10 questions with Ahmed

Ahmed [False name used to protect identity and family] and I have been talking online since I saw a blog post of his about Zionism (back in 2004), which I thought needed my response. Though he's an Iraqi Muslim and I'm a Israeli Jew, we've become friends and despite various disagreements, there is a strong mutual respect and warm friendship. Here's a Q & A session with the man himself:

1) I remember what started our friendship was a post you had written about Judaism and Zionism. I didn't agree with various points you made, and I e-mailed you to discuss. Do you remember your first recollections of our conversation (and don't worry if you don't, I really don't anymore either!)?

How could I forget?! I was still at work and received your email. The first thing that caught my eyes was the letters "IDF".

You were serving in the army then, if my memory doesn't betray me, and you mentioned that you wanted to "extend an olive branch." I remember I sat back and started thinking. Growing up in a country that was run by an anti-Israel regime, I started thinking if this was a scam, an email from Mossad trying to recruit an Iraqi or if it was a real Jewish person who wanted to become friends with me.

I remember I did not respond right away to give it more thought. I was still doubtful even when I replied later. I was mainly worried because you were in the IDF, which is something considered evil, brutal and even satanic in Iraq.

2) As we talked more, how did your impression of Israeli Jews - especially religious Zionist Jews - change, if it did at all?

Before we had started talking, I met the first Jews ever in my life at work. They were Jewish Americans whom I worked and became good friends with. During that time, I started realizing there is a difference between what I grew up knowing and what the real definition of "Jew" is.

Most Iraqis, especially my generation, thought that every Jew is an Israeli Zionist, someone who "hates Palestinians and who wants to get rid of them forever."

However, I realized that there is actually a difference between the word "Zionist" and the word "Jew". Mind you, we were not subject to question the difference or even learn there is a difference!

You were honestly the very first Israeli Jew I've ever known and talked to. I must say that despite the fact that I was doubtful of you at first, I was a bit excited that you contacted me. Of course, it is still something I never shared with any of my family members and friends. No one would understand where I come from.

As we became friends -as I like to describe it- I started learning about where you come from. I disagreed, and still do, with a lot of the things you agree on. However, discussing such issues with you made me think that it's OK to disagree and not hate.

I do not remember if I "hated" Jews but I remember hating what the Palestinians were going through, especially during the second Intifada, which of course made me a bit angry with the "Zionists". Keep in mind, the word "Zionist" is considered a very bad word. We even did not call Israel "Israel". Instead, we used to call it "The Zionist Entity".

Something you may not know is Iraqis are not huge fans of Palestinians, but we have a saying "I'm against my cousin but I support my cousin against the stranger."

3) Growing up in Saddam's Iraq as a minority must have been difficult. What stands out about your youth there?

I'm from a Shiite background, something I don't like to define myself with or with any other term other than "Iraqi" or "Arab".

Under Saddam, most Iraqis from all sects and religions suffered. It was only the elite group that was favored by the regime. It included those from all sects and religions who were loyal to Saddam and the Baath Party.

4) You made a comment once about how you were educated about Jews in school. Can you share a bit more about that?

Well, like I said earlier we were mainly taught that the "Palestinian Cause" is something important and that Jews are the ones who are killing Palestinians and stealing their land. So you can imagine what we considered Jews to be.

Unfortunately, this has not changed much even after the Saddam was overthrown. However, Kurdish Iraqis are a little bit more accepting, at least the politicians. Rumors have it in Iraq that Kurdish leaders are in touch with their Israeli counterparts but they don't talk about it, fearing public rage.

5) What was it like being a war zone correspondent around that danger? Did it create any issues for you or your family? Any regrets?

Working for this news organization made me a stronger person. It was very hard to be objective and unbiased since I was covering the horrors my country was going through.

6) How did you get to the US? What are your thoughts about the country?

I came to the US to pursue my graduate studies. An American friend of mine encouraged me to apply to study in the US. In 2006, I arrived and have been living here since.

The US is a diverse place of people and thoughts. I come across ignorant, racist and intolerant people sometimes but I also meet very open-minded people who are aware of what is happening in the world.

I believe that a lot of American still need to get out of the bubble they live in and understand the world in a better way. A lot of Americans still think it's "UnAmerican" to question what happens here. This needs to change in order to better solve the problems.

7) You're a big fan of Obama. How do you think the Arab world sees the man? Do you feel he can promote a strong relationship between the US and the Arab world? How do you feel he's handled the Arab Spring rebellions?

I'm an Obama fan mostly because he's Democrat which I lean to become when I become a US citizen. I think he really cares about the people who are struggling in the US, but the Republicans are not giving him the chance to help those in need because they think it's "socialism," which they consider a bad thing. I think socialism can be useful too if it is not abused.

With regards to the Arab Spring, I do not like where the US administration stand. On one hand it was completely silent with regards to the tyrannical oppression of protesters in Bahrain, while on the other hand it intervened in what happened in Libya. It's all a matter of interests and the victims are the people. I believe you either fully support protesters' legitimate demands in every country controlled by totalitarian regimes or you don't. It's too ideal I believe and it will never happen.

8) What are your thoughts on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad & Iran?

I pity the Iranian people because of him. I know a lot of Iranians inside and outside Iran who despise what he's doing. He's taking his country backwards and hurting whatever chance left to make Iran blend in with the rest of the world.

9) You recently got engaged, so congrats yet again. Do you wish to settle down in the US and build your future there? Or is there a hope to return home, to Iraq? What do you see for the future of Iraq?

Thanks for the kind wishes!

The future in Iraq is grim. It'll take a really long time to rebuild Iraq to at least how it was before 2003. I do want to go home and help rebuild but like we say, "One hand doesn't clap". We need a group effort which doesn't seem like it's going to happen anytime soon.

I do intend to live in the US for now. Things change and you never know what the next step might be sometimes even if you plan it!

10) Last but not least - if you could control the powers that be, how would you end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

Two states as a start. Both sides must compromise. Palestinians need to build their new country and stop saying "It's our land. You stole it from us" and the Israelis should compromise and stop the whole "We were here before you" ideology if they both want peace. If no one compromises, this conflict will never end.

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In the News, II

This time, Haaretz:

Ashdod, returning from suspension, looked excited to be back in the thick of things. The team started off the brighter side with its number 11 rattling the crossbar on 12 minutes with a header. Moments later Jaffa was unlucky not to have been awarded a penalty after an Ashdod player appeared to handle the ball in the area. Ashdod also tasted bad luck in the first half after its winger was denied a penalty despite being hacked down in the area by Jaffa full back Yossi Sandler.

Jaffa got on the score sheet first as a defense-breaking pass from Alberto Tellias came through to Nir Hacohen, who confidently netted Jaffa's first goal of the season. The beginning of the second half saw Ashdod grab a deserved equalizer as Shlomi Touboul ran 40 meters past several Jaffa players before placing a low drive past Jaffa keeper Avram Piha.

Ashdod looked to take charge of the game but Jaffa had not given up the three points as Hacohen hit the crossbar for the second time in the game on 67 minutes. But it wasn't to be Jaffa's night, and on 77 minutes Alberto Tellias saw his powerful header hit the Ashdod crossbar.

A tiring Jaffa side weathered the storm over the last 10 minutes from a fast Ashdod attack. Daniel Berkeley, Simon Berkley and goalkeeper Avram Piha deserved full credit for making sure that Jaffa didn't end the night empty-handed.

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Roskas ... The Tradition Continues

My family traditionally breaks the fast (no pun intended) approaching Yom Kippur fast with feta, tomatoes, olive oil and za'atar sandwiched in a roska, a sweet bread/roll (drink of choice: Pepitada). One can obviously have roskas throughout the year, but we tend to only have them after the fast which is probably why I look forward to Yom Kippur more than most! ;) On that note, gmar chatima tova!

The recipe


Dough, Part I


Dough, Part II


Ready to go into the oven


The final product

תזכו לשנים טובות ונעימות

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Only in Israel

Gmar Chatima Tova!
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Taste like Chicken?

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Reshikas ... The Tradition Continues

Reshikas are twice baked cookies, served for various occasions including Rosh Ha'Shana (Spanish / English article). Talya & I decided to make them this year for the first time. The shapes aren't nearly as good as the ones Nonna, Mom or Tova make - but for a first effort, I'm happy. As Nonna said however, it's the taste that counts and they're yummy!

The recipe


Dough (yummy!)


Ready to go into the oven


The final product (well, before crisping)

שנה טובה ומתוקה! תזכו לשנים טובות ונעימות

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Concessions & History

Gidon Levy is an extremist. He does not represent the majority of Israeli left wingers. However, he does raise two ideas in his latest op-ed in Haaretz which are far too common way of thinking within the Israeli left. Levy highlights the falsehoods that concessions will probably bring peace and that attachment to our history is a stumbling block in our maturation as a country.

Netanyahu was particularly persuasive when he explained that a Palestinian state would endanger Israel - narrow waist, just hundreds of meters from Israeli cities, thousands of rockets - one giant blah-blah that willfully ignores the possibility of peace.

Willfully ignores the possibility of peace? Concessions don't bring peace in this region, and if they do, it's temporary at best. Menachem Begin's peace with Egypt brought temporary quiet to Israel's southern border, but peace? Egypt's government continued to promote vicious anti-semitism and anti-Israel sentiments in their media, and we are seeing the full effect of this during the overthrow of Hosni Mumbarak. With the non-stop threats from Egypt that the peace treaty is not permanent and can be ended, the concessions we made bought us 30 years of quiet and that's it it seems (unless we include the US giving Egypt non-stop military aid to make their army a serious player in this region). Yitzchak Rabin's Oslo Accords brought suicide bombers into Tel Aviv. Ehud Barak's Camp David attempt brought us the 2nd Intifada and 1,000+ dead Israelis and 3,000+ dead Palestinians. Arik Sharon's Disengagement brought us a Hamas government and rockets on Ashkelon & Ashdod. Two states won't necessarily bring peace, especially if we listen to Hamas ("It can not abandon the path of jihad and resistance and its dedication to the martyrs with their blood and their sacrifice." - source) or Fatah ("If we say that we want to wipe Israel out... C'mon, it's too difficult. It's not [acceptable] policy to say so. Don't say these things to the world. Keep it to yourself." - source), the parties who rule, and will rule, Gaza and the West Bank. I have no problem with people promoting two states in hope that it will bring peace - but we need to be realistic. Deliberately keeping our heads in the sand has resulted in much bloodshed over our history - why continue with this self-imposed blindness?

Every decent Israeli must be ashamed of their prime minister, who stands before the world and tries to sell it the same old shopworn, even rotten goods that are long past their expiration date, expounding on ancient, irrelevant chapters of history

Ancient, irrelevant chapters of our history? Excuse me? Why are we here again? How can any decent Israeli not be horrified by what Levy is highlighting here - the secular Left's detachment from their Jewish identity. I've written about this before, and Arik Sharon's quote needs repeating:

And I for one, even then, never believed we would really be able to survive here if we were nothing more than Israelis. For our attachment to the land of Israel, our identity with it, comes through out Jewishness. I am a Jew, I thought then, as I think now. That does not mean I am a religious man. I am not. When it comes to practicing Judaism, there is much I do not know. But I do know for certain that above everything I am a Jew and only afterwards an Israeli and the rest.

I just hope that Arik's warning is 'heard' amongst the secular Left before it's too late.

This conflict isn't about land - it wasn't before '48, it wasn't after '48 or '67 and it's not that now. It's about something that has been an active part of the Jew's life in this region since ~600 CE:

The key issue in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, and in the wider Israeli-Arab dispute, is the issue that dare not speak its name, the pervasive and profound anti-Semitism that permeates the contemporary Islamic world, especially the Middle East.

This is the real barrier to peace, and people who are concerned with peace will try to ameliorate it.

It is analytically false, historically untrue and conceptually impossible that all this anti-Semitism has arisen from Israel’s sins, real and imagined.

Greg Sherdian

(h/t Gedaliah)
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Credit where Credit's due

I'm not sure what President Obama's motivations where for yesterday's speech, but it was an important speech and he deserves credit for it:

I know that many are frustrated by the lack of progress. So am I. But the question isn’t the goal we seek – the question is how to reach it. And I am convinced that there is no short cut to the end of a conflict that has endured for decades. Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the UN – if it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now. Ultimately, it is Israelis and Palestinians who must live side by side. Ultimately, it is Israelis and Palestinians – not us – who must reach agreement on the issues that divide them: on borders and security; on refugees and Jerusalem.

...

Let’s be honest: Israel is surrounded by neighbors that have waged repeated wars against it. Israel’s citizens have been killed by rockets fired at their houses and suicide bombs on their buses. Israel’s children come of age knowing that throughout the region, other children are taught to hate them. Israel, a small country of less than eight million people, looks out at a world where leaders of much larger nations threaten to wipe it off of the map. The Jewish people carry the burden of centuries of exile, persecution, and the fresh memory of knowing that six million people were killed simply because of who they were.

These facts cannot be denied. The Jewish people have forged a successful state in their historic homeland. Israel deserves recognition. It deserves normal relations with its neighbors. And friends of the Palestinians do them no favors by ignoring this truth, just as friends of Israel must recognize the need to pursue a two state solution with a secure Israel next to an independent Palestine.

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תשע"ב on the way

A really nice video from Aish ... "Growth takes patience and perseverance."

Wishing all a happy & healthy New Year.

שנה טובה ומתוקה לכולם

תשע"ב on the way!

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Twerski on Pursuit of Happiness

Many people sacrifice comforts, conveniences, and pleasure in pursuit of an ultimate goal. However, if the ultimate goal is pursuit of pleasure, it is unreasonable to expect people, especially youngsters, to sacrifice pleasure for the ultimate goal which is ... pursuit of pleasure. Western culture with its hedonism has painted itself into a corner.

What about Torah-observant families? Let us be brutally frank with ourselves. Many Torah-observant families have been caught up in pursuit of pleasure, the one difference being that they partake only of pleasures that have a hechsher, which today includes almost everything.

It is not as though we were not forewarned in regard to this. The Ramban in reference to the mitzvah (Leviticus 19:2), "You shall be holy," asks, 'What is the requirement of this mitzvah?' His answer is prophetic. It is possible for a person to technically observe all of the restrictions in the Torah, yet live a life of physical indulgence. The mitzvah of kedoshim tehiyu, "You shall be holy," means that a person should abstain not only from things that are forbidden by the Torah, but even from the many things that are permissible, but which are unnecessary for optimum health and functioning."

Taken from Positive Parenting by Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski.
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Livni & Being Israeli

Not like I need more reasons to dislike her, but Tzippi Livni dropped even further in my eyes when she opened her mouth yesterday:

Livni said that while the Netanyahu government speaks of national pride, Israeli ambassadors are being forced to flee countries in the middle of the night wearing kaffiyehs.

[The government] talks tough but it has weakened Israel to the point that it cannot act when missiles are falling on its residents.

Is Israel's security better or in greater doubt?

Where to begin ... While I've long thought the peace treaty with Egypt was bound to fail (See point 2 here), the current mess in Egypt was not Israel's doing, and couldn't have been stopped by Bibi's government. Instead of praising Bibi for acting to get our six boys out safely, she continues in her typical "Bash Bibi, domestically or internationally, no matter what" fashion.

Her 2nd point is equally ridiculous. Livni was an eager member of the Sharon's government that pushed the Disengagement through despite continuous rocket fire, and a member of the following governments that did what exactly through 5 years of continuous rocket fire? Nothing until Operation Cast Lead ... Was our country weak then? How exactly have things changed? It's all the same really ...

Her last point is mind boggling. Is she really blaming Bibi and his government for the ramifications of the Arab Spring and the deterioration of the Turkey relationship? No one could have predicted the Arab Spring, and the issues it's brought closer to our borders. With regards to Turkey, it was our dear ex-foreign minister's government that accelerated our (unavoidable, I might add) problems with Erdogan's Turkey (Davos anybody)? Our security situation is unfortunately being dictated by events we are not in control of.

It's really sad that since 1981, left leaning opposition leaders have been unable to stand behind right wing governments in times of need. They should really try and learn from Begin's two and a half decades as the opposition leader.

***

At our footy match last night, one of the regulars (Let's call him Harry) bought his brother along. After the game, I asked his brother if he had made aliyah, as the game could always use talented kids like him. "Nope," he replied, before Harry also chimed in, "I haven't made aliyah either Avram." I asked why and he responded, "because I don't want to become Israeli."

I didn't push the point, but I understood where he was coming from. The stereotypical Israeli - loud, rude etc - is not something any of us Olim strive to become. We may acquire parts of the mentality (I know I have) but that doesn't mean we can't maintain the positive 'Oleh' traits we came with, and pass them on to our children or display them actively around Israelis. If everyone took his stance, how can we, as individuals, ever hope to to really improve the Sabara?
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10 years later

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Palmer Report

The Palmer Report - The UN's findings about the IDF's raid on the Mavi Marmara - will finally be released tomorrow. Haaretz, through the NY Times, has released some of the major findings from the report:

- Israeli commandos who boarded the Mavi Marmara were met with "organized and violent resistance from a group of passengers," and so were forced to use self defense.

- The Israeli forces used "excessive and unreasonable force," and emphasized that the loss of life on board the ship is "unacceptable." Moreover, it found that the treatment of the passengers by the IDF soldiers after the interception was "abusive."

- The Palmer report determined that the Israeli naval blockade on the Gaza Strip is legal, as "Israel faces a security threat from violent groups in Gaza."

- The report harshly criticizes the flotilla organizers, stating "they acted recklessly in attempting to breach the naval blockade". It added that ” there exist serious questions about the conduct, true nature and objectives of the flotilla organizers, particularly IHH.”

Considering that this is a UN report, it seems pretty fair. The one area of the report I'd like to see an IDF's response to is the forensic evidence presented in the report. Other than that, I think the report pretty much highlights what most reasonable people already knew.
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The Book's Cover

When I first started praying at the Kurdi beit knesset near my home, a co-worker asked me, "Isn't that the beit knesset where the taxi drivers pray?" This happened four years ago, and I don't really remember reacting to the comment bar feeling a bit insulted inside.

One of the people who prays with me at another beit knesset near my place is also a taxi driver. Granted, I think he's doing it for some extra money as I think he's retired but he's still a taxi driver. Abroad, one would scoff at that line of work - Here too apparently. A taxi driver? Peasants. However, this taxi driver (and many others too I'm sure) is special. He's a phenomenal shat"z (shaliach tzibbur, the person who leads the prayers) and ba'al koreh (The person who reads the Torah). What's even more impressive is his four boys (I've never met his two girls) are all also excellent when they're called to be the shat"z or ba'al koreh, from the youngest (14) to the oldest (25 I think). Yup, a taxi driver ... A phenomenal man.

It reminds me of the story of the Rabbi who entered the classroom every morning to find new insights on the Talmud on his chalkboard. Every day, without fail, the chalkboard contained pearls of wisdom that were mostly new to him. One evening, the Rabbi stayed in the corner of the classroom and waited for the protege to reveal himself. At midnight, the yeshiva's elderly janitor walked into the room. To the Rabbi's amazement, he sat down at a desk, begun reading the Talmud and started to scribble on the chalkboard. His genius was the janitor.

I guess both stories are rather nicely summed up by Pirkei Avot 1:6, "Judge every person favorably."
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"Voices of the Farhud" by David Kahtan

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Farhud [The massacre, rape and dispossession of 145 Jews in Iraq in 1941]. Here is a short 20 minute movie about the horrifying event from people who lived through it:

Part 1 & Part 2
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I love you

The week started with an inspiring post by a poster on SixCrazyMinutes.com about 'counting the blessings.' It's something I've blogged about in the past, and I feel it's something we struggle to do enough. How often do we stop and appreciate our blessings (loved ones, our health, our parnassa etc)?

I got a SMS on Tuesday night from one of my team members. "My father passed away," it started. I stopped. "I read this wrong," I hoped. I read it again, "My father passed away." I looked at my wife, and told her. Our expressions were probably identical. The same fears we (and I guess most people) have were now being lived by a good friend.

The next day I had to call my Dad. I wanted to hear his voice. To tell him what I tell him whenever I talk to him, "I love you." The idea of not being able to hear either parent's voice, or tell them these simple words, scare me deeply. I dread the day. Alas, that day will come ... that's life. Until then, I hope to continue to appreciate the amazing parents I've been blessed with. These tragic events only highlight how important the 'task' is ...

Words of appreciation (and love) are the "simple thing you got left to trust," (courtesy of Juluka's "Simple Things") - why otherwise would we start every day with modeh ani?
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Media Coverage of Israel

An Israeli is on vacation and is visiting a zoo in the States when he sees a little girl leaning into the lion's cage.

Suddenly, the lion grabs her by the cuff of her jacket and tries to pull her inside to devour her - under the eyes of her screaming parents.

The Israeli runs to the cage and hits the lion square on the nose with a powerful punch.

Whimpering from the pain the lion jumps back letting go of the girl, and the Israeli brings her to her terrified parents, who thank him endlessly.

A reporter had watched the whole event. The reporter says to the Israeli: 'Sir, this was the most gallant and brave thing I've seen a man do in my entire life.'

The Israeli replies, 'Why, it was nothing, really. The lion was behind bars. I just saw this little kid in danger and did what I thought was right.'

The reporter says, 'Well, I'll make sure this won't go unnoticed. I'm a journalist, and tomorrow's paper will have this story on the front page! So, what do you do for a living and what political affiliation do you have?'

The Israeli replies, "I serve in the Israeli army and I vote for the Likud.'

The journalist leaves.

The following morning the Israeli buys the paper to see news of his actions, and reads the front page's headline:

ISRAELI ASSAULTS AFRICAN IMMIGRANT AND STEALS HIS LUNCH

It may be a joke, but sometimes you just wonder (for many real examples of this, check out Honest Reporting).
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A letter

The Germans were coming, and there was no chance that anyone would survive. The mother decided that she was going to give her daughter over to a non-Jewish couple - perhaps she would be saved. The following letter was sewed into the shirt of the girl in hope that it would remain with her ... that someday she would read this letter.

Dear Mirrele,

I can’t believe that I have one night to struck a life time of love into this letter. Tomorrow morning at 4 am – if it can be called morning – I’m giving you up. I’m taking you Mirrele to the back entrance of dear, brave Herman’s grocery, and the child rescuers will be waiting there for you, and the 32 other children under the age of three. They will inject you with a sedative, so you won’t cry, and then they’ll slip off into pre-dawn, with you, my life, my love, out of this horrible country to safety.

We’ve pushed it off, and pushed it off, Mirrele. We didn’t want to believe we would have to give up our child, probably never to see her again. But this is the last child rescue. After this there will be no-one left to rescue, because tomorrow our informers tell us is the last big round up. Tomorrow they come for men, women and children. And I’ve been convinced by these words spoken by our entrusted informer Herman, the brave gentile grocer any child they take away either dies immediately or dies on the way to the death camps. We were the last ones to be convinced to give up our child.

He said finally, with the deepest sadness, and every exhausted wrinkle in his face, “I cannot force you. But if you keep her with you she will be dead in a month. They have no use for babies. She cannot work for them. If you want to give her to us bring her to the back entrance of my grocery at 4am. No belongings. Whatever food you have. Goodbye”.

Mirrele, do you see why I had to give you up? He said no belongings, but I will beg, I will plead that this letter be allowed to go, sewn into your undershirt. And then I will pray to G-D the letter stays with you until you are old enough to read it. You must know that we love you. You must know why you are alone without parents. Not because they didn’t love you, but because they did.

Its eerie to think that by the time you read this I will probably be dead. That’s what Herman said is going on. People die either immediately, on the way, or after a week or two of forced labour and no food. But I won’t have lived in vein, Mirrele. If I know that I brought you into the world and you will live and survive and grow big and strong, and you will be happy. You can be happy, Mirrele – because we love you.

What makes the difference in the lives of adults, it seems, is if they had to kill childhood, secure it with lots of love and acceptance, and means fulfilled, and predictable routines in the life. You have that up till this minute. You have it up until 4am. But then you won’t. Who knows who will end up taking care of you? Some family who will take you in for the money. Herman will pay them. They will surely be kinder to their own then to you.

Here is where pain mixes with rage. I rage at the animals who are making it possible for you to cry and I won’t be there to comfort you. But you will have this letter. And this letter will make you feel secure, if G-D answers my prayers.

You leave us Mirrele, even though you can’t see us. We’re with you. We’re watching you. I’m praying for you. Every time you have troubles, we are pounding on the door to G-D’s very throne room, and shifting on the audience to demanding mercy for you, Mirrele, down on earth alone without her parents. And G-D will listen to us. We won’t leave Him alone, until he agrees with us, that you deserve health and love and happiness.

Mirrele, you will wonder what your first two years were like? You wish you could remember. Let me remember for you, right now, tenderly on this piece of paper.

You like hot cereal in the morning with lots of milk and sugar – except there is no milk and sugar now, not in the whole city. But I make you cereal anyway, and you eat it with big smiles between every bite. Then you become ready for your nap, so I wrap you putting you where the sunlight will fall on you. I rock you until you fall asleep, and then I put you in my bed. You sleep well there. You like my smell. What will you smell tomorrow night? Surely nobody will wrap you tomorrow morning – not even in the shade.

O G-D, I cannot do it. I will do it for you Mirrele, so that you will have at least a hope for life.

Mirrele, do me a favour. After you grow, after this dirty nightmarish war is over, I know there will be those who underplay the tragedies going on here every day. They will say, “War is war. It was just a war”. Mirrele, tell them about the agony. Tell them how you felt secure in my arms being rocked to sleep in the sunlight. Tell them how your father ran one night a year ago when you were sick to get you medicine, past sentries whilst breaking the curfew. He risked his life to ease your pain.

Mirrele, now the three of us are being torn apart. Just a war? Tell them Mirrele that all the wars in the world don’t add up to the agony in my heart right now as I write this.

G-D, it’s 2am already. Only two more hours with my loved, my baby, my life, my Mirrele. I’m going to hold you now, Mirrele, for two hours. Your father and I are going to wake you, feed you, and tell you over and over how much we love you. Your barely two years old, but maybe if G-D is good, maybe you will remember us, until you are old enough to read this.

There will be bad times ahead for you Mirrele, I know. But just think about me holding you, rocking you to sleep in the sunlight. Keeping that sunlight in your heart always.

I love you. Your father loves you. My G-D help us all.

It remained with this woman, who at least knew her name. Her name was Mirrele, Miri. She never knew her mother’s name. Her mother signed off 'Mamma'. She calls herself Miriam bat Liba. Liba means ‘loved’, because that is what she remembers about her mother.

This is about a mother who was forced to abandon her child out of love.
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Netzer Hazani

[Put aside your feelings re: the Disengagement and watch the lives of the kids who lived through the event]

The story of high-schoolers from Netzer Hazani during their last summer vacation before the Disengagement. A movie about perseverance, unity and faith till the end (In Hebrew with English subtitles).

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Food

"According to a celebrated study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, published in a report called "The Importance of Family Dinners" [2005], the most successful children - the most well-adjusted, balanced, self-sufficient and self-confident children - are the children who have dinner with their parents at least five evenings per week."

Yisroel Roll in Shut Up and Stay Married*

* No need to worry, all is well with wife & I. Just reading a book recommended by Rabbi Twerski. Honest! :)
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Picture A Day

I've found this cool new blog, Picture a Day.

Enjoy!
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המלמד ידי לקרב ואצבעותי למלחמה

עבדיך נשאו את ראש אנשי המלחמה אשר בידנו - (מטות לא,מט)

נראה להסביר את דברי הכבוב, על פי מה שאמרו חז"ל בתלמוד ירושלמי (פאה א,א): "דורו של דוד כולם צדיקים, ועל ידי שהיו בהם דילטורין [מלשינים] - היו יוצאים למלחמה ונופלים. דורו של אחאב, היו עובדי עבודה זרה, ועל שלא היה בהם דילטורין - היו יוצאים ומנצחין". רואים מכאן כמה חמור חטא המלשינות ולשון הרע, עד שגורם שגם צדיקים ושלמים יפלו בקרב. חכמינו במסכת כתובות (ה,ב) נתנו לנו עצה איך להמלט מחטא זה, וכך כתבו שם: "מדוע האצבעות של אדם מחודדות כיתד? כדי שאם ישמע דבר שאינו הגון - יניח אצבעותיו באזניו". נמצא שלמעשה הכלי זין האמיתיים המביאים ניצחון במלחמה הם אותם ראשי אצבעות, שעוזרים לאדם להמנע מלשמוע דברי השמצה ומלשינות.

לאור הדברים הללו מתפרשים דברי הפסוק בצורה נפלאה. בני ישראל באים להסביר כיצד זכו במלחמה נגד מדין, וכך הם אומרים: "עבדיך נשאו את ראש אנשי המלחמה אשר בידינו", עבדיך עשו שימוש נכון בכלי מלחמתם, הם ראשי האצבעות שבידיהם - "ראש אנשי המלחמה אשר בידינו", ומשום כך זכינו ש"לא נפקד ממנו איש", כולם שבו בשלום מן המלחמה

This is taken from פניני הבן איש חי

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Struggle

"A boy comes upon a butterfly emerging from its cocoon. He sees the nascent butterfly struggling. The cocoon flails back and forth as the butterfly struggles to set itself free. The boy has pity on the painful struggle of the butterfly and cuts open the cocoon. The butterfly is now free. Moments later, the boy sees the butterfly, and it is limping. He had hoped to watch it spread its orange and black Monarch wings and fly on its life's journey. Instead it is in pain. Its wings are glued shut. It cannot move. It soon dies.

In the end, the struggle of the butterfly was necessary for its wings to become healthy. The struggle was actually strengthening its wings and making them ready for the winds of life. Without enduring the struggle required to emerge from the cocoon, the butterfly could not gain the strength it needed to fly to freedom. Struggle and travail were essential for its survival."

Yisroel Roll in Shut Up and Stay Married*

* No need to worry, all is well with wife & I. Just reading a book recommended by Rabbi Twerski. Honest! :)
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Milulim

I spent last week deep in the Negev on Miluim.

* The July heat in the Negev is something else. When you sit down and can't stop sweating, it's hot!

* As usual, there were some fascinating discussions throughout the 5 days. I think Miluim gives the participants an amazing opportunity - meeting a wide variety of people from every walk of life which you'd normally not be spending any quality time with. Religious vs Secular, Fathers vs the Singles, Employed vs Self-Employed vs unemployed, Righties vs Lefties, Yeshiva Students vs 'Youth Movement' students, Sabras vs Olim - it's just a great melting pot, where everyone is linked by the green suit.

* I think this is the first business trip/miluim where Nissim realized I was gone. One morning, he asked Tals, "Where's Abba? Be'Milulim?, "(Where's Dad? In Miluim?). The additional 'l' cracks me up.

* I was really surprised to see how many people I talked to knew of Rav Chaim Amsalem. His message was very much applauded by those I talked to, and I'm very optimistic about where Am Shalem is heading.

* Every time I meet up with the lads, I'm impressed at the dedication and desire to be in Miluim. Yes, some come as it's a break from reality and a chance to meet 'good friends.' But most come due to a feeling of responsibility. It's reassuring - especially with all the flotillas, bad'law'illas, etc hounding our news streams 24-7. Israel will be ok ...

* I hope the next time I see these lads is next year ... but something tells me, they'll need us sooner unfortunately.
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The last few weeks

After Shavout, the family & I flew out to New York for my sister's wedding. It was a lovely few weeks.

- Tova's wedding was just fantastic. It was a lovely day, and great to see the whole family together for such a happy occasion. Chupa was great, food was great, dancing was fun ... The most fun I've had at a wedding since my own wedding actually!

Below is the video I made for the lovely couple - may they be blessed with many years of happiness and good health:

- At the wedding, Nissim met Emily Dagan, Tante Amelie's (z'l) great grandchild. The kids, named after their departed great grandparents (who were siblings), got along really well. It left Emily's grandmother saying, "I never fully understood the power of naming after relatives until I saw these two together."

-I really enjoyed watching Nissim and Keren interacting with their great grandparents. It gave me such pleasure.

- I had the pleasure of being at Brian & Melissa's celebration of their April wedding. As Talya and I couldn't attend the wedding in Mexico, we were very happy that their scheduled celebration for friends and family in the New York area coincided with our visit. It was great to see Bri so happy. We've known each other for over 11 years now, and have shared many great times together. It's wonderful to see him and Melissa so happy together as hubbie and wife.

- On the way to shul on one Shabbat, someone shouted 'F*cking Jews' as we walked on a street parallel to Weaver Street. Still there ... alive and kicking I see.

- I went fishing with my dad and bro during the trip, and what a night it turned out to be! I caught 3 blues (the 2 I kept are below, while the 3rd I gave to a high school student from Harlem) and enjoyed the experience quite a bit.

Back in Israel now ... reality ...
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Am Shalem Update

Background

MK Rabbi Haim Amsalem’s name has become synonymous with solving fundamental problems within the State of Israel. His battle against racism and discrimination (which received significant praise in the annual report of the State Comptroller), his writings allowing for leniencies within halacha to solve the conversion crisis, and his encouragement of Haredim to study general studies, join the work force, and serve in the IDF left him chastised and excommunicated by the Shas party. MK Rabbi Amsalem’s strong ideology and intense desire to address these and other critical issues plaguing the State of Israel from within, has led to his forming a new political movement called “Am Shalem.”

Goals

The Am Shalem movement, under the leadership of MK Rabbi Haim Amsalem, seeks to create a substantial public and political force which will succeed in bringing about a radical and significant change and improvement in the nature of the relations between the myriad components of Israeli society: Haredim - Religious Zionist – Traditional - Secular; Sephardim – Ashkenazim; Right wing – left wing; Jews – gentiles, and more.

Like all citizens of the State of Israel, Am Shalem hopes for the day when peace will come to our land. However, until that time comes and as we continue to work towards that dream, Am Shalem seeks to return the social issues which are vital to the State, to Israeli society, and to the existence of the Jewish people to the forefront of the national political agenda and to solve the most burning problems as outlined below.

Am Shalem is now beginning its difficult path to creating a better and more unified nation and country.

Livelihoods with Dignity

Hundreds of thousands of Jews in the State of Israel live below the poverty line or close to it. Entire populations, especially in the periphery, are not able to sustain themselves with dignity. In the Haredi population, work has become illegitimate, a development which has not only led this entire population to poverty but has also lowered the value of Torah and religion in the eyes of their fellow citizens. This runs counter to the way of Torah sages in the past who combined Torah with “parnassa.” The movement seeks to change the status quo in which an entire generation has been born into a life of poverty and whose sustenance is predicated on government subsidies by implementing the following actions:

1) The establishment of a network of quality, public Haredi schools in which students will be taught Torah and general studies on a high level leading towards full matriculation certificates. (Rabbi Amsalem is already hard at work trying to establish a private Haredi high school of this kind.) Am Shalem will also establish an academic institution of higher education in the “Yeshiva University” model in which all students will study toward academic degrees alongside their Torah studies and the option of studying for Rabbinic ordination. The above will be accompanied by a campaign to educate the Haredi public about not only the legitimacy of these institutions but also the special pride which its students and parent body should experience.

2) To facilitate the integration of Haredim into the workforce, Rabbi Amsalem has established a forum consisting of hi-tech entrepreneurs and managers. Am Shalem will continue to expand this forum which will both create and encourage local initiatives in the hi-tech industry in order to help integrate Haredim.

3) The key to earning a dignified livelihood is access to higher education. Am Shalem will work to pass legislation to encourage higher education among the youth of development towns and lower income neighborhoods. The law would dictate that the children of a person who lives in a development town or low income neighborhood for more than 15 years will be entitled to significant tuition subsidies towards university studies.

4) Canceling the V.A.T. tax for those who provide basic life necessities such as basic food items, medication and clothing

Equal sharing of national burdens

From the time of the establishment of the State of Israel until present times, we have needed a strong army to protect us, with God’s grace, from those who seek our destruction. Am Shalem sees the joint participation of all segments of society in bearing the burden of national defense as critical to our national success in Eretz Yisrael and will work to solve the problem in the following ways:

1) Requiring those who are exempt from IDF service by the State to serve in national or civil service for an equal period of time. Those who do so will be recognized as having served the State with the benefits that come from such recognition.

2) Work to increase and adjust existing programs for Haredi youth to serve in the army and dedicate resources to educating the Haredi population regarding the necessity of contributing its fair share to the nation through such service, a process which Rabbi Amsalem has already begun.

3) Establishing Yeshivot Hesder for Haredim to enable the combination of Torah studies and army service with sensitivity to the needs of the Haredi population. Rabbi Amsalem has already begun the process of establishing this option.

4) Ensuring that the State continues to view those select few who are completely and totally dedicated to Torah study as the elite of the nation and are supported comfortably by the nation. Their Torah study would be treated as their fulfillment of national service. This group will be chosen and monitored based on clear parameters.

Combating discrimination and racism

Am Shalem will combat discrimination of any kind with all means at its disposal and will confront and work to solve any revelation of racism. The movement has set a goal to establish legislation declaring the equality of human worth and equal opportunity for all citizens. Am Shalem will work to accomplish this in the following ways:

1) We will promote legislation to withhold funding from any institution suspected of discrimination. (Rabbi Amsalem earned the praise of the State Comptroller in his annual report as a person who “the Ministry of Education should learn from regarding how to deal with discrimination.”)

2) We will establish a hotline and an e-mail service to combat discrimination and racism. Attorneys will be available to provide free legal services to victims of discrimination. Rabbi Amsalem’s Knesset office is already engaged in dealing with complaints of these kinds and will continue to do so until this plague is removed from the State and our nation.

3) We will work towards enacting legislation to protect weaker populations from discrimination with a focus on improving the standing of the Ethiopian community.

A complete reshaping of the Chief Rabbinate

The Chief Rabbinate is controlled by extreme and anti-Zionist organizations. Am Shalem will work to establish a Rabbinate which exudes love of fellow Jews and the sharing of the beauty of Judaism to all Jews. Rabbinic and religious services must follow the path of Bet Hillel with a tolerant approach and a sensivity to the general public’s legitimate fears of religious coercion. Rabbi Amsalem has already demonstrated this approach in his Rabbinic positions for decades. This revolution will be carried out in the following ways:

1) The establishment of a state committee to define the role of the Chief Rabbi, city Rabbis, and neighborhood Rabbis.

2) The establishment of a committee to choose Rabbis similar to the committee to choose state judges. The committee will be comprised of both religious and secular people who will ensure that Rabbis will be chosen solely based on their qualifications and suitability for the position regardless of their political connections or their ethnic/family backgrounds. The committee will also arrange for local bodies of a similar makeup to choose the local Rabbis.

3) All Rabbis of cities and settlements will be subject to a set of uniform rules and laws like all other officials, with no distinctions made between different cities or the type of kippa worn by the Rabbi.

4) We will work to make a substantial change to the system regarding all religious services provided to all citizens. These changes will manifest themselves on three levels: a)Changing the halachic approach from the stringent one of today to the more lenient and tolerant spirit of Beit Hillel b)Changing the establishment’s approach towards religious services from one of distancing and hatefulness to a welcoming and loving approach. This will be reflected in the Rabbinate’s dealing with people in the areas of marriage, divorce, Mikveh, Kashrut, and burial. c)The Rabbinate will be evaluated measured based on the degree of satisfaction expressed by the recipients of its services. Grievnaces against individual Rabbis will be treated with the utmost seriousness

Solutions for the conversion crisis

Close to 400,000 immigrants who descend from Jews live in our midst today. They study in our schools, serve in the army, and take part in every fabric of Israeli life. Many of them want to join the Jewish people through conversion but have been prevented from doing so due to hostility from the Rabbinical establishment. This antagonism will lead to mass assimilation, civil marriages, and horrific polarization in the Jewish nation. Am Shalem intends to solve this problem in the following ways:

1) Implementing the halachic opinion of Rabbi Amsalem for the conversion of immigrants with Jewish roots based on his sefer, “Zera Yisrael” as the conversion policy of the State of Israel.

2) Establishing legislation to prevent any attempt to nullify conversions already performed. This concept goes against Jewish law and violates the civil and Jewish rights of all those who converted in Israel in accordance with the Chief Rabbinate. Rabbi Amsalem has already begun the process of establishing such a law.

3) As part of the revolution in the Chief Rabbinate, Am Shalem will establish a conversion framework which will provide halachic answers to those who come to convert and are from “zera yisrael.” Am Shalem will also build a database of people throughout the world who fit the category of “zera yisrael” to assist them with conversion questions and issues.

4) Establishing a national hotline and e-mail service to assist with conversion issues and the conversion process.

Am Shalem’s Potential

A poll carried out by a top polling company in Israel, “Maagar HaMochot” under the direction of Professor Yitzchak Katz revealed that if elections were held today, a movement led by MK Rabbi Haim Amsalem would win 6% of the votes and that up to 13% of voters say that voting for such a party is an option for them. This means that Am Shalem has the strong possibility of winning 5 seats in the next Knesset and a window of up to 15 seats!
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Right of Return

A Palestinian cartoonist shows why the right of return of (the UNRWA defined) Palestinian refguees into Israel is so critical to Abu Mazen & co:

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Tzadikim's Graves

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]."

From Chief Rabbi Lau's book, אורו של עולם (page 380)
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Bibi should quote Rabin

Rabin's speech on October 5th, 1995:

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.

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Remember the Altalena

An excellent piece by Jerold S. Auerbach on the Altalena:

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.

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FC Jaffa lifts the Anglo Cup

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!


For photos: Click here

For a write up from one of our fans: Click here

Orange Army!
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Splitting 63

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.
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Operation Cyanide

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.
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I know who I'm voting for ...

Our Goal

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.
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