On September 11, 2001, a gang of Al Qaeda terrorists executed the deadliest attack ever on American soil. In a multi-prong operation they hijacked four airliners on a suicide mission.
Two were flown directly into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.
In New York, a horrified young couple watched from their 36th-story window in a skyscraper about 500 yards from the ritzy World Trade Center as the attack unfolded before their eyes. By a miracle, they had the presence of mind to grab a video camera and record the tragedy for history's sake, and for the sake of those who must learn from this terrible nightmare. The following home video by "Bob" and "Bri," released five years ago, has been distributed by the U.S. National Terror Alert. It was posted subsequently on the Arutz Sheva English language website today to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.
The third plane was flown into the Pentagon in Washington D.C. But the fourth never reached its target thanks to an equally daring group of passengers on the flight, who decided to sacrifice their lives to a greater cause and fought off their captors, derailing their plans and crashing the plane instead into an open field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It never managed to crash into what investigators later came to believe was the Capitol building in Washington D.C., where both the Senate and House of Representatives were in full session at the time. Had that plane succeeded in its mission, Al Qaeda would have destroyed America's federal government that day.
May the memory of the thousands who were lost in that conflagration be for a blessing, and may their blood be avenged.
Ein Gedi Botanic Garden
Seek the serenity of a Judean Desert sky in Autumn at the Ein Gedi Botanic Garden
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Thursday, December 02, 2010
A Terrific Chanukah Overnight Music Video
Happy Chanukah everybody! You will, as Carl at Israel Matzav says, really "love this" -- check it out.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Death Threat Sent to Chabad Lubavitch Emissary in Arad
Released for publication: The family of Chabad emissary Rabbi Yaakov Mendelzohn received a death threat from an unidentified assailant in their mail box last Wednesday, November 2.
The carefully lettered page was “decorated” with heavy dark Hebrew words that appeared to be dripping with blood.
“BEWARE OF YOUR LIVES!” the letter proclaimed. “If Yaakov does not step down from the edifice upon which he has risen, Chen 19, WE WILL TAKE HIM DOWN.
“With thanks,
“The S.O.S. Society”
The letter also bore an elegantly-drawn likeness of a Chassidic man, and at the bottom, a large black revolver. The letters “S.O.S.” were written three times across the top of the page as well. Chen 19 is the address of the city's Ashkenazi Central Synagogue, where the rabbi serves as spiritual leader.
Rabbi Mendelzohn's wife Chanie immediately notified Arad police. Her husband, who was in New York at the time attending the Chabad Lubavitch International Conference of Shluchim, spoke with police upon his return to Israel this week.
An investigation is under way.
Monday, October 11, 2010
When the Immigration Police Come to Call
The Martinez family, headed by 70-year-old Emanuel and his 59-year-old wife Ruth, worked hard, even though it was tough to manage, since they really had no legal status in the State of Israel. Having come here from a farm in Kentucky on a tourist visa that had eventually expired, they remained nevertheless, convinced they were "home."
Life in Israel isn't easy for those who want to become a member of the tribe; if you are not halachically Jewish (according to the laws of the Torah) you must convince the authorities to allow you to convert, even if your father was Jewish. If neither parent is Jewish, your chances are even worse -- Israeli officials generally want to know why anyone would want to be Jewish, and make it as difficult as possible for someone to do so.
Part of that is S.O.P. -- the Torah makes it clear that Judaism does not seek converts -- but Israel takes that attitude to an art form. And unless you already qualify to become a citizen of the state through the Law of Return -- that is, unless you are already one-quarter Jewish, somehow, with at least one Jewish grandparent -- frankly, Scarlet, you are usually out of luck. Gentiles who want to convert and join the Jewish people are usually politely advised to do that elsewhere in the world.
Emanuel had a letter from his mother, telling him about the candles she remembered her own mother lighting on Friday nights, and the mezuzah she saw adorning the doorposts of her house, and those on the homes in her village in Mexico. But the Rabbinate said it wasn't strong enough evidence to prove Jewish ancestry, and the Martinez family failed the make the grade for a chance at a conversion program in Israel -- thus condemning them to having to live life below the radar.
The family was bewildered by the decision.
The Martinez kids had grown up with their parents reading the Bible to them every day, and their observance of kashruth came from the text: 34-year-old Joshua remembered slaughtering animals on the farm "by ourselves, according to the kosher laws because we couldn't get kosher meat in town."
The family donated money each year to Jewish causes, including those that supported the Holy Land, and when they received a settlement on a legal case they sold their furniture and boarded a plane for Israel, never dreaming they would ever have to look back.
That was five years ago.
Five days ago, Ruth came home from a walk in the park to discover her beloved husband and two sons were missing, and both daughters were gone. The elderly patriarch of the family was thrown into Ramle jail by Israel's immigration police, together with his sons Yirmiyahu and Joshua, to await deportation.
No one was allowed to see a lawyer. Joshua and Emanuel never saw a judge. Yirmiyahu finally was brought to a court room, only to be told he would be deported as well. The daughters, who had spotted the police on their way home from the store, went into hiding. They later reappeared and warned their mother that she would have to join them.
Tonight, the immigration police came knocking on the door, looking for Ruth and her daughters. The older woman had already made arrangements to give away the family dog, Charlie, her daughters' kitten, and the two cockatiels she had raised. The beautiful etchings made by her husband on Jerusalem stone would have to be abandoned, she told us; they were too heavy to take along where she was going.
"We're leaving tonight," she whispered in a faint voice when we came to say goodbye in her darkened apartment in the "patio" section of Arad. "We'll hide until we can get to the American Embassy -- they'll send us back, I hope, so we can be reunited with my husband and sons." The main thing, she emphasized, was to avoid the brutal Israeli immigration police, who had no compunction about throwing a woman and her daughters into prison to be held for who knows how long, until they decided to deport them to who knows where.
The Martinez family did not rely on government handouts. They worked for their daily bread, and they paid their bills. They were active members of the congregation, and they wanted to convert to Judaism but were repeatedly denied the privilege, because they did not qualify for Israeli citizenship. The did not qualify for Israeli citizenship, because they were not Jewish.
They were deeply committed to the existence of Israel as a Jewish State, and they were strong supporters of the Israeli government. They were active members of their community and their congregation. They were socially responsible, and they were respected by their neighbors and friends.
What then was their crime, that the government of Israel chose to treat them in this manner?
It behooves our Ministry of Interior to take a good hard look at the Martinez case, and its treatment of this family -- because others are watching and learning about the real values of Israel's government officials, as opposed to the platitudes mouthed by politicians who would do better to carry out a serious probe of the activities that take place under their auspices.
When 2,000 illegal Sudanese can become legal residents of Arad by virtue of their ability to run an Egyptian border, one has to question why Israel's immigration police spent so much time and money to pursue and deport the hapless Martinez family as if they were hardened criminals.
Perhaps it was just because American citizens were simply an easier mark.
Life in Israel isn't easy for those who want to become a member of the tribe; if you are not halachically Jewish (according to the laws of the Torah) you must convince the authorities to allow you to convert, even if your father was Jewish. If neither parent is Jewish, your chances are even worse -- Israeli officials generally want to know why anyone would want to be Jewish, and make it as difficult as possible for someone to do so.
Part of that is S.O.P. -- the Torah makes it clear that Judaism does not seek converts -- but Israel takes that attitude to an art form. And unless you already qualify to become a citizen of the state through the Law of Return -- that is, unless you are already one-quarter Jewish, somehow, with at least one Jewish grandparent -- frankly, Scarlet, you are usually out of luck. Gentiles who want to convert and join the Jewish people are usually politely advised to do that elsewhere in the world.
Emanuel had a letter from his mother, telling him about the candles she remembered her own mother lighting on Friday nights, and the mezuzah she saw adorning the doorposts of her house, and those on the homes in her village in Mexico. But the Rabbinate said it wasn't strong enough evidence to prove Jewish ancestry, and the Martinez family failed the make the grade for a chance at a conversion program in Israel -- thus condemning them to having to live life below the radar.
The family was bewildered by the decision.
The Martinez kids had grown up with their parents reading the Bible to them every day, and their observance of kashruth came from the text: 34-year-old Joshua remembered slaughtering animals on the farm "by ourselves, according to the kosher laws because we couldn't get kosher meat in town."
The family donated money each year to Jewish causes, including those that supported the Holy Land, and when they received a settlement on a legal case they sold their furniture and boarded a plane for Israel, never dreaming they would ever have to look back.
That was five years ago.
Five days ago, Ruth came home from a walk in the park to discover her beloved husband and two sons were missing, and both daughters were gone. The elderly patriarch of the family was thrown into Ramle jail by Israel's immigration police, together with his sons Yirmiyahu and Joshua, to await deportation.
No one was allowed to see a lawyer. Joshua and Emanuel never saw a judge. Yirmiyahu finally was brought to a court room, only to be told he would be deported as well. The daughters, who had spotted the police on their way home from the store, went into hiding. They later reappeared and warned their mother that she would have to join them.
Tonight, the immigration police came knocking on the door, looking for Ruth and her daughters. The older woman had already made arrangements to give away the family dog, Charlie, her daughters' kitten, and the two cockatiels she had raised. The beautiful etchings made by her husband on Jerusalem stone would have to be abandoned, she told us; they were too heavy to take along where she was going.
"We're leaving tonight," she whispered in a faint voice when we came to say goodbye in her darkened apartment in the "patio" section of Arad. "We'll hide until we can get to the American Embassy -- they'll send us back, I hope, so we can be reunited with my husband and sons." The main thing, she emphasized, was to avoid the brutal Israeli immigration police, who had no compunction about throwing a woman and her daughters into prison to be held for who knows how long, until they decided to deport them to who knows where.
The Martinez family did not rely on government handouts. They worked for their daily bread, and they paid their bills. They were active members of the congregation, and they wanted to convert to Judaism but were repeatedly denied the privilege, because they did not qualify for Israeli citizenship. The did not qualify for Israeli citizenship, because they were not Jewish.
They were deeply committed to the existence of Israel as a Jewish State, and they were strong supporters of the Israeli government. They were active members of their community and their congregation. They were socially responsible, and they were respected by their neighbors and friends.
What then was their crime, that the government of Israel chose to treat them in this manner?
It behooves our Ministry of Interior to take a good hard look at the Martinez case, and its treatment of this family -- because others are watching and learning about the real values of Israel's government officials, as opposed to the platitudes mouthed by politicians who would do better to carry out a serious probe of the activities that take place under their auspices.
When 2,000 illegal Sudanese can become legal residents of Arad by virtue of their ability to run an Egyptian border, one has to question why Israel's immigration police spent so much time and money to pursue and deport the hapless Martinez family as if they were hardened criminals.
Perhaps it was just because American citizens were simply an easier mark.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
So They Tried to Muffle the Voices...
Yes, so they tried to muffle their voices, and they pulled the video off at least one of the areas of YouTube -- 'We Con the World' was too great a satire for the anti-Semites and the anti-Zionists to handle, a little too popular, and so they responded with the only ammunition they could find; they tried to stifle free speech.
It's an old jihadist game. Only the Islamist extremists get to talk.
But not this time, because at least in the 21st century, entertainment still rules, if nothing else, and there is nothing illegal about good old-fashioned critical satire in the news. 'We Con the World' chose a topic that was fair game, and attacked it in an entertaining way. The Flotilla Choir still reigns supreme on several different sites, among them YouTube, albeit not on the primary site where it once was found. But yes, you can still find it, also here on my own blog (just scroll down a bit, it's the next post down) and also on the WeJew website as well.
Too bad the jihadists weren't as creative. They're still hung up on violence, whacky monotone techno-trash disguised as quasi-nasheed and... um... oh yeah -- lawfare. A former terrorist tells Israel National News, however, that the Jewish State must fight back, at all costs.
Wake up, everyone. We're not in Kansas anymore.
It's an old jihadist game. Only the Islamist extremists get to talk.
But not this time, because at least in the 21st century, entertainment still rules, if nothing else, and there is nothing illegal about good old-fashioned critical satire in the news. 'We Con the World' chose a topic that was fair game, and attacked it in an entertaining way. The Flotilla Choir still reigns supreme on several different sites, among them YouTube, albeit not on the primary site where it once was found. But yes, you can still find it, also here on my own blog (just scroll down a bit, it's the next post down) and also on the WeJew website as well.
Too bad the jihadists weren't as creative. They're still hung up on violence, whacky monotone techno-trash disguised as quasi-nasheed and... um... oh yeah -- lawfare. A former terrorist tells Israel National News, however, that the Jewish State must fight back, at all costs.
Wake up, everyone. We're not in Kansas anymore.
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