Elections in Israel

In Israel, I see election banners everywhere, draped on fences and buildings. In America, people used to post campaign signs along the streets. Most European countries would not allow their towns to be littered that way.

I wonder about the purpose of the ridiculous number of election signs lining the highways and byways? In Jerusalem, huge pictures of candidates were draped on buildings. Does anyone vote for a person just because they see his or her picture on a poster?

Yesterday, on our way to the store, we passed several voting booths here in Kiryat Shmona. They were open until 10 pm. Every possible party had a candidate for the mayor’s position, each one of them promising to do wonders for the town.

In Jerusalem 4 interesting candidates ran for the seat of the mayor:

1. Meir Porush, an ultra-orthodox, haredi rabbi from the United Torah Judaism party.

2. Nir Barkat, his opponent, a secular businessman and hi-tech millionaire.

3. Arkady Gaydamak, a Russian-born businessman and owner of Jerusalem's Beitar football team, who is being tried in absentia by a Paris court for selling arms to Angolan rebels during the 1990s. He tried to get the votes of the Arabs.

4. Dan Byron, a former director of public television turned bar owner, ran on behalf of the Green Leaf party and called for legislation of cannabis.

Oh my! - Dozens of haredi religious Jerusalem activists tried to prevent voters from reaching polling stations. In doing so they battled policemen in what TIME magazine called a "bizarre election." This took place in the Beit Israel neighborhood of Jerusalem and involved rival religious groups. It was the only reported incident of violence in Jerusalem. Police broke up a demonstration by extremist ultra-Orthodox Jews who do not recognize Israel. Police said they were trying to prevent people from voting. At least one policeman suffered head wounds from stone throwers, one of whom was arrested.

Nevertheless, the voter turnout was extremely low - I think less than 30%? East Jerusalem’s Arab residents didn’t vote because Islam forbids Arabs to vote for Israeli leaders - and not because Israel didn’t allow it. That didn’t help Gaydamak, who split the remaining few % of votes with Byron who got even less votes. Thank goodness, now we know that not too many people in Jerusalem smoke pot!

According to the final results released by Israel's interior ministry, Israeli secular politician Nir Barkat defeated the ultra-orthodox rabbi to become the new mayor of Jerusalem. Barkat won outright with 52% of the vote while Meir Porush received 43%. Mr. Barkat opposes dividing Jerusalem as part of any peace agreement with the Palestinians and has promised to build extensively in what the rest of the world regards as occupied East Jerusalem.

Now –after the election – the banners are still there. Will they keep hanging there until the next election?

The Path to the Final Solution

Please watch and then circulate this 10 minute documentary that explains the real issues that face World Jewry and Israel today.

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/191066.php

Thanks - Lilo

Blessed is the Match

The other day I watched the movie “Blessed is the Match”. http://www.blessedisthematch.com/ . It was the first time I saw it, and it was very inspiring to see the documentary about the life of a true Jewish hero.

It the story of Hannah Szenes (sometimes spelled phonetically as "Senesh"). She was born in 1921 in Budapest, Hungary.

Her father was a playwright and newspaper columnist who died when she was six. After his death, she and her one-year-older brother, George, were raised by their mother, Catherine, in a middle-class home. Hannah inherited her father’s literary talent and began a diary at the age of thirteen - recording her travels, relationships, day-to-day life, and desire to become a professional writer.

With rising anti-Jewish activity in Hungary, Szenes became a Zionist and yearned to go to the Jewish homeland. Much to Hannah's surprise, George also became a Zionist while studying at a university in France.

Just after her 18th birthday, Szenes got her papers to immigrate to Israel, where she went to agricultural college in Nahalal and worked the land on Kibbutz Sdot Yam. - Sdot Yam was established in 1936, just north of Haifa. It was founded at the urging of David Ben-Gurion during the period when the British were refusing to allow Jews to enter the Promised Land. The Kibbutz was ostensibly based on fishing, but was in reality used for smuggling in then-illegal immigrants. It served as a base for the Haganah (unofficial army of the Jewish community during the British Mandate of Palestine). Yossi Harel, famous for the Exodus and three other such ships, is buried at Sdot Yam.

As news of the fate of the Jews of Europe reached Israel, an unwavering desire to help her brethren grew in Hannah. She and 32 other Jews formally joined the British army and were trained as parachutists in Cairo. Their mission was to parachute into Europe to help allied pilots who had been shot down, to assist local efforts against the Nazis and, finally, to aid in smuggling Jews to safety in then the British Mandate of Palestine. She wrote in her diary: “I must go to Hungary, be there at this time … and bring my mother out.”

Szenes was sent to Yugoslavia, to help pilots and partisans. There she wrote ", the poem, "Blessed is the match” (Ashrei ha-Gafrur), which today nearly every Israeli can recite from memory:

“Blessed is the match that burns and kindles the flames.
Blessed is the flame that burns inside the hearts.
Blessed are the hearts to know when to stop with dignity.
Blessed is the match that burns and kindles the flames.”

When Germany started deporting Jews from her native Hungary, Szenes bravely crossed the border with a French partisan and two Jews who were escaping. Unfortunately they were caught by a Hungarian Nazi patrol. Despite being brutally beaten, Szenes refused to give information regarding her mission. November 7, 1944, she was sentenced to death for treason and faced a firing squad without a blindfold.

In 1950, Szenes's remains were flown to Israel and reburied on Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem along with the six other parachutists who died during their heroic mission.
Hannah became a symbol of courage, fortitude and a pioneering spirit - a prime example of Israeli heroism - bridging the gap between the Holocaust and the rebirth of a sovereign Jewish nation.

If you can watch the documentary - it is will inspire you!

Shalom from Israel - Lilo

Tremping to Menara

Yesterday we were in Kibbutz Menara.

For those of you who don't know what a kibbutz is, a kibbutz is a form of communal living that combines socialism and zionism, and was traditionally based on agriculture. In 1909, the first Kibbutz was established at the southern end of the Sea of Galilee. Kibbutz members found immense gratification in bringing the land back to life by planting trees, draining swamps, and countless other hard-graft activities to make the land (invariably wetlands) productive. The desert began to blossom, just like the prophet Isaiah predicted (Isa.35:1-2).

Kibbutz Menara is way up on the mountain above Kiryat Shmona. You can either take a cable car or the road to get up there. There are only about three buses driving up the hill during the day, so we ended up walking and "tremping" up the hill. Its actually called hitch-hiking and still an accepted form of alternative transportation here in Israel. In Europe or the USA we would never do such a thing, because of all the crazy murders we have heard about.

Kibbutz Menara is right on the border to Lebanon. That was the closest I was to the border so far. Here was the street - next to it the fence - and there I could see Lebanon. And I saw it with my very own eyes first a UN post and within only about 30 meters a Hezbullah holdout. I wonder why the UN is there? To observe how many weapons they stockpile so close to the border? - I have heard a lot of stories, but until today I had never seen it myself.

After we got back to our apartment my feet hurt because I wore my cheap sandals instead of my hiking shoes. But it was all worth it.

I have now a better understanding of the threat that is luring all along the borders of Israel.

Shalom from Israel - Lilo

The "Shuk" in Kiryat Shmona

Every Thursday we have a Shuk (open-air market) here in Kiryat Shmona. The term "shuk" translates into "market". My husband prefers to buy his food at the supermarket where it is cleaner and the store is odorless. He says he doesn’t like to buy food that everyone had touched before.

I love to look for bargains at the Shuk where many things are cheaper. I love the atmosphere. A Hebrew word that describes it best is “balagan”. It simply means messy, chaotic, and can be used to describe anything, from my hair in the morning to the current state of the Middle Eastern peace process. - The Shuk is at the same time crowdy, noisy, boisterous and colorful.

The Shuk has a large number of small vendors who operate from open stalls. They offer all sorts of clothing and house wares, shoes, and of course also produce. Kiryat Shmona’s covered outdoor market bursts with fruit and vegetable stands, bags of spices: paprika, chili pepper, and curry…, baskets of roasted pecans, dried apricots, and dates, many different sorts of olives, and a few scattered bread and pastry stalls, selling crusty breads and phyllo-wrapped treats. This is the place for treats such as freshly baked pita and honey and plump dried berries.

The stalls function a little like the Kiddush table at Shul, with grandmothers and youngsters elbowing each other out of the way to edge themselves closer to the best goods. – I have learned that you need to “push” your way through to the vendor if you want anything.

The best way to enjoy the Shuk is to simply wander its alleys, look all around, touch, smell and taste the produce. I can not only touch the produce, squeeze it, but in some cases even taste it. Most importantly, it is usually reasonably priced and fresh. My senses are accosted with the brilliant colors of the fruit and vegetables, gifts and haberdashery. The mixture of aromas of spices and baked goods enhance that exotic sensation, and the sounds of merchants shouting their bargains, and buyers haggling about prices, freshness and flavor, is almost musical.

Yet, in spite of all the busyness, people are in almost a leisurely mood as they casually chat, sip coffee, and greet the passersby they recognize. - But let me warn you, watch out for the banana peels, broken eggs, and fruit pits underfoot!

A shuk is in a way a picture of Israel, a colorful and vibrant mixture of people. A mix of people who came from many nations to gather and join together. It’s a blend of old and young, rich and poor, well educated and simple, religious and secular. It’s a place where one glance shows you a bounty of the G-d-given harvest of every imaginable flavor, aroma, color and texture.

The biggest impression I get from the “Shuk” is that it is thriving and bustling. If you want to experience the sounds of a shuk, click on the link below:

Shuk in Jerusalem

Visiting Friends in Efrat

A few days ago we visited our dear friends in Efrat .

We took the bus to Jerusalem and from there the last 8 miles south, to the beautiful garden city that blossoms in the Judean hills. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. Very peaceful.

Thanks to the new Jerusalem-Gush Etzion highway that was opened in August 1996, Efrat can now be reached in less than 10 minutes from Jerusalem.

The highway features the longest and highest bridge in Israel as well as the longest tunnel in Israel. It bypasses Bethlehem today, and one has to drive through tunnels to arrive safely at the destination. Palestinians used to aim gunfire and threw rocks at the cars driving from Jerusalem to Efrat or Hevron. - Bethlehem used to be a town Christians loved to visit because it is the birthplace of Jesus. But today, even the Arab Christians fled that town because of Islamic hostilities. - Well - what can I say - the businesses in Bethlehem today suffer because nobody goes shopping there anymore. The Palestinians cause their own problems all by themselves!

Efrat was founded on March 15, 1983, in a magnificent mountainous location, in the heart of the Etzion Bloc (Gush Etzion). The town's name actually means "Towards Efrat", since the Biblical Efrat was actually located in modern Bethlehem, which is somewhat north on the main road from modern Efrat(a). The name "Efrata" would thus indicate that ancient Efrat was nearby, but not at exactly the same location.

Located in the Judean hills, it was a series of bare hilltops in 1980 when it was established, one of several yishuvim (settlements) in the Gush Etzion area. Historically, Gush Etzion was settled by Jews before the War of Independence, but fell to the Jordanians in 1948. Following the Six Day War in 1967, the children of the families who had lived in Gush Etzion (many of whose parents had been massacred in 1948 defending the area) requested to move back and led the movement to re-establish a Jewish presence in Gush Etzion.

It lies 960 meters above sea level and has dry mountain air. The summers here are hot but dry, and the nights cool down to make sleeping with the windows open very pleasant.

Today, Efrat is inhabited by over 9,000 people (1500 families) including both native Israelis and immigrants from the US, Canada, South Africa, England, Russia and elsewhere. One thing they have in common; they believe that this is their Jewish homeland, and that they have the G-d given right to live there.

Many people refer to this place as a West Bank settlement, even though the hills of Judea have always been the very heartland of Israel. As a matter of fact, this part of the Land of Israel is the biblical, historic and exclusive homeland of the Jewish people.

I want to re-emphasize that the “Israeli-occupied Arab West Bank” is the very cradle of Jewish civilization. It was in the West Bank that Abraham stood when God told him to look to the north, to the south, to the east and to the west, promising that all the land he could see would be given to his descendants, “forever.” Israel’s founding fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, lie buried there. It was in Efrat where Ruth met Boaz, who wooed and married her in this “Israeli-occupied Arab West Bank.” Their grandson, the Shepherd King David, was born in Bethlehem, in this “Israeli-occupied Arab West Bank.” King David ruled the first 7 1/2 years in Hevron, and our Patriarchs traveled on the road from there to Jerusalem.

The hills of Judea in this ancient region in Israel, have been inhabited by Jews for thousands of years.

This is something not everyone knows: - the word "West Bank" has only been created since the Arabs lost the 6-day war in 1967. In all of history the land has only been known as “the West Bank” for 19 brief years!!

On the way back we got a ride with a woman who took a shortcut through an Arab town, where she had to stop to let people with two donkeys cross the street. That's when she said: " I better start praying that we get through here safely." She prayed the Traveler's Prayer (Tefilat HaDerech) out loud while we kept driving until we were on the main street again. I prayed silently with her while Uri put his hand on his pistol in the back seat.

But we arrived safely in Jerusalem.

Shalom from Israel - Lilo

Understanding Obama: The making of a Fuehrer

Watching some of the presidential debates and the reaction of Americans to the candidates, in particular to Obama, I was stunned by the level of hysteria that the crowd displayed towards this man. Why could this man arouse such raw emotions?

To me he was just a young, black man, promoting talking about “change” in an eloquent way.

His ideas of spreading the wealth to everyone sounded to me much like communist propaganda. When I was young I had similar ideas, until I visited Czechoslovakia and Hungary behind the Iron Curtain, and witnessed the reality of what was happening in those countries.

So why is the American crowd almost like under a spell, when he speaks? Don’t they hear what he is saying? Yet the crowds are cheering Barack Obama, the charismatic senator like he was a rock star or another such American idol.

When I heard a TV commentator say: "Here was the American dream embodied in a young man running for Senate, a new Jack or Bobby Kennedy", I suddenly remembered John Kennedy. As a European I could never understand why Americans had such a personality cult. In Switzerland we have a group of 7 men who take a yearly turn to represent the government. It is set up that way so no man (or woman) can ever gain personal power. It is a democracy where the people decide their destiny.

Recently I watched a You Tube presentation entitled: “Understanding Obama: The Making of a Fuehrer” by Ali Sina, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVnRzn4rjbY .

I am not a psychologist and didn’t know anything about the Narcissic Personality Disorder, but the video made me understand a little bit why Americans give up their own reason to “worship” Obama.

What is downright scary is how many people fall for his empty words to choose him to be Commander In Chief and Leader of the Free World ....

Source: http://www.faithfreedom.org/obama.html