The Corrie Case & the Continuing Leftist Libel!

A Guest Post today ..... by Rabbi Shraga Simmons is a Journalist and the Senior Editor of Aish.com,   and he has been actively following the Corrie Case since 2003.

It was a horrible tragedy. In March 2003, Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American, was hanging out in Gaza, trying her hand at “pro-palestinian activism.”  One day, as an Israeli bulldozer was dismantling tunnels used by Gazans to smuggle weapons, Corrie decided to protest. She positioned herself in a trench, in a spot invisible to the Israeli bulldozer driver, and was accidentally crushed to death.  Testifying under oath, the bulldozer driver said he did not realize he had run over Corrie until he heard what had happened over the radio network.

Pro-palestinian activists seized the opportunity to promote Corrie’s death as a blood libel, accusing Israel of intentional murder. As George Rishmawi, director of the group that sponsored Corrie’s stay in Gaza, told the San Francisco Chronicle (July 14, 2004): Placing American students in danger is good for the Palestinian cause because “if some of these foreign volunteers get shot or even killed, then the international media will sit up and take notice.”

On Tuesday,  an Israeli civil court ruled that Rachel Corrie's death was indeed an accident.
"The death of Rachel Corrie is without a doubt a tragic accident," the state prosecutor's office said in a statement. "   As the verdict states ~ the driver of the bulldozer and his commander had a very limited field of vision, such that they had no possibility of seeing Ms. Corrie and thus are exonerated of any blame for negligence."

Explaining the court's ruling,  Judge Oded Gershon said Corrie's death was "the result of an accident she brought upon herself."    Corrie was in closed military area, with entry forbidden to civilians. The area was the site of daily gunfire by snipers, missile fire and IED explosions. The United States government had issued a travel warning against American citizens visiting the Gaza Strip.  "She did not distance herself from the area, as any thinking person would have done," the judge ruled.  Yet the media is refusing to let go of the “intentional murder” canard.   In reporting the court’s verdict, NBC News published this photo showing Corrie standing in plain view of an Israeli bulldozer, with a megaphone in hand.

Objectively speaking, this photo makes it difficult to believe that the Israeli driver did not see Rachel Corrie. Indeed, the wording of the caption ~ “before she was killed in Rafah”  ~  emphasizes the idea that at the moment she was crushed,  Corrie was clearly visible, standing with a megaphone.
 
But that is one huge pack of lies!!!!

The truth is that this photo was taken hours before the incident.   At the time of the accident,   Rachel Corrie was without  a megaphone and was in a hidden position.

This second photo,  taken minutes after the accident,  shows Corrie on the ground .....

Any honest journalist can see that the second photo shows a different bulldozer. Note the large rust stain on the right side of the bulldozer’s blade, in contrast to the megaphone photo. Additionally, this second bulldozer has more narrow, double-glazed windows and an 8-foot-tall bulldozer blade that greatly obscures driver visibility.

This cannot be passed off as merely an honest mistake. The exact same "mistake" was made nine years ago and the media was called out on it.  CNN's original 2003 report used the "creative chronology"   and I got them to issue a retraction.   The christian Science Monitor took the false chronology one step further by distributing the earlier photo of Corrie with the megaphone, claiming that the photo was taken "moments before it ran her over."

 So while this photo fraud has been well-documented, the media ~ due either to anti-Israel bias, or to pure sloppiness ~ continues to promote the blood libel of Israel intentionally murdering Americans.    Arabs Lie.  And the Goy nations assist them in this.  Today an Israeli court of law spoke the truth. We await the day when truth will likewise prevail in the court of world opinion, B"H!

Similar 'editing' has been done to this supposed 'real' footage of Corrie's accident.   It is a cut & paste job showing if anything that it was an accident!

Court Confirms ~ Corrie Caused own Death!

A Haifa court ruled this morning that Rachel Corrie (a pro-'palestinian' activist) caused her own death by intentionally remaining in front of an IDF bulldozer, ignoring many warnings to leave the area she was in.   Judge Oded Gershon supported the IDF claim that the driver of the bulldozer could not see Corrie, who was protesting the 2003 demolitions of structure in Rafiah, Gaza.  The court noted that the case of Corrie is sad but that the young woman, who was 23 years old, was fully aware that she was in danger and that she could have prevented her own death by moving out of the path of the bulldozer.   Judge Gershon further found the IDF free of blame and said it did not act recklessly .... Fully Exhonerated, B"H!!    Corrie was protesting with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), whose members have often worked with Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists to help them hide from Israeli security personnel.

Judge Oded Gershon ruled that Rachel Corrie, "consciously put herself in harm's way" by ignoring warning after warning.  "She did not distance herself from the area, as any thinking person would have done." ..... No, she did not.  She was killed after unlawfully entering an area where Israeli forces ~ seeking to protect Israeli civilians who had been terrorized by repeated rocket attacks ~ were destroying tunnels used by Hamas terrorists to smuggle arms illegally from Egypt into Gaza.   Rachel Corrie wasn't shielding innocent civilians, rather, on the contrary she was interfering with the Israeli army's efforts to demolish an empty house used to conceal one of these tunnels.  Crushed by a bulldozer whose driver couldn't see her in a Closed Military Area  ..... Her Death  was caused by Stupidity.  Her own!

Corrie's family had accused Israel of intentionally and unlawfully killing their 23-year-old daughter, launching a civil case in Haifa after a military investigation had cleared the army of wrong-doing.  Judge Gershon explained that where Rachel Corrie  was trespassing had been a war zone, and was formally declared a closed military zone at the time of the accident.  He mentioned that the US had issued an Israel travel advisory warning its citizens to avoid Gaza and the Yesha.   The judge added that the organization where Corrie worked, the ISM  "abuses the human rights discourse to blur its actions which are de facto violence. He claimed that it specialized in disrupting IDF activity. "This included an army of activists serving as 'human shields' for terrorists wanted by Israeli security forces, financial and logistical aid to palestinians including terrorists and their families, and disruption of the sealing of suicide bombers' houses."

 The Official Government Statement is Here!

 
I have previously blogged on Rachel Corrie's life, left wing politics and accident in detail  

....     The Cult of Rachel Corrie!

I'm not going to repeat those points here, but I am going to point out that Rachel Corrie was far from the "peace activist" she purported to be, or that  her supporters have since made her out to be.  Corrie was acting on behalf of the virulently anti-Israel International Solidarity Movement, which openly endorses violence as a means of achieving 'palestinian' goals.  The ISM, moreover, has ties with the Islamic terrorist organization Hamas,  whose charter unabashedly calls for the destruction of Israel, who just this morning issued a statement saying that Israel would be completely destroyed within a year.  Anyone with a conscience must regard Rachel Corrie's activities with contempt.

Rachel Corrie chose to side with a society that breeds some of the cruelest murderers of innocent people in the world. She gave her life trying to protect people whose declared aim is to annihilate another country.   In the name of saving children's lives,  Rachel Corrie chose to defend a society that teaches its young children to blow themselves up and which deliberately targets children for death.   And Rachel Corrie went to America's enemies to burn her country's flag.  We are told repeatedly that Rachel was idealistic as if that mattered.  Virtually every person who commits great evil ~ the Nazi, the communist, the Islamic terrorist ~ is idealistic.  Idealism isn't a moral position.  It is good only when directed to good ends.  And Rachel Corrie wanted to Destroy Israel & Judaism.  She ended up destroying herself instead!

Rachel Corrie died fighting for the International Solidarity Movement, a pro palestinian group dedicated ~ in its own words ~ to "armed struggle" against Israel.  It is somewhat ironic that she has been manipulated to become one of it's 'victims'.

Here's Rachel Corrie burning a mock American flag in Gaza at a Hamas Rally,  her face contorted with rage.  It's a photo that never seems to accompany sympathetic articles about this pro-Palestinian radical in the mainstream media.   Many of the articles about Rachel are not really about this young American girl who died in preventable circumstances.  They are instead about promoting a hate-filled and glaringly one-sided anti-semetic view of Israel.  The International Solidarity Movement (ISM), the group with which Corrie was affiliated, is routinely described as a “peace group” in the media.  Their agenda or 'proposals for peace' are very simple ..... Wipe the Jewish State of Israel off the Map!!

It is ironic to reflect that there have been many victims of the arab 'Intifada' & jihadi violence called Rachel ~ but it is harder to believe that the world media have only heard of one of them.  Rachel Corrie's death was an avoidable accident,  one she conciously assisted in causing  ....  She died  a dishonourable death, unlike the following  Forgotten Rachels,  deliberately massacred by arab terrorists for being Jews.  Don't their lives matter as much?  Let's Remember them today,  not this idealistic idiot whose death was caused by her own stupidity.  At long last an International court of law has finally and firmly affirmed this, Baruch Ha'Shem. 

More on Modi'in ... the latest EU "settlement" !!!

This is the City of Modi'in, in Israel.  It lies on the rolling, rocky foothills of the Judean Mountains, about halfway between the coastal plain to the west and the mountainous Jerusalem region to the east.  An ancient city with a long history in Eretz Yisrael.  The Mishna mentions Modi'in as a waystation for pilgrims going up to the Temple in Jerusalem for the three major pilgrimage festivals, Pesah, Shavu'ot and Sukkot.   The Talmud describes Modi'in as being being 15 Roman miles from Jerusalem's Temple Mount.   Modi'in  is referred to as the first place on the road to Jerusalem where pilgrims could purchase earthenware vessels for their Temple offerings because Modi'in's proximity to the holy city meant that the town's potter's were careful to maintain ritual purity, and hence their utensils were suitable for use in the Temple (Haggiga 3:5).  This was 3,000 years ago.  Today it is an Israeli city of 80,000 Jews, which the EU has decided is a "settlement". Does it look like a "settlement" to you???


In general the entire Modi'in area is rich in archaeological sites dating as far back as the Chalcolothic period and encompassing the second Temple (Persian, Greek and Roman), Byzantine, Mamluk, Crusader and Ottoman periods.    More than any other place, Modi'in is associated with Hannukah, the Festival of Lights.   Ancient Modi'in was home to the Maccabees or Hasmoneans, the priestly family who led the Jewish rebellion against Greek Selucid rule in the second century BCE.   Hannukah celebrates their victory over the tyrannical Selucid king Antiochus and their liberation of the Holy Temple of Ha'Shem in Jerusalem which Antiochus had defiled in his attempt to subjugate Jews.  Subsequently the Hasmoneans went on to found a dynasty of Judean kings which ruled until the time of Herod in the first century CE.    


In the last few years new evidence has been uncovered at a site on the southern edge of Modi'in, Um el Umdan, on the Modi'in-Latrun road. In addition to an ancient synagogue, finds include the remains of a Hasmonean village, complete with the remnants of a street of row houses, a mikvah, a luxurious villa and a market place. Some scholars believe the Um el Umdan synagogue to be the oldest ever discovered. Relics from the Persian, Hasmonean and Roman periods were found, including coins which help archaeologists to date their discoveries.   Um El Umdan was already known to researchers in the 1860s during the PEF's tour of the region and modern European 'scholars' are aware of this.    Other archeaological sites near the modern town of Modi'in have turned up two of the most ancient synagogues ever discovered, both dating to the Hasmonean era but lack of funding for 'digs' have hindered the world gaining this knowledge.






An archeaological site in Modi'in, the Tetora Hill on the northeast edge of the modern town, has yielded a huge number of water cisterns, as well as several mikvaot (ritual baths) far more than would have been needed by the local populations.  They may well have served the pilgrims preparing themselves for a visit to the Temple.   Several mikvaot (Jewish baths per Halakah) have been found on the Tetora ~ facilities required for ritual purity, such as that required to enter the Temple complex.  Ritual baths are found in all Jewish communities, what is striking about at least one of the mikvaot found on the Tetora is its size. One mikva has two doorways, one for the ritually unclean person to enter, and one for him to exit, having purified himself in the bath.  This implies a very "high traffic" mikva which necessitated such an organised one way system to handle the many pilgrims using the site.   The many cisterns on the hill, about 120, far in excess of what the town itself probably needed, were probably there for pilgrims using Modi'in as a reststop. Likewise the large columbaria (dovecotes) may well have been there to feed the huge numbers of pilgrims, or possibly for pilgrims to purchase doves to sacrifice at the Temple.  Excavations in the modern town of Modi'in and the surrounding countryside have found tunnels which were used by the Bar Kokhba rebels to hide from the Romans.  Under and around the Crusader era watchtower on the Tetora there are tunnels and caves which were used by Jewish rebels during the Bar Kokhba revolt.    Ruins on the Tetora hill include the remains of a Byzantine era farmhouse with a white mosaic floor with an adjacent quarry, as well as a wine press from the same period, also with mosaic decoration.  






Today, Luxurious long lawns run down the centre of major boulevards while parks and nature preserves skirt the town. Gardens around many buildings sparkle with lovely flowers or huge brightly coloured, delicious smelling vines tumbling over the fences, such as jasmine, passion fruit, honey suckle or morning glory.   Culturally, Modi'in has Purim parades, Passover and Succot marches, book fairs, art shows,  chess tournaments and a spring harmonica concert.  Modi'in has 2 Ashkenazic and 2 Sefardic Synagogues, and four more synagogues are presently being built.    The seven Torah species of plant all grow on this hilltop, providing part of the city's diet and livelihood. Olive trees supply the ancient olive press which visitors can try moving this heavy circular stone press, and those who visit after Succot can join the olive harvest.

How, how, how and on what basis  (other than the obvious one of anti-semitism) is the European Union outlaw-ing Modi'in as a "settlement" for trading or any other mischevious category.   Modi'in is not a 'new' city or any area that could possibly derogatively be termed either not Jewish or a 'settlement' by the EU!

 What the EU mean to say is that this ancient city, an integral part of EY is illegal .... because they consider to be a Jew is illegal.  Somehow not human.   And not entitled to our homeland as any other indigenous people.  In fact we are the ONLY  people, the only nation afforded a homeland in Torah.   The Book of Shemot (Torah) .... " 23:31 And I will set thy border from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness unto the River; (footnote 16) for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee". (Footnote 16: ~  That is, the Euphrates)

Also, just to mention in passing that No Peace Treaty or Deal for Land is permissable by Torah with arabs, germans or any other nation or being.   ~ Shemot 23:32  ~ "Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gds. 23:33 They shall not dwell in thy land ~ lest they make thee sin against Me, for thou wilt serve their gds ~ for they will be a snare unto thee." 

It is not the first time a German centered Europe has put forward this idea of Jewish illegality .... and offered a 'final' solution.   And less than a generation since the last attempt foundered in ignominy!!    Arrogance & Anti Semitism Abound !!!!!

Modi'in ~ a "settlement" or a city??

The Golden Girls Part 2 ..... German Girl to the Core!

Seig Heil for Silver!?!?!?

I penned this piece yesterday, as part of another blog & found that it had taken on a life  (and sort of different subject matter to what I originally intended!) of its own as some potential blogs are wont to do.  I haven't changed the original posting,  which I instead added as a photograph to my  Google + Page   yesterday.  Today it becomes my blog!

Today is the last day of the 2012 Olympic games in London, B"H, and true to my promise I have not watched even one minute of the anti semitic event .... not when Aly Raisman nor Katie Taylor (being Irish!) got Gold.  Inspired by Aly's gutsy stance I decided instead to research for a blog into Jewish Women who have 'Gone for Gold & Glory' over the years.  To my surprise I met this lady (whom I shall blog separately maybe ...) Helene Mayer, the girl giving the Nazi salute in the photograph.

Helene Mayer was NOT Jewish, despite being 'tainted' in Germany of the Third Reich and lauded by the press of the time as such.  Her father was Jewish & she never had any connection to her "Jewishness".  In fact she supported the Nazis. She viewed herself as a "daughter of Germany", and when she was on the podium receiving her silver medal, she gave the "straight armed salute". Many people were shocked and sickened by this, but at the time in 1936, it was merely a gesture showing loyalty to one’s country she claimed. She was 17 years old and the sole "Jew" to participate in the 1936 Berlin Olympics for Germany.

The other two ladies in this picture above are two-time European champion Ilona Schacherer-Elek, a Hungarian also 'tainted' by Jewish ancestry, who won the gold medal and the bronze went to Ellen Preis, an Austrian, who was also of Jewish descent.  (Kinda puts paid to Hitler's Inferior theory, huh?)  Yet at the medal presentation Mayer is the only one to 'salute' ?!?!?!?!?!?!?






After the Olympics, Mayer returned to the United States, (She had been studying at Mills College in California), and in 1937, she won the world championship in Paris, defeating Schacherer-Elek. During the war, Preis was forced to go into hiding to avoid arrest and deportation after the Anschlauss. In the 1948 Olympics in London, Elek and Preis again won the gold and bronze medals respectively.

While safely back on US Soil Meyer wrote to her 'friends' in The Third Reich ....

"I think sooo often about Germany. You would not be able to understand how strong my memory live in me. ... Even though I have a lot to do, there is always a quarter of a hour every day, in which I think back on the wonderful days in Germany and you. I will not start any large praising, but I honestly mean, when I think about the days we were together in friendship, they were the best in my life. ... You were all so nice to me, and I will never forget you. ... The press here in America writes only bad thing about the Olympic Games in Berlin. Everything is propaganda against Germany! But whatever we, the athletes that attended the games, tells they press do not change what they are printing. I have been giving speeches at clubs, universities even in a radio station (National Broadcasting Station) and have told their listeners. These windbags, will never give in, they will not believe that the Olympic Games in Berlin was the best Olympic Games ever. ..... If we, in the future will meet again? I do not know. I only know that I will come back to Germany one day. But will there be room for me there? I am just one of those children that have been hit with a fate. I love Germany as much as you do. I dream and feel German as you and I think as a German just like you. ... In true friendship - yours Helene Mayer"

(anyone who wants to have a copy of Helene Mayer’s letter can contact "Zeitgeschichtliche Forsungstelle Ingolstadt, Germany")

Mayer returned to Germany to live in 1952 but died soon after of cancer.  A German Girl to the Core!!

German Girl Mayer in Nazi Propoganda Pic!

The Golden Girls Part 1 ..... American Olympic Jewesses!!!

Today is the last day of the 2012 Olympic games in London, B"H, and true to my promise I have not watched even one minute of the anti semitic event .... not when Aly Raisman nor Katie Taylor (being Irish!) got Gold.  Inspired by Aly's gutsy stance I decided instead to research for a blog into Jewish Women who have 'Gone for Gold & Glory' over the years.

The undisputed media star of the first week of the 2012 London Olympics was Alexandra “Aly” Raisman, captain of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team.  The talented team won the 2011 World Championships in Tokyo and entered London as the favourites.  On July 31st, with her parents in the stands,  Aly Raisman led the “Fabulous Five,” as the squad was called, to a decisive victory over the once-dominant Russian team and China, the 2008 gold medalists.  Aly started her life as a gymnast at the age of two at a class with her mother, a former high school gymnast. “I always had a lot of energy so it was the perfect fit! I have always loved it ever since!"  The Gold Medalist is set to visit Israel in the coming months.




   
Pole vaulter Jillian Schwartz  didn't begin pole vaulting until she entered Duke University in 1997.  She finished 11th in the 2004 games and excelled at national competitions over the next five years. After winning the gold medal in the Maccabian Games in 2009, she became an Israeli citizen. She is competing for Israel at the London games. When asked why she picked the sport, she said, "There are so many factors involved it makes it a lot more fun than just flat-out running or jumping. And I guess there always is a little ~ I don't want to say fear, but it gets your adrenaline going to be that high in the air."

 
   
Julie Zetlin  is the only American competing in rhythmic gymnastics at the 2012 Olympics. The daughter of a Hungarian national champion in the sport,  Zetlin overcame a series of knee injuries to win a wild card berth on the U.S. team.  American Jewish women have made a strong impact on the Olympic Games over the past 100-plus years and in fact most information I was able to find pertained to American Jews.  I suppose this is not surprising as the largest population of Jews outside of ha'Eretz Yisroel is in North America.  It is also an affluent and influential country in sporting endeavour.  As  Rosa Sonneschein noted in the first issue of 'The American Jewess' .... "Not what has happened, but what is recorded makes history." 

  
Laura Spector made her Olympic debut at the 2010 games in Vancouver, competing in the women's biathlon, a combination of cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. The youngest member of the team at 22, Spector placed 77th in the 7.5km sprint and 65th in the 15km individual. Laura Spector is a native of Lenox, MA,  she began cross-country skiing in the eighth grade – which was also the first time she picked up a rifle. Spector did not expect to medal in her first Olympics and has her eyes set on the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia. She balanced training with undergraduate studies in biological sciences and Jewish studies at Dartmouth College, graduating in 2011.

One of the biggest stories of the 2008 Olympics was 41-year-old swimmer Dara Torres (born in Los Angeles, CA 1967). She competed in her first Olympics in 1984, while many of her competitors were the age her own toddler was during this Olympics. The oldest swimmer to compete in the Olympics, she won three silver medals in Beijing, the fifth Olympics of her career.

Fencer Sada Jacobson (born in Dunwoody, GA, 1983), one of the top women competitors in the fencing world, won a bronze medal in saber in Beijing, repeating her performance in the event in Athens in 2004, where the sport made its Olympic debut.  





Marathon Runner Deena Kastor (born in Waltham, MA, 1973) was the bronze medalist at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, becoming only the second American woman ever to medal in the event.

Historically too, American Jewish women take precedence ..... Gold and silver medallist Bobbie Rosenfeld was an outstanding athlete.   She was Canadian .... A celebrated track and field star, she excelled at virtually every sport from tennis to softball to ice hockey. With almost no formal coaching, Rosenfeld shattered national records and starred at the 1928 Olympics, the first year women were allowed to compete in track and field events. As a legendary talent and later as a sports columnist who worked extensively in North America she helped smash traditional barriers to women's participation in athletics.

I just adore her costume ~ I'd so love one!

Known as "Mother of Women's Swimming in America,"  Charlotte Epstein founded the Women's Swimming Association and coached the Women's Olympic Swimming Team in the 1920s. Epstein was born in New York City where she became a court stenographer. In 1917, after she and a few other businesswomen expressed their desire to swim after work for exercise, Epstein formed the Women's Swimming Association to promote the health benefits of the sport. As manager and president of the WSA, Epstein guided many of its members to Olympic victory; she herself was the U.S. Women's Olympic Swimming Team's manager for the 1920, 1924, and 1928 games. Swimmers under her leadership won thirty national championships and set fifty-one world records. In 1935, Epstein chaired the swimming committee in charge of team selection at the second Maccabiah Games in Tel Aviv,  the next year, she boycotted the Olympics in Berlin in protest over Nazi policies, B"H.

Lillian Copeland was an Olympic champion in the discus throw. She was born in New York to Minnie Drasnin, a Polish immigrant. After her father died, she was raised by her mother and stepfather Abraham Copeland in Los Angeles. A four-time national champion in shot put, Copeland switched to the discus throw and set a new world record at the 1928 Olympic trials. She was the first woman to win a silver medal for the discus throw and later broke the Olympic and world records to win a gold medal at the 1932 Olympics. She played in the 1935 (Second) World Maccabiah games but boycotted the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. A law school graduate, Copeland joined the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in 1936 and worked there until her retirement in 1960.

The United States participated in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin ~ the "Nazi Olympics" ~  (of which I have more to write later in the week!) sending the largest delegation of any country (312 athletes). Not every athlete who qualified for the team chose to go, however. Track and field athletes Milton Green, Norman Cahners, and Lillian Copeland chose not to go. "Syd" Koff, winner of four gold medals at the Maccabean games in 1932, was eligible to compete in the high jump and the broad jump yet decided not to go to Berlin. "Syd" (born Sybil Tabachnikoff), who as a girl had to sneak out of her parents' home to participate in track and field events, thus never won an Olympic medal.

Hoping "to show what a Jew could do" and "to use her talent as a weapon against Nazi ideology," Margaret Lambert (nicknamed Gretel) wanted to compete in the 1936 Olympics for Germany. Though she tied the German high-jump record, she was (as a Jew) not allowed on the team. Lambert emigrated to the United States in 1937. The stadium she was not allowed to enter as an athlete in 1936 was later named for her. In 2009 her record from 1936 was officially restored by the German track and field association, which also requested she be admitted to the German sports hall of fame. That same year, a movie about her life, 'Berlin 36', debuted in German Cinemas.  I am awaiting a copy of this movie and I will review it when I view it!!

As a token gesture to mollify the West, German authorities allowed fencer Helene Mayer to represent Germany in Berlin.  She was not Jewish, but viewed as such by Nazi Criteria.  And tomorrow's blog will feature this lady, who was revulsed by her apparent "Jewishness" and thus does not belong in today's blog offering of Proud Jewish Ladies!!

Aly Raisman's Golden Routine ... Notice the 'Hava Negila' below!!!!!

Sbarro Slaughter Remembered ....

Eleven years ago today, an Hamas Suicide bomber killed 15 Israelis in a Sbarro Pizzeria at the corner of King George Street and Jaffa Road in downtown Jerusalem, Israel, on August 9th, 2001. 15 lunchtime diners ~ women & children ~ were murdered and 130 wounded with a bomb containing nails, nuts and bolts among its powerful explosives.   Carrying the explosives in a bag strapped to his body, the terrorist entered the restaurant just before 2 PM and detonated the bomb. The 5 kg.-10 kg. bomb, which was packed with nails, screws, and bolts, completely gutted the restaurant, which was full of lunchtime diners,  whose only crime was a desire for a slice of pizza on a beautiful Jerusalem afternoon.

One year later on the first Yahrzeit of this attrocity,  sick students at Al-Najah University in Nablus ~ "palestinians" ~ opened an exhibition that included a grisly re-enactment of the bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem with body parts and pizza slices strewn around the room in which they recalled the "accomplishment" of the murderer.  And yet sympathy lies with the plight of these scum and Israel is called an 'apartheid' nation for taking security measures to protect it's citizenry. 

And ten years after that horror let us remember those slain in the summer sunshine whilst eating lunch that day, 20th Av, 2001.  May their Neshamot receive an Aliyah.

*  Giora Balash, 60, of Brazil

* Zvika Golombek, 26, of Carmiel

* Shoshana Yehudit Greenbaum, 31, of the U.S.

*  Tehila Maoz, 18, of Jerusalem
*  Frieda Mendelsohn, 62, of Jerusalem
*  Michal Raziel, 16, of Jerusalem
*  Malka Roth, 15, of Jerusalem
*  Mordechai Schijveschuurder, 43, of Neria
*  Tzira Schijveschuurder, 41, of Neria
*  Ra'aya Schijveschuurder, 14, of Neria
*  Avraham Yitzhak Schijveschuurder, 4, of Neria
*  Hemda Schijveschuurder, 2, of Neria
*  Lily Shimashvili, 33, of Jerusalem
*  Tamara Shimashvili, 8, of Jerusalem
*  Yocheved Shoshan, 10, of Jerusalem

There is an old Yiddish proverb .... Those who are Remembered do Not Die.  As Jews we have a duty of Zakhor ...  The family that may have been most torn apart by the Sbarro attack was the Schijveschuurder family. Two of the parents and three of the eight children (including an infant from whom all that was recovered was a pacifier) were murdered at Sbarro. A couple of other children were injured.  I've lit a yahrzeit candle & recited yizkor & given tzedaka in their merit.  May the memories of all who died that day be for a blessing .... Judaism (unlike islam) does not glorify nor mystify death, but instead remembers the precious lives of those slaughtered. Shall you Join me?  


I'm including a link to a heart rending blog which includes the words of a teenage survivor and her father     ... One Survivor's Story ....       and the Youtube video below which contains video images of the scene and is quite gruesome. Both are heart rending & tear inducing. 

Another British Blunder!

A quickly blogged paragraph in passing as I prepare for the morning's traffic ..... it is not my intended blog for today,  and rarely do I post twice in one day, but today I cannot not post this as an 'opener'.  It seems this morning that the British Press (above picture is from today's 'Telegraph' print edition) needs yet more instruction in Geography ..... Katie Taylor is like myself a Dublin Girl.  This makes her Irish.   Not British.  She is currently the Irish, European, and World Women's boxing champion and likely to capture the Gold Medal in her event at this Olypmics in London.  Perhaps this is the reason for this morning's co-option???   


And Just for the British Press .... And Anyone else who doubts Katie Taylor is an Irish Girl!

Whatever their reason is, this constitutes Another Fail ..... just like in the British Press, the BBC et al's refusal to recognise Y'rushalayim as the Capital City of the Jewish State of Yisrael.  While granting that status to the fictional entity that is 'palestine', which has been afforded 'nation' status in competition at the Anti Semitic games currently happening in London, the Capital City of the United Kingdom.  Or is it??  Who decided that?   Why can it not be Edinburgh?  Or Dublin?  May I decide?

The Guardian Newspaper has this morning issued an apology for stating that Tel Aviv is the Capital City of Israel.  Read it here .....  Apology     It is not. Not Now. Nor Never has it been.  Jerusalem (undivided) IS the Capital City of the Jewish State of Israel .... historically, Now at present & this will Always be. Ha'Shem has decreed this. It is an eternal declaration & certainly not open for 'discussion' at any forum of 'the nations'.  It is not up to 'The Guardian', the BBC, or the International Community, or any Other nation or entity to decide on Eretz Yisrael's Capital City.  Or any other matter pertaining to the Sovereign State of Israel!!!!

Read previous blogs pertaining to this here .....    BBC = Biased Broadcasting Corporation


and here for the Full Story ....    BBC .... A Capital Crime?

Anne's Movie Moment !!

“If we bear all this suffering and if there are still Jews left, when it is over, then Jews, instead of being doomed, will be held up as an example.” 

 ~ Anne Frank ~ 

On August 4th, 1944,  Anne Frank was arrested with her family & sent to Westerbork en route to Auschwicz, then on to Bergen Belsen. She did not survive the War, but her writing did. I watched this last night, Very Moving. Made me cry huge tears & that is why I decided to post today (Ahead of Movie Monday & After Film Friday) .... Although it is not what I intended to blog at all!!! 

The Diary of Anne Frank is amazing for many reasons. It is remarkably easy to read, giving an extraordinarily intimate and detailed view of the thoughts of a teenage girl, revealing her cognitive patterns and concerns.   Whether she knew it or not, she used the diary as self-therapy to try to find some solace and reason in the midst of a world full of irreconcilable contradictions. She used writing to define her personal moral and ethical questions, and to articulate the best answers and definitions she could find. For example, as seen above, she defines multiple (equally accurate and co-existing) definitions for the word "contradictions.” In the midst of her insane world, she never stopped trying to improve her reasoning, knowledge, and character.

The Diary of Anne Frank reveals a brilliant mind trying to find “truth” amidst overwhelmingly contradictary data, forces, and ideologies.  Or make sense of life, like any teenager ... and to 'find herself' to boot.  I read her diary as a child and loved it & identified with it, in equal measure and with Anne, her teenage dilemmas and her approach to life.  Filled with Dreams and Destiny.  Her work exudes modesty and self deprecation. Why do some of the finest female artists so often feel this way about themselves? About their art?

“Anyone could ramble on and leave big spaces between the words, but the trick was to come up with convincing arguments to prove the necessity of talking.”  
~ June 21, 1942 ... 'The Diary of a Young Girl' by Anne Frank ~

If you’ve never read the Diary of Anne Frank, you may mistakenly think the diary is only interesting and relevant because Anne later died in the Shoah. It IS an essential & important work for Shoah Studies. But if you’ve read the Diary of Anne Frank, you may agree that the work is meritorious completely independent of her subsequent history. Her diary is a remarkable record of a young woman developing mentally, sexually, and spiritually. And for that reason too it should be required reading for girls as they develop into womanhood. Even without her holocaustic demise, her diary would still have tremendous independent worth ~ it is timeless and universal in its juvenile perspectives and thoughts.

Her loss is a loss for the world. While I posit that her precious work stands on its own without context, it is the context which makes the tragic destruction of such innocent beauty a thousand times more terrible. No, actually one & a half million times more terrible, for that is the number of children who were slaughtered in the shoah or six million times more terrible as six million talented and brilliant Jews were similarly slaughtered.

Sometimes tragedies are felt and recorded in the words & actions of Kings and Nations. Sometimes equal tragedies can be experienced in the heart and mind of just one girl.  And Anne's Diary is such a record.  She says in her diary .... "I don't want to have lived in vain like most people. I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I've never met. I want to go on living even after my death!"  

I would posit that her writing achieves this for sure.  This movie will move you, shock you, make you cry and mostly just inspire you.

“I know what I want, I have a goal, an opinion, I have a religion and love. Let me be myself and then I am satisfied. I know that I’m a woman, a woman with inward strength and plenty of courage.  Those who have courage and faith shall never perish in misery” 
~ Anne Frank ~

It is the Movie in Full on Youtube which follows ......  And this is without doubt a worthily made movie of her life. The best one out there, & I'll bet it makes you cry!

Troubled Times .... From Tisha to Tu B'Av!!

"If you believe that it is possible to break, believe it is also possible to fix"
~ Rabbi Nachman of Breshlev ~

I wasn't intending to post today, intending instead to ignore totally Tu B'Av.  Today,  Tu B'Av (the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Av), is the most mystical day of the Jewish Calendar.  In Israel it is celebrated as a holiday of love ( חג האהבה, Chag Ha'Ahava),  kind of like Valentine’s Day is for the Goyim, except a lot less commercial.  An Auspicious day to Wed or otherwise engage in the pursuit of 'love'.  Judaism  is full of so much emotion ...  in fact all of the emotions reside in our neshamot, because that is what Ha'Shem has breathed into us Jews & why we 'feel' especially deeply.

Today is a festival of Hope after much Hurt, especially in the month of Av itself. It is the half way point in the month, and the point  of the month where Din becomes Rachamim with Ha'Shem in his interactions with us in preparation for Elul & the Days of Awe .  And kinda like the weekly Parashat reflects real life I find I am living through the Parsha this week too,  so I thought I would post something.  A Shuir that blew me away and some comments on the time ~ the week (6 Days actually) between Tisha and Tu B'Av.  The Saddest Day of the Jewish year and what Talmud calls  one of the greatest festivals of the year!   May Ha'Shem bring Healing to those Hurting today, especially in matters of the Heart.

Beginning with Tu B'Av, we start preparing ourselves spiritually for the month of Elul, the prologue to the coming Days of Awe. The days begin to get shorter, the nights get longer. The weather, too, helps us to take spiritual stock ...  the hectic days of the harvest are over and the pace of life slows, allowing for introspection & preparation for the high holidays to come.  Rosh Hashanah is just one month away .... and our king Ha'Shem walks among his people in the field next month, B"H.

 The Talmud goes on to list several joyous events which occurred on the 15th day of the month of Av ~ Tu Be'Av!

   1) The dying of the generation of the Exodus ceased.

 
 Several months after the people of Israel were freed from Egyptian slavery, the incident of the "Spies" demonstrated their unpreparedness for the task of conquering the land of Canaan and developing it as the "Holy Land." Ha'Shem decreed that that entire generation would die out in the desert, and that their children would enter the land in their stead (as recounted in Bamidbar 13 and 14). After 40 years of wandering through the wilderness, the dying finally ended, and a new generation of Jews stood ready to enter Eretz Yisrael. It was the 15th day of Av of the year 2487 from creation (1274 BCE). As long as members of this doomed generation were still alive, Ha'Shem didn't communicate with Moshe. As soon as the last of these men died, once again Ha'Shem lovingly communicated with Moshe.  

But in fact Ha'Shem demonstrated that it was Tu B'Av that was the turning point from Judgement (Din) to Compassion (Rachamim) when He annulled the final years deaths .... That last year, the last 15,000 people got ready to die.   Ha'Shem, in His mercy, decided not to have that last group die, considering all the troubles they had gone through. Now, when the ninth of Av approached, all the members of the group got ready to die, but nothing happened. They then decided that they might have been wrong about the date, so they waited another day, and another...  Finally on the 15th of Av, when the full moon appeared, they realized definitely that the ninth of Av had come and gone, and that they were still alive. Then it was clear to them that Ha'Shems decree was over, and that He had finally forgiven the people for the "Sin of the Spies"!

2) The tribes of Israel were permitted to intermarry among the Jewish Tribes.

In order to ensure the orderly division of the Holy Land between the twelve tribes of Israel, restrictions had been placed on marriages between members of two different tribes. A woman who had inherited tribal lands from her father was forbidden to marry out of her tribe, lest her children ~ members of their father's tribe ~ cause the transfer of land from one tribe to another by inheriting her estate (as recounted in Bamidbar 36). This ordinance was binding on the generation that conquered and settled the Holy Land; when the restriction was lifted, on the 15th of Av, the event was considered a cause for celebration and festivity.

3) The tribe of Benjamin was permitted to enter the community.

Av 15th was also the day on which the tribe of Benjamin, which had been excommunicated for its behaviour in the incident of the "Concubine at Givah," was readmitted into the community of Israel (as related in Shoftim 19-21 ... this occurred during the judgeship of Othniel ben Knaz, who led the people of Israel in the years 2533-2573 from creation (1228-1188 BCE)).

4) Hosea ben Eilah opened the roads to Jerusalem.

Upon the division of the Holy Land into two kingdoms following the death of King Solomon in the year 2964 from creation (797 BCE), Jeroboam ben Nebat, ruler of the breakaway Northern Kingdom of Israel, set up roadblocks to prevent his citizens from making the thrice-yearly pilgrimage to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, capital of the Southern Kingdom of Judea. These were finally removed more than 200 years later by Hosea ben Eilah, the last king of the Northern Kingdom, on Av 15, 3187 (574 BCE).

5) The dead of Betar were allowed to be buried.

The fortress of Betar was the last holdout of the Bar Kochba rebellion. When Betar fell on the 9th of Av, 3893 (133 CE), Bar Kochba and many thousands of Jews were killed. The Romans massacred the survivors of the battle with great cruelty and would not even allow the Jews to bury their dead. When the dead of Betar were finally brought to burial on Av 15th, 3908 (148 CE), an additional blessing (HaTov VehaMeitiv) was added to the "Grace After Meals" in commemoration.

6) "The day of the breaking of the axe."

When the Holy Temple stood in Jerusalem, the annual cutting of firewood for the altar was concluded on the 15th of Av. The event was celebrated with feasting and rejoicing (as is the custom upon the conclusion of a holy endeavor) and included a ceremonial breaking of the axes which gave the day its name.

This is a direct counterpoise to the 5 Tragedies which befell Am Yisrael on Tisha B'Av ~ the 9th day of Av .... Tu B'Av  is the polar opposite of Tisha B'Av ~  there is no darker eclipse than that preceding this full moon!

“Comfort My people, comfort My people, says your G-d.
Console Jerusalem and cry to her that her transgression is appeased…
You that bring good tidings to Zion, get yourself up into the high mountain;
You that bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength; ‘
Lift it up, be not afraid ~
Say to the cities of Judah, ‘behold your G-d!’”

~ Yeshayahu, Chapter 40 ~

 
Tisha B'Av,  The "ninth day"  in the Jewish month of Av, which starts at sundown on the eighth day and concludes at sundown on the ninth day of Av is the day when the intensity of the entire 'three weeks' mourning period reaches its peak, and a day when tragedy has befallen B'nei Yisroel.

According to our Sages, many tragic events occurred to our ancestors on this day ..... 

    1) The 'sin of the spies' caused Ha'Shem to decree that the Children of Israel who left Egypt would not be permitted to enter the land of Israel.

    2) The first Temple was destroyed in 586 BCE (Jewish year 3338)  by the Babylonians, led by Nebuchadnezzar. Am Yisrael were sent into what later became known as the Babylonian Exile.

    3)  The second Temple was destroyed in 70 CE (3830)  destroyed by the Romans,  led by Titus.

    4) Betar,  the last fortress to hold out against the Romans during the Bar Kochba revolt in the year 135 CE (3895),  fell,  sealing the fate of the Jewish people.   Bar Kochba himself was killed along with more than 100,000 other Jews.  The Roman Emperor Hadrian turned Jerusalem into a Roman city. and renames the Holy Land ‘Palestina’ !!!

    5) One year after the fall of Betar, the Temple area was ploughed.

    6)  In 1290 (5050), King Edward I of England signed an edict expelling all Jews from England.

     7)  In 1492 (5252),  King Ferdinand of Spain issued the expulsion decree, 'The Alhambra Decree'  setting Tisha B'Av as the final date by which not a single Jew would be allowed to walk on Spanish soil.    

    8) World War I which began the downward slide to the Holocaust began on Tisha B’av in 1918 (5678).

    9)  The beginning of the deportation of Jews from Warsaw to the Treblinka Death Camp. The SS purposely began this action on Tisha B'Av in 1942  (5702)  and Nazis begin deporting Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto in the same year.

    10)  The Expulsion of 9,000 Jews from their homes in Gush Katif to allow the savage enemy arabs to occupy our land in Gaza & use it as a launching pad for Rockets to Rain on Eretz Yisrael began on Tisha B'Av.

Also, could be added  the Hebron massacre of Jews in 1929 & the expulsion of the Jews from France in 1306.  Adds up to a very hefty series of tragedies!!

Our Sages teach that whoever mourns over Jerusalem will merit the future vision of her joy. As it is written in Yeshayahu (Chapter 66, pasuk 10), "rejoice greatly with her, all who mourn her."

"Whoever Mourns for Jerusalem will be Meritorious and will see it's Rejoicing ... and All who do not Mourn for Jerusalem will not see it's Rejoicing".
~ Talmud, Taanit 30b ~

On Tisha B'Av, we express the hope that "Mashiach" who, according to Jewish Tradition, will be born on Tisha B'Av,  is indeed already in the world and that the next Tisha B'Av will be celebrated as a joyous "Moed" in Y'rushalayim, in the courtyards of the Third Beit HaMikdash.  According to the Rambam, it is  Mashiach who will lead the Jewish People in the building of the Third Beit HaMikdash, that is never to be destroyed.

All of the Prophets prophesied concerning the “Acharit HaYamim,” the “End-of-Days,”   Yeshayahu perhaps most beautifully .....

“And it shall come to pass in the End-of-Days,
That the mountain of the House of Ha'Shem shall be established
As the tops of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow into it.”

“And many peoples shall go and say:
’Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the L-rd,
To the house of the G-d of Yaakov;
And He will teach us of His ways.

We shall go in His paths,
For out of Zion shall Torah come forth,
And the word of the L-rd from Y'rushalayim.”
Yeshayahu (2:2-3)

and also,

“Even them will I bring to My holy mountain,
And make them joyful in My house of prayer;
Their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices
Shall be acceptable upon My altar;
For My house shall be called
A house of prayer for all peoples.”

Yeshayahu (56:7)

This Shuir was Inspirational to me .... It made me Cry! 

Shuir ~ Finding Ha'Shem in these Days of Difficulty from Tisha B'Av to Tu B'Av ~ Where is He?