Intresting tidbit about Bnei Akiva

Via a comment from failedmessiah that was turned into a post:

Tibi writes:

My father is from the region of Satmar. He is now 82 and still remembers R' Yoilish bribing the regional governor to ban B'nei Akivah.

Off to the Trail

I will be backpacking for the next week, so there goes nay hope for me updating the blog.

Meanwhile I will leave some questions for people to ponder:

How should one view the "kiruv" of Jews to non-observant but involved Judaism, and why?

Which is more important: Kiruv Rechokim (bringing those who are far close to Judaism) or Kiruv Krovim (bringing those who are close into a real care and vibrancy about Judaism)

Why is Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel important (imagine in theory Jews could live in Israel peacefully under foreign rule)?

Does a Jewish democracy have din malchut, if not is a theocracy (more accurately a monarchy becuase the kohen kadol/ Av beit din) is the religious leader the ideal?

Is it a form of tzedakah to save the environment?

If your brother has a flu and your neighbor is getting a stroke, who do you deal with first? If a Jewish person has the flu and a non-Jew is getting a stroke who do you deal with first?

Should the a government be responsible for needs beyond basic necessities of life towards its citizens?

Should the Israeli government be a diffrent case becuase it is obligated to care for the Jewish people?

Is a representative democracy the same thing as the people?

If Am Yisrael is obligated to do something is the government obligated?

If you take in refugees to save lives, how do you draw the line at which you can't save more lives?

Is it better not to accept any refugees because you really can't help every single person in the world or is it better to set an arbitrary line?

How can you accept the 1000th person but not the 1001st?

If the lives were Jewish Lives would you act the same way? Is it ok if the answer to that was yes?

and a bonus:
What should be the place of Arab's in Israel (politically, socially etc)?

Is it (and if yes to what extent) is it ok to use psychological warfare in the occupation of the West Bank? If shooting at a blank wall in an Arab village will stop terrorists from shooting at nearby settlements for instance...or random arrests and detentions?

Is it ok for Jews to settle in the West Bank considering there are Arabs in Israel?

If the Palestinians view themselves as at war with Israel and some/most see it fit to resort to violence why is it wrong to play our side of the struggle and try to build on as much land(not that belongs to private Palestinians) as possible?

Tafnit on thier night off - Pokemon

Tafnit, the other program from Australasia/South Africa besides MTA, while they are at YPT (Yeshivat Hesder Petach Tikva) usually get Tuesday as a night off. Yom Yerushalim is Tuesday night this week, so they have off tonight. On their night off, some are at the computers. Often they can be found playing Age of Empires II. The computers reset each time they are turned off, so they have to reload it each time off an ipod or disc-on-key(flash drive, USB stick etc), which takes 5-10 minutes per computer, but that doesn't deter them. Tonight however, most of them are playing Pokemon on the computer. Seven of them are playing the original Yellow (not Blue/Red) Pokemon on the computer, including their madrich. A little nostalgia never hurt, but it's quite funny. I guess it's better than GTA: Vice City which one of them is playing.

(correction thanks to The Life and Times of the World's Greatest Jewperhero )

In Israel electronically doesn't mean instant

I get my Teduat Zehut (identity card) on Sunday by picking it up at the NBN offices in Jerusalem. Without it I can't go to the Misrad Ha'klita or open a bank account. I do have a document called a Teduat Oleh, which looks like a passport, but is something that a new immigrant gets. I keep on hearing about its importance, but all I really know that it does is give Bnei Akiva money from the sochnut because I am a boger. I'll soon see what it actually is good for. Meanwhile with it and another piece of paper I went to the post office to get a form that lets me join a kupat holim(lit. sick fund, basically medical insurance). That is the only thing I can do in the bureaucracy chain that doesn't require a Teudat Zehut. I arrive at the post office and of course it is siesta, so I wait until 3:30. The post office workers get back earlier than that, but there is no way they will open it up until at least 3:32 at the earliest. To get free medical care for the first 6 months as an oleh, you need to pay 13.72 shekel. NBN had written down 12, I guess they need to tax you even on the fees you pay for your "free" services. The post office worker entered some information on a computer, scanned a printout had me sign something and that was it.

With the voucher from the post office I went to the Kupat Holim. I had chosen Klalit, purely for its location. There siesta ended at 4:00 so I waited around a bit. After some people pushed in front of me, I finally got to the desk armed with everything I needed. I lay it all out and say I want to join the Kupat Holim. The clerk starts to enter some data into her computer, and then enters some more information. Finally she looks up and says sorry you are not in the computer, did you go to the post office yet? I point to the form from the post office. I tell her I just came from the post office 45 minutes ago. Her response left me dumbfounded:
"Oh that was too soon, try coming back next week."

This was done by computers, it should be instant. Ok, if not instant, then at least overnight. How long could it take to transfer data, at worst there should be a nightly dump of data into the different systems.

Hey, at least I am Israeli now.

Aliyah in 27.5 hours with Nefesh B'Nefesh from JFK

I haven't blogged in a while. Too busy dealing with Aliyah preperations and seeing friends and family.

There have been so many things I have wanted to blog about and have written out whole posts including links in my head, but they have remained there.

I should get back to blogging soon. Meanwhile I am still packing and somehow 210 pounds just isn't enough.

100 lbs for a set of Talmud Bavli
and about another hundred for a green mini set of kehati mishnayot, a rambam, a large set of Kehati, an english midrash rabbah, and more
then some clothing.

What most annoyed me is finding out that most suitcases way a bit over 10 lbs. Isn't there a better way to construct suitcases so that they don't take up a fifth of the weight that you are often allowed

Anyway, if anyone wants to meet me at the airport on May 1st at 1:15PM.

And to add another link to a Jewish site that has enough links:
http://onlysimchas.com/galleries/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewsimcha&simchaid=60385&simchatypeid=11

Apparently, Jdate gets 135% more traffic than the second most trafficked Jewish websites, or all other major Jewish websites put together, don't know if that's true. Maybe someone can verify that.

Of course I will be wearing my Hultza/Tilboshet for the flight.

You too can fly Nefesh B'Nefesh. Unless you are already Israeli or live outside the US & Canada & UK. If so then at least there is the Global Aliyah Centre which is a free call from almost anywhere you might live, or at worst a free skype call. They will help you with just about anything Israel & Aliyah related
http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Aliyah/Contact+Addresses/GCI/

Kadima Bnei Akiva...Katzav?

I love Bnei Akiva, and I just realized how little I have posted about it when I saw this


Thats probably not the best advertisement to be making when you are trying to show parents how responsible you will be for their kids while you guide them around Israel.
Its not just Bnei Akiva. Nefesh B'Nefesh still had lots of Katzav stuff around the office in Jerusalem

Independent Jewish Voices - necassary?

Lately there has been a move by those who are dissatisfied by the current Jewish organizations to set up "independent" organizations to make themselves heard.
These include
IJV
IAJV
Schalom5767


I won't deal with the question of: "Are these organizations Anti-Zionist?" except to say on paper they certainly aren't, and that they don't necessarily have to be.

The fact that these organizations have sprouted up is a possible cause for worry, but is also surprising. Most Jewish and Zionist organizations in the diaspora took a policy of staying away from political issues, even under the intense pressures of the disengagement. Certainly the Executive Groups, Coalitions and the Umbrella Organizations would not dare to take a strong political stand.

At this point it would seem that these "independents" are firebrands who want to stir trouble and are not being suppressed. Come on, we all know that there are fair elections in these organizations and no one is rigging the elections of the World Zionist Congress. If these "independents" can sign on the Jerusalem Program, then they are having their fair vote. If they can't, then well they aren't really Zionists then, so they should stop pretending to be.

But that is all on paper, maybe they are being suppressed in reality? boo-hoo stop whining! Well no, not exactly. When policies on paper, and systems of fairness are being abused, there should be an answer. Bnei Akiva in most of the diaspora is politically non-partisan, and they do any things to make sure they keep to that ideal. However, when certain Madrichim (counselors) teach the chanichim(kids) songs about hating Arabs, a line has been crossed, even if he claims that those are his/her "personal opinions." It damage control isn't taken on and apologies aren't made, something is wrong. Now why is this relevant?

Because the ZOA wants to kick the UPZ out of the ICC. lots of fun 3 letter acronyms!

Take the story
from: JewSchool , OurJerusalem , The Jewish Daily Forward


So there was some damage control


But at the end of the day, organizations on the right who are members of the Executive Groups, Coalitions and the Umbrella Organizations such as the ZOA criticize Israel with impunity, harm Israel's image, make extremely controversial even possibly racist statements, connect themselves either officially or unofficially with other hate groups and terrorist organizations. Meanwhile no one is suggesting that that the ZOA be kicked out. No one is saying that the ISM or other anti-zionist organizations should be let in, just left wing Zionist groups.

If Left-wing groups are made to feel uncomfortable in the establishment, let them do what they do best, rebel against the establishment.

Rav Avi and Zionism

People sometimes ask how I became so Zionist/into Bnei Akiva, or how I got so into Darfur, or why I love tiyulim so much. I don't really have an answer to questions like that. But for the Zionism, well here is a partial answer to the first one:

Not Real Aliyah yet

Hello and welcome to:

Seraphya’s Aliyah.

I still have not yet opened a tik aliyah, but I am on the airplane that will bring me to Israel permanently. I am in Hong Kong, a hub of international ship and air traffic. All paths lead to Israel eventually, but some paths are more direct and faster than others. Although I might later make Aliyah wit Nefesh B’nefesh from America, or make Aliyah from Israel, I consider this flight my return home.

I left Sydney for the last time as a ben hutz laaretz, maybe one day I shall return on Shlichut. Bnei Akiva gave me a farewell at Seudah Shlishit that I will never forget. I know some people think they have said goodbye to galut for the last time, but eventually find themselves back I the fray and mundane life of the Diaspora. I am not worried about this happening to me, I have no place to return to(never end your sentences with prepositions by the way). I think the best time to make aliyah is for university, for many reasons. First and foremost, you see many people who plan to make aliyah for many years, some in the end do, and some don’t, but putting aliyah off off and setting down roots, is a sure way to get stuck. Secondly, most people need to improve their Hebrew after having lived with Laaz for so long, you brain learns languages better when it is younger and the university years are the final cut-off for most people being bale to learn a language with ease. Thirdly, you are planning to work in Israel; So you want to get the training in Israel; Israel has good universities. Oh, and you get free university when you make aliyah.

I arrived safely in Eretz Yisrael at Ben Gurion Airport. While waiting for my luggage I charged my phone and went online with the free wireless at the airport terminal. I had Shekel in my pocket, an Israeli phone with a sim car, I felt like I was arriving without a worry. I told my family which I had just left 24 hours ago that I was fine and headed for a sherut to Jerusalem. I ended up in one where the 9 other people spoke French and barely spoke Hebrew, but I was on the phone and it was nice to know that people are coming to Israel in general. It’s time for me to check out Nefesh B’Nefesh. There are so many different little technicalities and options, so I am hoping they can help me through them

The directions they give to their office is a good example of how something seemingly so simple suddenly gets complicated.