Steamy Compost.
In other news, this morning I woke up and turned the compost a bit to be greeted by a steamy rot of biodegration! It was awesome. I have basically made a thermophillic compost pile with temperatures reaching close to 60-65 degrees Celsius!
I fought the temptation of thrusting my arm deep inside the putrid muck, but just seeing that steam rise and knowing that fission was at work brought a smile to my face. Ok, back to collecting black olives.
Check out some great composting videos on YouTube here.
Monday, January 19, 2009
A new face to Israeli Politics!
Last night I went to the kickoff of, what I think, is Israel's most important and promising party ever: http://hayeruka-meimad.org.il/english.
This blog post represents my official endorsement for the Tnua Yeruka-Meimad התנועה הירוקה-מימד party.
In the Tel Aviv exhibition grounds I sat and listened to the speeches of people who are now entering the political arena to really try and push for an Eco-Social agenda. It was great. The most impressive in my opinion are Prof. Alon Tal, who, in addition to his extensive professional bio, also plays saxophone, guitar and violin in a country bluegrass band, and performed at the kickoff!
Of course MK Rabbi Michael Melchior, the #1 seat of the party, gave the most impressive speech. I think Becca summed it up best by saying that "they just really exemplify what I am looking for the Jewish State to stand for".
So get out the word and get people to vote for them!
Last night I went to the kickoff of, what I think, is Israel's most important and promising party ever: http://hayeruka-meimad.org.il/english.
This blog post represents my official endorsement for the Tnua Yeruka-Meimad התנועה הירוקה-מימד party.
In the Tel Aviv exhibition grounds I sat and listened to the speeches of people who are now entering the political arena to really try and push for an Eco-Social agenda. It was great. The most impressive in my opinion are Prof. Alon Tal, who, in addition to his extensive professional bio, also plays saxophone, guitar and violin in a country bluegrass band, and performed at the kickoff!
Of course MK Rabbi Michael Melchior, the #1 seat of the party, gave the most impressive speech. I think Becca summed it up best by saying that "they just really exemplify what I am looking for the Jewish State to stand for".
So get out the word and get people to vote for them!
CEASE-FIRE...
... is good. We'll see what happens next and how long it lasts.
Yes, the jury's still out and what was gained and what was lost. Many questions still remain. Is there a clear victor? Not sure. Ethan Bronner of the New York Times raises some legitimate doubts here, and I think paints a very accurate picture of the situation now.
What will be interesting now is the damage control after Gaza is open to journalists and international media. Bronner picks up a rarely heard voice of a Palestinian lamenting the destuction of her house and actually arriving at the realization that this was brought on by Hamas!
What was interesting about the war, was that the international media was all about its usual antics of attacking Israel's perceived disproportional attack and severe collateral damage while most Israelis acquiesce to a shrug and bowed head over the loss of innocent people, while never doubting for a second the legitimacy of the mission.
What I also found interesting, was the virtual silence I heard from my friends. The only communication I had with people from the 'old country' were Q&A correspondents with people that I've never met and my mom. No one wrote or called to say "Hey, I hear there's a war over there." Maybe it's because it's nothing new over here, or maybe (and this is the theory that I subscribe to) because it's simply not on their radar screen. It could also be because they just don't want to get into it with me, or are tired of talking or hearing about it, or just don't know what to say, but what can ya do.
I mentioned in an e-mail to many that Steve Erlanger's article was very good and that he interviewed Maj. Jacob Dallal (a Chicago native) as Jacob and I were driving back from a miluim tour of Sderot. Cool huh.
... is good. We'll see what happens next and how long it lasts.
Yes, the jury's still out and what was gained and what was lost. Many questions still remain. Is there a clear victor? Not sure. Ethan Bronner of the New York Times raises some legitimate doubts here, and I think paints a very accurate picture of the situation now.
What will be interesting now is the damage control after Gaza is open to journalists and international media. Bronner picks up a rarely heard voice of a Palestinian lamenting the destuction of her house and actually arriving at the realization that this was brought on by Hamas!
What was interesting about the war, was that the international media was all about its usual antics of attacking Israel's perceived disproportional attack and severe collateral damage while most Israelis acquiesce to a shrug and bowed head over the loss of innocent people, while never doubting for a second the legitimacy of the mission.
What I also found interesting, was the virtual silence I heard from my friends. The only communication I had with people from the 'old country' were Q&A correspondents with people that I've never met and my mom. No one wrote or called to say "Hey, I hear there's a war over there." Maybe it's because it's nothing new over here, or maybe (and this is the theory that I subscribe to) because it's simply not on their radar screen. It could also be because they just don't want to get into it with me, or are tired of talking or hearing about it, or just don't know what to say, but what can ya do.
I mentioned in an e-mail to many that Steve Erlanger's article was very good and that he interviewed Maj. Jacob Dallal (a Chicago native) as Jacob and I were driving back from a miluim tour of Sderot. Cool huh.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
More thoughts on the War in Gaza and people's interesting reactions...
So the war goes on. More of our soldiers have been killed and of course innocent civilians in Gaza have been killed as well. We're not sure where it is going, or how long it will take. No prominent mention of Gilad Shalit has been heard, and we are hoping that it will end soon, especially without a major call up of miluimnikim.
Last week I wrote a short article for the iTorah newsletter. I received a lot of compliments, but received this reaction as well:
http://socialjewstice.blogspot.com/2009/01/itorah-or-ibias.html
I was happy to hear it, and also excited that a former NFTYite was engaged in the conversation. His response is very interesting, and intending nothing personal, I responded to him in the following way:
Dear xxx,
I read with great intrigue and interest your response to my short update that was sent out on the iTorah. You write well, and you seem like an intelligent guy. A few questions that you raise, that I would like to respond to.
The word bias is a funny word. Everything is bias and there is no such thing as pure objectivity. So, if I say that I am in favor of the right of a Jewish State to exist in the Land of Israel I am clearly biased, as I am not giving voice to the contrary opinion. All of iTorah is biased. The iTorah usually expresses some sort of opinion in favor of being Jewish, or supporting a Jewish community. Is this bias? No, it is simply the agenda of the organization, which also supports Israel. And when push comes to shove, we will support Israel’s right to defend herself and not support or defend Hamas who calls for Israel’s destruction.
I am quite curious as to why you feel it necessary to continuously blame all problems on Israel. It seems as though, no matter whatever the outcome it will always be Israel’s fault. For instance, the failure of the Palestinians to even begin thinking in the direction of creating a state is ISRAEL’S FAULT?!? This is simply absurd. However, you are not the only one who feels this way. It is a feeling shared by many arm-chair pundits and battered women the world round. Just like a battered woman, many of Israel critics constantly search her soul to figure out what she has done to warrant a beating. What a battered woman often doesn’t realize is that even if she has made mistakes, it is her husband who has a sickness, and will continue to beat her regardless of her behavior however flawed or flawless it maybe.
When you wrote: “Will the damage to Hamas outweight the damage to the diplomatic process that is being weakened with every hour of this war?”
I’m sorry, maybe I missed something. What diplomatic process are you referring to? With whom do we have diplomatic relations? With Hamas, the nationally elected party?
How would any other country in the world respond to this situation? By encouraging a diplomatic process? If memory serves me correctly, we have attempted this time and again, to be rewarded with terrorism. What does it matter that the disengagement was unilateral. The Palestinian complete was of occupation. Once that occupation was ended the world woke up to the cold hard fact that, it really wasn’t about occupation at all, but rather about the simple existence of a Jewish State.
I suppose that what really bothered me about your piece were two issues.
First of all, you as a Jew, and the author of a blog entitled “Social Jewstice”, are very quick to criticize Israel, the Jewish State, and seemingly have no qualms about coming to the defense of Hamas – an organization that has openly called for the murder of all Jews world wide. Implying that not only do they want to destroy the Jewish State, but had they the means, they would come to Brown university and kill Jews there as well. This does not reflect what some may understand to be “Social Jewstice” in my opinion, but I’m just one Jew. You also represent a common misconception of Hamas. Back in the late 90s, I wrote my senior paper in college on whether or not Hamas constitutes a civil society. Well, in the decade or so since, I have been proven wrong. Hamas is unlike the Israeli political party Shas that does provide welfare and education for its constituents. Wouldn’t you think that if Hamas was truly concerned with the welfare of its citizens it wouldn’t fire rockets from children’s schools (the UN has set up) or from the middle of a civilian population (ie, apt buildings and shopping centers). The truth is that they don’t care. As a matter of fact they hate the Palestinian opposition (Fatah) almost as much as they hate Israel, and have not hesitated in killing anyone who offers an agenda that is not radical Islam.
The second issue that left me somewhat curious is that you criticized me for expressing that I felt that there was no other choice. Was there a different choice two weeks ago, as you point out? Well, the option was to simply take it. Now, the range of the rockets has increased and 1 out of every 7 Israelis (Jews and non-Jews alike) are in danger. On an American scale, this would implicate about 43,598,000 Americans. How would any U.S. administration react to such a scene? So what do you propose? Maybe we should sit back and just take it? If rockets were falling on Providence, I don’t think you would think so.
All this, and I am on the left in Israel - Not that those labels (left of center, “center-right) have any meaning anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I shudder at the loss of innocent life, of which there is no lacking. The world knows this, and certainly Hamas is aiming at this to arouse sympathy. I shudder at what has happened, and also imagine what could have happened, but did not. Imagine what any Advanced Industrial Democracy would have done in this situation. They probably would have completely obliterated the Gaza strip, not unlike what the U.S. did in Afghanistan. Israel has not done that, and has taken great strides to minimize innocent losses. I agree that while Israel has a license to do something, it doesn’t have a license to do anything. I am hoping that this will be over soon – for their sake and for ours.
I hope that I’m not being too harsh, and I am happy to correspond with you and continue the conversation.
Shalom,
Josh
I also have come across some terrible articles about Israel, and some ok ones. It might be worth checking out Melanie Phillips here.
Last night I gave a tour for the IDF Spokesperson's training course in the Yemin Moshe neighborhood. It was a nice time, and I am glad that I had a stage to present the world of Hasabara as I see it. I brought my cousin Aaron along, who will now be serving as my personal PR guy.
More later...
Peace.
So the war goes on. More of our soldiers have been killed and of course innocent civilians in Gaza have been killed as well. We're not sure where it is going, or how long it will take. No prominent mention of Gilad Shalit has been heard, and we are hoping that it will end soon, especially without a major call up of miluimnikim.
Last week I wrote a short article for the iTorah newsletter. I received a lot of compliments, but received this reaction as well:
http://socialjewstice.blogspot.com/2009/01/itorah-or-ibias.html
I was happy to hear it, and also excited that a former NFTYite was engaged in the conversation. His response is very interesting, and intending nothing personal, I responded to him in the following way:
Dear xxx,
I read with great intrigue and interest your response to my short update that was sent out on the iTorah. You write well, and you seem like an intelligent guy. A few questions that you raise, that I would like to respond to.
The word bias is a funny word. Everything is bias and there is no such thing as pure objectivity. So, if I say that I am in favor of the right of a Jewish State to exist in the Land of Israel I am clearly biased, as I am not giving voice to the contrary opinion. All of iTorah is biased. The iTorah usually expresses some sort of opinion in favor of being Jewish, or supporting a Jewish community. Is this bias? No, it is simply the agenda of the organization, which also supports Israel. And when push comes to shove, we will support Israel’s right to defend herself and not support or defend Hamas who calls for Israel’s destruction.
I am quite curious as to why you feel it necessary to continuously blame all problems on Israel. It seems as though, no matter whatever the outcome it will always be Israel’s fault. For instance, the failure of the Palestinians to even begin thinking in the direction of creating a state is ISRAEL’S FAULT?!? This is simply absurd. However, you are not the only one who feels this way. It is a feeling shared by many arm-chair pundits and battered women the world round. Just like a battered woman, many of Israel critics constantly search her soul to figure out what she has done to warrant a beating. What a battered woman often doesn’t realize is that even if she has made mistakes, it is her husband who has a sickness, and will continue to beat her regardless of her behavior however flawed or flawless it maybe.
When you wrote: “Will the damage to Hamas outweight the damage to the diplomatic process that is being weakened with every hour of this war?”
I’m sorry, maybe I missed something. What diplomatic process are you referring to? With whom do we have diplomatic relations? With Hamas, the nationally elected party?
How would any other country in the world respond to this situation? By encouraging a diplomatic process? If memory serves me correctly, we have attempted this time and again, to be rewarded with terrorism. What does it matter that the disengagement was unilateral. The Palestinian complete was of occupation. Once that occupation was ended the world woke up to the cold hard fact that, it really wasn’t about occupation at all, but rather about the simple existence of a Jewish State.
I suppose that what really bothered me about your piece were two issues.
First of all, you as a Jew, and the author of a blog entitled “Social Jewstice”, are very quick to criticize Israel, the Jewish State, and seemingly have no qualms about coming to the defense of Hamas – an organization that has openly called for the murder of all Jews world wide. Implying that not only do they want to destroy the Jewish State, but had they the means, they would come to Brown university and kill Jews there as well. This does not reflect what some may understand to be “Social Jewstice” in my opinion, but I’m just one Jew. You also represent a common misconception of Hamas. Back in the late 90s, I wrote my senior paper in college on whether or not Hamas constitutes a civil society. Well, in the decade or so since, I have been proven wrong. Hamas is unlike the Israeli political party Shas that does provide welfare and education for its constituents. Wouldn’t you think that if Hamas was truly concerned with the welfare of its citizens it wouldn’t fire rockets from children’s schools (the UN has set up) or from the middle of a civilian population (ie, apt buildings and shopping centers). The truth is that they don’t care. As a matter of fact they hate the Palestinian opposition (Fatah) almost as much as they hate Israel, and have not hesitated in killing anyone who offers an agenda that is not radical Islam.
The second issue that left me somewhat curious is that you criticized me for expressing that I felt that there was no other choice. Was there a different choice two weeks ago, as you point out? Well, the option was to simply take it. Now, the range of the rockets has increased and 1 out of every 7 Israelis (Jews and non-Jews alike) are in danger. On an American scale, this would implicate about 43,598,000 Americans. How would any U.S. administration react to such a scene? So what do you propose? Maybe we should sit back and just take it? If rockets were falling on Providence, I don’t think you would think so.
All this, and I am on the left in Israel - Not that those labels (left of center, “center-right) have any meaning anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I shudder at the loss of innocent life, of which there is no lacking. The world knows this, and certainly Hamas is aiming at this to arouse sympathy. I shudder at what has happened, and also imagine what could have happened, but did not. Imagine what any Advanced Industrial Democracy would have done in this situation. They probably would have completely obliterated the Gaza strip, not unlike what the U.S. did in Afghanistan. Israel has not done that, and has taken great strides to minimize innocent losses. I agree that while Israel has a license to do something, it doesn’t have a license to do anything. I am hoping that this will be over soon – for their sake and for ours.
I hope that I’m not being too harsh, and I am happy to correspond with you and continue the conversation.
Shalom,
Josh
I also have come across some terrible articles about Israel, and some ok ones. It might be worth checking out Melanie Phillips here.
Last night I gave a tour for the IDF Spokesperson's training course in the Yemin Moshe neighborhood. It was a nice time, and I am glad that I had a stage to present the world of Hasabara as I see it. I brought my cousin Aaron along, who will now be serving as my personal PR guy.
More later...
Peace.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
The War in Gaza - מלחמה בעזה
Ahh, there's so much to say right now, but I will be brief as I don't have much time. I will leave it with the wise words of Ari Shavit, an Ha'aretz editorial/analysis that essentially sums up what I am feeling now:
Israelis who blame Israel are not helping the Palestinians
by Ari Shavit
Ahh, there's so much to say right now, but I will be brief as I don't have much time. I will leave it with the wise words of Ari Shavit, an Ha'aretz editorial/analysis that essentially sums up what I am feeling now:
Israelis who blame Israel are not helping the Palestinians
by Ari Shavit
"Operation Cast Lead is a just campaign. Just, because in the summer of 2005
Just, because for three solid years the State of Israel bit its lips and acted with restraint. Just, because no country in the world can accept for an extended period of time a situation in which its citizens are forsaken and its sovereignty violated. Just, because there is no chance for peace in the
| | |
Operation Cast Lead is a tragic campaign. Tragic, because it is causing the deaths of hundreds and injuring thousands. Tragic, because it is causing physical and emotional injury to innocent Palestinians, including women and children. Tragic, because like every war it creates intolerable human hardship and heartbreaking suffering.
But the tragedy of Operation Cast Lead is unavoidable. It derives directly from the fact that the Palestinians did not take proper advantage of the historic opportunity given to them in 2005. It derives from the fact that when the Palestinians achieved self-government for the first time in their history they misused it. It derives from the fact that the Palestinian need to destroy
Israel-hating Israelis call Operation Cast Lead a war crime. They record the names of each and every Palestinian killed, denounce each and every Israeli action and portray their state as a bully. While the Egyptians are saying that Hamas is largely responsible for the tragedy of Gaza, Israel-hating Israelis place the whole responsibility on their government and military. While the international community silently understands that a sovereign state is duty-bound to protect its citizens' lives, Israel-hating Israelis believe that Israeli lives can be forfeited.
While the simple facts indicate that the violence in the south derives from the despicable actions of an extremist organization that turned the Strip into a district of terror, Israel-hating Israelis persist in their hatred of their people and homeland and defend the morality of Hamas' destructive aggression.
There is no call for hating the Israel-hating Israelis. At the end of the day, their position is a pathetic one. Their self-righteousness is not at all righteous, and their moralizing has no morality. Their inability to show compassion for the Israelis of Be'er Sheva,
The real motivation of Israel-hating Israelis is not genuine concern for the Palestinians, but rather a form of reverse racism. By showing forgiveness toward Palestinian fascism they turn their backs not only on Israelis but also on moderate, freedom-loving Palestinians. Those who blame
Operation Cast Lead is an intelligent, impressive operation. The element of surprise was total, the intelligence was precise and the timing was brilliant. The fact that the operation was launched after a six-month cease-fire violated by Hamas gives it political legitimacy and moral justification. The fact that it was carefully planned and carefully executed has restored a degree of trust in Israeli capabilities.
It is possible that after the initial air campaign and the destruction of the tunnels, the operation should have been suspended. It is possible that the French truce proposal should now be adopted and a final chance given for Palestinian clearheadedness. But those who reject the operation in its entirety are blind to reality and the moral failure.
The coming days will be difficult. There may be errors, perhaps complications, perhaps even victims. But for this very reason now is not the time for a campaign of hate against
This is the time to stand behind the commanders, soldiers and pilots working day and night to conduct a difficult, complex and entirely just war. This is the time for
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