Musings:
This morning I woke myself up, bright and early, before five. I needed to get to the pool in Neve Yaakov before 7:30 to swim before work. While I was waiting for the early bus, just after six, a neighbor swung by and invited me in. It was a holy ride to the Holy City. Not one word of gossip. The friend sitting next to me said a hefty part of her Tehillim (psalms) book; I said my usual portion, plus the morning prayers. The driver was mumbling something holy, and the neighbor sitting next to him was busy dovening (praying) well-wrapped in his tfillin. When I got out, I sincerely thanked him and complimented him on his excellent mechitza (?wall? in the synagogue separating the men and women). It was better than in most of the shuls I get to when in the States.
We made very good time, and I realized that I would get to the pool too early if I took the bus, so I walked the two kilometers or more (well over a mile) from Pisgat Zeev to the pool in Neve Yaakov. Not bad, though I would have appreciated a public toilet on the way. I had time to rest up before ?Ladies Only,? then enjoyed my swim and sauna.
I arrived on time for my meeting and teaching in Pisgat Zeev. A gain I finished too early for the bus, so I took another walk (to the northern exit/entrance of Jerusalem, where I can catch the bus or a ride), just about a kilometer this time, until a friend gave me a ride most of the way home.
Health experts say that one should exercise three times a week, and I did this week, all three, today.
More Musings:
What?s all the excitement about?
Are the outposts really outrageous outlaws?
The truth behind the news. OK, in the previous Musings you read that I?m just an ordinary middle-aged, middle-class, working mother--ok, not that ordinary--no car. But my battling the bulge and encroaching age, while trying to earn a living, is pretty common. That?s pretty easy to relate to. You may have more difficulties with the ?outpost? stuff in the news.
Considering that many Israelis won?t even take an armored bus to visit me in staid old Shiloh, it is hard for most to imagine that there are people, generally young, who have no problem living on some hilltop a half hour?s hike (or more) from the closest Jewish community. Some of these people are Israeli youth, who decided that instead of ?finding themselves? in India are looking here, where our Patriarchs walked. Some are communities of young families, easily accessible suburbs of more established yishuvim. There are some like Givat Asaf that are placed on main roads, where Jews were murdered.
Remember, Israel, including Judea and Samaria, is still a very small country. Forget about the massive distances in the Americas, Australia--just about everyplace else, except some small islands. ?Far? and ?isolated? are relative terms; the truly worldly would consider it laughable, impossible considering the minuscule piece of land in question.
Another important point. Contrary to the image you hear about in the news, most of Judea and Samaria are barren hills. Barren and uninhabited. No one is being displaced, because no one lives there, no agriculture--nothing.
We just have a rather absurd (and dangerous) situation where the Minister of Defense doesn?t believe that there?s a military solution to the security problem, and the only campaign he?s concentrating on is his race to be the head of the Labor Party. Therefore, his policies are tailor-made for that constituency, not for the good of the entire country,and forget about defending Israeli citizens.
To Sum it Up?
We Jews in Yesha (Judea, Samaria and Gaza) are just ordinary people, living dull lives, trying to stay out of the headlines. We?re too busy and boring to fill your TV screens, but our youth are extraordinary. It?s not a naive enthusiasm. They?ve faced death and eulogized their friends by promising to live life and fulfill the dreams of those buried. They are determined that no politician will restrict Jews from living on Jewish Land.
A few months ago, when there were many more terror attacks, and many of their friends were murdered and seriously injured, we were concerned about how ?abnormal? was their childhood. What would be the cost? Innocence was lost; that?s for sure. When else were Jewish youth subject to so much terror? The Holocaust? Maybe, but there?s a big difference. Today?s Jewish youth here don?t feel the isolation of that previous generation. They are backed by thousands of years of Jewish History. The crucial difference is that they are defending/living the right of Jews to live in our Holy Land, not in the Diaspora. They don?t care what the rest of the world thinks; they know that the rest of the world stood by and allowed the Nazis and other European countries to murder the six million.
There are those who condemn us for ?endangering? our children, as in ?the sacrifice of Isaac?, by living here. They conveniently forget, or refuse to recognize, the fact that Isaac wasn?t sacrificed. He survived and fathered Jacob who fathered the twelve tribes--the Jewish Nation. There are Jewish and Christian commentators who portray Isaac as a quaking child. He was a man of thirty-seven, and I?m sure that he was as determined and confident as the Jewish youth I see around me. That?s why he lived, and why, G-d willing, so will they.
-------------------------------------------------
Batya Medad lives in Shiloh.
This morning I woke myself up, bright and early, before five. I needed to get to the pool in Neve Yaakov before 7:30 to swim before work. While I was waiting for the early bus, just after six, a neighbor swung by and invited me in. It was a holy ride to the Holy City. Not one word of gossip. The friend sitting next to me said a hefty part of her Tehillim (psalms) book; I said my usual portion, plus the morning prayers. The driver was mumbling something holy, and the neighbor sitting next to him was busy dovening (praying) well-wrapped in his tfillin. When I got out, I sincerely thanked him and complimented him on his excellent mechitza (?wall? in the synagogue separating the men and women). It was better than in most of the shuls I get to when in the States.
We made very good time, and I realized that I would get to the pool too early if I took the bus, so I walked the two kilometers or more (well over a mile) from Pisgat Zeev to the pool in Neve Yaakov. Not bad, though I would have appreciated a public toilet on the way. I had time to rest up before ?Ladies Only,? then enjoyed my swim and sauna.
I arrived on time for my meeting and teaching in Pisgat Zeev. A gain I finished too early for the bus, so I took another walk (to the northern exit/entrance of Jerusalem, where I can catch the bus or a ride), just about a kilometer this time, until a friend gave me a ride most of the way home.
Health experts say that one should exercise three times a week, and I did this week, all three, today.
More Musings:
What?s all the excitement about?
Are the outposts really outrageous outlaws?
The truth behind the news. OK, in the previous Musings you read that I?m just an ordinary middle-aged, middle-class, working mother--ok, not that ordinary--no car. But my battling the bulge and encroaching age, while trying to earn a living, is pretty common. That?s pretty easy to relate to. You may have more difficulties with the ?outpost? stuff in the news.
Considering that many Israelis won?t even take an armored bus to visit me in staid old Shiloh, it is hard for most to imagine that there are people, generally young, who have no problem living on some hilltop a half hour?s hike (or more) from the closest Jewish community. Some of these people are Israeli youth, who decided that instead of ?finding themselves? in India are looking here, where our Patriarchs walked. Some are communities of young families, easily accessible suburbs of more established yishuvim. There are some like Givat Asaf that are placed on main roads, where Jews were murdered.
Remember, Israel, including Judea and Samaria, is still a very small country. Forget about the massive distances in the Americas, Australia--just about everyplace else, except some small islands. ?Far? and ?isolated? are relative terms; the truly worldly would consider it laughable, impossible considering the minuscule piece of land in question.
Another important point. Contrary to the image you hear about in the news, most of Judea and Samaria are barren hills. Barren and uninhabited. No one is being displaced, because no one lives there, no agriculture--nothing.
We just have a rather absurd (and dangerous) situation where the Minister of Defense doesn?t believe that there?s a military solution to the security problem, and the only campaign he?s concentrating on is his race to be the head of the Labor Party. Therefore, his policies are tailor-made for that constituency, not for the good of the entire country,and forget about defending Israeli citizens.
To Sum it Up?
We Jews in Yesha (Judea, Samaria and Gaza) are just ordinary people, living dull lives, trying to stay out of the headlines. We?re too busy and boring to fill your TV screens, but our youth are extraordinary. It?s not a naive enthusiasm. They?ve faced death and eulogized their friends by promising to live life and fulfill the dreams of those buried. They are determined that no politician will restrict Jews from living on Jewish Land.
A few months ago, when there were many more terror attacks, and many of their friends were murdered and seriously injured, we were concerned about how ?abnormal? was their childhood. What would be the cost? Innocence was lost; that?s for sure. When else were Jewish youth subject to so much terror? The Holocaust? Maybe, but there?s a big difference. Today?s Jewish youth here don?t feel the isolation of that previous generation. They are backed by thousands of years of Jewish History. The crucial difference is that they are defending/living the right of Jews to live in our Holy Land, not in the Diaspora. They don?t care what the rest of the world thinks; they know that the rest of the world stood by and allowed the Nazis and other European countries to murder the six million.
There are those who condemn us for ?endangering? our children, as in ?the sacrifice of Isaac?, by living here. They conveniently forget, or refuse to recognize, the fact that Isaac wasn?t sacrificed. He survived and fathered Jacob who fathered the twelve tribes--the Jewish Nation. There are Jewish and Christian commentators who portray Isaac as a quaking child. He was a man of thirty-seven, and I?m sure that he was as determined and confident as the Jewish youth I see around me. That?s why he lived, and why, G-d willing, so will they.
-------------------------------------------------
Batya Medad lives in Shiloh.