Holy Exposures Commentary and Photos of Israel

Dangerous road 38 claims another innocent victim

A 50 yr old woman was killed last night while crossing highway 38 near Mesilat Ziyon .  A man driving from Bet Shemesh hit her as she crossed the right near the busstop.  He pulled to the side of the road and called the Police.

As he waited for the police to arrive, on this dark and dangerous road, several cars passing after him hit the woman laying without noticing.

The residents of this small moshav have been petitioning the transportation ministry for years to change this dangerous road.  There are two busstops on either side of this major artery linking Bet Shemesh to the main Highway 1.  Often, passengers are let off on one side of the road and need to cross to other side to catch a different bus.

This Youtube video was added in March 2008, with the title “IT’S A QUESTION OF WHO AND WHEN WILL GET HURT WHILE CROSSING THE ROAD (# 38) TO ENTER MOSHAV MESILAT ZION, AND THE AUTHORITY IS DOING NOTHING!!”

You can see just how dangerous it is to cross that road during the day. Imagine how much more so when attempting to cross at night. The result last night was tragic.

We hope the authorities will take notice.

We’ve all been watching the recent developments of Wall Street with a keen eye.  How, if at all, will it affect us individually?  Will Israel be dragged into a recession as well as the rest of Europe?

An inevitable part of the US’s historic $750 billion bailout package is the huge amount of paper that the government has to print.  The money has to come from somewhere, and usually that means selling more treasury notes and bills, or bartering paper with foreign governments.

With all that new money hitting the markets, you’d expect the dollar to drop in value.  However, the world economy follows the USA like a herd to a shepherd.  All the talk about Euros, shmooros…  When you want a safe currency in times of crisis, you don’t look to Europe with one of its EU members (Iceland) on the brink of bankruptcy, nor do you look to China or Japan, as they are having their own crises.  You buy dollars.  And that’s exactly what’s been going on since the US bailout plan was passed.

As a result, major and 2nd tier currencies alike have lost approx 5% in value against the US Dollar in the past week.  In Israel, the drop was sudden and major.  Two week ago, the Shekel (NIS) was trading against the USD in a range from 3.48 to 3.50.  Almost overnight, the Shekel devalued against the dollar to 3.70.  That’s a 5 percent change.

That’s very good for Israeli exporters, tourism, and for Israelis who’s salary is linked to the dollar, and for technology companies who raised funds in dollars.

That’s very bad, however, for importers, most Israelis who do not have linkage on their salary, and just about every consumer.  Prices will start to rise at the supermarket, which will in turn reduce consumption, and bring on inflation, and then recession.

Much of the strength of the Israeli economy over the past few years has been related to the strength and new found autonomy of the Israeli currency.  Breaking with the norm of the past 60 years, for example, Real estate was being quoted in Shekels.  Israelis had a new sense of pride in our national currency.

Now with this recent crisis, and the fall of the Euro as the other viable currency alternative to the almighty dollar, it appears Israel’s economy will be waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I remember as a kid in Chicago how I used to walk around the house (and neighborhood) and try to find the best spot for reception on my shortwave radio. In those days, tuning in to Israel Radio was like catching an ephemeral glimpse of far away land.  At 4pm in the afternoon, I would tune in Reshet Bet and listen to the 6am Boker Tov announcement which included the incredible recital of the Shema and then the top of the morning news.

Nowadays, perhaps the mystery and anticipation are gone, but the fun is still there. Now you can listen to many thousands of radio stations around the world with a simple click of a link on your internet browser. In fact, now that I live in Israel, I listen to Chicago radio stations with the same nostalgia as I did as a kid tuning in from the other side of the world to hear the sounds of Israel.

Here are the most popular Israel Radio selections available for you to tune in live now. Simply click on a link, and your Windows Media Player will open and begin to play the selected channel.

1. Arutz Sheva Hebrew - Voice of the right of center in Israel
2. Galei Zahal - Army Radio, news, interviews, music
3. Galgalatz - Army Radio, mostly music
4. Kol Hamusica - Classical Music
5. Reshet Bet - Israel’s main news and talk channel
6. Reshet Dalet (Arabic) - news and talk in Arabic
7. Reshet Gimel - Israeli Music
8. 106FM Tel Aviv - Local Tel Aviv
9. 107.5FM Radio Haifa 107.5 - Local Haifa, Webcam of Studio
10. 88FM - Jazz Music, News

The internet makes it easy for you to watch live tv from anywhere in the world.

There are several Israeli TV Channels who stream their stations live, or offer daily rebroadcasts of news and other shows. When you click on the link, your Windows Media Player will open and begin playing the selected channel.

1. Channel 10 This is a very popular Israeli channel that is available on cable. The internet broadcast is usually live during the mornings and evenings Israel time.
2. Channel 1 IBA News (English) Daily rebroadcast of the half hour long evening English news program.
3. Channel 1 Mabat News Daily rebroadcast of Israel’s most popular evening news (in Hebrew).
4. Knesset Live See what’s going on at Israel’s parliament. They also offer news programs and interviews on political issues.
5. Machon Meir - Religious Classes Online. Catch a live shiur!
6. Shopping Channel TV Shop till you drop (in Hebrew).