Netanyahu's policy

A certain gentleman, living in Vancouver turns to me for an opinion whenever it happens that an event in Israel is reported there and creates a negative response from people there and in other foreign countries.

He's looking for comfort, he wants to be assured that Israel isn't doing anything to arouse ire.

Well, surrounded by nations that never miss an opportunity to criticize Israel in the hope of gaining support of the world nations for their demands against Israel, everything Israel does is going to be presented as negative.

Certainly when Israel makes demands that clash head on with the demands of our neighbors there will be loud reportage and vehement responses.

They demand territory from Israel and Netanyahu declares that new settlements are going to be built exactly on the territory they're demanding.

Such a declaration invites a head on clash. I personally tend to avoid head on clash situations, like when I drive, when my wife makes demands, or my children etc. I give in and have been branded as weakling, and I don't mind this  because I like to avoid clashes, it makes my life more pleasant.

But one can't compare a private individual with a state.

I hate conflict, it's a very unpleasant way to live, but as an individual I have the prerogative of avoiding conflict, a state does not have that prerogative, so Netanyahu is doing what has to be done by a sovereign state, he is stating our case, setting out our objectives clearly, for all the world to see, especially our enemies, but also our friends. 

Of course the world focuses its attention on Israel, its always seen Israel as the cause of the Arab's problems, it can't get out of that mindset, 

Arabs never tried to avoid clash, as the world is demanding from Israel, in fact like all states, have always done, they have deliberately sought clash, they don't miss an opportunity. 

Why do we die?

The world does not belong to us. I think we only realize that when we die and then it's too late. But the purpose of dying is to show living creatures, that the world doesn't belong to them. It's as simple as that but people are so eager to possess something or even everything that they don't want to see the real purpose in dying, which is very simply to show us that the world doesn't belong to us.

It's like we've been invited to enjoy a beautiful garden with all the pleasures in it. We are guests here but we start to try and own the garden, it's so beautiful and being in control of all that beauty the owner acquires great power; through withholding the pleasures he now possesses he can decide who will be happy and who will be sad according to his criteria. Some owner.s of parts of the world want more money, others want love, others get pleasure from being cruel, others simply want power. Then they die and they don't own anything.

Anything we've got doesn't belong to us that's why people who understand this give charity. People who want to possess everything will never give charity. How can it be that one person dies of hunger because he doesn't possess money to buy food yet another possesses so much money that he can buy all the food in the world. He can control it, keep it away from others and they'll die unless they pay him or do something else he wants them to do.

The only one who possesses the world is the one who never dies. Possession gives the feeling that we can live forever and it's a terrible delusion.

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv

Unlike the world changing ideas which the prophets of the Bible preached in Jerusalem hardly anybody knows about the idealism of the founders of Tel Aviv.

Their Ideal was twofold; to rejuvenate the land that had been neglected for nearly 2000 years and the nation who had been scattered from their ancient homeland by cruel enemies.

Tel Aviv, more than any other settlement which the idealistic pioneers established, embodies both of these ideas, expressed in the name, Tel Aviv, Hill of Spring, taken from Ezekiel 3:15.

The founders envisioned a city which would be a "Hebrew urban centre in a healthy environment, planned according to the rules of aesthetics and modern hygiene"¹.

So it was only natural that the founders built Tel Aviv according to a plan by Sir Patrick Geddes, a famous Scottish Urbanist influenced by the Garden City Movement^.1

This is what makes walking in Tel Aviv so pleasant. Dizengoff Str has beautiful, leafy ficus trees on either side where students sit in sidewalk cafes typing intently on their mini, mobile computers as they sip coffee and nibble pastries, salads and cakes and their dogs lie curled up sleeping peacefully next to them or bark nervously at little boys like Kyle who wake and frighten them.

In Rothschild Boulevard cyclists and strollers moving leisurely along the path separating the tarmac strips of road on either side like a tropical island in the middle of the ocean, hardly notice the passing, noisy cars.

Here too the founding fathers, being full of garden city hope, planted ficus trees, now giants gaily waving at the heavens in their height and casting primordial darkness in the midst of the most fiery city day so that even the drivers wait patiently in the centre of town traffic because the young people cavorting and strolling on the island paradise next to them., unknowingly entertain them

 

Hanukka in Israel is one of the most joyful festivals of the year because it is the true Independence day of Israel. 

Do you realize that if it wasn't for the Romans we'd be celebrating 2177 years of independence, counting from the year that the Maccabees established the independent Jewish State in 165 BCE.

The Romans created a rather long interlude of about 2000 years when they destroyed the Temple and Jerusalem and took the 7 branched golden candelabra (the Menorah) to Rome.

Hanukkah means dedication. It's the day when the Temple was dedicated by the Macabees, this dedication took the form of kindling the Menorah which was and still is the emblem of the State of Israel, they called it Judea but it’s the same state as Israel.

Kindling it was a sign that the state had been established. Every government building has a Hanukiah (8 branched candelabra to celebrate that God made a miracle for his people by causing the candelabra to burn for 8 days with oil that should have lasted only 1 day) shining brightly for 8 nights in the most prominent place, usually on the roof, you can take a drive or walk around Jerusalem on a tour of the Hanukkah lights. 

You can walk through the religious neighborhoods of Jerusalem, Nahlaot, Knesset, Ohel Moshe, Beit Israel, the Bugharan Quarter and others and see the Hannuka lampls burning in the window of every home. There's simply no way you can forget that it's Hanukkah in Israel especially in Jerusalem

Kids eat doughnuts (Suvganiot) and Levivot (Potato pancakes), too fattening for adults. 

Rabbi L. I Rabinowitz and the Etzel synagogue in Nahlaot

Rabinowitz retired in 1961 and emigrated to Israel; there he became deputy editor-in-chief of the Encyclopaedia Judaica. He became involved in municipal politics in Jerusalem, serving as a city council representative and (1976–1978)and as Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem. He also became the Rabbi of the Herut-Etzel Synagogue in the Nahalot neighbourhood of Jerusalem, replacing Rabbi Aryeh Levin (the Rabbi of the Prisoners) following his death. While his positions on religion were considered to be quite liberal for an orthodox Rabbi, his political positions in Israel were right wing. He was a founder of the Movement for a Greater Land of Israel and opposed the Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula as part of the Camp David Peace agreements with Egypt. He fell out with his friend, Prime MinisterMenachem Begin, over this issue.