A student in the Kol Torah Yeshiva in Jerusalem approached his Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt"l, and asked him the question, "May I leave my Torah studies in the yeshiva to go [for a short visit] and pray at the graves of tzadikim [righteous people] in the Galil?"
Rav Auerbach answered, "It is better to say in yeshiva, and study Torah."
The student replied, "Isn't there a time I could go to visit the graves of tzadikim? Doesn't Rav Auerbach go and pray by the graves of tzadikim?"
Rav Auerbach answered, "In order to pray at the graves of tzadikim, one doesn't have to travel up to the Galil. Whenever I feel the need to pray at the graves of tzadikim, I go to Mount Herzl [the national cemetery for fallen IDF soliders in Jerusalem] to the graves of the soliders who fell al Kiddush Hashem [for the sanctification of G-d]."
The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.
First and foremost, united Jerusalem, which will include both Ma'ale Adumim and Givat Ze'ev -- as the capital of Israel, under Israeli sovereignty, while preserving the rights of the members of the other faiths, Christianity and Islam, to freedom of access and freedom of worship in their holy places, according to the customs of their faiths.
The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.
Why should anyone remember a notorious pariah ship from Israel's war for independence? If for no other reason (and there are many), because it is likely to resurface from the depths of memory should Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, if and when they ever begin, focus on Jewish settlements.
The prospect of expelling thousands of Jews from the biblical homeland of the Jewish people will surely widen, perhaps violently and irreparably, the deep chasm that already separates secular from religious Israelis. Such a dangerously polarizing conflict has not roiled Israel for more than sixty years. When it did, in 1948, it brought the fledgling Jewish state to the precipice of civil war.
During its first weeks of independence, Israel confronted a military invasion from five Arab nations that were determined to annihilate it. The new state was already battered from months of Palestinian Arab violence within its porously unstable borders, climaxing with the fall of the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem. Israel was desperate for an infusion of weapons and fighters to prevent its annihilation.
Enter the Altalena, with more than nine hundred Holocaust survivors, war refugees and fighters, and tons of desperately needed military supplies. It sailed for Israel from Port-du-Bouc in southern France on June 11, the day when a month-long United Nations ceasefire began. Inspired, funded, and provisioned by loyalists of Menachem Begin's Irgun, it would join the roster of ill-fated ships that had exemplified the Zionist struggle to rescue Jews from annihilation and return them to their homeland.
If the Exodus - popularized in the romantic novel by Leon Uris that became an iconic Hollywood movie - is still revered as the valiant ship, the Altalena instantly became the reviled pariah ship. It arrived with the permission of the Israeli government - meaning Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion - at Kfar Vitkin, north of Netanya, on June 21. While weapons were unloaded on the beach, fighters were taken to a nearby immigrant camp to prepare for induction into the army.
But Ben-Gurion, fearing a right-wing insurrection, ordered the beach surrounded. Altalena passenger Dov Shilansky encountered an Israeli soldier in a command car. "I spoke to him in Hebrew," he recalled. "It was my first speech in Israel." Shilansky (who, forty years later, became Speaker of the Knesset) told him: "We've just arrived. We survived the Holocaust. We've come here to fight by your side. The homeland is in danger. We will join the army."
The soldier instructed him to go no farther. Shilansky replied: "We have no other way. I won't go back to Dachau. If we can't come to Israel, we'll go back to the sea." The soldier replied: "I don't care. Go back to the sea."
Later that afternoon, Begin - disregarding a ten-minute ultimatum to surrender all weapons - spoke to his assembled fighters. Suddenly, Israeli soldiers raked the beach with machine-gun bullets. Yaacov Meridor, Begin's second in command, ordered: "Don't shoot back." An Irgun fighter realized: "I couldn't shoot. My brother was on the other side."
Another newcomer was uncomprehending: "Instead of welcoming us they were killing and wounding many of our men whose only purpose was to help." Six Irgun men died in the fighting.
The Altalena sailed south, running aground off the Tel Aviv shore. After a battle erupted on the beach, Ben-Gurion ordered the Israel Defense Forces to destroy it. Some IDF soldiers refused to obey.
An officer protested: "I'm here to fight the enemy. I won't fight another Jew." He instructed the soldiers in his squad: "Do what your conscience tells you." (He became one of eight soldiers to be court-martialed for their disobedience that day.)
An Irgun fighter remembered: "If Begin had told us to fight we would have, but he did not want war between brothers and we accepted his leadership." Irgun fighters obeyed his command not to return fire.
Ben-Gurion was convinced - without a shred of supporting evidence (then or since) - that the Irgun was launching a putsch to overthrow his government. Late that afternoon, he ordered cannons to open fire on the ship. Hilary Dilesky, a volunteer from South Africa who had arrived in Israel only two months earlier, commanded the battery that was chosen to fire the first shot. Receiving his orders, he recalled, "I suddenly was struck with a heavy, deep feeling that I didn't want to shoot."
Dilesky approached his corps commander, telling him - in English, for he could not yet speak Hebrew: "I hadn't come to Israel to fight Jews." The commander yelled back that his job was to obey orders. It was, Dilesky recalled, "a fateful moment" when he realized that "following orders was the right thing to do." But "my heart was broken when we began firing," he confessed nearly fifty years later. "This has been a burden all my life," he recalled, "and still is."
With the Altalena ablaze from a direct hit, and the explosion of its munitions imminent, Irgun leaders (including Begin) and members of the crew jumped overboard, filling lifeboats and swimming ashore. An astonished American crew member observed that "continuous small arms fire from shore ... was directed at everyone in the water."
A 17-year-old Haganah soldier on the beach never forgot that "there were people on our side who waited until they saw heads above water, and then they fired at them."
A Palmach soldier recalled, "Firing on each other: it seemed illogical, unbelievable." He confessed: "I had many doubts, when I pointed the gun at the approaching boat filled with Jews." But he overcame them. "You tell yourself, you are guarding Israeli democracy. And with this belief, you shoot."
Another Palmach soldier was stunned by what he saw: "Before my eyes was waged a war between brothers. Jews are shooting Jews - in order to kill!"
Ben-Gurion enthusiastically blessed the "holy cannon" that destroyed the Altalena. He denied as false rumors the eyewitness reports from soldiers and journalists at the site of the Tel Aviv battle that Israeli soldiers on the beach had fired on desperate swimmers. That day, ten more Irgun men were killed. In the months that followed, eighteen Altalena fighters died for their country during the War of Independence.
* * * * *
The Altalena marked a tragic climax to fifteen years of bitter acrimony between Zionists on the left and right that had plagued the Yishuv during the years of British Mandatory rule. To some, it was a sorrowful reminder of the groundless hatred (sinat chinam) that was said to have plunged Jews into their devastating civil war in 1st century Jerusalem.
By now, however, most Israelis have long since repressed any memory of the Altalena, while few Jews outside of Israel have even heard of it.
But within the past decade, members of the Israeli left, taking Ben-Gurion's order to sink the Altalena as a model for the proper treatment of political opponents, proposed it as the solution to Yasir Arafat's internal conflict with Hamas.
The Arafat-Altalena analogy quickly caught on as a teachable moment. A Palestinian Authority official told the Jerusalem Post that in confronting Hamas and Islamic Jihad, "we have to act like Ben-Gurion in 1948."
Not long after proposals for an Arafat-style Altalena had receded, a far more volatile analogy erupted. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision to remove 9,000 Jewish settlers from Gaza provoked wrenching and acrimonious debate over the future of Jewish settlements. The Israeli press, which enthusiastically supported the Gaza expulsion, vigorously defended Ben-Gurion's action in 1948 as a model to emulate.
To exercise its "sovereign duty," Yaron London wrote in Yediot Aharonot, Israel must once again use its "muscles" against those who violently opposed its decisions.
Moshe Negbi, legal commentator for the Israel Broadcasting Authority, complained (in Haaretz) that "Ben-Gurion's successors have demonstrated total limpness in imposing law and order on extremists.... It is this limpness that has brought down upon us the malignancy of the Jewish settlements" and their "fanatics."
On the political left, Ben-Gurion remained the inspirational leader who certainly could not be accused of "limpness."
The barrage of encouragement for an Altalena reprise roused 91-year-old Shmuel Katz, who had been a member of the Irgun high command at the time, and then a founder of the Herut party and Member of the Knesset.
These "pundits," Katz wrote in the Jerusalem Post, were "conjuring up the Altalena myth of a revolt that was never planned and never took place, a fiction woven by an unscrupulous politician at the cost of a score of innocent young lives and the loss of a valuable ship and an invaluable store of arms."
He claimed: "The memory of the Altalena is being manipulated for political purposes to facilitate the expulsion of the Jews from Gush Katif [Gaza]."
That same year, during the bitter Knesset debate over the expulsion of Orthodox settlers from the outpost of Yitzhar, Prime Minister Sharon was accused of wanting "a second Altalena" so that he, too, could "fire the 'holy cannon.' "
He was warned by settler groups: "You will not get a second Altalena from us. You will not get a civil war from us, because we - the citizens whom you wish to go to war against - will not fight against our brothers."
As national debate over settlements became increasingly acrimonious, some Israelis urged soldiers to refuse to obey orders for the forced evacuation of settlers. They cited the precedent of Palmach soldiers who had disobeyed orders to fire on the Altalena: "Refuse to obey the transfer order against your brothers, just as ... soldiers refused to shoot at their brothers in Ben-Gurion's day."
Recalling the tragic war between brothers in 1948, 82-year-old Yosef Nachmias, then a company commander on board the Altalena, recounted the refusal of his own brother, a Palmach fighter, to shoot at the ship because he knew that his sibling was on board. For Nachmias, killing brothers was not merely a metaphor.
During a military ceremony at the Western Wall in October 2009, two religious soldiers displayed a sign protesting settler expulsions. They served time in jail for their misbehavior; one of them was discharged from the army after refusing to express regret for his protest. Then, when Israeli security forces destroyed two Jewish homes in the settlement of Har Bracha, two religious soldiers displayed a banner from the roof of their military base opposing the expulsion of its residents. Sentenced to thirty days in military jail, they were demoted in rank and dismissed from command and combat duties.
Amid this simmering political and religious confrontation, Altalena parallels proliferated. Writing in Haaretz, Hebrew University political scientist Shlomo Avineri accused settlement defenders of attempting to undermine the "historic achievement of Zionism," the creation of "a single binding [national] authority" for the Jewish state.
Ben-Gurion's decision to attack the Altalena, he suggested, may have displayed "ruthless determination," but it assured to the Israel Defense Forces "a monopoly on the legitimate use of force." The pain and distress of settlement supporters was understandable, Avneri conceded, but "in the Jewish state only one legitimate body is authorized to enforce political decisions."
When six infantry soldiers refused to participate in demolitions in the settlement outpost of Negohot, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - sounding very much like Ben-Gurion in 1948 - asserted ominously: "If you support this refusal, it will bring about the collapse of the state." Israeli leaders, claimed Defense Minister Ehud Barak, were confronting "the same fateful decision that David Ben-Gurion faced in the first days of the state."
* * * * *
Should Israel and the Palestinian Authority ever reach agreement on the terms of peace between peoples who have engaged in bitter conflict over the same land for nearly a century, it will likely require the forcible removal of many tens of thousands of Jewish settlers from their homes.
Yet few Israelis who argue passionately for this outcome are likely to realize that soldiers who refuse to force settlers from their homes would be responding precisely as did the Haganah and Palmach soldiers in 1948 who refused to shoot their Irgun "brothers."
Such a confrontation would expose the core of Israel's still unresolved national identity struggle: Jewish state, secular state, democratic Jewish state? It has the ominous potential to reduce the Altalena to historical insignificance by comparison.
At a crucial moment in 1948, David Ben-Gurion faced the urgent necessity to protect the fledgling Jewish state and defend its sovereignty. But did he decide wisely when he issued the command to shoot Jews on the Altalena who wanted only to fight for the independence of Israel?
In his unrelenting determination to concentrate authority in his hands, did Ben-Gurion undermine, rather than strengthen, legitimacy in the new nation? Did he set a dangerous precedent for battles between brothers that has haunted Israel ever since and may yet explode into a far more volatile internecine conflagration than anything that happened in 1948?
The confrontation over the Altalena, and the tragic killing of Jews by Jews that accompanied it, remains a lingering, self-inflicted, wound from Israel's desperate fight for independence. It cuts to the very core of the enduring Israeli struggle over political legitimacy - then, now, and in the foreseeable future.
It also braids themes that are woven into the biblical narrative. In the beginning, after Creation went awry, Noah's ark - the first ship to be mentioned in a Jewish text - transported a righteous man and his family from impending disaster to safety.
There is also the recurrent tragedy of sibling rivalry, even fratricide. Cain and Abel. Isaac and Ishmael. Jacob and Esau. Joseph and his brothers. And in 1st century Jerusalem, Zealots ruthlessly slaughtered their fellow Jews in a civil war that shattered national sovereignty for two thousand years.
Whether secular and religious Jews can live together in Israel without the groundless hatred that retains the potential to destroy their nation from within remains an open question. If not, the Altalena may finally - but disastrously - be supplanted by a far more devastating Jewish tragedy.
Jerold S. Auerbach is the author of "Brothers at War: Israel and the Tragedy of the Altalena," from which this essay is adapted, to be published later this month by Quid Pro Books.
FC Jaffa, the Anglo team I've been playing with for 2 years, won its first trophy this past Saturday night - The inaugural Anglo Cup. Bring on next year!
I got a text message today from a good friend. He wanted to tell me that he and his wife were splitting up - a young family ruined. The relationship always seemed so strong, filled with love and caring. It hit me hard. It put a damper on the happiness of the approaching celebrations for Israel's 63rd Independence Day.
It's been on my mind for the past few hours.
This has further stressed to me the importance of always working on the relationship with my wife. A healthy relationship requires constant support, communication and love through the many ups and downs in the couple's journey through life. There's a reason the roots of happiness (שמח) and growth (צמח) are so similar - if you're not growing (together), you won't end up being happy (together).
Linking this episode to the joyous occasion of Israel's 63rd birthday is sadly too easy.
Too many of us take Israel for granted. We forget that our grandparents didn't have this privilege. We forget to appreciate walking on this land, to marvel at the return home of the Jewish nation from all corners of the earth and to take pride in speaking our once dormant language. We forget that if we don't strive to improve our relationship with our country and her citizens, we'll suffer a similar fate to the one we suffered under the Romans. We forget that if we don't strengthen our identity, be it here or abroad, all these miracles we've been a part of will all be for naught.
Israel has come a tremendously long way in a short period of time - but we need develop ourselves even more, and strive to better what needs improving within this country. This will ensure that the many sacrifices previous generations made will not be wasted and the future generations will have even more to appreciate than we did. _
This past week, I watched the BBC documentary, "USS Liberty - Dead in the Water", on Documentary Heaven. The USS Liberty, a US Naval warship, was attacked and put out of commission by the Israeli Air Force and Navy during the Six Day War while in international waters. The documentary interviewed many surviving crew members (34 crew members died during the attack) and by the end, settled on the fact that the Israeli operation was intentional and was most likely, a part of Operation Cyanide, a Israeli-US plan to blame the Egyptians for the attack (I guess similar to the Lavon Affair) and get the US involved in the war. While there are a number of theories as to why the ship was attacked (They are fairly well detailed in this Wikipedia link), this was the first time I heard of this theory. Here are my thoughts:
1) I don't believe this attack was unintentional, which is the shared outlook of the US and Israel. I don't believe Jim Ennes, or other surviving crew members, would all repeat the same testimony essentially saying Israel knew the ship was American. The 'This is war' explanation may work for the the first strike, but why the repeated aerial and naval strikes? It doesn't really add up.
2) I don't believe Operation Cyanide makes sense on a few counts: - Israel had already shown in '56 that their armed forces were capable of dealing with the Egyptian armed forces. While there was great uncertainty before '67, why would the US not have taken other 'steps' (i.e. increased military backing) to Israel before this drastic step? - The idea that Israel, as per the documentary, had planned the operation for a couple of months before the war raises some question marks in my mind too. Was the US really that eager to get rid of Nasser? Were they that eager for a full out encounter with Nasser's main backers, the USSR? If they were 'anti-Nasser,' why was their approach in the Middle East often neutral (as it was during the Six Day War)? - The interview with Rafi Eitan about the operation was also odd. Eitan acts as if he knows something, but then (obviously) refuses to reveal anything. Going by how 'big' this operation would have been, I don't understand how Eitan would have known about it. He wasn't, at least as far as I know, that senior that he'd been privy to those talks.
3) I do believe the attack was intentional. The world's most advanced spy ship was close enough to the Sinai coastline that there is no way they weren't spying - be it on the Israelis or the Egyptians. They were in a war zone and spying ... I still don't think however that there was a need for more assaults on the ship after the first one. _
To promote a unifying and tolerant approach that combines religious observance and tradition with open mindedness, while confronting contemporary challenges in the footsteps of our Sages and their teachings.
Our Objectives
· To promote the unity of the Jewish people through respecting the honor and rights of every individual. · To strengthen Torah studies by guaranteeing decent and proper financial support for selected competent scholars, while encouraging participation in the workforce and higher education. · To unify all sectors of Israeli society through equal sharing of the country’s burdens. · To educate the youth regarding Jewish values and to instill them with a deep recognition and understanding of Jewish and Israeli heritage. · To improve religious services in Israel while also separating them from the political realm. · To combat discrimination and social injustice in all sectors of Israeli society without compromise. · To disseminate the supportive stance of our Sages towards the Land and the State of Israel. · To solve the conversion problems in the State of Israel and the controversy surrounding the IDF conversions of non-Jewish immigrants from Jewish descent according to the Halacha. _
Keren's arrival in our lives has quite obviously changed a few things. The one thing that slipped my mind was brought to my attention by my sister, who visited Israel with her fiancee this past week. When I commented on what a big boy Nissim is, she wisely said, "He only seems big now because you're comparing him to Keren. Remember, he's still a little boy." My lil sis made an important point - I may subconsciously be looking at Nissim as a 'big boy,' but in fact he's still that same happy and curious 2.5 year old he was before Keren was born.
***
Before the start of 7th day of Chag (Passover), I ran to the nearby 24-7 supermarket to buy some ingredients so that Talya could make albóndigas (meat balls). While waiting on line, an old man looked at my Liverpool shirt and asked, "What's your connection to Liverpool?" "I've been a fan since I was a little boy," I answered, "And you?" "I'm from there," he answered proudly. Jokingly, I ensured that he wasn't from the 'blue half' of Merseyside before wishing him a Chag Sameach. Despite a reputation for the opposite, Jerusalem really is quite diverse ...
*** As there's not enough time to write about a mishna from each chapter of Pirkei Avot (which Sephardim & Mizrachim start reading this upcoming weekend) this year, I'll just link to the blogs I wrote during the cycles of 2008 and 2010:
Won't make much difference, but at least the truth does make noise sometimes:
In an interview published on the IDF's Spokesman's Office website, Mathilde Redmatn, deputy director of the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip, said that there "is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza," adding: "If you go to the supermarket, there are products. There are restaurants and a nice beach."
Rather, according to Redmatn, the issue in Gaza was "mainly in maintenance of infrastructure and in access to goods, concrete for example."
Referring to Israel's blockade on the Strip, Redmatn said that while "Israel has the legitimate right to protect the civilian population, this right should be balanced with the right of 1.5 million people living in the Gaza Strip."
"Despite the easing of the closure and the partial lifting of export bans in the wake of the flotilla incident, continued restrictions on the movement of people and difficulties in importing building materials hampered sustainable economic recovery and dashed any hope of leading a normal and dignified life," the Red Cross official was quoted as saying.
"Our goal is not to negotiate peace, but to ensure the well-being of the civilian population," Redmatn told the IDF website.
"We understand and recognize Israel's right to security but it needs to maintain the balance between that and the right of Palestinians living in Gaza to [earn] a living and to [access] proper medical care. Of course this is also the responsibility of Hamas to its citizens and therefore we also have relations with them."
Redmatn also reiterated her condemnation of rockets fired from Gaza into Israel, saying that "rocket-fire from the Gaza Strip is against international law because it is directed at civilians," adding that the Red Cross conducts a "confidential or bilateral dialogue with Hamas on the matter. As time passes, the dialogue also develops."
During my daughter's Zeved Ha'Bat today, the lil one finally got her name ... Keren* Sonia** Piha.
* Talya and I both really liked the name. The translation of Keren is 'ray of light,' which we felt symbolized the extra brightness she's added to our lives since her birth last week.
** We decided to honor my late Granny, Sonia Levitt, who passed away in 1996 after a long bout with cancer. She always radiated positive energy and came off as a happy, good person. She had an extremely positive effect on my life and I'm extremely honored to have our first daughter carry her name. She was definitely a 'ray of light' in the lives of those who had the privilege of knowing her.
Shavoah Tov & Happy Passover ... שבוע טוב וחג פסח שמח וכשר _
Talya started having contractions on Tuesday. Despite growing intensity, they weren't close enough to warrant a return visit to the hospital after the first two visits. By Thursday night however, the contractions were strong enough to get us to the hospital. This time, unlike the previous two times, they took us in. This was it, we're going to have another child. We were excited.
***
The time in the hospital was surreal - to see Talya dealing with such pain was humbling. I know couples are in this 'together' and that the wife heavily relies on the verbal support of her husband, but let's be honest - this is the woman by herself. Tals was incredible - and to see her holding her child after so many hours of pain and struggle was a moment I'll always cherish.
***
When the doctor handed over the little princess, she immediately told us, "You best say Ha'Gomeltomorrow." I ignored it at first as a woman is supposed to say Ha'Gomel after every pregnancy. Then she showed me the umbilical cord and I understood. It was knotted - it was a miracle that this complication didn't cause any problems. Pregnancy is an amazing process, but one 'little' glitch and there's often times serious complications. Toda la'el that that one 'glitch' had no effect on our process.
***
Nissim's first interactions with his sister were precious. He was mesmerized by her at first.
As we changed her, his amazement turned to concern as he asked her, "Mah kara?" ("What happened?").
To try and calm her down, he tried helping his mother push the pacifier into his sister's mouth.
He succeeded and the siblings are happy! So far at least! :)
No name yet. We're still working on it. I guess that will have to wait till the next blog ... _
Talya and I are very happy to announce the arrival of our second child, a baby girl born this morning at 10:15am at Hadassah Ein Kerem. She weighed in at 3.2 kilos and kept her mom busy the past 48 hours!
The name, many thoughts (probably) and more pictures to follow ... stay tuned. _
כל ימי אשר הנגע בו יטמא טמא הוא בדד ישב מחוץ למחנה מושבו (תזריע יג,מו).
בפסוק זה יש לכאורה כפילות, ראוי היה יותר טוב להכתב "טמא הוא - בדד ישב", אם כן המשך הכתוב "מחוץ למחנה מושבו" - למה לי?
ויש לבאר, שידוע הוא שהנגעים באים בעוון לשון הרע, ולכן המצורע לוקה מידה כנגד מידה: הוא שגורם פירוד בין איש לאשתו ובין אדם לחברו - יהיה עתה פרוד ומנותק מאשתו וידידיו.
לאור זאת מובן היטב יותר לשון הפסוק, התורה באה להדגיש לנו שהמצורע נענש במידה כנגד מידה, הוא גרם פירוד בין אדם לחבירו, לכאן כאת "מחוץ למחנה מושבו" - הרחק ממקום הישוב של חביריו. ואל יחשוב אותו אדם אשר בו הנגע, שיכול הוא להזמין את אשתו להיות עמו מחוץ למחנה להפיג את בדידותו; עליו לשבת "בדד" - לגמרי, שהרי בזמן שדיבר לשון הרע הפריד גם בין בעל לאשתו, לכן עליו לחוש את הטעם של בעל הנאלץ להפרד מאשתו, ובכך ימנע מלדבר שוב לשון הרע. ולכן כותבת התורה את שני התנאים האמורים: "בדד ישב" - בלא אשתו, "מחוץ למחנה מושבו" - בלא ידידו
When I told the lads at the office that my wife & I were expecting our 2nd child, one statement by Zak (of Parasha Thoughts fame) stuck with me. He mentioned how unlike the time period before their first child was born, they didn't really have a chance to focus on, or prepare themselves for, the arrival of their second child. Before they knew it, nine months had come n' gone and they had another healthy, crying baby to deal with.
It stuck with me ...I realized I was in the same exact predicament. So I tried to talk about it more with the wife & son, and just think about it more than I was doing beforehand. "You're going to be a father to two children b'h," I would say to myself and then let the mixed emotions - the happiness, the worries, the excitement, the nerves etc - take over.
I honestly thought I was doing a good job ... and then I looked at my calender yesterday. 30th of March? That means the due date is 8 days away. 8 days alek. Where have the last 8.5 months gone? Damnit, I really need to remember how to breathe properly. Breathe. Breathe. I kid, I kid.
Yalla, bring it on ... A healthy wife & baby be'ezrat Hashem. _
Parashat Shemini contains the exact halfway mark of all the words in the Torah. It occurs in 10:15:
ואת שעיר החטאת דרש דרש משה והנה שרף ויקצף על אלעזר ועל איתמר בני אהרון הנותרם לאמור
The two words דרש דרש are the halfway mark, and they translate to 'inquired insistently.' Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ephraim comments in Degel Machane Ephraim that this teaches us that the entire Torah revolves around constant inquiry; one must never stop studying and seeking an ever deeper and broader understanding of the Torah.
When I first started attending the Kurdi shul near my home, an old man (Yonah), who seemed to be suffering from Parkison's, always caught my eye. I never spoke to the man, just shook his hand a few times. What caught my eye was what I thought was his intense dedication when praying or saying kaddish. It was important to him, and it showed.
During the past few 18-24 months, he no longer came to shul. I found out from a friend that he was in hospital as his health was detereorating rapidly with advanced Parkinson's & Alzheimer's. He had been in a coma the last few months.
Purim, in Jerusalem, was this past Sunday night. My wife told me that Yonah's wife was getting ready for the megillah reading when her daughter and daughter-in-law came in and said they have to go to the hospital, her husband was about to pass away. Yonah's wife looked at them and said, "If I go, I won't hear the megillah. I need to hear the megillah." Her daughter and daughter-in-law left, and the second the megillah reading was finished, she left too.
Yonah z'l passed away that night. When my wife told me the story, I didn't know what to say - I understand both the 'sides' of this story. I didn't really respond to the story ... but I couldn't help but just be in awe. _
The horrific murder of 5 members of the Fogel family in Itamar on March 11th really upset me. The parents (Udi & Ruth) and 3 (Yoav, 11, Elad 4 and Hadas, 3 months) of their 5 children were butchered while they slept by a knife wielding terrorist (or terrorists, no one really knows yet). What kind of hatred must it take to knife anyone, even your enemy's children? What astounded me more was the response to the murder by the family that was left behind.
Tamar Fogel, the 12 year old who walked into her home to find her butchered family, has been a ray of light to Israel. She commented on the tragic situation, "I will be strong and succeed in overcoming this. I understand the task that stands before me, and I will be a mother to my siblings." Days later, in an interview on Channel 2, Tamar showed the same maturity and resolve, "They want to break us, they won't succeed".
Another family member who made extremely powerful comments was Tamar's grandfather, the late Ruth Fogel's father. Rabbi Yehuda Ben Yishai was questioned by Estie Perez on the Voice of Israel radion station, "Where do you have the strength and restraint that you can talk now and strengthen us, without anger and without calling for vengeance – that is not in your voice? Where is the strength from?" R' Ben Yishai's response was incredible, "I have worked in education many years, and as an educator, I try to strengthen and teach people faith. I understand that I cannot be satisfied with words and that I also must implement the same principles on which I have educated others. This is a test of my faith." While R' Ben Yishai's quote is one of strength and determination, I can't help but think he's burnt inside. No parent should have to bury his children, or grandparent his grandchildren - it's just not natural. How can it not destroy one internally?
This past Shabbat, my mother-in-law mentioned how the twins went to the shiva house of R' Ben Yishai. She made some comment about the Rabbi, and I asked, "Is he the Rabbi of the French shul down the road?" She nodded, and I sat back in shock. I prayed at this man's Bet Knesset for over a year, and often discussed various subjects with him. I talk to him whenever I run into him in the street or in other synagogues in the area. I just wonder if I'll ever be able to look at him the same way ... Will he ever be the same man again? _
My latest article in Kaminando y Avlando, the Sephardi Hebrew Congregation of Cape Town's monthly publication:
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Spreading Lies About Israel: For Once, Hamas Sets the Record Straight
The damage Judge Richard Goldstone caused with his biased UN report about the Gaza War was predicable. Despite the many issues with the report raised by many prominent voices, not to mention Goldstone himself (“If this was a court of law, there would have been nothing proven”), far too many people and countries accepted the report as factually accurate. In the past two months however, one organization has come forward, revealing Goldstone’s dishonesty on two major points in his report: The opening strike of the Gaza War in December 2008, and the total civilian death count. Who’s the honest organization defending Israel’s take on the war? Believe it or not, it’s the terrorist organization, Hamas.
Hamas was caught off guard by Israel’s surprise air strike on December 27, 2008, which was the beginning of a war aimed at stopping the relentless rocket fire aimed at the towns and kibbutzim of Southern Israel. This attack, which killed 250 to 300 Hamas operatives, per the Israeli version, was covered in Goldstone’s report as follows:
417. Except for the statements of the police spokesperson, the Israel Government has presented no other basis on which a presumption can be made against the overall civilian nature of the police in Gaza. It is true that the police and the security forces created by Hamas in Gaza may have their origins in the Executive Force. However, while the Mission would not rule out the possibility that there might be individuals in the police force who retain their links to the armed groups, it believes that the assertion on the part of the Government of Israel that “an overwhelming majority of the police forces were also members of the Hamas military wing or activists of Hamas or other terrorist organizations” appears to be an overstatement that has led to prejudicial presumptions against the nature of the police force that may not be justified.
Goldstone’s lie (bolded) has finally been exposed by an anti-Israeli source: Hamas's Interior Minister Fathi Hamad, who admitted that during the first day of Operation Cast Lead, 250 Hamas fighters were killed. Hamad, who confirmed the figures in an interview with the London-based Arabic language daily Al-Hayat, said that the so-called "police officers" who were killed during the first day of the operation were actually 250 Hamas fighters, and that 150 additional "security personnel" were also killed. Goldstone’s twisted lies about this strike highlight a worrying trend within the report. It’s unfortunate that Goldstone’s lie was only revealed to most as a result of Hamad’s surprising honesty, and not through the IDF’s explanation of the strike.
Hamad continued to surprise by admitting that the civilian death count thrown around by many NGOs was grossly exaggerated. With the Gaza War’s conclusion, both Israeli and Palestinian NGOs began spreading the lie that the civilian death count in the war was 75%+ (for example, B’Tselem, an Israeli NGO, alleged that 75% of those killed were civilians, while PCHR, a Palestinian NGO, claimed 70-85% of the dead were civilians).Despite being confronted with a repeat of the ‘Jenin’ lie, the IDF acted slowly as they didn’t have all the information necessary to disprove the allegations. The damage was done: The anger on the streets, be it in Israel or outside of Israel, increased dramatically.Ambassadors were recalled. Countries berated Israel, and their courts threatened to charge Israeli leaders with war crimes. Israelis started to get concerned that their army had purposefully attacked civilians. However, one can only hope this damaged can begin to be repaired by Hamad’s interview with Al-Hayat. In this interview, Hamad acknowledged that 600 to 700 Hamas members were killed in the Gaza fighting – more than double the number of combatants published by the NGOs’ and Richard Goldstone’s unreliable version of events. 60%+ of the dead in the Gaza War were Hamas terrorists.
Israel, despite fighting in one of the most densely populated areas in the world, had managed to target terrorists with a reasonable level of success. Tragically, there were many civilians who lost their lives during the three weeks, but there were no “disproportionate” or “indiscriminate” Israeli attacks against the civilians of Gaza, as Goldstone alleged in his report.
Goldstone says that, since the report was published a few years ago, no one has actually challenged the ‘facts’ presented therein. Although this is yet another of Goldstone’s fabrications, perhaps the unlikely testimony from Hamad will be the final nail in the report’s coffin. Despite the unexpected ‘help’ from Hamas, the report has already caused tremendous damage to Israel internally and on the international stage. It is essential that Israel learn and internalize (yet again) the lesson that it will always be attacked - from within and without - with falsehoods. We do make our mistakes, and when we do, we need to acknowledge and learn from them. However, let's be entirely sure that the truth hasn't been deliberately ignored and swept under the rug in order to launch more disgraceful and hateful attacks on the Jewish State.
The Jewish Chronicle's latest article on the JC Olim League:
With the JC Olim season in Israel coming to a low key end in the league, the teams attention turns to the cup.
This week paired Jaffa against Jerusalem in a repeat of last weeks league game in Jerusalem,
After last week’s goal-fest between these two sides in the league, Jerusalem and Jaffa FC met at the quarter final stage. The game started brightly with both teams pushing forward looking for opportunities.
Jaffa’s first break of the game ended with a dubious penalty awarded that caught even the Jaffa players off guard. After furious Jerusalem protests abated, Nir Ha'Cohen gave the keeper little chance with a powerful strike.
With the momentum on their side, Jaffa pushed forward looking for another goal and were duly rewarded within a few minutes when Rani Madmon buried a tight angled shot over Jerusalem's keeper.
2-0 down, Jerusalem dug deep and starting creating chances to score. Their breakthrough came from a corner, when a headed clearance landed at David Moccata's feet. His long-range shot found its way into the top left corner.
Both teams continued to look for goals but the score remained 2-1 until the half time.
Jerusalem poured attackers forward in search of an equaliser at the beginning of the second half. A shot by David Zackon was calmly dealt with by Avram Piha, before Jaffa managed to increase their lead. A beautifully weighted free kick by Simon Berkley was nodded back across goal by Daniel Berkeley, leaving Madmon with a simple header.
Berkeley's presence on the pitch galvanised Jaffa, who had only last week seen their charsimatic Scottish talisman on crutches. Despite the goal, Jerusalem continued looking for a breakthrough and thought they had it on a corner, until Seth Freedman powerfully cleared the ball off the line.
Another excellent counter attack by Jerusalem put David Preston through, but his goal-bound shot was brilliantly parried around the post by Piha, preserving Jaffa's two-goal cushion.
Despite Jerusalem's non-stop onslaught, every danger was neutralised by Jaffa's new centre-back partnership of Nir Madmon and Rob Pearl. With Jerusalem committing more men forward, another clever pass by Berkeley found Ha'Cohen free, and Jaffa's right-winger ended the tie with a powerful low finish.
The 4-1 scoreline sees Jaffa progress to the semi finals, where they will be facing Modi'in AFC
I guess it's telling ... I had this whole idea of what I'd write for my 8th aliya'versary blog yesterday, and I just plainly forgot to write it. Too busy at work, too busy at home and Liverpool were playing too. Oh well, so now it's 8 years and 1 day now ... It's odd to look back at the sparks that created this dream for me, or the determination and motivation in the months leading up to the move. I've thoroughly enjoyed this journey - the ups and the downs - and have no regrets. I'm looking forward to every day and every adventure life here with my precious family brings.
Aaron and I were both members of WUJS's February 2003 group. Last week, he told me that he was making yerida with his family due to various issues. Israel isn't for everyone (at least not now), and it's a difficult challenge at times to make it work here. It's tough to lose good people like Aaron & his family, but one can only wish them luck and hope that they return (and if not the parents, then the children!). I hope their new adventure in the US only brings them happiness and fulfillment.
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In the last two months, the Tunisian & Egyptian governments have been overthrown by massive internal unrest. In Lebanon, Hezbollah succeeded in a silent coup to rid the country of the democratically elected Said Hariri, the man who's father they murdered. These events have lit a fire in the Arab world - riots, protests, fatalities and hundreds of injuries have followed in Syria, Bahrain, Jordan, Yemen, Libya, Algeria & Iran. What does this mean for them? I really don't know. I am not very optimistic considering what we've seen happen in Gaza & Lebanon, or what has happened in Iran since the overthrow of the Shah in '79. I hope moderate, respectful leaders somehow get into power and usher in a new era for their people. I really do ... I'd rather not think about what happens if they don't ...
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I watched a documentary about Yossi Gispan yesterday. The man is responsible for writing most of the Mizrachi hits that have propelled this genre to the forefront of the Israeli music scene. It was really interesting until the end where a music analyst and various artists decided to take shots at Yossi's genre (No points for guessing what they all had in common):
"This music is destroying the Hebrew language"
"I see a direct correlation between the success of the Mizrachi genre and that the most watched shows in Israel are reality TV shows that don't require thought or 'deep thinking'" (Ivri Leader)
"There's no Israeli culture, they've ruined it" (Mati Caspi)
"Israeli Music is at a low point that's it's never seen before. There's no way back from this vulgarity. We won't be able to return the rock, the pop, or 'Israeli country music' (שירי ארץ ישראל) to their old, good place. The Mizrachi singers also sing our repertoire, the white people." (Chava Alberstein)
Wait a second ... Elitism? Racism? Naaaah, not in Israel.
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Should have probably blogged about this last month ... The King came back.
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Talya & I are expecting #2 b'h in early April ... The roller coaster ride continues! :) _
בסדר האלף-בית באות לפני אותיות "לב" - אותיות א"ך (אות כ' לפני אות ל', ואות א' לפני אות ב'), ואחרי ה"לב" באות האותיות ג"ם (אחרי ל' - מ', ואחרי ב' - ג'). מלת "אך" משמעותה כלשון 'מיעוט', לעומתה מלת "גם" מבטאת לשון ריבוי. להורות כיצד להנהיג את ליבנו: פעמים ייתן את ליבו לצד ה'אך' שבו - כלומר ישפיל וימעיט עצמו, ופעמים עלין לשים לב לצד ה'גם' שלידו - יחזק את עצמו עד שירבה את ערכו בעיני עצמו
I thought yesterday's Channel 10 documentary on R' Ovadia was extremely interesting. Here are some of the issues/facts that stood out during the documentary:
* R' Ovadia's family made aliyah to the Mandate from Iraq. All his brothers were members of the Etzel.
* R' Ovadia's father had his son work in his grocery store every weekday for a few hours. The Rosh Yeshiva of Porat Yosef (where R' Ovadia was learning) came to the store and told his father he'd work those hours every day as his son was extremely gifted and should focus on learning Torah. His father refused.
* R' Ovadia's father changed his tune when the store was robbed a few times and he realized his son wasn't a good 'store keeper.'
* From a young age, R' Ovadia always wanted to be Gadol Ha'Dor.
* He was awared the Israel Prize for literature in 1970.
* After the Yom Kippur War, he presided over all the cases of the agunot when all other Rabbis asked had refused the important task. He spent hours every day with the Army reviewing every case and ensuring each woman was given a status of a widow (and hence, could re-marry if so she choosed). His family say he cried for hours every night during the process.
* His view on Halacha is far less machmir than most realize (Kocha D'hetera Ad)
* He has 11 children.
* The idea of Shas was put in front of him after his great disappointment at being removed (political stunt?) from being the Chief Rabbi of Israel. Shas would not have come to be however if R' Shach had advised R' Ovadia against forming the party. The two fell out when R' Ovadia supported going into Rabin's government in 1992, while R' Shach disapproved.
* Most of the controversial comments in the media come after his weekly shiur on motza"sh (Saturday evening). Shulamit Aloni, one of those insulted, and others condemn the remarks despite acknowledging he at times does it for show. Most of the interviewees that one would assume are 'anti' R' Ovadia all acknowledge the tremendous good he's done to the country but express disappointment & disgust at the negative comments he's made.
* Lastly, is R' Ovadia anti-Zionist? ... "What is anti-Zionist? It is a lie, it is a term which they have concocted themselves. I served for ten years as a Chief Rabbi - a key public position in the State of Israel. In what way are we not Zionists? We pray for Zion, for Jerusalem and its inhabitants, for Israel and the Rabbis and their students. What is Zionist? By our understanding, a Zionist is a person who loves Zion and practices the commandment of settling the land. Whenever I am overseas I encourage Aliyah. In what way are they more Zionist than us?"
This past Shabbat morning, a 14 year old kid read the haftarah at the synagogue I went to. As he read, one person (a family member) continually corrected him loudly with an aggressive tone when he made mistakes (This all happened while the ba'alkoreh was next to the boy). A few corrections later, the kid stopped for a few seconds before continuing. The way he was being corrected was rattling him. I've known this kid for a few years and he always comes off as a kid with a healthy self-esteem, but he looked shaken yesterday when he came down from the bima. Later on, I went up to him and told him he did a good job and to not worry about the corrections, "You read well, and you'll only get better." "Don't worry, I'm used to it," he responded with a dejected frown.
This really bothered me most of Shabbat. It reminded me of my Bar Mitzvah experience - I was confident, and I thought I had read my parasha perfectly. When I asked my late Nonnou how I had done, he said something along the lines of "You did very well, but you made 7 mistakes." Despite this, Nonnou left the corrections to the ba'alkoreh next to me and allowed me to read without any interruptions. While I'm rather certain my errors were minor (most likely 'small' pronunciation - where Nonnou was very strict - errors), I never found out where I erred ... so who knows!
While some may say Nonnou's handling of the situation put me in a worse position than the boy at synagogue yesterday, I feel exactly the opposite. I came off the bimah that day confident, happy with my performance, and eager to do it again. The boy yesterday was dejected and didn't enjoy the privilege he was given that much. Which youngster was given the necessary 'confidence booster'? _
My latest article in Kaminando y Avlando, the Sephardi Hebrew Congregation of Cape Town's monthly publication:
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In the national crisis that followed the discrimination against Sephardi students in an Emmanuel (‘the Bnei Brak of the Shomron’) school in June, two opinions came out of Shas, the Sephardi Haredi (Haredi = Ultra Orthodox) party. The majority stance was that of R’ Ovadia Yosef, who opposed the discrimination but criticized the intervention of the Supreme Court. The minority voice came from one MK (Member of Parliament), R’ Chaim Amsalem, who declared, “We need to get out of our inferiority complex and be proud of being Sephardim.” Since the Emmanuel crisis, R’ Amsalem has continued in his vocal attempts to rehabilitate Shas’s warped Sephardi worldview and pull the party, its Haredi followers and Ashkenazi brothers away from the Israeli-Ashkenazi Haredi ‘way of life.’
In order to understand why R’ Amsalem’s stance is so critical to Israel, one must better understand Shas and its influences. Shas was founded by R’ Ovadia in 1984 prior to the elections of that year. As the party was being formed, R’ Ovadia received much guidance from R’ Elazar Shach, the leader of Israel's non-Hasidic Haredi Ashkenazi Jews. This undoubtedly played its part in Shas supporting, and at times mimicking, the Israeli-Asheknazi Haredi worldview in relation to yeshiva study, army, conversions, core studies in schools and employment. This stance negates the Sephardi worldview of yesteryear, which is why R’ Amsalem can play such a critical role in Israel’s future. As the anger and disenchantment directed at the Haredi – both Sephardi and Ashkenazi - world grows, R’ Amsalem’s moderate outlook can bridge the gaps within our society.
Army
In the early 1950s, David Ben Gurion exempted 400 yeshiva students from the army, so they could devote their time to Torah study, with the hope they’d replace the many sages we lost during the Holocaust. In 1977, Menachem Begin removed the 400-student cap and since then, Haredi students entering the yeshiva world have been able to get exemptions from the army if they so choose. While Shas has no issues with the IDF, they do not promote it for their Haredi followers (many of Shas’s voters are traditional or secular Sephardim – a dominant majority of this constituency serves in the IDF).
Unlike far too many in Shas, R’ Amsalem believes it’s the duty of every Jew to serve in the army – unless the person in question is a Torah prodigy (a student who is extremely advanced and learned relative to his age). These prodigies, a small minority, must continue to study Torah and Gemara all day, but the others must serve and protect the country. This would eliminate one of the most contentious issues in our country – why is one sector of our society exempt from this service?
Yeshiva
Before the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, few Jews who lived in the Arab world had the ability to study all day, mainly due to the need to pay taxes and take care of their families. Only the Torah prodigies were given that privilege. Unfortunately, far too many Haredim have decided they too are deserving of this privilege. Sadly, this trend has led to higher levels of poverty and greater reliance on tzedaka (charity). R’ Amsalem highlights this problem by quoting Rambam, who wrote that one who studies Torah, doesn’t work and lives from charity has desecrated Hashem and humiliated the Torah. Rambam was opposed to this lifestyle, and even went further by saying that studying Torah without pursuing a parnassa (livelihood) leads to idleness, crime and eventually theft. The continuing Haredi support for full-time yeshiva students needs to change – if not because of Rambam’s warnings, then because it is sentencing its followers to a life of poverty.
Conversions
With all the recent headlines about conversions in Israel (Rotem Law), R’ Amsalem’s recent book about the halachot (Jewish law) dealing with conversion issues has unfortunately received much criticism. R’ Amsalem believes that we need to seek ways still within the guidelines of halacha to make it easier for potential converts to join Am Yisrael. R’ Amsalem also thinks it is essential to help IDF soldiers who want to convert, as “the virtue of those who fight to protect the Jewish people is great.” Unlike the Shas leadership, R’ Amsalem criticizes the Rabbinate’s fantasy that all converts must maintain a Haredi lifestyle after their conversion. He blames this fantasy on the Ashkenazi Lithuanian Haredi branch, which has control in the Rabbinate and doesn’t practice “pragmatism in halacha.”
Core Studies in School
Within the Israeli Haredi curriculum, core studies like English, mathematics and science are very often not taught. R’ Amsalem believes teaching these subjects is essential to allow Haredim to integrate into all walks of life. By refusing to do so, Haredi youngsters cannot enter the job market (bar avodot kodesh - like a shochet, ascribe, a Rabbi etc) and are left dependent on their leaders for allowances and donations (no wonder they vote for parties like Shas and UTJ come election time!). As R’ Amsalem says, “Studies in English and math, what’s bad about it? What is this idiocy? How does it take away from Torah?”
Employment
In 1980, 21% of Haredi men didn’t work. Today, the number has risen to a staggering 65%. Some of the reasons for this increase have already been discussed above. R’ Amsalem believes that the Haredi community must use Yaakov Avinu or Rambam as examples of Torah sages who integrated Torah study with work (another great example from the many Rabbis who worked and studied is Chafetz Chaim, who kept his modest shop open until he had earned enough for his daily needs; he then closed his shop, and studied the rest of the day). R’ Amsalem is stating the sad but obvious truth: Poverty levels will continue to rise within the Haredi world if this move towards mass voluntary unemployment doesn’t change, and that will only lead to more unnecessary confrontations with the Jews who shoulder the burden of this poverty within Israel and abroad.
R’ Chaim Amsalem has taken a brave step within the Haredi world. The backlash has been fierce - his Shas career is essentially over (especially since he referred to it as a ‘Lithuanian-Sephardic party’), and he’s been labeled a ‘Hebrew Amalekite.’ Despite the expected hostility from parts of the Haredi world, R’ Amsalem has received an outpouring of support from all over Israel. His words have hit a chord with a majority of Israelis. This popularity has not changed R’ Amsalem reasons for stating why it’s imperative he speak up now. He feels that by not working and not serving in the army, Haredim are avoiding their duty and increasing the anger and hatred felt towards them. “There is a large Sephardi public,” Amsalem laments, “that needs to be rescued, that needs to be pushed to a course of parnassa and work, it’s urgent.”
Why the urgency? R’ Amsalem strongly believes that if the Haredi, be it Sephardi or Ashkenazi, community does its bit in the army and workforce, the face of the country will change dramatically for the better, the sinat chinam (baseless hatred) will drop and thousands will be drawn to the Torah of Israel.
Rabbi Noah Weinberg zt"l was speaking to a group about judging people to the good. He was asked how to deal with people who seem so negative and evil. He replied: "Imagine you were at a corner ready to cross at a light. All of the sudden from behind someone shoves you into the street. You fall and get up scratched and dirty; you turn, ready to give the person who shoved you some of the angriest words you know. When you turn around, ready to pounce, you see that the person behind you is wearing dark glasses and holding a white cane. How do you feel now? Instantly you calm down, and your anger dissipates. He couldn't help it. he was blind."
"That", Rabbi Weinberg said is how we deal with people who appear to us to be evil and mean. "The person is blind. S/he doesn't wake up in the morning and decide to hurt people that day. The person literally doesn't know what they are doing. They are blind". "The next time your parent, in-law, coworker etc. does something to make you crazy, picture them wearing dark glasses and holding a white cane. They are blind. They can't see that they are doing wrong. Help them, guide them, and show them gently the error of their ways. But don't expect them to change. A blind person can't see overnight. It takes time, and sometimes they will never see."
A man once complained bitterly to R' Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev that his business was failing. He was completely absorbed with this and could not think of anything else. His life had come to a standstill.
R' Levi Yitzchok said, 'You cannot think of anything else? Come, let us go to the mikveh." The man assumed that R' Levi Yitzchok intended to enhance his prayers for him by purifying himself in the mikveh. Once they were in the mikveh, R' Levi Yitzchok submerged the man's head underwater, and the man struggled to break free. R' Levi Yitzchok then said, "What was in your mind when I held your head under water?" "I wanted to breathe," the man said. "Were you thinking about your business?" "No," the man said, "I just wanted to be able to breathe."
"Then there is something more important to you than your business, isn't there? You should think of all the other things that are actually more important than your business and direct proper attention to them. Then you will act more constructively, and a more positive attitude will help you in your business as well."
My latest article in Kaminando y Avlando, the Sephardi Hebrew Congregation of Cape Town's monthly publication:
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Israel, like many other countries in the world, is football (soccer) mad.Football’s the national sport and the country takes tremendous interest in games and leagues both domestic and international. Every Saturday or Sunday afternoon, thousands of Israelis can be found at the country’s various stadia cheering on their teams.
Although the Israeli league is considered to be rather weak, there is normally a yearly representative in the Champions League or the Europa League (formerly known as the UEFA cup).In the last ten years, Israel has seen Maccabi Haifa defeat Manchester United, Hapoel Tel Aviv defeat AC Milan and Maccabi Tel Aviv defeat Ajax in these competitions. These results, and the participation in these prestigious tournaments, are a source of great pride for Israelis.
The same feelings are often replicated when one of our own plays in one of the big European leagues.From past greats like Haim Revivo (Celta Vigo), Avi Nimni (Atletico Madrid), Tal Banin (Brescia) and Eyal Berkovic (Manchester City & Celtic) to today’s heroes like Yossi Benayoun (Liverpool & Chelsea), Tal Ben Haim (Chelsea & West Ham), Ben Sahar (Chelsea & Espanyol) and Gai Assulin (Barcelona & Manchester City), Israelis love to see their own succeed and represent Israel abroad.
The aforementioned individual and club successes have unfortunately yet to translate into any national team success.Having not been at any major tournament since the 1970 World Cup, most fans funnily enough still believe that the national team will qualify for the next Euro or the World Cup. (Until we actually do, we’ll have to be grateful for seeing our flag waved around as it was by then Hapoel Tel Aviv defender, Ghana’s John Pantsil – picture below).
It seems that most of us fans have internalized David Ben Gurion’s famous quote, “In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles!”With football being such a passion for most Israelis, many of the youth dream of being the next Yossi Benayoun or Tal Ben Haim.However, not every kid follows through with these ‘dreams,’ be it due to ability, injuries or … Zionism.
Last year, I joined FC Jaffa, a team in the newly created Anglo Olim League. The 7-team league required all teams to field Anglo Olim, while also allowing two Israeli born players per squad. One of the Israeli players on our team was a 25 year old by the name of Rani Madmon. On the first ride from Jerusalem to our home pitch in Ramat Aviv, Rani and I struck up a conversation about how we played the game while growing up.Rani grew up in the youth system of Beitar Yerushalyaim, one of Israel’s top teams. Ever present in their youth squads from a young age, Rani started talking about all the players he’d grown up with - household names for anyone like me who’s followed Beitar the past few years.
As we discussed the subject more, I asked him why he wasn’t out there at Teddy (Beitar’s Stadium) every second weekend.“I turned down the contract they offered me when I was 18,” he explained. You work your whole life to accomplish a lifelong dream, and when you’re on the cusp of achieving it, you turn it down?“I wanted to defend my family, my friends, my country,” He explained.“I couldn’t stand by as Jerusalem was exploding and do nothing, “ he continued, “Serving in the army was more important than football.”
I was shocked.
You see, even though I feel I am a passionate Zionist, I don’t really know if I could have made that decision if I were in his boots. Rani served 4 years in the army, becoming an officer in combat engineering.He still does miluim (reserve duty) every year and has little regrets about his decision.
Rani is but one story like this. Many of Israel’s talented 18-year-old footballers (not to mention musicians, scientists etc) put their careers on hold, sometimes permanently, in order to join the army and contribute to the defense of Israel.This, and a poor football infrastructure, has continually dented the development of football in our country. However, it’s precisely this dedication and love of Israel, which I think is still prevalent among Israel’s youth, that ensures Israel will overcome the internal and external obstacles in its path. _
Two months ago, Hamas admitted that the Israeli strike on the 1st day of the Gaza War eliminated 250 of their fighters - a fact even Richard Goldstone refused to acknowledge.
This month, another dose of Hamas honesty has shown the rife dishonesty within NGOs when reporting about Israel. Many NGOs reported the civilian death count at 75%+ of the 1,100+ Palestinian deaths. Naturally, by the time Israel released her numbers (Sadly, 39% of the dead were civilians, with the remaining 709 Palestinians being militants), the world had already slammed Israel for this 'Jenin' like massacre.
The truth?
In a November 2010 interview given by Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hamad to the Al-Hayat newspaper, Hamas acknowledged that 600-700 Hamas members were killed in the Gaza fighting – more than double the number of combatants published by the NGOs’ and Richard Goldstone’s unreliable version of events.
In particular, NGOs and Goldstone used their unsupported casualty claims as the sole basis for charges of “disproportionate” or “indiscriminate” Israeli attacks against Gaza civilians, even though under international law, the number of casualties is not a dispositive factor in determining whether war crimes were committed.
Each NGO conveyed its version of events. B’Tselem alleged that 75% of those killed were civilians. PCHR originally claimed 70% and later increased to 85%, and DCI-PS alleged that Israel killed 352 “children” (PCHR claimed 313).
The damage has already been done. It is essential however that we learn and internalize (yet again) the lesson that our country will always be attacked - from within and without - with falsehoods. We do make our mistakes, and when we do, we need to acknowledge and learn from them. However, before we do so, let's make sure the truth hasn't been swept under the rug in order to allow more disgraceful and hateful attacks on Israel. _
Grew up around the world - South Africa, Israel, Turkey, Italy, England & the US - and have now settled in Israel. Enjoying the many surprises life has to offer, while blogging about Israel, Judaism, footy and more.
