Redemption, Exodus: Would You have been One of the One Fifth 1/5?

In the simplistic rendition, narrative of the Exodus from Egypt, when the Jewish "slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt" managed to flee with the help of Gd, multiple miracles, one gets the impression that all the Jews left together. But a more exact reading of the Bible and Hagaddah and commentaries tells a different story. Only one fifth 1/5 20% of the Jewish slaves to Pharaoh followed Moses and Aaron out of Egypt and through the for forty years of wandering and transformation into the Jewish People who entered the Holy Promised Land with Joshua.

That's a better percentage than Gd got a few hundred years before when He sent out the לך לך Lech lecha, "Go, yes, you" message, and only Abram and Sarai, later renamed Abraham and Sarah responded by voting with their feet.

I'm pretty sure that my husband and I, plus many of our friends would have been among those to have followed Moses and Joshua throughout all the challenges they had faced. Not only are we here now in the Holy Promised Land, but we've been here ever since we were old enough to make our own life decisions, marry and have children. Our children and grandchildren, bli eyin haraa, not to tempt the Evil Eye, are here, too.

What happened to the 4/5 four fifths 80% of the Jewish slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt? They're gone, wiped out. There's no trace of them anymore, unlike the descendants of the Hidden Jews of the Spanish Inquisition, who even after over five hundred years have been returning to Judaism.

Yesterday we returned to our first home in Israel, Maon Betar, in what is now called the Jewish Quarter of the Old Walled City of Jerusalem. Maon Betar has long closed down, but the building is in use. The section where we had lived is now a dormitory for the Netiv Aryeh yeshiva, and downstairs is the Plugat Hakotel Museum.

In my life experience and decisions, I see the beginnings of Zionism to build vibrant Jewish Life in the Land of Israel as the call from Gd, echoing  לך לך Lech lecha, "Go, yes, you." Then it got louder in 1948 with Israel's Declaration of Independence and even louder in 1967 when the State of Israel so miraculously defeated the Arab armies who aimed to totally destroy the State of Israel. Three years later we docked in Haifa Port and began our new lives as a married couple here in the Holy Land.

Contrary to the many negative predictions and warnings we received as we packed up our few possessions before boarding the Greek Lines Queen Anna Maria, our move to Israel in 1970 proved a wise move. The State of Israel has miraculously developed into one of the most advanced modern countries in the world. I can say the same for our 1981 decision to move to Shiloh, which then was a small isolated community, dependent on an unreliable generator for electricity and trucks bearing water. Today Shiloh is the main community in a large vibrant bloc of Jewish towns, home to a couple of thousand families. Nearby Eli is even larger than Shiloh. The Gush Shiloh Bloc extends from west of Highway 60 to the Alon Road way to the east. Just a ten minute drive north west of Shiloh is the City of Ariel, which not only has government offices and lots of stores but also the Ariel University. Today it's hard to imagine, but the Shiloh we first visited in early 1981 had barely thirty families.

As crazy as it had seemed to our family and some of our friends when we made aliyah as a young married couple in 1970, it was the right move. If you're still stuck in the Diaspora, join us. Don't risk disappearing like 4/5 80% of the Jews who had been slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt.

Saga Riding the Ariel Arab-Filled Buses, Yesterday

Yesterday, again, I needed to catch a bus to Ariel from the "shfeilah," west of Shiloh, after a festive luncheon with friends in Pardes Chana. This time I was dropped off at the Oranit/Elkana bus stop, which I hoped would give me a better chance to get on a bus than at the Yarkon Junction. 

In the afternoon, buses to Ariel are full of Arab workers who get off before Ariel. The buses are so full that most don't even stop unless someone needs to get off. At the Oranit/Elkana bus stop, generally a few people get off, so there's a better chance to get on the bus, and in addition there are a few more lines going to Ariel. 

After close to ten minutes of waiting a bus came that did let passengers off from the back, but the driver didn't open the door. BTW, I was waiting with a bunch of Arab men for a bus to Ariel, no other women or Jews. A few Arabs went/snuck in by the back door, something I wrote about a few weeks ago. I got closer to the front door and tried to get the attention of the driver and succeeded. 

The bus driver opened the door and signaled to the men waiting that only I was to board the bus. Happily I did, even though all I could see on the bus were Arab men. The driver also asked the man sitting in the first seat to get up so I could sit. Yes, not for the first time, I sat next to an Arab on a bus. 

My view from the front seat of the bus to Ariel. Our road was clear, while most vehicles were traveling towards Yarkon Junction and beyond.

The bus was packed, with people standing in the aisle until we got to the Revava Junction. That's the last stop on the Trans-Samaria Highway before turning into Ariel. And that's where all of the remaining Arabs got off. Look to the right of the picture below, and you will see dozens of cars, Arab cars. Sometimes I've seen a market setup there, too. There was lots of noise coming from it, which we could hear on the bus. That's where the Arab workers leave their cars or get rides home to their villages. Also some Jewish passengers get off there at the Revava Junction and cross the street to go to communities in the northern Shomron, Samaria.

When we pulled out of that bus stop, the bus was almost totally empty. A few minutes later we entered Ariel, and I got off at the Ariel University. I walked to the trempiada, hitchhiking post there and miraculously got a ride to Shiloh within a couple of minutes. My neighbor took me straight to my door. Gd is great!

Shabbat Shalom U'Mevorach

Have a Blessed and Peaceful Shabbat

Learning to be Late and Accepting Blessings

For as long as I've known how to tell time and been old enough to have control over "arrivals," I've been fixated and obsessive with being not just "on time," but early. I've never seen a stated "time to start" as an approximation. For me, even as a little girl going to a birthday party, I was horrified, totally mortified at the idea that I may be late.

No matter what the occasion, I'd treat it like catching a train or plane or making sure I made it to the theater well before the curtain was to go up.

When I got older, I learned that, at least here in Israel, times stated for wedding invitations were always much earlier than we needed to be there. After arriving too many times while the caterer was still having the tables set up, we learned how much time we had to add to the "invitation time." Here in Shiloh, it took a few years to learn that events are on what they call "Bnai Akiva time," which is nothing like the exact scheduling in NCSY or the LIRR.

Since we don't have a car and not only can't one rely on the bus schedule, besides the fact that sometimes there aren't buses from Shiloh to our destinations, I've learned to accurately plan my departures for all eventualities. But yesterday afternoon/last night, even I failed.

I needed to get to a "surprise party" in Kfar Saba by 6:30pm. With the help of google maps, I discovered that with bus connections at both the Yarkon Junction and Morasha, it would be very doable. There is even a 5pm bus to Kfar Saba from Ariel, though is goes through Rosh Ha'ayin. My plan was to give myself two and a half hours, which should have made me about a half hour early, at the latest.

Man plans and Gd laughs, as they say. At 3pm, I got a message from my kids that there had been a horrific fatal accident "outside of Ariel. The roads are blocked in both directions." Click here for report and photos.

"Maybe you should meet one of us in Jerusalem, and we'll take you." My kids suggested.

Considering that going via Jerusalem also would include traffic jams and double the distance, I declined.

"The Trans-Samaria Highway is wide road. No doubt it will be cleared by the time I get there."

To be honest, I was wrong.

At first it seemed like "business as usual" in Ariel, lots of buses and traffic near the university. I even declined to get on a Petach Tikva bus, because it wasn't going to Morasha, which would give me the quickest and best public transportation to Kfar Saba. Since I couldn't find the bus stop to the direct bus, I waited for the 386, which not only goes to Morasha, but it doesn't do the "grand tour" of Ariel. It's a great bus, but although the electric sign kept saying it was coming, the bus never showed, nor did any other for at least a half an hour. Finally, in desperation I took the next bus to arrive, which was a 296. The driver said that he goes to Yarkon but not Morasha. He warned us that the road was still blocked, and he may need to make a detour.

Actually, even with all the delays, I still had a good chance of being on time. That's how much "extra" time I had allocated to my trip.

The driver was optimistic and even said that it looked like the road had opened. But as we got a few kilometers from the accident scene, all we could see was the long line of lights of cars stuck in traffic. Yes, it was very dark by then. I began to realize that I'd probably be late and arrive long after the joyous "surprise."

When we passed the almost totally burnt up bus, all that remained was the spooky skeleton, I became very grateful for the fact that I was on a functioning bus, sitting comfortably and safely. Gd willing I'd arrive safe and sound, albeit a bit late. It wasn't the end of the world.

At the Yarkon Junction, I quickly caught a bus to Kfar Saba, and one of my kids picked me up to take me the rest of the way. I was glad, because even with the help of Google maps, I'd have trouble finding the house in the dark.

Yes, we walked in after the guest of honor, but it was before the "program." We had a wonderful joyous time. It was no tragedy to be late. It certainly wasn't the end of the world. Everyone was happy to see me and appreciated the efforts I make to attend all events. B"H, going home was easy; we had a ride with one of our kids, who would anyhow have passed Shiloh on the way home.

It's so important to remember to say תפילת הדרך Tefilat Haderech, the Traveler's Prayer when you start a trip. It may not guarantee a safe journey, but it reminds us that all journeys have their potential dangers, and we must thank Gd for our safety.

Waiting for rides/tremps and buses yesterday, Eli Junction and the Ariel University bus stop

Arabs on Ariel Buses, Another Problem

In the past I've written about the ongoing situation in which the buses from the Petach Tikva, Tzomet Yarkon Junction area going to Ariel are overloaded with Arabs to the extent in which they skip bus stops leaving Jewish passengers stranded. I wrote about it here, here and here.

Yesterday afternoon I was there again in the afternoon and needed a bus to Ariel. One bus passed without stopping, but soon afterwards another one came. I was able to board the bus and had to walk until close to the back of the bus until I found a seat next to a female IDF soldier just across from the rear door.

I relaxed, used the cellphone Siddur app to pray the Mincha afternoon prayer and then didn't pay much attention to what was happening on the bus. I heard someone ask the driver to open the rear-door, and then a bit later I someone pressing on my right shoulder and arm.

The bus had somehow filled with Arabs. There must have been at least thirty 30 men crowded into the narrow aisle, so those of us sitting in aisle seats kept getting pushed and shoved. I found myself crowding into the space of the young woman sitting next to me, while simultaneously pushing the Arabs off of me. I apologized to the woman by mentioning that the driver isn't allowed by law to fill the aisle. She replied that an Inspector just boarded.

The Inspector asked to see our tickets, and I could hear and see him confirm that many of those Arabs did not have tickets. Apparently when I was busy with my eyes on my screen Arabs had boarded via the rear door without paying. When he got to me, I mentioned the unbearable crowding, and he replied that by law it is forbidden to have more than I can't remember if he said eight or ten people standing in the aisle. BTW the bus driver was an Arab, too.

I don't know what the procedure is in other places, but here in Israel, if an Inspector discovers that a passenger hasn't paid, the driver is fined. When the inspector got off, I could hear (and not understand) very loud talking in Arabic. That is very rare. Generally the Arabs are extremely quiet on the Israeli buses.

Thank Gd they are starting to send Inspectors on the buses. Never dull...

While waiting for a bus at the Yarkon Junction, I spotted this plane coming from the nearby Ben Gurion International Airport

Traffic Jams, Gd Willing Some Relief Soon

It used to be that the trip to and from Jerusalem-Shiloh, even by bus was barely an hour. And that was when we went through Ramalla and some chareidi neighborhoods in Jerusalem. So, you'd think that today, almost forty years later, after modern bypass roads have been built and highways in Jerusalem, plus the permitted speed has been raised, the trip would be much faster. It isn't. We are plagued by traffic jams.

When I make it to Jerusalem by bus in an hour, I'm in total shock. When it happens, it's either mid-morning or very late at night. The photo below was taken 6:05 PM last Thursday. That's the exact time according to my phone/file info.

As crowded and "jammed" as the traffic was going to Jerusalem, reports on the traffic jam whatsapp group indicated that there were much longer delays in the opposite direction. Every weekday morning reports come in from travelers sitting in traffic jams as early as 6:05-6:15 am before and after Adam going to Jerusalem. Those trying to drive/ride out of Beit El have it much worse. It is frequently a half hour wait among mostly Arab cars just to get to Highway 60 aka Derech Avot, the north/south road to Jerusalem to the South and Shiloh/Tapuach Junction to the north.

Givat Asaf, the Beit El Junction is being redone, and very soon a right-turn lane will be opened, so that the traffic jams at that T-junction should be reduced by a lot.

The Adam Junction, where many of our traffic jams originate, is also being redone. There will be a tunnel, so the traffic between Binyamin/Shomron and Jerusalem will bypass Adam and the Road to Ramalla.

There is also work widening the road south of Adam, towards Jerusalem, because that's another area that gets overfull.

Of course, these are the problems of the "rich," the fact that none of the city/road planners ever expected that so many people would be living in Binyamin-Samaria. They didn't expect industrial zones and shopping malls. Not only has the Jewish population been booming here, but Arabs have been moving here too. Many of them work with and for Jews.

Ironically, the traffic jams on the road to and from Jerusalem have caused something good in the Shiloh-Eli area. People quickly discovered that we are just as close to, or closer to the Rosh Haayin/Petach Tikva/Hod Hasharon area, besides being a ten minute drive to the Ariel University. Government offices and shopping opportunities abound in Ariel, and if you need something larger, you can get to nearby cities without suffering all those long annoying time-wasting traffic jams.

More and more neighbors have discovered that if they go east, to the Alon Road, they can work in the Bikaah, Jordan Valley. Even Beit She'an is more accessible than Jerusalem.

Shiloh is the true merkaz ha'Aretz, center of the Land of Israel.

Life in Judea-Samaria No Longer Frontier Pioneering

In 1981, when we first moved to Shiloh the heart of Biblical Israel, Judea-Samaria, we were certainly pioneers. And you needed that old-fashioned frontier spirit to survive and enjoy life.  We didn't live in tents, but the prefabricated cement home reached by a dirt path wasn't easy suburban living.

There were just a few dozen other families here in Shiloh. Electricity was provided by a tempermental generator; water was trucked in daily at best. And public transportation didn't reach our neighborhood. Actually, most of the buses only stopped on the main road, a few miles from us. And only after a few months was there a telephone, just one for the entire neighborhood.

It was a twenty minute drive to the nearest communities, and they were also struggling with the essentials of minimalist conditions. Forget about modern life.

During those early years, we were frequently visited by journalists who took for granted that we were just a temporary presence in the area, soon to be removed. Nobody imagined that in forty years Shiloh would be the center of a large bloq of communities, one larger and the rest smaller, stretching west, north and east all the way to the Alon Road and Jordan Valley.

Today's Shiloh is more suburban than rural, and we're not at all isolated. The city of Ariel is just ten minutes  away and has a university, cultural center, government offices and a mall, among other things. Here in Shiloh there are two supermarkets, an enormous hardware/building supply store, clothing store, two clinics, two bus lines, schools and more.

The entire development of Jewish return to our Biblical Homeland, Judea and Samaria, is miraculous and I'd even say Messianic, as in the Jewish prophecies. Only those whose vision is distorted by Leftist ideology can cay that we're marginal or temporary.

It's hard to say when it all changed, but changed it has. In the more veteran towns like Ofra, Shiloh, Efrat, Kiryat Arba, Kedumim and more, there are many families raising second and third generations of children.  Yes, to put it simply, we are here to stay, Baruch Hashem, thank Gd.

No Room on Ariel Buses

Yesterday afternoon I was pretty lucky. Only one overfull bus bypassed/skipped the Tzomet Yarkon (Junction) as I waited for a bus to Ariel. I noticed from the computerized bus sign earlier in the day and my public transportation phone app that buses are more frequent than previously, but they were still full of Arab workers at 4pm. Besides the Israeli public transportation, I saw Arab vans picking up Arabs at the bus stop.

After another few minutes of waiting, a #286 stopped to let off passengers. I could see that there were some passengers standing, but I went to the driver's door anyhow. She, yes a female bus driver, let me in. I paid and was about to sit on the stairs when I noticed a young woman signalling me that she was giving me her seat. She and an older Arab got up for me. I got in, and then they each insisted that the other sit with me. In the end, the young woman did.

Looking around I didn't see any other females, just us and the driver. And I only heard Arabic being spoken. The bus was packed, and the driver skipped all the stops, since nobody rang to get off. It's against regulations to have passengers standing in the aisle.

But at the Oranit/Elkana Junction stop, a couple of young Jewish women got off from further back. And then a few stops later, the bus pretty much emptied out at the last stop before Ariel. Only a handful of us remained on it as it entered Ariel.

I got off at Ariel University and then waited for a ride home to Shiloh. B"H, three rides later I got home safe, sound and relatively quickly.

Gush Shiloh, Grape-Growing Center of World

Yesterday my friends and I took a short "road trip" around the communities, hills and valleys surrounding Shiloh. We're all living here well over thirty years and remember when Shiloh was considered rather isolated. Two of us are from the days when Shiloh was the only Jewish community between Ariel, Tapuach and Beit El, Ofra. Today, not only are there lots of small and medium communities in the area, but Eli is even larger than the more veteran Shiloh.

For us the big surprise was the amount of agriculture, more specifically the massive vineyards and groves of olive trees. It's easy to see that these are commercially cultivated. Everything is neat and carefully pruned, unlike those growing in my garden.

We ended our little trip by picnicking near the Givat Harel Vineyards, a "pot luck" lunch, which we shared.

Here are some photos:

It bothered us that the cluster of grapes wasn't shaped accurately.  

Most of the photos are from east of Shiloh. We didn't go all the way to the Allon Road. Givat Harel is northwest of Shiloh. It's clear that Gd created this Land to grow grapes and olives.

Why Does it Take Murdered Jews for Government to Act?

For decades I've been asking this question. There has been a long-standing custom, even predating the establishment of the State of Israel, to establish and name communities and even cities after Jews murdered by Arab terrorists. The list of such places is very long, and I'm not going to try to list all of the communities/towns/cities that fit that criteria.

Just in the past few days, the community of Chavat Gilad, which is built on private Jewish land, was given approval, because of the sympathy the Israeli government felt for the residents after one was murdered by an Arab terrorist.

Shvut Rachel, which is just a few minutes' walk east from my house, was established on land allocated to Shiloh by a garin, group of people planning on living as a community together, that had plans to establish a new community east of Shiloh before Rachella Druk, HaYa"D, was murdered, but hadn't actually done it. After Rachella was murdered, they quickly moved caravans to the site which is now Shvut Rachel, and a yishuv was born. I've been wondering ever since about the possibility that if only they had established a new community beforehand, would Rachella be alive today?

Why do we only react to horrible tragedies? In recent decades this has become pretty much the only impetus for Jewish settlement. Forty years ago when Shiloh, Tekoa, Beit El, Efrat, Ariel and many other Jewish communities were established, there was a drive to fill the Biblical landscape with modern Jewish life.

We must return to the ideology of settlement in the Land of Israel because it is ours and our right, privilege and obligation to live here, not as a reaction to murder!

Another Murderous Arab Terror Attack

Enough!

'My husband will not return to the community he loved so much'

IDF soldiers, Border Police officers and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) are continuing their pursuit of Arab terrorist Abed al-Karim Adel Assi, who carried out Monday's stabbing attack at the entrance to the city of Ariel, in which Rabbi Itamar Ben Gal was murdered.
Ben Gal's funeral will be held on Tuesday morning at 10:45 a.m. in his community of Har Bracha.
Miriam Ben Gal, the widow of Rabbi Ben Gal, said on Monday night, "This afternoon I lost my husband on the land of Israel, he was murdered because he is Jewish. I am here in my home, in the home that he will not return to. Tomorrow we will bury him here at Har Bracha, in the community he loved and wanted so much to develop."

Stopping Arab terrorism isn't simple. It would help if the Left, the international media and all sorts of NGOs, countries, diplomats etc would stop excusing and rationalizing Arab terrorism. And every Arab terrorist must be either executed on the spot or given an automatic death penalty. They shouldn't get their "day in court," and the Israeli taxpayer shouldn't be supporting them in jail.

Shiloh Cemetery, among those buried here are victims of Arab terror

True Story: No Room on Israeli Bus for Jewish Passengers

This past Friday I found myself sitting on the steps in a #86 bus from the Yarkon Junction to Ariel. Happy to finally be on my way home, I just sat down on the steps near the driver. I really felt much more comfortable in more ways than one. Here's the story...

On Friday I got stuck trying to get home. I had been to a "simcha," a festive occasion not too far from the Yarkon Junction. I calculated that I'd have no problem getting home on one of the Israeli buses to Ariel that stop at the Yarkon Junction. The only problem was that the buses didn't stop. They were full of Arabs who work in the Tel Aviv-Petach Tikva areas. I don't know what percentage of them have work permits or not or how they get to work. But there are times of the day when the buses are so full of them, there's no room for any more passengers by the time they reach Yarkon Junction.

Finally one stopped for me. I happily got on the bus and paid the driver. Then the driver said:

"There's no room. I just let you on since someone got off from the back."

Then I look around and saw that I was possibly the only Jew on the bus. I wasn't about to stand until they got off, most probably just before Ariel. So I calmly sat down on the steps near the driver. It's not the cleanest place to sit, but it's comfortable.

Since there wasn't a free seat, and I didn't feel like doing the staring until someone got up thing. 

A few miles down the road, after we had passed a couple of stops without stopping at all, some passengers got off. I had to get off the bus to let them off. And I realized from the conversations some had with the driver, that he was also an Arab. I was happy to be on my way home and prayed for the best.

After another group of Arabs got off, finally I sat down on a proper seat, yes, next to an Arab. It was in the front row. And then at the bus stop at the entrance to Ariel, before the security check, the bus emptied almost completely. Then there were about three of us, all who looked like Israeli Jews, left on the bus. By the time I got off near the Ariel University I was the only passenger left. The bus driver and I discussed which stop was best for me. The driver was polite to me the entire trip, and I did feel safe. What bothers me is that the bus fares are subsidized by Israeli taxpayers. These are Israeli buses, public transportation. And it's not right that Israeli citizens should find themselves waiting at bus stops without bus service.

In Jerusalem there are these gorgeous new modern white buses that are part of an Arab bus company that connects Jerusalem to nearby Arab towns. Why can't there be something like that in the Petach Tikva area to Samaria? That way there will be room on the Israeli buses for Jews?

More About Arabs on Jewish Buses, Big Problem!

Arabs getting on #86 at Beilinson
Hospital Petach Tikvah

Yesterday, again, I had to deal with the cons, the problems, the disadvantages of Arabs on Jewish buses in the Shomron, Samaria. I must say that we do not have that situation in the Benjamin District, probably because our buses all go into Jewish communities, and that is forbidden for Arabs without papers. 

Arabs getting on #86
at Beilinson Hospital
Petach Tikvah

The Afakim bus company which goes from the Shomron to Petach Tikva, Ariel and Tel Aviv, has many stops on the main road, which brings the Arabs who work in Israel (the Tel Aviv area) near their towns and villages. That is not the case for us. The only stops I've seen Arabs get on and off are Pisgat Zeev and Sha'ar Binyamin, and those Arabs all have permits/papers allowing them into Jerusalem.

In Israel the public transportation, bus companies, although businesses must follow certain government guidelines. That especially pertains to those buses that go to Judea and Samaria, and that is because our bus fares are discounted. The government calculates the number according to Israelis whom they estimate will ride the buses, not taking into account that they permit Arabs to ride them along with us. The result is simple to predict. They buses are full. The buses are overfull, and Jewish Israelis are left waiting.

overfull bus didn't let us on at Tzomet Yarkon (junction)

I was dropped off to wait for a bus to Ariel at Tzomet Yarkon (Junction) yesterday, and I couldn't believe how many people were waiting. Foolishly, at first I thought is was a good sign, that they, wiser than yours truly, knew that buses were about to come. But the sad truth was that buses had come and went without letting on a single passenger. There wasn't even standing room. They were overloaded with Jewish and Arab passengers. The buses just don't come frequently enough. By the time they reach that bus stop, they are packed, like New York City Subways at rush hour. And unlike the subways, they have a driver who controls the doors. Passengers are let off via the back door, while the front door stays shut.

Lucky for me, I'm an experienced trempistit hitchhiker and bus passenger hailing from New York, and I got to the very front when a bus finally did let a few of us in. There were well over a dozen exhausted people left standing in the hot sun waiting for yet another bus.

I had to travel standing most of the way to Ariel. I was one of the only females standing, and I was definitely the eldest standing. The others looked younger than my kids.

If the Israeli government is going to permit Arabs to travel on these buses, they must make sure there are enough buses on the roads for all!!

Mobs of Arabs on Jewish Buses

There has been a lot in the news about whether or not Arabs should be allowed to travel in Jewish buses. There are Arab buses, at least in the Jerusalem area, beautiful new white ones of all sizes. It's rare for Jews to go near them even when it would be convenient. But the Ariel buses are a different story. Yesterday when I traveled from Tel Aviv's Tel Hashomer Hospital back to Ariel in order to get home to Shiloh I found out just how many Arabs travel on the same buses as Jews.

It would be no exaggeration at all to estimate that easily three quarters 3/4, yes, that many, of the passengers on the 86 from Belinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah, where I had changed from the 87 from Tel Hashomer, were Arabs.

There aren't security checks at the "barrier" in the direction of Ariel, unlike towards Petach Tikvah/Tel Aviv etc. And, unlike the "city line" Hizma "barrier" at the Jerusalem border, security inspectors do enter the buses going towards the shefela, coastal area.

By the time we entered Ariel, the bus was almost totally empty. The only passengers were Jews, and I was one of the maybe two who got off at the last stop by the university.

And just in case you are wondering. I sat in the front seat. There was a Jewish woman who sat next to me until the Rosh Ha'ayin stop. Then an Arab, who was clearly a laborer, about 50 years old sat next to me. We each sat as far apart as possible. That was fine until he fell asleep. I had to nudge him by knocking my bag onto his to wake him up and stay away. And, yes, I'd do the same to any man.

B"H, thank G-d nothing unpleasant happened to me, and I didn't hear of anything while traveling. But as a woman of my age, I'm not a target.

Israeli Left Wants Communist/Socialist Dictatorship

Getting real, the only way that the demands of the Israeli Left can be met would be for Israel to become a communist dictatorship. Freedom and democracy make for the Israel of today.

Herzog: Netanyahu focusing on 'Jewish state bill' because he can't lower housing prices
"You talk more and more and more about nationality in order to avoid addressing the inability of the public to afford buying a house."

As anybody with half a brain knows, housing prices are the result of supply and demand, freedom and democracy. The government does not have any real direct control over these things. Isaac Herzog, Leftist Labor Party leader, knows this perfectly well, but as a Leftist campaigning to unseat Likud leader Prime Minister Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu, he goes for the popular headline grabbing demands which ignore reality.

Of course, there are steps the government can do to lower some housing prices, but the process would take a long time, and we all know that Herzog himself would vote against them.

To lower housing prices, there must be low priced building in places where Jewish Israelis would love to live, such as "E1," the connection between Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim, linked from a 2006 article.

In the not-too-distant past, Kashriel told The Report ("Growing to Jerusalem, June 14, 2004") that "Ma'ale Adumim was established to break Palestinian contiguity," adding that "Ma'ale Adumim necessarily cuts the West Bank in two." In March 2006, however, when Kashriel meets me in his office in the impressive city council building next to the city's shopping mall, his message has been recrafted, presumably to cause as little discord with the Americans as possible, and to try to persuade me, or them, that the Palestinian and American objections to Israeli building in E1 are unfounded.
The Palestinians, he asserts, have misleadingly persuaded the Americans that E1 will split the West Bank in two, now claiming that to "not true at all." Unfurling a large map, he points out the new road, from Anata to Al-Azariya, that will facilitate Palestinian north-south traffic, and which is due to be completed in a matter of months. More roads are planned to run around the barrier to the east, in the less than 20 kilometers of wilderness the Palestinians will theoretically have between the Ma'ale Adumim bloc and the Jordanian border.

That's to show how long Jerusalem has been strangled by the Israeli Left, which in all honesty cares more for American interests than Israeli needs. If they hadn't blocked E1, prices in the Jerusalem area would be much lower today.

A few hundred more units built each year in the Gush Shiloh (bloc) would easily be full and lower prices for those who want to be a half hour from both Jerusalem and the Tzomet Yarkon (Junction.)

My area is also very popular for those who want a more rural-suburban, warm community life and easy access to Ariel and the Jordan Valley, which is a couple of minutes' east of Shiloh.

In general, building for Jews in all of the popular places in Judea and Samaria would lower prices across the board in all of Israel. And of course schools, hospitals and medical centers should also be built. Building is less expensive in all of these areas. Now that there's a university in Ariel, a hospital should be built with the required medical school (and school for nursing,) since there aren't enough spots in the existing medical schools.

But in total contradiction to their headline-soundbites, the Israeli Left has done everything in its power to stop or severely limit building where people want to buy, especially people with limited means and strong patriotic convictions.

The Israeli Leftist "solutions" to the housing problem is anti-democratic and against the principles of freedom. In Jerusalem they want to usurp ownership and control of property used for vacationing by those who live abroad. They want to fine the owners for not living full-time in their legally bought homes. The Left has been demanding that these "empty" apartments be rented to students and young families for nominal sums. That's their "solution" to the high price of housing in Jerusalem. Only fascist dictators could dream something like that up. It reminds me, if you'll excuse the expression/terminology, of when Nazis forced Jews out of their homes and when communist officials offered exit visas to Jewish owners of luxury apartments. (That's how a neighbor of mine and her mother got out of Hungary in the 1950's.)

As the "pre-election campaign" heats up, Herzog and other Left leaders are taking cheap and anti-democratic jabs at Bibi. Now, you must know that I'm not a Likud voter. I hope that this campaign with galvanize the patriotic, pro-Land of Israel for Jews Right to run and win seats in the Knesset. At present there is no Right wing party in the Knesset. Naftali Bennett's NRP newly labeled  as Jewish Home, is a Center-Right which campaigned to be in the coalition, meaning that it is more Center than Right. And the Israeli political system is supposed to be like a bell curve, with official opposition on both the Right and Left.

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We do not have an opposition party on the Right which skewers the Israeli Government to the Left, especially since Leftist Tsipi Livni is Netanyahu's Minister of Justice.

Leftist policies are based on heavy government interference, which frequently goes against public will. Most Israelis oppose Leftist solutions. The Israeli "silent majority" is on the Right, while the vocal media is on the Left. That's why the Left gets disproportionate time and headlines. G-d willing things will change for the better.

College Work in Ariel

Last night I got a panicky call from someone on the staff of The College of Judea and Samaria, in Ariel. Actually, it's a real university, with a couple of Masters programs.

Back to the story...
They needed more people to test students orally in English. I answered that I had to first find out if I'd be teaching today. Towards the end of the school year, the regular schedule isn't followed. I said that I'd be glad to help, even though it was explained that the pay would be very low. It's something to do, and I was curious about how it's done in the college vs the high school where I teach.

I didn't get the call that I'd be free until after 10, and the Preparation for Testers was at 11. I said that I would try, but if no ride came, I would just head back home. By the time I got down to the bus stop it was after 10:30. Miraculously, there was a ride to Ariel, so I was there in minutes.


Then I had to find the right building and office and then the place to meet. I'm not shy about asking people for directions. Once we got instructions, I asked about where to get some food. How was I going to sit all those hours--the test would take almost four hours, no break--without eating lunch first? One of the other testers was glad that I asked, and we were taken to a nearby cafeteria. The only problem was that there were too many stairs for my knee's comfort.


Then back to the meeting place and then more stairs until we got to our assigned rooms. My student and I were placed in an office in a laboratory. It was noisy, since the walls didn't go to the ceiling. I probably spent my entire day's "salary" calling to complain.

After a couple of hours, the student asked for a break, and more stairs until we could go outside, so he could smoke. After we returned it was even noisier, so more calls to complain. Then we were told to pack up and move to another room. Yes, more stairs.


The actual testing was fine; the student worked hard. He's in the "mechina." That's the program they have in Israeli universities for students who have to improve test scores or make up high school subjects they didn't study or pass. It's a "second chance" for academic success.


Once it was quiet, he quickly finished. I collected all the papers and brought them to the office. Then I got rides home pretty easily.

Shiloh and Eli have become very popular for young couples who want to study in Ariel, and Ariel has become very popular for kids who live in Shiloh. We have direct bus service, and there really are lots of rides. As I've said many times before, Shiloh is the center of the country. It's the most convenient place to live, close to Jerusalem, Ariel, the Tel Aviv suburbs and the Jordan Valley. We just need more housing.