An Egyptian couple bring over a child to cook, clean, and take care of children, while living in squalor in the garage. She is paid $30 a month and could not leave the house. Thankfully the couple have been arrested and the girl freed.

Abdelnasser Eid Youssef Ibrahim, 45, and Amal Ahmed Ewis-abd Motelib, 43, admitted bringing the girl, now 16, from Egypt in 2000, then making her work as a servant to their family of seven from August 2000 to April 2002.

A “Professor” interviewed for the LA Times article said that this case is unusual because “child-maids” are not often brought to the west, where it is common practice in Egypt. He said “child-maid” and not slave, and then went on about how the practice is starting to be phased out in Egypt. Phased out! This is slavery pure and simple and they print his euphemism of child-maid. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

According to the Feds:

The girl is one of 53 human-trafficking victims in Orange County, according to Bob Jones, with St. Anselm’s Cross-Cultural Community Center, a member of the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force. Most of the female victims who can apply for green cards choose to stay in this country.

More so-called child maids are certainly out there in the posh wilderness of the OC. Funny, I imagine that no episodes of that TV Show “The OC” ever discussed child slavery.

shabbat shalom from jerusalem…

As if Orthodox would-be Apprentices weren’t enough, the Donald has now announced his ambition to create Israel’s tallest building, to consist mainly of condos and to be located in Ramat Gan across from the Diamond Exchange.  The new building will be called…anyone want to guess?…Trump Tower Israel. At least the dude is consistent.

Rabbi Studly: Shrimp is treiff, but hot congregants aren’t.

Oy!!

A story of love and shrimp, a nun and a rabbi, a jilted wife and, well, fodder for gossips.

Rabbi Ephraim Rubinger, 62, recently resigned his membership in the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly as the organization launched an ethics investigation into his conduct. Rubinger is casting his resignation as an act of defiance and principle, saying that he quit the R.A. rather than submit himself to the judgment of a “kangaroo court.”

…

Last summer, Rubinger moved to Columbia with his wife, Diana, and his 13-year-old son from a previous marriage. Just an hour’s drive to the south lived a nun by the name of Leslie Villaverde who had spent the past six years at the Saints Mary and Martha Orthodox Monastery in Wagner, S.C.

and later:

Rubinger contends that before he met Villaverde, he and his wife were experiencing marital problems because of their differing levels of religious observance. According to the rabbi, who maintains the laws of kashrut, his wife sometimes ate lobster and shrimp. Diana Rubinger, a 58-year-old middle school science teacher, didn’t deny the claim.

“Occasionally, when I would get very upset with the rules, I would sneak out to a place where nobody would find me and, yes, pop a piece of shrimp in my mouth,” she said. But she added, “You don’t divorce your wife because she had a piece of shrimp.”

At this point, I didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. I did realise, however, that ck has brainwashed me with his stupid shrimp-encrusted-fish-stick story and that I’ll never be able to read a rabbi-leaves-wife-for-ex-nun-but-blames-the-shrimp-and-not-the-sexual-attraction story ever again without thinking of our denominational debates on Jewlicious. Thanks, ck.

This is an open note to the participants on Oranim trip 466, which concluded yesterday at the airport in Tel Aviv…

Welcome to Jewlicious! I saw one of you already started commenting on some of our posts (Barri, you rock!), and hope that others of you will follow. Jewlicious provides us all with a chance to stay connected to Jewish life in all its forms, abroad in the Diaspora and here in Israel. Michael and I write here regularly, along with others who provide varying perspectives: if you have an opinion about Jewish life, it’s likely that Jewlicious has both similar and opposite views, because we Jews certainly exercise our right to disagree with each other, loudly and often.

Stay tuned to Jewlicious for more pictures from our ten days together in Israel, and/or feel free to visit my Flickr to see more sooner.

Want to see all the posts about our trip? They’ll all be filed under “Free trip to Israel” and “Isralicious” in the archives, so that’s a handy way to access them.Michael’s off to the States and I’m staying here for about another month. Call it a Jewlicious exchange program. Anyway, keep visiting us virtually and in real life–stay in touch!

Eliyahu Pinchas Asheri was the oldest of five children. He lived in the settlement of Itamar with his family and apparently was a shy, introspective teenager. He disappeared several days ago and while initially his disappearance caused little notice, it took on an alarming turn when a Palestinian group – the name of the group is irrelevant since every day we see more and more clearly that they virtually all share the very same philosophy with respect to Israel, to Jews and to the violence they believe they are permitted to foist upon Israelis (see the new Prisoner’s Plan where they advocate murder of any Jews outside of 1949 borders) – announced they were holding a Zionist teenager captive. The group claimed he was still alive and showed his ID card to the world. Sadly, they had already shot him in the head, their orgiastic need to do violence to an innocent, harmless, unarmed and unprotected boy, apparently taking over any rational consideration of keeping him alive.

The boy, Eliyahu Asheri, is dead long before his time, murdered in cold blood. To those who will try to explain this murder, I remind you that this isn’t something new. This behavior of murdering Jews because they are despised by the local Arabs goes back to the early part of the last century, long before Jews were a majority of people on this land, long before they had an army, long before they had a state. A promising, quiet, young boy walking on a dirt road, picked up and then murdered for no reason. Israel is already sending one of his killers to jail where he will dream of being released one day in exchange for other kidnapped Israelis or their bodies. Perhaps Israel ought to rethink this policy of arresting people like the murderers of Eliyahu.

Our deepest condolences to his parents.

Our very own Esther has a partner on Jdaters Anonymous, Annabel Lee. Annabel has been writing a blog for a while describing the life of a young single Jewish woman who is observant and dedicated to living a traditional Jewish life. She has recently announced her engagement and although unlike most other Jewliciousers I haven’t met her personally, it gives me great pleasure to wish her a mazal tov and best wishes for the future.

(Other posters are welcome to update or add to this post)

A group of rabidly anti-Israel, and often Jew-baiting leftists are holding a demonstration in LA against Israel. Counter demonstrators for Israel are also organizing. Seems like it will be a showdown. Read the announcement for some great laughs about Israel, the great Satan.

Israeli occupation forces launch brutal assault
on Palestinians in Gaza
Food, water, electricity cut off to more than 1 million people
Israel threatens regional war, sending war planes over Syria

Emergency Protest in LA
Stop the attacks! Cut off U.S. aid to Israel!
Thursday, June 29, 4-6 pm
Israeli Consulate: 6380 Wilshire Blvd, LA (near Wilshire & San Vicente)
Click here for map and driving directions

Sponsored by A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition-LA, including member groups Free
Palestine Alliance and Palestinian American Women’s Association, and the National
Council of Arab Americans-LA.

For more info call 323-464-1636 or email answerla@answerla.org .
http://www.answerla.org
(more…)

I know, I know, this has nothing to do with Judaism. Sometimes, though, it’s important to know what other cultures are thinking.

Nineteen college-aged kids from the US and Germany just completed a 3 week tour of israel. The tour meant to foster deeper ties with Israel and study issues related to the Israel/Palestine conflict. It’s just like birthright israel. Except these guys didn’t get a speech from Momo about Jewish babies. Why? Because these guys were Christians.

The Jerusalem Post Reports:

The Israel Experience Program, dubbed the ‘Christian Birthright,’ is a Christian spin-off on the highly successful Taglit-birthright israel program, which brings young Jews on free 10-day trips to Israel. The program, which is the vision of the prominent Evangelical Christian leader Robert Stearns and is carried out in coordination with the Foreign Ministry and the Knesset’s Christian Allies Caucus, aims to teach participants the Jewish roots of Christianity, and offers them brief introductory courses covering the Holocaust, Zionism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the agenda of radical Islam.

The trip is sponsored by the New York-based Eagles’ Wings Ministry, and its itinerary included a visit to the Knesset, meetings with MKs and Foreign Ministry officials and touring key religious sites.

The participants are meant to go back to their campuses better informed about the situation in Israel. This is meant of course, to counter increasing anti-Israel activity by various groups and represents a new aspect of the Israeli Christian tourist industry.

Yes,yes. very interesting….

OK, OK, I just wanted a reason to make that birthright jesus logo. I hope Gidi Mark can forgive me.

Sigh. I am sad to report that depending on where you read your news, the following happenned:

JPost: Haredim assault Christian tourists
A group of German tourists wearing shirts emblazoned with messages of love to the Jewish people were attacked by a mob of angry Haredim in Kikar Shabbat.

Arutz Sheva: Missionaries Accosted in Meah She´arim
A group of missionaries hell bent on converting Haredi Jews to Christianity gave out deceptive looking pamphlets and accosted Orthodox Jews with provocative clothing bearing the slogan “Your God is our God.” they were asked politely to leave and a half hour later, after one of the German missionaries kicked a Jew and the police arrived, two Haredim were arrested unfairly for uh… jaywalking.

So which is it? I’ve seen missionaries venture into the shuk waving Israeli flags and signing songs and giving out Jewishy looking Jesus pamphlets. The last group I saw doing this was indeed accosted by angry people but no riot ensued. But the shuk in Jerusaem is not Kikar Shabbat in the heart of Haredi-Land. So yeah, the perhaps well meaning but definitely stupid Germans probably did get the shit kicked out of them. Does this mean Hareidim are bad? No. It just means that some of them need to chill while others could do with a nice night in jail (Jewish criminals in Canada who I worked for called jail “cheder” – cheder in Yiddish means Torah Study room – but I digress). Assaulting people and setting garbage bins on fire is unnacceptable.

Below is an eyewitness account I got from “ST” about what took place. Read it to get an idea of what happenned. Totally unnacceptable.

(more…)

Last night, the last night of our Taglit birthright trip to Israel, President of Oranim Momo Lifshitz addressed the participants from our bus and from our unofficial sister bus, 465, who arrived the same day we did. He appealed to our Jewish souls to make the new Jewish babies, of course, and to remember the Holocaust so that it never happens again. “It is so important to rebuild the family. We are one, no matter what we think,” he said. Through this program, Momo noted that he’d shaken 20,000 people’s hands at the airport. “This program will be viewed as the one that changed the course of the Jewish people.”
But beyond those two national imperatives, Momo pointed out that Oranim, although it does more than any other birthright program, only provides a “taste of Israel,” and that everyone still leaves wanting more. “But for everyone, it is a different ‘more,’” he said, noting that Israel appeals to everyone in a different way.

“Everyone asks what the catch is. Well, there is a catch,” Momo admitted. “We want you to fall in love witht he Jewish people and with each other.” He urged us to make some sort of lasting connection to the Jewish community at home–whether it’s joining a synagogue, participating in Hillel events, having the occasional Shabbat meal with friends, or mingling with Jews. He noted that birthright would help–the active alumni association intends to provide regular programs, get-togethers and parties to make sure that the mingling continues. He noted that Oranim graduates could also come back as Ambassadors, to ensure the chain of continuity between their Israel experience and the Israel experiences of future birthright participants.

Over the course of the program, Momo says he has shaken the hands of 20,000 participants, and is optimistic that this program will make a substantial difference in the Jewish future. “This program,” he predicted “will be viewed as the one that changed the course of the Jewish people. The program is a taste of Israel. Everyone leaves wanting more, but wanting a ‘different’ more…I want you to fall in love with the Jewish people and with each other.”

Momo also singled out Jewlicious for our Shabbat program and for our approach to creating positive Jewish experiences–he noted his intention to develop the relationship with our writers in the future.

The participants were also given a chance to speak, or rather, react from their hearts. Our participants noted their favorite moments, with Shabbat lunches in a show of Jerusalem home hospitality from families in Jerusalem as a highlight. They noted the moments that they’d miss, and those that finally connected them with the geography and politics of the country, not to mention the people on the trip who, most acknowledged, had become an extended family, and contributed to the fact that they now really felt like Israel was home.

This afternoon, after going to Mini-Israel and perhaps to Latrun, our group will head to the airport, and unload our stuff from under the bus for the last time. We’ll say goodbye to some of our group, and others will remain, having extended their tickets so that they could see and do more on this trip to a new country, to their homeland. There will be tears–tears have, in fact, already begun.

We hope that they will keep in touch, with us and with each other. We hope they will enjoy the pictures. We hope that, remembering the sheer intensity of our program will help them forgive us that we’ve not been able to post daily throughout the trip. We hope that we’ll be creating a virtual home for them, here at Jewlicious, at Flickr pages, MySpace and perhaps Facebook, to keep them together even when they’re apart. And we hope that their connections, with each other and with Israel and the Jewish people, will continue.

More posts about the trip to come–they’ll be late, but they’ll be here. Just like our participants on the bus every morning. But that’s another story. Or at least another post.

Links, photos, memories…all to come. L’hitraot…

A Reuven Rubin painting sells for $287,000 at auction (not the painting above).

Works of masters like Maurice Gottlieb, Abel Pan, Moise Kisling, Marc Chagall, were sold as well as painting by Israeli artists like Reuven Rubin, Mordechai Ardon, Nahum Gutman, Marcel Janko and Yaacov Eisenscher.

Chagall’s Vase of Clay and Vase of Iron was sold for USD 379,500; The road to Galilee by Rubin was sold for USD 287,000; Mimosa by Kisling was sold for USD 276,000; Two donkeys in Ramallah by Gutman was sold for USD 86,250, and Biblical Image by Pan was sold for USD 52,900.

*sob*

Seriously, these people should be a first priority for targeting right now. You’ll note how the “brave” terrorists intend to go after after civilians.

A spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, Abu Abir, told Ynet on Tuesday that that his organization has formed special units in the West Bank whose sole purpose is to kidnap soldiers and settlers, in accordance with the continued Operation “Cavaliers’ Wrath.”

“Our goal it to imprint the message in the Israeli consciousness that regardless of more Palestinian deaths, the resistance will continue to strike at you, until the occupation ends.”

According to the spokesman, “Eliyahu Asheri was kidnapped on Sunday.” He refused to confirm reports that the settler was no longer alive. “We will release a message at the proper time.” He emphasized that the PRC would continue to kidnap soldiers and settlers. He issued a bold threat, saying, “We would like to say to the extolled and failing leaders, (Defense Minister) Amir Peretz and (Prime Minister) Ehud Olmert, that anything that we desire to do, we can do within a few hours. As long as one Palestinian remains in an Israeli prison and as long as soldiers and settlers remain on our land, the fighting and the kidnapping will not cease.”

I knew TM couldn’t hold back

Well, Katsav is a Sephardic Jew. They don’t know Reform Judaism from geffilte fish. In most Sephardic households, regardless of their level of practice, Reform Judaism is viewed as a foreign movement that does not speak to their spirituality or history at all.

There are a couple of issues here. Yoffie stated that he was not going to attend a reception at the President’s home because of Katsav’s refusal to addres him as Rabbi. The Jerusalem Post notes that there was no reception scheduled that week that Yoffie had been invited to. So what’s that all about? He feigned indignation at not being properly addressed at a meeting that wasn’t going to happen?

I mean by all indications, Katsav has met before with Reform Rabbis without incident. Furthermore, the aforementioned Jerusalem Post article also notes that

Proof of the president’s regard for the Reform Movement is evidenced in the significant role that it plays in the World Jewish Forum that he initiated. Yoffie and other Reform leaders were invited to the founders’ meeting and Hebrew Union College President Rabbi David Ellenson, who is a member of the forum’s steering committee, is listed with his rabbinical title.

I personally wouldn’t call Yoffie a Rabbi either. I just can’t call someone a Rabbi who counsels his flock to eat non-kosher food and violate the sabbath and all the other things Reform Judaism believes in officiates in a temple with a non-kosher kitchen and sabbath parking lot and who suports many of the tennets of the Pittsbut\rgh Platform. You can call him Rabbi if you like, but I won’t. But forget all that stuff. Yoffie violated cardinal rule numero uno in the ck book of Thou shalt nots – namely, thou shalt not make idiot and innapropriate holocaust analogies with people you don’t agree with unless said people were actual Nazis or in the midst of perpetrating a Holocaust.

Last November in Houston, the esteemed leader of 1.6 million oops, I mean 1.5 million (and counting) Reform Jews blasted conservative religious activists in a speech, calling them ‘zealots’ who claim a ‘monopoly on God’ while promoting anti-gay policies akin to Adolf Hitler’s.

Now, y’all know I am no fan of Conservative anti-Gay crusders, to say the least. But to say that their policies are akin to Hitler’s? That analogy serves only to diminish horror of the Holocaust. I don’t care how right you think your cause is, there is no excuse for that kind of base ignorance and mean spiritedness.

The title Rabbi is an honorific one. Amongst the things it conveys is respect for the bearer. Sorry, but I have very little respect for Yoffie. This little publicity stunt of his does nothing to raise his stature in my eyes.

In an editorial by Larry Derfner (who?) in the Jerusalem Post, President Katsav was derided as expressing offensive and even idiotic opinions about Reform Rabbis. But even Derfner (who?) notes that all this is actually good for the reform movement:

Actually, I think the president has done Reform and Conservative Jewry in America a favor. Let’s face it – they’re bored. They can do or not do anything they want in their synagogues, and nobody will even raise their voices at them. They go their way and the Orthodox go theirs. Between America’s separation of religion and state, and all that tolerance, the Reform and Conservative over there, unlike those over here, can’t get into a fight to save their lives.

In Israel, the Reform and Conservative are on the barricades. In America, they’re on the golf course.

But this week in Jerusalem they’re protesting and their rabbis are giving interviews. They’re underdogs fighting for a noble cause. It’s terribly exciting, and this could only happen to them in Israel.

And the man they have to thank is President Moshe Katsav. Whoever the hell he is.

Snarky commentary aside, Derfner has a point. This little imbroglio has given these dudes a nice platform. The press is interviewing Yoffie, his constituency gets to see him be all leaderly and tough with no less than the President of a Sovereign state. For the Reform movement, it’s a PR bonanza!

I would urge Yoffie to enjoy it now while he can. Perhaps a few more people will even know who he is, but the long term effect of this will be nil. Remember, he’s head of a movement of 1.5 million Jews and 900 Temples in North America. Do the math. That’s an average of 1,666 members per Temple. When was the last time, besides during Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashana, that you saw even 166 people attending services at a Reform Temple? I think Yoffie and the movement that he leads have far more serious problems to worry about than whether or not some politician addresses him by the title Rabbi.

Tell Hamas leaders in Gaza that if they don’t deliver Khaled Meshal to Israel as a prisoner, then they will be held responsible for this attack in Kerem Shalom. Alternatively, they can deliver the kidnapped soldier, Gilad Shalit. Either way, it seems clear that Meshal is one enemy Israel should consider sending, uh, elsewhere.

I am afraid that as I write, things are not looking good for Gilad. Unlike prisoner exchanges in past hostage situations, Israel seems to feel that any concessions on Shalit’s release will simply engender more kidnapping attempts and strengthen Hamas. There is also the barrier of speaking to a terror organization. On the Palestinian side, either the playacting is really good or Abbas and Hanieh are not in control. Now I have to say that it’s hard for me to believe Hamas members could dig a 700 yard tunnel without their leadership knowing about it, but even if they did know, it is uncertain whether they control the men who hold Gilad. In the meantime, the Palestinian street favors not releasing him without Israel releasing thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange.

Olmert gave an initial ultimatum of receiving news and some significant movement on the soldier by Tuesday morning, otherwise Israel would take significant action. It is Tuesday morning in Israel now, and as of 11:00 AM, Israeli soldiers continue to wait for orders. I believe that if they enter Gaza, they will find some resistance and there will be casualties. Of course, the big question will be “when do they leave again?” On the other hand, this is a true test for Olmert and to a lesser degree, for Peretz. His actions will determine, in my opinion, the future course of this government. I think the Palestinians have already determined their course for the future and it appears to be a lonely one.

Yes, it’s true. Papal Nuncio Archbishop Antonio Franco met Moshe Katzav, Israel’s President who is now well known for refusing to call Conservative and Reform rabbis by anything other than their first and/or last names. It turns out Katzav has also refused to call Archibishop Franco, “Rabbi.” The disappointed Archibishop is returning to the Vatican quite angry at the affront and has vowed to tell the Pope that Katzav has done wrong by him.

In his own defense, Moshe Katzav told the press that he would have called the Archibishop, “Rabbi,” had he grown up calling anybody who isn’t an Orthodox Jew “Rabbi” and anyway, how dare Franco the non-Rabbi complain in public or to the Pope for that matter when he should first have had a coffee with Mr. Katzav to talk it over. It wouldn’t have made a difference, but at least Katzav would have had coffee.

Okay, not really. Papal Nuncio Archbishop Antonio Franco did visit Katzav and was apparently addressed as Archibishop because in Katzav’s home growing up, they would always call an Archibishop, “archibishop” even if he were Greek Orthodox.

How many North American Jews are they going to alienate before they realise they are causing harm to a relationship that is very important to them?

Today’s charming story is about the Education Ministry continuing to refuse to accept Yeshiva U degrees. Yale and Harvard accept them, but apparently in Israel the standards are higher than at Yale and Harvard.

The Education Ministry is still not recognizing Yeshiva University degrees, more than a year after former minister Limor Livnat pledged to solve the problem.

After the issue was first reported in Haaretz, and a number of key politicians, including Livnat, rushed to the media and pledged their immediate assistance. In a March 2005 letter to YU President Richard Joel, Livnat said that the ministry would reach a “comprehensive solution whereby all Yeshiva University degrees are certified by the ministry.”

But now a new minister is at the helm, and two more YU graduates who immigrated to Israel have had their degrees rejected.

Way to charm supporters of Israel, guys. Let us know when you need your next donation or named building. Wait, I know, let’s encourage aliyah.

The problem is all the funny videos have nothing to do with Judaism.

Moses Loves Accountants?

WRAL.com reports that the new Jesus Loves Porn Stars edition of the bible was Hot Hot Hot at last weekends Erotica convention in Los Angeles.

See, in order to penetrate deep inside the world of sex loving heathens with the message of a chaste savior, the XXXchurch had to get creative and risque.

Pastor Craig Gross thought long and hard and came up with the “Jesus Loves Porn Stars” edition of the new testament.

As you can imagine, this has caused a stir in the Christian world. The American Bible Society was so bothered by the concept that they refused to even print the books (a move Al Jazeera supports).

The XXXchurch defended the new cover art saying that “We think this goes with the central message of the gospel and Jesus loves you regardless of your profession.”

Indeed, the Jesus of the bible was hanging out with crooks and whores. And if Jesus loves all the little children, he also loves those who get diddled by their uncles, lose all self-respect and grow up to be porn stars.

Taking a cue from this wave of racy evangelizing, one commentor on StupidChurchPeople suggested some potential XXX Church bumper stickers:

“Christians do it in small groups.”
“Christians do it with Spirit.”
“Christians do it on their knees.”

Read more about it and see a video on ABC News.

Oranim Bus 466: Friday through Shabbat and Motzei Shabbat…

My feet, having walked a Shabbat in Jerusalem and danced in Tel Aviv over a 30-hour period, are showing signs of fatigue, and–if those are indeed the outlines of sandal straps on my feet–a smidge of sunburn. But now let’s get to the recap.

Friday’s first stop was the new Yad Vashem, which looked nothing like the picture I had in my memory. The museum, dedicated to those who died in the Holocaust, had been completely overhauled since I’d last been here, with a brand new building by famous architect Moshe Safdie. It’s shaped like an isoceles triangle to represent the way Jews were shoved into an untenable position in German society, their lives and possibilities gradually narrowing into a very narrow, cramped top. The windows at the top of the building represent hope, and the small relative hopes that Holocuast victims had–to find a crust of bread, to not get sick, that their shoes would hold up in winter…

We all knew that there was way more than we could see in three hours, especially since the place was totally packed. Our guide was Aliza, a woman in her early twenties who revealed that she herself was the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, and then after she concluded our walking tour, we met up with some other Oranim groups for a lecture by a Holocaust survivor who escaped deportation and spent time with the Dutch resistance. We walked through the Children’s Memorial and listened to the names of children read by a disembodied voice and saw an infinite reflection of cndles to indicate the infinite potential obliterated by the deaths of the million-plus children in the Holocaust.

Remember when Clark Griswold and his family went to Wallyworld and it was closed? Well, what happened next was just like that, except instead of the Griswolds, it was us, and instead of an amusement partk, it was a cemetery. Ok, so maybe it wasn’t a very good comparison. But bear with me, it’s like 3am. The National Cemetery on Har Herzl was closed, but we drove up the road to the military cemetery and the 40 Americans and our 8 Israeli soldiers who had met us the night before at the hotel and who would stay with us through Tuesday, visited the graves of fallen soldiers in appreciation of the sacrifice that they had made, which effected our ability to stand there and pay tribute to them.

To greet Shabbat, we met up with CK and Laya, who explained the meaning of “taking a day off”� from life and observing the Sabbath. Standing on a balcony overlooking the Kotel, we lit candles and had a brief Kabbalat Shabbat service. Then we had a few minutes at the wall before we had to begin our long trek back to the hotel in time for dinner. Although our insistence that we walk back from the Wall met with some initial resistance and a claim of uncomfortable flip-flops most of our participants enjoyed the cool Jerusalem air and a long walk through parts of town they hadn’t seen. We saw a silent Kikar Zion (Zion Square) and Machaneh Yehuda (the open air market), and walked the near empty streets of Jerusalem from East to West. The air was perfect, as Jerusalem’s night air always is, and the view from the Old City was amazing.

The following afternoon our group was lucky enough to experience Shabbat lunch home hospitality at the homes of various residents of the diverse neighborhood known as Nachlaot. Many were self-described neo hippie Orthodox for some of the guests, it was one of their first or more recent encounters with Shabbat observance, and the eclectic nature of the life stories of our hosts made every meal interesting. For instance, at my meal, there were two men who looked like everyday yeshiva students. Sometime after washing, it became clear that neither one was Jewish, and in fact, that they were both studying to be Catholic priests. No joke. We actually even had a women’s mezuman (leading of benching, the grace after meals), because there weren’t enough Jewish men there. I saw some sort of dating parallel there, but since I’m theoretically on vacation from my column, I’ll refrain from expounding on that notion.

After walking back to the hotel, we had a quick “state of the union” meeting to discuss how things were going, and I think we got a lot of good feedback. Later, there was dinner and havdalah, which we had outside in the wonderful Jerusalem night air before heading to Tel Aviv to hook up (word choice deliberate) with other Oranim groups at Zamir, a club with loud music and strobe lights a-plenty. There was much drinking and dancing as we partied like rock stars. At least rock stars visiting Israel for an intensive ten-day trip during which we’re not doing much sleeping.

There’s more, of course. There always is. Just when you think you can sleep in, you can’t. But sleep is for the weak. This is Israel, home of the IDF. No sleep. But more posts to come.

One of the thing I dig about Jerusalem is the juxtapositions. Sometimes they are deep and meaningful, the the juxtaposition between war and peace, desert and civilization, holy and profane. Sometimes they are fraught with conflict, like the juxtaposition of Arab, Jew and Christian. Sometimes, however, they are just random, and it is in those moments, that some of this city’s charm is revealed.

I snapped this pic last Friday in Machene Yehuda. We have it all here folks, Chabadnikim putting tefillin on willing shoppers and men in sombreros selling cheese graters and matches.

Obviously.

John Pantsil (pictured on the left) plays for Hapoel Tel Aviv and is adored by his fans in Israel. He showed them the love by pulling out this little flag. Then the whole Arab world gets its knickers in a twist. His own Ghana’s Football Association apologized over the “incident”. Well I would like to start the John Pantsil World Wide Jewish Fan Club (just as soon as ck makes the site.)

Ghana plays Brasil on Tuesday, June 27, 2006 11:00 AM ET —so get out your tehillim.

{updated}

Nope, these Palestinians didn’t attack civilians. They were also successful in their attack.

Palestinian fighters from three groups including Hamas, by using a fairly deep tunnel, attacked an Israeli military post at Kerem Shalom. Once out of the ground, they attacked a tank, a military vehicle and the post itself. I’m sure we’ll know more in the next couple of days. Two of the Palestinian fighters (yes, I use this word because they attacked soldiers, not civilians) were killed, but more important, so were two Israeli soldiers. Four others Israeli soldiers are injured, including one critically. One soldier is apparently missing and probably kidnapped – the remaining Palestinians fled back into Gaza through the tunnel.

The mistake Israel is making as I write is that it is sending ground forces into Gaza in large numbers for the first time since the Disengagement. This is a clear victory for the Palestinians and a clear error for Israel. Yes, in my opinion. Unless they can extricate this soldier, they are falling into a Palestinian trap.

The Israelis have been out of Gaza for over a year. In that time, Israel has experienced a handful of deaths and injured at the hands of the Gazan Palestinians. Over 1000 Qassem rockets have been launched at civilian targets inside Israel, that is true, but they have missed the mark more often than not and Israeli casualties are low. The effort Israel has had to make to protect Gaza is much smaller than having the army inside of Gaza, and the cost is lower as well.

The Palestinians were and are well aware that Israel was washing its hands of this area and its Palestinians. This is precisely why they have launched all these rockets into Israel, so as not to be dismissed. It is crucial for them to be noticed and for Gaza to be identified as part of the same struggle as Judea and Samaria/ West Bank. Bringing Israel back into conflict with Gaza is a trap that is intended to lock up Israeli resources, create the same type of propaganda war that worked so effectively in the past against Israel, but mostly to link up Gaza with the Palestinians to the east.

Israel has stood fast and played the game well. They have stayed out of Gaza and used targeted killings to control those who launch the rockets. While there has been mixed success in terms of stopping the Qassems, there has been plenty of success hitting terrorists and for the most part the international community has accepted this status quo and sympathized with or at least understood Israel’s position. Israel was able to keep the moral high ground. Of course, the cost was to Sderot residents who have been receiving the brunt of the Qassem attacks and it has been a dangerous and emotionally draining period for them where they cannot send their kids to school, for example, without fear of not seeing them again.

Despite Sderot’s problems, Israel should stay out of the Palestinians’ trap and away from Gaza. It’s not as if the Palestinians weren’t expecting this response. On the contrary, it is what they sought and craved, and now Gaza is linked into the conflict again. Israel could, instead, remain outside of Gaza and use their air power to target Hamas leaders, Fatah leaders and any Palestinian who had a connection with this attack. Their new leaders will know better than to attack Israel in the future, Israel will maintain the upper hand in the international arena, and Gaza will find itself becoming more and more distant from Judea and Samaria. This would be to Israel’s advantage.

Make no mistake, one of the best things about leaving Gaza is that the Palestinians can no longer blame the “occupation” for everything bad that happens over there. By attacking today, they declared openly that this is a war. Israel should fight this as if it’s a war. It should fight to win. But winning, in this case, is by attacking their leaders, fighters and terrorists, not by re-occupying Gaza. That’s what the Palestinians want and it’s a trap for Israel.

My condolences to the families of the soldiers who were killed. We already know that the Palestinians will demand the release of a significant number of their prisoners if they did indeed capture an Israeli soldier in order to return him alive. Past experience with this shows the Israelis are usually flexible and open to making these deals.

By the way, a small note. The AP had this story covered at least 2 hours before the Israeli papers came out with correct information. I assumed the AP’s story was mistaken about the dead and kidnapped Israelis, but it turned out they were in the loop while the Israeli papers delayed their story. The name of the AP reporter was an Israeli name, Yaniv Zohar. AP also reports that Israel had warnings last week of a pending attack in this area. I guess nobody thought to look for a tunnel.

(map source is Jerusalem Post)

Here’s a little light-hearted entertainment for you all. You may or may not know that there is aHebrew language version of Sesame Street in Israel called Rechov Sumsum (רחוב סומסום). So, in a moment tinged by the nostalgic memory of a childhood spent glued to the TV whenever Sesame Street came on, I decided to post this video of Ernie singing Rubber Duckie in Hebrew. Except in Israel he’s called(*sniff* *sniff*) Arik:

Now, as long as we’re talking about Ernie, lets not forget good ol’ Bert (in Hebrew, he’s “Bentz”) and their uh… ambiguous friendship. Which brings me to my next point. In August, Jerusalem, despite the efforts of the Municipality and other small-minded individuals, will host World Pride. Treppenwitz wrote a spectacularly great post about the subject and I urge you to read it as well as the rollicking comments attached to it. The post was inspired by an email he received urging religious and/or right wing JBloggers to join a campaign against World Pride. Needless to say, I for some reason never got that email and in any case, I fully support Treppenwitz’s position.

But I still think Ernie and Bert are kinda disturbingly odd. In any language. And will someone please tell me why Ernie/Arik sounds like an old Ashkenazic man?

One last thing – Kadima MK Otniel Schneller sent a letter to Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik asking that a planned visit by several Homosexual Youth groups to the Knesset in August be cancelled.

In his letter, Schneller said that while he supported youths educating themselves in liberalism and democracy, such a visit would turn the Knesset into “Sodom and Gomorrah.” “They should conduct their lives in their homes, and not visit the Knesset as a group,” said Schneller in the letter.

Probably Schneller didn’t want to catch their Gay-Homo cooties too. The way those people spread that filth around, in no time the petty bickering and name-calling that ordinarily characterizes the Knesset will be replaced by Israeli politicians belting out show tunes and dancing in conga lines to fab disco ditties by Donna Summer and Gloria Gaynor.
Needless to say, Schneller will not be riding in a float at the parade. Unless of course he catches a dose of the gay and then it’s party time girlfriend!