My musings, reflections on life here in Shiloh, Israel. Original, personal, spiritual and political. Peace, security and Israeli sovereignty. While not a "group blog," Shiloh Musings includes the voices of other Jews in The Land of Israel.
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Even though Israelis and American Jews like to claim that Israel and the United States are a close allies/friends, the truth has always been rather different. The relations between Israel and the United States has always been more one-sided.
The American State Department has always been very anti-Israel. Remember that President Truman had been instructed by them to vote against a Jewish State on November 29, 1947. Truman overruled and instructed the American Ambassador to the United Nations to vote in favor of a Jewish State.
Then over the decades, with rare exceptions, things went from bad to worse culminating in the Obama-Kerry condemnation of Israel in the United Nations barely days before Donald Trump was inaugurated as President of the United States of America.
Over the decades, like an emotionally damaged abused child, the State of Israel consistently treated the United States as a beloved friend, insisting that there was no better ally.
Israel accepted the insulting policy of the Americans leading the world in locating its embassy far from Jerusalem. No other country has had the international community veto its Capital City.
Finally, only under Donald Trump has the United States moved its Embassy to Jerusalem and stated very clearly that Israel has the right, like any other country, to chose its Capital. Also, Trump appointed the most pro-Israel and pro-Jewish Rights in all of the Land of Israel David Friedman to be his Ambassador to Israel.
Chalk that up to the persistent antisemitism which prevails in the world. And to be honest, I don't see any chance of stopping it. It doesn't matter what Israel does or how we try to explain things. It's not ignorance that causes people to hate us, it's an intrinsic part of their theology and rationale.
The two dominant religions in the world are Christianity and Islam. Both Christianity and Islam are based on Jewish narratives and texts, and both Christianity and Islam attempt from their earliest days to supplant/replace Judaism. The fact that Jews on the whole refused their gods and theology have angered them to this very day.
Antisemitism is not found among the Buddhists and Hindus, because their theologies have no theological connections to Judaism.
The continued existence of the Jewish People and our successful return to Zion, to the Biblical Land of Israel has increased the anger against us. That is because it is proof that Gd loves us. We are the only true religion.
The Lost Artist LOVE PASSION WAR (PART 1) by Eric Hausman-Houston is a totally amazing book about an extraordinary person. It's the story of one of Israel's and the Jewish People's unsung heroes. According to the author, Eric Hausman-Houston, it's only slightly fictionalized. It's the story of his father, Fritz Chaim Fred Hausman.
Fritz Hausmann was sent to Mandate Palestine at the age of thirteen 13 by his parents who insisted on staying in Germany. He found himself at Ben Shem, an agricultural high school, where boys lived and studied. At that point the war hadn't yet begun in Europe, and he kept hoping that his parents would join him in what was then called Palestine. But like many successful Jewish German businessmen and German army veterans, his father refused to believe that there would be actual danger to Jews in Germany. Also, even as things became difficult for Jews there, he still thought it better than living in primitive, poverty-stricken Palestine.
The Lost Artist begins as a mystery of sorts. A young Israeli mother goes on a quest to discover who was the illustrator of her favorite children's book, "And There Was Evening." In the first part of the book, chapters alternate between her search for the illustrator and the story of a little Jewish boy in Germany named Fritz. It becomes a book just about Fritz at one point, and we never find out how they connect. I asked the author, Eric Hausman-Houston, and he said that mystery will be solved in Part 2.
Fritz, renamed Chaim to help him fit in, proved to be a good student, hard worker on the farm and learned Hebrew. Hebrew wasn't his first foreign language. While still a child in Germany, he picked up a number of other languages whenever traveling with his family to other countries for vacations.
Even though Chaim was Jewish, his being German set him apart from most other students. He hadn't grown up surrounded by children, which was probably part of his social problem. One day he came upon a beautiful black horse. The person in charge of the stable insisted that the horse was dangerous, but not with Chaim. That horse became his "best friend."
Due to Chaim's intelligence and hard work he was admired and appreciated, and from a very young age he became part of the illegal Jewish self-defence and pro-immigrant group, the Haganah. He seemed fearless and was secretly trying to establish a peaceful, tolerant state in which his father would be willing to live. For that he even met with Arabs. Since Chaim was tall, confident and very cosmopolitan, people didn't realize how young he was.
I found it hard to put The Lost Artist down. It's very well written. It's a real adventure story, especially as Eric Hausman-Houston writes about his father's World War Two army service in the British Army for which he was awarded Britain's highest medals for bravery. That's one of the reasons that Houston wrote the books. His father was listed as a recipient of the honor but never received the actual medals. When Houston tried to get them, he discovered that someone had apparently stolen them, figuring that the family would never make a request for them.
The family wants the medals back and hope that the book will put pressure on whoever is now holding them and make the British Government take responsibility for the loss.
I highly recommend The Lost Artist whether buying it for yourself or as a gift for teens and adults alike.
I'm sure that most people consider the "Head of State," the 2003 American comedy, to be part of Hollywood's preparation for the USA to elect Barack Obama, the truth is that the unlikely and unexpected president and his campaign much more like that of Donald Trump.
Storyline One candidate for the presidency dies in an accident a couple of weeks before the election. Meanwhile the alderman Mays Gilliam becomes a hero when he rescues a woman and her cat from an old house that would blow up. However his fiancee Kim does not pay his bills and dumps him, and Gilliam loses everything including his fancy car. When Senator Bill Arnot sees the news on television, he plots a scheme with the party advisors Martin Geller and Debra Lassiter to invite Mays to be the party nominee and lose the election for the other candidate, Vice-President Brian Lewis. Four years later, he would be the candidate and would have the chance of winning the election. Mays has a terrible beginning of campaign but when his older brother Mitch Gilliam meets him in Chicago, he advises Mays to be himself. Will he have the chance to be the first African American President of the USA? (Head of State)
I'm sure I'm not the only one who saw Trump's electoral victories, first in the primaries and then in national elections to read more like a comedy than serious politics. There was nothing funny about Obama's campaign and election. In many ways his entire rise to prominence is more like a conspiracy. Wealthy international Leftists choose tall photogenic biracial law graduate...
illegal, dangerous, unsupervised digging by the Wakf
mini-earthquakes/tremors
The Kotel, Photo by Batya Medad
Or can we take this as a hint that Gd is getting angry that most Jews still prefer the less holy outer wall, support wall for the Temple Mount, Har Habayit?
Is it that everytime a Jew calls the Kotel "the holiest site for the Jewish People" something cracks just a tiny bit?
The Temple Mount, Photo by Batya Medad
The Temple Mount, Photo by Batya Medad
The Temple Mount, Photo by Batya Medad
The Temple Mount, Photo by Batya Medad
The Temple Mount, Photo by Batya Medad
Of course, nothing can be proven, but let's first begin correcting our speech. The holiest site in the world for the Jewish People, Jewish Religion is The Temple Mount. Gd returned it to us in 1967 during the miraculous Six Days War, 28th of Iyyar.
Honestly, I don't understand what the hullabaloo is all about concerning the Jewish Nation-State Law. The State of Israel was established for one reason only, to be a Jewish State, THE JEWISH STATE.
The State of Israel is the modern revival of ancient kingdoms, which are documented in the Bible. That is the very same Bible which not only is the basis for Judaism, but it is also recognized as accurate and holy for Christians. That is the very same Bible which which is used by western countries for swearing honesty, in court and important ceremonies.
The Jewish Religion and Prayers repeat over and over that Jerusalem is the holiest city and we pray to return to it in all its glory.
Jews from all over the diaspora have followed the same religion for two thousand years.
Jews have always made an effort to return to or visit the Land of Israel, the Holyland. This is all very well documented.
During the over two thousand years since the destruction of our Second Holy Temple, discrimination, banning of Judaism and killing of Jews took place all over the world. The Spanish Inquisition and the Nazi Holocaust are well-known examples of that. But actually it continues today in almost all Arab countries. They are judenrein, cleansed of Jews, even in those countries that once had vibrant Jewish communities.
Modern Zionism is just the political version of the religious return to the Land of Israel. The foundations of the State of Israel, political and economic began with that movement, which coincided with the rise of European nationalism in the nineteenth 19th century.
There is nothing actually new or revolutionary in the Jewish Nation-State Law. It just restates the obvious. Israel is the Jewish State and was established in the Biblical Land of Israel for that very purpose. I, like many others, left the Christian United States of America, because I wanted to live in the Jewish State, no other. If someone here in Israel doesn't want to live in the Jewish State, they can just look for a country that fits their national and religious identity. I with them luck in their new life.
Tisha b'Av, the 9th day of the Jewish Month of Av is commemorated as the saddest and longest day of the year. It's one of the two 25 hour fasts, along with Yom Kippur. But unlike Yom Kippur it's a day of mourning, and the mourning customs continue until the following afternoon. Even the meal that breaks the fast has to be restricted to non-festive foods.
Unlike Yom Kippur, Tisha b'Av will not be a fast day forever. When the Moshiach rules and our Holy Temple is rebuilt, the 9th of Av will become a festive holiday. We pray that will be soon. It's even customary that announcement for Tisha b'Av events to be preceded with "If the Moshiach hasn't yet come..."
The meals that "bookend" Yom Kippur are festive meals, traditionally a rich chicken soup followed by meat and festive dishes, but for 9th of Av it's the opposite. The traditional prefast meal before Tisha b'Av is that of a mourner. No meat or poultry and the "Dessert" is boiled eggs rolled in ash. But not this year!
This year we ate meat and poultry and drank wine on Tisha b'Av. Many Torah observant Jews even had festive meals before the fast began. That's because this year the actual 9th of Av was on Shabbat, and we don't mourn on Shabbat. It's forbidden. The only special pre-Tisha b'Av change to Shabbat was that we were required to finish eating our festive third Shabbat meal before the sun began to set.
Gd willing next year, 5779, there will be no Fast of Tisha b'Av, neither the 9th of Av nor the 10th. Those days will be joyous holidays, and the Holy Temple will be standing, and Jews won't be forced to undergo demeaning inspections to go up to the Temple Mount.
Gd willing Tisha b'Av next year, 5779, there will be festive Jewish Prayer in the Holy Temple on the Temple Mount!
My husband, Yisrael Medad, waiting to enter the Temple Mount today
First I'd like to make it clear that this isn't an article supporting Donald Trump as a person. I admit that he's certainly one of the least attractive and certainly one of the most problematic US Presidents ever elected. But Donald Trump was elected, because the Democrats put up a candidate, Hillary Clinton, with more faults and less charisma.
How Was Donald Trump Elected to the US Presidency?
Trump was elected legally, according to American Law
Trump was nominated because now there's a primary system, rather than allowing the politicians to wheel and deal.
Many Americans were completely turned off by Democratic policies and so-called "successes" of the Obama administration.
Hillary Clinton insulted many voters.
The Democratic Party has moved to the Extreme Left.
Many Americans feel under attack by the Left/Democrats.
Donald Trump made many Americans feel more confident in the future.
These are my observations from abroad. I've been living in Israel for almost half a century. In all honesty, I'm not only glad that we made the move right after our wedding, but I'm sure that if we hadn't done it then, we, too could have been sucked into American Jewish life.
As Israelis who've lived in Shiloh thirty-seven years, we had no problem seeing the growing antagonism from the United States. The anti-Israel policies that had formerly come mainly from the State Department, has now spread to almost all parts of America, academia, the Democratic Party, the media and hollywood.Please don't forget that Obama ended his presidency with a strong attack on Israel in the United Nations.
All we in Israel have left in "our camp" are some committed Jews, mostly Orthodox, but not all, middle America and the Evangelicals. Coincidently, they are the same Americans, on the whole, who voted for Donald Trump.
They are the ones who just can't forget how Hillary Clinton as FLOTUS kissed Suha Arafat after a hateful, lie-filled anti-Israel speech.
They are the ones who aren't overjoyed at the legality of same-sex marriage being legalized, one of the great accomplishments of the Obama administration.
They are the ones who prefer to check the policies and platform of a presidential candidate, rather than the sex or race.
They are the ones who don't want how-to sex education for young children.
They are the ones whose children serve in the US Military and Police Forces.
They are the ones who don't think that a person's sex can be changed by surgery and hormones.
They are the ones who believe in absolute values and rules.
They are the ones who fear that their country has been hijacked by radical extremists who not only rioted when they didn't like the 2016 Presidential Election results, but have made it difficult for others to voice opinions.
From my vantage point halfway around the world, I see the United States losing basic democratic values. The media and academia are preferring to voice and accept only one opinion.
My husband and I greeting US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center
For my summer treat, I signed up for a day at Michlelet Herzog, Herzog College's Tanach/Bible Yom Iyun. It's not cheap, and next year I may try a different program. But I must admit that some of my favorite Tanach teachers are at Herzog, and I like the fact that I can study in both Hebrew and English. OK most classes I sign up for are in English. When you're dealing with five challenging and information filled lectures in one day choosing native tongue is a wise decision. It's much easier to absorb the material.
To be perfectly honest, there were times I not only couldn't follow, but I even dozed off. But please remember that I had spent the day before at Kenes Shiloh, which not only was full of lectures until late at night, but began with a tour/hike in the hot sun.
I'm glad that I went to Herzog, even though I wasn't the ideal student. FYI the shiurim/lectures will be posted on their site. I plan on listening to them over and over. That way I'll really get my money's worth.
Yesterday I was lucky to have attended the seventh 7th 讻谞住 砖讬诇讛 Kenes Shiloh, Shiloh Conference. It certainly helps that it's conveniently located just over a mile's walk down from my house. I didn't attend the earlier event commemorating one hundred years of the Jewish Legion at the "park" across from the Shiloh Junction, which included a four kilometer hike at "high noon." I figured that it would be just too much for me.
I arrived at Shiloh Hakeduma, Ancient Shiloh, aka Tel Shiloh in time for a tour of the latest discoveries and exhibitions. That's the real highlight for me each year. Even though I get to the Tel almost every Rosh Chodesh for Women's Prayers there, we rarely get to see all the archeology and touristy exhibits.
One of the newest exhibits is the hologram. I definitely recommend getting an official tour at Shiloh Hakeduma, so you can see it along with the movie and museum.
Our guide, Yisrael Ben-Aryeh, made a point about Shiloh being the most important Biblical archeological site for experts in the field. That's because none of the other historically and theologically significant Biblical cities/locations are really in Israel's hands. Arabs have destroyed and have been given rights, autonomy, over the other important Biblical locations, such as The Temple Mount, Shechem, Hebron, Biblical Beit El etc.
Not only was Shiloh the location of the Mishkan, Tabernacle for 369 years, but there was Jewish activity there even hundreds of years later. After that Christians built churches and then Muslims came for a short period.
After the tour, there were a number of lectures about various topics, the very latest discoveries, the Prayer and significance of Biblical Chana, the Jewish Legion, Zeev Jabotinsky and other fascinating things.
The 讻谞住 砖讬诇讛 Kenes Shiloh, Shiloh Conference is in Hebrew, and I highly recommend attending if you understand Hebrew. Tours, visits and other events can always be arranged at Shiloh Hakeduma in English and other languages. Our tour guide can lead tours in four languages. And there are guides who know additional languages. Phone: 02-5789111, Fax: 02-9948011, visit@telshilo.org.il.
Over the years I've blogged a few times about the very true lessons we can learn from the movie The Siege, Fact and Fiction, "The Siege." Recently I've been reading quite a few Daniel Silva books, and even though I have no idea what his politics are, I see some important lessons there, too.
In pretty much all of Silva's spy, adventure novels I've read, there's a foul up caused by American "help," interference and demand for control. Just like in The Siege, there's an inherent American incompetence and built in leaks. Of course I don't know what percentage of these repeated foul ups/disasters are based on fact, but from my vantage point in Shiloh and the fact that I've been a longtime political observer, they ring very true.
It's no secret that the American State Department is anti-Israel and antisemitic; it has always been. Israel isn't treated fairly, fact not fiction.
Right now I'm reading Daniel Silva's The Messenger, and I came across a line that rings so true.
"The sooner we stop worrying about being liked, the better off we'll be."Daniel Silva's The Messenger,
This is a major problem in Israeli policy, the quest to be liked. Unfortunately, there isn't any form of or tactic in hasbara-information campaigns or "rebranding" which can delete or even reduce the inherent anti-Israel and antisemitism that exists in NGOs, other countries, diplomats, accademia etc. Internationally, there's more antisemitism than had existed as the Nazi Final Solution was reaching its crescendo.
And the feeling of national guilt which had existed in Germany and parts of Europe post-World War Two has ended. The Nazis' grandchildren and great-grandchildren are leading the anti-Israel pro-Palestine movements. Unlike their parents, they won't even fund memorials.
So we here in Israel must forget about being liked; it just won't happen. Let's just take off the gloves and destroy our enemies. That's the only way to bring peace.
Jewish Life is now in the midst of the "9 Days," a time of national mourning. From the 17th of the Jewish Month of Tammuz, until the 9, or more accurately the 10th, of the month of Av, we mourn the destruction of the Holy Temples and our exile from the Land of Israel.
Restrictions get more intense and end with a 25 hour fast on the 9th of Av. Restrictions during the 9 days include no parties, weddings, new clothes, listening to music, swimming for enjoyment, drinking wine and eating meat or poultry. You can eat fish.
I know that it's not the same all over the world, especially when people follow the Laws of Kashrut. Here in Israel a meat, especially poultry, meal cost less than a fish meal. Fish is very expensive here, whether buying it in the supermarket or a restaurant meal. Good cheeses also cost more. A very satisfying and pleasant meal in my favorite meat restaurant cost less than a similar fish meal in my favorite fish restaurant.
It's so ironic that the less expensive animal protein is forbidden as a sign of mourning, while the more expensive one is permitted. Eating fish is generally a treat, while chicken is an everyday, ordinary bargain menu in our house. So the halacha makes little sense to me.
My guess is that in ancient times the slaughtering of an animal or bird and the ritual preparation of their meat, plus safe storage was rather complex and not frequent. If you lived where you could easily catch fish, that was less complicated.
They were created in response to the massacres of
the Crusaders, which occurred seven centuries
[700 years] after the Talmud was sealed.
According to Sephardic Halachah, there are no
Three Weeks and no Nine Days; there is only
the week of Tisha BeAv; and when Tisha BeAv
is the day-after-Shabbat [Sunday], there is no
week of Tisha BeAv, there is only Tisha BeAv
itself.
In our times many Sephardim abandon their own
Sephardic Halachah and also abandon their own
Sephardic pronunciation, because it is easier to
follow the majority. Many Sephardim, especially
those who attended Ashkenazic Yeshivot, do not
know that the Three Weeks and the Nine Days
are NOTSephardic Halachah.
Other Sephardim assume [incorrectly] that when
it comes Halachah, stricter is always better, so
they abandon the lenient Sephardic Halachah
in favor of the often-stricter Ashkenazic Halachah.
Contrary to what many Jews believe, stricter
Halachah is NOT always better Halachah! ==================================== Sephardic Jews REJECT Reform Judaism: https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/07/sephardim-reject-reform.html ==================================== The part of a fish
locked inside that bony triangle tucked
between the gills is called The Collar.It is the most flavorful part of the fish, but
most fish stores do not sell them because they
are ugly.Ask a fish store for The Collar, you
can probably buy it cheap. Grilling and intense
marinade are recommended.
The State of Israel has a responsibility to its citizens to militarily attack all who attack the state.
The kites and balloons that have been launched at Israel aren't carnival toys. They are weapons, and now the Arab Gazan Hamas terrorists, encouraged by NGOs like those coming from the European Union have escalated their attacks by launching rockets at Israel. They have declared war, and we must not ignore or downgrade it.
When I used to visit the states, I'd buy coffee in all sorts of places as long as they adhered to a few very simple "rules."
The cups/mugs has to be disposable, the coffee had to be made and served from a coffeemaker (not served from a pot,) and I only bought a simple coffee. Davka in Starbucks, I'd order Americano.
The only "iffy" thing I did was to take milk from their pitchers. Milk is cold.
I haven't been to the states for a couple of years, so I'm not an expert. But to be honest, even here in Israel where it's much easier to find strictly kosher coffee, I make my own.
Blogging is still alive. The genre of personal/privately run Internet "magazines" is live and well. I'm presenting a number of posts from blogs near and far. I hope that you enjoy reading the posts and even comment on the blogs.
