Difference between revisions of "Blog/November 2008/Nov 7th"

Latest revision as of 12:58, 14 November 2008

November 7th (See this week's devar torah)
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Hi again!

Well, it's a black day for America. (I've been waiting all week to say that - if you're offended, tough). Obama's supporters pulled it off after all.

It is my fondest wish that my numerous concerns about the new president-elect of the US, Barack Hussein Obama II, be nothing more than the fevered imaginings of my paranoid mind. Unfortunately, given the facts, I fear that this presidency will be bad for America -- and disastrous for the Jews of America (and not so great for us Israelis either).

A man who surrounds himself with anti-Israel (and anti-Semitic) advisors, who associated for the past 20 years with an anti-American (and -Semitic) "church"; whose plan for revitalizing the greatest economy on earth is to steal from the rich and give to the poor, and whose election Hamas supports -- no, I'm afraid the portents are worrying. However, America has elected her next leader. Let us pray he is not as dangerous as I fear. Maybe it's not so bad, but who knows?

And what better time than this week, parashat Lech Lecha, to encourage my fellow Jews in the American diaspora to think seriously about making aliyah? If you come here, your vote will actually mean something, and you'll have a chance to live a Jewish life in the Jewish Land -- instead of praying the surrounding Gentiles continue to let you live in peace. I'm afraid the "golden era" of Jewish life in America is coming to an end.

Regarding the vote here: it's a bit overwhelming. No "two party" system for us! We've got dozens of parties, with a bewildering array of platforms. Just here in the local municipal elections in Maale Adummim we have seven "lists" (not parties, but lists) running for the city council. Three are overtly religious lists, one is the current mayor's list, one is the Russian's list... it's a bit difficult to sort them out.

But to help the people sort things out, the local paper publishes the lists' positions, as well as the details of who is on the lists. When I say "details", I mean name, address and year of birth! Now that is democracy -- can you imagine an American election where the addresses and ages of the candidates are made easily public? But here, we get full disclosure -- at least of this information. Noone from my street is running on any of the lists.

Just for your edification, the lists are (as listed in the paper):

"Atid" (future), led by Yisrael Betsalel (1982)
"Kulanu Bema`aleh" (we're all in Ma`ale), Nuriel Getz (1960)
"Ma`ale beiteinu" (our home is Ma`ale), Boris Grossman (1954)
"Kachol Lavan" (blue and white), Benny Kashriel (the current mayor) (1951)
"Tova Ha'arets" (the Land is good), Gidon Ariel (1963)
"Tsedek Hevrati" (social justice), Avraham RaHamim (1959)
"BeyaHad" (together), Rafael Ben Hur (1951)

Not only do we have the local elections this coming week, but since the national government has collapsed we'll have national elections in January or February (but who's running? not the current criminal I hope, but we'll find out...). And there is a new religious/right party just formed, which coalesces four existing parties into one -- and everyone in the country who is not currently a member of some other party, can vote in the primaries for the leadership of that party. So we have up to three elections in as many months to look forward to. Let us hope and pray that we elect a national leadership which can withstand the overwhelming pressure the Americans will now bring to bear to divide Jerusalem and reward those recalcitrant savages, the Fakestinians, who just this week in celebration of the election results in America, sent over 50 missiles from Gaza to the surrounding Israeli areas.

To end on a lighter note, all those of you who insist that women are cleaner than men (you know who you are!) should note that research has found that women have considerably more bacteria on their hands than men do...

Until next week,
Shabbat shalom!

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 {{blog}}
-{{bheader|October 31st|Devar/5769/Noach}}
+{{bheader|November 7th|Devar/5769/Lech Lecha}}
 Hi again!
-This week we got our hot water boiler fixed.  For those of you just joining, a quick recap: Israeli homes almost universally have "solar heaters" on the roof, which produce piping-hot water nine months of the year.  Then winter comes, and the sun just doesn't get the water hot enough (or at all, on cloudy days).  So the solar heater has an electric element which heats water in case there's no sun.  We found out that our heater simply did not work any more (e.g. the water only barely became lukewarm).  Finally this week, we had a plumber come and replace the [[Media:Boiler.jpeg|heating element]].  As you can see from the photo, the inside is filled with brown stuff - calcium and rust deposits, which prevent the element inside from actually heating the water.
+Well, it's a '''black day''' for America.  (I've been waiting all week to say that - if you're offended, tough).  [http://www.theonion.com/content/video/obama_win_causes_obsessive?utm_source=embedded_video Obama's supporters] pulled it off after all.
-We also shipped my mother-in-law back home (and she arrived safely, b"h).  But it wasn't so easy... the airline had overbooked and told her she was "on standby".  Then they sent us to the manager's desk so we could arrange her transport. I went to the manager and told her, "My mother-in-law has been here for over a month. I beg of you, please get her on a flight!".  The manager started to laugh, and we did in fact get her on the original flight (but not until we stood in a different line for an hour).  As it happens, the ''second'' leg (Madrid to Buenos Aires) was ''also'' overbooked, and the Spanish authorities brought in the police to take people off the plane!  (and I ''do'' get along well with my MIL, really I do...)
+It is my fondest wish that my numerous concerns about the new president-elect of the US, {{wiki2|Barack Obama|Barack Hussein Obama II}}, be nothing more than the fevered imaginings of my paranoid mind.  Unfortunately, given the facts, I fear that this presidency will be bad for America -- and disastrous for the Jews of America (and not so great for us Israelis either).
-Sarah says we are sending her off to "three horrendous days of continuous torture" (her words).  Her school is going on its "yearly trip" to the south of Israel somewhere.  She says none of her classmates want to go either, but the school insists they go now because later in the year the 12th graders will be going.
+A man who surrounds himself with anti-Israel (and anti-Semitic) advisors, who associated for the past 20 years with an anti-American (and -Semitic) "church"; whose plan for revitalizing the greatest economy on earth is to steal from the rich and give to the poor, and whose election [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/05/13/2008-05-13_barack_obama_understands_hamas_view.html Hamas supports] -- no, I'm afraid the portents are worrying.  However, America has elected her next leader.  Let us pray he is not as dangerous as I fear.  Maybe it's not so bad, but [http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20081105 who knows]?
-Some of you might wonder, "How can ''I'' make my own [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Castle_(restaurant) White Castle]-style "sliders"?  Well look no farther than the [https://www.bigcityslider.com/flare/next Big City Slider Station]!  We got one of these in the mail, courtesy of my mom.  Somehow, someone decided to send Esther one of these -- to my mom's address.  Being the kind person she is, my mom sent it on to us.  We didn't even know what it was nor why we got it; but that's just par for the course with us.
+And what better time than this week, parashat [[Devar/5769/Lech Lecha|Lech Lecha]], to encourage my fellow Jews in the American diaspora to think seriously about making [[aliyah]]? If you come here, your vote will actually mean something, and you'll have a chance to live a Jewish life in the Jewish Land -- instead of praying the surrounding Gentiles continue to let you live in peace.  I'm afraid the "golden era" of Jewish life in America is coming to an end.
-It rained heavily this week, which is a good thing. The water level of the [http://www.water.gov.il/water/console/kinnert_history.aspx Sea of Galilee] has gone up 2.5 cm in the past three days (each cm amounts to approximately 1.7 million cubic meters of water...).  B"H, our prayers for rain in the proper time seem to be getting answered.  Let's pray for more rain so we end the drought.
+Regarding the vote here: it's a bit overwhelming.  No "two party" system for us!  We've got dozens of parties, with a bewildering array of platforms.  Just here in the local municipal elections in [[Maale Adummim]] we have seven "lists" (not parties, but lists) running for the city council.  Three are overtly religious lists, one is the current mayor's list, one is the Russian's list... it's a bit difficult to sort them out.
-In more Israeli news - since {{wiki|Tzipi Livni}} was unable to put together a coalition, we are [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017623111&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull going to national elections] sometime in January or so!  Thank God!  Not to put too fine a point on it, but throwing a dart at random on any street in the country would net someone better suited to governing than the set of clowns currently in office.  Maybe "clowns" is a bad term, since they are supposed to be funny, and the actions of the clowns running the country now are anything but humorous.
+But to help the people sort things out, the local paper publishes the lists' positions, as well as the details of who is on the lists.  When I say "details", I mean name, address and year of birth!  Now ''that'' is democracy -- can you imagine an American election where the addresses and ages of the candidates are made easily public?  But here, we get full disclosure -- at least of this information.  Noone from my street is running on any of the lists.
-For example, the midnight forced expulsion of the [http://muqata.blogspot.com/2008/10/maligning-hevrons-jews-calling-them.html Federman family] reeks of the heavy-handed Bolshevism of the late, unlamented, Soviet Union.  Not too surprising, but upsetting and sad.
+Just for your edification, the lists are (as listed in the paper):
+# "Atid" (future), led by Yisrael Betsalel (1982)
+# "Kulanu Bema`aleh" (we're all in Ma`ale), Nuriel Getz (1960)
+# "Ma`ale beiteinu" (our home is Ma`ale), Boris Grossman (1954)
+# "Kachol Lavan" (blue and white), Benny Kashriel (the current mayor) (1951)
+# "Tova Ha'arets" (the Land is good), Gidon Ariel (1963)
+# "Tsedek Hevrati" (social justice), Avraham RaHamim (1959)
+# "BeyaHad" (together), Rafael Ben Hur (1951)
-But we are in Israel, the Holy Land!  Just to prove it, here's the view of [[Media:Tsofim.jpeg|Mount Scopus]] as seen from our front yard.  Here's [[Media:Miqdash.jpeg|where the Temple should be]] as seen from our house.  And here, nebach, is the [[Media:03-and-azariya.jpeg|neighboring Arab village of Azariya]] (the nice houses in front are still Maaleh Adummim).  That tower in the middle of the picture is one of the several mosques in Azariya which broadcast their messages of "peace" and "tolerance" five times daily.  Sounds like a cat being electrocuted, actually.  If I made that much noise five times a day, I'd be arrested.  Funny, isn't it?  Oh, and here are the [[Media:Roses.jpeg|roses climbing]] the front of our house.
+Not only do we have the local elections this coming week, but since the national government has collapsed we'll have national elections in January or February (but who's running? not [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1225910043950&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull the current criminal] I hope, but we'll find out...).  And there is a [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1225199637901&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull new religious/right party] just formed, which coalesces four existing parties into one -- and everyone in the country who is not currently a member of some other party, can vote in the primaries for the leadership of that party.  So we have up to three elections in as many months to look forward to.  Let us hope and pray that we elect a national leadership which can withstand the overwhelming pressure the Americans will now bring to bear to divide Jerusalem and reward those recalcitrant savages, the Fakestinians, who just this week in celebration of the election results in America, sent [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1225910044760&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull over 50 missiles] from Gaza to the surrounding Israeli areas.
-(N.B.: you may have to click on the images once they appear in your browser, to show them properly)
+To end on a lighter note, all those of you who insist that women are cleaner than men (you know who you are!) should note that [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1225715333146&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull research has found] that women have considerably more bacteria on their hands than men do...
 Until next week,<br>
 Shabbat shalom!
-{{nav|Blog|Blog|Blog/October 2008/Oct 24th|Oct 24th||}}
+{{nav|Blog|Blog|Blog/October 2008/Oct 31st|Oct 31st|Blog/November 2008/Nov 14th|Nov 14th}}

Difference between revisions of "Blog/November 2008/Nov 7th"

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Latest revision as of 12:58, 14 November 2008