Clint Eastwood, Shlomi and the Jewish people

Today is the 12^th of Ab, 5770

Two days ago, as Coty and I were leaving 'Mamila', near the Old City we met Shlomi, a young 'cool' Israeli taxi driver, probably 30 years old, didn't 'look' very religious. He had a sign in his windshield with his phone number (050 827 8120) and a smaller sign saying 'Lo beShabbat' which means, 'this Taxi does not work on Shabbat…'

Knowing that Israeli taxi drivers are talkative, very friendly and always updated about Israeli politics I asked him about the military situation in the North: Hizbullah claims to have 20,000 missiles ready to attack; Syria is deploying its forces and of course, Iran is threatening Israel as a response to the US sanctions...

Very relaxed and with a big smile Shlomi said: "Don't worry, my friend, nothing is going to happen..…". And I said: "Why? Do you know anything about the Israeli army that the press doesn't know?"

Surprisingly he asked me: "Do you know who Clint Eastwood is?" I said: "Yes!"

He said: "Have you ever watched a Clint Eastwood movie". Thinking about a 'cowboys' movie I said: "Yes".

And then Shlomi formulated the most amazing philosophical argument about the role of the Jewish people I've ever heard in my life: "Have you ever seen Clint Eastwood dying in the movie? No. right?. He can't die because he is the main actor. The whole movie revolves around Clint Eastwood's character. Without Clint Eastwood the movie wouldn't make any more sense…. We, AM ISRAEL -my friend- we are the 'Clint Eastwood' of the world's movie. God, our Almighty movie Director, will never let Clint Eastwood disappear"

Shabbat Shalom!

Snapshot of Israel

http://www.yousendit.com/download/T1Vuc0wyRSs4Q1JjR0E9PQ

I took this picture 3 days ago. Anything special? Just children playing, right? Not so fast...

I'm in the Old City of Jerusalem on a street/square called Batei Machase. I see to my left elders sitting in a bench, looking at those children play. Then, there is also a scripture craved on a stone, just behind me. It's a quote from the prophet Zekharia. 8: 4-5

Zekharia lived at the time (540 BCE) when the Jews were exiled to Babel and their future looked very grim. Following the course of history, the Jews should have naturally integrated/assimilated to the Babylonian Empire, and disappear….

Yerushalaim was totally destroyed, completely in ruins; everything was ashes, death and desolation….

But from the mist of the ruins, Zekharia had an incredible courageous vision: Chapter 8 4 - 5

"And now haShem says: I will return to Mount Zion, and I will live in Yerushalaim"

"…. And once again old men and women will walk Jerusalem's streets with their canes and will sit together in the city squares. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls at play".

Now, the whole picture: I'm reading this very verse, engraved on the stone next to me. I see the elders, sitting in a bench. I see the children playing on the street. And I realize, I have the incredible –an undeserved- merit of being a witness to Zekharia's words.

In MY days, in YOUR days, in OUR incredible days his words were finally fulfilled. Zekharia was talking about US! We are living a prophecy...

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

AHABAT ISRAEL: When it gets to Israel, facts don’t matter…..

Today is the 9th of Tamuz, 5770

We must know the painful truth about Israel’s situation and make it known to as many people as we can. We can’t defeat some of the NY Times' cynical columnists in their relentless criticism against Israel. We should, however, first know the facts ourselves and then make every effort to spread the truth over the Web.
Take for example Hamas and the Gaza strip. Israel has been criticized and portrayed as the ‘bad guy’ for not lifting the blockade, which is so unfair for the ‘innocent’ Gazans. Hamas is portrayed as the victim. As if it was just another separatist political movement, like the Spanish ETA or the Kurdish PKK. Now, what does ETA want? ETA, as most nationalistic groups, declare that their goal is to gain political independence from Spain and create an independent Basque state. In a sense, they are advocating for a Basque state that will leave peacefully alongside the Spanish state…
But what does Hamas want? One good thing about Hamas is that they NEVER tried to hide their true intentions and they even wrote a ‘Charter’ where they explicitly manifest their goals.

Article Thirteen: Peaceful Solutions, [Peace] Initiatives and International Conferences

…the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement. For renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion; the nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its faith, the movement educates its members to adhere to its principles and to raise the banner of Allah over their homeland as they fight their Jihad: “Allah is the all-powerful, but most people are not aware”. *

What do all Israel critics mean when they demand Israel to lift the blockade or to engage in ‘conversations’ with Hamas? Hamas is an Islamic organization, and I know as a Rabbi, that unlike nationalistic expectations, religious principles are NOT negotiable….

Hamas seeks only the destruction of Israel. And Israel must do whatever it sees fit to prevail.

DO SOMETHING FOR ISRAEL

* http://middleeast.about.com/od/palestinepalestinians/a/me080106b.htm

Read Pilar Rahola, a voice of reason in EU: http://www.aish.com/jw/s/96560674.html

Read the column of one of Israel’s unconditional critics, advocating ‘dialogue’ with Hamas.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/opinion/11iht-edcohen.html?scp=2&sq=roger%20cohen&st=cse

The power is at the tip of your fingers. Ask Uri Lander!

Today is the 2nd day of Tamuz 5770

Uri Lander is 21 or 22 years old. He was born in Uruguay but now lives in Israel. A few weeks ago he checked his Facebook account before going to sleep. Uri found a new group "Yo Tambien Odio Los Judios" ("I also hate the Jews").

Unfortunately, anti-Semitism – or the more politically correct anti- Israel movement- is so tolerated by us today that we got tragically ‘used’ to see this kind of expressions and we do nothing about it. But Uri -as his father, Dr Eduardo Lander proudly described to me- decided to take “immediate action”. Uri understood that if the Web is such a powerful tool to spread hatred it must work both ways. We should be able to use Internet also to demand justice!

Uri created a new Facebook group:

24 HORAS para que Facebook borre el grupo "YO TAMBIÉN ODIO A LOS JUDÍOS" (we give 24 hours for Facebook to delete the group "I also hate the Jews") threatening Facebook that otherwise all of Uri's new group members will close their Facebook accounts. Uri went to sleep. In the morning Uri checked his Facebook group and to his surprise he found out that the group had already 800 members…!!! In two days Uri’s group had 4,000 members and then it grew to 20,000. At that point Facebook finally closed the anti-Semitic group. Two weeks later, Uri’s group had 200,000 members. Most of them non Jews showing their sympathy for the Jewish people.

Uri made a change. And inspired a lot of people (including me) to use the Web as a vehicle for Israel advocacy.

Uri put together two important things: the power of the web and the ‘passion’ for Am Israel (Ahabat Israel) which today demands from all of us immediate action.

See the story of Uri’s Facebook group here:

http://2lifemagazine.blogspot.com/2010/05/i-also-hate-jews-on-facebook.html

Ahabat Israel: "God will wage war for you, and you just stand still" ( Shemot 14, 14)

Today is the 25th day of Sivan, 5770


Seven days after the people of Israel left Egypt, they got to the shore of the sea. Pharaoh had a change of heart and regretted having let the Jewish slaves go free. He enlisted his troops and personally led them to crush the Israelites. When the Jews saw the Egyptians coming they panicked.

God Almighty knew that the Jews were not prepared for war... Why? Because they were slaves for centuries and slaves don’t have rights. They don’t know to defend themselves. They exist to please their masters. At that moment, Moshe said: HASHEM ILACHEM LAKHEM VEATEM TACAHRISHUN… God Almighty will wage war for you and you just stand still (=do nothing!). It was the only time in Jewish history that God did not command the Israelites to engage the enemy militarily, as we did with Amalek a few days later or when we conquered the land of Canaan, etc, etc. Those were excruciating circumstances. Slaves were trained like animals to fear their masters… a slave cannot become a hero overnight and fight face to face his former master. So, we were told FOR THE FIRST AND LAST TIME do nothing…. But ever since then, haShem commanded us to wage war (ki tetze lamiilchama al oyebekha) assuring us that He will always ‘fight’ in our side.

Israel is nowadays at war. A very complicated war with too many difficult fronts, among them: Iran, Hezbollah, Arab States, Hamas etc, and also the UN, our own self hatred Jews, the international press, and the worst: our own apathy…). These are too many fronts for Israel alone. And be sure of one thing: Israel is fighting all these fronts on behalf of every jew in the planet (ironically, even on behalf of those jews who hate Israel). Israel needs us to take part in some of these battles. And WE can’t just stand still. At least, I can’t stand still anymore and do nothing when Israel needs everyone of us so badly… I can't stand still in light of so much hatred, lies and accusations against my beloved Israel....

This is why I decided to start this column in Halakha of the Day, Mondays, which I called 'Ahabat Israel': Love for Israel. I hope to produce some awareness, not so much about the news and videos we already saw but about our needed action. There is so much we can do... and we are not doing…. writing comments to newspapers and TV news programs, writing emails to congress, producing our own Youtube presentations and our own pro-Israel Facebook groups, etc, etc most of it, we can do it.... FROM THE COMFORT OF OUR OWN PC....

I would like invite you to join me in a humble campaign, to share your creative ideas about what can YOU do from your computer to help Israel.

I welcome your ideas and hope to share them with other HOTD readers.

Please, write me your email to:

Subject: DO SOMETHING FOR ISRAEL, FROM YOUR OWN PC

rabbibitton@hotmail.com

Please, read this very short but eye opening article on the danger of “doing nothing” and share it with your Jewish and non Jewish friends .

https://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=OHo0c2ZBT01iR0kwTVE9PQ