Antisemitism In America, Why? Nu New?

I feel safest here in Israel

Antisemitism isn't new, not even in the USA. And it definitely predates Hitler in Germany.

Antisemitism has always been around. Go back five hundred 500 plus years to the Inquisition or a millennium 1,000 to the Crusades. And about a  thousand years before that, you have the background of the Chanukah story, you know that Jewish Holiday that just ended.

The American immigration quota system of 1924 was antisemitic among other forms of discrimination. The "euphemism:"

the purpose of the act was "to preserve the ideal of U.S. homogeneity."

In other words, the law was to preserve the traditional religious, ethnic population percentages as they stood in 1890. The descendants of the European invaders and occupiers of that large rich country, known today as The United States of America, wanted to preserve the racial and religious purity of their new country...

Don't forget that during World War Two, there was no military plan to destroy the Nazi death camps, And the American State Department had recommended to President Truman in November, 1947 to vote against an independent Jewish State in Judea, which had been renamed "Palestine" by Hadrian.

Truman may have defied the State Department in 1947, but today delegitimizing Israel in academia, media and diplomacy is the norm. Barack Hussein Obama's parting shot against Israel in the United Nations was unprecedented, not because of his anti-Israel policy, but because it's not accepted for "lame duck" presidents to take such a controversial action.

Since anti-Israel statements now come from Congress, the less erudite aren't afraid or embarrassed to use violence against Jews in America.

Come to your own conclusions. Those who agree, fine, and those who disagree... please think again. BDS, J-Street etc endanger ordinary Jews in the long run, more than they endanger Israel.

Drenched and Sick, Why Did I Vote in The Likud Primaries?

When I walked out of the house mid-morning to vote in the Likud Primaries, I thought that there was a break in the blessedly raining weather. To be safe, I wore a heavy winter coat and took an umbrella. Also the voting station wasn't far from the house, less than a ten minute walk...

Yes, you guessed it. It began to rain, but not too heavily. So I got to the voting station and voted.

Unlike at other elections and primaries, none of the local activists were there schmoozing. In all honesty I had been counting on their being at the voting station. If someone had been there, I could have gotten a ride home. I needed a ride home, even though the walk up wasn't that far. The rain had gotten stronger.

By the time I got home, I was soaked, feeling sick and totally miserable.As you can see from the picture, my coat and skirt were both soaking wet. Water even snuck in through the top of my waterproof boots. Yes, it was raining that hard. I had to change pretty much everything; that's how wet I had gotten.

Now, I still don't know who won, Bibi Netanyahu or the "challenger," Gidon Saar. I wasn't happy about Sa'ar's forcing these primaries before getting soaked in the rain. And now I'm even angrier.

If Sa'ar loses, not only has he added fuel to Blue & White's campaign against Likud, but he wasted money and made me sick.

Politics!

Likud Primaries Tomorrow, Not Good

Generally before Likud primaries, my phone doesn't stop ringing, and the messages come in like a tsunami flooding the shores. This time, until today/tonight, nothing.

A few hours ago, I even started reading the SMSs I had been ignoring, because I wanted to check if I was really a member of the party. I couldn't find anything from Bibi or Saar. Then I got two phone calls, one a recording of Bibi and the other a Gidon Sa'ar activist who hung up when I refused to commit to supporting him.

In the February Likud Primaries, less than a year ago, I voted in Jerusalem. Tomorrow I plan on voting here in Shiloh. I hope I don't have a problem. If so, they'll have to transport me to and from Jerusalem. In this weather I have no plans, nor desire to travel.

You may be curious about my choice. Who should get my vote tomorrow?

I'm very upset with Gidon Sa'ar for trying to replace Bibi Netanyahu at this crucial time in history.

Maybe Gidon Sa'ar is a good, honest man with the capabilities to be Israel's Prime Minister as leader of the Likud Party. I seriously don't like his timing.

I think Gidon Sa'ar would have done better to support Netanyahu against the Blue & White Party, which was patched together to demolish the Likud, not just be anti-Bibi. The instigators/backers/conspirators who are behind the establishment of Blue & White have changed the face of Israeli politics and government. They've headed their party with a man who has no political Knesset experience, wasn't a Knesset Member, wasn't a Government Minister. Especially since the Prime Minister needs to form and control a coalition of MKs of various parties, the "American style" of voting for the "head executive" is a recipe for disaster.

With all of my complaints about Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu, and I do have many, I think that this is the time to support him. Sa'ar should have shown party loyalty, rather than supporting the basic Blue & White campaign platform that "Bibi has to go."

If Sa'ar had made a point of saying that he came out of his temporary "retirement" to support the party leader, he would have shown more leadership and sense of responsibility. Don't forget that in Israel we don't vote for a Prime Minister. We vote for a political party, and the party that gets the most Knesset seats gets first crack in trying to form a ruling coalition.

IMHO and a half a century carefully following Israeli politics, I think that Gidon Sa'ar made a mistake. Win or lose, he didn't do the right thing, and win or lose it will come back to haunt him.

Let's just pray for the State of Israel. Gd willing, we'll survive this electoral mess.

The Prayer for the State of Israel

Geula Cohen, Genuine Israeli Hero

Yesterday morning I woke up to the sad news that Geula Cohen, Jewish patriot, fighter for Israeli Independence and Jewish Rights in all of the Land of Israel had passed away. Age-wise few of her peers and brothers in arms are still alive, but she had no peer in terms of her accomplishments.

Geula Cohen was an old soldier who didn't fade away.

After Israel's victorious War for Independence, Geula became a journalist, Knesset Member, party leader of Techiya, but never a politician who mastered or treasured the art of compromise.  Geula Cohen was an idealist to the end. Ideals and principles were foremost for her.

We knew Geula personally. She had been a guest in our home and family occasions, and we also attended her joyous events. My husband worked for her for many years. She'd travel to Shiloh by bus before she had a car. As a Knesset Member, Geula Cohen took advantage of the perk that offered all MKs free public transportation.

For me, personally, the death of Geula Cohen is the death of an old aunt. Geula was a role model for women trying to make it in a man's world. She didn't play the Feminist card. Geula was a mother, grandmother and proud Jew.

I'll never forget hearing her at a pre-election "Parlour Meeting" in Bayit Vegan, Jerusalem, promoting the Techiya Party. Someone asked if Techiya was a religious party.

"Religious party?" Geula repeated. "No, Techiya is a Jewish party."

Geula didn't like the labeling according to Jewish observance. Judaism for her was much larger than one's kitchen or Shabbat. She saw being Jewish as being part of a great People with its own Land and History.

At one point Geula and her son Tzachi Hanegbi both served in the Knesset, though representing different political parties. Geula was a Techiya MK, while Tzachi was with Likud. For the following election campaign Tzachi featured in a very unique Likud ad saying, as my memory serves me:

"People keep coming up to me saying they want to vote Techiya, because they love my mother. I also love my mother, but vote Likud."

I don't have the film of that, but I've included Geula's reaction to Prime Minster Menachem Begin's Camp David treaty with Egypt.

ברוך דיין האמת

Baruch Dayan Ha'emet

Blessed Be The True Judge

Sa'ar versus Netanyahu Bad For Likud

I never really thought much of Gidon Saar, the wannabe running against Bibi in the Likud Primaries. I've voted in many Likud Primaries in the past, and this one is bad news.

That's because it's obvious that Blue and White will be marking down all the nasty stuff said against each of Likud's candidates in order to use the dirt against the winner. So whoever wins will lose.

Saar should have declared that although in the future he thinks he'll be Likud leader, but for the good of the country and the party, he's supporting Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu so Likud will win the national Knesset Elections.

Could Saar be a pawn of whoever is bankrolling Blue and White?

Knesset Elections Ad Nauseum

I've just renamed a Facebook page/group I run "Knesset Elections Ad Nauseum." It used to be "Knesset Elections, 2019." That title worded rather efficiently even for the useless redo elections we went through later in the year, but then I had to add 2020, when Ad Nauseum seemed more suitable. Polls, which are polls not elections, keep predicting "more of the same," which makes us Israelis feel rather sick. Things are running fine, so maybe we don't need a coalition.

But the truth is, I'd like to call the upcoming elections:

"I Want Ice Cream, But Not Ben & Jerry's Elections" 

Do you know what this is based on?

I'm not sure of the source, but here in Israel, when you pass (run into) someone by chance the second time it's said:

פעם שלישית גלידה
Pa'am shlishit glida
Third time ice cream

So now, since we have elections scheduled for the third time in a year...

"you scream
I scream
we all scream for
ice cream"

But since the profits from Ben & Jerry's ice cream are used to support Extreme Leftist political causes, I'd rather starve than get theirs. I prefer Häagen-Dazs, which was established by Reuben and Rose Mattus who supported Jewish rights and communities all over. They even came to Shiloh in the early 1980s, where I met them.

Gevalt, what have I done? Now I'm craving Häagen-Dazs!

Is Insane Israeli Political Situation Due to Foreign Interference?

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will be continuing another few months as "interim," AKA "lame duck" Prime Minister. We're going to have a third round of Knesset elections in less than a year, and unless something very dramatic happens, the situation -stalemate- will continue ad nauseum. I suggest reading Arlene Kushner's article about it.

IMHO there are two guilty parties in this unprecedented situation, Avigdor Yvette Lieberman and the backers/instigators of Benny Gantz's Blue and White political party.

Lieberman has repeatedly destabilized Israeli Governments, and my guess is that there's foreign money behind Gantz and cronies. I'm not sure what's behind Lieberman. Could he have been planted here decades ago from the USSR? Or is he just "having fun" playing politics.

About Blue and White, don't forget that during Obama's US Presidency, there was blatant American interference in Israeli politics to unseat Likud's Bibi Netanyahu, V15. They haven't given up, and now they're targeting both Bibi and Donald Trump. I don't have the capabilities to prove it, but I have no doubt.

Words Can Be Dangerous, A Lesson From Torah Portions "Vayeitzei," and "Vayishlach"

Torah Portion "Vayeitzei" which begins in Bereishit Chapter 28:10 tells the saga of Jacob after he left his parents' home. It includes his "nap" in Beit El, marrying his two wives and the birth of most of his children.

Two dangerous things are said, one by Jacob and one by Rachel, which foretell or cause a tragedy.

First Rachel blames Jacob for her barrenness, rather than praying to Gd. Very dramatically she states:

30 ל׳

וַתֵּ֣רֶא רָחֵ֗ל כִּ֣י לֹ֤א יָֽלְדָה֙ לְיַעֲקֹ֔ב וַתְּקַנֵּ֥א רָחֵ֖ל בַּאֲחֹתָ֑הּ וַתֹּ֤אמֶר אֶֽל־יַעֲקֹב֙ הָֽבָה־לִּ֣י בָנִ֔ים וְאִם־אַ֖יִן מֵתָ֥ה אָנֹֽכִי׃
When Rachel saw that she had borne Jacob no children, she became envious of her sister; and Rachel said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die.”

And later in the Torah Portion, when Jacob and his family are fleeing Lavan, Lavan chases after them angry about two things. One is that Jacob left, and the other is that his personal idols had apparently been stolen by someone in Jacob's entourage.

31

וַיַּ֥עַן יַעֲקֹ֖ב וַיֹּ֣אמֶר לְלָבָ֑ן כִּ֣י יָרֵ֔אתִי כִּ֣י אָמַ֔רְתִּי פֶּן־תִּגְזֹ֥ל אֶת־בְּנוֹתֶ֖יךָ מֵעִמִּֽי׃
Jacob answered Laban, saying, “I was afraid because I thought you would take your daughters from me by force.
עִ֠ם אֲשֶׁ֨ר תִּמְצָ֣א אֶת־אֱלֹהֶיךָ֮ לֹ֣א יִֽחְיֶה֒ נֶ֣גֶד אַחֵ֧ינוּ הַֽכֶּר־לְךָ֛ מָ֥ה עִמָּדִ֖י וְקַֽח־לָ֑ךְ וְלֹֽא־יָדַ֣ע יַעֲקֹ֔ב כִּ֥י רָחֵ֖ל גְּנָבָֽתַם׃
But anyone with whom you find your gods shall not remain alive! In the presence of our kinsmen, point out what I have of yours and take it.” Jacob, of course, did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

I'm sure that you all know the result. In "Vayishlach" Rachel dies after giving birth to Binyamin. Gd turned her threat around. Rachel died from giving birth, not as a result of being barren. Jacob predicted her death in his very "Yiftach* moment" by declaring that someone must die without realizing the power of his words.

Every word has power, and I also see shadows of Rachel's threat in the failures of her descendant King Saul. Contrast Rachel and the names she gave her children with her sister Leah, who recognized Gd's power in the names she gave her children. King David is clearly her descendant and the leader most fitting to lead the Jewish People and produce the Moshiach.

*Judges 11וַיִּדַּ֨ר יִפְתָּ֥ח נֶ֛דֶר לַיהוָ֖ה וַיֹּאמַ֑ר אִם־נָת֥וֹן תִּתֵּ֛ן אֶת־בְּנֵ֥י עַמּ֖וֹן בְּיָדִֽי׃
And Jephthah made the following vow to the LORD: “If you deliver the Ammonites into my hands,
וְהָיָ֣ה הַיּוֹצֵ֗א אֲשֶׁ֨ר יֵצֵ֜א מִדַּלְתֵ֤י בֵיתִי֙ לִקְרָאתִ֔י בְּשׁוּבִ֥י בְשָׁל֖וֹם מִבְּנֵ֣י עַמּ֑וֹן וְהָיָה֙ לַֽיהוָ֔ה וְהַעֲלִיתִ֖הוּ עוֹלָֽה׃ (פ)
then whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me on my safe return from the Ammonites shall be the LORD’s and shall be offered by me as a burnt offering.”

Coalition Politics: How To Banish Avigdor Lieberman to The Sidelines

There are many dimensions to the political situation present in Israel right now. On one hand I agree with the various opinions of Arlene Kushner, Caroline Glick and Ruthie Blum.

But last night as I was falling asleep, I suddenly had the solution to the Avigdor Lieberman problem. He has evolved or devolved from a strong Right wing Likud activist politician to a dangerous political anarchist, who gets his kicks from breaking up government coalitions and driving most everyone crazy. Inexplicably he has enough followers to keep him in the Knesset with sufficient MKs to stymie every possible coalition. Avigdor Lieberman wants to be the kingmaker and Prime Minister. I've come up with a way to lock Lieberman out of the government.

It's pretty obvious, once you think about it. Of course it's based on a shaky double "if."

If both Gantz and Bibi really want to avoid another useless round of Knesset Elections...

If both Gantz and Bibi really are sick of Avigdor Lieberman's dangerous political games...

Likud's Binyamin Netanyahu and Blue & White's Benny Gantz do no need Avigdor Lieberman to form a broad coalition together. Both parties got over thirty 30 seats in the last elections. Together that's the majority needed to form a government. Both of them can say that:

"For the good of the State of Israel, we must have a strong government, a broad-based government of Right, Left, religious and secular. We welcome all parties, all MKs who want to work together for the betterment and security of the State of Israel into our coalition."

That's it. That's what most Israeli citizens really want.

Can someone please send them the message ASAP...

Chanukah, Rosh Chodesh Tevet, Save The Date

Last Friday, women from Gush Shiloh, Eli and Shiloh, celebrated Rosh Chodesh Kislev praying together in Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh.

בראש חודש כסלו נשים מגוש שילה הגיעו להתפלל ביחד, ככל ראש חודש.

Our next Women's Rosh Chodesh dovening will be Rosh Chodesh Tevet at the end of Chanukah, Sunday December 29, 1st of Tevet, 8:30am

תפילת נשים לכבוד ראש חודש טבת תהיה א' טבת, יום א',  29-12-2019 ב8:30 בבוקר בשילה הקדומה, תל שילה. לפרטים נוספים
  shilohmuse@gmail.com, subject: ראש חודש

נשים ונערות מוזמנות

For more information contact shilohmuse@gmail.com, subject: Rosh Chodesh. Women invited. 

Shiloh Hakeduma, a beautiful archaeological site, where the Biblical Tabernacle stood for almost four hundred years, is open to visitors of all ages on weekdays. For more information contact Phone: 02-5789122, visit@telshilo.org.il.