IsraCLIPS: brief virtual tours of sites in Israel. See the first installment: A discovery from 2600 years ago! and a Second Temple Period (1st Century CE) Burial Cave I’ve also posted A Virtual Tour of Jerusalem: The City Lines: 1948-1967-Today. Please check out my YouTube channel here.Continue readingIsraCLIPS
On a warm summer evening on June 26, 2004, corresponding to the 7th day of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, Naomi Shemer parted from this world. She left us a legacy of hundreds of songs most of which were both written and composed by her, others were melodies that she composed for poems that were…Continue readingShe Wrote Our Song
Please READ and SHARE. So here’s what’s behind the strange title. The lead story of the weekly Torah portion – “Shelah Lekha” (Numbers 13-15) – which we will read on Shabbat, June 5, is about the Twelve Spies (one from each tribe) who, at God’s command, are sent from the desert by Moses to scout the…Continue readingGrasshopppers or Grapes: Plan your Trip to Israel Now
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר אַבְרָ֜ם אֶל־ל֗וֹט אַל־נָ֨א תְהִ֤י מְרִיבָה֙ בֵּינִ֣י וּבֵינֶ֔יךָ …כִּֽי־אֲנָשִׁ֥ים אַחִ֖ים אֲנָֽחְנוּ׃ …فقال ابرام للوط لا تكن مخاصمة بيني وبينك …. لاننا نحن اخوان ‘Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me…for we are kinsmen…’(Genesis 13:8) While most of the news media and social media have focused on the conflict between…Continue readingThe Other “Home Front”
In studying the book of Proverbs (Ch. 26 – today’s chapter of the daily Tanakh/Bible study program called “929” – the number of chapters in the Hebrew Bible), I came across two consecutive, contradictory verses (vs. 4-5) that are most apt for responding – or not responding – to anti-Israel and anti-Zionist media: אַל־תַּ֣עַן כְּ֭סִיל…Continue readingProverbs and Israeli PR
In honor of Jerusalem Day, following is one of my favorite quotations of S.Y. Agnon, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1966, from the collection of his short stories “Within the Walls”, (the Hebrew follows the English translation; I take responsibility for the latter): There are places in Jerusalem that are familiar…Continue readingOccupy Oneself with Jerusalem
Starting Sunday evening, May 9 through Monday, May 10 we observe “Yom Yerushalayim” – Jerusalem Day, marking the day on the Hebrew calendar when the Old City of Jerusalem (and especially the Kotel – the Western Wall), was liberated during the Six-day War and became part of one united Jerusalem under Israeli control. For many…Continue readingLight and Jerusalem / אור וירושלים
The State of Israel is celebrating its 73th year of independence this week (April 14 eve-15 in 2021), which is always preceded by a very sombre Memorial Day – Yom Hazikaron. This year we memorialized the 23,928 soldiers that fell in defending the State. The dramatic events leading up to the Declaration of the State…Continue reading10 Curious Facts About the Birth of the State of Israel
Where is ‘Wilfrid Israel’ Street in Jerusalem? Sorry, you could look on Waze or Google Maps, but you won’t find a street in Jerusalem (or elsewhere in Israel) named for Wilfrid Israel: a remarkable Jew, and proud German, who saved many more Jews than Oskar Schindler – before and during the Holocaust. However, in the…Continue readingWilfrid Israel: The Humble Hero of German Jewry
