Jerusalem Diaries:In Tense Times

8th night of Chanukah: How we do it in Jerusalem

2011-12-28T13:29:00.000+02:00

Every Chanukah I head off with my camera to the (almost) all-pedestrian neighborhood of Nachlaot and Zichron Moshe to take in the beautiful sight of the dozens of outside chanukiot shining with light outside fancy, remodeled single-family homes (mostly owned by English-speakers) and the modest hovels nearby occupied largely by Haredi families and yeshiva students.

This year I waited until the final day of the holiday--a crisp, clear evening--and here are some of the results: (Click here for the complete set)

Nachlaot at dusk

Chanukah in the Machane Yehuda shuk

Lighting the last candle..

Zichron Moshe courtyard

Chanukah pilpul

An Israeli reservist writes from the Israel-Egypt border

2011-11-21T08:56:00.001+02:00

Acquaintances in Efrat sent over this moving account about Israel's policy toward African refugees written by their son who is doing reserve duty on the Israel-Egypt border.

Read and contact the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, in Washington DC at


Telephone	202 296 5191
Fax	202 296 5660
Email	usawa@unhcr.org

My name is Aron Adler. I am 25 years old, was born in Brooklyn NY, and raised in Efrat Israel. Though very busy, I don’t view my life as unusual. Most of the time, I am just another Israeli citizen. During the day I work as a paramedic in Magen David Adom, Israel’s national EMS service. At night, I’m in my first year of law school. I got married this October and am starting a new chapter of life together with my wonderful wife Shulamit.

15-20 days out of every year, I'm called up to the Israeli army to do my reserve duty. I serve as a paramedic in an IDF paratrooper unit. My squad is made up of others like me; people living normal lives who step up to serve whenever responsibility calls. The oldest in my squad is 58, a father of four girls and grandfather of two; there are two bankers, one engineer, a holistic healer, and my 24 year old commander who is still trying to figure out what to do with his life. Most of the year we are just normal people living our lives, but for 15-20 days each year we are soldiers on the front lines preparing for a war that we hope we never have to fight.

This year, our reserve unit was stationed on the border between Israel, Egypt and the Gaza Strip in an area called “Kerem Shalom.” Above and beyond the “typical” things for which we train – war, terrorism, border infiltration, etc., this year we were confronted by a new challenge.

Several years ago, a trend started of African refugees crossing the Egyptian border from Sinai into Israel to seek asylum from the atrocities in Darfur. What started out as a small number of men, women and children fleeing from the machetes of the Janjaweed and violent fundamentalists to seek a better life elsewhere, turned into an organized industry of human trafficking. In return for huge sums of money, sometimes entire life savings paid to Bedouin “guides,” these refugees are promised to be transported from Sudan, Eritrea, and other African countries through Egypt and the Sinai desert, into the safe haven of Israel.

We increasingly hear horror stories of the atrocities these refugees suffer on their way to freedom. They are subject to, and victims of extortion, rape, murder, and even organ theft, their bodies left to rot in the desert. Then, if lucky, after surviving this gruesome experience whose prize is freedom, when only a barbed wire fence separates them from Israel and their goal, they must go through the final death run and try to evade the bullets of the Egyptian soldiers stationed along the border. Egypt’s soldiers are ordered to shoot to kill anyone trying to cross the border OUT of Egypt and into Israel. It’s an almost nightly event.

For those who finally get across the border, the first people they encounter are Israeli soldiers, people like me and those in my unit, who are tasked with a primary mission of defending the lives of the Israeli people. On one side of the border soldiers shoot to kill. On the other side, they know they will be treated with more respect than in any of the countries they crossed to get to this point.

The region where it all happens is highly sensitive and risky from a security point of view, an area stricken with terror at every turn. It’s just a few miles south of the place where Gilad Shalit was kidnapped. And yet the Israeli soldiers who are confronted with these refugees do it not with rifles aimed at them, but with a helping hand and an open heart. The refugees are taken to a nearby IDF base, given clean clothes, a hot drink, food and medical attention. They are finally safe.

Even though I live Israel and am aware through media reports of the events that take place on the Egyptian border, I never understood the intensity and complexity of the scenario until I experienced it myself.

In the course of the past few nights, I have witnessed much. At 9:00 PM last night, the first reports came in of gunfire heard from the Egyptian border. Minutes later, IDF scouts spotted small groups of people trying to get across the fence. In the period of about one hour, we picked up 13 men - cold, barefoot, dehydrated - some wearing nothing except underpants. Their bodies were covered with lacerations and other wounds. We gathered them in a room, gave them blankets, tea and treated their wounds. I don’t speak a word of their language, but the look on their faces said it all and reminded me once again why I am so proud to be a Jew and an Israeli. Sadly, it was later determined that the gunshots we heard were deadly, killing three others fleeing for their lives.

During the 350 days a year when I am not on active duty, when I am just another man trying to get by, the people tasked with doing this amazing job, this amazing deed, the people witnessing these events, are mostly young Israeli soldiers just out of high school, serving their compulsory time in the IDF, some only 18 years old.

The refugees flooding into Israel are a heavy burden on our small country. More than 100,000 refugees have fled this way, and hundreds more cross the border every month. The social, economic, and humanitarian issues created by this influx of refugees are immense. There are serious security consequences for Israel as well. This influx of African refugees poses a crisis for Israel. Israel has yet to come up with the solutions required to deal with this crisis effectively, balancing its’ sensitive social, economic, and security issues, at the same time striving to care for the refugees.

I don’t have the answers to these complex problems which desperately need to be resolved. I’m not writing these words with the intention of taking a political position or a tactical stand on the issue.

I am writing to tell you and the entire world what’s really happening down here on the Egyptian/Israeli border. And to tell you that despite all the serious problems created by this national crisis, these refugees have no reason to fear us. Because they know, as the entire world needs to know, that Israel has not shut its eyes to their suffering and pain. Israel has not looked the other way. The State of Israel has put politics aside to take the ethical and humane path as it has so often done before, in every instance of human suffering and natural disasters around the globe. We Jews know only too well about suffering and pain. The Jewish people have been there. We have been the refugees and the persecuted so many times, over thousands of years, all over the world.

Today, when African refugees flood our borders in search of freedom and better lives, and some for fear of their lives, it is particularly noteworthy how Israel deals with them, despite the enormous strain it puts on our country on so many levels.

Our young and thriving Jewish people and country, built from the ashes of the Holocaust, do not turn their backs on humanity. Though I already knew that, this week I once again experienced it firsthand. I am overwhelmed with emotion and immensely proud to be a member of this nation.

With love of Israel,
Aron Adler writing from the Israel/Gaza/Egyptian border.

Another Jerusalem House Demolition

2011-11-02T17:38:00.000+02:00

The Jerusalem municipality demolishes illegal Arab buildings. And every time they do, reporters are alerted and go running out to film the scene of destruction. Interestingly, because of the stringency of Israeli legal procedures to determine whether a building is legal or not, only a small percentage of the thousands of structures built without permits scattered through the eastern part of Jerusalem are demolished. Only 2000 have been demolished since 1967.

This afternoon, I witnessed the demolition of the annex of the prestigious Yarok Yarok Flower Shop on Hanassi St, not 100 yards from the Presidents Residence in Rehavia. Like many structures built by Arabs in eastern Jerusalem, this was built without a permit and therefore demolished. And yes, police and city officials were there to make sure the Jewish owners or their neighbors didn't riot! Not a reporter to be seen, however, nor any representative from the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions..

Gilad comes home: Our neighbors celebrate: Israelis March in Jerusalem

2011-10-18T14:45:00.001+02:00

As Gilad comes home and the country unites in thanksgiving that despite his obviously frail state, he is at least able to walk under his own steam and is finally reuniting with his family. Reports now emerge that he needed medical treatment during the helicopter ride to Tel Nof Air base, but he was able to hug his parents and salute Prime Minister Netanyahu. President Shimon Peres issued pardons to the terrorists released in exchange for Gilad and in his personal note to each one of them, Peres wrote:

The voices of the terror victims and the deep grief of their families burns all of our hearts. I would like to note that my decision in this matter to exercise my authority in no way pardons or forgives these murderers and criminals. I do not forgive and forget.

Meanwhile, my colleague Yishai Fleisher who lives in Maale Hazeitim in eastern Jerusalem, documented the reaction of his Arab neighbors to the release of the first batch of terrorists.

Israeli police protect Arab demonstrators in eastern Jerusalem

Celebrating release of terrorists in front of Mt of Olives cemetery. All Photos: Yishai Fleisher

Today is also the annual Jerusalem March that brings tens of thousands of Israelis from all walks of life to the capital to fulfill the commandment to come up to Jerusalem on Sukkot. Life goes on in this most meaningful of places...

Marching through Jerusalem

Marching from Mt Zion


"Great to have you coming home!" Photos: ©Judy Lash Balint

Confirmation: Jerusalem Sbarro Murderers to be Released

2011-10-14T11:33:00.000+02:00

Arnold and Frimet Roth report that they received confirmation this morning that the murderers of their daughter Malki, 15, and fifteen other Jews will be included in the prisoner "exchange" for Gild Shalit.

The accomplices were originally sentenced to 16 consecutive life sentences and never expressed remorse for their act.

Shalit deal: "How can they sleep at night?"

2011-10-13T18:36:00.001+02:00

Read what Frimet Roth, whose daughter Malki, 15, was killed in the Sbarro terror massacre in Jerusalem in 2001 has to say about the Shalit exchange deal:

Malki Roth: photo taken the night before she was killed

Along with the entire nation, I am relieved and happy that Gilad Shalit will be returning home imminently. But I am shocked and deeply pained that this is being achieved by the mass release of cold-blooded murderers.

One of them is Ahlam Tamimi, a proud terrorist and the unrepentant murderer of my fifteen year old daughter, Malki. Tamimi transported the 10 kg. bomb, handed it to her accomplice and then led him on foot to the door of the target she had selected, Jerusalem's crowded Sbarro restaurant. Seven men and women and eight children perished. 130 people were injured. She was sentenced to sixteen terms of life in prison.

Tamimi declared that she does not regret what she did. She actually smiled when told the number of children whose lives she took.

With today’s decision to free the terrorists, prime minister Netanyahu, a savvy politician to the core, conveys to us his disdain for the lives of ordinary citizens like my Malki; his disrespect for Israel's justice system; and his lack of regard for the soldiers who faced death in order to apprehend the terrorists about to be freed.

Which rational soldier or police officer is going risk his life in the future to defend us from the monsters like Tamimi, sworn to murder still more Jews?

Which rational soldier or police officer is going risk his life in the future to defend us from the monsters like Tamimi, sworn to murder still more Jews?

The prime minister is quoted this morning saying that his "heart goes out" to Israel’s many terror victims. His actions and those of his cabinet suggest otherwise. How can they sleep at night, knowing the peril they have brought onto their people?

Shalit Release: Choose Life? Whose Life?

2011-10-12T08:57:00.000+02:00

Very distressing to see the singing and dancing going on at the Shalit tent outside Netanyahu's office a few blocks away from here as the announcement that Israel had agreed to release more than a thousand terrorists, including hundreds who were serving life sentences for terror attacks such as the Sbarro carnage in Jerusalem in August 2001.

The partying is pretty obscene given what is inevitably coming down the pike...Rejoicing that Gilad's name will forever be linked with the next terror attack??

Celebrations at the Shalit tent in Jerusalem last night

What are the chances that we'll see another family sitting in exactly the same position as the Shalits a year from now, now that all these murderers will be running around free..what exactly is the deterrent now against more of the same Hamas war crimes??

Sure enough, this morning Hamas' Khalid Mashal "promised" his people that this would not be their last effort to "liberate" all their prisoners--now there's a real surprise! I was actually surprised that Reshet Bet carried it on their broadcast...

As several commentators have noted--the death penalty for terrorists is one answer..why are our tax shekels paying for murderers of Jews to sit in jail watching TV, studying for degrees and eating kosher food?

An unimaginable ordeal is almost over for the devastated Shalits whose lives will never be the same...but save a bit of sympathy for the Cohens, Levys, Ohayons, Goldbergs etc who will be sitting in the same chairs over the next few years.

17 Ways You Know Sukkot is Coming in Israel

2011-10-11T18:11:00.000+02:00

(Ron A, this one's for you!!)

1. The tourists have landed! Overwhelmingly religious, English and French speaking, they jam the city’s take-out places and restaurants. The well-dressed visitors may be seen in packs wandering up and down Emek Refaim Street and through the glitzy Mamilla Mall talking to their friends on their Blackberry or IPhones in English at top volume.

2. The clang of metal poles and the sounds of hammering are practically constant as Jerusalem’s apartment dwellers hurry to erect their sukkot and squeeze them into small balconies, odd-shaped gardens and otherwise derelict rooftops.

3. Almost every non-profit group worth its salt has scheduled a fund-raising and/or familiarization event for the intermediate days of Sukkot, aimed at capturing the attention of the wealthy temporary Jerusalem residents.

4. Real estate agents are taking a deep breath before their busiest week of the year as they prepare to pitch their over-priced wares to eager foreign buyers. Each of the many luxury residential building projects around town has managed to put up billboards depicting the completed construction and inviting prospective buyers for a tour of an unfinished building site.

5. You can’t get on a bus or ride the light rail without being poked in the rear a dozen times by someone’s stray lulav.

6. The sweet smell of etrogim in Jerusalem’s Machane Yehuda is overpowering. Huge crowds descend on a lot on Jaffa Road near the market to vie for the most shapely lulav and etrog.

7. One enterprising bookstore is offering “Machzor rentals” for tourists who inadvertently left their holiday prayer books at home.

8. You’ve never seen such gaudy sukkah decorations in your life—unless you’ve been to WalMart on Christmas Eve. Kiosks manned by bearded Haredim are selling gold, green and red tinsel hangings, made in China and exact replicas of Christmas decorations in the old country.

9. Huge piles of schach (palm fronds for the roof of the sukkah) cover major city squares, and citizens are invited to take as much as they need for free.

10. The usual throngs of traditional Jews are expected at the Western Wall for the thrice-yearly observance of the ancient ritual of Birkat Cohanim –the Blessing by the Priests–that takes place during the intermediate days of Sukkot.

11. Thousands more Jerusalemites and visitors will stand in line outside the official Presidential Residence on Hanassi Street in Talbieh to press the flesh with President Shimon Peres. Traditionally every Israel president opens the residence on Sukkot (this year on Monday morning, October 18) to greet the citizenry.

12. Like Christmas tree lots back in the US, empty city lots all over Jerusalem are taken over to sell sukkot of every size and description. Some are marketed by large companies and feature the latest space-saving technology and hardiest materials, while others are simpler affairs made of tubular piping and fabric walls. Every kosher restaurant in town has a sukkah of some kind and each boasts bigger and better holiday specials to entice customers.

Kosher Burger King on Ben Yehuda Street used to have its own sukka..

13. Since the entire week of Sukkot is a national holiday you’ll have a tough time deciding which festival/event to take part in. There’s the Fringe Theater Festival in Akko; the Haifa International Film Festival; The Tamar music and arts fest at Ein Gedi; the Storytelling Festival in Givatayim and the Gush Etzion Jewish Music and Theater Festival to name just a few.

14. Touring the country is another favorite Sukkot activity and every political group is promoting trips to “See For Yourself.” Hebron is a perennial favorite for the intermediate festival days as the Isaac Hall in the Cave of the Patriarchs that’s normally off-limits to Jewish visitors is open for the holiday.

15. Not to be left out are those tenacious Christian friends of Israel—this year the International Christian Embassy of Jerusalem (ICEJ) will bring thousands of people from 100 nations to attend their 32nd annual Feast of Tabernacles celebration. The Christian contingent dressed in costumes of their country of origin will also take part in another annual Sukkot event, the Jerusalem March, where tens of thousands proudly march through several routes in the capital on October 18th. On Friday the 16th, all 6000 Christian visitors will actually head down to Ein Gedi near the Dead Sea to vote en masse by SMS for the Dead Sea as THE wonder of the world! www.votedeadsea.com

Not everyone is happy about the Feast, however. In 2007 Israel’s Chief Rabbinate’s Committee for the Prevention of the Spread of Missionary Work in the Holy Land issued a ruling forbidding Jews from participating in the Jerusalem march organized by the ICEJ. The committee wrote in its decision, endorsed by both chief rabbis that halacha forbids Jews to participate in any of the Christian sponsored gatherings.

16. Another prominent group of tourists set to arrive are refugees from the young American frum singles scene who make an annual migration to Jerusalem from the Upper West Side for Sukkot. Discreet meetings of earnest, well-scrubbed, modestly dressed twenty-somethings take place in all the major hotel lobbies.

17. And speaking of refugees–spare a thought for those 1,700 families expelled from their homes in Gush Katif back in August 2005. More than six years on and hardly any of them are yet living in permanent housing. Neither they nor Israelis living in the south or in Northern Israel near the Lebanese border will need to be reminded of one of the essential messages of Sukkot –the flimsiness of our physical existence and our reliance on God for sustenance and shelter.

Yom Kippur Descends on Israel

2011-10-07T13:54:00.000+02:00

Ben Gurion Airport closed at 1 p.m today and won't reopen until three hours after the end of Yom Kippur tomorrow night. Public transportation all over Israel grinds to a halt by 2:30 p.m. Men of all ages can be seen on the streets of Jerusalem with towels thrown over their shoulders as they head to and from the mikve.

In the streets later in the day, men hurry along with towels to the nearest mikveh (ritual bath). Many have already started building their sukkot (booths) in readiness for Sukkot, the one-week festival that starts the week after Yom Kippur. Sukkot structures of all kinds have sprung up on balconies, street corners and in front of cafes. The final decorations and the schach covering will be added right after the conclusion of Yom Kippur.

Over the past few days, the streets in and around the Old City, Nachlaot, the Bukharan Quarter and Meah Shearim have been completely packed with people hurrying to and from selichot. Curious secular Israelis by the hundreds take part in pre-dawn Selichot tours, where they look in on dozens of congregations where the faithful are immersed in penitential prayers chanted to ancient melodies.

Eli Luzon at the selichot concert

A selichot concert last night put on by the Jerusalem Municipality at Kikar Safra was standing room only as thousands took part.

The busiest kiosks on the streets are those selling shoes made from fabric or plastic–to comply with the prohibition against wearing leather on Yom Kippur.

Strains of chazanut waft out of many windows, as many radio and TV stations broadcast operatic renditions of the well-known Yom Kippur prayers in a variety of styles. Almost every radio and TV channel also features a physician prescribing pre-fast measures to stave off headaches and ensure an easy fast, and advice on the best type of food with which to break the fast.

Many of the rabbis providing commentary on Yom Kippur in the Israeli media emphasize the festive nature of the day–not only the obvious solemnity. Be happy, we’re told, that God grants us this grand opportunity to get a new lease on life–the possibility of teshuva (return) shows that Judaism is optimistic and forward-looking and allows for the reformulation of both our interpersonal relationships and our relationship with God. Singing and dancing are the de rigeur ways in which many congregations here, especially those at yeshivot, end the Yom Kippur day expressing joy at the soul having been uplifted.

While polls indicate that 71 percent of Israeli Jews between 18-35 will fast, non-observant Israelis are also getting ready for Yom Kippur.

For the past 12 years, the a group of progressive orthodox rabbis under the Tzohar banner have been hosting open Yom Kippur tefillot for communities all around Israel. Over 50,000 people attended last year and more are expected this year.

Tzohar has out together a special Machzor and detailed handout explaining the rituals, the meaning of the prayers that take place during the reverent day to ensure it is a meaningful and encompassing experience for all.

The daily Yisrael Hayom newspaper included the handout in their holiday edition. Radio ads inviting people to community centers for Yom Kippur tefillot note that " no one group owns Yom Kippur--it belongs to all of us."

There's no traffic apart from emergency vehicles on the streets of Israel on Yom Kippur, so it’s become a traditional time for mass outings on bikes–new and old. Kids and adults enjoy the one-time freedom of movement for two-wheeled transportation.

There’s also the obligatory rehash of stories from the 1973 Yom Kippur War in the press. Every year, commentators review the intelligence failures and questionable political decisions that brought Israel to the brink.

As the siren sounds marking the start of the Day of Reckoning and news reports are quieted for at least 25 hours, you may be sure that our prayers will include a plea for a better year than the one before. Beyond that, who knows?

The Shofar: Not Just for High Holydays

2011-09-16T15:50:00.000+03:00

16th century shofar from Central Europe inscribed with the Hebrew word cherem--excommunication.

Ask Jews anywhere around the world what they associate with the shofar, and chances are they’ll make mention of the high holydays—hearing the blasts of the ram’s horn and its call to introspection and repentance on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is a quintessential Jewish experience.

An exhibit entitled Sound the Shofar: A Witness to History that opened on September 7 at Jerusalem’s Bible LandsMuseum gives the shofar a whole new meaning.

As curator Dr. Filip Vukosavovic explains it, the shofar is one of the most ancient Jewish symbols and has been in use for 3,000 years. But you won’t find a biblical commandment to blow the shofar on the high holydays—what may be found, according to Dr. Vukosavovic are seventy-two mentions of the shofar in the Bible: many of those citations are related to use of the shofar in battle. Whether to announce an imminent attack; rally the people to battle; anoint a king or just to praise God, as suggested in Psalms, the blasts of the horn of a kosher animal became a symbol of Jewish peoplehood and could be heard on an almost daily basis in ancient times.

True to its name, the Bible Lands Museum’s Witness to History exhibit opens up a world of knowledge about how the shofar served the Jewish people in times of celebration and sorrow; triumph and devastation.

At the entry to the compact temporary exhibit (on view until February 2012) are life-size depictions of the animals from which kosher shofars are fashioned. The goals of the exhibit, according to Dr. Vukosavovic are to explain what constitutes a shofar and to see history through the prism of the ancient Jewish symbol.

As he begins to explain that a kosher shofar may be made from any one of 140 animals, Dr. Vukosavovic is careful to point out to visitors that this is not a judaica exhibit, nevertheless, there are some fascinating and unique Jewish artifacts on display.

There’s a Jewish tombstone from 4^th-7^th centuries CE Caesarea depicting a lulav, menorah and shofar; a shofar from the 17^th century used in the former Czechoslovakia to excommunicate errant members of the community. It’s inscribed with the Hebrew and Aramaic words for excommunication--cherem and shamta and is the only one of its kind ever found.

A significant portion of the exhibit is devoted to the shofar in the modern era, and visitors may watch a fascinating 9-minute film describing how courageous young Jews defied the British who in deference to supposed Arab sensibilities, forbade the blowing of the shofar on Yom Kippur, and see the actual shofar used by Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren at the kotel on June 7, 1967 to proclaim Israel regaining control over the Western Wall.

The shofar used by Rabbi Shlomo Goren to proclaim the liberation of the western wall in June 1967

According to Dr. Vukosavovic, the famous shofar has been stashed away by Rabbi Goren’s descendants and until now, no one has asked for it to be put on display.

In his memoirs, Rabbi Goren described how this particular shofar became the one used on that unforgettable day.

“My own shofar was burnt and I knew we were about to liberate the Old City and reach the western wall on the same day. At around 4 a.m, I ran to my father-in-law, the Nazir Rabbi of blessed memory. I knocked on his door and when he opened it, I said simply, “I need a shofar. We are going to liberate the Western Wall.” He was overcome with emotion and started to cry. He climbed onto the table as his shofar was hidden in an inaccessible cupboard. He gave it to me and I ran with it to the Rockefeller Museum and from there dashed to the Lions’ Gate.”

Still, as Museum Director Amanda Weiss points out, it’s not just momentous occasions that evoke memories of the shofar. “Everyone has a shofar story,” she explains. The Museum invited prominent Israelis to contribute their personal stories and several are on display at the exhibit.

If you have a personal shofar story to be included in the forthcoming Shofar blog, send it to pr@blmj.org .

9/11: Welcome To Israel

2011-09-11T00:34:00.000+03:00

Apologies for formatting--click anywhere on the article to zoom in or out...

This is a piece I wrote for the NY Post the day after 9/11...still relevant today?

Here's how Arabs in eastern Jerusalem reacted to 9/11...

A Jerusalem Brit Milah Closes Circles

2011-09-05T14:22:00.000+03:00

Last night, the brit milah of Yishai and Malkah Fleisher's second child, Elazer Menachem, took place in their apartment in Maale HaZeitim, overlooking the Temple Mount. The brief ceremony that initiated the baby into the covenant of Abraham closed circles for several of the people who crammed into the Fleisher's home to celebrate the occasion.

Maale Hazeitim neighborhood

Yishai was born in Israel to a family who had managed to escape Leningrad in the 1970s, a few short years before his birth. The Fleishers, like many Russian Jews, were intellectuals whose Jewish identity had been rekindled by the Six-Day War. I met many families like the Fleishers when I traveled to the former Soviet Union to meet refuseniks in 1974, 1986 and 1989

The Fleishers were amongst the fortunate ones who arbitrarily received visas for Israel after losing jobs and waiting for years to get out. Following several years of economic struggle in Israel, the family made the difficult decision to leave for the US, where Yishai and his brother and sister grew up

Yishai is fluent in Russian, Hebrew and English, as is his mother, who in Hebrew addressed those who came to celebrate the brit, as she held her tiny new-born sabra grandson in her arms. In a voice filled with emotion, she marveled at the fact that after all her family's wanderings, she was holding the second generation of sabras in her family. "At this special moment, we can't forget all those whom we left behind in the forests of Ukraine; in the fields around Leningrad and in the trenches of Russia," she said. "My grandson will never know such wanderings--he's at home here in Jerusalem," she whispered

Yishai explained his son's name. Both his late father and Malka's father are named Alexander. After consulting their rabbi, the couple decided to incorporate the first two letters of Alexander--the alef and lamed and the last letter, resh--to form a new name for their son based on that of his grandfathers

As Yishai spoke in Hebrew about his feelings on this momentous occasion in the life of his family, I thought back to when we first met and of our many encounters since

For about seven years before I made aliya in 1998, I ran the Coalition for Jewish Concerns-Amcha together with its president and founder, Rabbi Avi Weiss. We worked hard to build a grass-roots Jewish activist movement that was mobilized to address all kinds of issues confronting the Jewish community back then.
Needless to say, students were the backbone of CJC-Amcha, and Rav Avi spent a good chunk of his time traveling to campuses to inspire Jewish students while I tried to build coalitions with existing student groups and promising Jewish students

Two of the most personable and committed Jewish students in the New York area were Yishai Fleisher and his friend Ezra Halevi. Radiating intelligence and Jewish pride, Ezra and Yishai were fully committed Zionists who were biding their time and completing their education before heading off to new lives in Israel. In the meantime, they could always be counted on to show up at every demonstration on behalf of Jews in danger, usually bringing with them a cadre of their fellow students

It wasn't too many years after my own aliya that I ran into Ezra and Yishai in the Old City one night. Both young men already seemed totally at home in Israel and talked optimistically about their plans

Yishai had come back to Israel at age 17 to serve in the paratroopers. While earning an undergraduate degree and attending Cardozo Law School where he met an idealistic student named Malkah, Yishai and his friends formed Kumah, the aliyah revolution movement. They set the example, made aliya themselves, got married at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and encouraged scores of their friends to join them in Israel

Yishai started a new career as a broadcaster and quickly rose to become news director of Israel National Radio, based in Beit El, where the Fleishers moved. Through their dynamism, charisma and knowledgeable commentary, he and Malkah, who also gave up law for broadcasting, built a large following and have appeared on major media outlets speaking on every aspect of Israeli life

Earlier this year, the Fleishers moved to Maale Hazeitim, the new Jewish neighborhood overlooking the Temple Mount at the edge of the Mt of Olives cemetery

Starting in 1998, under the banner of the Yerushalayim Shelanu movement, I was one of a team of people that brought people to the corner of the Ras El Amud neighborhood, where we would clamber up on the roof of an abandoned Arab building and look down at the huge empty lot to the south. We would tell people about the history of that piece of property and explain the plans for a new Jewish neighborhood to be built there once all the plans had been approved and the vociferous international opposition had died down. Many of the visitors stared at the gaping hole in the ground and then looked at us as if we were completely crazy

Rooftop of Arab house in Ras el Amud, looking at Maale Hazeitim, July 2000

Over the years, we continued to bring people to witness the completion of each phase of the project and now dozens of families like the Fleishers and hundreds of kids are living in the modern, attractive complex. Chaim Silberstein, one of the key movers in the campaign to promote Jewish population in all parts of Jerusalem and a friend of the Fleishers from Beit El, joined in the simcha of the brit

But this time, as I pointed out to Chaim, we were standing not on a broken down rooftop but in a beautiful finished apartment occupied by a flourishing Jewish family, overlooking a sight generations of Jews could only dream about. The circles close.

Jerusalem's Social Protest: Are You Serious??

2011-09-04T00:19:00.002+03:00

Jerusalem's part in tonight's 'March of the Million' social protest was distinctly more social than protest.

Protesting in Jerusalem, beer in hand.

Very few people carried signs; the only flyers I saw being handed out were from the well-organized Arvut movement; the atmosphere was more social reunion than strident demonstration.

More Jerusalem demonstrators

Over the years I've been to dozens of rallies and demonstrations in the Kikar Paris area not far from the Prime Minister's residence, and this was by far the most benign of any of them.

Sign reads: "Welfare State"

There was certainly a diverse crowd of Israelis who showed up (around 40,000, according to YNET--out of a general Jerusalem population of 800,000; approx. half of whom are Jews), but with the folk singers and the beer flowing, there was a distinct lack of revolutionary fervor.

Most people were hanging out with their friends, enjoying the music and the warm evening and by 10:30 p.m the Restobar and the Pizza place were the main attraction.

Restobar keeps demonstrators in beer and cappuccinos

Interesting (HT to Aaron Lerner of IMRA) that a telephone poll of a representative sample of adult Israelis (including Arab Israelis) carried out by Shvakim Panorama for Israel Radio's Reshet Bet Hakol Diburim (It's All Talk) program on 31 August, broadcast on 1 September 2011, found the following:

If elections were held today (expressed in # of Knesset seats) this is how people would vote:

(Current Knesset seats are in [brackets] ).

18 [28] Kadima (headed by Tzipi Livni)
27 [27] Likud (headed by PM Binyamin Netanyahu)
16 [15] Yisrael Beiteinu
12 [11] Shas
10 [13] Labor
06 [03] Meretz
03 [---] Green party
04 [03] Jewish Home

04 [04] Nat'l Union
06 [05] Yahadut Hatorah (ultra-orthodox)
11 [11] Arab parties
03 [---] Ehud Barak's Independence Party

(Survey error +/- 4.4 percentage points)

'Hold your nose: We're getting into politics,' read one unmanned sign on a wall

Makes you wonder about the red sign below, which says: 'When the government is against the people, the people are against the government.'

Tel Aviv demonstrators--more politicized than their Jerusalem counterparts.

Banished: The Novel

2011-09-01T00:15:00.000+03:00

There are book launches in Jerusalem almost every night of the week, but it's rare that a work of historical fiction raises the kind of emotion evidenced tonight at the Gush Katif Museum when author Aliza BasMenachem (Aliza Karp) broke out her new novel, Banished, based on the story of Jews evicted from their homes in the so-called Gaza disengagement of 2005.

Author Aliza BasMenachem

Aliza, who currently lives in New York, spent many months prior to the 2005 destruction of 22 Gush Katif communities, in the largest of them, Neve Dekalim. She's a Chabadnik who has penned many articles and opinion pieces during her career, but this is the first time she's attempted fiction.

The author told interviewer Walter Bingham of Israel National News that she decided to use the historical fiction route in order to bring out the emotion and penetrate the thinking of the Gush Katif evictees she wanted to portray. "I write best when I'm angry," noted Aliza, and like many in the audience at the Museum, the eviction of thousands of Jews from their homes exactly six years ago caused her to be angry at those who devised and implemented the disastrous plan.

Before Aliza took the microphone, former Neve Dekalim resident Moshe Saperstein addressed the crowd. Moshe, well known to Jerusalem Diaries readers for his blow-by-blow account of the years leading up to the eviction and his anguished attempts to convey the pain and suffering of the evacuees in subsequent years, spoke in his usual frank and blunt manner.

Moshe Saperstein

Moshe decried those observant Jews in Israel and abroad who showed no interest in the fate of their brethren about to be thrown out of their homes and deprived of their livelihoods. "I never lost my faith in God," he stated, "I was born and remain a religious Jew. But my faith in Jews was severely damaged," he continued. "Corruption I could understand, but how could we be suicidal? It simply has driven me crazy," he added.

People like Aliza, who tried to do everything to stop the implementation of the evacuations, have given him inspiration, Moshe said, as he closed his remarks by praising the people who never lost faith and urged them to continue to fight so that with God's help, the Jewish communities of Gush Katif will be renewed.

The book is a meaty 367-pages that took several years of research to complete. For many, revisiting the painful and turbulent period of the destruction of vibrant Jewish communities by other Jews will not be easy. But, as Aliza pointed out, if the book will in some way help shed light on this distressing episode of recent Jewish history and prevent similar plans from being carried out in the future--dayenu.

Tel Aviv, Israel: The New Olim--Not Whom You Would Expect

2011-08-23T16:30:00.002+03:00

Happy to be home.

New olim arrive

Look Who's Making Aliyah!

The welcoming committee of family and friends

No comment necessary!

Grandparents making aliya greet their relatives

News Sources on Attacks on Israeli civilians in southern Israel

2011-08-21T00:00:00.002+03:00

Tending to the wounded (Photo: Herzl Yosef)

Man killed, baby hurt as rockets pound south - Israel News, Ynetnews

Many friends are telling me that there's minimal coverage in the U.S of the continuing rocket attacks that are claiming civilian lives in southern Israel. This is where you come in. Check in regularly (get an RSS feed) to Ynetnews.com or the official IDF spokesperson's site and send the info to the news editor at your local paper and talk radio stations.

IDF Official Website: www.idf.il/English

IDF Spokesperson's Twitter: www.twitter.com/IDFSpokesperson

IDF Spokesperson's Blog: www.IDFSpokesperson.com

IDF Spokesperson's YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/IDFNADesk

IDF Spokesperson's Flickr Albums: www.flickr.com/IDFOnline

IDF Spokesperson's Scribd Page: www.scribd.com/IDFOnline

And pray for the safety of all those in the target zone as well as our IDF and security personnel who will be on the front lines in the coming challenging days.

Nefesh B'Nefesh Charter Flight August 16 2011

2011-08-16T22:37:00.002+03:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

I flew into Tel Aviv today with a group of 360 new olim from N. America on the latest Nefesh B'Nefesh charter flight of 2011. The pictures reflect the olim checking in and saying goodbye to family and friends at JFK; the flight and their arrival this morning at Ben Gurion airport, greeted by hundreds of family, friends, an IDF band and a host of Israeli dignitaries. I'll be writing more about some of these extraordinary people in the newxt few days...

Glenn Beck Doesn't Get It...

2011-07-11T14:16:00.008+03:00

How disappointing. Glenn Beck doesn't get it. Despite his staunch pro-Israel credentials and his comforting words about how Israel is not alone etc etc, the conservative media star expressed a common naive western misreading of Middle East reality as he told a special Knesset Committee session today that Palestinians and Israelis are all just people and want the same things. "We have to believe in common decency.."

After lavish kudos from a string of MKs who are understandably overjoyed to find an American celebrity who praises Israel, it took MK Aryeh Eldad of the National Union party to set Beck straight. The physician/MK told Beck, who had explained to the Knesset members how he was not a journalist but a story teller, two stories about Arab patients he had treated.

Both cases are well known in Israel--the shlemiel terrorist who tried to blow up children outside a wedding hall in Jerusalem but slipped and severely injured himself as he tried to make for an entrance where more kids were standing, and the woman who was treated for injuries sustained at the hands of her family for some honor offense, and then returned to Soroka Hospital strapped with explosives and blew herself up.

These are NOT people with values like ours, Eldad declared and that has to be understood if the civilized world wants to win.

It wasn't clear whether the message got through to Beck, or whether his August 24 Jerusalem rally will be another feel good event for the masses.

July 4, 1976: Rescue at Entebbe

2011-07-03T20:52:00.003+03:00

Tomorrow marks the 35th anniversary of Operation Yonatan, Israel's dramatic rescue of 103 hostages that took place on July 4, 1976 at Entebbe, Uganda.

As a college student in the US, I vividly remember watching events unfold as most of the rest of the nation was focused on the celebration of America's bi-centennial.

Jews around the world held their breath as the terrorist incident ended with a relatively minimal loss of life. Pride and admiration for the daring and courage of Israel's decision-makers and generals was the order of the day.

In Israel, the anniversary of the operation was marked for years by public official commemoration ceremonies. This year, it appears that the only remembrance will be for Yoni Netanyahu, commander of the operation and the only Israeli soldier killed at Entebbe. The Netanyahu family placed a newspaper ad announcing the annual pilgrimage to the grave of Yoni, older brother of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Back in July 2001, during the height of the terrorist war that followed the Camp David talks, things were different and an official state commemoration of the 25th anniversary took place at the Binyanei Hauma Convention Center in Jerusalem.

In a masterful, moving event that was at once entertaining and educational, the state of Israel marked the passage of a quarter of a century since the dramatic hostage rescue. If the event were to be translated and exported, Israel 's image problems could be improved dramatically, and Jews the world over might even begin to regain pride in the Jewish state.

In the week leading up to the anniversary, Israel's media focused on the unprecedented operation that took dozens of soldiers from Israel's elite brigades on a daring and dangerous mission to rescue Jews thousands of miles away.

A TV documentary focused on Yoni Netanyahu's career, featuring extensive photos, film clips and interviews with his brothers and former girlfriend.

True to form, a post-Zionist columnist in Haaretz said the program, "Seems more like a propaganda film," and opined "the Yoni that emerges from the film is not a flesh and blood character, but something closer to a modern day Bar Kochba."

A few years after his death, the Netanyahu family published a book of Yoni's letters written over a 13-year period between 1963-1976.

Entitled 'Self Portrait of a Hero,' the letters paint a picture of a passionate Zionist as they chronicle Yoni's passage through the army and his participation as a paratrooper in two of the most crucial battles of the Six Day War.

The 25th anniversary event was attended by the nation's leading politicians; those who took part in the Entebbe operation, former hostages and their rescuers; and thousands of soldiers from Sayeret Matkal, Tzanchanim and Golani, the brigades that carried out the rescue 25 years ago.

On film, we watched as the political leaders of 1976 debated what to do about the Jewish hostages who had been sitting under Ugandan dictator Idi Amin 's guard for days. The familiar faces of Yitzhak Rabin, Yigal Allon, Yitzhak Navon and Shimon Peres flitted across the screen.

Interspersed with film clips, the accomplished singing troupes of several army and air force divisions belted out some of the old rousing Israeli anthems.

President Moshe Katzav thanked those who had liberated the hostages. "We say to the terrorists of today: we did it then and we can do it now if we want."

Following Katzav 's speech, several minutes of film of former hostages describing their ordeal were screened. The hostages tell of their disbelief that the IDF had sent their forces across the African continent to rescue them. In excruciating detail they calmly recount the selection procedure that separated the Jews and Israelis from the non-Jewish passengers on the Air France flight.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres rose to speak and chose to address himself to the assembled young soldiers who filled the hall. He urged them not to think of the Entebbe fighters as legendary heroes. "Each of you has the potential to do the same thing," he said. "You represent the best hope for the people."

Next on film was a short clip of an interview with a handsome middle-aged civilian who was a pilot of one of the Hercules planes that left the Sirkin air force base for the seven -hour trip to Entebbe. "We were so afraid of failure," he says, his dark eyes looking unflinchingly at the camera. "But on the way back, I felt like it was Pesach. I recalled the words of the Hagaddah: 'I and no angel: I and no messenger brought you out of the land of Egypt,' concluded the pilot who wore no kippa on his silver hair. "If they told me now, 25 years later to go on such a mission, I'd go without hesitation. Ayn Lanu Eretz Acheret! We have no other country," he said, in a theme that was to echo throughout the evening.

Film interviews with others involved in the rescue followed. Almost all those who played significant roles in Entebbe went on to illustrious military and political careers. We watched as Ehud Barak, Matan Vilnai, Dan Shomron and Ephraim Sneh spoke of their recollections twenty-five years on.

Shomron, the overall planner of the operation told the former hostages: "We knew we were endangering you too. No one had any idea how many would fall.

You were part of the campaign, you're part of the fight against terror."

Two of the paratroopers came on stage to read short statements in their own words about their feelings on the anniversary of the operation.

One tall, balding man with a gray mustache said he was disappointed that his teenage son 's classmates knew nothing about Operation Yonatan. "We're facing the same things today, they need more than virtual Zionism, " he said.

Benny, a younger man who was only 13 years old when he was taken hostage by the terrorists, told the audience in a trembling voice that he remembers every moment of the torment. "I was a kid who saw death in front of him."

Tzipi Cohen was only 8 years old when she witnessed her father Pasco bleeding to death as he was accidentally shot by Israeli soldiers in the confusion of the rescue. Pasco Cohen lifted his head to look for his son when the shooting started and became one of four Jewish hostages who perished in Uganda. His daughter ended her brief remarks by reiterating her gratitude to the IDF for saving all the hostages, despite her personal tragedy.

The final segment of the two-hour program was entitled 'The Price.' Besides the loss of Yoni Netanyahu and the four hostages, one soldier, Surin Hershko, became a quadriplegic as a result of the injuries he sustained at Entebbe. We watched on screen as Surin used his computer at home. He uses an elongated straw manipulated by his mouth to write on the keyboard.

Hershko is completely paralyzed, but rolled to the front of the auditorium in his wheelchair to reminisce about the last time he ran or walked. "I remember what it was to be a fighter," he recalled.

After presenting Hershko with a special medal commemorating Entebbe, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon delivered a speech that tied Israel's efforts to combat terror in the 1970s to today's struggle against the same enemy:

"In these confusing times, when there are those who question our capabilities or the justness of our cause, we return to those few hours when Israel stood up and in the face of the entire community of nations, waged a battle against violence and terrorism, proving that we can win.

These days, when we are in the midst of an ongoing battle against terrorism, violence and incitement, and when we are making a joint national effort to return to political negotiations without fire, we must rekindle the spirit of that operation. The secret of our strength lies in such spirit and faith, and if we learn how to renew it we will be able to meet all the challenges that still lie ahead."

Ten years after those words, how little has changed…

Anti-Semitism Is Us: Chief Rabbi Sacks at the Israeli Presidential Conference

2011-06-22T21:05:00.007+03:00

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the British Commonwealth, is perhaps one of world Jewry's most articulate spokesmen. Cambridge-educated and media savvy, the Chief holds forth on moral issues of the day in dozens of forums every week. His books are excerpted on the pages of The Times of London and he's a regular on the BBC.

Today, Rabbi Sacks told an intimate group of English language Jewish bloggers gathered at the Israeli Presidential Tomorrow 2011 conference, that he considers himself the "Jewish equivalent of the Archbishop of Canterbury."

Photo credit: On Being@flickr.com

Just before his chat with the bloggers, the Chief addressed a plenary session of the conference that attracts world leaders in business, academia, the arts, philanthropy and politics. The topic was 'Looking Towards Tomorrow: Trends, Challenges and Decisions.'

Rabbi Sacks chose to devote his allotted time to a discussion of anti-Semitism in the world, providing a learned discussion of his views of the evolution of this scourge against the Jewish people. Like many Jews, Sacks firmly lays the blame for the current wave at the feet of the "human rights" community.

After all the doom and gloom, I couldn't help thinking of the remarks of American non-Jewish comedian Ted Alexandro, who in an off the cuff interaction with a Jerusalem audience after his hilarious performance last week at a benefit for the Koby Mandell Foundation, asked: "What is wrong with you people??" after a young woman had asked in a defensive tone about his opinion of Israel.

Alexandro listed the fascinating and fantastic things he'd seen and experienced here on his first visit to the country and scratched his head as he asked us why in the heck every Israeli he meets seems to feel the need to ask for outside validation.

It's a bitter residue of the galut mentality that will probably take at least another few generations to exorcise.

Maybe a good place to start the process would be a meeting between the Jewish archbishop and the goyishe comedian.

Jerusalem Celebrates Shavuot

2011-06-08T23:36:00.003+03:00

It’s 5:00 a.m on Shavuot morning and I’m having trouble finding an empty seat at any shul in Jerusalem’s Old City. Every synagogue is already packed as I make the mistake of lingering a few minutes too long at the Kotel amongst the tens of thousands who have made their way there after a night of learning.

The atmosphere is light, almost light-headed you could say from lack of sleep, as young and old congratulate each other for making it through the night. Only the young yeshiva boys puffing away on cigarettes spoil the atmosphere. Small groups of secular Israelis wander through the crowd. "This is amazing," mutters one woman.

Coming barely a week after Jerusalem Day, when similar numbers of mostly young people fill the area to celebrate the reunification of the city, the Shavuot early morning spectacle is another affirmation of the strength of the connection of the people to its roots.

In the blessedly cool air of the pre-dawn, it’s as if the Kotel is a giant magnet pulling in the multitudes from every direction. Flooding down Agron Street in front of the U.S Consulate building and its sleepy guards, the crowd gathers force and takes over the Mamilla Mall area. The Tower of David and Jaffa Gate rise in front of us, outlined by spotlights.

It’s 4:40 a.m as we surge forward and down the steps of the David Street shuk only to encounter a human traffic jam as we make the turn from the Street of the Chain into the approach to the Kotel. A few groups of Arabs heading to work are walking up in the opposite direction. No one bothers them as they make their way out of the Old City through Jaffa Gate.

There are only four entryways into the Kotel plaza and they’re all completely overwhelmed by the numbers of people pressing to get in. There’s barely room to move as more and more people surge in from each of the four entry points. I head up to the stairway in front of the Aish building and take up a position at the railing just in front of the gold menorah overlooking the Kotel plaza adjacent to the last flight of steps leading down to the plaza. It's the best place to take in the majestic transformation from night to dawn over the Temple Mount.

(Illustrative photo taken at Birkat Cohanim, Sukkot)

The bright green lights adorning the two mosques behind the Temple Mount shine in the semi-darkness. As the sky begins to change color and turn slowly from a midnight blue to a steely grey, the garish lights vanish. Exactly at sunrise, chattering starlings swoop down, and the voices of the throng rise in prayer.

On this holiday of Shavuot that commemorates the giving of the Torah, the symbolic wedding between God and the Jewish people, most of the women are wearing white and the centuries-old Kabbalistic custom of Tikkun Leil Shavuot, a night dedicated to Torah study, is observed by hundreds of thousands of Israelis. On the eve of the holiday, commentators on Israel Radio remark on the phenomenon of secular Jews eager to take part in some kind of Torah learning on Shavuot. Daily papers feature tightly packed full pages of venues where learning of all kinds is taking place all over the city. Many places are forced to turn people away for lack of space at their study sessions.

A few years ago, a May 18 2007 editorial in the American Jewish weekly newspaper, The Forward, noted, “…the proportion of Jews that turns out for the festival (Shavuot) will not be great…Shavuot simply hasn’t caught on with recent generations of Jews.” Perhaps things have changed this year, otherwise Shavuot could be another sign of the widening gap between Israel and the Diaspora.

Celebrating Jerusalem Day 2011

2011-06-01T23:04:00.004+03:00

© Judy Lash Balint

The amplified wail of the muezzin from the Al Aksa mosque on the Temple Mount couldn't drown out the celebrations ringing out over Jerusalem tonight.

From every corner of the Old City, youthful voices join in singing all the classic Six-Day War songs as the city celebrates the 44th anniversary of reunification.

The sounds of prayer and thanksgiving at the Kotel rise up above the ancient walls--no longer the 'wailing wall' of years past when others ruled Jerusalem. Hundreds of groups of energetic teenagers clad in blue and white dance in front of the Kotel and clog the approaches to the Old City.

They've come to the capital, along with thousands of others, to join with various army bands, street performers and musicians who all wind their way through the center of
the city and then disperse amongst the myriad of events marking the opening of Jerusalem Day.

The main challenge of the day is getting anywhere. With roads closed throughout the city center, driving is out of the question. Many bus routes suspend operations for a couple of hours during the parade, and getting close to the Old City is virtually impossible except on foot, so the masses take to the streets in a jovial mass of Jerusalem humanity.

Beit Orot, the hesder Yeshiva on the Mount of Olives celebrates Yom Yerushalayim in their usual festive manner, with an all-night event. Traditionally known as THE happening Jerusalem Day party place for the national religious yeshiva crowd, this year's festivities uphold its reputation. The bands stop playing around 4:30 a.m. when the young crowd picks up their flags to retrace the footsteps of the paratroopers of 1967. They walk down the same road from the Mt of Olives, turning left at the Kidron Valley and following the Jericho Road as far as Lion's Gate where they climb the hill to enter the Old City, just like the paratroopers did 44 years ago. The students generally make it to the Kotel in time for the Vatikin early morning prayers. Forty-four years ago, it was midday as the IDF soldiers made their way down from their conquest of the Temple Mount to become the first Jews in 19 years to gain access to the Kotel.

© Judy Lash Balint

For the Ethiopian community, Jerusalem Day has evolved into a memorial day. Thousands of Ethiopian Jews who trekked through Sudan and the Ethiopian countryside to take part in Operations Solomon (1991) and Moses (1984) died before they saw Jerusalem. Their relatives mark the day with prayer and ceremonies in the Holy City.

The festivities and commemorations continue all day with the flag parade culminating in a swirl of dancing and celebrating at the Kotel; the official memorial ceremony at Ammunition Hill for the fallen soldiers who helped liberate Jerusalem; the Mayor's annual open house reception at the Tower of David and the awarding of the prestigious Yakiray Yerushalayim prizes to Jerusalemites who have made a special contribution to the city.

For one day, at least, we ignore the security concerns and political realities (even though it's hard to swallow the fact that not a single country in the world maintains an embassy in Israel's capital and that EU and US officials never attend Jerusalem Day observances) and we focus on the miracle that restored the Jewish people to the city that King David declared as his capital so many thousands of years ago.

Arab terror: Your tax dollars at work?

2011-05-22T09:41:00.000+03:00

Arnold and Frimet Roth, parents of Malki, 15, murdered by Arab terrorists in the Sbarro restuarant bomb attack in Jerusalem in 2001 are trying to raise a voice of conscience against European and US tax dollars being used to fund these same terrorists: Read and act:

This Ongoing War: A Blog: 20-May-11: Rewarding the Palestinian Arab terrorists: is this being done in your name?

What's that? Catch the shifts in Obama's Mid-East Speech

2011-05-19T22:36:00.002+03:00

Elder of Ziyon provides an astute analysis of the nuances of Obama's Middle East speech. Wonder if Bibi will invite BO over here for a look-see so he'll have a clue what a return to the 1967 borders really means.

This will give you an idea...

Yom Haatzmaut 2011 Hits the Road

2011-05-10T08:28:00.014+03:00

Click on the title link above for a few minutes of inspiring Yom Ha'atzmaut tefila

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Chag Atzmaut sameach!