Rosh Hashannah Greetings!

Two Heads Are Better Than One From Mutt and Mathilda aka Mottel and Mottek And all of us in the Eye of the Storm A Wonderful, Safe, Healthy and Blessed Year Gmar Chatimah Tovah! Batya Shiloh Musings me-ander The Eye of the Storm the muse's pics Blog Free!

ODing on Olmert

Haven't we all had enough of Ehud Olmert? The guy is supposed to be a lame duck, meaning an out of power figurehead, but he's still trying to run the show into the mud--like in quicksand.

Olmert's promising our enemies, mortal enemies, more and more of our precious Land. The latest and not for the first time, he claims that we don't need the Golan, like hell, we don't. What we don't need is Ehud Olmert!

Shouldn't the guy be history already, like on the same page as Benedict Arnold?

If Only It Was "Standup"

Davka, Frum Satire, one of jblogging's top standup comedians, has a post plugging a book about how Jews do well in business. It even has a youtube recommendation, including a few words by a guy named John Birch, if that's his real name. (For those whose memories don't go back as far as mine, The John Birch Society is considered a far right, anti-communist, libertarian American organization.)




Now, if I did or wrote standup, I'd have fun comparing intelligent, successful business negotiation skills and tactics with what successive Israeli Governments have offered our enemies.

Our country doesn't sound too intelligent when it offers vital land to a bunch of terrorists who aren't embarrassed to tell the world that its aim, its dream, is our destruction, G-d forbid.

Even more ridiculous, and I'm sure if some Theater of the Absurd playwright would go to a producer with such a script, he'd be told that it's too unbelievable to be put on stage, is the fact that giving our Land to the terrorists has been tried in the past. All it accomplishes is making it easier for the terrorists to attack us. But the Israeli politicians, cheered on by the media, just keep on trying.

It could be very funny, if written and performed by the right people. Maybe a version is played in Damascus.

But here in Israel, in our Biblical HolyLand it's no joke. It's a nightmare. I hope to wake up and find out that Olmert was never Prime Minister, Gush Katif is still Jewish, and Arik Sharon has destroyed the terrorist strongholds.

Some People Should Be Muzzled

hat tip my husband

This New York Times article has me bothered. For a few days I've been mulling over how to deal with it. No surprise, my perspective may be a little different from most.

We've been living in Shiloh for twenty-seven years, and within a short time I found myself, not only spokesperson, but the one who escorts various media personalities/journalists during their visits to Shiloh. Even though, it has never been a paying job, I always took it very seriously.

I discovered very quickly, that most people are naive and are easily manipulated to give answers the reporters like, even if it makes the person look mean, stupid, racist or dangerous. A polite, smiling reporter can easily win the trust of your average person. And equally dangerous, a mean, aggressive reporter can get a person to say something extreme, which he/she doesn't really believe.

Yes, I can give a course in how to be interviewed. A couple of important rules:

• Never use sarcasm. Your words speak for themselves and they can be used out of context against you.
• You don't have to answer every question. There's nothing wrong with saying that you don't answer theoretical questions, only about actual facts on the ground. In addition you can refuse to answer a question which presumes something which isn't true.
• Don't give ambiguous answers which can be interpreted opposite of what you really mean.
• Be suspicious of the journalist. Don't confide. They aren't your friends, even if you like and trust the person who introduced you.

Now, there was something else about that article which bothered me. The tour seemed almost identical to the one I went on with Helen Freedman, of AFSI. Reading carefully, I realized that the same person led it. The group I was with was sympathetic, in favor of Jews settling all of Eretz Yisrael. We were sincerely happy and encouraged by what we had seen. We had no negative-ulterior motives.

Isabel Kershner, of the New York Times, was looking for things to mock and it was obvious that she'd distort the words and actions of the Shomron residents to give a negative impression. People should have been warned. People should be suspicious and refuse to cooperate, unless they really know how to control interviews.

I have no doubt that Kershner was very pleased with the tour...

McCarthyism--Alive and Well

I've been watching Good Night and Good Luck, that George Clooney movie about Edward R. Murrow and Senator McCarthy.

It reinforces my feeling that McCarthyism exists right here in Israel. The Israeli version isn't anti-commie, it's anti-"Right," anti-settling The Land of Israel.

Actually, the Israeli McCarthyism even pre-dates McCarthy, since that same paranoid mentality caused the mainstream Zionist leadership to go "rabid" whenever they suspected that the Revisionists were getting "too popular." Anything and everything bad was blamed on the Jabotinsky Revisionists. For decades the slogan was " the Arlosoroff murder," which they used to justify the "sezon," when during the War for Independence the Hagana turned in Etzel and Lechi members to the British and their firing on the Jewish ship the Altalena.

Now the Israeli Left, the politicians, media and "intellectuals" have a different battle cry:

"...the days of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination"

Last week extreme Left-wing Professor Zev Sternhell was injured by a small explosive charge, and before the police could even begin its investigation, the condemnations began.

Lightly wounded in the attack, Sternhell was interviewed by Israel Radio from his hospital bed, saying "it was obvious that this was the work of the extreme right wing. It could have been a lone lunatic, an organization, a cell of three or a whole settlement which have to decided to 'set the record straight' with me." (click for complete article)

That's all you could hear on the news. We were tried and convicted without any investigation, without any proof. That's what McCarthyism is all about.

Did The Debate Make Anyone Change Opinion?

I could be right. I could be wrong.

But I have this feeling that McCain supporters think McCain did better than Obama in the Presidential Debate, and Obama supporters think Obama did better.

Who would make a better US President?

We're The "Good Guys"

That's according to Sarah Palin.



She does seem a bit "prepared," looking for the right words in part of the interview, but she had no problem saying that we're "the good guys."

Three Scenes From Yesterday

Waiting for the bus on

King George Street

Jerusalem

Reserved for

Handicapped

at the Malcha Mall

The Outer Room

Ezrat Nashim

Kever Rachel

Yes, we got in

even after the traffic jam

Kever Rachel--Jammed!

I try to stay away from the jam, since it has so many calories and is bad for my teeth, but I have no control over traffic jams. Wasn't yesterday enough?

Today, again. This time I was on my way to Kever Rachel, and they wouldn't let our bus in.

Nothing personal, the other buses weren't going in either. Yes, people complained.
Finally, we got fed up and tried getting rides in the small private vehicles, since they were getting in. No success.
We could see the sun going down. We were getting close to the time when it would be too late for Mincha, the afternoon prayer.
Buses, buses everywhere, but where we wanted to be.

Now, should I leave you in suspense?

Raise Up The Barricades! Alei Barricadot!

I don't usually read my fellow A7 blogger, Ben Bresky's blog about Jewish music, but somehow this morning I took a look. I noticed that it was about a "Sarah." Now, the only Sarah recently in the news is Sarah Palin. What would she be doing in Jewish Music blog?

Wrong Sarah. He had written about Sarah Livni, the poor Etzel fighter, who's probably turning in her grave to the tune of "Alei Barracadot!" Yes, Sarah was Tsippi's mother, and as you can see from the pictures, Tsippi did not inherit her mother's looks.

Strange coincidence, just the other day, I sang the refrain from that song. It was after my friends and I had finished our weekly "divided" T'hilim Psalms. One of them mentioned a peculiar funeral she had been at. The attendees sang. It wasn't strange to me. I have been to quite a number of funerals of former Lechi and Etzel fighters, and they always ended with the singing of the fighting songs, especially "Alei Barricadot." If I'm not mistaken, the custom began during the Israeli War of Independence.

Raise Up the Barricades
by M. Ashbel

Today my little Sarah
We'll part as I go to war
To establish the state
On both sides of the Jordan
Harden your heart
And tighten your belt
Embrace me, take the Sten
And join me in the ranks
Raise up the barricades we shall meet
Do not cry For such is my fate Wipe away your tears

Raise up the barricades we bring freedom with blood and fire.
Rifle to rifle, barrel to barrel
Bullet to bullet we shall fire
Raise up the barricades we shall meet
And if on the gallows
I shall give my life for the nation
Do not cry
For such is my fate
Wipe away your tears
Hold the Sten close to your heart
And choose for yourself another
From the men of my squad

We're missing good inspring songs to help us to the victory we need today.

More Than In The Press

When I took this photo, I began planning an article I was going to call:

Jammed in Traffic

The young guy who gave me ride from Ofra to Shiloh had told me that the traffic jam we found ourselves in must have been because of an accident, an Arab truck hit an electric pole about three and a half hours earlier. He had left Eli just after and saw the carnage. An injured man was lying next to his leg.

That would have made the accident about 3pm, so the road should have had been cleared by the time we went by. The truck should have been towed. He, also, kept commenting that there was something strange. He kept seeing relatively high-ranking soldiers walking through the jammed cars. Eventually, we got back to the open highway. There wasn't a truck nor any sign of an accident.

A few minutes ago I saw an article in the Jerusalem Post about Arabs attacking Israeli soldiers. Imagine my surprise, the same location as the accident. The difference was the time, over an hour later. When I went into the living room to get my camera, so I could download this picture, I mentioned it to my husband, and he showed me that he had just blogged about it, Terror Atttempt Today Near Shiloh.

Maybe there's a connection between the accident and the terror attack?

Misplaced Sympathy

In the aftermath of the latest Arab terror attack in Jerusalem, IBA's Chanel One kept broadcasting the terrorist's father's rant accusing the hero who killed the terrorist a murderer.

The Arab media admit that the terrorist was a terrorist and deny the father's and Israeli media's fiction that he was a frustrated little boy. Is "horny" going to join "twinkies" as an excuse for murder?

It was a similar scene to the Arab terror attack when I was injured. The terrorist aimed his car, a very dangerous weapon, at the Israelis and rammed into them.

The Israeli media isn't doing any good by constantly sympathizing with our enemies.

There is no excuse for terrorism!

The terrorist's family should be kept out of the news. Destroy their homes and business and fire them from their jobs, and they'll keep their children away from terrorist influence.

That's What They Need Joe For

He's Joe Biden and he did NOT approve this ad.

The Democratic veep candidate told CBS's Katie Couric last night he thought a campaign ad that stingingly mocked John McCain for being a computer bonehead was "terrible."

"I didn't know we did it and if I had anything to do with it, we would have never done it," Biden said.

Atlantic.com noted the biting ad stated:

"He admits he still doesn't know how to use a computer, can't send an e-mail, still doesn't understand the economy, and favors 200 billion in new tax cuts for corporations, but almost nothing for the middle class."

It reminds me of how the Israeli Labor Party lost whatever support they had of Israeli's "amcha," the "ordinary, non-elite" Israeli. This was when Menachem Begin was PM and running for re-election. At a Labor rally, someone made fun of the "riff-raff" who supports Begin.

Just recently I mentioned to someone that there really are people who don't own or very rarely use computers. She was amazed, insisted that I was wrong. But I'm not. I mentioned it among neighbors, and was told that even when there's a computer in the house, it's not used by everyone.

It's important for us to remember that there are other ways of communicating and not everyone is online.

Back to this miscalculation by the Obama camp. I just wrote that he's elitist. I doubt that all of his supporters are, but the people running the campaign are making mistakes. McCain and Palin are of the American "amcha," and even black "amcha" may feel alienated by the time they have to pull the lever.

Obama, Boring And Elitist

I got a kick out of this New York Times article which tried to spin that Obama's debating style can really be improved. The writer got it right here:

Mr. Obama has a tendency to overintellectualize and to lecture, befitting his training as a lawyer and law professor. He exudes disdain for the quips and sound bites that some deride as trivializing political debates but that have become a central part of scoring them. He tends to the earnest and humorless when audiences seem to crave passion and personality. He frequently rises above the mire of political combat when the battle calls for engagement.

Broder's mistake is that he thinks Obama can be coached out of these problems. He, like most Obama fans, ignores the fact that Obama was not raised with ordinary Americans. And Obama, after his rather unconventional childhood, studied in a cosmopolitan university. That's not a sin, but it does make it difficult for him to relate to ordinary Americans. This has nothing to do with Obama's skin color.

If Obama had inherited his mother's skin color, he wouldn't be the Democratic Nominee for the US Presidency. He probably wouldn't even be Clinton's Veep.

Today, Obama's a novelty. Maybe he can develop the maturity, knowledge and skills to be a good president for the United States, in the future, but now he's too dependent on his advisers. That's very dangerous, America.

Getting Up From Shiva, Jewish Mourning

This morning, before going over to my friend to "get her up" from mouring, I quickly did an internet search to check if there's something to say, along with the "getting her up and out."

Aish's site had the clearest instructions:

The seventh and final day of shiva is observed for only a few short hours, although this counts as a whole day. After the last Shacharit service, the mourners sit low again for a short time. Then those who have come to comfort the mourners say to them, "Arise." The comforters then say:

No more will your sun set, nor your moon be darkened, for God will be an eternal light for you, and your days of mourning shall end. (Isaiah 60:20)

Like a man whose mother consoles him, so shall I console you, and you shall be consoled in Jerusalem. (Isaiah 66:13)

The mourners acknowledge that the shiva is over by leaving the shiva house publicly for the first time, taking a short walk around the block with those who have come to comfort them.

So, that's what we did. And then I walked her back to her door so she could back to her life.

What Could Be Worse Than Tsippi At The Helm?

Ehud Barak as co-leader!

Tsippi Livni is a classic case of Peter's Principle, but Ehud Barak is even worse.

Never forget the rampant Arab terrorism, which began during Ehud Barak's reign as Prime Minister.

I've lived in Israel since 1970, and never has there been a worse time, when innocent Israeli citizens were terrified to leave their homes. It took a couple of years after he was quickly, but not quickly enough, booted out of office for things to calm down.

We need new elections now!

The only problem is deciding whom to vote for!!!

Dry Bones--Bull's Eye!

And they consider it progress. Kadima means "onward," "to the future." Gevalt!

Yaakov you're great!

As The Blogs Burst All Over With Sarah Palin...

... and the speech she would have given.

Here is it from Soccer Dad.

Those who saw to it that Sarah Palin was disinvited from speaking at today's rally no doubt are oddly proud of themselves, but thanks to The New York Sun, we can all know what Sarah Palin would have said.Hat tip to Boker Tov, Boulder for pointing this piece out--and for suggesting that it be blogbursted.

I'm sure that more people are going to read it than would have listened. It would be a good move for the McCain camp to have her film it and then release it on youtube.

As I've written before, this campaign is quite a sitcom.

Singing At Tel Shiloh

Today there was T'filat Chana at Tel Shiloh.


Private prayers at the Tel

Everyone to their own thoughts...

Then we divided into two groups for shiurm, Torah classes.

And then we ate outside. It was hot, like mid-summer.

After that was the singing, Karni Eldad and strings.

And we all joined in.

Jerusalem, Another View, or Two

Recently I visited a couple in what was built to be the "posh," suitable for wealthy olim, neighborhood of French Hill. At least that's how I remember it from the very early 1970's.

Yes, I'm referring to Tzameret Habira, Capitol Heights. The neighborhood is a series of "terraced" apartment buildings on the side of a mountain with a commanding view in the direction of the Dead Sea.




Today you see massive illegal Arab building. While every storage room or raised roof on Jewish buildings must get all sorts of formal approval or be demolished, the Arabs build helter skelter. The government and police are afraid of the subsequent violence and just ignore what happens in the Arab sectors. They take their frustrations out on innocent, idealistic Jews in Judea and Samaria.




And while we're mentioning building in Jerusalem, here's another photo of the roads downtown being prepared for the "lightrail."

OLMERT HAS FINALLY RESIGNED!

Olmert formally submits his resignation to Peres
President Peres: I appreciate the respectable way Olmert chose to pass the leadership along. 20:45

Your Latest American Sitcom

Palin vs Barry

McCain's already playing 2nd fiddle to Sarah Palin, but I don't think he minds all that much.

Do you think that Dry Bones pegged it right? Did Barry Hussein Obama really thinks like this?

Read the comments. They're really something.

The Democrats are really worried that Sarah Palin has won over a good part of America. The silent majority is no longer so quiet.

The United States is very divided. The Presidential Elections really show it.

And I don't deny that Israel also has various population sectors who have no idea of how others live, and I'm not talking about Arabs and Jews. I'm just referring to the Jewish population.

It's always more amusing to watch others make fools of themselves. I've been observing American elections since I was a child, and I can't think of two pairs of candidates so different. I don't know if Americans appreciate the real choice they have. Of course, once in office, they all end up pretty much the same.

But I'm enjoying this campaign.

Free To Travel Our Land

Immediately after the 1967 Six Days War, we Jews/Israelis were perfectly safe wandering around our historical Homeland. The Arabs respected and feared us. The were surprised that we didn't send them packing, or send them off without their possessions.



Once they realized that the government was embarrassed by our great victory and wanted to give them what we won in a fair war, when we were defending the very existence of our country, defending our lives, they began to attack. And since then, with every "peace concession," our security situation has gotten worse.




So, I was rather amused by this ynet article about the recent increase in Israeli tourism in Judea and Samaria.



Living here in Shiloh is nothing like what people who don't visit imagine. This is no "protest campsite." Jews have been back living in Shiloh for thirty years, going on 31 to be precise. We have schools, stores, a swimming pool, homes, gardens and bli eyin haraa bus service.

This past year, I've initiated Women's Private Prayers (not a faux male minyon) on Rosh Chodesh. Women are coming from all over Israel to pray where Chana did in Biblical times. The next one can't be on Rosh Chodesh, because Rosh Chodesh is Rosh Hashannah, so it will be on the following week. Tuesday, October 7th, the 8th of Tishrei, just before Yom Kippur. We will meet at 9:45 am at the Tabernacle Gallery Cafe`, Tel Shiloh, where you can get a snack or buy souvenirs or gift items.

Of course, tourists are always welcome at the Tel. For more information, contact the tourist office 02-994-4019.

Coming Attractions

My plans for the upcoming JPIX is to let the pictures do the talking. I will choose one picture from each post submitted and in it embed the link to the post.

Preparations have begun. G-d willing it will work. Here's a taste of what's to come.

Now, please, click the picture, and see where it takes you...




Join the carnival, and send in your links. Submit your articles for JPIX #19 here. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page. If you would like to host a future edition of JPIX, or blog carnival is "down," email jpixcarnival@gmail.com.

The "Spin" Graduates To...

...carefully constructed and calculated misinformation, aka lies.

The "spin" is an "after the fact" technique to turn cement into gold. It can be amazingly creative, like a snake oil salesman with a silver tongue. By the time the "spinners" finish "spinning," you can't tell north from south, right from left, nor right from wrong.

Misinformation plays with facts and faux facts to create a scene which suits the goal of the "creator." It can be done with a simple word or elaborate invention.

But, in a nutshell, it's just a fancy way of lying and/or misrepresenting facts. I'm sure it always existed. It's just that in today's instant internet etc, it's so easy to catch the lies and play the game, trading misinformation.

The Tooth Fairy is looking better all the time.

Babies Less Important Than Business

It's not just the Chinese who sell tainted baby formula or consider their business more important than babies' health.

Over thirty years ago, when I was pregnant with our third child, I found myself watching a very upsetting television program on British TV. We were working in London at the time. It was an expose` about a big international baby formula company marketing conning poor Africans into buying their product.

The poverty-stricken, naive customers hadn't the facilities to wash and sterilize baby bottles, nor guarantee that the water added to the formula would be safe. But they saw the big healthy Europeans and Americans who sold the formula and wanted their children to be like them. But instead their children were dying of diseases caused by dirty bottles, unclean water and malnutrition when they diluted the formula too much, because they couldn't afford the quantities needed. It wasn't just hormones of my own pregnancy that made me cry so much that I had to turn off the TV.

More recently, there was a big health scandal in Israel, when it was discovered that Remedia, a large German baby formula manufacturer had "reformulated" their formula. They left out crucially important minerals, without warning. Israeli babies died and some survivors are seriously brain-damaged.

We really shouldn't trust all these chemicals, and it's also a good idea to read labels. Many "low fat" and "diet" foods are less healthy than real foods. In many cases, corn syrup, replaces eggs or milk fat. And corn syrup is much more dangerous to one's health.

I have no doubt that most babies would do better on milk, goat or cow, and natural yogurts, rather than all those chemicals. Of course that's only if the mother can't nurse the baby herself. Nothing's better for human babies than human milk.

The Streets Where I Lived

Soon after docking at Haifa Port, early September, 1970, my husband and I made it to our first home/job in Israel. It was in the newly opened Maon Betar, corner of Rechov Hayehudim (Jews Street) and Rechov Plugat Hakotel (Western Wall Guarders Street,) Old City, Jerusalem. The neighborhood was not called the Rova Yehudi, Jewish Quarter in those days.

The area was nothing, absolutely nothing, like what you see today, from the then mud roads to the decrepit buildings and to the people in the streets. The Arab squatters, who had taken over the Jewish homes, after the Jews had been banished, just destroyed and never repaired. Today, after forty years of construction, repairs, investment etc, it is a very different place.

This week, when I went to the Old City for the Tachlis event, I got there early enough for a quick look at my old haunts. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.



























Shabbat Shalom uMevorach!
Have a Peaceful and Blessed Shabbat!

Olmert's Still In & Tsippi Had Help

According to law, Olmert is in office until a new government is formed. So if you had thought that the Kadima Primaries would bring a new Prime Minister, don't start holding your breath so soon.

Strange things about those primaries. All of the polls, actually even including the one that asks voters as they leave the polling stations, all said that Tsippi was far ahead of Mofaz. Then, they counted the votes. And the results were different. It was almost a tie. Actually, some Mofaz supporters say that the 400+ difference could go the other way, if the votes were to be recounted.

Even more peculiar, one of the pollsters is blaming the media for hyping Tsippi and demoralizing the Mofaz supporters. I think it's the ridiculous reliance of polls, by the media, which is at fault.

But the bottom line is that we're still stuck with Olmert!

Blogging Professionally, Tachlis

Blogging is my business, my only business.

It may sound "good" but it's not entirely true. But yesterday I went to the Tachlis event, where I was exposed to more ideas about the internet and how to promote my blogs.



Some of the attendees were the same as were at the International Jewish Bloggers Convention, but it was very different.

It was more geared to people who utilize the internet, or should utilize the internet, for promoting their npo's or businesses or causes. We bloggers were there more to fill the chairs. I discovered that David Abitbol of Jewlicious is actually some sort of marketing consultant, not just a more successful blogger and community organizer than I am. Ahuva Berger is also a consultant. And Aharon Horwitz of Presetense is also a consultant, since all of them get paid to give advice, marketing their knowledge. In actuality, you can say that these professional consultants were giving us advice for a rock bottom price and some kosher nosh in an exotic venue.



I was hoping for more "details," instructions, but even though all sorts of other internet "social networking" were mentioned, clear definitions and "how-to's" were ignored, especially since most participants were part of that virtual world.

For me, some of the enthusiasm for hundreds and thousands of "friends" on twitter, facebook etc seemed naive or peculiar. Even though I've established relationships and friendships via my blogs, f2f is still a more import part of my life. I just can't imagine schlepping around a laptop, constantly searching for the best air-born wireless internet to check in.




A good thing was hearing of a new profession, very tempting if I can find a job in it, professional commercial blogging to promote buzz for a company.

Honestly, it was an interesting evening, and I was happy to meet Rivkah again. And again I got a ride home with Hadassa Levy, who lives nearby whose parents I knew when we were teens. Yes, small world. My mother is a friend of her grandmother, too.

The organizers called it a "panel," but it was just a series of speakers with question/answer time. Each speaker used that PowerPoint on screen technique, but most used it badly, basically having their presentation on the screen and reading from the laptop or notes. Actually, David used it best, in that he had a few pictures illustrating his themes, rather than displaying his words. He apologized for not being as prepared as he would like, saying that an organizer of an event should never double as speaker. I'm glad that he did speak, since he was most interesting for my needs. I do understand his point, since when I led the NCSY Israel Folk Dance group, 1969-70, I also found it better not to be one of the dancers. That saved the day, when I had a dancer sick the day of the performance and was able to fill-in, miraculously, though I had never danced the dance before I was on stage.

The Tachlis 2 Point Oh! was held in the Old City, davka, at an Armenian pub's outdoor area, but kosher food was brought in.




Yes, I did learn things, and I'm not sorry I attended. And stay tuned for the pictures I took of our old neighborhood in the Old City of Jerusalem.