Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor | | | Don't Identify with your Possessions When your property or possessions sustain some damage or loss, work on yourself to accept the Almighty's judgment with love. Realize you were born without any belongings, and you will eventually leave the world without belongings. You need not identify with your possessions since they are not an integral part of you. Love Yehuda Lave | | Free Pass for Passover https://www.ynet.co.il/home/0,7340,L-12918,00.html Celebrating Israel's 70th Anniversary, 30 parks and museums will open their gates to the public free of charge during the week of Passover, courtesy of Bank Hapoalim. The parks and museums included in the project combine the Israeli experience with that of the history of the Jewish People and the country. Among them are the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, The Dsign Museum, Holon, The Rabin Museum, The Bible Lands Museum, The Botanical Gardens in Jerusalem, and the Haifa Museum of Art. April 1-5. For more details go to https://www.ynet.co.il/home/0,7340,L-12918,00.html | | News | (Almost) Everything You Need to Know for Pesach in Jerusalem 5778 Zev Stub There's nothing in the world like being in Jerusalem for Chol HaMoed Pesach. It sometimes seems like the whole Jewish world, past, present, and future, are converging on the Holy City for an experience that transcends history, location, or any sort of economic sense. Whether you'll be visiting Jerusalem this Pesach for your first visit in Israel, or you've lived here for 50 years, you'll find this list helpful and interesting. We'll start with the logistics of getting ready for Pesach, and then move on to food and fun for the holiday. Our list of top recommended events for Chol Hamoed is at the bottom of the page. PRE-PESACH: CLEANING: When I think of Pesach cleaning when I was growing up, I remember a lot of crying in the house. Yes, we kids hated it, but even more miserable were my parents, subjecting themselves to a more back-breaking cleaning regimen than even Pharaoh would have tried. Nowadays, there is a greater recognition that many people go too far, and a quick search online will give you a wide variety of halachic articles with titles like "How to clean for Pesach in one day." (In fairness, I once saw a mommy blog post entitled "Only a man would say that you can clean for Pesach in one day." Touché.) KAYTANA: If your kids are going crazy in the house while you are trying to clean, send them to Pesach Kaytanot and Workshops @ The Open Studio Sunday through Wednesday. MUSIC: To get into the mood, check out 30+ of our favorite Pesach Videos. SELLING CHAMETZ: You can sell Chametz at many shuls, as well as online. Your options online include the Israel Rabbinate's official site for selling Chametz, and also Chabad . BURNING CHAMETZ: Friday morning, March 30, fires will be burning in parks, parking lots, and street corners everywhere. Make sure to follow Safety and Health Tips for Pesach From United Hatzalah. Also, please note that The Jerusalem Municipality asks residents to remove scrap and unusual waste between this Tuesday, March 20, and Tuesday, March 27, in order to help the city's sanitation arrangements run smoothly before the Pesach holiday. SEDER HOSPITALITY: No one should have to be alone seder night. That's why Keep Olim organizes its No Oleh Alone program to match you up with great families in your area for one of the most special experiences of the year. Register to host or be hosted at here. Here's a great list of resources and ebooks for the Seder. KASHRUT: "Buying Kosher for Pesach food in Israel- what could be simpler than that?" -Said nobody ever. We're not even going to try to tell you what you should and shouldn't look out for on Pesach. Just know that whether or not you eat Kitniyot, or Gebrucht, or line your kitchen with aluminum foil, we love you however you are. Here are a few resources that can help you be more educated consumers whatever your family traditions are: RESTAURANTS: Here is eLuna's list of Kosher for Pesach restaurants around Israel. Make sure you also check out Beteavone.com for its list and coupons. WINE: Kfar HaYayin in Kfar Etzion is having a "try before you buy" festival through Pesach, with free tastings happening all day every day. Check it out. CATERING: Many caterers offer Pesach food, with or without kitniyot. Some recommended options include Meuchas and Jerusalem Delights. KASHRUT: The OU has great information in English here. The Blumenkrantz Pesach Digest is the most popular kashrut guide, with hundreds of pages of kashrut listings, laws, and much more. You can download the app for Apple or Android. MEDICINES: Here is Meuhedet's list of Kosher for Pesach medications. BUYING MATZA: Regular and Shmura matza can be found in nearly every grocery store. You'll be bombarded with ads for specialty shmura matza orders from your favorite rabbis and organizations as well. Soft matza, which looks more like a pita than a cracker, and is what most Jews called matza for most of history, is becoming more available and popular in Israel. I haven't seen it sold in bulk, but here's a friend who makes and sells soft matza out of his house. SECOND DAY MINYANS: Most minyans around Israel are geared for Israelis keeping one day, but you can find second-day minyans and second seders in many hotels. ENJOYING THE HOLIDAY Pesach in Jerusalem is really an incredible experience, and chol hamoed is packed with non-stop activities in every corner.Pesach in Jerusalem is really an incredible experience, and chol hamoed is packed with non-stop activities in every corner. Make sure you check Janglo's events calendar for a huge listing of events for every day of Pesach and all year round. Here are some of our top picks: Bircat Cohanim: The Western Wall Plaza fills with tens of thousands of people in the semi-annual priestly blessing, on the second day of Chol HaMoed. That will be Monday, April 2. Shacharit begins 8:30AM, the first blessing is 9:15, and the second blessing around 10AM. Free Museums: Bank Hapoalim sponsors free admission to dozens of museums around the country all Chol HaMoed long. KosherFrugal.com has prepared some great lists of free activities available around Israel over Chol Hamoed. See here, here, and here. Jerusalem's big kids' event for the holiday is WiPark, a massive Gymboree amusement park attraction in the Payis Arena. Tickets are available for, um, NIS 70 here. If you like expensive and crowded, this is the place to be. See the video. The Train Theater in Jerusalem has plays for kids Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday mornings. This Interactive Experience Honoring Elderly Heroes sounds really interesting. On Emek Refaim, each day. Nefesh B'Nefesh hosts its Pesach Tiyul and BBQ for Young Professionals on Wednesday. Walking Tours: AACI has walking tours around Jerusalem available every day of Chol Hamoed, as does the Jerusalem Municipality. There are activities every day at the Israel Museum, First Station, Hansen House, and the Bible Lands Museum. Expect that food will be expensive everywhere you go. Come prepared with your matza sandwiches, water, sunscreen, and a lot of patience. Well, that's a good start. Don't forget to check back on Janglo as we get closer to Pesach. Chag Sameach! | | Buying soft Matzah Until recently in Jewish history, the word "Matzah" (or properly "maSSah") conjured up the image of a soft, chewy, and foldable bread eaten on Passover. Likely that is what it meant all the way back to ancient times as well. True, at some point, the Jews in Europe became concerned that if the maSSah were too thick it might not fully cook inside and end up fermenting. Therefore, they made it as thin as possible, and even poked holes in it to let all the moisture escape. However, it kind of turned into a cracker somewhere along the way. Why didn't this happen in the Middle East? 'Cause Easterners have been expert flat-bread bakers since the Pharoahs walked the earth, and know very well how to distinguish a soft moist dough that is cooked fully, from one that is raw. From Morrocco to Yemen to India, Jews on Passover have made soft pita-like maSSa for millenia. Actually the basic specfications for the maSSah dough, provided by Talmudic law, are simple and some of them reveal just how "bread-like" the maSSah can be. Here are some: 1) Don't let the dough rest; bake the maSSah as soon as possible once the dough is ready. Flatbread bakers know that even yeastless dough starts to ferment slighty if you rest it for a half hour. This subtle "fermenting" improves the flavour of the dough and develops the texture of the crumb .This is precisely what the Israelites in Egypt didn't have time to do- and so are we to emulate on Passover. The issue is actually NOT to finish kneeding the dough or baking the bread as quickly as possible- but rather to refrain from resting the dough. *Talmudic law explicitely states that dough as long as dough as being in kneeded and worked it can NEVER become HameS. Dough that has rested more than 18 (or 24) minutes, is considered to have fermented. 2) Don't make the maSSah thicker then a handbreadth wide (!!) Yes, technically you can even bake a small loaf of bread (3-4 inches high)! Beware though: it will be gummy- and your stomache might protest! 3) Make sure that the dough is cooked all the way through: ie. "So that no strings of dough extend to connect the broken pieces"- Basically, as long as it's not raw inside the bread- it's done enough. Once again, there's no instrinsic problem with the maSSah being soft- even moist inside- as long as it's not raw! 4) On Seder night, FOLD your massah and make the the Hilel sandwich (the original "Shawarma in laffa") . Well, if that's not an indication of what people were eating back in the day... 5) From the Talmud to the Rambam, there is NO mention of making holes in the bread! Unleavened flat bread, naturally can puff up in the oven like a pita; but this is from the HOT AIR inside and has NOTHING to do with fermentation. The idea that "air=HameS"- is well.... a bunch of hot air. 6) The Talmudic laws about baking maSSa assume that people people are baking their maSSa fresh daily, during the holiday itself. Given the potential "dangers" of dealing with flour and water during the 7-day holiday, you have to wonder why people would choose to bake maSSa fresh daily if the modern cracker variety was considered an alternative. The answer seems obvious: maSSa is bread (and not a cracker) and therefore should be eaten fresh. The advent of the freezer certainly makes the whole process more convenient, but we shouldn't forget that baking with flour and water on the holiday itself is competely acceptable and practical: 100's of thousands of families did it daily for millenia. __________________________________________________________________________________ What is the soft massah that I bake (and sell)? The Chappati/Roti is made in millions of Indians' homes daily and consists only of whole grain flour,water, and a little salt.; it's basically maSSah! Out of the oven it is one of the most satisfying breads out there. True, professinoal Indian chefs prefer to rest their dough for at least a half an hour before baking, but when pressed for time they'll bake the dough right away, as do many household bakers; and the results are wonderful! I tend to make a slightly thicker version on Passover than throughout the year (in order to retain more moisture). What about leHem 'Oni? MaSSah is called the "bread of freedom" because it is what the Israelites ate on their way out of slavery in Egypt on the way to freedom. It actually is supposed to be enjoyable- something to celebrate the holiday with! However, in order to remember the servitude and poverty of the Israelites when they were still slaves in Egypt, we are enjoined to make the maSSah as simple as possible on Seder night. This means we bake it "poor man's style" (leHem 'Oni) - wich means without oil, or seeds, or other nice toppings on the bread. (Basically, no foccacia.) It is the quintessentially Jewish dialectic: to remember the "good" with the "bad' , in order to get beyond. For those interested in purchasing soft maSSa from me, here are some details: 1) Price: 4 loaves (made with slightly sifted whole wheat flour) for 100 NIS (They're heavier than the cracker kind) 2) Since they dry out quicker than leavened bread, I "flash freeze" them for you in order to preserve moisture. (Ideally, you should thaw them only an hour or so before eating them). 3) I'll be baking them the week and a half before the holiday, so just SMS me a half hour in advance (to make sure I haven't run out) and come by to pick them up. NO ADVANCED ORDERS, sorry. 4) Baked in a KLP oven, made according to accepted "stringencies" of today (whole process FINISHED in 18 minutes, no salt added, etc...) 5) If you're interested in watching the baking process you might be able to catch me making a batch when you come and pick up your loaves. 6) Please write any questions you might have right here. Phone: 0545-224-385 Address: 114 Maagelei Yavneh, Entrance Bet, Apt. 14 Jerusalem | | World's largest collection of ocean garbage is now twice the size of Texas
World's largest collection of ocean garbage is now twice the size of Texas
https://search.app.goo.gl/DAGY | | matzah baking with song And you thought matza was a "dry" affair.
This cracks me up. | | This 1 Picture is How the Navy Plans to Keep Its Aircraft Carriers from Becoming Obsolete This 1 Picture is How the Navy Plans to Keep Its Aircraft Carriers from Becoming Obsolete
https://search.app.goo.gl/Uq4c | | MASTERS OF TIME
Before we became observant, life was like a carousel. We rode round and round. When the music stopped, we got off … at the same place we had started.
But when you live a Torah life, you go somewhere. If you desire to fulfill Hashem's will, He will draw you closer to the Heavenly Throne.
One of life's most difficult challenges is …. time!
I find that – except on Shabbos – I am continually fighting time.
Time pressure competes with one's ability to concentrate on the present. If you are worried about completing everything else you have to do, how can you concentrate on what you are doing now? For example, if you are worried about time, how can you pray with single-minded attention, understanding every word you are saying to the Master of the Universe?
The Angel of Death hovers over us from the moment of birth. As King David says, "What gain is there in my death, when I descend to the pit? Will the dust acknowledge You? Will it declare Your truth?" (Psalm 30). In the Garden of Eden there was no death. Death was introduced into the world only when our first parents rebelled against Hashem.
Passover is all about freeing ourselves from the Angel of Death. In fact, the Seder ends with these words: "The Holy One, Blessed is He, then came and slaughtered the Angel of Death!" (Chad Gadya) During Passover, we are freed from slavery to time.
"Hashem said to Moshe and Aharon in Eretz Mitzraim, saying, 'This month shall be for you the beginning of the months. It shall be for you the first of the months of the year." (Exodus 12:1) The Sforno says, "The word 'lachem … for you,' appears twice in the verse, to stress a new relationship between Jews and time. As slaves, time belongs to their master, not to them, for they did not have the freedom to act as they pleased when they pleased. But from then on, Jews would be masters of their time and their Master would be Hashem." (Stone Chumash)
A year is clearly delineated in nature; it is one revolution of the sun. On January first, it returns to where it began. But who said that January first is the beginning of the year? In fact, January first is arbitrary, based on the "birthday" of their idol. Why do we accept January first as the beginning of a year? Additionally, why do we call the days of the week "Sunday … Monday" and so on? Monday is "the day of the moon." Sunday is "the day of the sun." This is idolatry! Why do we use these names?
Only because we are in Exile!
The calendar used in the surrounding society is based only on natural events. If we tie our life to natural phenomena, we will get nowhere. As it says, "ain kol chadash tachas ha shemesh … There is nothing new beneath the sun." (Koheles 1:9)
During Passover, we are freed from the empty time system based on natural phenomena, whether it is the idol worship of Ancient Egypt or the idol worship of our current Exile. This is the beginning of our path back to the freedom we enjoyed in the Garden of Eden, the freedom to serve Hashem without impediment.
But how is this accomplished? The Torah commands us to tie the lunar cycle to the solar cycle by attaching the month of Nissan to the Vernal Equinox, the beginning of spring, the day on which darkness and light are of equal length (each is twelve hours). This one act liberates us from idolatry. "Children of Man, who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, shackled in affliction and iron. He removed them from darkness … and broke open their shackles!" (Kaparos Erev Yom Kippur based on Psalm 107)
The Torah says, "guard the month of first-ripened produce … for in the month of first-ripened produce Hashem, your G-d, took you out of Mitzraim …." (Deuteronomy 16:1) Based on this passage, we understand that the Month of Nissan must always be the "month of green wheat" (Book of Our Heritage), meaning that it must always fall at a certain stage in the ripening of the wheat. Our entire calendar system is founded on this requirement. (See Rambam Kiddush Hachodesh 4:1) Thus, our calendar is based entirely on Hashem's commandment that we tie the Month of Nissan to the spring season.
"At the time of the redemption, the Holy One, blessed is He, changed all the fixed rules of nature. He did this to demonstrate that He is the Creator [and] that everything … is in accordance with His will …. The astrological sign for the month of Nissan is the lamb …. Israel was commanded to take this 'god' of the Egyptians and slaughter it." (Book of Our Heritage)
Is it an accident that Passover occurs at the season when the "death" of winter ends, when nature itself is "redeemed," when sap flows once again through the trees and magnificent blossoms appear, about which we say, "Blessed are You, Hashem … Who created … good trees to cause mankind pleasure?" Is it an accident that we were liberated from Egypt in this month? Is it an accident that we began our journey to Mount Sinai in this month? Is it an accident that the Mishkan (Tabernacle) – the Place through which we achieve closeness with Hashem – was erected during this month?
On the Shabbos before Passover we read these words: "Behold, I send you Eliyahu Hanovi before the great and awesome day of Hashem. And he shall restore the hearts of fathers with [their] sons and the hearts of sons with their fathers …." (Malachi 3:23-4) Through Passover, we achieved freedom from slavery to time, so that we may use our days, hours, minutes and seconds to serve Hashem. May He bring the Final Redemption soon in our days!
© Copyright 2017 by Roy S. Neuberger
| | ZOA Criticizes Lauder for Promoting PA State, Wrongly Blaming Israel for No Peace Friends; Another pathetic unJew stabs Israel in the back and perpetrates his poisonous screed in the historically notorious anti-Israel New York Times. Is there no end to the self-destructive idiocy of so many leaders in the American Jewish community? ZOA Criticizes Ron Lauder for Advocating for PA State & Comparing PA Promoting Murder to Settlements Share
For more information contact Morton A. Klein 212-481-1500
Follow @mortonaklein7 on Twitter. Website: www.zoa.org NEW YORK, March 21, 2018 Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton A. Klein released the following statement criticizing World Jewish Congress (WJC) President Ron Lauder's opinion piece published in the New York Times on March 18: Lauder's op-ed unconditionally demands a Palestinian State as the solution to the Arab war against Israel but ignores the fact that Palestinian Arabs rejected Israel's statehood offers three times in the last 17 years, not to mention rejecting Statehood in 1937 and 1947 because it required accepting Israel, which they won't do because their goal is its destruction. Lauder also immorally and absurdly appears to equate "settlements" (Jews living in the Judea/Samaria) to the Palestinian Authority (PA)'s incitement and promotion of the murder of Jews. Lauder's op-ed also employs a false "demographic" argument (apparently relying on false, wildly overstated PA population figures and projections) and promotes a dangerous so-called "two-state solution" (a euphemism for the creation of a Palestinian Arab terror state) as the "only solution." Israel's Real Self-Inflicted Wounds: The title of Lauder's op-ed, 'Israel's Self-Inflicted Wounds,' (New York Times, Mar. 18, 2018) is deeply misleading and unfair. It falsely blames Jews living in the Jewish homeland and Israel for the lack of peace, when the blame is squarely on the Palestinian Arabs. Israel's real "self-Inflicted wounds" (the term that Lauder employs) were Israel's catastrophic concessions to terrorists, including: the disastrous Oslo accords, which brought PLO terrorists into the heart of the Jewish homeland and resulted in Yasser Arafat launching the deadly Second Intifada, in which PA terrorists murdered and maimed 10,000 Jews; the Hebron accords (which resulted in Palestinian Arab attacks on Hebron's Jewish community); Israel's withdrawal from a border zone in Lebanon (which enabled Hezbollah to entrench itself along Israel's northern border, with 150,000 rockets pointing at Israel); and Israel's 2005 Gaza withdrawal (in which Israel uprooted 10,000 Jews from their homes, farms and communities – only to have Hamas use those formerly Jewish areas to launch 20,000 rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, resulting in three wars and numerous deaths). It is particularly mind-boggling that Lauder is endorsing Palestinian Arab statehood so soon after Mahmoud Abbas' January 14, 2018 speech to the PLO Central Council, during which Abbas' poisonous, surreal, inflammatory and extreme attacks on Israel, Zionism and the United States reached new lows. In that speech, Abbas spewed curses at President Trump and the president's family, cursed U.S. and Israeli officials, and demonstrated the PA's profound unwillingness to acknowledge and accept the legitimacy and permanence of the Jewish state of Israel. In this speech, Abbas denied, falsified and appropriated Jewish history in order to deny Jews any right to a state of their own. (See "Exclusive – Mort Klein: Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas Unmasked as U.S. and Israel-Hating Anti-Peace Terrorist," Breitbart, Jan. 22, 2018.) Yet Mr. Lauder now sees fit to urge that the PA be given statehood. ZOA President Morton Klein explained: "Even leaders of left wing Jewish groups whom I (Mort Klein) recently met with stated that this is no time to talk about establishing a PA State." "Under conditions prevailing today, such a move would result in only one thing: the creation of a Palestinian Arab terrorist regime, infested with Hamas and other Iranian proxies, protected by the immunities of sovereignty." Palestinian rockets would be closer to Israel's major population centers. And Israel would be only nine miles wide, making it indefensible. Lauder's Immoral "Equivalence": "In his op-ed, Mr. Lauder mentioned in the same breath, as obstacles to peace, PA-sponsored hatred and refusal to make peace, on the one hand, and Jews living in parts of Judea/Samaria, on the other." "This is grotesque. There is no moral or practical equivalence between Jews' building Jewish homes and communities and the PA's hate-filled promotion of the murder of Jews and rejection of peace-making. One is constructive and moral, and the other is destructive and evil. Shame on Mr. Lauder taking the view that Israeli Jews –– and only Israeli Jews, because they are Israeli Jews –– are an obstacle to peace because they seek to live and thrive in the biblical, legal and historical homeland of the Jewish people." Lauder's Demographic Fear-Mongering: "Mr. Lauder spends much of his op-ed promoting the baseless fear of Israel being demographically overwhelmed by a Palestinian Arab population increase." "However, Israel does not in fact have a demographic problem. Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics just announced that in 2016, 74% of babies were born to Jewish mothers (whose fertility rate is 3.06 children per woman), and 20.7% were born to Muslim women (whose fertility rate is a nearly identical 3.11 children per woman). The recent figures showed that the Jewish fertility rate continues to climb, while the Muslim fertility rate continues to fall. ("Israel's Fertility Rate is Far Higher Than Rest of OECD," by Michael Bachner, Times of Israel, Mar. 14, 2018.) The American-Israel Demographic Research Group (AIDRG) similarly found that Jewish fertility rates have increased and are projected to continue increasing, while the Arab birth rate is expected to drop to 2.4% by 2025. The AIDRP has also amassed impressive evidence showing that the PA deliberately misled U.S. and international humanitarian efforts by creating a 'Million Person Gap' — inflating its population figures to total over 3.3 million, as opposed to the actual figure of 2.4 million. (See, e.g., "Israeli Demographics Working in Jews' Favor," by Hillel Fendel, Israel Nat'l News, Dec. 20, 2015; and IsraelDemography.com.) "These findings have enormous implications for the future: namely, a 67% Jewish majority over 98.5% of the land west of the Jordan River (including Judea/Samaria, but without Gaza) can be expected, contrary to Mr. Lauder's inaccurate claims of impending Jewish minority status." If Lauder is so concerned about demographics, we also have to wonder why he so harshly condemns "ultra-Orthodox" Jews. Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics found that: "the highest fertility rate in communities with a population of more than 10,000 people was in the ultra-Orthodox town of Modiin Illit, with 7.59 babies per woman. The lowest, 1.91, was in northern secular town of Kiryat Tivon." Lauder should stop attacking the Jews who help assure Israel's continued large Jewish majority. "Further, those such as Mr. Lauder who base their support for creating a Palestinian Arab state on the demographic question continue to ignore the fact that, since the 1996, the vast majority of the Palestinian Arabs in Judea/Samaria and, since 2005, all Palestinian Arabs in Gaza, live under the jurisdiction of Palestinian Arab regimes, not under Israeli rule." "As distinguished Israel historian Efraim Karsh has pointed out, since the major Israel withdrawals of 1995-96 and the dissolving of the Israeli civil and military administrations in those areas, nearly 60% of Palestinian Arabs live entirely under Palestinian jurisdiction (Area A) while a further 40% live in towns, villages, refugee camps and hamlets where the PA exercises civil but not military authority. A mere 2% of Palestinian Arabs in Judea/Samaria live in areas where Israel has complete control, but even there, the PA maintains 'functional jurisdiction.' "As Karsh concludes, 'In short, since the beginning of 1996, and certainly following the completion of the redeployment from Hebron in January 1997, 99% of the Palestinian population of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip has not lived under Israeli occupation. As the virulent anti-Israel and anti-Jewish media, school system and religious incitement can attest to, during these years, any presence of a foreign occupation has been virtually non-existent.'" "In sum, Palestinian Arabs live with their own legislature, police forces, municipal services, school system and youth camps –– illiberal, corrupt, bellicose and hate-filled as these are. Israel's writ no long runs in their societies. By no stretch of the imagination can Israel be said to be occupying them." Lauder's False Claims About Settlement Building and Obstacles to Peace: "Lauder is again wrong when he refers to 'extensive Jewish settlement-building beyond the separation line.' In fact, there has not been a new Jewish community established in Judea/Samaria in 24 years. Further, the Jewish communities comprise only about 2% of the area in question – although Jews have the fundamental right – under binding international law – to live anywhere within Judea/Samaria. Moreover, the limited building that takes place occurs within Jewish communities that would remain under Jewish control in the highly unlikely event of a genuine, durable peace agreement." "Further, viewing the presence of Jewish communities as an 'obstacle to peace' adopts the PA/PLO's anti-Semitic view that Jews must be ethnically cleansed from a Palestinian Arab state." "Ideas that some have floated for Israeli annexation of the portions of Judea/Samaria with a large Jewish communities would also not create any 'obstacle to peace.' Instead, such a move would further peace by 'taking off the table' the PA/PLO's maximalist demands to rid the Jewish homeland of Jews." This annexation movement stems from the fact that peace appears hopeless, that this is historically Jewish land and that Israelis have learned, through bitter experience since 1993, that whatever territory is ceded to the PA becomes a new base for launching terrorist attacks on Israelis. As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin put it recently, as reported by the New York Times, 'You can bring models, theoretical models, say it will be good if we give them a state . . . Empirically, it doesn't work with what we see. When we leave land, terror organizations take it up. Immediately.' Like most Israelis, those supporting annexation have been obliged to conclude that creating a Palestinian state under prevailing conditions would be a disastrous folly." "The true obstacles to peace are the Palestinian Arabs' refusal to accept Israel as a Jewish state; their horrifying Nazi-like Jew-hatred; their naming schools, streets and sports teams after Jew killers; their demand for a Jew-free Palestinian state; Palestinian Arab insistence on the Israel-destroying, so-called 'right of return'; and the PA/PLO's continued "pay to slay payments" incentivizing Arabs to murder Jews, and promotion of the murder and maiming of Jews in every aspect of Palestinian culture and education. Mr. Lauder scarcely even mentions this, the most profound cause of the absence of Israeli/Palestinian Arab peace. Lauder's Positions Do Not Reflect Groups He Claims to Be Affiliated With: It was also odd and misleading that Mr. Lauder called himself a "conservative and a Republican" and supporter of Likud in his op-ed – when the positions Lauder's op-ed espoused are further to the left than the Israeli left, and clearly do not represent the parties he claims to affiliate with. The existing U.S. Republican platform does not promote a Palestinian state. Instead, the platform promotes Israel's security; specifically "reject[s] the false notion that Israel is an occupier"; and states: "We oppose any measures intended to impose an agreement or to dictate borders or other terms." In July 2017, Likud's central committee voted to reaffirm Likud's 2002 vote against the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state. ("Likud Votes To Oppose Palestinian State," by Gil Hoffman, Jerusalem Post, July 26, 2017.)And Israeli PM has publicly and repeatedly stated that PA State cannot bring peace. Lauder's False Claim that Most Diaspora Jews Are Not Accepted: Lauder's op-ed also falsely and misleadingly portrays Israel as a place where "most Jews outside of Israel are not accepted." In fact, the Israeli government supports Jewish institutions from all streams of Judaism. Reform Judaism's own website reports that the Israeli government spent 2.5 million NIS building Reform synagogues in Israel during the past 4 years, and that Israel has 50 Reform congregations and community centers, 50 Reform kindergartens, 5 Reform elementary schools, 2 Reform high schools, 120 Reform rabbis, 100 Reform rabbis ordained in Israel, and 250,000 Israelis affiliated with Reform Judaism. ("Reform Judaism in Israel," Reform Judaism website.) In addition, each year, the para-statal Jewish Agency for Israel allocates $2.7 Million to educational programs in Israel for various Jewish streams: 40% goes to the Reform, 40% to the Conservative, and 20% to the Modern Orthodox movements. The Agency's website explains that "This support stems from a desire to both expose Israelis to the varied expressions of Judaism existing outside Israel and within it, as well as to help Jews worldwide feel that their styles of Jewish expression have a home in Israel." ("Supporting Religious Streams in Israel," Jewish Agency for Israel website.) Moreover, the overwhelming majority of American Jews would have no problem with being "accepted" even by Israel's "ultra-Orthodox" – who rely on Jewish law (halakha), under which someone with a Jewish mother, or who converts in accordance with Jewish law, is Jewish. A recent Pew study found that about 90% of American "Jews by religion" (4.2 million persons who say their religion is Judaism) have Jewish mothers. (Presumably many in the remaining 10% converted.) In addition, about two-thirds of American "Jews of no religion" (persons with some Jewish background who say that they are "culturally" but not religiously Jewish) have a Jewish mother. ("A Portrait of Jewish Americans," Pew Research Center, Oct. 1, 2013.) Ron Lauder needs to place the blame for lack of peace solely on the terrorist dictator Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Arabs. Abbas has refused to even negotiate for 8 years; promotes hatred and violence against Jewish Israelis in every aspect of the Palestinian culture in his speeches, schools, media, and PA-appointed Imams; refusing Israel in their maps and atlases- even within the 1967 lines. The U.S. Administration has finally recognized these truths. It's time that Ronald Lauder recognize them as well. Chelmniks or worse, one and all. In disgust, Victor ZOA Criticizes Lauder for Promoting PA State, Wrongly Blaming Israel for No Peace | | |
Quote of the Day
However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there's life, there is hope.
— Stephen Hawking
G-d--If you believed in me you would still have some hope | | See you tomorrow Love Yehuda Lave | | | |
