SklarO World

15 Years Later

2005-11-09T15:26:00.000-06:00

It has been 15 years since the murder of Rav Meir Dovid Kahane z"tl. Here is an article written by Rav Binyamin Zev Kahane in honor of Rav Kahane's 6th yahrtzeit:

When people think of Rabbi Kahane, ZT"L, HY"D, they remember a daring and courageous leader who did not know the meaning of fear. His many years of standing in the front lines for Jewish causes in Israel and abroad, confronting empires and well-oiled establishment bodies and enduring along the way constant hatred and antagonism which endangered his very life, inspired admiration in the eyes of most Jews (even if more often than not their admiration was kept in the closet!)
For good reason the Rabbi was perceived in such a way. More than anything else, the Rabbi warned us about the illness of our generation - FEAR OF THE GENTILE. It wasn't so difficult for the Rabbi to come up with such a diagnosis. After all, whenever he spoke to Jews ("religious" ones as well), he was always confronted with the same line: "You're right, but what will America say?..." And thus, there was the need to stress in a big way the subject of trust ("Bitachon") in G-d and the prohibition of fearing mortal man.
It is fear that has caused us to constantly give in and surrender, to the point where fear of going to war has become a legitimate component in our political thinking. But one who studies the Torah outlook on war (parshat Shoftim) will reveal that the central theme concerning war is the prohibition of being afraid! The midrash (Tanchuma, Shoftim) even says: "Your forefathers did not fear them - and they were victorious!" In other words, the key to victory is lack of fear, and faith that "Your G-d is with you!" As an example, the midrash brings down the war in our parsha between Avraham against the four kings: "Do not fear Avraham, I will protect you" (and this is the source for the blessing in the silent prayer, "The shield of Avraham"). And so, when Avraham went out to war to sanctify the Name of G-d and save Lot who represented at the time the side of Avraham and G-d, he fearlessly went out with only 318 men against four powerful kings, and was ready to die in the process - "I will go out and fall on Kiddush Hashem". (Midrash Raba, Lech Lecha)
This concept is also the "halacha", as the Rambam brings down in Hilchot Milachim (7:15) "And when entering into war, one must lean on the Saver of Israel in time of stress... and one must not fear or be intimidated, nor should one think of his wife and children...and he who starts to ponder these things at war time and frightens himself - has transgressed a negative commandment!.." The Rambam continues: "And if he did not win and did not perform in the war with all his heart and soul, than he is like one who spills everyone's blood!"
These shocking words apply to the collective no less than they apply to the individual Jew. If an individual who cannot overcome his natural fears is considered a sinner who has spilled the blood of all Jews, what can one say about leaders whose very mindset and national policy is based on fear of war, fear of the gentile, and tie the hands of the soldiers while they are being shot at!? And so, before Succot last year we saw our soldiers lay bleeding to death before the very eyes of their comrades in battle who sat helplessly by screaming for help, and the help never arrived, because it would have meant having to kill mobs of Arab rioters and murderers - this is all because of the fear of the gentile reaction! If an individual is considered a spiller of blood, what can one say about LEADERS, other than they are downright murderers!!
On the other hand: "And he who fights with all his heart and all his soul without being afraid, and all his intention is to sanctify G-d's Name, it is guaranteed that he will not suffer damage nor will bad come unto him..." Thus is the case for the collective as well. If we fight under the headline of "Kiddush Hashem", "Emunah", and a willingness to wipe out the enemy who is desecreating the Jewish G-d and nation, we are guaranteed to win, and the gentile won't dare open his mouth!
Rabbi Kahane, HY"D, predicted all the events that are happening now. One who reads the things he wrote 15-20 years ago could think he was reading words of prophecy. But no. Rabbi Kahane simply dared to open his eyes and see, refusing to be blind like so many others who were afraid to open their eyes, lest they come to conclusions which would make life uncomfortable for them.
While others were afraid, Rabbi Kahane was not. He fought - and in the end fell upon the altar of the Jewish Nation, with the confidence that his words were not wasted, and in the end the truth will win out.
And if the majority of Jews still don't dare to open their eyes and understand, we the few, the students of Rabbi Kahane will continue to cling to his way, and to carry the torch of truth until we bring the revolution and the Messiah.

An Eclectic Mix....

2005-11-09T15:07:00.000-06:00

Quite a mix of people dropping by the SklarO World. Friends of mine, Perverts, Frummies, Psychopaths....

Last 5 searches that landed people in the SklarO World:

Blue Fringe Shidduch Words
Nasty Breasts
Homemade Mortars **this one is a bit alarming
Sharei Binah **I apologize to the person who searched for Sharei Binah and ended up here.
Noah Federman Interrogation Book **let me know when you find it...

Finding Meaning at Work

2005-11-08T14:33:00.000-06:00

Check out this post from A Simple Jew. While I appreciate the attempt to make my workplace meaningful, I can't see it working for me because not only is the work meaningless but the people are assholes as well. Oh Well.....

Pip As A Brick

2005-11-07T17:29:00.000-06:00

We Miss You Rehavam Ze'evi

2005-11-02T11:34:00.000-06:00

On the 4th anniversary of the assassination of Tourism Minister and true hero Rehavam Ze'evi, we remember him and bring up some real important unanswered questions.....

Rehavam Amikam Ze'evi, born in Jerusalem in 1926, was a sixth-generation
Jerusalemite on his mother's side. Together with his wife Yael, he had five
children, 19 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Ze'evi served in the IDF
since its founding in 1948 in many positions, including heading the Central
Command beginning in 1968. He retired from the army with the rank of
Maj.-Gen, and was appointed Prime Minister Rabin's counter-terrorism advisor
in 1974. He also carried out many defense missions in various countries, and
was elected to the Knesset in 1988 as head of the Moledet Party that he founded.
Ze'evi served as minister without portfolio in the Shamir government for about a
year in the early 90's, and became Tourism Minister in the Sharon government.

The "story" of his assassination fed to us by the Israeli government via the controlled media is as follows:
Zeevi lived in Jerusalem's Hyatt Hotel on the 8th floor opposite the fire escape. At 6:45 am Zeevi and his wife Yael were eating breakfast in the hotel lobby when Zeevi told his wife that he noticed a man watching him who "wouldn't take his eyes off me".
At 7:00 am Zeevi headed up to his room to prepare for an interview with Arutz-7. At the entrance to his room, he was assassinated. 2 bullets to the head execution style. Immediately the PFLP claimed responsibility.

I remember fully when this happened. Aside from being sad as hell for the loss of a true Israeli leader who actually cared for Jews unlike (Sharon and Peres and co.), I had a very uneasy feeling. I was amazed that the PFLP could pull off such a precise and difficult execution of an Israeli government minister. After all....this was not a mortar attack, or a random highway shooting, or even an old city stabbing. This was a professional execution of very high up minister in a hotel known to house government ministers that should have been guarded like a fortress. Nobody saw anything and the police have no clues.

HUH??!!

I smell a conspiracy.

Let's dive a little deeper shall we....

Two days before, Zeevi, the Tourism Minister in the Sharon government, resigned, taking with him Infrastructure Minister Avigdor Lieberman of the Yisrael Beiteinu faction. Zeevi was murdered only a few hours before his resignation from the government was to go into effect, and hours after the murder Moledet decided to stay in the government. He resigned because Sharon was doing nothing to protect Hebron Jews from the arab onslaught. He told Sharon that if he didn't fire Shimon Peres the Jew hating European puppet, that he would quit. Sharon did nothing, and Zeevi quit. The next day, Sharon announced that he would be leading upcoming negotiations with the PLO. However, with Moledet and Yisrael Beiteinu out, Sharon's mandate to conduct such negotiations was severely compromised. Not looking good for the Sharon government.

Some other questions via Barry Chamish:

So where were the bodyguards? When Zeevi spotted a suspicious character at breakfast, why didn't the Shabak check his identity before he could inform the assassin that his quarry was on the way? When the Zeevis went to their room, why were they unprotected? When they left their room before breakfast, why wasn't a guard posted outside their door? Why could the fire escape door opposite a minister's room be opened from the stairs side? Why could the escape car wait outside the minister's hotel without arousing suspicion?

And who knew the minister's routine well enough to provide exact intelligence to the hit squad? Someone inside the hotel perhaps, the bodyguards for sure.

To answer all these questions, the Shabak will claim, as they did after the Rabin assassination, that there was a massive screwup, and that Zeevi didn't want his bodyguards near him, as if he had a say in the matter. But we won't believe them this time, will we?

As long as Israel is run by outside influence through anti-Jewish Israeli puppets, there will never ever be peace.

Aliyah.....What are we waiting for?

2005-09-14T13:57:00.000-05:00

The worlds leading known Kabbalist, Harav Yitchak Kaduri has issued a call to all Jews to return to their homeland.
Harav Kaduri is over 100 years old. I'm not sure that his birthdate is known publicly, but he was was born in or around the year 1895. In 1990 Harav Kaduri was visiting the Rebbe in Crown Heights as he often did when he would travel to the States, and the Rebbe told him that he would live to see the coming of Moshiach. Pretty heavy considering that Harav Kaduri is around 110 years old which only gives him another 10 years in this life at most.

Harav Kaduri declared as follows:

"This declaration I find fitting to issue for all of the Jews of the world to
hear. It is incumbent upon them to return to the Land of Israel due to terrible
natural disasters which threaten the world. In the future, the Holy One, Blessed
be He, will bring about great disasters in the countries of the world to sweeten
the judgments of the Land of Israel. I am ordering the publication of this
declaration as a warning, so that Jews in the countries of the world will be
aware of the impending danger and will come to the Land of Israel for the
building of the Temple and revelation of our righteous Mashiach (Messiah)."

What are we supposed to do?
I think this translates into a 2 part action for Jews:

Teshuvah. A REAL TESHUVAH. All Jews MUST increase acts of kindness to each other. We are now in the month of Elul. The month of Teshuvah before Rosh Hashanah. EVERYONE needs to really shake up the their lives and do a true Teshuvah. Rav Kaduri also stated that the upcoming year would be a year of "secret and revelation" in the world. The Jewish year 5766 begins in less than three weeks, with the holiday of Rosh Hashana. He explained that the numerical Hebrew abbreviation for 5766, taf, shin, samech, vav gives insight into the nature of the upcoming year. "This will be a year of secret (or sod, from the letter samech) and revelation (or v'giliu from the letter vav. Only Teshuvah can stop the Natural disasters.
Aliyah. We must return home. Harav Kaduri explains that the only safe place in the world for Jews is in Eretz Yisroel. Israel. Rav Kahane brings to light another reason why Jews must abandon the good life in the United States to move to Israel. The reason is that Jews are NEVER safe in the Galut. If we are safe in foreign land it is temporary. Rav Kahane explains that there are two reasons for Jews living 'the good life' in America. #1 - The Holocaust guilt. #2 - Prosperity. There have existed in America all along anti-semites who have openly called for the destruction of Jews. Nobody really cares to listen so long as people have jobs and are making money, but Rav Kahane warns that once 'the good life' is gone, the people will look to the Jews as a scapegoat once again as history has proven. I only hope that Jews everywhere understand Kahane's message. Hitler didn't care if you were a totally assimilated atheist or Rabbi Birenbaum. A Jew is a Jew.

I wish everyone a meaningful Elul.

For DovBear:

2005-09-01T11:24:00.000-05:00

This morning I received an e-mail from DovBear asking my opinion on an article written by Leon Wieseltier, editor for the New Republic called The Fall. Normally if I could tough it out to finish such an editorial, I would just be angry for several minutes and move on with my life. In this case, you are going to here about it. DovBear - I'm not sure what you expected to here from me but.....you asked for it.

Right from the get go I see where this is going. The author rejoices in Jewish Israeli citizens having their houses bulldozed. The author refers to Messianism as a toxin. So far he sounds like Shimon Peres.

A few important points about Ariel Sharon's 'Disengagement Plan':

Ariel Sharon presented 'The Plan' amidst investigations of corruption surrounding his campaign for Prime Minister. After announcing 'The Plan' the charges were dropped against him.
The author of this article sings a bunch of malarchy about some great Democracy in Israel and about how everything surrounding'The Plan' was so legit. BULLSHIT. He got his majority through firing opposers of 'The Plan', intimidating others in his party, and promoting puppets in order to get their votes. The author says that the majority of Israelis are for 'The Plan' BULLSHIT AGAIN. Post disengagement polls say otherwise.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe stated that pulling out of Gaza is against the Shulchan Aruch straight up. If anyone cares to here more about this point, e-mail me. Also, the Rebbe warned Sharon to stay out of politics.

Let's put biblical rights aside for a moment....The fact is that we had every right to Gaza ever since we conquered it in the 1967 war. What we should have done right away is transfer the arabs right the fuck out of there. You want a "Palestine"? Go the fuck to Jordan or drop dead. That is my opinion.

Why is the life of a Jew in a uniform worth less than the life of a Jew in a greenhouse? It isn't. The problem isn't with Jews living in Gaza, it's with our cowardly anti-Torah leaders.

Let me ask you this DB, Let's say for a second that I supported a Terrorist state, why the fuck do Jews need to be evicted and have their homes razed? Can't Jews stay in gaza? over a million arabs are sucking the life out of Israel as citizens... Let's compromise, we transfer Jews then we MUST transfer arabs.

So chew me appart DB, tell me I'm an idoit or crazy but tThe worst is yet to come. Security is a joke. They have increased attacks and reiterated their call to take over Jerusalem. A precedent has been set and there WILL be pressure to pull out of Judea and Samaria. I think a greater war is yet to come, and after which all of the cowards and non-believers will be shamed, and our enemies will be dead. May Hashem bring the true Geulah NOW!

Help Gush Katif Refugees

2005-08-26T10:10:00.000-05:00

Don't believe what you read in the Israeli news, Sharon is doing nothing to help the people he evicted from their homes. YOU can help.

https://www.group.co.il/donation/katifund/CreditInput.asp?lang=2

Hero's of the 'Disengagement'

2005-08-24T12:24:00.000-05:00

Aryeh Eldad -
I love this guy. Eldad moved to Sa-Nur in the west bank. He has been on the front-lines in the fight against "Disengagement". Prof. Aryeh Eldad shares the same opinion as I do about the practical solution to the Palestinian problem. Transfer.

There's a state in Jordan now of which 70 percent of the citizens are
Palestinians. The only justification for the existence of the Hashemite king is
a colonialist decision made 90 years ago. So when we say that Jordan is
Palestine, it's not a concession, it's coming to terms with an existing
political fact. In our opinion, this fact can be changed so that the
Palestinians would rule there, and not the Hashemite Bedouin. As practical
people, we are examining what of the vision may be actualized at a given point.
One cannot waste one's time on fantasies. A Palestinian state in Jordan would
offer a political solution to the matter of Palestinian identity.

Retreating from Gaza and the west bank, and closing ourselves in by concrete barriers is not a permanent solution, it's a cowardly retreat that will only produce more death and destruction. The only permanent solution is to rid Israel of the palestinians. Co-existence, or "peace" will NEVER happen.

Benny Elon -
Became leader of the Moledet party after it's leader, war hero, and friend of Sharon Rechavam Zeevi was murdered by arabs in his Jerusalem hotel. Elon like Eldad recognize transfer as the only practical solution. Elon architected a 7 point plan in protest of the road map and failed oslo accords. It is called 'The Elon Plan':

Jerusalem's recognition that Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority, established
under the lengthy peace process begin in Oslo in 1993, is the enemy of Israel.
The forcible removal of all terrorists and all weapons from the West Bank Â or Judea and Samaria, as these lands are called by many in Israel.
The nullification of the Palestinian Authority as a legitimate entity and the canceling of the Oslo Accords.
The establishment of a cease-fire and negotiations under international auspices to relocate refugees in Arab countries and the dismantling of refugee camps, along with the establishment of a Jordan-Palestinian state with Amman as its capital.
Arabs who remain in Judea and Samaria would be offered citizenship in the Jordanian-Palestinian state.
Arab citizens of Israel also would be offered such status.
If the Arabs of Judea and Samaria breach the terms of the agreement, they would be forcibly deported to the other side of the Jordan River.

Simple, yet logical.

Uzi Landau -
- Pro-separation barrier from arab terror.
- Vehemently opposed to the Gaza retreat
- Pro-lasting Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria

Landau is one of the few Likud members semi-loyal to the Likud party platform. I have to admit that I don't trust him. Although I am weary of any Israeli politician who has no faith in G-D, I particularly question Landau's motives. He recently announced that he would run for the Likud leadership. He may or may not be better than Bibi or Sharon, but he's on this list of good guys, because he has consistently been against retreating from Gaza.

Moshe Yaalon -
The 17th chief of staff of the IDF. "Bogie" served until June 2005 when Shaul Mofaz decided not to renew his position. There was a lot of friction between Yaalon and Mofaz. I bet the fact that Yaalon warned that the Disengagement was a horrible idea and that it rewarded terrorists had nothing to do with his ousting.

"The Palestinian threat harbors cancer-like attributes that have to be severed. There are all kinds of solutions to cancer. Some say it's necessary to amputate organs but at the moment I am applyingchemotherapyy."
Mosha Ya'alon 8/02 - Haaretz

Effie Eitam -
In 2004 Effie Eitam, leader of the National Religious Party resigned from the Sharon government in protest of the 'Disengagement' plan. He then moved to Gush Katif settlement Nezer Hazani. Eitam while being very anti-disengagement was prodialoguee with police. He was against the Gush Katif rallies, and was the MK who suggested that the disengagement be 'gun-less' on the settler side as well as on the police/army side. Eitam was a highly respected General and was hero. He commanded a unit in the Raid on Entebbe, and was a company commander in the Yom Kippur war. Eitam is an asset to orthodox Judaism.

Other Hero's:

Yitzchak Levy Uri Ariel

Natan SharanskyAvigdor Lieberman

Villains of 'The Disengagement'

2005-08-18T11:45:00.000-05:00

Moshe Feiglin suggested that we make a list of the good guys and the bad guys of the Disengagement. So when B"H this government is a thing of the past, we remember who are friends are. Here are the primary bad guys. Stay tuned for the good guys.

Ariel Sharon -
Sharon fought in every one of Israel's wars since 1948, and was with out a doubt the greatest soldier the IDF has ever seen. The Lubavitcher Rebbe warned Sharon not to go into politics, that his place was with the military. He should have listened. In December 2003, Sharon decided to abandon the Likud platform. The man who did more for building up Israeli settlements in Gaza and the West Bank than anybody else, decided to dismantle them and give them to the palestinians. Why? Because Sharon was being investigated (along with his sons Gilead and Omri) for corruption scandals. States Attorney Edna Arbel was heavily pursuing Sharon and wanted anindictmentt and resignation from Sharon. Criminal mind and close buddy of Sharon, Dov Weissglass decided that the only way to divert the indictment was to 'change public agenda away from the media focus'. Thus Disengagement. So Sharon promoted Edna to the supreme court to shut her up, and AG Mazuz dropped the case against Sharon.

Omri Sharon -
Prime Minister Sharon's idiot son Omri is about to be indicted for establishing illegal fictitious companies to funnel cash to his father's primary election campaign in 1999. This scum bag raise illegal contributions to his fathers campaign, and will hopefully do some time for it. He faces up to 5 years in jail.

Dov Weissglass -
Personal aide and attorney for Ariel Sharon. Weissglass was the architect of the suicidal 'disengagement plan'. He came up with the idea while trying to deflect attention from Sharon's corruption investigations. Weissglass is more than just a good friend to Sharon, he was serving his own selfish interests. You see Weissglass has personal interests in the PA Jericho casino as well as the casino that is going to be built in the beautiful Elei Sinai after it has been Judrein. The law firm of Weissglass-Almagor represents the interests of Casino investor and European financier Martin Shlaff whose alleged financial contributions to Prime Minister Sharon's 1999 and 2001 campaigns are under criminal investigation. The expected indictment of Omri Sharon is part of the probe into the Sharon family's connection to various illegal funding sources including none other than Martin Shlaff, the casino investor, who was reportedly a source of the illegal campaign contributions to Sharon. Shlaff's loan is believed by many to have been wired into the account of Sharon's South African connection and friend Cyril Kern before being transferred over to Sharon's account in Israel.

Ehud Olmert -
I saw Ehud Speak in Chicago a couple of years ago (my mom saw Bibi the same night) when he was still Mayor of Jerusalem. He had the crowd energized. Pledging to fight and kill the terrorists, telling us that the terrorists will NEVER get a state, and that gaza is the same as Tel Aviv. Blah blah blah blah BLAH! LIAR! Ehud is Sharon's number 1 puppet, and I would have some strong words for him should I come to be face to face with him again. I had a brief moment of joy yesterday when I read an article in the JPost about Olmert being heckled by new Olim at Ben Gurion airport....

The sign outside Ben-Gurion's Terminal 1 to greet those who had gathered before
dawn Wednesday for Nefesh B'Nefesh's welcome party for 250 North American
immigrants said "Celebrate Aliyah" and "Focus on your friends and family."
This was, according to one official, the organizers' way of saying, "Let's
not get too political today." Perhaps it was too much to ask on the first
day of forced evacuation from Gaza, with Acting Finance Minister Ehud Olmert
scheduled to address the crowd. In fact, Olmert had barely finished his first
few words when a roar of taunting disapproval came back from many of the new
arrivals and their guests.
The minister responded to the first wave of reproach with indulgence.
"I see some of you already fit right into Israeli democracy," he said.
"Traitor!" cried out a heavy-set man with an orange wristband. "You're stealing Jews' homes!" shouted another.
As the crowd got more provocative, Olmert responded with a taunt of his own, "Maybe if you or a few million of you had come earlier, we wouldn't have had to leave Gaza."
He tried to win the audience back with a strong finish, pounding the podium, "This
place is ours and will remain ours." "You re giving it away," the man with
the orange band bitterly retorted.
The 250 new immigrants certainly picked a dramatic week to land in Israel, and disengagement was impossible to ignore even for Israel's freshest recruits. Robbie Frohlinger, who came from Boca Raton, Florida, and will soon settle in Ra'nana, said that he chose this week's flight to make a statement. "This is our land," Frohlinger said. "While fellows Jews are suffering, others are coming to ensure the future of Eretz Yisrael." Aliyah from North America is reaching new levels. Tony Gelbart, the chairman and co-founder of Nefesh B'Nefesh, anticipates they will bring about 3,200 new immigrants this year, with even higher numbers in the future. Gelbert also saw
significance in welcoming the newcomers at the height of the disengagement
drama. "From [Prime Minister] Ariel Sharon to [MK] Effi Eitam," Gelbert
said, "what they have in common is [enthusiasm for] aliyah." On the plane from
New York, Gelbert told the passengers, "Right now we are torn apart. But aliyah
is the glue."
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin was far more popular than Olmert with the almost entirely religious crowd. "When Jewish homes are being uprooted, it's wonderful to see you building new homes in Israel," he said to great applause. "When Zionism is bleeding," Riskin told the crowd, "you are the transfusion."
Despite the verbal beating Olmert took, he never lost composure and smiled throughout the whole encounter. In fact, after the ceremony he was still feeling confident. "This has been what I expected," he told The Jerusalem Post. "There are many strong emotions and reactions. Had it not been so I would have considered it unnatural." The worst was now over in Gaza, he said. Healing the nation after disengagement will be "a long process, because something significant has happened that has forced Israel to come to grips with fundamental and basic things about itself," he told the Post.
"I hope we will deal with it. Not to confront, but to contemplate," Olmert said.
When asked how he felt about facing the hissing and jeers of the large crowd of new
Israelis, he thrust his index finger into the air. "There was no crowd. It was
all just one idiot."

Nice.

Bibi Netanyahu -
Whatever Bibi, you think we're all stupid? Netanyahu recently resigned from the government where he was serving as Finance Minister. While I support his move, I question his motives. Bibi - you gave back land when you were Prime Minister and you voted for the Disengagement under the current regime. You are no better than Ariel Sharon.

Shaul Mofaz -
Another supreme soldier turned political pawn, Mofaz is Sharon's puppet. Mofaz was appointed Defense Minister under Sharon in 2002. The story of Mofaz is almost as sad as the story of Sharon. Brilliant soldier and tough guy with the arabs, Mofaz fell under Sharon's spell presumably because Sharon appointed him Defense Minister, and is now for the Disengagement.

Dan Halutz -
Again, Military giant turned Sharon puppet. Air Force commander Maj.-Gen. Dan Halutz was appointed Chief of Staff after Sharon fired Moshe "Bogie" Yallon for doing his job. Yallon warned against the disengagement and was subsequently 'ousted'. Never Forget! Halutz is a pro-disengagement puppet.

Victory for the Terrorists......Ya Think?

2005-08-16T16:39:00.000-05:00

Jews Don't Expel Jews

2005-08-11T12:36:00.000-05:00

Listen World, Listen Jew

2005-08-10T09:38:00.000-05:00

Listen World, Listen Jew......I am a ZIONIST.

Maybe it's because of Sinat Chinam. Maybe it's because of secularism. Maybe it's because of a complete and total lack of Emunah. Or maybe we shouldn't even look at it as a punishment from G-d, for this is surely the beginnings of the Geulah and the senseless 'Disengagement' is surely just the means to an end. Still.....

How can I just sit at a desk all day everyday staring at a screen? How can I keep my cool when people around me are complaining about gas prices, or talking about the cubs, or planning what bar they will waste their time at?

Listen World, Listen Jew
You think you are safe in Galut? You think America is the magical land where Jews are free from persecution? You think that you are so safe and cozy that you don't need to worry about your real homeland, the one protected by G-d? Let me ask you something, do you know that the Jews in Germany, Spain, Poland, Romania, Russia, Turkey felt the same sense of security?
Are you so arrogant and entrenched in materialism that you can't see the red flags?

The only place that a Jew stands a chance in the long term is Eretz Yisroel.

The only way for Sharon to get us out of this mess is to step down. He can't very well call it all off this late in the game. He MUST step down and let someone with real Emunah take the reins. It kills me to sit idly by in the comforts of America land of the free, while my brothers and sisters are being persecuted by Jews in our homeland. It pains me that the Jews in America can even smile or go on about their everyday business like nothing is happening. But most of all it pains me that there are Jews in the world, and Jews in Israel that are foolish enough to think that something good can actually come from 'Disengagement'. G-d gave us that land, he commanded us to live there. What right do we have to give it away?

Listen World, Listen Jew
The arabs that fill up gaza and the west bank want us erased from the planet. They say to "kill a jew where he stands". They say that their home is Jerusalem, Ramle, Yaffo, Tel Aviv, Haifa and you think that they will magically be friendly neighbors once we simply give them their own state in Gaza and parts of the west bank?

Listen World, Listen Jew
Sharon, You are simply letting them get closer to their proclaimed goal of pushing us into the sea. Jews have been murdered and persecuted since the beginning of time, and history has proven that weakness does not help. Instead of Bombing Gush Katif they will be bombing Ashkelon and Kfar Maimon. They will have an open port to bring in hundreds of Karine-A ships. There will be no IDF soldier between Egypt and Gaza to stop the arms smuggling. There will be Egyptian soldiers at our back door for the first time in 25 years. You are setting us up for disaster.

You think Bush and Condi are your friends? They aren't. They are forcing us back to the 67
borders.

Listen World, Listen Jew........Kahane was right

Mixed Feelings

2005-08-05T11:04:00.000-05:00

My heart goes out to Eden Natan Zada of Rishon L'Tzion. I can't say that I'm not a little bit angry at him for shooting a bunch of arabs, mostly christian. If I had the passion or the beitzim to stand up and fight for Zionism like Edan did, I would have gone to ramallah or maybe to the mosque in the Holy city of Chevron as opposed to such a seemingly moderate place like Shfaram.

The land of Israel belongs to the Jewish People. Gaza, Jordan, Shomron, Golan, Yerushalayim it's all ours. The events of yesterday are simply the fallout from our failings to adhere to G-d's direct instructions to liberate the land of Israel and not to leave even 1 behind, and that failure will forever haunt us. A secular Israel grants citizenship to jew-killing arabs. As long as there are muslims living in Israel, we will forever be stuck.

May G-d grant us the ultimate Geulah speedily in our days. Shabbat Shalom.

Pics (not mine) from the Show

2005-07-25T08:28:00.000-05:00

The 17th of Tammuz isnt All Bad

2005-07-25T07:52:00.000-05:00

Mazel Tov! After 4 girls, my sister FINALLY had her first boy. Baruch Hashem.

Ben Harper Rocks The Vic - 2005

2005-07-22T10:09:00.000-05:00

"My choice is what I choose to do and if I'm causing no harm it shouldn't bother you,
your choice is who you choose to do and if you're causin' no harm then you're alright with me"

Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals 7/21/05 The Vic Theatre Chicago.
When the Zooma Tour was announced, I was ecstatic. Happy to see Trey of course, but Ben Harper was the main act as far as I was concerned. I got my tickets and was all set to head down to Deer Creek. Unfortunately the show got cancelled. Less than two weeks later, Ben Harper announced that he would do a small venue tour Tom Freund. The Vic is beautiful theatre in the wrigleyville neighborhood of Chicago. The theatre is only a 1400 capacity. After failing to get tickets through the pre-pre-sale, pre-sale, and on sale I got 3 tickets through E-Bay.

We saw Harper 3 times before. The first time was just him when he toured with String Cheese. The second time was also solo at Bonnaroo 2002. The third was with The Innocent Criminals when he toured with Jack Johnson. All great shows.

"Is this really living sometimes it's hard to tell Or is this a kind of gentler hell
Turn out the lights And let me stare into your soul I was born and bled for you old"

Our friend who was supposed to come with us bailed as we were leaving for the show. we pull up in front of the Vic at 7:45 and found parking in front of the theatre. Anyone who knows where Belmont & Sheffield is can appreciate this small miracle. As we crossed the street to approach the theatre I asked the first person that I saw if he needed an extra ticket for $50. Without bargaining, or an acknowledgement of any kind, he gave me a $50. Sweet!

We got a great spot right in the 4th row of the balcony towards the center, just in time for Harper to come on. The sound was amazing and the setlist(below) was every fans dream setlist. It had intense trip jams, percussion solos, regular pop songs, solo acoustic, straight up pure gospel, and even a motown cover. My wife and I had another amazing post-Phish concert experience together.

"I'm leaving here on the morning train
And I will never see this world again
I've felt pleasure
And I have felt pain
And I know now
That I can never be the same"
- Ben Harper

For Noah

2005-07-22T09:06:00.000-05:00

Set 1:
1. Glory & Consequence
2. Please Bleed
3. Don't take that attitude to the grave
4. Brown Eyed Blues
5. Excuse me Mr.
6. Gather around the storm (new song) w/ Charlie Musselwhite
7. Homeless Child w/ Charlie Musselwhite
8. One road to Freedom
9. Please Please me
10. Burn one down
11. The will to live
12. Temporary Remedy
13. Suzie Blue
14. Waiting on an Angel
15. Steal my Kisses >Pressure Drop

E1: (solo acoustic)
1. Another Lonely Day
2. Walk Away
3. There will be a light
4. Pleasure and Pain w/ Thomas Freund

E2:
1. Aint to proud to beg
2. Dressed in Black (New song) w/ Charlie Musselwhite

Random Shots from my Camera Phone

2005-07-21T15:43:00.000-05:00

The building that you see is my office building. The view is from "getaway zone"

The bad-ass Viper belongs to one of my 3 bosses.

My wifes 2 lizards. Merlin and Crystal

Cool cat at Pet Smart that my wife wouldnt let me bring home.

What is up with this Jag-Off?

2005-07-20T09:30:00.000-05:00

2 Weeks after his city was bombed by arab terrorists, London Mayor Ken Livingstone came out with his latest preposterous statement.....

"I think the Israeli hardliners around Likud and Hamas [members] are two sides of the same coin; they need each other to drum up support, they point to the excesses of the other to recruit and I don't make any distinction because I believe the taking of human life is wrong. In particular, when you think of the illegal invasion of Lebanon, the illegal invasion of Egypt and Jordan in the Six Day War, all these exercises of going into Palestinian refugee camps and indiscriminately destroying homes simply because a bomber came from that area,"

WOW. I need a minute hear..
Ok, I've decided that there is no need for me to try and counter anything he said because the entire statement is ridiculously false, and is oozing ignorance and anti-semetism.

Livingstone has always been dangerously anti-Israel. He hates Israel, and he fails to protect his Jewish citizens. My assumption is that he has some sort of raunchy butt-fucking relationship with a young palestinian boy.

Hear is a photo of ugly arab fucker with Yusuf al-Qaradawi. That's right, Livingstone hosted one of the biggest outward supporters of arab suicide bombers in the world. al-Qaradawi is also a firm supporter of female circumcisions, and domestic abuse. Nice one Ken.

When Prime Minister Blair hosted President Bush in London, the Mayor issued a statement to the press that President Bush was.....

"The greatest threat to life on this planet that we've most probably ever seen"

I'm sure the Prime Minister loved that one.

With London's 1.6 million muslims, I expect Livingstone will be around for a while.

Just another day at The Office

2005-07-18T15:57:00.000-05:00

Our Gush Katif Family

2005-07-18T10:47:00.000-05:00

Great Website with photos from all of the Gush Katif communities.

Escalation

2005-07-15T10:10:00.000-05:00

An Army Radio commentator stated that Prime Minister Sharon's declaration that "there will be no disengagement under fire" has been rendered ridiculous.

The shit is spiraling out of control faster than I can say "yasser arafat was an aids infested butt-muncher". After the Netanya bombing that killed 5 people, Sharon must have finally felt SOMETHING and ordered the IDF to retake the arab town of Kalkilya which was recently handed over to arab control. In that swift takeover a PA "policeman" was killed.

Since that then the daily rocket attacks on Jewish towns in Gush Katif and the Negev have doubled. There have been over 15 a day. Thursday, as 22-year-old Dana Gelkowitz and her boyfriend were sitting on their porch at Moshav Netiv Ha'Asara, a rocket landed on the house killing her and injuring her boyfriend.

This prompted Sharon to finally send in the troops. The IDF divided gaza into 3 sections preventing terrorist travel. Apachies then bombed out 4 missile factories in gaza.

In the meantime, hamas has taken over 2 PA police stations. Abbas will hopefully throw in the towel as the PA "police" and hamas are basically at war with each other at this point. The PA "police" yesterday shot-up a hamas van that refused to stop at a PA checkpoint.

This morning Sderot residents awoke to the sounds of war as rockets landed in several different areas. Many residents there were treated for shock.

On the upside, terrorist leaders have been dropping like flies.

Not what effect all this has on Sharon's 'suicidal plan', but remember to pray hard this Shabbat. I think there are only like 30 days left until implementation, and your prayers are essential. Also, this Shabbat has been declared Orange (color of anti-disengagement) Shabbat so where your orange clothes.

B"H Gush Katif and the rest of Israel will have a peaceful Shabbat.

Last 5 CD's Purchased

2005-07-13T12:25:00.000-05:00

The Hebrew Vibration Achdus Project is a compilation of songs mostly related to Gush Katif. I'd say half of the artists on the CD are huge names in Jewish music, and the other half are lesser known Jewish artists who support Gush Katif. All the songs that I knew before buying the album were the only songs that I liked. Soulfarm, Blue Fringe, and The Moshav Band all simply picked a song off of their latest releases for the compilation which I guess is OK except that I think each of those bands could have selected a better song. Regardless, I think everyone should buy the album anyways because of the the proceeds from the compilation go to help Gush Katif causes. Purchase here.

X&Y is the latest release from Coldplay. The first two Coldplay albums were phenomenal. They set the bar way too high with Parachutes and A Rush of Blood to the Head so unfortunately this album falls a little short. It's not bad, but it's not great either. 2 Stars for X&Y

Audioslave (Chris Cornell + Rage) rocks plain and simple. There first release was better than most Soundgarden albums from start to finish. I'm happy to report that their second release Out of Exile is as good as the first. 4 Stars for Out of Exile.

Ray was a great movie with an excellent soundtrack of all Ray Charles songs. I never really knew if I liked Ray Charles or not until the movie Ray came out. The soundtrack is basically a Ray Charles greatest hits collection. 3 Stars for the Ray Soundtrack

Once again the Moshav Band has proven to Jews everywhere that they should only be singing Torah, and not cheesy English pop. Malachim is not quite as great as Return Again, but what is? Songs like Malachim, Kol, Lman Achai.......they bring a tear. Kidding. So my message to the Moshav is....leave the English Pop songs to Soulfarm because they do it better. You guys are way better at the Hebrew than Soulfarm could ever be. 3.5 stars for Malachim.

This Just In....

2005-07-12T15:39:00.000-05:00

Starbucks Tazo Green Tea frappacino is good. (I recommend no-whip for the easily nauseated)

Another Terrorist Bombing....Ho Hum....

2005-07-12T14:37:00.000-05:00

This evening in Israel an arab coward blew himself up amongst a group of teens outside a Netanya shopping mall killing himself and to women. There were at least 30 others wounded, and a couple may not even live. Pray for them. Bloodied clothes and body parts were stuck to the pavement.

Doron Shafir, one of the first paramedics at the scene, said he saw a woman whose clothes were on fire. "Another, her handbag was burning. We stepped on it to put it out. She was just sitting there. She did not know what was happening to her," he said.

Not that it really makes a fuck of a difference but Islamic Jihad proudly claimed responsibility for the murders. Palestinian authority, Hamas, PFLP, Islamic Jihad, Ugly fucks wrapped in robes....they're all the same to me. Any bets on the Israeli "response"? I say Sharon and or Mofaz will most likely cancel a meeting or two. Maybe if we're lucky they may even issue a statement. How about this one, maybe.....if they're really pissed....They'll condemn the bombing and issue an idle threat.

There is no hope for us under the Sharon regime anymore. We need a new Government. In the meantime.....Pray.

I Don't Believe It

2005-07-12T09:33:00.000-05:00

They're on to us. Read.

For all you Jewish Wageslaves...

2005-07-11T11:31:00.000-05:00

Gideon's story. Via: Aish

Help Save Israel

2005-07-07T10:12:00.000-05:00

If you are an American Jew you are undoubtedly feeling extremely frustrated by the Disengagement situation in Israel. What can I do to help? you ask.....

Pray. Listen to Lazer, there are no other options.

Circuses are NOT Magical

2005-07-05T15:01:00.000-05:00

I was inspired to write this post by my wife. She did a great thing today that should inspire everyone to act against animal cruelty. The bank that my wife have been banking at for the last few years has signs up promoting the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus. My wife saw one of the signs while making a deposit and she felt compelled to speak to management about it. She met with the man upstairs at the bank and explained how circuses are a guaranteed hotbed for animal cruelty. He was either ignorant to the atrocities or just didn't give a shit, but my wife remained calm and offered to show the man some actual data to back her claims of animal cruelty. Hopefully, we'll see those signs come down in the coming weeks. Many people aren't aware of the horrors that occur behind the scenes at a circus. I hope to expose some of them to you right now.

See here for a description of deaths at the hands of Ringling Bros. When we are children we just think that Elephants who can stand on tiny pedestals on command are just really smart, or Bears who ride bicycles are some sort of innocent trick. The fact is that to force wild animals to perform confusing acts, "trainers" use whips, muzzles, electric prods, and bullhooks. Animals are beaten, and starved. Elephants are left on short chains, and Tigers in tiny cages and anyone who believes otherwise is either in denial or an ignorant fool.

Links:
Ringling Bros.
Shrine Circus
All Circuses are bad
Click here to order an Anti-Circus data pack

Holiday Weekend Hatred

2005-07-05T14:40:00.000-05:00

What would a secular celebratory holiday day be without some sort of public display of hate? I was lucky enough to witness two examples.

The first was on Friday night. At around 11:30 PM my wife and I were walking home from my in-laws house in a heavily orthodox neighborhood. As we were approaching a busy intersection we saw a car that was honking obnoxiously and driving erratically behind another car as it was approaching the intersection. As we crossed the street, some ignorant hateful whore in the crazy car screamed out to us either "Jewish people suck!" or "Jewish people smell". Not sure which one it was, but I was really affected by the whole incident.

The second incident happened on July 4th. Late in the day, I was standing outside my in-laws house talking to the neighbor. My sister-in-law was standing in the street talking to one of her friends through her car window. I noticed a sketchy looking black G20 driving down the street. It was driven by a shaved headed punk, which I'm sorry to say the neighborhood has plenty of. As he passed my sis, he decided to slow down and explode some fircrackers at her bare feet. I'm not talking about those little snap caps either. A cop drove by less than a minute later, and we put him on the G20's tail.

Have I mentioned that people suck?

"Israelis Kill Top Islamic Jihad Militant"

2005-06-07T10:52:00.000-05:00

That was the AP headline to the following article from Amy Teibel:

JERUSALEM - Israeli soldiers killed a top Islamic Jihad militant in a gunbattle Tuesday, and a Palestinian mortar attack on a Jewish settlement killed two non-Israeli workers in one of the deadliest days since February's truce.

The attacks punctuated a day of violence that left five people dead. A second militant was also killed in the gunbattle in the West Bank. Other attacks included Palestinian rocket and mortar barrages aimed at a series of Israeli targets and Israel's killing of an unarmed man who infiltrated into Gaza from Egypt.

The clashes exacerbated tensions already inflamed by Monday's confrontation at a disputed Jerusalem holy site. The Islamic Jihad and Hamas militant groups said they would stick to the truce, but blamed Israel for the violence.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom blamed Hamas. "Hamas is trying very hard to undermine our efforts to move toward peace with the Palestinian Authority," he said.

The Palestinians warned the cease-fire was in jeopardy and urged international intervention. "The situation is deteriorating. The whole cease-fire may collapse," said chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.

Morwah Kamil, 25, head of the Islamic Jihad military wing in Jenin, was killed in a gunbattle that erupted with Israeli troops in the town of Qabatiya, near Jenin, the army and witnesses said.

Maj. Sharon Asman said Kamil was planning attacks on Israel when soldiers entered Qabatiya to arrest him. He threw a grenade at approaching soldiers, and a shootout ensued, Asman said.

Dozens of townspeople poured into the street, firing guns, throwing firebombs and hurling rocks, Asman said. A military bulldozer demolished a wall in the house where Kamil was holed up, he said.

Kamil's accomplices left the house and surrendered, while Kamil stayed put, and was shot and killed, Asman said.

One gunman firing from outside the house also was killed, and five Palestinians were wounded, the army said. One Israeli soldier was slightly wounded, it added.

"This crime by the Israelis will not pass without response from Islamic Jihad," said an Islamic Jihad spokesman in the West Bank, Khader Adnan.

Israel and the Palestinians disagree over whether Israel pledged to stop hunting fugitives as part of the February truce. The Palestinians said the pledge applied to all wanted men; Israel says Palestinians will no longer be hunted in areas where Palestinian authorities control security as long as fugitives disarm and give up attacks on Israel.

This article seriously pissed me off. Let's break it down:

"and a Palestinian mortar attack on a Jewish settlement killed two non-Israeli workers in one of the deadliest days since February's truce."

Hah! it's cute that the media is referring to a "truce". There have been over 50 mortar/rocket attacks since the February "truce". Israeli soldiers have caught 2 seperate young arab boys trying to wlak suicide bomb belts through checkpoints. I guess by truce they really mean not actually reporting the attacks. I also, think it's cute how they specifically mention that the 2 who were murdered werent actually Israeli. One of them was Chinese worker, and the other an arab worker. They also neglected to mention that there were 5 others injured in the attack. I also like how they simply say "on a Jewish settlement". It crashed through a fucking greenhouse in the beautiful town of Ganei Tal.

Next:
"Other attacks included Palestinian rocket and mortar barrages aimed at a series of Israeli targets"

The 'Series of Israeli targets' were the town of Sderot that has been literally under attack for the last 4 years straight. 1 rocket crashed through the roof of a house at 7am sending the 36 year old mother and her two daughters, aged 18 and 6, into instant shock, they were taken to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. Small details.

Next:
"and Israel's killing of an unarmed man who infiltrated into Gaza from Egypt."

Sons of bitches. This fucking shithead jumed over the fence into gaza. The poor "unarmed man"

The world media is constantly spinning the facts and creating straight up lies. This is war and there is no easy way out.

Anyone read Jacoby today?

2005-05-19T11:04:00.000-05:00

Man, this guys good.

Why is Islam disrespected?

Israel is a cancer spreading through the body of the Islamic nation

2005-05-17T09:06:00.000-05:00

Read. From:CAMERA

Independence Day

2005-05-11T10:35:00.000-05:00

Today is Israel's Memorial Day where we honor those soldiers who gave their lives for our country. Tonight begins Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) - This date, the fifth day of Iyar, marks the day on which the State of Israel "officially" came into existence, with the end of the British Mandate coming on May 14, 1948 - Iyar 5 5708. In these tough times it's important to remember that Israel isn't just an Israeli country, it's a Jewish homeland. The British didn't give it to us, G-d did.

Like them or not, these are some of the many heroes who have contributed so much to keep our country Jewish as well as safe.....

You think Israel's a tough place to live now? Here's some perspective

Yom HaZikaron

2005-05-10T11:56:00.000-05:00

Yom HaZikaron, the Israeli Memorial Day begins this evening. At 8pm tonight in Israel the siren will sound and there will be a moment of silence to remember all of the Soldiers and security personnel who have given there lives to the State of Israel. There were 21,954 of them.

I have known many people who have served in the Israeli army over the years but I have only known one who has fallen. St. Srg. Ari Weiss of the Nachal Brigade.

3 Weeks before he turned 22 he was killed during a fierce gun battle in Nablus.

The Weiss family made Aliyah from the U.S. in 1992. I knew Ari and his brother Eli from Camp Moshava in Wild Rose, Wisconsin. Ari was a couple of years younger than I. I remember him being very quiet. He was a skinny little harmless kid. I knew that the family was making Aliyah, and I had never heard about the Weiss family again. That is until Ari, the skinny little quiet kid who grew up and became a tough and respected soldier, was killed defending his country.
I didn't know Srg. Weiss all that well when we were kids together in camp, but I was most definitely affected very much by the news of his passing.

On this Yom HaZikaron my prayers go out to the Weiss family as well as the Baumel, Arad, Feldman, Katz, and Hever families.

I pray to G-d that we get some encouraging information soon.

Ari Weiss links:
Death of a Hero
Dear Ari

MIA Links:
Israili MIAs
Zachary Baumel

More about why it's better to live in Israel.....

2005-05-09T13:15:00.000-05:00

Via: Aish HaTorah
Excerpts from "On Cab Drivers, Shopkeepers and Strangers," Feldheim Publication.

NOW, THAT'S SERVICE

My friend Faigy E. travels to work each day by bus: it's about a forty-five minute ride from her home. During rush hour the bus is always stuffed with people in a hurry - and the traffic on the streets is awesome.
Yesterday morning, a very, very old man wobbled up to the bus. The harried bus driver waited patiently for him to climb up the steps one by one, and the first seat was quickly vacated so that the old man could sit down. When he was settled, the bus driver quickly closed the doors, and zoomed away.
Faigy was sitting close by, and overheard the very old man explain to the bus driver that he had to go to the local clinic for some tests. He asked the bus driver to tell him where to get off in order to get to the clinic.
Now, the clinic is not located on the main street where the bus line runs. In fact, it is two blocks off to the right of the main street. Faigy was wondering how long it would take that poor old man to walk those two long blocks, when the bus driver stopped at a red light.
Turning around in his seat to face all the passengers on his crowded bus, he called out, "Does anyone have any objection if I drive this man to the clinic?"
No one objected.
And so the entire Egged bus, stuffed full of passengers all rushing to get to their jobs on time, left the regular bus route. And, two blocks later, the doors opened to out the little old man - at the clinic entrance.

* * *

A REGULAR BUS TRIP

This story took place on the #11 bus from Ramat Shlomo neighborhood of Jerusalem.
A friend, Miriam L., was one of the first passengers on the bus that day since she lives near the first bus stop of the #11 route. She thus was able to get the seat right behind the bus driver - the perfect seat for seeing and hearing much of what goes on in a bus...
After traveling past only a few bus stops, a little boy climbed onto the bus and sat down across the aisle from Miriam - i.e. in easy view of both my friend and the bus driver.
Two or three bus stops later, this little boy suddenly burst into tears. And, as the bus was slowly meandering through the residential streets, he continued to cry and cry and cry.
By the next bus stop, the driver turned around in his seat, and asked the little boy, "Why are you crying so hard? What is wrong?"
The sobbing little boy answered that he had been given very specific directions by his mother regarding when he should get off the bus, which way he should walk, and how to get to where he was supposed to go. But he no longer remembered anymore what his mother had said to do or where he was supposed to get off the bus.
Without a word to anyone, or a comment of any kind, the bus driver turned the entire bus around and returned to the child's home. He then opened the bus's doors and told the little boy to hurry and ask his mother for directions again, and then to hurry back.
Meanwhile the bus driver again turned his (big city) bus around in order to be heading in the right direction when the child returned. He then proceeded to explain the whole story to his perplexed passengers.
Of course, being Israel, no one complained or protested this disruption in the regular scheduling of public transportation. Everyone just waited for the little boy to come back to the bus and climb aboard.
Which he soon did.
And then the bus just drove off again, continuing on its regular route.

Rockets, Egypt, and the Hudna

2005-05-06T09:53:00.000-05:00

In recent weeks there have been an increase of arab attacks on Israelis by 300%. So much for the Hudna. What is Abbas doing about it? Well he's planning more attacks, what else would the leader of the palestinian people be doing? Unfortunately Mofaz and sharon aren't doing anything either.

Yesterday more kassam rockets landed in Sderot causing many citizens to go into shock. also yesterday an arab terrorist fired a missile at an Israeli school vehicle. My question would be, where the hell are those in-bred peasants getting these weapons? I mean I know that we game them a substantial amount of rifles from Oslo, you see the hamas terrorists proudly carrying those all the time on the news. But anti-tank and shoulder fire missiles? The most obvious answer would be of course Egypt. We know about the weapons smuggling tunnels and gigantic palestinian population there. We know that most of the anti-Israel incitement comes straight from our Egyption neighbors. We also know that Egypt has the largest most sophisticated army in the arab world. Israel should be as concerned with Egypt as they are with Iran but of course our fearless warrior turned peacenik Ariel Sharon sees things differently.

I am so appalled to here of recent plans to let Egypt patrol the Philidelphi route, which is the area where gaza borders Egypt. We have managed to keep Epygtions forces at a safe enough distance from our citizens thanks to Menachem Begin and the Camp David Accords which stipulates that the Sinai from which we evacuated our communities, would remain de-militarized. We know that Egypt is supporting the intifada by directly supplying weapons to the palestinians.

Can someone please tell me what good can come of putting armed Egyptions soldiers directly on our border charged with the task of providing our security? That sounds so freeking absurd I almost crapped myself when I heard it. I pray to G-d when the Knesset votes on whether or not to allow Egypt to control our borders, the MK's have enough sense to smell imminent threat.

G-d help us.

On the latest Boycott.....

2005-05-05T16:33:00.000-05:00

Sue Blackwell, a Birmingham lecturer, who is launching her second attempt to secure a national boycott of Israeli academia, said that, if successful, the move would increase the pressure on the "illegitimate state of Israel". She accused the country's universities of being complicit in the alleged abuse of Palestinians in the occupied territories."

Sue Blackwell is a liberal anti-semetic idiot who suffers from the very serious illness called 'turds of the mouth disease'.
Sorry Sue. I'll pray for you.

Yom Hashoah

2005-05-05T10:15:00.000-05:00

Today is Yom Hashoah. The official day where we remember the 6,000,000 Jews that were murdered by the nazi's in the Holocaust. At 10:00 sirens can be heard throughout Israel. People stop working, and cars stop on the highways. Everyone stands for a moment of silence.

The G-d given Jewish homeland. Beautiful.

Links:
Nizkor.Org
Holocaust Forgotten
Yad Vashem

From the desk of: The Alter Rebbe

2005-04-29T10:35:00.000-05:00

The Alter Rebbe wrote:
"The souls are all one. Only the bodies divide us."

"Therefore, one who places the body before the spirit can never experience true love or friendship."

It's interesting that if you Google the above quote, you will find that the Alter Rebbe's words of wisdom are a common phrase used in the Chiropractic world.

Shabbat Shalom

The Soul Confusion

2005-04-28T12:39:00.000-05:00

Over YomTov I read an excellent and eye opening book by R' Aryeh Kaplan z"tl called 'If you were G-d'. There were many profound eye-openers in this 50 page book which I may decide to share. Here is one concept that I found to be fascinating.

What happens to the soul during and immediately after death?

We are taught that immediately after death, the soul is in a state of great confusion. This is why it's best that a person should have someone near them when they die, so that they do not die alone.
The disembodied soul is very much aware of the physical surroundings of it's body, even more so before the body is buried. This is the reason why Jews bury their dead as soon as possible. In many cases the same day of death.
After the soul is disembodied its sort of incoherent. It is for this reason that the soul will try to hang around the body. This will give the soul some sense of clarity.

During this time, the soul is aware of and identifies with the decomposition of the body. The Talmud thus teaches us that "Worms are as painful to the dead as needles in the flesh of the living, as it is written (Job 14:22), 'His flesh grieves for him'." Most commentaries write that this refers to the psychological anguish of the soul in seeing its earthly habitation in a state of decay. The Kabbalists call this Chibut HaKever, "punishment of the grave." We are taught that what happens to the body in the grave can be even more painful than Gehenom.

R' Kaplan explains, that the more a person is obsessed with there physical body and their own ego, the longer their soul will cling to the decomposing body and go through this horrible process.
A person must realize that their bodies are only temporary. The 'Real World' is the world to come.

I'm sick to my stomach

2005-04-27T13:03:00.000-05:00

Those motherfuckers! They will pay a heavy price be it in this world or the next. When you have Jews beating other Jews with a smile on their faces in OUR OWN COUNTRY, it's clear that the shit is going to hit the fan.

Ariel Sharon better fix this situation fast. The secular Jews of Israel are going to destroy our country before the arabs even have a chance.

Watch this clip.

Hattip: Shriemel

Count the Omer with Homer

2005-04-27T10:16:00.000-05:00

http://www.jvibe.com/homer/Welcome.html

Chew on this Michael Schiavo

2005-04-26T15:06:00.000-05:00

Read.

Some creative SPAM

2005-04-26T12:20:00.000-05:00

Dear Friend,

I am Mrs. Suha Arafat, the wife of Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader who died recently in Paris. Since his death and even prior to the announcement, I have been thrown into a state of antagonism, confusion, humiliation, frustration and hopelessness by the present leadership of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the new Prime Minister. I have even been subjected to physical and psychological torture. As a widow that is so traumatized, I have lost confidence with everybody in the country at the moment.

You must have heard over the media reports and the Internet on the discovery of some fund in my husband secret bank account and companies and the allegations of some huge sums of money deposited by my husband in my name of which I have refuses to disclose or give up to the corrupt Palestine Government.

In fact the total sum allegedly discovered by the Government so far is in the tune of about $6.5 Billion Dollars. And they are not relenting on their effort to make me poor for life. As you know, the Moslem community has no regards for woman, more importantly when the woman is from a Christian background, hence my desire for a foreign assistance.

I have deposited the sum of 21 million dollars with a Security financial firm in whose name is withheld for now until we open communication. I shall be grateful if you could receive this fund into your bank account for safe keeping and Investment opportunity. This arrangement will be known to you and I alone and all our correspondence should be strictly on email alone because our government has tapped all my lines and are monitoring all my moves.

In view of the above, if you are willing to assist for our mutual benefits, we will have to negotiate on your Percentage share of the $21,000,000 that will be kept in your position for a while and invested in your name for my trust pending when my Daughter, Zahwa, will come off age and take full responsibility of her Family Estate/inheritance. Please, if you are honest, I am going to entrust more funds in your care as this is one of the legacy we keep for our children. In case you don't accept please do not let me out to the security and international media as I am giving you this information in total trust and confidence I will greatly appreciate if you accept my proposal in good faith and send to me your complete personal contact information.

May God bless you and your household.

Yours sincerely,

Suha Arafat
Reply to suha43@steam.to

AWwww Poor Suha

Hey Mom

2005-04-22T10:21:00.000-05:00

Chag Sameach!

For a successful Aliyah

2005-04-21T11:56:00.000-05:00

So there is this guy we know who used to live here in Chicago but he moved to Israel 10 years ago. He comes to the states around 10 times a year for business.

Last Shabbat, I was talking with him at length about life in Israel and about what it's like for him and his family to be olim. Let me just start by saying that this man is fascinating. He is a brilliant lawyer who is living his life exactly the way he wants it. Before he got married, he and his wife both new that they wanted to make Aliyah. They put together a financial plan and decided that they would move once they had $15,000 saved. They calculated that it would take them 5 years to put away the $15,000. They lived extremely modestly, not buying any garbage that they didn't need. They had 1 crappy and lived in a small apartment. They ended up moving in 5 and half years.

They now have 8 children and live happily ever after not far from Tel Aviv. BTW they haven't had a car in Israel since the day they got there.

He told me that the key to be a successful oleh is modest living. He said that you have people in Israel that would love to lend you money, but the reason a lot of people fail is because they can't pay back their debts. They actually still have debtors prison in Israel.

He at one point launched into a calm rant about the problems of Jewish life in America....
"So in America you have to come up with $10,000 - $15,000 a year for tuition per kid. You have 1 or 2 poor schools to choose from, your kids come home from school hating it. The husband has to be making Well over $100,000 to support there Jewish lifestyle which means he's working his 50 hours a week and maybe learning an hour of Torah a week, maybe even 2 hours if he's lucky. He gets see his kids on Shabbat if he's lucky and they're home for Shabbat. Life becomes a struggle to keep up this unnecessary lifestyle in Galut." "In Israel", he says "you only need to pay for books" Only books?? He tells me that ALL of his kids LOVE school. And if they didn't, he'd easily send them to another one.
Continued...."In Israel, if a pregnant lady gets on a bus, 4 people get up to offer up their seats. The lady then sit down and she can pass a $20 up the chain of people to the driver, and the get all of her change passed back to her."

This is my favorite quote from the conversation.."Life in America is a about comfort. Life in Israel is about meaning."

So true.

Hadag Nachash Show

2005-04-20T11:53:00.000-05:00

Sunday night we went to see Hadag Nachash at the House of Blues. We're not big into Israeli music but over the past few months we have become huge Hadag phans.
We "obtained" all 3 of their albums:

Hamechonah Shel Ha-Groove
Lazuz
Chomer Mikomi

I'd have to say that all 3 of their studio albums are 100% solid from start to finish. The music, the samples, the rap...all excellent.

We didn't realize until we got there that it was an all ages show, so it was packed with kids. At one point my wife and I looked over and noticed at the exact same time 2 kids probably 16 years old sloppily making out. It was pretty disgusting.

Hadag proved to be an incredible live act. There amazing positive energy combined with the amazing sound quality of the House of Blues made for an unforgettable show.

We ran into Velvel and Becky at the show when he wasn't mingling with VIPs.

Hadag Nachash English lyrics here. Website here. Pictures here. Velvel review here.

Insanity in Hebron

2005-04-20T10:49:00.000-05:00

Can you explain how it's acceptable to arrest and imprison 5 young girls aged 12-14?

3 five girls were arrested 3 nights ago when a group of young girls were attempting to rebuild a shack located on 'worshippers way' between Kiryat Arbeh and Hebron. The shack was across the street from the site where 2 years ago, 12 Israeli men were murdered by arab terrorists.

The police accused the girls of attacking them which is total horseshit. (See video here)

One of the 13 year olds arrested is Yisca Federman, daughter of Noam and Elisheva Federman. She told her parents that she and the others weren't doing anything 'we were just there.' "The police saw us and arrested us, for no cause, except our presence at the site," she told them.

Following their arrest, the girls were taken before Judge Cohen, who ordered them to sign a declaration forbidding them to be anywhere near the Hebron Heroes Neighborhood for 90 days. The girls refused. The judge then ordered them to spend the night in jail.

This morning he called the girls into his courtroom one by one, and asked them if they understood that if they continued to refuse to sign the declaration, they would spend all of Passover behind bars. Each girl answered that she understood. He then asked them if they would sign and they all refused, one at a time. Judge Amnon Cohen decreed, 'then you will remain in prison until further notice.'

On the one hand I am so impressed by the strength of these girls it brings tears to my eyes (not literally of course). On the other hand, what the hell is going on with the Israeli government? I think it's pretty obvious that these girls were being arrested purely for political reasons. What's there crime? They are orthodox Jews living in Hebron and that sickens the Israeli left. It infuriates Arik Sharon that the frum Jews won't just pack up their shit and quietly hand their homes over to the terrorists.

Sure Hebron is tough to defend. I understand that the army has to escort Jewish residents from A to B.

But I hardly think the solution is to pack up and call it a day? What would Avraham Avinu think? We need to crack down, we need to tighten our fists. They think they can hurl boulders at us, we bulldoze there homes. They think they can massacre 12 Jews walking home on Shabbat, we wipe out there entire village. We need a new leader who has the Beitzim to stand up to the challenge. Ariel Sharon is tired, he needs a permanent rest from politics.

The girls are still in jail, and will not be released today. There is a good chance that there Pesach seder will be in prison. G-d should give them strength and comfort.

UPDATE: This morning Jerusalem Municipal Appeals Court Judge Saban voided the previous Jerusalem Magistrate court decision, requiring that five girls, aged 12 – 14, sign an order limiting their access to the Hebron Heroes neighborhood for 90 days. The girls were released on bond without any restrictions.

These girls should be an example to us all. Stand up for what you know is right, and G-d will do the rest.

Who side are you on anyway?

2005-04-14T11:23:00.000-05:00

You want to kick these people out of there homes.......

And give there land to them.........

The only comfort for me is that this MUST be the catapult to the coming of Moshiach. What other explaination could there be?

Is it Friday yet?

2005-04-13T15:39:00.000-05:00

Why move to Israel?

2005-04-13T15:27:00.000-05:00

Moving to Israel
By: Sim Zacks
5/5/2003

"Why are you moving to Israel?" Surprisingly, this question most often comes from Jewish people, as non-Jews find it very understandable why a Jew might want to live in Israel. It is very hard to come up with an answer to this question; it is so simple and profound at the same time.
God himself gave Israel to the Jews as an inheritance. He said to Abraham, "And this land about which I have spoken, I will give to your descendants as an inheritance forever." While we are currently in exile, even in our own land, the holiness and special feeling of living in Israel still exists. The existing government, no matter what form it may take, cannot remove that holiness no matter what they try to do. Thankfully, we currently have a Jewish government in Israel, and while it is mostly secular it does incorporate a number of religious precepts into the daily living. For example, on Shabbos public buses do not run and commerce is not allowed in most situations. Jewish holidays are national vacation days. The religion that the government espouses is mostly cultural in nature, as opposed to religious, such that non-religious Jews are allowed to violate Shabbos without punishment, but businesses are symbolically closed.

The entire culture of Israel is Jewish. Christmas passes with nary a whimper, except in Christian strongholds like Bethlehem. On Purim all the stores and malls have Purim themes and religious and non-religious alike dress in costumes and celebrate being saved from the wicked Haman. On Yom Kippur, there is barely a car on the highways as everyone keeps the Day of Atonement. There is no need for excuses when you want to take off 8 days for Pesach, or compromising and working during chol hamoed. No matter what religious or cultural philosophy you follow, modern day Israel has a distinct Jewish character. The holy sites around the country are Jewish, for the most part, and respected as such. History that is learned in secular public school contains the Tanach, for the most part, and Israeli non-religious public school kids could beat American religious yeshiva students in a Tanach contest.

The Jewish culture in Israel makes it easier and more enjoyable to live there, but that in itself is not the reason we would want to live in Israel. If that same environment existed in Uganda, as was proposed by a Zionist convention, there would not be the same desire to live there. The land of Israel is only the Jewish place that it is because God gave it to as a special place where he rests his presence on Earth. In Israel everything that happens is magnified. Events that happen in Israel will make front-page headlines globally, while similar events in other countries will never make the news. The powers and inclinations of good and evil are especially powerful in Israel. There are no fence sitters living there. Everyone has an opinion and needs to tell it to everyone, whether it be religious, political social or just about anything else. The Torah learning in Israel reaches levels that cannot be seen in the United States or elsewhere in the world. The Jewish anti-religious groups, on the same note, also reach levels that cannot be seen anywhere else in the world among people of the same religion. The entire world is focused on Israel, a small country about the size of the State of New Jersey, and everything it does has an effect on the world. I don't remember a day in the past 15 years that Israel has not been in the headlines.

Jews have a concept, "If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten." It seems that in the 21st century, when Israel has a good economy, there are jobs available and the move is not as difficult as it once was, that Jews have forgotten Jerusalem. Instead of making excuses, which may be very valid, for not going to Israel, they ask for rationale of why someone would want to move there. I believe that since we have forgotten Jerusalem, God has taken it into his own hands to ensure that we remember. Terrorist attacks and national news headlines keep Israel in the Jewish public awareness. If we would all do our part and really remember Jerusalem by moving to Israel and waiting for Mashiach there, rather then merely putting one day, Tisha B'av, to be set aside to mourn her destruction, maybe God would be able to lessen his actions and keep the global headlines to a minimum.

Another great story.

Hhhmmmm......

2005-04-07T14:11:00.000-05:00

Have you ever noticed how many of us seem to live "lives of quiet desperation",
as Henry David Thoreau puts it? We feel trapped by forces beyond our control,
trapped in a mindless job, for the sake of money, status or recognition. We
complain that we never seem to have the time for what's really important to us,
because our jobs take so much energy and focus that we hardly have anything left
over. We plod along day to day; sometimes we even dread getting out of bed in
the morning.

We see the futility of the standard, socially approved path
in America. It goes something like this: Go to school, get good
grades, so you can get a "good" job, make lots of money, get a
mortgage and a car and a spouse, keep up with the Joneses, and be "successful".
We know it's not the path for us; we want to define success for ourselves. But
we don't know how to forge a new path for ourselves, because, well, what would
we do for money if we quit? How would we support ourselves? Sometimes there's a
glazed look in our eyes; it's as if some part of us has died. We are just doing
time, working hard and hoping for the next promotion, waiting for the day when
we can throw off our shackles, quit our dull jobs, and finally live life.
Everything gets put on hold until we have more time, or more money. Meanwhile,
life is passing us by.

Why Work?

Bend-over Whitey!

2005-04-07T09:34:00.000-05:00

No matter what happens to me today, it will remain a great day. Not because tomorrow is Shabbat, but because White Supremecist and notorious cry baby Matthew Hale was given the maximum sentence of 40 years in prison for his crime of conspiring to murder a federal judge.
Hale was convicted last year of asking an FBI informant to murder judge Lefkow.

ooooooooooo ouch! That's going to be some real hard time for a scrawny little bitch like little Matthew. I'm sure he'll make some large black bubba real happy.

Hale is the piece of crap who dispatched the wacko Benjamin Smith on a shooting spree through Jewish neighborhoods in Chicago and in Skokie which left Ricky Byrdsong dead, before killing himself at the end of a long car chase with police in downstate Illinois.

As the sentance was read Hale was weeping like a little baby and crying about his Daddy.
THAT is what I'm going to remember about Matt Hale.

Check it out.....

2005-04-06T11:14:00.000-05:00

http://efsi.blogspot.com/2005/04/israels-next-war.html

It's Been A While

2005-04-05T16:17:00.000-05:00

Let's see........

Purim was amazing. I had some old friends in town, and we had some good times. Some drinking, some smoking, some chesed, and lots of great music.

Terri Shiavo.....R.I.P.

The Pope..........R.I.P.

MoChassid is happy again

Oh..I can't stomach DovBear anymore.

New site called ENGAGE. Check it out frequently, it's a wonderful new project that I think was started by Israpundit. I may be contributing from time to time when I'm pissed enough about news in Israel.

Matisyahu's live album comes out 4/19, which I'm sure will be better than Velvel's shitty bootleg collection.

Still waiting for the new Blue Fringe album

Moshav Band is finally coming to town on 5/15. Kick-ass! Only problem is, I think it's during the 3 weeks....maybe even the 9 days...ugh. Anybody know for sure?

Kfar has done it again. Davis is bringing in my favorite Israeli band Hadag Nachash. To the House of Blues which should be interesting. Hey Adam How about getting Moshav to do something Kfar as long as their in town?

That's it for now. Make sure to read ENGAGE. Peace.

A Sleeping Jew, is a Dead Jew

2005-03-17T10:12:00.000-06:00

From the mouth of Walid Shoebat former PLO terrorist.

My Mom took me to see him speak last night.
Walid Shoebat was born in Bethlehem. His grandfather was the Muslim chieften of Bethlehem and good friend of the grand fuck of Jerusalem hadj-hameen-al-husseini. hadj-hameen-al-husseini was a nazi ally and personal friend of hitler. He was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Jews. hadj-hameen-al-husseini often came to the Shoebat home for meals.

Walid Shoebat told us the story of his first lynching of an Israeli soldier.
He told us the story of his first bomb that he planted (no one was hurt).

He told us the story of the first time he felt bed for the Jews. It was in Chevron when he saw a group of Jews in Chevron getting on a bus to take them to Kiryat Arba and the bus was bullet proof with metal all around it. He saw an arab mob running towards the bus and bombarding it with rocks. Not pebbles, big freeking rocks. At that point he felt angry at himself for having sympathy for the Jews.

Walid told us about how things work in the arab world. Not "Palestine" but the entire arab world. From birth they are taught to hate Jews. They are taught to kill Jews. They are not taught about Jewish heritage or Jewish history or even about the Holocaust. They don't even know what a Jew is but they know that they are pure evil. They are taught that The cannanites, that Avraham Avinu, that Moshe Rabbeinu are arabs. All of their childrens songs are about war and about killing Jews. Walid sang some of the songs he was taught about hating and killing. He then sang us some songs that he personally liked. They were called Shalom Alecichem, Al Col Eleh, and Hatikvah. Songs of peace and hope.

Walid's father came to America and met a naive American girl who new nothing about the arab world. She converted to Islam and married Walid's father. When they went back to Bethlehem to meet Walid's grandparents, she was told that she was now a muslim and could not return to the United States. Ever. She secretly studied the bible and converted to Christianity. She was secretly baptized in a Jerusalem YMCA swimming pool. Walid rescued his mother in 1995 and brought her home to the states to be reunited with her mother (Walid's grandmother) where they live today. She was basically trapped in the arab world for 35 years.

Walid's messages to us were as follows:
- Marry into your faith whether you are Muslim, Jewish, Christian, or Athiest.
- The arab hatred towards Jews is not simply an issue of education. It goes way deeper. It's about spiritual brainwashing.
- This conflict is not about occupation. The arabs of Israel lived happily under British rule, Ottoman rule, and under many other leaderships during the 2000 years that we werent the leadership. If it was just an issue of occupation then why do ALL of the arab countries hate us? What did Israel ever do to Iran?
- Don't put up with their refugee bullshit. There are over 850,000 Jewish refuges that were booted out of ALL the 22 arab countries. Why is it that over 1.2 million arabs can live peacefully within Israel and enjoy full benefits, and not one Jew can live in arab lands?
- What good did Oslo bring to Israel? Does anyone in Israel feel at peace? WHY THE HELL WOULD ANYONE DARE TO TRY PEACE AGAIN?
- Don't trust abbas. He is a Holocaust denying terrorist.
- Never forget Joseph-nacht. They took Joseph's tomb which is holy to Muslims as well as Jews and desecrated it like animals. They shit on it, and painted the dome green. If that wasn't enough they freeking torched it

Walid Shoebat is amazing. This is an arab who sees the truth about Israel and the Jews. He tours the world non-stop trying to show the world the truth about Israel and about Islamic extremism.

He brought us no message of hope. He didn't share any plans for peace, only the reality of the situation. WE ARE AT WAR. There is no hope of peace. He told us that it is a hiostorically proven fact that Israel will be here tomorrow. Israel will forever remain Jewish as long as we stay awake and hold our ground. Giving up land to the arabs is suicide and Sharon must be stopped.

"My definition of Zionism is, Leave us alone"
It's clear that the Jews have been murdered and persecuted long enough. Israel is our home once again so leave us alone.

Survivor Palau Update

2005-03-17T09:04:00.000-06:00

let me just say to any Survivor fans out there who aren't watching this season because last season basically sucked, YOU ARE MISSING OUT
This is an awesome season with some of the greatest Survivor moments ever. Get the DVD.

Last night I saw Simply Tsfat......

2005-03-14T10:01:00.000-06:00

Last night the band Simply Tsfat was here to do a benefit for Sharei Bina, a seminary in Tsfat. I don't think Sharei Bina benefited to much from the show though considering there where only about 75 people there from what I could tell. The admission was $18 so that's only about $1300.

Simply Tsfat are 3 extremely talented musicians who are also Breslov Chassidim, you know...those N NA NACH NACHMAN guys who you see dancing motsei Shabbat in Kikar Tzion and are always so freekin happy. They are Eliyahu the band leader who plays acoustic guitar and is the primary vocalist, Yonaton the insanely talented flamenco guitarist and only Israeli born member of the trio, and Yehonaton the violinist. Last night they had a fourth member, the greatest Jewish rock drummer that I've ever seen Even Sh'Siyah's own Matt Kanter.

The crowd was so freekin pathetic I felt bad for them. Out of the 50 or so men (there was physical separation between the men and woman) that I saw, 45 of them looked liked they died in there seats. At one point the band broke out into an Adar jam and Yonaton jumped off the stage and physically dragged every single sad man out of their chairs to the dance floor. It was beautiful.

The band played a bunch of there newer stuff including quite a few songs off of their Be Happy album. They played many instrumentals which was just fine with me because there vocals are not the greatest although their voices are more enjoyable in a live setting. Matt was incredible and you could just tell that these guys loved playing with him. They are so much fun to watch because they are genuinely happy people. They are the nicest guys and I can't wait for the opportunity to see them in their hometown...the holy city of Tsfat.

Crazy Settlers

2005-03-14T09:18:00.000-06:00

Read.

Lord Get Me High, Get Me Higher

2005-03-08T16:41:00.000-06:00

I'm not one to feel "down" very often. "Down" is a useless state of mind to be in and for me it's fairly easy to remain positive in my head, even though I may not seem so positive from the outside. Sometimes it happens though. Today for instance I was feeling a bit down, and one of the main contributing factors was......wouldn't you know it.....MONEY.

Fucking money. I hate you money. How fucking dare you get in my head and stress me out. How dare you try and take over my life like you do too every other poor schmuck in this G-d forsaken country of ours. You come after me with your movies and your tv. With your clothes and your shoes. With your useless fucking electronics and evil cars. Polluting minds and destroying lives. Well fuck you. You aint gonna get me.

The point of this little post was not complain. I want to share an amazing album with you. It takes me right up when I'm down. I just slap on some headphones, and it takes me right out of this bacteria polluted wasteland of miserable pathetic content assholes. The album is called Return Again by The Moshav Band.

It's also great music for pre-Shabbat.

Breaking the comfort barrier

2005-03-02T15:09:00.000-06:00

I just read another wonderful story on Aish Hatorah that I wanted to share. It's about one woman's return to Yiddeshkeit. Take it or leave it. For me it hit home. Read the story here

Evanston cares about the environment....

2005-03-02T11:40:00.000-06:00

I live in beautiful Evanston, a suburb of Chicago bordering on Chicago's north side on Lake Michigan. The people are friendly, the city is clean, the houses are old and massive. I live on the south side of Evanston where the houses are mostly average. There is one street separating my house in Evanston and the city of Chicago.

Aside from the huge difference in the price of houses (Chicago being more expensive) there is one obvious difference between the Evanston side and the Chicago side.....TREES.

Evanston has way more trees. There are beautiful tall trees everywhere. Unfortunately over the last few years we have been losing close to 200 Elm trees every years to the devastating Dutch Elm Disease. A couple of years ago they had to chop down an Elm tree that was around since George Washington was president because it was infected.

Fortunately, there is a cure that is quite effective at treating DED.

Last night thanks to To Rescue Evanston Elms or TREE, the city of Evanston's latest budget has been changed to include $858,000 that will be used for preservation and inoculation of more than 3,000 elm trees.

SWEET!

Hat tip: The Chicagoist

2005-03-02T10:32:00.000-06:00

Reality TV Reminder:

2005-03-01T15:52:00.000-06:00

Tonight begins the greatest Amazing Race yet. 8pm CST. If you like good reality TV you'll want to watch this.

How she saved my life.....

2005-03-01T15:44:00.000-06:00

I used to spend my days and nights doing nothing. I was harming myself Spiritually and Physically. Whether it was drugs, video games, or just causing serious trouble for other people (which I won't detail here). What a waste.

I may have never gotten out of that miserable existence had it not been for my then girlfriend who broke things off with me after I what I think must have been 3 years of dating. How could she have possibly stayed with me? She was an excellent student with ambitions. She was going somewhere and I clearly wasn't.

That incident motivated me to change. I was a 17 year old dropout doing drugs and sleeping all day, sometimes working as a mover. After the breakup I spent a couple miserable weeks drinking before my friends and I could no longer afford to live in the apartment we were living in and packed up are shit and went our separate ways.

One of the guys I was living with in the apartment decided to go to Israel. To the Diaspora Yeshiva. Having nothing to stick around for, I decided to go too. Israel was probably the most incredible experience of my life. I didn't really have such a connection with G-d when I was there, more with the land and people. After I was there for a couple of months, my ex-girlfriend came to Israel on a program. We met up in Israel and needless to say, we couldn't stay apart. She ended up staying in Israel and attended Bar-Ilan. For the rest of our stay in Israel we were inseparable.

When we came back to the states, I went to School and got a job (my current job). I have now been married to that same girl for over 3 years now and it has been unbelievable. Had it not been for my wife breaking up with me at that time (something I could not understand then), who knows where I'd be now. I certainly wouldn't have made it to Israel...that I know for sure.

We must always work to better ourselves. To try and get the most out of life.

Hope

2005-03-01T13:44:00.000-06:00

Interview with Moshe Feiglin Via: Arutz Sheva. Men Like Feiglin give me hope during such low point in Israeli politics.

The chairman of the largest united voting bloc within the Likud Central
Committee spoke about efforts to throw him out of the Likud, the problem with
Israel's national religious parties and his confidence in the Jewish people.

Feiglin spoke with Tamar Yonah and Eli Stutz during Israel National
Radio's Weekend Edition:

Tamar Yonah: There are people in the country
who claim to be pro-democracy who are saying that you should not be allowed to
run the next time around. Why don't you tell us about that?

Moshe
Feiglin: In Israel we have a very special kind of democracy. It is a democracy
for about 7% of the population. It reminds me of the first democracy in
Greece - in Athens - where there was democracy, but only for certain
very small segments of the population. So we have a democracy for opinions
ranging between [far-left parliamentarians] Yossi Beilin and Yossi Sarid, but
not for anyone else. Not only that, but this democracy includes what I am
calling a totalitarianism of ideas. This means you can go vote every four years,
but it's like flipping a coin with the same thing on both sides. You have a
right to flip the coin, but no choice what is on each side. That is the special
kind of democracy we are living in.

Eli Stutz: So Moshe, what is the
progress on those who are trying to prevent you from running to be a member of
the Knesset?

MF: So far so good, they have not succeeded, thank G-d. But
even if that will happen, G-d forbid, we already have a number two, a number
three and a number four ready. We are at the point today when good people within
the Likud who share our ideology make up at least 10% of the party. It is their
strength that is making Ariel Sharon very frightened. Ehud Barak said last week
that there is not any form of opposition to Sharon in the Knesset, but that
Manhigut Yehudit - the 'Feiglinites' as he called them constitutes the only real
threat to Sharon.

ES: What's remarkable to me, Moshe, is that the Labor
and Likud parties have found enough in common to form a coalition, yet the
right-wing and religious camp in Israel is so split. We have so much in common,
yet at the same time we just saw Effie Eitam and Yitzchak Levy leave the
National Religious Party to create the Religious Zionism Party. Why is it that
we are so split in the national religious camp?

MF: I will answer that
question on the ideological level if you don't mind. I think the problem with
the religious Zionists, with the 'knitted-kippot' as they say, is that they have
not had the guts to lead - to say, 'We are the next generation of leaders of
Israel.' On the other hand, deep inside, the people of Israel are waiting for us
to lead, because there is no other sector who has the abilities that we have -
meaning Zionism on one hand and a real Jewish faith on the other hand - a
combination of them both. When you have a tool that doesn't serve a purpose, it
disintegrates, and this is what happening to us.

TY: Moshe, I want to
ask you how they can bar you from running next time for the Knesset. What are
they going to charge you with in order to say you are not eligible to run?

MF: I really don't know. They will probably try to pull something out of
their sleeve. However, Manhigut Yehudit is not a movement of a person. Why do
they call us the 'Feiglinites'? Because they are trying to portray us as a bunch
of people going blindly after a person. But that is not what we are at all. It
is a movement of an idea, and because it is a movement like that, they cannot
stop us.

TY: But if they can get you, they can get the whole party, just
like they did with the Kach party. It wasn't just Rabbi Meir Kahane that they
banned, but they made his whole party illegal.

MF: Rabbi Kahane, of
blessed memory, was a movement of one man. That is the difference. I hope we can
not only learn from the good things he did, but also here and there, from his
mistakes.

ES: We are still reeling here from the terror attack Friday
night and looking for things we can do about it. Do you have any suggestions for
people here?

MF: Look, we have a Chief of Staff that has already said
that the disengagement will be a tail-wind for terror. And that is what we see
today. As long as we give the Arabs our land, terror will always increase. The
only way to stop terror is to go back to our roots, to our justice - to
annex the land, to make sure that they understand and that the entire world
understands that we know that this is our land, that this is our country and
that whoever is going to start with us will pay a tremendous price. But when we
lose our own justice, we merely whet their appetite for more and more Jewish
blood because we communicate to them that they are right - that justice
lies on their side.

TY: If you were the prime minister of Israel, what
would be your solution to bring security and peace to Israel and to fulfill the
destiny of the Jewish people here in our land?

MF: Well, first we have
to understand that peace and security are not the reason why we came to this
part of the Middle East - to the Land of Israel. We would have much greater
peace and security in Australia, New Jersey or New Zealand. We are here to serve
one purpose only: to be complete Jews. The State of Israel is a tool to serve
that purpose - to enable the Jews to fulfill their mission on Earth. When
we do that we will have peace and security. But if we think we came here just to
run away from the gas chambers - and that is why when anyone comes to Israel we
first bring him to [Holocaust museum] Yad VaShem, to show him why we are
here - then we are mistaken. We are not here because we are running from
the gas chambers, we are here for a positive reason. We are on a mission. Only
when we understand that, will we be able to really protect ourselves. And that
will be the point when we will have peace and security.

TY: But can I
ask you about specific steps? What would you do now? Israel has again signed
empty promises with the PLO and again they have been broken. They agree to stop
the terror and then there are more attacks. How would you respond? What steps
would you take?

MF: We are supplying the water, telephones, electricity,
cement, medicine, food - everything to this population where the terrorist
murderers come out from. Why would we do that? We make this differentiation
between those who are terrorists and the rest of the population - which we
cannot touch? Why? Why do we not care about your children but care so much about their children? It's because our entire world view of values has gotten mixed
up. I am telling you again, it is very easy to win that war, but the source of
the problem is not a military issue, the source of the problem it is that we
forgot who we are and what we are doing here.

TY: Let's say you go in
there and you turn off their electricity and water to punish them and to make
them reign in their terrorists -

MF: We wouldn't be going in at
all, this is done from outside -

TY: Fine, but what happens when
the world says, "Because you did this, we are going to place sanctions on
Israel. We are not going to sell you parts for your airplanes or tanks, we are
declaring boycotts. How would you respond to that?

MF: How did we
respond to that before the Six-Day-War? How did we respond to that before the
'48 war? When you know that you are right and when you are a real leader and
convince your people that you have a real war with justice behind it, people are
willing to sacrifice. And the whole world can jump [in a lake]. But you can only
do that when you supply a real sense of justice for the public, and you will not
be able to do that without referring to their Jewish points. You must believe in
the Jewish people, and when you do that they will follow you.

ES: I went
on the Ministry of Defense web site and they have a map on it of the big fence
they are building to supposedly protect Israelis from suicide bombers. I was
looking at the route and it's been moved even further west, closer to the 1949
armistice lines - the Green Line. The reason I was looking at it was that
over Shabbat I visited a town on the eastern side of this fence - the side that
the government perhaps wants to relinquish and I thought to myself, 'is this
wise?' Later, a family member told me 'It is not wise to move to such an area
that is in such doubt. This is a time of great change in Israel and you should
wait and see whether it remains part of Israel or whether it will be given
away.' What would your reaction be to that type of statement, Moshe?

MF:
I think the key word used is the word 'doubt.' Sharon is really using
psychological warfare against some of the best people of Israel to put doubt in
their hearts. He wants to give them the feeling that maybe they should follow
his way, that his way is inevitable and the only one attached to reality. I
think we are being tested today. Are we strong enough? Do we truly believe in
the people of Israel, in the Land of Israel, in our Father in Heaven? Do we
follow G-d, or this dictator Sharon? And this is the test that I am sure we are
going to pass and I am sure we are going to be very proud to be able to tell our
children and grandchildren about it in generations to come.

I can tell
you on a personal note, I bought a piece of land in Kfar Darom, in Gaza.
[Manhigut Yehudit Managing Director] Michael Fuah did the same. This is nothing
compared to the people who actually live there. Every agricultural business in
Gush Katif has put tens of thousands of dollars into his business in recent
weeks because now they are planting in their hothouses to be able to deliver
their produce for next winter. Each one of them is thinking today, 'Why should I
put tens of thousands of dollars that will not be given to me if I am pulled out
of here?' The test you and I are dealing with is nothing compared to what these
heroes are going through. They are paying twice. They are getting bombarded with
bombs and rockets on one hand and the government is destroying them on the other
hand, yet they are holding strong. Because of these heroes - and these are
real heroes - because of them, we, the Jewish people are going to pass the
test.

We are living in a tremendous generation. We see terrible,
terrible people like [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon and [PM Sharon's son, Likud
MK] Omri [Sharon] and [Sharon advisor Dov] Weisglass on one hand, and the
unbelievable faith, courage and heroism of the settlers of Gush Katif and the
northern Shomron on the other hand. As a believer, I am looking toward the sky
and thinking of HaShem (G-d) and I know that in their merit G-d will keep Gush
Katif with us.

ES: I want to thank you for being on Israel National
Radio's Weekend Edition. May we all have the kind of faith you have.

4 Misconceptions Jews Have About Judaism

2005-02-24T14:43:00.000-06:00

This is great. I've had some of those misconceptions and I couldnt agree more.

Via: Aish HaTorah

Blogger Issues

2005-02-21T11:59:00.000-06:00

Does any body know why if I type out a post in MS Word and copy and paste it into Blogger, Blogger won't recognize certain characters like apostrophes, commas, and quotations? It's really irritating. Some one HELP!!! Velvel? Anybody?

My Aliyah Nightmare

2005-02-21T11:31:00.000-06:00

I think a lot about living in pre-messianic Israel but I don't know if it could ever be a true possibility as long as frum Jews are treated as terrorists and terrorists are treated as citizen. I am going crazy. I am dyeing to do something, but what can I do??! This a wonderful time to live in Israel if you are a left wing self-hating Jew. Frum Jews who peacefully protest disengagement are thrown in jail for weeks without being charged, terrorists that have murdered Jewish children are being freed from prison, Religious settlers are being evicted from there homes, the arabs who have been bombing Netzarim for the past 4 years are being rewarded by being presented with a nice piece of land called.......Netzarim.

I can't stand to watch the Israeli left led by rogue warrior Sharon and Abbas destroy the Jewish homeland. It's killing me because nothing can be done to stop Sharon. He is a madman.

As long as religious Jews are being persecuted in Israel I will not even think about making Aliyah. I can't. It would be completely irresponsible to my family. If in the middle of the night 8 soldiers kicked in my door and through me in jail for an unknown period of time what the hell would my wife do?

The majority of Israeli's don't want to kick Jews out of their homes and give their land to a bunch of inbred terrorists.

Sharon's time is up. The dictator must go.

Office Idiots

2005-02-15T13:33:00.000-06:00

Anyone who reads this Blog often probably knows the I HATE my current Job. I have been working at 'The Office' for just under 4 years. We are a software company of anywhere between 20 - 35 employees at any given time. If you've ever seen the movie Office Space then you will understand my workplace. I pretty much can't stand anybody that I work with and the feeling is for the most part mutual. I can't count my office allies on one hand and I've been here longer than everybody except for maybe 10 people.

3 people in particular have really been making it really hard for me lately and I want to strangle them.

The most irritating of them all is an extremely nice muslim fellow from Pakistan who we'll refer to as Foolish. Foolish might be one of the most harmless people I've ever met. While it's refreshing to know a muslim who doesn't care if you are Jewish or Kurdish, the guy is a complete and total MORON. He has been here for 3 years and still knows next to nothing about our products. I have to be working with this guy constantly for I am the Development support for the tech support Engineers who deal directly with the customers. For some reason the Engineering manager who appears to be fairly competent despite the fact that seems to be living his life as if it were still the 1950's, doesn't realize that Foolish doesn't understand the difference between up and down. So what does Engineering manager do?? He puts Foolish in charge of support for 2 customers. Nice.
So on a daily basis I'm retraining him on our platform. Sometimes I think I should just record some instructional tapes for this idiot and he can play them as he's going to bed. That way maybe SOMETHING will sink in. Until then I'll probably just try and grow some more gray hairs and keep hitting the ole punching bag after work.
Here is his photo courtesy of Velvel....

The next guy on difficult list we'll call Carl. The origin of Carl is from the Simpsons (Velvel came up with that dead on comparison). We have to two of the support engineers here are best friend's or best enemy's depending on how you look at it. Anyways they look and bicker just like Lenny and Carl. Well Carl is another guy who has been here for a couple of years and doesn't know much about the system. The difference between Carl and Foolish is that Foolish is a nice guy who is dedicated to the company but just doesn't have any smarts. Carl is a defensive prick who is completely disloyal to the company (and everyone else for that matter) and is to stubborn to learn the company platform. What really irks me is that he whines about other people and other departments to his manager. He is in essence an immature 7 year old with 5 kids. Message to Carl: STOP KEEPING TRACK OF WHEN OTHER PEOPLE ARE COMING AND LEAVING, AND DON'T WORRY ABOUT HOW LONG I WENT OUT FOR LUNCH. YOUR MANAGER IS AWARE OF YOUR INEFFICIENCIES SO START WORRYING ABOUT YOUR OWN DAMN SELF BEFORE YOU GET FIRED. ASSHOLE.
Here is his photo.....

The last guy is probably the most hazardous. There I no reason to use an alias here because this guy has a nickname already that says it all. Sneazie. This is the 30 year Lucent veteran type if that means anything to you. Basically the guy knows more about telecom and SS7 protocol than any human should. He is the nerd of nerds. The problem is he has the absolute worst breath out of anyone on the planet. You can't possibly imagine the stench and I can't accurately describe it but I'm sure it would smell similar to the inside lining of a hippopotamus carcass that has been rotting in the sun for weeks. Not only that but the guy is ALWAYS sick. He is coughing and sneezing all the time around the office. Normally I would have sympathy for a guy like Sneazie, but he's an inconsiderate schmuck. He will cough or sneeze directly in your face without hesitation. Either he is completely oblivious to the point of no longer being connected to reality or he's some kind of deranged psychopath that gets off by spreading disease. Either way, we've been working on a project together and I'm going out of my mind.
Here is his photo.....

I can go on toughing it out with Foolish and Carl, but if I get sick.....

My Alma-Mater

2005-02-10T15:25:00.000-06:00

Hillel Torah was the day school that I attended frome pre-nursury through grade 8. They did me wrong in a number of ways but at least they've done some overall good. This article says that 20% of Hillel Torah alumni make Aliyah. That is outstanding.

Rabbi Bruckenstein was the principal there forever. He finally retired a few years ago and moved to Yerushalayim.
I have always loved Rabbi B.

http://www.jafi.org.il/arts/2005/jan/3.htm

The Mitzvah of Tzitzit

2005-02-09T10:51:00.000-06:00

The Mitzvah of Tzitzit has to be one of my favorites.

"Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them that they shall make themselves tzitzit on the corners of their garments, throughout their generations and they shall place upon the tzitzit of each corner a thread of blue wool. These shall be your tzitzit, and when you see them, you shall remember all of God's commandments so as to keep them. You will then not stray after your heart and eyes after which have lead you to immorality. You will thus remember and keep all My commandments, and be holy to your God."Bamidbar (Numbers) 15:38-40

I find this to be 100% true. When I'm wearing Tzitzit and I especially when they arent tucked into my pants, I feel like I'm properly in-line so to speak. Tzitzit do remind me of G-d, and I feel more comfortable when I'm wearing them.

What really strikes me about this Mitzvah is that it's not something we HAVE to do anymore. Way back when in the old days, they had a real good fashion sense. They wore 4 cornered garb's instead of shirts. These days we don't have any cornered garments and are therefore not required to where Tzitzit, however we have created 4 cornered garments to where under our shirts so that we can fulfill G-ds commandment. That seems really cool to me.

Read a little about Tzitzit by Rav Aryeh Kaplan zt"l here

The Amazing Race Update

2005-02-09T09:00:00.000-06:00

Well last night was the finale of The Amazing Race 6. It was whatever. After Lori and Bolo were wliminated I stopped caring. What IS exiting however, is that 3 weeks from yesterday The Amazing Race 7 premiers with some interesting people.

Rob and Amber from Survivor will be a team (I predict they will be in the final 3).

Another interesting team will be Ron Young and his girlfriend. You may remember Ron Young as the Iraqi POW who's helicopter got shot down.
This seems like it will be the best season to start watching The Amazing Race.

A Journey Towards G-D......The first chapter

2005-02-08T14:34:00.000-06:00

I have been experiencing some very important changes in my life recently.
In the past few months since the holiday of Sukkoth I have been making a conscious effort to keep more and more Mitzvoth. I'm pretty sure that I have believed in G-d my whole life or at least for as long as I can remember, but I just wasn't sure about the whole Torah and Mitzvoth thing. Once I even prayed to G-d for help with something very important when someone close to me was in a bit of trouble, and by the time I got home from shul things were better as if the problem, never occurred. That experience really moved me.
Before I started my 'observance' I was feeling kind of spiritually dead. I was feeling sort of an unexplainable force that was leading me towards G-d. I felt like I had to pray.

I think this past Sukkoth was the start. It was a good opportunity, a fun holiday that didn't cross over Shabbat so my wife and I could still smoke. I had explained to my wife that I wanted to observe the Sukkoth holiday. Naturally she sounded surprised and even a bit alarmed. This was pretty understandable considering that in the last 10 years that we've been together we haven't had much of a relationship with Judaism. Well, I observed Sukkoth the best I could and it was an amazing time. After that I started going to Shacharit minyan at the Chabad close to my house. I have to say that Davening at Chabad is MUCH different then the Misnagdishe background that I was brought up with. The people are loving, accepting, and highly spiritual. I think a big part of why I have been so detached for all of these years can be blamed on my Misnagdishe upbringing. The people I went to shul with and interacted with were for the most part snooty, materialistic, closed minded, judgmental, assholes. This was not an attractive Judaism.

I also started to keep a sort of quasi-Shabbat observance. Try to keep everything except I'd watch TV and smoke. This lasted for a little while until about a month ago when a frum friend of ours from out of town stayed over for Shabbat. I decided that this was a great time to see if I was ready to keep Shabbat. As it turns out the timing was perfect. I had a wonderful Shabbat experience and I also discovered that I had absolutely no temptation at all for any of the things prohibited on the 7th day. So for the last 3 Shabbosim I have been observing the Shabbat.

In this country especially its very easy to get wrapped up in materialism and push G-d to the side. People need to take a step back and think about the bigger picture. Materialism is bullshit. Clothes, movies, work, school, cars, corporations, and even money are not a part of the big picture. While sometimes these things are important, they are also distractions. In the last few Parshiot we are reminded over and over again...This is G-d's world. He put us here and it is unhealthy to try and sideline him.

To Hell and Back

2005-01-28T10:35:00.000-06:00

Both of my computers are now fully functioning. In the past month I lost both of my PC's. They both fell victim to Adware and/or spywhere.

Noted privacy software expert Steve Gibson of Gibson Research explains: "Spyware
is any software (that) employs a user's Internet connection in the background
(the so-called 'backchannel') without their knowledge or explicit permission.
Silent background use of an Internet 'backchannel' connection must be preceded
by a complete and truthful disclosure of proposed backchannel usage, followed by
the receipt of explicit, informed consent for such use. Any software
communicating across the Internet absent of these elements is guilty of
information theft and is properly and rightfully termed: Spyware."

The people who make spyware should be banned to hell for all eternity.

First my home PC. Here I was stupid. I wasnt using protection. No Adaware No Norton anti-virus. Nothing. I got taken over by the dreaded About:blank homepage hijacker. Anybody who has experienced About:Blank knows what I've gone through. Well stubborly I refused to reload my operating system. It's to irritating and I have to much free software that I dont want to have to reload. 3 weeks it took me to irradicate the parasite. It was all over my registry, and I had 16 startup parasites that created more and more parasites every time I rebooted.

Why am I telling you all this? Hope.
It IS possible to irradicate About:blank without formating your hard drive. all you need is Remove about:blank Buddy from here. Scosoft support Dan Smith really really helped me out.

BTW My pc at work we just reformatted. It's so nice to have a nice clean PC.

The Matisyahu Show

2005-01-28T09:07:00.000-06:00

As far as Chabad Of Wisconsin is concerned, last night Matisyahu concert was most likely a success. There was an impressive turnout with a very eclectic crowd of people which is I guess is to be expected for a Baal Teshuvah Lubavitcher Chassid Hip-Hop Reggae Star.

You had your full Chabad families, complete with infants and all. There were some troubled teens. There were some "Reggae" looking people. Even some elderly folks showed up.

I would have to say that Milwaukee's Turner Hall might be THE worst place in the entire Midwest to host a Reggae concert. The Turner Hall is 150 years old and I doubt it has ever been restored at all. The floors, walls, and ceiling look like the building has been through a couple of fires at least. The sound is AWFUL.

We started out in the second row on the left, until Matisyahu came on and we almost went deaf. We moved to the middle center and put tissues in our ears which worked wonders for me. We then moved to the middle right section where we stood for a while. We finished the show in the back center of the room. You couldn't make out a single word he was singing or rapping but at least the sounds from the album I got for I have been listening to it quite a bit.

Now for the positive......
We made it from my house to the Turner in under an hour. We went with a bunch of our friends which was great. I got to meet Psycho. The band is absolutely amazing. I got to meet Matisyahu face to face and talk to him briefly. He is an excellent performer. He has an amazing energy on stage. Off stage he seems to be a very quite and humble guy. A truly wonderful Chassid.

I can't wait to see this guy at a real venue.

Fight Rockets with......Cardboard?

2005-01-18T09:31:00.000-06:00

What's Sharon's excuse for Sderot?

Maybe we could move the "green line" back a little, and consider Sderot a part of Gaza and that way he won't have to deal with the terror on the groung. Wait....Even better, maybe after Sderot we can pull back the "green line" far enough so that Jerusalem can be considered a part of the West Bank. Then we won't have to worry about the suicide bombings.

Sderot is a small Israeli City that in an area not disputed by anyone. On Israel's side of the "green line". Sderot has around 23,000 residents, and it borders the Gaza Strip. Sderot is less than 10 Kilometers from Gaza...well in range of the Kassam missile. residents of Sderot have been under constant attack from Kassam's fired from Gaza's arab village of Beit Hanoun. Prime Minister Sharon has done NOTHING to stop the attacks, so Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal turns to President Bush for help. OVER THE PAST FOUR YEARS OF FIGHTING OVER 600 KASSAM'S HAVE LANDED ON SDEROT, KILLING 4 PEOPLE SINCE JUNE.

With Sharon's Disengagement plan, the situation will only get worse. Currently there are 2 Israeli Vilages in Gaza between Beit Hanoun and Sderot. If we pull out of Gaza, there will be nothing between Sderot and the terrorists. I wonder why Sharon hasn't leveled Beit Hanoun. I wonder why he hasn't visited 17-year-old Ayala Chaya [bat Sima] Abukasis, who was critically injured in a Saturday night Kassam rocket attack in Sderot has been pronounced clinically brain dead by doctors at Soroka Medical Center.

What can they possibly do to call more attention to the situation on the ground? March to the source. Today residents of Sderot take a stand. They are marching to Beit Hanoun. The residents were stopped on a hilltop overlooking Beit Hanoun by police.

They through homemade cardboard Kassam's at the residents of Beit Hanoun.

Donate

Off to a bad start....

2005-01-12T15:13:00.000-06:00

It's been a pretty rough day for me. Let's look at the sequence of events that have happened to me today:

Wake up 2 hours late
Something wrong with my right eye, driving me completely insane
On the way to work, I was attempting to look in the mirror to check for debris (3rd time) while approaching a red light. Instead of coming to a complete stop AND THEN checking the mirror, I checked the mirror WHILE STOPPING and smacked into the ass of a beautiful white Lincoln Continental (I blame that on quitting caffeine). After complete inspection of rear bumper and trunk mechanism, driver tells me "You know, you need to be careful". Thanks.
Pulled into the parking lot of my office 1 hour and 45 minutes late....at the same time as my boss.
Left my phone at home.
Checked my eye in the bathroom mirror (4th time) and found the obstruction.... A bottom lash curled up into my eye.

I was having a terrible horrible no good very bad day.

Matisyahu Controversy

2005-01-11T14:35:00.000-06:00

I've noticed a lot of Lashon Hora laced yacking going on about Matisyahu over the past week. Most of it critical and ignorant. Members the ridiculous Yahoo Jewish music group as well as Jewish bloggers MoChassid, Steven Weiss, and BlogInDm have all had there say. Here are some great quotes...

"Someone performing reggae in BB King's and any night/dance club across America, doesn'tt represent JEWISH music."
Dumb

"What I'm missing here is what exactly is spiritually uplifting about reggae??"
And Dumber

People are ridiculous. Obviously the critics don't know their heads from their asses. If they had actually even bothered to listen to Matisyahu before making diarrhea out of their mouths, they would know that he is a holy man. His first and only album Shake Off The Dust...Arise is packed with Torah. The album includes lyrics words from Psalms, Niggunim from the Rebbe, and original lyrics all about Torah and finding love in Judaism.

Matisyahu (Matthew Miller) is a Chabad Ba'al Teshuvah. He had dreads and toured with Phish, which is where he first started to "thirst for Judaism".
Matisyahu spends his days learning in Yeshiva in Crown Heights when he isn't on tour spreading his love of G-d and Judaism.

Now why in the hell would any G-d fearing Jew have a problem with that?
The man is reaching out. I have a feeling a large percentage of the people who go to his shows would not otherwise be making a spiritual connection that night if they weren't seeing Matisyahu. I don't care if he's playing at BB Kings or 770, he's bringing Judaism to a genre of music that has never been explored by a religious Jew.

Leave it to the bitter Misnagdim to try and ruin a good thing.

So....Get the album, and check the website. He's coming soon...to a city near you!

Also, Matisyahu will be on Carson Daly TONIGHT

UPDATE: Read Psycho's take on the issue.

I'm back

2005-01-06T16:20:00.000-06:00

So I'm back from vacation. How freekin depressing. We drove to NY in 12.75 hours. No traffic issues. No weather issues. No construction issues. It was a perfect drive. We stayed in Pomona, which is a beautiful village next to Monsey in Rockland County. I won't get into the details of the trip but suffice it to say, it was great.

Made it home in 11.5 hours.

Now we are back and it SUCKS! Everyone in the NY family is sick, my wife is sick, and an hour after we got back it started to snow. It finally stopped snowing this afternoon.
Work couldn't possibly suck more than now. Nothing to look forward to, except the possibility that it will snow so fucking much that my house will be buried. Or maybe the office will collapse. I can't stand coming back to work after a great trip and seeing all the miserable pathetic corporate losers who are happy working for some cock-sucking shmuck for the rest of their crappy lives. I have 3 fucking bosses for shits sake!
One boss has the motivational speaker approach where he tries to rile you up and get you excited YAY!! I love this useless job WOOHOO! Can someone tell me what is so fucking exciting about working hard at a salary paying job with no chance for bonus or promotion while there are layoffs every year? All I have to say to him is....STOP TRYING TO MAKE SMALL TALK WITH ME AT THE FUCKING URINAL LOSER!
The second boss is the complete opposite. He is a piece of fuck that tries to scare you and insult you. Yesterday he told one of the robots that he was going bald and the he should get a toupee. Nice. He is the one who does the hiring and firing. Go figure.
Boss number 3 will not be mentioned here.

I'll let you know when I break out of the corporate trap. Stay tuned.

I hope you enjoyed my little tirade. I'll be nicer next week....I promise.

Blogging hiatus

2004-12-27T10:08:00.000-06:00

I will be in New York on vacation until mid-next week. I don't plan to look at a computer until then. Have a great week, I know I will.

It was a very Merry Knishmas Indeed....

2004-12-27T08:34:00.000-06:00

So the long awaited Knishmas concert was last night. For those who don't know what Knishmas is, it was a basically a long night of musical celebration that we are Jews....on Christmas. The concert was produced by Kfar Center.

So the advertised lineup was as follows:

The concert cost $20 a ticket, for 6 hours of good Jewish Music. Great. I was really excited about the concert but I not until it was over could I let out a big sigh of relief. See, I had many on my mind. Firstly, was my wife going to be able to sit through this entire concert? This was a big if. She had seen about 70,000 Even Sh'siyah shows with me already and I wasn't sure she could do another one, let alone 4 other bands. She did wonderfully. She had some friends there, and she enjoyed the music very much. Plus, she new how freekin excited I was, and I think that that helped.

My next worry had to do with Blue Fringe. Where they in-fact going to show? Last week I had tickets to a Kfar sponsored Soulfarm show, and a week before the show was informed that Soulfarm wasn't going to be there and that the show would carry on with Rebbesoul. No offense, but FUCK Rebbesoul. Soulfarm is one of my favorite bands lately and I was freeking pissed. Now, Kfar was promising Blue Fringe, another one of my favorite bands. Blue Fringe was in-town to perform for an NCSY convention in Itaska. The likelihood of Blue Fringe showing up in downtown Chicago on a Saturday night AFTER a gig in Itaska, seemed pretty small to me. Aside from the fact that it's far as hell, I know that often when an organization brings in a big name band, they don't like when the band plays somewhere else in town. It's usually in the contract.

I was also quite nervous for my boys at Farbringiton. I think I have been to all of there shows (5 of them?). They are a very new band and they weren't so tight until very recently. Recently they lost one of their founding members and talents to corporate America. Yosef Nathan was replaced by guitar prodigy Aryeh Goldsmith who is 'metal as hell'. They have some great originals and great covers but they needed more growing together as a band. This past Friday there was a full page feature article and picture on Farbringiton in the Chicago Reader. I'm not sure how they got this article since the band is new and relatively un-heard of. They have had 5 gigs and zero recorded tracks. However, the article was very complimentary.

Well, the acapella group was gay as hell so I won't even waste my words on them. Next, was Even Sh'siyah who rocked the house. This was one of their best shows in a while. I think when these guys play in a bar/club setting the energy is better than the energy at their usual shul gigs, and the REALLY open up.
Next, was supposed to be Yuri Lane who I've heard was pretty hot shit but he didn't show.

On to Farbringiton. Awesome! By far the best gig I've seen from them yet. Last night they were tighter than Dick Cheney. Singer Shneur Nathan had incredible command and control over his voice, and really proved himself as a singer. Upright Bassist Neer Spinner was excellent. I heard Blue Fringe in the crowd complimenting his skills. I LOVE Zev's Aishet Chayil song that he wrote for his wife Becky. Excellent. Last night Fargbringiton was the highlight of the show for me....until Blue Fringe came up.....

By 1AM most of the old people who were taking up the tables all night had cleared out of the place and Blue Fringe came on stage. My wife and I were sitting next to the stage. I think I might have even had my feet resting ON the stage. They played 3 songs from their album; City of Gold, Kacha Lo, and Shma Kolanu which I requested. They did their segue into Phish's First Tube, and they did a sweet cover of Stevie's Superstition adding that "Danny (the drummer) loves Stevie). They also played the Shidduch song which is a hidden track on their first album, My Awakening.

So Knishmas turned out to be a huge success. Thank you Kfar for a kick-ass night. Now let's get Soulfarm here, eh?

AP.......Gotta love em

2004-12-10T10:12:00.000-06:00

The Associated Press does it again. Another incredible story. Please read the following un-biased and beautifully written piece of jouralism in an article cleverly titled.....

Israeli Troops Kill Palestinian Girl

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli troops shot and killed a 7-year-old Palestinian
girl on Friday after militants fired mortar rounds at a Gaza Strip settlement,
injuring four Israelis, one of them a child, officials
said.

Palestinian militants fired three mortars at the Neve
Dekalim settlement, which is adjacent to the Khan Younis refugee camp -
seriously wounding three Israelis, one of them a child, the army said. A fourth
Israelis was lightly injured. In response, soldiers fired at the refugee
camp, where the mortars were apparently fired from, killing 7-year-old Rana
Siyam, Palestinian security sources said. The army had no immediate comment.
Palestinian militants often fire homemade mortars and missiles into Gaza Strip
settlements, but rarely cause injury or damage.

Let me just say that with this type of reporting, it's no wonder why everyone hates Israel.
Let's analyze the article shall we...

Skipping over the brilliant title,
What really happened looks to me like another prime example of arab terrorists performing their daily barrage of mortar attacks on Israel, while moving there children to the front lines in the hopes that Israel will retaliate and if there lucky, kill a child so the arabs can will another media battle. Another possibility is that the terrorists simply shot the girl themselves and are simply Setting up the Israeli army.

The AP has the nerve to say .....

In response, soldiers fired at the refugee camp, where
the mortars were apparently fired from, killing 7-year-old Rana Siyam,
Palestinian security sources said.

Apparently fired from, eh? That's nice. Real accurate. Why don't you ask the
Israel's who are 'apparently' in shock from a mortar landing on there fucking
bed where they sleep, if the scum actually fired mortars or not

Or how about this gem.....

Palestinian militants often fire homemade mortars
and missiles into Gaza Strip settlements, but rarely cause injury or
damage.

Rarely cause injury or damage??? RARELY CAUSE INJURY OR DAMAGE??!!!! You
heartless insensitive Satan loving shit-bags. I'm not sure if that statement has
me laughing or crying. I'll let the facts disprove the AP.

Source 1
Source 2

The fact is that Neve Dakalim and most other settelments recieve daily
(literally every day) attacks from mortars and snipers from Gaza. The fact is
that there is OFTEN damage. Buildings are destroyed including houses,
schools, and Shuls. People ARE often hurt. People are routinly treated for shock
and shrapnel. Whether or not you agree with the settelments, the people who live
there are some of the most pure and lovingon our planet. Meet them before you
condemn them. Either way, the world seems to be overlooking the fact that the
arabs are bombing people civilians whether you consider them innocent or not.

If that is an acceptable form of negotiation for the world, then maybe we
should start bombing Jordan.

Tonight We Light

2004-12-07T09:17:00.000-06:00

Why can't people drive in the rain? C'mon what's the big deal.
GET OUT OF MY FREEKIN WAY!!!!!!!

Now that I got that off my chest, we can put the negativity away and be joyous. Why would we be joyous on a miserable Tuesday morning at the office, you ask? Because tonight is Chanukah. For Jewish children in America today, this means gifts! My Family has always been big on Chanukah gift giving even though it has no Religious or Historical roots. The origin of gift giving on Chanukah is solely a result of Chanukah coming at Christmas time.

The Maccabees won a revolt over the murderous oppressor Antiochus IV but that is not what we are celebrating.
Alexander the Great conquered the entire Middle East and years later Antiochus IV was in charge and he no did not allow freedom of Religion. Jews were massacred, and the temple was desecrated. Judah the Maccabees led the Jews to victory.
THIS strikes me as the true miracle of Chanukah.
In actuality what we are celebrating is the miracle of the oil.

After the Greeks were driven out, there was very little oil left in the temple. The oil was for the Menorah which was supposed to burn all night every night. There was enough supply to last for one night. The oil burned for 8 nights. An eight day festival was declared to commemorate the festival of lights.

Chanukah for me means fun. There will be family get-togethers, and some awesome concerts.
To bad we don't have off of work.

Chanukah link
Knishma's Concert
Chag Sameach!

Farbreng!

2004-12-01T13:07:00.000-06:00

Today is YudTes Kislev (19th of Kislev). Here is the story about why today is special.

SklarO World vs Agriprocessors

2004-12-01T10:01:00.000-06:00

I'm completely horrified.

No longer can you assume that Kosher slaughter is humane. The cow does not always die instantly as the Talmud stipulates. In fact, I would goes so far as to say that if you are eating Rubashkins or Aarons.....YOU AREN'T EATING KOSHER MEAT!

PETA has released an undercover videotape of the insanity that is Agriprocessors Inc. It shows the cows in the Postville, Iowa jumping around, thrashing, and screaming in pain long after there throats were cut and there bodies dumped out of the metal tub that holds them while they are "killed". Rabbi Genack of the OU, the company that certifies Aaron's Best as kosher says that.."The perfect model is the headless chicken running around". Bullshit!!! Those animals are extremely alive. Watch the tape and decide for yourselves.

Thankfully, I haven't eats Rubashkins or any other meat in over 2 years. Now is a good time to take a little break from meat.

New York Times article
PETA undercover video
See what Dov Bear has to say.

UPDATE: See the Jerusalem Post article!

Another Chapter

2004-11-24T10:53:00.000-06:00

The so called 'Moderate' in the Palestinian leadership, Mahmoud Abbas is the likely candidate to become the next Ramallah dictator. He seems to be following in the footsteps of his rotting predecessor. Abbas has declared publicly that he will fight for the return of 4 million arab refugees. Great. Might as well keep them under tight siege because as long as long as the arab leadership thinks that Israel will let 4 million arabs flood the gates, we will never have peace.

I see only 2 options for relative peace at this point.

#1 - War. We need to completely wipe out all terrorist elements in the West Bank, and Gaza as well as Lebonon. This means killing a large part of the population in those areas. We didn't ask for this war but we certainly can't lose it. After we wipe out the terrorist element we regain control of all of Israel. The problems have escalated since we gave them control of Gaza and armed the terrorist. It's time to fix that mistake.

#2 - Disengagement from Gaza and total annexation of the West bank. Put up a wall around Gaza and let them all fight it out, while we retake control over all of the West Bank offering compensation to the arabs for moving to Jordan or Gaza. If we can compensate Jews for leaving Gaza, we can compensate the arabs for leaving the West Bank.

The leadership of the Palestinians doesn't change anything. We can only take comfort in knowing that arafat is dead.

Pip Pic of the Day

2004-11-22T10:17:00.000-06:00

And then some.....

New Years in New York

2004-11-18T13:19:00.000-06:00

We'll be in NY for New Years. 12/29 - 01/4. If anybody knows about any shows happening, let me know.

Finally.

2004-11-11T09:38:00.000-06:00

75. The strongest terrorist the world has ever known lived 75 years. He didn't die in some remote cave in Pakistan or a bunker 15 feet under ground in Iraq. Rahman Abdel-Raouf Arafat Al-Qudwa was personally invited by French President Jacques Chirac to die in a French hospital.

I should be thrilled. Jews have been waiting for this moment for decades. But not all Jews.
I understand perfectly well the idea held by a lot of Chassidim about not wanting a Jewish Israel until the time of the Messiah. They believe that only the Messiah can lead us back to Israel. Well that's fine and dandy if they want to believe in that concept. I believe in something different. I believe that the Jews MUST have a country of our own where we can be safe from another situation like what happened in Nazi Germany. So Chabad and I have a different opinion then those Chassidim. Fine.
I cannot however understand having solidarity for the piece of shit who is responsible for all of the brutal terrorist attacks against Jews all over the world in the last 40 years.

I'm sorry but seeing these Chassidim standing in solidarity with the murderers outside of arafat's French hospital is sickening. Those Jews should be tried and hanged. They are openly supporting the murder of innocent Jews.

So today I am not happy. Arafat should have been killed slowly with his entrails dragged through the streets of Jerusalem. Instead we have to see pictures of Jews crying over his death, and world leaders paying tribute to him. The next few days of news are going to be tough to endure.

Let's just hope that either the Palestinians all kill each other in a power struggle or Israel makes it possible for a moderate (if one exists) to take over and change the future of the arabs living in Israel. So, may france cave-in from Islamic terror and may arafat rot in hell.

Update: Check out these links....
Jeff Jacoby
Honest Reporting

A Gorilla in our midst

2004-11-03T10:56:00.000-06:00

So lately I have been going to Shul. That's right, going to Shul.

I have been going to a very interesting Chabad shul 2 blocks from my house. The shul regulars all appear to be Ballei Teshuvah, except for a couple of guys. So picture a bunch of Chassidishe guys with beards down to their stomachs wearing Gartels, but can barely read Hebrew! It seems very odd to me. Anyways, there is this big shmuck who sits in the back corner of the shul. He is the Shul heckler/candyman/head of Kiddush club. He looks vey much like a great ape although I'm not sure if he looks more like a gorilla or a Baboon. This guy talks throughout davening, making jokes at other members expense INCLUDING THE RABBI! The Rabbi will stop davening constantly for this SOB and he will continue to talk! I have learned to except this pathetic loser and move on. I wont get into the disaster that is this guys business and personal life because that is just not cool.
This morning at Shacharit, I was putting on my Tefillin along with a few other guys and the Rabbi who I have really come to love lately. His speeches are great, and he has a certain unique presence about him that I am drawn to......Back to the story.....So people were discussing the elections (all overwhelmingly supporting Bush) and someone brought up Obama, and the great ape said something to the effect of....."Owe who cares about that coon, I wouldn't vote for a Nigger" and the Rabbi smiled.

Now I am not sure if the Rabbi smiled because he knows what a pathetic lost cause that motherfucker is, or if he thought that what he said was funny. All I know is, I woke up early in the morning to pray to G-d. I came to Shul to Pray with a Minyan. As far as I am concerned, I don't think talking about the election in the sanctuary is appropriate at all but I was so shocked and offended by the whole scene. I am disappointed with the Rabbi and if I continue to Daven at this Shul long term, I guarantee a confrontation with this shitbag.

I assume they tolerate him because he is a large donor. There can't possibly be another explanation. I don't know if I can possibly continue at that Shul. I guess we'll see how it all plays out.

Needless to say, I was not in the right mindset for Davening. I was enraged. I wanted to drag that stupid hypocritical ass minstrel outside by his big ears and slam his head into the pavement. Is that so wrong?

My Guys

2004-11-03T10:02:00.000-06:00

I couldn't be happier with the outcomes of the 2004 elections. Barack Obama beat the piss out of Republican joke Alan Keyes in what will most likely be the largest ass whooping in the history of the U.S. Senate race for Illinois. A well deserved sweet victory. Barack Obama might very well be the most honest politician that I have ever known. Let's just hope that he doesn't get corrupted by Washington. Outside of his stance on abortion and support for affirmative action, I think I agree with him on most other issues. I am actually EXCITED about our new Senator. As for Keyes.....Whatever. Here is a link to some Obama stances.

As for the Presidential election....No big surprise BUSH WINS! Not officially yet, but it seems pretty clear. Most people assumed that the record voter turnout was to oust Bush, but really it was in Bush's favor. Kerry was a weak candidate plain and simple. I am just going to really enjoy the silence. Finally those insane babbling liberals will SHUT THE FUCK UP for a while. The only thing I want to know is....Who did Hillary vote for?

I love the color Red.

The Begining of the End.....

2004-10-28T09:30:00.000-05:00

In 1992 arafat survived a plane crash. He has survived countless bombings. Can he survive stomach cancer? How about old age? Reports are that he is in and out of conciousness. I have heard in recent months reports of Heart burn, kidney stones, Gall Bladder, and now stomach cancer. He is even asking for his wife. You know Suha? The terrorist queen living the life of a queen in Paris while her people are living in garbage and killing themseleves. Now where did you say the hundreds of millions of dollors went that has been donated by the world to the palestinian cause? Oh yeah, Arafat is thought to have salted away between $US300 million and $US1.3 billion in bank accounts worldwide. All palestinian aid money.

The point is arafat will soon be dead, and Israel will be safer.

In the spirit of this joyous time of arafats ill-health, I will share a letter that I first read in the comments section of a Jewschool post. Follow this link to Yisroel Goldstein's webpage and get a different perspective about the incidents surrounding the death of Dr. Goldstein. Not the media spinned version.

Dr. Pauly Blogger Loser

2004-10-27T13:14:00.000-05:00

So a funny thing happend. You may have seen on SklarO World posts about funny searches that landed people in SklarO World, I think I've done it 2 or 3 times. Well, Dr. Pauly left a comment in my most recent one that went like this..

"Way to be original, ripping off this "referral list" idea from my site."
posted by Dr. Pauly : Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Hmmm.... OK. So where does this shmuck come from you ask? I started reading his Blog a few months ago because he is big into Phish. Its a pretty decent Blog so I linked him. The one thing the irritates me about his Blog is that Dr. Pauly is so nauseatingly full of himself that its hard to read sometimes. The reason as it seems to me, is that all of the comments on his posts are ALL from people who kiss his ass like I've never seen before. I'll give you some exact quotes..

"Another great read Pauly. Thanks. Your memory and attention to detail is
astonishing. The mark of a great writer you know."

"Ya wanna know what the hell you created?? You created an amazing and
hugely successful site for everyone to enjoy. THANK YOU!"

Who the fuck leaves ridiculously pathetic comments like that? Thats for another post. I have found that master blogger Pauly IS A COMMENT DELETER! Pauly made a post on his Blog whining about people taking his brilliant google search idea and not giving him credit.
I commented on Pauly's post AND HE MANIPULATED THE COMMENT AND BANNED ME FROM COMMENTING ON HIS SITE. Loser. Well here is what I had to say about the dictator...

" Whatever loser. In-case you havent been to any Blogs outside of the usual
(yawn) groups of un-original Blogging dorks who do nothing but worship your ugly
average inflated ass, PEOPLE HAVE BEEN DOING IT FOR YEARS. What an original idea....Analyze your sitemeter, and observe the funny searches....HMMmm thats
kinda funny, maybe I'll post that. That is such a unique idea, you must be a
genius!"

Here is what he changed it to...

"What an original idea....Analyze your sitemeter, and observe the funny
searches....HMMmm thats kinda funny, maybe I'll post that."

The reason everyody on his Blog licks his balls is because he's a scared little comment nazi. I dont care what anybody has to say to me, I don't delete comments. That's what bitches do. Are you a bitch Pauly?
So all ya'll loyal to the SklarO World, be sure share your feelings over at the Doctor's.

Pauly

Nice jacket, Loser.

Yitzchak Rabin Memorial Day

2004-10-26T10:14:00.000-05:00

On 6-9-1997 the Knesset passed a bill that would establish 12 Heshvan (the Hebrew date of Rabin's assassination), Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Day. The day would include the lowering of flags on public buildings to half mast; special activities in schools; and a special note of the day on IDF bases. A memorial service would also be held next to his grave on Mount Herzl.

So today is Yitchak Rabin memorial day. I will include a few words about Rabin and maybe even a few about his old friend Mr. Sharon.

Yitchak Rabin was born on 3-1-1922 in Israel. He would eventually become Israel's first native born Prime Minister. In 1940 he joined the Haganah and helped to fight the British out of Israel. In 1964 he became Chief Of Staff, and had a played a major roll in winning the Six Day War. In 1968 he became Israel's Ambassador to Washington. In 1974 he succeeded Golda Meir as Prime Minister. In 1976, approved the Entebbe raid, in which he authorized the operation of Israeli commandos in the rescue of more than 100 Jews held hostage there. In 1977 he resigned as Prime Minister. As defense minister (1984-90) in the Labor-Likud coalition government, Rabin ordered a harsh crackdown in the West Bank in the late 1980s in an effort to end the Arab uprising there. In 1992 Rabin led Labor to victory and became Prime Minister for the second time. In 1993 Rabin signed an unprecedented "peace agreement" with yasir araFAT that would give the arabs self rule in gaza and the west bank.

Rabin was an amazing man with a lot of accomplishments. He was a great soldier and a lousy Prime Minister. He wanted what all Israeli's want. To live in peace. He did however make a detrimental mistake. He broke the golden rule of the Israeli Government. He made a deal with terrorists.

On 11-4-1995 he was assassinated by Religious Jew, Yigal Amir.

Today, Sharon is repeating history only he is going about it in a completely different manner. He isn't negotiating with terrorists. In fact, he isn't negotiating with anybody. Not the arabs, not the Americans, not the quartet, not the Likud, not the Israeli people. He is Unilaterally disengaging from the arabs.

I believe that disengagement is necessary however that is not the topic of discussion here. The problem with Sharon is that he is alienating the people of Israel. In an Israeli democracy that just doesn't play. He knows the Israelis are tough and wont stand for it and that is why he is surrounded by 6 - 10 bodyguards at all times, whether he is speaking in the Knesset or taking a piss. He is all to aware of the consequences of his actions.

I wish Sharon the best. I only hope that as a public servant he does what the people of Israel want him to do and not what's on his personal agenda.

Rabin.org

Some funny searches

2004-10-25T14:24:00.000-05:00

Here are some searches that have landed people in the SklarO World over the past week....Quite an eclectic group here....

blue fringe review
girls in rubber boots
who's better for israel bush or kerry
keyes awful truth
zev goldberg
reverse ozmosis
phish zionists
kol sason ve kol simcha kol chatan ve kol kala

Who said there was no fun in SklarO World?

2004-10-21T14:53:00.000-05:00

Check out my Co-Workers from 'The Office'

Mazel Tov!

2004-10-21T13:10:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to my old friend and avid reader of SklarO World on his engagement.