Tikkun Olam

So you want to boycott Israeli products?  You think Israel is doing things wrong? Think again...     (Hat tip, Nathaniel Blumenstein !)

A man named Marcus Henderson Wilder who walked 600 miles through Spain at age 69, is apparently publishing a book on "Israel and Palestine." He asked honest questions about the region and its history, which he researched. Answers to some of these questions, called " Israel and Palestine Chapter One ", are on his website. I don't know what, if any, connection he has or has had with Israel, but he 'discovered' facts which the world at large does not recognize, in its vilification of and blame on Israel for the situation of the Arabs vis-a-vis the Jewish State. Seems that many more should read this when his book is published in April. Here is an excerpt: Naked Data© The 1844 census of Jerusalem found 7120 Jews...5760 Muslims...3390 Christians. In 1869, Mark Twain wrote of the emptiness of the land, of traveling all day without seeing a human being on the roads or in the countryside. Mark Twain wrote of Arab sloth and filth and flies. In the 1880s, Am...

I must be living inside a box.  I didn't know there was such a thing as an " expatriate directory " for former Americans (or anybody, from anywhere) who left their country and are living in foreign lands.  Maybe I should let my kids know about this, if they don't already.   Moving to another country is a momentous change.  I can only speak for myself here, but even though as a Jew, one moves to Israel to return to the Jewish Homeland of the Torah (Bible), to a country where your Jewish history unfolded and where Jewish holidays are national holidays, there is still a connection with (and sometimes a nostalgia for) the country in which you were raised and in which you have spent the formative years of your life. You can't help comparing-and-contrasting the two countries.  It's a natural reaction.  You immediately see the differences, positive and negative.  And then, when you return to the original country for a visit, you experience culture shock.*  And then, ...

There are still plenty of topics and subjects to write about, politically and culturally speaking, but I think I am experiencing TMI - 'too much information.' Have you ever had that problem? I've just spent the last several hours reading the Opinion and Op-Ed pages in the Wall Street Journal as well as different articles on the web (what they used to call 'surfing the 'net), and there are so many which interest me, that I can't make a decision as to what to write about! Let me give you an example or two. I couldn't decide whether to write about 1) Jews and Israel sending aid to the stricken Island of Haiti after the 7.0 earthquake which devastated it yesterday; does the world have a clue how much that little country of Israel--herself besieged and surrounded by enemies--does in sending disaster relief all over the world? Read about it also here . Or: 2) Jewish woman flees to freedom with her four children from Gaza; does anyone have any idea what kind of...

To Ashdod, Tel-Aviv, Haifa, Denver, Dulles, Virginia and Clifton, New Jersey--thank you for reading my blog!! (that's all I wanted to say.)  *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 first saw this at Daled Amos , who re-posted it from The Spectator's Melanie Phillips , who herself had reproduced the speech in its entirety without comment. This speech was delivered by historian Andrew Roberts at the annual dinner of the Anglo-Israel Association . It is a no-holds-barred retelling of the history of Britain's behavior and attitude towards Israel, from the time of the Balfour Declaration in 1917. Read the entire speech. The bottom line is, the only way Israel will get through the crises with all her enemies is with her own conviction, determination and strength, and the help of G-d. Other than that, Israel can count on no one. (In Melanie Phillips' words): Yesterday evening, the historian Andrew Roberts delivered a remarkable address at the annual dinner of the Anglo-Israel Association. I reproduce it here in full, with no further comment . My Lords, Ladies & Gentlemen, It’s a great honour to be invited to address you, especially on this the 6...

What to write about? It’s not as if there is nothing; au contraire, we live in interesting times, as they say, for better and for worse (and often it seems as if it’s mainly for worse). So instead of writing about the economy (what there is of it) and resultant increase in Aliyah to Israel, or the global increase in anti-Semitism and almost universal blame on Israel for… everything , or the potential suicide bomber thwarted by a vigilant (thank G-d) IDF army and security guards in Qalandiyah (my son perhaps one of them, as that is his territory), or Bibi’s capitulation to Washington by implementing the building freeze in Judea and Samaria (the so-called“settlements” in the “West Bank”)—instead, I’ll write about… my birthday ! Yes, I just had a birthday (good Lord, not another one), two, in fact: my Hebrew date is Yud-Dalet, the 14 th of the month of Kislev (for those clueless, it is Kislev right now: the Chanukah month), and my secular birthday is December 7 th , a day th...

Oops. The army, er, "screwed up" (direct translation). At the Maccabim checkpoint near Modiin on Highway 443, the spikes suddenly. . . popped up. And more than twenty cars went across and had blowouts, all over the road. See the whole story on the Kikar Shabat site, here . The Israeli equivalent of the AAA, called "Yedidim" ('friends') had their hands full that day. As they say, STUFF happens. . .

Just saw terrible news on Arutz Sheva ; Assaf Ramon, son of Ilan Ramon (the first Israeli astronaut), was killed in an air training accident. He had recently completed his Israeli Air Force (IAF) pilot course "with excellence." I am speechless. Baruch Dayan ha-Emet. . . Asaf Ramon of Blessed Memory Shared via AddThis

While my son is on a forced furlough from his company in Israel (his wife surprised him with a trip for two to Greece while he's off-what a gal!), which indicates that there are still layoffs and belt-tightening, over all the recession might be receding , according to an AP article published by Forbes of a Moody report on Israel's economy. Recently I wrote in this blog about George Gilder's new book The Israel Test which indicated that Israel is becoming an economic force to be reckoned with and possibly a role model for capitalism. So will somebody please tell this to Forbes, whose video about "Markets on the Up" doesn't even mention Israel?

So, some of you want to show your displeasure with that terrible, inhumanitarian, terrorist state of Israel by boycotting Israeli industries or products? Because Israel, of course, has only done bad things to the so-called Palestinians, wait--and I forgot the rest of the world--it hasn't done much of anything for them, either. Israel is just always-well- there- with it's annoying Zionism, annoying smart people, annoying love of life. Gosh, they're so annoying , it's no wonder you want to boycott them! So, good riddance, I say! Go, boycott Israel (just hope you enjoy moving back into your cave and starting your new life hunting and gathering.) Watch this (found on WeJew ) to show you exactly how to do it right: PURIM SAMEACH!