Today I found an additional web source for translation of Tanakh, Jewish Bible. This one is a translation of Torah and N’viim (no Ketuvim [wriitngs] yet) titled The Living Torah and is trasnlated by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, published by Moznaim publishers – thanks, Wikipedia! (You can also find a link in the Jewish text links on the right.)
Happy studying!
David Brinn, editor of Israel21c, posted moving and heartfelt words about Israel’s captured & missing soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit. I share some of the beginning paragraphs here in hopes that you will read it, go to his site and read the rest. May the words within it reach your heart and soul.
“Parents attending last week’s 6th grade graduation ceremony at the Tali Gimmel School in Ma’aleh Adumim might have been misty-eyed at the site of their ‘babies’ moving on to junior high.
But that wasn’t the reason I had tears in my eyes. It wasn’t just the usual sentimentality of watching your children grow up. What got to me was looking out at my 12-year-old son Koby and the 70 other graduates and seeing 70 young versions of Gilad Shalit standing in front of me.
Last week’s capture of Cpl. Shalit by Hamas members and the resultant effect on Israeli society had an eerie sense of familiarity about it – perhaps because it’s a situation that’s been repeated so many times since I’ve lived here.
A soldier is apprehended by terrorists and the people undergo an immediate transformation – from an argumentative, splintered bunch of subcultures into one big, concerned family.
Everybody can identify with the Shalit family as they wait to hear word of their son’s fate, because we’ve all either been in the army, or have parents, children or neighbors serving.
There’s no distance whatsoever when you see Shalit’s photo flashed on the TV screen or in the newspapers, or that of his father stoically standing outside the family home in the Galilee. That’s our son being held, that’s us being interviewed – because it could happen to any of us.
Looking out at the sparkling group of boys and girls (children, really, with barely even a glint of teen maturity in them), I was struck by the thought that in six short years, they would be Gilad Shalit, wearing uniforms, carrying weapons, and defending their country.
Imagine the transformation they would be going through in these next six years to turn them into soldiers, I thought. Or maybe not. Perhaps Gilad Shalit, held today in captivity with his condition and fate cloudy, has a lot more in common with the 12-year-olds who were dancing and singing on the basketball court of the schoolyard than is apparent. When did he stop playing with Pokemon cards, or action figures? Maybe five years ago? Maybe less.
Even though Shalit’s capture was noted by some of the school speakers at the ceremony – temporarily creating a somber feeling – the overall atmosphere was one of celebration and joy. Despite Shalit undoubtdedly being on the mind of every parent, the prevalent but unspoken message reflected in the upbeat ceremony and student-performed entertainment was ‘our lives are going to carry on no matter what they try to do to us.’…”
[Hat tip to Allison Kaplan Sommer]
Yesterday I experienced one of the blessings of life in my little corner of the world. I rent the house in which I live, and while downstairs in the (wonderfully cool) basement cleaning and doing laundry yesterday, I noticed a pool of water under the furnance/blower. I called the landlord and they sent over a tech. He showed me what to do if/when the drain hose clogs in the future, how to clean the filter in the air cleaner (I have the equivalent of one of those air cleaners through the whole house when using the heat/ac/fan) and gave me advice on one other little problem. What a nice guy.
After he finished the repair we stood on the front porch chatting and it turns out that he knows one of my colleagues. We chatted, shared some stories (while staying away from lashon hara) and wished each other a good holiday weekend.
This morning while running errands (dry cleaning – the local one runs 40% off pre-pay orders on national holidays), I saw him while pumping gas and we took our conversation a new direction. Such a nice guy. It is nice to have routine contact with folks, seeing people more than just when they do something for us or we do something for them.
Such is one of the nice things about where I live.
Wishing you a wonderful day.
[The following is for bloglines – feel free to ignore it.]
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Shavuah tov (a good new week to you and yours).
A friend emailed me today asking about the address to use to subscribe to the RSS feed for this blog – here it is: http://1rabbi.wordpress.com/feed
Thanks!
For the Asheri family the worst has happened. Their son, Eliyahu, is dead. It is a sad day for the people of Israel – a member of our communal family is dead because of hatred. The Jerusalem Post opens their article by writing,
The IDF confirmed early Thursday a report the Popular Resistance Committees issued from Gaza that it had executed Eliyahu Asheri, 18, of Itamar, who was kidnapped earlier this week in the West Bank. [Read the rest of the article...]
The BBC reported the story before IDF confirmation. I realize that the BBC is well known for being pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel in its bias. However, I don’t understand their wording on the report of Asheri’s death. The headline reads, Militants ‘kill’ Israeli settler - why is it that quotes are around the word ‘kill’? Was he not a human? Was he not a life worth living? Did he not really live, thus not really die, necessitating the quotes? I find this usage disturbing. Certainly the BBC should have acknowledged that the IDF had not yet confirmed the tragedy, but this does not necessitate the quote marks. Feel free to let me know if you have a better explanation.
May the Holy One bring comfort to Eliyahu’s parents, family and friends.
UPDATE: More details in Haaretz‘s article.
By now you are likely aware of the present situation in Israel – (on June 25th) Hamas/Palestinian Authority Terrorists kidnapped an Israeli soldier named Gilad Shalit and (on June 27th) a tennage settler named Eliyahu Asheri.
Here are pictures of them:
Gilad Shalit
Eliyahu Asheri
Gilad was taken after the PA soldiers dug a tunnel outside of the Gaza/Israel border, killed two Israeli soliders and took him prisoner. What a nightemere. The PA did respond to requests to release him with anything reasonable for Gilad. (They supposedly want all women and teens who are in prison because they are convicted of particpation in terrorist attacks to be freed.) The world isn’t doing much to help (nothing new there) and today Israel began taking limited action to get him back in an operation called “Summer Rain.” As reported in the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz, Israel is doing this only to get Gilad back (G-d willing alive and well) and not to retake Gaza. Infact, they are doing everything possible to severly limit civilian injuries or involvment. (Hamas makes this very difficult, for they are well known for putting their operations headquareters and offices within preschools, apartments and the like to try to prevent an attack on them. Hamas, in otherwords, uses their own children as human shields.)
Many bloggers are covering events as they unfold, including fequent updates by the (excellent) Israeli blogger Aussie Dave on his site IsraellyCool. Keep checking this post for updates. Here are links to Aussie Dave’s original posts on the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit and Eliyahu Asheri.
May Gilad and Eliyahu return safely and soon. Please keep them in your prayers.
UPDATE: There are reports of a THIRD kidnapping, this time of Noah Moskovitch! (Hat tip to Aussie Dave.) OY
UPDATE: More information on Noah Moskovitch courtesy Aussie Dave.
UPDATE: YNet has the text and video of a letter from Gilad Shalit’s parents, Noam and Aviva, to the kidnappers and Gilad. (Thanks to On the Face)
JBlog Central is a great way to find Jewish blogs and to list your site. (Of course, going through people's blogrolls also works.)
Thanks, JBlog for listing me.
UPDATE: JBlog Central, started on June 12, 2006, also lets readers rate your posts. So, go, read and vote!
A couple of months ago I heard a scholar speak about Israel. One of his concerns for the future at that time was fighting or, G-d forbid, civil war between the Palestinian factions. It would be difficult for the Palestinians and put Israel into an untenable situation – potentially requiring them to go and stop a war between the Palestinians. What a nightmare that could be.
Today, some of the Palestinians against Hamas revolted, going to their headquarters, breaking in firing weapons and kidnapping an official. Read the details in Haaretz.
I hope their internal challenges lead to stability and the presence of a government which is non-terrorist and represents the people.
My Jewish Learning has web-published an important article by Naomi Graetz on "Domestic Violence in Jewish Law: How Judaism views wifebeating." In her article you can learn some of the basics of Jewish law on this topic as well as how the biblical and rabbinic authorities understood halachah (Jewish law) in each time period and major area of the Jewish world.
Yes, abuse, domination and violence in the home happens in Judaism. It is not a pleasant reality. However, it is one which our people must face, address and work to end.
Columnist Ann Coulter has recently published a new book. In it she calls a group of 9-11 widows "self-obsessed" and acting "as if the terrorist attacks happened only to them." She also writes, "I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much," according to The Associated Press.
"And by the way, how do we know their husbands weren't planning to divorce these harpies? Now that their shelf life is dwindling, they better hurry up and appear in Playboy," The Daily News quoted the book as saying.
What a shame it is to defame the lives of the dead and the lives of their survivors for the purpose of politics. Each person has the right to their own political opinion. Judaism teaches us that each life is precious, created in the image of G-d. Passing jugdement for political purpsoe dishors the people defamed and the speaker. I hope the Ms. Coulter isn't in the unfortunate situation of having her deceased loved ones trampled and her own character defamed.
[Source for the quotations is the New York Times.]