs we keep to this day, because we learned them from Chaim and Shoshana.
The memshal, in the middle of Hebron, was an amazing place to be, and by following Chaim around we saw signs of former Jewish life all over Hebron. Many, many buildings had indentations in the doorposts, for mezzuzot, proving that Jews had lived there before they were expelled.
And lastly, yes, the Hebron Jewish Community should take "Peace" Now to court to sue for slander. And they shouldn't be the only ones. Everytime "Peace" Now lies about Jews they should be taken to court. Let them prove their allegations, their lies and slander. Every soldier who is disturbed by Machsom Watch must sue that group, too. Every word of incitement against the Jews of YESHA or religious Jews by the media, public personalities and politicians must go to court. We don't have to "take it" silently. We mustn't! Remember, there's no "turning the other cheek" in Judaism. In Judaism every word has power.
Shabbat Shalom u'Mevorach!
Iraq Bombers Blow Up 2 Children Used as Decoys
By KIRK SEMPLE
Published: March 21, 2007
BAGHDAD, March 20 Insurgents detonated a bomb in a car with two children in it after using the children as decoys to get through a military checkpoint in Baghdad, an American general said Tuesday. (for complete article click here)
"Just as the Muslims once liberated Jerusalem from the Crusaders, so must we today believe that we can liberate Jerusalem. It is not an impossible dream," he said. (click for complete article)Nadia Matar has been prosecuted with the heaviest weight of the law for doing much less.
On Sept. 10, 2006, Jerusalem Magistrate David Mintz dismissed the indictment against Matar, but on Nov. 23 the state appealed the acquittal in Jerusalem's District Court. A decision was still pending.
"The judges are favorable to accepting the appeal on political grounds, but it is difficult from a judicial perspective," defense attorney Yoram Sheftel said. (click for complete article)
Judge Hanan Efrati appeared to justify the behavior of police charged with assaulting an anti-withdrawal protester during a demonstration in 2005. Efrati suggested that police were defending an Israeli government besieged by massive protests against its decision to expel 16,000 Jews from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. "These were not ordinary times or ordinary demonstrations," Efrati, a judge in the Tel Aviv Magistrate Court, said. "This was like in a war." (Click for complete article)So, again, why aren't Israeli Arabs prosecuted at least to the same extent?
Obama told the Muscatine-area party activists that he supports relaxing restrictions on aid to the Palestinian people. He said they have suffered the most as a result of stalled peace efforts with Israel.Yes, he, like Jimmy Carter and Condi Rice, is pro- (sic) "palestininian." That's dangerous for Israel. It doesn't bother them at all that Arab terrorists are murdering and injuring Jews. They only care about the Arabs, who aren't "poor" at all.
"Nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people," Obama said while on the final leg of his weekend trip to eastern Iowa. (for complete article)
Israel should begin talks with the Palestinian unity government (full article here), according to Israel's first Arab minister, Science, Technology, Culture, and Sports Minister Raleb Majadele, who refuses to sing Israel's national anthem.
Bethlehem - Ma'an - In February, 16,372 Palestinians traveled to 23 Israeli places of detention and visited 7,012 relatives in detention, according to the February report of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). This was down from December 2006, when the ICRC enabled 17,767 Palestinians to travel to 23 Israeli detention centres to visit 7,447 relatives held in Israeli detention. click for complete article
Olmert said that his decreasing popularity might have been halted if he had "caved in to pressure" to increase public spending or launched a public relations campaign in response to a series of political corruption allegations. (complete article)
No name
No aim
They plan to go grave-to-grave installing plaques with the phrase: "Fell in the War in Southern Lebanon."
Jerusalem - Ma'an - The Palestinian minister of refugee affairs, Atif Adwan, has warned of an American-Israeli conspiracy against the Palestinian refugees' right of return. He added that deporting Palestinian refugees in the Arab countries to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will just serve the Israeli interests and hopes, as these refugees should be returned to their original towns and cities... continuedhat tip IMRA
For the Living [videorecording]. Alexandria, Va.: PBS Video, 1993. (Video Collection)I watched it, not because I'm "into" the Holocaust scene, but because about half the juniors and seniors in Bnai Akiva Bnai Binyamin Yeshiva High School, where I teach, are off to Poland on the "Holocaust Heritage Tour," and I was looking for something for a lesson for those remaining here.
Documentary covering the Museum's planning, construction, dedication, and opening. Narrated by Ed Asner.
THE HOLOCAUST
During World War II, Nazi Germany and its collaborators murdered approximately six million Jews. The Holocaust is the name used to refer to this systematic, bureaucratic, and state-sponsored campaign of persecution and murder. Beginning with racially discriminatory laws in Germany, the Nazi campaign expanded to the mass murder of all European Jews
During the era of the Holocaust, the Nazis also targeted other groups because of their perceived "racial inferiority": Roma (Gypsies), people with disabilities, and some of the Slavic peoples (Poles, Russians, and others). Other groups were persecuted on political and behavioral grounds, among them Communists, Socialists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and homosexuals.
See maps
"Holocaust" is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire." The Nazis came to power in Germany in January 1933. The Nazis frequently used euphemistic language to disguise the true nature of their crimes. According to this vocabulary, Germans were considered "racially superior" and the Jews, and others deemed "inferior," were "life unworthy of life."
In 1933, the Jewish population of Europe stood at over nine million. Most European Jews lived in countries that Nazi Germany (the Third Reich) would occupy or influence during World War II. The Nazis established concentration camps to imprison Jews, other people targeted on ethnic or “racial” grounds, and political opponents. Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, beginning World War II. Over the next two years, German forces conquered most of Europe.
Who is wise? One who learns from every man.
