Hesder Oleh

My reply to "Right of Reply – the kosher labelling submission"

2010-05-27T05:35:00.001+03:00

http://galusaustralis.com/2010/05/3073/right-of-reply-the-kosher-labelling-submission/

This is ridiculous.

How often in Australia do we find products that claim to be kosher? Most products don't have kashrut symbols on them, and are just listed in a book. Are we really worried that a marketer might say something is kosher? If that happened, the community would be very quickly informed of the lies without the need for government intervention.

Are you really scared that Food Standards Australia will mandate what is kosher in the future if you don't now? They are not concerned by such claims. Just look at how many times they pushed back requests for standards of vegetarian and other religious labeling.

see here: http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/_srcfiles/A545%20Vegetarian%20Labelling%20Info%20Paper%20FINAL.pdf

You mention the importance of "our community is unable to achieve a consensus on the details of a regulatory system". What makes you think that it is important that we reach a consensus. 2 Jews, 3 opinions. People do or don't follow the Eruv here in Melbourne. Around the world each person has different Kashrut organizations they do or do not trust. I do not think I should have the strictest strictures of "Kosher Australia" foisted upon me and I don't think the community should be forced to follow these rabbis which they themselves don't necessarily trust.

I would think that that ORA would forced glatt and other "mehadrin" ideas that would drive up the price of kosher food making it less available. There is more than one way of keeping kosher, and ORA admits this. There are Halakhic disagreements between different supervising businesses in Australia. However they represent a very narrow band of the spectrum of what is acceptable, and they should not be allowed to legally dictate to Australia's Jewish community what is acceptable to them.

Intresting tidbit about Bnei Akiva

2007-12-18T20:37:00.000+02:00

Via a comment from failedmessiah that was turned into a post:

Tibi writes:
My father is from the region of Satmar. He is now 82 and still remembers R' Yoilish bribing the regional governor to ban B'nei Akivah.

Maybe the scientists are sane

2007-12-03T20:39:00.001+02:00

Scientists Debating Scientific Method

I always hated it how teachers always worshiped THE "Scientific Method". To me it always seemed like a model. Just like most of the models we get, from models of the atom or of an ecosystem, are just that, models. They don't really reflect reality; they are merely a way of conveying a certain specific amount of information about the thing you are modeling. THE "Scientific Method", at least to me, seems a pretty lacking model. But I guess for people who aren't used to thinking logically or scientifically its a good start.

Finished GED!

2007-12-03T18:49:00.000+02:00

I finished my GED today. I had to go through this because I started University before graduating High School.
I thought that maybe because I did early admissions I could just transfer. But no, thats not the way it works here. I remember instructions always telling you to bring every document when making aliyah, even your high school transcript because employers will care about it. I thought maybe times had changed...but no, they haven't.

I was even told by one of the test center employees about her daughter who started college at 16 in America, graduated, did her Masters (MA), and then wanted to apply to a PhD. program in Israel but wasn't accepted simply because she didn't have a High School diploma

I have been trying to complete the GED for months now. The material is not the problem, it is ridiculously easy, easier than the SAT in my opinion. The problem is the company that gives the test -Prometric. The people in the Israel office are really nice. The problem is that they can't do much to help. Holland controls booking, South Africa does tech support, the test itself comes from America, and England is also thrown in the mix.

Besides lots of booking errors in the past (theirs not mine), I had a new problem. The tests were asking me to input a number for the essay I had to write. The number was on an essay answer booklet. This "5 digit code" that the computer wanted doesn't exist anymore. Now you would think this could be solved easily, after all its only a 200 word essay.

I don't want to tell the story now. But don't be fooled, this isn't an Israel bureaucracy story, this is a story of a messed up multinational company that don't care about its customers. If you can avoid Prometric and especially Prometric GED then do.

On the bright side, the head of the test center invited me over to his house for Shabbat. Makes you love Israel.

100th Post - America tells Israel to stop supporting Iran?

2007-11-28T00:30:00.000+02:00

This is ridiculous:
Jewlicious - Fighting Iran One Nut at a Time

US asks Israel to stop importing pistachio from Iran

Washington displeased with nuts smuggled to Turkey from Tehran and imported to Jewish state

US Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Keenum demanded Monday that the Israeli import from Turkey of pistachio nuts originating in Iran be halted immediately, Yedioth Ahronoth has learned.

The US undersecretary met with Israeli Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon in Rome during a conference organized by the International Food and Agricultural Organization.

The Israeli embassy in Italy reported to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem that the Americans are working to stop the export of Iranian pistachio nuts as part of the economic sanctions imposed on the Islamic republic.

Keenum told Simhon that it was absurd that Israel was purchasing most of its pistachio nuts from an enemy state. According to the undersecretary, Washington was extremely troubled by this, as US pistachio growers have protested the fact that America's friend favors Iranian pistachio nuts over American ones.

But in so many ways this just fails to surprise me.

I would post about Annapolis, but I just don't think there is a point...well except that David Miliband (Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs) said that the real elected Palestinian government rejected violence and wants peace and is representative of the Palestinian people and is led by Abbas. At least thats the way it sounded on CNN. Maybe he forgot that Hamas won the last elections, and that the PLO hasn't ever had real elections ever, and none at all in the last 10 years. I hope I misunderstood him, because I wouldn't want to think someone in his position completely misunderstands the situation.

Exercising my Free Speech

2007-11-26T01:40:00.000+02:00

My free speech is accomplished through this blog among other ways. I haven't been blogging lately, but with free speech being muddled I figure its time for me to use mine.
Whats this all about?
"Holocaust deniers to speak at Oxford"

Irving and BNP people are (maybe) going to be speaking. Now I am for free speech, very much so, but that doesn't mean I am for giving wacky and damaging views a honoured place. Sometimes I wish people would take on the debate a bit and show how exactly the Holocaust deniers, the 9/11 wackos, and Rabin assassination wackos are lying, but a debate society is not the place for that.

Oxford University's students associated condemned the idea as well several Muslim students' organizations who object to Griffin's policies and the Jewish student body

I was thinking, wouldn't this be a wonderful issue for activists from both the Jewish and Islamic communities to work together on. I did a bit of searching, and this was the best I could find

Hopefully this won't be relevant because the event will be canceled but here it is
Join the protest against Griffin & Irving this Monday 26th November - Oxford Union is no place for fascism meet at 7pm, outside the Oxford Union, St. Michael Street, Oxford, OX1 3JB

Unite Against Fascism is a broad based national campaign aimed at stopping the BNP, which brings together Black, Jewish, Muslim communities and other faith representatives, Lesbian and Gay activists, trade unionists and MPs into an alliance with all those who are threatened by and oppose fascism.

I don't know how true they keep to that but it sounds cool. But if only we could get the right-wing elements of both communities working together.

While looking around I saw this good quote by Trevor Phillips, the head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission:

"People have died for freedom of speech, they didn't fight and die for it so it could be used as a silly parlour game. Nobody needs to invite these people to deny the holocaust. The issues are too serious. I would say to the Oxford Union -- think again. If this goes ahead I hope the Oxford students will turn their backs on this shabby exhibition."

Of course the article calls Irving, a self-taught historian. Shame on the BBC for that. So that led me to look up Deborah Lipstadt's take on this. It turns out she has a good blog.

Some other recommended recent posts from that blog
Rwanda: A new form of genocide denial
Egyptian cleric preaches antisemitism to children
Armenian University gives award to Ahmadinejad: A double standard???

and back on topic
Oxford Union: Muddled reasoning

Another thing I found while researching is that the pathetic BNP can't spell in the headlines of their press releases.

and while on the subject of free speech, yes it is related in more than one way
November 25 letters to the editor of jpost:

"Personal kosher playground

Sir, - Dr. Haim Katz misses the point entirely when he compares the ownership of Park Avenue apartments by wealthy Europeans to the feeding frenzy of Diaspora Orthodox Jews on the epicenter of Jerusalem ("Priced out of the market," Business & Finance, November 22).

In Jerusalem, virtually every major real estate development in the city's center is exclusively intended for absentee owners. There is no such parallel in New York. And, yes, there is a domino effect, whereby small shop-owners and providers of basic services are either priced out of the market or bereft of a livelihood, displaced by overpriced boutiques that peck at the eyes of a population surviving on overdrafts.

The malaise, however, goes far deeper. There is a phenomenon today whereby a certain segment of American Jewry looks at Jerusalem as its personal kosher playground. Here they can drop in when convenient; enjoy overpriced restaurants; make fancy kiddushes in their rarely-used million-dollar homes in order to show off their real estate swag; and then go home to Lawrence or Englewood without ever making any real investment in Israel, the kind of investment that involves genuine risk and commitment.

The children of such people come to Jerusalem for a year or two after high school. An entire industry of overpriced, underperforming "yeshivot" caters to their whims without imparting even minimal appreciation of Israel in terms of familiarity with the land, let alone recognition of the fact that their Israeli counterparts are in uniform defending their country, at times giving their lives for it. Instead, these unsupervised boys and girls often disport themselves with a sense of entitlement that is nothing short of galling.

The message this conveys to young Israelis goes far beyond "Abandon ye all hope of living in your own city." The message is that a galut Jew and his children can exercise an ownership attitude which requires no real commitment, and that easy money buys American 18- and 19-year-olds the right to flash their lavish allowances, behave inexcusably in the city's streets and cafes, and look at the soldiers who defend their "Disneyland" as if they were invisible.

The entire phenomenon of such tourism needs to be more closely examined. The so-called yeshivot should be scrutinized. Standards should be set for what they teach and what values they impart. And the nouveaux-riche parents should be taxed for their assets here to the extent that they feel the pain a bit, too.

And, yes, through proper legislation, they should know that these taxes are being used to build affordable housing for those to whom Jerusalem is not merely a place to visit - housing alongside theirs, not in remote peripheries. (I live in the US, but my son is a soldier in the IDF.)

JJ GROSS
Riverdale, New York

Thats all for now

Waiting for a bus on a warm summer night

2007-10-12T00:38:00.000+02:00

I was waiting in Petach Tikva near my Yeshiva for the 78 bus to Sirkin junction צומת סירקין, at 8pm Thursday night, along with an older Russian couple. Along comes by a girl, about 10 years old, skipping jump rope out of breath followed by her brother, about 7 years old, running after her. At first I thought it was just the two siblings having fun at night, in Israel. It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary because parents feel comfortable letting there ids out in most places in Israel because its mostly a very safe environment.

However behind them comes their father carrying an infant in a baby carrier strapped on in front of him. With one hand he is playing with the baby. I was a bit confused with the way he was walking and holding his other hand. Although I already suspected it I was still surprised to see a lit cigarette in the hand trailing behind him. How could someone who looked like such a good and responsible father smoke in front of his kids like that. If he is addicted, why doesn’t he at least smoke away from his children? As if to intentionally compound my disillusionment, 10 meters later he throws his still lit cigarette on the sidewalk.

Either way it was nice to see kids having innocent and healthy fun on one of the last of the hot summer nights in the urban environment.

Yom Kippur - Gmar Tov

2007-09-21T12:29:00.000+02:00

I want to wish everyone a meaningful Yom Kippur. May we all be judged with through mercy (רחמים). I apologize to anyone who I have offended in anyway, and I hope that you forgive me. I of course forgive everyone for anything that they have done to me. Tefillat Zaka is something that is written in the Machzor for Yom Kippur to say before the Holiday/Fast starts. One of the most important parts of it I will write below, so that everyone can say it. It is something you can say anytime, but it is especially appropriate now:

"I extend complete forgiveness to everyone who has sinned against me, whether physically or monetarily, or spoke lashon hara(negative speech) about me or even false reports. And (I also forgive them) for any damages, whether on my body or my property, and for all sins between a man and his fellow except for money which I can claim in a court of law and except for someone who sins against me saying, "I will sin against him and he will forgive me". Except for these I grant complete forgiveness and no person should be punished on my account. [And just as I forgive everyone so should You grant me favor in the eyes of all men that they should completely forgive me]."

"והנני מוחל במחילה גמורה לכל מי שחטא נגדי, בין בגופי ובין בממוני או שדיבר עלי לשון הרע, ואפילו הוצאת שם רע, וכן לכל מי שהזיק לי בגופי או בממוני, ולכל חטאות האדם אשר בין אדם לחבירו, חוץ מממון אשר אוכל להוציא על פי דין, וחוץ ממי שחטא כנגדי ואמר אחטא לו והוא ימחל לי, חוץ מאלו, אני מוחל במחילה גמורה ולא יענש שום אדם בסיבתי.[וכשם שאני מוחל לכל אדם כן תתן את חיני בעיני כל אדם שימחלו לי במחילה גמורה]".

May we all have a meaningful fast and remember Tshuva is something we can do all year round and to keep up the heightened awareness we have in treating others so that next Yom Kippur we need to ask for less forgiveness.

If I have done anything specific to you that I can change for the future please tell me. Whether it is not answering the phone enough, not emailing you back, talking to you to little, talking to you to much, stealing a million dollars from you, taking your pen without permission or anything of that sort or any other sort please tell me so that I can try to not do it in the future

Gmar Tov
Seraphya

Overheard: Israel wins?

2007-09-11T01:20:00.001+03:00

Overheard in the falafel shop near Yeshivat Hesder Petach Tikva

Customer: How much did Israel lose by?

Falafel Shop Owner: when?

Customer: tonight

Falafel Shop Owner: they didn't play tonight, last night they lost by...

Customer: I mean against Spain

Falafel Shop Owner: thats tomorrow night

A few seconds go by

Falafel Shop Owner: hey, why did you say they lost, they didn't even play yet, they might win

Customer: If only (Halevai)

A new way to "sell" Israel

2007-09-05T22:07:00.000+03:00

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told olim who arrived in Israel from North America that Israel "is not an easy country to live in as it has security problems in addition to bureaucratic problems."

Well its not anything that I didn't know before. I am sure most olim also know it already. If they don't know it, then they must be living in some dream world. In fact in the video the Jewish Agency shows you to prepare you for aliyah they show a clip about a guy trying to go to the Interior Ministry (Misrad Hapnim) and the office just happening to have decided to close with the narrator saying that this is a common occurrence which will most likely happen to you.

Its nice to hear an Israeli politician being honest. But I wouldn't try this as hasbara to anyone except Olim.

At least Olmert said he was proud and happy that the olim wanted to settle in Israel. Becuase after all where else besides Israel would Olim settle?

(Hat Tip: Israellycool )
(Source: Ynet )

Things I have stumbledupon

2007-09-05T01:29:00.000+03:00

So I recently downloaded StumbleUpon (which Ebay bought for $75,000,000) and I have found a few interesting things with it

Such useful things like how to build your own yurt

Or some really interesting things like what money really is and how it works

Turning yourself into a lie detector

you also get this useless and fun wastes of time

or other randomness

Then I found this, which reminded me to post
http://www.xinureturns.com/
which lets you freely check tons of stats about your page. So I checked HAeD and then I checked this blog...

and I looked at where people had linked to me through technorati while I was away and not blogging
http://bogieworks.blogs.com/treppenwitz/2007/04/the_time_of_our.html
http://www.balashon.com/2007/04/begilufin.html
http://ninjamess.livejournal.com/17783.html
http://daledamos.blogspot.com/
http://curiousjew.blogspot.com/

Jokes in Shmita Shiur

2007-08-26T22:17:00.000+03:00

On Sundays at Yeshivat Petach Tikva I go to a shiur on shemita with Rav Gil. He told a few jokes in shiur today.

He told the one about the psak not to smoke which in the American version goes
After it was decided it that smoking was against Halacha (which it of course is [even if you are addicted]) the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Rabbis get together to decide what to do.
The Reform Rabbis simply decide that since this is a Halachik ruling they can ignore it.
The Conservative Rabbis decide that from now on Conservative Rabbis will no longer smoke.
The Orthodox Rabbis decide that before a Jew may smoke he must sell his lungs to a Non-Jew.

The Israeli version which doesn't play on movements that don't exist in Israel, simply has a guy taking a neder (oath) not to smoke. Making the same point about the legal fiction of Matana Al Minat L'Hachzir (A gift on the condition of return) and the general idea of selling Hametz on Pesach.
This of course relevant to Heter Mechira. Some Talmidim were complaining about it, so he said everyone sells hametz on pesach, and eats hametz that was sold by big companies over pesach.

Then the other really good joke which has a good moral that he told goes as follows:
A rav of a town was very respected and served his congergation day and night. After many years this exuasted him so he decided to go on a short vacation. The community was petrefied, what would they do without the Rav. As the Rav leaves he gives intsturctions as to how to check if meat is kosher. He tells them to throw any questionable meat to his dog. My dog is smart he says, he knows you are supposed to throw treif meat to the dogs, so if he knows its treif he will eat it. If he doesn't' eat it, then its kosher. After a few weeks teh Rav comes back and everyone is so happy to see him. The first thing they say to the Rav on his return is: "We are so glad to have you back, your dog is so machmir!(gives strict rulings)"... Which goes to teach any old dog can be machmir, but it takes a real Rav to be meikil.

And just to add in a joke which reminded me that I wanted to post this, from MomInIsrael

A girl comes to her father and announces her marriage plans. When the father asks the boy's occupation, the girl tells him that he is a chazan (cantor). The father says, "No daughter of mine will marry a chazan!" The girl and her mother cry and beg, but the father is adamant. He won't consider a chazan for his daughter. Finally, they convince him to go to shul to hear the potential chassan (groom) in action. After the davening the father comes to his daughter and wishes her mazel tov. The daughter, delirious with joy, asks her father what changed his mind about her intended. He replied, "I heard him, and he's no chazan!"

(Unfortunately, the bar mitzvah speaker who originally told this joke concluded by saying that the bar mitzvah boy was also no chazan, but had other wonderful qualities!)

Back at Yeshiva & Family has made Aliyah!

2007-08-26T21:54:00.000+03:00

I am back at Yeshivat Petach Tikva after Ben Hazmanim. Working at Derech Hateva over the summer was great and I recommend it both as a camp for 13-18 year olds and as a place of employment. I'll post more about it later. Meanwhile...

MY FAMILY HAS MADE ALIYAH!!

which is very exciting. I met them at the airport. I woke up at 3am to ride my bike to the airport and came back in a taxi with them to Yerushalim. We dropped off the luggage and went to the kotel and did some basic shopping. I took us through the Arab Shuq to get some electronics. Shlomia got to see her friends on MTA and we picked up a the green Melamed Aramaic-Hebrew-English dictionary (the happy dictionary, called so because it is green[?]). on the way back we went through the new shopping area just outside שער יפו which is really nice, we picked up some naot shoes and desperately needed toiletries.
After that Shlomia and I went to pick up my Shoresh sandals which were in for repairs at Orcha. The popular myth that the sandals are only under guarantee while the green dot is still there isn't 100% true. The warranty is good for two whole years or (not and) while the green dot is completely whole. After collapsing at home for a few hours we took a sherut to Rambash רמב"ש Ramat Beit Shemesh. Somewhere in all of this my Tefillin went missing. Luckily they have my email on them. No point putting a telephone number or even worse address on them, because those change to often. Now I just have to hope the person who finds it read the parsha and saw the positive and negative commandment of Hashavat Aveidah (returning of a lost object)

Off to the Trail

2007-06-20T00:31:00.000+03:00

I will be backpacking for the next week, so there goes nay hope for me updating the blog.

Meanwhile I will leave some questions for people to ponder:

How should one view the "kiruv" of Jews to non-observant but involved Judaism, and why?

Which is more important: Kiruv Rechokim (bringing those who are far close to Judaism) or Kiruv Krovim (bringing those who are close into a real care and vibrancy about Judaism)

Why is Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel important (imagine in theory Jews could live in Israel peacefully under foreign rule)?

Does a Jewish democracy have din malchut, if not is a theocracy (more accurately a monarchy becuase the kohen kadol/ Av beit din) is the religious leader the ideal?

Is it a form of tzedakah to save the environment?

If your brother has a flu and your neighbor is getting a stroke, who do you deal with first? If a Jewish person has the flu and a non-Jew is getting a stroke who do you deal with first?

Should the a government be responsible for needs beyond basic necessities of life towards its citizens?

Should the Israeli government be a diffrent case becuase it is obligated to care for the Jewish people?

Is a representative democracy the same thing as the people?

If Am Yisrael is obligated to do something is the government obligated?

If you take in refugees to save lives, how do you draw the line at which you can't save more lives?

Is it better not to accept any refugees because you really can't help every single person in the world or is it better to set an arbitrary line?

How can you accept the 1000th person but not the 1001st?

If the lives were Jewish Lives would you act the same way? Is it ok if the answer to that was yes?

and a bonus:
What should be the place of Arab's in Israel (politically, socially etc)?

Is it (and if yes to what extent) is it ok to use psychological warfare in the occupation of the West Bank? If shooting at a blank wall in an Arab village will stop terrorists from shooting at nearby settlements for instance...or random arrests and detentions?

Is it ok for Jews to settle in the West Bank considering there are Arabs in Israel?

If the Palestinians view themselves as at war with Israel and some/most see it fit to resort to violence why is it wrong to play our side of the struggle and try to build on as much land(not that belongs to private Palestinians) as possible?

Darfur Rally - Jerusalem (The Kenesset) Tuesday june 19th

2007-06-18T10:23:00.000+03:00

http://haedarfur.org/ for ang English poster

and http://haedarfur.org/homehe.html for a Hebrew poster

Celebrating the Hamas takeover of Gaza?

2007-06-17T22:07:00.000+03:00

I have had trouble posting lately, so there are many things that I have wanted to write about hat I haven't got a chance to, because it won't save my drafts. I have lost interesting posts that I have put a lot of effort into, so now I write it all in Gmail.

I have gotten a bit tired of the "More power = More responsibility = More accountability" reasoning. This reasoning was among the lines of thought that gave me hope that the disengagement might produce something. In the sense that if Israel was gone they might actually try to fix the real problems, which really have nothing to do with occupation.

I said the same thing when Hamas won the elections; maybe now the world will realize what Palestinian "nationalism" is all about. It didn't happen, because the world chose to shut its eyes.

The reasoning is true in the sense that people try to fill their roles. So, if someone is thinking of themselves as a student/chanich they will try to find loopholes in the rules and be disruptive. While if they suddenly are put in charge of a group, they will try to establish order and think of themselves as a part of the solution and not the problem.

So why am I "celebrating" the Hamas takeover of Gaza?

Its very simple. No its not that I am glad that Palestinians are killing each other, that's actually a pretty sad result of the depravity of their society. So why is it? Because the West Bank and Gaza are now separate. Gaza will unfortunately become a backwards taliban/Iran mixture of Islamic religious extremism. While the West Bank will gravitate towards modern more secular palestinian Arab nationalism. Neither is a great enemy for Israel to be up against. It was also easier for Israel to combat a divided Palestinian population through the old "divide and conquer". So what is it that we are gaining from this (lest anyone think that Fatah aren't also crazy) ? The concept that maybe we can have a tri-state solution. Its not quite Rav Yoel Bin-nun's idea of Egypt taking Gaza and Jordan taking the West Bank, but its a step in the right direction. With no need for territorial continuity we really may be able to achieve some sort of permanent borders. In fact, Hamas understands that this separation of the West Bank and Gaza can hurt the Palestinian ideal of taking over all of Israel through stages or otherwise. I happen not to think that Egypt and Gaza reclaiming the lands that they had until '67 is a realistic idea. I much prefer we break up the Palestinian extreme nationalism and let them focus on the land they currently occupy rather than carving up Israel for the needless desire for a contiguous state, when two separate sates would do equally well. The only question remains is if and how to transfer people from Gaza to the West Bank and vice versa who want to live in the other Palestinian state.

No Time For Blogging

2007-06-05T22:59:00.000+03:00

Well I really just don't have the time to blog, or actually do anything else. I have to work on time management. The fact that I am writing this now shows that I might actually start getting there. The process of Aliyah takes a while and there is much bureaucracy to go through. After going on a long journey to Lishkat Giyus Tel Hashomer (Tel Hashomer Recruitment office) and not even getting past the information desk outside the offices, and faxing a few times, and calling many times until I find out a good way to avoid the long telephone menus and actually reach a person in a few seconds instead of waiting on hold for 5 minutes and thn being disconneted, and then having Liora (she is the best), the yeshiva Secretary to call on my behalf, I finnaly got my tzav rishon (first call up) to be in a week, more about why that's so important later.

If you think I haven't being a good job of keeping up my blog now, be prepared when I go into the wilderness for 7 weeks this summer.

For now before I got to bed I will relate one story:

I was getting my phone fixed today. My phone does everything but ring which is a bit of a problem when it is also your alarm clock and you don't always have it in a place where you can feel the vibrations. After starting at the place I bought my phone, they told me I needed to go to the "Orange" store, which luckily was about 600 meters down the road, at least something was going right. I figure while I am there I might see about other plans instead of my current pay-as-you-go.
It had a nice atmosphere and you could see through a big window into the area where the technicians were working; it was still a place where you had to wait and wait of course. They gave me no trouble about warranties or faults or this or that. They just checked that I didn't accidentally have it on silent and took it in. Meanwhile I had a sales rep explain to me that I shouldn't buy now, and should wait until I get a certain status in the process of the army (which an Israeli is explaining to me as I write this). I learn a bit of mishna Eruvin as I wait for my phone to be fixed. The phone works for about 3 rings before dieing again, but by that time the store already closes in ten minutes and I am busy at the doctor filling out driving license forms. The interesting Israeli story to this:
There were these two guys, I was trying to figure out how to refer to them, they were an amazing sociological or psychological phenomenon. One was "dati" and the other was "hiloni", but I wouldn't consider either one religious or ethical secular. The word that kept on creeping into my head was the ביריונים beryonim of the mishna (or from the movie Kazablan). I guess thugs, but it wouldn't do them justice, maybe "grown-up" Arsim. The manager was working at the checkout, where I was buying a set of headphones (so I could listen to the radio for news in Hebrew and spend less of my computer time reading the news). They get fed up and walk around the shop, so I sit down on the stool where one of them was sitting.
He comes back and says "I was here first, so get up" but not in such a menacing way, and I happened to agree with him that even though he left he still was there first so I said "yah sure go ahead sit". As the rest of the customers and I wait in line and other people keep coming up and complaining about how its been an hour, even though "the computer says very clearly that you have been waiting 14 minutes, but I will do my best", this guy keeps on being pushy to the manager about finding two girlfriends of his work at the shop. In Israel, that's fair enough, you push for the unusual things for your friends and you sometimes get what you are after.
The manager was accepting his actions, as he was on the phone with one of the girls, she was telling him that they should come to the shop with a CV. He asks her to hire them on the spot or at least guarantee them jobs by tomorrow or the day after. She explains to him that as much as she has a role, "Orange" also is involved and you can't cut corners like this in a real company, because it just won't work even for her. She is helpful, giving him information, telephone numbers, and a website, but he wants a fax number for the CVs. She explains that "Orange"'s website has fax details but that she doesn't have the number for a fax to accept CVs in the shop. He gets fed up and gets her to take the phone from him to talk to the girl herself.
Meanwhile the "dati"(and by that I mean he was wearing a kipa) friend is on the store's phone making calls. Neither has any respect for anyone in the store or any societal norms and are pushing it to the point where I would think in America or any other western country you would ask them to please step out of the shop.
I laugh a bit about how ridiculous this is that people are barely phased by this here. The guy who now has nothing to do as the manger is talking on his cell phone yells at me "are you laughing at me?", I wanted to answer "YES! you are acting like thugs out of a movie and everyone is demurring to your every wish", but I just said "yah just the situation."
He wasn't happy and he said back "Well if you keep laughing, I am going to make you cry," which just wanted to make me laugh more. He got distracted and was just going around being bothersome.
While he was away a well biult guy said to me "you can't go around talking talking like that, not everyone in the world is a nice person like you."
The manager replies "yah you have to be careful you can't argue with these guys you have to just agree."

While this is atypical, I could only imagine this happening to me in Israel.

Instead of capitulating to the every whim of these thugs we should get them negotiating with the Palestinians, maybe show the Palestinians that if we wanted to really be ruthless thugs with nothing in mind but ourselves we could be. It would be a nice way to set the tone before entering real negotiations.

English helps Israelis study Torah at YPT

2007-05-14T23:05:00.000+03:00

I plan to write up the shiur I heard today from Rav Ti about Ruth, but with my laptop broken I wasn't able to take notes, and it may take some time. Meanwhile, its just intresting that for all the complaints people make about having to learn Tanakh in Hebrew, it actually helps to know English. Transilations by thier very nature will be impercise, but in the Tanakh it makes a big diffrence because the language is meant to be very very percise. Normally that means that when you try to transilate the Tanakh you have two problems (well there are many more, but these ones are relevant to what I am saying).

1) It is difficult or impossible to fight the equivlent word in English (or whatever language you are transilating into)

2) Since most words don't have an exact 1-to-1 correspondance from Hebrew to English, your word choice is by definition an interpretation.

So after all that introduction, what is my point?
רות א:5 Ruth 1:5

וַיָּמֻתוּ גַם-שְׁנֵיהֶם, מַחְלוֹן וְכִלְיוֹן; וַתִּשָּׁאֵר, הָאִשָּׁה, מִשְּׁנֵי יְלָדֶיהָ, וּמֵאִישָׁהּ.

And Mahlon and Chilion both died, and the woman (Naomi) Va'tishaer from/of her two children and of her husband.

So what belongs in place of Va'tishaer ?

Well Rav Ti asked the full room: "מה התגום של ותשאר...הרתגום לאנגלית?" (What is the translation of Va'Tishaer, the translation into English)

So people threw out ideas: survived, left, stayed, remained

The point was that it was pretty obvious that if her husband and children died, then she was survived by them, so what is this verse adding?

In context if you use the word stayed or remained then you develop a picture that Naomi is staying in the Galut outside of Eretz Yisrael. This is why English helps you understand Tanakh

This is a good time to mention that "A Jew is Israel has G-d, a Jew outside of Israel has no G-d." Not "is like he has no G-d." There is a reason that it was especially true in biblical times, but here is not the place to expand on it.

An interesting post on translating and Torah can be found here

Tafnit on thier night off - Pokemon

2007-05-14T22:51:00.000+03:00

Tafnit, the other program from Australasia/South Africa besides MTA, while they are at YPT (Yeshivat Hesder Petach Tikva) usually get Tuesday as a night off. Yom Yerushalim is Tuesday night this week, so they have off tonight. On their night off, some are at the computers. Often they can be found playing Age of Empires II. The computers reset each time they are turned off, so they have to reload it each time off an ipod or disc-on-key(flash drive, USB stick etc), which takes 5-10 minutes per computer, but that doesn't deter them. Tonight however, most of them are playing Pokemon on the computer. Seven of them are playing the original Yellow (not Blue/Red) Pokemon on the computer, including their madrich. A little nostalgia never hurt, but it's quite funny. I guess it's better than GTA: Vice City which one of them is playing.

(correction thanks to The Life and Times of the World's Greatest Jewperhero )

In Israel electronically doesn't mean instant

2007-05-03T19:02:00.000+03:00

I get my Teduat Zehut (identity card) on Sunday by picking it up at the NBN offices in Jerusalem. Without it I can't go to the Misrad Ha'klita or open a bank account. I do have a document called a Teduat Oleh, which looks like a passport, but is something that a new immigrant gets. I keep on hearing about its importance, but all I really know that it does is give Bnei Akiva money from the sochnut because I am a boger. I'll soon see what it actually is good for. Meanwhile with it and another piece of paper I went to the post office to get a form that lets me join a kupat holim(lit. sick fund, basically medical insurance). That is the only thing I can do in the bureaucracy chain that doesn't require a Teudat Zehut. I arrive at the post office and of course it is siesta, so I wait until 3:30. The post office workers get back earlier than that, but there is no way they will open it up until at least 3:32 at the earliest. To get free medical care for the first 6 months as an oleh, you need to pay 13.72 shekel. NBN had written down 12, I guess they need to tax you even on the fees you pay for your "free" services. The post office worker entered some information on a computer, scanned a printout had me sign something and that was it.

With the voucher from the post office I went to the Kupat Holim. I had chosen Klalit, purely for its location. There siesta ended at 4:00 so I waited around a bit. After some people pushed in front of me, I finally got to the desk armed with everything I needed. I lay it all out and say I want to join the Kupat Holim. The clerk starts to enter some data into her computer, and then enters some more information. Finally she looks up and says sorry you are not in the computer, did you go to the post office yet? I point to the form from the post office. I tell her I just came from the post office 45 minutes ago. Her response left me dumbfounded:
"Oh that was too soon, try coming back next week."

This was done by computers, it should be instant. Ok, if not instant, then at least overnight. How long could it take to transfer data, at worst there should be a nightly dump of data into the different systems.

Hey, at least I am Israeli now.

Two Words

2007-05-01T15:38:00.001+03:00

I'm Israeli

Aliyah in 27.5 hours with Nefesh B'Nefesh from JFK

2007-04-29T22:52:00.000+03:00

I haven't blogged in a while. Too busy dealing with Aliyah preperations and seeing friends and family.

There have been so many things I have wanted to blog about and have written out whole posts including links in my head, but they have remained there.

I should get back to blogging soon. Meanwhile I am still packing and somehow 210 pounds just isn't enough.

100 lbs for a set of Talmud Bavli
and about another hundred for a green mini set of kehati mishnayot, a rambam, a large set of Kehati, an english midrash rabbah, and more
then some clothing.

What most annoyed me is finding out that most suitcases way a bit over 10 lbs. Isn't there a better way to construct suitcases so that they don't take up a fifth of the weight that you are often allowed

Anyway, if anyone wants to meet me at the airport on May 1st at 1:15PM.

And to add another link to a Jewish site that has enough links:
http://onlysimchas.com/galleries/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewsimcha&simchaid=60385&simchatypeid=11

Apparently, Jdate gets 135% more traffic than the second most trafficked Jewish websites, or all other major Jewish websites put together, don't know if that's true. Maybe someone can verify that.

Of course I will be wearing my Hultza/Tilboshet for the flight.

You too can fly Nefesh B'Nefesh. Unless you are already Israeli or live outside the US & Canada & UK. If so then at least there is the Global Aliyah Centre which is a free call from almost anywhere you might live, or at worst a free skype call. They will help you with just about anything Israel & Aliyah related
http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Aliyah/Contact+Addresses/GCI/

NCSY Six Flags Great Adventure - Post I (Videos)

2007-04-08T09:26:00.000+03:00

When the Jews take over Six Flags Great Adventure (well it was also Easter so it wasn't a complete takeover this year):

Just some videos that I took on the roller coasters for now.

Will the Left Wing Shut Up?

2007-04-03T01:40:00.000+03:00

I often am on the left on many issues including Israeli "politics" Being on the left in Israeli politics is Pro-peace, but that doesn't mean that the right is anti-peace of course as some people would like to say. It’s a bit like pro-choice or pro-life. It’s all spin. People underestimate how much people on the right want peace. After a trip to Bethlehem I am inclined to agree with them that peace now or any time soon is untenable in the current situation. I don't care whose fault it is that the Arab street and the Palestinians aren't ready for peace. It’s much to complex and instead of assigning blame on anyone we have to figure out how to fix the problem rather than trying to take apart the situation. However, denying that there is a problem is just as much a sure predictor of failure as discussing blame. We can't treat a problem we deny exists. That said, I still think that it may be possible to talk to the dictators who control the Arab world and may be able to convince the "Arab street" to go along. I normally agree with Sharansky's Open Society vs Closed Society, but we should not close off any option when looking for peace. So why do I say the left should shut up? I have been reading for so long about how Israel needs to offer a comprehensive peace plan to the Arab World. Of course much of it was couched in cynicism about how Israel doesn't really want peace or it would have done so long ago. I don't think being a Zionist means thinking that Israel can do no wrong, and anyone who knows Israel bureaucracy and the way the Gush Katif evacuees were dealt with and the war (yes its officially a war) in Lebanon was conducted and the financial and sex scandals sweeping Israeli leadership, knows that things in Israel aren't handled properly. However being a Zionist should be done through truly believing that you are doing the best for Israel and that even if Israel is imperfect it deserves the benefit of the doubt. I am not saying all the critics of Israeli policy from the left or the right handled themselves inappropriately, but I was disappointed with the number that did. Why all of this? Because Israel finally did extend her hand. My opinion in all of this is that if Israel would have been the first to extend her hand she would not have been taken as seriously and this was a tactical move in the "war for peace."

Well it looks like despite letting the Arab World go first, nothing much was gained.

Basically, the Arab World wants to give Israel an ultimatum, not engage in negotiations. As I learned in Bethlehem, they really think that all they are required to do for Israel to give up everything that she could possibly give up is for the Arab States to say they are willing to meet with Israel, and “recognize Israel.”

Yeshivish Feminism and have I really left Israel?

2007-04-02T21:34:00.000+03:00

Location: Monsey, New York
Date: Erev Pesach 5767 יד ניסן ה'תשס"ז
Or should I say 3319, especially considering that it is almost Pesach. 3319 is the number of years that it has been since the exodus from Egypt according to the traditional Rabbinical counting. If you look on the Daf Kesher, the newsletter of Yeshivat Har Etzion (Gush), that number is listed there. Apparently Rav Meidan thinks that it is a good way to fulfill the mitzvah of Zechirat Yetziat Mitzraim (Remembrance of the Exodus from the Egypt). There is no real reason to be recalling creation specifically, unlike the exodus, which we are supposed to remember everyday. This is different than the mitzvah of Sippur Yetziat Mitzraim(retelling the story of the Exodus from Egypt) which can only be done at the Seder once a year(twice a year if you are in the Galut, in Chutz La'aretz, in the Diaspora). I have heard this all second hand while learning at Gush, and I couldn't find any site or dvar torah about it on the web. Rav Meidan also has interesting Egypt much earlier than we usually think.

But that wasn't my point.

I was a salon where my sister was getting a manicure and pedicure. She didn't want to go by her self so I took along something to read, specifically the Hebrew Version of the Haggadah "A night to remember." While waiting I overheard some stories that a girl of about 11 was telling her younger brother of about 5 or 6. The family was definitely right wing, not sure how far. Big black velvet kippah on the kid and the girls were all wearing very long skirts and talking with yeshivish, some of which I didn't even understand easily. She told him two short stories to keep him occupied.

The first was about a woman construction worker who saved the day. All the other male construction workers were sick from a flu and there was a train that was going down the track and it was broken and the signals weren’t working, btu everyone except this women construction worker was sick that day, so she fixed it up and built it all by herself. So everyone was saved because of her, and she was rewarded with lots of medals and everyone thanked her and she was respected from then on. That was just about verbatim.

It was interesting to hear the very short story, but almost as surprising was the next story. The first story was possibly about females striving to fill male roles. I won’t try to write the second story word for word, because it basically matches the first one with a few exceptions. Just replace female construction worker with male beautician and his heroism was helping a kallah at chassnah(chatuna, wedding) when all the female workers were sick, and his reward was the kallah’s family and friends were forever grateful and everyone wanted to hire him. It looks like it is not just a drive for females to take on male roles. Its more of a two way street. Gender equality and fewer limits based on your anatomy. I should bring in an op-ed piece written by Yishai Schwartz in the SAR High School Paper, but I will need to get his permission to reprint. If and when I do, you will see why it is relevant.

Now the second part of the post:Why am I left wondering if I left Israel?
a) There are tons of Jews around. Haredim, Modern Orthodox, Reform Conservative, unaffiliated.
b) Everything, even the regular products have kosher l'pesach on them.
c) At The Young Israel of New Rochelle the congregation recited Tefillah l'shlom hamedina (prayer for the state of Israel) in unison with gusto. Well of course they also said a prayer for America and an interesting prayer for the troops, something that I will hopefully look at in a future post.
d) I have seen bumper stickers in Monsey from "ha'am im gush Katif" and "Hevron shelanu." Not sure if I have seen any left wing Israel bumper stickers. Well the extremists always are more committed, and the more committed are more likely to be extremists.
e) A siren when off when it was the last time you could eat Hametz. Coiencidence? Maybe, but it was too perfectly timed, and sounded like the ones you hear in Israel
f) At 2:30 erev pesach most of the stores at the local strip mall were closed and the parking lot which was impossibly busy just 2 hours earlier was almost empty

Hag Kasher V’Sameach
Or as I learned people say in a strange language : A Zissen Pesach