June 2010
5 posts
1 tag
The moral and spiritual bankruptcy of Orthodoxy in...
A remark by Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levy that the court’s decisions are not subject to rabbinical approval went straight to the heart of the matter, with irate haredi demonstrators declaring that if they had to choose between the court and their rabbis, the rabbis always would come first. via jta.org Just when we thought Orthodoxy/ultra-Orthodoxy (there is now very little...
1 tag
Losing interest in defending Israel
Probably like an increasing number of Israel’s supporters, I’m starting to have a problem defending what I don’t understand.Also (coming back to the impact of the proposed changes to the conversion laws on Reform converts and Patrilineal descent), if there’s to be no place in the Israeli scheme of things for my daughter and me, I’m not even sure I’m interested in helping to make Israel’s case. ...
Trying to be rational about the Settlements
What we’re seeing in Israel is a massive shift or redirection of population and resources from Israel proper (i.e. within the cease-fire lines) to the occupied territories (mainly the West Bank), in defiance of logic (and apparently of international law). Thus, population, infrastructure and investment that is sorely needed within Israel itself, and that should be directed to the Galilee, Negev...
1 tag
On losing a war
Conventional wisdom in Israel has it that she cannot afford to lose a single war. Losing a war to its Arab (or Iranian!) neighbours would not result in an unfavourable peace treaty, but rather in the extinction of Israel. And yet, Israel hasn’t won (or at least convincingly won) a single one of its wars or campaigns since the victory in June 1967. It is probably also true to say that Israel’s...
2 tags
The world’s IT infrastructure provider
Companies such as Google and its competitors (but especially and specifically Google) are fast becoming the IT infrastructure or service provider to the entire world. Just about everyone you know has at least a Gmail or Hotmail account (or AOL, Yahoo!, whatever). Some of us use multiple services from multiple providers. Many of us are entirely reliant on one or more of these services, in both...
May 2010
1 post
1 tag
In defence of diplomacy
Sixty-two years after the prophecy of [Herzl’s] Altneuland was realized, we, the generations of those who established the country, know very well that Israel’s salvation did not come from prophets or from diplomats,” said Rivlin, “but from those who dared to stop dreaming and start realizing the dream; in the hands of those who stopped waiting for the establishment of...
March 2010
1 post
Top Reform rabbi: Freeze building in ‘East...
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, the largest synagogue movement in the county, is calling on Israel to enact a construction freeze in parts of Jerusalem. He issued the call during remarks to rabbis and members of URJ’s board of trustees on Thursday: The Union for Reform Judaism, like most American Jewish organizations, supports a united Jerusalem under...
January 2010
4 posts
2 tags
Export of Turkish water to Libya
10- A Libyan government delegation recently arrived in Turkey for discussions on the import of 100 million cubic meters of water annually to the North African country. Sources in the Turkish Energy Ministry say if an agreement is reached on the export of Turkish water to Libya, it will preclude the possibility of exporting water at the same time to Israel. According to reports, Libya is...
Hollow Cities (Lifting the lid on the city)
I watched the Discovery Channel/Mega Engineering program “Underground City” a few days ago. While I think the concept of building 300m underground is ludicrous (not to mention anti-human), it did provide some food for thought. Rather than living underground, what we should be doing is moving more (or all) of our infrastructure underground. Not 300m underground, but rather at...
Hope in a Changing Climate
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by mega environmental and ecological restoration projects, such as the restoration of the Loess Plateau in China outlined in the documentary “Hope in a Changing Climate”. Israel is no stranger to the concept of Ecosystem Restoration (through the work of the JNF-KKL, etc.), but the scale of this effort is mind-boggling, with...
Equal time for progressive Judaism
In these places with state-supported synagogues and Hebrew schools, Jewish children are taught that there is only one kind of Judaism. They see - at public events where the leaders of the Jewish community have a role - only Orthodox rabbis. Adherence to Orthodox Judaism is sanctioned and institutionalized by nothing less than the state. In these cities and countries, then, is it so...
December 2009
2 posts
The struggle for the soul of Israel
But Women of the Wall chairperson Anat Hoffman criticized the lack of political response to the treatment that Frenkel received. “I want Michael Oren to be drowning in e-mails and faxes and letters saying: ‘Do something about this. This is something we care about,’” said Hoffman, who is also executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center. Hoffman said that when she...
2 tags
Religion, secularism and theocracy
Only 44 percent of Israelis define themselves as secular, as opposed to 64 percent of Swedes who define themselves as atheists; via haaretz.com The logic behind this article is so flawed that the article doesn’t warrant a detailed critique. I do want to make a couple of comments however: 1. Gideon Levy is confusing the idea of religiosity and that of a theocracy. Even if 100% of the...
November 2009
7 posts
Mixed feelings about the fall of the Berlin Wall
2009 marked the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the event that came to symbolise the end of Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, the demise of Communism as an ideology and force in the world, the end of the Cold War, the fall (or should that be raising?) of the Iron Curtain. And yet, I have mixed feelings about it. Not because it brought capitalism, freedom and democracy to much...
The danger of mutiny - Haaretz - Israel News
Barak says that the phenomenon does not exist at all hesder yeshivas, but only at a few isolated ones where extremist rabbis incite the soldiers, and so the IDF should continue the hesder system. But the hesder idea is invalid in principle. There is no reason in the world for religious young men to serve in the army for only a year and a half, instead of the three years served by their secular...
301Works.org - URL shorteners working with...
The Internet Archive and founding companies announce today the launch of 301Works.org, a service to archive shortened Universal Resource Locators (URLs). This will enable redirect services to incorporate these shortened URLs when a member company ceases business activities. The use of shortened URLs has grown dramatically due to the popularity of Twitter and similar micro-streaming services...
Black Hawk Down
The toll for the Americans was 18 dead and several dozen wounded. The figure usually given for deaths among the Somalis is 500. The most disturbing feature of the book is the account of the casual killing of civilians. Since the objective of capturing the Habr Gidr notables was achieved, the Rangers insist to this day that the mission was a success. By most accounts, Mohamed Farrah Aidid was...
Solar and wind energy
Solar and wind energy are bound to be the best, most effective forms of alternative energy. Why? Because they are the closest (most direct) in terms of “conversion” to the ultimate source of all energy on our planet, the Sun. For that reason, they are simplest and most efficient to convert into usable electricity. Not only that, but they can also be generated closest to the end-user, i.e....
Emancipation and enlightenment
— clip — Although these processes began almost 250 years ago, they can still be seen as a watershed, a clear dividing line between the progressive and backward streams of Judaism. Progressive Judaism saw them as a challenge, a wake-up call and an opportunity to fix what was wrong with Judaism; a new reality. Backward Judaism saw them as a threat, an erosion of their power-base and...
Rewriting History - Bombing Auschwitz
It’s become almost fashionable (if we can use that term when discussing the Holocaust) to ask why the Allies didn’t bomb Auschwitz (alternatively, the railway lines leading to it) once it became known that Auschwitz was a death camp. Of course it’s a valid question, but perhaps the question we should be asking is why the Jewish community at the time didn’t take to the streets of London, Jerusalem...
October 2009
3 posts
1 tag
Erasing the Green Line
Something that both the Settlers in Judea and Samaria and the Palestinian extremists (I’m not sure that there’s any other kind) have in common: The belief in a One State Solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and along with it the desire to erase the Green Line (Israel’s pre-1967 border), i.e. the desire to erase the distinction between Israel proper and the rest of Palestine, especially...
1 tag
I’m a guest blogger at The Jerusalem Post this... →
I was chuffed to see that one of my BloggersBase posts (Intermarriage - straight talk or just more of the same?) has ended up on the Guest Blog at The Jerusalem Post (JPost.com) this week. It’s attracted 22 Comments thus far; some supportive, some really nasty. It’s sitting at position #2 on the Most Popular list (with Alan M. Dershowitz at #1!). It’s “rated 2.85 by you and 14 others”. Please...
1 tag
Our Provider?
I saw a bumper sticker a few days ago that read “Jesus Christ - Our Provider”. The thought that straight away crossed my mind was “stop working for a few months and see who your provider is”. It’s not that I have a problem with Christianity (or other people’s beliefs in general), but I just don’t see what religion or spirituality or faith have to do with...
July 2009
2 posts
Don’t you hate it when that happens?
For some time now (since 2008/03/30, 05:44 PM, according to OneNote), I’ve been jotting down notes about stuff that’s very proprietary, but that should be more universal (or at least standards driven). One of the things I focussed on was the idea of a universal battery charger for mobile (cellular) telephones. Lo and behold, what should I see on euronews a day or so ago? That’s right, an insert...
1 tag
Software to Detect the Cause of Road Accidents
This really interesting insert regarding “new software designed to detect the causes of road accidents” featured on euronews a few days back. This is what the write-up on their website had to say about it:
At the Innovation Days Exhibition in Lisbon, developers were showing off new software designed to detect the causes of road accidents. The system uses photos taken at the scene of an accident,...
February 2009
1 post
1 tag
Israel’s Security Envelope
Purely from a military standpoint, this confirms the view that it was a mistake for the IDF (not necessarily the Israeli civilians) to have been withdrawn from Gaza, and why the error should not be repeated in Judea and Samaria (the “West Bank”). All of the occupied territories (whether you like that terminology or not) need to remain within Israel’s security envelope, with Israel’s security...
January 2009
6 posts
1 tag
The Israeli Village: A Snapshot of a Divided...
One of my Google Alerts is for the search term “israel village” (yes, I’m still an unrepentant agrarian at heart). This page came up on my search results a little while back, and I keep meaning to highlight it, but haven’t got around to it until now. The document is in point form, and should take you less than a minute to read. It begins as follows: “Social change.” “Social justice.” “Equal...
1 tag
More Options for Jewish Day School Education
According to this Forward article, New York’s first Hebrew language public school has been approved, and will open its door in August 2009. The school, to be known as the Hebrew Language Academy, will be organized as a charter school, publicly funded but operated by a private not-for-profit association. Those who follow me on Altneuland and Cafe Birkenreis will know that I am a long-standing...
Test post for tumblr →
This is a post created in order to test the interface with Google Reader and Tumblr.
Maskil: Instead of calling for meaningless... →
Maskil: Instead of calling for meaningless international monitoring, Israel should reverse the error of abandoning the Philadelphia Corridor.: Maskil: Instead of calling for meaningless…
Maskil: Instead of calling for meaningless... →
Maskil: Instead of calling for meaningless international monitoring, Israel should reverse the error of abandoning the Philadelphia Corridor.
Pathfinders: Into the heart of Afghanistan (Sky...
I finally managed to watch the entire program “Pathfinders: Into the heart of Afghanistan” on Sky from end to end. In the context of the Gaza operation, I can’t help contrasting the admiring and respectful treatment this British news channel rightfully gives it own men in uniform, with the often harsh and critical treatment it dishes out to Israel’s armed forces. A...
September 2008
2 posts
Ultra-Orthodox criminality
The JTA moderators apparently decided not to publish my comments to this story featured on The Telegraph. That’s their prerogative, of course. As a blogger, however, it’s my prerogative to publish the remarks anyway. I assume they took exception to my remarks about “ultra-Orthodox criminality”, but how else do you describe it? If these were Skinheads beating up Jews, we would sail into them...
Shalit's mail: The magnanimous Khaled Meshaal
According to a JTA Breaking News item (Published: 5 September 2008): Hamas’ leader in Damascus promised to deliver a letter to captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit from Shalit’s father. The letter to Shalit … went from Shalit’s father to French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Syrian President Bashar Assad to the emir of Qatar to Khaled Meshaal … Meshaal said he would forward...
July 2008
2 posts
Moses and the Palestinians
I’m not sure whether this incident actually occurred or not, but it’s one of those events that you would like to have happened. I guess this is how urban legends are made… An ingenious example of speech and politics occurred recently at the UN and made the world community smile. Leave it to an Israeli to think of something like this: A representative from Israel began: “Before beginning my...
1 tag
FriendFeed
I’m in the process of setting Maskil up on FriendFeed. It’s having a problem with my Twitter identity at the moment; Twitter may be down.
You can find me here:
Maskil - FriendFeed
http://friendfeed.com/maskil
http://friendfeed.com/maskil?format=atom
Professional, not personal. I’ll set up a separate identity for the personal stuff.
I’m not sure what use to put it to...
June 2008
2 posts
1 tag
Remembering D-Day →
Last year I visited Madingley Cemetery, a graveyard in Cambridge of 3,800 American airmen with a wall commemorating an additional 5,100 American pilots and coastguardmen who disappeared or died protecting Britain’s shores. At Duxford airbase there is a plaque commemorating the lives of 30,000 American pilots who died during the Second World War. What I noticed at Madingley was the large number...
5 tags
Israeli Paper Reports Israel-Syria "Peace Canal"... →
Although the bells of peace between Israel and Syria have only just started ringing again, new peace plans are already springing up throughout the Middle East, and are just waiting for the negotiating team to pluck them and offer them as a gift to the other side. One of these, which can be described as no less than grandiose, has recently been set before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence...
May 2008
8 posts
1 tag
Israel's space →
I may well be the last person on the Judeosphere to be aware of this space. I’m also not too sure how long it’s been around; I do know that it’s nice to find a “feel good” site dealing with Israel for a change! Lots of visual resources, images, videos, etc.
2 tags
Aharon Barak: Don't leave marriage in hands of... →
A theocracy with elections While I agree with [former Chief Justice of Israel’s Supreme Court Aharon] Barak’s assertion that “Civil marriage laws must be regulated in Israel. The control cannot be left in the hands of the religious alone”, I disagree that “we can conclude this with an agreement with the religious sector”. The religious sector has had a stranglehold on this particular aspect of...
1 tag
Family spat or modesty madness?
While taking my usual early morning walk on Saturday, I encountered three obviously orthodox Jews, almost certainly on their way to Shul. A boy, a youth (late teens or early twenties) and a girl (similar age). The two boys were walking together, while the girl was about ten paces behind. The thought that immediately sprang to mind was, why don’t they walk together? Is this a little family...
Happy 60th birthday, Israel!
Dear Israel, Happy 60th birthday! May you have many, many more, and may the best of your dreams come true. Thanks for always being there for us. Sorry we can’t be there to share the occasion with you. L Maybe next year. You’re in our thoughts and prayers constantly. Love, Us Altneuland Blog: http://blog.altneuland.info/ Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Altneuland...
1 tag
Ohrsom Opportunity →
I noticed a few days back that our complimentary Ohrsom Shul in Sandton 2008 calendar does not feature Yom HaShoah on 1 May/26 Nisan; it simply appears as Workers’ Day. I’m sure it must be an error, as the more authoritative Pick ‘n Pay calendar for 5768 2007-8 does indicate it. I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if there’s a Black Hat conspiracy behind it. They seem to have always had a...
Tumblr Dashboard theme
I’d actually like a Tumblr theme that looks just like the Tumblr Dashboard!
Green Valley News & Sun - Columns > Columns > Talk... →
The petroleum-based plastic bags take decades to break down, so if they are not recycled they litter. It creates visual pollution: in the streets, on the beaches etc. Also, they can clog roadside drains, which could cause street flooding during heavy rainfall. Plastic bags can be recycled but it rarely happens; according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, only 1 percent of plastic bags...
American Thinker: Jimmy Carter Disgraced For Many... →
Former Mayor Ed Koch wrote last week that Jimmy Carter was “a miserable president” and “a miserable human being now as he prepares to meet with Hamas.” Carter should be encouraged to farm his peanuts, build houses and take more money from the Saudis. For the sake of the security of democratic countries, he should be discouraged from meddling in foreign policy.
April 2008
12 posts
Does anyone make a living from blogging?
I’m starting to think that the only people who are making a living out of blogging are those who blog about making money from blogging!
1 tag
Save the gazelles of northern Jerusalem →
By exposing them to the vagaries of human behavior and endangering them by the changes that man has made to the physical world, we are accountable for the harm we inflict on other species. We compete fiercely with them over habitat and since we are technologically advanced and they are not, we easily prevail over them. We have literally pushed them to the brink of extinction as a result of our...
1 tag
Founding kibbutz breathes fresh air into Israeli... →
As a kibbutz volunteer in the early 80s, I enjoyed this article highlighting Israel’s oldest kibbutz, Deganya Alef. This statement in particular caught my attention: Out of 256 kibbutzim, the 74 that still have an entirely communal system and no individual salaries are also the wealthiest, Getz says. I’d really like to understand what the reasons are behind that. The article also mentioned...
“There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love;...”
– Dr. Wayne Dyer