Our Greater Purpose

Beautiful Rainbow Over Jerusalem

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:42:00 +0000

May we be blessed to have peace on earth as this beautiful, G-d given, rainbow symbolizes.

May we continue to be blessed with rain this year. Rain that fell upon Jerusalem before this beautiful rainbow appeared in the sky over the Holiest city in the world.

Shabbat Shalom from the Holyland!
Avi

Posted via web from Our Greater Purpose

UN's Double Standard for Arab Refugees - MUST READ AND FORWARD ON

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:05:00 +0000

UN's Double Standard for Arab Refugees

by Hillel Fendel

(IsraelNN.com) An artist and poetess from the Negev has embarked on a personal campaign to prove that the story on which she was raised – that the Jews stole the land from Palestinians – is untrue.
Yona Levy Grossman, a resident of Moshav Ein HaBesor, located within short-range rocket reach of Hamas terrorists, has begun circulating a slide-show presentation on the internet of late. "For a long time," she told Arutz-7’s Shimon Cohen, “I didn’t know the true story, and was influenced by the Arab lies.” She was finally “tipped off” to the falsehood of the claim that Jews stole Palestinian land by none other than a professor associated with the left-wing camp.

via israelnationalnews.com

80-90% of Arabs are New Arrivals “He gave a talk in which he said that 80% to 90% of the Arabs living here today have not lived here for many centuries, as they claim, but are new arrivals,” she said. “I then began researching the topic, and I found out that he was right.” She said that the professor asked that she not reveal his name, however.

This is a basic issue that few people know about. The refugee issue is a scam. Please spread this information around to everyone you know. The UN has a double standard and it is not because it cares about the "palestinians". The UN and Arab world treat them as pawns in a protracted struggle against the existence of the State of Israel. These are the facts.

Posted via web from Our Greater Purpose

1st Ever Skype and Twitter Movie Screening of Home Game this Sunday, Jan. 31st

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:58:00 +0000

via 12tribefilms.org

This Sunday night I will be speaking, via skype video conference, at a Home Game movie screening at Congregation Etz Chaim in Lombard, Illinois.

Students and parents will be able to tweet their questions and comments via twitter so that I can answer them on camera for them to hear the answers live.

This is the first skype video conferencing and twitter movie screening for Home Game and 12Tribe Films. I look forward to many more to help spread the messages of Home Game to people worldwide.

All tweeters who want to follow the movie Q&A tweets can follow @avirach

Posted via web from Our Greater Purpose

BUYcott Israel Campaign Video - Oy Va Goy!

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:30:00 +0000

via oyvagoy.com

Chas Newkey-Burden is the man!

A man of principle, a man of introspection, a man who says what needs to be said and most of all a true friend of the Jewish people and the Land of Israel. We are blessed to have such friends.

Thank you Chas for giving us all hope!

Posted via web from Our Greater Purpose

'No deal with PA greater threat than Iranian bomb' | Israel | Jerusalem Post

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:27:00 +0000

via jpost.com

How can any Israeli leader, let alone a Minister, say such folly?

As a political entity on the world stage, the Palestinian Authority is battling Israel using international law to deligitimize the State of Israel in the eyes of the world (i.e the Goldstone report). Even with this reality Israel is doing everything in its power to return to the negotiating table, a step I believe to be pure idiocy.

Yet Ehud Barak says that the biggest threat to Israel is no negotiations? Bigger than the threat of Iran having nuclear weapons that it most probably would use against Israel (since it has said that it wants to wipe Israel off the map)?

It will be quite refreshing to have a Defense Minister who believes in the justice of our cause to live in our Homeland and to despise the "peace" partners who just want to destroy our existence here. If we are forced to negotiate with such partners at least call a spade a spade and put them in their place for the continued de-ligitimization of Israel on the world stage (and the killings of Israelis via their militias) that they support. Place those cards down on the table in front of them and then negotiate. Please respect yourself and your people just a little. Groveling with people who want to kill you makes us all look very very bad.

Posted via web from Our Greater Purpose

Avri Gilad of Arutz 2 is Unbelievable! Unbelievable!

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:28:00 +0000

Avri Gilad, on prime time TV (Arutz 2) just interviewed Aryeh Airbus, one of the soldiers who raised the sign at the Kotel ceremony that said "Soldiers from the Shimshon Company will not Evacuate Chomesh".

At the end of the interview Avri Gilad spoke directly to the television audience and said "I hope people think twice about using these dedicated and warm soldiers for such controversial acts".

Avri Gilad is the only Israeli media personality to go on record with such statements, which means he is the only Israel media personality who thinks for himself and has the guts to say what he thinks and he is not driven by the post-nationalist, anti-zionist party line.

Watching Avri Gilad tonight gives me hope that the Jewish people and the people of Israel will wake up from the coma that our current political, judicial and media leadership have placed upon us.

Other pearls of wisdom from the interview:

Upon asking Aryeh if his act of raising the sign was worth it, since it has placed the future of the Hesder Yeshivot in question Aryeh answered by saying the following:

"The army is to blame for using this incident to question the future of Hesder Yeshivot. Many soldiers who took part in raising the sign were non-relisious soldiers with no connection to Hesder Yeshivot. Yet the army does not talk about those soldiers, they had behind the door court sentences for them where they received punishments of 14 days."

Regardless if one agrees or disagrees with the act of these soldiers, this whole episode is blatant hypocrisy by Ehud Barak and the army establishment and political manipulation to go after the Hesder Yeshivot and the National Religious public.

Posted via web from Our Greater Purpose

Wow! Avri Gilad Shocks the Israeli Media

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:09:00 +0000

Just 5 minutes ago on Channel 2 TV in Israel, Avri Gilad, speaking about the absurd amount of publicity that the Netanyahu maid issue has received by the Israeli media, said that "the Israeli media is no longer the guard dog guarding democracy but it is now just a dog!"

Kudos to Avri Gilad for coming out and saying what has been needed to be said for years!

Posted via web from Our Greater Purpose

YouTube - Social Media Revolution

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:33:00 +0000

via youtube.com

Many people might still be wary of using social media, but it is here to stay.

The question is not whether businesses should use social media tools, but HOW should businesses use them.

Posted via web from Our Greater Purpose

Video of Dore Gold on Israel's Right To Build In Jerusalem

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:02:00 +0000

via wejew.com

The hypocrisy of the world regarding "international law" (sic) - people don't even know what the laws and decisions are when they spout that lie.

By the way, the US consulate in East Jerusalem, acts as if it is in an Arab country and not in Israel. Check out the Jersualem US Consulate embassy. Find me one thing there that the US Consulate does for Jews and Jerusalem, I challenge you! It's existence is totally to do things for the Arabs in Yehuda, Shomron and Jerusalem. Go figure, the US is our friend and ally and has its official institutions act like this???

Posted via web from Our Greater Purpose

Wow ,Inspiring Story - Eye From Zion - A Mission In Vietnam

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:32:00 +0000

via wejew.com

What an amazing, heartwarming story about Israeli eye doctors on a special trip to Vietnam - Eye From Zion, an organization that gives free eye operations to the blind to help them see!

Posted via web from Our Greater Purpose

If Israel gave up the West Bank today would there be peace tomorrow? Be honest - The PLO Phased Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:13:00 +0000

via wejew.com

The facts have always stared us straight in the face, but a majority of people, basing their thoughts on hope and wishful thinking, sweep the facts away.

The guys at Free Middle East do a great job of raising this issue in a visual way for all to seriously ponder. Take a moment to really think this through and not just give the politically correct lines of "land for peace" or the only solution is the "2 state solution".

Posted via web from Our Greater Purpose

Rabbis to US Ambassador: Time to 'Go Biblical' with Arabs - How Refreshing to Hear Common Sense!

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:02:00 +0000

(IsraelNN.com) A delegation of the Rabbinical Congress for Peace (RCP) met with U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mr. James Cunningham, today and called for a reassessment of the entire U.S. policy vis-à-vis the Israelis and Palestinians. The rabbis told Ambassador Cunningham that it was time to try the Biblical approach to the dispute over the Land of Israel.
"The past 17 years have proven without a shadow of a doubt that every square inch ceded by Israel to the Palestinians was transformed into a platform of hatred and terrorism," RCP Director Rabbi Avrohom Shmuel Lewin told the ambassador. "In other words, the 'land for peace' formula in the Israel-Palestinian context, besides being a formula that goes against the Divine will, is ineffective, obsolete, and an exercise in futility. Most of all it is a dangerous policy that only leads to bloodshed and instability in the region and harms vital American interests in the region as well," Lewin said.
'Land for peace doesn't work'

via israelnationalnews.com

Wow, how refreshing to hear people talk some common sense, dealing with the facts of the past 17 years.

Even more refreshing, it was uttered by a group of 350 Rabbis.

And most refreshing of all, directed at the US Ambassador to Israel.

Will it make any difference? Most probably not, but at least this was said and done. Now if only the millions of Israelis would wake up to the facts too and do something about it.

It's nice to dream...

Posted via web from Our Greater Purpose

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 08:20:00 +0000

Nothing expresses the absurdity and folly in the Obama Presidency than this statement:

"Obama hasn't told Iran what would happen to them if they build the (nuclear) bomb, but he has told Israel that if they build one more house (in a settlement) then the whole roof will come down" - Dick Morris, Former Advisor to Bill Clinton

It is pretty clear to me that the US and the whole Western world is in big trouble with the US under an Obama Presidency.

The question is when will Bibi Netanyahu realize that the whole world is secretly waiting for him to decide to bomb Iran's nuclear capability and do it.

This is one of those actions where everyone in the world will condemn, but everybody will be secretly happy about it. Once again, the epitome of the hypocrisy that exists in world politics (like the UN Human Rights Commission being run by Libya, Cuba and other human rights abusers)

Will Bibi have the guts to do a Begin and pay the consequences for an action that Western world (and the Arab world) secretly want Israel to do? That is the question...

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:12:00 +0000

A very insightful article on 'Rehab for an 'all-consuming peace addiction'. I highly recommend it

Ruthie Blum interviews Daniel Gordis of the Shalem Center in her latest article in the Jerusalem Post .

As one can understand from the article, Daniel Gordis once very much supported the peace process as well as the expulsion of Jews from Gaza (aka - the disengagement). However today he thinks differently.

As far as disengagement is concerned, in retrospect, there's no question that it was a mistake, in terms of Israel's security and defense. But I hesitate to call it an out-and-out mistake - without in any way minimizing the horrible human cost to the families who were uprooted - because I think we learned something we could only have learned by doing it. What no one can reasonably deny now is that the Right was right.

As someone who used to be left of center, I always believed that the Palestinians wanted the same things we did - that they sought two states for two peoples; that they wanted a country just like we did; that they wished for their children and grandchildren to flourish, just like we did. Disengagement proved to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was wrong - tragically wrong, but wrong nonetheless. Because what they had was an opportunity to begin to build some sort of autonomy. And it became clear that this is not what they had, or have, in mind. They are much more intent on destroying us than they are on building themselves. They're much more committed to our not having a future than to their having one.

First of all, it is rare to come upon a thinker of Mr.Gordis' stature and standing to admit what he does. It is not an easy step at and for this I take my hat off to him.

From another persepctive, however, I'm still very uneasy about these thoughts because I knew back in 1992 that the oslo "peace accords" were a huge mistake for Israel and I wasn't the only one who thought so. We protested furiously against the Israeli acceptance of the Oslo process. Yet our calls went unheeded and most of world Jewry got swept away with euphoria on how peace was around the corner, we just must understand that there is a price for peace, that any terrorist act is our sacrifice for peace - and the Jewish world bought it!

So inside I'm so distraught that 16 years and thousands of innocent Israeli deaths have to pass for somany intellectual people to realize what Mr. Gordis expresses in the Jpost article.

On the other hand, I must admit that reality is reality and Mr. Gordis does a good job allowing us to understand that the Jewish psyche of hope and liberalism allows many Jews to dismiss the facts on the ground and put much time and effort into making their hopes and dreams for peace come true. Hence the willingness to put up with terrorism on the side of our "peace" partners for years and still march on the facade of a peace process and only waking up to what me and others knew all along, that the peace process has been a facade, after it has been finally proven to them - that the Arabs in Yehuda, Shomron and Gaza (because there is no such thing as a palestinian people, just ask Golda Meir) want to destroy the State of Israel and not live side-by-side with it in peace.

I have always said that this peace process would fail and that in the end Jews will live in all of Yehuda, Shomron and Gaza (yes, and Gaza) because the Arabs won't stop trying to destroy our nation and homeland and in the end it will be because of realism and not ideology that we will be settled throughout our Holy land. Their not letting up will just prove to more and more Jews and Israelis that they really have no intent on living side by side in peace with us. Too bad it just takes so long for so many Israelis and Jews so long to realize this lesson because in the meantime we are paying the price with our own lives for their stubborness to hold on to their hope and liberal attitudes that charges them to continue trying to make peace at all costs.

In the end, I must say thank you to Mr. Gordis for his intellectual honesty and I wish that many other of our brethren in Israel and abroad would follow his example and begin to be honest with themselves and reality that peace is just not attainable with people who want to destroy you. So what's the solution to have quiet. I much prefer doing what is necessary so that we can attain quiet instead of signing peace agreements that our just pieces of paper with signatures.

How do we attain quiet? That's for other posts.

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:25:00 +0000

It Doesn't Make A Difference, But it Should

The other day I posted the following Palestinian Media Watch video on twitter and facebook for people to see.

A Twitter friend of mine responded to me with the following "I can not believe how many Jews believe that we can make peace with the Arabs. Who do we talk to?

The following is an answer to my friend that I felt deserved a blog post instead of 140 characters on Twitter. If anyone has a different opinion then the one I express below, please feel to share it with me and I'll share it with my Twitter friend as well.

My answer:

On the one hand this video is extremly significant, but on the other hand it is useless.

What do I mean?

Well, first of all it is significant because it is proof that the official leaders of the Arabs, currently living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, never have and never will recognize the State of Israel. (FYI - the man in the video, Dahlan, has always been one to the darlings of the US and the Israeli Left, a potential leader/partner to make "peace" with)

Therefore, it should be clear to all, that it is pure folly for Israel to hold peace talks, or continue a peace process to establish a "palestinian" state with a partner that never wants to recognize us and really only wants to destroy Israel and replace it with another Arab country (23rd, I think) in the Middle East.

In any normal country, this video like this about a peace processwould make huge news, huge! and create waves in the public as well as in diplomatic circles with great pressure to stop the charade of peace talks, because it would finally be clear to all that the peace talk is not about peace, but about tearing Israel up piece by piece.

But this is not so when it comes to Israel and the Jewish people. This is why this video is useless and why there really is no one to talk to. Because it's not important to talk to someone, but to talk to people who are open minded to listen, and this doesn't exist when it comes to the mass of the Israeli/Jewish public who want to continue the charade of peace talks or 2 states regardless of the facts that prove it's utter folly.

Why? Because people don't want to hear the truth, it's too depressing and it doesn't jive with the hopes and expectations that we Israelis/Jews want, so the video will fall largely on deaf ears within the population that can it most make an impact.

We Israelis/Jews have such a need to feel accepted by the nations of the world that facts don't bother us from doing what is necessary to help us gain "acceptence". If the world wants us to pursue a peace process, create a state for our enemies (that may eventually cause our own destruction) we will do so, even if we have to hide the facts of the reality from the Israeli public and the Jewish people worldwide.

So nobody wants to hear that the peace process is a charade of the arab world to destroy Israel. Nobody wants to hear that Arafat went to Johanesburg, days after the Oslo agreement were signed, and gave a speech telling the public that he was just following Muhammed's lead of signing agreements with the enemy in order to weaken them to then destroy them later on when they are weak. And nobody is interested in hearing Dahlan say in the video that they have never recognized the State of Isreal. So the video really is useless.

It has been my feeling for a long time, that G-d works in strange ways, and when we don't want to listen to reality, he uses reality to bite us in the backend and finally wake us up. It's only with his radical wake up calls that we begin to wake up, but even then only in baby steps (hence the Qassam rockets for 8 years, the 2nd Lebanon war and the recent Gaza/Gush Katif war). Unfortunately the longer we hold on to our delusions the more radical wake up calls G-d will have to bring upon us in order to really wake up and change our minds about this "piece by piece" process.

I will continue posting these eye opening videos and posts as I find them, because they do help some people to wake up from the delusional peace process they once thought we were in, but for the masses, who can create the pressure for the changes necessary, I know they won't make an impact. That's just the way it is.

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 22:04:00 +0000

Gutsy

With a majority of the Western world appeasing terrorism (partly because of economic reasons and OIL!), it was refreshing to see the following commercial produced by the global car-maker - Honda.

Besides the fact that Honda makes great cars (yes, I'm the proud owner of one myself and very very satisfied), people should go out and buy their cars for being one of the few to say this message loud and clear.

In other words THANK YOU HONDA for saying this message loud and clear.

While the US and the Western world now cajole the Hamas to give lip service to coming to terms with the existence of the State of Israel, while at the same time the world powers and the world media ignore the fact that the PLO/PA never recognized the existence of the State of Isreal ,

(which all adds up to the fact that the western world play nicey, nicey with terrorists) it is nice to know that at least a car company comes out and calls a spade a spade with regards to oil. It doesn't make up for the idiocy and hypocrisy of the western world and world media towards Israel, but it's at least something.

Supporting oil is supporting terrorism. Supporting terrorism because they "only" want to kill the Jews in Israel is leading about to the destruction of the West itself. Islam is not only out to destroy Israel, but the whole western world. They won't ever understand until it is to late, but at least Honda is willing to make some noise about how the oil industry is the fuel (sic) that feeds the terrorism machine.

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:33:00 +0000

Rav Moshe Temple Ascends Har Habayit/the Temple Mount

For years I have had the urge to join the growing group of people who ascend the Temple Mount. To my own disappointment, I have still not done so, mostly because of my own doubts as to the halachik ramifications of such an act, compounded with my own laziness to sit down and learn the laws surrounding this very important and holy act.

This past week I had the pleasure of meeting Yehuda Glick, who runs the Temple Institute, with regards to doing a program together with the Temple Institute and this evening I had the fortune of finding this fascinating video of Rav Moshe Tendler going up to to Har Habayit/the Temple Mount.

Now, I'm more encouraged than ever to finally sit down and study this issue in more depth and there is no better way than on the coattails of this fabulous video which includes Rav Moshe Tendler explaining the concept of Kedusha (holiness) in general, and specifically when applied to going up to Har Habayit. The length of the video is 17 minutes, but worth every second of your time, to see a gadol walking around Har Habayit and listening to him talk about some of the Torah concepts concerning Har Habayit.

For many years it has been the custom of Rabbi Dr. Moshe Dovid Tendler, famed posek, professor, and son-in-law of the great Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, זצ'ל to perform the commandment of 'Mora Mikdash' - showing reverence to G-d at the place of the Holy Temple, by ascending the Temple Mount in strict accordance with halacha - Jewish law. The Rabbi ascends the Mount every time he is in the land of Israel. He has made tens of visits to the Temple Mount. The recorded visit was filmed on the 23rd of Tevet, 5769 - January 19th, 2009.

Click here for a Jewish Press article with Rav Tender defending ascending to Har Habayit

Click here for a Haaretz article, which mentions Rav Tendler's ascending Har Habayit, titled "ULTRA-ORTHDOX PROHIBITION ON ENTERING TEMPLE MOUNT SPLINTERS"

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:59:00 +0000

While the people of Isreal have heroes who are dedicated to saving lives, the Arabs living in the Jewish homeland have their sights on death.

Fathi Hamad, Hamas MK:

"We desire death like you desire life"

Thank you Fathi for making this message crystal clear to us all in the video below. Too bad the world doesn't listen to what you tell your own people and instead is focused on the new anti-semitism of anti-Israel/anti-Zionism that they do everything to side with the Arab aggersoors and very little to defend the Jewish/Israeli victims (i.e. pledging $900 million to rebuild areas in Gaza destroyed because of Arab aggression)

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:26:00 +0000

A Hero's Deed that must be told

Not everyday does human kind come across such a person as was Noam Apter. His total self-acrifice and selflessness are admirable in an era of self-centeredness. His is a hero's story that must be told and retold, one generation to another. We are blessed to have had such a person lead such an example for us all. We would be even more blessed if he would be with us today to show us how to live according to those values through daily life as well.

Sublime Heroism

Lori Lowenthal Marcus

Here's the challenge:
In your last seconds of life, with terrorists spraying bullets at you, would you:

(1) try to kill those who are trying to kill you and all your people?

(2) run for cover rather than be blown apart by bullets? Or

(3) Make Noam's choice, turn your back on the terrorists, even though you have a sidearm, and leap to lock the doors and hurl away the key, so that the murderers cannot kill the dozens of your fellow students in the
room beyond?

We will never know what choice we would make. But we do know what choice Noam Apter made, and he deserves our attention and gratitude. How often does it happen, that a soul is revealed, in its essence? The pure, virtuous soul of Noam Apter was revealed on Friday, December 27, 2002. Most of the world missed that profound moment.

Not a single mainstream media source mentioned Noam's actions, nor even his name, outside of Israel. We are so caught up in the next deaths, the next bombings and the latest number of body parts. When a sublime act of heroism occurs, we don't even notice.

Here's what happened. Listen, remember, and tell the story to others. It deserves to be told.

Boys from the Otniel Yeshiva (religious university) outside of Hebron, were hosting young men from another yeshiva, Har Etzion, for Shabbat. The boys gathered together for Friday evening services, then made their way to the dining hall. Noam Apter, 23, was in charge of the kitchen crew that night. The Otniel boys all take turns cooking and serving. Yehuda Bamberger, 20, and Tzvi Ziman, 18, were also on kitchen duty. So was Gavriel Hotter, only 17, who was waiting for his 18th birthday so that he could officially join in the complete Hesder program.

Otniel and Har Etzion are Hesder Yeshivas. Students in these schools, although religious, also serve their country with rotations in the Israeli Defense Forces. They alternate Torah study, their religious duty, with military service, their national duty.

Otniel is known as an "artsy" yeshiva, with courses that include drama and dancing. Noam's mother, Pirhiya, recently recalled his entrance interview. Noam and the admissions Rabbi spent the time discussing the book Noam was reading, Catcher in the Rye.

After sunset, the boys streamed into the dining hall. The Otniel hosts were already serving the first course of fish, salads, hummus and tehina. The plates were cleared, and the soup course was underway.

As the crew arranged the soup bowls on the platters, two terrorists dressed in Israeli military uniforms burst into the kitchen through an open service door. Their guns pumped bullets into Tzvi, Gavriel and Yehuda, who were gunned down where they stood. Tens of bullets were found in each of these boys.

But Noam.

Noam, the "one in charge," had a sidearm. But with the bullets slicing the air and his friends, he never turned to fire. Noam lunged toward the door leading to the dining room. Though already shot in the back, Noam managed to lock that door, and hurl the key out of reach. Noam's body was recovered there, at the door, riddled with bullets. But the terrorists could not get through the door to complete their mission: to gun down as many as possible of the dozens of young men inside.

This child of God, this Zionist soldier, with his last breaths, saved the lives of dozens of others, rather than his own, and rather than try to take the lives of the murderers. This is a story of humanity at its apex.

The news reports, the few that ran, referred to Noam Apter as an unnamed
"Yeshiva student" and "settler" who was one of four killed by Palestinians. Of all the print media in the United States, there was exactly one mention of this young man by name. Only The New York Post shared the miracle of Noam with its readers.

I met Noam Apter last summer, when I and several friends went to Israel on a study and solidarity mission. Noam, an adorable young man with an M-16 rifle (it isn't incongruous in Israel), accompanied us as our guard. We were a bunch of middle-aged, fairly knowledgeable, somewhat observant, mostly left-leaning American Jews. But this young man touched us all. I told him to forget his girlfriend, because I have two daughters and I wanted him to marry one of them.

I just spoke with Yossi Apter, Noam's father, to share his grief. During our conversation he remembered Noam told him what I said about my daughters. How sweet, how tragic. That trip to Israel was as close as I will ever get to knowing a hero.

If you share this story, you will be spreading the tiny drop of pure goodness and decency in the sea of madness flowing from the Middle East.

********

postscript: I still think of Noam very often, and always on Shabbat. I think about Noam, and weep, when we sing Etz Chaim.

Lori Lowenthal Marcus

Philadelphia, PA USA

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 23:43:00 +0000

Wow! Israeli invention that allows paraplegics to walk! See it for yourself in this video:

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:01:00 +0000

Are you the One

12Tribe Films Foundation is expanding and they are now looking for 10 marketing/advertising interns who are go getters, results oriented, love movies and care about the Jewish people and the Land of Israel.

With a presence in New York and Jerusalem, 12Tribe Films is now looking for talented students who will intern and work virtually from their homes or local coffee houses.

If you fit the bill and you are looking for a rewarding internship that will give you marketing/advertising experience, flexibility and a feeling of accomplishment, then apply today!

The application deadline is March 25th

If this internship interests you, please fill out the application form below and 12Tribe Films will contact you if they see a fit. If you want to record a video to share telling about yourself and why you are a perfect fit for this internship, then please upload it to www.wejew.com and place the link in the application form.

All questions regarding this internship opportunity can be sent to avi at 12tribefilms dot org

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:41:00 +0000

Purim Sameach to all!

We celebrate this miraculous holiday year after year, and even though it is a fabulous story with a miraculous end, many people don't understand how it relates to our current lives.

Well, if you ever asked: 'What does Purim have to do with today?' - this video is for you!

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:11:00 +0000

This is hilarious - Line dancing in Asia to the Miami Boys Choir.

Is this what "A light unto the nations" means? Na, but it is still is hilarious!

Enjoy, I did.

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:57:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Avi) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:11:00 +0000

Hypocrisy!
by David A. Harris
Executive Director
American Jewish Committee
January 26, 2009

Dear Ms. Trine Lilleng,

You were an unknown Norwegian diplomat till this month.

No longer.

As first secretary in the Norwegian Embassy in Saudi Arabia, you recently sent out an email on your office account in which you declared: "The grandchildren of Holocaust survivors from World War II are doing to the Palestinians exactly what was done to them by Nazi Germany."

Accompanying your text were photos, with an emphasis on children, seeking to juxtapose the Holocaust with the recent Israeli military operation in Gaza.

Clearly, you are miscast in your role as a diplomat, all the more so of a nation that has sought to play a mediating role in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

In fact, you're desperately in need of some education.

Let's begin with your current posting. You've been in Riyadh since 2007.

If you're so anguished by human rights violations, perhaps you could have begun by devoting some of your attention - and email blasts - to what surrounds you.

Or were your eyes diplomatically shut?

Have you failed to notice the many legal executions, including beheadings, going on in your assigned country?

Have you ignored the often abysmal treatment of foreign workers, many from Asia, who also happen to be disproportionately counted among the victims of Saudi capital punishment?

Have you neglected the gender apartheid that surrounds you? Did you ever look out of your car to notice that Saudi women are proscribed from driving, and that's hardly the worst of it?

Have you checked the skyline of Riyadh or Jeddah lately to count the number of church spires or other non-Muslim houses of worship?

Have you bothered to inquire about the fate of homosexuals?

Okay, you were AWOL on those issues. Maybe you just didn't want to offend your hosts by speaking the truth, or maybe you're suffering from that diplomatic disease known as "localitis" or "clientitis."

But surely a woman like you, with such capacity for empathy for those in far-away places, and especially for children in danger, couldn't remain silent about other human rights transgressions, could she?

After all, could an individual so deeply moved by the plight of Palestinians in Gaza remain silent about what a New York Times columnist earlier this month described as "hell on earth" - Zimbabwe? Could a person so anguished by the fate of Palestinian children stay mum about a country where a girl's life expectancy at birth is 34, much less than half that of her Norwegian counterpart, and where the health care sector has vaporized, all thanks to the one-man rule of Robert Mugabe?

Could such a dedicated humanist possibly avert her eyes from the deadliest conflict since the Second World War, which has killed over five million people, many of them children, in the Congo in the past decade - not to mention the documented and widespread use of torture, rape, and arbitrary detention?

An observer of such acute sensitivity could hardly hold her tongue while Afghan girls attempting to go to school have been doused with acid by those who wish to deny young women access to education, reminiscent of the five years of Taliban rule, could she?

In neighboring Pakistan, where you served in the Norwegian embassy for three years, the beleaguered human rights community must have been fortunate to have such an impassioned voice for all that's wrong in this failing state. Or was that voice, perhaps, on mute?

The children of Sderot, the Israeli town near the Gaza border, have been in desperate need of just such a spokesperson as you for the past eight years.

After all, their town has been in the crosshairs of literally thousands of missiles and mortars fired from Gaza. Those Israeli children live with all the signs of trauma, knowing that, with only 15 seconds warning, they could be hit at any time in their schools, their parks, or their beds. Yet, during my visit there last week, for some reason, those children and their parents had yet to hear you speak out for them. What a pity!

And the children of Iran could use your help as well. According to human rights groups, Iran has no compunction about executing children or those who were children when their crimes were allegedly committed.

Oh, and by the way, your compassionate help would also undoubtedly be welcomed by others under the gun in Iran, including women's rights activists, union organizers, student protesters, independent journalists, reformist politicians, and religious minorities. And let's not forget, once again, the children of Israel, who, according to the Iranian president, don't have a right to live.

But wait! A Google search about you reveals nothing, not a single word, regarding your views on Zimbabwe, Congo, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sderot, or Iran. Or, for that matter, Burma, Darfur, Syria. Shall I go on?

Only Israel, faced with those who wish to destroy it, manages to prompt your impassioned correspondence and righteous indignation. Why?

No less, your stunning lack of education extends beyond the contemporary world to 20th century history, specifically the Holocaust.

Your invocation of the Holocaust to describe what's taken place in Gaza is, frankly, nothing short of obscene.

Your claim that the grandchildren of the survivors are doing to the Palestinians exactly what was done to them goes beyond any norm of decency, much less honesty.

Approve or disapprove of the Israeli military operation, but there is no basis whatsoever for such a comparison.

When Israel entered Gaza in a war of self-defense in 1967, the population was 360,000. After Israel withdrew totally from Gaza in 2005, it was estimated at 1.4 million.

Would that the Jewish population under Nazi rule had quadrupled!

When Israel entered Gaza in 1967, life expectancy for women was 46. When it left Gaza, it was 73.

Shall we even bother to discuss life expectancy for Jews under Nazi occupation?

The Second World War in Europe lasted from September 1, 1939 to May 8, 1945 - 68 months in all. That means an average monthly extermination rate of nearly 90,000 Jews.

Compare that to the total number of victims in Gaza over three weeks - roughly guesstimated at more or less 1,000 - and recall that the majority were armed fighters committed to Israel's destruction, who used civilians, including children, as human shields, mosques as arms depots, and hospitals as sanctuaries.

Believe me, Ms. Lilleng, if the "grandchildren of the Holocaust survivors" had wanted to do exactly what the Nazis did to their grandparents, they would have unleashed their full air, land, and sea power. They would have thrown the Israel Defense Forces' ethical guidelines to the wind, kicked out the UN and Red Cross personnel on the ground, stopped humanitarian transports of food, fuel, and medicine, prevented media reporting, and left absolutely nothing - and no one - standing.

Unless, of course, they needed slave labor, in which case they would have carted off the able-bodied to work in Auschwitz replicas until they dropped. Or material for ghoulish medical experimentation, in which case, in the spirit of Mengele, they would have kept Palestinian twins alive temporarily.

But Israel didn't do any of these things. It's a peace-seeking democracy dedicated to the rule of law - unlike so many of the countries whose horrific sins you blithely choose to overlook.

What are we to make of your selective moral outrage and rank hypocrisy?

You ought to take a look in the mirror and ask yourself why Israel, and only Israel, makes your blood boil and leads you to speak out, even at the risk of grossly distorting both reality and history.

The answer, Ms. Lilleng, should be painfully obvious.