Israel Through Photographs

Pictures tell a thousand words.  These photographs below show the Jewish presence in our G-d given land, and what's more important, the lack of Arab presence which puts an end to their claims that Israel is so important to them and their (lack of) historical roots here.

Thank you to all our ancestors who stayed in the land of Israel throughout the centuries under difficult conditions and  foreign forces who came in and ruled here.  They may have had relatives in Europe who told them to come to Spain, Poland or Germany,  writing them that it is much easier and comfortable for Jews in the Exile, with big yeshivot, and a thriving Jewish world (which exists no more). But our ancestors here did not abandon their inheritance of the Land of Israel nor their love of the land and G-d.  Perhaps they wrote them back that they should come here to the land of Israel, and make our nation grow, and be stronger and safer.

Thank you to the pioneers who left their host countries in Europe and Russia and came to the Land of Israel to build, reestablish, and love the Land.  Thank you for the difficult task of leaving your families, knowing that you would probably never see them again.  Thank you for leaving all the 'perks' of a wealthier life that offered business opportunities, universities, good schools, operas, and easy access to purchase the finest goods.  Thank you also for leaving your shtetles and smaller Jewish villages in Europe, leaving everything you know, to come to entwine your lives with your brothers here, at home.  Thank you for establishing your dynasties here, and planting your future generations here.

Thank you for suffering throughout the years to make sure that we living in Israel today, and those of Jews who still live in the Exile have a home to come to if there is ever a need to escape.  Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Photos from the book: "First Photographs of the Holy Land" by Eli Shiller. Click HERE to view many more photos.

Our Jewish Ancestors At The Wailing Wall, 1898 (Under Ottoman Empire Occupation)

The Temple Mount, 1877 -Note overall disrepair and lack of use. 

Jewish Quarter, View From The North-East, in 1870. Behind is our Temple Mount, where the Muslims built their Mosque on top of where the Holy Temple stood.

Jewish Quarter, 1898 -View from the South-East

Jews Praying On The Mount Of Olives, 1893. The Mount of Olives is where King David's son, Avshalom is buried, as well as the Prophet Zacharia, well before Islam ever existed.

A Jewish Wedding In Jaffa, 1899.  Thank you, young Jewish couple, for building your home here in Israel, having Jewish children, and building your and their lives here.

Jewish Workers At Abraham's Vineyard, 1860. Thank you for living here in Israel, with no air conditioning, no chic European cities nearby, no promise for wealth, or even an easy life.  Thank you.

Jewish Pioneers in Gedera, (Israel) 1910.  Thank you Jewish pioneers, for turning the hard and thorny desert into abundant farmland, where today we export to Europe and have our own supermarkets filled with luscious and tasty fruits and vegetables.

Jewish workers and Arab women picking oranges in Jaffa, (Israel) 1915.  Many Arabs immigrated to the Land of Israel looking for work on Jewish farms and with other Jewish enterprises.

Arab Family travelling in the Galilee looking for work.

Jewish Pioneers In Galilee, 1912.  Thank you, beautiful young Jewish men and women, for living a simple life, a sometimes hard life, to build our country, develop our land, and raise Jewish families here.

Jewish Guards In The Galilee 1915.  Thank you brave Jewish men, who guarded Jewish families and property from thieves and marauders. 

Turkish Military Camp, 1911.  What? Foreign occupation of Muslim Turks and Jews still came to Israel on Aliyah to build for the future?

There was no Jewish government to help Jews open businesses, absorb them into the country, teach them Hebrew for free, give them mortgages to buy comfortable homes, or pay them money to have Jewish children like our government does today.  This was a hostile Muslim regime in charge. They were no friends of the Jews, and did not treat them well. Yet we still chose to make our lives here. Were we 'friars' (suckers) or heroes?

Beginnings Of Tel-Aviv, 1919(?)  Missing in this and all the photos are all the Arabs of that quote 'great country of illustrious Arab history', Palestine.  Seems like their claims on history never existed.

First Well In Rishon Le-Zion. 1913  Jews bringing LIFE back to the region with water wells, cattle, farms and orchards.

Synagogue Of Abraham Avinu, 1925- Hebron. Thank you Jewish ancestors, for making your lives in Hebron, guarding the holy graves of  Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Sarah, Rivkah and Leah (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah). Thank you for living there, working, raising families, praying, and teaching your sons and grandsons our Torah and Jewish ways.

These two Jewish men above, what are they thinking? They are looking at YOU.  They came, they lived, they built.  We are enjoying the fruits of their labor and well-lived lives.  Thank you my dearest, dearest brothers. Thank you to all our Jewish people throughout the centuries who nurtured Israel, never giving up on her, loving her, and loving G-d.

Thank you.

The Impossible Dream Is Not Impossible

Are you a visionary? Look at the picture below.  How do you perceive it? What kind of a person are you?  I know that many of you have already seen this picture before, maybe from an email that you received or in a psychology or business class, but play along again anyway.  What's your first impression?  Look closely, and decide what you see BEFORE you scroll down.  There is no wrong answer.

Did you see in the picture, an old woman who looks like a witch, or a young woman looking into the distance? Again, there is no wrong answer really, but what you perceived can tell you a lot about yourself.

From the replies I received below from my last blog piece, I think that maybe we can divide ourselves into 2 groups: The Me Jews and the We Jews.

The Me Jew is one that sees the warts of today, or sees only the 'instant gratification' of pleasure and comfort.  They are like, what my Iranian guest said on my radio show this week, "Americans usually act for the moment's benefit.  They don't care what will happen tomorrow. They say, "I need this today, so I'll do this today. If there is a price to pay, I will pay it tomorrow."  These Jews are not visionaries.  They see only the moment and what is good for them.  Imagine if our ancestors who came to the Holy Land in the early part of the century said, "There's swamps there, malaria, and Turkish/Ottoman rule.  I'm not going to THAT place."  These 'Me Jews' are trapped in the moment.  They have no view of what waits for them in the long run.  They are not visionaries, because they cannot see beyond their immediate scope.  Their scope of view is severely limited.  They will pay a price for this.  We have seen it all throughout our history.  Yet it appears that each generation of Me Jews think it won't happen to them, that THEIR host country is different.  Spain was enlightened and Jews lived VERY well there.  Jews were employed by the King and Queen of Spain.  What could happen to them when Jews were welcomed and saw such comfort? Impossible that Spain would turn on them.

Come up further in time.  It's Germany, in the 1930's.  Berlin was the hippest place in Europe.  The poets, writers, actors, transvestites and homosexuals all sat at cafes and smoked and drank.  They were 'the Beautiful People' of their generation.  They argued politics, philosophy, Spinoza, religion, capitalism, communism, and reveled in their Yiddish and Yiddish theatre.  They were IT, at their pinnacle of coolness, hipness,  intellectualism and comfort.  Berlin was the new Jerusalem!  They fought in wars, were German war heroes, and proudly wore their medals.  They are all dead now, because they thought, "The cultured Germans could never do such a  thing! They could not burn people at the stake like Spain and Portugal did in the inquisition."  No, Germany burned their Jews not at the stake, but in the ovens.

And today's American, British, French, (fill in the blank) Me Jews say the same thing.  Our generation is different.  They would never do such a  thing.  But what they do not remember, is that G-d said he would wield His justice on the nations of the world in the end of days.  If it doesn't happen that a certain country will turn against its Jews, the Jews should know that they will suffer whatever fate the host-nation suffers.  The safest place for the Jewish People will be in Israel.   Perhaps it looks like Israel is not the 'young woman in the picture above', but this may just be the 'Yetzer haRah' (evil inclination') just testing you. G-d wants you to YEARN for Israel, not YELL at Israel.  He wants you to DESIRE His Land, not DISS His Land. He wants you to not only love your own tuchus, but your nation.  If our forefathers were Me-Jews, we would never have merited the Torah.  It is contrary to Torah to be a Me-Jew.

The 'We Jew'

The 'We Jew' is a Jew that looks beyond his inner circle.  He is one who cares and acts for his fellow Jew and humanity.  He knows we have a long history and that we have a future that is up to us to develop.  He is the young woman in the picture, looking towards the future. The We Jew understands that there are more important things than his comfort for the moment.  That is why he is willing to immediately give 10% of his earnings to charities and the Poor. He knows that whatever money he made, 10% of it is NOT his, it is G-d's and he is to use it for helping others.  The We Jew is willing to live in a tent, in uncomfortable conditions, because he loves the land of Israel and cannot stand to see it sit fallow and uncared for.  He wants to bring Jewish life back into the area, where Jewish children will run and play and go to school, and Jewish mothers and fathers will walk their babies, play with their children, plant gardens and raise Jewish families.  The We Jew will not make 'conditions' that suit him before he does the RIGHT thing.  He CHANGES the bad situation and makes it better for future generations.  He is not a wimp. He does not rationalize to himself and others, making excuses why he does not have to roll up his sleeves and move.  The We Jew knows there is MORE to life than being comfortable.  He is the one who is willing to walk the walk.  The We Jew is a visionary.  He is the person G-d wants us to strive to be. G-d wants us to leave our comfort zones, and go above and beyond what we are today. 

I will finish with this song, probably my favorite of all time. And if you think it is corny for me to post these lyrics of this song, you can laugh, but I hope you would join me in striving for more than comfort, illusionary safety, and a life lived not having filled its potential.  Sing, "If you don't have a dream, how are you going to have a dream come true?"  Sing along with this song as well, my favorite.  Please view this great 3 min video below:

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far

To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause

And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star

Come home.  Join your nation. The Impossible Dream is NOT impossible. 

Caught On Camera in Jew-Land

It's there on film!  No denying it. Those blankety blank blank &%#!*%#$ enemies of Israel, as well as the world's media who refuse to show this footage makes me so angry!  Why doesn't CNN show this?  Where is BBC, SKY news, FOX, ABC, CBS.  I want YOU to watch this video.  Then, if you care a hoot about Israel and Jews, you can write your TV stations and ask them why they don't show this footage that I am posting for you below.  Please view video before continuing on.

Write Bush and tell him, "Is this what you want to divide G-d's city and land for?  These murdering terroists?"  Bush is leading the way in giving the terrorist ilk a state of their own.  Giving them Judea and Samaria means putting them within firing range of our airport near Tel Aviv. They will shoot at our planes taking off and landing. It will destroy tourism and our economy, and worse.

Another thing that makes me want to use expletives  &%#!*%#$ is that our own government cares more for the enemy's children than they do our own. They won't attack the terrorists launching bombs at OUR CHILDREN in Sderot, because it might harm THEIR Jew-hating children in Gaza. Is there something terribly and revoltingly wrong with this thinking?

And to all of my brothers and sisters, sitting smug in the USA thinking we have such a terrible government, and that you are so smart, and you claim that you need to be there because you can help influence American policy by fighting for Israel...  Well, your president is hosting a conference in Annapolis, in order to divide Jerusalem and our land. This city is YOUR city, you are Jews, and it is YOUR inheritance.  If you are staying in America to be safe or to influence from there and help, you sure aren't doing a very good job! 

You'd do infinitely more by coming here and helping us to vote and throw out our lousy politicians and bring in more Torah loving and patriotic Jews like you, into the Knesset.  If Jerusalem is divided, I don't want to even think what will happen to America. Remember Hurricane Katrina when Jews were expelled from Gaza? I don't know for sure whether this was divine retribution for Gaza, but as a G-d fearing person, I know that NOTHING happens by accident, and G-d controls everything. Click HERE to read a controversial article I wrote back in 2005 on 'Katrina and Katif: some connections to consider'.

If Judea & Samaria are given over to the enemies of Israel, and we become even weaker, it will affect JEWS everywhere on the planet.  No more Israel = weak Jews, less respect and safety for Jews everywhere in all host countries around the world. 

The German Jews thought they were safe in Germany.  They were proud Germans.  They're dead now. 

Do you really think America is any different than Germany, which was one of the most liberal and 'enlightened' countries in Europe in the 1930's.

As for authentic Jewish life, I am sure you want to give your children a REAL Jewish experience, a FULL Jewish life, but you cannot do it in the Exile.  Only here can one live a FULL Jewish life doing all the mitzvoth. 

Do you want to know what most Gentiles think of us?  They are laughing at us.  If many of them had the chance,,,, 

Watch this video taken in Britain. 

Come home my brothers, strengthen us, strengthen yourselves, extricate yourselves from the Exile, and make Israel strong again.  Bush certainly isn't doing it. 

Remember, the Exile was a curse!