The Haaretz apparently thinks it was parshas "Blah Blah"
(Hat tip BeChadrei Charedim")
Showing posts with label Haaretz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Haaretz. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Monday, June 14, 2010
Haaretz article puts AJN to shame! (Is Julius Streicher REALLY dead?)
OR
???The shekel drops -
Missionaries in Ramat Aviv
By Nehemia Shtrasler HAARETZ
The battle raging Ramat Aviv isn't just about the neighborhood's character. It's a battle over Israel's image.
The sight was elevating: 800 neighborhood residents took a break from what they were doing and went out to demonstrate. Their goal: to protect their homes. They weren't asking for much: just to maintain their way of life, the character of their neighborhood, their values, dignity and right to educate their children as they see fit.
Nobody was paying them. They had no political party or foreign sponsors. They collected the money to fund their demonstration themselves because they knew that if they didn't, the missionary group Chabad could continue to slowly take the neighborhood over, just as is happening in Migdal Ha'emek, Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem.
[AJN Watch comment: So when was the last time that these Tel Aviv residents protested against genuine missionaries? It's so obvious that the only religion that they fear is Judaism.]
A few people set up a counter-demonstration against the 800. They believe that the people in question are merely "good Jews" who just rented a few apartments to preach Torah there. All they want is for us to put on tefillin a little, to light candles on Friday night. What charming simplicity.
They don't realize that it's a well-organized plan to take control of the neighborhood. They aren't even aware that a yeshiva opened in the neighborhood staffed by "messengers" who are prepared to sacrifice their souls for their Rebbe.
[AJN Watch comment: Scandalous indeed. The chutzpah of these 'messengers' who try to promote the Jewish religion in the Jewish state!]
Though actually he already did come, in the form of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, according to Chabad. The Rebbe has died in the meantime, but he lives on - their belief system is a mystical, un-Jewish thing, about which the Rabbi Shach commented: "Chabad is the cult closest to Judaism."
[AJN Watch comment: So sorry about our earlier comment. We misunderstood. These protesters are actually demanding "genuine" Judaism and not mystical un-Jewish Chabad stuff. They simply want their children to follow the ways of Rabbi Shach...]
As in every neighborhood, here too they identified the most vulnerable point: the young. That's why every Friday they ply the grove by the Alliance school, trying to persuade the children to put on tefillin and drop by the Chabad House for a "conversation." At night they lurk among the trees and on benches for the teens, offering refreshments and sweet talk.
[AJN Watch comment: Now had these 'messengers' been offering their kids drugs, alcohol and various options of perversions that are available all over Tel Aviv, there would've been no demonstrations. But tefillin, refreshments and 'sweet talk' - that's something that must be stopped. And here you have the Stuermer depiction - making similar complaints about the Juden:
They cunningly tell these kids, "You have the soul of a righteous person," and don't cavil at saying that their mothers and fathers are sinners. They even whisper that people who don't honor Shabbat are doomed to hell.
[AJN Watch comment: Pure, utter garbage. Anybody who knows anything about Chabad knows that this has never been their way. Only an ignorant, Chabad-bashing Torah-hating secular journalist would make such a statement.]
Puberty is a vulnerable stage and some of these kids, who want to rebel against their parents anyway, listen. The nice people of Chabad have no problem taking in a youngster and destroying a family in Israel.
[AJN Watch comment: Yep. Keeping their kids away from drugs and alcoholism will destroy their families. Here's part of a speech we found on the net - on the Israeli PM's website about these problems amongst Israelis:
Address by Acting Prime Minister Israel to the Anti-Drugs Authority Tel Aviv
Distinguished Guests,
You heard the statistics: there are 300,000, some even say 350,000, drug users in the State of Israel. There are 20,000 to 25,000 addicts – what we call hard users. The amount of money we refer to per drug addict, is approximately $3000 per day. Perhaps this is not a lot of money, but it is over and above the average salary in our economy.
[AJN Watch comment: "Not a lot of money!?" That's over $60 million a day!
The figure seems wrong as that would equate to $22 billion annually! But whatever, they would be far better off giving a fraction of that amount to Chabad and would save themselves a lot of heartache and a lot of money. Oy, but then you would have even more demonstrations by tel Avivians concerned that Chabad is giving their kids refreshments.]
Usually, drug addicts do not work, so in order to be able obtain their daily dosage, they are dragged into various criminal acts, including damage to property, and often involve physical injuries. That is, a full circle of social perversion and crime becomes an inseparable part of the life of an addict and also involves those who are not addicted to drugs. There is no simple and easy way to deal with this problem. (More here)
Where are the police and the municipality as strangers badger children among the trees at night?
[AJN Watch comment: Probably arresting and jailing other kids - those who are drinking and doing drugs or involved in other violent and criminal activities.]
The Chabadniks understand that the middle class is groaning under its burdens. So they opened a few kindergartens in the neighborhood that charge little and give much, including a hot meal. Some parents succumbed to the temptation - and lost their children. This neighborhood sorely lacks kindergartens without religious affiliation. But the city allows Chabad to open one kindergarten after another, even at the expense of a building that had been a cultural center until two years ago.
These Chabadniks with their butter-wouldn't-melt smiles have no problem flouting the law. They rent apartments and turn them into studios. They build without permits, establish hostels and mikvas in violation of municipal ordinances, but the city doesn't block them. Mayor Ron Huldai did denounce Chabad in Ramat Aviv, saying they were harassing the residents. But his job is to stop the harassment, not just talk about it.
Imagine what would happen to me if I went to Kfar Chabad, rented an apartment and dared to open a class to teach a modern interpretation of the Bible, or women's rights or Darwinism. In the evening I'd go out and roam the neighborhood, trying to persuade their children to visit my home on Shabbat to see what a nonobservant Jew does on the day of rest.
Soon enough you'd have to visit me at the burn ward at Ichilov Hospital, if not worse.
And if all that happened, the good souls among us would say: Why did he have to interfere in their way of life? Why provoke them?
But when they come from Kfar Chabad to Ramat Aviv, these same good souls say, in the name of an artificial, suicidal liberalism, "We should understand them," and, "We mustn't oppose others because that is unenlightened racism."
Only they are allowed to sell their rotten goods, rife with ignorance, superstition, terrible discrimination against women, bottomless hatred of Arabs and Gentiles, and nonsense about the Messiah.
[AJN Watch comment: Let's repeat Nehemia Shtrasler's Stuermer-style rant:
"... their rotten goods, rife with ignorance, superstition, terrible discrimination against women, bottomless hatred of Arabs and Gentiles, and nonsense about the Messiah..."
Had that infamous Nazi publisher, Julius Streicher (yemach shemoy) not been strung up by the Allies, no doubt he would've found himself at home at the Haaretz, where, presumably, the front page banner would have declared: "Die Chabad sind unser Ungluck!"]
We may not even protect our values of humanism, education, rationalism, equality, literature and the great inventions of science that changed the face of mankind.
The battle in Ramat Aviv isn't just about the neighborhood's character. It's a battle over Israel's image, and the 800 residents who got up and left their homes and went out to demonstrate last Monday are just the harbingers.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
The collapse of religious Zionism
Guest post from "3rd generation Melb Mizrachi":
I attach an interesting article from Haaretz, which seems to confirm much of what we have known for the past decade or two - that "religious Zionism", aka Mizrachi, has a very limited future in Israel. Those old enough, can remember the party regularly winning 10-12 seats for the Knesset - election after election. Sadly, this is no longer the case. The old Mafdal has split several ways and/or joined up with other right-wing parties in an attempt to try and maintain some respectable semblance of representation.
At the same time the Hesder Yeshivot seem to be going along fine, though we also sometimes hear about 'leakage' to the Chareidi yeshivot (sometimes encouraged by the Roshei yeshivot themselves!) as indicated in the article.
We in Melbourne can see some mirroring of the situation in Israel, as some of our numbers move "rightwards", eg, towards the Beth Hatalmud and Rabbi Donnebaum's Heichal community. I would appreciate hearing from those in the know - expecially regarding the Sydney situation.
The collapse of religious Zionism By Shahar Ilan
The alliance between secular Israelis and religious Zionists has always been a very important facet of Zionism. But if anything is clear after 62 years of Israel's existence, it is that the term "religious Zionist" is becoming irrelevant. The party that used to represent this public, the National Religious Party, collapsed long ago, and its votes have been scattered between the secular parties and a few religious splinter parties.
A series of incidents over the past year, including the affair of Rabbi Eliezer Melamed and the threat to boycott a march in memory of the Lamed Heh (35 soldiers killed en route to reinforce Gush Etzion during the War of Independence), shows that not only the party, but the public for which it was named, is collapsing.
One fault line within this community is the question of its attitude toward democracy, and toward Zionism as a democratic movement. Some religious Zionists, especially those known as the Zionist ultra-Orthodox, have joined the non-Zionist ultra-Orthodox in refusing to honor governmental decisions.
A prime example is the support for soldiers disobeying orders expressed by Rabbi Melamed, head of the Har Bracha yeshiva.
On the other side, a few religious Zionists have made what for them was the very difficult decision to join with the secular in a desperate effort to defend democracy and Zionism. It was impossible not to notice, for instance, that no real outcry developed over the decision to expel Melamed's yeshiva from the hesder system, which combines Torah study with army service.
The second fault line relates to the cultural aspects of religion: the fact that a portion of the religious Zionist community is distancing itself from modern life and adopting rules of modesty and separation of the sexes that border the extreme demands of the ultra-Orthodox. Thus in January, the Bnei Akiva youth movement threatened to boycott the Lamed Heh memorial march to Gush Etzion because an army troupe comprising both men and women was to perform at the end of the march.
A report published last week by the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel warned that the growing number of students learning in ultra-Orthodox schools, which do not teach secular subjects, endangers the state's existence. But the religious Zionist community also includes a large segment that has also removed the core curriculum from its schools.
On the other side, it is becoming clear to many moderate members of the religious Zionist community that the main victims of religious coercion are its own women. It is these women, for instance, who have no way to circumvent the rabbinical courts, which discriminate against them.
And the moderates have begun drawing conclusions. In the previous Knesset, the two most prominent fighters against ultra-Orthodox religious coercion were religious Zionist MKs Michael Melchior (Labor) and Menahem Ben-Sasson (Kadima).
In Jerusalem's last municipal election, most of the religious Zionist public joined with the secular public to elect a secular mayor, Nir Barkat.
MORE: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1164323.html
************************************************************
Meanwhile AJN Watch has come upon this photograph showing pre-war Polish rabbanim who were members or supporters of the Mizrachi movement. It's hard to imagine that today's RZ's could put together such a Chassidic/Charedi-looking group picture.
We have no idea who these rabbanim are and would appreciate any further information.
I attach an interesting article from Haaretz, which seems to confirm much of what we have known for the past decade or two - that "religious Zionism", aka Mizrachi, has a very limited future in Israel. Those old enough, can remember the party regularly winning 10-12 seats for the Knesset - election after election. Sadly, this is no longer the case. The old Mafdal has split several ways and/or joined up with other right-wing parties in an attempt to try and maintain some respectable semblance of representation.
At the same time the Hesder Yeshivot seem to be going along fine, though we also sometimes hear about 'leakage' to the Chareidi yeshivot (sometimes encouraged by the Roshei yeshivot themselves!) as indicated in the article.
We in Melbourne can see some mirroring of the situation in Israel, as some of our numbers move "rightwards", eg, towards the Beth Hatalmud and Rabbi Donnebaum's Heichal community. I would appreciate hearing from those in the know - expecially regarding the Sydney situation.
The alliance between secular Israelis and religious Zionists has always been a very important facet of Zionism. But if anything is clear after 62 years of Israel's existence, it is that the term "religious Zionist" is becoming irrelevant. The party that used to represent this public, the National Religious Party, collapsed long ago, and its votes have been scattered between the secular parties and a few religious splinter parties.
A series of incidents over the past year, including the affair of Rabbi Eliezer Melamed and the threat to boycott a march in memory of the Lamed Heh (35 soldiers killed en route to reinforce Gush Etzion during the War of Independence), shows that not only the party, but the public for which it was named, is collapsing.
One fault line within this community is the question of its attitude toward democracy, and toward Zionism as a democratic movement. Some religious Zionists, especially those known as the Zionist ultra-Orthodox, have joined the non-Zionist ultra-Orthodox in refusing to honor governmental decisions.
A prime example is the support for soldiers disobeying orders expressed by Rabbi Melamed, head of the Har Bracha yeshiva.
On the other side, a few religious Zionists have made what for them was the very difficult decision to join with the secular in a desperate effort to defend democracy and Zionism. It was impossible not to notice, for instance, that no real outcry developed over the decision to expel Melamed's yeshiva from the hesder system, which combines Torah study with army service.
The second fault line relates to the cultural aspects of religion: the fact that a portion of the religious Zionist community is distancing itself from modern life and adopting rules of modesty and separation of the sexes that border the extreme demands of the ultra-Orthodox. Thus in January, the Bnei Akiva youth movement threatened to boycott the Lamed Heh memorial march to Gush Etzion because an army troupe comprising both men and women was to perform at the end of the march.
A report published last week by the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel warned that the growing number of students learning in ultra-Orthodox schools, which do not teach secular subjects, endangers the state's existence. But the religious Zionist community also includes a large segment that has also removed the core curriculum from its schools.
On the other side, it is becoming clear to many moderate members of the religious Zionist community that the main victims of religious coercion are its own women. It is these women, for instance, who have no way to circumvent the rabbinical courts, which discriminate against them.
And the moderates have begun drawing conclusions. In the previous Knesset, the two most prominent fighters against ultra-Orthodox religious coercion were religious Zionist MKs Michael Melchior (Labor) and Menahem Ben-Sasson (Kadima).
In Jerusalem's last municipal election, most of the religious Zionist public joined with the secular public to elect a secular mayor, Nir Barkat.
MORE: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1164323.html
************************************************************
Meanwhile AJN Watch has come upon this photograph showing pre-war Polish rabbanim who were members or supporters of the Mizrachi movement. It's hard to imagine that today's RZ's could put together such a Chassidic/Charedi-looking group picture.
We have no idea who these rabbanim are and would appreciate any further information.
זו איננה "מועצת גדולי תורה
אלה הרבנים שנמנו עם מקימי ה"מזרחי" בראשית המאה העשרים.
אלה הרבנים שנמנו עם מקימי ה"מזרחי" בראשית המאה העשרים.
הם אבות המוטציה של "הכיפה הסרוגה
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Ruckus about professional Zionists assisting Yeridah
This item in the current edition of the AJN caught our eye.
And here is the original Haaretz article that triggered this scandal:
In reverse, ex-Zionist leader helping Israelis go Down Under
By Raphael Ahren - HAARETZ
Months after quitting her post as executive director of the Zionist Federation of Australia, Lorraine Abraham was in Israel last week in her new capacity as co-owner of a company assisting Israelis who wish to relocate to Australia.
"Have you ever thought of working or living in Australia? Now you can," reads an ad in Hebrew which Abraham's company, Ivan Chait & Associates, recently placed in Kav LaMoshav, the national newspaper of Israeli moshavim. "With more than 20 years experience in the field of immigration, we offer a complete immigration package including consultations, preparation of applications for temporary or permanent residence and work permits in Australia."
Abraham, who left her position at the ZFA in April, did not respond to several e-mails asking for comment.
The Melbourne-based ZFA states on its Web site that it officially represents Australian Jewry "in carrying out the goals and Zionism" and that it "aliyah is the highest ideal of Zionism."
ZFA President Philip Chester told Anglo File that Abraham's career choices are her prerogative and that his organization had no further comment. He did say the ad did not encourage people to leave Israel but merely offered assistance to those who had already decided to do so. "Lorraine and her husband are still very committed to Israel," said Chester, who is currently in Israel for his son's bar mitzvah. "I see them all the time and I can assure you that they are not bitter about Israel or Zionism."
Born and raised in South Africa, Abraham and her husband Simmy were staunch Zionists who immigrated in the early 1990s, according to a professional in the immigration field who has known them a long time. The Abrahams lived in Ra'anana, where they had four children and Simmy owned a real estate company. After about 10 years, Simmy sold his business and the family moved to Melbourne.
"Simmy got up one morning and said: I had enough of the fighting, of the pushing around here. I need some quiet," the immigration worker said. "Then Lorraine became the director of the ZFA [in Melbourne], which I thought was a very strange choice, but whatever, she's a Zionist, perhaps she can get some people to move here. But that she's now using the connections she made in Israel and Australia to help people make yeridah [emigrate from Israel], that is really more than ironic."
Lorraine is not the only emigre who served as ZFA executive director. Her predecessor Haya Mond held the post for 15 years, until 2002, after having left Israel. Robbie Franco, the ZFA's current executive director, had made aliyah from South Africa before he moved to New Zealand and then Australia.
"It may look like [the ZFA is] trying to recruit people who have left Israel and that we're trying to make some statement, but that's not the case," Chester asserted, adding that his organization's leaders are simply the best people for the job. "These are all people who still love Israel but for whatever reason their life changed and they made a decision to leave. The truth is: We live in a global village and people move," Chester continued. "The idea of stigmatizing someone because they leave Israel is not really part of the Zionist approach anymore."
And from the Haaretz comments section:
You can be an armchair Zionist and a observant Jew but many English speakers such as Lorraine Abrahams the former Australian Zionist Director who made yerida have the same experience about residing in Israel. Why does not the President of Z.F.A make aliyah instead of a two week junket for his sons bar mitzvah? It's only the heroes and masochists that need to face the oppressive Levantine mentality inherent here.
And here is the original Haaretz article that triggered this scandal:
In reverse, ex-Zionist leader helping Israelis go Down Under
By Raphael Ahren - HAARETZ
Months after quitting her post as executive director of the Zionist Federation of Australia, Lorraine Abraham was in Israel last week in her new capacity as co-owner of a company assisting Israelis who wish to relocate to Australia.
"Have you ever thought of working or living in Australia? Now you can," reads an ad in Hebrew which Abraham's company, Ivan Chait & Associates, recently placed in Kav LaMoshav, the national newspaper of Israeli moshavim. "With more than 20 years experience in the field of immigration, we offer a complete immigration package including consultations, preparation of applications for temporary or permanent residence and work permits in Australia."
Abraham, who left her position at the ZFA in April, did not respond to several e-mails asking for comment.
The Melbourne-based ZFA states on its Web site that it officially represents Australian Jewry "in carrying out the goals and Zionism" and that it "aliyah is the highest ideal of Zionism."
ZFA President Philip Chester told Anglo File that Abraham's career choices are her prerogative and that his organization had no further comment. He did say the ad did not encourage people to leave Israel but merely offered assistance to those who had already decided to do so. "Lorraine and her husband are still very committed to Israel," said Chester, who is currently in Israel for his son's bar mitzvah. "I see them all the time and I can assure you that they are not bitter about Israel or Zionism."
Born and raised in South Africa, Abraham and her husband Simmy were staunch Zionists who immigrated in the early 1990s, according to a professional in the immigration field who has known them a long time. The Abrahams lived in Ra'anana, where they had four children and Simmy owned a real estate company. After about 10 years, Simmy sold his business and the family moved to Melbourne.
"Simmy got up one morning and said: I had enough of the fighting, of the pushing around here. I need some quiet," the immigration worker said. "Then Lorraine became the director of the ZFA [in Melbourne], which I thought was a very strange choice, but whatever, she's a Zionist, perhaps she can get some people to move here. But that she's now using the connections she made in Israel and Australia to help people make yeridah [emigrate from Israel], that is really more than ironic."
Lorraine is not the only emigre who served as ZFA executive director. Her predecessor Haya Mond held the post for 15 years, until 2002, after having left Israel. Robbie Franco, the ZFA's current executive director, had made aliyah from South Africa before he moved to New Zealand and then Australia.
"It may look like [the ZFA is] trying to recruit people who have left Israel and that we're trying to make some statement, but that's not the case," Chester asserted, adding that his organization's leaders are simply the best people for the job. "These are all people who still love Israel but for whatever reason their life changed and they made a decision to leave. The truth is: We live in a global village and people move," Chester continued. "The idea of stigmatizing someone because they leave Israel is not really part of the Zionist approach anymore."
And from the Haaretz comments section:
You can be an armchair Zionist and a observant Jew but many English speakers such as Lorraine Abrahams the former Australian Zionist Director who made yerida have the same experience about residing in Israel. Why does not the President of Z.F.A make aliyah instead of a two week junket for his sons bar mitzvah? It's only the heroes and masochists that need to face the oppressive Levantine mentality inherent here.
And from the Glen Eira Council Annual Report (for 2004-5):
The Abraham family were among 117 people to become citizens in a ceremony in February 2005. Simon and Lorraine Abraham and their four children moved from Israel to Australia
three years ago because they saw it as a place of opportunity and congenial community life.
“We have family all over the world but chose Australia as our home because of the friendly people and access to public services,” Lorraine said.
“This is our home now and we love living in Glen Eira because of its open space and community feel and our children love the sports that are available to them.”
Reminds us of that well-known statement by David Ben Gurion: "I prefer the Neturei Karta who live in Jerusalem to the Zionists who stay in Los Angeles..."
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