September 2008

To all who are excited for the new year, no matter what your nationality, race, creed, or any other distinction that makes you unique in this beautiful world, I wish you a happy, successful, enriching and life experience filled year! May good things come to you all and remember to stay positive through life’s trials. Shana Tovah Umetukah!

Are you a student who is interested in moving to Israel? Are you looking for the experience of a lifetime that will help fast-forward your aliyah process, make connections in Israel, and help you live a successful life in Israel? Join ImpactAliyah this December for our Aliyah focus trips: Learn about Israel’s opportunities and challenges and consider ways of contributing to Israeli society! Each ImpactAliyah participant will be connected to American olim in his or her area of career interest. The trips visit a variety of areas in Israel, from the north to the south, communities, graduate schools, and give each participant an important set of tools for a successful move to Israel.

Apply today at http://www.impactaliyah.com/. If you apply by October 5th, you’ll be automatically entered into a raffle to be one of five students to receive a $100 tuition rebate! (Regular tuition costs $250.) There will be rolling acceptance, so the earlier you apply the better. Priority application deadline is October 12. Read more about dates, pricing, and itineraries at www.impactaliyah.com.
Who is ImpactAliyah? ImpactAliyah is a student organization that aims to support, organize, and enable young Jews to move to Israel and make a transformative impact on Israeli Society, the Jewish Community and the world. This January, we engaged students in a 10-day program in Israel focusing on practicalities of life in the Jewish State and also equipping students with skills to make a positive impact on arrival. Now we are planning two more trips, one Boston-based and the other based in New York City. (But students from across the USA & Canada are welcome to join us!) You can read more about ImpactAliyah on BlogsOfZion here.

In his memoir “Faith of My Fathers,” Senator John McCain writes: “The United States Naval Academy, an institution I both resented and admired, tried to bend my resilience to a cause greater than self-interest. I resisted its exertions, fearing its effect on my individuality. But as a prisoner of war, I learned that a shared purpose did not claim my identity. On the contrary, it enlarged my sense of self.”

            Four years ago, at his Democratic National Convention debut Senator Barack Obama said: “it’s not enough for just some of us to prosper — for alongside our famous individualism, there’s another ingredient in the American saga, a belief that we’re all connected as one people. If there is a child on the south side of Chicago who can’t read, that matters to me, even if it’s not my child. If there is a senior citizen somewhere who can’t pay for their prescription drugs, and having to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it’s not my grandparent. If there’s an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties.”

What both McCain and Obama understand is the power of peoplehood, the profound need individuals have for nationalism. Most Western Jews travel in circles that pooh-pooh nationalism, that embrace a universalistic cosmopolitanism. Zionism begins with the insight McCain shared that we as individuals find our personhood enhanced by joining a people, belonging to a community. Jewish nationalism works, as Obama’s American nationalism works, by feeling a sense of solidarity, by doing for others – whether or not they do unto you.

We can argue abstractly about whether it is better to do good works for the whole world, or just for your particular ethnic or national community. But the reality of human existence for the last few centuries at least has been that peoplehood and nationalism are the most effective vehicles for doing good works and great things – for one’s own group and for humanity. “Professors” McCain and Obama teach that it is a false choice to select between saving the world and saving your own kind. Both show that by going beyond yourself, by thinking about others in your own smaller group, you take those first essential steps beyond the self – and toward a more altruistic, noble, other-directed existence.

            Can nationalism curdle, turning ever more sour as people turn ever more inward? Of course. That happened again and again throughout the 20^th century. But nationalism can also sweeten life, sweeten the self, pushing us beyond selfishness and toward more satisfying communities and more meaningful lives. That is one of the lessons of the Zionist Revolution – and we should thank both American presidential candidates for helping us to remember those important ideas.

By Gil Troy, originally posted on http://www.israelatsixty.org.il/my_weblog/

During my Freshman year of college I was exposed to one of the best films I’ve ever seen. “Fight Club” was made by Director David Fincher, coming off the heels of his last morbid project “Seven.” The premise follows a man’s life or routine, that seems to have every little detail in its right place. His world is then shook up due to a series of circumstances that are beyond his control, or so we think. In the end, Tyler Durden chooses to shoot out that voice that has helped him breakdown his preconceived notions so that he may pursue his own path, whatever it may be.

What I, and the rest of the young rebels out there, saw was a man living in the end of the 20th Century trying to break out of his conditioned mold. This mold is the typical idea of what “society” deems as the good life, which is school, marriage, kids, old age and death. Tyler Durden wanted to break out of the mundane IKEA, Cialis, Pepsi, Martha Stewart addled world. In order to do this he had to take his entire learned upbringing and deconstruct it from point A to Z. Once you have hit bottom then you will be able to follow your mold on your terms, as the individual you are outside of the material one-dimensional world.

Now you must be asking yourself, why is this guy talking about “Fight Club” on a Zionist blog? Simple, this should be our new model for Israeli Aliyah. In the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s Olim, specifically from North America, made Aliyah for ideological and fraternal reasons. By the early 1980’s to the present attitudes changed among potential Olim as well as in the American Jewish world as a whole. The “Baby-Boomer” generation became too accomodated in its own surroundings. That generation is much more adverse in agreeing to let their children make Aliyah. The parents rather have their kids and grandkids in close proximity due to security, but also out of sheer complacance with their situation and surroundings. Granted it is tougher to visit your grandchildren if they live across the Atlantic as oppossed to across the street. However, that is their life not ours. My mother told me that when her and my father made Aliyah in 1977 they didn’t even care what their parents or anyone else thought about it. We need to take back our lives and our paths should be dictated by ourselves alone. 

So this is how Aliyah will work utilizing this model and I’ll tell you how; First, breakdown all your preconceived notions of the conventional Olim, who are seen as Ideological nuts or religious nuts. Olim are a diverse group of people ranging from a Reform congregation member from Michigan to a Modern Orthodox couple from Brooklyn. We are a diverse world and a diverse people so we should she that preconceived notion of the typical Oleh. Second, we must break out of the idea that we need to get an education and degrees, a job, a wife, kids, picket fence, house in the suburbs, etc. as being the model for a typical American life. Third, once that is broken down we can say “hey, why can’t I do what I want, like move to our Homeland Israel. It’s our choice what we do with our life and it should never be dictated from above.

We should ask ourselves are we going to get the wife, the kids, the car, the fridge, the dog, membership to a gym, Mcdonalds, BMW, Viagra, etc. and the list goes on and on. Or are we going to challenge these preconceived notions of what we should do as oppossed to what we want to do.

Are we a generation of apathetic rebels who are complaisant through life? I hope not because I grapple with this every day and it’s hard to shake. Still, it’s time to break out of the routine like Tyler Durden had, but instead of insanity how about some clarity. As American Jews we owe our heritage and history to our people, especially the Jews who fight for our causes, who defend the weak and humble the strong. Aliyah is the epitome of that rebelion, the cry out that I am an individual Jew who has nothing to lose. And remember, sticking feathers up your rear doesn’t necessarily make you a chicken.  

Ever Since the Republican party’s convention took place last week in St. Paul, MN I have read, seen and heard all this talk about the new direction the Republican party has taken with the nomination of Sarah Palin as VP. I will not spend much time talking about the horrible hypocrisy of it all, a woman’s face brought in to give the party’s face some youth and a little beauty. I’m not very concerned with the fact that Sarah Palin acts like she is going to break the glass ceiling for women in the country by becoming VP, while supporting legislation that would push women back a few decades. I’m not even worried about the fact that Sarah Palin has no real experience other than running a town whose population is about 9000, or a state, which in spite of it’s huge land mass holds less electoral votes than Connecticut. These things are disturbing, as well as the fact that she is being taken so seriously by people in her own party who accused Obama of the same lack of experience, though he has much more than her. But I am not going to focus on these things. I believe that as the campaign wears on and the black of the Republican smoke screen clears, people will come around and realize that they need to vote on policy, not on star quality, unless we are to model our country after American Idol.

What concerns me particularly at this moment is Palin’s attitude towards Israel, Jews in general, and the place of her religion in foreign policy. Obviously, McCain is the one running for President and he does have lots of experience in this area. However, the likelyhood of Palin taking over for McCain is not all that remote, considering McCain’s age. If we were to end up with Palin as our president, one has to wonder how she would approach Israel in actuality. She is the sort of person who wears her religion on her sleeve, and seems to think that the only truely good people in this world are american protestants who follow puritan laws and come from small towns, because big cities breed the gays and minorities and such. Now, I don’t know if this is true, but the internet is all abuzz about a comment she made regarding the situation for Jews in Israel. I do not know the quote word for word, but the basic idea is that Israel is having a hard time finding peace with the Arabs because we have not yet accepted Jesus as our savior. Now I know that there are plenty of people out there who keep saying that bad things happen to Jews because we are just too, um what’s the word? Jewish! 

We were told this during the Spanish Inquisition, during the pogroms in Eastern Europe, during the Holocaust, and during the cold war Jews stuck in Russia had the same problem. So, here we are in 21st century good old US of A, and we have to hear this again? And from a person who is running for public office? I think it’s a very bad idea to give a person like this any kind of power, especially power that extends to how this country deals with other countries.

Now I’m sure that if this comment was made, though it’s not so far fetched, considering her background, but for all Israelis who read this blog, think a little more about this question before saying that you trust McCain more than Obama for support, and for all the American Jews out there who are sure they’re voting for McCain, think a little harder on what kind of friends Israel really needs before casting your votes. Thank you all for taking the time to read this.         

Yes, I know that the header might seem a bit over presumptuous because the Israeli soccer team hasn’t participated in the World Cup since 1970! However, we have an edge, which might break our bad spell that has kept our team out for so long. Instead of being able to develop in their bracket, as the U.S. team has improved tremendously over the years, the Israeli team had been placed in a bracket with Switzerland and France, both formidable teams always managed to edge out Israel.

Now why is it that they aren’t placed with their regional neighbors in a Middle East bracket? Unfortunately it’s sheer anti-semitism or what I say overt anti-Israelism. The Muslim countries refuse to play the Israeli team ending the game in a forfeit, due to they’re refusal to stand on the same field with Israelis. Inadequacy and complexes aside, it seems rather childish that these atheletes will toe the line according to their leaders and backwoods ideology for an unadulterated game of soccer. Why do we see the Iraqi, the Saudi or the Qatari teams qualify? because the competition is a joke. This entire farce has played out for some time in this structure thanks to the “unpolitical” FIFA association.

This year things are different because the brackets have been reshaped and refashioned to make the regional playing more cohesive. Israel is in a European bracket alongside Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg, Moldova and Swizerland. Israel has a better chance because Switzerland is the team to beat while the others should be easier to handle. Israel tied in its first game against Swizerland on Saturday, Sep. 6th. 

So in the great words of Jim Carrey’s character in the film Dumb and Dumber said when discussing having any chances with Lauren Holly’s character, he asks what his chance is? Is it compared to one in a hundred, she resoponds by saying that it’s more like one in a million. He then comes back saying optimistically, “So your’e saying there’s a chance!” That is the feeling of the Israeli soccer team, but it might now be closer to one in a hundred.

Keep your eyes open as Israel will be playing Moldova on September 10th in a night game (afternoon game in the Eastern U.S.) in Moldova. They will also be playing Luxembourg on October 11th. I’ll keep you posted so keep the faith, and always remember what David Ben-Gurion said, “Any Jew who doesn’t believe in miracles is not a realist.”     

PS: Israel beat Moldova 2-1 in their qualifying match on Sep. 10. Go Team!

Here is the overview of the game: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/europe/matches/round=250471/match=300042883/index.html

Y-Love, Smadar and Diwon are currently on their UK TOUR. Check out their BBC World TV Live interview at 12:45pm (London Time) We will update you on when it will air again. The segment will feature an exclusive interview with Y-Love on his Global Hip Hop style and feature a debut performance of one of Diwon’s new tracks with Y-Love himself. For UK: info at http://www.bbc.co.uk For the rest of the world it airs globally to 77 million people. be one of them!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHOTOS OF THE TOUR!
CLICK HERE FOR VIDEOS

 

 

 

* Diwon - URB NEXT 1000!!

Diwon is one of the featured Next 1000 artists this week. Check it out http://www.urb.com/next1000 and VOTE!

“Diwon is something else …in a profound kind of way. The New Yorker gets crafty when it comes to beats by extracting world music—mainly traditional Yemenite music– and fusing it with electro hip hop; creating a titillating sound that’s juicy and for the ears. His musical influence developed from his migration from Yemen to Ethiopia to Israel. Among his myriad of aliases, he is better known as Erez Safar a producer/drummer/DJ/as necessary singer, who champions himself on representing Jewish culture to the fullest. When he’s not on the 1’s and 2’s, he’s busy running Shemspeed (music website) and Modular Moods (independent record label) and a couple of music festivals. Check out Idan Raichel vs. Kid Sister from his remix album That Yemenite Kid. Yeah, it’s fire.” - Nicole Dawley

Download Diwon Music Free HERE

 

The moons are aligned, the blue stars above are pointed towards the heavens and the man upstairs is smiling down at us. Why? because Sir Paul McCartney is coming to Tel Aviv. This man, who was in a little group called the Beatles, is coming to town after being turned down in 1966 for being deemed a subversive act.

The story goes that back in 1966 when the Beatles embarked on their last world tour there was an attempt to bring the fab four to Israel. It was a tense time for Israel, one year before the Six Day War, being under seige and keeping outside influences at bay. However there was an attempt by an Israeli promoter, Yacov Ori, to bring the Beatles to perform in Israel. It seemed like it was doomed to fail from the begining because Levi Eshkol, the Prime Minister at the time, was not that receptive to the idea and Brian Epstein (the Beatles manager from 1962-1967) wasn’t interested in Israeli profits. Regardless, the Beatles never reached Israeli soil to say the word.

The Beatles are very popular in Israel and it was a shame they never performed. We lost the opportunity but we are getting the survivors. At first Ringo Star and Paul were asked to perform for Israel’s 60th anniversary. However they couldn’t, so now it is official that Paul will play his Beatles/Wings/Paul reportoire for the Tel Aviv public at Park Hayarkon.

I know that the average reader might be asking what do the Beatles or Paul McCartney have to do with Israel? Besides being the most popular band in the world, reaching far and wide and touring from Japan to Amsterdam to the Former Soviet Union. Israel felt the mania and the music resonates to this very day, proving that Beatles songs are truely universal. It also proves that history is always being made in the land of Israel.

Check out the link about the performance:  http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite? cid=1219572143527&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Another link about the original aborted Beatles concert: http://www.geocities.com/sunsetstrip/towers/1019/il.html

And, a cute op-ed article by the Jerusalem Post’s David Horovitz: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1219913191372&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Last week I wrote an article for O’Reilly News documenting alleged anti-Israel political bias and the posting of false information at Google Earth. Similar charges had been previously made about Google News. The main point of the article was to question the integrity of the data provided by Google and questioning if, in effect, Google was losing the trust of its wider user community by making decisions which suited a specific political agenda.

While the article appeared on Friday, August 29th it was actually sent to Google for comment more than 24 hours earlier. While I received no directly reply an article in the Jerusalem Post on Sunday, August 31st reported changes at Google Earth:

A new super-layer of geographic information in the popular Google Earth program now requires corroboration before user-generated content can be added to the default map display. The move means that anti-Israel markings placed by a Jenin resident are no longer visible to users when they first open the program.

[…]

Key to the new layer are special algorithms that corroborate information received through one source with the other sources. According to a company statement, this will make “it easier for users to learn about a given place through photos, videos, and annotations contributed by users around the world.”

But it will also allow Google Earth to automatically corroborate any information received from users before displaying it on the default layer. Only information appearing in more than a single source will be displayed in this layer.

It appears that Google has made changes which do address the concerns of the company’s critics on this issue.I don’t know if this is the result of nearly two years of criticism in the Israeli press and the pro-Israel blogosphere or if my effort to raise the issue in another forum, in the tech community to be specific, made a difference. One thing I am sure of: all of us who wrote to raise this issue deserve some credit. That includes both reporters and bloggers. Google is no longer in the business of delegitimizing Israel because we made our voices heard. Such efforts need to continue, calling into question every bit of misinformation and outright falsehoods that are published about Israel. The change at Google Earth proves that we, as a group, can make a difference and stand up for the truth.