I Missed Yom Haatzmaut...Blame my Israeli BF
Friday, May 01, 2009

I've been run ragged with outside projects. Sorry for slagging off.

Fortunately, today I've been afforded an hour to catch up on Israeli bloggers--

Great Yom Haatzmaut post here:

61 more things I love about Israel

I'd list my favorites from his list, but I'd be copying and pasting for 20 minutes. It's great stuff.

YAY ISRAEL! Thank G-d for a place to call home. I will celebrate you to the hilt at the ISRAEL DAY PARADE in NYC on MAY 31!

Be there or be goy.

Labels: Israel, Israel Independence Day, Yom Haatzmaut, Zionism

posted by Shoshana @ 2:08 PM

LONG LIVE ISRAEL!
Saturday, May 10, 2008

This week was a momentous one in a number of ways.

We celebrated my Jewish father's birthday. His initials are V.E. because he was born on Victory in Europe day; oddly enough, I was the only one to know what V.E. Day was in my WW2 films class back in college. None of my peers--educated ones at that--knew what V.E. stood for.

Along with about 40 others, I took my turn to speak up and speak out against a proposed zoning ordinance during a public hearing with my city's commissioners. The proposed ordinance would have turned my 326 year old small town into a "smart growth transit village"-- a postmodern term for squishing as many people into as tiny a space as possible, in order to "save the wildlife" (and do G-d knows what else-- as a Jew, I despise ghetto mentality in any form for good reason). Penned by the local bunch of eco-nazis, the ordinance would have plowed over our history, character, and beauty for developers keen on building low income housing, multi-tiered parking garages, and hotels on wetlands. It was a classic case of the few and the powerful looking to make a profit off the weak and the uninformed, and looking to do so in a sneaky matter. When they realized that our small group had caught on and actually read the document, one city planner said, "Uh oh, the rats are out of the bag." (Not kidding.) Needless to say, our grass-roots efforts were nothing short of democracy at work; the public hearing was packed with people I didn't even know, speaking out against the ordinance. Fortunately (and fearfully) the commissioners heard us and responded to the public's outcry, tabling the ordinance for further re-write and review, with citizen input. I'm pretty sure this summer in town will be akin to the summer of Philadelphia, circa 1776. But, Thank G-d free speech still exists in this country, to some extent at least.

Most importantly, this week we celebrated Israel's 60th Birthday. We did so by investigating Olmert's gross corruption, witnessing John McCain (finally) publicly announce that Hamas supports Barack Obama, and watching as the Lebanese PM succumbed to Hizbullah terrorist demands and resigned.

This world is in a weird place. Even in my own small way, in my two minute speech to my commissioners and fellow citizens, I felt as if I were "raging against the dying of the light." We need a perspective change. We need to realize that, as Jews and as believers in Messiah, we are the light, and we aren't dying. Whether it is hearing people applaud when you speak the truth, or watching fireworks over Jerusalem, we need to be aware that we are the winners here-- that being Jewish means we align ourselves with G-d and, in doing so, WE ALWAYS WIN.

We're the winners here. We're the ones doing the right thing. And in that, I rejoice.

Last weekend I happened to pick up a Victorian print I'd had my eye on for a while. It's a close-up of three horses staring at you with the sea in the distance. I don't know why I like it-- I'm generally not into animals or animal prints-- but something about them spoke to me.

After doing a little research, I found out that the print is actually from a famous painting done for Queen Victoria by an artist and horse trainer named J.F. Herring. Ironically, the painting is titled "Pharaoh's Horses"-- hence the oceanic background; these are the horses leading the chariots on the chase after the Hebrews, about to be washed assunder by the waves of the Red Sea. Now, every time I look at them I can see clearly the fear in their eyes: being knowingly led by a cruel master into their demise, and not being able to do anything about it. These were the animals chasing after my ancestors (after me, after all of us really, since we are to feel that we have been personally freed from Egypt) yet the horses are the ones in fear, not us. Because we always win.

Happy Birthday, Israel. We always win!

Labels: American elections, Freedom, Israel Independence Day, Jerusalem, Jewish

posted by Shoshana @ 10:44 AM

Yom HaShoah & Israel Independence: Thoughts
Saturday, May 03, 2008

When asked who held the most blame for the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel answered "the American Jews." He's right. Jewish Americans were in places of power and authority within the FDR Administration, and they willingly chose to do nothing despite having full knowledge of what was going on. The Editor-in-Cheif of the NY Times openly made it a point to keep reports about European Jewry in the back pages of the largest newspaper in America--that is, when he chose to cover the story at all. Hollywood Jews did make an effort to draw attention to Hitler's atrocities in Europe in the late 1930s, as well as to help European Jews emigrate to the US, until the US Government sent Joe Kennedy to warn them against their commentary, lest America blame the Jews for being drawn into the war.

Sure, there were average Jewish Americans who did what they could to speak out, to bring family and friends over from Europe, and even to fight. But the Jewish Americans with the greatest power and authority by and large did nothing.

Today, American Jews claim that without Jewish American money, the State of Israel couldn't survive. They're wrong. Don't tell the survivors and descendants of an army that fashioned lipstick cases into bullets that they need greenbacks to function. That's plain bull. I can't help but wonder if the money argument doesn't have a twofold purpose: to ease the guilt of not taking on the burden of responsibility for leaving our European brothers and sisters in the dust, and to justify the lack of willingness to make aliyah. In any case, it's an argument that's got to stop if we are to ever begin healing the rift between American and Israeli Jewry, a great number of whom are of European descent.

Related Links:

NEVER AGAIN: Speech by the IDF Chief of the General Staff for the 'March of the Living' [Israpundit]

Lebanon Palestinians to march on border [JPost]

More than 100,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon are expected to march toward the border with Israel on May 14 in the context of the Palestinian Authority's plan to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Israel, PA officials told The Jerusalem Post Thursday.

...

The plan calls on the refugees to return to Israel with suitcases and tents so that they can settle down in their former villages. The refuges are requested to carry UN flags upon their return and to be equipped with their UNRWA-issued ID cards.

The plan asks Arab countries hosting the refugees to facilitate their return by opening their borders. The plan specifically refers to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.

Palestinian refugees living in the US, EU, Canada and Latin America have been requested to use their foreign passports to fly to Ben- Gurion Airport, while dozens of ships carrying refugees will converge on Israeli ports.

If you get 'Shalom TV' you'll recall that Israel Update covered this story months ago. Whether it will really happen or not, I don't know. Trying to get those forces to unify has failed more than once in the past. But, trust that if it does, it should be one hell of an Israel Independence Day.

Labels: American Jewry, Holocaust, Israel, Israel Independence Day, Jewishness, Judaism, Yom HaShoah, Zionism

posted by Shoshana @ 11:48 AM

Am Yisrael Chai! Eretz Yisrael Chai!
Sunday, April 22, 2007

With Monday comes Yom HaZikaron, Israel's Memorial Day...

...and with Tuesday comes Yom Haatzmaut, Israel Independence Day

Israpundit linked up to a great JPost commentary on the event, titled Still Standing, Still Proud. Some excerpts:

...Hazal [Sages] wrote: ‘The Jewish People is compared to the dust of the ground and to the stars of the sky. When they sink, they sink down to the dust; when they rise, they rise into the stars.’”

This time of year as Independence Day approaches, Gouri’s words always resonate. One of those “Only in Israel” experiences is that incredible combination of sad and happy as the ceremonies for Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers and terror victims fuse back-to-back with the Yom Ha’atzma’ut festivities, this year on April 23.

...As we blow out the Remembrance Day candles and prepare for Independence Day’s fireworks displays, it seems almost natural this year to add the Shehechiyanu blessing, praising God “for keeping us alive, sustaining us and bringing us to this moment.”

For after all, we’ll still here, battle-scarred but not beaten.

Our very existence is worth mentioning as an achievement - if only for the pleasure of annoying our many enemies. The fact that we can celebrate Independence Day at all, albeit wiping away a tear for those who gave their lives and didn’t make it to the country’s 59th birthday, is noteworthy.

...People abroad often forget that most Israelis live ordinary lives worrying about ordinary things: family, health, finances. We argue about politics. And how. But it is a family argument. And at least we aren’t concerned about the neighbors hearing the shouting.

There’s terrorism, but we don’t have to deal with anti-Semitism. Indeed, we’re free to laugh at ourselves with famous Jewish humor and don’t have to worry whether saying things like “famous Jewish humor” is insulting.

...Another year has gone by without our prayers for peace being answered. But despite the prayers of our enemies, we’re still here, not just surviving, but thriving.

And that’s why this Independence Day, as every other, I will hang the blue-and-white flag and raise a glass in that quintessential Jewish toast: “Lehaim - To life!”