What a Hobby!

Subject: Model of Temple

Content: Good morning Yishai! Saw this in the London Daily Mail today and thought it was quite interesting. Thought you might like to see it.  Take care! Olivia

Pensioner spends 30 years building amazing model of Herod's Temple ... but admits he won't be around to finish it

Brick by brick, tiny figure by tiny figure, Alec Garrard has painstakingly worked for 30 years on an astonishing recreation of Herod's Temple.

But despite spending all that time and effort the retired farmer believes he won't finish it in his lifetime as he keeps finding things to add to it.

In contrast, legend has it that the original construction of the entire complex lasted only three years, although historians believe it took far longer.

It was his fascination for religion and buildings which first started Alec on the Biblical project which now measures 20ft by 12ft and is housed in a seperate building in his garden.

His version is so impressive that some of the world's top archaeologists and experts from the British Museum have come to view it.

'It's now recognised as the most authentic version of the temple in the world,' he said. 'I've had a lot of offers from people to buy it, but it's not for sale.'

And while he sees it as a form of relaxation, he says his wife thinks he is mad.

'She wishes she'd married a normal person,' he said.

The original temple was built in 19BC by King Herod the Great but was flattened in AD70 by Roman troops under Emperor Titus during the Siege of Jerusalem, just six years after completion.

In its heyday the complex covered 36 acres - four times the area of Windsor Castle.

Today, all that remains of the temple is the Western Wall or so-called Wailing Wall. The temple itself was located on the site of the Islamic shrine the Dome of the Rock.

When [the J-man] came to Jerusalem, the temple had just been rebuilt and it was in an area known as Solomon's Porch that he argued with rabbis, amazing them with his questions and answers.

Herod, keen to perpetuate his name through building projects, ensured that the temple dominated the Jerusalem landscape, effectively becoming its focal point.

The ambitious project involved an estimated 10,000 workers more than doubling the size of the pre-existing site. This was done by cutting away rock, constructing walls and then filling the areas with earth and rubble.

Two years ago an archaeologist with the Israeli Antiquities Authority announced the discovery of a quarry which may have provided Herod with the stones to build the temple.

Coins and pottery tied the date to 19BC while large outlines of the stone cuts was seen as evidence of a massive public project worked by hundreds of slaves.

For his part, Mr Garrard, 78, has dedicated 33,000 hours to constructing his model and has hand-baked and painted every clay brick and tile and even sculpted 4,000 tiny human figures to populate the courtyards.

Historical experts believe the model, which has attracted thousands of visitors from all over the globe, is the best representation in the world of what the Jewish temple actually looked like.

'I have been working on it for decades but it will never be finished as I'm always finding something new to add,' he said.

'I've always loved making models and as I was getting older I started to think about making one big project which would see me through to the end of my life.

Mr Garrard said he had seen one or two models of the temple and thought he could do better so began building one himself. 'I have an interest in buildings and religion so I thought maybe I could combine the two and I came up with the idea of doing the temple,' he said.

The original temple featured the Court of the Priests, where the animals were prepared for sacrifice, the Golden Vine at the entrance to the Temple and the Eastern Gate.

Since the day the temple was destroyed scholars have argued over the detail of its construction.

Mr Garrard has sculpted 4,000 half-inch figures to populate the courtyards. Each one takes three hours to make. Mr Garrard, from Norfolk, spent more than three years researching the temple, which was destroyed by the Romans 2,000 years ago and deemed to be one of the most remarkable buildings of ancient times.

He then started to construct the amazing 1:100 scale model.

'Everything is made by hand. I cut plywood frames for the walls and buildings and all the clay bricks and tiles were baked in the oven then stuck together,' he said.

As well as having religious services, the temple had a bazaar, people selling souvenirs, as well as currency changers, exchanging Roman for Jewish money, as mentioned in the New Testament account of [the J-Man] and the money changers.

'I have also sculpted and painted 4,000 figures, measuring just half an inch and all wearing their correct costumes.

'Each one takes about three hours to make and there are 32 versions of [the J-Man], although no one can ever spot him no matter how religious they are.'
Mr Garrard still spends hours working on the model every day.

'I look upon it as a work of art, there is lots of detail and I want it to look as real as possible,' he said.

She Must Have Read My Article...

After reading my article calling for more depth and meaning in the life of the Israeli model, Bar Refaeli joins water-saving campaign.

Israeli super-model Bar Refaeli, who recently landed the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, will soon lend her face to a new Israel Water Authority campaign aimed at raising Israelis' awareness to the water crisis in the country.

Yedioth Ahronoth recently learned that Refaeli has agreed to participate in a campaign set to be released this summer that will urge people to save water.

Since the campaign is being produced by a public body, the international beauty agreed to a modest pay of only several tens of thousands of shekels, a fraction of her usual salary in the industry.

Refaeli's casting is the latest in a series of moves carried out by the Water Authority to recruit Israeli celebrities to efforts to educate the Israeli public on the dire situation of the water economy in the country.

The authority's previous TV campaign, under the slogan "Israel is drying up" and starring actress Renana Raz, has led to a significant reduction in water consumption in only a few months.

Well, good for her. She will probably start promoting Jewish identity soon, as per my suggestion.
And on the same topic here is a truly beautiful email:

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Dear Yishai,
 
Today while listening to a description of our beloved Esther during Malkahs radio program on Purim  i reflected for a moment on your mention of Bar Raheli. I think maybe one day her Physical beauty might lead  her to reach the potential of our heroine Esther.Right now it appears more like that of Vashti. I recall another  daughter of Israel also a fashion model whom was born two decades earlier, actually just a few weeks prior to the 67 war. She graced the covers of virtually every Israeli magazine. Her beauty was pictured on billboards thru-out the country consumer products had and sold her image.
 
EL-AL Israeli airlines posed her on their Milk and Honey Brochure welcoming travelers and tourists to Israel. She also appeared in  European Capitols and then America.The beaches and glamour community of Miami South beach was her last stop This is where the similarities ended. She never glossed the cold steel of an International Air Carrier. She never completed her flourishing modeling career.
 
She simply returned to Israel completed her 3 year military service with the Israeli Air force got married,  and had 7 beautiful Torah loving children..Counted  among  other mitzvot she can be found  late at night or in the early mornings quietly helping  through political advocacy or through  the nefesh b nefesh digest  current or potential olim with mundane or difficult issues.
 
She is  Esther.  She is an Eishet Chayal, she is my wife.
 
Danny

Bar, Allies, Hate, and Light

Hey Yishai,

Amen brother! I love every one because we are all Gods children. But some of Gods children are just full of hate and hate us no matter what. I still love them but, I don't think God would expect some of his kidz to just sit around and let the other kidz pick on them and even murder them and them just sit around and take it! I can't believe these anti semites and not just them but any people who hate other people. One day The Almighty is gonna spank some of his children very severly! And man what a whoopin he can give!!!!!!! I mean, if God would even punish Moses for a little thing then how much more a punishment for murder and all the things God said not to do and people do them any ways. Right now though, some people don't give Gods words not even a thought.

Well I love you all and I gotta go.
Jodie

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your show on anti semetism

Yishai, I am listening to your show of monday re anti semetism. May I just tell you I feel ashamed of my country for it's sell out to the filthy islamofacist pigs from the refusal of entry to Gert Wilders recently by the cowardly brit government to the outright criminal anti semite attacks by the low life scum raghead lovers. I am a 'goy' but have all Jewish people and Israel in my heart, and at some point, I will myself be probably targetted by these islamofacist thugs for my support of Israel, but I will stand by my 'chosen people' come what may. Thank you for your enthusiastic and un ambiguous shows. You are a rare breed in this world - a man with the courage of his convictions ! Trust me when I say, even here in this country, you DO have allies, and what's more, allies who WILL take a 'final' stand with Israel

Shimon

Shalom:
 
I am a Christian who likes to keep up with Israeli news and events.  I am emailing you because when I post a comment to Arutz, they don't get posted.  I think that's because I always identify myself as a Christian first.
 
It is important and refreshing when people like yourselves stand up for what is right and decent...and biblical.  It is old fashioned today as some would say.  But if you lived in the US before, you know that even 20 years ago this was a more decent, or restrained, place to live.  Yes, some people in 1970-80's for example were very liberal, crass, etc.  But mainstream society was still conservative.  Now, almost anything is seen and heard on TV.  I cringe watching TV with my 85 year old mother sometimes....it's embarrassing and reminder of how low we have sunk as a society.
 
Ezekiel 3 and 33 refer to watchmen commanded to speak the messages they were given without compromise.  Some may repent, some will ignore and go on in sin.  But you/we as watchmen must speak the eternal and unchanging message.
 
May G-d bless you both.  Best regards,
 
Daniel
TX USA

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antisemitism

shalom yishai,AS USUAL i ENJOY YOUR SHOWS.i WOULD LIKE TO MAKE ONE COMMENT. i THINK THE WORD"antisemitism" IS OUTDATED.It was coined in the 1870`s at a time when racial theories were coming in to it`s own;therefore it has a racial conotation,i.e.semite. I feel this term somehow blunts its real force. I think it should be called for what it really is "Jew Hatred".I think that you could promote this new consciousness.

Eli

anti-semetism

Shalom Yishai, It saddens me to hear about the increase of anti-semetism. Especially when a person is brutally beaten. I cannot wrap my mind around such things. Yes, I have seen the movies, read the books and talked to people who have come out of the Shoah. It seems so unreal that such things could happen -- reality is it did! Myself along with other members of my church demonstrated through out the USA in hopes of preventing the destruction of Gush Katiff. I continue to wear my orange t-shirt that says, "Israel Belongs to the Jews". I wore it during the pro-Israel demonstrations during the recent Gaza ordeal. I was wearing that t-shirt when I made a stop at Home Depot's garden center. Suddenly I found myself cornered by an irate man who literally was shooting fire from his eyes. This man did not touch me, however, I believe he would have if we had not been in a public place. So I have experience first hand anti-semetism.

When you were reading about the event on a Canadian campus it struck an interesting note. The Canadian Jewish students were told to go back to Israel. To me they were admitting Israel belongs to the Jews. Those yelling such are probably the same students who are pro-palestine. They have such a blind hatred that they are speaking both ways and do not know it. What I do know is those of the Jewish faith are G-d's chosen. You are the only group of people in this world that has G-d on your side. Everyone else must work to be on His side. Keep your head held high and do what HaShem has asked of you. Hear His voice and obey His commandments and statutes and believe in His promises given to you through your fathers. Which includes living on the hilltops of Judea and Samaria and all the land G-d gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. My constant prayers are with you.

Shalom shalom, Geri

Raising the "Bar"

Yishai/Malka - In reference to a comment you made during last Thursday's show, as I learned from one of Tovia Singer's "Let's Get Biblical" series lectures, the word "bar" does mean "son" in Aramaic. But in Hebrew it means something more akin to "purity". This might explain why parents would want to give their daughter this name. That the most famous Jew with this name at the moment would now be displayed half-naked on the cover of a popular magazine is yet another "siman" of just how far the Jewish people have fallen.

Kol tuv, Dovid

Dear Yishai:

The problem with a lot of the talkbackers to your blogs and articles (including me) is that we react out of instinct and emotion and not by sober reflection.
 
Your recent blog and opinion piece criticizing Bar Refaeli is a case in point.  If I was sarcastic and ungracious then I would like to take this opportunity to say that that was not my intention.  I reacted out of anger at what seemed like a situation where you were delving into minutiae and forgetting about Israel's real problems such as Iranian nuclear weapons and Hezbollah's rocket arsenal.
 
After consulting with friends about your writing, I was shown that your desire was not to excoriate Bar Refaeli and make her into a thing of shame, a figure to be condemned.  No, it was to show how our moral stock had fallen and where it needs to be shorn up.  I could take issue with your writing style.  I could say that were I in your shoes I would have used a lighter touch in my criticism, but the fact remains I misunderstood your basic intentions. 
 
I was introduced to Arutz Sheva by this one friend (beforehand I only listened to Kol Yisra'el, because I was unaware that other voices existed on the internet, in English covering the Israeli scene) and I largely agree with the station's strong stand for security, and for peace through strength as opposed to peace at any price. When you show your love of the land, your resolution to stay despite hardships and your mistrust of Arab intentions (proved by their lack of desire for peace) then I am with you.  I have a harder time with moral judgments.  People are not perfect.  They make mistakes and they occasionally do stupid things.  We should not judge, for how perfect are we? 
 
In every society there are going to be a few idiots.  Singling people out and calling them names is not what we should aspire to.  Someone else could come along and find fault with us.
 
My fear is that Israel is on the losing side of history at the moment.  Our own resolve is waning.  Of course there are strong individuals like yourself and your wife (hopefully your daughter too, when she gets older) who will never surrender, but many folks in Israel seem ready to fall for any trick that sounds good.  We could suffer for this in the years to come.  Sympathy for our cause in chu"l is on the decline.  Anti-Semitism is growing in many places, France comes to mind.  Not just there.  We need to stand united.  Religious and secular (nationalist), Ashkenazic and Sephardic, old and young, moderate left (no hope for the far left) and moderate right, etc.  Let us not throw brickbats at one another but reach out our hands to one another.
 
I was reading about a group of religious folk who are doing just that.  Over the previous High Holidays they ran services geared especially for the newcomer, ba'al teshuva and barely religious.  The prayer order was explained, the reason for certain prayers was explained and customs delved into, all in a friendly way with no judgmentalism.  That is a step in the right direction.  Why did no one think of this before?  Apparently the service was well-attended. 
 
I want an Israel that includes all Jews, not only a certain few.  Israelis have jokes about integrating people that are cynical but cruelly accurate.  Israelis love Aliyah but hate olim, for example.  Visitors all have criticisms and little praise.  The religious think Israel is too secular. The secular think it's too religious.  The lefties think it is too capitalist and business types think it is too socialist. The truth is that they're all right. 

My favourite was the one New Yorker who said that Israel will never be perfect until you can get bagels and lox there.  My advice, eat more salads it will keep you healthier.
 
Thank you for reading and printing my talkbacks.  I appreciate your good humour in all this.  Keep writing and keep the flag flying.  Next year in Jerusalem and may there be peace with all of our neighbours (just not at any price).  Get Gilad Schalit home in one piece.
 
Yours sincerely, Paul
Toronto, Canada

Yishai, Shalom,
 
The article by leftist Aluf Benn (link below) about Rafaeli shows that you are definitely on to something, and all the naysayers who criticized your article are too blinded by leftist conditioning to understand your point.
 
Aluf Benn supports Bikini branding, because he wants us to prove that we're as decadent as the West, but it's not enough for him.  Our stubborn insistence on some shred of Jewish sovereignty in our land, infuriates him.
 
"Bar Rafaeli in Gaza" by Aluf Benn
 
"...Bar Refaeli is expected to prove that Israel is like the West. The young women of Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas are not photographed in bathing suits. Neither are Egyptian or Saudi Arabian girls - an advantage perhaps that stresses our belonging in the Western cultural club. In Israeli eyes, a photo of Refaeli on an airliner makes us more American and Western. ..."
 
"...Refaeli deserves credit for her personal success, and the branding project needs to continue, but they will not solve Israel's public-relations problem. Whoever wants to belong to the West needs to behave accordingly, or pay the price. ..."
 
But there is no need to choose between the decadent West and the Taliban. There is a third way, the Jewish way.  Our society can have respect for women without being decadent like the West.
 
Note the self-contradiction in the left's ideology.
1) They support feminism, which is supposedly concerned with the "rights of women" (it isn't , it's real goal is to destroy the family, and replace the father with the State).
 
2) They support radical Islam (learning about Islam in public schools, with prayer rug and all, etc.), which oppresses women.
 
Why does the left support contradictory ideologies ?
Dr. Eugene Narrett has given several explanations.
 
1) The two clashing ideologies set up a dialectic.  In the center, between the "pincers" are Jewish values, attacked on the one hand by the radical feminists and on the other by the Moslems. The object of the dialectic conflict is to resolve the two conflicting ideologies into a new authoritarian ideology, like: communism + big business (not really free enterprise) -> fascist socialist government.
 
2) The Moslems can be used to scare people into giving up their rights.
 
Radical feminism can be used to justify governmen interference in all aspects of life, for example, the VAWA (violence against women act). Doesn't that sound nice, what could be wrong with a law to stop violence against women ?
 
However there are already laws against assault and battery on the books to deal with all these problems. The VAWA law is not to protect women, but to massively expand government interference in the lives of private citizens and a huge bureacracy to enforce the new laws.
 
3) Fascination with Terror.  Have you seen the coverage of terrorist attacks on the media.  Dr. Narrett traces this fascination with terror all the way back to the romantic poetry of Blake, Coleridge, and Tennyson.  Terror then was not an obsession with jihad attacks, but fright.  However, there is a definite relationship between the two.
 
kol tuv,
Dan

Remembering Yair and Fighting

I just finished listening to this show. It was so great. I had not heard of Avraham Stern. I wanted to comment especially on your insightful views about "Israel's image" to the world. As an American, a single voice, I want to tell you are soooo very right! Israel's destiny is to be a Light Unto the Nations. It will be a sad day indeed if Israel loses sight of it's ordained destiny. This does not mean resorting to the lowest common denominator to appeal to the masses in other countries. Yair would be appalled at this approach. Israel is unique in the world and should never, ever lose sight of that. To hear the story of the fighter jet sales in 1967 was heartening. Thank you for a wonderful show.

Amanda