Fighting Back On All Fronts (plus a PS)

Unfortunately, the State of Israel and many Jews all over the world and political spectrum are afraid of appearing "too" extreme, partisan, JEWISH or whatever and waste their public relations and marketing talents on less important issues than the viability, legitimacy and right of the State of Israel.

One of the few exceptions is Caroline Glick, who writes for the Jerusalem Post and established Latma.  In her latest article she fights back attacks on herself found in an article on Huffington Post.  In Glick's latest JPost article she tries to make sense out of United States President Barack Hussein Obama's Syria policy and shows why with Obama at the helm, the USA and the free world are in serious trouble.

A few other sites on the internet contribute to revealing the true history concerning Israel.  Yitzchak Heimowitz brings up some good points about how useless American promises have been to Israel over the years, but he has trouble admitting that those points are more the rule than the exception.  Personally, I don't consider the United States to be a true ally to Israel.  The proof's in the pudding as the saying goes.  America has never gone out on a limb to do anything for Israel; it just makes dangerous demands.  And please don't bring up the faux aid to counter me.  American "aid" is not more than shopping coupons to be used in American "stores" only.  They strengthen the American economy and weaken the Israeli one, because they under-price the military defense supplies, which cause Israeli companies to fail.

I'll include here a video, not very new, which has a lot of good points, but one awful one.  The good point is all of the topographical proof, very nicely illustrated, that the best borders for a safe, secure, viable Israel are the post-1967 Six Days War ones.  But in at least one spot during the voice-over there's talk of a "demilitarized Palestinian sic State," as if it's a given, something that must and can exist.  I totally object to that. 



There is not way another state can exist in the borders of the State of Israel.  There is no historic justification for it.  There is not way that these Arab terrorists, see Soccer Dad's article, can ever be peaceful.  At present, as a "non-state," the P.A. can't be trusted.  Yes, I admit that it's very hard to turn back the clock and cancel all the rights that successive Israeli Governments have given them.  I objected to every one of those rights and privileges and we mustn't increase them. 

Remember that the AIM OF THE PALESTINIANS SIC IS THE DESTRUCTION OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL.  We must stop deluding ourselves and face the truth.

PS I just saw this "special announcement" by Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in which he condemns the latest agreement between the various Pseudostinian aka Palestinian-sic leaders. Instead of demanding that they apply "white-wash" and hide the truth, he should recognize and admit that this agreement is their true policy and take all appropriate actions.  That means cancel all "peace" negotiations etc.

“All you need is trust and a little bit of pixie dust!” – Peter Pan

By Sara Layah Shomron

How do you make someone want to learn a foreign language? Consider drama. It's interactive, effective, and fun. Language comes alive through drama in a creative and dynamic way. It can help motivate and inspire EFL/ESL students, provide valuable learning tools, and build confidence.

"I'll never grow up,never grow up, never grow up! Not me!”
- Peter Pan

A magical Ulpana Neve Dekalim student adaptation of the play Peter Pan was performed in English last night at the Givat Washington campus auditorium. The girls spoke, sang, and/or danced their lines to the delighted audience. Applause was frequent and well deserved. A number of girls shared the roles of the mother, father, Wendy, Peter Pan, Captain Hook, and Tiger Lily. Consistent character costumes made for smooth and successful role transitions among the different girls playing the same part. The pirate and Indian dance routines were clearly as fun to do as they were to watch. Comic relief was provided by those playing Nana the dog and the tic-tock crocodile. Hand-painted backdrops of artistic quality gave a welcome outlet to those girls without the acting bug but wanting inclusion. And for a few ever too brief hours, one was transported to Neverland...

A round of applause to the English teachers, students and administration at Ulpana Neve Dekalim - May you continue to go from strength to strength!

Weather, No Guess-Work

Most people have totally inaccurate concepts of how cold and how much rain etc.  There are two things I've learned about the weather in my forty-one years here in Israel:

1. The longer a person has lived here, the more likely he'll claim that there "never was a spring/fall/winter/summer like this one."
2. No matter what the weather, hot, cold, dry or wet, the farmers will demand compensation from the government, because "the weather was bad for the crops/our planing schedule."

Last night the tv "weather maivens" were telling us that there's great news.  The Kineret (Israel's fresh-water lake) has reached the lowest permitted/recommended level weeks earlier than last year.  Of course, they sort of fudged about saying that it's still at a dangerously low level, and we're using more water than can possibly get rained in, but do you really expect the hard truth from the media?  They won't admit that their pet Abbas is pro-terrorism and that here's no real difference between Fatah and Hamas, so why should they make it clear that growing grassy lawns is a dangerous water-waster and should be banned, unless people use recycled water like from the washing machine or dishwasher.

Mateh Binyamin, the Benjamin Regional Council, in which Shiloh is located has made the guesswork about rain, temperature etc a thing of the past.  On its Internet site you'll find a page (in Hebrew only) indicating how much rain, wind, cold spells, strong sun etc there has been each day in each community, or general area. 

Shiloh has its page.  So I can actually find out how much rain fell on a particular day or week.

Now the real challenge would be finding out a way to show us how much water we're wasting...

After Thirty-Four Years, The World Ought To Stop Predicting Our Demise

The Jewish return to our Biblical Locations is of Biblical proportions and significance for sure.  A hundred years before the 1967 Six Days War, the legendary Mark Twain wrote of the desolation he found here.  Nobody had been living here in Shiloh and in the other Biblical sites that are now filled with Jews of all ages from all different ethnic groups.

Progress moves quickly here in the HolyLand.  I've seen it in the thirty years we've been in Shiloh and the forty-one years we've been in Israel.

Photo by Miriam Feyga Bunimovich

Last night I attended the Celebrations for Shiloh's 34th "Birthday."  Maybe "birthday" is the wrong word, because Shiloh as a Jewish City wasn't born thirty-four years ago.   It was born thousands of years ago when Joshua established it as the Capital City of the Jewish People and the Kohanim brought the Mishkan Tabernacle to rest here.  Shiloh retained that status for 369 years.  The modern Jewish return is thirty-four years old, but it's foolish, especially in the PR sense, to call it a "birthday."

The first part of the evening was a chidon, quiz contest, which pitted the youth against the adults, trivia, history, Bible, culture all mixed and connected to Shiloh.  Just as I walked in, admittedly late, I heard the game m.c. announcing that the answer is אלדד ומידדת Eldad u'Medad, and then he called out:

"Are the Medad's here?"

I had planned on entering rather discretely, and just the opposite occurred.  G-d has a sense of humor; that's for sure.  So I played along and cheerfully waved to my neighbors.

In a few months it will be forty-five years since the 1967 Six Days War and the liberation of our historic Land.  Today there are grandparents who were born post-1967.  Two complete generations have grown up with the reality that Israel includes the Biblical heartland.  Those who think that communities like Shiloh, Beit El, Keddumim, Efrat, Elon Moreh, Kiryat Arba, Ofra and more can just be "folded up," destroyed, like a tent or trailer park, are totally unrealistic.  And if they think that the remaining State of Israel would be secure and viable, they're insane.

This year's theme was getting the know our neighbors.  Shiloh isn't the small community it was when we came.  Now there are many people living here whom I don't know at all.  I've made my peace with the reality that that's the way it should be.  It's important that we've grown to a size that makes it pretty impossible to know everyone.

I must admit that my neighbors are pretty talented.  Here you can see some of the artwork done by neighbors.   The entertainment was home-grown, too.






Re: Blowin' in the Wind.  You can easily interpret it to ask how many years until people recognize that we Jews have all the right in the world to be here. 

Those Who "Talk" and Those Who "Do"

Re: Bombing Iran's nuclear development/industry.  I think all the talking about it has made it a bad idea.

The best quotation I found is this one, although I was sure there would be plenty of others about the talkers vs the doers:

Don't talk about what you have done or what you are going to do.
Thomas Jefferson

Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/talk.html#ixzz1lUPddb2N

The only way the bombing would have had been a good idea would have been before all these years of useless yapping. It should have been a surprise attack. Now the Iranians are ready and waiting to attack back to defend themselves and destroy us.  All the talk has done was to give them more time to develop their weapons and make us look like fools.

Another problem is involving the United States, if Israel was to take it on.  The United States should do it if they really consider themselves "leader of the free world."  Whoever would dare to bomb the Iranian atomic bomb factory would be the true leader.  I don't see the USA in that category.  And whatever Israel does, or doesn't do, it will be condemned.

Israel's Minister of Defense Ehud Barak is a talker, not a doer.  Maybe when he was a young soldier he was different, but in recent decades he has been an embarrassment, just talking and threatening.



With Barak making decisions, nothing will be done except attacking Jews, like in Migron.



Ehud Barak should do the job he was assigned and defend Israeli citizens from our true enemies. This week's Parshat Shavua, Weekly Torah Portion said it well:

ט וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶל-יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בְּחַר-לָנוּ אֲנָשִׁים, וְצֵא הִלָּחֵם בַּעֲמָלֵק; מָחָר, אָנֹכִי נִצָּב עַל-רֹאשׁ הַגִּבְעָה, וּמַטֵּה הָאֱלֹהִים, בְּיָדִי. 9 And Moses said unto Joshua: 'Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek; tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.' י וַיַּעַשׂ יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, כַּאֲשֶׁר אָמַר-לוֹ מֹשֶׁה--לְהִלָּחֵם, בַּעֲמָלֵק; וּמֹשֶׁה אַהֲרֹן וְחוּר, עָלוּ רֹאשׁ הַגִּבְעָה. 10 So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. יא וְהָיָה, כַּאֲשֶׁר יָרִים מֹשֶׁה יָדוֹ--וְגָבַר יִשְׂרָאֵל; וְכַאֲשֶׁר יָנִיחַ יָדוֹ, וְגָבַר עֲמָלֵק. 11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. יב וִידֵי מֹשֶׁה כְּבֵדִים, וַיִּקְחוּ-אֶבֶן וַיָּשִׂימוּ תַחְתָּיו וַיֵּשֶׁב עָלֶיהָ; וְאַהֲרֹן וְחוּר תָּמְכוּ בְיָדָיו, מִזֶּה אֶחָד וּמִזֶּה אֶחָד, וַיְהִי יָדָיו אֱמוּנָה, עַד-בֹּא הַשָּׁמֶשׁ. 12 But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. יג וַיַּחֲלֹשׁ יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אֶת-עֲמָלֵק וְאֶת-עַמּוֹ, לְפִי-חָרֶב. {פ} 13 And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. {P} יד וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, כְּתֹב זֹאת זִכָּרוֹן בַּסֵּפֶר, וְשִׂים, בְּאָזְנֵי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ: כִּי-מָחֹה אֶמְחֶה אֶת-זֵכֶר עֲמָלֵק, מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם. 14 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Write this for a memorial in the book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.' טו וַיִּבֶן מֹשֶׁה, מִזְבֵּחַ; וַיִּקְרָא שְׁמוֹ, יְהוָה נִסִּי. 15 And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Adonai-nissi. טז וַיֹּאמֶר, כִּי-יָד עַל-כֵּס יָהּ, מִלְחָמָה לַיהוָה, בַּעֲמָלֵק--מִדֹּר, דֹּר. {פ} 16 And he said: 'The hand upon the throne of the LORD: the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.' {P}

That's RIGHT! It's Latma, The Right News

There's nothing like Caroline Glick's Latma. This week:

The Tribal Update presents Peace Now's Executive Director Yariv Oppenheimer who explains why Migron must be destroyed immediately. The Supreme Court interferes where it is most needed and Noam Shalit's amazing race.

Shiloh, Davka in the Middle of the Winter, 34 Years of Jewish Life

This Shabbat, we Jews in Shiloh are celebrating our return.  The City of Shiloh is central in Ancient, Biblical Jewish History.  It was the Capital City, location of the Mishkan, Tabernacle for 369 years.  Unlike many other popular spiritual and tourist sites in the Land of Israel, such as Rachel's Tomb, everyone agrees that Shiloh is Shiloh.

Actually, the original plan of those who ended up establishing the first Jewish community in the Shomron after the 1967 Six Days War had planned on coming to Shiloh for the obvious historical significance.  But they ended up complying with the government's condition/demand that they choose a location that had structures in which they could live.  The government hoped that it would be no more than a temporary "demonstration" and didn't want there to be the need to build at all.  That's why Ofra was chosen; there were Jordanian police/army barracks to move into.  Shiloh stayed on the list and the Ofra community hosted the Shiloh garrin, settlement group until the time was ripe and logistical problems could be solved.

Seven young families and a few singles moved to Shiloh on Rosh Chodesh Shvat, 5738, January, 1978, yes, this time of the year, thirty-four years ago.  Considering how much ordinary, everyday technology has advanced in those few decades, it's hard to imagine how those young families managed in what was then a very isolated location, accessed via an Arab village, no phones, electricity or reliable water supply.  The lived mostly in trailers and tents.  A simple generator was set up, and water was trucked in periodically.  An old, mostly destroyed building was given a new roof, and it served as the synagogue and yeshiva which had also been established.

When I visited Shiloh with our then young daughters, exactly 34 years ago on TU B'Shvat, there were just over thirty families living in trailers and cement prefabricated homes near Tel Shiloh.  I can't exactly say why, but I just felt that Shiloh was the place for us to live and raise our children.  Over the next few months we visited as a family a few times for Shabbat, met more people and decided to make it our home. 

We moved to Shiloh on September 1, 1981, the day the Shiloh elementary school, Ohel Shiloh, first began.  There were exactly eighteen students that day, divided into three grades, First, Second and Third.  Our second daughter was the oldest girl in the school.  Our eldest daughter had been driven to Ofra to study in their school with a few other children too old for the new Shiloh school.  By the end of September, the population of Shiloh had more than doubled from our first visit.  There were over sixty families and many more children.

Today Shiloh is a busy vibrant town of over three hundred families of all ages and from all over the world.  The main synagogue was built to resemble the Mishkan, Tabernacle, which had rested here for almost four hundred years in Biblical times. Our school is the district school, elementary education center, separately administered boys and girls schools educating the full eight grades.  Students come from as  far as the Jordan Valley to the east, Rechallim to the north, Maale Levona to the west and all of the smaller communities in between.  We have enrichment programs for the gifted and remedial for those who need them.

Shiloh has changed my life for the better.  I just can't imagine being any place else.  In thanks to those powerful figures, like the Biblical Chana, who once walked in this very place, I've established the custom of Women's Rosh Chodesh Prayers every month at Tel Shiloh.

The Rosh Chodesh Adar Women's Prayers at Tel Shiloh

Friday, February 24, 2012 8:30am

Shiur Torah, Short Tour & Torah Lesson

Please come and invite family, friends and neighbors

תפילת נשים ראש חודש אדר בתל שילה

יום ו' 24-2 8:30

יהיו סיור ודבר תורה קצרים

נא לבוא, לפרסם ולהזמין חברות, משפחה ושכנות

You're welcome to join our facebook page. Tel Shiloh is open to visitors daily. Tours can be arranged through the office. Email telshilo@gmail.com or phone 02-994-4019.

It's winter in Shiloh, and fruit trees, like the legendary grape vines and shkaydia, almond tree, is blooming already.  Out of season, the plants look dead, just like the Jewish People did in exile.  But we didn't die.  We're still alive and thriving, Baruch Hashem, thanks to G-d.

Shabbat Shalom u'Mevorach

Have a Peaceful and Blessed Shabbat

That New Hamashbir Letzarchan Deparment Store in Jerusalem

Food for thought... Can you pick out some interesting or surprising things in this picture?

Please answer in the comments, thanks.

The Ultimate Desecration of the Torah (Warning: Obscene)

Posted by Jewish Israel

Jewish Israel has just posted a video of popular Christian messianic missionary and hebraic roots teacher "Rabbi" Ralph Messer wrapping mega-church leader Eddie Long in a Torah scroll – which allegedly came from Auschwitz Birkenau - and crowning him as a king.

This is obscene material and illustrates why Jewish leaders need to temper those evangelical and prophetic flames with strict halachic borders, and to consider who they are teaching our Torah to.

Heads-up Jewish community leaders in Shiloh : Messer, who claims to have "dual citizenship in Israel", will be leading a tour to Israel in March 2012 billed as "The Land of Israel Awaits Your Return" and Jewish communities like Shiloh, with its excavations, are featured on the itinerary...more

Shades of the British Mandate- Israeli Court Copies Anti-Jewish Policies

One of the human/religious rights abuses of the British Mandate in Palestine sic, pre-State of Israel, was the law they imposed to forbid the ritual blowing of the shofar at the Kotel, Western Wall, Jerusalem.  This week, an Israeli Court made the same sort of decision.  The British took over in July, 1922 at the request of the League of Nations  and decided that shofar blowing would endanger the peace and anger the Arabs, so instead of protecting Jewish worshippers, they punished the Jews by forbidding ritual shofar blowing.  In this week's decision, the judges gave the police the right to decide when shofar blowing could possibly cause Arab disturbances and instead of instructing the police to control the Arabs, they instructed the police to forbid Jews from keeping Jewish Law.




There's a very serious anti-human/civil/religious rights inconsistency here.  During the month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast during daylight hours, the IDF instructed soldiers not to eat in public, as to not "tease" or disturb the Muslims.  But at the same time, the IDF punishes Jewish soldiers who for religious reasons leave ceremonies that include women singing.  They may excuse themselves from attending the event if they know in advance, but they aren't allowed to leave in the middle.  This compromise has taken a long time, and the controversy most probably isn't over yet.

I must say that the IDF has become much more welcoming to religious soldiers, most probably because the demographics of the IDF has been changing.  More and more strictly religious soldiers are moving up the ranks, entering and leading the most elite units and making careers as officers.  Contrary to what the media and many politicians say, the largest growing group of Israelis getting exemptions are the secular Left, not the religious.

And don't forget that Israel still restricts Jewish presence on our most holy Temple Mount, the location of our Batei Mikdash, Holy Temples.  The Temple Mount is much, much holier than the more popular and more accessible Kotel.  The Kotel and Kotel Katan are remnants of outer walls.

We won't have true peace until our priorities change.  Israel must function as a Jewish State with Jewish Values and Jewish Priorities.

Election Results: Bibi Rules Likud. I've Always Voted IN Likud, But Only Once FOR Likud

According to news reports, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has the support of about 80% of the Likud members who voted yesterday in the primaries.  Shiloh results were very different:

משה פייגלין - 302 Moshe Feiglin  

בנימין נתניהו - 24 Binyamin Netanyahu 

פסולים ולבנים- 11 Unacceptable or blank 

הצביעו מעט  למעלה מ 50 אחוז. More than 50% voter turn-out.

My husband and I voted.  I took pictures, but they will bli neder  be posted later.  We have been voting in internal Likud Elections even before there was a Likud.  I don't know about him, but I only voted Likud once.  This may not make sense to you, except if you know the history of the party.

We joined the Herut חרות Party, Jerusalem Branch, a couple of weeks or days after making aliyah to Israel.  That was in 1970, and Haim Corfu was head of the branch.  He felt so privileged that we, Betarim, olim chadashim, new immigrants from New York, had joined the Party that he insisted on driving us home to the Maon Betar in the Old City.  He apologized for his inexperienced driving, having only gotten his license a short time before.  Later on he became Israel's Minister for Transportation.

Herut was the main political group in the Gahal Party, Gush Herut-Liberallim, the Herut-Liberal Block.  Just before the 1973 elections, another party, Free Center, joined, and the expanded party was called Likud.  We later on speeded up our citizenship process to vote Likud in the 1973 elections, which due to the Yom Kippur War was postponed until Dec. 31, 1973.  We were abroad, in England doing Jewish Youth Work for Betar in 1977 and missed those elections.

After Menachem Begin became Prime Minister, due to the Likud's surprise victory in 1977, he quickly started his courtship of Egypt's Sadaat, sealingit with the gift of the Sinai, and my voting for Likud was history.

Begin's Camp David Accords entailed destroying Jewish Life in the Sinai, and his successor as Likud Prime Minister, Arik Sharon, declared Disengagement which banished Jews from Gush Katif and gave the Land to the Arab terrorists of Gaza. For that reason I don't vote for the Likud Party.  No Leftist Party has done more to endanger and destroy Jewish Life in the Land of Israel.

I'm afraid of what a now strengthened Bibi Netanyahu has planned.  Read Arlene Kushner's latest article Fear and Rumor.  Also read Caroline Glick's Hamas and the Washington establishment.