"Kiruv" and its Effects on Har Nof

I saw a very interesting letter on the "Har Nof" list. The author of the letter bemoans the behavior of some of the yeshiva and seminary students in the Har Nof neighborhood. On the one hand, he is all for kiruv, understanding its importance to the Jewish People. On the other hand, he is distressed about the effect that these students are having on his community, which is overwhelmingly ultra-Orthodox:

This is an open, general letter of concern, penned to *all local seminary/yeshiva students.*

I am writing on behalf of a number of our fellow residents of Har Nof, regarding the apparent degeneration of standards pertaining to the talmidim and talmidot based in Har Nof.

As we all know, it is a tremendous 'zechus' for Jewish youngsters to be able to strengthen their identities as proud and knowledgeable Jews, here in Eretz Yisrael.

However, this zechus and privilege simply *cannot* come at the expense of established residents, who are striving to fulfil more long-term dreams and aspirations.

The long-established 'Shaulzon Shuffle' has been an unfortunate landmark of Har Nof since as long as I can remember (I've been here 5 years). Yet, the general disregard for locals' spiritual sensitivities has perhaps sunk to far lower levels than 'Friday night intermingling' in recent times.

It is more than understood that young boys and girls do indeed need an outlet- regular opportunities to vent excess energy, as it were.

However, we wish to make this point absolutely, unequivocally clear: The venting of this energy cannot equal the religious and material suffering of the same people who happily provide you with meals every Shabbos and Yom Tov, as well as spare beds for your friends as and when they are needed.

At no point should the wanton excess glorified by Western culture come to find a safe haven here in Yerushalayim. Here, I refer to the growing tendency of seminary girls (more so than Yeshiva bochurim I might add) to congregate in local parks, behaving boisterously (if that terminology can even be used with reference to girls!) until the small hours of the morning.

On almost a dozen occasions this zman alone, my wife & baby have been rudely awoken by such incidents- often fuelled by alcohol- as girls sing/shout/scream at the top of their lungs, apparently unaware that it is almost Alos Hashachar.

We understand and appreciate that many girls will find it necessary to visit Ben Yehuda, have fun, and generally relax a bit from their weekly studies. Yet, at no point should Ben Yehuda street be replicated here in Har Nof. Point in hand: as I type this plea, a small glance out of my window reveals two wonderful sights: to my left, a young male & female sitting on a bench, openly kissing. To my right, a group of quite intoxicated females who are apparently her friends are, cursing loudly. cheering and calling her name. Sorry: two just started urinating against a parked car. I am not exaggerating one iota.

In five years here in Har Nof, I have never, ever witnessed such decadence, and yet it is now an occurrence which is unfortunately repeating itself far too often in parks throughout Har Nof.

Therefore, to the honoured and esteemed teachers and Rabbonim of these Seminaries, I say: The religious scruples and standards of your students are frankly none of my business. Where they happen to be 'holding' is a matter between themselves and their Creator. Any yet, neither are *my* religious scruples and standards any of *yours* or *theirs.*

I state as a fact that the vast majority of Har Nof's residents are 'holding' at a point where they do not want to see (nor for their kids to see) scantily-clad girls cavorting, half drunk, through the streets of our neighbourhood. They do not want to see these girls' boyfriends, nor what they and their boyfriend think of eachother.

A point to consider: I, as well as most of my friends, gladly and willingly host any number of seminary girls, if and when we are asked- both to sleep and to eat. We do not question their levels of observance, nor knowledge, we simply accept the request from assistance which comes from *you*- their teachers and Rabbonim- unquestioningly.

If this one-sided flow of chessed is to continue, it is neither unreasonable nor unjustified that we ask of you one thing in return:

To ensure that just as we bend over backwards to make your students' lives comfortable, you make at least a minimal effort to make *ours* comfortable: by emphasising to them that Har Nof is *not* Ben Yehuda, nor is it a giant nightclub. It is a wonderful and welcoming sechuna, filled with incredible people who have so much to give.

It is high time you gave something in return.

Yours with the utmost sincerity,

What do you think?

Beware of Predators!

In this week's Torah portion, Vayeira, we learn a little bit about the evil of the people of Sodom:

1 And the two angels came to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom; and Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them; and he fell down on his face to the earth; 2 and he said: 'Behold now, my lords, turn aside, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your way.' And they said: 'Nay; but we will abide in the broad place all night.' 3 And he urged them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. 4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. 5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him: 'Where are the men that came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.' 6 And Lot went out unto them to the door, and shut the door after him. 7 And he said: 'I pray you, my brethren, do not so wickedly. 8 Behold now, I have two daughters that have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes; only unto these men do nothing; forasmuch as they are come under the shadow of my roof.' 9 And they said: 'Stand back.' And they said: 'This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs play the judge; now will we deal worse with thee, than with them.' And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and drew near to break the door.

Rashi explains that they wanted to "know" the men, i.e. homosexual relations.

It is a fact of life: there are predators! These people prey on the weak and unsuspecting. They ruin the lives of others in order to satisfy their awkward desires.

I do not agree with everything in the following clip. However, the main message is absolutely true:

Hurricane Sandy Thoughts From Jerusalem

I've been living here in Israel for a long time. Not only that, it has been a long time since I have even visited the United States, where I was born, reared and raised. I usually feel just about 100% Israeli.

However, when I read about the what Hurricane Sandy has wrought on New York and New Jersey, the lives lost and the damage inflicted, I feel American again. Those are my old friends and neighbors, their homes and businesses who are now suffering. Those are the landscapes of my youth which have been battered by the wind and covered with sea and rain water. Yes, my heart bleeds.

On the other hand, one cannot help but feel the awesomeness of God: A full moon, high tide, a hurricane from the East and a cold front from from the West. Some may say that it was all a coincidence. I do not believe it.

Why this had to happen I do not know. I am sure that God has His reasons. I am not God's accountant. He really does not need one.

King David was also moved by the weather as it reflected the power of the God of Israel:

1 Hallelujah; {N}
for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant, and praise is comely.
2 The LORD doth build up Jerusalem, He gathereth together the dispersed of Israel;
3 Who healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
4 He counteth the number of the stars; He giveth them all their names.
5 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.
6 The LORD upholdeth the humble; He bringeth the wicked down to the ground.
7 Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving, sing praises upon the harp unto our God;
8 Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, {N} who maketh the mountains to spring with grass.
9 He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.
10 He delighteth not in the strength of the horse; He taketh no pleasure in the legs of a man.
11 The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that wait for His mercy.
12 Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion.
13 For He hath made strong the bars of thy gates; He hath blessed thy children within thee.
14 He maketh thy borders peace; He giveth thee in plenty the fat of wheat.
15 He sendeth out His commandment upon earth; His word runneth very swiftly.
16 He giveth snow like wool; He scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes.
17 He casteth forth His ice like crumbs; who can stand before His cold?
18 He sendeth forth His word, and melteth them; He causeth His wind to blow, and the waters flow.
19 He declareth His word unto Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances unto Israel.
20 He hath not dealt so with any nation; and as for His ordinances, they have not known them. {N} Hallelujah.

Who Will Ascend God's Mountain?

Ha'aretz has an interesting article about those who ascend the Temple Mount. It does contains a few libelous slurs against politicians from the Israeli Right("members who are extreme in their xenophobia, such as MK Michael Ben Ari") ,as well as a little bit of pseudo-intellectual humbug, which, unfortunately, is to be expected from that media outlet. Excluding that, the author Shani Littman did a really good job.

Personally, I do not ascend the Temple Mount, since I was instructed not to by the late Rabbi Avaraham Shapira zt"l. However, I support the right of those who follow other rabbis and take the proper halachic measures to do so.

To give you a taste of the article, here is a question that the author asked Arnon Segal and his answer:

What is the Temple meant to do?

“It is the heart of Judaism. Numerically, one-third of the 613 commandments are not fulfilled today because of the absence of a Temple. The Temple is the Jewish public sphere that we lost. I want a transnational Judaism, which will encompass all the commandments. The rabbis will not confine themselves solely to the synagogue. A Sanhedrin is needed. That is an inspirational institution. People would come there and be impressed by the light that exists in Judaism. The Jews are one religion, not a collection of sects. A temple is something that is built together.”

Read the rest.

What a Wonderful World

The Corries are Back!

Cindy and Craig Corrie, the parents of the infamous Rachel Corrie, seem to love Israel. After losing their frivolous lawsuit against the Israeli Ministry of Defense, they are back for another visit! According to this web site, this time around they are coming in honor of the olive harvest:

The delegation focuses on the Palestinian olive harvest which takes place each autumn. The olive harvest is an occasion of particular cultural and economic importance for Palestinian communities and a time when tensions between Israeli settlers and Palestinian residents of the West Bank run high.

As a veteran Israeli I feel obligated to offer a little bit of friendly advice for Craig and Cindy. After all, they are in a foreign county and they do not understand our language and customs.

1) If you reach an intersection and the traffic light is red, do not cross the street. Wait for the light to turn green, look both ways to make sure that there are no cars coming and then, only then, cross the street with caution.

2) If you see a fenced off area with a sign that says, "DANGER CONSTRUCTION, do not jump the fence.

3) Do not try to block moving vehicles, be they tractors, trucks, automobiles or motorcycles.

4) Do not enter closed military zones.

By the way, for those of you who do not know, the Corries hail from Olympia, Washington, an area whose Native American inhabitants were decimated by white settlers in the 19th century.

HH Blurb!

Esser Agaroth: Haveil Havalim #382: The Dual Elections Edition

The Seventh of Marcheshvan

Today is the day we that start to request rain in the silent prayer, at least here in the land of Israel. Although the rainy season officially begins on Shemini Atzeret, when we start to say "Mashiv HaRuach U'Morid HaGeshem", we waited until now so that all the American Jewish tourists Babylonian Jews could return safely to their dwellings in America Babylon without being rained upon.

Perhaps this is a good time to look back at the holiday season that was. Here are a few observations:

1) You get out of it what you put into it. If you made an effort to get up early in Elul to say Selichot, if you devoted time to really reflect on your deeds, if you made an effort to change, if you fulfilled the mitzvot of Sukkot properly, I have no doubt that you were spiritually uplifted.

2) I had the opportunity do daven in the rebuilt Churva synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem. It was really special. They have an interesting custom of not saying "Baruch Hu U'Varuch Shmo" during the repetition of the silent prayer. This I was told, was in keeping with the custom of the Gaon of Vilna. There is a certain atmosphere of splendor and honor that gave me a slight idea of what it might be like to daven in the Temple, may it speedily be rebuilt!

3) The Old City was packed with tourists from all over the world. BDS is a real big failure!

4) The Western Wall was packed with worshipers. The facilities available here have greatly improved over the years.

5) I was also in the City of David. That place has changed so much since in the almost three decades that I have been here. The more they dig there the more they reveal the ancient city of Jerusalem, much to the chagrin of the Arabs and the leftists. The City of David, like the Old City, was packed with tourists.

7) We are progressing towards full redemption, little by little. So I say to you Jews living abroad what Moses said to his father in law, " 'We are journeying unto the place of which the LORD said: I will give it you; come thou with us, and we will do thee good; for the LORD hath spoken good concerning Israel.' "

The "Religion of Peace" Busted By Memri

Check out this video:

"Rooting" for Aly Raisman

Aly Raisman continues to be a draw for Jewish community fundraising events. She was honored by WIZO, the Women's International Zionist Organization, for "her courage and commitment to the Jewish people after dedicating her extraordinary performance to the eleven Israeli athletes massacred 40 years ago at the Olympic Games in Munich."

7 news quotes her saying,

“Being Jewish and having accomplished that at the Olympics it means more than words can describe. It means so much to me.”

I am still "rooting" for Raisman.

A Stranger Will Not Understand

I heard the following story the other day:

A gentile tourist from Germany was strolling down the streets of Jerusalem on the night after Simchat Torah. He heard loud music ringing out from one of the buildings. Curious, he made his way inside the building, which just happened to be a Yeshivah, and wandered about the corridors until he found the source of the music that he had heard. Inside a large room, which happened to be the Beit Midrash, a band was playing, and scores of Jewish men were dancing and singing joyously.

The curious tourist, bareheaded and sporting several tattoos, stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb. He approached a bespectacled middle aged Jew who was standing on the side of the room and asked him, "What's going on here?"

"People are dancing," he answered him in an Israeli accent.

"I can see that people are dancing," the tourist answered, clearly frustrated from receiving such an obvious answer. "Why are they dancing?" he continued to inquire.

"Well, we just finished reading a book," the Israeli answered him.

The tourist from Germany was puzzled and coldly commented, "I've finished many books and never danced about it. What do you do when you stop dancing?"

"We start to read the book again," came the answer from the Jew. Then he added, "We've been reading this book for over three thousand years!"

"Well that sounds pretty boring!" the German declared.

The Israeli muttered to himself in Hebrew, "Zar Lo Yavin." (A stranger will not understand).

Hakafot Sheniyot in the Cave of the Patriarchs

A Wild Beast of a Journalist

Click.

Preparing for the Yom Kippur Fast

How should one prepare for the Yom Kippur fast?

First of all, one should know why he is fasting. It is important to understand that the fast is not a nuisance! It is a mitzvah, and this mitzvah facilitates all of the good that we will derive from this holy day. Personally, I am really looking forward to this chance to divorce myself from worldly matters and to concentrate on spiritual things.

I always tell anyone who is willing to listen that it is much more important to drink before the fast than to eat before the fast. Here is someone who agrees with me:

While a healthy adult can generally survive for weeks without food, dehydration can set in within a few days. It's no surprise then that most of the discomfort of fasting is caused by lack of water not the lack of food. To help reduce the effects of dehydration during a fast it is critical to properly hydrate beforehand.

Not eating for a day makes your stomach growl. Big deal! However, if you did not drink enough before the fast, do not be surprised if you get a nasty headache or worse! So drink!

G'mar Hatimah Tovah!

Asshur Will Not Save Us

I am sure I am not the only one to notice this. Take a look at the beginning of yesterday's Haftarah:

2 Return, O Israel, unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast stumbled in thine iniquity. 3 Take with you words, and return unto the LORD; say unto Him: 'Forgive all iniquity, and accept that which is good; so will we render for bullocks the offering of our lips. 4 Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; neither will we call any more the work of our hands our gods; for in Thee the fatherless findeth mercy.'

Presently, there is an argument taking place in Israel. Some people here in Israel think that the IDF should act to disrupt Iran's nuclear program. Others say, "We can't go it alone. Only the United States has the military power to destroy Iran's nuclear ambitions."

I could not help but hear an echo of that argument in the Haftarah. The prospect of a nuclear Iran, plus the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood all over the Middle East, are certainly a cause for concern. When one sees rulers whose decrees are like those of Haman, it is impossible not to think of Teshuvah. Hosea is telling us what to say to God when we return to Him:

'Forgive all iniquity, and accept that which is good; so will we render for bullocks the offering of our lips. 4 Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; neither will we call any more the work of our hands our gods; for in Thee the fatherless findeth mercy.'

"Asshur will not save us". I hear, "The Unites States of America will not save us. President Obama is busy engaging the Muslim world. Not only that, he cannot even defend his own embassies."

"We will not ride upon horses". I hear, "The IDF is not going to help us either."

Who can we rely upon? Our Father in Heaven!

Just a thought.

Stifling the Freedom of Speech

Last Post For 5772: Some Links

Who Is Sam Bacile?

Gold Medal Appearance (Aly Raisman appears at a JCC fundraiser)

Were Libya attacks coordinated to mark 9/11?

Haredi Women Working The Shuk

Living the Zionist Reality

May you all be written and sealed for a good year!

JEWS SHOULD MARRY JEWS

This is something I've mentioned a lot on this blog. Glad to find this clip (hat tip):

Yair Lapid Interviewing Rabbi Yitzchak David Grossman

Now That I'm Done Laughing at the DNC's God/Jerusalem Debacle

Here are some serious thoughts that others had about that bizarre chain of events:

Government Ordained VS G-d Ordained :

You can try, but you just can not separate a nation from the Creator. And, if you do, it is always a losing proposition.

When the name of G-d was re-introduced back into the Democrat platform, the vote was booed by those who wanted no part of that. And, despite what was said, those who heard the vote knew that it was equal on both sides. Those for and against were in almost equal numbers! It was all about removing the competition.

Well, that is not the United States of even 20 years ago. Instead, it is a new mind set, a new people who have a completely different vision of what America should be.

G-d and Jerusalem:

The DNC rammed through the motion to reinstate G-d and Jerusalem being Israel's capital in their party's platform, notwithstanding the more-than-one-third of delegates who opposed the motion. It's good that they did so because had they not done so, I would have told them that I hope G-d does not remove Democrats from His platform.

Anyways, it was quite interesting that these 2 concepts - of Hashem and Yerushalayim - were constantly together. The 2008 platform had both together. Before the reinstatement, the Republicans complained about the absence of both of them - together. And they were both reinstated - together. As if Hashem and Yerushalayim were - and are - inseparable. And that would be correct.

Column One: God, Jerusalem and American foreign policy:

Significantly, rather than treat the deletions of God and Jerusalem as separate issues, the media and the Democrats themselves presented them as two sides of the same coin. When on Wednesday the party’s leadership decided to restore the language of the 2008 platform on God and Jerusalem – but not on Hamas, the so-called “right of return,” and Israel’s strategic significance to the US – they opted to do so in the same amendment.

The widespread perception of God and Jerusalem as related issues tells us something important about the American character. And it tells us something equally important about Obama and the party he leads.

Prof. Walter Russell Mead described Israel’s place in the American mindset last year. As he put it, “Israel matters in American politics like almost no other country on earth. Well beyond the American Jewish and the Protestant fundamentalist communities, the people and the story of Israel stir some of the deepest and most mysterious reaches of the American soul. The idea of Jewish and Israeli exceptionalism is profoundly tied to the idea of American exceptionalism. The belief that God favors and protects Israel is connected to the idea that God favors and protects America.”

Mead continued, “Being pro-Israel matters in American mass politics because the public mind believes at a deep level that to be pro-Israel is to be pro-America and pro-faith. Substantial numbers of voters believe that politicians who don’t ‘get’ Israel also don’t ‘get’ America and don’t ‘get’ God.”

By removing both God and Jerusalem from the platform, Obama and his fellow Democrats stirred the furies of that American soul at its foundations.

Delegates boo adding “God” and “Jerusalem” back to the Democratic platform:

“First of all, the Democrats are not booing God. They are not booing God here. They are booing the system that is obviously corrupt. This is the Barack Obama system. It really is. We’re going to put it out to a vote and let the people say what they want to say and we’re going to go around and we’re going to listen to your opinion. Then they’ll pole vault, they will go under the fence, they will jump over the fence, climb through the window, they will do whatever they have to do. They are going to do what they want to do,” Glenn said.

“This is one of the greatest signs ever. I love this. This is going to make you feel really good. They are terrified of you. They are absolutely terrified. Do you remember, how many times did we say, ‘Hey, don’t, don’t feel like you’re alone. You’re not alone. WE Surround Them.’ And we had to convince each other that there are more of us than them. They never believed that. They just keep going and doing exactly what ‑‑ and they just jam it down everybody’s throat. They’re no longer jamming it down your throat. They’re jamming it down their own people’s throat now. The good Democrats, they’re just jamming it down their throats. And they are afraid,” Glenn said.

“They expected their people to just go along. They didn’t. Half of them, the good common sense Democrats, half of them said, yes, put that back in. The other half, the militant half, said absolutely not,” Glenn explained.

He That Sitteth in Heaven Laugheth

And I, who sitteth here on Earth, laugheth as well:



LOL!

1 Why are the nations in an uproar? And why do the peoples mutter in vain?

2 The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel together, {N} against the LORD, and against His anointed:

3 'Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.'

4 He that sitteth in heaven laugheth, the Lord hath them in derision.

5 Then will He speak unto them in His wrath, and affright them in His sore displeasure:

6 'Truly it is I that have established My king upon Zion, My holy mountain.'

7 I will tell of the decree: the LORD said unto me: 'Thou art My son, this day have I begotten thee.

8 Ask of Me, and I will give the nations for thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for thy possession.

9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.'

10 Now therefore, O ye kings, be wise; be admonished, ye judges of the earth.

11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

12 Do homage in purity, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way, when suddenly His wrath is kindled. {N} Happy are all they that take refuge in Him. {P}

Dvar Torah for Ki Tavo - Happiness in the Land of Israel

What makes you happy? Different people would probably answer that question differently. Rabbi Chaim Ben 'Atar, in his commentary on the Torah Or HaChaim at the beginning of this week's portion, tells us that there is no happiness like the happiness of coming to the land of Israel. You will not find happiness in a bigger house or a fancier automobile. If you are looking for happiness this is the place to be.

When a Jew would bring Bikkurim, the first fruits to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, he would recite a special text. This text is probably one of the most familiar texts in Judaism, as it plays a central role in the Passover Haggadah. Here it is in the context of the parasha:

1 And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and dost possess it, and dwell therein; 2 that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which thou shalt bring in from thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee; and thou shalt put it in a basket and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there. 3 And thou shalt come unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him: 'I profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the land which the LORD swore unto our fathers to give us.' 4 And the priest shall take the basket out of thy hand, and set it down before the altar of the LORD thy God. 5 And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God: 'A wandering Aramean was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there, few in number; and he became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6 And the Egyptians dealt ill with us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage. 7 And we cried unto the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice, and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression. 8 And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders. 9 And He hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the land, which Thou, O LORD, hast given me.' And thou shalt set it down before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God. 11 And thou shalt rejoice in all the good which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thy house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is in the midst of thee.

It is difficult to overstate the importance of the land of Israel. When a Jew would bring the first fruits, he would thank God from many things: how from few we became many, how He saved us from the Egyptians, etc. We also thank God for the land. Our appreciation of the land is repeated over and over again in the text. When we say Birkat HaMazon, the grace after meals, "the land" receives a place of honor: 'Al HaAretz Ve 'Al HaMazon.

I've been living here in the Land of Israel for a long time. Sometimes, as I walk down the streets of Jerusalem, I have to figuratively pinch myself. Is this really happening? I, my children and grandchildren, are living in the land of our ancestors, the Holy Land which the Jewish People have dreamt about for hundreds of years during the long and bitter Diaspora. This is certainly something to be happy about. Miracles do happen.

To get an idea of how great this miracle is, take a look at Rabbi Eliezer Papo's classic book of ethics, Pele Yoetz. Turn to the chapter entitled "Eretz Yisrael", the land of Israel. Here is a small segment of what this great rabbi wrote:

 

 

ארץ ישראל הצבי ישראל (כתובות קיג, א). ידוע מעלתה כי רבה, כמבאר בזהר הקדוש (ח"ג דף עב) ובשאר ספרי הקדש, אשר יבחר בו ה' יקריב אליו לחזות בנעם ה' ולבקר בהיכלו. וצריך כל אדם שיהיו עיניו ולבו שם כל הימים, על דרך הכתוב (תהלים מב א) "צמאה נפשי לאלהים לאל חי מתי אבא ואראה פני אלהים". ובכן ישתדל בכל עז לקבע דירתו בארץ ישראל, רק יפקח עיניו תחלה שלא לבוא להיות תוהה על הראשונות ושלא להצטרך לחזר ולצאת. וגדר לזה שלא לילך אלא לעת זקנה לאחר שחדל מהיות לאשתו ארח כנשים ואינה יולדת, ולא יוליך עמו ילדים בנים או בנות. ואם הרחיב ה' את גבולו יוכל להוליך בת, שהיא מוצאת ונצול הימנה, אבל בן לא יוליך כלל, שמתרבה הטף ולא ידע מה ילד יום. והן אמת שאוירא דארץ ישראל מחכים (ב"ב קנח, ב), אבל לפי מה שעינינו הרואות קשים מזונותיו של אדם בארץ ישראל, ועל הרב הם נצרכים לצאת עד שחוטפים השליחות של מצוה לצאת קרית חוצות כעשר שנים או יותר, וחיי צער יחיו הם ונשותיהם יותר מהם, ורבה רעת עוברי דרכים לגוף ולנפש, כידוע. לא כן היושבים בחוץ לארץ, מוצאים כדי פרנסתם במקומם. וכשילכו זקן וזקנה כאשר יאות, יוכלו לחיות שם בשיבה טובה, ואפלו אם חיי צער יחיו, לחיים טובים יחשב לפי רב הטובה

 

I apologize to those that do not read Hebrew for not translating this. In short, Rav Papo describes the spiritual loftiness of the Land of Israel. However, he also warns the prospective immigrant to the Holy Land that it is very difficult to find physical sustenance there. He was describing the situation that existed about 150-200 years ago.

My point in quoting this passage is to remark how things have changed for the better in the most dramatic way. The shuk in Mahane Yehuda and the supermarkets are full of produce! One who is willing to work, live modestly and endure the affliction that the land of Israel is acquired with, can almost surely find his place here. May all of you Jews who are still living in the Diaspora merit to experience the happiness that the Or HaChaim described: the happiness of living in the land of Israel!

Yaakov Shwekey - Lo Yaavod | לא יעבוד

I fell in love with this clip at first sight. Enjoy!!!



Update: the story behind this video

Is it Easier Today to be Religious in the IDF?

I have blogged in the past about the serious issues a relgious soldier who wishes to serve in the IDF must face. Rabbi Eliezer Melamed discusses the issue in his Dvar Torah for parashat Ki Teitzei:

לפני כחצי שנה השתתפתי בדיון ב'כנס ירושלים' של 'בשבע'. המנחה, עמית סגל, שאל את משתתפי הפאנל אם המצב כיום בצבא טוב יותר לחייל הדתי מאשר לפני כעשרים שנה. עניתי שככלל, המצב כיום יותר טוב. לאחר שעברו כמה דקות, חשתי לא שלם עם תשובתי. ביקשתי מהמנחה רשות לתקן את דבריי, ואמרתי כי אמנם מבחינות רבות יש התקדמות, אך למרות זאת לא בטוח שהמצב כיום יותר טוב. אולי לדתיים הרגילים המצב יותר טוב, אבל לציבור התורני (המכונה 'חרדי-לאומי') המצב יותר גרוע.

My translation:

About half a year ago I took part in BeSheva's Jerusalem Convention. The master of ceremonies, Amit Segal asked those on the panel if the situation today in the army is better for the religious soldier than it was twenty years ago. I answered that in general, the situation is better. A few minutes passed, and I did not feel fully satisfied with my answer. I requested permission from the MC to "fix" my words. and I said that in many respects there is progress, however in spite of this I am not sure that the situation today is better. Perhaps for the regular religious soldiers the situation is better, but for the Torani public (aka. as chareid leumi) the situation is worse.

Rabbi Melamed goes on to explain that with regards to certain matters, for instance kashrut and receiving time to pray, the situation has improved. However, the army is now putting women together with men in the fighting units. This, together with the growing permissiveness in the secular community, has caused a great decline in the IDF's "modesty" situation.

Rabbi Melemad also states the following:

1) Fifty years ago, the overwhelming majority of Israeli religious abandoned religion in adulthood. The for most of them this happened as a result of the social pressure they experienced in the IDF.

2) Even today, more than 20 percent of the relgious soldiers in the IDF "take their kippah off" and stop keeping the Sabbath during thier army service.

I highly recommend this article. In the meantime it is available in Hebrew.

Jews, Sports and Aly Raisman

This just in:

Aly Raisman, who won the first all-time U.S. gold medal on floor exercise at an Olympics and who also earned the bronze on the balance beam at the 2012 Olympics, will be inducted into The National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame & Museum, 74 Hauppage Road, Commack, N.Y., on April 21, 2013. Aly, Captain of ‘The Fierce Five’ USA Women’s Gymnastics Team, also earned a gold medal in the Team All-Around, making her the most decorated U.S. gymnast at the 2012 Olympics.

“This is a great honor,” Raisman said when notified of her induction. “Just last year I was given the Pearl D. Mazor Award and now I am being inducted.” The Pearl D Mazor Award is presented annually by The National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame & Museum to the outstanding Jewish female high school scholar-athlete of the year in the United States.

“It was a tremendous thrill to see one of our Hall of Fame family competing at the London Olympics,” said Hall of Fame Chairman Lynne Kramer. “And even greater to see Aly won three medals is absolutely amazing.” Raisman joins gymnasts Kerri Strug and Mitch Gaylord who have already been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

I found it interesting that individuals from the "People of the Book" decided to set up a separate "Sports Hall of Fame". Here is the apparent raison d'etre for this hall of fame, taken from the front page of its web site:

The National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is dedicated to honoring Jewish individuals that have distinguished themselves in the field of sports. The objective is to foster Jewish identity through athletics.

In a world where stereotype and prejudice have not yet been eradicated, the Hall of Fame reminds us of heroes of the courts and playing fields, who have emerged from a people not commonly associated with sports.

I doubt that Jewish identity can be fostered through athletics. Jewish identity is best fostered the old-fashioned way: Torah! Torah! Torah! When young Jews know what being Jewish is really about, they will want to remain Jewish.

Court Rejects Corrie Family's Law Suit Against the Israeli Defense Ministry

This was a no-brainer:

A Haifa court ruled Tuesday morning that Rachel Corrie caused her own death by intentionally remaining in front of an IDF bulldozer. Her lawyer said he will appeal the decision.

Judge Oded Gershon supported the IDF claim that the driver of the bulldozer could not see Corrie, who was protesting the 2003 demolition of homes in Rafiah, Gaza, which were being used by terrorists.

The court noted that the case of Corrie is sad but that the young woman, who was 23 years old, was fully aware that she was in danger and that she could have prevented her own death by moving out of the path of the bulldozer.

An article at ynetnews has some more details:

"I reject the suit," the judge said. "There is no justification to demand the state pay any damages."

He added that the soldiers had done their utmost to keep people away from the site. "She (Corrie) did not distance herself from the area, as any thinking person would have done."

He rejected a claim of negligence explaining that the bulldozer's driver had limited vision unlike Corrie. "She consciously put herself in harm's way," Gershon said. The accident had been self inflicted, he added.

In a 162-verdict, the Judge Gershon pointed to three entry bans and noted that the Philadelphi route had effectively been a war zone formally declared a closed military zone at the time of the accident. He mentioned that the US had issued an Israel travel advisory warning its citizens to avoid Gaza and the West Bank.

The judge added that the organization where Corrie worked "abuses the human rights discourse to blur its actions which are de facto violence. He claimed that it specialized in disrupting IDF activity. "This included an army of activists serving as 'human shields' for terrorists wanted by Israeli security forces, financial and logistical aid to Palestinians including terrorists and their families, and disruption of the sealing of suicide bombers' houses."

Judge Gershon also rejected the Corrie family's claims that Military Police had not done its best to investigate the incident.

Like I wrote, this is a no-brainer.

Update: Jerusalem Diaries has a translation of the court's decision.

A Biblical Wi-Fi Donkey?

Some people just cannot part from the internet:

An Israeli attraction meant to immerse tourists in an authentic, ancient biblical experience has outfitted its donkeys with wi-fi. At the historical park of Kfar Kedem in northern Israel, visitors dressed in biblical robes ride donkeys through the rolling hills of the Galilee, learning how people lived in Old Testament times.

Now they can also surf the web while touring the land of the Bible on one of the oldest forms of transportation. A device slung around the donkey's neck like a feedbag is actually a wi-fi hotspot.

I guess that is what you call progress.

HH Blurb

It's been a while since I posted one of these. This week's edition is here. Enjoy!

Aly Raisman: Not a Tattoo Kind of Person

Interesting:

While many Olympic athletes, such as fellow teen phenom 2012 Olympic swimming gold medalist Missy Franklin, mark their achievement with a tattoo of the Olympic rings, “I’d rather just have this necklace. It has the Olympic rings on it,” she said of a gold medallion given to her by a friend. “I’m not a tattoo kind of person.”

I wonder if this is a matter of taste, or if Aly Raisman is consciously avoiding the Torah prohibition of getting a tattoo. In any case, bravo to her for not getting one. You can read a little more about the subject of Tattoos and Judaism here.

Elul -To Learn the Entire Tanach

Rabbi Dovid Sears mentions an interesting Elul custom among Breslov hassidim:

Reb Nosson praises the custom of reading the entire TaNaKH during the days of Elul and Tishrei, finishing on Hoshanah Rabbah (See Otzar haYirah, Teshuvas haShanah, Elul).

Here is Reb Nosson in his own words:

בִּימֵי אֱלוּל וַעֲשֶׂרֶת יְמֵי תְּשׁוּבָה וְיָמִים נוֹרָאִים עַד הוֹשַׁעְנָא רַבָּא, צִוָּה לְכַמָּה אֲנָשִׁים לוֹמַר אָז כָּל סִפְרֵי תַּנַ"ךְ מִתְּחִלָּתָם וְעַד סוֹפָם, וְגַם הוּא בְּעַצְמוֹ נָהַג כָּךְ כַּמָּה פְּעָמִים. גַּם הָיָה גּוֹמֵר כַּמָּה סְפָרִים בַּיָּמִים הַלָּלוּ, וְאֵינִי זוֹכֵר לְבָאֲרָם הֵיטֵב

This is quite a hefty task to finish the entire Tanach in 40 days. Why should one learn Tanach at this time of year in particular?

More Elul Stuff

Here is a look at Elul from a hassidic perspective:

Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi explains the paradox of Elul with the following metaphor: The king's usual place is in the capital city, in the royal palace. Anyone wishing to approach the king must go through the appropriate channels in the palace bureaucracy and gain the approval of a succession of secretaries and ministers. He must journey to the capital and pass through the many gates, corridors and antechambers that lead to the throne room. His presentation must be meticulously prepared, and he must adhere to an exacting code of dress, speech and mannerism upon entering into the royal presence.

However, there are times when the king comes out to the fields outside the city. At such times, anyone can approach him; the king receives them all with a smiling face and a radiant countenance. The peasant behind his plow has access to the king in a manner unavailable to the highest ranking minister in the royal court when the king is in the palace.

The month of Elul, says Rabbi Schneur Zalman, is when the king is in the field.

Read the whole thing!

Getting Into the Elul Mood

Here is an excellent lesson from Rabbi Avraham Shapira zt"l called The Power of Preparation. I think that it can help us get into the Elul mood:

Each year, in the month of Elul, I call to mind how the Hafetz Haim used to conduct himself at this time of the year. I used to attend prayer services in Zichron Moshe. Many great rabbanim who had come to Eretz Israel from Russia had made Zichron Moshe their home and place of prayer and study. Among them was the Rav of Radin (Poland), R. Zalman Sender, who was also a relation of HaRav Herzog. He would tell me about the Hafetz Haim who used to live in Radin. The Hafetz Haim was not the Rav of Radin. He served as Rav for a time and then resigned, and lived there as a simple member of the community. And from this too - from the manner in which the Hafetz Haim lived as a simple member of the community - there is much to be learned.

Years later when R. Sender was in Eretz Israel, he would tell me how, each year, on the Shabbath preceding Rosh Hodesh Elul, when the blessing for the new month was said, and the hazan announced: "Rosh Hodesh Elul will be on this and this day..." the Hafetz Haim would begin to tremble and shake! It was not yet Elul, but the mere mention of the month was enough to cause the Hafetz Haim to be filled with trembling.

Read the rest!

The Jezreel Valley

Here is a small portion of the valley, as seen from the observation tower near Givat HaMore:

Isn't it beautiful?

Fareed Zakaria: Busted!

Plagiarism is a form of theft. It is also an indication of intellectual dishonesty. Columnist Fareed Zakaria, who was touted as a candidate for Secretary of State, got busted by NewsBusters:

When CNN host and Time editor-at-large Fareed Zakaria wrote a new piece called “The Case for Gun Control,” it ended with a bang “So when people throw up their hands and say we can't do anything about guns, tell them they're being un-American--and unintelligent.”

Here’s something that suggests a lack of intelligence: plagiarism. Cam Edwards at NRANews.com suggested to me that Zakaria seemed to plagiarize a paragraph from an April article in The New Yorker magazine -- with a modicum word-usage changes and interjections (Texas!) in an attempt to paper it over. Here’s a paragraph from his Time piece:

Adam Winkler, a professor of constitutional law at UCLA, documents the actual history in Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America. Guns were regulated in the U.S. from the earliest years of the Republic. Laws that banned the carrying of concealed weapons were passed in Kentucky and Louisiana in 1813. Other states soon followed: Indiana in 1820, Tennessee and Virginia in 1838, Alabama in 1839 and Ohio in 1859. Similar laws were passed in Texas, Florida and Oklahoma. As the governor of Texas (Texas!) explained in 1893, the "mission of the concealed deadly weapon is murder. To check it is the duty of every self-respecting, law-abiding man."

Compare that in its organization to this paragraph from a Jill Lepore New Yorker article from April:

As Adam Winkler, a constitutional-law scholar at U.C.L.A., demonstrates in a remarkably nuanced new book, “Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America,” firearms have been regulated in the United States from the start. Laws banning the carrying of concealed weapons were passed in Kentucky and Louisiana in 1813, and other states soon followed: Indiana (1820), Tennessee and Virginia (1838), Alabama (1839), and Ohio (1859). Similar laws were passed in Texas, Florida, and Oklahoma. As the governor of Texas explained in 1893, the “mission of the concealed deadly weapon is murder. To check it is the duty of every self-respecting, law-abiding man."

Voila! Xerox Zakaria!

Now, that's what I call busted!

In contrast, is interesting to note that Judaism is very fond of giving credit where credit is due. It is considered one of the qualities that one needs in order to acquire Torah:

Torah is greater than the priesthood or sovereignty, for sovereignty is acquired with thirty virtues, the priesthood with twenty-four, and Torah is acquired with forty-eight qualities. These are: study, listening, verbalizing, comprehension of the heart, awe, fear, humility, joy, purity, serving the sages, companionship with one's contemporaries, debating with one's students, tranquility, study of the scriptures, study of the Mishnah, minimizing engagement in business, minimizing socialization, minimizing pleasure, minimizing sleep, minimizing talk, minimizing gaiety, slowness to anger, good heartedness, faith in the sages, acceptance of suffering, knowing one's place, satisfaction with one's lot, qualifying one's words, not taking credit for oneself, likableness, love of G-d, love of humanity, love of charity, love of justice, love of rebuke, fleeing from honor, lack of arrogance in learning, reluctance to hand down rulings, participating in the burden of one's fellow, judging him to the side of merit, correcting him, bringing him to a peaceful resolution [of his disputes], deliberation in study, asking and answering, listening and illuminating, learning in order to teach, learning in order to observe, wising one's teacher, exactness in conveying a teaching, and saying something in the name of its speaker. Thus we have learned: One who says something in the name of its speaker brings redemption to the world, as is stated (Esther 2:22), "And Esther told the king in the name of Mordechai."

Blessed is He, our God, who has separated us from those that go astray, and gave us the Torah of truth, and planted eternal life within us.

Aly Raisman to Visit Israel

This is good news:

When American sports superstars celebrate victory, they traditionally go to Disneyland.

But gold-medal winning gymnast Aly Raisman will celebrate in Jerusalem after she told Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein on Friday that she would accept his invitation to her and her family to make their first visit to Israel.

In a phone conversation facilitated by US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, Raisman told Edelstein that she was really happy to be invited and she would decide with her family when would be the best time to come.

I think that it is wonderful that the entire Raisman family will come to visit. I hope that they have a good time!

What Does God Want From Us?

Good question, if I don't say so myself! The answer is in this weeks Torah portion, Eikev:

And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul; to keep for thy good the commandments of the LORD, and His statutes, which I command thee this day?

The Ramchal explains this verse in the introduction to his classic book, Path of the Just:

This is what Moses our Teacher, may Peace be upon him, teaches us in saying (Deuteronomy 10:12), "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, but that you fear the Lord your God to walk in all His ways, and to love Him and serve the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, to observe the mitzvoth of God and His statutes. .. " Herein have been included all of the features of perfection of Divine service that are appropriate in relation to the Holy One Blessed be He. They are: fear of God, walking in His ways, love, wholeheartedness, and observance of all of the mitzvoth.

"Fear of God" denotes fear of the Majesty of the Blessed One, fearing Him as one would a great and mighty king, and being ashamed at one's every movement in consequence of His greatness, especially when speaking before Him in prayer or engaging in the study of His Torah.

"Walking in His ways" embodies the whole area of cultivation and correction of character traits. As our Sages of blessed memory have explained, "As He is merciful, be also merciful..." The essence of all this is that a person conform all of his traits and all the varieties of his actions to what is just and ethical. Our Sages of blessed memory have thus summarized the idea (Avoth 2.1): "All that is praiseworthy in its doer and brings praise to him from others;" that is, all that leads to the end of true good, namely, strengthening of Torah and furthering of brotherliness.

"Love" - that there be implanted in a person's heart a love for the Blessed One which will arouse his soul to do what is pleasing before Him, just as his heart is aroused to give pleasure to his father and mother. He will be grieved if he or others are lacking in this; he will be jealous for it and he will rejoice greatly in fulfilling aught of it. "Whole-heartedness" - that service before the Blessed One be characterized by purity of motive, that its end be His service alone and nothing else. Included in this is that one's heart be complete in Divine service, that his interests not be divided or his observance mechanical, but that his whole heart be devoted to it.

"Observance of all the mitzvoth," as the words imply, is observance of the whole body of mitzvoth with all of their fine points and conditions.

That's all we need to do. Let's go!

Aly Raisman: Jewish Heroine?

This just in:

Jewish-American gymnast Aly Raisman won a gold medal in the floor exercise as well as a bronze on the balance beam at the London Olympics.

Raisman, 18, of Needham, Mass., took the gold Tuesday with a score of 15.6 to edge Catalina Ponor of Romania and Aliya Mustafina of Russia, the silver and bronze medalists...

Raisman won the floor exercise in the team competition while performing her routine to a string-heavy version of "Hava Nagila."

There is absolutely no doubt about it. The lady is a heroine. Talent, long days of practice, and grace under pressure all culminated in a fantastic showing at the 2012 Olympics: Two gold medals and a bronze one too.

The question is, "Is Aly a Jewish heroine? Will she abandon her faith and people like so many other Jewish Americans that made it to the top and then married out? Or will she show the entire world that there is a lot more to being Jewish than Hava Nagila?

I never heard of Aly before the Olympics, but now I am "rooting" for her: that she will remember her roots, marry a nice Jewish boy and raise a nice Jewish family.

Then we will know that she really is a winner.

כן יאבדו כל אויביך ה'

Secular Coercion Will Fail (part 5)

This is just hilarious:

A day before the Tal Law is set to expire, activists demanding a universal IDF draft arrived in Bnei Brak on Tuesday to give out flowers and leaflets urging the ultra-Orthodox sector to shoulder the burden of army service.

Response to the activists' efforts was unenthusiastic; some residents of the predominantly haredi central Israeli city tore the faux draft summons and threw the flowers away.

"Why did you come here?" one haredi youth asked the protesters. "To provoke us?"

When the protest turned tumultuous, the activists, who belong to the Suckers Camp movement, had to double back.

"Where did you serve?" a young ultra-Orthodox man, Moshe, asked Idan Miller, a leader of the protest movement. When the latter answered that he served at Army Radio, Moshe sneered at him.

"You're a sucker, believe me," Moshe said. "Even Yair Lapid contributed more than you. What did you contribute at your air-conditioned (office)? If you would have worked for a media channel, at least you would have made some money."

Did you get it? One of the leaders of the protest movement did his army service at Galei Tzahal, (also known by its acronym, Galatz), which is the radio station of the IDF. You may ask yourself, "How does Galei Tzahal contribute to Israel's security?" The answer is, it doesn't. Israeli Army Radio is an anachronistic organization that should have been closed down long ago:

Galatz started its transmissions on September 24, 1950 as a continuance of the Hagana transmission to the Jewish public during the Israeli War of Independence.

I am not surprised. Often the ones who scream about the loudest about Haredim not serving in the army are the ones whose own army service was insignificant or non-existent. Those who serve in the fighting units do it out of love for their people and country (and for some of them, their love of God).

To Be Spiritually Uplifted

The latest book that I am reading is called Lehitalot, which can be translated as "to be spiritually uplifted". The book was written by Rabbi Ze'ev Ginzburg, a well known rabbi and educator from Haifa.

Rabbi Ginzburg brings us the learnings of the Mussar Movement in general, and the school of Kelm in particular, in a very original fashion. The protagonists of the book are two childhood friends, Chaim and Nati, whose paths separate when they go to different yeshivot ketanot. However, they promise one another to keep in touch through letters. The book is made up mostly of their correspondence.

Since we are know in the period of the three weeks, I'll mention something that I learned from the book concerning this time of year.

It is well known that the Second Temple was destroyed because of sinat chinam, causeless hatred. Our job, particularly at this time of year, is to eradicate causeless hatred from within our midst.

Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe taught that one does not have a parve relationship with his fellow man. He loves him, or he hates him. The love or the hate may be on a very low flame, however it is impossible to be indifferent. In the same vein Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein said that if one is not "drenched" with love of his fellow man, he is considered a hater.

Rabbi Ginzburg brings us an interesting example of how causeless hatred is rampant among us: Imagine that you are sitting in the synagogue and their is an empty chair next to you. Suddenly, a stranger, perhaps even a somewhat weird stranger, enters and sits next to you. You feel uncomfortable and you think to yourself, "Why did he sit down next to me when there are so many other empty seats available?"

But wait a minute! He is sitting in his place, and you in yours! Why does he bother you? If your father, brother of friend sat next to you would you feel the same way? This is causeless hatred!

I am really learning a lot from this book. You can see a preview of it here.

Egyptian Actors Pranked on Candid Camera Turn Violent When Told TV Channel Is Israeli

Very disturbing:




The transcript:

Interviewer Iman Mubarak: We have a phone call… Hello…

Voice: Mr. Tuhami, we love and respect you. We love your works and enjoy your movies, but I cannot believe what I am seeing. We used to love you, but when we see you on such a TV channel – a dubious Israeli TV channel… Shame on you!

Iman Mubarak: The call has been cut off. You may call again…

Dear viewers, let’s take a short break, before we resume our show, “With the Other,” from Cairo.

[Turning to Ayman Kandeel] What?

Ayman Kandeel “Tuhami”: Was that sister Palestinian, Egyptian, or what?

Iman Mubarak: I can’t tell her nationality, but the call was cut off.

Ayman Kandeel: I heard her say that this is an Israeli channel. Is this an Israeli channel?

Iman Mubarak: The production didn’t tell you that this is an Israeli channel?

Ayman Kandeel: No.

[…

Production member Amr ‘Alaa enters

Amr ‘Alaa: What is the problem?

Ayman Kandeel: May I ask who you are?

Amr ‘Alaa: I am an Israeli. You are talking about weapons… You are a comedian. You ought to be talking about comedy, not about weapons.

Ayman Kandeel: Fine, fine.

Amr ‘Alaa: Am I standing here, pointing a gun at your face?

Ayman Kandeel: No, you didn’t point a gun at me, and you can’t. You are trying to provoke me, but I am calm.

Amr ‘Alaa: I’m trying to make peace, so how can you say that I’m provoking you?

Ayman Kandeel: Peace was decided on by the governments, but we, the people, have different criteria. You are feeling so mad that you…

Amr ‘Alaa: That’s because I understand that you do not want to reach a solution…

Ayman Kandeel: Man, nobody can provoke me.

Amr ‘Alaa: I don’t want to provoke you. I want to reach a solution with you.

Ayman Kandeel: The solution, my dear boy, is that you go to the doctor to get treatment…

Iman Mubarak: What does that mean?

Ayman Kandeel: It means that you are all sick. It’s better that we talk about it on the air.

Amr ‘Alaa: We are off the air now.

Ayman Kandeel: No, I’d like to talk on the air.

Amr ‘Alaa: Are the sick people those who try to make peace, or those who go around carrying guns? Are you denying that you have a gun in your pocket?

Ayman Kandeel: Yes, I have a gun.

Amr ‘Alaa: Why? What are you afraid of?

Ayman Kandeel: I’ll tell you what I’m afraid of. Of some scumbag trying to attack me.

Amr ‘Alaa: What scumbag?

Ayman Kandeel: Any scumbag. A thief, a robber.

[…]

Iman Mubarak: We’re back with our guest, Egyptian actor Ayman Kandeel. Hello, once again.

Ayman Kandeel: May God grant us good fortune. There was a phone call, which everybody heard, in which it was claimed that this show is being aired on Israeli TV. It doesn’t matter to me what TV station this is, but I came to a show that is being filmed in Egypt, on a TV channel that you said was German…

Iman Mubarak: We never said that this was a German channel.

Ayman Kandeel: When the producer called me…

Iman Mubarak: I’m sure you didn’t hear it properly…

Ayman Kandeel: No, my hearing is just fine. You people deceive and lie…

Iman Mubarak: Sir, you cannot level such accusations against us. Sir, the reactions on Israeli social media pages…

Ayman Kandeel [losing his temper]: F$@# the social media pages! I cam to an interview on an Egyptian TV channel. Then it turns out that this is an Israeli TV channel, and you bring in someone who got on my nerves. He is standing right there, let’s see him come in and talk to me.

Amr ‘Alaa enters the studio

Amr ‘Alaa: This is my channel. I am never afraid. It is you who are afraid, and that is why you are carrying a gun.

Ayman Kandeel: I don’t have a gun.

Amr ‘Alaa: You don’t have a gun?!

Ayman Kandeel: In order to use my gun against you, I need to feel that you are worth something. But let me tell you what I can do. You stand right here. Relax.

Ayman Kandeel slaps Amr ‘Alaa and shoves him

You son-of-a-@$#! You’re making fun of me?

Ayman Kandeel slaps Iman Mubarak

You b#@ch! What, you sons-of-b#!@&$? To hell with #%$, you sons-of-b#!@&$!

You sons-of-b#!@&$!

Production member: Stop! We’re just kidding with you.

Ayman Kandeel: You say you are Egyptians?! Are you kidding me?! F%@$ you!

Production member: Ayman, please… It’s a prank. Shame on you for hitting a woman.

Production member: Get her a chair.

Ayman Kandeel is handed Iman Mubarak’s ID card

Ayman Kandeel: I can’t get it out…

Turns the card to the light and looks at it

She’s Egyptian?

Production member: Let’s have a round of applause, please.

You brought it upon yourself. Why did you fall so quickly?

Iman Mubarak: You hit me so hard.

Ayman Kandeel: It was just one slap.

Iman Mubarak: You see what can happen to the interviewer?

Amr ‘Alaa: People, let’s have a round of applause for Iman.

Ayman Kandeel [to Iman Mubarak]: After the show, come to my car with me. I’ll put some lotion on your back.

Iman Mubarak: I don’t want anything.

[…]

Iman Mubarak: Dear viewers, we’ll take a short break, before we return with [actress] Mayar Al-Beblawi.

[…]

Mayar Al-Beblawi: In that country [Israel], they are all liars. You wouldn’t believe it. They are real liars. They keep whining all the time about the Holocaust, or whatever it’s called. With all the Palestinians that you have killed, you are still whining about the Holocaust and its lousy figures?!

[…]

These people sawed off [the head] of John the Baptist. They are the slayers of the prophets, what else can we say about them?

Iman Mubarak: You’ve got it wrong, They are the Chosen People…

Mayar Al-Beblawi: The Chosen People?! Allah did not curse the worm and the moth as much as he cursed the Jews.

[…]

[The caller] said that this was an Israeli channel?!

Iman Mubarak: You are indeed on an Israeli channel. This is Channel 2 from Israel.

Mayar Al-Beblawi: No, I came for an interview with a German channel.

Iman Mubarak: No. The producer told you that this was an Israeli channel, and you agreed.

Amr ‘Alaa: There’s no problem. Let’s move on.

Mayar Al-Beblawi: What do you mean, “no problem”? What do you mean, “Let’s move on”?

Iman Mubarak: Let’s complete the interview.

Mayar Al-Beblawi: I’d like to know what channel this is.

Iman Mubarak: You knew right from the beginning that this was Channel 2… Shalom, shalom…

Mayar Al-Beblawi: You’re kidding me, right? I won’t allow something like this.

Iman Mubarak: Kidding? Why?

Mayar Al-Beblawi: No, I won’t allow it.

[…]

July 21, 2012 [via Youtube]

Actor Mahmoud Abd Al-Ghaffar: Who are you? Are you Egyptian, or what?

[shaking Amr ‘Alaa] What country are you from?

Amr ‘Alaa: Where I come from is not the issue. You were being interviewed, and I wasn’t talking to you. Let’s complete the interview.

Actor Mahmoud Abd Al-Ghaffar [attacking Amr ‘Alaa]: We’re completing nothing. Who are you? Who are you?

Iman Mubarak: Mahmoud… Mahmoud…

Mahmoud Abd Al-Ghaffar: You are a Jew!

Iman Mubarak: Mahmoud… Mahmoud…

Mahmoud Abd Al-Ghaffar: Mahmoud what?!

Iman Mubarak: Mahmoud, this is a candid camera show.

Mahmoud Abd Al-Ghaffar [pulling Amr ‘Alaa by the hair]: Who are you? Tell me who you are.

Iman Mubarak: Mahmoud, this is a candid camera show.

Applause

Iman Mubarak: Mahmoud, this is a candid camera show. We are all Egyptians. Long live Egypt! I’m an Egyptian – Iman Mubarak. This is Amr ‘Alaa, and this is Amr Sallah.

Mahmoud Abd Al-Ghaffar: You brought me someone who looks like a Jew…

Al-Ghaffar hugs Amr ‘Alaah

[to Iman Mubarak]: If you weren’t a girl, the moment you told me you were Jewish… I hate the Jews to death.

[…]

Iman Mubarak: I’d like to tell you that I enjoyed today’s episode with Mahmoud. I didn’t know that there could be such patriotism, but it exists in every Egyptian who breathes the air of this country.

Secular Coercion Will Fail (part 4)

The "draft drama" continues.

Yohanan Plesner and company did not get their way, so Kadima left the coalition:

The Kadima party has approved party head MK Shaul Mofaz’s proposal to leave the coalition. Three MKs voted against leaving.

Likud MKs accused Mofaz of leaving for political reasons. Mofaz said his party had to leave over disagreements with Likud over enlisting hareidi men to the IDF. However, Likud MKs said, Likud offered several proposals in the matter, and Mofaz rejected them all.

In the meantime, the ultra-Orthodox press revealed information about Plesner that was not known to the general public:

The Merkaz Inyanim newspaper did some checking into the background of Plesner, the man behind the committee, the champion of the “share the burden camp” and reports that the MKs father was not a Jew, but a Catholic from Denmark, a descendent of priests and bishops. The paper reports the MKs parents were married in a church.

You can see Yohanan's father, Ulrik, here.

The son of a gentile is hardly the man to decide the fate of Torah learning in Israel, according to the aforementioned press.

Then came Avigdor Lieberman's turn. He wants to draft everybody, including the Arabs. His bill took a whacking:

The Knesset on Wednesday killed a bill that would have mandated universal military service for all Israelis at age 18 – including Arabs and Hareidi-religious – by a vote of 74 to 22.

The bill from Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beytenu party would have made those who refuse to serve in the army or perform national service ineligible for funding from the State.

After the Knesset voted down the bill, Lieberman said "reality will do what the bill didn't. Right now were focusing on August 1 (the expiration of Tal Law)."

Indeed, August is less than two weeks away. Will the Knesset pass a bill which is acceptable to the ultra-Orthodox, or will we face chaos in less than two weeks? Time will tell.

Rav Elyashiv Has Passed Away

INN:

The great Torah Sage, head of the worldwide LIthuanian-hareidi yeshiva world, Rav Elyashiv, Yosef Shalom ben Chaya Musha, has just passed away at Shaarei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem at the age of 102.

I do not have words to express the great feeling of loss.

Matisyahu Interview

Aish.com has an exclusive interview with Matisyahu, wherein he explains the changes he has been going through. As a fellow BT, I can relate to what Matisyahu is saying:

I find a tremendous amount of inspiration and truth within Torah and Judaism, but I had taken on certain minhagim, customs, and stringencies that became habit – either because at one point I had connected to them, or simply because I had been convinced that “religious” Judaism had to look a certain way. Over time some of these external aspects, like the beard, had become deadening and oppressive for me. I had to take a step back.

I am still committed to Judaism, to seeking truth through halacha (Jewish law) and observance, but I needed to reconnect to it in a different manner than I did when I first became "religious." I guess you can say it's been a process of maturing religiously and coming to realize that some of what I took on 10 years ago no longer expresses a part of me. I imagine this is a process many Baal Teshuvas go through. I just get to do it in public.

I can only wish him all the best on his continuing journey.

Interesting Links + Snippets

Upgrading Ariel

Some cowardly Israeli academics oppose the idea of forming an Israeli university beyond the Green Line because doing so might increase calls from international academia to boycott other existing and proven Israeli institutions. Apparently, they believe that if they kowtow to bigotry by distancing themselves from Ariel they can somehow avoid a boycott from universities in Spain, Britain and elsewhere.

In January of last year, some members of the Israeli academic community went one step further. Hundreds of professors declared an academic boycott against Ariel because it is located beyond the Green Line.

Instead of trying to appease Israel bashers or join their ranks, our academics should be protecting academic freedom. Why should a researcher be punished simply because he or she works at a university which happens to be in Samaria? On Tuesday, the Council for Higher Education in Judea and Samaria is expected to meet to discuss upgrading Ariel’s status. We hope they make the right decision.

Born on the Fourth of June

On the fourth of June, 1967, Israel—deploying 275,000 troops, 200 combat planes, and 1,100 tanks—faced off against combined Arab armies that fielded nearly twice as many troops, more than four times as many planes, and nearly five times as many tanks.

On the fourth of June, 1967, the commander of the Egyptian army, Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer, told Ahmad Shukeiri, the founder of the Palestine Liberation Organization, “soon we’ll be able to take the initiative and rid ourselves of Israel once and for all.”

On the fourth of June, 1967, Israel had not received emergency military aid promised by the United States; nor had the United States mounted a promised international armada to break Egypt’s blockade of the Straits of Tiran; nor had Israel gotten any relief from France, which just then decided to turn on the Jewish state with an arms embargo; nor had it gotten any diplomatic relief at the United Nations, which had instantly capitulated to Egyptian demands to withdraw peacekeepers from the Sinai.

How to Effect "Equal Sharing of the National Burden

The correct way to reach an equal sharing of the national burden is to do it moderately, step-by-step. Such an approach is capable of fully and genuinely correcting the situation.

Towards this end, the I.D.F. should be prepared to absorb thousands of strictly religious soldiers, and remove all obstacles currently facing the religious and hareidi community. In other words, the army must operate according to the principles of Jewish tradition, including enabling any Jewish soldier to maintain his halakhic lifestyle.

This should be set in law: I.D.F. commanders have the obligation to ensure the fulfillment of a soldier’s religious requirements, as customarily accepted by recognized, religious authorities.

To do this, the law requiring women to serve in the army should also be cancelled, because the mixing of men and women in the army is the main obstacle and primary justification of the hareidi community leadership for their non-enlistment. This will not weaken the army, but only strengthen it; an army should always be aimed at its true function, which is security, and nothing else. It is not a ‘melting pot’, nor a place to educate youth about assorted values.

Suicide is Wrong and Moshe Silman is not a Hero

The truth must be said, in a loud and clear voice that can be heard and felt all over the world: suicide is wrong:

Judaism regards suicide as a criminal act. Someone who commits suicide is considered a murderer. It matters not whether he kills someone else or himself. His soul is not his to extinguish.

Judaism's opposition to suicide is found in the story of Noah's Ark. After the flood, God says to Noah:

Your blood which belongs to your souls I will demand; from the hand of every beast will I demand it. From the hand of every man; from the hand of every man who is his brother will I demand the life of man. (Genesis 9:5)

The Talmud (Baba Kama 90b) learns from the first part of the verse, "And surely the blood of your lives I will demand," that one may not wound his own body. All the more so, he may not take his own life.

Moshe Silman led a very troubled life:

A psychiatric report was uploaded to the Rotter.net website, which was attached to Silman’s law suit against Israel’s social security administration, reveals a man raised by a violent father, himself a Holocaust survivor, who used to beat Moshe mercilessly. So much so, that the latter left home at age 14 to escape his father’s wrath. He lived on the streets as a teenager, used drugs and supported himself by breaking into cars. He attempted to rehabilitate himself through his military service, but was ultimately discharged on psychiatric grounds.

Silman was unable to forge steady relationships with women, nor was he ever able to hold on to a job for a long time. He ended up leaving for America and bandied about until he decided to return to Israel some time around the year 2000 (his ability to recall dates and chronological events is impaired, according to the report).

His attempt to establish a business ended in abysmal failure, as he was unable to cope with clients, debt payments and the different government offices. To get out of debt he made his mother sign a mortgage in his behalf which he was unable to pay back. In 2005, after he was evicted for lack of payments from an apartment he purchased in Jaffa, Silman attempted suicide. According to the report, he took pills and slashed his wrists.

Moshe Silman certainly deserves our sympathies. However, he is not a hero. Those who are "dancing on his blood" in order to advance their own political and/or economic agendas are truly revolting.

Rabbi Lau's Suitcase

Secular Coercion Will Fail (part 3)

Ya'alon gets it:

If the government adopts the Keshev Committee's recommendations on drafting haredim into the army, it will cause a civil war, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Thursday morning on Israel Radio.

"I would like to see the haredim join the IDF at 18 years old," Ya'alon said. "But if we try this, we will start a civil war."

Kadima party chair Shaul Mofaz and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will also meet again on Thursday in an attempt to work out differences on the issue, Army Radio reported.

MK Yohanan Plesner (Kadima) walked out on talks with Ya’alon about a universal service bill on Wednesday, when the two sides were unable to reach agreements on key issues. After Plesner and Ya’alon discussed and agreed on enlistment quotas and personal sanctions for those who do not join the IDF or do national service, the Likud minister presented a different stance in a Wednesday-afternoon meeting.

The main dispute between Likud and Kadima was over whether there should be quotas limiting the number of yeshiva students permitted to avoid the draft, as Kadima demands, or merely setting targets for the number of haredim drafted, which the Likud prefers. The parties also disagree on the final age at which service could be avoided and the extent of sanctions against draft evaders.

Ya'alon said that his proposal was more realistic than that being put forth by MK Yohanan Plesner, the Kadima MK who has taken up the mantle of increasing the IDF draft rate for haredim. "The haredim will not vote for my proposal, but they will not star a civil war over it," Ya'alon said, "Plesner's proposal will erase all the inroads we've made in integrating haredim, including the Nahal Haredi program."

Plesner is still in the dark. How can he be helped?

Down With Intermarriage!

Another tragic intermarriage comes to an end:

A dramatic rescue takes a Jewish woman and her two young children out of the clutches of a brutal Palestinian Authority Arab husband with whom she lived for 28 years.

The anti-missionary Yad L'Achim organization, which also works on behalf of Jewish women trapped in relationships with Arabs, revealed the extraordinary story, after “Dinah, the daughter of Leah,” was safely back among Jews.

Dinah was born in the mixed Arab-Jewish city of Lod 48 years ago but became estranged from her family during an emotional crisis, which led her to a relationship with an Arab man.

Since then, she was declared as missing, and her family did not know whether she was dead or alive. At one point, Israeli authorities mistakenly thought they had identified her in a morgue.

She lived with her husband in a Palestinian Authority Arab village in the area of Tulkarm, east of Netanya. She said her husband traumatized her and once tied her to a tree for 13 hours, without food or water The husband said he wanted “everyone to see what will happen to you" if she were to leave the house with permission.

Read the rest!

Secular Coercion Will Fail (part II)

As I mentioned, the new draft law that is still in the works is being perceived as an evil decree that one must be willing to sacrifice one's life for. This was waiting for me when I came home from work today:

See Rafi's take on this.

It is interesting to see how General (in the reserves) Elazar Stern sees things:

וזאת משום ששוויון בנטל לא היה, אין ולא יהיה. שהרי לא ניתן להשוות גם בתוך שורות הצבא בין מי שמשרת בקריה ללא מילואים לבין מי שמשרת שלוש שנים בצנחנים ולאחר מכן עשרים שנה במילואים, כך גם לא בין מי שמשרת שנתיים בשירות לאומי למי שמשרת בגבעתי או בשריון.

Translation:

... and this is because there was never equality (in sharing) the burden, and there never will be. After all, even within the army, you cannot compare someone who serves in "the Kiryah" (in Tel Aviv) and does not do reserve duty to one who serves three years in the paratroopers battalion and afterwards 20 years in the reserves. Similarly you can't compare someone who does "national service" with somebody who served in Givati or the armored corps...

Secular Coercion Will Fail

In Israel Hayom Mati Tuchfeld asks a question:

In a different era, the leaders of the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) public would have taken the Plesner committee proposal (on drafting the currently exempt haredim to mandatory military or national service) and the imminent haredi draft law and used it to launch an all-out war. Hundreds of thousands of haredim would have flooded the streets, trash cans would have been set on fire 24 hours a day and dirty diapers would have been hurled at police officers every night. The outlawing of Sephardi-Ashkenazi segregation at the Immanuel girl's school in 2010 (which sparked mass riots) pales in comparison to the imminent enlistment decrees.

In other words, why aren't there any riots concerning the Plesner committee proposals? Tuchfeld thinks he knows the answer:

But the protests aren't happening for one simple reason: Even the haredi public understands that though they may be able to fight the courts or the government, they cannot fight the will of the people.

This blogger begs to disagree. The reason is that these proposals have yet to become law. The "Tal Law" which is the current law concerning army enlistment, will expire at the end of July. If the new law, which is in the process of being formulated, has any form of coercion with regards to those that wish to learn Torah, it will certainly be greeted with adament oppositon by the haredi public.

The politicians, activists and journalists who think that they can force the haredim to leave the Beit Midrash by means of law are completely unfamiliar with haredi culture and its codes. Such coercion will be perceived as a gezeira, an evil decree against Jewish practice, which will be resisted with great ferocity. Mark my words: coercion will fail, epically.

On the other hand, non-coercive programs to enlist haredim have been a great success, as pointed out in this editorial from jpost:

The facts are undeniable. In 2002 just 36 percent of the haredi population was employed; by 2010, 46% were. In 2005, just 300 haredi men were either serving in the IDF or doing some form of national service. By 2011, the number jumped to 4,386, 2,700 of whom were serving in the IDF.

As of May 2012, some 10,000 haredi had served in the IDF as a result of the Tal Law. True, this is just a fraction of the total number of haredi men eligible for military service, but in contrast to previous years, the change for the better is dramatic.

Things were moving in the right direction, and everyone was benefitting. However, the politicians and publicity seekers are not interested in the good of the nation or the army. Emanuel Rosen notes that the army does not need Haredi soldiers:

A few years ago I had a fascinating conversation with a senior office. He was the IDF deputy chief of staff at the time and later became the army chief. He dismissed the myth that the army faces a shortage of soldiers. He said that the time has come for a professional army. That the time has come to put away the irrelevant longing for a “popular army.”

Not only that, secular leftist journalist Eitan Haber tries to explain to his readers the consequences of mass Haredi enlistment:

And as to the IDF, there should be no mistake about it: the enlistment of large numbers of haredi soldiers (as well as national-religious soldiers in recent years) will require the army to create a new way of life and introduce new codes of conduct at many units, including the seclusion of women.

We have been there before: In the 1960s, no military vehicle was allowed to travel on the Shabbat unless it received a permit from a major-general. Do we really want to go back in the time tunnel?

As one who served in the army, I am not interested in enlisting those who do not want to serve, be they Arabs, Haredim or radical leftists. I want to know that the soldier serving with me will charge when the order is given. I want to be sure that my comrade in arms will not turn his gun on me.

Yes, I can understand the frustration of the general public. Army service is not easy. On the other hand the permissive atmosphere in the army is totally unacceptable to the Haredi community. No Haredi parent is going to send his child there, period. National service and special frameworks within the army are an excellent solution. However, nobody will enter these frameworks under compulsion.

The politicians have climbed up a tree. Will they know how to come down? Will they be able to come up with a workable formula that will be acceptable to the entire nation?

Update: Rav Mordechai Norgeshal speaks. Mati Tuchfeld, are you listening?

Links on a Fast Day

Here are a few links to read as your stomach growls:

A New, Ugly Wrinkle in the Tuition Crisis

Deadheads for Israel: What’s Your Problem?

Archaeologists Uncover Gold Treasure Near Herzliya

Shoe, Gun Drawn in Jordanian TV Debate

A Jew From Kuwait?

I never knew that there were Jews in Kuwait:

Mordechai Halawa, 34, was raised in Kuwait as a Muslim. Several years ago, a small twist of fate led him to discover his Jewish roots.

Read the rest!

Quote of the Day

Former CIA Director James Woolsey:

There is absolutely no reason for Pollard to be imprisoned for as long as Ames and Hanssen, and substantially longer than spies from other friendly, allied, and neutral countries. For those hung up for some reason on the fact that he's an American Jew, pretend he's a Greek- or Korean- or Filipino-American and free him.

Yitzhak Shamir z"l

It was with great sadness that I heard of the passing of Yitzhak Shamir. I cannot say that I always agreed with what he did as Prime Minister. However, during his days at the helm Israel was a much safer place to live: ther were no exploding busses in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and neither were Grad and Kassam rockets terrorizing Southern Israel.

The best tributes to Shamir that I saw are in Yisrael Hayom. Here they are:

Yaakov Ahimeir

Yitzhak Shamir was the most modest of all of Israel's prime ministers, but also the most decisive. Modesty is a fine, admirable quality, but the ability to make decisions is possibly the most essential quality any decision-maker, and certainly a prime minister of Israel, must possess.

One can argue with Shamir's decisions as prime minister — some may say that there were definitely times when it would have been wiser to show diplomatic flexibility. But for Shamir, there was nothing nobler than making a decision that he felt was the best one for the people living in Zion, for as long as he was at the helm. Let the naysayers say what they will.

Dan Margalit:

Yitzhak Shamir's violin only had one string, and he only knew how to play different variations on one theme: Israel. During a big celebration honoring his 90th birthday several years ago he asked those in attendance, and the following generations, to remember only one thing: that he never gave up even one grain of Israeli soil.

Yoram Ettinger:

In 1992, Republican Whip Senator Alan Simpson from Wyoming, who was critical of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s policies, told me: “How can I like Prime Minister Shamir when he resembles an aggressive, roaring tiger? However, how can I not respect a roaring tiger?!”

Former U.S. Secretary of State Jim Baker, who was one of the crudest detractors of Shamir’s policies, respected Shamir’s ironclad commitment to deeply-rooted ideology.

Therefore, he considered Shamir a trustworthy — although non-subservient — ally of the U.S.

Shamir was consistently guided by principles, values and a history-driven ideology; he was not herded by pollsters and public-opinion consultants.

Rest in peace Mr. Shamir, and thanks for everything.