In my last post I had talked about how the weather had changed and it looked like the rainy season had started. But it never did. And then we proceeded to have the hotest, dryest October that anyone, that I spoke to in Israel, could remember.
Didn't we all pray for rain? And keep praying for rain? And remind our friends and family to pray for rain? HaShem we need rain! I read a posting last night by someone in Efrat that a storm was coming in - a big one. Two barrels, rain over Shabbat, and then lots more into next week. And I thought, oh boy, I hope so! And then, this morning the weather changed. It really did. It clouded over and the temperature dropped 10 degrees. And I realized that I needed to bring in my clothes rack so my laundry wouldn't get wet. And I realized that we still needed to get the Succah down. And I realized that I needed to move the bikes off the front mirpeset into the grotto under the house. And I realized the wood from our lift was on the front mirpeset and exposed to the weather. And I realized that all this time I had been asking for rain, but I hadn't prepared for it.
So I brought in the clothes, put the bikes in the grotto, and took down the lights, decorations and fabric from the succah. All by myself. I couldn't get the skach and the frame, because they're too heavy for me. It was very cathartic. And while I was working hard and struggling (HaShem requires the struggle you know) I was thinking about the coming storms.
Not the rain storms, the real storms. The ones we see brewing politically all over the world.
And I thought about how it seems that the storm clouds are getting bigger and darker with each new bit of news I read. Obama backing the muslims, disregarding past relations with Israel. Antisemitism growing world wide. The economic climate around the world, and how everytime the world economy tanks it's another good excuse to blame the Jews.
I read about the Goldstone report; http://www.ungoldstonereport.com/
and watched a utube of Lord Monkton's discussion about Obama signing the Global Climate Treaty and feasibly signing away America's soverignity;
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&rlz=1T4RNWI_en&q=obama+to+sign+global+warming+treaty&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=BEbpSob1IIuCmgPYseWGDw&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQqwQwAA#
I read Geert Wilder's presentation at the Horowitz Freedom Center;
http://www.israelunitycoalition.org/news/article.php?id=4697
And more news about Iran's nuclear program;
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iran/nuclear_program/index.html
Do you feel the thunder rumbling in the distance? Do you feel the electricity in the air? I sure do. And I realized that, even though I've known for a long time, that the signs have been there. I've been talking about it, worrying over it. But I've never really prepared for it? How do we prepare for it? Wouldn't it be great if it was a simple set of tasks that we can do, like I did this morning preparing for the rain, and once they're all done, Hey - I'm ready! (Ooooh thunder in the distance, it's almost here!). But I think not. I think, for the big storm that HaShem is gathering, the preparation is all about the mindset, the heart, the struggle. The willinginess to enter everyday into that struggle between what we want and what is easy and what we think will fulfill us, and what is real.
What is real is that we are at war, both nationally and spiritually.
HaShem made us promises. At Gerizim and Ebal He promised that if we would come and live in the land, and keep his commandments that our lives would be blessed. I quote the Stone Tanach Devarim 28 (Deuteronomy) "It shall be on that day if you hearken to the voice of HaShem, your God, to observe all of His commandments that I commanded you this day, then Hashem, your God, will make you supreme over all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you, if you hearken to the voice of HaShem, your God."
He promised that His blessings, all of His blessings, would come upon us and overtake us.
IF
So I beleive that is the struggle. What is right, and real, and part of a plan not of our making, but that we still find oursleves in. An integral part of the plan, each and every one of us. And those who will be blessed? I suppose are the ones who recognize that we are part of the plan and prepare; enter into the struggle over what "IF" really means in our everyday lives.
And I see it like the coming storm, huge and loud and overwhelming. Nothing I can do to avoid it, it's going to come and overtake me. So I cling to the struggle, and the promise, and the belief that I am not insane, and there really is a higher power who will come and wash the dry and thirsty landscape of not only this land, but also my soul.
Blessed be He who waters the earth.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
The passing of the year....
It is Rosh Hashanah again. Another year has come and gone & I have grown older (my hair greyer), and hopefully wiser with it. We now are starting our second year in Israel. I hardly ever post a new blog, and for that I am sorry. It's not that I'm less inspired, certainly I am more busy.
At this time of year we are to take an accounting of ourselves. Makes ammends to all we injured. make repairs to ourselves, recheck our footing, are we headed in the right direction?
To all of you, my dear friends and family, I heartily and sincerly offer my deepest regrets for any wounds I may have inflicted. Please call me or write me and tell me if I erred towards you in some way so that I can make true ammends, not this generic splatter of words across the page.
And how is myself? Where am I headed?
Our lives have changed dramtically in the last few months - seems only yesterday that we were facing the changes of living in a new land, now we are again living in a new home, a new community and JDC has new jobs (yes plural!). Ari has a new school and new friends, Tzachi has a new commute and a new mandate for study and personal application. So the land is requiring more of all of us these days. But I know that with hard work and perserverance we will find our peace here in this new place again.
I've been feeling a bit lost, not having purposed this move ahead of time, we just needed to find a place & this place found us. It was unexpected and unplanned this coming to a new community. But the people are very warm, they have welcomed us with open arms, the house is very comfortable and hugs us every night. And now for the first time we are really living in the land like we are supposed to - struggling to make ends meet, and meeting the ends themselves sometimes!
We are still in-between a bit. Half of our stuff in storage hither and yon in Modiin, but with JDC working so many hours we haven't had time or energy to get it all moved. Now we have to though, Sukkot will be upon us before we know it & my psyche needs to be settled all in one place by then. It will help with the lost-ness in my mind.
The weather has changed already - suddenly on Rosh Hashanah evening the clouds and the winds came up & blew summer away. So it still gets hot during the day, but not as hot, and the air has a bit of sparkle in it. Mornings tend to be cool and there's often a hint of leftover rain in the air as I go out on the 3rd floor mirpeset on my way to wake Tzachi up every morning. And sometimes in the evening you need a sweater. It reminds me I need to say goodbye to last year. Thank it for all the goodness it brought me, take to heart the lessons it shared. Be grateful for the time it gave me and all my loved ones. Of course all those gifts are really from HaShem, and all my gratitude belongs to him.
And the future? So much is going on in the world these days, I look at the economy in the U.S. and then worldwide, and so many people I know are struggling as much as we are. But my hopes and dreams are just as big as they ever were - maybe bigger because I know that somehow, someway, HaShem's plan will play itself out in all this craziness we humanity have built.
We made some new friends recently and they asked us why we came - I remember recanting a story that I have come to love because it tells so much truth of what is in my heart, things we don't necessarily talk about everyday, but it's still there. So I will tell this story again here and then leave this blog for more serious pursuits... And I promise not to stay away so long next time.
In February of 2008 we and the boys took a pilot trip here to Israel to scope out the land and choose a community to move to. When we finally headed back to the states after an extended trip (we stayed a month) I felt so lost on the plane going back to the U.S. I knew it was only for a short time & that we would be returning permanently very soon, still my heart burned. On the flight back we all got divided up on the plane and I found myself sitting next to a young Israeli man, heading home to New York. He asked me if we had been on holiday to Israel. I told him we had come on our pilot trip and that we had chosen a city to live in and a shul to attend & schools for our sons. He was amazed. "You are Americans, you live in the U.S? " Yes, I said. "But why would you move to Israel?! Life there is so hard!" I told him, it's my home. It's the only place my heart is happy. I told him that he and his family have had their turn. That they had been standing in the gap & watching on the walls for all these years and the hope in their hearts had withered and dried out. He nodded agreement. I told him it was now our turn, our hearts are filled with hope and purpose. And we will now take our turn standing in the gap and watching at the walls. We will take our turn to try to live holy in the land and fulfill the purposes of G-d. We will dance and sing and daven on the holidays. We will say a shekeanu when the figs on the tree in our back yard are ripe. We will wonder at that glorious sunset over the Medditerranean. We will dance in the first heavy rain of the season. We will laugh at the scurry of the white gekko on the white stone wall beside our garden. We will stand on the Palmachim Beach and gaze at the millions of sea shells on the shoreline. We will go to Beit Guvrin and listen to the melodic echos as we sing in the bell caves. We will climb the mountains of Ein Geidi and thrill at the cold water in the pools when we jump in. We will listen and then join in with the chanting and singing of morning prayers at the Yeshiva where Tzachi goes to shcool. We will stand in awe at the central bus station in Jerusalem when we realize that everyone in the massive crowd is Jewish like us. We will wonder why the traffic into Tel Aviv is so horrible on a Sunday morning. We will honk at the guy in front of us before the light turns green. We will say to ourselves what in the world was I thinking coming to shop at Rami Levi on a Thursday night!
We, yes even we will be Israelis.
At this time of year we are to take an accounting of ourselves. Makes ammends to all we injured. make repairs to ourselves, recheck our footing, are we headed in the right direction?
To all of you, my dear friends and family, I heartily and sincerly offer my deepest regrets for any wounds I may have inflicted. Please call me or write me and tell me if I erred towards you in some way so that I can make true ammends, not this generic splatter of words across the page.
And how is myself? Where am I headed?
Our lives have changed dramtically in the last few months - seems only yesterday that we were facing the changes of living in a new land, now we are again living in a new home, a new community and JDC has new jobs (yes plural!). Ari has a new school and new friends, Tzachi has a new commute and a new mandate for study and personal application. So the land is requiring more of all of us these days. But I know that with hard work and perserverance we will find our peace here in this new place again.
I've been feeling a bit lost, not having purposed this move ahead of time, we just needed to find a place & this place found us. It was unexpected and unplanned this coming to a new community. But the people are very warm, they have welcomed us with open arms, the house is very comfortable and hugs us every night. And now for the first time we are really living in the land like we are supposed to - struggling to make ends meet, and meeting the ends themselves sometimes!
We are still in-between a bit. Half of our stuff in storage hither and yon in Modiin, but with JDC working so many hours we haven't had time or energy to get it all moved. Now we have to though, Sukkot will be upon us before we know it & my psyche needs to be settled all in one place by then. It will help with the lost-ness in my mind.
The weather has changed already - suddenly on Rosh Hashanah evening the clouds and the winds came up & blew summer away. So it still gets hot during the day, but not as hot, and the air has a bit of sparkle in it. Mornings tend to be cool and there's often a hint of leftover rain in the air as I go out on the 3rd floor mirpeset on my way to wake Tzachi up every morning. And sometimes in the evening you need a sweater. It reminds me I need to say goodbye to last year. Thank it for all the goodness it brought me, take to heart the lessons it shared. Be grateful for the time it gave me and all my loved ones. Of course all those gifts are really from HaShem, and all my gratitude belongs to him.
And the future? So much is going on in the world these days, I look at the economy in the U.S. and then worldwide, and so many people I know are struggling as much as we are. But my hopes and dreams are just as big as they ever were - maybe bigger because I know that somehow, someway, HaShem's plan will play itself out in all this craziness we humanity have built.
We made some new friends recently and they asked us why we came - I remember recanting a story that I have come to love because it tells so much truth of what is in my heart, things we don't necessarily talk about everyday, but it's still there. So I will tell this story again here and then leave this blog for more serious pursuits... And I promise not to stay away so long next time.
In February of 2008 we and the boys took a pilot trip here to Israel to scope out the land and choose a community to move to. When we finally headed back to the states after an extended trip (we stayed a month) I felt so lost on the plane going back to the U.S. I knew it was only for a short time & that we would be returning permanently very soon, still my heart burned. On the flight back we all got divided up on the plane and I found myself sitting next to a young Israeli man, heading home to New York. He asked me if we had been on holiday to Israel. I told him we had come on our pilot trip and that we had chosen a city to live in and a shul to attend & schools for our sons. He was amazed. "You are Americans, you live in the U.S? " Yes, I said. "But why would you move to Israel?! Life there is so hard!" I told him, it's my home. It's the only place my heart is happy. I told him that he and his family have had their turn. That they had been standing in the gap & watching on the walls for all these years and the hope in their hearts had withered and dried out. He nodded agreement. I told him it was now our turn, our hearts are filled with hope and purpose. And we will now take our turn standing in the gap and watching at the walls. We will take our turn to try to live holy in the land and fulfill the purposes of G-d. We will dance and sing and daven on the holidays. We will say a shekeanu when the figs on the tree in our back yard are ripe. We will wonder at that glorious sunset over the Medditerranean. We will dance in the first heavy rain of the season. We will laugh at the scurry of the white gekko on the white stone wall beside our garden. We will stand on the Palmachim Beach and gaze at the millions of sea shells on the shoreline. We will go to Beit Guvrin and listen to the melodic echos as we sing in the bell caves. We will climb the mountains of Ein Geidi and thrill at the cold water in the pools when we jump in. We will listen and then join in with the chanting and singing of morning prayers at the Yeshiva where Tzachi goes to shcool. We will stand in awe at the central bus station in Jerusalem when we realize that everyone in the massive crowd is Jewish like us. We will wonder why the traffic into Tel Aviv is so horrible on a Sunday morning. We will honk at the guy in front of us before the light turns green. We will say to ourselves what in the world was I thinking coming to shop at Rami Levi on a Thursday night!
We, yes even we will be Israelis.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Blame it on Ignorance, not the Jews!
I have been contemplating the world lately. Looking at different countries and listening to their leaders, their news, current events, and searching for the "little items" on the back pages of the media outlets that really tell the truth.
Following are a few of the items I have found that I feel are worth sharing.
One news item from JTA reports that 7,000 French Jews signed a petition and sent it to the US Congress requesting political asylum in the US due to fear of religious persecution in France following the racial murder of a young Jew.
http://jta.org/news/article/2007/03/20/100725/Frenchpetition
Spain currently reports that 46% of it's population hold negative opinions of Jews. That figure more than doubles the 21% reported in 2005. Focus that 46% against the 37% who think favorably of Jews and it explains why the 12,000 Jews living in Spain are very quiet about their faith and heritage. It also explains why you have to contact someone in the community before they will tell you where the synagogue is, a building with no address listed and no outward markings to show what it is.
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/spains-jewish-problem/
Of course, anyone who listens to the BBC can have no doubt of the political mood towards Israel from that front. Perhaps I think, many people confuse the idea that anti-Israel bias may not be the same as anti-semitism. But if the two are unrelated then it makes it difficult to explain the report that anti-Semitism is on the rise as of 2009, averaging 7 events per day in England.
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.2546/pub_detail.asp
In Germany, there are two recognized neo-Nazi poltitical parties. The NPD and the HDJ. Although the HDJ was recently "banned" many in the country feel that the move was only a bandaid on a flooding dike. Germany plans to attend the Durban II conference, which many nations (including the US and Israel) have rejected for it's anti-semetic stance. The Muslim community in Germany is growing, while not all German Muslims are radical, there are certainly centers that preach that "the Jews are the Enemy of Allah" deserving of death. Germany's Catholics have had their struggles recently with anti-semitism also. I've attached several links supporting all of this.
http://news.scotsman.com/world/Germany39s-Jews-claim-fight-against.5163090.jp
http://www.eurojewcong.org/ejc/news.php?id_article=3774
http://www.faithfreedom.org/2009/02/05/the-radical-muslims-of-germany/
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,605542,00.html
Similar accounts can be found all over Europe, of course Africa, and even Asia.
http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/03/anti-semitism-in-east-asias-jewish.html
And in the America's
Well Mr. Madoff didn't help us any:
http://www.adl.org/Anti_semitism/financialcrisis.asp
Did we think that Louis Farrakhan would just go away?
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASUS_12/5493_81.htm
How about those college campus forums?
http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/on-campus-the-pro-palestinians-real-agenda.php
http://octaskforce.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/muslim-student-union-at-uc-irvine-rolls-out-its-carnival-of-haters/
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/04/we_are_all_antisemites_now.html
I'm sorry for all the links, I hope you can sit down and take some time to read through them all. They are important windows into the mindset of the world.
So what does all this mean? Things seem to be getting really crazy! Many have said that anti-Semitism is the barometer for the world's political climate. When things seem to be getting out of control blame the Jews. It certainly takes the focus off the mistakes of our current and past political leaders (in every nation).
http://www.jcpa.org/phas/phas-26.htm
http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=6071.0.114.0
But how does this insanity spread?! Simple, ignorance. It's not because there is a lack of accurate information. It is is because too few people access that information. We are in a war, but not one that includes bombs and bullets (though we in Israel are surely familiar with those!) It is a war of words. And the media is the battle front. Any Media, every media. So where we can mount an offensive, present the truth, cause people to read & think, we have an obligation to do so.
Please I ask that each of you search and study and read and share with everyone you know. Find the truth, don't just settle for opinion. There are historical records that support the Jewish past of Israel. There are historical records that support the establishment of the modern day state of Israel, Mediterrean to Jordan. There are historical records that prove the existence of the Holocaust. There are historical records that prove when a society is ignorant genocide is the result.
Israel is so tiny, and yet so bright. All the world is fighting about Israel. It is a remarkably beautiful place. There is something elusively different about it. I haven't met anyone who can accurately describe that difference, but everyone who comes here feels it. Could it be that we really have been touched by the hand of that higher power? I certainly ascribe to that belief. Frankly, there appears to be no other reasonable explanation for why all the world is in a dither over what happens on these 8,522 square miles, when compared to the other 196,991,478 square miles of the planet.
Think about it!
Following are a few of the items I have found that I feel are worth sharing.
One news item from JTA reports that 7,000 French Jews signed a petition and sent it to the US Congress requesting political asylum in the US due to fear of religious persecution in France following the racial murder of a young Jew.
http://jta.org/news/article/2007/03/20/100725/Frenchpetition
Spain currently reports that 46% of it's population hold negative opinions of Jews. That figure more than doubles the 21% reported in 2005. Focus that 46% against the 37% who think favorably of Jews and it explains why the 12,000 Jews living in Spain are very quiet about their faith and heritage. It also explains why you have to contact someone in the community before they will tell you where the synagogue is, a building with no address listed and no outward markings to show what it is.
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/spains-jewish-problem/
Of course, anyone who listens to the BBC can have no doubt of the political mood towards Israel from that front. Perhaps I think, many people confuse the idea that anti-Israel bias may not be the same as anti-semitism. But if the two are unrelated then it makes it difficult to explain the report that anti-Semitism is on the rise as of 2009, averaging 7 events per day in England.
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.2546/pub_detail.asp
In Germany, there are two recognized neo-Nazi poltitical parties. The NPD and the HDJ. Although the HDJ was recently "banned" many in the country feel that the move was only a bandaid on a flooding dike. Germany plans to attend the Durban II conference, which many nations (including the US and Israel) have rejected for it's anti-semetic stance. The Muslim community in Germany is growing, while not all German Muslims are radical, there are certainly centers that preach that "the Jews are the Enemy of Allah" deserving of death. Germany's Catholics have had their struggles recently with anti-semitism also. I've attached several links supporting all of this.
http://news.scotsman.com/world/Germany39s-Jews-claim-fight-against.5163090.jp
http://www.eurojewcong.org/ejc/news.php?id_article=3774
http://www.faithfreedom.org/2009/02/05/the-radical-muslims-of-germany/
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,605542,00.html
Similar accounts can be found all over Europe, of course Africa, and even Asia.
http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/03/anti-semitism-in-east-asias-jewish.html
And in the America's
Well Mr. Madoff didn't help us any:
http://www.adl.org/Anti_semitism/financialcrisis.asp
Did we think that Louis Farrakhan would just go away?
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASUS_12/5493_81.htm
How about those college campus forums?
http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/on-campus-the-pro-palestinians-real-agenda.php
http://octaskforce.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/muslim-student-union-at-uc-irvine-rolls-out-its-carnival-of-haters/
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/04/we_are_all_antisemites_now.html
I'm sorry for all the links, I hope you can sit down and take some time to read through them all. They are important windows into the mindset of the world.
So what does all this mean? Things seem to be getting really crazy! Many have said that anti-Semitism is the barometer for the world's political climate. When things seem to be getting out of control blame the Jews. It certainly takes the focus off the mistakes of our current and past political leaders (in every nation).
http://www.jcpa.org/phas/phas-26.htm
http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=6071.0.114.0
But how does this insanity spread?! Simple, ignorance. It's not because there is a lack of accurate information. It is is because too few people access that information. We are in a war, but not one that includes bombs and bullets (though we in Israel are surely familiar with those!) It is a war of words. And the media is the battle front. Any Media, every media. So where we can mount an offensive, present the truth, cause people to read & think, we have an obligation to do so.
Please I ask that each of you search and study and read and share with everyone you know. Find the truth, don't just settle for opinion. There are historical records that support the Jewish past of Israel. There are historical records that support the establishment of the modern day state of Israel, Mediterrean to Jordan. There are historical records that prove the existence of the Holocaust. There are historical records that prove when a society is ignorant genocide is the result.
Israel is so tiny, and yet so bright. All the world is fighting about Israel. It is a remarkably beautiful place. There is something elusively different about it. I haven't met anyone who can accurately describe that difference, but everyone who comes here feels it. Could it be that we really have been touched by the hand of that higher power? I certainly ascribe to that belief. Frankly, there appears to be no other reasonable explanation for why all the world is in a dither over what happens on these 8,522 square miles, when compared to the other 196,991,478 square miles of the planet.
Think about it!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
