Holy Exposures Commentary and Photos of Israel

Israeli animated feature film Waltz With Bashir won the prestigious American National Society of Film Critics honor for Best Film of 2008.

This is a great accomplishment for the Israeli movie industry and follows in the heels of Beaufort, the Israeli film that was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 2008 Academy Awards.  What’s more amazing is that the film won for Best Film, and not for Best Foreign Film.

Waltz with Bashir has received praise at several film festivals, including the prestigious Cannes Festival in 2008, where it was met with a standing ovation.

Waltz With Bashir (ואלס עם באשיר) directed by Ari Folman, is an animated documentary of the memories of the director was a 19 year old soldier during the 1982 Lebanon War and deals specifically with his memories of the Sabra and Shatila massacre. For all film lovers who are interested in this genre, this is a must see film.

Waltz With Bashir - Movie Trailer

Interview with Director Ari Folman

15 seconds is all that it takes for a rocket fired from the Hamas-controlled Gaza to land in the nearby Israeli town of Sderot. It will probably take you longer than that to read this blog post.

Imagine that you are in your living reading a book, watching TV or having a bite to eat, your kids are in the next room playing, and then you hear the sirens sounding that another mortar or rocket is heading your way. You now have 15 seconds, FIFTEEN SECONDS, to run as fast as you can to your shelter and hope that the rocket goes somewhere else.

Gaza Under Fire (AP)

This is the life that has been determined for the residents of Israeli towns near by Gaza the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist organization. Israel has suffered much damage, including loss of civilian lives, damage to buildings, destruction of local economies, and emotional scars to the local residents for eight years.

Israel’s decision to finally (hopefully) put an end to this suffering of its innocent civilians, and to rid the Palestinians of their Iran-backed terror state, was met with mixed responses by the world community. We didn’t expect praise from the Arabist U.N., nor from our ’so-called’ friends in Europe, but let’s see how any country, democratic or otherwise, would respond to these similar circumstances.

The State of Israel is fighting the same war it has always fought, since it’s inception in 1948. This is a war of “kiyum”, being able to remain a sovereign nation. This is a war we must win.

Classic Photos of Israel Collection:

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Many of our photos have won awards and/or have been published. You may also use them under the terms of Creative Commons License. Click on images to see larger resolution. Please rate the photos and add your comments below. Enjoy!

Independence Day Memories - Yom Haatzmaut Jerusalem Convoy Remnants

Olive Trees Near Beit Jimel Monastery

Boganvillas

Dawn of a New Day

If Trees Could Talk

Flora at Park Brittania

Open and Shut in Old City Jerusalem

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Yesterday was the 30th annual Bet Shean Half Marathon (21.1KM) which I ran and completed in 1:49.  It was my first time running in Bet Shean.  What a great event!

This race is considered a favorite among Israeli running clubs since the terrain is mostly flat and the organization is top-notch.  It is also considered a great warm-up to the Tiberias Marathon to be held in a few weeks from now (Jan 8).

The Author at the Beit Shean Half Marathon

Yesterday, Dec 11, 2008, over 1,200 runners participated on a windy day.  The course is generally fast, the organizers make every effort to get runners off on a good foot.  There were many registration tables, free coffee, crackers and fruit to make things go smoothly.

The only downside came after the race.  Runners were required to return their timing chips and then receive a free race shirt along with a bag of ‘goodies’.  The lines were incredibly long, and I waited over 20 minutes just to return the chip.  Failing to return the chip would cost I think a 200 NIS fine (~$50 USD).

Official photos from the event can be seen here.

Our club, The Beit Shemesh Running Club, sent a record 29 runners to the finish line.  Our fastest runner completed the race in 1:25.

The Author on the run

Happy running, and onwards to Tiberias and other great runs in Israel.

There seems to be a non-exhaustive list of live tv channels available on the web these days.  I was most intrigued by the hundreds of streaming USA channels.  But for that good old Israeli TV, how about watching Mabat in Hebrew or English?

I like catching a shiur on Machon Meir’s live channel.  You can watch the Knesset (parliament) when in session.  There’s even Arutz Hakniot, the shopping channel (which is Israel’s version of Home Shopping Network - sort of like the “Used-car salesman meets Zig Ziglar”.

Here’s four of my favorite sites that aggregate thousands of live tv channels.

1. Imvite - www.imvite.com Includes live tv, radio, and videos.

2. Streaming the Net - www.StreamingThe.net Very easy to use interface, simple and works

3. WWITV - www.wwitv.com The live tv aggregator with the most traffic. You know what they say about choosing which restaraunt to eat at when on vacation… The colors of this site are awful, but hey, don’t mess with success.

4. Channel Chooser - www.channelchooser.com Slick interface, but this site includes adult links as well, so you will want to keep this one away from your kids.

Classic Photos of Israel Collection: 

Back to Classic Photos Part 1

Many of our photos have won awards and/or have been published. You may also use them under the terms of Creative Commons License.   Click on images to see larger resolution.  Please rate the photos and add your comments below. Enjoy!

Tel Aviv Beach Panorama

Tel Aviv Beach

Tel Aviv Habima Theater

Rothschild Ave

Going To the Beach

Sex Shop - Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv Sex Shop

Photos of Israel Collection by Holy Exposures is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at holyexposures.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at holyexposures.com.

Classic Photos of Israel Collection: 

Many of our photos have won awards and/or have been published. You may also use them under the terms of Creative Commons License.   Click on images to see larger resolution.  Please rate the photos and add your comments below. Enjoy!

Night Fall

Chabad at the Jerusalem Shuk

Sunset over the Shefelah

Arab Man Selling Keffiyehs in Akko

Jerusalem’s Old City & Western Wall in Infrared

The spot where Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin was assasinated in Tel Aviv.

The sign says “Forgive Us”

Celebrating a New Torah

Panoramic View of Tzfat (Safed)

Go to Israel Photos Collection - Part 2

Photos of Israel Collection by Holy Exposures is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at holyexposures.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at holyexposures.com.

Nir Barkat

Nir Barkat wins in Jerusalem, beating out Haredi Knesset Member and Gimmel party hopeful Meir Porush.

Incumbents Huldai in Tel Aviv and Yahav in Haifa both won .

After 7 terms in Ashdod, Tzvi Tzikler lost to Yechiel Lasri.

In Bet Shemesh, three term incumbent Vaknin was ousted in favor of Sha”s party candidate, Moshe Abutbul.  (Abutbul 52%, Lerner 30%, Vaknin 18%).

2008 Israeli Election results for all cities available in real time at Ynet (in Hebrew).

Abutbul Running for Bet Shemesh Mayor

Moshe Abutbul is the Sha”s candidate for Mayor of Bet Shemesh.  In the final day before the elections, RBS residents have gotten a steady flow of mail box goodies from Abutbul’s camp.  Surprisingly, we’ve seen little from Vaknin or Lerner in the last day.

Today’s Abutbul flyer makes the case for the Anglo RBS community in English with prominent members of our community who have come out in support of this candidate.

This flyer claims that Abutbul is good for RBS and that he speaks for all residents here.  Notice, however, that the sampling of voices chosen to support him also speak volumes of who he is.

1. No women here.

2. All Anglo Haredim.  We don’t see any kippot srugot here.

3. No mention of what party he represents.  You would think from this flyer that Abutbul is running as an independent.

Following up on yesterday’s post, to the credit (sic!) of the perpetrators of yesterday’s mess, by this morning, most if not all of them were cleaned up.

However, not to be undersold, today’s leaflet shows that the old bard still has some fight left in him!

Well, I’m impressed that at least this time someone is fessing up to having distributed this.  (We cannot assume however, that Vaknin’s campaign actually did send this - politics is a strange business).  Likewise, I find it interesting that the pashkevilas have switched to English. Is that not a true ’sign of the times’?

Vaknin Supporters Have Switched to English