In Chutz LaAretz, there are some people (mostly Chassidim) who do hakafos on Shemini Atzeret.
Here in Israel, people do second hakafos after the chag is over! Basically every shul has dancing with music - the air is electric. At least here where you can hear everything, it feels like music is blasting from every corner of the city. The joy is so palpable.
BTW, it's a little weird to go from Sukkos right into Simchas Torah without Shemini Atzeret first, but it makes so much more sense. There is no one day break where you don't do much that is special - it's just a continuation of the big party, and the gigantic culmination! And when really the entire city is off for Chag Sameach and there are parties everywhere, every single night, and then really the entire city is celebrating Simchas Torah, and everywhere you walk you can hear hakafos in progress, no one is in the street (except those that are dancing!) - I can't describe it! The floor at the shul last night was literally vibrating.
Off to wear my shoes out!
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Sweat
I did a lot of mitzvot today. A LOT.
My friend who I stayed with when I arrived in Israel got engaged this past weekend (she started dating him around when I arrived) and I walked to the L'Chaim after work tonight. It was pretty funny, me walking around Meah Shearim with a map - it looked like a lot farther than it was (that was after I found the right address - originally Google Maps tried to send me deep into East Jerusalem and I knew that wasn't right).
Anyway, so I was very proud that I figured out from there how to walk to a close bus. I got to the bus stop and discovered that the two buses that drop me within minutes of the house don't come there, and the ones that do would only take me one stop before I would need to walk the rest of the way. And a cab? That is WAY to American.
So I did what every Israeli would do in that situation. I walked home. By the time I walked home, then went out and walked Fiona and back, I was completely damp. I mean like my shirt was damp to the touch damp (don't worry I'm drinking water as I write this). Needless to say, the shower I took before the vort was useless and I needed to take another one as often happens here in the summertime. Since every 4 steps here is a mitzvah, man did I do a lot!
I learned an important lesson as well - if you want to do a mitzvah, you might have to sweat a bit. Don't worry - it's worth it.
My friend who I stayed with when I arrived in Israel got engaged this past weekend (she started dating him around when I arrived) and I walked to the L'Chaim after work tonight. It was pretty funny, me walking around Meah Shearim with a map - it looked like a lot farther than it was (that was after I found the right address - originally Google Maps tried to send me deep into East Jerusalem and I knew that wasn't right).
Anyway, so I was very proud that I figured out from there how to walk to a close bus. I got to the bus stop and discovered that the two buses that drop me within minutes of the house don't come there, and the ones that do would only take me one stop before I would need to walk the rest of the way. And a cab? That is WAY to American.
So I did what every Israeli would do in that situation. I walked home. By the time I walked home, then went out and walked Fiona and back, I was completely damp. I mean like my shirt was damp to the touch damp (don't worry I'm drinking water as I write this). Needless to say, the shower I took before the vort was useless and I needed to take another one as often happens here in the summertime. Since every 4 steps here is a mitzvah, man did I do a lot!
I learned an important lesson as well - if you want to do a mitzvah, you might have to sweat a bit. Don't worry - it's worth it.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
How Do We Endure?
The story explained by Mystical Paths in Israel has been pretty scary. US armed forces following buses bringing kids to school, police with bats being rough with kids daring to play in the streets of Geula, more rockets in Sderot – and Bush offering a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital as reward for their terrorism. It sure seems like no one cares about the safety of Jews in their own land – but put Bush’s safety in jeopardy and the entire country shuts down (with of course no care again given to the Jews affected). How do we endure this suffering?
The same way that our ancestors did in Egypt – infallible belief that HASHEM CARES, we WILL be redeemed, and they will pay for every OUNCE of our suffering!
This redemption is supposed to mimic the redemption from Egypt. Here’s one big similarity:
In Egypt, we were supposed to spend a specific number of years in slavery. However, the Egyptians reveled in their power over us, and subjected us to much more severe suffering than had been ordained – and they were made to suffer, middah k’neged middah, for both enjoying giving us the suffering we were supposed to get, and making us suffer even more (and we were redeemed early).
Now, it is the same thing. We have paid twice the suffering allotted, and the goyim have indeed – and continue to – revel in the continued suffering they inflict on Jews. It feels never ending, and so, so unfair. The double standard is so blatant, and yet no matter how much we protest, write letters to the White House, our representatives, and the media, it just doesn’t change. It’s because they don’t want to listen. They don’t want to hear the truth. They continuously choose to harden their hearts against us.
Just remember that they don’t run the show – Hashem does. No matter how much they fight against His people, no matter what they try to do to erase us and everything we stand for off the map, whether they do so using Katyushas or “peace” treaties and politics – they will not succeed. They will become just like the Egyptians, who were wiped off the map and weren’t heard from again for hundreds of years, and in truth, never really recovered even half of what they had been previously. “Hashem ish milchamah” – Hashem is a Man of war. It is not the IDF that fights our battles, nor the Israeli government that it is our spokesman, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu Himself.
“There is an Ear that hears, and an Eye that sees, and everything is written in the Book, and the signature of each man is transcribed therein.” When the Day of Judgment comes, the goyim that were against us will fight the verdict, but lo and behold, it will be their own signature. They will get their due and we will rejoice – not for sweet revenge, but in celebration of Justice and the fulfillment of His word. Amen!
Link to Mystical Paths Post: http://mysticalpaths.blogspot.com/2008/01/well-this-explains-lot-or-not.html
The same way that our ancestors did in Egypt – infallible belief that HASHEM CARES, we WILL be redeemed, and they will pay for every OUNCE of our suffering!
This redemption is supposed to mimic the redemption from Egypt. Here’s one big similarity:
In Egypt, we were supposed to spend a specific number of years in slavery. However, the Egyptians reveled in their power over us, and subjected us to much more severe suffering than had been ordained – and they were made to suffer, middah k’neged middah, for both enjoying giving us the suffering we were supposed to get, and making us suffer even more (and we were redeemed early).
Now, it is the same thing. We have paid twice the suffering allotted, and the goyim have indeed – and continue to – revel in the continued suffering they inflict on Jews. It feels never ending, and so, so unfair. The double standard is so blatant, and yet no matter how much we protest, write letters to the White House, our representatives, and the media, it just doesn’t change. It’s because they don’t want to listen. They don’t want to hear the truth. They continuously choose to harden their hearts against us.
Just remember that they don’t run the show – Hashem does. No matter how much they fight against His people, no matter what they try to do to erase us and everything we stand for off the map, whether they do so using Katyushas or “peace” treaties and politics – they will not succeed. They will become just like the Egyptians, who were wiped off the map and weren’t heard from again for hundreds of years, and in truth, never really recovered even half of what they had been previously. “Hashem ish milchamah” – Hashem is a Man of war. It is not the IDF that fights our battles, nor the Israeli government that it is our spokesman, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu Himself.
“There is an Ear that hears, and an Eye that sees, and everything is written in the Book, and the signature of each man is transcribed therein.” When the Day of Judgment comes, the goyim that were against us will fight the verdict, but lo and behold, it will be their own signature. They will get their due and we will rejoice – not for sweet revenge, but in celebration of Justice and the fulfillment of His word. Amen!
Link to Mystical Paths Post: http://mysticalpaths.blogspot.com/2008/01/well-this-explains-lot-or-not.html
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Reality Check: Comparisons between Iraq and Israel
I would like to comment on the amazing "coincidence" that is happening in the Middle East, specifically designed by G-d to make us wake up:
1. In Israel, there is a Green Line separating Israel from the Palestinian Arabs, designed to safeguard Jews
a. In Iraq, there is a Green Line separating the Americans from the Arabs, designed to safeguard Americans.
2. Israel is faced with recurrent suicide bombers who try to kill civilians any which way – in markets, on the roads, buses, etc.
a. America is faced with recurrent suicide bombers who try to kill soldiers any which way – in markets, on the roads, car bombs, etc.
3. Due to the insurgence of terror, Israel must operate checkpoints to be able to monitor people and items coming in and out of the border. These are contested and many people complain about them, saying that they are an affront to the rights of the Arabs.
a. Due to the insurgence of terror, America must operate checkpoints to be able to monitor people and items coming in and out of Iraq/the border/different safe zones. Where are the human rights people now?
4. Granted the severe situation, Israel finds itself in a quandary, faced with a seemingly endless situation with opponents who don't fight fair and won't talk – or talks, and lies. Many people say that Israel should leave (cease to exist/give up more Israeli land).
a. Granted the severe situation America finds itself in a quandary, faced with a seemingly endless situation with opponents who don't fight fair and won't talk – or talks, and lies. Many people say that America should leave.
I am sure that there are many more similarities that I can't think of right now. Do we learn? Does America/the Western World stop limiting and fighting Israel's right to defend itself, even as they are forced to take the exact same measures to protect themselves? Even more so – America is trying to protect soldiersand Israel is trying to protect civilians who shouldn't be in the war in the first place. Should the civilians not have at least as many, if not more, safeguards than soldiers?
We are living in a time of great illusion, where truth is twisted and everything is backwards. And still, no one wants to look, they just want to say "Get outa my face." America – and many Israelis for that matter - just want the situation to "go away" and are not listening to the Arab who is cursing them with death in the meantime.
The situation isn't going away, because both parties have to want it. In reality, one party has told us numerous times what it wants – a world without Jews, and a world without Americans/Christianity/the West either, and they are happy to kill us and themselves to get it. We have to be willing and able to fight to the death to meet the challenge, and we're too stuffed with materialism and excess to want to do anything besides retreat to our nice little beachside second home in La-La Land.
1. In Israel, there is a Green Line separating Israel from the Palestinian Arabs, designed to safeguard Jews
a. In Iraq, there is a Green Line separating the Americans from the Arabs, designed to safeguard Americans.
2. Israel is faced with recurrent suicide bombers who try to kill civilians any which way – in markets, on the roads, buses, etc.
a. America is faced with recurrent suicide bombers who try to kill soldiers any which way – in markets, on the roads, car bombs, etc.
3. Due to the insurgence of terror, Israel must operate checkpoints to be able to monitor people and items coming in and out of the border. These are contested and many people complain about them, saying that they are an affront to the rights of the Arabs.
a. Due to the insurgence of terror, America must operate checkpoints to be able to monitor people and items coming in and out of Iraq/the border/different safe zones. Where are the human rights people now?
4. Granted the severe situation, Israel finds itself in a quandary, faced with a seemingly endless situation with opponents who don't fight fair and won't talk – or talks, and lies. Many people say that Israel should leave (cease to exist/give up more Israeli land).
a. Granted the severe situation America finds itself in a quandary, faced with a seemingly endless situation with opponents who don't fight fair and won't talk – or talks, and lies. Many people say that America should leave.
I am sure that there are many more similarities that I can't think of right now. Do we learn? Does America/the Western World stop limiting and fighting Israel's right to defend itself, even as they are forced to take the exact same measures to protect themselves? Even more so – America is trying to protect soldiersand Israel is trying to protect civilians who shouldn't be in the war in the first place. Should the civilians not have at least as many, if not more, safeguards than soldiers?
We are living in a time of great illusion, where truth is twisted and everything is backwards. And still, no one wants to look, they just want to say "Get outa my face." America – and many Israelis for that matter - just want the situation to "go away" and are not listening to the Arab who is cursing them with death in the meantime.
The situation isn't going away, because both parties have to want it. In reality, one party has told us numerous times what it wants – a world without Jews, and a world without Americans/Christianity/the West either, and they are happy to kill us and themselves to get it. We have to be willing and able to fight to the death to meet the challenge, and we're too stuffed with materialism and excess to want to do anything besides retreat to our nice little beachside second home in La-La Land.
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