Israel Pics

Jerusalem, Tsfat, Benei Brak ect.

free the soldiers

http://www.freethesoldiers.org

My Menorah

All the Channukah menorot lit on the 4th night

Yad Va Shem

I walked to Yad VaShem today, the Holocaust Museum, they built a new museum in 1993 and the new one is now the largest in the world. Check out: http://www.yadvashem.org/

Judaen Hills

Another great view of the Judean Hills

Mitzpe Yericho

Two Shabbosim ago I had the great opportunity to travel to Mitzpe Yericho with my friend Jacob Bleakley from Toronto. We stayed at the family of mutual friends of ours called the Moskoff's who live in Toronto. Mitzpe Yericho means 'overlooking Jericho' and that is exactly what it does, it has the most amazing view overlooking the city and you can also see the dead sea, the Jueaen Hills and when you are there you really feel like you are living back in the time of Moses! The family that we stayed at, the Weinberger's were so friendly to us and made us feel totally at home at their place.
This past Shabbat my good friend Josh Hertz came to my yeshiva to stay with me, we went to the Manolson's on friday night and to the Langsam's on Saturday lunch. Rebbitzen Manolson is a world famous speaker and author. Check out her stuff at http://www.simpletoremember.com/audio/gila-manolson.htm
This coming Shabbat, Vayishlach is going to be spent in the Yeshiva for the evening meal and the third meal, and for Saturday lunch I will be going to Rabbi Jacob's house with my friend Jack Cohen. It should be a great time.
The weather here is getting a bit chilly lately but I heard that there is now snow in Toronto, so I can be fortunate that I can still soak up some rays here even in December!
Until next time.

Wedding Pic

My good friend Denes from Budapest and me at the wedding in Bnei Brak.

Bnei Brak Wedding

The other night, my friend Denes and I went to a wedding in the city of
Bnei Brak, spelled בְּנֵי בְּרַק
The city on the central coastal strip, just east of Tel Aviv, and part of the metropolis known as Gush Dan, the Tel Aviv District.
It was a beautiful wedding and had the biggest chuppah I have ever seen as you can see in the picture above. I ended up meeting up with a family I am friends with at the wedding, I didn't expect to see them there, but that is not unusual here in Israel.

Mentioned as one of the cities in the portion of the Tribe of Dan (Joshua 19:45), Bene-berak is famous in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 32b) as the seat of Rabbi Akiva's court, and in the Passover Haggadah as the site of the all-night Seder of Rabbi Akiva and his distinguished colleagues.

fyi

Dear Nathan,
Right now many of your friends are making plans for Winter/Semester break. I want to remind you that we are still offering grants of either $ 500 or $ 250 to come to Israel. As a recipient of this scholarship, you know what a difference it can make, please spread the word to your friends, message boards… We are more than happy to spend the Foundation’s money! For more information and to apply go to http://www.jeffseidel.com/.
Jeff Seidel

Osher's Wedding

Last night I went to a wedding of my friend Osher Cohen. We met 5 years ago in Shanghai through the Jewish community. We became really good friends and stayed in touch over email till this day. The wedding took place in Kfar Chabad, near Tel Aviv and was a Chasidic wedding. The ceremony was very beautiful and Osher did not see his fionce for one full week before the wedding. Even during the ceremony, her face was covered until they both entered the 'yichud' room where they see each other for the for the first time after a week to spend time together. They also eat some food as they both fasted during the day of the wedding. During the meal a fellow guest called me over to say hello, we also knew eachother in Shanghai and it was really nice to see him again. See below for some info on the Jewish wedding:

Marriage ceremony
The marriage ceremony is based on the rules for transfer of property or of rights in antiquity. In marriage, the woman accepts a ring (or something of value) from the man, accepting the terms of the marriage. This is called betrothal, or kiddushin or erusin. A ketubah ("[marriage] contract") is read publicly. Witnesses are required for both the signing of the ketubah and the ceremonies.

At the giving of the ring the groom makes a declaration "You are consecrated to me, through this ring, according to the religion of Moses and Israel." Traditionally there is no verbal response on the part of the bride. She accepts the ring on her finger, and closes her hand, signifying acceptance.

Finally the couple are joined in matrimony under the chuppah, in the ceremony of nissuin, symbolizing their setting up house together. Very often the chuppah is made of an outstretched tallit (Jewish prayer shawl), but it can be any sort of canopy.

The ceremony reaches its climax with both the bride and groom drinking wine. The groom then steps on the wine glass to break it. The origin of this custom is shrouded in mystery, and various understandings of this custom exist:

The oldest source seems to be from the Babylonian Talmud, tractate Berakhot 31a; it has a story about the wedding of Rav Ashi's son. When the celebrants began to get carried away, Rav Ashi brought out and broke a crystal glass in front of them. The interpretation by the Tosafot (early medieval Talmudic commentators) is that even during moments of great celebration, one must maintain proper decorum. It may be related to the belief that it is best to temper one's joy, in order to avert inviting bad fortune.
The breaking of the glass represents the Jewish community's continuing sorrow of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem; no celebration is totally complete without the Temple.
Among Kabbalists (adherents of Jewish mysticism), this custom is said to be a reminder of the broken fragments of Creation, and our need to engage in Tikkun Olam, the repairing of the world on a spiritual level.

Mazal Tov Osher!

Family Visit, Safed, Tiberias

The last week of the Sukkot Holiday allowed me to visit my Israeli family who live on Kibbutz Maabarot near the city of Netanya. I really had a wonderful visit as I always do when I see them. They are so friendly and hospitible and it was great to catch up with them. Ori and Einav now have a second child, Eitan and Alon and Maytal have a new child, Libby. I had the opportunity to travel to Bene Brak and Petach Tikvah with my relative Avishai, we went to those cities to make sure that the baby formula the kibbutz manufactures is on the shelf and that nothing is missing. The kibbutz supplies the baby formula called Materna to all of Israel as well as dog and cat food called 'bonzo'. The kibbutz was very relaxed as always and I also had a chance to meet up with an Israeli friend who lives not too far from the kibbutz and who I met while in London, ON. I spent the following Shabbat in Safed which is always a good time and then it was back to the yeshiva to begin the next zman (term) The weather is still gorgeous here, and I taking advantage of it, I recently went to Tiberius to swim in the Kineret (sea of galilee) and it was very refreshing! The pic above is a view of the Kineret sea.

Tsfat

I just got back from two days in Tsfat in northern Israel. We stayed in a place called 'ascent' which is a mystical Jewish center. We went on a hike where we saw a lot of damage caused by the rockets launched by Lebanon. We saw holes in the ground and many trees that were charred with ash from fire caused by the rockets. It was very powerful to see with my own eyes. The city is safe now thank G-d, and I had a very nice time in the city.

Netanya Beach

This past monday, a group of guys from all around Jerusalem and I were invited to head up to the beach in Netanya in northern Israel. It was the first time I was swimming in the Mediterranean since I arrived in Israel, the water was very warm and refreshing. Later on we all had dinner in a Sukkah at a local restaurant and sang songs and danced till late. It was a really good time.

What follows is a series of some amazing advertising concepts for all you graphic designer enthusiasts.

Don't walk into a bank

Don't drink and drive

Dohány Street Synagogue, 2nd largest in the world

Hungarian Surprise

Shana Tova! While my parents were visiting Budapest with my Grandmother, I decided to give them a surprise visit from Israel. Last thursday after morning classes I flew directly to Budapest and walked right into the Hotel my family was staying at. I walked straight up to my parents and grandmother and the look on their faces was of total shock! They truly could not believe that I was in Hungary. We toured around the city and all spent Rosh HaShana in Budapest. My parents went to the Dohany Synagogue, and I went to the Dessewffy as I didnt have a ticket for Dohany.
Today my parents departed for Croatia and I will be in Budapest until thursday when I head back to Jerusalem. I am having a really good time in Hungary, I was last here when I was 7 years old and it is amazing how beautiful the city is. I am also here during the time of the riots by the parilament in Budapest, however it is not as bad as it appears on the news, like usual.
Take care and greetings from Budapest!!!

Overlooking the Jerusalem Forest in Har Nof

Israel Update

Hello,
It is true, I have been delaying in writing in some meaty entry to the blog for some time, so here we go for all those who were longing to read something. We left off with me working teaching English to Spanish and Japanese kids at CISS summer camp in Toronto and my decision to come to Israel for the year to study about my heritage. While it is true I did come to Israel in 2005 for 6 months, I enjoyed my time so much and the experiences, that I had to come back for more. Perhaps it was the beauty of the land, the history, the running into friends I know from all over the world, or the reconnection with my ancestry, but something deep down inside me told me that I owed it to myself to return and to explore my history deeper. The yeshiva that I am currently studying at is called Machon Yaakov, which means Preparation for Yaakov. We recently found out that the preparation is for our lives in order to realize our full potentials. I am no longer living in the mystical old city of Jerusalem like my last time I was here, I am in an area called Har Nof which translates as Mountain View which is not to be confused with the place with the same name in California. It is literally a mountain and to go anywhere here one needs to walk up a lot of steps or down a lot of steps or if one is fortunate to just walk laterally which does not happen too much because the main shop is directly up from where I am. I have been here for about 3 weeks now and slowly adjusting to the very quiet pace here and the dedication involved in fulltime study with minimal distractions. While we are studying Jewish philosophy, Halacha (laws), and Torah, my greatest acheivement so far has been in Gemara --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemara
where I today finished my first ever amud (one side of one page) of Gemara in the chapter of Bava Kama which deals with damages and tort law. I have a really great friend here named Denes who is from Hungary who I am learning with and together we are making exceptional progress in out studies. We are also studying the laws of Sukkah as the holiday of Sukkot is coming up very soon. I hope to visit my family in the city of Netanya soon during my holiday so I am very much looking forward to that. As far as the people who are or were concerned with the war here, it is hard to believe that where I am overlooking the majestic Jerusalem forest that there was any conflict at all. I had a friend just return from Tsfat in the north and he told me that he saw mininal if any damage to the city. Things here are business as usual and for anyone who is hesitant to visit should definitely reconsider and see for themselves how normal daily life here is.
For those celebrating, I wish you a wonderful new year in 5767 full of joy and happiness.

Picture of the main Beis Midrash of Maachon Yaakov

View of Machon Yaakov from the Jerusalem Forest

Jerusalem Forest

Sunset in Har Nof

My view in Har Nof, Jerusalem

Prague to Israel

After meeting up with a friend, Sam Wisebrod in the Toronto Airport, Tamar Tal, Sam and I embarked for Prague. We arrived very early in the morning and the weather was cold and rainy, but we managed to have a good time despite the weather. We dropped our stuff at the hotel and toured Prague, or "Praha" as they call it for the whole day while trying to maintain our composure from the heavy jet lag. We toured some churches and six synagogues that are now essentially museums for the tourists as Prague's Jewish population was essentially wiped out during the Holocaust. We ate in the only Kosher restaurant in Prauge, "King Solomon's" and it was very upscale and tastey! We all had shnitzel and it was excellent. Prague itself is very beautiful and seemed like a wonderland kind of city in which fairies would live.
We all slept pretty hard in the evening and took yet another flight to Tel Aviv. It was so great to arrive in Israel, the weather, the people, the familiarity.
I have already visited so many friends here and this Shabbat I am going to Beit Shemesh which is just west of Jerusalem. My classes begin on Monday and from then on I will have a solid schedule of learning. Take care!

The Mystery of Hate

The Mystery of Hate

by Yair Lapid

Hundreds of years of fighting, six and a half wars, billions of dollars gone with the wind, tens of thousands of victims, not including the boy who laid down next to me on the rocky beach of lake Karon in 1982 and we both watched his guts spilling out. The helicopter took him and until this day I do not know whether he is dead or survived. All this, and one
cannot figure it out.

And its not only what happened but all that did not happen - hospitals that were never built, universities that were never opened, roads that were never paved, the three years that were taken from millions of teenagers for the sake of the army. And despite all the above, we still do not have the beginning of a clue to the mystery of where it all started:

Why do they hate us so much?

I am not talking about the Palestinians this time. Their dispute with us is intimate, focused, and it has a direct effect on their lives. Without getting into the “which side is right” question, it is obvious that they have very personal reasons not to stand our presence here. We all know that eventually this is how it will be solved: in a personal way, between them
and us, with blood sweat and tears that will stain the pages of the agreement. Until then, it is a war that could at least be understood, even if no sane person is willing to accept the means that are used to run it by.

It is the others. Those I cannot understand. Why does Hassan Nasralla, along with tens of thousands of his supporters, dedicate his life, his visible talents, his country’s destiny, to fight a country he has never even seen, people he has never really met and an army that he has no reason to fight?

Why do children in Iran, who can not even locate Israel on the map (especially because it is so small), burn its flag in the city center and offer to commit suicide for its elimination? Why do Egyptian and Jordanian intellectuals agitate the innocent and helpless against the peace
agreements, even though they know that their failure will push their countries 20 years back? Why are the Syrians willing to stay a pathetic and depressed third world country, for the dubious right to finance terror organizations that will eventually threaten their own country’s existence?

Why do they hate us so much in Saudi-Arabia? In Iraq? In Sudan? What have we done to them? How are we even relevant to their lives? What do they know about us? Why do they hate us so much in Afghanistan? They don’t have anything to eat there, where do they get the energy to hate?

This question has so many answers and yet it is a mystery. It is true that it is a religious matter but even religious people make their choices. The Koran (along with the Shariaa - the Muslim parallel to the Jewish Halacha) consists of thousands of laws, why is it that we occupy them so much?

There are so many countries who gave them much better reasons to be angry. We did not start the crusades, we did not rule them during the colonial period, we never tried to convert them. The Mongolians, the Seljuk, the Greeks, the Romans, the Crusaders, the Ottomans, the British, they all conquered, ruined and plundered the whole region. We did not even try, so how come we are the enemy?

And if it is identification with their Palestinians brothers then where are the Saudi Arabian tractors building up the territories that were evacuated? What happened to the Indonesian delegation building a school in Gaza strip? Where are the Kuwaiti doctors with their modern surgical equipment? There are so many ways to love your brothers, why do they all prefer to help their brothers with hating?

Is it something that we do? Fifteen hundreds years of anti-Semitism taught us - in the most painful way possible - that there is something about us that irritates the world. So, we did the thing everyone wanted: we got up and left. We have established our own tiny little country, where we can irritate ourselves without interrupting others. We didn’t even ask a
lot for it. Israel is spread on a smaller territory than 1% of the territory of Saudi-Arabia, with no oil, no minerals, without settling on another existing state’s territory. Most of the cities that were bombed this week were not plundered from anyone. Nahariya, Afula, and Karmiel did
not even exist until we established them. The other katyusas landed on territories over which no one ever questioned our right with regards to them. In Haifa there were Jews already in the 3rd century BC and Tiberias was the place where the last Sanhedrin sat, so no one can claim we plundered them from anyone.

However, the hatred continues. As if no other destiny is possible. Active hatred, poisoned, unstoppable. Last Saturday the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called again “to act for the vanishing of Israel”‘ as if we were bacteria. We got used to it so much that we don’t even ask why.

Israel does not hope and never did for Iran to vanish. As long as they wanted, we had diplomatic relations with them. We do not have a common border with them or even any bad memories. And still, they are willing to confront the whole western world, to risk a commercial boycott, to hurt their own quality of life, to crush what’s left of their economy and all that for the right to passionately hate us.

I am trying to remember and cannot: have we ever done something to them? When? How? Why did he say in his speech that “Israel is the main problem of the Muslim world”? more than a billion people living in the Muslim world, most of them in horrible conditions. They suffer from hunger, poverty, ignorance, bloodshed that spreads from Kashmir to Kurdistan, from dying Darfur to injured Bangladesh. How come we are the main problem? How exactly are we in their way?

I refuse to accept the argument that claims “that is just the way they are”. They said it about us so many times that we have learned to accept this _expression. There must be another reason, some dark secret that because of it, the citizens of South Lebanon allow to rouse the quiet border, to kidnap the soldiers of an army that has already retreated from
their territory, to turn their country into a wasteland exactly at the time they finally escaped twenty years of disasters.

We got used to telling ourselves worn expressions - “it’s the Iranian influence”, or “Syria is stirring behind the scenes” - but it is just too easy explanation. Because what about them? What about their thoughts? What about their hopes, loves, ambitions and their dreams? What about their children? When they send their children to die, does it seem enough for them to say that it was all worth while just because they hate us so much?

Senator John McCain's brother on The Jews & Israel.

There is a lot of worry popping up in the media just now -- "Can Israel Survive?" Don't worry about it. It relates to something that Palestinians, the Arabs, and perhaps most Americans don't realize -- the Jews are never going quietly again. Never. And if the world doesn't come to understand that, then millions of Arabs are going to die. It's as simple as that.

Throughout the history of the world, the most abused, kicked-around race of people have been the Jews. Not just during the holocaust of World War II, but for thousands of years. They have truly been "The Chosen People" in a terrible and tragic sense.

The Bible story of Egypt's enslavement of the Jews is not just a story, it is history, if festooned with theological legend and heroic epics. In 70 A.D. the Romans, which had for a long time tolerated the Jews -- even admired them as 'superior' to other vassals -- tired of their truculent demands for independence and decided on an early "Solution" to the Jewish problem. Jerusalem was sacked and reduced to near rubble, Jewish resistance was pursued and crushed by the implacable Roman War Machine -- see 'Masada'. And thus began The Diaspora, the dispersal of Jews throughout the rest of the world.

Their homeland destroyed, their culture crushed, they looked desperately for the few niches in a hostile world where they could be safe. That safety was fragile, and often subject to the whims of moody hosts. The words 'pogrom', 'ghetto', and 'anti-Semitism' come from this treatment of the first mono-theistic people. Throughout Europe, changing times meant sometimes tolerance, sometimes even warmth for the Jews, but eventually it meant hostility, then malevolence. There is not a country in Europe or Western Asia that at one time or another has not decided to lash out against the children of Moses, sometimes by whim, sometimes by manipulation.

Winston Churchill calls Edward I one of England's very greatest kings. It was under his rule in the late 1200's that Wales and Cornwall were hammered into the British crown, and Scotland and Ireland were invaded and occupied. He was also the first European monarch to set up a really effective administrative bureaucracy, surveyed and censused his kingdom, established laws and political divisions. But he also embraced the Jews.

Actually Edward didn't embrace Jews so much as he embraced their money. For the English Jews had acquired wealth -- understandable, because this people that could not own land or office, could not join most of the trades and professions, soon found out that money was a very good thing to accumulate. Much harder to take away than land or a store, was a hidden sock of gold and silver coins. Ever resourceful, Edward found a way -- he borrowed money from the Jews to finance imperial ambitions in Europe, especially France. The loans were almost certainly not made gladly, but how do you refuse your King? Especially when he is 'Edward the Hammer'. Then, rather than pay back the debt, Edward simply expelled the Jews. Edward was especially inventive -- he did this twice. After a time, he invited the Jews back to their English homeland, borrowed more money, then expelled them again.

Most people do not know that Spain was one of the early entrants into The Renaissance. People from all over the world came to Spain in the late medieval period. All were welcome -- Arabs, Jews, other Europeans. The University of Salamanca was one of the great centers of learning in the world -- scholars of all nations, all fields came to Salamanca to share their knowledge and their ideas. But in 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella, having driven the last of Moors from the Spanish Shield, were persuaded by the righteous fundamentalists of the time to announce "The Act of Purification". A series of steps were taken in which all Jews and Arabs and other non-Christians were expelled from the country, or would face the tools and the torches of The Inquisition. From this 'cleansing' come the Sephardic Jews -- as opposed to the Ashkenazis of Eastern Europe. In Eastern Europe, the sporadic violence and brutality against Jews are common knowledge. 'Fiddler' without the music and the folksy humor. At times of fury, no accommodation by the Jew was good enough, no profile low enough, no village poor enough or distant enough.

From these come the near-steady flow of Jews to the United States. And despite the disdain of the Jews by most 'American' Americans, they came to grab the American Dream with both hands, and contributed everything from new ideas of enterprise in retail and entertainment to becoming some of our finest physicians and lawyers. The modern United States, in spite of itself, IS The United States in part because of its Jewish blood.

Then the Nazi Holocaust -- the corralling, sorting, orderly eradication of millions of the people of Moses. Not something that other realms in other times didn't try to do, by the way, the Germans were just more organized and had better murder technology.

I stood in the center of Dachau for an entire day, about 15 years ago, trying to comprehend how this could have happened. I had gone there on a side trip from Munich, vaguely curious about this Dachau. I soon became engulfed in the enormity of what had occurred there nestled in this middle and working class neighborhood.

How could human beings do this to other human beings, hear their cries, their pleas, their terror, their pain, and continue without apparently even wincing? I no longer wonder. At some times, some places, ANY sect of the human race is capable of horrors against their fellow man, whether a member of the Waffen SS, a Serbian sniper, a Turkish policeman in 1920's Armenia, a Mississippi Klansman. Because even in the United States not all was a Rose Garden. For a long time Jews had quotas in our universities and graduate schools. Only so many Jews could be in a medical or law school at one time. Jews were disparaged widely. I remember as a kid Jewish jokes
told without a wince - "Why do Jews have such big noses?"

Well, now the Jews have a homeland again. A place that is theirs. And that's the point. It doesn't matter how many times the United States and European powers try to rein in Israel, if it comes down to survival of its nation, its people, they will fight like no lioness has ever fought to save her cubs. They will fight with a ferocity, a determination, and a skill, that will astound us.

And many will die, mostly their attackers, I believe. If there were a macabre historical betting parlor, my money would be on the Israelis to be standing at the end. As we killed the kamikazes and the Wehrmacht soldaten of World War II, so will the Israelis kill their suicidal attackers, until there are not enough to torment them.

The irony goes unnoticed -- while we are hammering away to punish those who brought the horrors of last September here, we restrain the Israelis from the same retaliation. Not the same thing, of course -- We are We, They are They. While we mourn and seethe at September 11th, we don't notice that Israel has a September 11th sometimes every day.

We may not notice, but it doesn't make any difference. And it doesn't make any difference whether you are pro-Israeli or you think Israel is the bully of the Middle East. If it comes to where a new holocaust looms -- with or without the concurrence of the United States and Europe -- Israel will lash out without pause or restraint at those who would try to annihilate their country.

The Jews will not go quietly again.

Joe McCain (Brother of John McCain) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain

Summer 2006

I am officially done Teacher's College at Western Ontario and after completing an additional qualification course at York on how to teach ESL, I am now working as an ESL Teacher for the summer at the Waldorf School in Richmond Hill. I am teaching a class of 12 students from Spain, Mexico, France, and Taiwan. In August I will be teaching all Japanese students. It is really interesting and rewarding. http://www.cisscanada.com/ciss_homestay_programmes_toronto.htm

Occupation

Montcalm S.S.

Last Practicum: Montcalm S.S.

In this drawing, two Hebrew letters - a (red vertical) Shin and a (blue horizontal) Mem - are joined by the first Hebrew letter, (a yellow diagonal) Aleph.

According to the Kabbalah, Shin represents Fire, Mem represents Water - two opposite forces (hot and cold, ascending and descending) which come together in Air, represented by the Aleph.

Notice how these letters are also primary geometric shapes. This derives from their simple gematria (single-digeit number value):

* Shin equals three, and a triangle has three sides.
* Mem equals four, and a rectangle has four sides.
* Aleph equals One, and a circle has one side - or an infinite number of sides, as we say,
"God's Name (Shem) is One", and we mean Infinite.  

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Shekhinah