Latest HH #262 is Up

The Empty-Seat-at-my-Seder edition number two-hundred-sixty-two, I believe, is up and running at Jack's.

Read it quick, before Yom Tov sets in tomorrow night. . .!

In the Insanity Before Passover, I Couldn't Resist. . . .

I am not very loquacious, although I definitely am a logophile. And when I received this in an email from my friend M. (yes, the very same. James Bond. Ahem.), I realized that with the insanity that is just before Pesach when we convert over from slavery to freedom (and turn our houses upside-down in the process), this was perfectly coordinated.

So in the vein of "laughter is the best medicine", for all you logophiles out there, here's the Washington Post's version of. . . malapropism (look it up. that's what Google's for.):

(I especially am fond of #16; and in part II, #5. . . )

Once again, The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly neologism contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternative meanings for common words.

The winners are:

1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.

2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.

3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.

5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent.

6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.

7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.

8. Gargoyle (n), olive-flavored mouthwash.

9. Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.

10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.

11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.

12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

13. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist.

14. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.

15. Frisbeetarianism (n.), (back by popular demand): The belief that, when you die, your soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

16. Circumvent (n.), an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.
***********************************************************

The Washington Post's Style Invitational also asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

The winners are:


1. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

2. Foreploy (v): Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

3. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

4. Giraffiti (n): Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

5. Sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

6. Inoculatte (v): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

7. Hipatitis (n): Terminal coolness.

8. Osteopornosis (n): A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

9. Karmageddon (n): its like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

10. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

11. Glibido (v): All talk and no action.

12. Dopeler effect (n): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

13. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

14. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

15. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating.

And the pick of the literature:

16. Ignoranus (n): A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

Go to: washingtonpost.com/styleinvitational! for the latest neologisms.

Pesach Cleaning? No! You Should be Reading Haveil Havalim #261!

The latest Haveil Havalim, the ubiquitous weekly Jewish Blog Carnival, pre-Pesach edition (I made that up) #261 (nope, didn't make that up: it's the correct number) is up at Jack's. Would have posted about it yesterday, but I was sick-sick-sick. Am better now, thank G-d. Better be: kids coming in three days, yikes!!!

Back to reading...er...cleaning...!

Israeli Company Develops Bio-Retina to Restore Sight

The Israeli company Nano-Retina based in Hertzliyah has developed a retina-function replacement system for those retinas damaged by macular degeneration, diabetes as well as other diseases. It consists of a retinal implant and special eyeglasses which coordinate together to work as photoreceptors, which are activated by a tiny laser in the eyeglasses.



Israeli ingenuity has done it again: contributed to the good and benefit of mankind by Jewish intelligence and diligence for the purpose of tikkun olam, repairing the world--the name of this blog.

So what are the Palestinian Arabs up to these days? Here are some headlines from Palestinian Media Watch:

PA TV kids' show wipes Israel off the map,

PA Libel: Israel tried to burn down Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1969

Fatah officials celebrate inauguration of terrorist square

PA interviews terrorist sister on anniversary of terror attack


Compare and contrast, I always say. . .

Goodbye, Uncle Jack. . .

This entire day has been a total loss. Literally. I received a call from Israel this a.m. (my time) from my cousin (his niece), telling me that my Uncle Jack had passed away this morning (Israel time).

I had a close relationship with Dod* Yaakov (at least, I thought so), even though we had not spoken very frequently since we left Israel from our last visit almost exactly two years ago, March 2008, for our older son's wedding. But whenever we talked, even if it was months apart--it was as if we were both of us in the same room, sitting on his sofa and chair in his living room in the moshav which he helped found, philosophizing about family, life, G-d, values and Judaism.

Since we saw him last, he had had a quadruple-bypass operation, and initially, I thought, had been doing well.
He later apparently developed internal hemorrhaging (I don't know the full story), and the doctors were trying to combat that. Two and a half months ago or so, something deteriorated cognitively: he started to lose control of his thoughts-to-speech, and the sentences which came out of his mouth were not the fruition of his thoughts. His doctors did not know why this was happening: was it the steroids he was taking? Was it a mini-stroke?

At the same time, in a different area of his brain he was very mentally aware of this, yet couldn't control it; consequently, this caused him to be very upset. I tried calling him about a month or so ago, but he was unable/unwilling to talk. I said that I loved him, but I don't know if he heard before he hung up.

That was our last conversation. . .

Shortly after that phone call I was in touch with his daughter (my cousin Michal) and tried to help by sending her some deep spiritual, calming music by our friend, Torah teacher and musician Rav Michael Shapiro, in the hope that it would quiet the cacophony in Uncle Jack's head.

He died before she had a chance to load it onto an MP3 player.

I am too drained to say much more, except that my Dod Yaakov accomplished a great thing in his life: he was a part of the clandestine immigration movement of Jews to Palestine, and helped save Jewish refugees from the Sho'ah* by bringing them to Eretz Yisrael "illegally," against the British (who had the mandate over Palestine) quota of 2,000 Jews per month (-while hundreds of thousands of Jews were in displaced persons camps in Europe), on the ship named Medinat HaYehudim.*

Here is a quote from my uncle about his volunteering on that ship (emphasis mine):

"I still remember the faces of the Holocaust survivors," says Jack Yeriel, a native New Yorker who served on the ship The Jewish State before immigrating to Israel in 1947.

"What struck me was their courage. I remember this young couple that broke into a smile from ear to ear when they boarded the ship.

"I thought, `This is why I'm on this ship, this is why we need to build a Jewish country.' I thought, `There but for the grace of God go I.'"

Later in life my uncle experienced great tragedies, with the untimely deaths of two of his daughters--but he persevered.

Dod Yaakov, I love you. . .and miss you. . .

ה' נתן-ה' לקח יהי שם ה' מבורך








*Dod: Hebrew for "uncle"
*Shoah: Hebrew for "Holocaust"
*Medinat HaYehudim: state of the Jews

Latest Haveil Havalim #260 - UP and Running. . .

. . . at Yachdus, with the "Geulah (redemption) Edition" #260. Click and read to your heart's desire (there's already time for reading before Pesach), and then go back to cleaning--you can't escape it in the end!

Pesach kasher ve-sameach to all.



*picture by Sora Rivka Daina, on Chinuch.org

So You'd Like a Shorter Seder?

Our Pesach sedarim used to last a minimum of six (6) hours. It was not unusual to end around 3:00 a.m. if we started at 9:00 p.m. the night before. Now that we're older, we have not been able to stay awake so late. . . D. H. was usually nodding off by the time we were in the middle of Hallel, while I still managed to more or less stay awake through the songs at the end (somebody had to!)--but this year we'll do our best to stay awake for the whole nine yards, because our kids will be here.

However, for those of you who are really wimpy and can't handle a long seder, here's one that should be just your speed: The Sixty Second Seder!

The Making of Shmurah Matzahs by Hand

I thought this would be interesting for you, my readers, especially those of you who are not familiar with the process of baking shmurah matzahs by hand. What are shmurah matzahs? They are matzahs which comply more stringently with halacha, or Jewish law, by being "watched" or "guarded"(-the meaning of 'shmurah') from the time of harvest so that the wheat will not come in contact with water or anything that would enable it to ferment and 'rise.'

The matzah flour has to be prepared and baked within eighteen (18) minutes in order to prevent fermentation and rising ("chametz").

Here is a video depicting the preparation and baking of shmurah matzah, in Bnei Brak, Israel:

My Pesach-Cleaning-Findings-of: STUFF

I dislike cleaning for Pesach, not only because it's hard on my knees and back, but because I always unearth something of personal value which becomes very emotional for me. I sometimes find myself sitting there by the just-unpacked-or-organized box, turning pages, or sifting through pictures, or looking through kids' toys/backpacks/schoolbags from Israel/drawings, tears coursing down my face.
Pesach cleaning, for me, is an emotional roller coaster. Today I was in our laundry/utility room, where we had boxes upon boxes of STUFF, belonging to the kids and us from way back, not unpacked since we sold our house and moved into our current rental town home six years ago.

Now, don't tell me that halachically I don't have to unpack those or look through them if I know we hadn't put chametz in them nor eaten near them--I know that! We needed to get rid of some boxes to make room there for other STUFF which we had piled up in other areas of the house which we needed to kasher for Pesach. That is why we were going through those boxes.

It was also a good opportunity to go through things to donate some of our unused STUFF to a charity such as Goodwill or ARC, and to that end we began filling up a bag. I was doing very well, until I came across--while not actually antiques in the denotative sense of the word--several really emotional items, to wit:

1) The dresses, size 6 and 4 respectively, which my 23-year old ("Toodles") and 21-year old ("Rambo") daughters wore to their oldest sister's ("Baby K'tan") wedding in 1994.

2) My younger son's ("Nathaniel Blumenstein") miniature bicycles and cyclist doll with its 2,000 various and sundry (practically microscopic) parts, such as handlebars and bike racks and wheels and pedals and...etc.

3) My aforementioned younger son's baseball, marked with his initials.

4) My kids' in-line skates, with shin guards and gloves and other related paraphernalia.

5) My older son's ("Mister Arnold Mayergi") star wars collection, complete with practically full-sized version of the Millenium Falcon (in addition to approximately 3,000 toy animals, aliens, alien-animals, weapons, alien-weapons and humans).

And then there were the most emotional of all: I found

6) My diary and poetry from 1960, and-

7) My mother's (a"h) book of original music & lyrics, which she had written together with her brother, my uncle (now very ill with Alzheimer's) in the 1940s.

And that is not to mention my old teaching materials from twenty-seven years ago, my elementary school year books (yes, I said elementary school, not high school) several of which I had drawn the covers of, and my drawings and sketchbooks.


After a good cry, I repacked my old teaching materials and yearbooks into a smaller box, including my mother's things (I might deal with that at a later date), and placed the kids' clothing, toys and skates where I can get at them when they are here for Pesach, to look through. They can then decide if there is something they want to take back to Israel, or that other state where my two daughters live (for now).

The Star Wars STUFF my older son can look at and reminisce, but it is too bulky to ship back to Israel now; it will probably have to wait until we go back with a lift.

But I got it done! And in addition, D.H. and I found some wall hanging STUFF, such as a ceramic plate with the word Shalom on it in Hebrew, English and Arabic, and a colorful Ten Commandments work of art made from iron which we hung on the wall.

All in all, I would venture to say that it was a productive day...er...three hours!


*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.

Ruby Tuesday LATE: posted on Wimpy-er-Wordless Wednesday

I forgot to post a RED pic on this week's Ruby Tuesday, so true to my procrastinating nature, I'm posting it late, on Wimpy Wordless Wednesday (I didn't make that up). Below is a photo of our Rosh Hashana "Yehi-Ratzon Beets." (Hope I don't get drummed outa the JBlogosphere for this transgression.)





And here's my pic for Wordless Wednesday:

'nuf said. . .





*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.

Worst Ad for Israel Ever

(Did I say I would take a haitus from blogging? I lied.)

I just found the worst, crudest travel promotion for Israel on this site. Is this what we've come to?



Whatever has happened to holiness?

Cleaning Spawns Memories...

So it's been suggested by a fellow blogger (hat tip, Norma) that I write about what I find while cleaning for Pesach (anyway, that's my interpretation!)

Pesach cleaning often becomes a very emotional event for me--I'm not referring to the kitchen cabinets and dishes--they're just fine.

I'm referring to the bedroom closets (top, back shelves), the innards of my desk drawers, my metal free-standing, two-tiered desk inbox/outbox (which was piled high with...stuff), and various and sundry boxes which we haven't unpacked in six years, because I always want to look through everything and think about it. So I never get to it. And if I ever do get to some of it, I can never seem to get rid of anything: I always find a reason to save IT (whatever "IT" may be, at the time). I'm a packrat.

Interestingly enough, D. H. is just the opposite; at this stage in his life, he wants to downsize and throw everything out the window, except what will fit in his backpack. I wish I were like that; but I can't seem to 'let go.'

For example, yesterday as I was cleaning my desk and computer area (what's emotional about an office, you say?) I came across (in the aforementioned free-standing, two-tiered inbox/outbox) a photo of my older son, published in our local daily newspaper when he was twelve (twelve; he's 33 now, married with a child on the way, b'sha'ah tovah), cooking hot dogs--he learned from his father--at the local JCC Israel Independance Day celebration.

I had forgotten those times. The photo brought back memories. I sat there, reminiscing over times past when my kids were little (I hope they're not too turned off by this. Thank G-d, they are grown to be mature adults, doing important things, and making good lives for themselves; but I still miss my babies; time for grandkids).
I reminisced, cried a little, (okay, I admit it) and then I mustered up my courage and did the only thing I could do--the right thing: I scanned it in my HP printer/scanner and saved it in my 'baby-and-young-pics-of-kids' folder. I mean, what would you have done?

The rest of what I found (...including RAMBO's teudah* from her first year in high school at Yavneh in Israel in the Na'aleh* program, pics of four of my five kids one behind the other in height order, and pics of me and my sister as little girls, in a summer bungalow colony in NY) are stuff of another. . .post. . .


*teudah: diploma

Blogging Temporarily Cancelled, due to--Pesach Cleaning (what else?)!

-Have seen this before, but since I just saw it again on Reb Mordechai's blog I decided it was worth cross-posting here. I wish a Pesach kasher ve-sameach to all my wonderful friends and readers!

A Quick History of. . .Everything

"Art student Jamie Bell wanted to wrap up his art course with a bang and so he decided to tell the history of everything (or, pretty much everything) in flip-book form. Armed with Biro pens and an amazing imagination, Bell spent roughly three weeks off and on sketching on 2100 pages to create his masterpiece..."
(Hat tip, my friend Carol R. S. in...Jerusalem!) (Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.)



(upon reviewing this, however, I see that he did leave out a major event, which impacted and forever changed the world--it should be placed about 1350 years before the appearance of the three Magi. . .)

We Won't Be Out on the Street--For Now

My husband and I were panicking, because our extended unemployment benefits were about to expire, and the new emergency bill was stalled in the Senate, because of Senator Jim Bunning (R., Kentucky) who filibustered against it. He ended his filibuster yesterday, and the Senate voted to pass the bill (I received this information first--believe it or not--just a short while ago from my cousin N. in Israel!)

I understand there is a huge government deficit, but cutting unemployment benefits is not the way to reduce it. A better idea would be for the government to call in some of the stimulus money sent to bail out the big corporations, and to stipulate that these stimulus packages may not be used for huge bonuses and company perks such as spas and massages.



And this is what could happen to us (G-d forbid) or to anyone without a job , if unemployment benefits are curtailed:

Justin Julian is one the 1 million people who are desperate for Congress to take action next week. If they don't, he and his wife won't have a place to live.

The Lewisville, Texas, resident lost his software position in August and will miss the deadline to apply for additional federal benefits by only a few days. He currently receives $1,600 a month in unemployment benefits, which he uses to cover rent, car payments and the electricity bill. He must borrow money from friends and family to pay for food.

"Without the unemployment insurance, we can't pay any of our bills," said Julian, 39, whose wife is disabled. "It's kind of doomsday for us. We'll wind up sleeping on friends' couches."

D. H. is furiously searching for jobs. I am doing it a little less furiously, but searching nonetheless. There is just nothing out there, and quadruple the competition--because 1 in 10 people are looking for work.

Answer to a Reader

I received multipe emails in my inbox from a reader requesting answers to some questions he had about a post of mine. He couldn't tell me which post, and in my opinion the emails were written in too familiar a manner (he never asked me on my blog if he could email me and he did not use my blog name.)

I have no idea to which post he was referring, and did not appreciate the bombardment of emails. After the last one, instead of answering him--which I already had, once--a bit angrily, I might add--I decided I'd just post my email response here. Please feel free to comment. (Names have been changed to protect the guilty.)

Dear Neville,

I will respond to your points numerically: where my point-response number will correspond to your point number (so the numbers may not be in numerical order)

1) I owe you an apology as far as my CAPS accusation goes: upon reviewing your email I see that you did not type in caps, so please forgive me for that. This last missive of yours seems to be in bold, but it could be a function of the font size. No matter, I am sorry for the accusation.

3) Re: multiple emails: The protocol is first to comment on the actual post, and request permission to send an email to the author's email address. And then, to send one (1) email, and politely wait until the recipient responds. If he or she does not, it is because perhaps they choose not to. If you are not certain, you may send another polite email, reminding the recipient of your first correspondence--and that is it; no bombardment, no repetitious emails should be sent. This is common courtesy (which apparently is not so common, same as common sense).

4) There is no way for me to know whether "Neville" is your real name, or "Virgil" or "William" or " Tex," for that matter. The fact that you signed your name "Neville" means nothing to me, as I do not know you. Initially, you need to address me as Lady-Light (this is why you need to--at the risk of repeating myself ad nauseum--comment on the original site, thank you)

I have listened to the MP3 files which you sent as attachments to your emails. What was your point? I agree with what Robert Spencer says about Islam. He doesn’t say much in the files you sent about the Crusades vis-à-vis the Jews. In fact, the Crusaders massacred a total of approximately 5,000 Jews in France and Germany--specifically in Lorraine, Mainz, Worms, Cologne, etc.--and in the Land of Israel, where the Jews had to retreat to synagogues in the Jewish Quarter, which were subsequently set on fire with them inside. Look it up.

You also wrote (copied here exactly as written by you):

You referred to Christianity as Shtuyot (nonsense) you then raised the Crusades as another objection but gave no grounds for either point. I suspect that both statements are based on uninformed prejudice as most statements of this type are and that you were probably expecting a gang of sympathisers to tag along and massage these prejudices for you. I take it that your ignoring me, then following up with a bullying and abrasive email is some sort of defensive mechanism?

I see, Neville, that you have discovered on your own the meaning of “shtuyot.” Good for you. I am curious, though: where did you find the translation?

Here we come to the reason why one needs to comment on the post. “You referred to Christianity as Shtuyot.” Where? In which post? In what context? “You…raised the Crusades as another objection…etc.” Not knowing what I wrote and in what context, I cannot address your question. Raised the Crusades as an objection to what? Grounds for what?

“Gang of sympathizers?’ Not at all. I write my opinion, and if a commenter disagrees, that is his or her prerogative, and his or her opinion on what I wrote, and it is exactly what discourse is all about. I also expect the comment to be respectful. Again, out of context, I cannot respond to a question.

“Prejudices?” We all have prejudices, Neville, some we are not even aware of…that is the nature of living in communities and being brought up in cultural and social groups, as opposed to being hatched out of an egg and living a hermetic life on an island in the middle of an ocean somewhere.

You wrote (again, exactly as written):

“It takes at least two protagonists to make a war; Actually, that’s not true. It only takes one: One side who can fabricate an excuse to attack the other, e.g.,

a) The Arabs, in attacking Israel over and over again and threatening to destroy them, claiming that the Jews "stole their land" and have "no right to the land" (learn your history: there was never a sovereign nation called 'Palestine,' and historical and archeological records prove that Jews lived there from thousands of years ago, and that there was always a Jewish presence in the Land of Israel), and

b) Did it take two “protagonists,” as you put it-- to start World War II? Did the U.S. attack Japan first? And were the Jews “guilty” of “attacking” the Nazis? Seems to me, it was the other way around.

c) Did the Jews or Israel ever threaten Iran? If not, then why is Iran's president Ahmadinejad threatening to destroy the State of Israel?

What were the Jews “guilty” of to deserve being massacred by the Crusaders? Being Jews? The Land of Israel was under Muslim rule at the time.

2) You asked two questions, which I could not specifically answer because I do not know to what post you are referring. However, I can answer generally, that the Church (yes, the Catholic Church) did not apologize specifically for the Crusades, although Pope John Paul II in his Request for Pardon (March 12, 2000) apologized in general for “misdeeds.” He did not apologize for the Crusades, and here is one theory why by Dr. Helen Nicholson of Cardiff University, Crusades scholar:

Some argue that the Church has not only declined to apologize for the crusades, but that it never will. Cambridge historian Jonathan Riley-Smith has argued that the Church will never apologize for the crusades because it cannot do so theologically. He notes, "The dilemma facing the Church, therefore, is clear. If contrition is to be expressed for the principle of crusading, as opposed to abuses committed during Crusades, either the Church can no longer be regarded as a reliable moral teacher or ethics are relative. Both conclusions are unacceptable, which is why no "apology" for the Crusades will ever be forthcoming..."(3)

In conclusion, in the future I would be happy to respond to a comment on the blog on which the comment is about, but I cannot do so out of context. I also expect common courtesy from my readers, which include using my blog name when commenting, and requesting to send an email to me, or sending one (and only one) rather than bombarding me with multiples (at last count, you sent thirteen).

Thank you for sending the photo of the Hubble Space Telescope, however; that was really cool (although seeing a Star of David there is somewhat of a stretch…)

Thank you,

Lady-Light

---

Such a Fuss - Can Israel Do No Good?

Have you ever seen such a ruckus raised by everyone over what Israel may have done in Dubai to a known Hamas leader, Mahmoud Al Mabhouh? You'd think that Israel committed a heinous crime, when the crime which was committed was the Hamas leader's himself, that of murdering two Israeli soldiers and forging a connection between Hamas and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Hamas is classified as a "terrorist organization" by the United States and by Europe, but nobody accused Dubai of hosting this criminal. They only accused Israel of doing what nobody had the courage (or worse, inclination) to do, which is to eliminate him. Israel may have done just that, and for it, has been heaped with vitriolic condemnation from the world at large. And it isn't even certain that Israel's Mossad carried out this hit. According to Caroline Glick,

What the initial European reaction to [Dubai Chief-of-Police] Tamim's allegations shows is that blaming Israel has become Europe's default foreign policy. It apparently never occurred to the Europeans that Israel might not be responsible for the hit. And it certainly never occurred to them that cutting off intelligence ties with Israel will harm them more than Israel.

They didn't think of the latter, of course, because Europe has no idea of what its interests are. All it knows is how to sound off authoritatively.

But what a contrast there was in news reports on Israel after the earthquake in Haiti, when Israel sent in its rescue teams and set up modern, efficient field hospitals in 48 hours, while other countries (the United States included) were fumbling about trying to get their feet out of their rear ends and organize themselves.

For a brief, fleeting moment in time, the reports were actually positive! How shocking! From Fox News to CNN, the initial reports were blown away by Israel's efficiency and humanitarianism.

But those were the initial reports. After a while, I actually read negative comments on Israel's efforts, which stated that Israel was collecting body organs for resale or that their field hospitals were funded by "American money."

You see, it isn't politically correct to say anything positive about Israel for very long. Even Israel's own temper their praise with condemnation, as Martin Krossel cites Larry Derfner of the Jerusalem Post in Krossel's article "No Israeli Good Deed Goes Unpunished":

The Israel field hospital in Haiti is a reflection of something very deep in the national character. But so is something that is summed up in the word Gaza. It’s the Haiti side of Israel that makes the Gaza side so inexpressibly tragic. And more and more the Haiti part of the national character is being dwarfed by the Gaza part. Gaza too is a matter of life and death – not just for the people who were trapped in the rubble there not long ago, but for Israel. When will this big hearted-nation stop being heartless to the people of Gaza.

"Heartless to the people of Gaza?" Israel went out of its way to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza, by showering the population with leaflets warning them of impending attacks and advising them to flee or take shelter, and by going house to house and conducting targeted attacks (when they could have strafed the area or carpet bombed them, as did the British in Dresden during World War II), which greatly endangered Israeli soldiers--the same as happened in Jenin.

And where was the international community when Hamas was shelling Sderot and other Israeli southern cities for years and years? Where was the condemnation of Hamas' placing arms caches in tunnels in civilians' kitchens and firing rockets from Gazan schools?

The international community wasn't there, and didn't care. but they certainly were quick to vociferously condemn Israel for acting to eliminate--if it actually did--a Hamas leader aiding and abetting the enemy, when their own countries opted to look the other way.

Martin Krossel writes about the condemnation of passport fraud in the Dubai assassination, in his article "Israel Only Acts When the World Fails To":

For the people who are whining about “passport fraud” misdemeanors while ignoring the felony staring them in the face: what do you say about the fact that the terrorist in charge of illegally smuggling missiles from Iran to Hamas apparently had an open invite to hang out in Dubai? This isn’t a problem?

In their haste to condemn Israel, the international community is extremely short-sighted. They can not see that it is not in their future best interests to do so.

Snow on the East Coast: New Definition

In light of the great snow storms which descended upon New York and the entire East Coast of the United States, here is a great snow sculpture, lending new meaning to the expression "Two Feet of Snow." Hat tip, my friend Miriam Leibe.

Again, Hard to Let Go...

As usual, it is immensely difficult for me to let go of a chag*. Purim** came like a lion, and also went out like a lion (as opposed to a lamb)! The chag, for me, was filled with meaning and mitzvot, and great portent for the future, in the light of events and developments in Iran, who's evil leader Ahmadinejad has threatened Israel existentially. Although both my husband and daughter--D.H. and Toodles respectively--say that this is pish-tosh: like, Jews have been threatened in every generation and decade so, buddy, what else is new?!

I understand where they're coming from, but my opinion differs. I think these times-- partially because of radical Islamists' terrorist attacks globally, the rise of antisemitism's ugly head all over the world, combined with nuclear weapons development and proliferation by rogue nations (read: Pakistan, North Korea, and now Iran)--are much more dangerous and have greater portent than in the past.

So Purim, the story of the planned annihilation of the Jewish People in the times of the Great Persian Empire by the evil Haman, and the subsequent cancellation of that evil decree and it's reversal (Haman was hung on the tree on which he intended to hang Mordechai) by seemingly coincidental serendipitous, miraculous events, has great meaning for me.

Reading Megillat Esther* sent a shudder through me; I was seeing the story unfolding in the perspective of the twenty-first century and our troubling times ("...it was the best of times, it was the worst of times...")

With Israel being vilified at every turn, and being condemned for doing the world's dirty work (read: possibly assassinating Hamas arms supplier in Dubai) which the other nations are afraid to do--or worse, don't care about doing--themselves, I can only hope and pray that we are being led into an era where, when crunch time comes (and it is coming, believe me), we will be witness to "coincidental, serendipitous, miraculous" events, Amen, Ken Yehi Ratzon.*






**Purim artwork by David Sokoloff, as seen on Chabad.org

*chag: Hebrew for "holiday."
*Megillat Esther: The Scroll of Esther
*ken yehi ratzon: may it be His will