Friday 26 December 2008

WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO SAY ????




Blogmaster: This cartoon from A7 says volumes...It expresses the frustration, the attitude and feelings of guilt that the Soldiers and Commanders in IDF feel when they see the enemy given a free hand in the relentless murder of Israeli citizens. I'll say it again: Shame on you Ehud Barak, and Shame on you Ehud Olmert. Hamas must be squashed like a cockroach, you know it, we know it, and the world knows it. You are making Israel the laughing stock of the world. No other nation would tolerate such aggression. You say you have authorized the IDF to make battle plans...what dreck! Everyone knows that the IDF stands at the ready and have been so since last summer. Your lies make you look like idiots because you actually believe that we will swallow them. It is time that the Citizens of Israel take the appropriate action necessary to throw our crooked and disgraced politicians out and while we are at it...let's make sure that the crazies who want to pacify our enemies never warm a seat in the Knesset with their cowardly toucheses again. When we vote, we must vote for the preservation of Israel. In my heart of hearts, I know that the future of Israel is not in the hands of the politicians...our future is in the hands of our Soldiers and their Commanders in the IDF. Please, turn them loose on the enemy before it is too late. Already you have allowed Hamas to arm themselves to the teeth, train as a regular military force, and build complex defenses that will surely cost our soldiers dearly. The Israeli blood that will most certainly be shed when you decide that the time has come to go into Gaza will be on your hands forever.



taken from B'NAI ELIM (http://bnaielim.blogspot.com/)

WE HAVE CREATED A NATION OF SUICIDE PEACEMAKERS



Reclusive Syrian Jews Denounce Hebron Eviction


By Michael Orbach


Wed. Dec 24, 2008


http://www.forward.com/articles/14797/


The recent eviction of Israeli Jewish settlers from a contested building in Hebron has provoked a loud and angry retort from the usually publicity-shy Syrian Jewish community of Brooklyn.

In a December 17 gathering that attracted some 300 Syrian Jews, including the community's leading rabbis, speakers rallied around one of their own: a local women's shoe wholesaler named Morris Abraham, who has played an unlikely role in the Hebron controversy.

"We have created a nation of suicide peacemakers," Abraham told the crowd gathered at Congregation Ahaba Ve Ahva, off Ocean Parkway, referring to the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and its supporters. Repeatedly, Abraham asserted his claim to have purchased the Hebron building from a local Palestinian.

It is Abraham's claim that now lies at the center of the controversy. And the government's treatment of his claim appears to have produced this rare public outcry from his insular community — one of the quietest, most conservative and wealthiest in New York.
"Morris is a very popular person in our community," explained Charles Dweck, a Brooklyn Syrian Jew who, like Abraham, works as a wholesaler.


The Syrians' harsh reaction could have implications for elections scheduled in Israel this February. The community is known as an important source of political contributors for hawkish Israeli political parties, as well as to Shas, a Sephardic Orthodox party.


Abraham, who is 40, says that together with his father, he bought the contested property in Hebron — called the House of Peace by Israeli West Bank settler supporters — through a middleman in 2004 for, he says, $1 million. Other reports in the press cite a price of $700,000.The deal was midwifed by the Hebron Fund, a Brooklyn-based group that provides financial aid to Israeli settlers in Hebron. Its executive, Yossi Baumol, also spoke at the rally.


With Israeli settlers in Hebron asserting a right of permanent Jewish rule over the overwhelmingly Palestinian city, in part through land acquisitions, Palestinians who sell properties to Jews face the possibility of execution by other Palestinians. After settlers moved into the Hebron site in 2007, its Palestinian owner went to court in Israel, claiming the alleged sale was fraudulent. Abraham presents a video and documents that purport to confirm his purchase.


Last month, Israel's Supreme Court gave the government custody of the property, pending resolution of this suit. And on December 4, Israeli security forces evicted the settlers and took control of it. The evicted settlers proceeded to riot and commit arson against the town's Palestinian residents as the security forces stood by, an event Olmert condemned as "a pogrom." Seventeen Palestinians were reported injured.


Abraham, an unpretentious man with a black velvet kipa and mild Brooklyn accent, told the audience at the synagogue, "Because there were young rioters doesn't mean the government can take land away that was bought legally.


"Abraham said he was motivated to purchase the Hebron property as a religious Jew. According to the Hebrew Bible, the ancient city was King David's original capital before he moved it to Jerusalem. Hebron is also home to the Cave of the Patriarchs, a site holy to Jews and Muslims, where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their wives are said to be buried.


Abraham claimed a personal connection to the city, as well. He said his grandfather lived there and escaped a 1930 massacre by Arab residents that killed 68 Jews, many of them members of Hebron's long-settled Sephardic community. He said the alleged purchase was also a business investment; the 40,000-square-foot property was to be renovated to fit 30 apartments to be rented for $300 to $500 per month each, he said.


In a community that reveres its rabbis' words as holy writ, close to 20 community rabbis and leaders attended the rally, most notably Syrian Chief Rabbi Saul Kassin.


The atmosphere was rife with disgust for what speakers declared was the anti-religious nature of the government. Parallels were drawn between the fight for the Hebron property and the Soviet Jewry struggle.


"We are more into business than politics," said Abraham Dayan, a silver haired gentleman with a heavy accent whose wife waited for him in a blue BMW as he discussed the quiet nature of the Syrian community. "But we are very Zionistic, one of the most in the world. [The community] has taken to heart what the government did and considers it unjust vis-à-vis religion and Judaism."
taken from B'NAI ELIM (http://bnaielim.blogspot.com/)

Israel Matzav: Video: 'Palestinians' shoot 25 shells, Israel allows 90 trucks in#links#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Video: 'Palestinians' shoot 25 shells, Israel allows 90 trucks in#links#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Champions visit the Holocaust Museum#links#links

Israel Matzav: Champions visit the Holocaust Museum#links#links

FAMILY MATTERS - TRUE LOVE

taken from: Torat HaRav Aviner (http://www.ravaviner.com/)
Posted by Mordechai Friedfertig

True Love
[From the parashah sheet "Rosh Yehudi"]


My friend told me a children's story about an 80 year old man who came to a doctor's office for a treatment. He requested that they perform the treatment as quickly as possible because he is in a hurry.

During the treatment the nurse asked: "Where are you hurrying off to? Do you have an important doctor's appointment?"


"No, I am eating with my wife in the hospital?"


"What is wrong with her?"


"She has had Alzheimer's for a few years already."


"And if you are a little late, will she worry?"


"No, she does not understand what is happening to her. For the last five years she does not recognize anyone, not even me."


"And you visit her every morning even though she does not know who you are?" – the nurse said surprisingly.


"She does not know who I am," the man said smiling, "But I know who she is and who she was."

PARSHAT MIKEITZ:GOD WAS WITH JOSEPH


Written by: Nathan Light


We mentioned last week about Joseph being sold as a slave to Egypt. The Torah explains that Joseph’s master “perceived that God was with him (Joseph)…he appointed him over his household…” [Genesis: 39: 3-4].


Later on, Joseph was thrown into prison for unjustified reasons. As a prisoner, the verses say “The prison warden placed all inmates of the prison in Joseph’s custody…as Hashem was with him…” [Genesis: 39: 22-23].


In this week’s Torah portion, Joseph was handpicked out of prison by Pharaoh himself, because Pharaoh was troubled by disturbing dreams he experienced, and he was informed that Joseph had a knack for interpreting dreams. After being told the meaning of his dreams, Pharaoh felt it necessary to put Joseph in charge of his palace, and he described Joseph as “…a man in whom is the spirit of God” [Genesis: 41: 37]. Sooner or later, Joseph was given complete dominion over Egypt.


It kind of sticks out that each time Joseph rose to power it was due to recognition of God being by his side. But how did Joseph’s master, the prison warden, or Pharaoh come to perceive that God was always with him? And just because God was “with Joseph”, why did it mean that Joseph had to become successful?I think the answer can be found by observing one of the Biblical accounts involving Abraham, Joseph’s great-grandfather. Earlier on in the Torah, it describes how three men wandering in the desert were invited by Abraham into his tent, and how he took care of them.


But immediately before Abraham runs after the men and calls them into his tent, the verse says “God appeared to him (Abraham)…” [Genesis: 18: 1].What was Abraham thinking!? God Himself appears before Abraham, and Abraham pushes Him aside for some strangers on the road!?However, later on as the men got up to leave, the verse says “The men had turned from there and went to Sodom (a city nearby), while Abraham was still standing before God” [Genesis: 18: 22].So in truth, Abraham didn’t really push God off, rather he “took Him along” while he tended his guests.


This episode was meant to teach a fundamental approach in serving God; our relationship with God is not meant to be limited within the prayer chapel, or only during the Sabbath or another Jewish holiday. Our connection to God has to take place in everything we do every day of the week. Furthermore, we may learn from this not to seclude ourselves in a corner and dedicate our lives solely to “religious” matters, we must go out in the world and make our day to day mundane encounters a religious experience as well.


We explained in last week’s portion, that Joseph recognized that everything was in the hands of God. But it wasn’t enough for Joseph to keep this idea in the realm of thought alone. Joseph allowed this overwhelming emotion to gush forth in every action he took, and he didn’t keep it to himself either, he lived this way of life openly for others to see and to learn for themselves.
The reason he was so successful was because, by possessing the ability to see God in everything and everyone, he was able peel off the layers of the physical world and understand its potential and true purpose. Being able to realize the true essence of every being allowed Joseph to understand how to relate to each and everyone he came into contact with and eventually find favor in their eyes.


Good Shabbos,

NZL


taken from: http://www.tzipiyah.com/

Israel Matzav: Merry Christmas from southern Israel#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Merry Christmas from southern Israel#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: War prevented in Lebanon?#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: War prevented in Lebanon?#links#links#links#links

The Torah Revolution: Rav. David Bar Chaim audio on Chanukah

The Torah Revolution: Rav. David Bar Chaim audio on Chanukah

ANIMUS TOWARDS JEWS ON CHRISTMAS - 2: JUAN COLE




There most definitely is antisemitism at the Guardian, and the previous post is an example of the way it is disseminated in unmarked back channels. Is Juan Cole also an antisemite? Sometimes I think so, and his Christmas column today is a case for the prosecution.


As often with Cole, it's hard to know where to begin, his statements are so outlandish. But here are some partial remarks:


Some 15 percent of the 10 million Palestinians is Christian, and they are after all the original Christians. Bethlehem has a special place in their hearts because it is the birthplace of Jesus in Christian belief.


Actually, the original Christians were Jews, who regarded themselves as such and never thought they were creating a new religion. That happened only a few generations later, in a context the original followers of Jesus probably couldn't have conceived of. I also wonder where Cole's statistics come from - the 15% one, and the 10 million. But don't expect him to enlighten us anytime soon.
You also might want to note that Bethlehem used to be almost 100% Christian, and the decline has been happening literally for generations; if even Bethlehem is now down to a Christian minority, might this have anything to do with the general dwindling of non-Muslim communites all over the Arab world? If it's truly only due to the evil machinations of the Israelis, why so? Do the Israelis have a preferrence for Muslim Palestinians over Christian ones? If so, why? And how do they manage to selectively get rid of the Christians? How did they manage to start the dynamic prior to 1967, when they didn't even control the place?


Almost no one in the US knows that the Israeli wall or separation barrier, which has ghettoized many Palestinians and expropriated from them property and farm land, is strangling Bethlehem. The barrier cuts Bethlehem off from Jerusalem and steals private property from its residents. It has created an economic crisis that has caused Palestinian Christians to emigrate from the city. The "Christians of Bethlehem overwhelmingly (78%) blame the exodus of Christians from the town on Israel's blockade . . .

"Is the wall strangling Bethlehem? How so? Further down in his post he notes that tourism in Bethlehem is up this year, even though the wall is the same wall as last year: perhaps some other dynamic is at play? And what methodology does the august professor suggest for resolving the question? The article behind Cole's link, by the way, is a hodgepodge of nonesense, lies, innuendo, hearsay and general malice.


Why did the Israelis build the wall? Since Cole never mentions this one might note it was built because many dozens of Israeli civilians were murdered by Palestinian murderers who entered Jerusalem from Bethlehem between 2001-2004; since the wall has been erected and the checkpoints manned: a miracle! No more murders from Bethlehem!


The whole thesis about the evil of seperating Bethlehemm from Jerusalem is a red herring. Someday there may be peace between Israel and Palestine. When that happens, Bethlehem will be in Palestine, and most of Jerusalem will be in Israel. There will be a border in between, with guarded border crossings. One can argue about the precise line on which the Israeli barrier has been constructed, but it's hard to see how one can argue against its very existence. Given the close proximity of Bethlehem to Jerusalem, the border will always run close to both of them.


The distance from Bethlehem to Jerusalem is some 10km, but Palestinians must take a 26km secondary dirt road passing through Israeli checkpoints which are often closed with no warning or explanation. Palestinians in the West Bank are not permitted to enter Jerusalem without a date- and time-limited pass from the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) - more often than not refused.


Actually, the distance from the northenmost houses of Bethlehem and the southernmost ones of Jerusalem isn't 10 km, it's about 100 meters, perhaps 200. Since the historic main road between the two goes through Jewish Talpiyot, (which is inside the Green Line), the Palestinians will have to use a winding secondary road to reach the Arab sections of Jerusalem - just like they did between 1948 and 1967, when Bethlehem and East Jerusalem were occupied by Jordan.


Cole's editorial choice to celebrate Christmas on his blog with one single post, entirely dedicated to misinformation and lies about Israel, needs to be recognized for what it is.
taken from : Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

ANIMUS TOWARDS JEWS ON CHRISTMAS - 1 : THE GUARDIAN




Easter was traditionally the worst time for Jews, because that's when their Christian neighbors were focused most on the crucifixion and the most likely to express their religion with a spot of pillage rape and murder. That was a long time ago, you'd think. So it's surprising to see how easy it is to find nastiness directed at Jews on this day of Christmas early in the 21st century, just before the dawn of the Era of Obama and the expectations some have from it.


First, the Guardian.The example I've chosen from today's edition isn't particularly malign; rather it's an example of condescending snottiness in an article that's otherwise harmless and quite insignificant - and that's why it's so significant.


Alex von Tunzelmann, a movie critic, fittingly chooses Christmas to ask how historically accurate Life of Brian is. She thinks it is; while I expect I know a bit more than she about that period, I'm not going to dispute her. Not because she's right, but because who cares? It was a fine film, with lots of good fun.


But her column does contain this disturbing paragraph:



As the film correctly hints, stoning was extremely popular with angry mobs. The Bible advises stoning for, among other offences, being a wizard, touching Mount Sinai while Moses receives the ten commandments, rebelling against your parents, or goring someone to death, if you are an ox. Further to this, stoning was often carried out summarily against traitors, and bad actors.


Quite the barbarians, those ancient Judeans. Almost as bad as the Londoners of the 17th Century.


Well, no. Actually, compared with the those Londoners, the ancient Judeans were paragons of human rights. The Talmud, much of which was created in Judea just about the time Brian wasn't there, contains a long discussion about the death sentence. Essentially, while capital punishment was on the book for all sorts of things, the rules for applying it were so severe that it couldn't happen. Witnesses to a murder, for example, had to remember the shape of the leaves on the tree behind the scene else their testimony be rejected, the assailant had to be warned by at least two witnesses, in advance, that his action was a capital offense, and so on. A court that condemned anyone to death once in 70 years was referred to derogatorily as a "lethal court", and the sages then had a big argument about whether such a thing had ever happened or not.


Why besmirch the Londoners of the 17th century? It wasn't until the 20th that the English reached such a level of reluctance to use capital punishment, the French got there in the 1970s, and the Texans aren't there yet.You would think no-one takes the Guardian seriously about anything, but you would be wrong. Many people actually do. This little tidbit demonstrates how deep (abysmal) the ignorance about Jews is over there; a fact that never stops them from pontificating, but also a demonstration of how deep seated their venom really is, that it's so easy to find even in a lightheaded holiday column about a lightheaded film.
taken from :Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)
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