Moshe and Aaron's Sin - A Question

One of the questions posed to me with regards to my blog about Moshe & Aaron's sin was about Abarbanel's commentary. Abarbanel explained that the severity of the punishment was due to Aaron's involvement with the Golden Calf and Moshe's sending out of the spies. So the question posed to me was, "How is Moshe to blame for the spies' false report which brought about forty years in the desert for the nation of Israel?"

I found a suitable answer tonight, so let's go to the 'source of the sin':

"Send forth men, if you please, and let them spy out the Land of Canaan that I give to the Children of Israel; one man each from his father's tribe shall you send, every one a leader among them," (Numbers, 13/2)

The implication of those three italicized words seems to be, "You can send spies but the decision to do so is yours." This wasn't a command, but a choice and hence Moshe has to bear some responsibility for the disastrous consequences of the mission. For more on this, I'll quote The Stone Edition Chumash:

As explained by the Sages and Rashi ... the people came to Moses and asked him to dispatch spies to reconnoiter Canaan and report to them. Moses consulted God, Who said, "I have told them the Land is good. [But since they question Me], I will let them test My veracity, at the risk of being misled and losing their chance to enter the Land." Although Moses apparently approved the demand, he actually hoped that his agreement would dissuade the people form pressing the request. The Sages offer a parable: Someone wants to buy a donkey, but says that he must first test it. The seller enthusiastically agrees. "May I take it to both mountains and valleys?" "Of course!" Seeing that the seller is so confident of his animal's prowess, the buyer decides he has nothing to fear and forgoes the test. He buys the donkey and is very satisfied. So, too, Moses thought that his willingness to let the people have their way would convince them that they had nothing to fear.

Interestingly enough, the same attitude (putting faith in the people to make the 'right choice') also cost Aaron his chance to enter the Promised Land. During the Golden Calf debacle, the commentators explain that Aaron took part in the incident only to play for time in hope that the people's enthusiasm would wane or that Moshe return from Mt. Sinai's summit. Despite this, the Torah still says Aaron "fashioned it [the Golden Calf]," (Numbers, 32/4).

Based on the examples expressed above, Abarbanel's commentary seems to hint that both these great individuals seriously erred as leaders. Instead of making decisions that may have been unpopular with the masses (or even result in their death, as per Aaron's worries after seeing Hor murdered - see Rashi's commentary to Numbers, 32/6), both showed bad judgment that caused catastrophic results for the Nation of Israel.
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Meeting the (Rich &) Famous

When I was in high school, my family took a trip down to Texas. One of our stop was in San Antonio. We obviously saw the famous Alamo, and when we left, I saw Charles Barkley & Kevin Johnson approaching us. As an avid fan of the NBA, I quickly told my dad but instead of trying to get an autograph, or even saying hello, I walked by them shyly. The first time I meet someone famous (unless we count Knightrider's Kitt) and I freeze. Oh well, I had a good excuse - I was a shy teenager.

Fast forward to today ...

As I sat in the office, the company's receptionist walked in and started inquiring if any of us had a spare parking pass. Behind her, a bearded man stood quietly. As I focused in on him, I said, "Effie Eitam, you're not going to say hello?" The former MK (Member of Parliament) looked a bit startled, but eventually made his way to most of the office, introducing himself and shaking hands. As we chatted about his new role at IDT (Yes, he's our latest employee - some role in the shale oil project), it just seemed funny that here I was chatting to Eitam as if he was an old friend, joking about his old job and Miluim. Chafif, as they say in Israel.

As Eitam left the office, I asked Zak (the owner of the excellent Parasha Thoughts blog) why he didn't look at all interested. "That was really Effie Eitam?," he asked, "I thought he was just someone you knew from upstairs who looked like Eitam!" Ha ... Oh well, I'm sure we'll run into him again and Zak will be able to say hello and make up for his uncharacteristic shyness!
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Moshe and Aaron's Sin - Take Your Pick

This week's Torah portion, Chukat, is where Moshe & Aaron commit a sin so grave that they are banned from entering the Land of Israel. Let's look at the two lines where this happens (Numbers, 20/10-11):

(10) Moshe and Aaron gathered the congregation before the rock and he said to them, "Listen now, O rebels, shall we bring forth water for you from this rock?" (11) Then Moshe raised his arm and struck the rock with his staff twice; abundant water came forth and the assembly and their animals drank.

So what exactly was his sin? Considering it's been something commentators have delved into - let's look at four possibilities (pointers courtesy of The Stone Edition Chumash) that resulted in the aforementioned punishment:

1) Rashi's explanation of Moshe's sin is straight forward: Moshe was commanded to speak to the rock ("Take the staff and gather together the assembly ... speak to the rock before their eyes and it shall give its waters," Numbers 20/8) and instead of speaking, he struck the rock.

2) Rambam explains that Moshe's sin was getting angry with the people as he tried to quiet them, "Listen now, O rebels." Why was Moshe's angry reaction to the people such a sin? Rambam states in Shemoneh Perakim that Am Yisrael saw Moshe's words as a reflection of Hashem's will and hence, Moshe's angry reaction in fact showed that Hashem was angry with his people. As we don't find anything in the chapter, be it stated or hinted, that Hashem was angry with the request, we can assume that Moshe mislead his people into unnecessary worry and angst. This can be a vital lesson to us - We should try and contemplate how others will react to our actions before acting them out.

3) Rabbeinu Chananel and Ramban key in on "Shall we bring forth water..." as being Moshe's sin. Moshe's statement implies that he and Aaron are responsible for bringing water out of the rock, not Hashem. This could be the reason Hashem reprimanded the brothers by saying, "Because you did not ... sanctify Me in the eyes of the Children," (Numbers, 20/12). Moshe should have said, "Shall Hashem bring forth water" ...

4) Abarbanel, despite agreeing with Rashi about the sin, claims that the reason for the severe punishment was to finally punish Aaron (golden calf) & Moshe (sending the spies) for their past sins gone unpunished. Like the rest of Am Yisrael, Moshe and Aaron were not given the privilege of conquering the Land. When great men like Moshe and Aaron never walked on this land, it makes me appreciate the fact I get to walk around Eretz Yisrael daily even more.

So there you have it ... There are other takes on this sin, so if you want to add another explanation, feel free to do so in the comment section.
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Father's Day

My mom called the house today so I could wish my dad a happy father's day. Before she passed me onto the 'dad of the hour', I asked, "Aren't you going to wish me a Happy Father's Day? I am one too ya know?" Sheesh, I'm a dad of a happy, active 7 month old. Sometimes, I just sit back in amazement at how fast life has moved on, at how beautiful life truly is.

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A few interesting pieces to read:

1. More Yemenite Jews are being flown over to Israel due to worsening ties with the Arab community. The once proud community of some 50,000 Jews is down to 400.

2. A Palestinian man from the West Bank city of Nablus set a Guinness world record recently after baking the world's largest knafeh pastry, the Palestinian Maan News Agency reported Sunday.



3. Another conference ignoring the conditions faced by Jews in the Arab world since their first interactions some 1300 years ago.

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Happy Birthday to my lil sis Tova.
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Begin on Jerusalem

From Rabbi Weiss:

In 1978, the Camp David summit with Egypt resulted in the return of the entire Sinai Peninsula. US president Jimmy Carter, delirious with joy that Israel had decided to give two-thirds of its land mass to an enemy nation, decided he would try to push the envelope. He told prime minister Menachem Begin that, before ending the summit, he would like to discuss the issue of Jerusalem, that he wanted Israel to consider either ceding part of it, or internationalizing all of it.

Begin flatly refused Carter's request.

"At least think about it for a few days," said Carter.

"No!" said Begin defiantly.

"What?!" answered an incredulous Carter, "You won't even think about it? Why not? How can you be so obstinate?"

Begin replied: "I think it's time to tell you about Rabbi Amnon."

He then proceeded to relate to Carter the story of Rabbi Amnon of Mainz. Pressured incessantly by the bishop of that city to convert to Christianity, he finally asked for three days to think about it. He was then so overcome with guilt that he begged God for forgiveness. "How could I ever even contemplate such an act of heresy?" he lamented.

When he did not return to the bishop, Rabbi Amnon was cruelly tortured, his limbs amputated one by one. Yet through it all he did not relent. Maimed and mutilated, he was finally brought home. Three days later, on Rosh Hashana, he asked that he be brought to the synagogue and placed before the Holy Ark. There he uttered his famous prayer that has become the centerpiece of the High Holy Day liturgy - Un'taneh Tokef, Who shall live, and who shall die - and there he expired.

When Begin finished the story, he turned to Carter: "There are some things in life, Mr. President, that a Jew cannot even think about - and relinquishing Jerusalem in any way, shape or manner is one of them." With that emphatic statement, Begin returned home.

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Hear O Israel

On the way to work a few days ago, I was listening to Yaakov Shwekey's Shema Yisrael (Hear O Israel) and the words hit me ...

He raised his hand to wave goodbye
Saw the pain in mother's eyes
Who left her little precious boy of four
In a citadel of ashen stone
That preached a faith unlike his own
Perhaps he may just yet survive this war

In the shadows stood a man in black
My child he said, you must not look back
Yet one image lingered, the tears on her face
And mother's words from their last embrace

A mother, who realizes she may not survive the war, leaves her kid at a nearby church - saving her child's life but in the process, most likely extinguishing her child's Jewish identity.

It's tough to imagine that world, let alone write about it ...
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A Few Thoughts on Obama's Speech

A few points ...

1) Obama is a brilliant speaker - Whether or not you agree with the man, he's probably one of the best orators in recent times.

2) I think Obama is trying his best to repair bridges that were harmed, if not burned down completely, during the Bush/Cheney years (I know we can go into this in more detail, but it's another post for another day). If he succeeds in presenting the US as a more moderate force (Again, whether I agree with how he pursues it or not - it's 'his' country to run, how he does that is his choice obviously) - he'll destroy one of the main platforms most Arab extremists push ... Anti-Americanism. I think that's why I found the speech so 'pandering' overall, or perhaps it was Obama's way of trying to influence the upcoming Lebanese & Iranian elections ...

3) One issue I did have with his speech is when he said, "Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance." While there has been times of tolerance obviously (Even the 'Golden Age' had its issues, click here), Jews and other minorities were almost always second class citizens and struggled in the Muslim world (There's countless of examples of this - from 'yellow stars' under Dhimmi rule, to hundreds of Pogroms, to forced conversions of orphans, to the expulsion of 800,000+ Jews in the 1950s etc). I just hope Obama isn't oblivious to this - and was using it for the reasons I mentioned in point 2.

4) Lastly, a friend made an interesting observation, "Note how he flew directly to a concentration camp after the speech. Message to Arab world: we respect your narrative, now respect the Jewish narrative."
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Health

I met a friend yesterday for the first time in a few weeks. As I went to say hi to him, I noticed half of both his eyebrows looked shaved. I asked jokingly, “Tell me, are your students shaving you while you sleep?” He smiled and said, “Look at my beard and my arms mate.” I suddenly noticed that there too there were patches of hair ‘missing’. Obviously concerned, I asked, “Is everything ok mate?” He smiled quite reassuringly and said, “I’m not sure but the doctors are running all kinds of tests.”

Before the conversation ended, I apologized for my joke. He took no offense but inside, my heart sunk. Something is happening to this healthy 28 year old adult, a husband & a father of a beautiful girl. Hopefully it’s nothing major but it just scared me. Too often, we take our health for granted … We forget it’s not really in our hands. I guess that’s why Tante Amelie , and many others, always say רק בריאות (Hebrew for ‘only health’)…

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This and That

Just a few thoughts ...

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On the way to a wedding last week, I just stopped and thought how life changes rather drastically from stage to stage. From being single, to being a part of a young married couple and then to being parents - goals and responsibilities are reprocessed and changed. Before I had a chance to really think about how everything has changed for me since I met Tals almost 3 years ago, the lovely lady and our dear son joined me in the car ... Lucky for you reading this blog might I add! ;)

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Waiting in the car for another wedding - yes I know, another one - I saw a cat munching away on some delicacy in a black trash bag. What made me smile as I watched this was the cat taking periodic breaks from his meal to glance upwards at a crow situated some 10 feet up on some phone wires. Sheesh, there you are eating some good leftovers and you're still looking for a filet mignon. When the crow decided to fly off, the cat's glare bid it adieu ... and it returned to its meal. I guess one can dream big sometimes, but no matter the dream's outcome, one should just try to be happy with their lot.

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My right ankle has been bothering me the better part of three months - and I finally decided to let an orthopedist look at it. Due to the fracture I sustained some 10 years ago in Uni, I've developed a calcification on the top of my foot - ensuring that every 'kick with the laces' leaves me in quite some pain. So the doc said what I didn't really want to hear, "If you can play with the pain, go on. If not, quit." Quit? Me? "What about surgery?" I asked and he quickly replied, "Not worth it." That left me rather bummed ... I've decided to play on for the time being but if it gets too much, I guess I'll have to stop playing the game I love.

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So, the Torah mentions that 600,000 'army age' males left Egypt during the exodus. Quick trivia - In modern history, when were there last 600,000 Jews in Israel? And when were there last 600,000 male Jews?

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Last but not least, a song that has been stuck in my head recently. An Israeli classic by Avner Gadassi - apologies in advance for the poor video some lass has created for it


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I guess I've got a new fan

A friend of a far bigger blog once told me that you only hit 'the big time' when you get a troll.

Well, it seems like I've finally got a troll for the blog. Now, I've decided not to publish any of his/her comments because they're totally condescending and to be honest, this person is more out to harass than to try and discuss things like an adult.

Well Anonymous (I guess you don't want to reveal your details to everyone here, so I will honor your 'request' and not reveal what I already know), I'm not sure if I 'know' you from my correspondence on other blogs but you're sadly wasting your time. If you want to discuss things like an adult, we can surely try. Otherwise, not much point sir/ma'am.

Have a good one.

Honored

Today, Tals & I had lunch at our place with Gramps and Renee. I'm not sure how many are fortunate enough to 'wine and dine' (yes, even on leftovers!!!) their grandfather but I really enjoyed the experience, especially as we all celebrated his 85th birthday together. עד 120 שנה!

Before the meal, 85 year old Gramps got to the floor to play with his 6 month old great grandson:



... and just before they left, Nissim gave the 'old man' a kiss:

No need for an asterisk here ..

* For anyone who doesn't get it, let me know and I'll explain ...
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Seeing the Day of Night

Talya, Nissim & I spent our Passover vacation in New York with my parents, siblings & Nonna. We all had a lovely time, and I especially enjoyed seeing Nissim interacting with Nonna, Tova, Eitan and Gramps (who had arrived with Renee from Dallas especially to see him). He was certainly spoiled attention wise for those two and a half weeks!

When we returned to Israel, I saw a totally different side of jetlag - Nissim had no clue his nighttime adventuers were occuring during the late hours of the night. From Tuesday night till Friday night, Nissim spent a few hours every night kicking his legs, making funny noises and generally enjoying what he thought was his daytime hours. While it was very funny at times, it did get tiring. However, after much work, Niss managed to get in 8 straight hours of sleep on Saturday night and is thankfully back on a regular sleeping schedule.

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May the memories of the 24,293 fallen soldiers & terror victims (since 1948) be forever blessed

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The Iranian Citrus Fruit Conspiracy
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The Week That Was

I spent the past five days (Sunday through Thursday) deep in the Negev Desert with my reserve battalion. The 5 days in the field (yup, that means no showers or clean uniforms) were exhausting, as we spent almost 19+ hours every day awake and drilling during the hot days and chilly nights. However, as usual, there were many laughs and interesting discussions with the 'once a year or maybe more' friends.

A few highlights & thoughts:

* This was the first time since his birth that I spent so much time away from my son. I really missed him (& the wife too obviously!). Quite a testament to the miluimnikim who continually give of their time to serve this country, sacrificing time away from their family.

* On an hour break in the late evening, a few of us lay down on the APC and sang Beatles songs. I kinda liked the sound of She Loves You with a few thick Israeli accents.

* Like in past stints, I found myself talking to a few of the Hesder Golani boys who were heavily involved in Jenin during Operation Defensive Shield. Some of the stories I heard just left me as teary eyed as I was when I first read about these boys some 5 years ago in A Pslam in Jenin. This time however, I spent time talking to Moshe, who had Shmuel Weiss z'l and Avihu Yaakov z'l die in his arms. I asked him, "How do you stay sane when you see these men you care about die in your arms?" He just let out an uncomfortable laugh - that was enough of an answer.

* Due to the allegations against our soldiers during the recent operation in Gaza, quite a lot of us had a big discussion and the following questions we asked each other:

1) Would you just kill innocents while trying to kill an armed terrorist (the innocents, in other words, could be avoided easily)? One person said yes as a joke (no better way to piss off the hippies in our unit!) but everyone said no ... That's over 100 of us.

2) The next question was a far far tougher one ... If one of us & our mates were in danger and one of us had to kill an armed terrorist (ie, you don't fire - someone next to you or you are dead) but in the process kill innocents too, would you hesitate? Everyone said they'd take the shots ... No one said no, not lefties, not hippies, no one.

I think this is the main reason why civilians will die in any confrontation (well, that & fear) in populated areas. This past week definitely reinforced my faith in my army after a period were I was shaken and down due to these accusations.

On another note, I wish everyone a Happy & Kosher Passover, a חג שמח וכשר

בשנה הבאה בירושלים ב"ה
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Nissim ... and his baseball bat hands

If you cannot see the video, please click here.

We are Binghamton

My Alma Mater, Binghamton University (otherwise known as SUNY Binghamton), made the NCAA tournament for the first time in the school's history after a win on Saturday in the final of the America East tournament.

For game highlights, click here.

"...and I'm proud to be a Binghamtonian" ;)

Binghamton wins America East, punches first dance ticket
Associated Press

VESTAL, N.Y. -- Kevin Broadus choked back tears. So, too, did Emanuel Mayben as teammates D.J. Rivera and Reggie Fuller struggled to find the right words.

That's what securing a spot in the NCAA tournament can do to a coach and his players, especially when it's the first and you've overcome a heap of criticism.

Fuller, a senior forward and junior college transfer from Texas, had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Rivera added 16 points, and Binghamton beat defending America East champion UMBC 61-51 on Saturday for the conference title and the school's first NCAA tournament berth.

"We just persevered and fought all year long," said Broadus, conference coach of the year in just his second year at Binghamton. "They never gave up. The only way you can be a champion, someone told me, is to beat a champion. This year was an unbelievable ride for me personally. These guys coached me. These guys showed me what a true champion is all about."

It was the 11th straight win for the top-seeded Bearcats (23-8) and their first America East title since moving to Division I for the 2001-02 season.

UMBC (15-17), the sixth seed and the last team to beat Binghamton, made its first NCAA tournament appearance a year ago. The Retrievers' chance of a second vanished when they failed to score in the game's final 4:49.

"We didn't score for a while, but we had numerous chances," UMBC coach Randy Monroe said. "It just wasn't meant to be."

Rich Flemming led UMBC with 14 points and 11 rebounds, conference scoring champion Darryl Proctor had 12 points and 11 rebounds, and freshman Chauncey Gilliam had 10 points.

Two decades ago, the Binghamton Colonials were a mediocre Division III team playing in an old gym with a tiny fan base. These Bearcats were cheered by a raucous green-and-white-clad, standing-room-only home crowd of 5,342, the largest in the history of the Events Center, and they celebrated the first title of any kind in the program's 63-year history.

"We had a long year," said Rivera, named tournament most outstanding player. "I'm just happy and excited it's paid off."

Binghamton shadowed UMBC guard Jay Greene with a taller player at every turn, and the strategy worked. Greene was just 3-for-10 -- 1-for-6 from beyond the arc -- and finished with seven points, four assists and five turnovers in playing every minute.

Binghamton took control by scoring 12 straight points spanning the halftime break, and then held on at the end when the Bearcats had difficulty finding openings in the UMBC defense. Mayben's layup that gave Binghamton a 56-47 lead with 7:32 left was the last basket of the game for the Bearcats.

The Retrievers had plenty of chances to challenge after moving within 57-51 but it all failed. In the final 4 minutes, Greene missed a 3, Proctor was called for a charge as he made a layup, then missed another drive to the basket and a pair of free throws.

In the final frantic minute, Flemming missed a follow and a 3 and Gilliam missed a 3 and a layup.

That set off a noisy celebration on the court. The Bearcats had been the subject of a recent article in the New York Times that criticized the school administration and Broadus for his recruiting.

League coaches vote all-conference teams, and when they delivered a message by not selecting any of the Bearcats to the first team -- Rivera, a transfer from Saint Joseph's, was voted to the second team despite losing the scoring title to Proctor by just 20.2 to 20.1 points per game -- Broadus defended his record and the university backed him.

On Saturday, he simply wanted to put that all behind.

"There comes a time when you have to let things go," said Broadus, a former assistant at Georgetown. "We were like racehorses. We put blinders on, earplugs in and just played the game harder."

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Playing Tawlee

Playing what? It's the Iraqi name for Backgammon, or Shesh Besh as we Israelis call it.

Now I'm sure you're asking, how do I know that? Well, for the past two and a half years, I've developed a friendship with an Iraqi blogger* whom I started interacting with when he blogged about Zionism. I didn't see eye to eye with it, and thought it was important he hears the story through my eyes. Since then, we've kept in touch and I've managed to learn more about his Iraq (& the future he hopes to see for her) through his many interesting blog entries.

This past week, we both discovered that we're fans of backgammon. So we decided to play each other, via Yahoo! games, this Sunday. Although we didn't finish any games due to internet issues, we both enjoyed the experience of "an Israeli and an Iraqi playing backgammon!"

* I am not disclosing his name or the blog url for the time being, but hope to do so in the near future when we do a 'blog vs blog' Q&A session.
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Israeli Apartheid Week

Interesting piece from the San Francisco Chronicle by Ishmael Khaldi:

For those who haven't heard, the first week in March has been designated as Israel Apartheid Week by activists who are either ill intentioned or misinformed. On American campuses, organizing committees are planning happenings to once again castigate Israel as the lone responsible party for all that maligns the Middle East.

Last year, at UC Berkeley, I had the opportunity to "dialogue" with some of the organizers of these events. My perspective is unique, both as the vice consul for Israel in San Francisco, and as a Bedouin and the highest-ranking Muslim representing the Israel in the United States. I was born into a Bedouin tribe in Northern Israel, one of 11 children, and began life as shepherd living in our family tent. I went on to serve in the Israeli border police, and later earned a master's degree in political science from Tel Aviv University before joining the Israel Foreign Ministry.

I am a proud Israeli -- along with many other non-Jewish Israelis such as Druze, Bahai, Bedouin, Christians and Muslims, who live in one of the most culturally diversified societies and the only true democracy in the Middle East. Like America, Israeli society is far from perfect, but let us deals honestly. By any yardstick you choose -- educational opportunity, economic development, women and gay's rights, freedom of speech and assembly, legislative representation -- Israel's minorities fare far better than any other country in the Middle East.

So, I would like to share the following with organizers of Israel Apartheid week, for those of them who are open to dialogue and not blinded by a hateful ideology:

You are part of the problem, not part of the solution: If you are really idealistic and committed to a better world, stop with the false rhetoric. We need moderate people to come together in good faith to help find the path to relieve the human suffering on both sides of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Vilification and false labeling is a blind alley that is unjust and takes us nowhere.

You deny Israel the fundamental right of every society to defend itself: You condemn Israel for building a security barrier to protect its citizens from suicide bombers and for striking at buildings from which missiles are launched at its cities - but you never offer an alternative. Aren't you practicing yourself a deep form of racism by denying an entire society the right to defend itself?

Your criticism is willfully hypocritical: Do Israel's Arab citizens suffer from disadvantage? You better believe it. Do African Americans 10 minutes from the Berkeley campus suffer from disadvantage -- you better believe it, too. So should we launch a Berkeley Apartheid Week, or should we seek real ways to better our societies and make opportunity more available.

You are betraying the moderate Muslims and Jews who are working to achieve peace: Your radicalism is undermining the forces for peace in Israel and in the Palestinian territories. We are working hard to move toward a peace agreement that recognizes the legitimate rights of both Israel and the Palestinian people, and you are tearing down by falsely vilifying one side.

To the organizers of Israel Apartheid Week I would like to say:

If Israel were an apartheid state, I would not have been appointed here, nor would I have chosen to take upon myself this duty. There are many Arabs, both within Israel and in the Palestinian territories who have taken great courage to walk the path of peace. You should stand with us, rather than against us.

*****

2 Funerals & 2 Weddings

I had never been to a funeral of a family member before this past month. In 10 short days, this would all change as I attended the funerals of my two great aunts, two women I had been very close to. Losing one person you love is tough enough, but losing two in such a short period of time is extremely difficult to handle. Both Auntie Monica & Tante Amelie had been mainstays of my childhood in Ra'anana and important parts of my life since I returned to Israel in 2003. During these 10 days, the city of Ra'anana and my understanding of life changed drastically. Ra'anana will obviously never quite be the same, and life ... well, life will remain the same, just with a stronger realization that death is unfortunately an unavoidable part of our existence as we forge on along.

It's not easy to see motionless loved ones wrapped up in a talit (a prayer shawl). Tears flow, and you start thinking of their last words to you ... and then through gritted teeth, you silently whisper good bye. Despite the darkness of the new reality, I found myself eager to push through to the proverbial 'light at the end of the tunnel.' A day after the first funeral, and a few hours after the second one, I was at weddings - which to me symbolized that light. Despite the sadness I felt, I wanted to be at both weddings and celebrate in the happiness of the bride & groom. Although I didn't dance at either wedding, I enjoyed the excitement generated by each event. Yes, the pain was, and still is, there. The tears still accompany their memories, or photos, or videos ... but life, with an adjustment to the newly created void, must go on. I hope it doesn't come off like I'm slighting the memories of my great aunts, far from it. I just feel like when the lights of those we love is extinguised, we must 'be content' with the light we have from our other loved ones (be it our siblings, parents, spouses, children etc...) and continue to enjoy the time we have with them in this world.

If I have, as I assume, made little sense here, perhaps this little pearl from the Chofetz Chaim will sum up what I'm trying to put forth:

Rav Shmuel Dovid Walkin was with the Chaftez Chaim during some of the more horrific times of World War I. He vividly recalled how the Chafetz Chaim would lecture those who were in danger of becoming depressed by the terrible suffering that they experienced or witnessed.

He would say to them, "Why are you so fearful and devoid of hope? Chazal teaches that when Adam saw the first sunset, he said to himself, 'Woe that because of my failure, the world is about to return to chaos and confusion.' He spent the entire night crying together with Chava and it was only when he saw the gathering light of dawn that he realized that the sun's disappearance was a part of the natural order that G-d had decreed for the World ... We know that this night will not last forever. Light will soon come again, for such is the order that the Creator has set for this world."

(I first saw this in Rav Abraham Twerski's 'Twerski on Chumash', but this is quoted from Sefer Talelei Oros)
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Better Late than Never

More please!

Lake Kinneret rose by almost 8 inches over the weekend after heavy rains battered Israel in the most serious storms of the winter.

The storms will taper off on Sunday, after dropping 60-100 millimeters of rainfall in various parts of the country and thickening Mount Hermon's snowy mantle.

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The End of a Generation

This past Thursday, I went to Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba to see my dad's aunt, Amelie. At 93, she was in a bad way and judging by the fragile woman I saw, I knew this would be the last time I would see her alive. She noticed me straight away, "The real Avram Piha" as she always used to stress when seeing me (I am the only one in the family line who shares her father's name and last name). I said a few words, and then she proceeded to wish my family a long life & good health. I leaned over, kissed her on her forehead and said, "I love you and thank you." Thank you? Yes, thank you:

I remember as a 5 year old growing up in Ra'anana that I always used to dread going to visit my dad's Tante Amelie and Oncle Solomon z"l. Nothing against them as people obviously, I was just little and when you're young, unless they're named Granny or Grampa or Nonnou or Nonna, old people are just not the 'in thing'. As I grew older however, my attitude towards Tante Amelie greatly changed (Oncle Solomon z"l passed away in the last 1980s - 1988 if I'm not mistaken). What brought along the change in attitude? A story. A story that effectively summed up her role in my family's existence: Life Saver.

Rhodes, the birthplace of Tante Amelie and my Nonnou Nissim z"l, had a thriving Ladino (Spanish Jewry who trace their roots back to Spain pre-the 1492 expulsion) community up until the Holocaust. As Hitler's armies swept into the Rhineland, and then the Sudetenland, and finally the 'real' invasion into Poland on Sept 1st, 1939, European Jews who actually foresaw the upcoming tragedy started looking for any possible way to escape the continent. From what I understand, Nonnou's mother, did not want Tante Amelie to take Nonnou on the boat but she nonetheless took him onto one of the boats that left Rhodes. That boat would be the last boat to leave Rhodes before the Nazis arrived. Along with the majority of the Rhodes Jewish community, his mother Miriam and one brother (Isaac) perished (while one brother, Yeshaya, survived).

Tante Amelie would proceed to move to Palestine with her husband, while Nonnou went to the Belgian Congo, eventually ending up in South Africa, where he lived until he passed away in 2000. Were it not for Tante Amelie's insistence on Nonnou being on that boat with her, the Piha line would have died in the holocaust (Oncle Yeshaya never had kids). She is the reason why I'm alive, why my dad, my little brother and I carry the Piha family name. My dad said she always looked at him as a son, and me and Eitan as grandsons. Although she wasn't the 'mother' that gave us life, she did have an extremely important role in assuring that we'd in fact be alive.

I always try to spend time with Tante Amelie when I'm in Ra'anana. Despite being 89 years old, she's still remarkably sharp and recounts stories as if they had happened just yesterday. I always bring up the same story, thanking her for what she did. I never feel as if it's enough though. How can you honestly thank a person for a deed that great? The Talmud says that if you save one life, it's as if you've saved the whole world - well I guess Tante Amelie technically saved the whole world a few times over - and for that, my family will be eternally grateful to her.

I will miss her and her stories about the 'world' that was, or her phenomenal memory that allowed her to sing the Ladino & Italian songs from her childhood. 93 years, a loving marriage, 5 wonderfully warm children, and many grandchildren and great grandchildren. May we all be as blessed.

Au Revoir Tante , je t'aime ... Menuhata Be'gan Eden ... ברוך דיין האמת



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Six Pack

Unbelievable really ... I've been here for 6 years already. It seems like only yesterday I got off the Boeing and onto an Arad bound taxi. I'd like to write a masterpiece but it's late, and I have to get up early tomorrow for minyan. So I'll recap the 'year' with two blogs:

The High: The birth of my first child, Nissim David Piha
The Low: The passing of my dear great aunt, Monica z'l

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Saying Goodbye

On Sunday, February 1st, my mom called and told me her aunt Monica's condition had deteriorated. As we discussed the severity of her condition, my mom said she'd be arriving in Israel later that week to spend time with her and help the family out as much as possible. As I hung up the phone, I immediately called Auntie Monica. She answered in a tired and weak tone, and within a minute, the conversation was over. As I put down the phone, I started crying. Something in her voice told me she was readying to give up her fight against cancer.

I want to write so much about this phenomenal woman - a humble, kind and caring individual who I've long admired and looked at like another granny - perhaps that bond was struck due to the many similarities she had with her sister, my Gran ... who knows. But I feel I'd do the impact she's had on my life, especially since I returned to Israel, an injustice. She has been that loving, caring shoulder I needed throughout the early hiccups of Aliyah ... the warm & welcoming home during my army service ... the excited 'Gran' during the highs of my engagement, wedding and birth of my first son. She's been a part of it all, and now she's gone.

I've really struggled to write this blog ... There's so much I want to add and share, but I feel that doing so would just go against the humble & private ways of my dear Aunt. So I'd like to end this entry like this ... When I wrote a blog about my Granny (her sister) a few years ago, she responded with the following:

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on my dear sister. I have this wonderful picture of her and I just above my computer -it was taken on one of her visits to Israel to visit you guys – and I look up at it everyday. Yes, she was special – and she had the ability to make everybody that she came in contact with feel that they were special.

I only hope she knew that her last sentence described her perfectly as well.

I will miss you dearly Auntie Monica. I love you.

Nissim Pavarotti

I missed his main performance, but I did get his encore ...

Puzzle One

I decided two weeks ago that the wife and I were going to build a puzzle together. Yes I know, nerdy but hey, I thought it would be fun activity for us to partake in instead of watching TV or surfing the net. Honestly, it was a lot of fun and both us enjoyed building it. Only downside was that despite it being 1000 pieces, we finished it rather quickly - oh well, we hope the next one is more challenging!

The Box:



After Day 1:



After Day 2:



After Day 3:



After Day 4:



After Day 5:

Nissim in Video

If the embed isn't working for you, click on the title and that will take you to the YouTube page. Enjoy!

Noises during the Hiccup Battle



Nissim's 6th flip in the last 2 days!

David Shapira, an ordinary hero

Let his words do the explaining, mine are unnecessary here:



"...but this was what I had to do"

Are human rights for some, but not others?

Another brilliant piece courtesy of Aish:

Liraz Madmony, a 23-year-old law student from Sderot, addressed the UN Human Rights Council Special Session on Gaza in Geneva on behalf of the European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS) on Monday, Jan. 12, 2009 before the vote by the council that condemned Israel's military offensive in Gaza and resolved to send a fact-finding mission to investigate alleged Israeli abuses against Palestinians.

Here is the text of her speech.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I come from Sderot, the city in Israel that for eight years has been terrorized, by 10,000 rockets fired against us from Gaza.

As a law student, I learned -- and I believe -- that all human beings have the right to peace and security.

But when I see today's resolution, I ask: Why is the United Nations ignoring my suffering? When the terrorists committed these 10,000 violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, why was the UN silent?

Are human rights for some, but not others?

The constant assault on Sderot has destroyed our ability to lead a normal life. The warning before each attack gives us only 15 seconds to run for shelter. Fifteen seconds that will decide, life or death.

Mr. President, who will protect our right to life? My family does not have a bomb shelter, so we run to the most protected room, which is the shower.

There is one attack I will never forget. We heard the siren at seven in the morning. We ran to the shower. The rockets fell next to my house. My little brother, who was 14, went to see if anyone needed help. He found a man whose legs were blown off, and a woman blown to pieces.

My youngest brother is six. The rockets have been falling for eight years. He knows no other reality.

Everyone suffers in Sderot. Fathers and mothers are afraid to go to work, creating poverty. Kids are afraid to go to school. I have missed many of my law classes. My friends are afraid to visit. The streets lie empty.

I dream of the hometown that I remember. When the park near my house was filled with happy families and children playing. When people enjoyed life.

I still dream of peace. It will come when the rulers of Gaza choose humanity over hate, when they stop firing on our children while hiding behind their own.

We refuse to grant victory to the terrorists. We choose to live, staying strong with our faith, family and love of country.

Mr. President, who will protect our most basic human rights? My country is now trying its best, and all who love life and desire peace should pray they succeed.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I muse a lot

In a brilliant letter by A.B. Yehoshua to Gideon Levy, one of Israel's most ultra left wing media figures, Yehoshua (a left winger himself) brings up some excellent points:

There is something absurd in the comparison you draw about the number of those killed. When you ask how it can be that they killed three of our children and we cause the killing of a hundred and fifty, the inference one can draw is that if they were to kill a hundred of our children (for example, by the Qassam rockets that struck schools and kindergartens in Israel that happened to be empty), we would be justified in also killing a hundred of their children.

In other words, it is not the killing itself that troubles you but the number. On the face of it, one could answer you cynically by saying that when there will be two hundred million Jews in the Middle East it will be permissible to think in moral terms about comparing the number of victims on each side. But that is, of course, a debased argument. After all, you, Gideon, who live among the people, know very well that we are not bent on killing Palestinian children to avenge the killing of our children. All we are trying to do is get their leaders to stop this senseless and wicked aggression, and it is only because of the tragic and deliberate mingling between Hamas fighters and the civilian population that children, too, are unfortunately being killed. The fact is that since the disengagement, Hamas has fired only at civilians. Even in this war, to my astonishment, I see that they are not aiming at the army concentrations along the border but time and again at civilian communities.

Gideon Levy responded in today's Haaretz, a response which I stopped reading after this line:

a fundamentalist movement using improper means to fight for a just cause, namely the end of the occupation

You wonder how extreme you have to be to describe Hamas in such kind words. Whatever motivates Levy's ultra left wing sickness, perhaps he should take some time to read Hamas's charter before defining their cause as just:

Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it

... Unless of course that's what he wants too ... You have to wonder sometimes.

*****

The Piha family spent the weekend in Kochav Yair with Elaad, a good friend of mine from the army. As we ate lunch on Saturday, the phone rang. For a religious family, this is a very rare occurrence. The mom got a fright that it was related to Elaad's youngest brother, who has spent the last two weeks with an elite unit in Gaza. She asked someone to run to the gate to see if three officers were there to notify her of his death. Elaad's sister got very angry, "They wouldn't have called first, they would have come to our house. It's just a wrong number, it happens." Realizing what scared her so much, I responded, "You shouldn't think like that. You're just tempting the evil eye." She looked at me after a glance at Nissim, and said, "You'll be the same way in 18 years."

In my heart, like most Israeli parents, I hope my son won't need to serve in the army; that when he's 18, he'll see a different world, a region at peace. Alas, when Elaad's mom said that sentence, I smiled uncomfortably realizing that my heart's hope had little chance of being more than just that, a hope.

*****

Birthday wishes go out to one of Israel's greatest singers and actors, Yehoram Gaon, who turned 69 in late December. Here is one of my favorite Gaon songs (bar the ones he performed in Ladino, which he's fluent in):



*****

I'm not sure how long this cease fire will last but I am disappointed that it will most likely not include Gilad Shalit, who as of today has spent the last 938 days in captivity.

Are we in Crisis?

Here's my latest for the Sephardic Hebrew Congregation of Cape Town's monthly publication:

Are We in Crisis? – A Response from Israel

As I read Mr. David Albeldas’s article, Are We in Crisis?, I couldn’t help but ask myself, “When aren’t we in crisis?” While there is a growing sense of unease within the Jewish world for many reasons, it seems that’s just part and parcel of being a Jew – in Israel and abroad. Despite the positive aura continually surrounding Israel for reasons ranging from the positive emotions generated by tourists to the medical and technological contributions the country makes, we are ourselves struggling through very uncertain and worrying times.

Southern Israel has become target practice for Hamas rocket crews, with our government struggling to end the problem. To make matters worse, the security concerns on our northern border with Hezbollah and with the Hitler wannabe in Iran are edging closer to a full confrontation. Our education system is a mess, with the average scores of many age groups dropping to appalling levels, partly because we have an Education Ministry refusing to improve negligible teacher salaries. The violence throughout the country is increasing without an end in sight; not a day goes by without another innocent human being taking his or her last breath. Traffic accidents continue to take far more lives than terrorists. While ordinary civilians haven’t lost hope for positive changes, most are becoming frustrated with an incompetent, corrupt government. How do we push through during these tough times? How do we build a positive future? A few helpful tips for continued survival and growth through this seemingly perpetual crisis can be learned from Yaakov Avinu.

Before spending 20 years in Paddan-aram, Yaakov studied for 14 years in the academy of Shem and Eber. After so much time studying with Yitzchak, why would a man of such spiritual stature need extra study? Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky explains that Yaakov needed the Torah of Shem and Eber to cope with the dishonest and corrupt world he’d be entering for the first time. Those 14 years allowed Yaakov to survive and remain true to his faith and values during his sojourn with Laban in Paddan-aram. The lesson here is clear: We should take time to educate ourselves (and our children) so that we are fully aware of Jewish history and the Jewish value system. It will stand us in good stead as we forge ahead in an often-cruel world that demands a different value system for success and ‘survival.’

When Yaakov returned to Canaan, he was confronted by a surprisingly friendly Esau, who requested to “proceed alongside” him (Vayishlach, 33.12). Yaakov refused the offer twice, making his way to Shechem with his family but not with Esau’s escort. This short encounter between the two shows how important it is to have the right influences around your loved ones. Yaakov didn’t want Esau’s presence near him, not only because he feared for his own life, but also because he realized how negative an effect Esau could have on his family. Although we cannot eliminate all the bad influences around us, or around our family, we can strive to limit them.

Lastly, before Yaakov sends his sons to Egypt for the first time, he questions them, “Why do you make yourselves conspicuous?” (Mikketz 42:1). Rashi comments that Yaakov warned the brothers that acting as though they had plenty would lead to envy and ill will amongst those they would encounter along the way. In his old age, Yaakov’s question defined the necessity to not flaunt one’s wealth and success as it attracts negative attention – we should in fact find the middle path as Rambam and others would later comment. In essence, the advice here is to shy away from unnecessary attention and live a humble life.

Yaakov’s three ‘lessons’ to us are three great starting points in handling and overcoming the crises that will occur in our personal lives, as well as within the Jewish nation:

1. Reinforce the lessons of Torah, especially when amongst those who would take you away from its teachings.
2. Detach yourself from those that would influence you negatively and lead you astray.
3. Live your life humbly to limit unnecessary negative attention.

In my opinion, living by these teachings will breed a strong respect for family, tradition and Jewish values; three pillars that allow us to remain steadfast in our beliefs despite external pressures. This is just a start however - I am not implying that one has to be religious to ‘survive’ this world – religious observance is a personal decision that should be made solely by the individual. However, one doesn’t have to be an observant Jew to learn to utilize the lessons passed on to us for millennia to better our lives, the lives of our children, and the lives of those in our community.

Blackhawk Down's 80%

Another very well written piece by Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic:

At least nine hundred people, maybe half of them civilians, have been killed in Gaza so far, the overwhelming majority presumably killed by Israel (some people, more than we probably know right now, have been killed by Hamas, mainly Fatah activists in revenge killings). This number, nine hundred, is large, and it brought to mind another conflict between a Western army and a Muslim insurgency, the one portrayed in the book and movie "Black Hawk Down." Roughly one thousand Somalis were killed by American forces over the twenty hours or so of the First Battle of Mogadishu (eighteen American soldiers, of course, were also killed).

I couldn't get an accurate read on how many of those Somalis were civilians, so I called my colleague, Mark Bowden, who wrote the book. He said that eighty percent of the Somali deaths were of civilian. Eighty percent! Roughly eight hundred people. I asked Bowden if he thought this meant that American forces in Somalia had committed war crimes. Andrew has been leading an interesting discussion about whether or not Israeli actions in Gaza constitute war crimes, and I've been trying to place Israeli actions in a broader context. Bowden agreed to help me by providing his own understanding of civilian deaths in asymmetric warfare. Here's some of what he had to say:

"If you feel the need to go to war against an enemy that is not as powerful as you are, one of the tactics of the weaker party is to hide among civilians, and use the global media to advertise the horror of the onslaught. People on the receiving end of the bombs greatly exaggerate the casualties and get photographers to take the most gruesome of pictures, and at the same time, the people in charge of the stronger power try to minimize the number of casualties. If you live in a democracy, then public opinion really matters, and reports of dead children swells the criticism of the war. If you live in a dictatorship, then you don't care what the people think. Israel is a democracy and it cares about the way the rest of the world feels. It gets hurt by killing civilians, so for moral and practical reasons, they're trying very hard to avoid it."

"I believe that culpability for these casualties is very much with Hamas. Take this leader, Nizar Rayyan, who was killed with many of his children. He knew he was a target. If I knew that I was a target, I sure as hell wouldn't have my children near me. It's a horrible and cynical choice he made. But if your enemy is a sophisticated manipulator of public opinion, then this is one of the many downsides of choosing to go to war. Israel knows that."

"The parallel with Mogadishu is that gunmen in that battle hid behind walls of civilians and were aware of the restraint of the (Army) Rangers. These gunmen literally shot over the heads of civilians, or between their legs. They used women and children for this. It's mind-boggling. Some of the Rangers shot civilians, some of them inadvertently and some of them advertently. They made the choice to shoot at crowds. When a ten-year-old is running at your vehicle with an AK-47, do you shoot the kid? Yes, you shoot the kid. You have to survive. When push comes to shove, faced with the horrible dilemma with a gunman facing you, yes, you shoot. It's not just a choice about your own life. If you don't shoot, you're saying that your mission isn't important, and the lives of your fellow soldiers aren't important."

The Disengagement - Looking back

In the video above, the following statements were made by our politicians:

"There is an argument according to which there will be a threat… a threat and a fleeing… a threat on the Negev communities… I have never before heard such a ridiculous argument."
MK Meir Sheetrit, Kadima (Formerly Likud)

"The disengagement is good for security. The right wing people stood here and talked about Kassams flying from here to there… I'm telling you, whoever wants to spare not only Sderot but also Ashkelon, both of them, must understand: if we don't go out of the Gaza Strip in two or three years, maybe after one year, the range will reach Ashkelon."
MK Ran Cohen, Meretz

"I want to believe that, as a result of the evacuation, and the exiting of Gaza, the moderate Palestinian leaders will become strong, and terror will be reduced."
MK Orit Noked, Labor

"I am convinced the act is necessary and right, it can grant greater security for the residents of Israel and can reduce the burden on the security forces, it can break the current stalemate and open a door to a new reality that will enable, when the day comes negotiations for coexistence. "
MK Shaul Mofaz, Kadima (Formerly Likud)

"Honorable Knesset Chairman, before I arrived in the Knesset today, I brought my son to the Tel Hashomer base, he received his first call-up order to the IDF. I must thank Ariel Sharon for the hope he gives me and my wife that my son, when he is recruited, will not have to serve the nation of Israel in the Gaza Strip."
MK Pines-Paz, Labor

and last but not least ...

“The purpose of the Disengagement Plan is to reduce terror as much as possible, and grant Israeli citizens the maximum level of security…These steps will increase security for the residents of Israel and relieve the pressure on the IDF and security forces in fulfilling the difficult tasks they are faced with. The Disengagement Plan is meant to grant maximum security and minimize friction between Israelis and Palestinians.”
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Herzliya Conference, December 18, 2003

Oh well ... Let's hope they're right, eh?

Musings, cont.

Since the war began, I've become active again on the internet defending Israel's position. While I find this hasbara necessary, it is difficult and often time, futile. I've come up against quite a few people who seem to be motivated solely by hatred. This sadly is not an internet phenomenon either - it can be seen in most of these Pro-Gaza rallies, where such terms as Nazis and Holocaust are thrown out to define Israel and her actions. That's why I come away from these discussions mentally exhausted and angry. Israel does, and has done, a lot wrong in her brief history - no one is denying that. Innocent civilians have died here, which is always tragic (It seems to be we're getting Jenin II with the numbers from the Palestinian sources however). But the audacity to compare us to the Nazis? Or our actions to the Holocaust? Have they no shame?

A good article about this can be found here.

*****

Some people are calling this Operation an election stunt. If it is, I hope it's as successful as Begin's 'election stunt' during June, 1981.

*****



*****

Last but not least, a picture to end this blog on a happy note. Here's the latest of my "I've learned that smiling makes my parents happy" son:

Just Sharing

A piece about the dedication and determination of our soldiers. Click here.

These kids want to be out there - not out of thirst for blood, but in order to fulfill their duty

The problem with these guys is that they want to be out there and protect their homes but that is also their greatness

More Musings

Before his mom put him to bed last night, Nissim lay down next to me. As he started his more frequent smiling session, I started asking him random questions. To my surprise, he started making all these noises in response. I smiled ... The simple joys of life.

*****

I had some coffee, or to be precise, a hot choclate yesterday morning with a good mate. We discussed the matzav (situation in Hebrew) and a host of other topics on Emek Refaim, one of the main streets in Jerusalem. Cars, tourists, Israelis ... Unless you're in the South, life goes on as usual, as if nothing really is going on. What war exactly?

*****

I was talking to one of the older folks at synagogue yesterday, and jokingly remarked, "Have they drafted you yet?" He smiled and replied, "I got drafted in 1958, fought with Golani in '67 and '73 so I'm done with wars." As we briefly discussed the different reality for a soldier back 'then', he remarked, "I fought, my kid has fought and now my grandchild too?"

It's difficult to respond to this, but most of us accept it is the reality we live in currently. Will it change? I hope so ...

*****

As Tals & I watched the 8 o'clock news last night, a whole segment was dedicated to the thousands of reservists called up on Tzav 8 (emergency call up). It reassured me of how our boys once again answered the call of duty with few questions asked. From the first time father of a 2 month old ("It's worrying but I have to be here"), to a confident youngster ("Bring on Hamas") to the old timer ("My wife told me I can get out but this is my duty"), the stories of these regular citizens showed an incredible aspect of our society. I'm proud to be amongst the few who don't shirk their responibility to this country ... Those willing to take an extended (& often times dangerous) break from their family and professional life to defend their country.

For a similar story in Haaretz, click here.

*****

A simple, yet 'to the point', article about the war courtesy of Jeffrey Goldberg:

If someone was sending rockets on my house where my daughters were sleeping at night, I would do everything to stop it, and I would expect Israelis to do the same thing.

These aren't my words -- they're Barack Obama's. But I attach myself to this sentiment. Obama said this in July, after visiting the southern Israeli town of Sderot. Visits to Sderot will do that for you -- make you see things clearly. For what it's worth, this is how I see what's happening in Gaza: In 2005, the Israeli government acceded to the longstanding Arab demand to withdraw its settlers and soldiers from the Gaza Strip. Almost as soon as the Israeli withdrawal was completed, Hamas and other Islamist factions in Gaza began firing rockets at Israeli civilians living in towns and kibbutzim inside the pre-1967 borders of Israel. Sometimes -- and I've seen this with my own eyes -- Hamas rocketeers fired on Israel from atop the ruins of the abandoned Jewish settlements.

No country in the world could afford to ignore such attacks. And no country would. An elected government, such as Israel's, has a basic, overriding responsibility -- to protect its citizens from the organized violence of their enemies. Of course, it can do this in part by negotiating with its enemies (assuming its enemies recognize Israel's right to life) but its immediate mission must be to stop the violence, which is what Israel is now trying to do. Whether it succeeds or not is an open question (It is Hamas' indifference to Palestinian life, not Jewish life, that makes it a formidable foe, in the manner of Hezbollah), but Israel must try to use all of the tools of national power to stop attacks on its citizens. Otherwise it is simply not a serious nation, one that does not deserve sovereignty.

Musings

I'm all coiled up inside. The IDF has now entered Gaza with the ground forces, and now, the difficult part of this war will begin:



*****

For a very interesting interview with Benny Begin, mostly on politics, click here.

I am only a geologist, not a psychologist. Nor am I a nephrologist or a cardiologist - I do not read people's inner thoughts. But I wonder whether the bellicose cries in Kadima for war to topple Hamas are not related to an attempt to atone for the grave mistake of handing territory to Hamas

*****

In difficult times such as this, a smile is sometimes needed. This is courtesy of one of the blog's anonymous fans:

In a carefully worded statement released on the eighth day of Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s security cabinet confirmed that it would be “running down” the offensive, in a move widely-expected after high-level diplomatic calls for a ceasefire on Friday. Addressing a news conference in Tel Aviv, a shaken-looking Ehud Barak – Israel’s defence minister – later explained the decision, singling out Annie Lennox’s call for a hiatus in the bombing as “the final nail in the coffin”.

“Whilst we are not keen to be seen to kowtow to demands from the outside world, there are occasions when we have to acknowledge where the protests are emanating from, and the impact of their words on future negotiations”, he said. “Annie Lennox has, for a long time now, been a major behind-the-scenes player in the Middle East peace process, and is fast becoming a significant actor in political circles”, he continued. “For her to break cover and go public with her petition was not something we [the government] felt we could ignore, hence our decision to bring an end to Cast Lead”.

Scenes of jubilation in Gaza greeted the Israeli announcement, with Hamas immediately declaring Lennox a “living shaheed”, urging all the group’s supporters to purchase as much of Lennox’s back catalogue as possible, in order to demonstrate their commitment to the cause. “And not just the early stuff, either”, boomed Hamas musical attaché Mahmoud Al-Suwani from a hastily-assembled stage in a crowded Gaza square. “Her solo albums also deserve to be recognised by the united Palestinian people. Particularly ‘Medusa’, which – despite being comprised of cover songs – still ranks up there with anything the Eurythmics released beforehand”.

In the southern Israeli town of Sderot, which bore the brunt of Hamas’ Kassam rocket fire for several years, residents retreated from their previous hawkish positions upon hearing of Lennox’s plea - acknowledging that “there are times to fight, and times to accede to the demands of somewhat washed-up and irrelevant lesbian icons”, according to Sderot’s mayor. “Whilst we are sorry that doyens of the eighties rock scene haven’t granted our military sufficient time in which to complete their mission, we nonetheless are grateful to have been allowed as much leeway as we have to carry out at least part of our task – despite earlier setbacks”.

He was thought to have been referring to last week’s minor political spat involving three of Queen’s backing singers, who issued an unofficial statement via Sony BMG calling for an unconditional ceasefire, before swiftly retracting the demand amid rumours of infighting between various soft-rock factions involved in the peace process.

This is not the first time that the worlds of popular music and unpopular military campaigns have collided – as witnessed earlier this year, when Ethiopia’s ruling party finally caved in to pressure from A-Ha frontman Morten Harket and withdrew their troops from Somalia. At the time, Harket’s intervention was predicted by many commentators as heralding a new age of blurred boundaries between international diplomacy and Top 40 songsmiths.

“In an era when domestic public opinion is shaped by the stars of yesteryear, it is not unthinkable that generals of armed forces around the world will also sit up and take note when platinum-selling stadium gods speak out about the wisdom of their military strategies”, wrote Simon Jenkins in the Guardian. “Furthermore, with the likes of Paula Abdul able to marshal millions of votes supporting her proclamations on American Idol every week, the logical next step could see armies and militias deciding their tactics on the basis of a ‘Strictly Come Carpet-Bombing’ interaction with the TV-watching public”.

Defence Minister Barak has, it is believed, privately expressed his support for such a move in relation to Israel’s forty-one year occupation of the West Bank. Sources close to his staff suggest that he is ready to utilise mass-telephonic voting in order to avoid deeply unpopular moves such as the infamous Disengagement of 2005. “Back then, the government relied on the advice of Bananarama to make up their minds about the move”, an anonymous diplomat stated. “At the time, it seemed entirely rational to canvass, and act upon, the opinion of those who had achieved chart success via saccharine pop music twenty years ago in another continent, but in hindsight it wasn’t the Israeli government’s finest hour”.

With that in mind, he was sceptical of the wisdom of Barak’s latest move. “Whilst acceding to Lennox might shore up international opinion in the short term, going forward it would seem far wiser to rely on weekly Saturday night viewers’ votes to help us decide how to rid the scourge of Islamic terror and fundamentalism from our midst”. Lennox herself was unavailable for comment in the wake of the ceasefire, her spokesman announcing that she had immediately turned her attention to tackling the ever-deteriorating situation in Angola, in which she had the “unwavering support” of political titan Roland Rat and his aide-de-camp Kevin the Gerbil.

*****

There's a lot of anger in the world towards Israel lately, and I've seen a lot of it online since the beginning of this war. A good friend of mine found a suitable strategy to confront these anti-Israel online activists when I discussed with him the difficulty I was having with some of them. He remarked that a person should ask themselves whether they'd support Israel's actions if Hamas was not fighting from heavily populated civilian areas. If they say no, you know 'what' you're dealing with. If they say yes, then the natural question would be how can Israel be blamed for Hamas deliberately endangering their own citizens by fighting this way, and should this be the reason Israel not defend her citizens? It's not easy times for us (or for the innocent civilians stuck on their side) - but we'll overcome. As the famous Meir Ariel song goes ... "We overcame Pharoah, we'll overcome this too."

Bashing Self-Hating Israelis

Great piece by Ari Shavit on Haaretz.com:

Israelis who blame Israel are not helping the Palestinians
By Ari Shavit

Operation Cast Lead is a just campaign. Just, because in the summer of 2005 Israel destroyed all the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and withdrew unilaterally to the international border. Just, because from 2006 to 2008 the Palestinian entity in the Strip did not take advantage of the occupation's end to build itself and its future and instead repeatedly attacked Israel within the Green Line.

Just, because for three solid years the State of Israel bit its lips and acted with restraint. Just, because no country in the world can accept for an extended period of time a situation in which its citizens are forsaken and its sovereignty violated. Just, because there is no chance for peace in the Middle East if the Jewish state is viewed as easy prey bleeding in the water and attracting sharks.

Operation Cast Lead is a tragic campaign. Tragic, because it is causing the deaths of hundreds and injuring thousands. Tragic, because it is causing physical and emotional injury to innocent Palestinians, including women and children. Tragic, because like every war it creates intolerable human hardship and heartbreaking suffering.

But the tragedy of Operation Cast Lead is unavoidable. It derives directly from the fact that the Palestinians did not take proper advantage of the historic opportunity given to them in 2005. It derives from the fact that when the Palestinians achieved self-government for the first time in their history they misused it. It derives from the fact that the Palestinian need to destroy Israel is still stronger than their need to build Palestine.

Israel-hating Israelis call Operation Cast Lead a war crime. They record the names of each and every Palestinian killed, denounce each and every Israeli action and portray their state as a bully. While the Egyptians are saying that Hamas is largely responsible for the tragedy of Gaza, Israel-hating Israelis place the whole responsibility on their government and military. While the international community silently understands that a sovereign state is duty-bound to protect its citizens' lives, Israel-hating Israelis believe that Israeli lives can be forfeited.

While the simple facts indicate that the violence in the south derives from the despicable actions of an extremist organization that turned the Strip into a district of terror, Israel-hating Israelis persist in their hatred of their people and homeland and defend the morality of Hamas' destructive aggression.

There is no call for hating the Israel-hating Israelis. At the end of the day, their position is a pathetic one. Their self-righteousness is not at all righteous, and their moralizing has no morality. Their inability to show compassion for the Israelis of Be'er Sheva, Ashdod, Ashkelon and Sderot shows that they possess a degree of callousness. Their inability to view the Arabs firing the Grad rockets as being responsible for their actions shows that they are not free of paternalism.

The real motivation of Israel-hating Israelis is not genuine concern for the Palestinians, but rather a form of reverse racism. By showing forgiveness toward Palestinian fascism they turn their backs not only on Israelis but also on moderate, freedom-loving Palestinians. Those who blame Israel for everything and exonerate the Palestinians of everything are neither serving the cause of peace nor helping to end the violence and occupation. All they are doing is proving the extent to which they are blinded by their burning self-hatred.

Operation Cast Lead is an intelligent, impressive operation. The element of surprise was total, the intelligence was precise and the timing was brilliant. The fact that the operation was launched after a six-month cease-fire violated by Hamas gives it political legitimacy and moral justification. The fact that it was carefully planned and carefully executed has restored a degree of trust in Israeli capabilities.

It is possible that after the initial air campaign and the destruction of the tunnels, the operation should have been suspended. It is possible that the French truce proposal should now be adopted and a final chance given for Palestinian clearheadedness. But those who reject the operation in its entirety are blind to reality and the moral failure.

The coming days will be difficult. There may be errors, perhaps complications, perhaps even victims. But for this very reason now is not the time for a campaign of hate against Israel's leaders, commanders, soldiers and pilots. Just the opposite. This is the time to strengthen the hand of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is proving himself to be a respected national leader.

This is the time to stand behind the commanders, soldiers and pilots working day and night to conduct a difficult, complex and entirely just war. This is the time for Israel to finally behave as a mature nation protecting itself with wisdom and restraint.

Neighborhood Bully

In times like these, I enjoy listening to this song by Bob Dylan (lyrics below):



Well, the neighborhood bully, he's just one man,
His enemies say he's on their land.
They got him outnumbered about a million to one,
He got no place to escape to, no place to run.
He's the neighborhood bully.

The neighborhood bully just lives to survive,
He's criticized and condemned for being alive.
He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to have thick skin,
He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in.
He's the neighborhood bully.

The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land,
He's wandered the earth an exiled man.
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn,
He's always on trial for just being born.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized,
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad.
The bombs were meant for him.
He was supposed to feel bad.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim
That he'll live by the rules that the world makes for him,
'Cause there's a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac.
He's the neighborhood bully.

He got no allies to really speak of.
What he gets he must pay for, he don't get it out of love.
He buys obsolete weapons and he won't be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, he's surrounded by pacifists who all want peace,
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease.
Now, they wouldn't hurt a fly.
To hurt one they would weep.
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Every empire that's enslaved him is gone,
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon.
He's made a garden of paradise in the desert sand,
In bed with nobody, under no one's command.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Now his holiest books have been trampled upon,
No contract he signed was worth what it was written on.
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth,
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health.
He's the neighborhood bully.

What's anybody indebted to him for?
Nothin', they say.
He just likes to cause war.
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed,
They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed.
He's the neighborhood bully.

What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers?
Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill,
Running out the clock, time standing still,
Neighborhood bully.

Priceless

$2.50 - large blank poster
$0.99 - one black marker
priceless - realizing your hatred has cost you your education