Please visit Shiloh Musings and me-ander for more frequent and more varied articles.  Thanks!

The NRP/JH 's Hershkowitz Got It All Wrong!

He's mixing up the "uniform" with politics.  We Dati Le'umi (religious-nationalist) Jews are not of his political ilk.  Hershkowiz hasn't a clue.  There's nothing to unite us NU Ichud Leumi voters with his Bayit Leumi (Jewish Home/National Religious) Party.

Religion isn't my politics.  There's lots more to the NU than religion and dati leumi supporters.  That's why I'm turned off by what Hershkowitz wrote as the "subject" of the letter:

"Re: Political Unification of Religious Zionism"

Emphasis mine.  I've never supported an Israeli political party which is based on religion and marketed as exclusively religious or non-religious.  I'm totally against such a thing in prinicple.  I only vote for parties which understand the importance of a united Am Yisrael, People of Israel for Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel.  That's the unification I look for.  I also disagree with those in Hatikvah which think it should be the secular version of the NRP.

Eretz Yisrael and Jewish Nationalism should unite us.  It troubles me that the dati le'umi establishment is so knee-jerk against it.

There are quite a few Israelis who agree with me on this but see the Likud as the best political tool/party to unite Israelis.  That may sound good in theory, but no party has destroyed more Jewish homes and communities in the Land of Israel than the Likud.  Moshe Feiglin's premise that he can take over the Likud and make it truly nationalist party is mistaken.  The Likud leadership is entrenched in its power-hungry Center-Leftist ideology.  Principles and loyalty to the Land of Israel are very low in its list of priorities.

 The polls show that Hershkowitz's party is sinking and may not even get into the next Knesset.  That's why he's asking Ketzeleh to join him.  I suggest that Hershkowitz return to his university career and admit that his beloved NRP is finished.  The voters reject it and for good reason.

Just a quick reminder that I post much more frequently and on a wide variety of topics on my other blogs, Shiloh Musings and me-ander.  You're welcome to click and visit.
I'd say that we've been had, bamboozled, conned!

Rebellion From The Ranks? Or Just Posturing?

What irony that Bibi sent Benny Begin off to defend it.  Begin son of Menachem sounded just like his father, and I trust him even less. I remember Menachem Begin's claim that his giving the Sinai to Egypt would guarantee Israel's eternal possession of Judea and Samaria.

As compensation for the destruction of Jewish communities in the Sinai many communities were rebuilt with international guarantees in Gush Katif, and we all know what happened to them.

And yes, those two unprecedented massive destructions were under the rule/administration of the Likud. Yes, only the Likud can do it. Israel's Loony Left Defense Minister Ehud Barak sent out official orders forbidding future building right before Shabbat. 

 Ariel's Mayor Ron Nachman condemned it and claims that he will ignore them.  Beit El's Mayor Moshe Rosenbaum ripped up the orders he received. Efrat has suffered from building hold-ups for eight years already.

How ironic, since Efrat, as the largest community of Gush Etzion, has always marketed itself as "not a settlement," being in the "Israeli consensus" to always be in Israel.  It's about time that residents of Gush Etzion take a good look and good listen and admit that those who object to my being in Shiloh don't see their addresses as any more acceptable.  They should unite with us and proudly say that they, too, are "settlers."

Nadia and Ruth Matar's Women in Green (or was it Moetzet YESHA?) had a great slogan in its early years:

YESHA ze kahn!  YESHA is here!

Barak, meanwhile, said at a closed meeting at his ministry in Tel Aviv, "We are talking about a unilateral step, at the government's initiative, which has been coordinated with the United States, with the intention of advancing the diplomatic process with the Palestinians."

If you want to read more of my writing, then please check out my blogs, Shiloh Musings and me-ander. I also appear on Voices TV. Now for my reaction to the latest Israeli Government fiasco:

Bibi's Capit, Kaput
there's no doubt in my mind that the Likud and its forerunners have been the worst governments for our security and strenghthening our hold on our Historic HomeLand

Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's capitulation to foreign demands for a building freeze in Judea and Samaria should make him totally kaput for those who kept insisting that he's Right and Reliable.  I could have titled this:

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."   

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.