Hamas War

Monday, October 31, 2016

Blame Shimon Peres for the Ofra-Amona Problem and More

Right after Shimon Peres died, and Israelis of the Right -Pro Jewish Rights in All of the Land of Israel- were looking for nice things to say about him, they credited him with his help in establishing the very first yishuv, Jewish community, in the Shomron, north of Jerusalem. But the truth is that his pushing for the location that is now Ofra was actually a way to sabotage the community, as I explained in my post,  The Utter Irony of Shiloh for a Relocated Amona.

imemc.org

Peres pushed for a location that had a building. Either he ignored the possible ownership of the land in question or he, like many in the government, didn't take the settler movement, Gush Emunim, seriously as a potential power.

None of the politicians of any party, even the Right, had a clue that within a few decades there would be hundreds of thousands of Jews in Judea/Samaria. And if the government would solve the legal issues and give building permits, there would be more than double the number. 

This should not be in the hands of the Supreme Court. Prime Minister Netanyahu is wrong in leaving those Leftist ideology-driven judges to make law. The Government and Knesset are supposed to make the laws, not the Judicial branch.

In the half a century since the 1967 Six Days War we periodically hear politicians talking about annexing the Land we liberated in that war for survival, like Naftali Bennett right now. All international legal precedent is that a country that wins a war, especially a war for its very existence and survival, automatically annexes whatever land it finds in its possession. That's the way of the world.

And, yes, of course, Peres was part of the ruling team that decided Israel should do the very opposite. He and his ilk had this totally fokokt idea that the Arabs would be willing to live in peace in exchange for those "territories." This was a mistake, the infant of his "New Middle East" fantasy, which made him the darling of those trying to find a politically correct way of destroying the State of Israel.

Now, we are stuck with horrendous politicians running the country. Gd willing, someone will get the wisdom and guts to fix this mess.

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Marmara Attack vs Israel Won't End Until WE SUE THEM!!!!

David Leibowitch (1904-1969),
demonstrating the heavy mortar
Davidka, invented by him.
The well-known military advice/adage is:
"The best defense is a good offense."
Very unfortunately and potentially tragically, the State of Israel has ignored this principle. We haven't invented a good defensive weapon since the "Davidka," which was a brilliant bluff, more than an effective weapon.

That Marmara flotilla was a military and PR-hasbara attack against the State of Israel organized by various terror and pro-terrorist groups, NGOs and foreign countries.
Mavi Marmara

Unfortunately, the State of Israel has not reacted correctly. It has paid compensation to the terrorists!

weapons on board the Marmara, IDF

The anti-Israel terrorists onboard were armed to attack, and therefore the IDF was totally in its right and responsibility as defenders of the State of Israel to stop it with force.

And like in any classic case of bullying and bribery, each Israeli concession is met with more demands.
Marmara families won't drop lawsuits against Israel
Despite receiving compensation from Israel, families of Turkish Islamists killed in 2010 flotilla vow to pursue criminal cases.




I miss Latma. Don't you?

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Back to The Beginning, בראשית Bereishit

This Shabbat, the first of the Jewish Year after Rosh Hashanah and the whole slew of Jewish Holidays that followed, was Shabbat Bereishit, the Shabbat when we begin the entire annual cycle of reading the Torah, the first five books of the Bible anew.

In the synagogue this morning, as I began to read the Bible to myself, I kept thinking that I must know it all by now, but as I read, my mind saw different things. It's always like that. From year to year we change. We are not the same. There are all sorts of times and cycles...

self-portrait in a Jerusalem Park

self-portrait in a Jerusalem Park

Studying the weekly parsha, Torah Portion of the Week is a very popular learning activity among Jews. It can be done on all sorts of levels, from all different approaches. And like a chameleon, it takes on whatever is going on in the world.

And our Bible isn't written about perfect people. Even from the very beginning, there were sins, jealousy and murder.

As King Solomon wrote in Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, אין חדשת "Ein chadash..." "Nothing's new..." but it sure looks new if you look at it from a different angle....

Friday, October 28, 2016

Time for Me to Just Wait and Watch American Presidential Elections

credit
With just over a week to American Election Day, I think it's time for me to just find a comfortable seat to observe the fireworks. This is possibly the most bitter election campaign ever. Even when in 1964 Barry Goldwater ran against Lyndon B. Johnson, two very different candidates, it was nothing like this. OK, in 1964, nominees were still chosen by politicians and party "machines," not by primaries. So, Goldwater didn't have the super long build up of primaries campaigning that Donald Trump has had.

And if you don't know, Goldwater was totally shlonged by LBJ. I was in my teens, and I still remember one of, or the main, campaign slogans you heard from the Goldwater camp:
"In your heart you know he's right."
Now over fifty years later, decades after Ronald Reagan did the unthinkable and got elected by the "silent majority," I see Donald Trump as another step in the rising confidence of the Right.

America has changed a lot in these last fifty-two years.

wikipedia
Hillary Clinton was also a teenager when Goldwater ran against Johnson. I wonder if she had her plans to run for President hatched by then. Or was she more inspired by the aim to correct George McGovern's highly competent wife, Eleanor, who seemed to make peace with her role as hostess during the 1972 Elections, rather than using her talents for higher office. And just in case you don't know, Richard Nixon defeated George McGovern.

And about the upcoming American Elections, there's no unity in the polls. It seems that the various companies or NGOs that poll people about their voting plans each ask different segments of the American public whom they plan to vote for, because there are enormous discrepancies. Also,  there has been a rise in Trump's numbers and a drop in Hillary's.

I watch BBC TV News, and they are now trying to prepare people for a surprise. There's no consistency in poll results, so they have just been showing the range of numbers.

Considering that Hillary's supporters find Trump despicable, and Trump's supporters consider Hillary a criminal, whoever wins will have an awfully hard time governing and making Americans feel like one country.

And it's not just a matter of how the two disparate groups of supporter feel. I don't remember ever hearing such foul and nasty remarks by presidential nominees about opponents ever before. This does not bode well for the United States of America!

Thursday, October 27, 2016

First Havel Havelim of 5777


Havel Havelim is a Jewish/Israeli blog carnival, which means a roundup of posts from various blogs. I don't particularly agree with everything included here, but this isn't just about what I like. There will also be some posts about kosher food, so consider this also as the first Kosher Cooking Carnival of 5777. Now, if you haven't caught on yet, 5777 is the Jewish Year.

Both HH and KCC used to float around the blogosphere, hosted by various bloggers, but hosting seems to be out of style, so I've taken it on myself to keep these blog carnivals going. Both have their facebook pages, which you can join, click HH and KCC.

I've been limiting Havel Havelim to what I think are the eighteen most interesting or varied posts, and I don't identify the blog. I only list the title of the post to try to entice readers. So, if you're a blogger, you may want to try composing more "enticing" titles... Remember that you don't have to be a blogger to read, comment and share the posts in Havel Havelim. Please let me know in the comments which are your favorites and what interesting blogs I may have left out. Thanks and enjoy!

October's Jewish Book Carnival
Sukkot Reflections, 5777
Walk Article-Breishit
Newbies at BEERS 2016 -- Part 1
The United Nations Once Again “Encourages” Hamas
Being Protected by The Succah
Efrat, punishing good neighbors and the goal of a Jew-free state
Is it only me?
When The Palmah Assassinated a British Policeman
The Nasty NGO Business
Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #8, Kupot Cholim to The Rescue!
There's No Place Like Home
Unlimited Potential
First Photos from the Banquet!
Medicinal, Refreshing Jerusalem "Street Food"
The Village Idiot
State of Israel Must Stop All The Sniveling and Begging!

Remember that you don't have to be a blogger to read, comment and share the posts in Havel Havelim.

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Peace with The Arabs Will Take Generations If At All

For the gazillionth time, I'm saying that the violence between Arabs and Jews here has nothing to do with anything we Jews do or have done, besides innocent breathing. Many well-meaning people were concerned and surprised that the Arabs who visited the Efrat succah were arrested and held in jail. The PA-Palestinian Authority does not want normal peaceful relations with Israel. It just wants international money and privilege.

The Arabs, whom the world -including too many Israelis and Jews- call "Palestinians," sic, not only attack and terrorize us, but they educate their children to do so.
PA kids’ drawings: Israel drinks blood of Palestinians
Source: Official Fatah Facebook page, Oct. 11, 2016

Another drawing by a Palestinian child showed a crucified woman wearing the colors of the Palestinian flag, with her body in the shape of the PA map of "Palestine" that presents all of Israel as "Palestine" together with the PA areas. The crucifixion also repeats the analogy that Palestinians are Martyr victims like Jesus.

Yet other drawings showed support for violence as legitimate means of Palestinian opposition to Israel. One child drew a Palestinian with a slingshot, another drew a hand with a rifle (see below). These drawings echo the PA and Fatah's encouragement of the use of violence against Israel and their glorification of terrorists as heroes.

Yet other drawings showed support for violence as legitimate means of Palestinian opposition to Israel. One child drew a Palestinian with a slingshot, another drew a hand with a rifle (see below). These drawings echo the PA and Fatah's encouragement of the use of violence against Israel and their glorification of terrorists as heroes.Palestinian Media Watch documented that summer camps organized by the PA Ministry of Education and the PLO educated children to see terrorist stabbers as role models.
And besides that, consider all of the horrendous violence in the Arab world, Syria, Iraq, Iran etc. There is a culture of violence that must be recognized and not hidden by PC lies and euphemisms.

For a reality check and updates, subscribe to Palestinian Media Watch.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

The Incorrect "Conceptzia" That Almost Destroyed The State of Israel

We are our own worst enemies...
Yes, I admit that I'm not original in saying so. Yom Kippur, 1973, was a very frightening example of that truism. In the Jerusalem Post there was an article by  which lists and explains a number of the potentially fatal mistakes made by Israeli leaders before and during the Yom Kippur War.
What could have been if Israel had prepared differently 43 years ago?

Intelligence What if the Intelligence Corps (AMAN) had behaved intelligently; that is, with an open mind and without fixations? This is the part of Yom Kippur War lore that is probably best known to the public: how AMAN’s chief, Gen. Eli Zeira, and a few of his senior aides, insisted until the last moment that Egypt and Syria would not attack despite warning signs as big as Times Square billboards. They had fixated on information received by the Mossad long before from a highly placed source in Cairo. That source believed Egypt would not go to war before it received advanced aircraft and Scud missiles from the Soviets.
Less well known is the revelation by Mossad chief Zvi Zamir that the same Egyptian source, with whom he met periodically, informed him early in 1973 that president Anwar Sadat had changed his mind. Sadat would not wait for new weapons but go to war with what he had. Zamir maintains in a book that he personally informed AMAN of this far-reaching policy shift.
But AMAN ignored it and continued to issue projections until the last moments based on the outdated “conceptzia” – no new weapons meant a low probability of war...
Click here for the complete article. It is a must read for sure.

And for those who weren't around or aware at the time, Israel's IDF soldiers were caught totally by surprise and observing the 25 hour Yom Kippur fast when the coordinated attacks by Egypt in the south and Syria in the north began.

Britanica.com

Without the help of Gd we never could have survived. This was the first time that Israel trusted and consulted with the United States, which added to our troubles, because Nixon-Kissinger had their own plan for the region. They wanted the war, and I have no doubt that they knew that Israel was about to be attacked, to end in a tie/draw which would give them power over us. Our miraculous and massive victory was not the American plan. Their so-called "aid" had been carefully measured out by their calculations, just enough for Israel to survive but not to thrive.

Monday, October 24, 2016

Americans Right, Left and Center Must Agree that System Undemocratic!

It's 2016, two-hundred-forty years since Americans declared its independence from England, and the convoluted method they came up with for electing a president is totally out of date and completely non-democratic by modern standards.

  • Yes, it is time, and has been for the past few decades or longer, to amend the Constitution and institute the election of President by popular vote. 
  • Yes, that means to cancel/delete the Electoral College!
The Electoral College distorts the results of the votes, the will of the people.
  • A person can be elected President without getting the highest number of votes.
  • People living in states with smaller populations have more powerful votes, because the state's delegates are the sum of its congressmen and two senators. So if you calculate how many potential voters per delegate in each state you will see that New York and California there are many more citizens per delegate than Nevada or Colorado. 
USA Electoral College System

As I had been taught, way back when, the principle of democracy is that each vote has the same weight. All citizens are supposed to be equal. I don't see how this is possible with the system as it now stands.

What do you think?
Good luck America!

Sunday, October 23, 2016

State of Israel Must Stop All The Sniveling and Begging!

I just don't understand why we Jews keep thinking that we can somehow, charm, rebrand, beg, convince etc. ad nauseum people, countries, diplomats, journalists, media and so on to accept and support us and the State of Israel.

Italian PM Matteo Renzi addresses
Knesset‏. photo credit:
KNESSET SPOKESMAN'S OFFICE
Every time someone comes up with a pro-Israel statement, we start cheering as if the Moshiach has arrived, or even louder. The truth is that I see our acceptance of the real Moshiach as more difficult for many Jews to fully accept and show enthusiasm for than the welcome we give to those like the Italian  Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
In a dramatic twist, Italy vows to oppose UNESCO’s Jerusalem resolutions
These resolutions are “incomprehensible, unacceptable and wrong,” Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi told an Italian Radio station during a visit to Brussels.
Stephen Harper touches the Western Wall,
AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images
I hope you haven't forgotten that barely a few months ago, my Canadian friends had been bragging that their country was so completely and loyally pro-Israel. Yes, that's when Stephen Harper was Prime Minister. And then, all of a sudden, Justin Trudeau defeated him, and instantly, Canada had a very different policy vis a vis Israel.

International support for Israel is at best fickle, and it's mostly fake. When foreign leaders and diplomats make speeches in Israel or for large/important Israeli or Jewish organizations/institutions, they pay good morning for speeches that will get them a lot of applause.

The recently deceased Elie Wiesel was one of the foremost speechwriters for such occasions. Yes, he certainly wrote lovely speeches which warmed the soul and gave the impression that the one at the microphone truly cared about Jews and Israel. But all the speeches, even the best and most professionally and convincingly performed (worthy of an Oscar) are totally meaningless.

Our salvation will not come from any of these "powerful" people. 

There is only one source for Salvation, and that is Gd Almighty! And Gd will only step in when we recognize that and pray to Gd and not to all these people and others.

We're about to celebrate the last holiday of the Tishrei, New Year Holidays, Simchat Torah, when we joyously celebrate the fact that Gd gave us the Torah the bylaws to live by. We must activate them in our lives. It's not enough to dance around with a Sefer Torah in our arms, we must make the mitzvot the mainstay of our lives. That is how we can get Gd to activate Salvation, Redemption Speedily in Our Days, Gd willing.

Chag Sameach to All!

this photo is from Independence Day
I just wanted something joyful in the synagogue for illustration

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Israel is Too Weak on Traitors!

What's a traitor?
One who betrays one's country, a cause, or a trust, especially one who commits treason (the free dictionary)
Israel is a country under all sorts of attacks in a war for survival. Many countries unabashedly state they want us destroyed. So, you'd think, hope that the state of Israel would be more vigilant about traitors and sedition.

Every once in awhile a politician looking for headlines will initiate something like this:
Coalition head aims to remove B’Tselem head's citizenship
B'Tselem director Hagai El-Ad speaks to the UN Security Council on October 14, 2016 (YouTube screenshot) Times of Israel

"Elad's actions at the Security Council are a blatant violation of the trust citizens must have for their state, so he should go find another country where he could be a citizen."

But nothing much ever happens, certainly nothing that could stop these acts.  It doesn't pay to try them here in Israel, because the courts are Leftist, too..

Friday, October 21, 2016

Thousands in Amona, but Not in the News

Yesterday, on my way to Sha'ar Binyamin, there was an enormous traffic jam by the entrance of Ofra.





Also reports from my daughter, who lives in Ofra, was that the crowd supporting Amona was tremendous!


I tried finding news reports about it, but it seems to have been ignored, even on Arutz 7, at least in English. So, if you find some articles about it, please put the links in the comments here, thanks.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Historic Fact: It's NOT About "The Settlements!"

שנית עמונה לא תיפול
Sheinit Amona Lo Tipol
Amona Won't Fall A Second Time

All those all over the world, here in Israel and abroad, whether informally chatting over tea, coffee or beer or in hallowed halls of parliaments, think tanks or editorial rooms who keep claiming that "it's the settlements" keeping the "Arab-Israeli conflict," sic continuing are simply full of #$%%!!@#@! to put it mildly.

Modern Shiloh neighborhoods as seen from the Biblical location of the city
Arab violence against Jews, whether they were permanent residents -yes, Jews have always lived in the Holy Land- or just visiting pilgrims, has been a regular occurrence here even before the Zionist Movement began in  1870. And that was almost eighty 80 years before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, which was nineteen 19 years before the 1967 Six Days War and subsequent "settlements," which these pseudo-historians claim is the core of the "conflict."

The 1967 Six Days War was the result of the aggression, the unabashed plans voiced very publicly by Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan to destroy the State of Israel. Israel was forced to fight for its very survival and won. According to International Law and all precedent, any land conquered in such a war becomes the legal property of the victor.  So in June, 1967, when the Arab countries effectively surrendered, Israel should have very simply annexed all of the land, the Golan, Jordan Valley, Judea, Samaria and the Sinai including Gaza effectively erasing the temporary "green line" that had been drawn at the 1949 ceasefire when Arab forces which had attacked the newly established State of Israel decided to take a breather and regroup.

Communities like Shiloh, where I live, are not the cause of any so-called "conflict," and "conflict" is a very poor choice of word for the attempted annihilation/holocaust of the Jewish People that has been going on for millenia. Yes, I believe that the Arab terrorism against us here is related to the Nazi Holocaust against European Jewry and the tacit cooperation of the Western World, and prior to that there was the Spanish Inquisition ad the Crusaders among other evil and immoral efforts to destroy the Jewish People.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Canada, Beware! SECURITY RISK!

credit
I keep wondering if this isn't a joke, because if the Canadian Trudeau Government didn't bother counting the children in the Syrian families they accepted as refugees, how thorough was the security check they did?
Canada: We didn’t know that refugees had so many children
Canada is having difficulty dealing with the absorption of Syrian refugees and the Minister of Immigration explains that the government didn’t take into account the size of Syrian families in planning to care for them.
Canada has accepted 32 thousand* refugees this year... 
Frightening, isn't it?

All refugees aren't the same, and one should never equate the Jews who fled Nazi Europe or Arab countries with today's Syrian refugees.

Remember that, even at their best, refugees bring to their new countries the cultures of the old country. When masses of immigrants came to Israel from the USSR, which soon after collapsed completely, they knew how to "work the system" getting the best benefits possible and brought their great study habits. They learned Hebrew amazingly quickly and well, even most adults. But they also brought their drinking culture, which didn't exist in Israel before.

Countries accepting Syrian refugees should take into account that they come from a very violent culture and follow a strong Muslim lifestyle. Their aim isn't to integrate and assimilate. Look at all of the problems in France. After a decade, or even less, life will be much more difficult than that in the countries that have welcomed Syrian refugees. Parts of Europe are already suffering.

Good luck to Canada.

Jews, remember that you have a home in Israel!

*apparently the number only refers to the adults, not the true total which would include children

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Being Protected by The Succah

All or most of us grew up on the story of the three  pigs, who each built a different kind of house, straw, sticks and bricks. And when the wolf came to attack, only the brick house provided protection. This true story I'm now going to tell goes rather differently. 

Your typical succah, the "booth" we're commanded by Gd to live in for the week of Succot, is more like a house made of straw or sticks.

a neighbor's succah, fabric like a house made of straw (photo by Batya Medad)

the inside of my succah, like a house made of sticks (photo by Batya Medad)
Even though technically, according to Jewish Law, a succah can be made with bricks, as an inner patio or dining-room that has a removable ceiling/roof, the spirit behind the law is that it be more mobile or temporary, like in these photos. And even if you have one of those rooms with a removable roof, it's the schach, some sort of branch, whither actual branches, narrow wooden beams or these bamboo sticks you can see in the photos above which make the room/structure a kosher succah.

I don't know if the Jerusalem Municipality still does it, but when we lived in Bayit Vegan, Jerusalem, 1971-81, the municipality would drop off free schach (freshly pruned tree branches) every year. And every year I'd show up, the only woman fighting a bunch of aggressive men for those leafy branches to top our succah. I'd bring some string, and tie my hard won collection onto the baby carriage and then drag them to our building. And since they were of such value, I'd then drag them up the three flights of stairs and into our apartment to the balcony where we had our succah.

Having grown up on the story/fable of the "three pigs," I never really thought of a succah as a shelter or protected place. Of course, it's supposed to be a spiritual time and structure... 

As the kids grew up, first in Jerusalem and later in Shiloh, we had a family custom. Every Succot during Chol Hamoed, the "intermediate days," we'd go to the Kotel, pray and then eat in the enormous community succah set up there. I'd bring "American style" picnic food, sandwiches with fruit, and was always surprised/amazed by the other people who showed up with pots of delicious smelling meat, chicken, vegetables, rice etc, which they'd set up on the tables as if they were home.

One year, probably over twenty-five years ago, we heard strange noises, like popping or shooting, coming from outside the succah. Most of us just ignored it. We were too busy eating and enjoying the holiday spirit in the succah. Then soldiers came in and told us we had to leave.
"It will be dangerous to stay, since Arabs were attacking Jews at the Kotel." 
The Arabs were throwing large rocks from their perch on Har HaBayit, the Temple Mount, at the Jews praying down below.

IDF soldiers were responding by shooting teargas canisters at the terrorists. In the safe, protected succah, we could only smell the food. But the second we left the succah, we felt the teargas in our eyes and nose. It was horrible. We had to walk a few hundred meters and climb lots of stairs until we got the the Jewish Quarter, which was also affected by the teargas.

We would have felt safer if we had stayed in the straw/stick hut with the leafy roof, which had filtered out the tear gas. Of course we couldn't have stayed there long enough for the air to clear. The ancient stone walls of the Old City kept the tear gas in, which was more dangerous. I don't know how long it took before the air cleared. It certainly took many hours if not days.

Ever since then, I think of the succah as a protection, a shelter. We, the Jewish People, are governed by the rules of Gd, not nature and science.

Chag Sameach
Have a Wonderfully Joyous Holiday 

Monday, October 17, 2016

Is it Finally Time for Israel to Leave the United Nations?

cdn2.vtourist.com

Israel is always held under a very distorted microscope in the United Nations, condemned  for all sorts of imaginary crimes. No other country is held up to such neurotic psychotic scrutiny. The recent UNESCO outrage about Jerusalem and the Western Wall not having any Jewish connection is just the tip the an iceberg of rampant antisemitism/anti-Zionism.


Honestly, what's the point of staying in and spending all the money on dues and maintaining an office and staff in New York and other places involved in United Nations activities?

What do you think?

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Jewish Calendar Proves That This Land is OURS!


We are now about to celebrate the Jewish Holiday of Succot which happens in the fall, late summer. It's a holiday that cannot be celebrated here in the Holy Land in the winter or heat of summer. All of our holidays are connected with seasons of the year and agriculture. The Jewish People are not nomadic by nature, nor theology.


The Jewish Calendar is brilliant. It is lunar--each month begins with the "new moon" and ends as that cycle does. But it's not exclusively lunar, because that, like the muslim calendar, would cause the holidays to travel across the seasonal spectrum. Twelve months of the lunar calendar are a few days shorter than it takes for the earth to travel around the sun. So the Jewish Calendar gets adjusted according to the solar calendar, to guarantee that the holidays will always fall in the correct season. There's a pattern of adding an extra month periodically that was set a very long time ago. Before that, when the vast majority of the Jewish People were in the  Land of Israel, we waited for an announcement that the new moon had been sighted. And when it was still terribly wintery towards the end of Adar, the Sanhedrin would add a second Adar, so Passover would be in the spring and not winter.


In 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.
Keyboard illustrating pattern of leap years
In addition, Yom Kippur should not fall adjacent to Shabbat, because this would cause difficulties in coordinating the fast with Shabbat, and Hoshanah Rabbah should not fall on Saturday because it would interfere with the holiday's observances. A day is added to the month of Cheshvan or subtracted from the month of Kislev of the previous year to prevent these things from happening. This process is sometimes referred to as "fixing" Rosh Hashanah. If you are interested in the details of how these calculations are performed, see The Jewish Calendar: A Closer Look. (Judaism 101)
Jews who live abroad do not have the agricultural connections to the Holidays and prayers for rain that we have here. Proof that Islam is not connected to this Land is in its calendar which is strictly twelve months and lunar. Their holidays float around the seasons, rootless, like the nomads they are.

Chag Succot Sameach
Chag Simchatenu
Have a Happy Succot
The Holiday of Our Joy

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Taking Bets on When Michelle Obama is Going to Run for President?

CNN
I think we've all seen the pictures of Michelle Obama mouthing her husband's speeches, while he struggles with his teleprompter or little mini-earpiece trying to sound eloquent. And it's no secret that she's the one who had the superior law position...

And now that Hillary needs help, even with all the nasty stuff they've dug up about Trump, it's Michelle Obama who is now her star supporter. 

Now, I'm just "grading" her performance, Michelle's that is, and I see her as super far superior candidate to Hillary, Barack Hussein and Donald Trump. She has much more charisma than them all especially including the two Veeps and the daughters. I haven't read of any real dirt dug up about her. As much as I disagree with almost everything she stands for except for the healthy food, I'd say that she's easier to market than most politicians and obviously more intelligent than her husband POTUS.

My guess is that if Hillary still manages to lose the elections or has to resign for either medical or legal reasons, then Michelle will be forced to run in four years, though she may really want to wait until her younger daughter is in college to begin the primaries stumping. That would mean the 2024 elections. 

I can't see Hillary managing eight years as President of the United States, though proper coddling/cocooning by the party and staff could make it possible. I remember the Jerry and Betty Ford saying that their time in the White House was the most relaxing and easiest of their marriage, until then. He no longer had to commute between home/family and Washington DC. 

Another reason the movers and shaker of the Democratic Party may rush Michelle to run is that they really don't have anyone comparable waiting in the wings. Nobody but Bernie Sanders actually ran against Hillary in the primaries.

So, for those of you who haven't been happy with Barack Hussein Obama's policies and direction for the United States of America and dread the thought of Hillary Clinton taking over, I just wanted to warn you that maybe you ought to start packing your bags and move. It's not going to get much better...

Friday, October 14, 2016

Why Does the USA Support Abbas When, It's Also a Victim of PA Hate?

credit
Every time United States President Barack Hussein Obama is photographed with PA-Palestinian Authority leader  Mahmoud Abbas, he grins like a five year old on Santa's lap. Obviously, either the news updates POTUS gets don't include the same articles that are read, translated and analyzed by the Palestinian Media Watch team of experts.
PA daily: Israel controls the US which controls the world


It's either ignorance or something much, much worse for the US and so-called "Free World."

What do you think?

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Relieved That Shimon Peres in No Longer With The Living

photo I took of Shimon Peres
OK, for all those who kept telling me to wait until after the burial, or after Rosh Hashanah or after Yom Kippur for writing how I really feel about the death of Shimon Peres, here it is:

Yes, I'm relieved that Shimon Peres was taken by Gd before the beginning of the new Jewish Year 5777. Peres's death, stroke etc. is the sort that is totally a decision of Gd Almighty. The doctors did their best to give him a chance to live longer, and Gd gave him time to repent, if that was his desire. And even with a delayed goyishe-style funeral and placing the coffin in public display for the day before, it still left time for Peres to be buried before the end of 5776 and Rosh Hashanah 5777.

photo I took of Shimon Peres
For decades, Shimon Peres had been the world's most popular Israeli. When Yitzchak Rabin was assassinated, he got the accolades, but the Israeli whom the "world" really listened to was Peres. Peres was a master at "old world" charm, while Rabin was too much the Israeli sabra for that. Menachem Begin also had the "charm," but too many people feared his his politics. Remember that the international media, like the Israeli one, is extremely Leftist and elitist, so Shimon Peres talked their talk and walked their walk, while Menachem Begin unabashedly spoke of Jewish Rights and the wrongs done to the Jewish People.

I met both of them, and Begin's "old world" mannerisms, kissing women's hands and warm smile included caring eyes, while Peres's smile, voice and posture were very cold and calculating. I never felt that Peres cared, while I had no doubt that Menachem Begin sincerely felt for people. And just to make it clear, if you don't know, I stopped politically supporting Menachem Begin once he began his Camp David decision to give Egypt the Sinai and destroy the Jewish communities that had been built there.

Let's go back a generation to delve into Shimon Peres's international popularity. The key was his success in convincing then Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin to accept the Oslo Agreement, even though it was an illegal, immoral rogue operation without the support of the Israeli Government. Yes, instead of jailing the perpetrators led by Yossi Beilin who had secretly by their own initiative negotiated the dangerous deal, Shimon Peres got Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin to approve it.

It was via the Oslo Accords that Yasser Arafat was rescued from his exile, set up as Palestinian sic leader, and weapons were given to his so-called police. Basically, the terrorist Arafat was given a "state in the making," which has become the world's largest magnet for money and subsequent corruption, besides officially supporting terror against Israelis.

Ever since Shimon Peres's success in bamboozling Yitzchak Rabin, the world has treated Peres as Israel's most important and powerful politician, regardless of his official titles or lack of any. And when Peres held the officially non-policy position of President of Israel, he took advantage of it and spoke and acted as if he had political and policy powers.

Many of us here in Israel were extremely relieved when his term in office had officially ended. But his influence over the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the media, here and abroad, didn't end when he left office. Nothing stopped Peres from meeting diplomats, press and talking policy. And even now that he's buried, his fans use his name to try to convince Israel of what they want us to do. That's what American President Barack Hussein Obama did when he spoke at Peres's funeral. It doesn't bother any of them that in Israel's democratic process, Peres never succeeded in leading a political party to victory. There is no direct election of Prime Minister here; it was tried once, and when Likud's Binyamin Netanyahu was easily elected, the Leftists got the law repealed.

I hope I'm not overly optimistic when I say that I don't see Peres's popularity here in Israel growing after his death. Peres was popular with the Left, but he left the rest of us cold. Now it's time for him to try to negotiate with Gd about his true legacy. And we in the Land of the Living must do what is best for the Jewish People and not care about what the world thinks. That is the only way to keep our Eternal Light burning, Gd willing. 

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Is Yom Kippur Still a Big Draw for Assimilated Jews?

I know there still are Jews who show up to shul on Rosh Hashanah to hear the shofar and then again on Yom Kippur for a quick visit to ask Gd to give them "life," or whatever.

When I was growing up, my father was one of them. Besides a family Bar Mitzvah or something similar, he didn't consider it "going to shul" important to make time for. Many of those "twice a year shul goers," were young. Not only did shuls fill, but they had to rent larger places, erect tents and hire rabbi/cantors to lead services. There were different prices for the "regular cantor" and the "hired" one. And in many communities, they didn't have a regular synagogue, with a rabbi, but they'd hire someone. And lots of capable and not so capable rabbinic students or just anyone willing and able, make good money  for a few days' work.

nefesh
In all honesty, I'm curious, interested in knowing what the situation is today. Do synagogues that are empty most of the year suddenly get Jews anxious to pray?

I'd like to know, so please give reply in comments, thanks.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Gmar Chatima Tova, Timing is From Gd

On Sunday morning, everything was so calm, peaceful and lovely, as I walked over to wait for my friends at the bus stop towards Kfar Adumim across from Ammunition Hill Jerusalem. I had gotten off of the 25 bus from Pisgat Zeev and had to cross a couple of streets passing the light-rail stop. I was a couple of minutes early for our scheduled 9:30 am pickup and thanked Gd that my timing was so perfect. At that time, I hadn't realized just how perfect.

I took a few pictures while I waited for them to show up.





Not that long after we arrived in Kfar Adumim, our phones started "beeping" from family WhatsApps, as everyone got messages of:
"I'm OK. How are you?" 
And then we discovered that just after 10am, less than an hour after I'd been walking around there, an Arab terrorist began a drive-by shooting rampage which resulted in the murder of two and the injuries of others.

Jerusalem resident Levana Malihi, 60, left, and police officer First Sergeant Yosef Kirma, 29, who were shot dead in a terror attack in Jerusalem, October 9, 2016. (Police spokesperson)
Times of Israel

The main lesson I internalized after I had been injured in an Arab terror attack just over twenty years ago, davka, less than a kilometer from there, was how little control we have over life and death. It's all in Gd's Hands. Sometimes just a few seconds make the difference, and sometimes it's not even an inch or centimeter. We don't know how Gd decides who will die and when.

Another "davka" is that my friends and I are now (in Matan's Al Haperek program) studying Job, Iyov, the man who went from being rich in every possible way to losing it all. Job tries to argue with Gd, demanding from Him the opportunity for a "face to face," so he can ask what he did to deserve such an awful punishment. As students of the Bible know, and as we discussed Sunday morning, Job didn't lose his family as punishment. Job was the "victim"of a bet between Gd and Evil to see if such inexplicable tragedy would cause Job to lose his faith in Gd.

Job is the perfect book to be learning in these difficult times.

Have an easy fast to those fasting on Yom Kippur.

Gmar Chatima Tova
May Gd Seal You in The Book of Life

Monday, October 10, 2016

Brilliant Short Film Explaining True Situation in Israel

Tzvi Fishman, long time film-maker, originally from the states, has written, directed and produced the most brilliant and clear description of the situation here in Israel and the dangers of trusting foreign advice. It's best that you first watch the movie instead of my trying to explain it.

הכל בסדר, אמא, Imma, Hakol Beseder, Mom, Everything's Fine




Unfortunately, this is a very true scenario.

Israel's insecurity and growing unwillingness to trust its own instincts in terms of defense is a growing danger.

This is seen in the daily news, such as the disgraceful and dangerous media and legal trial against the young soldier Elor Azaria. And also the fact that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu buckled totally and agreed to sign the most damaging so-called aid sic package with the United States. Basically, this new aid package not only gives the United States full production control over necessary military defense equipment, but it endangers the economic viability of Israel's military industries. The only beneficiary of this "package" is the United States of America.

Please share this film far and wide to give people the chance to know the truth.

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Short History of the Jewish People

Israel's Foreign Ministry has been using short little "films" to try to educate the world about the true situation here in the Holy Land and Jewish History. In general it's a good idea, since the modern attention span is horrendously limited and actual knowledge pretty anorexic.

jerusalemjournal.net
A few weeks ago the world, especially the "free world leaders" like USA's Barack Hussein Obama were ranting when PM Binyamin Netanyahu gave a very accurate description of the Arab plans for "Palestine" as ethnic cleansing against Jews.  They sure can't handle truth and accuracy.

And now the foreign media, among others, are showing its displeasure at a cute little film that illustrates a very simplified version of The History of The Jewish People In The Land of Israel,  Yahoo and A satirical ‘history of the Jewish people’ released by the Israeli government offends just about everyone, Washington Post.



It was put out by the Israeli Foreign Ministry and gives an overly simplistic sanitized version of our History here. I don't know if their experts insist that they shouldn't pass the four minute mark, but I would have added two crucial things.

  • When the British Mandate arrive they should have the Saudi Arabian Hashemites tagging along and then given the livingroom for the invented Kingdom of Jordan.
  • And the Arabs who barge in at the very end should be dressed as Hamas terrorists.
Unfortunately, by leaving these out, the otherwise clever little film is missing the crucial punch/accuracy it needs to be fully effective. 

What do you think?

Saturday, October 8, 2016

The Utter Irony of Shiloh for a Relocated Amona

Before I go any further, I'd like to make it super clear that I am 1,000% and more opposed to the destruction of any home in Amona, Migron or any other Jewish community. I also think that these Leftist nuisance cases against Jewish homes which magnify and distort possible Arab ownership of land based on vague hearsay should be thrown out of court.

Amona PR division
Amona is a lovely rural-like community next to Ofra. A few years ago, it underwent a horrendous trauma when the government destroyed nine homes, and in the process sent in riot police who brutally injured hundreds of protesters.

police brutality at Amona, 2006

Nobody wants to see this ever again, and nobody trusts the Israeli Government to do what's best for the Jewish People and the State of Israel.

One of Moshe Ya'alon's ideas before being booted out of the position of Defense Minister was to build a "new Amona" in Gush Shiloh (the Shiloh Bloq,) east of Shvut Rachel.

Why do I see this as ironic?

There's a little known fact in the history of the "settlement movement." Ofra is the most veteran Jewish community in the mountains north of Jerusalem. (Immediately after the Six Days War, the government established a number of agricultural moshavim in the Jordan Valley.) Ofra was established by Gush Emunim in spring, 1975 after finally getting approval from the government and support from Shimon Peres. But the location that group of pioneering families was forced to accept as their only chance, was not the one they originally wanted. They davka wanted to establish that first Jewish community in Shiloh! For historic and symbolic reasons, they considered Shiloh to be the obvious choice, because Shiloh was the first Capital of the Jewish People after Joshua led us into the Holy Land.

But Shimon Peres rejected Shiloh as a potential settlement site. Peres would only allow Jews to live where there was already a "proper building," an abandoned Mandate or Jordanian army barracks/police station, and the area which became Ofra had that. In Shiloh there were some old stone churches and a possible synagogue, but nothing "modern enough."

I think that Peres had thought that a location with a relatively modern building wouldn't require much effort/investment and then would be easier to disassemble, because he really didn't think the Jews would remain there very long. The Jewish demonstrators/settlers would live in tents and trailers aka caravans which were to be trucked in and then trucked out, or so he had hoped. The barracks would be the communal structure, so the "settlement" wouldn't cost much. Gush Emunim then searched Judea and Samaria for empty barracks around which to establish communities, according to Shimon Peres's instructions. And the early yishuvim did have such barracks.

Here we are over forty years later, and there's a massive presence of Jews living peacefully in Judea, Benjamin and Samaria. There would be even more if the government would approve the requested building plans.

The reason why the proposed location for the "new Amona" is near Shiloh and not near Ofra is because there is very little public state land in the Ofra area. Ofra is getting "full," and some of the most recent housing projects are in former orchards, which had been farmed by residents.

Davka, Shiloh, as had been explained to us in one of our earliest visits is between the two main Arab cities, Shechem and Ramallah, far from both. That means that there is a lot of state land availble for Jewish communities. So, if the families who had established that first community had been allowed to make it in Shiloh, things would have been so different. There would have been plenty of room for growth.
undo

But life isn't a computer game. We can't keep pressing "undo" to fix mistakes.

Amona wasn't a mistake, but the Israeli Government is making a mistake by trying to destroy it.