All posts by Amelah

Remembering Rabin z"l

Israel

Yesterday was the 11th anniversary of Prime Minister Rabin’s assassination at the hands of Yigal Amir. 11 years since an act of extreme hatred and murder that change the course of the history of Israel and her relationship with herself and her neighbors. A great warrior had turned peace maker and a murderer stopped his life. My heart still cries with sadness, with pain, with shock. Part of me still can’t believe that it happened. I wonder where things would be today had he not been assassinated?

With sadness…

Some websites on the anniversary:

YNet on the Tel Aviv memorial

Israeli Government site on the memorial (note, the site says that 11/2 was the anniversary – that is the anniversary date on the Jewish calendar, 11/4 on the secular calendar)

Knesset Memorial Website (also available in Hebrew and Arabic)

Rabin Center for Israel Studies

Site on the grieving country and world, including information from the funeral, children’s drawings and more.

Author David Grossman’s powerful words at the memorial (David Grossman’s son was killed in the Hizballah war this summer.)

Shavuah tov

Judaism

Shavuah tov, a good new week to you. I hope that your Shabbat was a good one.

This week is parashat Lech-lecha, including the Holy One’s famous call to Avram,

Lech lecha mei’artzecha, mee’molad’techa, u’mee’beit avich… Go forth from your land, from your birthplace and from your father’s land…and go to a land that I will show you.

G-d challenges Avram with an enormous challenge, one that changed his life, his family’s life and the life of our people. Avram and Sarai reached within themselves and risked everything to follow G-d’s call and our people’s life began.

There are times when the challenges before us can seem immense. Perhaps remembering the ability of our ancestors to find the courage, strength and faith for their lives will help us find the same.

Naomichana's take on the muppets

Jewish Blogs, Judaism

Yes, the muppets.  Naomichana of Baraita (always an interesting and enjoyable read) looked at the muppet characters in Sesame Street and casted the muppets in Tanach roles.  For example,

“Adam: Aloysius “Snuffy” Snuffleupagus [This is not random: Snuffy does embarrassed better than anyone else in the cast, and he has a large enough body to be animated by two actors, lending credence to the primordial-hermaphrodite theory of Midrash. But please try not to think about whether this makes Big Bird God or Lilith.]
“Eve: Alice Snuffleupagus [Yes, that’s Snuffy’s baby sister. And Eve was related to Adam how again?]
“The Serpent: Slimey the Worm [Typecasting. Sorry.]
“Noah: Forgetful Jones [Since Sesame Street lacks an openly alcoholic Muppet, we are going with a more subtle choice. This presumably makes Clementine Noah’s long-suffering wife.]”

Read her entire post here.

I grew up in the 70s & 80s.  During the early years I watched a lot of Public Television, including Sesame Street, the Electric Company (I was very sad when it went off the air) and Mister Roger’s Neighborhood.  These shows helped me learn to read and more.   Naomichana’s finding of paralles between muppet characters and aspects of Tanach characters brings a smile to my face. Perhaps it will to your too.  Read and enjoy.

Where has all the time gone?

Judaism

Wow. It is September 16th, nearly September 17th. Where in the world has the time gone? Next Shabbat is Rosh Hashanah. Amazing. I’m not sure what 5767 will bring for Israel, the Jewish people and the world as a whole. I hope and pray it is more peace than war, more acceptance than hate, more fed than hungry, more safety than fear, more love than abuse….

May this last week of 5766 be a good one for you and yours.

A Sharon Scoop?

Israel

Nushyman at Nushworld is reporting,

I have it on good authority (although I still hope it is not true) that Sharon has just passed away. Apparently there is a media block on the story until further notice.

If this is true, it is a sad day for his family and for many others. I have to wonder about the point of posting such a notice without it being officially released. A number of years ago I got a phone call that Arafat had died (he hadn’t yet) because of an error by one of the news outlets. The wrong information set a chain of events into motion that weren’t necessary at the time.

Whatever his condition, I pray that G-d is with he and his family.

(PS – yes, I am still a liberal, I don’t want pain even for those with whom I have disagreed.)

A Lebanese Woman's Perspective on Lebanon – Rampurple

Lebanese Blogs, Lebanon

Rampurple, a Lebanese woman, writes of her fears for Lebanon. She (herself Lebanese) lists her worries, beginning with

“I really am scared for the future of the region.

Hizballah:
1. Hizballah has notified Lebanese prime minister Fouad Siniora that the only concession he is willing to make with regard to the Hizballah presence in South Lebanon is to avoid exhibiting his fighters’ weapons in a demonstrative fashion…..”  (read more)

She writes more on Hizballah, Assad, Iran and the Lebanese government. Read, learn and comment.

On Hour To Go

Israel, Lebanon

It is 11 o’clock, 4 am GMT. The cease fire officially begins in one hour. May peace descend on Lebanon and Israel and may all know peace and safety.

UPDATE: How does Israel plan to implement the cease fire? Take a look at a YNet article in English.

Update 2: CNN has the time of the ceasefire wrong. They correctly state that it is at 5:00 GMT, but incorrectly say that equals 1:00 am ET and 8:00 Israel Time. Bagdad is 3 hours ahead of GMT, but Israel is only 2 hours ahead of GMT. Pretty silly mistake. (You can find a world clock here.)

Update 3: It seems that I was wrong. An article in Haartez said the cease fire began at 7 am local time in Israel and everyone else in the US seems to be reporting 8 am. (Unless, shockingly (sarcasm) Israeli press knows more about what is happening in Israel than the American press.)

Intriguing blog seeking the Jews of Lebanon

Judaism, Lebanon

A (relatively) new blog is seeking Jews of Lebanon.  Their mission statement begins,

It is the intent of this blog to reestablish a connection between Lebanese of the Jewish faith around the world with their country of Lebanon. The message of coexistence and genuine national unity is not applicable so as long as a fragment from Lebanon’s mosaic of minorities is missing. If religious coexistence fails in Lebanon it will ultimately fail throughout the world.

Read the entire mission statement or go to the Jews of Lebanon blog.

The Disaster in Lebanon

Israel, Lebanon

A few days ago Nizar Abdel-Kader published an online article “ Out of the Quagmire” on a Middle-East roundtalbe website called Bitter Lemons.  In the middle of the article he writes, 

To circumscribe the Lebanese disaster, now is the opportune moment for the five permanent members of the Security Council and Israel to alter their views and positions in dealing with this highly complicated and multi-dimensional crisis. Left alone, the Lebanese government may be devoured by the intricacies of domestic differences and destabilized by the pressures exercised by Iran and Syria. The longer the current crisis continues, the higher the risk that events will descend into a vicious downward spiral, reminiscent of the multi-national force deployed in Lebanon in 1982 and the failure of the May 17 agreement. Olmert must not repeat the same mistakes committed after the 1982 invasion. The greatest risk remains an attempt by Syria and Iran to use their proxies in Lebanon to oppose the deployment of a peacekeeping force.

Read the rest of his words here.

Mr. Nizar Abdel-Kader is a political analyst and columnist at ad-Diyar newspaper, Beirut

Hoping & Praying for a Week of Peace & Safety

Israel, Lebanon

Friday was filled with news of the UN discussion on the current conflict/war between Israel and Hizbollah/Iran. (I name the conflict this way because although the fighting is occurring in Israel and Lebanon, the people of Lebanon are more victim than aggressor. It seems to me that those who are not part of Hizbollah are victims of Hizbollah and Israel.) Late Friday, Saturday day it seems that a final agreement was reached. The resolution is number 1701.
You can read UN Secretary General Kofi Anan’s words on the passing of the resolution. In it he states his sadness that such an agreement wasn’t reached earlier. He lists the casualties in Lebanon – killed, injured, and displaced. The numbers are far too great. My heart breaks and grieves for the innocent of Lebanon. However, he uses underestimated and diminished numbers (he says 41 deaths when today’s total is up to at least 123) the statement about those killed, injured and displaced in Israel. His biases are showing. Apparently to him the only deaths, injuries and displacements that matter are those of the Lebanese. And he wonders why Israel doesn’t trust the UN (not even going into the Hizbollah kidnapping of 3 Israeli soldiers in 2000 within just a few months of Israel fully withdrawing from Lebanon. A UN “peacekeeper” witnessed and videotapped the kidnapping and likely even knew where they were taken, but he denied it and the soldiers died.)

Anan announced that the cease fire will go into effect on Monday, August 14, 2006 at 7 am Israel time (5 am GMT).

I pray that the cease-fire works and that Hizbollah will stop firing rockets at Israel and Israel is able to withdraw from Lebanon. I hope and pray that the UNIFIL forces fulfilling this resolution will be more successful than the current ineffective one.

May G-d spread peace, safety and security soon.