Before the "main attraction," check out the latest media news. Also, please don't forget that I post on Shiloh Musings and me-ander much more frequently. This week's special event is JPIX-The Jewish Blog Picture Carnival, a collection of links to illustrated Jewish blog posts from all over the world.
The Tal Law, Postponed Again
The Tal Law, changes the army exemption for yeshiva students, limiting it and requiring some basic army service. It was passed years ago but never implemented.
My feeling, ever the cynic about certain things, has always been that the original exemption, supported by Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, had nothing to do with being nice to the Chareidim, "ultra-Orthodox" Jews, it was because Ben-Gurion and his Palmach and Haganah friends who were organizing the IDF, Israel Defence Forces, didn't want the army to be religious.
Tonight on Israeli television, one of the Tal Law supporters was being interviewed and was even asked why he wants the chareidim in the army, considering that the army would become more religious. The reply was unexpected. The man, whose name I missed, made it clear that he'd be very happy with a more Jewish and religious army. He praised the "kippah srugah" soldiers, the national religious with their crocheted kippot as the best soldiers we have.
Today, when statistics are showing that more and more non-religious youth are finding reasons for army exemptions, and the non-religious demographics are dropping, many Israelis realize that the army must become more religious, because who else will serve?
Somewhere in the middle of the longest "parsha section" in this week's Torah Portion, Ki Tavo, I noticed:
îâ äÇâÌÅø àÂùÑÆø áÌÀ÷ÄøÀáÌÀêÈ, éÇòÂìÆä òÈìÆéêÈ îÇòÀìÈä îÌÈòÀìÈä; åÀàÇúÌÈä úÅøÅã, îÇèÌÈä îÌÈèÌÈä. 43 The stranger that is in the midst of thee shall mount up above thee higher and higher; and thou shalt come down lower and lower. Here we are, less than two weeks before Rosh Hashannah, right in the middle of the Jewish Month of Ellul, and we ought to be getting ready for our annual "hearing" before G-d Almighty.îã äåÌà éÇìÀåÀêÈ, åÀàÇúÌÈä ìÉà úÇìÀåÆðÌåÌ; äåÌà éÄäÀéÆä ìÀøÉàùÑ, åÀàÇúÌÈä úÌÄäÀéÆä ìÀæÈðÈá. 44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him; he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. îä åÌáÈàåÌ òÈìÆéêÈ ëÌÈì-äÇ÷ÌÀìÈìåÉú äÈàÅìÌÆä, åÌøÀãÈôåÌêÈ åÀäÄùÌÒÄéâåÌêÈ, òÇã, äÄùÌÑÈîÀãÈêÀ: ëÌÄé-ìÉà ùÑÈîÇòÀúÌÈ, áÌÀ÷åÉì éÀäåÈä àÁìÉäÆéêÈ--ìÄùÑÀîÉø îÄöÀåÉúÈéå åÀçË÷ÌÉúÈéå, àÂùÑÆø öÄåÌÈêÀ. 45 And all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou didst not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded thee.
What does that phrase mean? It's customary at the Rosh Hashannah Evening meal/s to have a "head" on the table and say a special request to G-d that "we should be a head and not a tail." In our family we've been using fruit heads, like the one illustrating this post.
What does all this mean? On Rosh Hashannah, we ask that G-d make us the "head not the tail," because the opposite is a curse, a punishment for our sins.
What do we hear in the news all the time? Our politicians, the faux leaders of Israel are concerned about what U.S. President Obama thinks, what the U.N. will vote, the opinions of everyone but G-d. We have become "tails" rather than the "head."
We're taking orders from the goyim, just like in the curse detailed in the Torah!G-d willing we'll be blessed with true wisdom and true leaders.
Shannah Tovah to one and all!
Elul 14, 5769, 9/3/2009
I Thought It Was Against The Law!
Please visit my other blogs! They're updated more frequently.
I was having a lovely, yes another, birthday lunch, this time with Sharon Katz, of Voices Magazine, in the Mamilla Mall, Jerusalem, when we were disturbed by the noise outside.It was hard to believe. An entire crew of yellow-coated (wearing yellow, waterproof raincoats) were hosing down and hosing down and kept on hosing down one of the fancy apartments just across from us.Months ago the municipality had sent out notice that it was against the law.
We pay a lot for water in Shiloh. If the owners of that apartment are billed like we are, they're in for a surprise.
Batya Medad made aliya from New York to Israel in 1970 and has been living in Shiloh since 1981. Recently she began organizing women's visits to Tel Shiloh for Psalms and prayers. (For more information, please email her.) Batya is a veteran jblogger and recently stopped EFL teaching. She's also a wife, mother, grandmother, photographer and HolyLand hitchhiker, always seeing things from her own very unique perspective. For more of Batya's writings and photos, check out:
