NOBAMA

Recently our beloved "left moderate" president was asked by a fourth grader "Why does everybody hate you?". A funny question you might ask a president, ain't it? I am wondering how the kid found the courage to ask him altogether. Of course Obama gave him a bogus answer along the lines of "People like me because I was voted in, but they blame the president because its a bad economy not that its his fault". Despite Obamas answer, the nation does seem to hate him, his approval ratings have been moving just like the stock market, down. From last weeks ratings he only has 52% of the country approving of what he's done, that's down from 67 percent on his inauguration day, it never went higher.

It happens to be that I have Obama's book, the biography, I don't know why he has a biography already if he isn't near old age, wouldn't you want to get his life into the book, its a biography, half his life isn't even over. I didn't want to read it from the start it looked boring, maybe he is boring too. His book may have been a bestseller but three anti-Obama books have also made it to the tops, just goes to show what the people really favor.

Recently my friend and I were in a library when we saw a movie about Obama, I asked my friend if he wanted to see it, to which he replied "No way man I don't want to waste my time" and could you believe my friend declined when we saw it was a two disc special! I couldn't believe he turned it down. I can only conclude that people don't care about Obama and they despise his presence in the white house. Besides that, you know how many racists there are out there that just don't like him because hes black? I know a few (I'm still waiting for the 7 pesukim in neviim that have obamas name in it to bring mashiach).

Although Obama does have a point, people did vote for him so some must like him. To this we can say, when people voted for him he was portrayed as a moderate left winger who had ideas about bringing two parties together and finding solutions that were a little lefty, and he said that Israel has a right to defend itself (then he went to the Arabs and said they should have Jerusalem), but that person wasn't voted into office, what made its way into office was a socialist who blamed America for everything and denied Israel its right to building in its own infrastructure, that is not who people voted for. Now you can say that people don't like Obama even though they voted for him, because he wasn't voted in for what he holds but for what we thought he holds.

Here's what should have been answered to the kid in fourth grade "yes you're right, people don't like me, I have done little to nothing to help our economy and my ideas are too socialist for this country. There are people out there that like me from other countries, but they like me only because I trashed America, our country. So the answer to your question boy is they don't like me because I don't fit with this special country, if I was leader for a different country they would love me because thats were I fit, But not here".

THE RIOTS ARE GETTING OUT OF HAND DONT PROMOTE IT

Once again the chareidim in Israel protested the use of the parking lot on shabbos, and once again the police came and shot them with rubber bullets, this has been the scene in me'ah shea'arim for the past few months.

There are many bloggers out there condemning this act of violence and rightfully so, its a chilul hashem to burn garbage's and throw rocks at the people using the parking lot, just because you want them to keep shabbos in your city. Yes, people don't find anything sanctifying about burning things and throwing rocks at others, it's a disgrace to g-d's name. Not only is it a disgrace to the shabbos, but in this effort to keep shabbos and chase away the evildoers, they are breaking shabbos, by A) burning and B) throwing rocks in a reshus harabim, since they are melachos which the torah prohibits on shabbos.

In India when they were protesting against the British government they didn't riot, for the most part they did things peacefully, and that's what Mohandas Gandhi preached (one time the Indians did do some violence and he spoke out against that act) . Why aren't any of the Rabbonim doing anything to stop this violence, all I hear are rabbis promoting it, like what I heard recently.

I was in a shul before ma'ariv and a rabbi got up to speak to us for a minute or two. The rabbi said that anyone who thinks what they are doing in Israel is a chilul hashem is wrong and that the protests are the right thing to do. He said that there was one reporter who was filming the violence, the chareidim couldn't hit her because she was a woman, so instead they all spit on her, he justified the act by saying that the camera was like a gun and everyone will do something to save themselves from a gun. There were just too many things wrong with what he said, and his parable was off by a lot. I wanted to go over to the rabbi after davening and ask "How come you don't see Rav Elyashiv at the protests, or why is that they don't call down the chief rabbi of Jerusalem for an inspiring speech before they riot, maybe you don't because its not the right thing to do!", but I didn't want to provoke any rioting in the shul so I kept my mouth shut.

The protests must come to an end, find a better, more peaceful and holy way to get them to stop using the parking lots, violence is not the answer, and Rabbis should stop promoting it.

EXPERIENCING JERUSALEM PART 1

You have finally made it to the Holy land, years of saving enough money have lead you here. You got off the plane and are looking for a sheirut (an israeli style taxi, not to be confused with sheirutim which means bathroom, you stupid American [did that joke come on too harsh?]) heading to Jerusalem. You aren't carrying as much luggage as you started with from America, due to a fight with another guy over who the suitcase belongs to, and you lost.

You tell the driver of the sheirut he must drive as quickly as possible, because you have no time to lose in your busy life. You then retract your statement because you notice, you don't want to lose your busy life. You are now shivering in your pants because the taxi driver was an authentic Israeli, and says he "knows" how to drive fast...... in bumper to bumper traffic. You finally make it out of the roller coaster, and truly believe the well known joke between a rabbi and taxi driver in heaven, whose punchline is: all Israeli taxi drivers go to heaven, because they make people pray to g-d.

You find hotel a to stop at and to unpack. You decide that since there is enough time in the day you will go to the Kotel and daven mincha. You take a #2 bus up to the WW (western wall) and you immediately rip your shirt upon seeing the holy site, you get looks from everyone around you, then you remember its not your minhag to rip your clothing when you see it; also, you ripped off all your buttons so your shirt doesn't close, exposing you tzitzis (Huh!), you feel stupid now. You pray your mincha, and are now heading back to the hotel while holding your shirt together with one clenched fist. Someone sticks out their hand, filled with some new Israeli shekalim, you look at your tattered shirt and then say to him "ani lo oni" (I am not poor) in your heavy American accent. The guy laughs at you and really wants you to take it from him, you walk on.

You get back on the #2 bus heading to the hotel. As you are about to sit down you are given a look from some guy in a black hat.... then a few people turn around. You wonder whats going on, while people begin to point at you, "Is it because I come from a country of cheesburgers and Im not fat?" you ponder, "or is it the ripped shirt?" as you begin to feel the affects of jet lag on yourself. You doze off and your shirt opens up once again, exposing your holy tzitzis. A Haredi Jew is heading towards you, loud whispers can be heard throughout the bus. Then he hits you squarely on the cheek, waking you up. As you are in a state of shock, he throws you from your seat. He screams at you in hebrew, "Why were you sleeping with your shirt opened, what chutzpah you have", then he says, "and you were sitting next to a women". You get up quickly, so as to not provoke any riots for these riot hungry people, and tell the guy who hit you "slichah" as any good American would do.

You decide on not continuing the ride, for fear that your kippah srugah wont protect you too much longer here. You look to your right and see white buildings built in stone, you look to your left and see the same thing, then you look up a street and then down one and its the same thing everywhere, all white buildings made out of stone, it occurs to you that YOUR LOST! You go trekking all over Jerusalem (little did you know you were doing some peoples favorite hobby, getting a good look at Jerusalem), and have no clue where you are or where to go , the idea that you could have just followed the bus #2 route and found your way flew right over you kippah srugah. You begin to use your half broken Hebrew and hand gestures to find your way, but to no avail.

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Hey fellow bloggers or blogneighbors, this is an ongoing story I hope to write and finish. This is only part one part, two will come in due time.

TWO STATE PLAN

Ever since Clinton there has been the "need" for a two state plan. They invented the road map to make it happen, if you don't know what that is its basically an idea to cut Israels small self in half, to make way for another Muslim nation. Ever since that, Israel is called for talks on how to compensate people who want to kill it, Israel gave in sometimes. The problem is that now that the Palestinians have Gaza, and for quite a while, they still cant run it economically, no matter how much money America sends; and yet they are asking for more territory. (Don't think Israel made them take dessert land and fix it up themselves, Israel left them irrigation and green houses to make the dessert flourish, and they threw that all out).

Now Obama is in charge and is pressing Israel to stop settlements, even the ones that are already in place he wont let grow, so that Israel will give it up to the Palestinians. He is really trying to make this two state plan happen, saying that if there are two different paths that two groups want to take, then they should split and divide, and not one conquer the other. The thing is that America itself didn't do that; during the civil war the north didn't let the south secede from the union, it fought until the south gave in (with comparisons like these I can write for the Jewish press).

Israel shouldn't listen to a country that's being hypocritical? Israel shouldn't give up its own land, just because a terrorist country that cant control itself economically said so? And the worst thing is, Israel is listening anyway.

BIBI HAS A WAY WITH WORDS

One thing I like about Israels political system is that, in one government you can have two sides of the spectrum representing one side, kinda fun. It works in politics like a wonder, for example: Israel went to talk to Obama on the peace process. Israeli defense minister, Barak, said Israel is on the road to the road map, because he is more towards the left he wants to give away land. But in reality, the Prime minister is Bibi Netanyahu who is from a different side of the spectrum, he gave Obama a whole different story, how he handled it was, from my point of view, amazing (more on that later).

This is why it works wonders; with Ehud barak and the labor party, Israel gives off the sense that they are willing to comply, which in turn makes every lefty happy. Then comes the real side, the one that works the system, Bibi and the likud party, and it does the opposite of what was said is going to happen by the labor party. In the end Israel is still the same, and the world thinks we just need more talks.

But how did Bibi manage to avoid doing what his government said he would do? The answer to that is strategic talking. No, this strategy doesn't take the greatest minds to think of, or weeks of training to use it at the right times in a conversation. What Bibi did was, he made a fall back, when ever Obama or someone would ask about how Israel is going to make the road map, he simply made a statement that his country is being threatened by Iran, and that there are bigger issues at hand. In the end Bibi made no commitment to Obama on a time he will withdraw, or a withdrawal at all, and Obama made a time that he will have to take big action on Iran. Bibi then flattered Obama saying that, Obama you are great leader, and that I am speaking on behalf of all of Israel. Truly a great and simple strategy to win the war of words, dontch ya think?

This is why I love the Israeli political spectrum, tons of talk and a good stiff neck to go with it.

MY SUMMER VACATION PIX (a "little" late)

I was actually planning on posting the picks from my trip to Israel along time ago, too bad. You know how you have a digital camera that stores 1000 pictures, (actually the memory card) and you never have them developed, well I think I have that problem. But thanks to Snapfish.com things are going easier, and I can load them onto my computer from there. And without wasting anymore letters, The pictures.This was the turtle we found, its eating cucumber peels. I loved holding it from its shell and flying it around, like a kid with a toy airplane, then it would scratch me and I'd put it down, ahhh memories. (This was taken with a digital camera with optional [optical] zoom) My favorite landmark, and yet most of Jerusalem thinks of it as useless, the Gesher (bridge). Oddly shaped, and meant to have the newly installed monorail run on it. I love it, and everyone else think its out of place. Here's more pictures of the Gesher, from on the bus 99, at every angle. (Taken with a digital camera, on very low battery)(New picture) A nice picture of Jerusalem. If you can see, there is a road smack in the middle of this picture with two city buses (autobusim), that road is usually backed up for miles with city buses waiting to get into the kotel. This picture is either from on mount Scopus (har hatzofim), or is a picture of mount Scopus, where that big building is (I think its a church).

You see that little building through the gates, I believe that is called the hand of avshalom. The story goes that Avshalom, the son of king David, made this little thing with a hand on it, for what reasons I don't know. In the back of this picture is Har hazeisim (mount of olives).

See that little cave in there, it has something to do with the prophet Daniel. Did he hide the tzadikim in there?The mount of Olives; shouldn't it be called the mount of graves?You must know what this is, there are so many picture of this and so many puzzles with this in it, it Migdal David. I was actually debating if I need a picture of this, camera was on low battery, in the end I did as you can see.

In the lower half of this picture is a soccer stadium, Beitar v'Yerushalaim (team name) play there.

And this is the crazy house itself, The Knesset.

This is the holocaust memorial center, also known as Yad V'shem. I could have gotten a better picture, but too bad.
This one of the rarest birds around, and I cant believe I actually got a shot of it standing still, I think I did a great job with just a digital camera. Okay I was kidding there, I think its a stupid, but very well taken, picture of a bird by my brother.

WE'RE #1

If you consider yourself a supporter of the state of Israel, then you have something to cheer about. If you aren't a supporter of Israel, then you can cry in the corner, or protest on the streets; because, Israel has become the number 1 in drone technology, 10 years more advanced then everyone else.

I once read an article that was supposed to show how great Israel is. Basically the article talked about all its technological achievements, and how they ranked up against the world. I didn't finish it because on every achievement they had they had ranked Israel #2 or #3. Can you guess who was #1 on almost every single one...... America, and number 2 sometimes was Canada (Canada and America share a lot of technology systems). I was wondering how this article could be so pro Israel, all it seemed like was it talked about the greatness of America ( Don't get me wrong, I like America, but the article was supposed to about Israel).

But now Israel is truly number 1 in one category (maybe it counts as a few), I better write a letter to that paper.

ITS BEEN A WHILE

I cant remember what the last ban/chumrah that came out was. Was it the strawberries, or was it the bike lanes in Williamsburg? either way its been a while since the last one. The new one is a chumrah; any phone that isn't me'usher from va'ad harobanim, is now not obligated to be returned if lost, lest the owner use it to text his chavrusah.

I find this rather funny, unlike most people, who find it to be outrageous. I remember learning from Uncle Moishy, returning something that you found is a mitzvah. Now I am not someone to argue between the gadlus of Uncle Moishy and a rabbi from Israel, but I do know there is a mitzvah of Hashovos aveidah (returning something that's lost) written somewhere in the Torah, in fact there is a whole Chapter in Bava Metziah about when to return whats lost. I know that the Rabbi from Israel is only trying to teach us true Torah values, and I know Uncle Moishy is only trying to teach kids (and the parents who are forced to listen to it), but the fact remains there is a major machloiket going on here, and I dont think we can answer it yet.

Sadly, boys and girls, now its time to say shalom, Uncle Moishy and this rabbi are going home, but they will be back again, arguing what are the mitzvos of hashem. la la la la la la la la la la la la la la laaaah.....

OH NO ITS COMING, AT THE WORST TIME!!!

Everybody quick, run, jump, hide, PESACH 09 is coming!! Everyone has no clue how it came so quickly this year, and what bad timing it has.


After learning that Purim does in fact come before Pesach this year, as in many other years, you can only wonder, WHY? Let me explain why we ask why; Purim has come and you gave everybody mishloach manot and they gave back, now you have tons of chametz laying around the house, and Pesach is coming in a month!! Why does Purim come right before Pesach?Explained.

I think Pesach has the worst timing possible; you have to prepare months before hand, and Purim is right in the middle of it. Well, the Talmud argues with me and says Passover comes at the best time of year, spring, and the Talmud is right (in affect that means The Talmudist is right too, somehow). To that I have two things to say: one is I am wrong and Purim is the one that should be moved earlier on the calendar instead, or, the Talmud only referred to the Egypt-Israel area (I am liking the last one) and everywhere else Peasch should be moved.

Since we confirmed this to be true, Purim before Pesach, and they arent moving (yet), there is only one good option, WE ALL GO SOMEWHERE REALLY EXPENSIVE FOR PESACH, AND LEAVE THE CHAMETZ BEHIND. 3 reasons why, one we are putting money back into the economy, 2) we are escaping all the chametz and 3) All the ads in the Jewish newspapers are practically begging us to for the last 3 months. Who's with me? anybody?....anybody?...... how about you, no? okay...... anybody?

PURIM THEMES

What ever compelled people to have a theme for Purim? Purim is a time where themes were destroyed. V'nahapichu (vi-nuh-ha-pi-choo), meaning everything is turned upside down and all around; themes are the opposite of that, and no one cares, so lets move on.

Something you must know about a theme. It must have; objects relating to the theme (well duh!), shaloch manos in accordance to the theme, costumes have to be related, and cheesy greeting labels on the shaloch manos telling you who its from and some random thing about having a great Purim related to the theme (E.G. Your Purim theme is donuts, your greeting is "Do nuts on Purim" or "donut drink and drive on Purim if you had too much to know if you had too much"[this one is usually from the token hatzalah guy])

There is the clown theme. The clown theme is the most common theme for families; the father throws on a jester hat with bells, the kids all have the colorful hair and a big red nose, yellow polka dotted suits. The shaloch manos is not given out with some cheesy greeting (big exception), only a regular "Purim sameach from the somethingsteins" or "a freilichim Purim from the soandsomans". The shaloch manos is filled with anything that is remotely clownish, and there is no food that's remotely clownish, so they give a bottle of grape juice, animal crackers, chocolate and maybe a soda. The clown theme is not one of the best ones out there.

The Airplane theme. Better than the clown theme, the airplane theme has more variety and it practically writes itself. The kids can dress up as flight attendants or pilots. You know you are going to give airline food to everyone, with some complimentary peanuts. The cheesy greeting written can be "Hope you have sky high Purim feeling from the ........"

Then there is the I-just-knocked-off-a-famous-company-theme. Drunkin donuts, McDavid, Mendy's (wendys), Dairy Esther (dairy queen) etc.etc... these all are done in a stupid and yet clever way. The stupid, is the way they think of the names, and how the theme is just a non OUD kosher knock off of the real product. The clever, is how they present this too you; in a box or bag that is similar to the regular companies, but has there logo on it. The cheesy greetings have too many variables to write, but ill let you know something, they are all cheesy.

The Zionist theme: Cookies in a bag shaped like Israel with two big bites in them (resembling Gaza and west bank), with a note saying "Israel is like a cookie and everyone wants a bite out of it". Blue and white is the color used for the wrapping. The kids hold Israeli flags and have blue and white face paint. The greetings can have something like "may Israel triumph over its enemies as in the past" that's if they are really Zionist, or "With enough wine on Purim America can look like Israel too".

The recession theme: Has a bottle of wine stating "drown it out with this" and and some red hots with a label saying "Burn Bernie (Madoff) burn". The greeting goes like this "Madoff is the new haman". (I cant believe I even thought of this as a theme, its horrible).

The healthy food theme: Not much to explain, everyone dresses like vegetables, and no one wants their shaloch manot.

The color themes: The color theme is lame, even more so then the clown, but not as much as the healthy food one. My family did it 2 years in a row ( different colors). One year we did red and orange, everyone thought it was supposed to be fire, and the other year it was yellow, I was not to fond either one. The greeting can go like, depending on your color, "orange you glad its Purim" or "don't turn green this Purim" or "Esther was green shaded".

Then there is the I-Don't-have-a-theme-theme. Everyone dresses up as whatever they want, You give any normal wafers and grape juice out there. You write a poem or "chag sameach from us" and you're done.

Of course there are more themes out there, hospital, kitchen, just to mention a few, but you got the basic idea of themes. Personally I think themes stupid, I am more for the traditional give and get, not the I thought of something decent and, of course, cheesy. Hope this post has helped you think of a theme, or gave you ideas. P.S. The Zionist one was my idea, cookie and all, I wanted to use it this year, but you can use if you want.

I THOUGHT OUR COMMUNITY WAS ULTRA ORTHODOX?

I thought that our community was almost as Orthodox as it gets, then my bubble was burst when I saw this poster hung up everywhere.

A few weeks (months) ago, there was a major gathering of women in Israel. What they spoke about there was issues dealing with women, and the speaker they had was a man (rabbi). Why? well, the Rabbanim (men) felt that a women (rebbetzin) could not make a public speech, because it was immodest, even though it was in front of only women (you could argue that, but lets not and say we did). Now, when I saw this poster I thought, of course a man is going to deliver the speech (the rabbanim in Israel said so), right? . Well, I was wrong, in fact there is not one speaker who was a male; plus, no one said anything about that, and its the third week of this. Which leads me to think, "Are we that Orthodox?". Ill leave you to decide.

Although the Wolf is a professional photographer, I believe I did a great job, you could say I really captured the moment ;)

TO LIFT A CURSE

So there was this lady who wanted her curse to be lifted from upon her soul. She went to a sorcerer to lift the treacherous curse. thw woman paid the sorcerer and left. Turns out the sorcerer did not remove the curse. The woman, upon hearing that her curse was not taken away, decided to sue for her money back, in a civil court. The sorcerer didnt want to have the case in a court governed by the state laws, so the sorcerer pleaded to have it in a Jewish court, so as to not have to pay back (Jewish law is strict against using sorcery, so the sorcerer wouldnt have to pay back). The Judge, a frum jew, did not allow it, saying that the monetary issues are governed by the state, and not jewish law.

This story is actually a true one, and happened recently in Israel. My question is: Would a Jewish court allow the "sorcerer" to keep the money, or would they say that since it was paid for, but wasnt done, you need to pay back? I am not so sure what a Beis din would do.

DAMN TERRORISTS

There is a group in Israel, which cant stop to terrorize the people. Week after week, they continually target its citizens. They hide behind the the ones they target, in fact they target their own. They are extremists calling for women to be covered from head to toe. They segregate their own kind. They are a semi unorganized group, only coming to attack briefly and then scurrying away.

The Israeli government despises these people. The government doesn't really know who to contact, to call for a cease fire. The government has been patient with them, and it can not attack, because who are they going to fight against, only civilians. Even if the Israeli government would ask for a cease fire, these ruthless people would never stop. This group is calling for Israel to aid their poor families, and yet they hate the government.

Years of violence; throwing rocks, heavy beatings, all to support their radical views. Will it ever stop? has the U.N. ever condemned these terrorists? They cant take a system that differs from their own, they go all out against it, using all sorts of violence. I call for a rally against these people. Their children are being taught from a young age, to hate anything that's not like them. In my eyes (not theirs) its sickening; men beating up women, which is morally wrong, all for not dressing up to their standards. Is this not a crazy people? Do they not leach from the government they hate? The answer to all this is a big YES, and these terrorists wont be stopped till crushed. These terrorists I am referring to, are Charedi. Yeah that's right, you'll see all those categories fit with them. Are their intentions that much different from radical Muslims?

Okay, so I might be going a little overboard here.

WHY I DONT READ THE YATED

The Yated Ne'eman is a Jewish newspaper (more like opinion paper). I do not like to read it. After reading their last article, I was a bit confused at what they were trying to point out. They wrote how everybody is all pro Palestinian, then they start to show how everyone isn't blaming Israel for the latest conflict. They did the latter in an effort to show Palestinians are the wrong ones, and yet they contradict what they wrote before. Is there any real newspaper that does that?

Then comes my next reason, I love this one. The great Yated did not even remotely differ between Palestinians and Hamas. They said " The Palestinian people have pushed Israel over the limit, and they shall get their reward". Although I agree that many Palestinians don't like Israel, but it isn't any random gaza citizen that shot missiles and that's who Israel is fighting against ( though they dont always portray themselves as part of the group), it was an organized group called ( and the yated may not know this) HAMAS. This new found organization, according to the yated is new, is responsible for the attacks; and if you didn't know there is another Palestinian group Israel is not fighting against, Fatah. So don't start writing that its Palestinians who we want dead, because most of them are cowering under their beds for something Hamas caused, and Israel is only targeting Hamas not all Palestinians, don't write "The Palestinian people have pushed Israel over the limit, and they shall get their reward".

This is why I don't read the Yated Ne'eman. If you like reading peoples random thoughts, with no basis, and articles that cant keep to a point; then the Yated is for you.

MY ANNOYING NEIGHBORS

I live in an apartment building sort of. Its just a few 3 bedroom apartments stacked on each other with a basement. I live on the ground floor level. The basement is our only problem, we get noisy at times, hey I got 3 brothers. Even with that, there was only complaint once throughout all the years. The people living under us changed many times; first I remember an old Polish guy who smoked, then some other dude from eastern Europe, the Polish guy again, and then a Russian couple in their fifties with another guy, also Russian who would shovel the snow for us. Then comes my current neighbors living in the basement, they are Muslim.

Throughout the years, all the ones living in the basement never had any problems with us. With the new ones we have problems, I can hear them now, screaming. At first I thought we were too noisy, but I noticed I couldn't even run (running makes noise) to get the phone without them pulling out the broom to bang on our floor their ceiling, so I guess its not our fault. Okay so we might be a little too loud for their sensitive ears, fine I'll try to be quieter.

Turns out they don't have sensitive ears at all, in fact they are practically deaf. They blast their Arab radio, playing Arab music, and its not even good! I always thought Arab music was held to a higher standard, but I never really heard it, turns out I am wrong. So we do what they do, bang on our floor which is their ceiling, doesn't work. When they do it, it works, talk about proportionate response (they are muslim I am Jewish = Gaza and Israel). Oy! and when they scream at each other in Arabic, it just is so annoying, thankfully they stop for the night. Have you ever heard people scream in Arabic, its quite loud (not quiet loud, its read kwite lowd).

These are my annoying neighbors, are they terrorists trying to ( A spider just walked by me now, I killed it, I'm heartless. That was weird) terrorize my life with their horrible music, or are they really plotting something when they scream at each other. It doesn't matter, either way I am going to come down and kill them (like that spider I killed, I feel powerful). I am over reacting, I'll just have to keep it proportional.

LISTEN TO THE KABBALIST

A famous kabbalist in Bnei brak said that "Israel should not halt its mission to destroy Hamas, otherwise Israel faces great danger". I agree, Israel should not stop, no matter what pressure is put on them. He also said that " Israel must send in troops to destroy the underground tunnels, which can not be hit from the air". Another important statement he said was "everyone should fight", that means the actual army should fight, and the guys in beis medrash should learn on their behalf.

Like I said, I agree with what he is saying, I just wonder why he is saying this now? The attacks came 6 months ago, and the air strikes started on shabbos, why does he begin to speak up now? I just think that he, like everyone else, knows that Hamas is a threat, and should be destroyed. Just now that they have missiles that can reach Bnei Brak, he wants to have them destroyed.

Or it could be he knows something through his kabbalic powers, so he is just giving us a heads up. You choose the answer.

WHAT A BLAST

I enjoy watching this. Do you know how much accuracy had to go into this, and planning. Israel is doing a great job, and now they have a 48 hour break to see what hamas is going to do.

MY FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR

I love this time of year. Not only did Chanukah come, but the biggest present of them all came. I am just so happy.

Okay, now enough with the chit-chat. This is what I mean. Israel has finally decided to take action on Hamas, we will leave Fatah for later. After months of "Cease Fire" The Israeli politicians noticed that there was something wrong. Why was it that their country had tons of citizens, who had to hide every few minutes, hoping to stay alive? Then it hit them, WE ARE BEING BOMBED!!! "What in the world will ever stop these "civilians" from trying to kill us?" they wondered, "Don't we have a cease fire? surely we cant do anything to them". After much negotiation, which got no where, and shoe throwing, which did, The Israeli government decided to actually do something about it, and only after Hamas took down the "cease fire" did everyone agree.

An air strike, starting this past shabbos, was the first offensive; killing about 250-300 "innocent" people. Times like this make me feel happy, I am not a sadist. I actually like listening to the anti-Israeli news, it tells you more about all the "horrible" things the IDF does, and I like to hear what Israel does. While on the other hand a station like Fox gives me both sides, something I don't want.

Then there are those thing which make me shudder, things like The U.N. getting involved, and peace talks. You can tell I am so not a supporter of Kadima, or likud. If only Meir Kahane were still here today. After the things which make me shudder, there are those things which make me in a state of shock and bewilderment, something like this is what I mean: (begin Quote) "Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told NBC that the assault came because Hamas, an Islamic group backed by Syria and Iran, is smuggling weapons and building a "small army." (end quote, Begin my rant) What??? Did she just say that its because of smuggling weapons, and the building of a small army. WHERE WERE YOU!! the past few months!! Do you not get that your country is in danger, not because of an imposing army and massive weaponry, but on the contrary, they were actually firing into your peoples homes, DAILY!!! over 120 the day of the air strike!!. What are you, stupid!! obviously we seee you are. And what do you think The U.N. will say to "fear of an imposing army", Do you think their reaction will go like this. The U.N. to Israel on behalf of tzippy : "Oh yeah, sure, go ahead. We understand your needs to protect yourself from an army, who can hardly hold itself up to the NYPD, that didn't even attack yet!". Hey! Tzippy! at least say the truth, don't lie about why you are air striking them!! ( Mike In Midwood says this while violently throwing a notepad and pencil)..... "Think STUPID, THINK!!" (as Mike In Midwood violently shakes Tzippy's brainless head).

Now I have to listen to some anti-Israeli news on the assault, to cheer me up. Don't bother me unless you agree.

IGNORANCE IS BLISS

I was on a city bus in Israel. One of those Charedi packed buses, with guys who decided to not use deodorant. The stench being so unbearable, you can actually smell armpit (gross, I know). Being that I wished to breathe, I sat in an area where, there were more women.

The bus got really crowded, to the point were I gave up my seat, to a woman. The Charedi men were infuriated, and started to beat me with their smelly arms. How dare I give up my seat to a woman. I defended my case, Rosa Parks like, I wouldn't take the seat. Kidding, that's not what happened. She called me a Tzaddik, for giving up the seat. She made a real big deal about, how nice I was. Half the words out of her mouth, I couldn't understand, but I got the gist of it.

Now when I ride the train or bus in New York, it is common for me to give up a seat, and I think nothing of it. For some reason she thanked me. Then it hit me. Charedi people don't do this. They will never give up a seat, nor be kind to another person. The fact that most Chareidim, ignore the common rules of Derech Eretz. I finally got something out of it, I felt good, for doing such a small deed.

POINTLESS BANS

There are so many bans that just weren't worth making. It could have been avoided just by the fact that there was already a ban on something else or on the same thing in a different way. A good pointless ban would be if I would ban using any types of motor vehicles as a use of transportation and then I go and ban cars. Throughout all the bans most are just the same in a different form.

The first of many pointless is the ban of cell phone Internet. Now anyone with at least the brains of a bird will tell you that the Internet on the phone is the same as the one on the computer. More on the Internet ban, there was banned (what you are reading right now) A BLOG, that's after the Internet was banned. The reason for it is, Blogs are only a lashon hara source. Then came MY space, youtube, facebook and many like this which were also banned.

Cell Phones themselves were banned. So now you can only have the most kosher of phones The kosher phone (certified with an OU made in a parve factory, The phone chocolate is OUD). That means No texts, No camera phones (especially video ones), No Internet. Why is texting bad what makes it wrong. Is it the fact that people don't spell correctly while texting? The yesivos nevr had uh probleam with speling rong. Camera Phones once again whats wrong with it? Maybe you'll take a picture of a non tzniyos woman. Well you can do that with a regular camera too. This is an example of another pointless ban and if they wanted a kosher phone just take away the Internet keep the texts and camera.Also this ban is one that has not been excepted by the Jewish community I see people on there blackberry's every few minutes.

Then they're bans that just never made had a basis. Banning the bike lanes in Williamsburg is a foolish one. First what are you going to do about it? Two what is there to ban, banning non Jews? Next up is an Israeli one. In Israel if you go to Kollel (I did not write learn in kollel for a reason) you are not allowed to learn how to drive a car and if you already know how to gezunte hait. The reason for it being maybe you will drive to a place a Jew shouldn't be in. You could walk there or take the Eged bus (really not getting this one). The texting and camera phone problem also falls into this category of Baseless Bans.

The triple filtered water washing lettuce is not a Baseless Ban. Its not necessary since we don't make a Gezeira on a Gezeira. First Gezeira being wash them they have bugs. Second is use triple filtered water. Also a practice in halacha is that if it (something we might object to) wasn't stopped when it began then we cant stop it now. The strawberries are subject to this category.

Pointless, Baseless, Non Necessary bans are whats driving people to think that our rabbanim have lost it. I heard once why they do this. The rabbanim don't really know whats going on but their people who tell them about these things distort it. You know whats a big Question after they banned all these mentioned and more...... why did they not take act and join with Hikind?