Simply a fantastic song, and a nice photos compilation video. Really gets you in the spirit of Shabbat and living in Israel. Listen to his soaring tenor voice pierce into the high notes and you’ll be ready for buying a full album.
Note: I am assuming since it’s been on Youtube for quite some time that Shwecky knows about this and is ok with the video being online. If you know otherwise, please let the folks at Youtube know…
This pashkevile is floating the neighborhood now as the mehadrin bus company has run into financial difficulty.
As mentioned before, it’s the usual format – bad guys vs. good guys. Do as we say and save the world, and get a blessing while you’re at it.
I love the flowery language of this one, these guys really have a knack for poetry.
Sometimes I sit back and read these pashkeviles (Haredi community notifications – usually plastered on poster boards) for the humor, sometimes just to see how far they’ve gone from the mainstream.
Pashkevile Format
They all follow more or less the same format – usually black and white, made to look like a death announcement, dastardly language about the problem, damning language about the perpetrators, flowery language about G-d’s protection and fixing of the problem for those who heed the words of this pashkeville. Usually they are signed by a bunch of Rabbis, sometimes, when specifically damning, by none.
Here’s one from this week that I thought deserved a second look…women are told not to go as groups to hotels near the beach, despite ads offering these packages.
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.
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
If your child is born outside the USA, and both you and your spouse are US Citizens, and at least one of you resided in the US prior to the child’s birth, your child acquires citizenship under section 301(c) INA.
Residency Requirements
If your spouse is an alien (non US-citizen from planet Earth), you must have lived in the US for at least 5 years, 2 of which being after the age of 14 (and before the child was born).
If you didn’t meet these litmus tests, (e.g. let’s say your child marries an Israeli, your grandchildren will most likely fall into this category), then he/she has the possibility of applying for citizenship under Section 322 of the Immigration and Nationality Technical Correction Act of 1994. In short, it enables you to apply for the expeditious naturalization of your child.
Grandparents living in the USA
That process is explained in full on the State Department’s website. In short, if the grandparent was a USA citizen and meets the residency requirements (5 years, etc…), then the chances are better. However, using the fact of the grandparents living in the USA is not a valid condition for receiving an immediate passport (e.g. you must apply for the expeditious citizenship).
Time Limit
If you don’t meet the residency requirements mentioned above, your child / grandchild needs to apply for this expeditious naturalization before their 18th birthday.
http://www.uscis.gov
Disclaimer – I am relaying information obtained from a handout received at the USA Embassy. I am not a lawyer, and am not providing advice. I do not have any knowledge other than what is freely available on the US State Department’s website. If you need more information, speak directly with a professional in this area.
Renewing your USA Passport in Tel Aviv, Israel
A (not so) funny thing happened at the USA embassy today as we were updating one of our kid’s USA passport. On the form it asks for your child’s place of birth. We wrote Jerusalem, Israel.
The (very friendly) employee at the embassy must process hundreds of these passport requests every week. He asked us a few questions, in Hebrew since the local processing staff at the embassy are Israelis. He reviewed the form in our presence to make sure everything was filled out correctly. He then asked what city was our child born, and we responded “Jerusalem”, he very quickly and matter-of-factly crossed off “Israel” from the form, so that it was plain to see.
I wonder if there are other cities of birth in the world for which the country is left blank on the passport application of our beloved USA?
The heat was on Israel. All the world’s eyes were focused on our little country and what would happen if we dared to disagree with our major patron, the United States. Our PM’s speech last week was intended to deflect some of the searing heat headed our way. For a day or two it looked like we were driving towards a head-on collision.
Instead, the Iranian elections issue picked up like a desert storm (no pun intended). A week later and you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone covering the Settlements story. Since Hillary Clinton took a dive (again, no pun intended), the entire West’s news media focus has shifted to the Persian Gulf.
A brief perusal of the top news aggregation websites, Google, Yahoo, and MSN, show no mention of Israel at all. The major breaking world news are all focused on Iran. The tapestry of Israel’s special level of Higher-Order protection (השגחה פרטית) continues to be woven.
Seen at Malcha Mall
