Everybody wants spirituality. To be a good person means to walk in G-d's ways. How does that translate to reality? The only guidebook to spirituality that has stood the test of time is the Hebrew Bible. The Bible says that the Jews will be a light onto the nations. But if you are not a born Jew, you have to convert, which is not so easy!! If you do convert, it is a lot of work to be a Jew (three times a day prayer, keeping kosher, observing the Sabbath).
This blog will show you how to be Jewish without the work!!
Thursday, May 12, 2022
New Haifa Cable Car Begins Operation By Gil Tanenbaum--I went yesterday and its right out of the JETSONS and In the 21st Century, anti-Zionism Means Antisemitism By Jonathan S. Tobin and The entire panel from I've Got a Secret plays, plus an Octopus Fisherman & the comedy genius Imogene Coca! and ‘Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine,’ says Jordanian FM ready to start war andThe Portion of Behar tomorrow-Idolatry
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.
The portion of Behar deals with how we are to conduct ourselves in the land of Israel through the observance of the sabbatical and jubilee years and the redemption by close relatives of fields that had been sold to non-Jewish residents.
At the end of the portion the Torah warns against the practice of idolatry. "You shall not make idols for yourselves, nor shall you set up a statue or a monument for yourselves (Leviticus 26;1).
The prohibition against idolatry is one of the most severe prohibitions written in the Torah. Based on the verse in the Song of Songs "Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth" (1.2), we learn that whoever engages in idolatry is considered to have renounced the entire Torah which was given to the Children of Israel as a kiss from the Almighty.
And it is for this reason that the letter "pei" in the word "upesel" (and a statue) is emphzsized, thereby symbolizing the mouth of G-d. (Baal Haturim)
I added a picture which expresses the same idea. The letter "samech" in the word "pesel" (statue) is emphasized in place of the letter "pei" brought down by the Baal Haturim.
The Three Musketeers at the Kotel
The Three are Rabbi Yehuda Glick, famous temple mount activist, and former Israel Mk, and then Robert Weinger, the world's greatest shofar blower and seller of Shofars, and myself after we had gone to the 12 gates of the Temple Mount in 2020 to blow the shofar to ask G-d to heal the world from the Pandemic. It was a highlight to my experience in living in Israel and I put it on my blog each day to remember.
The articles that I include each day are those that I find interesting, so I feel you will find them interesting as well. I don't always agree with all the points of each article but found them interesting or important to share with you, my readers, and friends. It is cathartic for me to share my thoughts and frustrations with you about life in general and in Israel. As a Rabbi, I try to teach and share the Torah of the G-d of Israel as a modern Orthodox Rabbi. I never intend to offend anyone but sometimes people are offended and I apologize in advance for any mistakes. The most important psychological principle I have learned is that once someone's mind is made up, they don't want to be bothered with the facts, so, like Rabbi Akiva, I drip water (Torah is compared to water) on their made-up minds and hope that some of what I have share sinks in. Love Rabbi Yehuda Lave.
In the 21st Century, anti-Zionism Means Antisemitism By Jonathan S. Tobin
Photo Credit: Asher Schwartz
How many deadly terrorist attacks must take place inside of Israel before it starts being called another intifada? Thursday's incident in which a Palestinian gunman killed three and wounded several others in downtown Tel Aviv left Israelis wondering about whether the fourth such atrocity in the last few weeks is merely the beginning of a new security crisis. But what this series of murders is called is less important than whether the world reacts as it always has to violence against Israel with more sympathy for the killers than their victims.
Yet even at times such as these, some American Jews neither empathize with the people of Israel nor support their right to self-determination or self-defense. The publicity given to the decision of a Chicago synagogue to officially declare its house of worship to be dedicated to the cause of anti-Zionism might have made it an outlier to the more than 80 percent of American Jewry that polls say thinks that "caring about Israel" is essential to being Jewish. But the attention given Tzedek Chicago, as the synagogue is named, is just the latest instance in which the hostility of Jews on the far-left to Israel's existence has been illustrated.
Its members and those who share their views claim that the existence of Israel is an injustice. They subscribe to a version of Judaism that doesn't merely discard some of the religious beliefs and practices that most Jews have long held sacred—as is the case with the majority of American Jews who identify with the liberal denominations. Both Reform and Conservative Judaism officially subscribe to Zionism. But portions of the Reconstructionist movement and other offshoots of non-Orthodoxy Jewry go further and fetishize the Diaspora. Theirs is a Judaism stripped of its particularity and its roots in the Land of Israel and Jewish peoplehood, and which consists solely of universalist beliefs that bizarrely seem to hold that all peoples have basic rights but the Jews.
While Reform's 1885 "Pittsburgh Platform" was officially anti-Zionist, the movement evolved in the 20th century, and the two greatest leaders of American Zionism in the first half of the 20th century were Reform rabbis—Abba Hillel Silver and Stephen Wise (who is unfortunately better remembered for his silence and opposition to efforts to rescue European Jews during the Holocaust).
Anti-Zionism had considerable support until 1948 because many Jews feared that the creation of a Jewish state would undermine their right to equal citizenship. But the Holocaust proved the need for a Jewish state, and rather than undermine Jewish rights, Israel's creation made all Jews stand up taller while also inspiring most Americans to greater respect for their Jewish neighbors.
Support for Zionism became normative among American Jewry, which rallied to the Jewish state's defense during the crises of 1948, 1967 and 1973. But the problem was that the tribal and sectarian nature of Israel seemed to contradict the universalist and non-sectarian ideals of many Americans. That was especially true among Jews whose political liberalism made them more likely to take a dim view of a country founded on the notion of defending a specific people rather than one that viewed its mission in broader terms.
Seen in that light, the small but not entirely insignificant comeback of anti-Zionism in the last generation is not surprising.
Though anti-Zionist groups like Jewish Voices for Peace and IfNotNow don't have mass followings, their foothold on college campuses has begun expanding into the rest of the community. Support in the leftist base of the Democratic Party for toxic ideas like intersectionality, which analogizes the Palestinian war on Israel with the struggle for civil rights in the United States, is growing. The ability of ideologues to promote critical race theory indoctrination into schools and corporate settings also provides a platform for anti-Zionists. That concept illogically labels Jews and their state as beneficiaries of "white privilege" and therefore oppressors by definition.
In practice, this creates a justification for anti-Zionism and those who believe in singling out the Jewish state for discriminatory BDS boycotts. It also provides a rationale for denying to Jews the same rights no one would think of denying to any other people, thus giving a pass to behavior that is indistinguishable from anti-Semitism.
This matters because Jews who support anti-Zionism provide intellectual cover and legitimacy for those who aren't content to merely talk about a world without an Israel but to inflict violence that seeks to advance that perverted goal. And that is why the contrast between recent events in Israel and the virtue-signaling in Chicago stands out.
In the past, even if they condemned acts of terrorism against Israel, the international press and supposedly friendly Western governments have always wound up blaming the victims in one way or another. But those who claim, as some are doing now, that the actions of the killers were an understandable, if regrettable, reaction to the "occupation" or to some other item from a laundry list of alleged Israeli sins are once again misunderstanding the nature of the conflict.
As the Palestinians have made clear throughout the last century, their problem isn't with what Israel does but the mere fact of its existence. Having seen them reject numerous two-state-solution deals over the last generation, support for such a scheme among Israelis has dwindled.
The idea of more than 7 million Israeli Jews giving up the sovereign state that protects their national existence is madness. That's not just because the invasion of Ukraine illustrates what happens when hostile neighbors feel empowered to attempt to destroy a country. It's also the lesson that even a cursory knowledge of Jewish history imparts to its students. For 20 centuries, Jewish powerlessness and the lack of sovereignty over its ancient homeland was a prescription for degradation, oppression and slaughter that culminated in the Holocaust.
Viewed with hindsight, debates among Jews about the merits of a Jewish state prior to the Holocaust seem foolish. But with many thinking that a Jewish state was a pipe dream while establishing rights for religious minorities in countries where anti-Semitism was prevalent was the priority, these arguments make more sense. But the slaughter of 6 million men, women and children was the final proof that Jewish powerlessness could no longer be tolerated, and that the right of Jews to their ancient homeland had to be reasserted.
Still, anti-Semitism and intolerance for Jewish power didn't die with the Nazi regime; it remains inextricably tied to Palestinian national identity and Islamist ideology. It also found a home on the intersectional left. As they have proven again and again, the Palestinian goal is not stripping Israel of the territories it won in a defensive war in 1967. They will not recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish state no matter where its borders are drawn.
Those Jews who now call themselves anti-Zionist are not, as some claim, advocating for a more just world or the redress of Arab grievances. A world without Israel cannot be achieved by any means but by waging war on its citizens, and taking their freedom and rights from them by force. Whether they admit it or not, these anti-Zionists are taking the side of those who seek to eliminate the one Jewish state on the planet by the same violent means and hateful ideas that have always been the toolkit of anti-Semites. The members of Tzedek Chicago may claim that their synagogue stands for justice, but far from representing an idealist strain of Judaism or support for human rights, the leftist war on Israel is an expression of Jew-hatred.
As Israelis mourn their dead and continue to defend themselves, the reaction of the rest of American Jewry to this anti-Zionist synagogue and all who share its views should be one of contempt, not curiosity or tolerance.
On Monday the new Haifa public cable car was officially launched. Commuters and tourists alike will now be able to travel within minutes between Haifa's main transportation hub (its bus and train stations) and the central area by the bay and the top of the mountain to the Neve Sha'anan neighborhood, the Technion and the University of Haifa.
The cable car is part of Israel's national plan to reduce carbon emissions in the country and to do its part in the global fight against climate change. The building of new train lines and urban light rails are part of this. At the same time, Israel has been working to improve public transportation around the country in order to reduce the congestion on its highways as seen in its almost daily traffic jams.
The 4.4-kilometer (2.75 miles) long cable car will offer 150 trolleys that will leave the stations every 15 seconds. The cars will carry up to 8 passengers each. The ride from the Gulf Central Station to the Technion will take about 10 minutes and only another 9 minutes from there to the University of Haifa.
As seen in the photo above, the cars all operate simultaneously in a loop, in contrast to those systems with just one car that goes back and forth, or two – one for each direction.
Passengers will be able to use all means of payment applicable to public transport, including multi-line tickets, periodic appointments and will enjoy the usual discounts and exemptions on other means of public transport.
Later on, the cable car will be included in Israel's new "Equal Way" public transportation initiative that offers greatly reduced fares for the public at large.
Minister of Transportation and Road Safety Merav Michaeli said that she was "proud and happy" that with "great determination" Israel was finally able to bring the long-planned Haifa cable car into fruition.
"We managed to rescue the Haifa cable car project from a long delay, thus enabling activities of a good and efficient transportation alternative for the public in the north of the country," she said. "Our mission in the Ministry of Transportation is to create as many options as possible to move from place to place to reduce the use of the private car."
"Every new mass transit vehicle we add will lower the congested traffic jams on the roads" added Michaeli, "and I am glad that Haifa will enjoy the new transportation service that the cable car will offer."
Now let me add my own story to this one. Yesterday on Thursday my wife and I going through Haifa (this was actually our destination), took the cable car twice up and down. You have to get off at each end, but since you pay with your rav-card you should get the ride included in your 90 minutes (I have not verified this yet, so I am not sure), but in case the ride only cost 6 checks (3 for seniors) and last about 20 minutes each way. It is straight out of the JETSONS and with beautiful views of the hills of Haifa.
I highly recommend it!
'Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine,' says Jordanian FM
Arab protesters wave Hamas flags after Friday prayers during the month of Ramadan at the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, April 22, 2022. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Israel has no sovereignty over the Temple Mount, countering the Israeli PM's remarks.
By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi slammed Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's denial that the Hashemite Kingdom holds sway over Temple Mount security and policy.
"Israel has no sovereignty over the holy places in Jerusalem. This is occupied Palestinian land. Israel is an occupying force that is blocking moves taken by the Jordanian Ministry of Endowments in order to maintain security and peace in Al-Aqsa," Safadi told Jordanian media.
"Our message is one: Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine, a sovereign state that must be established within the 1967 borders," he said. "This is the only way to achieve lasting peace."
Safadi's remarks came after Bennett denied reports that his administration had acquiesced to Jordan's requests to expand its presence on the Temple Mount.
Jordan reportedly demanded to post an additional 50 guards from the Waqf — Amman's Islamic custodial organization which has traditionally overseen the Al-Aqsa Mosque — in the face of rising tensions and clashes in the compound.
Although Jordan has had a peace treaty with Israel since 1994, Jordanian officials have recently made vitriolic comments about the State of Israel and its sovereignty over the Temple Mount, seemingly due to increased visitors to the site by Jewish pilgrims.
During a parliamentary speech in mid-April, Jordanian Prime Minister Khasawneh Bisher said that he "saluted" Palestinians and Waqf employees who threw rocks, bottles, and other projectiles at the "Zionist sympathizers defiling the Al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of the Israeli occupation government."
In early May, President Joe Biden told Jordanian King Abdullah II during a phone call on Monday that the U.S. wants the current status quo at the Temple Mount to be preserved and for the Hashemite kingdom to continue serving as the holy site's official custodian.
Notably, the statement used the Islamic name for the Temple Mount, Haram al-Sharif, as opposed to the name used by much of the Western world.
Biden emphasized "the need to preserve the historic status quo" at the site and "recognized the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan's role as the custodian of Muslim holy places in Jerusalem."
The statement's referral to the Temple Mount as an exclusively Islamic holy site is significant, particularly because there was no mention of the extensive Jewish historical and religious ties to the site nor that the current status quo prohibits Jews from praying there.
Biden is due to meet Friday with King Abdullah at the White House, where the discussion will reportedly include Israeli-Palestinian tensions at the Temple Mount.
The entire panel from I've Got a Secret plays, plus an Octopus Fisherman & the comedy genius Imogene Coca!
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