Bible Marathon Based on Biblical Narrative

Runners came from all over to participle in the Bible Marathon, which ends in Shiloh every year. The original run is depicted in the Bible:

Story of the Bible Marathon

“Then a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line the same day, and came to Shiloh with his clothes torn…”

One of the first runs recorded in human history - long before the “marathon” in Greek mythology - is mentioned in the Bible, in the beginning of the book of Samuel. At the end of the war between the Israelites and the Philistines, the “Man of Benjamin” runs from the battlefield at Eben Ezer (modern day Rosh Ha’ayin) to Shiloh, city of the Tabernacle.

Many centuries later, the founder of the Maccabiah games, Yosef Yekutieli, set out to measure the length of the course from Rosh Ha’ayin to Shiloh, in the Benjamin region. He was amazed to find that the length of this historic path precisely matched that of the modern marathon – 42 kilometers (the official length of the Olympic running contest, determined in 1908 at the London Olympics).

Bible marathon - running history!

Shiloh Hakeduma, Ancient Shiloh, the original Biblical site, is a wonderful, always getting better, archeological park. It's open six days a week, just not on Shabbat and Jewish Holidays. There's lots to see and do there.

New "Space-Saving" Graves in Jerusalem

Today my husband and I attended the funeral of a dear friend in the Givat Shaul Har Menuchot Cemetery, Jerusalem. After the ceremony in the "eulogy hall," we were driven the winding way among fields of graves to her burial spot.

That's when things got interesting. She's in a new section, and that section doesn't have graves spread out on the hilly, stony Jerusalem hillside. Three levels of graves are stacked on the side of a mountain.

I had never seen such a thing before, thought I had heard that it's being done.

Israel is a small country, and many cemeteries are full and looking for ways to save space.

What do you think?

Succot ושמחת בחגך Why the Joy?

One of Judaism's interesting questions is:

Why is the Succot Holiday called the "Joyful" one? ושמחת בחגך

The other day, while walking outside in Shiloh and wondering when Gd will bless us with cleansing and health-producing, also necessary for agriculture rain, I noticed the grapes.  OK, I didn't need to go very far to see grapes, since we have a few vines by our house.

The grapes are rather dusty, and some are dried out, eaten by birds, bees etc. And the leaves are awfully brown and ripped. But there are still grapes for humans to feast on.

I began to think of how it must have been in olden times, a few thousand years ago, when food storage meant drying and pickling food. Instead of refrigerators, freezers and modern containers, they used caves and ceramic urns. 

In this late summer season, people couldn't rely on piped water from high tech reservoirs, desalination, drip agriculture etc. It hasn't rained for six months. We frequently complain of the high prices of fruit and vegetables, because the summer crops are finished and the winter ones can't grow without water. The products of modern high tech agriculture isn't cheap.

How did our ancestors manage? During the almost four hundred years of the Mishkan, Tabernacle in Shiloh, there may have been grapes growing right where my grapes grow today. Considering how easily grapes grow here without any professional care, it's obvious to me that this is the Land Gd created for grape growing.

Finding and preparing sufficient food for the many late summer, Tishrei holidays is challenging enough in today's modern world. It's hard to imagine how much more difficult it was thousands of years ago. And then think of the joy when the food was served. Or many the mitzvah, the commandment to be joyful helped them enjoy what they could find to eat.

In Ancient Times, I doubt that the sukkot one lived in during the holiday was built onto people's homes or terraces. They left the comfort of their home to go up to Shiloh and later to Jerusalem for mass prayers. Conditions weren't like today's hotels, three enormous meals and unlimited afternoon cake. Vineyards like mine were treasured and shared, since there wasn't much to eat.

People were grateful and joyful for what they had ושמחת בחגך Visamachta bichaggecha, And be joyful in Your holiday.

Planning The Third Temple

Tonight, as a Succot celebration here in Shiloh, I heard a talk about the Third Temple.

It took place in a neighbor's large succah.

Considering that even today, after seventy 70 years of the State of Israel, which bli eyin haraa, seems stronger and more stable and successful than ever, many Jews still have trouble accepting this reality, talk of the measurements of the Third Temple may seem a bit "premature." But as I listened I thought of how just barely a hundred and fifty years ago, the vast majority of Jews couldn't fathom the idea that there would be a Jewish State. They thought that Theodor Herzl and other early Zionists were totally daft.

I kept thinking of this famous quotation from Theodor Herzl as I listened to a very detailed explanation of dimensions of the yet unbuilt Holy Temple. Gd willing we won't need to wait much longer to liberate the Temple Mount and build the Third Temple.

If you will it, it is no dream
Theodor Herzl

Herzl

Chag Succot Sameach

ושמחת בחגך

Succot Now and Way Back When, Memories

Here's a collage of this year's succah decorations. We've had our own family succah all but two years we've been married, though neither my husband nor I grew up with a succah.

I remember that our Oakland Jewish Center, Bayside, NY, Hebrew School had us "decorate" or enter a succah before the holiday. There was a major "disconnect" concerning Succot, because it wasn't a holiday we really celebrated. School in our very Jewish neighborhood was cancelled on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but not Succot. I do have some memories of visiting the Rabbi's home and seeing a decorated hut by their house, since my aunt was a close personal friend of Rabbi and Mrs. Issacson. But until I began becoming religious in high school, after we had moved to Great Neck, Succot Holiday and the sukkot huts weren't part of my Jewish Life.

My husband's family was more traditional, but they lived in an apartment, so the succah was just whatever the shul had built.

Our first year married and in Israel, we lived in the Maon Betar in Jerusalem's Old City. We didn't have a succah, but we carried our main meal to the Bnai Akiva succah, which wasn't all that far away. The following year, we were in our very own apartment in Bayit Vegan, which actually had two balconies suitable for a kosher succah.

The first years we used the one off of our bedroom. A  close friend met my husband in Machane Yehuda and helped him buy all the equipment needed. Then she came over to help assemble it. We didn't even have enough chairs for all the guests we had invited. I don't know how we fit everyone into the succah for the meals, but we did.

When we planned our Shiloh home, a 2x5 merpeset seemed nice and big, but now, bli eyin haraa, we can't fit the entire family inside the succah, unless we just stand sans table. Or we can have a small table as buffet and stand around it eating. The kids decided that they're coming over for lunch before Simchat Torah, a time when we can eat indoors.

Now I'm looking forward to the holiday and wonder when the rains will start.

ושמחת בחגך

Have a Wonderful Joyous Succot Holiday

Excellent Behind The Scenes About "Oslo Accords" by Liat Collins

Over the years I've written a lot about the "Oslo Accords," even rather recently,  Oslo Accords Never Could have brought Peace. On Shabbat I read  MY WORD: THOUGHTS ON OSLO AND PEACE PROCESSES by Liat Collins, and it explains a lot of things most people don't know.

As a reporter on the scene for the Jerusalem Post, Collins has information that explains a lot about "Oslo Accords." I highly recommend reading her article.

Blog Roundup Celebrating חג שמח Chag Sameach

We're now just over half way through the major Jewish Holiday season with Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur behind us, looking forward after Shabbat to Succot and Simchat Torah. This is not the season to diet or obsess over it, unless you have serious medical reasons. Even two fast days, for the more religiously observant, can't counteract the feasts and hours standing or sitting in synagogue, or snoozing wherever.

Read what Jewish bloggers are writing, comment and share, too. Think of blogs as free internet magazines. In many blogs you'll get information that isn't on the mainstream media. By reading blogs, you'll also have the opportunity to meet some fascinating people and learn of their lives. If you'd like to recommend other blogs to me, please send me the links in the comments here, thanks.

As usual, I'm just posting the titles, with embedded links. I hope that perks your interest in reading the posts. Please comment and share, thanks.

I'm not responsible for the content of the posts included in this blog roundup.

Enjoy!

THANKFUL, THOUGHTFUL, THRIVING….
Yom Kippur in Jerusalem with Avinu Malkeinu
During the Worst of Times, the Best of Times: Live Like You Were Dying
Davening, Fast and Slow (Derashah for Yom Kippur 5779)
September Jewish Book Carnival
Goodness Graciousness
Oslo Accords Never Could have brought Peace
KEEPING TOURISTS IN THE DARK
Pre-Yom Kippur Yom Iyyun in Matan
A Thought about Yom Kippur
Pre/Post Yom Kippur Meal
Praying for a Year of Health, Healing, and Happiness
Yom Kippur Report 2018
#MomLife: Yom Kippur Edition
NEILA – Locked in with G-d
Jonathan Sacks – Emotional Intelligence
Interesting Psak: buying lulavs from Gaza
Betarim Recall Amatzia
Zionism and Ari Fuld

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach

Pre-Yom Kippur Yom Iyyun in Matan

I attended a very inspiring Pre-Yom Kippur Yom Iyyun in Matan on Monday. It certainly whet my appetite to sign up for classes, as I've done for the past few years.

Join us!

Oslo Accords Never Could have brought Peace

Why is the Left, still beating a dead horse? It's decades after the Oslo Accords was revealed, and it was a rogue action. The Israelis who "negotiated" it hadn't been sent by the Israeli Government. They should have been jailed for treason.

Rabin was suspicious of Oslo Accords, but he allowed Peres to bulldoze him into supporting it.

Why have there been so many articles about it recently?

IDIOM: BEAT A DEAD HORSE

Execute Arab Terrorists and Facilitators, Like We did Eichmann

Deja vu

• I've written this before.

Deja vu

• We've buried too many good, even extraordinary people who were murdered by Arab terrorists.

Deja vu

• We're angry.

Deja vu

• The world blames us.

Deja vu

• People make excuses for Arab terrorism.

Deja vu

• Arab terrorists are released from jail to attack us again.

Deja vu

• Our politicians promise that this is the last time.

Deja vu

• Our hospitals and doctors treat terrorists and their victims with the same care.

Gd willing the Jewish Year 5779 will be the year when we will execute all the terrorists and those who facilitate their actions.

How could Adolf Eichmann have been executed, while the modern Eichmanns are not only allowed to live, but they are treated as respected leaders, even allowed to serve in the Knesset, study in our universities, healed in our hospitals?

Yom Kippur Fasting, Only if Doctor Approves

At yesterday's pre-Yom Kippur shiur, class/talk, in the neighborhood we were taught a Mishna about the basic laws of the holiest day in the Jewish Year. It begins by saying that eating and drinking are forbidden, as are bathing, oiling the skin and wearing leather shoes. A bit later, it lists the exceptions.

Considering that most everyone in the room was of what we'll call senior citizens or close to it, the exceptions for medical reasons was the topic many discussed while leaving. Actually, the first example of someone who could eat on Yom Kippur was a pregnant woman who craves some food she smells. The instructions are that she eat, until her soul calms down.

After that a few medical conditions are described, though not in modern terms. The "cure" in all cases is to eat/drink until the person seems recovered.

Nowadays, eating on Yom Kippur is usually permitted in advance for people who are prescribed certain medications, which should not be taken on an empty stomach. Since I live near the local synagogue, a neighbor has left food in my house for Yom Kippur eating. One year, before lighting the pre-Yom Kippur candles, I set up my fridge lights as or Shabbat, so I could open it without turning on the light. At the time I felt a bit foolish, since we don't need food on Yom Kippur, thank Gd, bli eyin haraa. But that year a neighbor unexpectedly needed to eat something for medical reasons, and I was able to serve her, even though unplanned.

These are the big questions for most:

• Whom do we ask about the possible dangers of fasting when suffering certain medical conditions? 
• Under what circumstance are we permitted or even required to eat on Yom Kippur?

Generally one is supposed to consult with a rabbi on matters of Jewish Law, but how much real medical knowledge does your rabbi have? Even doctors have specialties and patients are referred to specific doctors to treat different conditions. There are rabbis who recommend that the questioner consult with their doctor rather than making what is actually a medical decision. That is wisest and safest. 

Remember that Judaism promotes life, not endangering oneself. The fasting on Yom Kippur is important, but  it's not the essence of the day. The essence, the aim of Yom Kippur is our Teshuva, Repentance.

One of the reasons I make a Rosh Hashana "Fruit Head" is for a Healthy New Year

Inspiring Evening of Song

Last night, after breaking the Tzom Gedalia fast, there was an evening of inspiring song and stories by the father-son duo Binyamin and Avraham Yitzchak Rosensweig, l'ilui nishmato shel Avihu Keinan, HaY"D, who grew up in Shiloh.

Avihu was killed in a badly planned army action against Arab terrorists. Immediately after Avihu's death, his father Moshe, announced that in protest, he'd be marching on Jerusalem to the President's Residence, and that's what we did. Later on until Avihu's tenth yartzeit, his father led hikes in the area.

I must admit that except for the prayers in their repertoire, none of the songs were familiar. My genre of inspiring Jewish Music is from a previous generation or two, such as The Rabbis' Sons, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach and Diaspora Yeshiva Band. The most up-to-date are the songs sung by Yehuda Glanz.



It was a meaningful evening, just perfect, and wonderful to be with my Shiloh neighbors.

From the "Vineyards of the Mountains of Samaria," "כְרָמִ֔ים בְּהָרֵ֖י שֹֽׁמְר֑וֹן"

Jeremiah 31:

4Yet again shall you plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria, indeed planters shall plant [them] and redeem [them].

דעוֹד תִּטְּעִ֣י כְרָמִ֔ים בְּהָרֵ֖י שֹֽׁמְר֑וֹן נָטְע֥וּ נֹטְעִ֖ים וְחִלֵּֽלוּ:

It means a lot to me to have served grapes from our own Shiloh vineyard, a few grape vines growing near our house, on Rosh Hashana when we had just heard the above verse in the Haftara. It is clear to me that we are living in Messianic times. Things may not be perfect, but we are getting there, Gd willing speedily in our days...

Sound of the World's Silence at Arab Terror Against Israel

For me the most powerful "silence" is how the world ignores and excuses Arab terrorism against Israel. This terrorism goes on all the time. Southern Israel has been burnt the past few months by internally backed terrorists who have been launching insidious "kites" and "balloons" filled with incendiary materials.

The Arab terrorists in Gaza are being supported and mentored by NGOs from all over the world, and the only outraged headlines you'll see in foreign papers and news sites is when a Gazan rioter is killed or injured by the IDF.

GAZA BORDER COMMUNITIES ECONOMICALLY BATTERED BY KITE FIRES
In worst blaze to date, Gaza fire kites destroy vast parts of nature reserve

If the Arabs loved the land and considered it theirs, they wouldn't be burning it.


9-11 Sounds of Silence Tribute (Disturbed) from Cris Piaseinsa on Vimeo.

Have a Wonderful, Healthy, Joyful 5779

Cross-posted on A Jewish Grandmother

For those of you waiting for my annual Fruit Head to greet the New Jewish Year, here he/she is! A few decades ago, during my quarter century, yes, 25 years, as a vegetarian, I adapted our Rosh Hashana table to the reality that nobody in the family wanted to eat a fish head, or even look at one. So, since then I've decorated a fruit, usually an apple, in honor of the New Jewish Year.

I bless you with a year of comfortable companionship. May you never be alone.

The 5779 Fruit Head is joined by a רימון rimon, pomegranate, one of the fruits which has much spiritual significance in Judaism, read 9 Jewish Things About Pomegranates.

One of the principles of Judaism is that Gd is all over, not just in the synagogue, not just when you're praying or remembering Him. Judaism is a "full-time" religion, and we don't need an intermediary to pray to Gd. Gd also sees us all the time, what we do and what we think. We can't hide from Gd.

At the same time, Judaism is divided between the קודש וחול Kodesh v'Chol, the Holy/Gd and Ordinary People/things/everyday. That's why in Judaism it's not considered enough to just pray to Gd, even saying all the words ourselves, it's preferable to pray with a proper minyan, ten men prayer group, with a leader.

Judaism isn't a solitary religion; it's a community. We need other people, other Jews. We need family, even when the family isn't all biologically and legally related. We need the support of other people, and we must help and support in turn. Yes, there is a time when we give and when we receive. That concept is repeated in the book of קהלת Kohelet, Ecclesiastes.

Last week when I led our pre-High Holiday book club discussion on  קהלת Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, I asked if anyone knew why the writer, the son of King David, generally believed to be King Solomon, gave himself the name קהלת Kohelet. We couldn't think of a reason.

Maybe we're supposed to see ourselves as part of a long, complex Jewish History of Jewish People. There are repetitive cycles and lessons to be learned, and that is what King Solomon who is described in the Tanach/Bible as very wise is trying to tell us in קהלת Kohelet, Ecclesiastes. We are a very unique community קהל Kahal from the same linguistic root as קהלת Kohelet.

To survive we need both ordinary people and Gd. Even when things look bad, they are just part of the normal cycle, and we mustn't allow ourselves to wallow in depression. Reach out to others, humans and Gd. Don't be alone.

שנה טובה ומתוקה

גמר חתימה טובה

Rosh Hashana Greetings from PM Bibi Netanyahu and US Ambassador Friedman

I wonder if they used the same writer, production company.

But honestly, I don't care. I enjoy both videos.

Shana Tova to One and AllGmar Chatima Tovah

Gd's With Us and Waiting for Our Teshuva, Repentance

This wonderful story is inspiring. It's never too late. And we really don't know what's happening in the life and heart of other people.



Here's an all time favorite of mine. I think it's the one I chose to walk down the aisle at my wedding almost half a century ago.

Shabbat Shalom and Shanah Tovah

Shiloh, The Ideal Site for Jewish Prayer

I'm one of those who cannot justify or support the growing popularity of traveling to Uman to worship at Rebbe Nachman's grave, whether it's just any time or for Jewish Holidays. Actually, I'm turned off by the entire idea of worshipping at any grave, no matter how righteous the dead person may have been. I even stopped going to Kever Rachel years ago.

For me, the two holiest places for Jewish Prayer are the Temple Mount, Har HaBayit הר הבית and Shiloh, the location of the Biblical Tabernacle, Mishkan משכן. And after those two locations, any place from which you can see those sites and after that ordinary synagogues and places of regular Jewish Prayer.

Yes, I've said it. I know that not everyone agrees. Honestly, I have no doubt that the religious fervor that inspires worshipers at Uman can be created almost any place. It doesn't come from the dead body there. There's nothing in Judaism that supports the worship of the dead. We are only supposed to worship Gd, and worship Gd directly, not through an intermediary. We have an express person-to-person line to Gd, each and every one of us. We just have to dial the number.

We've been living in Shiloh since 1981; that's thirty-seven 37 years. Maybe if I lived someplace else I'd be less adamant about its holiness and significance. But considering that people of all religions come to Shiloh to pray, I don't think that I'm exaggerating about the centrality of Shiloh to Prayer.

Jewish theology is very firm about only worshipping Gd and the holiness and centrality of the Land of Israel. The concept of מקום makom, place,  ארץ Aretz Land is in the earliest words of the Bible, לך לך Lech Lecha, Go for your own sake...

12
לך לך
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־אַבְרָ֔ם לֶךְ־לְךָ֛ מֵאַרְצְךָ֥ וּמִמּֽוֹלַדְתְּךָ֖ וּמִבֵּ֣ית אָבִ֑יךָ אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַרְאֶֽךָּ׃

The LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 

Shiloh is in the Center of the Holy Land and was the first Capital City of the Jewish Nation when Joshua led the Jewish People back home after the exodus from Egypt. There wasn't even the need for a battle to conquer it. Just like in June, 1967, Iyyar, 5727, Shiloh welcomed the return of the Jewish People. There were no occupying enemies.

Halachot, Jewish Laws for Praying are based on the story of how Chana Hannah prayed in Shiloh for a son. She soundlessly mouthed the words, because Gd does not need sound to know what we are saying. And she didn't ask Eli the High Priest, because we do not need an intermediary, live or dead.

Today, over three thousand 3,000 years after Chana's iconic prayer, we know that a lone woman's prayer has as much power as a minyan of ten men, the required quorum, Jewish community prayer.

Now, just a couple of days before Rosh Hashannah, the Jewish New Year, we must attempt to repent for our sins, no matter how unintentional or accidental they were. Gd is waiting for our prayers, our Teshuva, Repentance.

It was wonderful seeing a new generation of Jewish Women learning, praying and celebrating in Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh at the Tefilat Chana, the same Shiloh where Chana prayed to Gd thousands of years ago.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to invite Jewish women to our Rosh Chodesh Prayers, which take place the beginning of each Jewish Month at Tel Shiloh. Next will be Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, Tuesday 30th of Tishrei 5779, October 9, 2018, 8:30am, Gd willing. תפילת נשים, ראש חודש חשון, ל' תשרי, יום ג',9/10/2019, 8:30, בשילה הקדומה, תל שילה. For more information email shilohmuse@gmail.com with Rosh Chodesh as subject.

Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh is open on weekdays and Chol Hamoed. For more information email visit@telshilo.org.il, or call 02-5789111.

Gd is Great! Such a Siyate d'Shamya Shopping Trip

Gd gifts us with miracles when we least expect them, and we really ought to open our eyes to Gd's gifts even among a mundane day.

We've had all sorts of intermittent internet and wifi disruptions for quite awhile. We figured that it's "normal" out in the sticks. But the other night the service just didn't return. Before Shabbat my husband had complained that his computer, a laptop in the boys' old bedroom, now his den, wasn't working. And after Shabbat, I noticed that my phone didn't show the wifi icon. So I pressed, pulled in and out the usual buttons and wires on the router, and things just got worse. No internet ether. So we called Bezeq.

After a couple of hours, remote control adjustments and multiple phone technicians, a lovely female tech told me that the chronic problems were caused by having the wrong type of cord from phone to wall, which needs a "box" instead of directly plugging it in. I needed a "rosh gadol" (large head) rather than the "Americai'i rosh katan" (small head, American.) With the right cord, I wouldn't need the box. She assured me that I could buy it in all sorts of stores besides the Bezeq store in Jerusalem.

At least she got the internet and wifi working again. Since I understood exactly what was needed, I decided to buy the cord and figured I'd find it in the humongous they have everything hardware, building supply shop in the local industrial zone. So yesterday late morning I braved the strong summer sun and heat to go down to shop for it. Nu, they didn't have it.

A bit later in the afternoon, I was getting antsy after being home so much and knowing that I still needed the cord and a new watch, too. There was no way I could reasonably get through Rosh Hashanah without a functioning watch, since we also don't have a wall clock. It's one of those things we still have to buy post-new kitchen. I decided to take a "quick trip" to Jerusalem to shop. Both the Bezeq store and Center 1 where I was hoping to find a watch are easy to get to on the bus near a bus stop. Of course, we never know if the bus will actually arrive, but that's another issue entirely.

Amazingly the bus showed and pretty much on time, but as we approached Sha'ar Binyamin I received notification that there had been an accident near Adam, and we could see traffic backed up. As the bus went into Shaar Binyamin I debated until the very last second about whether or not to get off and try shopping there, but I knew that they didn't have the stores I needed, so I prayed that I'd get to Jerusalem without too much delay. It was clocked at a forty minute delay, but at least Yirmiyahu Street was empty.

I ran to the Bezeq store, and the guard had mercy on me, even though as he said:
"It closes in one second."

I took a number and waited. Yes, I was the very last customer. Even though the clerk wasn't sure she had the cord I needed she checked and found one. It was only NS15, just a bit more than my roundtrip bus fare. I paid and then went to search for a watch in nearby Center 1.

In previous visits to Center 1 I had noticed a new watch stand, which had very thrifty prices, but suddenly it was gone. The closest stand I found with watches, better than the jewelry store or low quality discount store, had watches starting at NS100. I took a quick look and entered the main part of Center 1. There was an even smaller selection there, and the NS100 watches looked like rejects and had no guarantee.

I returned to the first watch stand and asked about guarantees:

"One year," the salesgirl replied.

First I took a look at the NS100 watches. There were two of the design I liked but not the colors. I tried a few on and ended up spending a bit more than I had planned, but the price was OK.

Now to get home, which is always a challenge, since so many buses are inexplicably cancelled sans notification.

After checking the efobus app and discovering that there wouldn't be a bus very soon, I got to the closest bus stop and grabbed the first bus to Hizme, the cityline. On the way, I checked efobus again, and it said that the Shiloh bus was actually on its way and would come in 15 minutes. Just as I stepped off the bus in Hizme, a car pulled up, my daughter. That was a super treat; she lives on the way to Shiloh. So I decided to catch my bus at her stop. A minute after I got off at that bus stop a car passed signalling to the right, in the direction of Shiloh. I quickly recognized my neighbor, signalled back and began chasing his car. B"H, thank Gd he noticed me stopped, and I had a ride straight to my door.

I thank Gd for His Mercy and Blessings

Yesterday's shopping trip was a gift from Gd Almighty for sure.

Good News for Blogspot Bloggers!

After a break of many months or longer, we can now again receive notification of comments on our blogs.

I don't know why they stopped sending us the letters, but I'm very happy that blogger has resumed the service.

To get notifications of comments the blogger must check the relevant section of the "set up" page. And if you used to get the notifications and now don't, you should have gotten a letter from blogger asking you to click that you want them resumed. If you haven't received the letter, it may be in spam. Check there, and/or do a search in your mail program for comments.

Happy blogging.

Nu? And What was That?

The other day while traveling by bus from Shiloh in the direction of Jerusalem on Road 60, there was strange stoppage by Givat Asaf, the junction to Beit El. I was sitting in the bus in the front, and this is what I saw:

While we passengers and the driver began discussing the possibilities, it suddenly cleared. Traffic moved, and the police/soldiers went back to wherever... So, what was it?

Why Should Kerry have Expected Bibi to Kowtow to Him?

Honestly, John Kerry should just get over it. His Democratic Party lost the 2016 Presidential Elections, and the winner, Donald Trump has a very different outlook and policy vis a vis Israel. Add to that the very simple fact that the Israeli public has voted Likud into office for most of the past forty years and totally reject American State Department policies.

JOHN KERRY VENTS FRUSTRATION OVER WORKING WITH NETANYAHU IN NEW BOOK

Another thing re: John Kerry is that he's not even popular in the United States. What recent elections has he won? Obama chose him as Secretary of State when Hillary Clinton decided to devote her energies into her failed presidential campaign. Kerry's a nobody, Hillary's a loser and Obama is history.

If you check recent Israeli polls you'll see that the Right-Religious bloc consistently beat out the Secular Left, and number two to Binyamin Netanyahu as prefered Prime Minister is "Don't Know" or "none of the above."

None of the Israeli political parties or Leftist politicians supported by Kerry and his backers have the true potential to garner the necessary trust to put together a successful ruling coalition. The Americans have interfered in Israeli politics/elections in the past and most probably the present, too, all unsuccessfully, except for the notoriously very short-lived Ehud Barak government.

Don't forget the outrageous and unprecedented campaign lame-duck Obama and Kerry waged in the United Nations against Israel. Why should any Israeli or diaspora Jew trust the policies and opinions of John Kerry?