Film Maker Tries To Improve Image of Settlers

Fight the 2-State Solution!

A new group calling themselves "The 18" has formed to fight hard against US pressure toward a 2-state "solution" to the Arab-Israeli "conflict".

If you, like me, are TIRED of Big Brother United States getting into our kishkes all the time, telling us who to be friends with and how to share our toys, consider getting involved in this fight to get Obama to BACK OFF!



Here is an essay posted by Michael Fenenbock of The 18:

A MATTER OF SOME URGENCY

Barack Obama has won the American presidency. In a landslide.

His party gained considerable seats in both the Senate and the House. Led by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, the Democratic party commands large majorities in Congress. Democrats also added to their already substantial majority in governorships and state legislatures.

More importantly, they have a mandate from the American people. A mandate for sweeping change. President Obama and his party have complete control of all the levers of power in America. A rare occurrence in American political history. And need I mention the excited backing of a fawning worldwide media.

Elections have consequences and for the state of Israel the consequences of the Obama sweep are singular.

They make no secret of their intentions. The Obama administration’s Middle East policy will be driven by “linkage.” “Linkage” is predicated on the notion that Palestinean grievances are what fuel terrorism. The idea that if we resolve the Israeli/Palestinean dispute (and that’s how they see it, as a “dispute”) it will suck all the oxygen out of Islamic terrorism.

Imposing a two-state solution will be at the heart of their efforts.

The atmosphere is alight with warnings. And the warnings are worldwide. Nobel Peace Prize winner and former President of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari, the day after Obama's election, called on the new U.S. president to immediately press the need for a Palestinian state.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke with President-elect Obama and called for the creation of a Palestinian state as the world's first priority.

Jesse Jackson just prior to the election was quoted as saying, "Zionists who control America are on the way out." "America," Jackson says, "must apologize to those we have offended by putting Israel's interest first." Jackson has set out the mindset and priorities for all to see. He has let the cat out of the bag.

Several top foreign policy advisors in the Obama camp have regularly called for imposing a two-state solution on Israel. The key word is "imposing." Look at the Obama line-up starting with Jimmy Carter’s foreign policy guru Zbigniew Brzezinski. Leftie ideologues like Robert (Sure, I advise Obama, and sure I talk with Hamas, so what) Malley and perennial two-state advocates Dennis Ross and Tony McPeak, and let’s not forget Israel’s “friend,” Samantha Power. Scary.

Tellingly, within days of the American election, President-elect Obama sent Robert Malley scurrying to Damascus and Cairo.

It gets worse. Within Obama’s foreign policy camp, “Islam” is not an issue of concern. On the contrary, they are more in sync with the notion that “Islamophobia” presents the real danger. In their view, the bad guys are those who instead of addressing legitimate Arab grievances, go off half-cocked frightening the world about Islam.

In their world view, Islamic terror is an understandable response to appalling conditions -- and Israeli aggression. The Obama forces will attack those they view as “Islamophobic” with a multicultural sword. Political correctness will rule. In that vein, witness former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s comment about Islamophobia in his statement endorsing Senator Obama.

And there is American Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who is lobbying to keep his job in an Obama administration, advising DOD to drop "Islamist" from any characterization of terrorism. Oy gevalt!

Add to the mix the sure knowledge that when it comes to shoving a two-state solution down Israeli throats, President Obama and his foreign policy team will have willing allies in the Israeli political establishment, the Israeli media, Israeli opinion makers, and the vocal support of a large swath of the Israeli and Jewish American populace. Do you doubt it?

And there’s the insiders… establishment leaders in the Jewish American community who will effortlessly be pulled into the push for a two-state solution. Why? Because for these Jewish institutional leaders protecting their “insider” status trumps all other issues.

It is instructive to remember that when the Republican Party vice presidential nominee wished to speak out in protest of a homicidal maniac who calls for the extinction of Israel, her voice was stilled by mainstream Jewish leaders. These Jewish “insiders” feared to give offense to candidate Obama’s soon to be in charge inner circle. Yipes!

Indeed the fear Jewish insiders suffer from most is the fear of becoming outsiders.

Elected officials to the rescue? Don’t hold your breath. Jewish American office holders and members of Congress will throw elbows like hockey thugs in order to secure a first-class seat on the two-state train before it leaves the station. Carl Levin anyone? Chuck Schumer?

What about AIPAC? Sustained attacks on AIPAC as “too influential” have taken a toll and they are currently tied in knots over a lingering federal prosecution for espionage. Forget it. AIPAC will be very cautious.

Still more. In this political climate, a new outfit – J Street – will loom large as a challenge to AIPAC. J Street claims to speak for mainstream American Jews and bills itself as “the political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement.”

J Street is on the ascendancy and will have both influence and access in the new halls of power. Here’s just the most relevant of their statement of principles:

The creation of a viable Palestinian state as part of a negotiated two-state solution, based on the 1967 borders with agreed reciprocal land swaps. The future Palestinian state will require unprecedented levels of international economic and political support to succeed, including a resolution of the refugee issue within the new Palestinian state and in current host countries.


There is no good news. The worldwide coalition gathering to impose a two-state solution on Israel is like nothing previously seen.

Where does this leave us?

We have to face up to reality. There’s no way to sugarcoat this. The two-state solution is rapidly nearing its tipping point. Tipping point… you know, that moment when slow and gradual change – drip, drip, drip – suddenly becomes a deluge. Tipping point is the crashing sound made when ideas that have just been floating around suddenly become irreversible consensus. Irreversible. Locked in concrete.

If two-state is frighteningly near its tipping point, what does this mean for those of us who reject a two-state solution? What are the consequences for those of us who carry a Zionist vision of a Jewish homeland from the river to the sea? How does this affect those who advocate a return from exile, the unification of Jerusalem, restoration of the Temple, and await Moshiach?

Well, it means turn out the lights, the party’s over. Thanks for coming, folks. Drive carefully on the way home.

Once two-state is tipped over into irreversibility the deluge will leave Judea and Samaria bulldozed flat as surely as disengagement flattened Gush Katif; a divided Jerusalem a fait accompli; an internationalized Jerusalem a possibility; the Temple Mount in the possession of the Waqf in perpetuity; and the image of a bifurcated, ethnically neutral Israel looming on the horizon. Peace Now will be driving the bus.

And we must always factor in Arab propaganda. Holocaust denial has been joined by "Temple denial" as part of the ongoing Arab strategy to delegitimize Jewish claims to holy sites and to Jerusalem itself.

Naomi Ragen wrote recently that she feels, “helpless to stop this juggernaut towards disaster.” Yes, ma'am. I know how you feel

Is there anything we can do? Maybe.

To give ourselves a chance, a long shot maybe, but a chance, we must first recognize that the front line for the Israeli Right is two-state.

All other issues are a diversion. No matter how drawn we are to other battlegrounds we must steel ourselves to the reality that all else must be secondary to fighting two-state.

If we lose the two-state battle – and we are badly overmatched, out-gunned and out-manned – we lose the whole game. The fight must be joined on the issue of two-state. Period. We cannot let our attention wander or our resources be diverted to other fronts.

There is very little time. The window for us to act is shrinking. The fat lady is not yet singing, but if you listen carefully you can hear her warming up backstage.

How to begin?

A framework for action is available on request.

But first, we must do what all rebels do. Throw up roadblocks, slow down the momentum toward two-state inevitability. Keep the damn thing from tipping over.

Those are my thoughts. They are just words on a piece of paper. My friend Yishai Fleisher has a great line when talking about Eretz Israel. He says, “How do we fill this vessel with meaning?”. Indeed. Those who would make the rebellion are those anointed to breathe life into the vessel and give it meaning.

Can we win?

I don’t know and I wonder if at this juncture that’s the right question to ask. Will we fight seems to me more to the point. And, if we do fight, will we fight intelligently, strategically, relentlessly.

I argue that Israel is closer than we think to becoming a modern ghetto… growing smaller and weaker as the noose tightens. Will we be passive Jews? Will we acquiesce or will we resist?

The deck is stacked against those who would fight. In the coming struggle Jews who stand up against the two-state consensus will be marginalized, scorned as fanatics, extremists, obstructionists, war mongers, and deranged religious nuts. And those are the lucky ones. Some will have their heads cracked open.

I look to the hero of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising for inspiration. Mordechai Anielewicz did not stop the Holocaust, he did not stop the murder of Jews, he did not stop the trains running to Treblinka… but he did leave us a legacy.

In April 1943, this young Jew named Mordechai showed us that a fearless handful of the committed can make a rebellion and he forever laid to rest the myth of the passive Jew.

The stakes seem to me nothing less than the fulfillment of the Zionist enterprise… and for those who work to end the exile, unite Jerusalem, rebuild the Temple, and bring forth the Moshiach, the stakes are even higher.

Time is not our ally. Seconds turn to minutes, minutes to hours, hours to days…

This is a matter of some urgency.

Consider this:

1. Hillary Clinton is about to be the US Secretary of State (egads!)
2. A meeting between the right-of-center-and-probable-next-Prime-Minister-of-Israel Bibi and Obama (when he came to Israel to show all the Jews how incredible he will be for Israel) was described by Newsweek magazine as: polite. "As for Obama, it is yet to be seen how the dovish American would work with a hard-line Israeli counterpart. At the King David meeting, Obama smiled and tried to find common ground."
3. The Obama/Biden campaign website says that if Iran continues its nuclear program, it will get tough by "step[ping] up our economic pressure and political isolation." Aka: Israel v. Iran will be mano a mano.
4. Obama has been quoted as saying “Israel has no God-given right to occupy Palestine” plus there’s been “genocide against the Palestinian people by Israelis.”

I think it's best we do what we can to get BO off our back - don't you?

Peace Process Paradigm Shift

Over the weekend, Syrian deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad stated that Syria has "other options to liberate the Golan," should the peace talks ongoing with Israel fail to achieve the desired Syrian outcome.

Or, as the headline from the Jerusalem Post put it: Syria: Peace isn't the only way to get Golan

That may be so, but Syria would be wise to remember that peace isn't the only way for Israel to attain quiet along her borders. Eventually, there will come a time when the leadership of the Jewish State will understand that, as well.

Contrary to what many believe, all those living in Israel want peace, it's just a question of the best way of achieving it.

If I were ever elected Prime Minister of Israel, I would be prepared to pursue peace with all of Israel's neighbors.

During these peace talks, I would show the map featured above, featuring one opinion of the ultimate borders of the Land of Israel, based on their description in the Bible.

I would make it clear that Israel is prepared to live in peace with all of her Arab neighbors, until the Messiah comes, in the small area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Peace, meaning that you leave us alone, and we will leave you alone.

However, it would be made clear that should any hostilities arise against the Jewish State or People from any area on the map included in the ultimate borders of Israel, then Israel would enter those areas, liberate them, and incorporate them into the Jewish State - never to leave them.

Sure enough, Syria happens to appear on the map.

Of course, being a moderate that values peace, I do not advocate pressing the claim of the Jewish people to Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, or any of the other countries presently neighboring Israel.

I imagine that it would not take long for Israel's neighbors to learn that concessions are not Israel's only method for attaining peace, and such a realization by the Arab's might even bring lasting peace to the region.

Nicely Said!

Thomas Friedman's newest NYT article puts it succinctly:

Question: What do America’s premier investor, Warren Buffett, and Iran’s toxic president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have in common? Answer: They’ve both made a bet about Israel’s future.

Ahmadinejad declared on Monday that Israel “has reached its final phase and will soon be wiped out from the geographic scene.”

By coincidence, I heard the Iranian leader’s statement on Israel Radio just as I was leaving the headquarters of Iscar, Israel’s famous precision tool company, headquartered in the Western Galilee, near the Lebanon border. Iscar is known for many things, most of all for being the first enterprise that Buffett bought overseas for his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway.

Buffett paid $4 billion for 80 percent of Iscar and the deal just happened to close a few days before Hezbollah, a key part of Iran’s holding company, attacked Israel in July 2006, triggering a monthlong war. I asked Iscar’s chairman, Eitan Wertheimer, what was Buffett’s reaction when he found out that he had just paid $4 billion for an Israeli company and a few days later Hezbollah rockets were landing outside its parking lot.

Buffett just brushed it off with a wave, recalled Wertheimer: “He said, ‘I’m not interested in the next quarter. I’m interested in the next 20 years.’ ” Wertheimer repaid that confidence by telling half his employees to stay home during the war and using the other half to keep the factory from not missing a day of work and setting a production record for the month. It helps when many of your “employees” are robots that move around the buildings, beeping humans out of the way.

So who would you put your money on? Buffett or Ahmadinejad? I’d short Ahmadinejad and go long Warren Buffett.

Why? From outside, Israel looks as if it’s in turmoil, largely because the entire political leadership seems to be under investigation. But Israel is a weak state with a strong civil society. The economy is exploding from the bottom up. Israel’s currency, the shekel, has appreciated nearly 30 percent against the dollar since the start of 2007.

The reason? Israel is a country that is hard-wired to compete in a flat world. It has a population drawn from 100 different countries, speaking 100 different languages, with a business culture that strongly encourages individual imagination and adaptation and where being a nonconformist is the norm. While you were sleeping, Israel has gone from oranges to software, or as they say around here, from Jaffa to Java.

The day I visited the Iscar campus, one of its theaters was filled with industrialists from the Czech Republic, who were getting a lecture — in Czech — from Iscar experts. The Czechs came all the way to the Israel-Lebanon border region to learn about the latest innovations in precision tool-making. Wertheimer is famous for staying close to his customers and the latest technologies. “If you sleep on the floor,” he likes to say, “you never have to worry about falling out of bed.”

That kind of hunger explains why, in the first quarter of 2008, the top four economies after America in attracting venture capital for start-ups were: Europe $1.53 billion, China $719 million, Israel $572 million and India $99 million, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. Israel, with 7 million people, attracted almost as much as China, with 1.3 billion.

Boaz Golany, who heads engineering at the Technion, Israel’s M.I.T., told me: “In the last eight months, we have had delegations from I.B.M., General Motors, Procter & Gamble and Wal-Mart visiting our campus. They are all looking to develop R & D centers in Israel.”

Ahmadinejad professes not to care about such things. He was — to put it in American baseball terms — born on third base and thinks he hit a triple. Because oil prices have gone up to nearly $140 a barrel, he feels relaxed predicting that Israel will disappear, while Iran maintains a welfare state — with more than 10 percent unemployment.

Iran has invented nothing of importance since the Islamic Revolution, which is a shame. Historically, Iranians have been a dynamic and inventive people — one only need look at the richness of Persian civilization to see that. But the Islamic regime there today does not trust its people and will not empower them as individuals.

Of course, oil wealth can buy all the software and nuclear technology you want, or can’t develop yourself. This is not an argument that we shouldn’t worry about Iran. Ahmadinejad should, though.

Iran’s economic and military clout today is largely dependent on extracting oil from the ground. Israel’s economic and military power today is entirely dependent on extracting intelligence from its people. Israel’s economic power is endlessly renewable. Iran’s is a dwindling resource based on fossil fuels made from dead dinosaurs.

So who will be here in 20 years? I’m with Buffett: I’ll bet on the people who bet on their people — not the people who bet on dead dinosaurs.

Final Thoughts And Photos on the Winter Storm of 5768

As the last few stubborn patches of snow melt away I wanted to share a few more pictures I took and a wonderful thought.


These were taken on Thursday morning which was relatively warm and sunny.


Dogs, kids, just about everyone was playing in the snow.


And the roads slowly turned back to normal.


But I wanted to share something that no one seems to point out.



It’s a truly amazing thing when you see it with your own eyes.



If these pictures don’t prove how rain (and snow) on Eretz Yisrael are a direct gift from our father-in-heaven.


And a most beautiful gift indeed.



Isn’t it?


But just look at this radar capture taken in the midst of the storm. The rain and snow falls literally only within the biblical borders of Eretz Yisrael – and just stops – just like that – as soon as the clouds pass over the border...

State of the Union

Fom the State of the Union Address January 28, 2008

"We're also standing against the forces of extremism in the Holy Land, where we have new cause for hope. Palestinians have elected a president who recognizes that confronting terror is essential to achieving a state where his people can live in dignity and at peace with Israel. Israelis have leaders who recognize that a peaceful, democratic Palestinian state will be a source of lasting security. This month in Ramallah and Jerusalem, I assured leaders from both sides that America will do, and I will do, everything we can to help them achieve a peace agreement that defines a Palestinian state by the end of this year. The time has come for a Holy Land where a democratic Israel and a democratic Palestine live side-by-side in peace. (Applause.)"

Good stuff, eh? Listen to this talk and you'll think peace is about break out everywhere. But the truth is that we are much closer to war then peace. The Palestinian president is an arch-terrorist. 3 of 4 most recently murdered Jews were murdered by his 'police'. The Palestinians also elected Hamas with a platform to destroy the Jewish State. A "Holy Land where a democratic Israel and a democratic Palestine live side-by-side" is myth and a lie designed to destroy us. See how Gaza has turned into a haven for terrorists who are decimating Sderot with their rockets.

Here is what this week's Torah portion (Exodus 23) recommends:

23. "For My angel will go before you and bring you in to the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will completely destroy them.
24. "You shall not worship their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their deeds; but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their sacred pillars in pieces.
25. "But you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water; and I will remove sickness from your midst.
26. "There shall be no one miscarrying or barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.
27. "I will send My terror ahead of you, and throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.
28. "I will send hornets ahead of you so that they will drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you.
29. "I will not drive them out before you in a single year, that the land may not become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.
30. "I will drive them out before you little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land.
31. "I will fix your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River Euphrates; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.
32. "You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.
33. "They shall not live in your land, because they will make you sin against Me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."

Mr. President, Somewhere the Sun is Shining

(AP)

Mr. Bush learned an important lesson this morning. A basic fundamental in Judaism is that while man indeed has free will to choose good or evil, everything down to the smallest detail is controlled by God. These are not contradictory.

So the President "made a request to watch the sun rise over the Old City from his suite at the King David Hotel." What a plan! Israel officials had even better plans. "To make the scene more dramatic, the authorities [planned] to turn off the lights illuminating the limestone walls before dawn." Brilliant! (Haaretz even wrote about what the president would be thinking at that time and called Mr. Bush a courageous man and even praised him for being a God fearing man. Imagine liberal Haaretz ever calling a staunch conservative courageous! Or ever praising anyone for being God fearing!)

So what did the President see when he looked out his $2,500 a night Presidential Suite at the King David Hotel at 5:30 in the morning? Brilliant rays of the sun peeking over the ancient walls? Golden halos sheening off the Dome of the Rock? Actually he probably didn't even see the artist neighborhood of Yamin Moshe just meters below right outside his hotel window. See, as the Yiddish expression goes, "Men tracht und Gott lacht." Man plans, and G-d laughs! Man proposes, God disposes.

As Mr. Bush pulled apart the posh hotel curtains he didn't see the sunrise scene that he and Israel authorities has planned. What he saw was probably nothing. A thick fog moved in overnight along with some heavy rain and even a bit of snow. By morning the fog was so heavy the President's entourage had to cancel plans for him to fly by helicopter to Ramallah and chose to drive instead.

Indeed President George W. Bush is a God-fearing man. And perhaps he, and all the leaders of the world should heed the advice of another God-fearing leader. The leader from whom the hotel Mr. Bush is staying by gets its name. King David wrote: "The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples." Psalms 33:10

(AP)

Compare and Contrast

Israeli Extremists March To Set Up New Outposts in West Bank

Hundreds of hardline Israeli activists fanned out across the occupied West Bank on Sunday, setting up eight wildcat outposts to protest possible evacuations of Jewish settlements....

Pioneers Establish Six New Points of Light

The nuclei for six Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria were either established or strengthened Sunday by Jewish pioneers, in a special Chanukah settlement project. Despite scuffles with police and the IDF, which declared the points of settlement closed military zones, Chanukah menorahs were lit in at least three of the sites.

Awesome New Website

I want to make a blessing! Check out the new YMAP site. You can see Israel's roads, satellite photos, or a synthesis of the two. Since the invention of cartography, mankind has been zealously mapping out the Holy Land - this site takes it to the next level.

And she shall be called in Israel...

With much thanks to Hashem, I am happy to share with you that at 10:10am Shabbat Morning, the 7th day of the month of Kislev, 5768 (November 17, 2007), Annie gave birth to a baby girl. Both Annie and our new daughter are doing well - and Hodaya is excited to be a sister.

Being Shabbat, we had the opportunity, a few hours later, during Mincha (afternoon service) to name our daughter.

And she shall be called in Israel... Eliana Racheil.

Eliana means: (My) G-d has answered - a combination of the two Hebrew words, Eli: (My) G-d, and Ana: has answered.

On the most elementary level, It is the hope and prayer of every couple to be blessed with children, and that, in the aftermath of childbirth, that both baby and mother should be well. It is all too easy to forget or take for granted that not every couple has yet to be blessed with children, and not every pregnancy ends well, either for the mother or baby (or both).

So, on this most basic and human level, Eliana - G-d has answered our prayers - and we have been blessed once again with a beautiful baby girl, and that both she and her mother are healthy and happy, if not a bit tired, understandably so.

Racheil comes from our Biblical matriarch Rachel, who happened to be one of the central figures from this past Shabbat's weekly Torah portion - Parshat VaYeitzei.

The Talmud (Niddah 20b) teaches us that when a baby is in the womb, "he / she is taught the entire Torah...". It is not surprising then, having already become familiar with this past Shabbat's Torah portion that Eliana Racheil chose to enter this world specifically on Shabbat Parshat VaYeitzei.

The Hebrew word VaYeitzei means: to go out - and that is precisely what Eliana Racheil did this past Shabbat - she went out of her mother's womb and entered into the world.

Additionally, one of the central themes of Parshat VaYeitzei is that of childbirth. Over the course of the Torah portion, 11 of the 12 sons of Jacob - the Tribes of Israel - are both born and named (another motivation for naming Eliana Racheil over this particular Shabbat), and in addition to the 11 boys born to Jacob, a daughter is also born to him - bringing the total to 12 children born to Jacob over the span of a single Torah portion.

However, in order to fully appreciate and understand the name, one must look at both names together.

There is a Midrash found at the beginning of the Book of Lamentations (Eichah) which recounts the following (copied from www.Chabad.org):

As the Temple lay in ruins and the Jews were being led into exile as slaves, Abraham came before G-d and said: "Master of the universe, when I was 100 years old, you gave me a son, and when he was 37 years old you told me, 'Raise him as a sacrifice before Me.' I overcame my natural mercy and bound him myself. Will You not remember my devotion and have mercy on my children?"

Next, Isaac approached. "When my father said, 'G-d will show us the sheep for a sacrifice, my son,' I did not hesitate but accepted my fate and extended my neck to be slaughtered. Will You not remember my strength and have mercy on my children?"

Then Jacob beseeched: "I worked for twenty years in the house of Laban and when I left, Esau came to harm me. I suffered all my life raising my children. Now they are being led like sheep to the slaughter in the hands of their enemies. Won't you remember all my pain and suffering and redeem my children?"

Moses rose up and said: "Was I not a loyal shepherd of Israel for forty years? I ran before them in the desert like a horse. When the time came to enter Israel, You decreed that I would die in the desert. Now they go into exile. Won't You listen to my crying over them?"

Before all these virtuous defenders, G-d remained silent.

Then Rachel lifted her voice, "Master of the Universe, You know that Jacob loved me intensely and worked for seven years in order to marry me. When the time of my marriage came, my father substituted my sister for me. I did not begrudge my sister and I didn't let her be shamed; I even revealed to her the secret signs that Jacob and I had arranged.

"If I, a mere mortal, was not prepared to humiliate my sister and was willing to take a rival into my home, how could You, the eternal, compassionate G-d, be jealous of idols, which have no true existence, that were brought into Your home? Will You cause my children to be exiled on this account?"

Immediately, G-d's mercy was aroused and He responded, "For you, Rachel, I will bring Israel back to their place."

This Midrash is based on the verses found in the Book of Jeremiah (31: 15 - 17):

So has the Lord said: In Ramah there is a sound of crying, weeping and bitter sorrow; Rachel weeping for her children; she will not be comforted for their loss. The Lord has said this: Keep your voice from sorrow and your eyes from weeping: for your work will be rewarded, says the Lord; and they will come back from the land of their hater. And there is hope for the future, says the Lord; and your children will come back to the land which is theirs.

Returning to the name, Eliana Racheil...

Eliana Racheil is our 2nd child, and our 2nd child to be born in Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the Jewish People. Annie and I have been blessed to make our home and start our family here, in the Land of Israel, and have our children born in Jerusalem, something which, today, is also something, B"H, that is easy to take for granted.

In response to our matriarch Rachel's tears on seeing the Jewish People led into exile, G-d promised her that "your children (the Jewish People) will return to their borders (the Land of Israel)".

Annie and I, along with Hodaya Leah and Eliana Racheil (and the many other Jews who have returned to the Land of Israel - who have returned home) are the living fulfillment of G-d's promise to Rachel - Eliana Rachel - G-d has answered Rachel's prayer - the Jewish People are coming home.

It is our hope and prayer, in giving our new daughter this name, Eliana Racheil, that she follow in the footsteps of her namesake, Racheil Imeinu, who serves as the embodiment of dedication and self-sacrifice on behalf of the Jewish people, and that our Eliana Racheil devote herself to bringing about the redemption of the Jewish People - may we merit to see it speedily in our - and Eliana Racheil's - lifetime.

A Return to the Pre-67 Borders

How about it? 67. As in the year 67 CE. When Israel looked something like this:

Why aren't we demanding that Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, not to mention the "Palestinians," return what's rightfully ours?

Good Info!!!

Heyo,

Life is getting hectic, but my friend just emailed me this, and its a GREAT and informative slide show about Israel and its history.

CLICK HERE TO GET INFORMED!!!!

Enjoy :-)

~ Shulamit

Kumah's Pro-Hebron Demonstration

Yesterday's anti-"Peace Now" protest in Hebron was awesome. Our Kumah bus, sponsored by National Young Israel - USA took us to Hebron where "Peace Now" came to mark 40 years since the Six Day War by calling for Jewish Hebron to be destroyed. We came to let them know that "This Land Is Our Land" and that we will now let this horrific demonstration go unchallenged. Though the day was hot, and the mood tense, we had a great time raising the flag of Israel in Hebron, speaking with the media, meeting the brave folks of the area, and of course, visiting the holy sites, and even eating a pizza in Gutnick Hall outside the cave of the Patriarchs. Check out the pictures by clicking here.

Glenn's History of the Middle East... in a Couple of Minutes

Glenn Beck is perhaps the only thing worth watching on CNN... This is an oldie but a classic!

EVENT - HEBRON COUNTER DEMONSTRATION AND TRIP

Tomorrow, Tuesday June 5th, "Peace Now" is having a rally in Hebron calling for the destruction of Jewish presence there. You are invited to join a counter-protest in Hebron tomorrow. We will be leaving Binyanei HaUmah at 9:00AM and we will make a stop to pick up folks at Tzomet haGush on our way to Hebron. We plan on returning to Jerusalem at about 5:00PM

While in Hebron we will spend part of the time protesting the "Peace Now" demonstration and we also make time to visit the Tomb of the Patriarchs and other sacred spots.

The bus is free, first come first serve.

Contact: Yishai yishai@kumah.org

Remember: this week's Torah portion is Shelach where the great sin of the rejection of Eretz Yisrael took place. Of 12 spys, only Joshua and Caleb yearned for the Land. Caleb received his strength from the forefathers buried in Hebron as it says "and he came unto Hebron."

Why should anyone care about Sderot?

With no end in sight to the 6 year long rocket assault on Sderot, Ari Shavit of Ha'aretz elaborates upon why those in Israel should give a damn:

It should not have been like this. Sderot is not Gush Katif. There is no debate. On the contrary: Sderot is a "Green Line" city. Sderot is a post-withdrawal city. Sderot is the righteous Israeli city after the occupation. Sderot is the future

Which leads us to Shavit's main point. Why should Israelis care about Sderot?

The attack on Sderot is a strategic attack on peace. It is an attack on the two-state solution. If the attack succeeds, there will be no chance of any future withdrawal. If the attack succeeds, the occupation will be perpetuated.

In Shavit's world,, one should care about Sderot, not because of the responsibility one Jew has for another - or even that of one human being for another, nor is he driven by the pursuit of justice. The sole reason one should care about Sderot is because if Sderot falls, so does the "peace process".

While Shavit makes the distinction between Sderot and Gush Katif clear, he fails to grasp a major distinction existing between Israel and the Arab world, which serves as the root cause for the tragedy that is Sderot.

If one looks at the "Palestinian Authority" map above, there is no green line. No distinction is made between Gush Katif and Sderot. No distinctions are needed for the simple reason that the entire Land of Israel (Palestine) belongs to them - to Islam.

If one looks at the nobility of Israeli society, what does one find? As Shavit puts it:

Sderot should have been the apple of the eye of all those preaching withdrawal in the past, and of everyone who still believes in withdrawal. Sderot should have been the city of peace writers and peace singers and peace industrialists. A "peace now" city. A city of Israeli solidarity. A city of mutual responsibility. A city where strong Israelis stand together with Israelis who are less strong in the face of Islamic zealotry.

Yet, what one finds amongst the vast majority of Israels elite is a group who questions the very right of the Jewish People to a Jewish State in the Land of Israel. After all, can it be said that Gush Katif is really anymore "occupied territory" than Sderot? Certainly there's no difference in the eyes of the Arabs. Which is why, if, as Shavit puts it, Sderot is Israel's future, then it's clear that Israel's nobility has already abandoned ship.

When Ariel Sharon said that the fate of Netzarim is that of Tel Aviv (April, 2002), he was not mistaken. Until the Jewish People recognize their absolute right to the Land of Israel and show that they are willing and able to enforce that right, there will be no peace. Not in Gush Katif. Not in Sderot. Not in Jerusalem and not in Tel Aviv.

The time has come for us - those who still believe in this fundamental and historic truth - to assume the leadership and responsibility of this country and to do so before Sderot falls.

Calls to Re-settle Gush Katif

Getting ready for the Chag, but I thought this was a good way to start Shavot :-)
Read it here and have an amazing Chag... with faith and the desire, we shall overcome... its what we do!!!!

~Smile, and DFTSS ~ Shulamit

SDEROT - CITY UNDER SIEGE

Ezra, Tamar Yonah, and I had the opportunity to head down to Sderot to do a live broadcast with some amazing people including Rabbi David and Mechi Fendel, Noam Bedein, Shlomo Wollins, and others.

Here is a photo album of our time there.

Here are the links to our two hours of amazing broadcast:
HOUR ONE
HOUR TWO

BREAKING: Elders Hold News Conference

Pandemonium around the podium

A spokesman for the Elders of Zion, Mr. Larry Elder, is holding a news conference in which he is stating the Elders' recommended course of action in Sderot. I am liveblogging, here goes:

LE: ... the Elders recommend the following:

a) we get a normal Prime Minister instead of this meshugener shaygetz.

b) the new PM gets the IDF to build The Gazanator.

c) the new PM holds a news conference in Sderot in which he unveils The Gazanator.

d) The Gazanator is a computer connected to some Howitzers on one end and the Color Red incoming rocket alert system on the other. Basically, what it does is confirm that there is an incoming rocket and have a Howitzer fire a shell into a randomly selected point in Gaza's populated areas.

e) The PM then proceeds to load the Howitzers with shells himself, so as to make clear the responsibility for any "war crime" is his and his alone. He explains that once the Gazanator is turned on, the only thing that will make it fire shells are incoming rockets from Gaza, and the only thing that will make it stop firing shells is a cessation of incoming fire from Gaza.

f) PM turns on The Gazanator. End of story.

(silence, then commotion)

Exclusive: Meeting of the Elders, 10/05/07

the Elders when they were a bit younger

The Elders have met again. This took place last Thursday in the vicinity of the Temple Institute. Sorry it took me this long to get the info, but you're not going to get this anywhere else so just be grateful!

Anyhow, this meeting was devoted to a Stages Plan and to updates regarding the tunnel work currently being painstakingly carried out under the Temple Mount. When I say painstaking, I am understating to the maximum degree: the digs are performed by teams that include archaeologists and explosive experts - this is not just your ordinary tunnel. Plus there are acoustic issues - it's important that the people praying in the mosques don't hear the guys chiseling away. Sipur mehahaftara as we say!

So the tunnel part is confidential, I was not even allowed to look at the protocol dealing with that.

As for the Stages Plan, here is the relevant section:

Reb Moishe ben Duvid: Hey, why do Jews have big noses?

Reb Itamar ben Fishel: Because the air is for free, yes we know that one! Go on if you want to present your plan!

Reb Moishe ben Duvid: OK OK. So here is the plan I suggest. I have been speaking with Reb Effie [Eitam] about this by the way, he is leaking the plan in bits and pieces so the public can get used to it.

Stage A as you see in this chart is to make the public discourse in Israel a bit more aggressive and violent, get the pacifists in the media to gradually shut their yaps. This is progressing nicely. The tone is less sissyish and more violent, and this is good. I am seeing graffiti that says 'Kahana Tzadak' and it is not getting wiped away as fast as it used to.

Stage B is to get 'the cocktail' in government. I say cocktail because while we do not have a leader who can cure us from our AIDS, we can, through a combination of leaders, hold off the Arabs for quite a while. The cocktail looks like it will include Netanyahu and Eitam.

Stage C is to whack the Israeli Arab population over the head as we say. This we will accomplish by staging a provocation and then getting the 'cocktail' to declare martial law throughout the major Arab concentrations, from the Galilee to the Negev. There will be a curfew for at least a year, probably much longer, and it will be strictly and harshly enforced.

Stage D will be to convince the government to start bombing the Arabs in Yehuda Shomron and Aza, and show the world that we can be as mean, crazy and underhanded as the worst of them if need be. We don't play by the rules when the other side doesn't.

Stage E will involve a 1948-style expulsion of 90% of the Yesha Arabs.

Stage F will involve resettling 2-3 million Jews who will stream here, mostly from the USA, as a result of the massive anti-Semitic wave stage E will engender.

Stage G will involve getting some serious allies with us as we prepare for Stage H, the showdown with the Mohammedans. This means Zionist Christians but also countries like India and possibly Africa [I must say I agree with him: some sub-saharan African countries were the only ones who did not boycott the Jerusalem Day event! They have a simple, true belief, they love us and we need to be less racist and accept their love - G.R.].

Stage H will be the showdown! If we lose we die. If we win - we get tons and tons of oil and we die laughing!

(general laughter)

END OF PROTOCOL

That's all I have for now.