Amazing Chanukah Video and Song From Matisyahu

It's a miracle!

I'm Glad To Be Out of The Classroom But Worry About My Grandchildren

One of my problem during my teaching days was dealing with the "establishment."  I'm a non-conformist by nature and terribly intolerant.  I wouldn't be so polite.  As a tutor I have much more freedom and independence, just a lot less money.



The Israeli politicians have tried fixing the education here by treating schools like businesses and teachers like factory workers.  This story is eight years old, but it's always worth reading:

The Blueberry Story: The teacher gives the businessman a lesson

by Jamie Robert Vollmer

"If I ran my business the way you people operate your schools, I wouldn't be in business very long!"

I stood before an auditorium filled with outraged teachers who were becoming angrier by the minute. My speech had entirely consumed their precious 90 minutes of inservice. Their initial icy glares had turned to restless agitation. You could cut the hostility with a knife.

I represented a group of business people dedicated to improving public schools. I was an executive at an ice cream company that became famous in the middle1980s when People Magazine chose our blueberry as the "Best Ice Cream in America."

I was convinced of two things. First, public schools needed to change; they were archaic selecting and sorting mechanisms designed for the industrial age and out of step with the needs of our emerging "knowledge society". Second, educators were a major part of the problem: they resisted change, hunkered down in their feathered nests, protected by tenure and shielded by a bureaucratic monopoly. They needed to look to business. We knew how to produce quality. Zero defects! TQM! Continuous improvement!

In retrospect, the speech was perfectly balanced - equal parts ignorance and arrogance.

As soon as I finished, a woman's hand shot up. She appeared polite, pleasant -- she was, in fact, a razor-edged, veteran, high school English teacher who had been waiting to unload.

She began quietly, "We are told, sir, that you manage a company that makes good ice cream."

I smugly replied, "Best ice cream in America, Ma'am."

"How nice," she said. "Is it rich and smooth?"

"Sixteen percent butterfat," I crowed.

"Premium ingredients?" she inquired.

"Super-premium! Nothing but triple A." I was on a roll. I never saw the next line coming.

"Mr. Vollmer," she said, leaning forward with a wicked eyebrow raised to the sky, "when you are standing on your receiving dock and you see an inferior shipment of blueberries arrive, what do you do?"

In the silence of that room, I could hear the trap snap…. I was dead meat, but I wasn't going to lie.

"I send them back."

"That's right!" she barked, "and we can never send back our blueberries. We take them big, small, rich, poor, gifted, exceptional, abused, frightened, confident, homeless, rude, and brilliant. We take them with ADHD, junior rheumatoid arthritis, and English as their second language. We take them all! Every one! And that, Mr. Vollmer, is why it's not a business. It's school!"

In an explosion, all 290 teachers, principals, bus drivers, aides, custodians and secretaries jumped to their feet and yelled, "Yeah! Blueberries! Blueberries!"

And so began my long transformation.

Since then, I have visited hundreds of schools. I have learned that a school is not a business. Schools are unable to control the quality of their raw material, they are dependent upon the vagaries of politics for a reliable revenue stream, and they are constantly mauled by a howling horde of disparate, competing customer groups that would send the best CEO screaming into the night.

None of this negates the need for change. We must change what, when, and how we teach to give all children maximum opportunity to thrive in a post-industrial society. But educators cannot do this alone; these changes can occur only with the understanding, trust, permission and active support of the surrounding community. For the most important thing I have learned is that schools reflect the attitudes, beliefs and health of the communities they serve, and therefore, to improve public education means more than changing our schools, it means changing America.

Reprinted with permission from the March 6, 2002 issue of Education Week


Copyright 2002, by Jamie Robert Vollmer

Sometimes The Trouble-Maker Kids Are Safest

Not that long ago I met someone who had been a student in one of the yeshivot, religious boys schools, where and when there were sexual predators who molested students.  He told us that there was an undercurrent of knowledge that bad things were going on.  He proudly told us that he hadn't been attacked:

"I was a troublemaker.  The good kids were the victims, because they could be controlled.  They obeyed orders of silence."

That's right, the "better" your child is, the more trusting, the more he or she may be in danger.  Respect for authority may make him/her more susceptible, easier to molest and willing to protect the pedophile.
Following is the JBAC Chicago Event 17 Oct 2010 and a Presentation by Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik:



There are places here where the clapping is surprisingly tepid.  I just caught it where he didn't think a man whose wife had just been raped called a rabbi before calling the police.  The clapping was surprisingly weak, or was the crowd that small?

Wily Wikileaks

Arlene Kushner has an interesting read on all that is going on.  I suggest going into her site and looking for the article  "Ah Ha!" which doesn't have its own link yet.  She has been going through the documents Wikileaks has been releasing concerning the Middle East, Israell, Iran etc.  I trust her basic analysis.

Arlene Kushner is curious about what's the cause of U.S. President Obama's miss-handling of the Iran issue.  She's more polite and careful than I am.  I think it's more proof of how totally out of his element Barack Hussein Obama is.  From the beginning of his run for president I've wondered who put him up to it, who's controlling him.  Could this all be connected? For sure, Israel shouldn't trust him to care about Israel's security.

I don't have the time to go through Wikileaks right now, but I hope to get to it soon.

Directing The Rain Prayers

It's another horrid, repulsive dangerous day today.  There's barely a cloud in the sky.  It's too warm to wear winter clothes.  Yes, we're suffering bad, awfully bad weather.

No, it isn't a nice day when the sun shines day after day after day after day before Chanukah.  The only beautiful thing about this picture is the building of Jewish homes in the Land of Israel.

The Israeli Rabbinate has declared that we say special prayers for rain and that today be a fast day and more special prayers.  The standard Jewish rain prayers ask G-d for mercy, but as Sharon Katz's young neighbor alludes to ignores why we're being punished by G-d for not observing the Mitzvot, G-d given commandments.  Yes, please don't forget that drought is a This World punishment.

Our problem isn't with G-d, it's with our government leaders, which makes the Prayer for the Welfare of the State of Israel just perfect:

Our Father in Heaven, Rock and Redeemer of Israel, bless the State of Israel, the first manifestation of the approach of our redemption. Shield it with Your lovingkindness, envelop it in Your peace, and bestow Your light and truth upon its leaders, ministers, and advisors, and grace them with Your good counsel. Strengthen the hands of those who defend our holy land, grant them deliverance, and adorn them in a mantle of victory. Ordain peace in the land and grant its inhabitants eternal happiness. Lead them, swiftly and upright, to Your city Zion and to Jerusalem, the abode of Your Name, as is written in the Torah of Your servant Moses: “Even if your outcasts are at the ends of the world, from there the Lord your God will gather you, from there He will fetch you. And the Lord your God will bring you to the land that your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your fathers.” Draw our hearts together to revere and venerate Your name and to observe all the precepts of Your Torah, and send us quickly the Messiah son of David, agent of Your vindication, to redeem those who await Your deliverance.

Manifest yourself in the splendor of Your boldness before the eyes of all inhabitants of Your world, and may everyone endowed with a soul affirm that the Lord, God of Israel, is king and his dominion is absolute. Amen forevermore.

I'll repeat what I consider the most imporant part:

"...bestow Your light and truth upon its leaders, ministers, and advisors, and grace them with Your good counsel. Strengthen the hands of those who defend our holy land, grant them deliverance, and adorn them in a mantle of victory."

We, the State of Israel,  are being ruled by "confused" people, politicians blinded by foreign lights and twisted perverse moralities and value systems.

Those who refuse to say that prayer because they don't approve of the State of Israel are totally in the wrong.  The prayer doesn't praise the state.  It is a prayer that begs G-d to control the state's leaders and focus them in the right direction, towards HaShem and Mitzvot. The State of Israel can and should be the tool to our גאולה Geula Redemption, finally and speedily in Our Days!

Stopping Jewish Building Stops the Rain

There's No Water, Bibi, You're Guilty

עצירת בניה יהודית עוצרת גשמים

אין מים, ביבי, אתה אשם

Mahmoud Abbas is No Peace Partner

by PMW Palestine Media Watch

Group that sings about destruction of Israel named national band by Abbas

Palestinian Media Watch reported when this song was first broadcast on PA TV on Sept. 12, 2010:

"Fight, brother, the flag will never be lowered,
the torches will never die out."
On [Mt.] Carmel (in Israel) and in the [Jordan] Valley,
we are rocks and streams.
In Lod (Israeli city) we are poems, and in Ramle (Israeli city) - grenades.
We, my brother, shall remain the revolution of the fighting nation."

"The Zionists went out from [their] homelands,
compounding damage and enmity.
But the Palestinian revolution awaits [them].
The orchard called us to the [armed] struggle.
We replaced bracelets with weapons.
We attacked the despicable [Zionists].
This invading enemy is on the battlefield.
This is the day of consolation of Jihad.
Pull the trigger.
We shall redeem Jerusalem, Nablus and the country."
[PA TV (Fatah), Sept. 12, 2010]

The Israeli media and politicians keep ignoring the reality that there's no way there can be peace with the Arabs in the near future.  There is nothing to negotiate.  And there is nobody with whom to negotiate.  They don't want peace with us, Israel, the Jewish State.

MC Obama, Israel Plays "Deal or No Deal" With The U.S.A.

Bibi, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, seems to be playing in an old TV game show, Deal or No Deal.  Israel Resource News Agency's David Bedein has revealed that Bibi chose the one cent ($.01) box in exchange for freezing Jewish building in Judea and Samaria.

I'm no maven when it comes to TV game shows.  Some of you will tell me that U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama is really hosting Let's Make a Deal, and Bibi is losing, losing bad.  Under normal circumstances he would have been booted off the show already, but the game was fixed, and the producers, the United States State Department, want Bibi to lose and keep losing big.

They're still upset that U.S. President Harry S. Truman bucked them November 29, 1947, and instructed the United States delegation to the United Nations to vote for a Jewish State.

If this was just about an ordinary "civilian" Bibi, no big deal, but Netanyahu is Prime Minister of Israel.  He is risking his country, blinded by the TV lights or worse.

Tomorrow has been declared a special fast to beg G-d for rain, since we're suffering from a serious drought.  Honestly, I think that G-d has been very generous considering our sins.  Every time the government, Bibi's government talks about freezing Jewish building in Judea and Samaria, G-d twists the faucet even tighter, drying us out even more.  Simply put:

Stopping Jewish Building Stops the Rain

There's No Water, Bibi, You're Guilty

עצירת בניה יהודית עוצרת גשמים

אין מים, ביבי, אתה אשם

Havel Havelim at Homeshuling, Great Debut!

Homeshuling has joined the jblog carnival host club in hosting her first Havel Havelim.  Since she stuck to the "3 posts per blogger," rather than per blog (or unlimited,) I was curious as to which of my posts she'd include.  I have no idea at all how many I had submitted.  My practice is to send them in after posting if I consider them on a sufficiently suitable HH level.  And, no, I don't send in everything I post.  There are some excellent bloggers who barely post three times a week, so the three posts limit is very generous for them.  Between my two blogs I post a minimum of three times a day, almost never less than that.  Amy chose three very different posts from my blogs for which I thank her sincerely.

This edition of Havel Havelim includes a great variety of posts from the jblog world.  Take a look. 

Just a reminder that the next Kosher Cooking Carnival will soon be hosted by Mirj of Miriyummy.  Please don't forget to send in your kosher food posts, everything about kosher food will be on the KCC menu.

How can I leave out JPIX? Leora is hosting the next edition.  For most of us Chanukah is a very photographed holiday, so be sure to send your posts to JPIX.

Who Looks at Those Full-Body Scans and Performs The Pat-Downs?

I was just wondering...
How does one get one of those jobs to stare at the full body scan or pat down (and inside?) the individuals who don't want the radiation?  Considering that these workers are those who decide if there's something that shouldn't be on/in us, who are they?  How did they get their job?  Who checked their security, reliability and power of discretion?

So I did a quick internet search "airport security jobs" and I quickly found this ad:

Airport Security Careers
TSA Careers

Where do your interests lay? There are numerous positions in the security field with unique roles and responsibilities, and each one is a vital part of our team. The list below shows some of the opportunities available at airports across the country and in U.S. Territories. The exact number and kinds of positions at an airport will vary depending on the size and particular needs of the location.

"Where do your interests lay?" That really gives me the creeps!

And here's more:

• Interested in starting your career behind the scenes as part of our security staff? Click here to search for an opening near you.
• Looking to work directly with travelers and being part of our team of Transportation Security Officers? Click here to find an opportunity near you.
• Does your local airport participate in our Screening Partnership Program? Looking to join one of our private screening partners? Click here and find out how.

It seems much too easy to get a job in the TSA.

In the guide to passengers, they keep referring to "enhanced screening," as if they're advertising a better computer screen, TV or the latest 3-D movie.

In all honesty, even after reading all the latest on the TSA site, I feel less safe than before.  It seems pretty easy to sneak things in if one really wants to.  Also, there are so many, many people who work in airports in various capacities.  It's a real miracle that terror attacks aren't daily or at least more frequent.

What would I choose if those rules are still in force during my next trip, which still hasn't been scheduled, but should be?  I guess I'd prefer to be screened using advanced imaging technology; it's less personal.  If I was a frequent traveler, it's possible that I'd settle on the same-sex pat down, becase there's a limit to the amount of radiation I'd want to subject myself to.

Traveling is getting so complicated.

Oops! Bibi Does It Again, A La Latma!

A little logic from Latma.  Caroline Glick, thank you!



Here's the highlight, "Oops! Bibi does Britney Spears"

Myth Busters: The Western Wall and American Aid

In honor of the upcoming Chanukah holiday, the Jewish Holiday which celebrates religious freedom, Jewish national independence, how the apparent weak can defeat the rich and "strong" and how a small vial of pure olive oil can save the day I'm going to attack a couple of powerful myths.

Myth #1- the Western Wall HaKotel HaMa'aravi, הכותל המערבי
The Kotel is not the holiest site for Jews!
The ancient wall which is known as "the kotel" is a later-built outer wall to the area in which you can find our holiest spot on the Temple Mount, Har HaBayit הר הבית.  The kotel has no religious or historic significance for any other religion except as part of the ongoing attempts at identity theft by Muslims and Christians.

It would be like standing in the street outside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and looking for the windows to the Obama family bedrooms.

Israel's religious and political leadership have sold us very short by worshipping the Kotel.  To say that The Temple Mount is "too holy" for Jews but the let the Muslims run free, play games and destroy our holy artifacts is a chillul Hashem, insult to G-d.

Myth #2 American Aid
American Aid is bad for the Israeli economy!
That's right.  In actuality, the aid is only good for the American economy.  That's because the Americans don't give a blank check, greenbacks, real money for Israel to buy weapons wherever it deems best.  The United States gives "shopping coupons," which is their way of subsidizing certain American industries.  Foreign countries then patronize American industry at the expense of their own.
For Israel, it's triply bad.  Not only has it severly affected our own military industrial development, but when our engineers/experts improve the American products, we don't profit and if we use any of the American components to produce military products for export, we can't sell them without American permission.

What the State of Israel needs are true allies, friendly countries which condemn our enemies when they attack us and stop encouraging us to self-mutilate.  Our greatest danger is participating in those "talks" which the Arabs and Americans see as the tool for establishing a Pseudostinian aka palestinian sic state.  If American is considered Israel's friend, it's an example of:

"With friends like these, we don't need enemies."

Yossi Klein Halevi's Review of the Beckerman Soviet Jewry Book

Hat tip: Elder of Ziyon

Yossi's review of the book is a must read.  Of course, it's Yossi's perspective of what is considered history today.  But he was there, as we were, although we left for Israel in the summer of 1970.  In the 1960's the struggle to free and provide religious freedom for Soviet Jewry was on the "fringe" of American Jewish life.

Many of us were attracted to the American Civil Rights movement but wanted civil rights activisim with a Jewish focus.  The Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry fit the bill to a "T." 

SSSJ concentrated on legal, non-violent and clever gimmicky demonstrations.  When JDL's Rabbi Kahane began his headline-grabbing more violent and daring protests, we in SSSJ debated changing gears.  In those days a police record could really ruin one's career or university scholarship.  I'll never forget the meeting where either Glen Richter or Yaakov Birnbaum vetoed violence and arrest by saying:

"If anyone would get arrested at one of our demonstrations, I'd have to notify the parents, and I'm not willing to be in that situation."

Richter and Birmbaum were like our teachers, mentors, counselors, taking responsibility as if the demonstrations were supervised school trips.  Kahane's attitude was totally different.  He didn't want to see Jewish fear.  Yes, he broke a very crucial barrier.

A few years ago, here in Israel, I felt that way about anti-Disengagement protests.  Arrest was better than passive acceptance or just dignified demonstrations. 

But there's a big difference between getting arrested for headlines in New York when protesting about a foreign government's immoral policies and protesting Disengagement in Israel against the guilty government itself.

When They Come for Us We’ll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry by Gal Beckerman is considered a modern history book which I find very amusing.  Am I so old that my youth happened  long enough ago that it's now categorized as history?  I don't feel that old.

Genuine Jericho, Not Long Island

Centuries and centuries ago when the European invaders began taking over, settling, the rich new continents that had been discovered between Europe and India/Asia, they considered them the "promised land" and named many of their new settlements, towns and cities after those in the Bible.  That's why you'll find lots of faux Shilohs, Bethlehems, Jerusalems, Hebrons and Jerichos.  Jews are permitted by American law to live in those places, although the United States Government thinks it's "immoral" for Jews to live in the origianl, genuine cities of those names.

That policy makes no sense to me.  As you know, I live in the real, Biblical Shiloh.  We've been here for twenty-nine years.  According to American law, it's illegal to discriminate against people living in certain locations because of their religion.  Every town, city, housing develpment is supposed to allow Jews to live and buy there, but the American government promotes the opposite policy when it comes to Biblical cities and locations in the Holy Land, Judea and Samaria.  They have absolute fits when the Israeli government announces building projects throughout Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

King David was from the Bethlehem area, near what is considered Kever Rachel, Rachel's Tomb.  Today Jews aren't welcome in Bethlehem, and even the Christian population has been declining, because the local Muslims make them very unwelcome.  Jerusalem is Judaism's holiest city and Israel's Capital City, but the United States and others want us to give large portions to the Arabs for a new, recently invented Pseudostinian aka Palestinian sic state.  Hebron has a vibrant, though tiny, Jewish community which must constantly defend itself against the Muslims and international pressure and discrimination.

And Jericho...
Well, it has been a struggle.  There are a number of Jewish towns overlooking Jericho, but no full-time Jewish community.  There are many activities for Jewish visitors.  Details can be found here. Many years ago, it was very easy to visit Jericho and tour there.  It's a beautiful city as I remember.

Out Of Context, Partial Statements, Can Be Misunderstood

A favorite movie of my lawyer daughter is "My Cousin Vinny."  It's a comedy based on a joke showing how incorrect punctuation can turn a shocked question into a factual statement which is then taken by the police as a confession:

"I shot the clerk?!"

The previous line said in a incredulously, surprised, shocked tone was considered a factual confession by the police.  This is related to the cases when rapists claim they heard:

"Don't stop!" instead of "Don't!  Stop!"

The cropped part of the sign below could be an Apease aka Peace sic Now sign, since all it says is:

סכנה! בונים כאן Sakanah! Bonim Kan "Danger!  Building Here"

I'm rather "disabled" when it comes to my Hebrew reading, so I read the bare minimum.  When I first noticed the sign, I was upset.  Why should building here be a danger?  It's good to build.  We need more homes for Jews in Shiloh.

Then I took a better look at the sign.  It's for safety, from the contractor for insurance purposes. It says that "strangers," meaning those who aren't part of the building crew, are forbidden entrance to the building site.  And it requires the building crew to be properly equipped with safety helmets.

So many times we come to conclusions without knowing all the facts.

That's one of the reasons I keep blogging about the different goals re: the "talks" that the Americans are pushing Israel to participate in.  The Israelis who are in favor of the "talks" want them, because they believe that the aim is "peace."  But very dangerously they haven't been paying attention to what Obama and the Arabs have stated as their goal.  Their aim isn't peace.  They intend to establish a Pseudostinian aka Palestinian sic State.  They want it to be strong, independent and viable.  Israel's further exisitence is not a priority for them.  That's the truth. 

Obama's plan for the next stage of "negotiations" is to decide the borders.  He keeps saying it, over and over.  There are those who claim that Bibi is trying to "string Obama along," but he's doing the opposite with his freeze of Jewish building in Judea and Samaria.  He's rushing the "talks," not slowing them down.

The best thing would be for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to do would be to refuse to participate.  Let the Americans stew and fume.  They'll get over it once they see that we can't be moved.

Chanukah and The Unilateral-Jews-Only Building Freeze

This is a very Israeli blog, so the American Thanksgiving has no place here at all.  I'm thankful to G-d every day for what G-d has given me on a personal and national level.  My nation is the Jewish Nation.  Judaism is a National Religion unlike any other religion.  We have a G-d, rituals, a history, a people and a land.  All are connected and combined.  That's the basic lesson of Chanukah.

The Greek king, Antiochus, attacked the Jewish People, invaded our Land, forbade Jewish Ritual, tried to delete our History and destroy our People.

How does this connect to the building freeze?

By kowtowing to American (and other foreign) dictates, Israel's Prime Minister, (politicians, academics and media) are

• worshipping a foreign god
• denying our History
• belittling our People
• and endangering our Land and Nation

It's no coincidence that November 29th falls around the Chanukah holiday.  It's a modern Hellenist (anti-Jewish) holiday, because it removes the establishment of the State of Israel from G-d's sphere and credits the United Nations and a multitude of foreign leaders.

G-d is behind all the good in the establishment of the Modern State of Israel, no one else but G-d.  The state isn't payoff/compensation for the Holocaust either.

Let's get out of the Hellenist mentality and remember what being a Jew really is supposed to be.

• We must stop acting apologetic for our continued survival.
• We don't owe any other country anything.
• The world should be apologizing to us for all of the evil done to Jews over the millennia

G-d gave us this Holy Land and we must use it for our Jewish needs.  No more restrictions on Jewish building!

Jerusalem's Lightrail in the Night

Of late, the lightrail has been coming out of the proverbial "woodwork."  I keep coming across trains rather unexpectedly.  Drivers are training all over the city.  Sorry, I didn't mean to pun; I meant it literally.  No doubt that a major reason for the trains to be moving all times of the day and night is to train OK teach the staff how to drive them etc.

When I took this short video, the train was moving, though it's hard to tell here, because I was also moving.  I was rushing to catch a bus home.

I come across the train and tracks very frequently when I'm in Jerusalem, because the lightrail route begins in Pisgat Zeev, and I enter Jerusalem from Shiloh, Mateh Binyamin, at Pisgat Zeev.  The lightrail planners' plan is that we'll leave our cars, not that we personally have any, or buses in Pisgat Zeev and travel to whatever Jerusalem neighborhood we need by train.  If the train doesn't go there, then we'll be taking a bus from the train.

In theory, our Shiloh buses will go only as far as the train, unless I'm mistaken.  But from what I understand, the planners forgot to plan enormous parking lots for the cars and buses in Pisgat Zeev.  Yes, I know, minor details.  By the time the trains accept passengers, whether before or after the Moshiach (our long-awaited Messiah) isn't quite clear yet, the planners will have cooked up some solution, no doubt.

How this all jives with Obama's dream of making all of Judea, Samaria and most of municipal Jerusalem judenrein, evicting/displacing us (innocent, law-abiding Jewish Israeli citizens) and replacing us with his friends the Pseudostinian aka Palestinian sic Arabs is the subject for another post.  In the meantime the lightrail officials are preparing for the age of the Jerusalem Trolley car.

The Freedom to Build

There's a building boom in many YESHA communities.  All the Bibi-Obama threats have just made it all more urgent, and many families and contractors-who have anxiously waiting customers-are trying to make up for lost time.  The ten month freeze was awful, antidemocratic, anti-civil rights.  The Arabs never stopped building.  Only Jewish Israeli citizens go through the bureaucratic maze getting permits etc.

Here are some beautiful sights to see!

Good News, Bad News, That Referendum Bill

The Israeli Knesset (Parliament) passed a bill that would require a referendum if the government, G-d forbid, decides to give our Land officially under Israeli sovereignty to the enemy Arabs. 

*The good news is that it's not supposed to make such a decision without asking permission from us, the tax paying citizens.  The bad news is that they are even thinking of giving our precious Land to the very same Arabs who want us dead, gone and destroyed.

This bill does not refer to Judea and Samaria, because we were never annexed.  We *Jews only* pay taxes like all Israeli citizens, follow official school curriculum, traffic laws and serve in the army, but our status is strange.  Arabs who live a short walk away from Jews aren't demanded to do any of these things.  They get the best of both worlds.  They can terrorize us and preach that we must be destroyed, but at the same time they have modern roads and highways, electricity, telephone connections, medical care etc.  We, the innocent Jewish Israeli citizen support Arabs and they just continue to attack us physically and verbally.

*And to remind you that the "good news" isn't all that good.  No country has ever done what Israel has been proposing to do, give its Land to an active unabashed enemy, or give land it controls/administers to anyone, especially when that Land was acquired in a defensive war, especially when that very Land is necesary for minimal defense and especially when the only people, nation, religion to have a national history there is them.  I also remember the innocent, naive confidence when the original annexation of all of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights was passed.  The  MK's (members of Knesset) who proposed it and voted for it did so in order to prevent just what is happening right now.

Forty years ago everyone remembered how the Syrians had terrorized the kibbutzim under the Golan Heights.  There is no way to protect northern Israel without Israel being sovereign in the Golan Heights.  Anyone who says anything different is lying, and I don't care what IDF position he held or holds.  Today, with the Golan Heights in our hands we have peace with Syria.  If Syria gets it, we'll have war.  Defacto peace is better than dejure peace.  I'm a pragmatist and I don't believe in pieces of paper, fancy ceremonies etc.

And I don't believe in referendums either.  Most people are easily influenced and the government, the same government which will want to give away our Land, will be wording that referendum.  It will say some fairy tale like:

"In exchange for true and lasting peace, the State of Israel must give...."

Are you wondering why there's a serious drought in the HolyLand?

What Does November 22 Mean To You?

It's no secret that I'm old, older than a lot of the readers of this blog.  The November 22 I'm referring to was in  1963.  That was the day United States President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated.

Yes, I remember that day.

I wasn't a young child.  I was a teenager in high school, though the 9th grade was part of the junior high according to the 6 + 3 + 3 system.  It was just my second year in Great Neck North after moving there from Bayside, NY.  The announcement was over the loudspeaker.  The teacher took it calmly, so we did, too.

Always the political observer, even as a kid, I was very impressed by the quick, business-like transfer of power to LBJ, Lyndon Baines Johnson, a man so different from Kennedy in personal style and political experience.

Johnson was a very experienced and wily politician.  He got straight to business as President.  If he had been the president and Kennedy the VP, suddenly thrust into the role, I highly doubt that Kennedy would have done as well.  Don't forget that they had been opponents at the Democratic Convention.  This was long before the big primary system got started.  Presidents were chosen over deals and there was real suspense during the convention voting.

It was all so long ago...

Demonstrating for The Land, People and State of Israel!

No doubt why it was hot as hell at yesterday's anti-freeze of Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria demonstration in Jerusalem at the Prime Minister's Offices.  We didn't have a bus from Shiloh.  I went to the demonstration with neighbors.  As you can see in the pictures, there were many high school students there.  We were rather surprised when greeted by these large signs indicating that the girls were to stand on one side and the boys on another.  My husband and I had met for the first time at a demonstration to give freedom, civil and religious rights to Soviet Jews.  It was on Tisha b'Av, 1967, and organized by the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, SSSJ.  We were both post-high school at the time.  Apparently, the high school administrations and demonstration organizers didn't want a social event.

Ever since the unuccessful struggle against Disengagement, Ariel Zilber has been a very welcome and enthusiastic fixture at pro-Jews in the Land of Israel demonstrations.

The sign below says:

"A Palestinian State is An Immediate Danger."

I think this sign is the perfect slogan, short, sweet and in rhyme!

Build Houses
Plant Trees
Our Answer
To The Freeze

Even my Hebrew-speaking friends liked it!

My neighbor stuck this sticker to my bag and photographed me.  It says:

Binyamin Netanyahu:
Yes, You Can Say "NO!"

There were a number of Likud MK's and cabinet members in attendence.  They were even invited to the podium to address the crowd.  Don't be impressed when you read their names in the paper, because most of them had to be painstakingly urged to attend.  I hope to have the opportunity to interview the person who spent hours on the phone at his own expense trying to get them to show public support for Jewish Civil Rights in the Land of Israel.  Thousands voted Likud just to get them in the Knesset to protect Jewish Civil Rights.  They haven't been doing it.  It's obvious.

Nobody had to lobby Ichud Le'umi (National Union) MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari to attend.  I spoke to him and Baruch Marzel at the demonstrtion.  I'm very happy with my vote which got Ben-Ari in the Knesset.  He is dedicated to Jewish Civil Rights in the Land of Israel.  He doesn't try to be "moderate" or "center."

Another 100% sincere, dedicated and consistent activist, idealist is Women in Green's Nadia Matar.  I was glad to find her at the demonstration, not because I thought she wouldn't be there, but because there were so many demonstrators I couldn't find everyone I was looking for.

And then, like the proverbial icing on the cake, as we drove back home to Shiloh we saw dozens of young women marching on the road.  No surprise that they are students in Ulpanat Ma'ale Levona, the girls high school in Ma'ale Levona who are legendary in their love of the Land of Israel and lack of fear in the face of government persecution.

There is an ongoing struggle between those who are totally for Jewish Civil, Human, National and Religious Rights and those willing to endanger our very existence. Yes, it's that simple.

What Does The U.S. Have Over Bibi?

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's brutal and illogical anti-Jewish, pro-Arab building freeze to facilitate the establishment of a Pseudostinian aka Palestinian sic State in the heart of the State and Land of Israel is obviously a danger to the continued viability of the State of Israel.  Netanyahu, who for years was a spokesman against such a state and such policies.  There must be something that the American Government, its Intelligence people, have over Bibi which has forced him to change his tune.  Honestly, I don't need to know what it is.  I'd just like him to do the right thing and resign.  He fears them more than he fears G-d and his future name in history books.

In another one of those amazing G-d planned coincidences, I had spent the morning in Jerusalem at the anti-freeze of Jewish building in Judea and Samaria and then I returned to Jerusalem for a Bible learning evening of the Matan Al haPerek program.  The subject of last night's class was "The Blessings and Curses."  Basically, you can call it G-d's "Rewards and Punishments" for how we observe the  מצות  Mitzvot, G-d given Commandments and how we treasure the Land G-d gave us.  During the demonstration, as I felt myself baking in the dangerously unseasonably dry, hot and sunny weather, it was so clear to me that we are suffering stage one of the curses for our abuse of the Land that G-d gave us.

For those of us who were old enough to understand and appreciate the miracle of Biblical proportions of the 1967 Six Days War, it's clear that by saving the State of Israel, G-d expected us to (demanded that we) immediately and enthusiastically settle the Land liberated in the war.  The Moshiach was waiting in the wings but fled when He saw that the key to the Temple Mount was given to the Moslems and the government was looking at the Sand as a way of buying peace from the Arabs.  We had peace.  G-d had given it to us with YESHA, the Golan and the Jordan Valley.

Next on my blogging schedule is a picture filled post from yesterday's anti-freeze demonstration in Jerusalem.

Should We Kiss Havel Havelim?

As I typed in the title I began to worry that somehow this post would be banned by the cyber-modesty squad would send in the "police" because I used the word "kiss."  But why did I use the word "kiss?"  That's because the latest Havel Havelim is hosted by To Kiss a Mezuzah.

Don't fear.  It's a perfectly great blog.  I'm sure you'll find posts that you really like.

One bit of sad news for Havel Havelim veterans is that its founder Soccer Dad has announced that he is retiring from blogging.  I understand his decision and respect it.  When he was in charge of Havel Havelim he mentored us all through hosting, helping, encouraging, sending links.  I couldn't understand how a dedicated family man, with a real job found the time to do so much for the blogging world, yes, much more than just the jbloggers.  David, I wish you and your family good health and smachot and everything good.

Another Clue in the Search for the Biblical Ha'Ai

Those of us who believe in G-d know that He plans it all.  Nothing happens just randomly, by chance.  Yesterday, Shabbat, I decided to attend the שיעור נשים Shiur Nashim Women's Torah Class in the "middle" neighborhood.  It was in memory of a neighbor's son, li'ilu'i nishmato,  to "elevate" his soul.  Since we weren't blessed with rain, I figured I'd do an extra mitzvah and walk the kilometer down the hill and then another all the way up the hill to comfort them.

Rabbi Eran Cohen, who is the son-in-law of other neighbors gave it on this Shabbat's Parshat Hashavua, Torah Portion of the week, Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43).  He mentioned the place "Succot" and said that it's named that because Ya'aqov, Jacob, would be building huts, stables for his livestock.  He said that it's common in the Bible for a place to be named after something that will happen there before it happens.  Suddenly,  bells in my head started ringing and lights flashing.  Could this be an answer to my "Where is Ha'Ai" question?  I've begun studying the entire Bible with Matan in their Al haPerek, correspondence/independent study course.

I must admit that I've been rather obsessive about it, asking all sorts of people.  My neighbor, Yair Shalev, gave me a couple of hours of his time explaining many of the possibilities.  Actually, he was over helping me when I got the call that RivkA had passed away.  One of the explanations Yair gave me was that Ha'Ai means, "the destroyed place,"  and could be any, or more, of the locations the Arabs call "Chirbat..."  That Arabic word is the same as the Hebrew חורבן churban destruction.

So, I interrupted and apologized as profusely as I could and asked the questions:

"Could Joshua's Ha'Ai have been called The Destruction in advance of its destruction?" 

He had never heard that interpretation, so the jury is still out.

Suggestions, ideas are welcome desired.  Thanks

Shavua Tov

Have a Wonderful Week

May G-d Bless Us With Plentiful Rain!

Pollard's Release Should Be on American Legal Grounds Only

It's in Jonathan Pollard's best interests, legally and morally, that the campaign to get him released from his American imprisonment be based on American legal precedent.  The new campaign which has the support of American Congressmen is in the right direction.

There was a miscarriage of justice.  Pollard's punishment in all aspects was totally out of proportion according to all similar cases.  Actually, there may not have been any "similar cases," because Pollard gave the information to an ally.  But even comparing that to those who were spies for enemies of the United States, the sentence and conditions of Pollard's imprisonment have been unusually harsh.  The campaign should concentrate on that aspect and not link him to anything going on in Israel.

Pollard is an American who made a mistake, broke the law, and he has paid for it over and over.  He has paid enough.  Let him out!

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Hillary-Obama Wolf?

I'm not afraid of them.  Believe me, a Pseudostinian aka Palestinian sic State is a lot more frightening and dangerous.  I've experienced their terrorism, up close; it's not pleasant.  A woman was murdered by the terrorist who injured me and injured more seriously a couple of dozen others.  I've been to more funerals of innocent Jews murdered by Arab terrorists than I'd like to remember.

The United States President Barack Hussein Obama, who voiced his happiness returning home to Jakarta and his Secretary of State Hillary "stand by her man" Clinton can yell and threaten us all they want.  I'll quote the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin's famous words (which he davka used against the anti-Oslo Accord demonstrators.)

לא מזיז לי Lo maziz li.  It doesn't "move," have any effect on me.

I really don't care what they think.  I don't trust their judgment in matters concerning my security and my future.  Obama and Clinton are no more than American politicians.  What do they really care about the security and further existence of the State of Israel?  We can't vote for them, and if we could, our total population, including the Arabs and including all of Judea and Samaria are no more than a large American city.

Obama has made it very clear that his dream is to help establish a Pseudostinian aka Palestinian sic State.  That makes him a great danger to the security, viability and future existence of the State of Israel.  I'll quote Rabin again.  Let Obama "spin like a propeller."  And yes, Rabin also said that about those of us who protested his policies.  Don't forget that Hillary's husband Bill considers Rabin to have been a saint and great friend, so they should be overjoyed that I'm using Rabin's very words to describe what I think of them and their president.

Here's the latest Latma's Right newscast.  Read what Caroline Glick wrote.

Are The Religious Taking Over The IDF, Israeli Army?

The Israeli secular leaders, media, politicians, military etc. have been troubled and stumped by the unstoppable increase in religious army officers.  Considering how many times I've heard of my neighbors' kids and other religious (and Right, pro-Jews in the Land of Israel) soldiers being rewarded with Chayal Mitztayen, Top/Excellent Soldier citation, I think checking the percentages there will give good background and explanation for the rise of religious officers.  By comparing percentages of religious vs secular getting the citation, I'm sure one can predict the percentage of religious officers.

Israeli politicians and media do their best to ignore the high percentage of children from the secular and Left of Israeli society who find ways of shirking military service or getting non-combat positions.  They love to criticize the yeshiva students' deferment and reduced service, even though at the same time they condemn religious soldiers for demanding strictly kosher food and entertainment.

Motivation is the key to military success, on both the personal and national levels.  The secular Left isn't motivated to sacrifice for anyone.  They live for the "me," of John Lennon's Imagine.

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

People who agree with John Lennon are bad soldiers.  That's not peace, the thing that John Lennon wanted, it's death.  I can't imagine anything more depressing than a life without meaning, without something you love so much you'd even die for it.

Compare it to the שמע ישראל Shema Yisrael, Listen/Hear People of Israel prayer:

V'ahav'ta* eit Adonai Elohekha b'khol l'vav'kha uv'khol naf'sh'kha uv'khol m'odekha.
And you shall love* the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

*ואהבת V'ahav'ta, And you shall love, doesn't mean romantic love.  The verb is used in the Bible to mean a pledge of alliance/allegiance, like when Jonathan pledged political allegiance to David, even though it meant that Jonathan wouldn't inherit the throne from his father King Saul.

Religious soldiers, who are "taking over" the IDF, were raised saying this pledge to G-d twice a day.  The Shema Yisrael prayer instructs us to worship G-d with all our heart-emotion, all our soul-intelligence and all our being-body.  It's the antithesis of the secular Left hymn "Imagine."

Shabbat Shalom u'Mevorach

Have a Peaceful and Blessed Shabbat

MAZAL TOV to the IBA!

The IBA, Israel's English language TV News, is twenty years old!

Last night we attended its birthday party, at which were a wide variety of viewers and Israeli English-language media stars. Pictured here are IBA reporter Ellie Wohlgelernter and writer Ruthie Blum Liebowitz, who had been a very popular Jerusalem Post columnist and editor until over a year ago. When I was talking to Ruthie, people came over to her asking why they no longer see her writing in the Jerusalem Post.

I took few pictures (just these) because the lighting in the studio was too weak for my camera.
Steve Liebowitz, original IBA staff and now Chief Edior, opened the formal part of the program with a speech thanking everyone who had helped and been part of the IBA. My husband and I left early, right after Steve's speech. We had warned Steve that we would, and I'll blog why on me-ander.

Listen to The Arabs. They Don't Want Peace With Israel

PMW has another expose` showing the anti-Israel propoganda from our "peace partners."  The Arabs stage and film horrendous false events to make their people hate us.



And about that "90 day freeze," the Arabs aren't interested.  There's a good chance they'll reject it.  It certainly won't bring peace any closer.  The United States orchestrated "talks" won't result in peace.  Peace isn't the objective, except from Israel.  But Israel isn't making war.  The Arabs and the United States aim to facilitate the establishmment of another Arab state.  They want to replace Israel.

Our problem is with the Israeli government.  Our politicans must stop cooperating with the Americans, not now, last year!

Read My Lips

Dry Bones is simply correct in his drawing of the true situation.

Listen to what the Arabs say, over and over, not embarrassed at all.  The only peace they want is sans Israel.  It doesn't matter how much we amputate from our country, they'll just want us to take off more.  We must cease trying to "make a deal."

Only if we stay strong and stop trying to please others, like the United States, will we have peace.  The Arabs, Americans, etc won't stop making demands until we stop listening and trying to cooperate.

Why Are the Dems Afraid of Sarah Palin?

When I was doing a "meet the blogs" on me-ander, I popped over to visit Seraphic Secrets and read his review comparing two female American politicans and what they stand for, Sarah Palin and Nancy Pelosi.  Nobody votes undecided when it comes to Sarah Palin.  Robert and his wife are among her fans.

Since politics is no more than show business, a successful audition (election/appointment) will get you public office, let's start with the superficial.  Palin is youthful, good-looking and has a hadsome husband.  She exudes sincerity, put her anti-abortion money where her mouth is by carrying to term a Down Syndrome baby and can give a fluent speech without a teleprompter.

True, I don't vote in American elections, even though I'm a USA citizen and have the legal right to.  But I am a political observer and have been ever since I was a child.  I remember Adlai Stevenson running against Ike and that famous picture of the hole in the sole of his shoe.  He lost; he just wasn't very "presidential."  And his being an intellectual didn't help him relate to the ordinary person or the ordinary person relate to him.

Palin's kids, even Bristol's problems, make Sarah an easier sell to the silent majority.  That has the Democrats sweating even worse than Nixon did during that debate against JFK.

Chelm By The Hudson

This sounds ridiculous, but apparently it's true.  A couple of thirteen year old boys got a surprising lesson in Citizenship and Criminology when they were arrested for selling cakes in a public park.  This happened in Bill and Hillary Clinton's upscale New York town of Chappaqua.

I visited Chappaqua a few years ago, and I can understand why the kids chose to sell in the park, not on some sidewalk near their homes, the way my friends and I did.  My friends and I were able to set up "lemon aid stands," and enough people walked buy and bought some to make us feel "rich."

Chappaqua isn't a sidewalk type of place.  I didn't see any when visiting my relatives.  Actually, nobody just walks by the homes, unless they are adults hiking with dogs.  A short walk generally keeps people on their own property, so for these ambititious young men wanted to sell they had to go to the buying public, which they obviously did.

"However, the next week, New Castle, NY Councilman Michael Wolfensohn came upon the sale and called the cops on the kids for operating without a license."

I guess New Castle, NY Councilman Michael Wolfensohn doesn't plan on being re-elected.

If The U.S. Is "...maintaining Israel's qualitative edge" Are We Like A Kept Woman?

I don't feel reassured by the statement:

P.J. Crowley says US is "committed to maintaining Israel's qualitative edge in region..."  (complete article) (emphasis mine)

I feel insulted.  What is the United States, some manipulating "sugar daddy?"

And what is this "qualitative edge?"  Is it that some American Defense and State Department bureaucrats get the right to decide just how many weapons Israel and our Arab enemies get to have what  they consider a "fair" or "safe for whom" fight, which in the end will preserve what American politicians and civil servants consider the proper status quo?

Again, I repeat:

I don't like this! I can't accept it!

It's dangerous for the continued security and existence for the State of Israel.  The entire idea that a foreign country can control our defense/military capabilities is outrageous!  I'd say it's immoral for the Israeli Government to accept such a thing.   And in all honesty, I'd say that this relinquishing of the foundation of independence is treasonous.  Put that in your pipe and smoke it. 

Something New, Justice for Jews

In the crazy world we live in, awaiting the Moshiach, there's world-wide discrimination against Jews. 

• Why does the United Nations Security Council condemn Israel for so many "crimes" while ignoring much, much more serious things done in other countries? 
• Why are we the only religion forbidden to pray on our holiest site, הר הבית Har HaBayit, The Temple Mount?
• Why is it acceptable to ban Jews from living in many Middle-eastern (Arab) countries?
• Why does the world, including many Jews, demand that there be a unilateral, one-sided, ban/freeze on building homes, public and commercial buildings for Jews in Judea and Samaria, the historic Biblical Homeland of the Jewish People?

All this gives Arabs, Israeli citizens, inside the pre-1967 Six Days War Israel the chutzpah, gall, to demand Arab-only building projects in Tel Aviv-Jaffa.  Amazingly, the Israeli courts ruled against the Arabs and said that there's nothing wrong with Jews building in the multi-national neighborhood:

Shurat HaDin Wins Israeli Supreme Court Appeal for Jewish Families in Jaffa

November 15, 2010:
This week, the Israeli Supreme Court handed down its ruling upholding the right of Jewish families who had won a public tender to purchase land in the Tel-Aviv suburb of Jaffa to go forward with their plans to construct a multi-family building. The families' right to build had been challenged last year in the Tel-Aviv District Court by a coalition of Arab-Israelis and politically motivated NGOs.

The coalition demanded that the families' bid be disqualified by the District Court based solely upon the fact that they are Jewish and that their presence in Jaffa will tip the demographic balance of the neighborhood and discriminates against Arabs. The Supreme Court decision has now confirmed that the Jewish families had won the tender fair and square.

The families were represented both in the District Court proceedings and upon appeal in the Supreme Court by Shurat HaDin...

Pray for Rain!

The Israeli Rabbinate has officially declared that we're suffering from a drought. So, we're supposed to pray that G-d give us rain.

But the rabbis know well that there is a reason why there's no rain. We're being ruled by politicians who aren't doing the right job. When the Israeli Prime Minister calls for a Jewish only building freeze, G-d's reaction is to burn the clouds out of the heavens. That's why we haven't had the blessing of rain.

We must pray that our politicians metamorphose into true Jewish leaders. Once we have that, the rain will come, the right time and the right quantities.

Jews Who Fled The Nazis Were Sent Away by the United States, But Nazis Were Welcomed

Why do my fellow Jews refuse to accept the fact that the United States can't be trusted when it comes to Jews?

In the early twentieth century, American leaders began to notice that many, too many, Jews had been emigrating from Eastern Europe and more were packing their bags.  What did they, the Americans do?  They established quotas to preserve the nineteenth century demographics.  It suddenly became much more difficult for anyone (and most of those anyones were Jews) from Eastern Europe to get a visa to the USA.

This filtering/quota system wasn't loosened as the Nazis in Germany, and the European countries they conquered, persecuted and systematically murdered their Jewish population.  "Law is law" when it comes to restricting Jewish immigration.

Post World War II when Jewish survivors of the Holocaust wanted refuge, a chance to start a new life in the United States, it wasn't easy to get visas. At the same time, Great Britain also restricted Jewish immigration to the Holy Land.  There weren't too many options for the lucky survivors.  Nobody wanted them including those of their "old neighborhoods" who had stolen their homes and possessions.

But the United States Government welcomed some high ranking Nazis, giving them safe haven.

Also, don't forget that the United States' State Department recommended to President Harry Truman that he instruct the United Nations delegation to vote against a Jewish State on November 29, 1947.  After Truman was visited by a Jewish friend, he decided to buck the State Department and support the establishment of a Jewish State.

The United States isn't a true friend of Israel.  That is the truth. US President Barack Hussein Obama's antipathy to Israel isn't new in the history of United States-Israel relations.  I'm sure that you can add more and more examples to prove my statement.

Chanukah, Ladies, Rosh Chodesh Tevet in Shiloh!

During the Chanukah Holiday we will also celebrate ראש חודש טבת Rosh Chodesh Tevet.  We'll be celebrating together at Tel Shiloh,
on Tuesday, 30 Kislev, December 7, at 9:30 am.
  נחגוג ביחד בתל שילה, תפילת נשים
יום ג', 7-12, ל' כסלו 9:30
Women's Prayers,  הלל Hallel and מוסף Musaf and then a short דבר תורה Dvar Torah.

Please tell your friends, family and neighbors that they are welcome, too.
נא להזמין חבירות, משפחה ושכינות. כולן מוזמנות!

Tel Shiloh is open for visitors every day. For more information, including the possiblity of arranging tours, contact telshilo@gmail.com  or call 02-994-4019.

There's also a coffee shop, where you can get something to eat and buy souvenirs and crafts.

It's also possible to arrange for events and celebrations at Tel Shiloh. Contact telshilo@gmail.com  or call 02-994-4019.