Tikkun Olam

The Kosher Cooking Carnival (KCC) #44, Pictorial Edition, is up and running at Leora's blog. This edition is replete with pictures, pictures, pictures (and also the thousand words to go with it.) Among others, I personally recommend (ahem) Yours Truly's post about meatballs and pusghetti, and also The Kosher Kook. I am also interested in Batya's ministrone soup ( but I want it to sparkle for me, too ) and might make it to break the fast next week... Happy eating! (Batya, hope you don't mind; I borrowed your picture...) *Copyright alert: No infringement of any text or graphic copyright is ever intended on this blog. If you own the copyright to any original image or document used for the creation of the graphics or information on this site, please contact the blog administrator with all pertinent info so that proper credit can be given. If you wish to have it removed from the site, just say the word; it shall be, ASAP.

Here is the sixth (and last) segment of the Zola Levitt Ministries interview of Joan Peters. Listen carefully to what is read from the Palestinian National Charter drafted in 1963 and adopted in May, 1964--a most telling document. It was amended in 1968. Note the change in emphasis, from Pan-Arabism in the original document to Palestinian in the 1968 version .

I am so grateful, my youngest (Rambo), is 'home' for a month long visit in the States, after not having seen her for a year and a half. Unfortunately, we won't see her for the whole month because she has to divide her time between family and friends in three different States, each far apart. So it will boil down to about 10 days with her parents, 10 days with her sister and brother-in-law and nieces and nephew and cousins and grandma, and 4 days or so with another cousin and Aunt. This is actually her first visit back in over four years: the last time we saw her, we were all together in Israel for our older son's wedding, in March 2008; but she hasn't been back in the States since 2005, a long time. She was only fifteen then, having been in Israel for 8 months or so, in her first year of Israeli high school. What can I say? The IDF has been good for her: she looks wonderful! She is in the best shape she has been in her entire life, and wants to continue being in ...

This is not new, but still bears posting today: Nonie Darwish is an Egyptian-born American writer and now an activist for the truth about Islam. Her father, the chief of Egyptian military intelligence, was the first targeted assassination by Israel in 1956: "I always blamed Israel for my father's death, because that's what I was taught. I never looked at why Israel killed my father. They killed my father because the fedayeen were killing Israelis. They killed my father because when I was growing up, we had to recite poetry pledging jihad against Israel. We would have tears in our eyes, pledging that we wanted to die. I speak to people who think there was no terrorism against Israel before the '67 war . How can they deny it? My father died in it." Ms. Darwish has written three books, which can be found on her website, Arabs for Israel . Here is part II of the interview. We need more courageous people such as Nonie to speak up for truth (notice, however, that at...

Yes, folks, you heard it here first..er..second..er..third: Israel is now under serious scrutiny for surreptitiously distributing it's latest lethal weapon into Gaza in order to corrupt the young : what else, but aphrodisiac gum ? Hamas terrorists are blaming Israel for a new weapon: aphrodisiacs they say are being smuggled into Gaza in order to "corrupt the young." A Hamas police official said Tuesday that the aphrodisiacs are being introduced into the population through chewing gum and drops. The issue arose when a man complained that his daughter suffered "dubious side effects" from the chewing gum. Hamas contends the gum, and the drops, are actually "stimulants that were introduced into the Gaza Strip from Israeli border crossings." Both reportedly caused heightened desire, according to the AFP news agency. Islam Shahwan said Hamas police have arrested gang members that imported the products, claiming the suspects "admitted during the investig...

I am hereby welcoming a new blogger to the JBlogosphere. He is The Kosher Kook , and will be writing about (what else?) Kosher Kooking! His articles are interesting, clever and just plain fun. Did I mention mouth-watering? I am now trying to convince him to submit a post to the KCC. Why don't you all just go there , and read up about my all-time favorite food, chatzilim .* (Hey, and that means YOU: Baby Ktan, Mister Arnold Miyagi, Nathaniel Bloooomenstein, Toodles, and RAMBO). What can I say? I talked him into it (guilty as charged!) *chatzilim: eggplant

I first saw this by JS on DovBear and was shocked and angered by what I read in the article in the Baltimore Jewish Times . I distinctly remember when frum Jews ate non-glatt meat; glatt was a chumrah which some right-wing Jews took on themselves, but a Jew eating non-glatt would not be looked upon as having eaten treif. Apparently times have changed: now, at least in my community (and I understand many others), people will not eat in your house if you say you buy non-glatt meat. I always thought that Hebrew National was not only non-glatt, but 'questionable' in its kashrut. I wouldn't dream of having it in my kitchen. Now that it is under Rabbi Ralbag's supervision and the Triangle K, it should be a different story. But it isn't. Read the whole article, and tell me why I shouldn't be buying Hebrew National hot dogs for my family.

(Gosh is it that many?) HH #225 is now up at How to Be Israeli . Check out the great (and controversial) posts, yours truly's included (great, not controversial). Once upon a time, we were new Israelis, too. . . don't know when we'll be back. . .I think I am getting sad. . .

Last month, the Haredim were out in force protesting the opening of a municipal parking lot on Shabbat. Secular Jews came out the following Shabbat for a counter-protest. Mayor Nir Barkat is caught in a bind between two segments of Jerusalem society. Do we want to see more pictures like this one? What is the answer for all Jerusalemites to live side by side, in tolerance and respect? *Copyright alert: No infringement of any text or graphic copyright is ever intended on this blog. If you own the copyright to any original image or document used for the creation of the graphics or information on this site, please contact the blog administrator with all pertinent info so that proper credit can be given. If you wish to have it removed from the site, just say the word; it shall be, ASAP.

I have not posted Part V of the Zola Levitt Joan Peters interview since March. There are two more segments, V and VI, so here is the-next-to-the-last-one. (the first 4 can be seen here , here , here and here .) The sad disappointment which comes out in this interview, is what Ms. Peters says about then Prime-Minister Ariel Sharon, whom many thought, before the hitnatkut* , was going to be the strong 'savior' of Israel. Little did we know at the time how that would turn out. . . *hitnatkut: disengagement from Gaza

My grandchildren love to EAT. But for my grandson (the one with Down Syndrome), one of the most looked-forward-to activity of his day is eating meals. Don't get me wrong: he loves camp, and friends, and has "play dates" all the time. So let's talk about play dates for a moment. When I was a kid, we didn't have play dates; it's a modern invention. What we did was just go outside, and if our friends weren't 'out there,' we'd yell up to the window 'can Chayaleh come out to play?') Today, kids have 'play dates.' You make arrangements a week in advance by calling up the kid's mother and arrange to have your kid go over to their house for a specific amount of time, say, five hours-to play; then the next week or so, that kid comes over to YOUR house for five hours or so. It's like a business appointment. You formally plan it and put it on your calendar. I believe it is a result of living in the suburbs: everyone is in their o...