A sweet little poem and my reply

A few weeks ago I received an email from a "Dati Leumi" friend of mine containing a sweet little poem which I'm sure he thought was very amusing. I did not!

Here is the original poem and below is my reply.

The Fanat in the Hat and Other Stories

Eli D. Clark

(with apologies to Dr. Seuss)

THE FANAT IN THE HAT

I sat there with Sally.
We sat on the bus.
We sat there together.
No one made a fuss.

Then who came aboard?
The Fanat in the Hat!
And he said to us,
“How can you sit like that?

“You know it is wrong
To sit next to each other.”
I said, “She’s my sister,
And I am her brother.”

He pointed at Sally,
“Go back there to sit.
If you stay in front,
I think I will spit.

“I do not want to see you

Go out or come in.
Your elbows are showing
And making men sin.”

“I paid for my seat

Just like you,” Sally cried.
“I can sit where I want!
It’s for me to decide!"

“Where do you think you are?

This is not Tel Aviv.”
The Fanat in the Hat said,
“Sit in back or you leave.”

“Now do as I say,

You loose woman, you.”
Then out from behind
Came Thug One and Thug Two.

They had beards, they had hats,

And they wore black and white.
Their fingers were curled
Into fists that were tight.

They were big, they were mean,

And they blocked our way.
They did not look like men
Who learn Torah all day.

They screamed at poor Sally.

“Prutzoh!” they shouted.
“We will take care of you.”
And we did not doubt it.

We looked up to heaven.

We looked left and right.
Should we try to run
Or stand up and fight?

We needed a plan,

A way to escape,
Before those two Thugs
Squashed us both like a grape.

Then Thug One and Thug Two

Shouted, “Oy! Help us please!”
The Fanat in the Hat
Just fell to his knees.

What made them shake

And what made them yelp?
What made those bullies
Cry out for help?

We looked and we saw

A giant black cat,
Walking erect
In a red and white hat.

The Cat in the Hat

Looked the Thugs in the eye.
“These things need to stop.
And I’ll tell you why.

“Scaring young women

Is not a good game.
Worse, it is causing
A Hillul Ha-Shem.

“Here is a new game

To play,” said the cat.
“The game is called boxing.
Are you good at that?”

The Thugs said, “We box.

When we finish with you,
You will lie on your back
For a week or for two.”

The cat pulled a box out

And opened the top.
We heard a big voom
That made everything stop.

The Fanat in the Hat

And the Thugs in their beards
Were sucked into the box.
They all disappeared.

The cat closed the lid

And sealed it with glue.
“Goodbye,” said the cat,
“And good riddance to you.”

...And here is my reply...

They gathered outside Bnai Brak and Meah Shaarim,

From out of every corner,

The mob could be seen,

From Chelonim, Datai Leumi and everyone in between.

“Get rid of the Dossim, get rid of them all”!

“They are parasites on society”, came the loud call.

All the cameras were there, recording the scene,

Was it Berlin 1933? It could well have been.
“Go back to Poland and Russia, go to hell!
Stop using our blood for matzos,
And throwing our babies down the well”.

Voom! the last ship left, the last plane flew,

 Filled only with Chareidi refugees, (as well as the crew).

Gone were the men in black hats, their wives and children too.
The crowds screamed hysterically “Good riddance to you!”

Then the sky turned red as the missiles came down,
Tel Aviv went first, then every town.
For who was left davaning for Am Yisrael?
The yeshivos fell silent with no one around…
As the last Kollel, Beis Midrash closed its door,
The State of Israel was no more.

(C) Author of blog Reb Mordechai Writes

Israel, Wave Your Flag video.

Here's a lovely video for Yom Ha'atzmaut from Aish.com:

Beautifully directed video and a really catchy song. However I do have one question.

Why did they decide to have such generic lyrics? It's a song about freedom which has no reference whatsoever to Israel or the Jewish people.

Answers on a postcard (or my comments box below).

*** UPDATE ****

Excuse my ignorance. I had no idea that this song was the official FIFA Football World Cup 2010 (held in South Africa) anthem which Aish borrowed and used in their video.

See here:

FIFA World Cup 2010 K'naan & David Bisbal - Waving Flag

YNET article on how the religious Jew "deals" with Yom HaShoah

Rav Yuval Sherlo is Rosh Yeshiva of Petach Tikva Hesder yeshiva. He appears regularly on the YNET Internet site, (the online site for Yediot Achronot national newspaper) where he declares his latest halachic opinions on some quite controversial subjects. The problem is, (and I’m sure that he is aware of this) that YNET’s secular reporters more than often misinterpret and twist his words in order to sensationalise and titillate their readers. Even if this weren’t the case, I question the use of a secular national newspaper as a medium to discuss halacha.

YNET’s latest piece on Rav Sherlo is entitled:

'Religion should deal with Shoah [The Holocaust] too!'

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4062832,00.html

A loaded headline if ever I saw one. It's obvious implication is that Orthodox Jewry is not dealing with the Shoah!

I simply don’t know where to begin. The article is so full of distortions and missing so many facts that it is, intentionally or not, a slander against religious Jews.

One example is the answer YNET attributes to Rav Sherlo to this quite legitimate question:

"My question refers to the Counting of the Omer – why are there mourning customs in memory of Rabbi Akiva's students, when there were much graver incidents in Jewish history?!”

I have no idea how accurate YNET’s reporting of what Rav Sherlo said is but the quoted reply is simply pathetic. It sounds like something a secular Jew would write.

The simple answer to this question is that never in all of our history have the Jewish people been so close to destruction. With the death of Rabbi Akiva’s students, it looked as if Torah and mesora (tradition) would be lost. Without these, the Jewish people cannot survive. Only through a miracle, was Torah and the Jewish people saved from annihilation. The Shoah was indeed one of the greatest catastrophes that have occurred to the Jewish people but it is not the greatest. Yes, it’s true that a third of Jewry was murdered but the Jewish people survived. So what was the greatest tragedy that has befallen the Jewish people?

Well, some historical background is needed at this point. The Gedolei HaDor (religious leaders) in the 1940s/50s discussed the issue of the date for Yom HaShoah (or indeed if such a day was needed at all), very carefully. The Rabbanim were very much against observing a day of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust specifically on the 27th Nissan as this is the day of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

The secular politicians specifically chose this day in order to commemorate the Jewish heroes who fought back against the Nazis. This served their interests which was to negate the image of the old diaspora weak pathetic Jew of old and to promote an image of “the new Jew”, the strong Jew who built the new modern State of Israel.

However the Rabbanim saw this political decision as shallow and opportunist and an insult to all those Jews who were murdered and did not have the opportunity to fight back. It looked as if the State of Israel only wished to remember and honour those who fought back and to ignore the rest. It was as if this new brave State was ashamed of them! They were effectively being labelled as cowards who went to their deaths like sheep to the slaughter.

Instead the Rabbanim incorporated the memory of all the victims of the Holocaust into the fast of the 10th Tevet as well as the 9th Av as suitable days to remember the victims with tephila (prayers) and kinot (religious poems). This is how religious Jews "deal" with the subject!

Both these dates commemorate the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash (the Temple) which led to the terrible exile of the Jewish people. This single event marks the start of all the tragedies which the Jewish people have suffered because of the 2,000 year exile, including the Holocaust. Therefore these dates are the most suitable to commemorate the victims of the Shoah. That is, in its proper context of the whole of Jewish history.

Listen to Rav Zev Leff Shlit”a’s shiur on the subject here:

http://www.rabbileff.net/shiurim/moadim/yomhashoah/sheep_to_slaughter.mp3

There are still people in Britain who recognise the BBC for what it is

The British Blood-Libel Corporation

Reading the flood of talkback comments on the "B-BBC" site (a site dedicated to the bias of the BBC) indicates that there are still people in Britain who recognise the BBC for what they are: That is, no better than the Jew hating Nazis of the 1930s.

See the excellent piece here:

http://biased-bbc.blogspot.com/2011/03/shocking-and-callous.html

The B-BBC’s article analyses the BBC’s cynical use of quotes showing the BBC’s callous position that there is doubt as to the truth of the facts of this atrocity. This abuse of the noble English language confirms a blanket editorial position that Israelis (at least those who are not left wing loonies) cannot be believed or that the text in quotes is to be seen in an ironic context.

The BBC article is fit for the pages of a modern day "Der Sturmer".

Why does the BBC fail to mention the fact that Arabs in Gaza and the “Palestinian Authority” (correct use of quotes here) were openly celebrating the terrorist attack?

A Palestinian man distributes sweets in the streets of the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah on March 12, 2011 to celebrate an attack which killed five Israeli settlers at the Itamar settlement near the West Bank city of Nablus. SAID KHATIB/AFP/Getty Images

Mahmoud Abbas’ “the moderate” (correct use of ironic quotes here) is praised by the BBC for his condemnation in English even though he did not condemn the atrocity in Arabic for local audiences.

So what was Abbas’ message to the Arab streets, totally ignored by the whole of the Western media? Abbas was actually at a naming ceremony for a square, named after a terrorist who murdered Jews whilst at exactly the same time, the Fogel family were being laid to rest.

See article in Haaretz amongst others:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/palestinians-honor-fatah-terrorist-despite-israel-s-protests-1.348939

Just one example of the BBC’s evil can be found in this paragraph:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12725487

“The attack on the Fogel family has been met with outrage in Israel and has shocked many Palestinians. Israel suspects the attack was carried out by Palestinian militants.”

Not only does the BBC neglect to report the mass celebrations that took place in the Arab streets or the official dedication ceremony that took place yesterday but they have to insert this little lie:

“…shocked many Palestinians”

Exactly which Palestinians are these? Certainly not anyone speaking on the Arabic speaking media. Maybe they interviewed Joe Mohamed in the street? I doubt it. The BBC have quite obviously made this up and simply written this bit of wishful thinking without any basis in reality.

Not content with this, the BBC put the icing on the cake by saying that Israelis “suspect” the attack was carried out by “Palestinian militants”. Apparently the BBC is in some doubt as to who committed the atrocity even after Arab Terrorist organisations claimed responsibility for it.

I know that this next point has been made time and time again but I feel it must be continued to be made until the Western media stops its immoral use of the term. A “militant”

Definition of the word “militant”: Someone who takes an aggressive position on any issue. Who has hard-line or hawkish policies. Those who favour extreme or confrontational campaign methods.

Is this what the BBC thinks is an extreme campaign method?

I could have used photos from Google Images of 3 month old baby Hadas’ head severed from her tiny body or the slit throat of four year old Elad but that's not necessary . It is more than sufficiently horrific simply sitting and looking at that tiny wrapped up body and realising that there are people in this world who are capable of such atrocities and that moreover, there are people who are capable of putting fingers on keyboards and describing this act as an act of a “militant”.

What kind of monstrous, immoral, inhumane and satanic organisation would call the perpetrators of these acts anything other than terrorists and murderers?

The answer is in three letter: B B C.

An Open Letter To British Jewry

An Open Letter To British Jewry.

I really hope all of you take the time to watch Channel Four’s “The Promise”. A hate feast of lies, distortions, unadulterated anti-Israel propaganda and pure Jewish hatred. More importantly, see how much most of Britain loved it!

Read and savour the utterly delighted, rapturous and euphoric reviews from all the major British News Papers who cannot praise the drama enough for its bravery to tell “the truth” about those Jews despite the power of what they truly believe is the satanic Zionist control of the media.

Peruse through the talk backs and comments and see that 95% of the writers are all too willing to believe every blood libel against Jews and that anyone who tries to set the record straight is jumped upon and accused of being part of the great evil Zionist plot. Finally the truth is out. Jews are terrorists, worse than Nazis, the scum of the earth and responsible for all evil in the world.

The British today feel that they have been finally released from the shackles of accusations of anti-Semitism. For too long the British will tell you, ,the Jews, through their manipulation and power have used the Holocaust to make themselves a protected species since WWII but now  it’s open season on those Jews in Britain today.

Afterall, everyone is doing it in Britain. Parliament, The Church of England, The Left, The Right, all are screaming that there is no problem which the Jews cannot be blamed for.

See what is really in so many British hearts as their hatred spews and oozes out from every orifice with such relief and joy.

There are Goyim in Britain who are not anti-Semitic, who do know the truth in their hearts but, for the most part, they are weak and are unwilling or unable to protect or defend you against such overwhelming odds. It is fashionable and cool in the UK to hate Israel and Jews. As the sign below says, its now "kosher" to hate those Zionists.

Watch and take a good, long hard look at what the British really think of you.

Look at the facts. You are scared and with good reason. Your schools and shuls need guards to protect your children. Even if you are brave enough to send your children to Jewish schools, you rip off the kippa and tzittit from your child’s body as soon as you leave the premises, lest anyone see that you are Jewish.

In the work place you are constantly nervous and on edge, waiting for the next anti-Israel remark. If you dare to open your mouth you are accused of being a Zionist apologist, defending the indefensible.

Meanwhile, the Muslims, who pose a real and imminent threat to British lives, to its democracy, freedom of speech, human rights and morality; they are to be supported and loved.

The British truly want to believe with all their hearts that the massacre in Jenin really did take place, Mohammed Al-Dura was murdered by Israeli soldiers, the Gaza strip is worse than a concentration camp, the Palestinians have been living in the land for thousands of years, the Jews were not really ever there. The Jewish Temple never really existed. Israel and the Jewish Kings are religious metaphors at most and evil Jewish lies forced upon them through the Jew’s Bible. The Holocaust was probably hugely exaggerated and even though the overwhelming majority of Britain is not religious, everyone knows that the Jews killed God and every Jew in every place who ever lived or will live throughout history is to blame!

Now take a good hard look at yourself and dare to ask a question which you know must be asked but up until now, have been too terrified to do so.

What are you doing in that miserable country?

Come home.

Morel’s Fat Lady loud speakers

Let's make one thing clear from the start. This is not a review and I probably will never get to hear these little beauties. Nevertheless, I thought they were interesting enough to blog about.

First off, I saw these speakers on Malcolm Steward’s blog pages. Malcolm was a kind of a hero of mine back in the 1980s. Back then, he wrote for a magazine called HIFI Review, long since deceased, (not him, the magazine), and was one of the first HIFI reviewers to not write about “mids”, “highs” and “bass” tones but instead, actually write about how a piece of music sounded. Did the piano sound like a piano? Could you identify the musical instruments in a piece or was it all merged into one? Did the HIFI set up a convincing sound stage, placing the instruments and singers in their proper place or was everything flat?

The fact that the measured frequency response of those speakers or wattage power output of that power-amp was low according to someone’s standards was for him, totally irrelevant. Absent were those oscilloscope style graphs that had always accompanied hifi component reviews in other magazines up until then and instead he simply stated that "the proof of the pudding was only in the eating", or, in this case, in the listening. If it made your foot tap, if it put a smile on your face then that’s all that counts!



Naim Nait

 (Take the Naim Nait Intergrated Amp for example. On paper it didn't have the power to drive a pair of paper cups but connect them up to the most demanding of loud speakers and they sung for all they were worth.)

Talking of sayings, let’s mention another one. “It’s not over till the fat lady sings”.

The term was actually used first in the 1970s by American baseball commentators and is synonymous with the English football term “It’s not over until the final whistle”

According to Wikipedia, the original saying was “The opera is not over ‘till the fat lady sings” which was supposed to conjure up an image of some obese woman singing on stage in the final act of a Wagner opera.

By calling his speakers “Fat Lady”, the designer is making the outrageously bold claim that these speakers are the ultimate, never to be improved HIFI speakers. According to him, anyone who listens to his Fat Lady will agree that she has indeed just sung.

The Fat Lady sings

When I first heard this claim I laughed at the guy’s chutzpa. I should have known. Only an Israeli could have said such a thing. Sure enough, the company that produces these works of art is called Morel and is based in Ness Ziona, Israel.

The manager of Morel is one Oren Mordechai but the designer of the “Fat Lady” is an oleh chadash from England (swelling with pride time...) called Russell Kauffman.

The first thing you notice about these speakers is that they look more like a cross between a shiny black double bass and a giant slug than an obese woman. Indeed, the unit’s girth is actually quite slim.

Here’s a very sleek video of the product.



For those who are interested, there is a review here.

http://www.avguide.com/review/morel-fat-lady-loudspeaker-tas-209
and a Video interview with Russell Kaufman here.

(Before you play the video, I'd just say that it features an American, Israeli and Anglo Jew. Just for fun, try and guess from the picture below, which is which - Clue:  Not difficult!).



Morel has made the ultimate claim with regard to the qualities of the Fat Lady and has backed this up with a totally outrageous chutzpadik price. They are retailing in the States for $32,000. (Yes, that is for the pair!)

I wish the company much hatzlacha and hope they bring out a cheaper version soon (perhaps called the "Not So Fat Lady") so that us mere mortals can hear what this company has to say.

Question. Why do the Egyptians want to be free? Answer. To destroy Israel

Interview with demonstrators on the streets of Egypt.

Simple facts that everyone should know... (about Egyptians):

It is revolution,
We hate Husnei Mubarak.
We want be free of him.
Because Mubarak support Israel.
We hate Israel. Israel is our enemy.
We want be free so we can destroy Israel.
Everyone know that the country who control United States is Israel.
We destroy Israel. We destroy America ([Editor's comment]...then I suppose the whole world is free?)

Armistice Day shame



Dover Castle

Some years ago we were in the UK during the month of November. The weather was awful but we travelled down to Dover to show the kids one of Britain's most magnificent castles,

It was rainy and foggy which made for a very surreal atmosphere. When we arrived in the inner walls of the castle we noticed a group of old soldiers, men and women, in their 70s and 80s, standing to attention beside a young soldier and a large gun. I overheard someone talking about Armistice Day and looking at my watch, realised that we had arrived slightly before 11:00am on the 11th November. At this hour and on this day in 1918, the First World War came to an end. The date was established as Britain's Yom HaZicharon LeChayalim and two minutes of silence is observed at 11:00am every year.

My wife, our Israeli kids and I all stood in silence as the young soldier tried repeatedly to fire the canon without success. After trying five or six times, he eventually gave up to the clear disappointment of the old soldiers. The scene was I have to admit though, rather comic. We were quite some distance away from the old Soldiers and I do hope that they didn't notice our reaction to the events. In hindsight I should have explained to my kids exactly what was going on before hand but it all happened so quickly. Afterwards however, I did talk to them about the tremendous sacrifice of the British Armed Forces on behalf of freedom and liberty throughout the world. Had it not been for His Majesty's Armed Forces, they would not be alive today because their grandparents living in Britain would have surely been murdered by the Germans.

Churchill inspecting the troops at Dover Castle during WWII

I was not angry with them as they don't live in Britain and cannot be expected to feel part of this day of remembrance.

Child wearing his Grandfather's cap and medals looks up at a soldier of the Queen's Guard. 11/11/2010, 11:000am

However, British citizens living in Britain certainly ought to observe this day. That's why I was so shocked when I saw this video of Muslims screaming "British Soldiers burn in hell" in central London at the exact time of the two minutes silence.

UK Muslim's Burning Poppy's on Remembrance Day

What shocked me was not so much the behaviour of the Muslims but of London's Metropolitan Police.Why on earth did they not arrest the whole lot of them? Instead, London's PC PCs stood there and did nothing!

It is true that Arabs ignore our Yom Zicharon in Israel within their villages. However, the British should ask themselves why it is that the Muslims don't hold demonstrations like this in Zion Square in Jerusalem or Rabin Square in Tel Aviv? The answer is not that the Arabs here are any less extreme, anti-West and Anti-Semitic. It is because they know what would happen if they tried a stunt like this in Israel!

Taxi drivers in Israel get out of their cabs and stand in silence on Yom HaZicharon

Echoes of a Shofar

Hat Tip to C&Z for sending me this.

An inspiring short film about those young Jewish men who blew the shofar at the Kotel during the British Mandate period. Like the Romans before them, the British forbade any Jew from blowing the shofar at the Kotel. Nevertheless, these young Jewish boys risked and very often suffered up to 6 months in a British military prison in order to blow the shofar at the termination of the fast on Yom Kippur.

This is their story...

WeJew.com has a nice music video.

Rapper Flotilla Response: "Searching For Justice"

BTW, There is a lot of talk of Israeli businesses boycotting Turkey. A number of clothes shops have removed goods from its shelves. The Jerusalem Post reported that Rami Levi supermarket chain has started a Turkey boycott as well. Personally speaking, I don't think it will affect me. Turkey has always given me inflammation in my feet. Chicken may be more expensive but it’s a lot tastier.

You are NOT alone

This is a shocking video about the bombardment of Anti-Israel propaganda in America's universities:

I heard yesterday that the enemies of the Israel are planning their next stage of attack. This one they hope will prove the most devastating yet. It is another ship to try and break the Israeli blockade. However this ship will not be full of Turkish jihadists. This ship will be full of European and American Jews!

I keep hearing the same thing from Israelis. They say that they don't see the point of arguing our case, not just to the Goyim (The Nations of the World) but also to Jews living outside of Israel! Bombarded with anti-Israel opinions day in and day out there is surely nothing we can do as they have already made up their minds and are no longer listening.

However we should never stop arguing our case because there are those who are listening, those who feel they are in a boat far from land, being tossed about in a storm with nothing to grab hold of. Those who are looking for the truth will hear it. We must continue to get that message out.

Far more painful than any security council resolution in the UN, any statement made by any foreign government or any demonstration held anywhere in the world, is a hafganah (demonstration) by Jews, screaming that we are robbers of the land.

Indeed, the very first Rashi in sefer Bereishis informs us that the only point in relating the story of creation is to remind us that Hashem rules the universe and gave Eretz Yisrael to the Jewish people. Rav Zev Leff explains that this lesson is not meant for the Goyim. No Jewish leader has ever used the lesson of this first Rashi to argue Israel's right to the land with the Goyim. The message is for us, the Jewish people to absorb.

We must first be convinced that Hashem gave Eretz Yisrael to the Jewish people.

See Rav Zev Leff's Parshas HaShavuah here

The original agenda of the Zionist movement of the 19th century was to strip the Jew of his/her Torah and produce a new modern Jew who would return to their national homeland and could hold his/her head up high amongst the nations of the world, sharing common socialist cultural, secular, humanist values. However, what the great Zionist thinkers failed to realise was that the Jew's only claim and indeed connection to Eretz Yisrael is through Torah. What has happened is that a generation of secular Jews both in Israel and outside, have grown up with no concept of our right to this land outside of secular arguments. Most of these secular arguments no longer hold any water today. For instance, that the State of Israel will cause anti-Semitism to disappear. As a result, we are now at a stage where secular Jewish University students in Israeli as well as foreign universities are arguing that we stole the land from the Arabs.

I can just imagine the agony of the departed neshamos (soles) of those early Zionists, who did their best to strip the Jew of Hashem and His Torah, looking down on the their offspring in Rabin Square, screaming for the return of Eretz Yisrael to the Arabs.

Not only is this due to the previous generation's attempt to substitute Torah Judaism with a new religion called Secular Zionism but also their obsession to be accepted as part of the socialist modern, secular, humanist enlightened world. This obsession has led to organisations such as Amnesty International Israel division, accusing their own relatives and friends of being war criminals. They know it's not true yet they cannot argue against their enlightened masters in America and Europe who tell them that they are.

How is this possible? Well if you are convinced that the rest of the world represents enlightenment in all things and they all agree that Israel should not exist then it takes a very strong willed person indeed to continue to resist.

The Asch Experiment

Solomon Eliot Asch was a world renowned psychologist who is most famous for his experiments into the power of group pressure. Asch was a holocaust survivor from Warsaw, Poland. He wanted to try and understand how so many people went along with Nazi doctrine even though on the face of it (according to his understanding), it went against all that he believed that the Europeans believed to be moral.

Here is a video showing the Asch experiment in practice:

Faced with continued and persistent pressure by the group that you are wrong and everyone else is right, most people will eventually yield to the majority, no matter how much they initially understand their own position to be correct.

We see this phenomenon in Parshas Shelach. Only two leaders resisted the other leader's poisonous words against Eretz Yisrael. Calev and Yehoshua Bin Nun.

Rashi explains that Calev's personality was that of a rebel. This word usually has negative connotations but Chaza"l explain that all midos (personality traits) are "pareve", that is, neither good nor bad. It all depends on how these traits are applied.

Rashi explains (BeMidbar 13:22) that Calev split from the others and went to Chevron to davan at the keva of our Avos. He did not care what the others thought of him for he was determined to do what he considered was right in Hashem's eyes. In "Asch" terms, he represents the special individual who has the ability to resist group pressure.

However Yehoshua Bin Nun, despite being a Talmud Chacham and Moshe Rabeinu's main talmid, had the personality that made him yearn for acceptance amongst his contemporaries. Therefore, Moshe had to add Hashem's name to Yehoshua's in order to give him chizuk to resist his fellow leaders who he so much respected and admired but who he knew in his heart were wrong.

Faced with the constant bombardment of an anti-Israel agenda in the world's media as well as both by teachers and fellow students at university, it takes a special individual like Calev to continue to stand up for what he/she knows is the truth. One such individual was the 16 year old boy called Daniel in the video post "Daniel in the Lions's Den".

As the Asch's experiments show, most people are not like Calev. However, it is important to remember what the Asch experiment also showed. That when just one other person supports your position, no matter how many more are against you, 95% of people continue to resist and do not yield to the overwhelming majority position when he/she knows that there is someone else who holds the same position.

We must not leave our fellow Jews alone. It is our job as Yiras Shemayim Torah Jews living in Eretz Yisrael to give those living in Chutz LaAretz the chizuk to resist the lies.

Israel Stands Alone, The Ramba”n’s shul

I’ve just read a truly excellent editorial in an Israeli/American newspaper.

Entitled “Israel Stands Alone”, the editorial discusses the fact that Israel was blamed by the whole world before any of the facts came out. The editorial harshly criticises the American government accusing it of abandoning its closest friend and ally.

It then aims its guns at Liberal Jews and informs us that a liberal secular Jew was far more likely to support the Palestinian cause than support Israel today and that secular Jews were abandoning Zionism where as the trend in the Orthodox community is exactly the opposite with more and more religious Jews identifying with Israel and Zionism.

Read the full piece here: Israel Stands Alone

Oh, did I mention that this editorial appears in this week’s Chareidi newspaper “Yated Neeman? No?

Well, the editorial appears in this week’s Chareidi “anti-Zionist” newspaper, “Yated Neeman”.

The irony is that the cheloni (secular) Israeli press including Ynet, The Jerusalem Post and Haaretz are becoming increasingly anti-Chareidi with articles intended to incite secular Israelis to hatred towards religious Jews. This trend could well be due to Chareidim taking a more active role in Israeli society including the army and politics.

The chelonim look with envy at the Chareidim and their emunah (faith) in Hashem, their commitment to Torah, their solid connection to Jewish history and connection with Eretz Yisrael, their idealism, confidence and enthusiasm in life.

They attack the Chareidim, oblivious to the fact that their traditional friends, the secular liberal left of America have ceased to identify with the leftwing Israelis because, due to assimilation and a total lack of Jewish education, American Jews have ceased to identify with Israel altogether.

Meanwhile, the American Orthodox communities of all streams, are feeling increasingly uncomfortable in the United States under Obama and are looking towards Yerushalayim.

As it happens, I’ve just spent the last two evenings in the Old City with my kids, taking part in school outings. We davened in the newly rebuilt Churva HaRamba”n shul which was destroyed by the Jordanians in 1948 and kept in ruins by the Israeli authorities for decades after liberation because they wanted it kept as a permanent reminder of what the Arabs did. However, because of constant pressure, the shul is now rebuilt and in use 24 hours a day.

I have to admit shedding tears of joy and gratitude to Hakodesh Baruch Hu as we davened Shmoneh Esrei in this beautiful place. Kedusha could be felt bouncing off of every wall.

The current news as well as these outings got me thinking. Surely we are witnessing with our own eyes, the hand of Hashem as He guides us steadily towards Geula Shlemah, beyameinu, Amen.

(Above) The Churva, before it was destroyed in 1948

(Above) After the liberation in 1967, Israel rebuilt the main arch but left the remainder in ruins.

(Below) Now, rebuilt 2010.

  

 

Video: Suicide Activists on the Gaza Flotilla

Excellent short video by Rabbi Shraga Simmons of Aish HaTorah.

"Their ultimate weapon is not a bomb belt, rather the media is their weapon..."

Britain offers to help out.

"DESIRE THE RIGHT"

Port Stanley, capital of the Falkland Islands looks like a typical sleepy seaside town off the coast of Southern England. It is however in the middle of the South Atlantic.

If I ever became wealthy, (halevai!) this is one of the places I'd love to visit.

Typical English house.

A Land Rover outside every home.

A farm in Scotland West Falkland

Back in March 2010 when Britain began drilling for oil in the waters off the Falkland Islands, Argentina began a renewed military and diplomatic campaign to recapture these islands and its resources. With a potential to yield up to 1.7 billion barrels from these deposits I'm not surprised.

Britain has 1,000 soldiers on the islands although most of them are non combat troops. They also had, for many years, a single Royal Navy ship; the HMS Clyde on permanent station.

Argentinean harassment of Falkland islander's boats has increased and the Argentinean government has threatened to intercept any ships entering what they consider their sovereign waters in order to service Britain's oil project.

Due to Falkland Islanders' justifiable fears as well as questions in Parliament, the government announced that it was sending the destroyer HMS York and a supply tanker but due to other naval responsibilities, this was all they could spare.

HMS York is an old Type 42 destroyer, the same type as the ones that fought in the Falkland's war in 1982. It was a Type 42 destroyer, HMS Sheffield which was sunk by an Exocet missile during that war to liberate the Islands.

This is the response of Her Majesty's government not only despite the renewed Argentinean threats but also despite, what I would have thought would be the added incentive to protect a potentially very lucrative oil deposit. The response is apparently the best that Britain can afford.

I mention this, not only because I believe that Britain should do far more to protect its sovereignty in and around the Falkland Islands and that I think it is a grave mistake that Britian has reduced the effectiveness of its Royal Navy to a fraction of what is needed, through decades of budget cuts, but also to explain my puzzlement regarding the British government's offer yesterday to relieve Israel of the responsibility of overseeing of materials entering Gaza from the sea.

Exactly what will Her Majesty's government have available to guard the waters of Gaza against the next attempt to bring missiles and other lethal weapons into Hamasland?

Maybe a rubber dinghy? That will scare off the Iranian ships I don't think!