Chanukah Rosh Chodesh Tevet-- Women's Prayers

 

Women's Rosh Chodesh Prayers Gd willing next Sunday. 

For other Chanuka events at Tel Shiloh, Shiloh Hakeduma call 02-5789122, write to visit@telshilo.org.il.

Will There Be Harmony in Bibi's New Coalition?

Political Chaos, my 52frames photo from Chaos album, week 44, 2022

Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu, longtime head of the Likud party, had gathered a number of ambitious political parties to campaign as one block calling themselves the "Right" wing. 

The chareidi parties are his veteran coalition partners, though "Right" isn't how any honest political expert would label them. Actually, the Likud, which does call itself "Right" is more Center-Left when in power. 

But the bloc that Bibi orchestrated of truly Right and uncompromisingly patriotic religious parties of Smutrich and  Ben-Gvir was the key to his electoral plan. Bibi had hoped to be able to control them, but they're turning out to be more of a Frankenstein. 

Smutrich and Ben-Gvir know very well that many in the Israeli public, even those who didn't vote for them, support or sympathize with their views. It's very much like an Israeli version of Ronnie Reagan's "silent majority." They also know that if Bibi dumps them and makes a desperate deal with Ganz or Lapid, he'd lose the trust/votes of veteran Likud voters. Don't take the media too seriously, as in the rest of the world-- it's Leftist. A majority of Israelis are Right and religiously traditional or religious. That's why Bibi crafted his campaign in that direction and succeeded, though I'm not sure why he sabotaged Ayelet Shaked after approving her. 

It seems like these recent elections were the easy part for Netanyahu; coalition negotiations are a very public nightmare. Likud MKs should be used to getting the scraps of what's left after Bibi gives the goodies to those he needs on his team. I wonder if Bibi was surprised at the toughness of Smutrich and Ben-Gvir while haggling over ministries. He may have thought of them as inexperienced, but they certainly aren't. And their followers expect kavod, honor.

At this point, Bibi may almost have all the pieces put together with the exception of the Chareidim and his own people. No doubt the success of Smutrich & Ben-Gvir may embolden the chareidim to make more demands. Nobody wants to be a "sucker." 

So far Smutrich and Ben-Gvir haven't gotten in the way of chareidi parties, but considering the amount of rabbis and yeshiva students in their camp it's only a matter of time. 

Think about it--  If this is the courtship, what type of marriage will they have? Ironically the Bennet-Lapid government was touted as a coalition of very different parties looking to work together for the sake of the country, and it lasted over a year. It would have lasted longer except for Bibi's dirty tricks. 

What's next?

Women's Rosh Chodesh Kislev Prayers

 

Women's Rosh Chodesh Kislev Prayers

Rosh Chodesh Kislev 5783

Friday November 25, 2022 8:30am

Tel Shiloh, Shiloh Hakeduma

תפילת נשים

ראש חודש כסלו תשפ"ג 

בשילה הקדומה 

יום שישי 25\11\2022 ב8:30 

You can spend the day at Tel Shiloh, Shiloh Hakeduma. For more information 02-5789122  visit@telshilo.org.il. There's always a lot to see and do there.

Israeli Elections 2022: The Coalition Competition Will be Fierce

 

Spare Ballots if Needed

Here's the Choice of Political Parties

The previous elections were about a year and a half ago, which seems like ages, considering that the previous few were closer together. Most of those elections ended without coalitions. As I've written a number of times, Bibi Netanyahu and his merry band discovered an easy way to power--- being the interim Prime Minister/Government. 

Well, now Likud hasn't been in power for over a year. For them to return, no matter how many MKs they have, they need to supplement the number so it reaches over sixty to have a majority coalition. But now, the cat's out of the bag, and sitting Prime Minister Yair Lapid can play the same trick if he convinces enough Knesset Members not to join with Netanyahu.

This should be fun to watch.

You may be wondering why I'm not cheering on a specific party or leader. Well, like many Israelis I'm not very enamored with the choices. It's like watching a football or basketball match when you just want to see their skills, and you don't care which team wins.

That may sound strange to you. We are discussing the government which has power over security, growth etc. I'm feeling rather jaded about it. I just keep remembering the excitement when certain people became Prime Minister, and then how they surprised us with policies totally opposed to their platform/ideology, totally opposed to mine, too. So, we'll see what happens and I'll decide issue by issue and pray very hard.

We Survived the Holocaust: The Bluma and Felix Goldberg Story, Book Review

 

We Survived the Holocaust: The Bluma and Felix Goldberg Story is graphic memoir. Graphic here means cartoonish pictures. Bluma and Felix Goldberg's story is a true story. Things are obviously simplified, since it's short and written for children.

Times have certainly changed. Not long ago the Book Club I'm a member of chose Holocaust Literature as the genre for a meeting. Most members are of my generation, who grew up in the post World War Two 1950s. Besides The Diary of Anna Frank, there wasn't any Holocaust book for even an older child to read. Now libraries and book stores have shelves full of Holocaust Literature of all sorts for all ages, though it's hard to find books suitable for children. 

We Survived the Holocaust is illustrated in black and white which suits to subject matter and is a reminder that the Holocaust was a dark and dangerous time.  Here are a series of pages to give you an idea.

The general message is survival and heroism. Bluma and Felix Goldberg's story is totally amazing, and it's true, which makes it even better. It's almost incomprehensible to imagine ordinary people taking such risks and surviving such dangers. But we all know that somehow some people did survive and establish families and businesses after the war, after the Nazis had been defeated.

We Survived the Holocaust is an excellent tool for teaching children about Nazis and the Holocaust. As wonderful as the Goldbergs' story is, we mustn't forget that the majority of European Jewry was murdered during the Holocaust, whether gassed, gunned down or as the result of malnutrition/starvation or illness. The dead can't speak.

To help the reader, there are a timeline, a glossary, an index and recommended resources. We Survived the Holocaust: The Bluma and Felix Goldberg Story includes a postscript and information about the Goldberg children. I highly recommend it.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Imagine and Wonder; First edition (September 1, 2022)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 156 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1637610203
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1637610206
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 14 - 17 years
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 0.4 x 9.5 inches

Rosh Chodesh Marcheshvan Soon

Save the date! 

Women's Rosh Chodesh Prayers at Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh, Gd willing in another week!

It's always surprising how soon Rosh Chodesh comes after Simchat Torah, so I hope you can make it on Tuesday October 25, 2022 at 8:30am.

ראש חודש מרחשון

תפילת נשים בשילה הקדומה

25\10\2022 ב8:30

כולן מוזמות

תמיד יש הרבה לעשות בשילה הקדומה

There's always a lot to do at Tel Shiloh

For more information 025789111, visit@telshilo.org.il פרטים נוספים

Likud & Cronies Care More About Power Than The Needs of Israeli Citizens

Outgoing Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu refused to politely 
congratulate incoming Prime Minister Naftali Bennett

No doubt you can guess that these are photos of my television screen showing the historic day when Naftali Bennett became Israel's Prime Minister. The dominant figure we see in both pictures isn't Bennett, it is former Prime Minister Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu. You can feel his fury in his eyes and body language.

Bibi showed himself to be a "sore loser." Not only did he lose the office, the political position he cherished and thought would be his for many more years, but he lost the respect of many. Unlike Shimon Peres, whose politics were at the opposite end of the political spectrum from Netanyahu, and in fact unlike all of his predecessors, Netanyahu showed no dignity, no respect for legal process. As we say in Jewish slang:

Bibi's no mensch.

The standard custom in Israel is for the outgoing Prime Minister to publicly congratulate his successor, no matter how far apart they are politically. Afterwards he/she conducts a proper civilized traditional "handover" process in which procedural matters top secret information are passed on so that the government continues to function in an efficient manner.

Netanyahu orchestrated the most disgusting antidemocratic display in the history of the State of Israel. He and his fellow Likud MKs along with the rest of his mafia just screamed, cursed and insulted the incoming government. It was horrifying to see close to half of our Knesset Members acting like drugged/drunk juvenile delinquents. 

Now here we are over a year later, and we have not heard a single apology. In a few days, we will be celebrating the second Rosh Hashanah since that unforgettably horrible scene. According to Jewish Law, a public sin demands a public apology. How anyone can vote for any of them, their parties, ever again is beyond my comprehension! 

If that wasn't proof enough of their moral depravity, the opposition went on a two-pronged attack, macro and micro. The micro* comprised the targeting of various coalition MKs to harass them, taunt them and tempt them, or simply to buy them out with promises of safe spots in the Likud list in the next elections. As proof, former Yemina MKs took their seats from the coalition are now Likud candidates with guarantees to be Likud MKs.

The macro attack required the opposition to vote against all laws proposed by the government, even those which they actually favored. Anything, any political weapon to use against the Bennett government became legitimate in their eyes, no matter what the cost to ordinary Israeli citizens. With a very weakened coalition, see micro*, the so-called Right wing opposition voted against the Settlement Law endangering the security, health and more of Israeli citizens in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley. 

If Netanyahu had really led a Right wing government during the decade plus he had been in power, he would have declared Israeli sovereignty on these areas, and then there would have been no need for periodic renewal of the Settlement Law.

 Naftali Bennett was not willing to risk harming Jews whose security, health and more required the renewal of the Settlement Law, so he stepped down from his position as Prime Minister, which necessitated new elections. According to the coalition agreement he had with Yair Lapid, if the government falls because of the actions of the sitting Prime Minister's MKs, then the other one becomes the sitting Prime Minister. Bennett who is an honorable man honored that commitment. 

Even with the mask on, you can see that Bibi Netanyahu
isn't happy when he discovered that Naftali Bennett 
had become Prime Minister just over a year ago.

 

Why Not To Vote Likud and Its Puppet Parties

My antipathy to the Likud is very old, almost as old as the party itself, which is strange considering my Betar background and has nothing to do with today's politics, or does it? 

Our aliyah, fifty-two 52 years ago this week was very connected to Menachem Begin's Herut Party and Betar, especially considering that we spent the greater part of our first year living in Maon Betar, the Betar Youth/Student Hostel, now known as the Plugat Hakotel building in Jerusalem's Old City. Like our friends from Betar, we joined, and are still members of, Kupat Cholim Leumit, and we became dues paying members of Herut, the Revisionist/Betar party. Herut joined with the Liberal Party making Gush Cherut Liberalim, aka GaHaL, which evolved into Likud.

In 1970, after over twenty years of independence, there was only one dominant party, Mapai/Labor, Leftist, secular and socialist. The National Religious Party, which besides having a few rabbis and a lot of kippot had similar policies and joined them religiously in their coalition governments and the Rabbinate. Only during the time of emergency just before the 1967 Six Days War had Menachem Begin and Gahal been invited to join the government.

Cracks in the close political partnership between Mapai/Labor and the NRP began to surface after the great miraculous 1967 Six Days War victory. The government and its agricultural monopoly chose which land to settle only according to financial export advantages probably chosen by Agrexco which was the export monopoly, the Golan for growing fruit and the warmer Jordan Valley and northern Sinai where melons and summer vegetables could be grown for export in the winter. The National Religious Party and its Bnai Akiva youth movement began pushing to return to its former kibbutzim in Gush Etzion, which had been destroyed by the Arabs in the War for Independence. In addition, there were attempts to settle Hebron and various locations in the Shomron because of their Jewish/Biblical importance. The government opposed such settlements and gave in on just a symbolic few.

Post Six Days War the IDF and government/military leaders were cocky and overconfident. The "conceptziah" was that the Arabs would never dare attack us again after our great victory, so we weren't at all prepared for the surprise attack on Yom Kippur 1973. After a few very difficult weeks and many dead, wounded and captured Israelis, Gd gave us another miraculous victory. 

The Israeli electorate was shell-shocked, mourning and talked of not celebrating the upcoming Independence Day, but they voted for their usual parties, returning the veteran/traditional coalition to power in the elections soon after the war. Israelis have trouble changing political choices. 

Polls had been showing more of the same for the 1977 elections, but when the votes were counted the pundits were totally shocked to discover that Menachem Begin's Likud had gotten the most votes. His longtime supporters were overjoyed expecting government support of new Jewish communities all over Judea and Samaria, besides the exiting ones in the Golan, Jordan Valley and Sinai. Instead of annexing all the land liberated in 1967 and promoting building Jewish communities all over, Begin crossed Mapai's redlines and offered Anwar Sadaat a Judenrein Sinai as a peace deal cheered on by US President Jimmy Carter. The homeless Jews from the Sinai were offered new communities in Gush Katif, and then a few decades later, another Likud Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, destroyed Gush Katif making a new generation of Jewish pioneers homeless. As a Likud election campaign slogan stated: "Only the Likud can..."

Here we are almost a half a century later... The religious public has changed; the National Religious Party is no more, though the backroom boys keep trying to repackage and resurrect it. We began to see more and more religious MKs, who were members of other political parties, since religious Israelis had begun to see themselves as Israelis first, free to choose a political party by ideology. I see this as a maturation of Israeli society. And on the Left, today the Labor Party is an anorexic shadow of its former self barely getting the minimum votes for Knesset representation. 

During the decade plus that Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu has ruled the Likud and served as Prime Minister, the chareidi political parties give Bibi their full support in exchange for the Rabbinate. Non-chareidi Torah observant Jews are blocked. This concerns, Kashrut, conversion, marriage and many other crucial issues that affect us all. 

The bottom line here is that most Likud voters actually don't like this chareidi monopoly on the Rabbinate, though they support and strengthen it with their Likud vote. The Bennett-Lapid coalition gave Matan Kahane the Ministry for Religion which controls the Rabbinate. I have no doubt that most Likud voters, if they bother checking what he has been doing, really would support him much more than the chareidi control.

Very important is to consider whether or not Binyamin Netanyahu's Likud actually promotes Right wing policies. The truth is that it doesn't, and I for one am not surprised, because I heard Bibi announce that he wouldn't. At the International Jewish Bloggers Conference in 2008, Netanyahu was the guest speaker and told us of his plans for when he would be reelected Prime Minister. I was standing barely a meter from him and heard him very clearly state that:

 "as Prime Minister I will be Centrist."

Netanyahu's stated reason was that he thinks that a "national leader" should have a policy in the middle. Whatever hope and loyalty to Likud that had somehow survived Begin and Sharon's destructive policies was totally wiped out by that, as far as I'm concerned. We've seen since then how when Bibi's campaigning for votes he loves the Right label, but if you look at his policies, riddled with building freezes, Jewish community and housing destruction. 

Most recently we all witnessed the despicable act of ordering his MKs to vote against the Settlement Law, because Bibi and his cronies, Likud and Chareidi MKs, have only one aim-- returning to power. They don't care whom they harm or bribe (with promises of "safe" places on the Likud list) as they do it. Their only principle is preserving their power, and they want to be back in the drivers seat.

Davka, I consider the criminal investigation of Bibi to be a political witch hunt, and I think the street demonstrations telling him to resign to be antidemocratic. There's a legal political process in a democracy, and top office should never be chosen by the police or the street. We vote.

I do see a distortion/loophole that Netanyahu has exploited to preserve power, which goes against the spirit of the law, though it's technically legal. Until Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid put together their coalition, Bibi had established a pattern of serial/perpetual power. It looked like he'd be the "interim" or  caretaker Prime Minister forever alternating with elections that didn't result in MKs who could agree on a coalition. Look carefully at what had been happening before the Bennett-Lapid agreement.

Sorry this is so long; it's the longest blog post I've written in years. I suggest clicking the links to give you more information. I welcome your questions and comments.

Rosh Chodesh Elul 5782 Women's Prayers

This year's Rosh Chodesh Elul is a two day affair, but since the first day is this upcoming Shabbat, our plans are to meet at Tel Shiloh, Shiloh Hakeduma, on Sunday the 1st of Elul, August 28th, 8:30am.

ראש חודש אלול תפילת נשים

שילה הקדומה

יום א' , א' אלול 28\08\2022 ב8:30

פרטים: SHILOHMUSE @GMAIL.COM

I suggest you plan on spending a few hours there after the Women's Rosh Chodesh Prayers, since there's so much to do. Even if you've been at Tel Shiloh before, you'll find new things, since there are a few teams of archeologists working and discovering...

For more information contact the Tel Shiloh office 02-5789122 or visit@telshilo.org.il.

Big Question-- Which Party Should I Vote For?

 Simply put:

The politicians I want to see in the Knesset and even better in the next government aren't running on the same party list.

At this point, I don't know for which party I'll vote vote.

There are still two and a half months until the next Israeli Elections. That should give me time to decide Gd willing.

Am I the only one in such a quandary?

Deja Vu, Yes, Again

The State of Israel, various governments including Bibi Netanyahu have established a dangerous custom of stopping wars before we've won them.

The State of Israel, various governments including Bibi Netanyahu have established a dangerous custom of warning our enemy civilians before we attack their buildings.

The State of Israel, various governments including Bibi Netanyahu have established a dangerous custom of telling our enemies when we're ready for a ceasefire.

That's why:

• our civilians suffer rocket attacks from the Gaza terrorists pretty much every year
• our enemies aren't afraid of us
• we never manage to actually win. It's the loser who's supposed to ask for a ceasefire, but we keep rushing to do it.

I'm sick of this. Aren't you?  This is so deja vu.

Kenes Shiloh 2022, Better Than Ever

I've included a selection of photos in no particular order.

There was  wealth of talks this past Sunday at the 11th Kenes Shiloh at Shiloh Hakeduma, Ancient Shiloh, the location of the Biblical Tabernacle. 

I particularly enjoyed the Biblical ones, since my "chevruta," the Bible study group I'm in has been learning Jeremiah, which was mentioned by some of the speakers. In Jeremiah the destruction is mentioned as a given, though there is nothing written about such an event prior. Good question.

The archeology section of the talks concentrated on new discoveries highlighting Scott Stripling, who was finally able to bring his professionally skilled volunteers for a dig and our home-grown archeologist Reut Leviatan Ben-Arye. 

In the "basilica," there was an exhibit celebrating one hundred years since the Danish expedition to Shiloh, the first modern dig here.

Shiloh Hakeduma, Ancient Shiloh is open weekdays, and I highly recommend visiting. There's lots to see and do. It can also be reached by public transportation, a short walk from the Shiloh Junction. Contact Phone: 02-5789122, Fax: 02-9948011 or visit@telshilo.org.il.

  

Scott Stripling

Reut Leviatan Ben-Arye

Har Menuchot, Givat Shaul, Jerusalem, Walls of Graves

Yesterday I was at a funeral in Har Menuchot, Givat Shaul, Jerusalem. Unlike the usual noontime summer funeral, we didn't bake in the heat, nor get sunburned. After the ceremony in the airconditioned hall, we got into vehicles and traveled to the newly constructed graves.

 Yes, constructed; it's a building with wide, long corridors decorated by graves stacked four high. 

Each wall is labeled/coded to indicate which floor, section and level, so that the grave can be easily located. Yes, these are today's and tomorrow's graves. People can still request and pay more for an outdoor grave in more natural dirt, rather than the soil added by the Chevra Kadisha, but in a small country like Israel, where land is limited and expensive, these graves make more sense. If you believe in ecology and "saving the earth and natural resources," this type of cemetery is what you should request for yourself.

While walking down the long corridor, following a friend to her "final resting place," I couldn't stop mentioning how lovely it looks. As you can see in the photos, people have found ways to decorate and individualize the plaques. 

The older "stacked" section of Har Menuchot, Givat Shaul, Jerusalem is much less attractive. They remind me of "office drawers" in some archive. But this new section is actually lovely in the way that the Military Cemetery in Mount Herzl is attractive, though this one is indoors and Mount Herzl is a well-tended garden.

Apparently the administration of Har Menuchot, Givat Shaul, Jerusalem is constructing kilometers of buildings like these instead of wasting the Holy Land on the dead rather than the living.

Thankfully Not All Israelis Embarrassed Themselves Over Biden's Visit

Everyone who heard that I would be in Jerusalem today thought I had lost my mind; even I had doubts. But since cousins were in from the states, and this was their only day...

Why was this considered a ridiculous irresponsible day to be in Jerusalem?

Street closings for the Biden visit were expected to wreck havoc in Jerusalem. Well, that may have been true in some neighborhoods, but not the routes I and my cousins would be taking to meet each other. 

Israel always goes overboard when top American officials show up, and I'm not just talking about closing major roads and highways. Prime Minister Lapid and President Herzog were smiling so broadly, you'd think they just won the lottery, Nobel Peace Prize and had been crowned Kings of The World.

The so-called pundits on television stupidly took Biden's speech seriously confusing a "speech" with policy. Every time an American President comes they make the same idiotic mistake, and that includes the visits of Clinton, the Bushes and even Obama. Each president, no matter how little they think of Israel comes armed with an amazing pro-Israel speech. And each time we hear the same dumb commentary by pundits and reporters who think that these "I love Israel" speeches are actual policy. It's all cosmetics, like hair dye and plastic surgery.  

The young and memory challenged in the media either forgot or never knew and didn't research that it was davka Biden who was nasty to then Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Besides that, the United States has never really supported the State of Israel when we were in danger. To be honest, I don't care, since Gd's help from our prayers is what we really need. I'd just prefer that our government officials understand it, besides not making up stories about "friendship." We're not allies. We can't rely on the USA. The State Department makes real policy there. Donald Trump overrode it in favor of Israel, consistently going against State Department demands. That's a major reason why he is so hated in Washington DC. But that's another story.

Davka, today I walked through both the Arab shuq in the Old City and the Machaneh Yehuda Market besides taking the lightrail. 

It was business as usual in the Jerusalem I visited. There was no sign of the Biden visit until I got on the bus going home, and the driver was listening to the radio. But I don't pick fights with the bus drivers... I just took out my book and read it.

Shmitta 5782 Berry Picking at Bikurei Shilo

Moriah Rapaport Shapiro is seen here talking
to our group about Shmitta and the story of the 
picking farm Bikurei Shilo.

Shmitta, The Sabbatical of the Land comes every seven years, parallel or similar to our Holy Shabbat Sabbath which is every seven days. The big difference is that while Shabbat is required for all Jews in all parts of the world, and even universe, shmitta is only for those fruits and vegetables grown in the Land of Israel on Jewish owned Land.

During our two thousand years of exile, when Jews weren't working or owning the Land, shmitta became an unobserved and unknown mitzvah, even more so than the Mitzvot only observed in the Holy Temple. 

Shmitta only became relevant again when Zionist pioneers began farming in the Land of Israel. Rabbis, Jewish landowners and farmers-- many who weren't Torah observant have been struggling for well over a century to find ways to faithfully observe the mitzvah without damaging the economy. A few years ago, I reviewed a fascinating book about how the pioneers of Mazkeret Batya struggled for the rights to strictly observe shmitta, Rebels in the Holy Land, The Story of Mazkeret Batya.

Before we were allowed to pick the fruit, blueberries and raspberries, Moriah explained to us the history of the "farm" and psak, Torah decisions it's basing its shmitta practice. The fruit which is now ripening is the holy seventh 7th year fruit, so it can be eaten but not wasted. Any which must be thrown out is put in special receptacles, which they will handle later.

After the talk, we were each given a small container and set off to pick the fruit. The blueberries are delicious, a real treat. We got a lot of exercising while picking, since the ripe ones were low down on the bushes. There were very few raspberries ripe for the picking when we were there. Later in the season there will also be blackberries, Gd willing.

For more information on when to visit, open Sunday-Friday except for Jewish holidays, contact 0527966630. Bikurei Shilo is at the western side of the Shilo Junction and can be reached by car or bus. Individuals, families and groups are welcome. Their facebook page is in Hebrew, but you can message them in English. 

You can arrange tours and shmitta explanations in Hebrew and/or English for families and groups. Other activities are "tractoron" tours among the vineyards, bows & arrows, blow up playground activities, pitta baking, arts & crafts and more. Give them a call.

Besides the picking fruit, they sell all sorts of snacks including an "ice pop" made of their own fruit, which is absolutely delicious. There's also a playground for children.

We had a wonderful time, highly recommended for all ages.

Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid Switch Hats

I AM JUST STATING FACTS

Unlike when Bibi Netanyahu had promised Benny Gantz to "switch hats" and hand over the office of Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett kept his promise to Yair Lapid and followed the coalition agreement they had made just over a year ago. Within a few hours Yair Lapid will be Prime Minister of the State of Israel, and Naftali Bennett will be at his side helping him get acquainted with his new position, again unlike Bibi's abominable behavior a year ago.

Outgoing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett

Last night Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke to the nation on television and internet, since live TV can be accessed there, too. He announced that he's taking a leave of absence from politics and does not plan to run in the next Knesset elections on November 1, after summer vacation and Jewish Holidays. I have no idea what his plans are, but I'm sure that his family will enjoy the relative quiet after this difficult year. Bennett is extremely wealthy, so he doesn't need to look for work.

Minister of the Interior Ayelet Shaked will head Yamina at this point. I'm not making any predictions nor quoting rumors. When there's real news, I'll probably blog my opinion. As I've written before, I considered the coalition to be  wonderful attempt for Israelis of all stripes to work together, and it reminds me of the Holy Ketoret.

My husband and I made aliyah in 1970 when the Labor Party and Histadrut held all power in the State of Israel. The country hadn't yet fully absorbed the broad implications of the 1967 Six Days War victory. The IDF took credit for the miracle, and then three years later on Yom Kippur the Arabs attacked, and it took a too long and too many Jewish lives to push them back. Even after that it took almost four years for Labor to lose power and the Likud to take over. Too many Israelis couldn't imagine any other party and leadership running the country... Sounds familiar; doesn't it? I see deja vu. Been there done that. Within a few years Likud as we now know it will be history or a shadow of its present self, just like Labor today...

Ketoret Government Incinerated By Political Prostitutes

No doubt some people won't like or get this title.

Ketoret Government:

The Bennett-Lapid coalition, which did manage to govern for a year and pass budgets is made of rather conflicting political parties. These parties decided to look for what they agree on for the common good. This reminds me of Ketoret:

“God said to Moses: Take fragrances such as balsam, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense, all of the same weight, as well as other fragrances. Make the mixture into incense, as compounded by a master perfumer, well-blended, pure and holy.” (Ex. 30:34-5)

Some of the ingredients of Ketoret are sweet and others bitter. There may even be some which are poisonous, but together they are holy. The Ketoret was necessary for prayer in the Mishkan Tabernacle and later in the Holy Temple. 

Watching the coalition MKs Right, Left and Center, Jews and Arabs working together reminds me of the Holy Ketoret. Honestly I would have preferred a more ideologically Right coalition, but the MKs weren't willing. Bibi and his henchmen held tight to the mafia of Likud and chareidi MKs, plus the rabble-rouser Right prefer the bullhorn to the nitty gritty of administration. 

As the Bennett-Lapid coalition was sworn in a year ago, we heard two things. The expert political pundits predicted that the coalition wouldn't last a month, and the opposition showed their true antidemocratic stripes by cursing and mocking, rather than accepting their defeat.

I have no doubt that Bibi Netanyahu could have cobbled together a viable coalition if he had wanted to, but he and his mafia had begun to enjoy the perks of office as "interim," "caretaker" government, which can't be voted out of office. They just keep calling periodic elections, no checks and balances, just POWER.

This past year Yemina MKs, not part of the strong Ketoret ideology were targeted and "urged" to break from their party. Instead of acting like moral people, they took their "seats" with them. Here in Israel there aren't personal elections. Those of us who voted Yemina got our votes stolen. If they wanted to leave, they should have resigned their Knesset seats. And because the fault of the government's demise was from them, we now have Yair Lapid as Prime Minister. Bennett didn't do any dirty trick like Netanyahu did to Gantz.

It's going to take a few more years to truly push Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu and his mafia out of power. Remember, or if you're too young- please listen, it took almost six full years after the horror of the "conceptizia" which almost caused our defeat in the Yom Kippur War for Labor to be voted out of office. Gd willing it won't take so long for Israelis to realize the dangers of the Bibi-chareidi rule. 

Praying...

Back to Elections

Rabbi Pinchas Stolper, ZTz"L, Plugged the Assimilation Leak

 

NCSY National Convention 1967
That's me receiving Standards Award from Rabbi Stolper

Rabbi Pinchas Stolper passed away a few weeks ago. If you google his name, you'll find information and a number of obituaries. None of them touches on the man who was instrumental in introducing me to "Torah True Judaism" as he had called it, during my years, mid-late 1960s, in NCSY National Conference of Synagogue Youth of the OU.

Immediately upon reading an email announcing his death and planned burial in Jerusalem, I contacted a few old friends from NCSY who live here in Israel not far from me. It was clear to me that I had to attend his funeral. According to Jewish Tradition, attending the funeral honors the dead person, and a shiva visit comforts the mourners. From the announcement there wouldn't even be a shiva in Israel.

Who, you may be wondering, was Rabbi Stolper? And how close was I to him? To be perfectly honest, I'd never been invited to his home and don't remember much in actual personal conversations, except when we were preparing posters for the NCSY marchers in the 1967 Salute to Israel Parade, just after the Six Days War. Rabbi Stolper couldn't contain his joy at Israel's miraculous victory. Rabbi Stolper did attend my wedding in 1970 where he spoke about Israeli History from the vantage point of a Betari, which we had in common. See my husband's blog post about Rabbi Stolper on the Betar blog.

In 1963 when I first got involved in NCSY I was just looking for friends. We had just moved to Great Neck a few months before, and I didn't fit in at all. My family ended up joining the Great Neck Synagogue, an Orthodox shul which may not have been a good fit religiously, but the price was right. Orthodox we weren't, nor Sabbath observers nor kosher. 

Post World War Two most people considered Orthodox Jewry a dying breed. Considering the attraction of assimilation, poverty of the Great Depression, the trauma of Holocaust and the Jewish men who spent years away from home, the UOJCA, now called OU was desperate to keep Jewish teens Jewish. In the early 1950s they established NCSY. Member synagogues were encouraged to establish chapters and have activities for the youth. At that time there were few Jewish Day Schools, and not all the families could afford to send their children. Also, many member families were like mine, not at all religious. So NCSY had a dual aim:

• Keep the religious kids religious.
• Introduce Judaism to the non-observant and encourage them to follow the mitzvot

NCSY wasn't a Zionist youth movement. The term "aliyah" wasn't heard officially at all in the 1960s, though quite a few of my NCSY friends are living here in Israel now.

I'm not sure of the exact year, but sometime before my joining NCSY, Rabbi Pinchas Stolper had been appointed as National Director. He must have succeeded, because there was soon an Assistant National Director, Rabbi Chaim Wasserman. 

Rabbi Stolper was a Zionist activist and a Betari. He had been Natziv, Head of North American Betar in the very early 1950s. He and his wife tried living in Israel but went back to New York. Rabbi Stolper built an amazing youth organization with chapters, grouped by regions, all over North America. He was an amazing administrator. NCSY events went like clockwork; each session started and ended on time. Chapters hosted regional Shabbat programs. For teens like myself, this was our first introduction to Shabbat. Even those from religious homes learned to enjoy Shabbat even more than they had. We sang Jewish tunes and danced and sang and danced. I'm convinced that Torah True Judaism entered my heart and mind via my dancing feet and loud singing, not that I understood the words of the songs. The educational "sessions" were led by some brilliant people. There are things I remember to this day. 

At National Conventions, held in a large hotel, The Pine View, only Shabbat ended late. But that was the plan. Rabbi Stolper led the Havdala, and some of us girls were given lit candles to hold high. We were told that the higher the candle, the taller our future husband would be. Rabbi Stolper was most inspiring during Havdala.

The key to the success in reaching Jewish teens like myself was the tolerance of the staff of advisors. We were given time and acceptance while learning and experiencing Torah True Judaism. In those days, tzniyut modesty was rare, even religious women wore sleeveless and Orthodox synagogues hosted dances. Some OU member synagogues didn't have a mechitza separation and even had mixed seating. The OU was in a "war for Orthodox survival," and Rabbi Stolper was assigned to save Jewish youth. Yes, he and his staff worked hard stop the flood of assimilation, and they succeeded. The terms "outreach" and "baal teshuva movement" came afterwards. In the 1960s Yeshiva University Youth Bureau also had activities for teens on Shabbat and weeklong Seminars late summer and during winter vacation. It wasn't a national organization; I went to some of their events, too.

The Friday of Rabbi Stolper's funeral as one of my NCSY friends and I waited with his Israeli relatives for the bereaved children and body to arrive from the states, I wondered why there weren't mobs of people. From my perspective, Rabbi's Stolper's influence on North American Jewry was humongous, but it was half a century ago and more. Or can we say that his great success in strengthening Torah Judaism in teens has produced a generation that is incapable of fully comprehending what a miraculous success he had accomplished?

יהי זכרו ברוך

I wrote the following blog posts which also mention Rabbi Stolper and NCSY:

NCSY at 60!, Havdalah, What? I'm Not Unique?!

NCSY, What We Didn't Know

'In Every Generation...' A Voice From My Past

What They Didn't Burn, Mel Laytner's Search for His Father's Holocaust Secrets, Book Review

What They Didn't Burn: Uncovering My Father's Holocaust Secrets by Mel Laytner is an amazing, riveting story. Laytner, an extremely talented writer, reveals a lot as he tracks down his father's secrets. Laytner, the elder of two brothers, discovered that his quiet father was not only a Holocaust survivor, but he had been a canny and successful black market wheeler dealer

I must admit that the author and I first met in the mid-1960s when I joined Betar. We've seen each other very infrequently over the years, but when I heard that he had finally published his father's Holocaust story I wanted to read it. Laytner gave me and my husband a copy.

Among our Betar friends, there are two distinct types, those like me and my husband whose parents were American born and raised, and there were those whose parents were survivors, or had left just in time. We whose parents were American raised can never really imagine what our friends had lived with, which frequently meant that their parents kept many secrets from them. 

Laytner's quest to discover the truth about his father took him many years. By the time he had the time to devote to it, few sources were still alive. He had to travel a lot to talk to people and see old government records in Europe. A few times his brother accompanied him, but mostly he did it alone. Laytner used his journalist skills to interview and research. His success and the subsequent book couldn't have been accomplished by someone without those skills.

Laytner's parents were both Holocaust survivors who worked hard day and night at all sorts of jobs, trying all sorts of businesses, too, when they got to New York. At one point they owned a candy store open seven days a week. That was the same drive that got them through the Holocaust, but during the Holocaust Laytner's father even traded diamonds on the black market, among other things. I'd say that Laytner inherited that drive, since he needed similar smarts to discover his father's true story.

Think of What They Didn't Burn as an exciting treasure hunt, and Mel Laytner takes us along for the ride. I highly recommend the book for readers of all ages.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ SparkPress (September 21, 2021)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1684631033
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1684631032

Rosh Chodesh Sivan Women's Prayers

 Ladies, please join us

The spirit of the Biblical Chana can still be felt, along with the holiness of the Mishkan, Tabernacle.

Tel Shiloh is a wonderful archeological site with activities for all ages. Hologram, museum, movie and more. It's open daily except Shabbat.

For more information call 025789111 or email visit@telshilo.org.il.

Promoting "Palestine" is Like Holocaust Denial

Remembering the dead.
Flat Lay photo for 52frames

Here in Israel we continue to pay a very heavy price for our existance. Israel, the Ancient Biblical Homeland of the Jews, well documented in archeology and history, is attacked by terrorists, bullets, axes, words and international proclamations.

Is the promotion of a "Palestinian State" an innocent mistake?

No, not at all.

From the beginning, when Hadrian invaded Jewish Judea-Samaria and replaced those names with "Palestine," his aim was to distort history and hide the Jewish National connection to the land.

The name "Palestine" stuck for one big reason; as Tom Lehrer sang "everyone hates the Jews." 

Thousands of years later, when Great Britain was mandated to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish State (see Balfour Declaration) in "Palestine," sic that name was still stuck on the map, even though a country of that name covering that area had never existed. There had always been a Jewish presence in the Holy Land, even after the destruction of the Second Temple and successive invaders ruled from afar. Britain took over from the Turks. The area they held covered both the east and western banks of the Jordan, all the way west until the Mediterranean Sea. According to the Mandate, all was supposed to be a Jewish State. 

Great Britain was enamored with the local nomadic romanticized Arabs and preferred them to the Jews, both the religious ones in the holy cities and the Zionist pioneers working hard to make the Land fruitful.

As part of Britain's attempt to sabotage a Jewish State, it brought in and promoted the Hashemites as rulers over the eastern bank of the Jordan and eventually invented a new country of various tribes where there had never been one. That's called Jordan today.

Despite lackluster international support, at best, the State of Israel thrives. With the Help of Gd we have been victorious in all the wars against us.

On the whole, though, international media and academics refuse to recognize Jewish rights and history to the Land and have been inventing and supporting the lie of Palestine sic.

This actually predates the Holocaust and has continued to this very day. Yes, Tom Lehrer got it right.