The Jewish World is making headway on Sefira, our annual countdown from Passover to Shavuot, the Holiday celebrating G-d gift to us of the Holy Torah.  We're now 34 out of 49, barely two weeks to go.  You can read more of my rather "out of the box" perspective on my other blogs, Shiloh Musings and me-ander.

Just to remind you that Rosh Chodesh, the First of the Jewish Month of Adar is coming real soon:

Women's Prayers at Tel Shiloh

Rosh Chodesh Sivan Friday,

June 3, 2011 9:30am Dvar Torah

 Short Torah Lesson

Please come and invite family, friends and neighbors

 תפילת נשים

ראש חודש סיון בתל שילה

 יום ו' 3-6 9:30

יהיה דבר תורה קצר

 נא לבוא, לפרסם ולהזמין חברות, משפחה ושכנות

Obama's Speech Isn't The Problem

As I've written before, many times, ad nauseum, Israel's problems are caused much closer to home than the White House.

"A peace based on illusions will crash eventually on the rocks of Middle Eastern reality.”

But his fine print is the pits.  If he would just take his message all the way, to where it should go, I'd be happy and the country would be safe.  All these appease faux peace sic conferences/negotiations and "two state" delusions are the problems, and Bibi doesn't reject them.

"While Israel is prepared to make generous compromises for peace, it cannot go back to the 1967 lines - because these lines are indefensible."  (Israeli MFA) emphasis mine

Any "compromises" with unrepentant terrorists is insanely suicidal.  Look at a map:

The dangers in giving our Land to the Arabs should be clear to all Israelis and any Jews who bother to take a good look at reality.  The only reason Israel is under pressure is because our leaders politicians don't have the guts and moral strength to tell the world to cut it out, leave us alone etc.  The weakness and blindness to simple reality which dominates the media, politics and the so-called intellectuals here is Israel is the real problem, which causes the situation we're facing.

And now for Glenn Beck to explain the mess Obama is making from an American perspective.  Obama is America's problem.

 

We had a wonderful Israeli Indpendence Day with family and friends who are as close or closer than family, just the way it should be.  You can read more about my life and thoughts on Shiloh Musings and me-ander.

 

Is Money the Key to Promoting Aliyah?

We made aliyah as a young couple, very idealistic and probably stupid to boot.  Not stupid because we made aliyah, but stupid because we never learned the system so that we'd have a financially comfortable retirement.  Many "anglos," English speaking immigrants to Israel have the problem.  Other "lantzmen" groups don't.

I don't think we'd be as comfortable financially if we had stayed in the states.  We probably wouldn't have had five kids either.  We'd never have had been able to afford the tuition in the Jewish schools, nor health care.  I don't know if we would have had been home owners either.  Here in Israel we've always owned our own home.  We never paid rent.

Israel is the only place we've been as adults, not counting two years on shlichut in London 35 years ago.  I developed all of my cooking and baking skills in Israel.

I'm always fascinated by all the programs to attract "western immigrants" to Israel, like Nefesh b'Nefesh.  It all sounds so cold and rational, so businesslike.

There's a magic about living in Israel, things that can't be computed.

I've never regretted a day that we made our home in Israel just weeks after our wedding.  We came by boat, not by plane.  No matter how you come, there are things you get by living in Israel that aren't in "this world."

Just come!

It has been quite a week for people around the world to celebrate, between the royal wedding and Osama bin Ladin's execution. As you probably know, I always have something to say about a wide variety of topics on my other blogs, me-ander and Shiloh Musings. You're invited to check them out.

And now for the main attraction:

Why Credit Obama With Bin Ladin's Execution?

Let's start with one of those "nobody's perfect" public typos in which the Osama became Obama:

As you know, I really don't think that the "execution" of Osama bin Laden will make the world any safer. The Teflon terrorists are being praised and protected by most of the world, including the United States and its President Barack Hussein Obama. There are those mirrored sayings:

"Any friend of yours is a friend of mine." "Your enemy is my enemy."

That's good advice.  So the world, including the United States which is now so happily taking bows for killing Bin Laden, ought to pay attention to the unpleasant fact that their pet terrorists, the Pseudostinians aka Palestinians sic are demonstrating (rioting) in protest of the American action.

Among six predominantly Muslim countries recently surveyed, Muslims in the Palestinian territories voiced the most support for the assassinated al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, a poll released on Monday showed. (complete article)

And about all that praise of U.S. President Obama, as if he was the chief planning officer of that commando unit that killed Bin Ladin...  The American military had been working on it for ten years, long before Obama even ran for the United States Presidency.  He had nothing to do with the planning and even less to do with the execution.  He was just lucky to be the U.S. President on the right day.  It doesn't make him a better president.  It doesn't prove his military expertise.

The world as we know it is still in danger of Arab terrorism, and the world's movers and shakers refuse to recognize the source of the danger.  Instead they keep funding it.  Throwing Israel to the sharks will only make those terrorists hungrier, not pacify it.

I'm using a short break from Shabbat and Passover preparations to  post here.  Chag Kasher v'Sameach to all my Jewish readers, and best wishes to the rest of you.  As you know, I post much more frequently on me-ander and Shiloh Musings.

 

 

This year there will be two days to enjoy the Pesach Chol HaMoed activities at Tel Shiloh, Wednesday and Thursday, April 20-21, 10am-6pm. Cost NS25 for an adult and NS30 for a child. For more information email telshilo@gmail.com or call 02-994-4019

PEACE With The Pseudostinian aka Palestinian sic Arabs, Let's Check Out Mutual Goals and Values

Shouldn't we be relating to a Peace Treaty/Agreement with  as if it would be a marriage, a marriage meant to last forever?  Just recently I reviewed I Only Want to Get Married Once by Chana Levitan.  It's an excellent guide to what's most important when choosing the person to marry, or how to decide who's the right person for a wonderful and long-lasting marriage:

I Only Want to Get Married Once by Chana Levitan is based on ten important questions to ask yourself. The first is:

Do you share the same basic goals and values?

Levitan explains what the terms are and how crucial they are in a relationship. A couple must ask tough questions before they get to the pre-engagement stage. Why waste valuable years on a relationship that can never work well? That's why even couples who had dated or even lived together happily for years find everything falling apart after the wedding and end up divorcing. When it comes to "what values they want to teach their children" they suddenly discover that they have nothing in common.

If we, Israel, are supposedly negotiating with the Pseudostinian aka Palestinian sic Arabs to make peace, let's see if we share the same basic goals and values.

Let's start with values.  Based on current events and recent history, do we have the same values as the Pseudostinian aka Palestinian sic Arabs?  The Arabs military method of choice is terrorism and long distance rocket attacks on civilian areas.  A recent attack was when they shot an anti-tank missile at an Israeli school bus, seriously injuring a 16 year old boy, who is now on total life-support with no chance of recovering.

And what does Israel do in response?  It wastes expensive weapons firing on empty buildings and open areas.  When enemy civilians are unintentionally injured or killed, Israel even apologizes.  No deterrent there.  It's very obvious that Israel and the Arabs have very different values.

Second, what about goals?  The Israeli goal, as expresssed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu:

"In my vision of peace, in this small land of ours, two peoples live freely, side-by-side, in amity and mutual respect. Each will have its own flag, its own national anthem, its own government. Neither will threaten the security or survival of the other."

Netanyahu conditions this on points which are total contradictions to Arab actions and expressed values.

"Therefore, a fundamental prerequisite for ending the conflict is a public, binding and unequivocal Palestinian recognition of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people."

That's not happening and it won't happen, certainly not in this generation or the next, which is being raised on anti-Israel hate propaganda.  The Arabs are very clear in voicing their goal.  Their goal is to destroy Israel.

This week a PA TV program for teenagers included a short video clip which opened with the words across the screen: "Palestine: We will return one day to our home," and then followed with a series of pictures of cities and regions in Israel, with the names on the screen, including: Tel Aviv, Haifa, Galilee, Negev, Caesarea, Acre, and Jerusalem. PA TV also showed a picture of Masada but incorrectly labeled it "Jericho mountains."

I hate to break up the party, but peace isn't on the menu.  It's better to cancel the wedding than deal with a violent divorce.  And it would be safer for the entire world if all financial and diplomatic support for the Pseudostinian aka Palestinian sic Arab  terrorists would cease.

As the Holiday of Passover gets closer and closer, we must deal with our limitations versus cleaning up with the Cohen's, keeping up with what's really demanded by Jewish Law and our dream of an immaculately clean and chometz-less home.  No doubt, I'll have to make do with bare minimum.  I don't know when I'll be posting here again.  You can read more of my writing on Shiloh Musings and me-ander.  Stay healthy.

Dangers of a Pseudostinian aka Palestinian sic State

Hat tip (for one of the articles): IMRA

Just a few days ago, another earthquake shook up Japan.  7.1 is generally considered pretty serious, though it's small potatoes compared to the 9 plus of a few weeks ago.  There's no real protection for this natural disasters.  The much lauded and extremely expensive protective sea walls were easily toppled by the tsunami waves.  And the high-tech protective measure didn't contain radiation at the nuclear power plants.

 

This sort of uncontrollable, uncontainable power brings my mind to the dangers Israel and the rest of the world will face if a Pseudostinian aka Palestinian sic State really is established.

Many times I've said that "you can't be a little bit pregnant," and I guess I just have to say it again.  The establishment of such a state would have its uncontrollable dynamic, like a tsunami.  It doesn't matter what conditions Israel's Prime Minister insists on:

In a foreign policy speech Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted the principle of a Palestinian state existing alongside Israel. However in his speech Netanyahu listed certain conditions that the Palestinians may have difficulty with.

Netanyahu laid out three conditions in his speech. First, the Palestinian State would have to be demilitarized. That is to say, Palestine would not have an army with which to threaten its neighbors. Second, the Palestinians and presumably the other Arab countries would not only have to recognize Israel as a country but Israel as a Jewish state. Finally, Palestinian refugees would have to be resettled outside Israel.

They will do whatever they want.