Real Miracle of Chanukah

Dry Bones is super brilliant, especially here:

Bones explains Jewish History and resilience in a nutshell.

This perfectly illustrates what I've said many times about my feelings when listening to Megilat Ester, the Scroll of Esther, which in Shiloh is read four times over our two day Purim.  Megilat Ester, the Scroll of Esther was written about events that took place well over two thousand, close to 2,500 years ago, hundreds of years before those of Chanukah.

Scroll of Esther, Chapter 9

20And Mordecai inscribed these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,		כוַיִּכְתֹּ֣ב מָרְדֳּכַ֔י אֶת־הַדְּבָרִ֖ים הָאֵ֑לֶּה וַיִּשְׁלַ֨ח סְפָרִ֜ים אֶל־כָּל־הַיְּהוּדִ֗ים אֲשֶׁר֙ בְּכָל־מְדִינוֹת֙ הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵר֔וֹשׁ הַקְּרוֹבִ֖ים וְהָֽרְחוֹקִֽים:
21to enjoin them to make the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and the fifteenth day thereof, every year,		כאלְקַיֵּם֘ עֲלֵיהֶם֒ לִֽהְי֣וֹת עֹשִׂ֗ים אֵ֠ת י֣וֹם אַרְבָּעָ֤ה עָשָׂר֙ לְחֹ֣דֶשׁ אֲדָ֔ר וְאֵ֛ת יֽוֹם־חֲמִשָּׁ֥ה עָשָׂ֖ר בּ֑וֹ בְּכָל־שָׁנָ֖ה וְשָׁנָֽה:
22as the days when the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month that was reversed for them from grief to joy and from mourning to a festive day-to make them days of feasting and joy, and sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.		כבכַּיָּמִ֗ים אֲשֶׁר־נָ֨חוּ בָהֶ֤ם הַיְּהוּדִים֙ מֵאֹ֣יְבֵיהֶ֔ם וְהַחֹ֗דֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר֩ נֶהְפַּ֨ךְ לָהֶ֤ם מִיָּגוֹן֙ לְשִׂמְחָ֔ה וּמֵאֵ֖בֶל לְי֣וֹם ט֑וֹב לַֽעֲשׂ֣וֹת אוֹתָ֗ם יְמֵי֙ מִשְׁתֶּ֣ה וְשִׂמְחָ֔ה וּמִשְׁלֹ֤חַ מָנוֹת֙ אִ֣ישׁ לְרֵעֵ֔הוּ וּמַתָּנ֖וֹת לָֽאֶבְיֹנִֽים:
23And the Jews took upon themselves what they had commenced to do and what Mordecai had written to them.		כגוְקִבֵּל֙ הַיְּהוּדִ֔ים אֵ֥ת אֲשֶׁר־הֵחֵ֖לּוּ לַֽעֲשׂ֑וֹת וְאֵ֛ת אֲשֶׁר־כָּתַ֥ב מָרְדֳּכַ֖י אֲלֵיהֶֽם:

And we have been celebrating the Purim Holiday with feasts and gifts for thousands of years.

Simple reminder. Both Chanukah and Purim celebrate miracles Gd made for the Jewish People centuries before the beginnings of both Christianity and Islam. This is further proof that the only true religion is Judaism.

Palestinian History 101, Curriculum and Essay Question

This is no joke. This poster here is probably the most valuable thing ever produced by Dry Bones.

And to give Sha'i Ben Tekoa, author of Phantom Nation: Inventing the "Palestinians" as the Obstacle to Peace, deserved credit, he opened his session I attended a few months ago by asking the university students in attendance how many had taken a course in "Palestinian History." Of course, no hands went up.

Here's the basic curriculum for the Palestinian History Course, which is probably the easiest course offered, if offered any place:

• date established
• early leaders, king, emperor, president, prime minister...
• capital city/cities
• major cities
• borders, old maps
• language
• religion
• currency
• summarize its rise and fall
• Please answer: Why wasn't there a rebellion against the Hashemite invaders/occupiers in 1948-1967?

And now for the bonus essay question:

What is the impetus to the rise of "Palestine" as cause célèbre since 1967?

Israel, Facts Not Fiction

Shouldn't news be objective?  It's much too easy to slant news turning what's supposed to be a simple factual article into an insidious biased piece of fiction.  When I was growing up, the only newspaper we ever saw at home was the New York Times, and as I've reminisced before, for me the "Sunday funnies" were the political cartoons in its "News of the Week in Review."  And in elementary school when we learned about newspapers, we only used the NYT.  So it's rather ironic that as an Israeli I've discovered that that's the newspaper once should be most suspicious of.  Journalists and bloggers from all over are kept busy writing expose`s about the inaccuracies and intentional slanting of their "news" articles and biased op-eds.

Among the many Israeli sources of irritation for The New York Times, none is more persistently aggravating than Jewish settlements. August has been an especially difficult month for the Times. In rapid succession, its Jerusalem reporter Jodi Rudoren, Pulitzer-prize winning columnist Thomas Friedman, and editorial board contributed factual errors about settlements that not only  revealed  falsehoods but blatant bias. Algemeiner

So I have my own way of finding the news.  I'm a long time fan (and friend) of Ruthie Blum, who's very upfront about the fact that she writes op-eds from the Right point of view.  Here's her latest:

The Palestinians' two-faced solution

Last week, while the first batch of Palestinian terrorists was being released from Israeli jails, the Palestinian Authority was too busy condemning Israel to express satisfaction. This is because the Israeli government had approved the construction of hundreds of new houses in east Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

The plans to build these new units were made public well before the start of the current pre-negotiation discussions, brokered by the United States. Furthermore, the additional housing is slated for areas that the Palestinian Authority ostensibly agreed would remain in Israel after a "two-state solution" was reached.

Nevertheless, the Palestinian Authority and its apologists, both in Israel and abroad, did what they always do when faced with "settlement expansion" -- they raised a stink, accusing Israel of provocation, at best, and violation of international law, at worst...  Israel Hayom 

It's also a good idea to subscribe to the IDF's youtube page.



Seeing is believing.  I must admit that sometimes it works too ahrd to be PC-politically almost Leftist correct, but they do show some valuable videos.

The Jewish Press's site also gives real news and isn't afraid to tell the truth.  This isn't the same Jewish Press I first read when visiting my then future in-laws forty-five years ago.

There's also Arutz 7 which was a pioneer site telling the truth.

In terms of today's political cartoonists, there's Dry Bones.


Egypt's Turn

The current drama of the Middle East is that every Arab state seems to be under attack by one bunch of Islamists or another ...and the countries are crumbling.
Years ago, I encouraged his creator to blog them.

And now there's a new guy on the block, i24, hat tip Tablet Magazine.  I don't know how accurate and objective they will end up being, but we'll see.

As a blogger, my aim is more editorial than hard news. That's my choice, and I don't hide it.

Where do you find your most objective news? Please answer in the comments, thanks.

Some Pre-Shabbat Reading

Just a quick selection.
Dry Bones

Unfair to Terrorists

Thinking out of the box? ...at last?

 

Israel Matzav

Kerry to US 'Jewish leaders': 'I know what's good for Israel better than its elected leaders'

US Secretary of State John Kerry has told a group of American 'Jewish leaders' that he knows what's good for Israel better than that country's elected leadership.

An optimistic-sounding Kerry asked the Jewish leaders for their help in supporting the newly restarted talks, The Times of Israel learned, saying that he feared for Israel’s future if a peace deal is not reached.

Ruthie Blum, could my tagging her have been the problem?

Ruthie Blum

Being targeted on Facebook For the past two months, intermittently, I have been barred from Facebook. The first time it happened was in June, when I tried to post my Israel Hayom column. Suddenly, a window popped up, telling me that inappropriate material had been found on and removed from my page. I was warned that if I continued violating Facebook's "community standards," I would be banned from the social network for good.

Caroline Glick

When failure carries no cost

August 9, 2013, 8:35 AM

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This week, after a three-and-a-half-year delay, US Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was finally placed on trial for massacring 13 and wounding 32 at Ft. Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009.

Hasan was a self-identified jihadist. His paper and electronic trail provided mountains of evidence that he committed the massacre to advance the cause of Islamic supremacy. Islamic supremacists like Hasan, and his early mentor al-Qaida operations chief Anwar al-Awlaki, view as enemies all people who oppose totalitarian Islam's quest for global domination.

Shabbat Shalom to all of you!

Dry Bones Celebrates "Lamed Vav"

Too bad I didn't see this last night when I posted what Barry Silverberg wrote about the recent Israeli Elections. It's the perfect illustration.

מזל טוב Mazal Tov to Dry Bones on thirty-six years of being the best political cartoonist in Israel!