Operation: Clean Israel
"IDF calls up elite reservists to clean up garbage on beaches" - Ha'aretz.
"And how does the battalion clean the beach? The way only a battalion knows how to: coordinating endlessly, creating timetables and setting up a forward command post and primarily, with a lot of esprit de corps. As is always the case in the Israel Defense Forces, last Friday the soldiers talked about values and willpower. Not a word about disengagement, checkpoints or Palestinians".Finally, here's a good reason to call up some reserve soldiers this summer. (And I bet you wouldn't be hearing any calls for refusal...)
http://israelperspectives.blogspot.com/
The 4th of July & American Aliyah and "the other calendar"...
At some point over the last 6 months I made a conscience decision to begin using the Hebrew calendar as my "calendar of choice". No longer do I ask the question "When does Peasach fall out this year"? or the like (and I find it incredibly frustrating when I am asked that question by others). In Israel, one can use the Hebrew date for most things, like on checks... and on a personal level, I have found more of a connection to everything Jewish now that I have begun using the Hebrew date.
After all, if the Jewish People are truly to be sovereign in our Homeland, and we are trying to create a uniquely Jewish society here, than I do not see any reason why we should refrain from using the Jewish calendar.
All that being said... It was pointed out to me a number of times today, that while according to the Jewish calendar, it is the 27th of Sivan, that according to "the other calendar" (the ?pork? of calendars) it is the 4th of July. As of the writing of this blog, I will not be attending any baseball games, nor will I be having a BBQ (although I am open to any invitations), but I do think that on a day that America celebrates her independence that it is fitting that I express thanks to the USA for everything she gave me.
In particular, I am thankful for having been able t be raised in a free and open society where I was able to learn and grow in my Jewish awareness and identity without feeling like an outsider, and ultimately my having been able to choose to leave America and make my home in Israel, and not out of a desire to flee to Israel as a result of fear, persecution or other difficulties or hardships.
Now, if only the Mets could put a nice winning streak together... Maybe that's what I'll be thankful for next year...
http://israelperspectives.blogspot.com/
A Land Flowing with... Pita and Hummus???
Throughout Tanach, the Land of Israel is traditionally described as a "Land flowing with Milk and Honey", yet a recent article in Ha'aretz, entitled "
A bit of Middle East in the East Village" has found some other items which can be added to the list.
"
Two small hummus restaurants bearing the name Hummus Place - one in East Village and the other in West Village - have become a pilgrimage site over the past two months for Israelis living in New York. Israeli tourists who cannot manage for a week or two without hummus also visit these eateries. Israelis are claiming that this is the first time that someone in New York has managed to duplicate the familiar flavor of the hummus spots in Israel. There have even been some who claim, jokingly or seriously, that now there is no reason to visit Tel Aviv." Interestingly enough, the founder of the restaurant, Ori Apple, 33, formerly of Kibbutz Ma'oz HaYam, has run into a unique set of challenges in duplicating Israeli dishes traditionally found in a Hummus restaurant:
"When I make Israeli salad, for example, I add extra lemon juice and olive oil," says Apple, "because the vegetables here are a bit bland - the vegetables in Israel have much more flavor."
The biggest challenge, however, says Apple is duplicating Israeli pita - a feat that no one has apparently managed so far.
"I found a bakery in Brooklyn that makes pita very similar to Israeli pitas, but I admit that they are not good enough for me. The pita made here are not good, and I still haven't figured out why. Maybe it's the flour, or maybe the local water. One of the problems is that unlike in Israel, where pita are baked several times a day and delivered fresh to restaurants, here the pita are sent out once, early in the morning, and that's it. I plan to import a small bakery from Israel in order to make our pita. Perhaps that will provide the solution."As I see it, Ori Apple is right-on when he recognizes the challenge of duplicating the tastes of the Land of Israel in Chutz La'Aretz. Yet, I wonder if Ori Apple's quest to bring the flavor of the Land of Israel aborad is destined to fail. After all, what makes Israel so special is the aura of sanctity that pervades everything that finds itself within her borders - and I don't believe that it is something that can be transplanted.
Good luck, Ori... you're going to need it.
http://israelperspectives.blogspot.com/
"A Nation of Aliyah"...
Of late, there has been much talk as to what status foreign workers who have been in Israel for a significant period of time, and in particular the children born to them, who have been raised in Israeli society should be given.
Should they be allowed to stay, and begin a naturalization process that would culminate in citizenship, due to the fact that they (and their children) now feel a part of Israeli society?
In an article this past week in
Ha'aretz, "High Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein made use of a ruling on Wednesday to add his own voice to the public debate pertaining to a tightening of immigration policy. "The nation's character is that of a `nation of Aliyah' - that is, a nation of return, rather than immigration," Rubinstein declared in his ruling. He explained that the term "immigration" is applicable to a nation "like all other nations," which "is not in keeping with the unique Israeli experience and the Zionist vision." He added that the name of the Minhal Ha-hagira (Immigration Administration) is also not to his liking."
If the State of Israel is to truly reflect that we are in fact a "Nation of Aliyah", whereby the State of Israel seeks the return of all the Jewish people to their natural Homeland, than this can't be reflected only in the State of Israel's immigration policy, but in all aspects of society in the State of Israel that will clearly mark it as the Jewish State, and the State of the Jewish People.
http://israelperspectives.blogspot.com/
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