| Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher, and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement. Love Yehuda Lave Join my blog by sending me an email to YehudaLave@gmail.com Breaking news: The new international Covid Pass is ready to be printed and the main difference is that it has your passport number on it, so you can use it for flying! I did mine yesterday and it actually worked! MOH Launches Unified Certificate The Ministry of Health launched a unified certificate today, which replaces the vaccination and recovery certificates, some of which are expiring soon. The new certificate is valid through December 31st, 2021. And can be issued at: https://corona.health.gov.il/green-pass Thousands of Israelis allowed to enter country without mandatory COVID test Health Ministry promises to follow up and test all those who arrived Friday without undergoing a check, although it's unclear when that will happen By AMY SPIRO 20 June 2021, 4:41 pm According to figures compiled Sunday, several thousand Israelis were allowed to enter Israel after landing at Ben-Gurion Airport on Friday without the mandatory COVID test at the airport, due to overcrowding at the testing station. Based on data from the Health Ministry and the Border Authority, the Walla news site calculated that 2,832 people — close to half of those who landed in Israel on Friday — were allowed to leave the airport without the required test. A Times of Israel reporter who landed at Ben-Gurion that day said that the arrivals area was chaotic and disorganized. "They changed the rules a few times, they were clearly improvising," said the reporter. "Originally they only let people with an Israeli passport" who were vaccinated in Israel leave without the test, but later they also allowed some non-citizens to exit the airport without being tested, he said. Despite a Health Ministry promise to follow up and test all those who entered Friday without a test, the reporter said that, as of Sunday afternoon, he had not heard from anyone about conducting a test. Beginning June 1, tests for those arriving at Ben-Gurion were no longer free of charge, and starting June 15, the company providing the PCR tests was switched from Check2fly operated by Omega to Test & Go operated by Femi Premium. "The new company is not at all prepared for this number of tests," the source said, noting that Check2fly had its own lab while the new company is sending the samples to an outsourced lab. "We're just ahead of an increase in flights and in the number of people who have to do a test before entering Israel," the source added. "In this current situation, incidents where travelers are let go without a test will almost definitely recur." All travelers — both unvaccinated and vaccinated — are required to present a negative COVID test before boarding a flight to Israel and to take another test at the airport after landing. "Some people waited as long as 90 minutes for a test" on Friday, said the Times of Israel reporter. The Health Ministry said that the decision to allow people to exit the airport was due in part to the fact that Shabbat was approaching as the long delay stretched out on Friday afternoon.
| | | | | The Three Musketeers at the Kotel | | | | | Like a Gameshow: Kill Jews, Win A Brand New Home! By Frimet and Arnold Roth - | | | | | We're thinking back to the string of Arab-on-Israeli knifing attacks that embittered so many lives in this part of the world five/six years ago. One of those, known as the Lions Gate stabbings was a murderous attack on Aaron and Odell Benita (also reported as Bennett) and their two small children in strollers. They were on their way to the Kotel – the Western Wall – to pray. We wrote about the awful events more or less in real time for our blog: "03-Oct-15: Arab violence escalates in Jerusalem: Multiple stabbings in Old City tonight".In its coverage, the New York Times ["Survivor of Jerusalem Stabbing Recounts Attack on Her Family"] quoted the young mother and wife describing how she was: running down an alley in the Old City of Jerusalem with a knife stuck in the base of her neck, desperately seeking help. And most vividly, she described the cruel and mocking reactions she said she met from shopkeepers and passers-by. "I screamed, I begged for aid," Mrs. Bennett, 22, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish mother of two, said in an interview on Tuesday from her hospital bed, where she was recovering from multiple stab wounds. "They stood chatting and laughing — they spat at me," she said of the Palestinians in the alley. One man continued drinking cola out of a can, she said; others shook her off when she tried to hold onto them to lift herself off the ground. "I was looking for one glimmer of mercy in their eyes," she said in a weak voice. Horrifying. Almost beyond belief. There was no mercy to be found there that day.The assailant was a kid of nineteen who was shot dead in the act by fast-moving – though not fast enough – Israeli security personnel. That knifer ands his family have gotten an obscene amount of sympathy, attention and money in the years that have passed. The two Israeli men who were killed Saturday evening in a terror attack in Jerusalem's Old City were named by police as Nehemia Lavi, 41, and Aharon Banita, 22. The two died of their wounds shortly after being stabbed in Jerusalem's Old City by a Palestinian terrorist. Banita's wife was in serious condition and their two-year-old baby was lightly wounded. She was taken to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem and was undergoing surgery. The toddler was taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center for treatment where he remained in stable condition. Lavi, a Jerusalem resident, leaves behind a wife and seven children. A rabbi at the Old City's Ateret Cohanim yeshiva who lived nearby, he had rushed to the scene when he heard screaming in the street. [Times of Israel, October 3, 2015] * * * There's news today of what happened after those tragic, savage events: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday ordered that the family of a Palestinian terrorist who murdered two Israelis be paid more than $40,000 and be given new housing, the Kan public broadcaster reported. Ramallah Governor Laila Ghannam, an Abbas appointee, met with the family of Muhannad Halabi and gave them some 30,000 Jordanian Dinars ($42,000), reportedly to help them cover housing costs since their home was destroyed by the IDF following the killings, Kan said. Ghannam also told the family that Abbas had instructed his security services to help them find permanent housing. Home demolitions are a controversial policy that the IDF says helps deter future terror attacks. The payments are the first high-profile payments to terrorist families since the Biden administration took office, despite claims that the Palestinians were willing to rethink the controversial policy as part of an effort to improve relations with Washington. Halabi killed two Israelis, Rabbi Nehemiah Lavi and Aharon Banita, and injured Banita's wife, Adele, and their 2-year-old son in a stabbing attack in the Old City of Jerusalem on October 3, 2015. [Source: "Palestinian Authority pays $42,000 to family of terrorist who killed 2 Israelis", Times of Israel, June 7, 2021]  | | Knifing victims Lavi and Banita of blessed memory [ Image Source] | Palestinian Media Watch, in a bulletin issued today, adds this dimension. The murderer's sister claims that a sum of 130,000 Jordanian dinars (about US$183,359) was donated at some point to the murderer's family. This munificent gift put them in a position to acquire a replacement home.But this being the Palestinian Authority, after various 'deductions' (evidently to benefit other worthy "martyrs") had been applied to the cash, what they received was a mere 100,000 dinars – not enough to complete the purchase.The vendors – the Arab owners selling the home but not yet paid – to the Muhannad Halabi's bereaved family sued to enforce the contract of sale, putting the Halabi people into a squeeze.At that point, renowned philanthropist and generous-hearted arch-terrorist Mahmoud Abbas, president-for-life of the Palestinian Authority, stepped up and provided the bridge funding in the form of a gift of 30,000 dinars. That allowed the murderer's family to complete the purchase and for the incentive to fresh acts of murder to be publicized to a willing audience of Palestinian Arabs who gobble up just this sort of sociopathic gesture.(The source for the narrative quoted by PMW is material broadcast on the "Gaza" YouTube channel on May 29, 2021.)* * * This isn't the first time the despotic Palestinian Authority has honored the memory of that same cherished murdering knifer. Nearly six years ago, we wrote here ["28-Oct-15: The Pal Arab passion for knife attacks isn't just for social media: they sincerely mean to kill"] that As the Jerusalem Post reports, the Palestinian Authority controlled by Mahmoud Abbas has just decided to honor Muhannad Halabi [the thug whose family has just been awarded the astronomical sum we reported above] by naming a street after him. Halabi is the 19-year-old murderer of two Jews killed close to the Old City's Lion's Gate on October 3, 2015 in a stabbing and shooting "operation" that took the lives of Rabbi Nehemiah Lavi and Aharon Benita and seriously injured Benita's wife, Adele, and their two-year-old son. The assailant was shot dead by police at the scene. Palestinian Media Watch reported several days ago that the Palestinian Bar Association has already grotesquely bestowed an honorary law degree on the deceased stabber/shooter/attacker. Now the municipality of Surda/Abu Qash, in the suburbs of Ramallah, will name a street for him "to emphasize the national role played by Palestinian municipalities." It's also not the first time "Ramallah Governor Laila Ghannam", who handed the Pay to Slay prize to the killer's family, has played a key role in the nurturing of fresh, young killers in Palestinian Arab society. We wrote about her eight years ago ["14-Jun-13: When the murderers go free, what does it really do to you?"] The despicable Abdullah Barghouti, convicted on 67 separate counts of murder, was honoured first by means of an official "solidarity" visit to his family's home. The PA Minister of Prisoners' Affairs, Issa Karake, led the honour parade, accompanied the District Governor of Ramallah, Laila Ghannam. Then the PA's tightly controlled official television channel arrived and recorded a video homage to Barghouti, including interviews with proud family members. Here's how this disgraceful terror-embracing public official is profiled on a European Union website: Dr. Laila Ghannam (ليلى غنام) has been the governor of Ramallah and al-Bireh since 2014. From 2008 until 2014 she was member of Fatah's leadership committee for the governorate. Ghannam was previously a lecturer at al-Quds University (Abu Dis) and chairwoman of the Wattan Center for Women between 2005 and 2007. About the despicable Kuwaiti mass-murderer Barghouti who remains imprisoned for now and who made the exploding guitar case that destroyed the Sbarro pizzeria where our child was murdered in August 2001, see "21-Jun-13: In dark corners, remorseless killer of 66 innocents is called 'administrative detainee' and 'captive'" and "01-Jul-13: 66 acts of murder make him a hero in parts of the Arab world. What does this tell us about parts of the Arab world?"* * *Don't let anyone tell you differently: money is a key enabler in the Palestinian Arab descent into the horrors exemplified by what Abbas. Ghannam and the now-deceased knifer Halabi did.The Mahmoud Abbas regime can't function without massive doses of aid. Abbas can't function, his 'Pay to Slay' scheme can't function, Ghannam's municipality can't function, the parents of Halabi can't function. That flow of foreign gifts – cash in the billions of dollars each year – is what allows the scandalous failed PA regime to keep the lights on.Who pays? We're preparing a blog post that reviews the cast of givers (there's some data here) but of one thing we can be certain and so should you: If you pay taxes in a European Union country, in the United States, in the United Kingdom, you are certainly part of the problem even if you don't realize it yet. {Reposted from the author's blog} | | | | | Caesarea National Park two of two 060621 On June 6, 2021, with still no tourists in Israel, the Shalom Pollock gang goes to discover one of the most important sites in Israel history,
Caesarea National Park. The Park extends from the Roman theatre in the South to the Crusader city in the North. It includes the Byzantine square, the Herodian amphitheater, and Promontory palace bathhouse, and
more. | | | | | Why did I decide to write a book? by Shalom Pollock I guess there are many answers but the first that comes to mind is passion.My main passion is my country, land, people and history/destiny.How did that happen?
Over one hundred years ago my grandparents fled Czarist Russia. I have a photo of my grandfather's great grandfather on my wall so I knew where I came from , at least for some generations back. The question that came up later in my life was where should I be going?
I was born in Brooklyn NY in a modest , orthodox community. I went to yeshiva and graduated college with an MA degree from Brooklyn College in International Relations.
Until 1967, I thought that the ultimate Jewish life was the one I led, in the place where I lived.
In the weeks leading up to the Six Days War in June 1967, my quiet Jewish community looked outward with great concern, far away to a place called Israel. During my twelve years in my neighborhood, synagoge, yeshiva and summer camps, Israel did not play a role. We did just fine without it. America/Brooklyn was not an Exile. It was as close to redemption as one can get. Tisha B'av was a ritual.I guess I knew Israel was out there but not relevant to the perfect Jewish life I was being raised in.
All of a sudden in May 1967, we were saying fervent prayers in synagogue and yeshiva for Israel. May God save it and its two and a half million Jews from another Hocaust, this time at the hand of is Arab neighbors and their Soviet backers. It seemed hopeless. All the adults around me were worried. We even kept the radio open all Sabbath, in the laundry room.
Then came the swift victory against an array of Arab armies in only six days. The community euphoria was not something I have ever experienced, and life for me was never to be the same.
My first visit to Israel was when I graduated high school in 1971. Little, simple Israel still basked in the afterglow of the six days miracle. For the first time in my life. I as a Jew was in the majority - in a Jewish country. I met my "Israeli cousins" for the first time. I met Jewish youth that did not live in Brooklyn. I visited the newly liberated lands and sites. A wonderful new world.A Jewish Disneyland.
In 1973 I returned to Israel to study for a year in the Hebrew university.At two oclock in the afternoon on October 6, as I was taking my afternoon Yom Kippur rest, sirens were heard. The Yom Kippur war was upon us.It did not turn out to be the kind of year I had expected. It was one that further changed my life. That year I decided to move to Israel as soon as I completed my degrees.
And so it was.
I moved to Israel in November 1977, just months after Menachem Begin turned out the Labour party from power for the very first time. It was an exciting moment .I had a picture of Begin, the fiery nationalist on my wall in Brooklyn.
Egypt's Anwar Sadat made his historic visit to Jerusalem just as I arrived and in return for his promise of peace, Begin fulfilled his entire list of demands, including the unprecedented expulsion of Jews from their homes.
"Land for peace" was bornThe expulsion of Jews for peace was born.
I had just made Aliyah and I was confronted by complexities and disappointments that I was not prepared for.
Since my Aliyah in 1977 until today, I have been a close and passionate observer of my country. I kept a diary for most of these years and recorded my observations and feelings throughout .
Some of my articles have been published. I kept them all and they reflect Israel society, culture and of course politics when they were written.
My career as a tour guide since 1980 has allowed me a close relationship not just with places in Israel but its varied people.
I made Aliyah to Israel as a young single man. Today, I have children and grandchildren thank God, who are continuing the quest that I have begun. | | | | | You Don't have to Be Jewish comedy album from - 1965 "You Don't Have to be Jewish" is a 1965 comedy album written by Bob Booker and George Foster, the team behind the 1962 comedy album The First Family. The album features Lou Jacobi, Betty Walker, Jack Gilford, Joe Silver, Jackie Kannon, Bob McFadden, Frank Gallop, and Arlene Golonka, in a variety of roles, mostly Jewish, performing a mixture of jokes and comedy sketches. The album was highly successful, with syndicated columnist Walter Winchell calling the album "the No. 1 seller in Suburbia" and noting that as a popular gift "it has replaced the fountain pen at Bar Mitzvahs." A sequel, When You're in Love, the Whole World is Jewish, largely reunited the original cast but replaced the unavailable Golonka with her friend Valerie Harper."You Don't Have to be Jewish to love Levy's" was an advertising campaign for Levy's rye bread that began in 1961 and ran through the 1970s | | | | | See you tomorrow bli neder We need Moshiach now! Love Yehuda Lave | | | | |
