Holy Exposures Commentary and Photos of Israel

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.

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.

Here’s the Bet Knesset Hamerkazi Ashkenazi in Ramat Bet Shemesh’s Winter times schedule attached in PDF format.

Download Here: Mercazi Luz RBS Winter 5769

If you have schedules for your bet knesset in electronic format, please send to us at “contact at holyexposures dot com” and we will include it here.

Those who attended the Shemeshfest Sukkot festival last week at the Bet Shemesh ampitheater were treated to a talented local rock group named “Rockiah” - the English name of the band is a play on their Hebrew name רקיע (The Earth’s Firmament), and their American rock music roots.

Rockiah are Yehudah David (vocals, guitars), Zvi Newman (bass), and David Epstein (drums). Eli Krantman joined them on backing vocals.

Yehudah, Zvi, and David all live in Ramat Bet Shemesh and are olim from the USA.

I spoke with Zvi about the origins of Rockiah and what they hope to accomplish. Zvi told me they are all married with kids and come from different backgrounds, but their music speaks one language.

“Rockiah is about fusing the raw power of rock music with the spiritual inspiration of the Jewish mekorot (written sources). Yehudah is influenced by Van Halen and other power-pop artists, so his guitar playing is among the wildest on the scene. Dave’s drumming is influenced by punk, so we have a harder-driving sound in our shows - and his aggressive fills make you take notice. I’m influenced by John Entwistle of The Who, so the bass surprises the crowd with “stolen” solos that bubble up from underneath. And Yehudah’s singing overflows with pure heart and soul.”

“Rockiah’s music is written entirely by Yehudah, while the lyrics are straight out of the Psalms and various prayers. It’s meant to be lively and catchy for the audience, and it’s challenging for the musicians - the chords change every few seconds, so we have to be on our toes. Also, we love to improvise solos off the top of our heads - but all of this is meant to augment the uplifting, danceable essence of the songs. You can drive, work, jog, or clean the house to Rockiah, and come out of it very inspired.”

“At the end of the day, we try to give a fresh and energetic musical foundation to the experience of the holy as espoused by the lyrics. The Jewish content takes rock to a higher plane.”

Rockiah - Bonei Yerushalayim

Rockiah is now promoting its new CD and plan to join the performance circuit.   Their debut album, Bonei Yerushalayim, was released just a couple weeks ago and is available online at shemeshmusic.com and at GalPaz stores. You can hear sample tracks at shemeshmusic.com before purchase. You can also learn more about Rockiah on their Facebook and Myspace homepages.

We wish them much success!

As a citizen of Bet Shemesh for the past 14 years, I can tell you that nothing swells our civic pride more than the awesome Jewish Rock Festival that Jonty Zwebner has brought, along with the Bet Shemesh municipality, to our fine city.

Moshav Band Performing at Bet Shemesh Festival in 2003

It began about a decade ago as a one night event with five or so groups playing in front of a couple thousand locals. It has blossomed more recently into a big two night festival with many thousands (perhaps 15,000, maybe more?) jamming into the outdoor amphitheater with most of the top names in Jewish Rock, such as Moshav Band, Soulfarm, Adi Ran, Reva L’sheva, Lenny Solomon, and many, many more. As a result, the national media have taken notice.

Here’s two video links (in Hebrew) from YNet on the 2008 Festival.
http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3456086,00.html
http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3610815,00.html

Here is the Festival’s homepage for links to all the performers and more information.
ShemeshFest Website

Tonight was Danny Vaknin’s big support rally for the upcoming Bet Shemesh mayoral election next month.  Much of the Likud (and Mafdal) elite were there.

Who was there from the national political scene?  Silvan Shalom, Ruby Rivlin, Limor Livnat, Gilad Arnon, Chaim Katz, Zvi Hendel, and Yitzchak Levi.  Where was Bibi Netanyahu,  Miki Eytan, Gideon Ezra?  In the good old days, Danny used to bring out the tops in his party.

Moshe Avutbul, the Sha”s candidate, had his big rally last week with the attendance of all the Sha”s leadership, including its chairman Eli Yishai.  Harav Hagaon Ovadia Yosef Shli”ta even came out to speak and support Avutbul.  Sha”s supporters in Bet Shemesh could truly feel, as Tal Brody once said “Anachnu ba mapa” (we’re on the map).

Speaking of which, when is Shalom Lerner’s big day?  There still seems to be a strong support basis for Lerner in Ramat Bet Shemesh.

Do posters equal voters?  As I reported last week, Shalom Lerner has a huge “poster” lead in Ramat Bet Shemesh Aleph, and in Sheinfeld / Givat Sharet.

The battle lines have been drawn.  Shalom Lerner has the majority of posters up in RBS.  Aside froma couple for Sheetrit, and one for Abutbul, I think Lerner has the Ramah in a landslide.

Sheinfeld is still mostly Lerner.  Migdal Hamayim has Vaknin and Lerner.  RBS Bet has mostly no posters up since it is a sin to vote… (or so the pashkevilas say).  The old Bet Shemesh, including the city center, are mostly Vaknin posters.

What do you think?

With this being an election year, I would think that the mayor would make it his top priority to keep the streets clean.  If we have garbage in the streets now, what will be after the election?

Is this problem due to our neighbors being pigs (sorry, but let’s face it, we have to take responsibility too)?  Or do we, the clean neighbors, expect the municipality to clean up even when our neighbors are slobs?