Grog against Iran

The Petition doesn't suggest using force against Iran. It talks about sanctions, which is something I think any sane person would agree with. The question is do they really mean it, or is the bait and switch of the IAJV?

So go sign it!

Purim 5767 - Just for the Jews?

I will be making a few posts about Purim.
Before I make some of the more interesting posts, I am going to relate to you an incident that occurred while waiting at a Trempiada (place where hitchhikers wait) at Tzomet Ha'Gush (thats Gush Etzion, the settlement block in the West Bank to the South of Jerusalem).

While waiting at the bus stop in Petach Tikva, a group of us noticed that it had been over an hour and a few buses should have stopped for us already (I heard similar accounts from people trying to get around the country on Purim and Shushan Purim). Luckily a taxi came by and offered us the incredible fare of 25 shekel to Yirushalim, just 3 shekel more than a bus. It turned out that this was a Jerusalem Taxi an was just looking to not lost money on Gas going back to Jerusalem.
The trip should have been quicker by taxi but I still had just missed the bus to Efrat. So I hopped on the 160 which is an express to tzomet ha'gush. On the bus I met two British guys who were trying to get to Hevron. I gave them a tour and analysis of what they were seeing out the window and what they should expect in Hevron. They said they were here visiting their sister who is doing maarava, which is when one took of his baseball cap and I realized they were identical twins. I told them Purim was an interesting day to visit hevron, considering Baruch Goldstien, but they wanted adventure. They didn't seem to have a real understanding of Israel, but they were right wing through and through. They told told me about a blog where a settler gives extremely eloquent and detailed descriptions of his attacks on Arab property, and how they loved reading it.
After getting of the bus at Tzomet Ha'Gush, I had to find a way to get a tremp to efrat, but not getting in the car with someone who was drunk. This is something especially worrying on Purim, as people who don't drink usually don't realize what just a bit of alcohol will do to them.
This can be represented by "Settler dressed in orange", this right-wing settler was in the spirit of the day and a bit tipsy too. I was very surprised when he waved to an Palestinian car. The driver waved back, so I thought maybe they know each other somehow. When I asked hi if this was true, I got an amazing response back:
"No, I have never met him before, but its Purim, we should be friendly to everyone" as he waves at another Palestinian car "Purim is not about hating other people. Its only about remembering what amalek and Haman did to us and how we came out on top. But to everyone else we should be nice to them, all the other nations of the world didn't try to destroy us like amalek. Look at him, he is probably a very nice guy and he has done nothing to me, its Purim so lets make everyone happy today"

I was a bit taken aback. I already know that being a right-wing settler decked in orange doesn't mean that you fit some evil stereotype, but this was pretty progressive especially the Purim part and to a Palestinian Arab at that. I would have asked him more about his opinions, but then a tremp took us to Efrat with a driver that I knew and who hadn't had a drop of alcohol.

Gammad Anaq / Dwarf Giant

A game they play at the yeshiva during Adar is called Gammad Anaq / Dwarf Giant. It involves the Dwarf giving something small and creative to the Giant. Think "Secret Santa" or something like that.

Someone made a blog for instance for his Anaq.

And Here is something that I got, if you can understand the Hebrew its quite funny and besides for #10 its all joking.

Blogger rights in Egypt

I talked about Orthomom, and now a much more serius case of blogger rights is taking place in Egypt.
Its a pity because Egypt is one of the more moderate Arab nations.

An Alexandria court convicted an Egyptian blogger on Thursday for insulting both Islam and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and sentenced him to four years in jail over his writings on the Internet.

Abdel Karim Suleiman, 22-year-old former law student is getting four years in Jail for this

He described some of the companions of the Muslim prophet Mohammad as "terrorists," and has likened Mubarak to dictatorial pharaohs who ruled ancient Egypt.

The last part is especially interesting, because it makes us think if we should relate to Egypt in at all the same way as we relate to the Biblical Egypt. Also the modern day Persia/Iran which is once again threatening to wipe out the Jews "Men, Women, and Children in one day", can we compare Iran's nuclear ambitions with Haman?

"I was hoping that he would get a harsher sentence because he presented to the world a bad image of Egypt. There are things that one should not talk about, like religion and politics. He should have got a 10-year sentence," said lawyer Nizar Habib, who attended the trial as a member of the public.

Nizar Habib, my friend, you just gave me a worse impression of Egpyt than anything this blogger my have written would give me

A Dry Adar

This seems like really good news

Alcohol-free pub for youngsters opens in J'lem


Just in time for Purim too, on Rosh Hodesh Adar.

For those who don't know, on Purim the teens in Israel get drunk, this includes even the RZ "good kids"[i.e. the ones who aren't off the derech or disillusioned] who would never ever think of drinking at any other time of year.

Darfur Purim Dvar Torah

One of the things I do besides learn in Yeshiva is run HAeD www.haedarfur.org

Arielle Perlow wrote this Dvar Torah for our Purim campaign. I'll post details of how you can get involved, if you want to know more, e-mail haedarfur@gmail.com
but for now here is the dvar torah:

Everyone knows the story of Purim: Haman, outraged at the
insubordinate Mordechai, decrees that on Adar 14 all the Jews are to
be annihilated and their property plundered. In response, the Jews,
lead by Esther and Mordechai fast for three days before Esther visits
King Achashverosh and the decree is overturned.

As simple as the storyline is, the lesson of Purim is far more
significant than the fairytale narrative suggests. Through Haman's
wicked decree, we learn as Jews the despair of impending genocide. We
understand what it feels like to be targeted as a nation, the threat
of annihilation.

Currently, a similar genocide to the one proposed by Haman is taking
place. This time, the decree is against the people of Darfur, and the
evil perpetrator is the Sudanese government and the Janjaweed. Sadly,
unlike the proposed genocide of the Jews in ancient Persia, the
genocide in Darfur has been allowed to occur. So far, an estimated
600,000 have been murdered, countless women have been raped, houses
burnt, property pillaged.

What have you done to overturn this evil decree?

When Esther, afraid of the King's reaction to her uninvited entrance,
decides not to petition the King on behalf of her people, Mordechai
reproaches her saying "Do not imagine that you, of all the Jews, will
escape with your life being in the king's palace. On the contrary, if
you keep silent in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to
the Jews from another quarter, while you and your father's house will
perish. And who knows, perhaps you have attained to royal position for
such a crisis?"

In the Megila, Mordechai is confident that the Jews will be saved; it
is Esther's morality that concerns him. With the Darfur situation, it
is not apparent that "relief and deliverance" will come from anyone
else. We must try our hardest to end to the genocide!