December 24, 2009
Letters to G-d Delivered
People write letters to G-d.
Ever wonder where they are sent?
Most end up in Israel, in Jerusalem the capital of the Jewish State.
But once in Jerusalem, what does the Israeli Postal Authority do with the letters?
Let's find out.
So, next time you write a letter to G-d, don't worry, your prayers are being delivered.
H/T Israel Matzav
P.S. I'm often asked why I write His name with a - between the G and the d. The reason is simple: There is a Jewish taboo against writing or pronouncing His name in fully realized letters. This taboo is specific to the Hebrew language, but I got into the habit of also applying it to English. Anyway, someone recently told me that it looks like I'm blocking out an expletive—G-d forbid—and I wanted to clarify what's going on in my so-called mind.
To all our Christian and Catholic friends a very Merry Christmas. And do check out this link from my cyber-buddy Wolf Howling in which he tells us all about the original St. Nicholas. Lovely and inspirational.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:17 AM | Comments (7)
August 18, 2009
Huckabee: “Jews Ought to be Able to Live Anywhere They Want to in Their Own Homeland.”
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is a Conservative Christian and an outspoken supporter of Israel. Recently, on his 11th trip to Israel—I know tons of U.S. Jews who have never been to Israel—speaks articulately about Obama's demand for a so-called settlement freeze—segregation on steroids.
Unfortunately, Netanyahu has already capitulated, which will, I guarantee, prove to the Arabs that Obama plans to deliver Israel on a silver platter, thus they don't have to make any concessions.
By the way, the bearded gentlemen with the black yarmulke who accompanies Huckabee and speaks to the camera in two cut-a-ways, is Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind. Dov's wife Shani—an incredible dynamo—is Karen's first cousin.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:17 AM | Comments (6)
July 22, 2009
Rabbis To Obama: Hands Off Jerusalem
Praying at the Kotel, The Western Wall.
Photo: Copyright © Robert J. Avrech
Barack Hussein Obama is, by now, accustomed to a phalanx of obsequious court Jews, among them, David Axelrod, and Rahm Emanuel. And of course there are the compliant Jewish, ahem, leaders, hand picked by Axelrod and Emanuel, to meet the Dear Leader and listen to one of his interminable lectures about issues of which he is completely ignorant.
So, it will probably be something of a shock for the Dear Leader to run up against Orthodox Israeli Rabbis who have no qualms about telling Obama to take a hike.
On second thought, I'm pretty sure that Obama will shrug this off as further evidence of Jewish aggression.
Because ideologically, that's how The Supreme Leader rolls.
Heads of the Pikuach Nefesh rabbinical committee have begun collecting the signatures of rabbis in Israel on a letter to United States President Barack Obama. The letter demands that Obama cease talking about ending Jewish construction in Jerusalem and stop pressuring Israel in that direction.
In a reference to the upcoming “nine days” which culminate in Tisha B’Av, the rabbis tell Obama that “during these days, in which the Jewish people mourns the destruction of Jerusalem and marks the disgraceful memory of its destroyers, we are certain that you, Mr. Barack Obama, do not want to enter that disreputable list of those who raise their hand to strike Jerusalem and those who live in it.”
The rabbis note that during his visit to the Middle East, Obama showed “impressive erudition” in the Koran. “As one who is familiar with the Koran, you surely know that the city of Jerusalem is not even mentioned in it once,” they said.
...The rabbinical letter ends with a clear request: “If you, Mr. Obama. Wish to leave any chance at all for peace and quiet in the Middle East, take your hands off the Holy City of Jerusalem right now!”
Two hundred and fifty rabbis have signed the appeal, and efforts are being made to collect the signatures of almost every single rabbi in Israel before the letter is sent to Washington.
Full story, here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:07 AM | Comments (3)
June 24, 2009
Obama's Push for a Judenrein Jerusalem
If I Forget Thee O' Jerusalem, Let My Right Hand Wither.
Photo by Robert J. Avrech, all rights reserved.
Let's review:
Barack Hussein Obama's mentor for over 20-years was the Jew-hating Jeremiah Wright. Obama was a faithful member of Wright's, so-called church, where Jew-hater Louis Farrakhan was lionized. Obama was buddy-buddy with American terrorists/trust fund babies Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, members of the murderous Weather Underground, and authors of Prairie Fire, a Communist manifesto dedicated to, among others, Sirhan Sirhan, the man who assassinated Robert F. Kennedy because of RFK's support of Israel. Also BFF with Obama is Rashid Khalidi, a Jew-hating—duh—Palestinian radical.
To paraphrase Claude Rains in Casablanca: “I'm shocked, shocked to find that Barack Hussein Obama is seeking a confrontation with The Jewish State and getting all misty-eyed over the Jew-hating Arab states.”
Item: Obama just reinstated full diplomatic relations with Syria. This is one of the most repressive regimes on the planet, a state that, in partnership with North Korea, secretly tried to build a nuclear facility, a state that sponsors terrorist groups Hamas and Hizbullah, a regime that assassinates its opponents in Lebanon, a thugogracy that just officially recognized the legitimacy of the Iranian elections.
There is no question that Barack Hussein Obama is putting the big freeze on Israel.
As for so-called Arab East Jerusalem, well, it's not.
Jews have lived in East Jerusalem since time immemorial, but the Jewish population was expelled, ethnically cleansed by Muslims beginning with the Arab pogroms of 1920.
Here's a rule you can live by: When Arab Muslims claim a piece of real estate, the first order of business is to expel the Jews. Look at Gaza. Thus there are 22 Arab Muslim countries and they are—except for Morocco's remnant of 2,000 Jews—Judenrein.
Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem are included in the US demand that Israel halt "settlement" construction, including for natural growth, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told The Jerusalem Post during a press briefing on Monday.
"We're talking about all settlement activity, yes, in the area across the line," he said, referring to neighborhoods in Jerusalem over the Green Line, or pre-1967 armistice line, in response to a question on where America's calls to halt construction in the settlements would be applied.
Full story, here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:43 AM | Comments (4)
May 21, 2009
Jerusalem Liberation Day
A Hasid prays at the Western Wall
Photo: © Robert J. Avrech. All rights reserved.
Today is Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day.
I vividly remember when Jerusalem was cruelly divided by barbed wire.
After Israel's 1948 War of Independence, the Jordanians annexed Judea and Samaria—hey, what a shock, not a peep from the so-called Palestinians—and, naturally, ethnically cleansed every Jew from the Old City.
The Jordanians ripped up the Jewish cemeteries and used the headstones as paving stones and steps in the streets.
Ancient and holy synagogues were converted into horse stables.
The area by the Western Wall was turned, literally, into a municipal garbage dump.
Jordanian soldiers were posted on the walls of the Old City, and with metronomic regularity, an Arab soldier would randomly shoot down a Jewish man, woman or child in the new city. Invariably, the Jordanians claimed that the soldier was, er, mentally unbalanced. The punishment was usually a juicy promotion. As you can imagine, there were many mentally unstable soldiers in the Jordanian army.
When the 1967 Six Day War broke out, Israel strongly advised Jordan not to get involved. They informed the Jordanians, quite truthfully, that the Egyptian and Syrian armies were being crushed. But the Egyptians and Syrians lied to Jordan and told them that the Jews were suffering terrible defeats on the battlefields. Further, unless Jordan wanted to share in the spoils of war, they had better launch an offensive.
Nasser was hoping to relieve some pressure on his broken forces by opening a third front.
The Jordanians attacked, bombarding the New City of Jerusalem with artillery. Israel defended herself, fighting vicious hand to hand combat—in order to minimize civilian casualties—thus driving out the Jordanians and retaking the Old City.
Jerusalem is now united and only a fool—or a Jew-hater—would hand over even partial control to the Muslims.
It's funny, pre-1967, before Israel took control of the Old City, the only Arab head of state ever to visit Jerusalem was King Abdullah of Jordan in 1951. For his trouble, Abdullah was assassinated on the steps of the Al Aqsa Mosque by an Arab who accused the king of making peace with the Jewish state. Jerusalem was, until the Jews took control, of little or no interest to the Arab world.
It's only when a unified Jerusalem came under Jewish control that the Arab world suddenly developed such an abiding love for Jerusalem.
Here's are some short clips of the liberation of Jerusalem, 1967. Soldiers announce that they are in the Old City. Their CO signals back “Mazal Tov, Mazal Tov!” “The Temple Mount is in our hands.” “All honor to you.” Gen. Mordechai Gur's paratroopers raise the Israeli flag, and sing the Hatikvah, the national anthem. Jewish soldiers weep as they touch the Western Wall. Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren carries a Torah into the Old City. General Dayan and his staff arrive. The shofar is blown signaling victory in battle and the joy in, once again, having access to holy Jewish land.
Another Jewish exile is ended.
But the battle for Jerusalem is not over.
If I Forget Thee O' Jerusalem May My Right Hand Wither.
—Psalms 137:5
Meanwhile:
Four Muslims were arrested for attempting to carry out a terrorist attack against two synagogues in Riverdale, New York.
Here's my favorite quote from the homegrown terrorists:
"They stated that they wanted to commit Jihad," Kelly said. "They were disturbed about what happened in Afghanistan and Pakistan, that Muslims were being killed."
So let me get this straight, the Islamists are, ahem, disturbed about Afghanistan and Pakistan, so the solution is: Kill Jews in New York.
In-ter-esting.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:25 AM | Comments (10)
November 13, 2008
Change, Well, Not Really
Israel's friendly Palestinian neighbors prepare for some change
along the Gaza border.
I'm on my way out the door to a script conference. Oh, please G-d, don't let the execs sit around bashing Governor Sarah Palin for the chit-chat portion of the meeting. They won. Can't they just be gracious?
Anyhoo.
My friend Soccer Dad has posted an invaluable analysis of President-elect Obama's probable playbook for diplomacy in the Middle East. I must tell you, we have seen this movie before, in the Carter administration, in the Clinton administration, and it always ends the same way, with lots and lots of dead Jews, and an emboldened IslamoNazi world.
I have a much better idea.
Do nothing.
Let the Palestinians earn the right to a state—though one could argue that happy-go-lucky Gaza is the Palestinian state—by acting responsibly and giving up terrorism. Believe me, if terrorism were taken off the table, that would be a game changer. Tragically, the Palestinians have built a toxic tribal culture that is reliant on violence, murder, intimidation and Jew-hatred.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:22 AM | Comments (12)
August 28, 2008
Montage: Old City, Jerusalem, Part II
A few more photos from our Ateret Cohanim tour of the Old City of Jerusalem. And yup, more colorful doorways.
Psychedelic doorway and courtyard. My eyeballs felt like they were being stabbed by forks.
Observe the lovely rhythmic patterns of the jig-saw stonework. I think it's Ottoman.
Hijab Barbie placed above and beside traditional Western Barbie.
Black and white door. It's definitely got that Franz Kline thing going on.
Nothing like acid green and pink to bring on a flashback to the wretched 60's.
My favorite doorway. Security on Jewish homes and institutions in the Old City is super tight. The Cousins demand Judenrein neighborhoods—and nations.
This is the entrance to Har Habayit, the Temple Mount, Judaism's most holy site. But Jews are forbidden entrance. The armed guard is an Arab. His job is to make sure that Jews do not enter and violate Jew-hating Islamic sensibilities. We asked the guard how he was able to identify Jews. He smiled and said: “I am Muslim, I know a Jews.” Then he hugged and exchanged pleasantries with Daniel Luria (far right), our Ateret Cohanim guide.
Beautiful texture, and just love the keystone.
A Chassid davens, prays, at the Kotel, the Western Wall. Jew, Christian, Muslim or Martian have freedom of access.
Karen places a kvittel, prayer note, in the Little Kotel, the Little Western Wall.
And finally, I was interviewed by Judean Eve on Israel National radio, Arutz Sheva yesterday morning. I discussed being an Orthodox Jew in Hollywood, a Conservative Republican in Hollywood, the First Nefesh B'Nefesh International Jewish Bloggers Conference, my novel The Hebrew Kid and the Apache Maiden, the current Israeli government as the new Judenrat, Shabbos in Efrat and yes, I got all mushy about How I Married Karen.
If you have any desire to listen to yours truly talk about, um, yours truly—endlessly and tediously in horrifying Brooklynese—just click here.
Last night, Karen listened to the broadcast and said: “Robert, that was an excellent therapy session for you.”
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:16 AM | Comments (24)
August 27, 2008
Montage: Old City, Jerusalem, Part I
Karen and I were led on a tour the old City of Jerusalem by the amazing and articulate Daniel Luria of Ateret Cohanim. If you've never taken an Ateret Cohanim tour, well, you have missed one of the the most important experiences in all Israel.
Just the day before, Daniel Luria led Governor Mike Huckabee on the same tour.
Our cousins Shani and her husband Assemblyman Dov Hikind arranged and accompanied Mike Huckabee on his tour of Old Jerusalem and S'derot. Shani and Dov were kind enough to arrange for our tour.
A few random photos from the Old City.
The height of fashion.
I like doorways.
Memorial plaque for Elchanan Aharon, murdered at this spot by Arab terrorists.
This doorway looks like a Barnett Newman stripe painting.
Covering all the ideological bases.
Our guide was baffled by my focus on brightly colored doorways.
Notice that the color of the Nun's habits match the Jerusalem stone.
Chassid davening at the Kotel, the Western Wall.
An Israeli-Ethiopian Jew sits in the shade near The Kotel.
Karen davens at the Little Kotel, the Little Western Wall.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:14 AM | Comments (13)
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