Personal Holocaust, Central Data Base

Archiving Personal Holocaust Experiences 

Yad Veshem

As the population of Holocaust survivors ages Yad Vashem is turning more of its energies into identifying and memorializing individual victims and archiving stories which show the human side of the Holocaust era. As author Judith Miller has said, we must remind ourselves that the Holocaust was not six million. It was one plus one plus one. Today Yad Vashem is reinventing itself to perpetuate the memory of the Holocaust victims without the first-person presence of the survivors.

In 2000 Yad Vashem opened the Central Database of Shoah Victims Names. There were two goals of this database. Yad Vashem wanted to take the opportunity, while survivors and their children are still alive, to collect as many names of Holocaust victims as possible. In addition to memorializing these people by name the Shoah Victims Names project would enable survivors and their families to view other testimonies and, perhaps, identify family members who had either died at the hands of the Nazis or survived. To date a number of family reunifications have take place due to the database and the attention of the staff members who carefully review all inquiries.

Individuals are invited to submit a page of testimony, based either on their own first-person knowledge or information that was passed on to them by a family member. Pages of Testimony aim to identify people, by name, who were killed during the Holocaust. To review the pages of testimony (for free) a user logs into the database and enters whatever information he knows about the people for whom he's searching. The database is searchable in different languages and with varying spellings and pronunciations to help zero in on  names of people and places.

Irene Sendler
Lowell Milken Center

Yad Vashem has been putting more focus on developing relationships with the Haredi community. The new Yad Vashem museum, opened in 2005, differs from the old museum by including personal testimonies that focus on the experiences of a diverse group of people, many of whom express the fact that they were able to survive the Holocaust -- physically, spiritually or both -- because of their adherence to religious observance. Whereas in the old museum, the focus was on the scale of the Holocaust, the new museum includes 90 personal stories including stories that detail the challenge of religious observance during the Holocaust. In the words of Mooli Brog, chief knowledge officer at Birthright Israel, “The collectiveness and concentration on symbols in the old exhibition has been exchanged for more individual and personal narratives.”

In addition to the exhibit Yad Vashem now offers special courses for Haredi educators on teaching the Holocaust in their classrooms and gender-separate classes.

At one time Yad Vashem's Righteous Among the Nations section was mainly concerned with identifying and honoring individuals who had helped Jews survive during the years of WWII. The Righteous Among the Nations distinction was established by Yad Vashem in 1963 as a mechanism by which the State of Israel would recognize individuals who had risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. These included people such as Irena Sendler who sheltered Jews who were hiding from the nazis , provided false papers and false identities, helped Jews to escape and helped Jewish children.

Yad Vashem believes that most of the Righteous Gentiles have been identified and honored, but many of the stories have yet to be properly documented. As part of their personal testimonies project Yad VaShem is putting more effort into recording the stories of the Righteous Among the Nations and publicizing them.

Yad Veshem

Yad Vashem continues to publish its peer-reviewed semi-annual journal, Yad Vashem Studies, which features thought-provoking articles about the Shoah by leading thinkers and researchers from around the world. The journal aims to engage scholars and encourage multi-disciplinary discussion about a wide range of topics on all aspects of the Shoah with articles, documentary compendia, research reviews and new encyclopedias.

Arab Terrorists Cheer and Jews Mourn

I couldn't think of a simpler title for this post.  Usually I try not to blog about the same topic two days in a row, but I just can't ignore the terrible policies of Likud Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.  He is encouraging Arab terrorism against innocent Israeli Jews.

There is no deterrence to prevent an Arab who is thinking of murdering a Jew, who is thinking of being an Arab terrorist.  He knows perfectly well that time in Israeli jail will have great opportunities, to further education, both academic and terrorist, and within a few years, whether he succeeded in murdering a Jew or not, he'll be freed.  And while he's in jail, the PA (Palestinian Authority) will pay a salary to his family.

The Israeli public is already numbed to the reality of this situation that while our innocent Jewish citizens are suffering from terrorism and the threat of more, our government has agreed to free more Arab terrorist murderers.

Following High Court decision to reject appeal, Israel releases 26 prisoners after midnight: 18 to West Bank, 5 to east Jerusalem and 3 to Gaza.Israel released 26 Palestinian security prisoners Monday overnight, after the High Court of Justice rejected a petition filed by bereaved families to prevent their release.
Unlike the previous 52 terrorists already released, the group released overnight included five residents of east Jerusalem. The Palestinians are demanding that in the next batch Israel include Israeli-Arabs who carried out terrorist attacks, something Jerusalem has until now adamantly refused to do. 

This Chelm is no joke.

Flash 90

Reuters

When our enemies are cheering, we must be worried, but I don't see our Israeli Government taking responsibility nor responsible steps.


I wouldn't blame John Kerry.  He's doing his job which isn't protecting Israel.  His job is to make his boss United States President Barack Hussein Obama feel happy and look good.

The official said that during the initial talks between Netanyahu and Kerry, before the peace talks restarted, Netanyahu agreed to release 82 terrorists in several batches, none of them Israeli Arabs.
Subsequently, the same official told Channel 2, Kerry and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas held talks of their own during which Abbas demanded the release of 104 terrorists, including Israeli Arabs. Kerry’s deception was that, instead of telling Abbas that Israel only agreed to release 82 terrorists, he then went back to Netanyahu and tried to convince him to change his position.

We need a very different Israeli Government.  As I had predicted during last year's election campaign, Naftali Bennett's claim that he could protect the State and Land of Israel while in the cabinet coalition is 100% yes one hundred percent wrong! Bennett and his NRP aka Bayit Yehudi MKs and ministers have been effectively muzzled, as are Likud's Moshe Feiglin and the MK's his supporters were advised  to vote for in the Likud Primaries.

Israel's Releasing of Convicted Arab Terrorists is INSANITY According to Einstein

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins133991.html#siSsG0w1VCGOVdMT.99 

Israel has tried releasing convicting murders, Arab terrorists to "jumpstart" the "peace sic process" before, and it has only led to more terror.  But that hasn't stopped the Likud Binyamin Netanyahu Israeli Government  from trying yet again.

Cabinet Approves Opening of Diplomatic Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians in Accordance with PM Netanyahu's Statement on the Negotiations  28/07/2013  יום ראשון כ"א אב תשע"ג The Cabinet, today, approved the opening of diplomatic negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians in accordance with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement regarding the negotiations, and authorized a ministerial team on the release of Palestinian prisoners during the negotiations. The Prime Minister will chair the team; its other members will be Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch and Science, Technology and Space Minister Yaakov Peri. Earlier, the Cabinet approved the draft Basic Law: Referendum.   Prime Minister Netanyahu said, "This moment is not easy for me. It is not easy for the ministers. It is not easy especially for the families, the bereaved families, whose heart I understand. But there are moments in which tough decisions must be made for the good of the country and this is one of those moments."  PMO-Prime Minister's Office

Long after the jails have been emptied of "failed terrorists," those Arab terrorists who didn't succeed in murdering Jews, the Israeli Government has now been freeing some of the most notorious Arab terrorists in our history.

Arab child admiring terrorists

The new list includes murderers.  Read the list.

The original list, supplied by the Israel Prison Service is available in Hebrew here. Terrorist Terror Attack Arrest Date Residence Ahmed Farid Muhamed Shachada Murdered a suspect collaborator with Israel 2/16/1984 Ramallah Muhamed Ahmed Abed El-Hamid Tos Murdered Zalman Abuknick, Michael Cohen, Meir Ben Yair, Edna Harari, and Moti Suissa 10/6/1985 Hebron Muhamed Aadel Hassan Daud Murdered Ofra and Tal Moses with a firebomb on their car 12/8/1987 Kalkilya Juma Ibrahim Juma Adam Murdered Rachel Weiss, her 3 children, and a soldier David Delarosa with a firebomb thrown at a bus 10/31/1988 Ramallah Mahmoud Salam Saliman Abu Harbish Murdered Rachel Weiss, her 3 children, and a soldier David Delarosa with a firebomb thrown at a bus 11/3/1988 Jericho Ibrahim Lufi Chalmi Taktok Murdered IDF soldier Binyamin Meisner 3/3/1989 Shechem Bilal Ibrahim Mustafa Damra Murdered Frederich Rosenfeld near Ariel 6/20/1989 Salafit Raid Muhmad Sharif Saadi 1/23/1991 Jenin Hosni Fara Ahmed Swalcha Murdered Baruch Heisler and wounded others on Bus 66 in Ramat gan 12/2/1990 Shechem Muhamed Ahmed Mahmoud Sabar 1/23/1991 Jenin Fars Ahmed Muhamed Barud Murdered Mordechai Roitman and wounded 3 others in a furniture store in Hadera 3/23/1991 Gaza Faisal Mustafa Mahmoud Abu El-Rab Murdered IDF soldier Yoram Cohen 9/25/1991 Jenin Jamal Haled Ibrahim Abu Muchsan Stabbed to death Shlomo Yichye (76) in Kadima 10/4/1991 Jenin Muhamed Ata Mahmoud Muamar Murdered Israel Prize winner Professor Menachem Stern in the Valley of the Cross in Jerusalem 2/24/1992 Beit Lechem Naaman Yussef Ahmed Shalbi Murdered two Druze citizens: Jamal Hasson and Mofid Canaan 5/7/1992 Jenin Adnan Muhamed Yusef Affendi Injured two youths: Yaniv Shacham and Dan Rotokovitch in Jerusalem. Was saved from lynch by Hareidi woman. 5/13/1992 Beit Lechem Diaa Zacharia Shaker Al-Faluji Murdered Amatzia Ben-Haim in a Ganei Tal hot house 10/12/1992 Gaza Mahmoud Fauzi Salma Falena Murdered Yehudit Ostron in Dolev with a roadside bomb. 8 others injured in the attack 11/29/1992 Ramallah Nasser Abdullah Abed Al-Hamid Abu Sror Murdered Shabak agent:Haim Nachmani 1/4/1993 Beit Lechem Mahmoud Jamal Hassan Abu Sror Murdered Shabak agent:Haim Nachmani 1/5/1993 Beit Lechem Osama Haled Camel Silawi PLO-Fatah commander in Jenin. Trained the murderers of Moti Biton 2/16/1993 Jenin Muhamed Mustafa Ahmed Afana Murdered Sara Sharon in Holon 4/1/1993 Ramallah Ramadan Muhamed Odeh Yaakub Murdered Sara Sharon in Holon 4/19/1993 Ramallah Aiman Muhamed Anis Jeradat Murdered 2 Israeli Druze and collaborators with Israel 4/24/1992 Jenin Ahmed Awad Ali Camil Murdered 5 Israelis and 50 Palestinians. Commander of Black Panther terrorist group.  9/29/1993 Jenin Saeed Rashdie Muhamed Tamimi Murdered Haim Mizrachi near Beit El 11/9/1993 Ramallah Ala A-din Fahami Fahad Al-Karki 12/18/1993 Hebron Nasser Fauzi Mustafa Barhom Murdered Morris Edri in a store in Netanya 12/22/1993 Tul Karem Mahmoud Muhamed Redwan Salamon 5/6/1994 Gaza Ibrahim Faiz Mahmoud Abu Ali 10/8/1994 Gaza
Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/list-of-terrorists-to-be-released-and-their-victims/2013/12/28/

Why should they enjoy freedom?  They should have been executed!

And what's the point of negotiations?  American brokered/mediated negotiations will never bring us peace. There won't be peace, true peace until the Arabs want true peace.  It's best for us Israelis just to keep busy building and developing our country in all of the Land of Israel we hold.  Arabs don't need more Land. They need a totally new value system, and that will take centuries.

A Life Not with Standing, Inspirational Memoir by Chava Willig Levy

First I must be totally honest about this book,  A Life Not with Standing by Chava Willig Levy.  I do know the author.  We spent a lot of time together in the 1970's during her visits to her grandmother's Jerusalem apartment a floor under mine.  Her Bubbi, parents, Aunt Nettie and other relatives adopted us as family, which I'm grateful  for to this very day.

My daughters were totally enamored with Chavi and somehow always heard the taxis pulling up. They'd rush out to our merpeset (balcony) just to check, and then quickly down the three flights of stairs they'd run to take Chavi's bags to her apartment.  They didn't do it because they felt sorry for her; they did it because they loved being with her.  That's the Chavi we all remember, warm, caring and full of an emotional and intellectual energy that captivated everyone.

I must say that the Chava Willig Levy revealed in her memoir is a frightened little girl, the only Orthodox Jewish girl in a series of hospitals far from home and family.  Chavi's memoir allows us to see the pain and panic she suffered as a little child, weak, helpless and alone.  Reading that early section of the book has me traumatized.  It's only due to the strong love she got from her family, their faith and support that she became the amazing person she is today. What's very interesting is that in the book's Appendix, she has excerpts from her father's pocket diary which shows much more frequent family visits than it seemed in her memory of the time.  No doubt that the days between her parents' especially her mother's visits seemed impossibly long, endless, and the same for her infrequent "vacations" home for Shabbat.  This is Chavi's book and Chavi's memory from childhood onto her marriage with Michael Levy.

In the 1950's, when Chavi was stricken with Polio and given all sorts of treatments and surgeries to counteract the effects, children didn't have many rights, especially in the hospital.  Parents were also kept away with very restricted visiting times.  Things have certainly changed, especially in Israel.  During the times my sons were hospitalized, the hospitals counted on the families to care for the children.  The staff only handles medical issues/chores.

Chavi writes a lot about the years she dreamt of marrying and having children.  I remember her talking about the specially designed kitchen she wanted to have in order to cook for her family.  And I remember her complaining that people just tried to set her up with handicapped men, rather than looking at her intelligence and talents for matching.  All this she elaborates in her book with her great honesty and humor.

"My Tante Chadsha gave my mother music too, but a music foreign to their Chasidic home. The first of her nine siblings, brilliant, multilingual Chadsha was twenty-four years old when Imma arrived on the scene in 1923. Single until 1930, she gladly helped raise her baby sister. And in the eleven years they were destined to share, Tante Chadsha filled Imma’s ear with note after glorious note of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Chopin and Grieg.
Together with her parents and unmarried siblings, Imma immigrated to the United States in 1934, taking with her Chadsha’s passion for, and encyclopedic knowledge of, classical music. She gladly would have given up that treasure if she could have taken Chadsha with her instead. But three of Imma’s siblings—Chadsha, Aidel and Chatzkel—stayed behind with their spouses and children. Hitler’s henchmen murdered them all.
Whenever I asked my parents for which departed relative I had been named, as is customary in Ashkenazic families, they would answer vaguely, “Well, for a wonderful aunt, we named you Chava. And your middle name, Yehudis, is also in memory of an aunt.” I always assumed they were referring to two of their own aunts. But ten years after Imma died, I learned that they had been referring to one aunt: mine."

Finally, it was the gift of music that brought her together with her husband Michael.

Read all about it.  Buy the book for yourself or give it as a gift.  You're bound to be inspired.  A Life Not with Standing can be purchased either hard copy or for a Kindle.

The "Fatal Flaw" in Early Zionist Ideology

The early Zionists added a dangerous secular concept/ideology to their Zionism and we're suffering from this still.  No, it wasn't their secularism, the non or anti-religious practices of many early Zionists.

Pioneers of the Second Aliya 
Farming in the Galilee
credit

From my Tanach, Biblical studies in Matan's Al HaPerek program, I've read and learned many references to the Teshuva, Repentance, return to G-d in the Prophets.  They do mention Jews who will return to the Land, though not otherwise all that observant.  Working the Holy Land can bring Jews closer to G-d.  There are many, many mitzvot, Torah Commandments that can only be observed by farming Eretz Yisrael, The Land of Israel.  They are the key to Judaism, Jewish Nationalism and the bringing of the Moshiach.

The big problem, fatal flaw, came with the addition of socialism and democracy to Zionism.  Those two western secular ideologies are like when the Jewish People demanded from Shmuel Hanavi, Samuel the Prophet that he make them a "now make us a king to judge us like all the nations," (1Samuel 8) instead of the type of king that G-d commanded us in D'varim 17.

יד  כִּי-תָבֹא אֶל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר יְ-ה אֱ-יךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ, וִירִשְׁתָּהּ, וְיָשַׁבְתָּה בָּהּ; וְאָמַרְתָּ, אָשִׂימָה עָלַי מֶלֶךְ, כְּכָל-הַגּוֹיִם, אֲשֶׁר סְבִיבֹתָי.	14 When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein; and shalt say: 'I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are round about me';
טו  שׂוֹם תָּשִׂים עָלֶיךָ מֶלֶךְ, אֲשֶׁר יִבְחַר יְ-ה אֱ-יךָ בּוֹ:  מִקֶּרֶב אַחֶיךָ, תָּשִׂים עָלֶיךָ מֶלֶךְ--לֹא תוּכַל לָתֵת עָלֶיךָ אִישׁ נָכְרִי, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-אָחִיךָ הוּא.	15 thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose; one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee; thou mayest not put a foreigner over thee, who is not thy brother.
טז  רַק, לֹא-יַרְבֶּה-לּוֹ סוּסִים, וְלֹא-יָשִׁיב אֶת-הָעָם מִצְרַיְמָה, לְמַעַן הַרְבּוֹת סוּס; וַי-ה, אָמַר לָכֶם, לֹא תֹסִפוּן לָשׁוּב בַּדֶּרֶךְ הַזֶּה, עוֹד.	16 Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses; forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you: 'Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.'
יז  וְלֹא יַרְבֶּה-לּוֹ נָשִׁים, וְלֹא יָסוּר לְבָבוֹ; וְכֶסֶף וְזָהָב, לֹא יַרְבֶּה-לּוֹ מְאֹד.	17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away; neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
יח  וְהָיָה כְשִׁבְתּוֹ, עַל כִּסֵּא מַמְלַכְתּוֹ--וְכָתַב לוֹ אֶת-מִשְׁנֵה הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת, עַל-סֵפֶר, מִלִּפְנֵי, הַכֹּהֲנִים הַלְוִיִּם.	18 And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites.
יט  וְהָיְתָה עִמּוֹ, וְקָרָא בוֹ כָּל-יְמֵי חַיָּיו--לְמַעַן יִלְמַד, לְיִרְאָה אֶת-יְ- אֱ-ו, לִשְׁמֹר אֶת-כָּל-דִּבְרֵי הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת וְאֶת-הַחֻקִּים הָאֵלֶּה, לַעֲשֹׂתָם.	19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them;
כ  לְבִלְתִּי רוּם-לְבָבוֹ מֵאֶחָיו, וּלְבִלְתִּי סוּר מִן-הַמִּצְוָה יָמִין וּשְׂמֹאול--לְמַעַן יַאֲרִיךְ יָמִים עַל-מַמְלַכְתּוֹ הוּא וּבָנָיו, בְּקֶרֶב יִשְׂרָאֵל.  {ס}	20 that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left; to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel. {S}

The Jewish Nation's values and rules for a king/president/prime minister even today are supposed to be Jewish, not secular, nor "universal," western or any other value system that isn't commanded by G-d.

Unfortunately our politicians, academics, media etc are still enamoured with the secular western values and ideologies of democracy and socialism.  Even those who claim to be Torah observant, also called in America "Orthodox" rabbis worship democracy over G-d's commandments.  Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is one of those whose worship of secular democracy is most disturbing.  His Jerusalem Post Dvar Torah on Parshat Shmot goes against G-d's instructions.

I believe that every soldier must give priority to God’s law over human law, even the law of the IDF.
However, refusing to carry out a command of the IDF must only apply when the individual believes that by carrying out the order an innocent Jewish or gentile life is being taken, or that fundamental human rights are being removed. In the instance of giving land for peace, however, Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchik ruled that the elected government of Israel has the right to decide whether sacrificing land for peace is operable and under which conditions. Such a decision must be governmental and not individual.

Shiloh HaKeduma
Ancient Shiloh 

Less than ten years ago, Riskin at first supported Disengagement for that very reason he wrote in the quoted article.  It was for him a government decision and therefore, according to him we must obey the elected government.  It was just at the very last minute that Riskin backtracked and opposed Disengagement.  I was surprised to see him at the anti-Disengagement demonstration in New York where I had been asked to speak.  The fact that Riskin a YU graduate and rabbi continues to follow that old "psak," decision by the chutz l'Aretz, Diaspora Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchik is the crux of the problem.  I don't think that any rabbi in chutz l'Aretz, no matter how great a scholar has the moral or religious right to speak about any question concerning the Land of Israel.  Rabbi Riskin may dwell in the Land of Israel, but his heart is still in New York.

My rabbis are those who are taking their rabbinic/Torah decisions from today's reality in the Land of Israel. G-d willing their voices will get stronger among the Jewish Nation and that will bring the Moshiach speedily in our days, G-d willing.

Obama-Kerry Bully Tactics Against Israel

As United States President Obama's second term in office is becoming a nightmare for him, he's putting more and more pressure on Israel to ignore all common sense and military norms, to "make a deal."


American officials are using all the tricks they can think of to get Israel to agree to its convoluted "security assurances."  That would sure flush Israel's sovereignty down the drain.

On two visits earlier this month Kerry presented to PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu security “ideas” based on the work that a team of some 160 US officials, headed by retired US Marine Corps Gen. John Allen, drew up defining what it thought would be necessary for Israel’s security if a Palestinian state were created.

If it takes that many people in his "think tank," then it's not simple.  If it's not simple, it's not doable.  There is absolutely no way that Israel could survive the establishment of a "Palestinian State."  It's like telling someone that he can survive without his heart of lungs.  Survive doesn't mean a year or a decade.  Survive means a normal secure existence.

The 1949 Armistice Lines, aka the "green line," only lasted eighteen years.

They were the cause of the 1967 Six Days War.  They didn't offer security.  Israel suffered from frequent border attacks, and defending those borders were extremely difficult. We were weak and vulnerable. That's why Egypt, Syria and Jordan allied to attack us in June, 1967.

One "rabbit" Obama is trying to pull out of his hat is Jonathan Pollard. There's talk of using his release to bribe Israel into agreeing to dangerous border/security conditions. It could very well be one of the reasons Pollard has been  jailed so long.  He's being held hostage by the Americans to be used as a bribe to force Israel to do the dangerous thing and go against all common sense and security guidelines.

Unfortunately, I don't see Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu doing what he should do and get on the offensive.  What he should do is:

Tell the Americans to do the legal and moral thing and release Jonathan Pollard unconditionally as far as Israel is concerned.  And he (Bibi) should declare that he erred in agreeing to a Palestinian State.

Where's Israeli Self Respect?

How come Israel hasn't effectively protested Abu Dhabi's refusal to allow the Israeli under-18 chess team to play as Israelis?  And why didn't all of the so-called freedom loving, pro-civil rights, human rights etc. countries and NGO's demand that the tournament be moved to a more moral country?

The Israeli under-18 chess team currently competing in the World Youth Chess Championship in Abu Dhabi has been forced to do so without national identification, The Algemeiner has learned.
Shortly after the start of the event, the tournament’s official website removed the Israeli flags and changed the country listing to FIDE – an acronym for Federation Internationale des Echecs or the World Chess Federation - for all Israeli players.

I can't abide hypocrisy!

The "world" keeps claiming that there's anti-Arab apartheid in Israel which isn't true at all. Whatever restrictions there are are against Jews.  So many roads have signs telling Jewish Israelis to keep off.  We're warned that we enter at our own risk. We should "expect" Arab terror attacks.  That is totally outrageous.

The arabs aren't condemned for being terrorist murderers but we're condemned for being Israeli in "their" towns and roads.  And who pays for these roads? Davka, we do!  All the roads and infrastructure are financed by our Jewish (mostly) Israeli taxes.

It was just announced that Dore Gold would be taking back his old job as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's Foreign Policy Consultant.

The appointment carries a stern message for the Obama administration and puts a decidedly nationalist tone of the Netanyahu coalition government. Gold has been the head of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, which previously campaigned for the United Nations to take legal action against then Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for violating Geneva Convention anti-incitement clauses with statements such as Israel should be “wiped off the map.”
Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/netanyahu-names-dore-gold-as-foreign-policy-consultant/2013/12/26/

I think that this sort of anti-Israel discrimination must be put on the top of the list of projects for Gold to tackle.  International chess and athletic competitions shouldn't be tools of the international anti-Israel camp. It should be made clear by Israel that all countries who sit by passively while this sort of discrimination policy happens is 100% guilty. There should be diplomatic sanctions against them by Israel.  We should also demand financial compensation to our branches of those organizations.

Silence is dangerous.  It's like how the world responded/reacted or more accurately didn't to the anti-semitic policies of the Nazis in the 1930's.

Remembering... Forty Years Since The Yom Kippur War, A Grave Reminder

It's now forty years plus since the Yom Kippur War, which took place in 1973.  The big lesson from that war should be that all of the political ideological "conceptions," theories, wishful thinking that were believed like a religion by the Israeli government, IDF etc. were dangerously false.

Israeli policy and defense were based on the fallacy that after our great victory in June, 1967, the Arabs wouldn't dare attack us again and that we'd be able to negotiate a real peace treaty by offering generous portions of the land we had inadvertently found ourselves "occupying."

The two-pronged Arab attack on Yom Kippur 1973 was a rude awakening which the Israeli mentality has never fully understood.  The war was a very deadly one.  We, from North American Betar, lost two close friends and still meet every winter by their graves in Mount Herzl Military Cemetery.

Time doesn't stand still for the living.  Grandchildren our dead friends also come to the annual Azkarah, Remembering Ceremony.  They give the dead life.

The only thing that doesn't seem to change is Israeli policy. Our governments are still convinced that that can somehow bribe our enemies into a peace treaty by handing over Land.  The "movers and shakers" haven't progressed since the "battle plans" of the 1967 Six Days War which just concentrated on preserving the status quo of the Auschwitz borders, which were the cease-fire lines of 1949.

For some totally illogical reason, there are Israelis who actually believe that we could survive with a version of those borders.

The family and friends who come to honor the dead every year live all over Israel, from the north to the south to the east to the west, in areas always part of the State of Israel and those liberated in June 1967.  Every year the IDF soldiers assigned to our Azkara are impressed and amazed by the fact that we still get together every single year.  It doesn't matter how busy we are, what's going on in our lives, we make every effort to visit the dead and then sit together catching up and remembering.

It saddens and frightens us that most Israelis refuse to accept reality.  We met as teenagers in Betar, the Revisionist Jabotinsky zionist youth movement.  We learned young that we can't trust the mainstream zionist leadership.  Nothing is new.

Peace won't come from American brokered negotiations, nor giving Arab terrorists more precious land. The Arabs just want us dead, and then they will destroy the State of Israel and defile the cemeteries. The world will just look on and add exhibits to their holocaust museums.  G-d forbid...

So It's a "Flare-up" if Israel Responds? Peace Prognosis-No Way

Reuters is calling it a "flare-up," which seems a relatively benign word for renewed Arab terrorism and Israel's reluctant response.

(Reuters) - A Gaza sniper shot dead an Israeli civilian over the border on Tuesday and Israel hit back with air strikes on two Hamas training camps which hospital officials said killed a Palestinian girl near one of the targets.
The Israeli man, who the military said was working on Israel's security fence, was the first Israeli killed on the Gaza frontier in more than a year.
His death, which drew a swift threat of retaliation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, came amid heightened tensions after two suspected Palestinian attacks - a bus bombing near Tel Aviv on Sunday that caused no casualties* and the wounding of an Israeli policeman in a stabbing on Monday.

Photo Credit: IDF Spokesperson's Office

Air force, tanks and infantry units attacked a site producing weapons and terror infrastructure in southern, central and northern Gaza. 
Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/blogs/atlas-shrugged-blogs/the-israelis-have-finally-responded-and-so-will-the-media/2013/12/24/

Actually Reuters got it wrong about the bus bombing.  A policewoman who had responded to the scene was injured.

He said that two minutes later, a pair of patrol officers arrived. They started helping people get off the bus and away from the scene, but within minutes there was a powerful blast. Bozna said that a patrolwoman was lightly wounded in the blast, with light injuries to her ears caused by the sound of the explosion.

While Israel agreed to free more convicted terrorists just to convince/encourage/bribe the Arabs to sit down and negotiate with us for "peace," the Arabs have responded with renewed terrorism.  Besides the bus Bat Yam bomb and the sniper killing, there was an attempted Arab terror murder of a policeman at the Hizme Jerusalem City Line.  B"H, the policeman is recovering but lost his kidney to the stabbing.


This attack caused major traffic problems for hours.  Don't let the darkness fool you and make you think that it happened late at night.  It was actually mid-afternoon in one of the shortest days of the year.

My fellow blogger and f2f friend, A Soldier's Mother lists quite a few terror attacks that took place this week within 30 hours.

In the last 30 hours in Israel...

• A short time ago, a man was murdered. He was fixing a fence that separates Israel from Gaza and Palestinians opened fire on the civilian...and killed him. In the civilized world, that's called cold-blooded murder.

• As a response - Israel told its civilians to stay away from the border fence...gee, there's a great response.

• A police office was stabbed in the back last night by a Palestinian. Now, that might not be considered cold-blooded murderer...because thankfully, the man didn't die but stabbing someone in the back...yeah, that's cold and it's also cowardly.

• A firebomb was thrown at an Israeli vehicle...

• A rocket was fired and crashed in Ashkelon, thankfully, no injuries.

• A mortar was fired from Gaza as well.

• A bomb was placed on a bus in Bat Yam...only a police officer attempting to defuse the bomb was injured...because the passengers noticed a suspicious object and told the bus driver. He quickly evacuated the bus...likely saving his own life and that of his 12 passengers.

• Arabs attempted to attack/stab guards near the Mishor Adumim checkpoint - the guards noticed that the Arabs were armed and took action, capturing the Arabs while avoiding injury.

Are we supposed to be panicking?  I'm glad that the IDF is responding, but our Government should do more.  It should send the American "facilitators," aka US Secretary of State Kerry and crew packing.  This is no time for negotiations.  Peace will not be achieved any time in the near future.  By consistently ignoring the Arab terrorist policy we just encourage them and cause more terrorism.

Their mentality is that of a sociopath, no conscience, no concept that the terrorism is unacceptable.

so·ci·o·pathˈsōsēōˌpaTH/
noun1.
a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience.

And why should the Arabs think terrorism is unacceptable when the world accepts them and tells us to offer gestures of "reconciliation" for "peace?"

Since America is Going Down The Drain, Israel Should Let Go and Thrive

Unfortunately Israel, the government and too many ordinary citizens have this fixation with the United States, as if it's some sort of great, strong, smart idol.  I honestly don't think it's all that it's cracked up to be.

I suggest reading Caroline Glick's latest article which explains why the "Kerry Plan" is dangerously horrendous.

Kerry has proffered us security arrangements, which he claims will protect Israel from aggression for the long haul. They will do this, he argues, despite the fact that his plan denies the Jewish state physically defensible borders in the framework of a peace deal with the PLO.
There are several serious problems with Kerry’s arrangements. But in the context of Kerry’s repeated claims that his commitment to Israel’s security is unqualified, their most glaring flaws are rooted in their disregard for all the lessons we have learned over the past two decades.... please read on...

I've also been following Seraphic Secret's posts about Obamacare.

From the Dec. 14, NY Times:
Many in New York’s professional and cultural elite have long supported President Obama’s health care plan. But now, to their surprise, thousands of writers, opera singers, music teachers, photographers, doctors, lawyers and others are learning that their health insurance plans are being canceled and they may have to pay more to get comparable coverage, if they can find it.
Snip!
“We are the Obama people,” said Camille Sweeney, a New York writer and member of the Authors Guild. Her insurance is being canceled, and she is dismayed that neither her pediatrician nor her general practitioner appears to be on the exchange plans. What to do has become a hot topic on Facebook and at dinner parties frequented by her fellow writers and artists.
“I’m for it,” she said. “But what is the reality of it?”
So: Ms. Sweeney is one of the proud Obama zealots. She is for ObamaCare. Though she has no idea what ObamaCare is. But now that the ghastly consequences of Democrat ideology are bearing fruit, a light bulb has appeared over Ms. Sweeney’s head with a metaphysical thought bubble that reads: “What is reality?”
This is known as a liberal being mugged by reality. continued...

As I've written many times, I'm so glad to be living in Israel where our medical care policy, though possibly not perfect (as if anything really is) is certainly a lot better than what Americans are discovering they "ordered."

Israelis, think about it..  Do you really feel safe trusting the Americans for our security?

Lessons from Parshat Shavua, Torah Portion Shmot, Exodus, and Jonathan Pollard

The Book of  שמות Shmot, Exodus or Names, which is the actual translation from the Hebrew, starts with a line which should remind us of a crucial mistake Joseph Yosef made.

ח  וַיָּקָם מֶלֶךְ-חָדָשׁ, עַל-מִצְרָיִם, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יָדַע, אֶת-יוֹסֵף.

8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph.

Genesis Chapter 40 בְּרֵאשִׁית

יד  כִּי אִם-זְכַרְתַּנִי אִתְּךָ, כַּאֲשֶׁר יִיטַב לָךְ, וְעָשִׂיתָ-נָּא עִמָּדִי, חָסֶד; וְהִזְכַּרְתַּנִי, אֶל-פַּרְעֹה, וְהוֹצֵאתַנִי, מִן-הַבַּיִת הַזֶּה.

14 But have me in thy remembrance when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house.

Our sages, Chazal tell us that Yosef should not have asked the winemaker to remember him to Pharaoh. For that mistake Yosef stayed longer in jail than G-d had originally planned.

Dry Bones

Jonathan Pollard,
 I.D. Photograph,
U.S. Naval intelligence

That's why I think that concentrating on American "justice" and the American Pharaoh aka President is a mistake.  Pollard's release is up to Israel and Israeli and Jewish leaders.

Pollard was turned into the American police by Israel, which refused him asylum.

After his partial confession, Pollard was put under surveillance but not taken into custody. On November 21, 1985, he and his wife attempted to gain asylum at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., only to be rebuffed by the Israeli guards and was arrested by FBI agents who swarmed the perimeter as soon as Pollard set foot off embassy property.^[38] Until this point, investigators could not confirm that Pollard had been spying for Israel; their only lead having been the speculation of Pollard's superiors.^{[citation needed]}

Photo credit: AP

It took many years for the State of Israel to recognize that Jonathan Pollard had not received a just sentence, according to all American legal precedence, and begin its half-hearted "campaign" to get him released.  The actual Israel officials involved have never done the halachically (according to Jewish Law) prescribed public Teshuva, repentance for such an act.

Shimon Peres was Prime Minister, and Rafi Eitan was Pollard's handler.  They are the ones who should be leading the campaign, moving mountains to force the Americans to release Jonathan Pollard.

Former cabinet minister Rafi Eitan, the ex-Mossad agent who operated Jonathan Pollard in the mid-1980s, told Army Radio on Monday that he handed over incriminating information about Pollard because the U.S. had promised Israel that Pollard would serve no more than 10 years in prison.

They must take full blame and visit Pollard in jail.  Then while in jail with him refuse to leave unless the Americans release Pollard to them.  That sort of responsibility and drama is the only way that the United States will let Jonathan Pollard out of jail.

Yes, of course, Pollard broke the law. But no other "spy for an ally" has ever gotten such a punishment. Even Soviet spies who caused the death of Americans and those who worked for the USA received lighter sentences.  This has gone on much too long.  The key is in Israel's hands, not in the American justice system.

תפילת הדרך T'fillat Haderech, Jewish Traveler's Prayer, Public or Private?

The Jewish Press has a poll up about whether or not it's a good idea for El Al to have someone say the  over the loudspeaker system when the plane is ascending.

Should T'fillat HaDerech (The Traveler's Prayer) be said on El Al flights over the loudspeaker? 

• Yes. El Al is a Jewish Airline. It's the Jewish thing to do. 
• No. It's religious coercion. 
• Yes. I like it. It adds a positive feeling of authentic Jewish culture to the flight. 
• No. It's offensive/annoying to some people. 
• Yes. But a real person should be saying it, not a recording, so that the blessing is real. 
• No. Because it won't be taken seriously. 
• They should 'Bench Gomel' after landing. View Results

Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/

I honestly wish every airline would do it some how.  I always have trouble reading the tiny print.  And on some airlines and flights, the lights are turned off by then so we can get some sleep.  The little airline reading light just isn't enough for my elderly eyes.

A number of years ago, I was privileged to accompany a couple of Nefesh B"Nefesh immigrant flights.  From the pre-flight excitement, the flight itself and the great production, including lots of nosherei after landing, the cheering, speeches etc, both times I felt that there was one thing missing.  I hope that short element is now included.

Yes, you guessed. I think we should have heard T'fillat Haderech over the loudspeaker system.  I can't imagine anyone finding it offensive. No doubt that most people won't listen carefully.  They don't pay attention to the safety and emergency instructions.

It should be part of the "El Al experience," like that hand-clapping when the plane lands.

Will 2014 Be Any Different From 2013?

Just to make things clear, I don't celebrate the "goyishe" new year.  It's just a recognizable international number change for me.  My real calendar is the Jewish one.

In just over a week, we'll have to get used to writing 2014 on checks and official forms.  Is that new year going to be any different from 2013?  Honestly, I don't think so.

The Jewish New Year, celebrated every First of Tishrei, which is in the late summer, is heralded by a month of reflections, repentance, known in Hebrew as תשובה Teshuva.  We're supposed to be constantly doing teshuva,  but during the Jewish Month of Ellul which precedes Rosh Hashannah, we're supposed to be intensifying it.   It helps, that it's at teh end of the summer and not in the middle of a season.

January 1st is towards the middle of the solar winter in the northern hemisphere and the summer in the southern one.  It's a time of extremes, extremely cold or extremely hot.

Another year

Reading and listening to the news, it seems like nothing at all will change.  Jonathan Pollard will continue rotting in jail,

The expressions of shock and indignation that accompanied Edward Snowden’s revelations that the United States uses signal intelligence assets to spy on its allies were more than a little disingenuous. Everybody knows that everybody spies on everybody. If Germany’s spy agencies can, they are most certainly listening to the cellphones of friendly leaders from Washington to Paris. Allies routinely use signals intelligence, and human intelligence and everything in between to uncover information that their allies seek to keep from them.
In the case of the US and Israel, US government agencies have been involved not merely in spying against Israel, but in bids to undermine American public support for Israel almost since the establishment of the Jewish state.
According to a new history of the CIA’s involvement in the Middle East, America’s Great Game, reviewed this week in The Wall Street Journal, in 1951 Kermit Roosevelt, the CIA’s operations chief in the Middle East set up a fake anti-Israel lobby in Washington called American Friends of the Middle East. Its job was to weaken popular support for the Jewish state. The CIA’s anti-Israel front group operated for 16 years, until the fact that it was a CIA front group was exposed in 1967 by the far-left Ramparts magazine.
And this brings us to Jonathan Pollard, the American Jewish naval intelligence analyst who is now serving the 29th year of his life sentence for transferring classified materials to Israel.
Snowden’s revelations and the story of the CIA’s anti-Israel front group in Washington make clear that US indignation over Israel’s fielding of an agent in Washington was equal parts self-righteousness and hypocrisy.
There was nothing extraordinary in Israel’s efforts to gain information that its American ally didn’t wish to share with it. Allies spy on each other. And they use sympathetic locals to achieve their ends. South Korean Americans have been caught spying for South Korea. Taiwanese Americans have been caught spying for Taiwan, and so on.

...while American hypocrisy will continue.

Europeans are demanding that any new trade accord include data-privacy protections that the United States is eager to avoid.
Almost never before has a spying scandal — in this case the revelation of the monitoring of the cellphone of Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany — resulted in such a concrete, commercial backlash. Now it is also driving a debate inside the American government about whether the United States, which has long spied on allies even while nurturing them as partners, may have to change its approach.
“What’s more important?” Gen. Keith B. Alexander, the director of the N.S.A., asked during an interview last month, before the Merkel revelations. “Partnering with countries may be more important than collecting on them,” he said, especially when it comes to protecting against cyberthreats to the computer networks of the world’s largest economies.

This whole American scandal is a lot bigger than just the United States versus Israel.

And unfortunately, the Arab terrorists haven't stopped attacking us.  A potentially deadly rocket was launched at Ashkelon.  G-d saved us by making it miss its target.

This morning the rocket was found, between two houses. The rocket didn’t explode, or explode completely, so no damage was incurred.
Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/overnight-rocket-fell-between-2-houses/2013/12/23/

None of the Obama-Kerry pushed talks have encouraged the arabs to stop terrorist activities against us. Negotiations won't stop terrorism.  We won't have peace until the Arabs really want peace, and that no doubt will take decades if not longer.

Photo by Gideon Markowicz/FLASH90
Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/hareidi-bus-bomb-driver-im-no-hero/2013/12/22/attachment/158452/

No surprise that the Arab terrorists have resumed bus bombs against Israeli civilians.  Thank G-d this one was discovered before it exploded.

Yes, we're in the middle of the winter, and we're in the middle of a battle for our very existence and survival. For there to be real change, we must all do Jewish style teshuva. We must reflect and correct.  Without this process, things will just continue going on the very same way.

• We must recognize that the United States is not a true friend of the State of Israel.  Some Americans are, but the government can't be relied upon.  Other foreign countries are beginning to recognize it, even among its allies.
• We must also recognize that the Arabs and many other countries want us, the State of Israel to cease to exist.  That is their aim and the aim of all the NGO's helping the Arabs.

We must take steps and change our policies and behaviors.

We have only one true ally, and that is G-d.

If we make the right changes, then 2014 will be different form 2013.  If not, then expect more diplomatic abuse and Arab terrorism. 

Cast a Giant Jesus over Israel

Posted by JewishIsrael.com

Cast a Giant Jesus over Israel

Plans are in the works for a giant statue of jesus to be erected on Mount Precipice (also known as Har Kedumim) near Nazareth. Israeli, International and Christian news sources are reporting that the proposed monolith will be akin in scale to, or even larger than, the huge iconic statue of "christ the redeemer" which towers over the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. 

The project involves JNF owned land and has reportedly received an endorsement and blessing from Minister of Tourism Uzi Landau.

JewishIsrael is taking a pro-active stance opposing this project and has a full report ...more

Soon to be Sh'vat, Expect a Long Winter on The Jewish Calendar

The Jewish Calendar, as I've mentioned many times, is brilliant.  It's a strictly lunar calendar which also manages to be accurate according to the seasons, unlike the Moslem one.  The solar calendar is accurate according to seasons and is longer than the twelve month lunar calendar.  This year and last, the Jewish Holidays came out rather "early" according to the secular/goyish calendar. And that will be made up this year by adding another month of Adar hereby extending our winter by a month.

The Jewish calendar is based on three astronomical phenomena: the rotation of the Earth about its axis (a day); the revolution of the moon about the Earth (a month); and the revolution of the Earth about the sun (a year). These three phenomena are independent of each other, so there is no direct correlation between them. On average, the moon revolves around the Earth in about 29½ days. The Earth revolves around the sun in about 365¼ days, that is, about 12.4 lunar months.

The civil calendar used by most of the world has abandoned any correlation between the moon cycles and the month, arbitrarily setting the length of months to 28, 30 or 31 days.

The Jewish calendar, however, coordinates all three of these astronomical phenomena. Months are either 29 or 30 days, corresponding to the 29½-day lunar cycle. Years are either 12 or 13 months, corresponding to the 12.4 month solar cycle...

n the fourth century, Hillel II established a fixed calendar based on mathematical and astronomical calculations. This calendar, still in use, standardized the length of months and the addition of months over the course of a 19 year cycle, so that the lunar calendar realigns with the solar years. Adar I is added in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years of the cycle. The current cycle began in Jewish year 5758 (the year that began October 2, 1997). If you are musically inclined, you may find it helpful to remember this pattern of leap years by reference to the major scale: for each whole step there are two regular years and a leap year; for each half-step there is one regular year and a leap year. This is easier to understand when you examine the keyboard illustration below and see how it relates to the leap years above.

We're now in the month of Tevet, and like a good Tevet it has been cold.  We have even had a record-breaking snowstorm-blizzard.  A full week plus after the snow stopped falling, it still hasn't fully melted in Shiloh which is unprecedented.

One of the amazing things about the timing of the blizzard is that it took place in the middle of Tevet.  The middle of a Jewish/lunar month is when the moon is fullest, so even though there was no electricity for quite a few days, there was light at night.

Time flies, when you're as busy as I've been, and suddenly I realize that I have to remind everyone that Rosh Chodesh is coming very soon, like late next week.  And Rosh Chodesh for me is going to pray at Shiloh HaKedumah, Tel Shiloh, where the Mishkan, Holy Tabernacle stood in Biblical times.

Women's Prayers at Tel Shiloh

Rosh Chodesh Shvat

Thursday, January 2, 2014

First of Shvat 5774, 8:30am

Tour of Tel Shiloh & Dvar Torah, Short Torah Lesson

Please come and invite family, friends and neighbors

תפילת נשים
ראש חודש שבט בתל שילה

יום ה' 2-1 א' שבט תשע"ד 8:30
יהיה דבר תורה קצר וסיור בתל
 כדאי לבוא ולהזמין חברות, משפחה ושכנות

You're welcome to join our facebook page. Tel Shiloh is open to visitors daily. Tours can be arranged through the Shiloh HaKeduma, Ancient Shiloh office. Email visit@telshilo.org.il  or phone 02-994-4019.