Did You Miss Me?

What can I say. It is much harder to keep up with this than I thought. It is not that I don't have anything to say. I always have something to say. It just seems that as with anything you get into a daily grind and all the things you find interesting become routine so why bother discussing them.

Take the haridim for example. For those of you who don't know, the government of the State of Israel might dissolve this week because of the latest demands of the Ultra Parties ( I still don't know what to call them) . They have seen that Netanyahu will give them whatever they want to stay in power, so they decided to go for the big one.

They have said that they will not vote for the new budget, which is due before the March 18th recess, if their demands are not met. The Finance Minster, Moshe Kahlon, has said that if the budget is not passed, he will leave the coalition. This will cause the government to fall.

So why is everyone fighting? What could they possibly be asking for?

Hold on to you hats and wigs.

The are trying to pass a law, that would be considered a basic law ( it is what they have here instead of contitution), that will equate long term, full time torah study, to national service ( i.e. the army).

That means that the mothers, fathers ,sisters, brothers , sons, daughters etc. of those who served and fell in the defense of their brethren and the Jewish nation are the same as the families of those who hide behind religion to avoid their obligations to their fellow Jews.

It is what Avigdor Lieberman rightfully calls, the draft dodging law.

I can think of nothing that is more disgusting and disrespectful of the Israeli army. The fact that someone can ask for that shows not only a overriding arrogance but also total disrespect for the IDF.

Speaking of disrespecting the IDF, this week, 2 effigies of Israeli soldiers were hung in nooses in Mea Shearim. That's bad, but even worse is the politicians who are trying to pass this horrible law, have not said one word about it in condemnation.

Nothing

Nada.

Of course this kind of thing makes me crazy. Isn't there a line when the rest of the Knesset has to say " you've gone too far this time". Should't our leaders have some selfrespect.

What will happen when the entire 12th grade says they are going to learn Torah instead of draft? No doubt the cowards will see it as a great victory. They will have gotten many Jews to learn torah. I assume we don't think Israel needs an army and that thier learning will protect them.

Just like in Poland.

That is not really fair. In Poland many of the great Rabbi's told thier people not to worry and have faith that god will protect them. They were only partially wrong as many of those same rabbis escaped at the last minute ( so they were correct about themselves but wrong about the rest).

Once again I will have to make a comparison that some of you will not like. Just as the Arabs deny the fact that we , the Jews, have any connection to the land, this group of people sees itself as above and more important that any and all other Jews. The rest of us have no right to be here.

I have said it many times, these guys are compleately off the derech. They think that they have reached the highest level of Jewish observance when in fact they are not Jewish at all.

An observant Jew doesn't think he is better than other Jews.

An observant Jew doesn't think that his life is more valuable than another Jew.

An observant Jew doesn't profess to know the mind of god and impose those beliefs on other Jews

We have to know, from our history, our religion and our god given common sense, that all Jews are considered Jews to the rest of the world.

They do not differentiate between Harvey Wienstien and The chief Rabbi. To those against us it is all the same.

Anyone who doesn't know this and feel this is not an observant Jew, no matter the clothes he wears and how many hours he spends learning.

I know, too much and all over the place. I will change direction. ( I could go on forever)

A few weeks ago I received a DVD in my mailbox. I had thought no one used those anymore so I was intrigued. It was a jews for jesus program. It was in English with Russian subtitles. It reminded me of the times we would walk down Avenue J in Brooklyn and these guys were trying to hand out pamphlets. I was a bit wilder back then and after meeting them a few times, me and my friends convinced them not to return. But I am older now and anyway the guy who sent this ( a born Jew) lives is in California. Suffice to say it was a bit shocking. I have not been solicited for Christianity for some time and it was strange to see it happen here.

As I mentioned a few months ago, My youngest finished her basic training in the army. We went a few hours north to her army base to see the ceremony. She was given a rifle and bible and pledged to defend Israel and the Jewish people ( they promptly took back both the bible and rifle). She was given her official Army uniform that signified she was no longer in training.

5 weeks later we went to another ceremony a hour south. Now she finished her course that that trained her for her job as  a dispatcher in the home-front command. She was now given a certificate and orange beret.

I am looking forward to driving a few more hours at some point to see what other clothing she might get.

As this is an unusually long post ( a lot of pent up thoughts) I would like end it by mentioning a great restaurant we found in Tel Aviv. I originally didn't want to mention it because, truthfully, I wanted it to be some time before the tourists found it. It is called Ca Phe Hanoi. It is off Kikar Rabin and is Kosher Vietnamese. It is different and great.

I will keep everyone posted ( whether you care or not) on the unfolding situation here and hopefully will have something more lighthearted to talk about next time