Tikkun Olam

Very interesting video on the Today Show about a reporter who broke with his years of reporting on the wars and rocket attacks by the Arabs, and decided to walk down the coast of Israel from north to south, just to get a feel for the country and the people. What he found was very positive: we are great achievers and a "resilient" people.  With our history of being persecuted by everyone and his uncle ("hu lo echad mi-shelanu"), we have to be. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news , world news , and news about the economy

In an article on YNet Magazine, Daniel Friedmann writes a sobering report on how Israel itself, through indecisiveness or bad decisions, prepared the ground which strengthened the concept of a "Palestinian" state.  Even though, after the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel officially declared "no" to a Palestinian state with full consensus of the Israeli population, it's actions since then have actually contributed to the opposite. Immediately following the Six Day War, the Arab League convened in Khartoum and passed the famous three No's resolution: No to peace, no to recognition and no to negotiations with Israel. Meanwhile, Israel also had No's of its own: No to pulling back to the '67 borders and no to a Palestinian state. There were some weighty considerations behind the decision to oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state that are still relevant today. It was a national consensus that only the radical Left contested. However, despit...

We are in the midst of the beautiful harvest holiday of Sukkot.  I wanted to upload some pics of our sukkah this year, but with a three-day Yom Tov (Holy days) time and exhaustion (and working in between) did not yet permit.  Instead, I found this: There is an Israeli children's song called "Shlomit Bonah Sukkah," meaning a little girl named Shlomit (from the root 'shalom,' peace) is building a sukkah--that temporary hut we build to eat and sleep in for the holiday of sukkot, ongoing now.  Latma TV has now used that song in a sarcastic video showing how Shlomit's sukkah--euphemism for Israel--is to blame for ruining the "peace," while the world just looks the other way at the real Jew-haters, war-mongers and terrorists.

Maybe it's because, especially right after Yom Kippur (it was a relatively easy fast, thank G-d), I'm still very hungry--that I think Chaviva's Haveil Havalim (the Jewish Blog Carnival) is yummy!  Go check it out. Why do I want cholent on Sunday, 12:16 p.m.? Oy!  (See ya later. Gonna go down to the kitchen and get some leftover seudat mafseket*! ) * se'udat mafseket : the last meal before the fast of Yom Kippur, eaten this year Friday late afternoon.

I've changed my clock (thank you, Reb Mordechai), and went a little crazy adding crap stuff to my sidebar. I might have gone a little overboard.  It's because of my penchant for bling of all kinds. I am the one who loves those "bells and whistles."  Don't have any new cars (we had to return our leased 2005 Honda Pilot last April and couldn't afford to lease another), but if I did, I would want them with everything: 4-wheel drive, running boards, USB ports, built-in GPS, even a Heads-Up display (I hear they're coming)--basically, computerized everything .  But since I can't have any new cars, I decided I'd Bling My Blog  instead.  If you like it, tell your friends (if you have any).  If you don't like it, tell me.  Quietly.  In the end, I'm afraid I'm just a wingnut, er-- Bling -nut! (This post has nothing to do with anything.  Just have an easy but meaningful fast, y'all.)

So we are going at it again, on and on with more "peace talks" between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority, Fatah faction.  First meeting in Washington, D.C., then in Sharm-el-Sheikh, then in Jerusalem, and on and on---back and forth. But the world is not aware that the word "peace" is just a catchphrase .  It has no basis in the reality of the way the Middle East is today. This is just a dance that the two leaders and their American advisers, emissaries, and negotiators are stepping to, dancing around the great big pink elephant in the room, which no one wants to identify. And what is it?  The fact that no one is considering that the Arabs have, to this day, not yet declared acceptance of Israel as a Jewish state in the Middle East. They always step around the issue, claiming in their text books and maps the entire region which is Israel as theirs, which was "taken away" by the Jews in the Naqba--the ...

An article on Israel National News indicated that a CBS survey showed more and more Israelis are becoming observant in their Judaism.  Life just has more meaning, when you believe there is more to it than merely the physical world in which we live, when you believe there is an underlying reason for our existence.  What sense does it make for a tiny nation such as Israel is to exist in an arid, originally inhospitable land, surrounded by many, larger enemy countries seeking its destruction, constantly under physical threat?  It makes no sense at all, except for G-d-given ancient Judaism which gives us Divine reasons for living in the Land of Israel.  A special Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) survey has found that more Israeli Jews are becoming increasingly religiously observant than the reverse. 21% of those surveyed said they are currently more religious than they were in the past, while 14% say they are less religious. After all, what is the purpose of ou...