Featured Post
Free The Hostages! Bring Them Home!
(this is a featured post and will stay at the top for the foreseeable future.. scroll down for new posts) -------------------------------...
Dec 31, 2017
Proposed Law: stricter punishments for defacing posters with images of women
MK Yulia Malinovsky (Yisrael Beyteynu) has proposed a law that would make the punishment a bit harsher for defacing signs bearing the images of women in the public sphere.
Until now the punishment by law has been up to months in prison, that was generally converted to community service or a fine. The new law would punish the offender with a full year in prison.
The new law, if it passes, would require the defacing to have been done for reasons of gender bias, and not just good old regular vandalism.
source: Kikar
I am sure that, despite this being proposed by a coalition member it will be shot down by other coalition members. While that remains to be seen, I do not see how they will either suddenly start catching these vandals, when they have hardly done so in the past, or how they will prove it was done out of gender bias rather than generic vandalism. My guess is they will assume if the offender has a Haredi appearance they will assume gender bias, while any other offender will be assumed generic vandalism.
I don't see this law passing. Even if it does, I don't see it being useful or effective in any way.
Until now the punishment by law has been up to months in prison, that was generally converted to community service or a fine. The new law would punish the offender with a full year in prison.
The new law, if it passes, would require the defacing to have been done for reasons of gender bias, and not just good old regular vandalism.
source: Kikar
I am sure that, despite this being proposed by a coalition member it will be shot down by other coalition members. While that remains to be seen, I do not see how they will either suddenly start catching these vandals, when they have hardly done so in the past, or how they will prove it was done out of gender bias rather than generic vandalism. My guess is they will assume if the offender has a Haredi appearance they will assume gender bias, while any other offender will be assumed generic vandalism.
I don't see this law passing. Even if it does, I don't see it being useful or effective in any way.
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Israeli Frenemies- Dec. 29, 2017 (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
Israeli TV Channel 2 Profiles Charedim in New York - Part 4 (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
10 Ways Israel Changed The World (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
Nas Daily : Let's Fix The Dead Sea (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
Get a load of this (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Dec 28, 2017
Facebook Status of the Day
the following post was written by a young man, a convert, who was the subject of much online scoffing after a picture was published of him marrying a clearly much older woman..
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
fsotd
Palestinians: If Palestine conquered Israel, would you take slaves? (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
Israeli TV Channel 2 Profiles Charedim in New York - Part 3 (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
Grand Rebbe of Kaliv Congratulates President Donald J. Trump on Embassy Move to Jerusalem (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
Nas Daily : The City Without Taxes (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
BERI - Lets Talk #7 - Episode Four (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
Dec 27, 2017
fake yeshiva with fake students but real protesters
whoa...
from Walla News and YWN
from Walla News and YWN
12 suspects were arrested in Beit Shemesh Monday in a massive fraud case involving a fake yeshiva.I must say, 1,000,000nis seems like an awefully low number for a fake yeshiva with 150 fake students registered. 1 million shekels sounds like it would be about a few months worth of fraud for that size institution.
According to the authorities, the suspects created a fake yeshiva and registered 150 'students' in order to receive government funding in the form of Education Ministry stipends and scholarship funds, Yeshiva World News reported.
The suspects allegedly pocketed over NIS 1,000,000 ($287,000).
During a routine inspection, Education Ministry officials found a pile of rubble at the address given for the yeshiva. The officials filed a complaint with the police and undercover detectives, who discovered that the yeshiva and its 150 students did not exist.
Haredi protesters clashed with police as they attempted to apprehend the suspects Monday. Rioters shoved police officers and threw eggs at them. The police responded with pepper spray.
The suspects were arraigned and taken in for questioning, Several suspects were released under restrictive orders.
The suspects are accused of obtaining defrauded money under aggravated circumstances, conspiracy to thievery, and money laundering.
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Donald Trump Hakotel Station
Minister of Transportation Yisrael Katz has approved the decision/recommendation to build a train station in the Old City of Jerusalem very close to the Kotel, near the site of the Cardo in the Jewish Quarter. That was already pretty set in stone and the approval was already sure to happen.
What is more interesting is Katz's decision to name the station after the President of the United States of America, Donald J Trump.
That's right. The Kotel Train Station will be called "Tachanat Donald Trump, Hakotel" - "The Donald Trump, Kotel Station".
Katz explains that he has decided to name the station after Trump in light of his courageous and historic decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. As if that needed to be said.
source: Yediot
I seem to recall that when Trump was running for President, and shortly after he was elected, people were joking about putting a large plaque on the Kotel with Trump's name, as well as a similar one on the golden Dome of the Rock. That joke is now just a few meters away from becoming reality.
What is more interesting is Katz's decision to name the station after the President of the United States of America, Donald J Trump.
That's right. The Kotel Train Station will be called "Tachanat Donald Trump, Hakotel" - "The Donald Trump, Kotel Station".
Katz explains that he has decided to name the station after Trump in light of his courageous and historic decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. As if that needed to be said.
source: Yediot
I seem to recall that when Trump was running for President, and shortly after he was elected, people were joking about putting a large plaque on the Kotel with Trump's name, as well as a similar one on the golden Dome of the Rock. That joke is now just a few meters away from becoming reality.
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Quote of the Day
I bless MK Yaakov Litzman, for after years of us trying to convince him and his community that the key to success is significant service in the IDF along with academic education, it is he who is now helping us instill that down to the community..
-- MK Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid), regarding Litzman's law proposal to require a candidate for Prime Minister to have served in the IDF and hold an academic degree
-- MK Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid), regarding Litzman's law proposal to require a candidate for Prime Minister to have served in the IDF and hold an academic degree
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
Litzman,
qotd,
Yair Lapid
Facebook Status of the Day
I thought this was well thought out and well said
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
fsotd
during filibuster, MK Eitan Cabel reads Megillat Eicha in Yemenite tune (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Israeli TV Channel 2 Profiles Charedim in New York - Part 2 (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
how the Post Office sells lost packages (video)
shocking
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
A look inside a 144 year old Tahini factory (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
Ashley Blaker on Christmas (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
Dec 26, 2017
Quote of the Day
I hate the leadership of the Religious Zionists, though not on a personal level. They are now like the Haredim from 50 years ago - they only look out for themselves..
-- MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ)
-- MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
more embassies moving to Jerusalem
We already know Guatemala has announced it will be moving its embassy to Jerusalem, following the USA's lead. Now Panama and the Honduras have announced they will also be moving their embassies to Jerusalem.
source: NRG
The dominoes are all falling. Some countries will stand strong and refuse to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but the tipping point will eventually be reached and they will realize Jerusalem is not what is preventing peace.
Now we just have to wait and see if the USA actually moves their embassy or if it was just lip service...
source: NRG
The dominoes are all falling. Some countries will stand strong and refuse to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but the tipping point will eventually be reached and they will realize Jerusalem is not what is preventing peace.
Now we just have to wait and see if the USA actually moves their embassy or if it was just lip service...
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Eateries around the Mir Yeshiva to be shut down at night
There's been some friction over the past few years in the area of the Mir Yeshiva. Some have felt that the restaurants open late at night full of yeshiva bachurim is inappropriate and a bad influence in the area. They want the restaurants closed at night. The other side of it is the bachurim and the restaurants who want their night life and the booming business.
After years of threats and warnings and debate, the restaurants around the Mir are being shut down at 11pm. The order has come down from the neighborhood council. This is being enforced with a threat that the Badatz Eida hechsher will be removed from any restaurant that does not comply.
The administration of the Mir Yeshiva is playing along, or has their own agenda in putting an end to this phenomenon as well. The administration has announced that the bachurim are not allowed to be in the local shops after 11pm during the week, including Thursday nights and Motzei Shabbos - especially in the shops that have no hechsher.
To strengthen their position, the Mir further announced that they will be putting out light refreshments nightly for the boys between the hours of 11:00pm and 11:30pm.
That's some serious nightlife excitement in the Mir!
The restaurant owners are not making a public fight of this, despite this taking a bit hit on their income, and at least publicly, are expressing support for whatever decision the rabbonim come to.
source: Behadrei
without being critical of the decisions made, as it is not my place to discus that and the yeshiva has the right, or obligation, to keep their boys in line, and the neighbors deserve peace and quiet at night, I think the yeshiva solution is funny.
First of all, how long will it actually last? Will they stop putting out food after 4 nights or 7? Maybe they might make it two weeks?
Second, will the soda pop and rugelach really be enticing to the boys who until now were eating shawarma, hamburgers, shnitzel, pizza and the like?
Third, night life is about more than light refreshments, and more than about food. They go out to hang out, shoot the breeze with the friends, get into a different atmosphere. The yeshiva won't be able to replicate that, even if they put out good food and keep it going for months.
Fourth, if they cannot go to the shops right around the yeshiva and the pop and rugelach in the yeshiva dining room are not a good enough replacement, the boys will not just go to sleep, or back to the beis medrash, instead. They will look for their night life excitement elsewhere, further away from the yeshiva.
After years of threats and warnings and debate, the restaurants around the Mir are being shut down at 11pm. The order has come down from the neighborhood council. This is being enforced with a threat that the Badatz Eida hechsher will be removed from any restaurant that does not comply.
The administration of the Mir Yeshiva is playing along, or has their own agenda in putting an end to this phenomenon as well. The administration has announced that the bachurim are not allowed to be in the local shops after 11pm during the week, including Thursday nights and Motzei Shabbos - especially in the shops that have no hechsher.
To strengthen their position, the Mir further announced that they will be putting out light refreshments nightly for the boys between the hours of 11:00pm and 11:30pm.
That's some serious nightlife excitement in the Mir!
The restaurant owners are not making a public fight of this, despite this taking a bit hit on their income, and at least publicly, are expressing support for whatever decision the rabbonim come to.
source: Behadrei
without being critical of the decisions made, as it is not my place to discus that and the yeshiva has the right, or obligation, to keep their boys in line, and the neighbors deserve peace and quiet at night, I think the yeshiva solution is funny.
First of all, how long will it actually last? Will they stop putting out food after 4 nights or 7? Maybe they might make it two weeks?
Second, will the soda pop and rugelach really be enticing to the boys who until now were eating shawarma, hamburgers, shnitzel, pizza and the like?
Third, night life is about more than light refreshments, and more than about food. They go out to hang out, shoot the breeze with the friends, get into a different atmosphere. The yeshiva won't be able to replicate that, even if they put out good food and keep it going for months.
Fourth, if they cannot go to the shops right around the yeshiva and the pop and rugelach in the yeshiva dining room are not a good enough replacement, the boys will not just go to sleep, or back to the beis medrash, instead. They will look for their night life excitement elsewhere, further away from the yeshiva.
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Tweet of the Day
this is great.. Josh Callahan responding to a tweet sympathetic to someone's Nazi grandparents...
I’d love to introduce them to my great grandparents but they were gassed in a concentration camp.— Josh Callahan (@Jschmuck2) December 22, 2017
But I’m sure they’re great.
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
totd
Proposed Law: Candidate must have academic degree to be elected Prime Minister
This is interesting. I saw the headline and expected this to be a proposal made most likely by someone like Yair Lapid, to prevent a Haredi MK from eventually becoming Prime Minister, if as unlikely as it seems right now (they can hardly even manage to be ministers, let alone prime minister!).
But my assumption was wrong. "adderaba", as we would say back in yeshiva.
MK Yaakov Litzman (UTH) is proposing a law that would disqualify any candidate for Prime Minister if the candidate does not have an academic degree or has not served in the IDF.
The purpose, it seems, is to prevent Yair Lapid from possibly becoming Prime minister of Israel. Lapid never finished his academic degree - he had to drop out of his studies for a doctorate when it became known that he did not even have a BA.
Litzman explains the proposal saying that the position of Prime Minister of Israel is complex and requires broad knowledge, among other things.
source: Walla News
The article says it is unlikely to pass, as it is not constitutional (in a country with no constitution).
This is funny, and I love Litzman's spunk. If it would pass, I could see it eventually backfiring and preventing a Haredi or DL politician from becoming Prime Minister as muchas , or even more likely than, it would prevent Lapid.
It is also funny/ironic considering Litzman and Gafni are often found to be fighting such requirements form so many other government positions in order to benefit the Haredi community that largely has not served and does not hold academic degrees, yet here Litzman is working to put such a limitation into place.
But my assumption was wrong. "adderaba", as we would say back in yeshiva.
MK Yaakov Litzman (UTH) is proposing a law that would disqualify any candidate for Prime Minister if the candidate does not have an academic degree or has not served in the IDF.
The purpose, it seems, is to prevent Yair Lapid from possibly becoming Prime minister of Israel. Lapid never finished his academic degree - he had to drop out of his studies for a doctorate when it became known that he did not even have a BA.
Litzman explains the proposal saying that the position of Prime Minister of Israel is complex and requires broad knowledge, among other things.
source: Walla News
The article says it is unlikely to pass, as it is not constitutional (in a country with no constitution).
This is funny, and I love Litzman's spunk. If it would pass, I could see it eventually backfiring and preventing a Haredi or DL politician from becoming Prime Minister as muchas , or even more likely than, it would prevent Lapid.
It is also funny/ironic considering Litzman and Gafni are often found to be fighting such requirements form so many other government positions in order to benefit the Haredi community that largely has not served and does not hold academic degrees, yet here Litzman is working to put such a limitation into place.
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Israeli TV Channel 2 Profiles Charedim in Brooklyn - Part 1 (video)
Yair Sharki went to Brooklyn to check out the haredi community there. The differences are stark. the chassidishe guy calls his wife in to be in the clip and says how the people probably want to see her more than him. he talks about how people are complicated, not black and white. he doesn't like how in Israel they say "you are charedi'" "you went to army" you didnt go to army. etc.
different worlds
different worlds
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
PM Netanyahu's Remarks at Taglit Event in Jerusalem (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
Davka Farewell - 35 years of Davka Software Products (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
Synagogues of New York (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
Dvir: Mizmor L'Toda (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
Dec 25, 2017
cash being minimized
There has been increased talk about finding stricter ways to crack down on money laundering.
The main strategy is to minimize the usage of cash. The question is how to accomplish that.
One method being considered by the Bank of Israel and the Treasury Department is to create some sort of digital shekel. I guess that would be something similar to Bitcoin, but to be used within Israel, that would replace cash.
Another method is an approach being advanced with a law proposal that would limit the amount of cash allowed to be used and require reporting for sums of cash greater than that. After some debate and compromise, it seems the law being advanced will limit cash transactions to a maximum of 5000NIS between consumers and bsuinesses, and to 25,000NIS between private individuals.
the main communities expected to be hurt by this are the Arab and Haredi communities, as a lot of transactions in these communities are done with cash - for a number of cultural and practical reasons. MK Gafni agreed to this after the initial proposal would have limited cash between individuals to much smaller numbers than what was finally agreed upon - I guess the 25k is acceptable enough to him.
Limiting cash will be a big deal. If they move to crypto and digital currencies, they will also have to take a lot of cash off the street and out of the currency, minimizing its availability. Even if they do not move to digital currencies, limiting cash will make it difficult for many in these communities to function. It might even hurt the country as less foreign currency will find its way into Israeli hands and move through the local markets.
the globalization of markets is moving the world towards big changes...
.
The main strategy is to minimize the usage of cash. The question is how to accomplish that.
One method being considered by the Bank of Israel and the Treasury Department is to create some sort of digital shekel. I guess that would be something similar to Bitcoin, but to be used within Israel, that would replace cash.
Another method is an approach being advanced with a law proposal that would limit the amount of cash allowed to be used and require reporting for sums of cash greater than that. After some debate and compromise, it seems the law being advanced will limit cash transactions to a maximum of 5000NIS between consumers and bsuinesses, and to 25,000NIS between private individuals.
the main communities expected to be hurt by this are the Arab and Haredi communities, as a lot of transactions in these communities are done with cash - for a number of cultural and practical reasons. MK Gafni agreed to this after the initial proposal would have limited cash between individuals to much smaller numbers than what was finally agreed upon - I guess the 25k is acceptable enough to him.
Limiting cash will be a big deal. If they move to crypto and digital currencies, they will also have to take a lot of cash off the street and out of the currency, minimizing its availability. Even if they do not move to digital currencies, limiting cash will make it difficult for many in these communities to function. It might even hurt the country as less foreign currency will find its way into Israeli hands and move through the local markets.
the globalization of markets is moving the world towards big changes...
.
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
WINTER HOLIDAY MUSIC IS SO JEWISH
A Guest Post by Dr. Harold Goldmeier
I’m a baby
boomer. American born Mom was the child of Polish Jews scrapping-by through the
Great Depression in the land of plenty. They lost everything. Nothing went to waste ever again. We barely
threw a garbage bag out once a week.
Her favorite
times of year were the baseball and holiday seasons. She loved winter-time
songs, so many written by Jewish immigrants and their first born. The music
reminded her of good times during a rocky early life. Judy Garland’s rendition
of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” captivated Mom. Carl Sigman’s 1949 lyrics to
A Marshmallow
World performed by Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Dean Martin, Arthur Godfrey,
and half-dozen more artists always brought a smile to Mom’s face:
It's a marshmallow world in the winter
When the snow comes to cover the ground
It's time for play, it's a whipped cream day
I wait for it the whole year round…
When the snow comes to cover the ground
It's time for play, it's a whipped cream day
I wait for it the whole year round…
Oh, The world is your snowball, see how it grows
That’s how it goes whenever it snows
The world is your snowball just for a song
Get out and roll it along…
That’s how it goes whenever it snows
The world is your snowball just for a song
Get out and roll it along…
Mom was a
true-blue American tomboy. Mom was a near professional bowler and ballplayer. Mom’s spirit of, “I’ll do it myself,” and never complain
especially about America, were her declarations of independence. Holiday music
represented everything she loved about life and opportunities. She married a German Jewish immigrant in the
1940’s. He spoke only German. Mom spoke English and a smattering of Yiddish. Mom
cut the grass on hot summer days after watching father do it in a suit and tie.
I can’t explain how they hooked up, but they thrived on mutual respect and
love.
Mom’s kitchen
smelled of fresh cooking and cigarettes. Holiday radio music played in the
background when she cooked in the dark, early morning hours for Shabbat between
Thanksgivings and spring times. It was deep winter cold, icy and windy Chicago.
The kitchen window was frosted from the hothouse steam, and we drew hearts,
wrote our names on the panes, and laughed together.
She koshered zaftig (juicy and succulent) fresh
chickens bought from the neighborhood shochet (slaughterer) every Thursday. Mom cleaved
them into quarters, heavily smothering them in Morton Kosher Salt (the blue box
with the young, umbrella holding girl in a short yellow skirt). My little
sister and I cringed watching the mix of watered-down blood oozing into the
sink. The chicken pieces and the sink were washed down with boiling hot water
after an appropriate amount of time.
Some chicken
pieces were plunked into a large pot bubbling atop the gas stove. Adding fresh
vegetables and marrowbones, Mom concocted the greatest pharmaceutically curing
and greasy chicken soup (next to my wife’s). Some quarters were roasted in a
flat pan—never broiled or bbq’d.
By ten at night
the soup cooled down, and the pot stuffed into the icebox (but that’s another
story). By seven a.m. Friday out comes the pot with a good inch thick of fat congealed
on top that you only get from fresh chickens. Christmas holiday music was
playing on the radio only interrupted with news about the Korean War or the
Cold War with Russia. A frying pan was
making sizzling sounds by the time I made it down to the kitchen. Mom scooped
off the fresh chicken fat plopping each yellowish schmaltzy spoonful into a fry pan smeared with Crisco before the
advent of non-stick pots and pans. The crackling frying fat smelled fantastic
and its sounds kept to the beat of the music.
Crisco was a
cheap, white, Procter & Gamble vegetable shortening introduced in 1911. Its
ingenious marketing tag proclaimed, the “Hebrew race has been waiting 4,000
years” for Crisco. The frying fat
separated into crunchy popcorn-like morsels now called grebenes. Mom mixed it with her fried onions, sprinkled with salt
and pepper, to create the original comfort food. Grebenes
was hot and ready to eat.
Mom poured the grebenes from the frying pan into a
large bowl lined with paper towels to absorb the grease; this was her risk
management technique like grebenes was
now cardiac disease safe. All this happened by eight a.m. before we left for
school. Breakfast of hot chocolate (from
hot water not milk and non-dairy chocolate powder), grebenes, and fried fresh eggs readied this ten-years-old patrol
boy to face winter at its worst.
Ok, the radio
music. Live disc jockeys introduced songs naming the writers and performers,
while loading vinyl records onto players. Jews loved the holiday season music
because it was inspirational, and the writers often children of the Tribe: “Let
It Snow,” “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire,” “White Christmas,” and that one
about Rudolf, though it was unlikely any Jew had seen a live reindeer. For Mom,
the music was decorous, not religious, personifying freedom and the American
spirit.
There were other
songs too that stirred the emotional stewpot. Mom wondered how Judy Garland
could not be Jewish? Ms. Garland is now buried in the Beth
Olam section of a Los Angeles cemetery reserved for Jewish people. Several
seemingly reliable pundits tell the rest of the story. In A Journey into the Holocaust,
“Somewhere Over
the Rainbow” is about Jewish survival and founding of Israel. Lyrics by Yip
Harburg (Isidore Hochberg), who also wrote April in Paris and Brother Can You
Spare a Dime, was born to Russian Jewish immigrants. Yip grew up in a Yiddish
speaking, Orthodox Jewish home in New York.
Harold Arlen
(Hyman Arluck), a cantor's son, wrote the score. “The two men reached deep into
their immigrant Jewish consciousness - framed by the pogroms of the past and
the Holocaust about to happen - and wrote an unforgettable melody set to near
prophetic words.” Read the lyrics in a Jewish context. They are not about
wizards of Oz, but Jewish survival.
photo by Laura Ben David |
Somewhere over the rainbow, Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of once in a
lullaby.
Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream really
do come true.
Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind
me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops away
above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me.
Somewhere over the rainbow, Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the
rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?
The Jews of
Europe and Russia looked to Heaven praying for centuries to escape pogroms,
satrapy Czarist, and Christian oppression to fly beyond the rainbow. The 1938
song prophetically visualized the chimney tops of soon to be the hallmarks of
Hell in concentration camps spewing the smoke and ashes of burning Jews flying
beyond the rainbow.
Jews heard of a
land "once in a lullaby," but it was not America. It was Israel. The
lullaby is the story of the exodus from Egypt annually read the first night Passover.
It is the most observed precept among Jews. A decade after the publication of
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow," the exile was over with the rebirth of
the modern, defensible State of Israel.
Dreams Mom dared to dream really do come true.
Dr. Harold Goldmeier is a public speaker
and writer teaching business and politics to international university students
in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. His book Healthcare
Insights: Better Care Better Business is available on Amazon. His articles
and reviews appear on Algemeiner, American Thinker, Arutz 7, Life in Israel,
the Jerusalem Post, and more. He was a research and teaching fellow at
Harvard.
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
will Gafni's Shabbos law increase chilul shabbos?
An unintended consequence of the "minimarket law" being put through the voting process now in Knesset, to prevent the opening of shops on Shabbos and to take the power of making such decisions out of the hands of local authorities, a number of cities have suddenly announced that they are debating whether to allow local businesses to be open on Shabbos and pass the municipal laws allowing it prior to the passage of the national minimarket law. Doing so would grandfather them in and allow them to continue operating on Shabbos even after the minimarket law passes, if it should pass.
The drive is being led by Tel Aviv and the city of Givatayim, and now Holon and Rishon Letzion have announced similarly. Labor chairman Avi Gabbay has announced that he supports this, and it seems others might follow suit.
MK Yaakov Litzman (UTJ) condemned Gabbay for this calling him anti-haredi and saying that with such anti-haredi statements he is negating any chance the Haredi parties will join a potential future coalition led by him.
I would say to that that Shabbos is not a Haredi issue, but a Jewish issue, a Shabbos issue. Supporting the opening of businesses on Shabbos is supporting chilul shabbos, in whatever form, and not being anti-haredi. Litzman can say they wont sit with someone who supports chilul shabbos, but he should not be calling Avi Gabbay anti-haredi because of this.
It is ironic that Gafni's law to protect, and increase, Shabbos observance in the public sphere might now be the very impetus to increasing chilul shabbos instead. The Law of Unintended Consequences at work.
The drive is being led by Tel Aviv and the city of Givatayim, and now Holon and Rishon Letzion have announced similarly. Labor chairman Avi Gabbay has announced that he supports this, and it seems others might follow suit.
MK Yaakov Litzman (UTJ) condemned Gabbay for this calling him anti-haredi and saying that with such anti-haredi statements he is negating any chance the Haredi parties will join a potential future coalition led by him.
I would say to that that Shabbos is not a Haredi issue, but a Jewish issue, a Shabbos issue. Supporting the opening of businesses on Shabbos is supporting chilul shabbos, in whatever form, and not being anti-haredi. Litzman can say they wont sit with someone who supports chilul shabbos, but he should not be calling Avi Gabbay anti-haredi because of this.
It is ironic that Gafni's law to protect, and increase, Shabbos observance in the public sphere might now be the very impetus to increasing chilul shabbos instead. The Law of Unintended Consequences at work.
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Peleg in uniform
Remember the guys from the Peleg group that were arrested for being AWOL and were saying they were going to refuse to wear uniforms while in prison?
It seems this has not worked out too well for them... they showed up in court the other day in full IDF regalia..
For all the details, see the Behadrei article about what is going on..
Interesting details:
They seem to have made friends with the soldiers guarding the prison.
They do what they can to avoid contact with females.
They sometimes refuse to wear the uniform and then get sent to solitary confinement for bit. They say they prefer it because there are less women there, and the additional quiet is better for learning.
The thing they miss most, they say, is Thursday night cholent
They say they learn a lot in jail, even more than in yeshiva - even up to 11 hours a day
It seems this has not worked out too well for them... they showed up in court the other day in full IDF regalia..
For all the details, see the Behadrei article about what is going on..
Interesting details:
They seem to have made friends with the soldiers guarding the prison.
They do what they can to avoid contact with females.
They sometimes refuse to wear the uniform and then get sent to solitary confinement for bit. They say they prefer it because there are less women there, and the additional quiet is better for learning.
The thing they miss most, they say, is Thursday night cholent
They say they learn a lot in jail, even more than in yeshiva - even up to 11 hours a day
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Chabad Center of Talbiya/ Mamilla Jerusalem - 4th night of Chanukah - Leibele Lipsker (video)
Chabad Center of Talbiya/ Mamilla Jerusalem - 4th night of Chanukah - Leibele Lipsker from Menachem Schloss on Vimeo.
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
Asking Israelis: Do You Believe in Peace? (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
news report on the visit of MKs to Bet Shemesh (video)
the interesting part is actually the documentation of the police approaching Iryat Bet Shemesh a number of times to coordinate removal of the signs and the Iryah ignoring the requests - despite the mayor claiming publicly that he has done what he could and the police need to be the address
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
bet shemesh,
video,
women
Synagogues of New York (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
Im Eshkachech Yerushalaim - Shai Abramson (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Dec 24, 2017
Quote of the Day
Well, let me preface it by saying I think Nikki Haley may end up as our first female president. I fully support moving our embassy to Jerusalem and God knows we can use a tougher line at the U.N. But I think we could have handled this particular case a little bit better. I’ll give you three rules from coal town bar fights. One, pick your fights wisely. Two, pick fights you can win. And three, don’t make threats you’re not prepared to carry out
-- Lt Col Ralph Peters (ret)
-- Lt Col Ralph Peters (ret)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
MK Eichler works to stop a visit of MKs to Bet Shemesh
Today's excitement is a visit by MKs from the Knesset Committee for the Advancement of Women to Bet Shemesh. They are coming to Bet Shemesh to see the situation with the signs and stuff first-hand. MK Yisroel Eichler sent a letter around, including to the Chairman of the Knesset, warning of a provocation and impending violence as a result of the visit and demanding the trip be canceled. The Committee head responded that the trip is continuing as planned.
The regular drama is all there, and that does not interest me. They blame the provocation on him for spreading word, he calls them Reform and says they are working with the Reform Movement to impose their lifestyle on Haredim, etc.
Just remember, when the Haredi MKs say that the extremists don't listen to them and are not part of the community and they do not represent them, and all the usual excuses to not bother fighting the extremism, just remember, the Haredi MKs regularly defend them and try to protect the extremists. Instead of letting the MKs go to Bet Shemesh and see the situation first hand and make decisions based on what they see, and perhaps they'll even see the other side's point of view and take it into account, Eichler sent out a letter to protect the extremists and the signs. The Haredi MKs can be counted on, as always, to thwart efforts against the extremist communities and instead continue to protect them.
The regular drama is all there, and that does not interest me. They blame the provocation on him for spreading word, he calls them Reform and says they are working with the Reform Movement to impose their lifestyle on Haredim, etc.
Just remember, when the Haredi MKs say that the extremists don't listen to them and are not part of the community and they do not represent them, and all the usual excuses to not bother fighting the extremism, just remember, the Haredi MKs regularly defend them and try to protect the extremists. Instead of letting the MKs go to Bet Shemesh and see the situation first hand and make decisions based on what they see, and perhaps they'll even see the other side's point of view and take it into account, Eichler sent out a letter to protect the extremists and the signs. The Haredi MKs can be counted on, as always, to thwart efforts against the extremist communities and instead continue to protect them.
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Nikki Haley's speech condemning UNGA vote against U.S. decision on Jerusalem (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Israeli Frenemies- Dec. 22, 2017 (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
Israeli Scientists Regrow Human Bone - Dec. 21, 2017 (video)
wow!
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
We Found Jewish Santa Claus (video)
strange but kind of cool..
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
MORDECHAI SHAPIRO - Lecha (Official Music Video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
Dec 22, 2017
ADON OLAM - Hampton Synagogue - Thanksgiving Concert 2017 (video)
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Labels:
video
Dec 21, 2017
Trump WILL move the embassy
listening to United States Ambassador o the United Nations Nikki Haley speak prior to the UN vote against the recent US declaration regarding Jerusalem made me think...
When the USA made the declaration recently, a lot of people said it is an empty declaration. Trump won't really move the embassy. If he wanted to, he could just change the sign on the consulate building in Jerusalem to say embassy. Clearly he won't really do anything.
Well, with the events in the UN of the past few days, Trump and Haley are fighting back against the world attack and regularly repeat that they WILL move the embassy and as a sovereign nation it is their right to make that decision.
So, even if Trump was originally not intending to actually move the embassy, and I do not know if he was or was not, at this point he might have been pushed and forced into it. After repeating for days "we WILL move the embassy" and that they now have to fight about it, Trump is clearly going to do it, whatever his original intentions really were.
here is the live broadcast of the vote and speeches:
When the USA made the declaration recently, a lot of people said it is an empty declaration. Trump won't really move the embassy. If he wanted to, he could just change the sign on the consulate building in Jerusalem to say embassy. Clearly he won't really do anything.
Well, with the events in the UN of the past few days, Trump and Haley are fighting back against the world attack and regularly repeat that they WILL move the embassy and as a sovereign nation it is their right to make that decision.
So, even if Trump was originally not intending to actually move the embassy, and I do not know if he was or was not, at this point he might have been pushed and forced into it. After repeating for days "we WILL move the embassy" and that they now have to fight about it, Trump is clearly going to do it, whatever his original intentions really were.
here is the live broadcast of the vote and speeches:
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Proposed Law: preference to minorities that served in the IDF
MK Moti Yogev (Habayit Hayehudi), in conjunction with MK Hamed Amar (Yisrael Beyteynu) has proposed a law by which preference would be given to minorities who served in the IDF for public service positions over similarly-qualified candidates who did not serve in the IDF.
The proposal passed its initial vote, despite UTJ breaking coalition discipline and voting against (though Shas voted in favor).
Yogev explains that the problem has been that minorities have benefited from affirmative action even without having served in the IDF just as much as those who did serve. This proposal will encourage more participation in society.
UTJ voted against because they see it as hurting the Haredi community that largely does not serve in the IDF. Ahmed Tibi is upset at Deri for voting in favor and is happy with Gafni for voting against.
source: Srugim and Behadrei
The proposal passed its initial vote, despite UTJ breaking coalition discipline and voting against (though Shas voted in favor).
Yogev explains that the problem has been that minorities have benefited from affirmative action even without having served in the IDF just as much as those who did serve. This proposal will encourage more participation in society.
UTJ voted against because they see it as hurting the Haredi community that largely does not serve in the IDF. Ahmed Tibi is upset at Deri for voting in favor and is happy with Gafni for voting against.
source: Srugim and Behadrei
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)