Feins in Israel

Friday, March 26, 2010

Daniel Gordis is right on the money.

This article by Daniel Gordis (longer than a newspaper editorial, but well worth the read) hits the nail on the head. He describes the current mood in Israel, with our mistrust of Obama. I voted for him, probably would again, but I don't think the President correctly understands the situation here in Israel.

This is the money paragraph:

WHILE ISRAEL has obviously made some serious gaffes since Obama entered office, the real cause for this nadir in Washington-Jerusalem relations is the fact that Barack Obama seems to have little comprehension of the region on which he seeks to impose peace. The president’s ignorance of the world in which he is operating is apparent on at least three levels. He seems unaware of how profoundly troubled Israelis are by his indiscriminate use of the word “settlement,” he appears to have little comprehension of the history of Palestinian recalcitrance, and he has apparently learned little from decades of American involvement in the Middle East peace process.

Read and tell me what you think.

While you're at it, take a look at this recent article, by Gordis, too about the settlements.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Spring Break, Building, Over-reacting and Einstein

Sorry that we haven't posted in a while, we've both been extremely busy. Well that's over for now, I'm on Spring Break for the next month. It's a much needed break, this year has been pretty tough for me (us). It's a combination of factors that causes this feeling - and it's not awful - but it's not where it should be either. Either way, this next month should give me time to recharge and finish up strong when the guys come back for the last 8 weeks of the school year.

Just this week something pretty cool happened in Jerusalem!

The Hurva Synagogue, which if you've been to Jerusalem in the past 40 years you've seen this great arch in the middle of the Old City, has been rebuilt.

This synagogue was destroyed in 1948 by the Jordanian Legion, and was the largest building in Jerusalem at the time. It was monumental in many aspects. For the past 40 years this arch has commemorated this building. For the past four years there has been construction in the Jewish Quarter rebuilding it. As, you can see below it is now complete with the opening ceremonies happening this week. I went to go take a look today, it is awesome to see completed; Naomi and I will go back in a few weeks when she has some time and head up top to get a panoramic view of the city.

Well, all has not gone well for the Dedication. Apparently, rebuilding a Synagogue in the middle of the Jewish Quarter has been seen has an attack on the Dome of the Rock. I'm not quite sure how the logic makes any sense, but a wave of Palestinian riots have happened in parts of the city (I haven't seen anything - even when I was in the Old City today). As you can see from these articles, Hamas sees it as an attack against their faith, that we "planned a raid on the compound following the synagogue rededication" says a Palestinian Judge, that it's part of a planned ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem. Some Arab members of the Knesset are saying this could lead to a Third Intifada. Honestly, I just don't see it.

Life is interesting everywhere, sometimes very interesting in Israel. It seems to me that this is in a long line of the leaders of the Arab community taking any Israeli reaction to the extreme and calling on the populace to overreact - we saw this in 1948, 1967, 2001, among others and again now. I don't think that this will last and in a week it will all be forgotten.

In happy news, if you're coming to Jerusalem in the next month, Hebrew University has Einstein's original manuscript for the Theory of Relativity (e=mc^2) on display for the first time ever. Pretty cool.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

A Great Song and a Great Video

I know that most of you won't be able to understand this song, but I felt that it spoke to me so much that I had to let you know about it anyway.

HaDag Nachash is an Israeli hip-hop/reggae/rock band that has been around for a while, I've seen them live a few times, and while they're very politically left-wing, sometime their message is timeless.

This song is crying out about the negativity found in current Israeli society. Basically they feel that current divides are killing us as a whole and we've forgotten that we are "brothers". The video uses death announcements to show the lyrics - forcing one to pay attention to them and reinforce the message that we are killing ourselves at the same time. The video is just as profound as the song itself.

The lyrics (Hebrew) can be found here, the English translation (not bad) can be found here.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Recap: My trip to the US and my Birthday.

I've been meaning to write for - well since I got back to Israel - I've just been too busy to finish the piece I've been working on. Well, instead of putting it off any longer, I'll combine the two I need to write and make them one (much shorter) post.

For those of you who I saw while I was in the US for a week, and those who I didn't see - most of you know that I had my interview at Yeshiva University. I had already been accepted to the Azrieli School of Education for my masters, but now I had my interview for RIETS (Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary) - where one goes to become a Rabbi.

It was a grueling exam, but it appears I passed and was accepted to the school. So, Naomi and I will be moving to New York in August so I can start my Graduate Degrees and will give Naomi time to finish her's.

Afterwards, I met my Dad, Bethany, some other friends (including Yoni, the groom of the wedding I was coming in for) for the Phish concert in Philly. My favorite band, just happens to be playing Philly the one night I happen to be spending there... coincidence? It was my 13th time seeing them (I can tell you the dates of each one) since 1997. Wow, that was 12 years ago? Geez.

After Phish, we flew to Cincinnati to spend time in Dwyersville for Thanksgiving. It was awesome seeing so much family there, even though I was only there for 40(?) hours. I zipped in and zipped out, but it was worth it.

I flew, Friday morning (after a quick stop at Best Buy for Black Friday sales), to LaGuardia in NYC so I could get to Queens for Shabbat. Yoni's wedding was that Sunday and I was going to spend the weekend with him and my former roommates from my UMD years. It's the first time we were all together since, maybe Naomi and my wedding, but either way it's been a while. It was a blast. We went out for steak after Shabbat was over Saturday night. The wedding was in Long Island and it was great. Saw a ton of other friends I haven't seen in years, and the best part was - I was able to be there when one of my best friends got married.

I flew back to Israel monday and by Tuesday afternoon, I was right back into the swing of things.

Okay, on to my Birthday. It was a low key affair, after my surprise party two years ago, I don't really need to do anything for it. Naomi and I went out for Ice Cream that night, and came back and watched a movie. It was perfect. She, my parents, and her's came together and bought my a new tallit - this one has a silver atarah (head piece "crown") that is beautiful. I hope the picture does it justice.