I hope you will all forgive me if I share a video with you that has nothing to do with Israel or politics.
As many of you know already, Sunday is Tisha b'Av, the day we mark the destruction of the two Temples. The Talmud says that the Second Temple was destroyed because of baseless hatred. That's what this video is about.
Let's go to the videotape.
I hope that all of us can let go of some of the resentments in our lives and bring the Messiah closer.
Giving credit where credit is due. This was posted to the Yesh Atid party's Facebook page.
Yair Lapid wrote the following for Tisha B'Av (translated from Hebrew):I was at the Western Wall. We celebrated a...
Posted by Yesh Atid on Sunday, July 26, 2015
I'm very impressed. But the point is not just to practice baseless love on Tisha b'Av - it's to practice it all year long. If we can do that, maybe next year will be different. I hope Yair Lapid agrees.
I guess the 'Jewish Press' has crawled out of the gutters and into the sewers. This is as bad as some of the comments I saw on Facebook last week.
The original article - which was 'disappeared' but can still be found on Google cache - is even more over the top.
I went on the vosizneias.com website to check out the rally, because I expected them to bring the authentic stuff. I wasn’t disappointed, even though they just lifted the AP story without attribution:
“We’re all united against military service for religious men in Israel because it doesn’t allow for religious learning,” said Peggy Blier, an interior designer from Brooklyn. “The Israeli government is looking to destroy religious society and make the country into a secular melting pot.”
Every single point made by Peggy Blier is a blatant lie. Of course the law allows for religious learning, it merely suggests that at some point—way past the age non-Haredim serve, and for half the time that normal Israelis give freely of their lives—”religious Jews in Israel” should participate in caring for the security of their country, or, if that’s too much, serve the equivalent time in vital organizations inside their own communities for their own neighbors.
That, according to Peggy Blier, is a conspiracy on the part of the Israeli government to destroy religious society.
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. The Jewish Press in Israel is the world's expert at lifting entire articles without attribution. If they have to attribute it, they won't publish it.
They once asked if they could republish one of my posts, and I said that they could - provided that they linked back to my blog. I was willing to let them republish the entire post and not just an excerpt that would have driven traffic to me (the only way they would consider it). They refused. They wrote that they don't link back to other people's blogs (I have the emails to prove that exchange).
They did offer to publish my blog on their site. So glad I declined the offer.... I'll stay out of the sewers, thank you.
By the way, the person who wrote the article was fired. The apology that includes the firing notice basically says 'we're in New York and we gave the Israeli branch too much autonomy.' Maybe this will give the Jewish Press an incentive to take control of what goes on in their name in Israel.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
