Mixed Messages From Rav Yigal

I hope that you've been reading my other blogs, Shiloh Musings and me-ander.  I post to them daily, including picture posts, which you may enjoy.
In a few weeks we will celebrate the Holiday of Chanukah, or Miracles of how the "small" defeated the "mighty."

Mixed Messages From Rav Yigal

HaRav Yigal Kaminetzky, Rabbi of Gush Katif, was in Shiloh for Shabbat.  He gave a shiur/talk to the entire yishuv, men, women, youth, anyone who was willing to give up their Shabbat afternoon rest.  Since I always go to a Women's Torah Class Shabbat noon, I had no problems with the timing.  I just had to wait until my husband returned home to be with my father; that made me a few minutes late.

When I walked in, Rav Yigal was talking about faith and the greatness of what his people, the Gush Katif DP's are experiencing.  I was upset, turned off.  This was too consistent with the reports I'd been reading and hearing of how he had worked with the government before and immediately after Disengagement.  I did not want to hear about the great opportunities for Kiddush Hashem etc.  I have no patience to hear about the "bright side" of the gerush, the expulsion from Gush Katif by the Israeli Government which turned loyal Israeli citizens into homeless, unemployed "evictees."

It took all my self-control to stay rooted to my seat and not make a fuss.  I'm glad I did it, because after that awful saccerine speech, Rav Yigal said much better things, things I could relate to, agree with or found particularly interesting. Just a couple of his points:

• The families that stayed to the end and protested have done better, both emotionally and financially.  On the whole, his statistics, it was good for the parents and youth to defend their homes and very crucial for the children to see their parents doing so.
• The time that those families were housed in hotels at full-board were less of a financial hardship than for the families which went immediately to Nitzan (the carravilla site) where they had to support themselves from day one.
• The government's (Sela's) cruelty was unprecedented, and it continues to be inexplicable.
• The Arabs had never demanded Gush Katif.  They had never lived there, and according to him, present agricultural attempts by the Arabs have not been successful.

Personally, I think that the official protest movement was not as determined to stop Disengagement as it should have been.  Rav Yigal was part of that movement.  Our soldiers in the IDF should have refused to participate.  It's interesting that davka now there is less fear to protest and pay the price.  This isn't all that surprising, considering that Israelis reelected the Labor Party after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the "mechdal," disasterous mismanagement and misjudgement of our defense and Military Intelligence.  But the following elections in 1977 brought Menachem Begin's Likud (or was it still GaHaL) into the government for the first time.

It does take a while for things to sink in.  There's the perspecitve of time, and many people need that to make changes in their thoughts and actions.  Change of any sort is not easy for most people, and very few are natural risk-takers.  G-d willing, the Jewish People will understand what we must really do.

Chodesh Kislev Tov.  In a few weeks we will celebrate the Holiday of Chanukah, or Miracles of how the "small" defeated the "mighty."   

Aliyah, What's Your Favorite Excuse?

I blog more frequently on Shiloh Musings and me-ander.  You're invited to visit and read.  Shabbat Shalom

This post is inspired by a poll on Arutz 7. The answer I wanted to give isn't one of the choices.  I think that most people fear change.
"...most people fear change." And to make aliyah successfully, you have to change more than your address

That's the key, and everything else is just an excuse.  The next biggest difficulty is conquering Hebrew, the fear of making mistakes, sounding stupid.

Poll: What's the biggest obstacle to Aliyah?

1. Finding a good job

2. Leaving family behind

3. Security concerns

4. Not knowing Hebrew

With good Hebrew, you can get a good job, not one limited to those for "English speakers."  With good Hebrew, you can become part of Israeli society and not restricted to being friends with fellow anglo (English speaking) olim, immigrants.  

There is no intellectual linguistic reason to think that learning Hebrew, or any other language, is impossible.  Immigrants from all different countries to all different countries manage to learn the new language and function.  

And for those Jews who have graduated from a life time of Jewish schooling, it's criminal that they're not totally fluent in Hebrew.  Jews were once, until the mid-twentieth century, known as multilingual experts.  That's why there were Jews on the ships which sailed to the new land, America.  The same students whose parents would tell me that their family is incapable of learning English would later admit that their grandparents were fluent in three or four languages.  

What changed was expectations.  It used to be that immigrants expected, demanded from themselves a few months to immerse themselves in the new language and culture and then be as fluent as anyone else.  Today this is harder.  Immigrants come with their old language DVD's, ipods filled with their old music and quickly set up cable or a dish to receive television from the old country.  

As I've already written, "...most people fear change."  And to make aliyah successfully, you have to change more than your address.

How Should We Label Those Arabs?

Just to remind you that I post much more frequently on Shiloh Musings and me-ander.  You're very welcome to visit those blogs.

How Should We Label Those Arabs?

Always eager to learn, I accept that my placement of "sic" before the term "Palestinian" may be incorrect.  Sabba Hillel commented on my blog that I should write "sic" afterwards.

For a long time, I refused to use the "P" word at all, unless it was in quoted text.  Then I vainly I admit began adding it, with "sic" before and both italicized, to attract google and other internet searches to my blogs.  But if he's correct, I guess I need a new way of mentioning that false people, the one invented by the British to prevent the Jewish People from receiving all of our Historic Homeland.  The Balfour Declaration declared that we, the Jewish People, should be given our Land, which the international community had labeled "Palestine."  But then the British brought in the Hashemites, declared them to be the rulers (king) over the territory east of the Jordan River and began inventing a history, culture etc.

 That act was typical of the way the British treated their "colonies."  They played G-d.

I have always placed the "sic" before, because we must say "bli neder" before the thing we don't pledge to do. I feel it necessary to indicate that the "Palestinians" sic are a false nation before the word is even read or pronounced.

After over a decade of EFL teaching, I have no doubt that people don't read all the words, so I need to warn them that I don't recognize a separate Arab nation here. But back to proper grammar combined with accurate history.  I guess I ought to write it this way:

Pseudistinians, AKA "Palestinians" sic,