Blog/January 2009/Jan 30th

January 30th (See this week's devar torah)
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Hi again!

For those of you who are still unaware, the Israeli elections for the Knesset are coming up on Feb 10th -- just under two weeks from now. Because there are 34 parties running, it can be difficult to figure out which one is the "best match" for one's positions. Therefore, one of the biggest papers in Israel, Yediot Acharonot, in collaboration with the Israel Democracy Institute, came up with an "electoral compass" to help you figure out which party is closest to your particular way of thinking. Try it, it's free and very informative.

Israel has some really odd parties. The adage that politics makes strange bedfellows is really true. Here you can take a look at some of the election posters, along with a short translation of the message.

As for me, I'm voting National Union. For the first time in my life, I feel the need to become an activist, because so much is at stake in this election. The current leadership has already announced their "plan" of giving most of the heartland of Israel to the Arab enemy. They should perhaps read about our neighbor and why we have to kill him. I find it absolutely incomprehensible how any person with two brain cells left can believe that if we "just give them land", then "they will stop attacking us". Dhimmy Carter believes that, but then, that supports my point I think. The only party which has come out unequivocally and stated it will not under any circumstances surrender our Land to the Arab invaders, is the National Union. So they get my vote.

Why is it a problem? After all, those parts the various politicians want to give the Arabs are "far away". Yeah. The Arabs here are within bow-and-arrow range of my house, let alone Qassam range. If we allow Hamas to take over there, how long do you think it will be before "Gazan rain" starts inundating my town, and Jerusalem next-door? No bloody way am I going to keep still while that happens.

So why don't I vote for Feiglin? He's in the Likud, and will "keep them honest". According to his reasoning, we need to have people in the position to exert pressure on Netanyahu when he's tempted to bend over for the Americans. I don't think so. First of all, Feiglin has been relegated -- by Netanyahu himself -- to a "non-realistic" position on the list. That means unless the Likud has unprecedented and unexpected success at the polls, Feiglin will remain out of the Knesset, a mere irritation to Netanyahu. And given that's the case, the four years coming up will allow the corrupt politicians (Netanyahu, Liberman, Barak to name just a few) to do their worst -- literally -- and there will be nothing Feiglin can do about it. On the other hand, the National Union will get a few seats -- and they will be "inside" the Knesset and able to at the least make their position heard, and possibly forestall disaster. It's the only thing we can do just now.

As for the Arab enemy, they refused the 18-month cease-fire proposed by Israel (who knows why we offered them a cease-fire?) and insisted on a 12 month cease-fire instead. Of course, because they have only the best interests of the Gazans at heart, they want one-year to rearm and retrain and attack again. But they couldn't even wait that long.

And in the meantime, Gazans suffer destruction and casualties because their leaders are blind with hatred towards Jews. Of course our leaders are also blind with hatred towards Jews... at least that's what one must conclude from their actions and words. Even the EU is tired of the Arab instigation and waste of every penny invested in them by the world community (billions of dollars, in case you missed it).

OK. Enough politics. This is for my dear friend and teacher Rabbi Farkash: rachem! (bet you never saw one like that before). I'm in luck I don't know how to fish. Likewise, a good thing I didn't continue cello lessons!

Last week I gave you a recipe for "hummus". This week you get one recipe for "zchug", the Yemenite hot-pepper condiment which goes well with hummus. It should be noted that everyone has their own recipe, but the common ingredients seem to be hot peppers and garlic. Try my recipe for "red zchug":

In work news, I was co-opted into making three short demo movies. Hopefully they'll help us raise cash. Soon. I got my first paycheck at "minimum wage" (my first ever in my life, actually). It wasn't pretty -- it's actually less than I can collect from unemployment insurance, so I'm anxious for us to get re-funded. If you want to offset my financial losses (sure you do, don't you?) you can just PayPal me some funds... (that's a joke, friends). But this isn't a joke: there are thousands of Jews in Israel who haven't got enough to eat. If you send me tsedaka funds I will contribute the funds on your behalf to organizations which feed the hungry here. I will donate 100% of what I receive (after PayPal takes its share and the banks theirs) ; and I will try to get a tax-receipt for you as well, though I'm not sure you'll be able to use an Israeli tax receipt outside of Israel.

Until next week,
Shabbat shalom!

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