Holy Exposures Commentary and Photos of Israel

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

It’s just a few days before the local municpal elections and the “dirty” politics of Bet Shemesh are heating up.

Residents of Bet Shemesh woke up this morning to a blanket of leaflets all over the streets of Dolev, HaYarkon, HaYarden, and more.  The latest leaflets have been particularly nasty in language, at least for the Ramah. Also, it’s apparent that the candidates are targeting the Anglo community as most of the pamphlets are in English.

Political Garbage in Bet Shemesh

This particular leaflet really sums it up.  The candidate (or supporters of this candidate) are relying solely on a negative smear campaign against incumbent Danny Vaknin.  The leaflet, written in English, includes a photo of the trademarked Sesame Street character Oscar the Grouch.  (ed. I wonder if they are paying royalties to the rightful owners of this trademarked content).

The real irony here is that the streets of RBS have been relatively clean in recent years.  In fact, the biggest mess I’ve seen has come from the political process and all the paper strewn about the streets.  This message, with the cowardly politician who hides behind it without divulging his name, recklessly sent teenage kids out last night to literally spray our otherwise clean streets with their political messages about how the streets should be cleaned up.

I hope that the ones responsible for this mess will clean it up quickly.  I also wonder if this is the message of the winning ticket, is this what we can expect in the coming years…

What do you think?

What should we do?  How do we get the message back to the candidates that we want positive information, not anonymous smear and negative campaigns.  Please let us know what you think!  Reply below and I will B”N pass it on to our friends at City Hall.

If you ever need to waste 15 minutes, have I got an idea for you!

Bubble Shooter

This really has little to do per se with Israel, other than that I am here and I play this game all the time.
The rules are pretty straightforward.  Shoot color balls to the same colors on the board.  If your ball hits two other balls of the same color, they all disappear.  If you don’t hit the same colors, all the balls drop a level.  You are trying to make all the balls disappear before they all land on you.  There’s no time constraint, which is why this game is simply infectious (and time-consuming).  Beware, you have been forewarned.  Once you start, you can’t stop!

Bubble Shooter Game - Click To Start

It’s November, and it’s still hot and sunny.  Enjoy some photos from the city in motion.

Remember to take a hat and bottle of water with you!

Obama Won, What does it mean for Israel?

Barack Obama is President Elect of the US for less than one day and already the pundits are giving their dark forecasts for what will happen to Israel during his presidency.

Ben Weidman reported on CNN today that 75% of Americans living in Israel cast absentee votes for McCain.  CNN then jumped over to Ramallah in the West Bank, and interviewed a few happy Palestinians who feel that rosier days are ahead for their people.

I had been receiving a smattering of emails  and phone calls up until the election from friends and influencers who implied that a vote for Obama was equal to a vote for the PLO.  There were smear campaigns and sophistic logic arguments detailing death and destruction.  This is of course rubbish.  Was it not Obama himself who came to visit Sederot a few months ago to see the shelling from Gaza first-hand?  Could his visit have been any less sincere than any American politician?

If history is any gauge, I think it’s safe to say that no major policy changes will occur vis-a-vis Israel during his presidency, (at least not as a result of his presidency).  Israel is a sovereign nation, and the rules of engagement with the US have been codified into status-quo since the Truman administration.  American presidents have pressured Israel (along with their notoriously Arabist State Department) since 1967 to cede lands taken in the Six Day War.  They have pressed us to remove settlements, outposts, ease travel restrictions, continue to provide electricity and humanitarian aid to Gaza and the West Bank.  Yet, during all these years, despite differences in agreement and/or implementation between Washington and Jerusalem, the US has steadfastly supported Israel in the international arena.  Sort of like your big brother pushing you around at home, but when you’re at the playground, he defends you against all the bullies.

Speaking of “friendly” US Presidents, was it not Bill Clinton who visited the “Palestinian Parliament” in Gaza and even declared there of his wishes for a Palestinian State?  What more harm can Obama do than that?

I remember eight years ago receiving emails and phone calls from Gore supporters who were outright begging me not to vote for Bush, the “Texas Oilman”, whose palms were “greased with Arab oil money”.  Can anyone honestly say that these fears were justified?

Future of American-Israeli Relations

Obama is a smart man.  He is also a pragmatic politician.   He will lead the US through its toughest and darkest period in economic and foreign relations arguably since World War II. There will be differences of opinion and changes that may not be favorable to us all, but these changes will be within the realm of American mainstream policy.

On a personal level, I am satisfied to see a Chicagoan in the Oval Office - perhaps he will figure out a way to ensure a Chicago Cubs World Series?

What do you think?

Add your comments here and tell us how you think the future of Israel and America relations will be affected by Obama’s win.  (page down to reply)