101112 STANDING OUR GROUND AT NETZER

Netzer is an agricultural area which is nestled in a valley between Alon Shvut and Elazar in Gush Etzion. There is a major ongoing dispute with the Arabs about what is privately owned land and what areas are state-land. Women in Green stands diligently to keep the land from being over-run with illegal Arab agriculture.





Photos of the participants at Friday's shiur

101026 KHIRBET WADI HAMAM

During a recent visit to the Galilee, a friend from Migdal mentioned the remarkable find of an ancient synagogue, Khirbet Wadi Hamam near Mt. Arbel, so with his directions embedded in my mind, I went to investigate the scene. What seemed to be simple enough turned out to be more complicated since the place is not well marked.
The ruins are on a hillside at the base of Mt. Arbel

101008 AN OPEN FRONTIER

BIKAT HAYARDEN, also ARAVOT HAYARDEN, Part II
(For Part I, submit a request for newsletter "On Assignment in Jerusalem" #101008, Part I, by writing to Abigail at uriyah@netvision.net.il)

Photos are of a recent public relations tour of the Jordan Valley. The goal of the journey was to create awareness of the lack of industry along the Jordan and awaken a dream to redeem lost opportunities since 1967. (2010)

During our recent tour of the Jordan Valley, we went to the high points of the eastern mountain range which makes for a strategic, defensible border with a view of the Jordan River below. (2010)

The first time I came to Israel was the summer of 1978. I had joined a team who was doing a documentary film of the prosperous dimensions of agriculture in Israel. It was said at the time that the small country of Israel could produce enough food to lift the world out of poverty and starvation. The only problem was that the majority of the world refused

100929 SUCCOT AT THE WALL

Last Day of Chol Hamoed Succot 5771, Part I

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t have a hot line to heaven like some of my friends, but I decided to participate in Shacharit at the Western Wall the last day of Chol Hamoed Succot. My main motivation was to take a list of names

100929 UNITED JERUSALEM FOUNDATION

After a hot, yet successful morning at the Western Wall, I walked to Mamilla to treat myself to ice coffee before going home. I passed a man giving a shpeil to some tourists while they signed his petition and

100901 A DREAM COME TRUE

For most, it takes a long time for dreams to become a reality. Yet, in all reality, most young people’s parents don’t have the resources the help their children’s dreams materialize, but dreams don’t die, they just sometimes come later in life.

That wasn’t necessarily the case for Snir.

100811 MONTH OF ELUL

אני לדודי ודודי לי...

“I am my beloved’s and He is mine!

Shir Hashirim 6:3

(This phrase describes the mutual love between G-d and the People of Israel,

which serves as an encouraging basis of our Elul-time task of sincere repentance.

Other phrases among the Tenach represent

the three kinds of acts that help us avert an evil decree:

T’shuva (repentance), T’fila (prayer), Tzedaka (chesed)

***

ומול ה' אלהיך

את-לבבך ואת-לבב

זרעך

דברים 30:6

“G-d will circumcise your heart,

and the heart of your offspring,

to love HaShem your G-d with all your heart,

and with all your soul, that you may live.”

(This is one of the p’sukim in the Torah that deals with the topic of T’shuva

and indicates G-d’s help in the process.

This pasuk is read on the Shabbat before Rosh HaShana.)

***

ועתה אלהינו מודים

אנחנו לך ומהללים לשם

תפארתך

Divrei HaYamim Alef 29:13

“Now therefore, our G-d, we thank you,

and praise your glorious name.”

(Prayer is an essential element of Elul.)

***

כי

אסלח לעולנם ולחטאתם לא

אזכר-עוד...

“…for I will forgive their iniquity,

and I will no longer remember their sin.”

Yirmiyahu 31:33

100719 16th Annual Tisha b’Av Walk 2010

(Letter submitted by Women in Green)

Thousands participated in the 16th Annual Tisha b’Av night march around the walls of the Old City. The event is sponsored by Women for Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green). In addition, the sound of the shofar was heard at each gate of the ancient city thanks to our faithful Elazar Brandt.

Eicha was read in the park opposite the American Consulate.
Yoram Ettinger, the first speaker:
"We must learn from the leadership that was until Oslo. How to withstand the American pressure - to learn from Ben-Gurion, from Eshkol, from Golda Meir, from Shamir. We have to act as they did.
"The American public, unlike its President, stands united behind the State of Israel, as is shown by every public-opinion poll conducted in the United States in the past year and a half.
"The American Congress follows the public, and signals time after time its displeasure with the President's attitude to Israel.
"This phenomenon is consistent since 1948. All the prime ministers understood that it is possible to withstand pressure.
“In 1948 the American administration ordered Ben-Gurion to agree to the evacuation of Jerusalem, to internationalize Jerusalem, and to stop the conquest in the Negev. The American administration accompanied this pressure with a military and economic embargo.
"Ben-Gurion responded by:
* the construction of Jewish neighborhoods on the cease-fire line
* moving thousands of new immigrants to Jerusalem
* moving the government ministries from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
* building access routes to Jerusalem
* challenging the entire world
“They asked him, how does he withstand the pressure? His response was: if he were to surrender to the pressure of those opposing Israel, he would betray its supporters; and if he were to withstand the pressure, this would give added support to Israel's friends, and he relies on their power in the United States.
"In 1967 Johnson pressured Levi Eshkol that he dare not annex eastern Jerusalem, and demanded not to build beyond the Green Line. Eshkol's response: he built Ramat Eshkol and annexed east Jerusalem.
"In 1970, Nixon, with the Rogers Plan, pressed to divide Jerusalem. Golda's response was: the construction of Gilo, Ramot, Neveh Yaakov, French Hill. Nixon was angry, he was furious, but he knew that, in the long run, he has an ally on whom he could rely.
"Ben-Gurion coined the phrase: The entire world will judge the state of the Jews by its attitude to Jerusalem. If Jerusalem will not be the red line, that is not to be passed, the pressures will increase."
"It is to be hoped," Ettinger concluded his speech, "that Israel's leaders will understand that it's possible to withstand American pressure."

After this, the thousands continued the march around the walls. Rabbi Shalom Gold and
MK Prof. Aryeh Eldad spoke at Lion's Gate. MK Prof. Aryeh Eldad's speech in Hebrew can be found on the Arutz 7 (Israel National News) site in the De'ot section: http://www.inn.co.il//Articles/Article.aspx/8925
Rabbi Gold said that each one of us must give an account of his actions, not only to the generation in which he lives, but to all the generations. We are obligated to guard Eretz Israel - obligated by all the generations.
He based his words on the midrash that says:
"When the Temple was destroyed, the Holy One, blessed be He, weeps and says: My children, where are you? My kohanim (priests), where are you? My lovers, where are you? The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Jeremiah: Today I am like a person who has an only son, who made a wedding for him, and he died during the ceremony. Go and summon Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses from their graves, for they know how to weep. Jeremiah immediately went to the Cave of Machpelah, and said to the Patriarchs of the world: Stand, the time has come when you are summoned before the Holy One, blessed be He. They asked him: Why? He said to them, I do not know, for he feared, lest they say to him: This was [the lot] of our children in your time."
Nadia Matar, the chairperson of the Women For Israel's Tomorrow summed up the march with the emotional words:

"Now, the central issue is Eretz Israel. And, as is written in the Torah portion of Devarim: the divine command is 'Go up, take possession ... Fear not and be not dismayed.' We must stop being afraid and fearlessly declare that the Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel. The Land must be closely guarded. We cannot repeat the mistakes that were made in our camp. Not another Gush Katif. Now, we are obligated to breach the fences, to strengthen the youth in the army that declares it will not take part in the expulsion order. And the freeze must be smashed by building and planting everywhere. 'We will certainly go up, and we shall gain possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it' (Numbers 13:30)."

100704 Roasting Elazar at the Comedy Basement

100704

THE COMEDY THEATER PRESENTS ‘ROASTING ELAZAR’

Last night a couple of friends and myself did something enjoyable and relaxing for a change. We went to the Comedy Basement, Jerusalem’s 1^st Comedy Theater, for a 4^th of July roasting in the place of an outdoor bar-b-q, and instead of beef it was our friend Elazar who was being roasted over a slow burner as friends gathered to give him the ‘what for’. Some preferably forgettable memories were dredged up - some humbling, some humiliating - but all was in good fun and extremely laughable. I mean, Elazar really set himself up as the ‘Joker of the evening’, and didn’t have a choice but to sit on the hot seat and take whatever came his way since the crowd had the door blocked in case he tried a swift exit.

Even the Brit, Gemma Blech, joined in the fray of fun as she took the stage and belted out a memorable song of her youth, “Goliath of Gath”. Everyone absolutely enjoyed it and gave a grand applause as she just celebrated her 73^rd birthday.

On the 4th of July, Ms. Brit, Gemma Blech made her debut performance at the Comedy Basement in Jerusalem at the fresh new age of 73 singing "Goliath of Gath". Happy Birthday Gemma!

ACTIVISTS DEMAND THE RETURN TO ADURAYIM

Another abandoned IDF Army Base

“One doesn’t negotiate with their enemies,

much less capitulate to them,

but you conquer your enemy,

dominate them, and rule over them.”

That is the proven historical evolution of civilizations.

Rightwing activists return to the Adurayim army base abandoned several months ago by the IDF after the murder of a policeman, Yehoshua Sofer HY"D.


On one occasion a group of hikers, the David & Ahikam youth, joined for coffee before continuing their hike in the Hevron hills in memory of David Rubin HY"D and Ahikam Amichai HY"D, murdered in 2007 by Arabs while hiking in the region.


Graffitti is a sign of the past life that filled the halls, while filthy debri covers the floors, a sign of pure hate crime.

100520 DERECH YERICHO

BEIT HOGLA WITH ERNA KOVAS
After the Six Day War, the yishuvim were founded and flourished. Erna Kovas was part of them. But then came the Oslo Accords and she couldn’t handle the very thought that they were thinking of giving away parts of Eretz Israel, beginning with Jericho. She said she had to do something about it and according to those agreements at the time at least a Jew could go and pray in Jericho’s ancient synagogue. So that’s what she decided she was going to organize.
For the first year and a half after the Oslo agreements her groups came to the machsom - the checkpoint - demanding to go inside Jericho but they were not allowed to enter. But because of Erna’s steadfastness and refusal to give up, the IDF caved in and allowed them to come inside Jericho to go and pray. They even assisted with a garine led by Rabbi Ginsberg every day from Yitzhar to learn in the yeshiva only in the day time. That lasted for 8 years until immediately after the Arabs burnt down Kever Yosef in Shechem, they also burnt down the Shalom al Israel Synagogue in Jericho.
The people said it’s not enough. We also want to spend Shabbat in Jericho. So she told of the famous story of renting a hotel in Jericho and on a Friday they brought the food to the shul, and on Shabbat morning they walked from this hotel they rented with 30 boys to the Shalom al Israel synagogue. On the one side was the Israeli army, on the other side was the Arab so-called police. They arrived to the synagogue and had a wonderful Shabbat. The next week they wanted to have another Shabbat but they weren’t allowed and went to prison. Instead they were allowed to create a yishuv next to Machaneh HaNoam which is now called Mevo'ot Yericho. It is a yishuv basically of 21 families which was established as a result of the banding of entrance into Jericho.
For two years Erna was busy with the new yishuv but her heart was still in Jericho. She said I want to go back to Jericho. So they told her they would bring her back to this Mahane Elisha which we promise you is a 10 minute walk to the south side of the Beit haKnesset, .and you can stay in this Mahaneh Elisha. She was very happy, and was allowed to stay for 7 months until the machatz, the regional officer, changed – sometimes they’re nice, sometimes they’re not nice, depending on their political opinion. So the new guy came in after 7 months and said ‘no more’ this story is over and you’re not allowed to be here anymore.
For 2 months she just sat outside Mahaneh Elisha in a car with her children and said I’m not moving from here. Then came a new guy who said ‘come and I’ll show you another place’ and he brought her here to the location where she now lives. She came in the month of Av – the month of August – quite hot as you can imagine and he said ‘Here you are allowed to remain!’ It was completely empty, a barren desert area. She couldn’t believe it, “What? They’re actually giving me land?” She demanded a generator, a big water tank and a tent. That was 9 years ago.
Shmuel has known Erna for 20 years and he said when Erna goes into Jericho, the Arabs already know her and knows that she belongs there. She knows Jericho like her back pocket and despite the fact that she’s very skinny she’s one great & brave woman!

She told the story of how they started building here with somebody who built Givat Ronen in the Shomron. He knows how to build but they came from the civil administration and started creaming: “What are you doing? You’re not allowed to build here! You’re not standing by the civil agreements!” All the while they were screaming, the guy continued to build ignoring their screaming. They passed a lot of different stages of threats of being evicted, but in the end she said: “We are here now, Baruch Hashem! And what we’re waiting for now is for families to come and live here – to join us.”
Her goal is to create a tourist center. The stories told about this place cannot be told about any other place in Israel. This is the place where B’nei Israel entered Eretz Israel.
Her vision for this place consists of three goals: a. Families would be living here; b. a tourist center; c. alternative medicine, a place for therapy. People could come here for alternative medicine just as they come to Yam HaMelech for treatments. She feels she could organize people to come for therapy.
Erna said that everything we see on her property is with God’s help since no one else was willing to help, not the moatzah, not other people. She said they have olive trees, pomegranates, and anything else you see here God is right here watching over us cause no one else has been willing to financially help us. Everything is a very big miracle! “It has been me and Hashem!”
HAGGI
So now to the issue itself. Just after B’nei Israel entered Eretz Israel, and because this is Eretz Israel Kedushah, Holy Land, obviously, when they came here they had to have a brit milah and that was the first mitzvah. Yehoshua orders the males to have the brit and we are standing here on the site of 2 square kilometers where men were lying after they had the brit milah without complaining and actualizing, materializing the brit, the covenant from Hashem connecting us to the holiness of this Land.
There is another brit established after the brit milah, the 2nd covenant is the covenant of marriage, the People of Israel have with the Land of Israel. After the brit milah, they prepared to conquer Jericho. The way they prepared to conquer Jericho, they surrounded Jericho seven times, the same way the callah – the bride - surrounds the chatan – the groom - seven times under the chuppah to bring down the walls that are between them in order to enter into a new covenant. That is what B’nei Israel did with Jericho and that is where we see the 2nd covenant of B’nei Israel with Eretz Israel by conquering Jericho.
To teach B’nei Israe,l who had just entered the land, the importance of the Land we have another story where B’nei Israel was to take the stones from the Jordan, very heavy stones that the Kohanim walked on across the Jordan, and shlepp them all the way to Har Gerazim. On those stones they wrote the Torah. They said are we like little children? Why do we need those stones? It is again to teach B’nei Israel the importance, the connection that those stones are as important as Eretz Israel.
Even Yehoshua received from Hashem a lesson about the holiness of the Land. Just the day before the conquest of Jericho, he walked around to check it out and Hashem asks him: “Why are you walking around with your shoes on? Take off your shoes and walk barefoot.” Usually walking barefoot is a sign of humiliation, but here taking off your shoes symbolizes connecting yourself, your body, your physical being with Eretz Israel. In the same way, when we go up to the Beit HaMikdash we also have to remove our shoes, not because it is a humiliating act, but because it is an act of connecting our physical with Eretz Israel.
There is the story of Achan (Yehoshua VII) who takes something from the spoils. It was forbidden to take but he takes something that doesn’t belong to anybody, he takes something that he liked. But then Israel fell in the battle of Ai, and its said to Yehoshua by prophesy that Achan took what was forbidden. Achan is executed along with all of his family.
So what is this story? What’s so bad here? What happened? Why did he have to die for something like that? What happened? The people of Israel had to learn that Hashem is together with us – he understands, he sees, he feels, he knows what’s happening even if nobody knows it or believes it and he decides what will be done for our best. We have to give an account to His Name all the time. We stand in front of His Name all the time. This was a new thing that the People of Israel didn’t know before.

NADIA & YEHUDIT PRESENT GIFTS TO ERNA KOVAS
(Explained by Nadia Matar)


We are here at Beit Hogla, and it says that Jericho is the entrance to Eretz Israel – Jericho is also the key to Eretz Israel! It is believed, has v’shalom, if Jericho falls all of Eretz Israel will fall (biblical Eretz Israel). That’s the reason, in the Oslo Accords, the PLO demanded Jericho first.
The one person who held steadfast to Jericho – who said: “Hello! There’s no doubt that it’s very important to be in Hebron, Shilo, Jerusalem - its very important to return everywhere in Eretz Israel, but what about Jericho? – there’s only one woman who consistently shouts!
And for many years she has asked us to come, “When are Women in Green coming? Come & visit us!” And I’m ashamed to say that every time we’ve been busy with another struggle and other excuses. Not that we’re busy doing nothing! We are here today! In Beit Hogla to meet that tenacious woman, Erna Kovas.
Erna, we have brought you a present which my dear mother-in-law, Ruth Matar, designed and had made. On this banner is written ...ולמען ירושלים לא אשקות– …for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest. (Isaiah LXII:1) This particular one was hung in Shdema and we brought it to you for a present. The 2nd one is the Lion of Judah also designed by Ruth Matar and her son Jacob

HOTEL NORTHERN TIP OF YAM HAMELECH
(In the words of HAGGI BEN ARTZI)


Because of the dry, arid desert of Judea, many holy books and writings were well preserved throughout history.
On the northern tip of Yam Hamelech – the Dead Sea – is an old abandoned hotel and several desalination plants. At the time of the Six Day War, Yam Hamelech came up to the steps of the hotel. Forty years later, the tragedy of Yam Hamelech is the extent it has shrunk. It has gone down 40 meters – a meter a year – due to two factories which extract the water. The reason is due to two major projects: 1. An Israeli national project; 2. The Jordanian project.
Desalination of water is not solution for shortage of water – this will only solve about 20% of the nation’s water shortage problem. The ONLY solution for the shortage of water is for us to consider the Biblical boundaries of Eretz Israel as written in the Tenach – from the mountains of Lebanon which is not another country where billions and billions of cubit water is just wasted every year. This is the origin of water for the Jordan River which then empties into yam Hamelech. If we want to have water we must include those tributaries – rivers – within the borders of Israel
Mount Nebo - Har Nevo – can be seen from here. This is the closest to Mount Nebo from the West. Mount Nebo was the mountain on which Moshe Rabbeino stood in his last days overlooking the western side of the Jordan River into the Promised Land. It became the symbol – the place from where Moshe Rabbeino gave us his last will, his last word.
The range of mountains is known as the Moav Mountains - Harei Moav – and below is a plain called Aravot Moav in Jordan.

ABDULLAH BRIDGE OVER NAHAL YARDEN
(According to Haggi Ben Artzi)

We are here at the place where we believe almost for sure that B’nei Israel crossed over into Eretz Israel. We ask, “Why here at the southwest area of Yericho and not further up?” It was the place of the heathen Canaanites which were hostile peoples and Am Israel did not want any confrontation with them so they stayed further south.
Remember the Jordan River was much more expansive than what we see today which has been reduced in the most part to sewage. The banks were overflowing at the time B’nei Israel approached it from Jordan. On Israel’s side, the water was all the way up to where we are standing.
Hashem told Yehoshua that the Kohanim were to enter the Jordan first. When they touched the water, the waters stood upright, becoming a wall. The water stopped flowing from the north – water stood only on one side, whereas the waters of the Yam Suf stood on both sides.
Haggi doesn’t understand why Jews are not coming to this place and blessing it. Miracles turned to tragedy in 1967 when in 3 days we returned to Judea, Samaria & liberated all the biblical areas of Eretz Israel
The Arabs witnessed the miraculous return of the Jews to their homeland and of their own free-will started to flee – fleeing to Jordan, fleeing back to the Arab countries – but unfortunately out of sheer stupidity Moshe Dayan decided that he couldn’t face the sight of fearful fleeing Arabs, and he decided to blow up the Abdullah Bridge on which the Arabs were fleeing to Jordan in order to encourage the Arabs not to flee from their homes in Palestine – which proved to be a very big mistake.
An additional mistake of Moshe Dayan – the first mistake he did was when he gave away Har HaBayit (the Temple Mount) within a short few hours after we liberated Har HaBayit (at a costly price). The 2nd mistake was to blow up this bridge, the road to the Arab nations. Therefore the problem is not the Arabs – they know that this is our land – the problem has always been weak Jewish political leaders. The day will come, b’ezrat Hashem, when we will complete what was started in the Six Day War when we will return to all of Eretz Israel and the Arabs will understand that the hour has come to go back to their Arab countries of origin, or as we say: “There will only be peace when the land of Israel will be for the People of Israel, and the Arab countries will be for the Arabs.”
The Abdullah Bridge over the river was destroyed by Jews to prevent Arabs from fleeing Eretz Israel!

100502 Lag b'Omer with Yitzhak Hershkowitz

Yitzhak Hershkowitz has been in an uphill struggle with the Israeli court  and police for 18 years. It all began when he purchased a house and property in Southern Talpiot, Jerusalem. Before he managed to move in, a Bedouin family moved in and layed claim to the property. Finally, this past week, Yitzhak was able to enter his home for the first time since he bought it. A number of Jews went to celebrate his housewarming simcha on Lag b'Omer.
Of course we were not able to leave the premises without the Arabs confronting us and finally the police arrived on the scene to quell the brewing storm.
(For a full write-up, send your email address to uriyah@netvision.net.il and request On Assignment #100502 Lag b'Omer)

100419 Yom HaAtzmaut 2010

Life Returns to Shdema
As Yom HaZicharon ended in the evening, the celebration of Yom HaAtzmaut began as the night sky filled with blasts of fireworks. For a couple hundred loyal Israeli patriots, Independence Day started as they returned that same night to Shdema for fun, music and food with the soldiers who are steadily on duty to check out the surroundings.
Once the music started and the food was spread out on the table, no one hesitated to jump in and fill a chunk of pita bread with falafel balls and salad followed by cakes and coffee.
The sing-along was led by our gang’s personal accordion wizard, Eli Gilboa, and the singing group, Shirat HaLeviim
Even though we have something to rejoice about, the return of the IDF to Shdema after our two-year struggle to maintain a Jewish presence in the midst of chaos, for some of us, a part of our hearts will remain on the premises. As I walked around it was as though even the vacant buildings were relieved that Jews had returned. For without the life that Jews bring to the Land, it lays desolate and forsaken.

100419 Yom HaZicharon 2010

The Weeping Statue
The lone woman paced back and forth, addressing a small crowd which had gathered at Kikar Tzion. At first glance, she seemed somewhat mad! Over and over she yelled: “There is no memorial for my children who were murdered on Jaffa Road! There is no memorial for our children who were ruthlessly murdered on Ben Yehuda Madracha (walkway)! Our government can spend billions for a train to run through the city of Jerusalem, but they can’t spend money for a memorial for my children, a place where I and other mourners can stand to pay tribute to our children on Yom HaZicharon!” She repeated the same thing over and over as she fought back the tears welling up from inside.
Those of us who empathized with her wanted to go to her, hold her, and comfort her, yet none dare break through the invisible barrier she had put up around herself to protect her emotions. It was as though, if someone invaded her space or stepped across her red line of protection, she would have a meltdown and break into tiny pieces.
Besides, it seemed like the ground around her was all too sacred and I was thinking: “Is this woman a God-send? A messenger from heaven? The voice of Mother Rachel? Is the spirit of Mother Rachel manifesting within her neshamah? Mother Rachel weeping for her children who were no longer? Is this generation listening to the cry of their Fathers & Mothers who are becoming fewer and fewer? Yet in every generation there remain witnesses to tell of personal accounts of the cost to liberate the nation of Israel now celebrating only 62 years of returning home?”
Even the men in the crowd were fighting back the tears and I wondered if they felt what I felt as she cried out from her innermost pain. All the while, behind her stood a stone statue of an Israeli fighting soldier and suddenly I noticed the statue’s eyes turn red. He blinked trying to restrain himself from bursting out crying, yet the tears flowed down his face. One idiot Israeli man broke through the crowd trying to knock the statue off its pedestal, but others quickly restrained the man, furious at his attempts. All the while, the young man doing the miming held steady like an iron statue. Unmovable! Indestructible! A perfect example of the Israeli Defense Forces which stands immovable under the banner of the God of Israel! May we never forget WHO is the Commander in Chief as we look out upon the horizons and see the army of the Lord which is our eternal guardian and protector!

YOM HASHOAH: To Hold Your Hand

"The sirens are wailing, and so am I. Not great art but straight from the heart. And please don’t laugh at my translation." Robert

To Elinoor; Father and Mother, Annie and Walter Arnold; and all the other millions. April 2010
***
Fighting for air
Under the freely flowing gas
Falling to your knees with your last gasp
But I was not there to hold your hand

Poets sing of cold graves
And of somber burial grounds
But not there are you to be found
Nor am I there to hold your hand

They say the dead can hear the daisies grow
But you are the daisy, the forget-me-not
On you ashes they grow
Yet I hold not your hand

Has the wind that blows the ashes been sung?
Flowers growing there are plucked
My hand remains empty
For I have not your hand to hold.

VISTING JEWS OF EMUNAH

A busload of activists visited the Jewish residents of Eastern Jerusalem who are returning to & rebuilding the old waste places as HaShem promised they would do when He returned them to the Land from the four corners of the earth. Anyone who questions the rights of the Jews to possess the Land is either ignorant of prophecy or a denier of the God of Israel.

100214 JEWISH EASTERN JERUSALEM

REBUILDING THE ANCIENT WASTE PLACES
Rosh Hodesh Adar, Women in Green organized a tour focusing on Jewish communities in Eastern Jerusalem.



1. Visit to six Jewish families living in Abu Tor: The group ascended to the roof, and from there we viewed the Temple Mount and the controversial Beit Yehonatan.
*****

Beit Yehonatan

2. The huge bus maneuvered through hostile territory as the streets became narrow alleyways even though trucks and vans tried to make two-way traffic out of one-way walking lanes. But, we finally reached our destination and were transferred to mini-vans for the next part of the hair-razing drive to Beit Yehonatan, more commonly referred to as "Silwan", but historically known to have been a Jewish Yemenite village – "Kfar HaTeimanim", established over 140 years ago. During the riots in the early 1900's, the Jews were expelled, leaving behind some four synagogues. Upon their arrival, the first Yemenite Jews lived in caves before any houses were built. Today Jews are returning and reclaiming the ancient waste places.

Maaleh HaZeitim

3. Upward and onward to the magnificent neighborhood of Maaleh HaZeitim, a beautiful Jewish residential area amidst the filth of Abu Dis. Pride for the Land and love for the ancient city reflects an aura of light in the midst of such gloominess which the Jews bring with them wherever they settle.

Beit Sarah & Beit HaAchim

4. We continued around the infamous 'separation wall', a slate of slanderous remarks written by ungodly, anti-Semitic Europeans. Two modest Jewish homes, Beit Sarah & Beit HaAchim, sit on the hillside where we had lunch. And in spite of the graffiti, we breathed in the life produced by Jews reclaiming the heartland of Israel. But joy & laughter was not deterred from the huge concrete wall that loomed over us from our backside, because everyone was taken in by the mystical view of the ancient city and the Temple Mount that was before us.

5. We eased our way from Abu Dis to the Mount of Olives viewing extravagant Arab homes who want the wall moved far enough West to envelope their homes for fear they will be demolished as some 200 illegal Arab houses are up for destruction since they are hell-bent on the government destroying anything Jewish.

Beit Orot

6. We arrived at Beit Orot, established after the Six Day War. It has a successful yeshiva and has begun building a basketball court, and soon will build some eight new residential dwellings.

Shimon HaTzedik

7. Our last destination of the day was the neighborhood of Shimon HaTzedik in the heart of the Arab Sheik Jarrah neighborhood. Proof of former Jewish residents was evident on external walls of buildings such as the Magen David over the door of the synagogue, and an indentation remained of a Mezzuzah on the doorpost of another building occupied by returning Jewish families. Several buildings on the street below are homes of amazing Jews, even though local Arabs have established a tent on the private premises and set up housekeeping in the street. The Arabs continue to harass the residents and their visitors, yet the Jewish residents are undeterred by the threats and screaming.

The Arabs were infuriated as the group belted out the song: "AHM YISRAEL CHAI!!!"

100201 IN SEARCH OF THE ILLUSIVE RED FIELDS

ROADSIDE BEAUTY

While on a trip in search of the red calaniyot, I stopped at a roadside park as we approached Beit Shemesh. I growth around the water pond caught my attention. The rising sunlight in the background flickered through the leaves and the vegetation swayed in the soft breeze, changing color with changing wind.

HAPPY FACES

I pulled over to the side of the road immediately when I caught a glimpse of these happy faces swaying in the wind. There's just something that makes me happy and want to laugh when I see these bright sunflowers spread their beauty in the fields. I got a lot of cat-calls from passersby as I lay on my stomach to get face to face with these beautys winking at me through the eye of the camera.

Safari Camels Await

Drawing nearer to the location of the calaniyot, I had one last pitstop to make. A small roadside delicatessan which serves vegeterian or cheese sandwiches along with piping hot delicacies. The place was packed out so I took advantage of my 'kind of camels' which were awaiting tourists for a safari into the desert. Okay! So I have a vivid imagination! And they are my 'kind of camel' since they DON'T move. And they were clean and colorfully well groomed. Can't get better than that!

BLANKETS OF RED

We reached our destination and it was well worth the drive south to Be'eri Park. The view was breathtaking! Underneath the sparse forest of trees were blankets of red calaniyot and I was so glad I went on a weekday so I could appreciate the quiet beauty. It seems as though the fields of red are more illusive each year since the seasons are more unpredictable. But it also helps to know where to go when you do go out. The dirt roads of the Be'eri Park were partly washed out after early heavy rains, so driving was unpredictable and I had to maneuver over some rough terrain, or retreat altogether. But walking was no problem and far more enjoyable. Yet, the early rains had a lot to do with making available so much red. I often wonder if the fall of Gush Katif has anything to do with a shortage of numbers in the calaniyot. Since the expulsion of the residents of Gush Katif, each year there is less and less growth in the area that once led to their homes. Areas which were filled with so much color and beauty.

NEW YEAR FOR THE TREES = Tu b'Shvat 5770

(15th of the Hebrew month 'SHVAT')
NADIA & DAUGHTER NAVAH dig into the soil of the Land they are dedicated to preserve for the heritage of the L-rd, the Jewish People.
(This event was sponsored by Women in Green & The Committee for a Jewish Shdema)
Israeli school children venture out to the hills and valleys to mark early spring by planting trees every year at Tu b'Shvat. It is not a Torah commandment, but a minor festival designated in the Mishnah. And it has nothing to do with modern-day ecology and environmentalism.
It is considered important to participate in connecting with Hashem through a show of appreciation for the Land He has given the Jewish People and the command to build and to plant for its restoration.
The mitzvah to plant was never intended for Chutz la'Aretz, yet Jews of the Galut have raised money for years to buy saplings to be planted in Israel.
I personally joined up with a group of die-hards committed to preserving Israel. We went to the hillside of Netzer which lies between Alon Shvut and Elazar in Gush Etzion. A vineyard was planted along with trees, especially olive trees. In areas known as 'no-man's-land', the first to plant becomes the proprietor of the area.
To view more children's photos and information about Tu B'Shvat activities, go to http://www.tzometfriknfrak@blogspotcom

100126 Early Rains Bring on Flooding

Heavy rains brought with it surprising floods throughout Israel. I didn't have to venture out past my back yard to see the gully-washers clearing out trash and other debris. The almond trees are in bloom, and with the rain drops dripping from their budding flowers, it made for some great photography.