Singing At Tel Shiloh

Today there was T'filat Chana at Tel Shiloh.


Private prayers at the Tel

Everyone to their own thoughts...

Then we divided into two groups for shiurm, Torah classes.

And then we ate outside. It was hot, like mid-summer.

After that was the singing, Karni Eldad and strings.

And we all joined in.

Jerusalem, Another View, or Two

Recently I visited a couple in what was built to be the "posh," suitable for wealthy olim, neighborhood of French Hill. At least that's how I remember it from the very early 1970's.

Yes, I'm referring to Tzameret Habira, Capitol Heights. The neighborhood is a series of "terraced" apartment buildings on the side of a mountain with a commanding view in the direction of the Dead Sea.




Today you see massive illegal Arab building. While every storage room or raised roof on Jewish buildings must get all sorts of formal approval or be demolished, the Arabs build helter skelter. The government and police are afraid of the subsequent violence and just ignore what happens in the Arab sectors. They take their frustrations out on innocent, idealistic Jews in Judea and Samaria.




And while we're mentioning building in Jerusalem, here's another photo of the roads downtown being prepared for the "lightrail."

OLMERT HAS FINALLY RESIGNED!

Olmert formally submits his resignation to Peres
President Peres: I appreciate the respectable way Olmert chose to pass the leadership along. 20:45

Your Latest American Sitcom

Palin vs Barry

McCain's already playing 2nd fiddle to Sarah Palin, but I don't think he minds all that much.

Do you think that Dry Bones pegged it right? Did Barry Hussein Obama really thinks like this?

Read the comments. They're really something.

The Democrats are really worried that Sarah Palin has won over a good part of America. The silent majority is no longer so quiet.

The United States is very divided. The Presidential Elections really show it.

And I don't deny that Israel also has various population sectors who have no idea of how others live, and I'm not talking about Arabs and Jews. I'm just referring to the Jewish population.

It's always more amusing to watch others make fools of themselves. I've been observing American elections since I was a child, and I can't think of two pairs of candidates so different. I don't know if Americans appreciate the real choice they have. Of course, once in office, they all end up pretty much the same.

But I'm enjoying this campaign.

Free To Travel Our Land

Immediately after the 1967 Six Days War, we Jews/Israelis were perfectly safe wandering around our historical Homeland. The Arabs respected and feared us. The were surprised that we didn't send them packing, or send them off without their possessions.



Once they realized that the government was embarrassed by our great victory and wanted to give them what we won in a fair war, when we were defending the very existence of our country, defending our lives, they began to attack. And since then, with every "peace concession," our security situation has gotten worse.




So, I was rather amused by this ynet article about the recent increase in Israeli tourism in Judea and Samaria.



Living here in Shiloh is nothing like what people who don't visit imagine. This is no "protest campsite." Jews have been back living in Shiloh for thirty years, going on 31 to be precise. We have schools, stores, a swimming pool, homes, gardens and bli eyin haraa bus service.

This past year, I've initiated Women's Private Prayers (not a faux male minyon) on Rosh Chodesh. Women are coming from all over Israel to pray where Chana did in Biblical times. The next one can't be on Rosh Chodesh, because Rosh Chodesh is Rosh Hashannah, so it will be on the following week. Tuesday, October 7th, the 8th of Tishrei, just before Yom Kippur. We will meet at 9:45 am at the Tabernacle Gallery Cafe`, Tel Shiloh, where you can get a snack or buy souvenirs or gift items.

Of course, tourists are always welcome at the Tel. For more information, contact the tourist office 02-994-4019.

Coming Attractions

My plans for the upcoming JPIX is to let the pictures do the talking. I will choose one picture from each post submitted and in it embed the link to the post.

Preparations have begun. G-d willing it will work. Here's a taste of what's to come.

Now, please, click the picture, and see where it takes you...




Join the carnival, and send in your links. Submit your articles for JPIX #19 here. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page. If you would like to host a future edition of JPIX, or blog carnival is "down," email jpixcarnival@gmail.com.

The "Spin" Graduates To...

...carefully constructed and calculated misinformation, aka lies.

The "spin" is an "after the fact" technique to turn cement into gold. It can be amazingly creative, like a snake oil salesman with a silver tongue. By the time the "spinners" finish "spinning," you can't tell north from south, right from left, nor right from wrong.

Misinformation plays with facts and faux facts to create a scene which suits the goal of the "creator." It can be done with a simple word or elaborate invention.

But, in a nutshell, it's just a fancy way of lying and/or misrepresenting facts. I'm sure it always existed. It's just that in today's instant internet etc, it's so easy to catch the lies and play the game, trading misinformation.

The Tooth Fairy is looking better all the time.

Babies Less Important Than Business

It's not just the Chinese who sell tainted baby formula or consider their business more important than babies' health.

Over thirty years ago, when I was pregnant with our third child, I found myself watching a very upsetting television program on British TV. We were working in London at the time. It was an expose` about a big international baby formula company marketing conning poor Africans into buying their product.

The poverty-stricken, naive customers hadn't the facilities to wash and sterilize baby bottles, nor guarantee that the water added to the formula would be safe. But they saw the big healthy Europeans and Americans who sold the formula and wanted their children to be like them. But instead their children were dying of diseases caused by dirty bottles, unclean water and malnutrition when they diluted the formula too much, because they couldn't afford the quantities needed. It wasn't just hormones of my own pregnancy that made me cry so much that I had to turn off the TV.

More recently, there was a big health scandal in Israel, when it was discovered that Remedia, a large German baby formula manufacturer had "reformulated" their formula. They left out crucially important minerals, without warning. Israeli babies died and some survivors are seriously brain-damaged.

We really shouldn't trust all these chemicals, and it's also a good idea to read labels. Many "low fat" and "diet" foods are less healthy than real foods. In many cases, corn syrup, replaces eggs or milk fat. And corn syrup is much more dangerous to one's health.

I have no doubt that most babies would do better on milk, goat or cow, and natural yogurts, rather than all those chemicals. Of course that's only if the mother can't nurse the baby herself. Nothing's better for human babies than human milk.

The Streets Where I Lived

Soon after docking at Haifa Port, early September, 1970, my husband and I made it to our first home/job in Israel. It was in the newly opened Maon Betar, corner of Rechov Hayehudim (Jews Street) and Rechov Plugat Hakotel (Western Wall Guarders Street,) Old City, Jerusalem. The neighborhood was not called the Rova Yehudi, Jewish Quarter in those days.

The area was nothing, absolutely nothing, like what you see today, from the then mud roads to the decrepit buildings and to the people in the streets. The Arab squatters, who had taken over the Jewish homes, after the Jews had been banished, just destroyed and never repaired. Today, after forty years of construction, repairs, investment etc, it is a very different place.

This week, when I went to the Old City for the Tachlis event, I got there early enough for a quick look at my old haunts. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.



























Shabbat Shalom uMevorach!
Have a Peaceful and Blessed Shabbat!

Olmert's Still In & Tsippi Had Help

According to law, Olmert is in office until a new government is formed. So if you had thought that the Kadima Primaries would bring a new Prime Minister, don't start holding your breath so soon.

Strange things about those primaries. All of the polls, actually even including the one that asks voters as they leave the polling stations, all said that Tsippi was far ahead of Mofaz. Then, they counted the votes. And the results were different. It was almost a tie. Actually, some Mofaz supporters say that the 400+ difference could go the other way, if the votes were to be recounted.

Even more peculiar, one of the pollsters is blaming the media for hyping Tsippi and demoralizing the Mofaz supporters. I think it's the ridiculous reliance of polls, by the media, which is at fault.

But the bottom line is that we're still stuck with Olmert!

Blogging Professionally, Tachlis

Blogging is my business, my only business.

It may sound "good" but it's not entirely true. But yesterday I went to the Tachlis event, where I was exposed to more ideas about the internet and how to promote my blogs.



Some of the attendees were the same as were at the International Jewish Bloggers Convention, but it was very different.

It was more geared to people who utilize the internet, or should utilize the internet, for promoting their npo's or businesses or causes. We bloggers were there more to fill the chairs. I discovered that David Abitbol of Jewlicious is actually some sort of marketing consultant, not just a more successful blogger and community organizer than I am. Ahuva Berger is also a consultant. And Aharon Horwitz of Presetense is also a consultant, since all of them get paid to give advice, marketing their knowledge. In actuality, you can say that these professional consultants were giving us advice for a rock bottom price and some kosher nosh in an exotic venue.



I was hoping for more "details," instructions, but even though all sorts of other internet "social networking" were mentioned, clear definitions and "how-to's" were ignored, especially since most participants were part of that virtual world.

For me, some of the enthusiasm for hundreds and thousands of "friends" on twitter, facebook etc seemed naive or peculiar. Even though I've established relationships and friendships via my blogs, f2f is still a more import part of my life. I just can't imagine schlepping around a laptop, constantly searching for the best air-born wireless internet to check in.




A good thing was hearing of a new profession, very tempting if I can find a job in it, professional commercial blogging to promote buzz for a company.

Honestly, it was an interesting evening, and I was happy to meet Rivkah again. And again I got a ride home with Hadassa Levy, who lives nearby whose parents I knew when we were teens. Yes, small world. My mother is a friend of her grandmother, too.

The organizers called it a "panel," but it was just a series of speakers with question/answer time. Each speaker used that PowerPoint on screen technique, but most used it badly, basically having their presentation on the screen and reading from the laptop or notes. Actually, David used it best, in that he had a few pictures illustrating his themes, rather than displaying his words. He apologized for not being as prepared as he would like, saying that an organizer of an event should never double as speaker. I'm glad that he did speak, since he was most interesting for my needs. I do understand his point, since when I led the NCSY Israel Folk Dance group, 1969-70, I also found it better not to be one of the dancers. That saved the day, when I had a dancer sick the day of the performance and was able to fill-in, miraculously, though I had never danced the dance before I was on stage.

The Tachlis 2 Point Oh! was held in the Old City, davka, at an Armenian pub's outdoor area, but kosher food was brought in.




Yes, I did learn things, and I'm not sorry I attended. And stay tuned for the pictures I took of our old neighborhood in the Old City of Jerusalem.