What they teach in school

If a school in Israel has any connection to the government, if it accepts any of the tax money that the government takes by force from working people, the government places requirements on the school curriculum. One such mandate is that the school teaches Tanach. That's not a bad thing, except that the mandate tells you what books and chapters of Tanach that you must teach. Invariably, it picks that ones that depict war and bloodshed. So you have 10 year old girls in Beis Yaakov reading not the book of Ruth but the most violent parts of Nach. Example from Samuel I

When the Philistine began to advance toward him again, David quickly ran up to the battle line to face the Philistine.

David put his hand into the bag; he took out a stone and slung it. It struck the Philistine in the forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.

Thus David bested the Philistine with sling and stone; he struck him down and killed him. David had no sword;

so David ran up and stood over the Philistine, grasped his sword and pulled it from its sheath; and with it he dispatched him and cut off his head.

When the Philistines saw that their warrior was dead, they ran.

The men of Israel and Judah rose up with a war cry and they pursued the Philistines all the way to Gai and up to the gates of Ekron; the Philistines fell mortally wounded along the road to Shaarim up to Gath and Ekron.

Then the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines and looted their camp.

This is what the government has little girls studying. Or this from Joshua.

Joshua then sent them off, and they proceeded to the ambush; they took up a position between Ai and Bethel—west of Ai—while Joshua spent the night with the rest of the troops.

Early in the morning, Joshua mustered the troops; then he and the elders of Israel marched upon Ai at the head of the troops.

All the combat troops that were with him advanced near the city and encamped to the north of Ai, with a hollow between them and Ai.—

He selected about five thousand men and stationed them as an ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of the city.

Thus the main body of the army was disposed on the north of the city, but the far end of it was on the west. (This was after Joshua had spent the night in the valley.)—

When the king of Ai saw them, he and all his troops, the townsmen, rushed out in the early morning to the meeting place, facing the Arabah, to engage the Israelites in battle; for he was unaware that a force was lying in ambush behind the city.

Joshua and all Israel fled in the direction of the wilderness, as though routed by them.

All the troops in the city gathered to pursue them; pursuing Joshua, they were drawn out of the city.

Not a man was left in Ai or in Bethel who did not go out after Israel; they left the city open while they pursued Israel.

GOD then said to Joshua, “Hold out the javelin in your hand toward Ai, for I will deliver it into your hands.” So Joshua held out the javelin in his hand toward the city.

As soon as he held out his hand, the ambush came rushing out of their station. They entered the city and captured it; and they swiftly set fire to the city.

The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising to the sky; they had no room for flight in any direction.

The people who had been fleeing to the wilderness now became the pursuers.

For when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that smoke was rising from the city, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai.

Now the other [Israelites] were coming out of the city against them, so that they were between two bodies of Israelites, one on each side of them. They were slaughtered, so that no one escaped or got away.

The king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua.

When Israel had killed all the inhabitants of Ai who had pursued them into the open wilderness, and all of them, to the last man, had fallen by the sword, all the Israelites turned back to Ai and put it to the sword.

The total of those who fell that day, men and women, the entire population of Ai, came to twelve thousand.

Joshua did not draw back the hand with which he held out his javelin until all the inhabitants of Ai had been exterminated.

However, the Israelites took the cattle and the spoil of the city as their booty, in accordance with the instructions that GOD had given to Joshua.

Then Joshua burned down Ai, and turned it into a mound of ruins for all time, a desolation to this day.

And the king of Ai was impaled on a stake until the evening. At sunset, Joshua had the corpse taken down from the stake and it was left lying at the entrance to the city gate. They raised a great heap of stones over it, which is there to this day.

This is what the government has little girls studying. I have asked several teachers, can you teach something else, like Mishlei or Esther? Every one told me, I can't. I have to teach what the government tells me to. Doesn't matter if it's a Charedi school or a Dati Leumi. They all teach what the government mandates.

The government is not interested in Misheli or Koheles or Tehillim. It's not interested in the parts of Tanach that discuss teshuvah. It is only interested -- as are Israelis -- in war, in conquest, in killing. They have you read the parts of Tanach that seem to match the Israeli newspapers and politicians who brag every day about who they killed and who they will kill. After 10 years in this country, I can see why some call the government leaders erev rav or even Amalek. They just love one thing and that's murder. It's like being around Mafiosi.

And what are they studying in the history class? The Holocaust. 9th and 10th grade is all Holocaust. Why Holocaust? It's an attempt to justify the existence of the state even though the state was envisioned long before the Holocaust, and Ben Gurion himself said the state was not founded as an answer to anti-Semitism. He said, he didn't experience antisemitism in Poland.

For many of us, anti-Semitic feeling had little to do with our dedication [to Zionism]. I personally never suffered anti-Semitic persecution. Płońsk was remarkably free of it ... Nevertheless, and I think this very significant, it was Płońsk that sent the highest proportion of Jews to Eretz Israel from any town in Poland of comparable size. We emigrated not for negative reasons of escape but for the positive purpose of rebuilding a homeland ... Life in Płońsk was peaceful enough. There were three main communities: Russians, Jews and Poles. ... The number of Jews and Poles in the city were roughly equal, about five thousand each. The Jews, however, formed a compact, centralized group occupying the innermost districts whilst the Poles were more scattered, living in outlying areas and shading off into the peasantry. Consequently, when a gang of Jewish boys met a Polish gang the latter would almost inevitably represent a single suburb and thus be poorer in fighting potential than the Jews who even if their numbers were initially fewer could quickly call on reinforcements from the entire quarter. Far from being afraid of them, they were rather afraid of us. In general, however, relations were amicable, though distant. (Memoirs : David Ben-Gurion,1970, p. 36 in Wikipedia)

But the narrative enforced by the "Education Ministry" is like that of radical Zionists, war, war, war, killing, weapons, packing a gun, shooting so that there won't be another Holocaust. I am reminded of the words of Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch:

The land of the Divine Torah is there for the people who live in it. Its most valuable product, the purpose and goal of the whole of God's Blessing directed to it, is every human life nourished by it, through its means able to dedicate itself to making God's Torah into a realisation. The land is only given on the condition of every human life respected as being unassailably sacred to the Torah. One drop of innocent blood shed and no notice taken of it drops a stitch in the bond which connects the land with the nation and both with God. (see verses 33 and 34). This holding human life to be so sacred is to be made evident immediately on taking possession of the land in the division of it by instituting the arrangement which the Torah had already referred to in the fundamental laws of Torah social life. (Ex. XXI, 13). Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on Bamidbar 35:10

Nevertheless, the SSOI promotes every kind of killing. It rejoices in it. I was talking to a school principal today, at a girl's school. Somebody came in and dropped some papers on the table. They were projects done by the teenage girls. And here's what I saw on top of the pile. It was a paper with a drawing of soldiers, and written on it was this, 

The IDF, killing Hamas since 1985.

This is called a school project for teenage girls in SSOI, bragging about who you killed. I was at a funeral for a soldier a few months back, and his sister said about him, "He loved to kill Arabs." I heard  this with my own ears. She said it in English. That's how this "Dati Leumi" girl eulogized her brother. That's his legacy, being a killer. She didn't say that he killed terrorists but that he killed Arabs. This is a result of the educational mandates of the government and the culture in general.

When a central government dictates the curriculum to such detail and when it is all so violent and depressing, you are not living in a democracy but North Korean style tyranny. It's all brainwashing here.  

All the modern conveniences - NOT, part 4

Where I lived in America, there were three hospitals. Two were in walking distance from my house. By that I mean a two minute walk and a ten minute walk. Now I am 1 hour from a hospital even though I live in a city of 150,000 people, which is a population bigger than that of the city in which I lived in America. I just talked to another guy whose father had a stroke and didn't get to the hospital quickly enough. My city offers no care for stroke victims.

More on health care. I just spoke to a woman who is trying to get her daughter evaluated for ADD. Next available appoint is in May! That's 7 months from now.

I spoke to a woman who is trying to get her daughter's toe fixed. She  has some kind of double toenail which is causing tremendous pain and altering her walking which can create back problems. Next appointment available for a surgeon - four months!

On my pilot trip I asked an oleh here, a dentist, about health care in Israel. Because he's a Zionist he lied to me and told me that it's great, that he had a complicated procedure done here. He didn't tell me it's a four month wait for an MRI or that his city was 1 hour from a hospital. He comes from the same city that I did in America, the one with 3 hospitals.

Is it that Aliyah pushers deem it acceptable to lie or that they are so in love with the idea of living in Israel that they don't see the reality of this place and don't bother to force themselves to be objective when talking to innocent people who are considering moving here?

In the Yom Kippur al chets, there's the sin of giving bad advice. Yes that's a sin that needs to be atoned for. Hear that aliyah pushers? If you don't atone, you are a rasha. 

Depression and anxiety: New research reveals impact of war on preschool children

 Children whose parents served in reserves showed signs of greater emotional withdrawal, which included fear of sudden noises, tantrums, and difficulty sleeping.

A new study, which focuses on the emotional and behavioral effects of October 7 and the ongoing war on preschool children and their parents, revealed on Monday the severe impact the war is having among families of reservists and evacuees.

The study recommended expanding support to vulnerable populations, also within Arab society.

It was conducted by Dana Shay, Dr. Carmel Blank, Dr. Yael Navon, and Prof. Yossi Shavit at the Taub Center.

continue

This isn't happening in Far Rockaway or St. Louis or Atlanta. But if you come to Israel, you are subjecting your children to this. 

The post office closed

Remember when I told you about the challenge of getting stamps in Israel, how you have to make an appointment at the post office and how it will be several days later and that if you come 10 minutes late you miss your appointment? Remember that? Well, it gets better, the local post office, where sometimes they don't open the door to honor your appoint, it closed down. Now you have to go across town to the one post office. 

All the modern conveniences - NOT part 3

Many yeridim, people who ruin their lives by moving to SSOI, don't have cars because cars are twice the price here and salaries for most yeridim are 1/4 that of what they made in the USA. So that means buses. 

The bus system in Israel is like everything in Israel, barely adequate. To go from city to city, expect a multi-hour trip with buses that leave once every two hours or once a day or some days not at all. As for buses in the city, in some cities it's not bad, eg Jerusalem, Beitar, Beit Shemesh. The buses are very crowded in Jerusalem. It isn't a pleasant trip, but there is bus service of some kind.

However, you need a Rav Kav, ie a bus pass. Drivers no longer accept cash. And there are ticket checkers everywhere. Sometimes it seems there are more checkers than drivers. Sometimes, I get checked three times on the same ride. In this land of militarism, this quasi police state, even the bus ride is stressful because of the relentless ticket checking. And if your card doesn't work, or you forgot to swipe your card, or you made a mistake and didn't realize that the monthly pass doesn't cover the ride to Jerusalem and the machine doesn't automatically take the right amount from the cash part of your card (even though in the past it did take the cash) as happened to me once, be prepared for an embarrassing scene that the heartless ticket checkers make as embarrassing as possible. They call you a thief about 20 times before issuing the ticket. The whole bus will know that you are getting a ticket.

But filling up the bus pass is not easy. You can't do it on the bus. You must use machines that are found in a few places in the city. But many times they don't work. Other times they are unusable because the blazing sun washes out the screen and the machines don't have sun shields on them. The bus people tried a system of home readers for the computer but alas they don't work in this land of alleged "all the modern conveniences." It's also possible to fill up the card in many shuls, but that's only if the machine works.

Today, I went to the shul and waited 20 minutes for some guy to try to use it. So I left there and went to a street machine 10 minutes away but the sun was so blinding I couldn't see anything. I came back to the shul machine and he was there for another 10 minutes. Then I tried the shul machine and it didn't work. So I went back to the street machine with a sheet of cardboard to block the sun. I could barely see and make my order but the machine wouldn't accept my credit card. So I walked 10 minutes to another machine which again was washed out by the sun and the machine wouldn't take my card. So I went to the Rav Kav office where a grumpy woman managed to force herself to load the card. There was no good morning, no can I help you, no small talk, no jokes, no have a nice day. Just a grumpy lady. In other words, the secular state of Israel.

This is life in Israel, daily life. No, it doesn't have all the modern conveniences. Anybody who tells you it does probably lives in the USA and dreams of living in Israel a place he knows nothing about. His dream is your nightmare.

a letter from a non-religious "Oleh" Israel, it’s not me, it’s you.

Background:

I made Aliyah nearly a decade ago while in my early 20’s from a major U.S. city. I served in the army as a combat soldier, became fluent in Hebrew, I work in an Israeli company, and all in all have assimilated well to Israeli society.

Now, lately I’ve become fed up with the constant level of stress living here. It’s become so bad now I suffer from chronic headaches. My actual physical health is being affected by living here. Seriously, I ended up in the ER because my head didn’t stop pounding for over a week. The diagnosis… “you’re way too stressed out”.

It feels like nearly everything you do will incur the highest possible level of stress for the given task. You want to go shopping? Count on someone cutting you in line. You want to take a cab? More than likely the driver will try to cheat or overcharge you.

I consistently discover “errors” in my paycheck, always to my loss.

At some point you lose count of all the times you receive some bill from two years ago that you never knew you had, and now it’s in collections while your bank account is under seizure. What’s more, when you try to find out how to dispute or complain about an incident, you hardly ever find reprieve. If by chance there is a channel to justice, it’s usually not worth the energy.

In Israel it is just an extra level of being on top of things. Now, every couple months I check with every possible body (municipality, national collections, police, toll roads) just to make sure that someone isn’t trying to collect on me for some debt or fine they never did their due diligence to inform me about.

Just yesterday, I tried to take my car out of a private paid parking lot in Jerusalem, but because the management hadn’t removed the snow that had fallen the night before, I was unable to move my car. Coincidentally enough, the attendant decided not to show up to work either. Flash forward to today, the attendant insists that it’s my fault and that I should have dug my way out with my hands if I had to; he insisted on further payment. Voices were raised, insults flung, legal threats floated around. In the end, I’m just waiting for Shabbat when the gates are open to move my car.

I wish that this was an isolated incident.

I travel abroad for work. At the moment I hold no permanent apartment, and use Airbnb or hotels for the time I’m in country. More times than not, I arrive to an Airbnb and there is something wrong (no hot water, dirty, different location, heat/AC broken). Not to mention the prices for lodging are ridiculous. You’d expect, if you’re paying $150 per night for a box in Tel Aviv, that at least that box will be ready when you arrive.

- I actually had an Airbnb host offer me what amounted to a 1.3% discount on a one week stay as compensation for lack of hot water… in December!

Needless to say this instance required Airbnb getting involved. In the end I received two nights refunded, and left the host a scathing review. Unfortunately for future guests, all the host did was remove the listing and post it as a new property, deleting my review.

There really is no end in sight for this kind of behavior, it’s more than just the “charming straightforwardness” Israel is famous for. This is a pervasive culture of abuse.

I suppose when I was younger, and Aliyah was this big adventure, everything was fascinating as I tried to assimilate to my new country. Now, as a 30-something year old, it’s just exhausting, and it’s not fun anymore.

I’m sick of constantly being blamed for the shortcomings of Israeli businesses, and institutions.

It’s much like an abusive relationship that started wonderful, then turned sour.

We’re constantly gaslit by greedy telecom companies, dense government offices, and corrupt landlords that somehow their incompetence and constant fuck-ups, are our faults.

Enough… I’ve decided to leave. I’ve booked a ticket for three months on a tropical beach somewhere where the people are known for their smiles, not their scowls. After that,

I have no idea what’s next… but for now Israel, we’re done.

It’s not me, it’s you.

Will your children respect you?

If you move to Israel because some over-the-top Zionistic rabbi  guilts you into it, you might have a big problem with your children. I meet all kinds of people who give up their house to come live in a little apartment. They give up their cars to take buses. 

One of these people probably didn't have to give up his car because he only retired here after having a legal, academic, and rabbinic career in America (where he was educated). But he still pushes everyone to come here whether they be rich or poor. That's how ideologues work. You are just a pawn in their games.  

Here's how you look to your children now, like a loser. And if you don't speak Hebrew -- and few olim over 30 learn Hebrew -- you look like a bigger loser. If you are a baal teshuvah or convert that grew up without any exposure to Hebrew, it will be even harder. You can't help your kids with their homework. You need them to get on the phone and talk to the customer service rep. You look helpless. You are helpless.

So if you are escaping Czarist Russia in 1905, and you need to come to America to be a poor immigrant who never learns more than broken English, well you were poorer in Russia. You are not dropping by coming to America. But when you come to Israel, your standard of living drops significantly. And you stumble around because you can't speak Hebrew. 

And now you have brought them to a country with a broken government, that is relentlessly at war (largely by choice in my opinion), that is relentlessly after your sons to draft them into its secular army. People left Russia to escape the draft. Why would you come to a country that has a draft, that as we have learned, really don't care about its soldiers, and sends them into slaughter where this year 750 have been killed and 5,000 wounded. Since only Jews are drafted, that's the equivalent of 41,250 fatalities for soldiers in America. That's approaching the number of soldiers the US lost in the Vietnam war. As for injuries, that's equivalent to 275,000. That's what you brought them to. You look like a loser.

Now you don't have any authority over them. Why should they listen such a fool?

I heard olim kids say to their father, "We are poor because we don't have a car." And "I don't have to listen to you because you don't own anything." So you lose control over your kids.

You want to say that you'll teach them that the sacrifice is worth it, that you are winners because you live in Israel? What if you don't believe that? Not everybody thinks that way. They do. But that's the  derech of the aliyah salesmen. What they are doing is imposing that on you, and that's dangerous.

What if you don't believe that yishuv ha-aretz is the most important mitzvah in the world? What if you think that having good middos is more important? Well, you are going to have a big problem living in Israel. What if you are not so thrilled with the society? What if you are really bothered by rude people. What if you raise them to be polite at home, but they go into the schools and get massacred by the Israeli kids. This is an ongoing complaint of 'olim' kids. 

So I'm warning you what kind of mess you will get yourself into by moving Israel. The aliyah pushers paint such fantasies. They are liars. 

You are not permitted to bring yourself into a sakanah

Since the beginning of the war, over 26,000 rockets, missiles, and drones have been launched at Israel from multiple fronts.

The numbers included 13,200 projectiles fired from Gaza — at least 5,000 on October 7 alone — 12,400 from Lebanon, around 60 from Syria, 180 from Yemen, and 400 from Iran — the latter of which in two direct attacks on Israel on April 13 and October 1.

A total of 728 soldiers, reservists, and local security officers have been killed and another 4,576 have been wounded in the war since October 7 — the latest on Sunday. Of them, 346 were killed and 2,299 were wounded during the ground offensive in Gaza.

The IDF also lists 56 soldiers killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/a-year-of-war-idf-data-shows-726-troops-killed-over-26000-rockets-fired-at-israel/

Verdict stay in chutz

Not available in Israel

 

 

This is a signup form for Microsoft. You'll note that country/region is not optional. Only USA is available. Come to Israel and experience this continuously. The credit card that you have used for decades doesn't allow non-US addresses. Paypal didn't for years. I'm still unsure what is going on with Paypal. You'll find the same with all kinds of online shopping, with video streaming. They only work in the USA. What you learn when you come to Israel is that the USA is the world's superpower and a shockingly high percentage of technology and services come from the USA. But when you move to Israel your ability to access these become seriously limited.

I am the treasurer for a non-profit in the USA but cannot access the bank account because the bank will only allow US phone numbers for security checks. Every board meeting is an adventure for me to coordinate with someone in the USA to gain access. 

Oh, you can just switch to Israel companies. Oh yeah, keep living in a dream. First of all, if you don't speak Hebrew, this is very difficult. You can't read the website or the statement. Second of all, Israeli customer service, while improving, ain't the same. We bought a refrigerator over here that is showing malfunction alerts. Even though we have a warranty, we cannot get the service people on the phone. We have been trying for weeks. What we thought was their website, wasn't really their website. We finally reached someone and scheduled an appointment after being grilled about the problem by the woman on the phone. They gave us a range of the time the fix it guy would show up. He came and said he doesn't fix that brand. 

If you are such a tzadick that you can throw away all material concerns, well hats off to you. Is your family the same? Will your spouse and every child in your family be able to handle the endless frustrations? You don't have a right to overwhelm them with your Zionistic ambitions. If they are going to be ruined, you cannot move to Israel. And you'd be surprised how many people can't handle it, people you were sure could handle it, cannot. 

Looking for space

There's space in Israel which prompts the question why are people living on the Gaza and Lebanon borders and in the West Bank. There's plenty of space in the Galil and in the center of the country. I imagine that there are historical and political reasons, the latter of which includes expansionist ambitions, but I won't get into it. The point for today is the spacious places are not where you'll be living. You'll move to Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Be'er Sheva, Rananana where there isn't much space. And since you'll now be in an apartment or maybe a house that's way smaller than what you have, you'll be short on space. Israeli apartments don't have closets, so you'll have even less space after you install a cheapo standing closet. You won't have room for your books, toys, or clothes.

But much worse, you won't have room for sleep over guests. Even if you host a kiddush, it will be uncomfortably crowded.

But worse, there will be complications with play dates. Where will they play? And if you have boys and girls, how do you manage the playdate without mixing? It's nearly impossible.

So the play dates decrease and your kids wind up all alone in the apartment, unable to keep themselves busy.

This can cause all kinds of problems for them and shalom bayis. 

There's also no space in cars, but the cars are much smaller, with only an occasional mini-van. Numerous times I have been told, we'd give you a ride, but we are full. In fact, that's generally response I get when trying to catch a ride. So usually, I take the bus which takes hours to get anywhere. 

It's all much worse, if you are coming from America and are not prepared for this, if your family is used to more space. As I stress often, an aliyah salesman or saleswoman can guilt you into moving to Israel, questioning your idealism for not doing it, but you can't make assumptions about what your family can handle. That you don't have  a right to do.

Just like America but Jewish

Remember when I told you about the post office appointments, how if you need something from the post office you have to make an appointment, wait three days or sometimes more, and then be sure to arrive within 10 minutes of the scheduled time? Well, sometimes that's not enough to get your stamps. Here's a story that happened today. Woman arrives twenty minutes early, but the door is closed. She can see that there's a worker in there, but the door doesn't open. It's now 1/2 hour after opening time. People are waiting, but nothing. Her time passes. Nothing. 1/2 hour more passes but nothing.

Suddenly the door opens, and the sole poster worker scurries out, locks the door, ignoring everyone, and leaves the building. This woman rushes over to her and says "Where are you going? Are you opening? We have appointments." Postal worker says, "Too bad. It will open later."

Welcome to SSOI (the secular state of israel).

There were numerous Americans on the uncomfortable benches in the hallway of this rundown shopping hallway. It's not like a lovely American or European postal office. It's bland and beat like everything in Israel. They all chattered about how could she, this postal worker, do this? Doesn't she see we are waiting?

So the woman I know asks me, "Do they still think they are in America?" I told her, yes, and that's why they moved to SSOI. They were told all their lives that Israel is like America but Jewish. Oh, it's not quite as affluent, but it's close enough. If you'll just give up a little bit of your luxuries, you'll have it all!

And they don't budge from this fantasy. Their brains have been built around it, particularly if they went to Modern Orthodox schools. Oh they'll complain about Israelis. They complain often because the Israelis are often obnoxious.

Sometimes, they try to be lighthearted about it. Oh, those Israelis. Like their behavior is some kind of mildly annoying idiosyncrasy.

But this woman kept 10 people waiting for an hour and left them walking out with nothing but anxiety from having wondered, what is going on?

Why would she be this way? I say, it's learned in the army for this is how the military treats Arabs and has treated them for a century. You don't care about Arabs you say. And I can't seem to get you to care. But do you care about Jews? Because the treatment of the Arabs spills over into treatment of Jews.

The source problem again is violating the oaths and taking the land by force, which leads to military conscription, which leads to an entire generation of Jews learning bad middos.

I can tell you 100 more stories like this. A friend of mine was on the bus with his family late at night, last ones on the bus. Driver didn't want to finish his route, so he kicked them off the bus, 1 mile from their home. Suitcases and little kids had to be schlepped for a mile at 1 in the morning. 

I listened to the story in disbelief until it happened to me. A driver tried to kick me and my family off the bus along with a teenage boy that was still on the bus. This was also 1 mile from a home. Why? Driver didn't feel like finishing his route.

So RHS wants to tell you that SSOI is a wonderful place to live with all the modern conveniences.  And you believe him because if you are Modern Orthodox he's the biggest name around, the MO gadol, and we follow the gadolim. 

But real gadolim know the world, know life, know people. They aren't just booksmart. And a real gadol wouldn't tell you to live in a place that he doesn't live in because you can't know a place just by visiting, particularly if you a famous rabbi who gets escorted around town.

SSOI is not a wonderful place to live. It has its moments, but not many of them. There are some nice people, but it doesn't take more than a few of the other kind to disturb your day and to negatively affect your feeling of Ahavas Yisroel. Their rudeness isn't an American rudeness. It's way worse than that. It's so brazen. You try to explain it away, but you are left angry. Your Ahavas Yisroel suffers. 

Here's a story that might interest you. Israeli is on an airplane and wants to use the bathroom during takeoff. He barks in Hebrew to the non-English speaking stewardess. Some body tells him, she doesn't speak Hebrew. Somehow she is told he wants to use the bathroom. She says, please wait a few minutes we are taking off. He argues, he yells, he shouts, he screams. He stays in his seat but pulls out a water bottle and pees into it and then throws it at her. She, being a trooper, just picks it up and tosses it away. My friend witnessed this incident. When you endure a few of these incidents, and I have seen my own, your Ahavas Yisroel suffers. 

That's one of the many mitzvos that you lose here as you come to have resentment and hostility to Jews. And that mitzvah is a constant mitzvah that is a d'orita chiyuv in our era, unlike yishuv ha'aretz which is an optional mitzvah, even according to the Ramban. 

So if you care about mitzvos,  the SOI is not the place to be. And if you care about your sanity, don't even think about coming here. 

 

Still feel safer here? Today's news.

News from 10/9/24. 

And aliyah pushers will claim Jews are unsafe everywhere.  They  Zionists are delusional and have no compunctions against  endangering your life.

And in related news, a Jewish student at Columbia University got shouted at. Oh my gosh, we must flee America. 

Another death

 

It continues. Every few days. Sometimes on consecutive days, Jews murdered in Israel. Are the lunatic aliyah salesmen going to continue asserting that Jews are no less safe in Israel?

How delusional can you be?

https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-823326

Israel one year into war: 885 civilians killed, 70,000 wounded - National Insurance Institute

Following October 7, 217 civilians who were not members of the 

security forces were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip.

Some 885 civilian casualties were added to the total number of victims killed in terror attacks, according to the National Insurance Institute (NII) on Sunday. The total count did not include members of the security forces or emergency standby squads.

Seven of the casualties were added just last week as a result of the Jaffa terror attack, who were not included in the NII's findings.

Of the 878 victims counted, 578 were men and 300 were women. Among them, 53 were children and teenagers under the age of 18: four were aged 0-3, two were 3-5, three were 5-8, nine were 8-12, eight were 12-14, and 27 were 14-18. Additionally, 72 of the victims were foreign citizens.

....Since the war began, over 70,000 victims of hostilities have received treatment, including 12 amputees. Among the total victims, 647 are foreign citizens who were wounded on October 7.

But RHS feels less safe in Washington Heights than Israel. Yitzchok Breitowitz says Jews aren't safe anywhere. 

Really? How many Jews were murdered for being Jewish/Israeli/Israeli military in America this year? Have there been any?  I know a few were shouted at on the Columbia University campus. Not that anybody gets shouted at in Israel. Hah, hah. 

There's something about Zionism. It freezes the brain. It's incredible to watch how delusion takes over the mind of a person who has given his soul to Zionism. 

Just when you thought you had seen it all

 

Do I have to explain how nutty this is? Unconditional love for a country. What if it becomes genocidal, Heaven forbid, against its citizens? What if you are a religious Jew and the state is atheist? This sentiment clearly is a replacement of Hashem with the State. 

Seeing that Rav Soloveitchik founded the school, I must say that he ridiculed this kind of attitude. They just don't listen to him. 

another reason not to move to Israel

 

When facts don't factor in

15 Jews have been murdered in the last two days in Israel and unhinged Zionist "Rabbis" are still declaring that Jews are not safe anywhere and everyone should move to Israel. When facts don't factor into a man's thinking, his mouth is capable of uttering anything. 

Just like mushrooms grow from the moisture in the air

 from TorahJews.org

It happened in the fledgling Slabodka Yeshiva in Bnei Brak. The war was still raging in Europe the angel of death had almost full reign in the killing fields of Europe. As Lithuania was being decimated Rabbi Isaac Sher resolved to rebuild from scratch in the Holy Land, and founded the Slabodka Yeshiva in Bnei Brak. Thus a rejuvenation was beginning in the land of Israel.

Rabbi Sher asked to small group of students if eventually they would want to return with him to Slabodka in Lithuania after the war. One student replied, “Absolutely not! I should go back and leave behind the Holy Land?”

But Rabbi Sher countered, “We will accomplish much more there. We will be able to learn and grow more over there.”

One of Rabbi Sher’s early students was Rabbi Shlomo Hoffman. He witnessed this exchange and recalled:

We students living in the Holy Land were not swayed. We could not contemplate how the Rosh Yeshiva could even think of going back there and leaving the Holy Land! Rabbi Sher then told us, “I see that you have been drugged by Zionism.”

I remember asking Rav Isaac, “But how could I be drugged by Zionism? I have not even read one Zionist book. I have been within the four walls of the Yeshiva and nowhere else.”

Rav Isaac replied, “Just like mushrooms grow from the moisture in the air, a person is influenced by the sentiments in the air. If I am telling you that you will accomplish much more in Lithuania and you still insist on staying here, that means you have been drugged by Zionism. The air is permeated with Zionism and it has an influence on you, even unknowingly.” (Yated Neeman, Sep 23, 2022)

https://torahjews.org/rabbi-yitzchok-isaac-sher-rosh-yeshiva-of-slobodka-1875-1952/

Rav Isaac Sher was the rebbe of Rav Avigdor Miller