Saturday 31 January 2009

Israel Matzav: How much longer will Jews stay in Venezuela?#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: How much longer will Jews stay in Venezuela?#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: 'Whosoever shall go out of the doors of your house outside, his blood shall be upon his head'#links#links

Israel Matzav: 'Whosoever shall go out of the doors of your house outside, his blood shall be upon his head'#links#links

Israel Matzav: Gazans: 'Hamas is all hot air'#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Gazans: 'Hamas is all hot air'#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Letter from IDF reservist to a Gaza citizen: 'I am the soldier who slept in your home'#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Letter from IDF reservist to a Gaza citizen: 'I am the soldier who slept in your home'#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Hopenchange at the United Nations#links#links

Israel Matzav: Hopenchange at the United Nations#links#links

Israel Matzav: Spanish judge opens 'war crimes' 'investigation' against 7 Israelis#links#links

Israel Matzav: Spanish judge opens 'war crimes' 'investigation' against 7 Israelis#links#links

Tzipiyah.com - Parshat Bo: Renewal

Parshat Bo: Renewal

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I AM A ZIONIST



At a time where Zionism is defamed and slandered, this article sets out the truth. Shabbat Shalom.


From YNet, by Yair Lapid:


I am a Zionist.


I believe that the Jewish people established itself in the Land of Israel, albeit somewhat late. Had it listened to the alarm clock, there would have been no Holocaust, and my dead grandfather – the one I was named after – would have been able to dance a last waltz with grandma on the shores of the Yarkon River.


I am a Zionist.


Hebrew is the language I use to thank the Creator, and also to swear on the road. The Bible does not only contain my history, but also my geography. King Saul went to look for mules on what is today Highway 443, Jonah the Prophet boarded his ship not too far from what is today a Jaffa restaurant, and the balcony where David peeped on Bathsheba must have been bought by some oligarch by now.


I am a Zionist.


The first time I saw my son wearing an IDF uniform I burst into tears, I haven't missed the Independence Day torch-lighting ceremony for 20 years now, and my television was made in Korea, but I taught it to cheer for our national soccer team.


I am a Zionist.


I believe in our right for this land. The people who were persecuted for no reason throughout history have a right to a state of their own plus a free F-16 from the manufacturer. Every display of anti-Semitism from London to Mumbai hurts me, yet deep inside I'm thinking that Jews who choose to live abroad fail to understand something very basic about this world. The State of Israel was not established so that the anti-Semites will disappear, but rather, so we can tell them to get lost.


I am a Zionist.


I was fired at in Lebanon, a Katyusha rockets missed me by a few feet in Kiryat Shmona, missiles landed near my home during the first Gulf War, I was in Sderot when the Color Red anti-rocket alert system was activated, terrorists blew themselves up not too far from my parents' house, and my children stayed in a bomb shelter before they even knew how to pronounce their own name, clinging to a grandmother who arrived here from Poland to escape death. Yet nonetheless, I always felt fortunate to be living here, and I don't really feel good anywhere else.


I am a Zionist.


I think that anyone who lives here should serve in the army, pay taxes, vote in the elections, and be familiar with the lyrics of at least one Shalom Hanoch song. I think that the State of Israel is not only a place, it is also an idea, and I wholeheartedly believe in the three extra commandments engraved on the wall of the Holocaust museum in Washington: "Thou shalt not be a victim, thou shalt not be a perpetrator, but above all, thou shalt not be a bystander."
I am a Zionist.


I already laid down on my back to admire the Sistine Chapel, I bought a postcard at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, and I was deeply impressed by the emerald Buddha at the king's palace in Bangkok. Yet I still believe that Tel Aviv is more entertaining, the Red Sea is greener, and the Western Wall Tunnels provide for a much more powerful spiritual experience. It is true that I'm not objective, but I'm also not objective in respect to my wife and children.


I am a Zionist.


I am a man of tomorrow but I also live my past. My dynasty includes Moses, Jesus, Maimonides, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Albert Einstein, Woody Allen, Bobby Fischer, Bob Dylan, Franz Kafka, Herzl, and Ben-Gurion. I am part of a tiny persecuted minority that influenced the world more than any other nation. While others invested their energies in war, we had the sense to invest in our minds.


I am a Zionist.


I sometimes look around me and become filled with pride, because I live better than a billion Indians, 1.3 billion Chinese, the entire African continent, more than 250 million Indonesians, and also better than the Thais, the Filipinos, the Russians, the Ukrainians, and the entire Muslim world, with the exception of the Sultan of Brunei. I live in a country under siege that has no natural resources, yet nonetheless the traffic lights always work and we have high-speed connection to the Internet.


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I am a Zionist.


My Zionism is natural, just like it is natural for me to be a father, a husband, and a son. People who claim that they, and only they, represent the "real Zionism" are ridiculous in my view. My Zionism is not measured by the size of my kippa, by the neighborhood where I live, or by the party I will be voting for. It was born a long time before me, on a snowy street in the ghetto in Budapest where my father stood and attempted, in vain, to understand why the entire world is trying to kill him.


I am a Zionist.


Every time an innocent victim dies, I bow my head because once upon a time I was an innocent victim. I have no desire or intention to adopt the moral standards of my enemies. I do not want to be like them. I do not live on my sword; I merely keep it under my pillow.


I am a Zionist.


I do not only hold on to the rights of our forefathers, but also to the duty of the sons. The people who established this state lived and worked under much worse conditions than I have to face, yet nonetheless they did not make do with mere survival. They also attempted to establish a better, wiser, more humane, and more moral state here. They were willing to die for this cause, and I try to live for its sake.
taken from : For Zion's Sake

THE USE OF FORCE CAN BE POSITIVE



Says Michael Gerson at the Washington Post, and explains the logic of the recent Gaza operation. It's an unusual piece for the way it flagrantly flies in the face of "accepted wisdom". (Nitpicking: Interestingly, Gerson doesn't know what Operation Defensive Shield was. As I keep saying, most people who write about the Mid East don't have their facts down pat, including the ones who do see the general picture).
taken from : Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

IT'S NOT ONLY JOURNALISTS AND PUNDITS...



It's even the President of the United States who could benefit from a bit of cramming.


Amir Taheri looks into Obama's comment about how things were better between the US and the Arab world 20 or 30 years ago. This was of course a peculiar statement, and Taheri fleshes out how so.


It is far too early days to know what the Obama administration will or won't succeed at, in the Middle East or anywhere else. So far they're engaging in cheap and painless gestures and symbolism, and there's nothing intrinsically wrong with that: symbols sometimes can effect reality, especially when they nudge reality in a direction that already had potential. Nor is there anything intrinsically right with it, either: sometimes reality is immune to symbols, especially when they try to nudge reality in directions with no potential. The tricky thing is to get it right, to chose only the symbols that will be beneficial, and none that will have adverse effects.


How do you know the former from the latter? Two ways. The first, rather reliable though not foolproof, is to have the benefit of hindsight. Alas, that's not a good method for people who have to make decisions in the present. The second method to tell useful symbols from neutral ones from destructive ones, is to know a lot about the situation you're trying to impact. According to all reports Obama is an unusually intelligent man, widely read. The fact that his first pronouncement on the recent history of the Middle East could have been refuted with ease by anyone who's been reading newspapers and remembering their content for the period he's pronouncing on, is mildly worrisome.
taken from : Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

The Torah Revolution: The fact is

The Torah Revolution: The fact is
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