Holy Exposures

In Israel, your car’s license plate number stays with your car from it’s birth until the junk yard. When you sell or trade in a car in Israel, the license plate stays with car and is transfered to the new owner.

Last week we noticed our front license plate was missing on our car. It looks like it fell off, but then again, it was bolted on. We weren’t sure if it had been stolen or simply fell off on a bumpy ride. Since this is a very rare occurrence, I thought I’d share with you what steps you need to take to get it replaced.

Here’s what you do:
1. File a police report – without a police report, you won’t be able to get a replacement plate. In Bet Shemesh, the police station is on route 38, just next to the Nacham industrial area. You can just walk in to the station (remember to bring your teudat zehut and driver’s license, or won’t be permitted into the station). A police officer will take your information and file a “lost property” report. Remember to take your copy as you will need that later.
FYI – the police officer was very friendly and efficient. That whole process took less than 5 minutes. She told me that kids are known to ‘take’ license plates for their collections. The police sometimes stumble upon a cache of plates. She also said that there aren’t known cases of ‘cousins’ stealing plates for devious reasons, or theifs thinking they can circumvent Kvish 6.
2. Don’t go to the misrad harishui – Although their website tells you to come to the misrad harishui in your area, they don’t actually handle new plate requests. They will send you to the musach murshe (designated car mechanic garage). Instead call the Misrad Harashui in your area and ask them where is the musach that makes replacement plates. Here’s the website for the Transportation Ministry, which has all the appropriate numbers (in Hebrew) http://www.mot.gov.il/wps/portal/Default.jsp

In Bet Shemesh, the musach murshe is just next to the test center in the northern industrial zone (about 200 meters from the new Paz gas station).
3. Go to your Musach Murshe – The musach will take your police report (they need it in order to process your request), and 60 NIS for each new plate needed. They have a machine that punches out your new plate in minutes, which they also paint the numbers, and wait about 10 minutes for it to dry. The best part is that they bring out a new plate holder and bolt it on to your car for you! The whole process was very efficient and pleasant (under the circumstances) and took about 15 minutes.

That’s it…

BTW – you will need to speak some Hebrew to get your point across, so here’s a quick lexicon of phrases to know for this effort:
A license plate in Hebrew is a luchit – לוחית
Front קידמית
Back אחורית
I want to report a lost license plate אני רוצה לדווח על אובדן לוחית קידמית של הרכב שלי

Lag Baomer “Camp Fire” Stories:
Story #1:
It was 1995, and it was our first Lag in Israel as Olim. The kids down the block had a massive fire going, built from construction wood. The flames were at least two stories high, and they were about 10 meters from our apartment – at most! Being a newbie, I called the fire department. The conversation was almost laughable, if it wasn’t so sad. The gist of their reasoning for not coming out to check the fire was that I was an Oleh and I didn’t know how “things were done here”.

Story #2:
It was 1997, we were driving back from my nephew’s Bar Mitzvah, which was held in a Kibbutz up north. Motzash”k was Lag Baomer, just like this year. We drove back from the north down the coastal highway (Highway 6 “Kvish Shesh” wasn’t invented yet).
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1. People are friendly – Our neighbors are the best. People say Hi on the street. Most people know each other by face, if not by name.
2. Relaxed “Chill” Neighborhood – It’s generally very quiet here. Except for weekdays when kids are picked up and dropped off from school, the streets are mostly empty from cars.
3. Great bus service – For those who don’t have cars, it’s extremely easy to get anywhere. Buses to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Inner-city, are constantly running.
4. Enough Shopping, but not too much – We have several makolot (small grocery stores) in walking distance, and shopping centers within a few minutes drive. The haredi shopping center near by offers some really great prices and shopping bargains.
5. Minyanim everywhere – You’re never worried about making your next minyan. We have many shuls (Batei Knesset) for all religious types and customs. People often run into a shul closest to them for mincha, and are treated respectfully by the members.
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How lucky are we to be in a world where the State of Israel exists?
How wonderful is it that over 7 million Jews live here in the Holy Land?
Happy Birthday Israel, and many, many more to come!

Thinking of having an iPad shipped to Israel? Asking your parents to shlep one back on their next trip?
Think twice…

Israel has officially declared Apple’s iPad unwanted for now. Israel Customs has begun confiscating iPads from travellers and incoming mail shipments. Even (and especially) if you go to the red line to declare your new Apple toy, it will still be confiscated.
Israel’s government communications office hasn’t given any specific reasons other than that the USA model includes WiFi support that is not allowed in Israel.

Update: Israel iPad Ban Lifted April 25
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/04/25/why-israel-lifted-its-ipad-ban/
Israel lifted the ban on importing iPads. Apparently, Israel’s Communications Ministry was contacted by Apple’s technology labs to verify that wi-fi technologies present in the device will not affect military or other Israeli concerns.

Bet Knesset Hamerkazi Ha’Ashkenazi – Tefilah Times Summer 5770

לוח זמני תפילה לבה”כ המרכזי האשכנזי רמת בית שמש א  קיץ תש”ע

BKM_5770 זמני תפילה

Bet Shemesh Train Minyan

Orthodox Jews will do just about anything to pray on time and with a quorum of at least ten other Jews (minyan).

Here’s a great photo gallery and review (in Hebrew) of the now ‘famous’ train minyan that runs weekday mornings from Bet Shemesh to Tel Aviv. They even have their own Torah and Ark (Aron Kodesh). How many of the faces do you recognize? Great photos.

The purpose of this minyan is to enable Ramat Bet Shemesh and Bet Shemesh residents who work in Tel Aviv to have Shacharit with a minyan and get to work on time in Tel Aviv. The train ride is about 45 minutes, so they have to get started immediately on days that the Torah is read!

An Israeli doctor from Ashkelon confronts Judge Goldstone at a UN Council meeting with riveting testimony on how his report completely ignored the Israeli casualties and Arab terror that led up to the Gaza Incursion.

Goldstone’s one-sided anti-semitic report dedicates two pages out of a 500 HUNDRED page report to deal with the 8 year barrage of rocket attacks on Israeli towns by Gazan missiles.

Hopefully, with more testimonies like from this courageous woman will help bring out Dr. Goldstone for what he is, a traitor to the Jewish people, and a colossal anti-semite from the likes of the authors of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Near Misses & Tragedies

I’ve been noticing many near misses with young children, unattended or under-attended, who cross the street without having enough time to make

Illustration

it to the other side.  Many children also cross the street diagonally, which adds to the danger, since they are in the street longer.

Tonight, I saw two mothers pushing their strollers with small children by their side.  Two of the younger children in the group ran ahead and one of them was actually in the dark street, at an intersection, with cars flying by.  The mother didn’t even shout out – since she didn’t notice.   I yelled for the child to go back on the sidewalk (from a distance of 100 meters away).  The mother was still oblivious, engrossed in conversation with her friend.

The other night, I saw a child, possibly 10 yrs old, playing ‘chicken’ with a bus.  He crossed the street slowly, and saw the bus was coming.  Instead of hurrying up to the other side, he slowly walked to require the bus to either slow down or swerve.  I know the kid was doing this on purpose, since I saw the smirk on his face as he crossed.  The bus drivers, for their part, are always in a rush to make their schedules.  Yes, they should be more careful.  But we cannot rely on them.  We must train our children to be defensive.

We also cannot rely on miracles.  Yes, Hashem (G-d) watches over us, even the foolish amongst us, but we cannot rely on His mercies to extricate our children from these constant dangers!  I don’t have to list here the statistics of children (and adult) pedestrians who have been killed in Israel in the past decade for us to know that this is a real issue.

Advice For Every Family
1. Review with your children the safety rules for  crossing the road.  Look both ways, look again, cross only at a crosswalk, cross with adults, etc…

2. Experts recommend for children 8 years old and younger to be crossed only by an adult.

3. Never, ever, cross diagonally.

4. If you see a bus or car coming, do not assume they will stop for you.  If you are already in the crosswalk and a bus is coming, run or walk very quickly to the other side of the street.

5. Tell your kids you love them and want them to come home safely.  Explain to them they’ve been given a big responsibility and should always be very careful.

Let’s hope for a safe future for us all.

I am no security expert, but I am a relatively experienced international flyer.  I can tell you this, the new travel restrictions on flights to and from the USA make me very uninterested in flying.  I suppose that’s what the Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations are hoping for as much as their more dastardly plans.

New travel restrictions placed on flights to the USA include:

1. First and last hour of flight, you must remain in your seat, legs open, no blanket, no PDA/ipod, no going to washroom, no opening the overhead compartment.

2. No GPS in flight map system so you can’t see on a map where the plane is on your journey.  Especially miserable for a 12+ hour flight.

3. No internet

4. For systems (like JetBlue) where the GPS is intertwined with the entertainment system, there will be no TV the entire flight.  How about that?

On a flight from Tel Aviv to New York, you can expect to sit for 12 hours with your hands on your lap, (legs open), no blanket, no tv, no in flight maps, and holding it in, lest you dare make a dash for the toilets.  I’m wondering if this is any better than the sea voyages our grandparents endured in a bygone era?

Silly question…what if the flight is from Hong Kong to New Jersey, and the last four hours of the filght are over the United States, will passengers be required to remain in their seats the entire time?  Why is TSA security so reactionary?  There has to be a better way!

Shiva House Guide – Making a Condolence Call to a Mourner’s House

Unfortunately, my father passed away this month.  For the first time, I was a mourner.

Little did I know there’s a whole sub-culture to the mourning process.  Here’s some advice from a recent mourner on what to do and what not to do at a Shiva house.

1. Don’t ask how old the deceased was or how did he die.  Get that info from someone else if you must know.
2. Don’t say “well at least he lived a long life”.
3. Do offer to tell nice stories about the deceased.
4. Do offer to help serve, take out garbage, etc…

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Rabbi Azouelos, Head of the Maskiot Pre-Army Mechina, said these very inspiring words at last night’s closing ceremony for this year’s students.

(Translated and paraphrased from Hebrew)

Israel has two seas. The Kineret and the Dead Sea.

The Kineret is a sea that only gives. It gives water, and fish, and provides for its tributaries. It gives, but it does not take. It is a sea of life.

The Dead Sea only takes. It takes but it does not give. It’s name in every language (other than Hebrew) is the Dead Sea.

In life, when we give, there is purpose. When all we do is take, there is no purpose.

– end of Rabbi Azoules’ words.

The gemara (Jewish Talmud) says, “He who hates gifts will live.”

Rabbi Desler z”l, says in Michtav Meliyahu (מכתב מאליהו) that the one who gives emulates the Creator, and the one who only takes is on the path of evil.

We need to emulate the actions of givers, not takers. Give to your family. Give to your community. Give to your country, our State of Israel, give to humanity.

What were the odds? Michael’s first wife is Jewish, and by Jewish tradition, that makes his children Jewish too.

Is this one of those things that everyone else but me already new?

Prince Michael I is 12, that means next year he can be called up to the Torah.
Now that’s a Bar-mitzvah you won’t want to miss.

JTA News

I attended the Mayumana Dance show last night in Tel Aviv-Yafo. Their latest act is called “Momentum”. They were simply fantastic. They play at the fully-packed Mayumana house on Louis Pasteur Street in the heart of Old Yaffo several nights per week.

The show is a mix of street dance, music, song, and multi-media. There is audience participation and the atmosphere is electric. It’s sort of like Stomp with many percussion-led skits, but with music, dance, and song too.

Mayumana was founded in 1996 as an unique Israeli dance troupe that performs around the world. Their World and Israeli casts include players from many countries. We thoroughly enjoyed the performance, and highly recommend that everyone who likes percussion, music and dance should try to get tickets. Here’s a chance to see world-class entertainment and support Israeli Arts at the same time.

Here’s a short video from the end of the show, the players escort the audience out of the theater and into the parking lot.

USA Citizenship for Ex-pats

If you are an oleh (new or old), e.g. you are an ex-pat of the United States, you probably assume your children and children’s children will be USA citizens just like you.  In reality, it’s not as simple as it seems.

Have a look at the USA State Department’s website http://uscis.gov on “Expeditious Naturalization for children born outside the United States.”

Immediate USA Citizenship
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