Thoughts on Lag B’Omer

As anyone who lives in Israel knows, Lag B’Omer is only a few days away.

You can always tell when Lag B’Omer is coming as supermarkets lock down their trolleys and anyone with anything made out of wood makes sure that it’s bolted in place lest hoards of young teenagers “borrow” it for their bonfire and carry it off in a trolley that they “borrowed” from a supermarket.

Even the non-Jews in the area know that Lag B’Omer is just around the corner. My son has strict instructions to only take wood from construction sites with the permission of workers at the site. He told me that last week one of the Arab asked him מתי חג האש (when is the “Fire Festival”).

A few points about Lag B’Omer:

• The Holiday is about Rabbi Akiva and ואהבת לרעך כמוך (Love you neighbour as yourself), damaging property, or stealing is certainly not an appropriate way to express this important principle.
• Similarly, anyone with teenagers know that they become very “clicky”; who gets invited to which bonfire is a major social issue for both of my older kids – if you have teenagers, you should remind them that excluding people from a bonfire is also against the whole concept of ואהבת לרעך כמוך
• Fire Safety and Road Safety are both more important than a large bonfire or travelling to Meron. I’ve been very pleased to hear ads on the Radio stressing the importance of driving safely, and I’m told that the Charedi neighbourhoods have Peshkevalim about Fire Safety. I don’t remember this in previous years, so it’s good to see that the education system is moving in the right direction.

If you’re looking for a tiyul on Lag B’omer, here are 2 suggestions which I probably wont get to this year, but would like to in the future:

Rachel, Wife of Rabbi Akiva

Just outside Tivireya is the Grave of Rachel, Rabbi Akiva’s wife. (Directions available here or here). This “grave” was only relatively recently discovered, but has an interesting story:

Until a few decades ago, this spot was neglected and full of litter. Then, one day, a hazy figure rescued a young man about to drown in Lake Kinneret. That night, Rahel appeared to him in a dream, told him that she had saved his life, and revealed the site of her grave. Armed with this new knowledge, the swimmer built this impressive monument.
Source: Jerusalem Post

With Kivrei Tzadikim, I always found the historical accuracy of the site less important than the story around the site, and as far as stories go, I love this one.

Mevasseret to Ramot (or Lifta)

The valley between Mevasseret Tzion and Yerushalayim is fascinating. I did it a many years ago with some guys from Yeshiva.

What is amazing is that right below the highway, there is a quiet peaceful valley with wildlife and caves to explore.

The connection to Lag B’Omer is that in several of the caves you can see water dripping onto rocks where the water has created a hole in the rock, just as described in the well known legend of Rabbi Akiva, definitely worth a visit.

A Jew and a Taliban Walk into a Tie shop

The Internet is abuzz with a Joke about a Jewish merchant outsmarting a Taliban guy as told by told by the National Security Advisor, General James L. Jones at a pro-Israel think tank.

Many people have accused Jones of telling an Anti-Semitic joke (or worse, representing an Anti-Semitic president).

Ha’artetz quoted a “prominent think-tank source” as saying that the joke was "wrong in so many levels" and that it "demonstrated a lack of sensitivity."

YNet quotes Anti-Defamation League head Abe Foxman as calling the joke “inappropriate," saying, "It's stereotypic," he said. "Some people believe they need to start a speech with a joke; this was about the worst kind of joke the head of the National Security Council could have told."

I am bothered by prominent Jewish figures who look for anti-Semitism in places where it clearly doesn’t exist.

If as a community we scream “Anti-Semitism” every time someone tells a joke, makes a speech, directs a movie, or writes a magazine column that includes Jews or criticizes Israel, what are we supposed to do when we see real anti-Semitism (like attacks on Synagogues or Jewish schools, attacks on people dressed like Jews, or calls to attack or kill Jews).

We have got to the point where anti-Israeli columnists open columns with a statement like “‘Some Jewish groups go so far as claiming any criticism of Israel is fuelled by anti-Semitism”, and then feel free to say whatever they want about Israel or Jews, because if they are accused of being anti-Semitic, that just proves their point.

However, I think that DovBear accurately summed up the joke affair:

• The joke isn't funny.
• The joke is poorly told.
• The joke isn't offensive to Jews. It merely depicts us as smarter than a Taliban warrior. I'd like to meet the Jew who does not consider himself brighter than any Taliban.
• The fact that Jones told a joke starring a smart Jew is no proof that his boss, the president, hates our guts. My dear GOP Jews, I know its tempting to make this leap of logic but the conclusion doesn't follow.

But, if you really feel that the joke is in bad taste or reflects badly on Jews, you should contact the people that told it first, that known anti-Jewish website: Aish HaTorah.

(Hat Tip: DovBear Comment from JustAJew)

9 out of every thousand? And the Order of The Red Breast

Scam Detectives has an interesting interview with a former Nigerian 419 Scammer.

You know the scam, if you have an email account you must have received many email offers promising millions of dollars if you help some poor Nigerian widow or Banker get rid of extra money that they don’t need.

I was always puzzled by these emails, maybe once upon a time people could be fooled, but today I would have thought that everyone has seen these types of scams hundreds of times and could see right through.

What amazed me in the interview is that the ex-scammer claims that almost 1% of emails get a response (he says 9-10 at of every thousand) and 5% of responses lead to a successful scam, averaging about $7500.

That means that if a scammer sends out 500,000 emails (which doesn’t sound unreasonable to me) he could make well over a million dollars with little or no cost to himself.

The interview was a very interesting read, here are some of the highlights:

John: I’m 23 years old and was released from prison in Nigeria in October last year where I served two years for fraud. I am now doing a business studies course at college and am in the UK on a student exchange programme. As part of my rehabilitation I am also working with the EFCC in Nigeria to help them understand more about scams and how the gangs work. I don’t do scams any more.

Scam-Detective: What kind of scams were you involved with?

John: Mainly advance fee fraud where we would tell people that someone has died and left millions in a bank or safety deposit box and that we needed help to get it out of the country.

…

Scam-Detective: But where do the “foot soldiers” find the email addresses?

John: Lots of people sign guestbooks online and leave their email addresses all over the internet on forums and websites. We would just visit the guestbooks, forums and websites and harvest the email addresses….

Scam-Detective: What percentage of emails would get a response?

John: Maybe 9 or 10 out of every thousand emails. Then maybe 1 out of every 20 replies would lead to us getting money out of the victim in the end.

Scam-Detective: And how much money would you expect to get from a victim?

John: On average, about $7,500 (£4,600) but the most I know about was $25,000 (£15,400)….

John: In the year before I was arrested I earned about $75,000 (£46,000) for my family. I bought my family a better house and drove a BMW. I had mobile phones and laptops and everything that comes with having lots of money.

Please, if you know someone who may have been taken in by this type of scam, please alert the police or appropriate authorities.

Ohh – and for people not familiar with Holy Church of The Order of The Red Breast, take a look at this great example of how to out scam the scammers:

http://www.419eater.com/html/joe_eboh.htm

Other interesting stories here:
http://www.419baiter.com/games.html

Avner Netanayhu - Tanach Champion

When we were first married we lived in Givat Mordechai and had an older neighbour who personified the old world Secular-Labour-Zionist ideology.

He was very careful in his use of Hebrew and often corrected my use of language. To him the revival of the Hebrew language was one of the great achievements of the Zionist movement and it distressed him to hear the language abused, particularly in the media.

He was one of the first people I knew to get an Internet connection which he used to study Tanach, which was one of his hobbies. He was delighted when we named our first child Yehoshua a biblical name,

On Shabbat afternoons he used to drive to Har Herzl to meet with other like minded people and in the Shadow of Herzl's grave used to discuss and study Zionist text, poetry, and ideology.

To me he represented the world view of Ben Gurion and the other founders of the State who came here out of a firm sense of Jewish history, language, and geography based largely on the Tanach.

Unfortunately these values seemed difficult to pass onto future generations. Our neighbour's children all left Israel and grandchildren hardly spoke Hebrew. Similarly Ben Gurion and Chaim Weiztmann had children or grandchildren who left Israel.

It seems that this inability to pass on a love for Eretz Yisrael and Torat Yisrael was a big failing of the Labour Zionist movement.

This is why it was so refreshing to see the son of our current prime minister, who comes from several generations of prominent Zionists is continuing in his father's footsteps, not only in his love for Eretz Ysiarel, but he has won the Jerusalem Regional Bible competition and will go on to represent the region in the National Championships on Yom Haatzmaut.

Well done Avner Netanyah, may you continue in your father's footsteps in your commitment to the Jewish People and the Tanach.

(As an aside, the article uses the phrase "נתניהו ג'וניור" this abuse of the Hebrew language is a great example of what upset my former neighbour)

Hat Tip: Life in Israel

An Israeli, a Palestinian, and Peace Negotiator walk into a Bar

Here are 2 cute jokes courtesy of Barry Rubin…

An Israeli, a Palestinian, and an American peacemaker walk into a bar. They each order a drink. The American turns to the Israeli and says: "You pay for everyone as a confidence-building measure."

……

The UN secretary-general announces the creation of a great UN world soccer team, including all the member countries.
But, asks his deputy, "Then who would we play against?"
"Well, Israel, of course," the secretary-general answers.

Did I just agree with Larry?

About a year ago I outlined my idea of how we can move towards peace in this tiny land.

Basically my theory is that high-level peace talks only lead to distrust and friction as our leaders meet as adversaries across a negotiating table. Everyone is pushing for a better deal and in the process demonizing the “other”.

In additional, borders, fences, violence, and mistrust make it increasingly difficult for Jews and Arabs to interact on a personal level.

I believe that the best way forward is to leave the “political process” and instead invest in educational, medical, and social opportunities for Jews and Arabs to interact.

If a generation grows up that don’t think of the “other” as “the enemy” possibly they will be able to make peace (I’m talking about at least 20 years from now, not “Peace Now”). The exact details of the peace plan, whether a Palestinian State (with open borders and a Jewish minority), or a semi-autonomous state, or a bi-national state, or any other solution can only de discussed once we have learned to live together.

I’m not sure whether I should be glad or frustrated that today there was a column in the (new look) Jerusalem Post which agrees with me that we need to find ways for Jews and Arabs to interact.

Frustrated because the author, fellow Modi’in resident Larry Derfner is well known for his incoherent articles. Although presented as a left-wing columnist, he is not a good spokesman for the left as his columns normally make so sense other than whatever the problem, Israel (or “The Settlers”) are to blame.

I hope that the fact that in this instance I seem to be agreeing with him does not dis-prove the logic in my idea.

The Tefillin Bomber

Many blogs and news sources have discussed the story about the plane that was diverted when a young man davened with Tefilin on flight.

If you haven’t heard the details, what basically happened was that 17 year old Calev Liebowitz bordered a 7:30 flight from New York to Kentuky with his sister. During the flight he davened with Tefillin. A flight attendant asked him what they were and he politely explained that they were Jewish religious prayer items.

The flight attendant who had never encountered Tefillin before told the pilot that there was a passenger with an object strapped to his head and praying. The pilot decided to be extra cautious and landed the plane in the nearest airport where Calev and his sister were briefly detained and questioned before establishing that it was a simple misunderstanding and they were released and put on the next flight to Kentuky.

Grunting has an interesting interview with Calev and his sister Dalia.

What was heartening about this story is that as far as I can tell, no one did anything wrong.

Calev davened on the plane but was polite and explained what he was doing when questioned.

The flight crew were understandably cautious, given recent events by religious extremists to blow up planes.

The ground crew quickly ascertained that this was a mis-understanding and released Calev and Dalia quickly without pressing charges (not sure whether they also apologised).

(This is in contrast to the Chasid flying out of Montreal last year who didn’t speak French or English, but decided to daven Mincha as the flight was preparing for take-off, he was quite correctly removed from the flight)

Many people have come out with guidelines on Davening on a plane, in particular I’d recommend Gil Student’s post on Praying on an Airplane, but the general guidelines are clear:

• If at all possible, daven before or after the flight.
• If appropriate, inform the cabin crew that you are going to pray, especially if it is on a route which probably does not regularly have religious Jews.
  The flight crew may ask you to wait as they are about to give out meals or prepare for landing etc, follow their instructions.
• Make sure that you do not disturb others, do not organize a minyan or obstruct the food cart or other passengers.
• Daven in your seat, or if there is an available space, ask the cabin crew if it would be OK to pray there.
• Most important, be friendly and polite, remember that other passengers or crew have probably never seen a Jew pray before and may be curious or concerned, especially in light of recent (non-Jewish) radicals who have carried out attacks in the name of religion.

An interesting side-note to the story is that with all the publicity many people have had a least a basic education on Tefillin, and there has been at least one individual who decided to put on Tefillin for the first time as a response to the story.