Koleinu - May 18, 2011

Kineret water level

-212.34 m +19 cm

F ‫ פרשת בחקותי‬- ‫י״ד אייר תשע״א‬

MAY 18, 2011

A m e m b e r o f t h e 5 To w n s J e w i s h T i m e s F a m i l y o f N e w s p a p e r s

Itzik Ben-Malki

‫יהי זכרו ברוך‬

WWW.KOLEINU.CO.IL VOLUME I ISSUE 6

E E R

Aviv Morag, z’’l, who was killed in a terror attack in Tel Aviv on Sunday

INSIDE MA Chadash

By Tuvia Brodie . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Focus on Fashion

By Miri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4

Memorializing the Living

By Rabbi Shalom Hammer . . . . 5

Remembering Gush Katif Page 9

ALEH’s Historic Jerusalem March Page 12

Focus on Sports

By Paul Shindman . . . . . . . . . . .

6

Shmu’s Shmooze

By Shmuel Katz . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

The Photographer’s House

By Ari Singer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Under the Sun

By Rabbi Dov Lipman . . . . . . . 10

The Drought Continues

By Goldie Katz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Rebalancing Your Portfolio

By Aaron Katsman . . . . . . . . . . 12

Standing Together On Yom HaAtzmaut Not many people can say that they grilled and served 1,600 hamburgers, 1,600 kebobs, and 3,200 hot dogs this past Yom HaAtzmaut. Yet that is precisely what 80 families from cities all across the country did this year, at nine different army bas-

es. They took time from their personal celebrations to participate in a fantastic opportunity to show hakarat ha’tov to our chayalim, organizing and conducting a barbecue celebration for those chayalim serving on base during Yom HaAtzmaut.

Fallen Enemies

By Rabbi Aryeh Z. Ginzberg . .

13

Chelm-on-the-Med

By Daniella Ashkenazi. . . . . . . 14 The Greenwald, Kesselman, Green, and Jacob families from Bet Shemesh at Machane Ofer, outside of Modiin

Young Israel Shabbat in Teveriah . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Stop Playing Games

By Ron Jager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Mideast Wrapup

By Samuel Sokol . . . . . . . . . . . 16

The Chemel, Brecher, Harkov, Lindefeld, Mermelstein, and Mugrabi families from Modiin at the Tzofim base near Kfar Saba

Recognizing that the thousands of soldiers who are on active duty and posted at military bases miss out on what is the staple of Yom HaAtzmaut for most of us—the family barbecue—Standing Together, an organization whose activities are

focused upon showing recognition to our soldiers, launched their Yom HaAtzmaut barbecue program in 2008. Now in its fourth year, the annual barbecue has grown to be Standing

Continued on Page 2

Standing Together On Yom HaAtzmaut

Koleinu ‫קולינו‬

At the Nahal Oz base

Continued from Page 1 Together’s single largest one-day activity of the year and brought almost 1,700 soldiers and volunteers together in what is becoming an annual tradition for many volunteer families.

052.952.7500 editor@koleinu.co.il AtAtthe base theNahal TzorfiOz m base near Kfar Saba

Published by: Shmu Media, Ltd. Editor: Shmuel Katz Associate Editor: Larry Gordon

The Davidowitz, Greenzweig, Krasna, Arram, Greenspan, Rochwarger, Corn, and Alter families from Bet Shemesh and the Gottlieb and Shuter families from Neve Daniel at the Beitar army base.

Managing Editor: Goldie Katz At the Tzorfim base near Kfar Saba

At the Beitar army base

the human touch, the warmth and love shown them by our volunteers, that encourages them.”

The Yom HaAtzmaut celebration is coordinated in a partnership with Standing Together, the army, and the volunteer families. Standing Togther provides all the meat products, the army prepares

According to Miriam Gottllieb, director of development for Standing Together, “The Yom HaAtzmaut barbecue is a direct outgrowth of our other programs.

When we visit a checkpoint with pizza or hot soup or espressos or ice cream or any one of our special treats, our volunteers give a very welcome pat on the back to the soldiers. Although it might only be a slice of pizza, the soldiers have told me over and over again that it is

News Director: Samuel Sokol Copy Editor: Michele Justic Copy Editor: Shmuel Gerber At the Tzorfim base near Kfar Saba

Staff Photographer: Yissachar Ruas Design by Design-ER Printing: Graphoprint, Tel Yitzhak Twenty-five families from Raanana made the trek to the Nahal Oz base on the Gaza border

the salads, and the volunteers bring pitot, drinks, condiments, snacks, and, most importantly, love. The soldiers, many of whom are only a couple of years older than some of the volunteers, have a chance to play ball and interact with families as they would at home, something that they too deserve, especially on Independence Day. Baila Brecher, of Modiin, a volunteer who participated with her family, said that the barbecue “gives us a chance to show our appreciation to the soldiers who are responsible for our continued existence as a country, in a tangible way.

It is a great lesson for my children to have a chance to interact with the chayalim and learn how to express our hakarat ha’tov to them on Yom HaAtzmaut.”

The Fraenkel, Joffe, and Sterzer Families of Bet Shemesh at the Nitsanim base

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May 18, 2011

Contributing Editors: Aron Katsman, Rabbi Dov Lipman, Rabbi Shalom Hammer, Paul Shindman, Tuvia Brodie

For more information on this or any of Standing Together’s other year-round programs, visit www.stogether.org or e-mail info@stogether.org.

DISCLAIMER: Koleinu | ‫ קולינו‬is an independent newspaper o wned and operated b y Shmu Media, L td. O pinions e xpressed b y the c olumnists and contributors ar e not nec essarily those of the editor, publisher, or owner. Opinions e xpressed b y the adv ertisers ar e not necessarily those of the editor, publisher, or owner. We are not responsible for the hashgachah or kashrut of any product or establishmen t advertised or featured in the newspaper . All submissions ar e pr operty of the newspaper .

The edit or r eserves the righ t t o r eject any submissions for publica tion and/ or advertisements, at his discretion. We are not r esponsible for an y typographical errors or omissions or the c ontent of any advertisements or submissions.

May 18, 2011

Koleinu | ʥʰʩʬʥʷ

3

Dress For Your Body With Lace, Long Skirts, And Style Focus on Fashion

BY MIRI Dear Miri, I’ve been noticing a lot of lace on the runways lately, and I would love to incorporate it into my wardrobe. But I’m afraid I’ll just come off as matronly. Is there a way to wear lace and still look young and trendy?

Gabby Tzadik Jerusalem Dear Gabby, Lace has had many reincarnations through the years, and there are so many current and up-to-date interpretations for lace this season that you really have your pick. You can pull inspiration from Valentino’s funky lacquer-coated lace dresses, or Oscar de la Renta’s sophisticated and feminine Chantilly ensembles.

Although laser-cutting and lamination may be far cries from traditional techniques—Grace Kelly’s full needle-lace wedding dress for her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco was stitched by an army of MGM seamstresses in four complex parts—there are plenty of classic offerings this season, too. Like the wearer herself, lace can be wholesome, alluring, or even avant-garde. The choice is yours.

Miri Dear Miri, Long skirts are always a staple in a modest women’s closet, but how do you make the look current as well as elegant?

I’m tired of the black “floor sweeper” that every other woman seems to own.

Faigy Bodner Bnei Brak Dear Faigy, Designers like Rachel Roy are embracing the long and even the full skirt look this season, with a few tricks to keep the style fresh and modern.

If you favor a long straight skirt, balance it with a fuller top like a blouson blouse. For fuller skirts, stick to more fitted tops, or a belt to accentuate your waist—you don’t want to get lost in the voluminous fabric. A below-theknee black pencil skirt can really pop with colored heels; and although flats work just fine with long flowing skirts,

wedges give instant chic and height!

Remember as well that fabric plays a large role. Washed silks, soft cottons, and silk twills will be soft on your skin and have movement when you walk.

Miri Dear Miri, I love the holidays, especially spending time with my family, but I don’t love the extra weight I put on!

I have a few simchas coming up, and none of my regular looks are working for me right now. Can you suggest something flattering that will camouflage the weight but not look dowdy?

Esther Green London

Dear Esther, Gaining a few unwanted pounds over the holidays is an unfortunate reality, but that doesn’t mean we need to forgo our fashion sense. There are a few things you can do to accentuate and flatter your figure even when you may not feel your best. Longer jackets are a great way to cover a little stomach. Try to find lengths that hit at the top of your hips. If your extra baggage is lower down, take a page from the book of Queen Elizabeth and the First Lady and go for a coat dress that hits at the knee with a matching dress or skirt. Women who are broader on top should stay away from styles that emphasize the shoulders, stiff fabrics, and large collars. Instead look for soft fabrics, A-line skirts, and set-in threequarter-length sleeves. Finally, don’t forget the accessories; they can do a lot for you. Bring the attention somewhere else with a statement necklace to draw the eye to your face, and you can never go wrong with a fabulous pair of heels.

Miri Miri Urbach is a notable designer from Lawrence, New York. Her creations have graced fashion’s elite from Manhattan, L.A., London, Paris, and more for the last 20 years. From custom designs to off-the-rack, MIRI is at the cutting edge in bringing fashion-forward looks to the frum world. MIRI is second to none in customer care and her personal touch is felt in all her stores. Send your questions and comments to info@miricouture.com.

MA Chadash: News From Maale Adumim facilitate a more complete, professional shopping experience.

ACE has been in the Maale Adumim Mall for about nine years, so their presence here is known. Now, with a more visible and larger space, they assume a new position as a true anchor, pulling shoppers across the mall to their entrance.

For an American, walking into a bright, well-kept mall and seeing a familiar name writ large in the mall footprint is both a delight and a comfort—a delight to see a recognized nameplate and a comfort to see a retail environment that is so reminiscent of “back home.”

Cohen likes the new arrangement.

“We can help more people now,” he says with a smile, “and we can do it better.”

BY TUVIA BRODIE Do you remember, back in the old country (it is the old country now, right?), a TV ad that announced, “ACE is the place with the helpful hardware man”?

Well, if you’ve made aliyah, you might know that you can still sing that jingle, because there are 31 ACE stores across Israel.

In Israel, the ACE name is the exclusive franchise of the American ACE Hardware chain. ACE Israel considers itself to be Israel’s leading do-it-yourself (DIY) retail chain for home improvement and design.

And it has just become one of two anchor stores in the Maale Adumim indoor mall.

Walk into the Maale Adumim Mall, and there it is—large, well lit, and inviting. Where its older mall store held 500 square meters of retail space, this newly opened ACE now sits on more than 1,200 square meters—and it shows.

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May 18, 2011

If you’ve been to the Talpiyot shopping area—the Talpiyot Industrial Zone—you know what this new store looks like. It gives you a modern, Israelstyle mall shopping experience.

According to Itzik Cohen, manager of the new ACE store, you will see, com-

pared to the older store, more household items on display, larger, more attractive displays, and more merchandise: more electronics, more household items, and a lot more outdoor/garden furniture. Everything seems arranged to offer a welcoming atmosphere and to

Tuvia Brodie has a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh. He has worked at the University of Pittsburgh and at American Express. Before moving to Pittsburgh, he lived for seven years in Manhattan. He and his wife Shaina made aliyah in August 2010 and currently live in Maale Adumim.

Memorializing The Living

BY RABBI SHALOM HAMMER Yom HaShoah and Yom HaZikaron are both days which memorialize. What is the most appropriate way to commemorate our Jewish martyrs and heroes? There are many responses and varied opinions addressing this question. However, I am certain that Judaism demands that we never forget and that our reflection on the past invoke a response that helps perpetuate our future. This message has always been and continues to be relevant and vital to our nation’s existence, particularly now.

When the generation following Noah set out to build the Tower of Babel in an attempt to reach the heavens, they were punished because their attempt appeared to be an outright rebellion against G-d. It is important for us to recognize that all that these people had known historically was failure and destruction: Adam and Eve’s sin, resulting in their banishment from Eden; Kain’s murder of his brother, which resulted in his nomadic existence; and the inevitable destruction of an entire world

during the time of Noah.

Consequently, the people who followed Noah’s generation feared that they too would be killed, and their reaction was to build a monument that resembled and would serve as a

ciety. The way to honor a memory is not by erecting a stone, but by establishing building blocks of faith, instituting principles, and infusing educational values. This way, not only do we commemorate, but we celebrate

The way to honor a memory is not by erecting a stone, but by establishing building blocks of faith, instituting principles, and infusing educational values. towering tombstone. This entire generation of people decided to demonstrate their presence in the world through the marking of a tombstone.

G-d destroyed the tower not only as a punishment, but as a means of transmitting a significant message to the world: too much time had been spent on commemoration and no time was spent on generating a productive so-

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the lives of people even when they are no longer physically present.

This message must remain a mainstay of Judaism, for it is who we are and what we represent. It is a message which was particularly clear on Yom HaShoah. As we remembered the victims of the Shoah, we continued to learn details regarding the death of Osama bin Laden, the most wantadinacahn@yahoo.com

ed terrorist, who was responsible for over 3,000 deaths. Yom HaShoah, a day manifested by shocking historical reflection, had been marked by an action which would hopefully promote a more secure future.

Unfortunately, this message is, for the most part, lost in a world such as ours, which is indulgent and self-gratifying. In a world which persistently endorses the most effective ways to surge forward, it is difficult to promote reflecting on the past, even if that reflection is an integral part of ensuring survival. This has become one of the greatest challenges for the Jewish world today.

The question we should ask after Yom HaShoah and Yom HaZikaron is one packed with serious considerations, because it involves not only how to memorialize but how to infuse and stimulate for the sake of perpetuating Israel’s future.

Upon visiting Ben-Gurion’s home in S’de Boker, you cannot help but notice the Tanach/Bible on his bedside table with its tattered and worn pages, demonstrative of the fact that Ben-Gurion, hardly sympathetic to religion, read and used the book. BenGurion did not do so out of religious

Continued on Page 15

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5

The Jews Battle The Christians And Muslims Jerusalem. History is replete with religious battles. For the past three millennia, the Jews have had more than their share of fights with everybody from the Babylonians and Persians to the Greeks and Romans to the Christians and Muslims.

Over the centuries, the Jews have sometimes allied themselves with the Muslims to battle Christian crusaders, or more recently with the Christian west to battle the Muslims.

But it seems that for most of recorded time, everybody was just beating up on the Jews.

The ingathering of the exiles to modern Israel did more than pit the Jews against the Arabs, it led to the first of a series of three-way battles between the great monotheistic religions.

Jews, Christians, and Muslims fighting it out with aggression, passion, and civility. The rules of war firmly enforced

Ice Hockey Federation of Israel

BY PAUL SHINDMAN

The victorious Team Israel at the 2011 world championships in South Africa.

not by the UN, but by a convention that comes from Switzerland. However, not Geneva.

The winner was crowned with gold and the losers were ignominiously vanquished from the battlefield.

No, not tank battles in the deserts and not artillery duels in the hills, and not that quagmire of Lebanon where the battles were even more complex (Jews, Christians, Sunni Muslims, Shiite Mus-

lims, Druze) as allies and sides constantly changed—and everybody lost.

The modern battlefield is the sports field. Several times, Israel has gone headto-head with the Christians from Greece and the Muslims from Turkey.

And not just any sports field, but ice hockey.

Jewish hockey aficionados know that Israel has had a national ice hockey team since 1990. But even they might not be aware of this bit of modern Jewish trivia—that the Jews from Israel have battled Greece and Turkey on several occasions, and come up winners.

In 1992, the Zurich-based International Ice Hockey Federation admitted the new former Soviet republics as member countries. This put hockey powers like Latvia and Ukraine on equal footing with that other new (as of 1991) member: Israel. All new countries had to start at the bottom and work their way up.

With so many new countries, the IIHF couldn’t host enough championships, and thus Israel had to play a qualification tournament in order to make it to the 1993 division III world champs that were held in Slovenia.

Team Israel had received a boost with talented new olim from the former USSR, who joined the Sabras and North Amer-

ican olim and yordim. At the time, Israel still didn’t have a full-size rink (the Olympic rink at the Canada Centre in Metulla) so the team held a week-long training camp in Sofia, Bulgaria, before heading to the Turkish capital of Ankara for the tournament.

Tensions were high, not just because the PLO had killed an Israeli embassy member a few months earlier, but the Turks and Greeks have fractious relations. Also, the year before, Greece defeated Israel when the fledgling Israelis made their first ever appearance at an IIHF championship.

As required, the IIHF supplied the referees from “neutral” countries, and the IIHF rule book set out the conventions of war on ice.

For added security, the Turks brought 500 air-force cadets to fill the stands at the game between Greece and Turkey, sitting Team Israel in the middle of the friendly soldiers. The Greeks easily outclassed the host Turks and won the game, but with catcalls, boos, and coins tossed on the ice throughout the match.

And Israel? The Jews had defeated their Muslim hosts the year before, 5–1, and this time clobbered them 10–1. Then they got some revenge against Antiochus by downing the Greeks 8–3. The victorious Jews had qualified for the ’93 world champs (where they were crushed by Ukraine and Latvia, but put in a good showing nonetheless).

After years of improving and playing in the IIHF division II groups, and an extraordinary 2006 when Israel made it to the highly competitive division I, Israel was demoted last year back to division III. Last month, they traveled to Cape Town, South Africa, where they again faced off against Greece and Turkey (and also hosts South Africa and Luxembourg).

Once again, the Jews met the Muslims and Christians on the modern-day battlefield. Yet again, the Jews emerged victorious and were crowned with gold.

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Koleinu | ʥʰʩʬʥʷ

May 18, 2011

A Jew Is A Jew Shmu’s Shmooze

BY SHMUEL KATZ I couldn’t help but wonder, as we observed Yom HaShoah and Yom HaZikaron and then celebrated Yom HaAtzmaut, what has become of our people and our nation over time. We were a battered people 60-plus years ago, picking up the broken pieces. Over six million of us, the vast bulk of a culture and way of life—gone.

Our country was born out of the ashes of their sacrifice, and a sacrifice they were. With the dawn of a Jewish homeland for Jews and by Jews, a new era in history was born. A history that we will never allow ourselves to forget, with the deliberate and sometimes brutal commemorations of Yom HaShoah and Yom HaZikaron.

I was not around then to witness it, but from all accounts we had a special achdut as Jews in those times. Jewish blood and a Jewish brother were too precious for us to do anything but love that Jew for what he is, no matter his beliefs. There was a mutual tolerance for differences.

I am not naive enough to think that everything in those days was wonderful. It was certainly a difficult time in the world. Religiously, there were the struggles of the Orthodox versus the emerging Conservative and Reform movements. Even within the religious, there were (as there had been for generations past) conflicts between the mitnagdim and the chassidim and Ashkenaz with Sefard.

Here at home, there was a significant resistance of the Sabras relative to accepting the Holocaust survivors.

Zionism and the battle of the pro versus the anti camps bitterly split us. It certainly was not an easy time. I do think, however, that despite their differences, they still got along by and large. I think that the fanatics were much fewer in those days, and that the differences between them were more on a philosophical and political level than on a personal level. At the end of the day, they coexisted, because a Jew was valuable, no matter what.

I could be wrong about those days.

It could be that the Jews of that time were just as divisive and filled with rhetoric and disdain for each other as we are. But I think, and I hope, that they weren’t.

In the past weeks, months, and years, I have wondered about how we seem to have splintered as a people.

As we have grown and reasserted the Jewish People as a strong and proud

nation, we have lost something along the way. Without being able to point to a specific turning or tipping point, we have stopped valuing each other as Rabbi Akiva would have us do.

I am and have been guilty of this as much as anyone. Before our aliyah, I remember the judgmental way in which I would evaluate someone who believed, behaved, or acted differently than my friends or I did. From the “way-too-religious nut jobs” to the “not-religious-enough idiots,” I had an adjective for everyone.

I wrote articles in our sister paper (the Five Towns Jewish Times) decrying the horrible actions of some of our neighbors, members of the chareidi community in Ramat Bet Shemesh Bet. And they were horrible actions.

Yet, and it is tough to admit, there is no doubt that I let my paintbrush paint broader strokes than were necessary. I made sure to point out that I was writing about a minority, but it didn’t matter. I knew that inside I disliked them all.

I remember one day in July of 2009.

We must feel the responsibility.

But we must also respect the free will that each of us has to make his or her own choices.

Then, a friend and neighbor in Woodmere, Dr. Gabe Levi—to whom Goldie and I owe much on a personal level for helping to save her life— taught me a motto that has helped me grow and mature. I was expressing frustration with something within our shul (he was then its president) and some of its members when he turned to me and said, “But Shmuel, remember—a Jew is a Jew.” Over time, I thought about his words. As I looked about me, I began to realize more and more of the meaning of his words and how they epitomize what could be so right about our country and our people, if only we could follow them. I began to look at the other side of the coin and realize that I could indeed value those who are different from me. And once I started to value them, I began to look at things from their point of view. I may not have agreed with them, but I understood them a lot better and respected them for it.

With our aliyah came the realization of how deep the divisions in our society were. There is a camaraderie between Jews in galut that we in Israel do not have. In galut, as a true minority, and an often persecuted one at that, Jews have a common bond. Here in Israel, we are the majority. As such, things that might be termed as minor differences elsewhere become major points of contention here. Opinions become more sharply defined and people are classified more by where they fit in the rigid divides of our society than by who they actually are.

I had gotten off a bus in Givat Shaul and looked in distaste at the sea of chareidi men around me. And I realized that I had fallen out of remembering that a Jew is a Jew. So I tried to revise my outlook. I tried to remember to look at things from someone else’s point of view. It might not be universal, but I am trying and I think this is what we could use some more of here.

Recently, I have become increasingly aware of the contempt we have for one another. If you recall, in our first edition I wrote an editorial about chareidi rabbis naming the Internet as a cause for cancer and decrying their lack of responsibility in combating smoking as a true cause of cancer. (Before I continue, I must commend HaRav Ovadia Yosef for his recent statement that smokers are halachically obligated to quit, no matter how diffi-

cult it is for them—and urge the Ashkenazi roshei yeshiva and rabbanim to follow his lead and vehemently condemn smoking.)

We have all witnessed the gleeful condemnation of an American publication for Photoshopping Hillary Clinton out of a photo in the last couple of weeks as well. The moral outrage and ridicule heaped upon them from all corners, while certainly deserved, was perhaps a little too vehement from our direction.

I regularly see the bashing of people who don’t agree with us on friends’ postings in social media and even in many of the submissions to this paper. It can sometimes be subtle, but the snide attitude of superiority shines through. And I think to myself what a shame it is that we (and I include myself in this) get caught up in our fervor and cast our mockery and derision upon others.

I’m not saying that I think all women need to wear burkas (as a very small number of women in my city do) nor am I saying that there is no excuse for anyone who doesn’t serve in the army or any of the very polarizing stances that people take. I personally disagree with many of them.

But, I think that we need to start adding the words “for me” in our assessments of others.

For example, “Women wearing burkas is not something that would work for me”; or, “Traveling on Shabbat is not something for me.” Although, on the second one, I would further refine it by saying that it is not something for any Jew—but that I will not condemn him for it, only pray that he should eventually grow to observe Shabbat.

Although we have a principle that all Jews are responsible for one another, I do not believe that such responsibility is absolute. We must feel

May 18, 2011

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7

The Photographer’s House

BY ARI SINGER Our land is rich with history. We can tour areas of biblical significance and stand at or near the very places our forefathers stood thousands of years ago at the founding of our nation and the building of our homeland. There comes a time, though, when we want to see something a bit off the beaten track and see things from a different vantage point. One of those can be seen on a tour of the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem, a highlight of which is a tour of “the Photographer’s House.”

From the early 1920s until 1936, Jews slowly moved out or were forced out of the Muslim Quarter or Old Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem. The reasons for their leaving or expulsion were the rioting of their Arab neighbors, mostly because they were Jews. In 1929, Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (a.k.a. “Hitler’s Mufti”), started a rumor that the Jews were destroying the Temple Mount, although they had just put up a mechitzah (a separation between men and women usually in the form of a curtain) at the Western Wall. This ru-

of Jerusalem is well inmor spread like wildfire tentioned, but it lacked a throughout the country, parallel physical redempending with 116 deaths—67 tion of Jerusalem. With in Hebron alone. that Ateret Kohanim was As the Jews left, some born. fled the Old Jewish QuarWhen the house was ter/Muslim Quarter to built, many photos were the present-day Jewish taken of it. Mati Dan Quarter of the Old City called the phone numand some fled to the ber of the photographer New City of Jerusalem, to try and track down to such neighborhoods the house. Unbeknownst as Mea Sharim and Nachto him, he kept dialing alot. When the Old City the wrong number. On fell to Jordanian hands the fifth try, the Arab in the War of IndepenThe view of the Temple Mount from the rooftop of “the Photographer’s House.” who answered the teledence, even the “new” the Jordanian destruction of Jewish phone asked in English, “What do Jewish Quarter had to be abandoned. you want?” Mati Dan replied, “I want In a rare instance, the Torat Chaim property and objects in the Old City.

When asked why he did this, the your house,” and the man answered, Yeshiva (known today as the Ateret Yerushalayim Yeshiva, led by Rav Shlo- watchman said, “I did not watch over “How did you know I’m selling?” And mo Aviner) hired an Arab watchman the yeshiva, as much as the yeshiva thus, Ateret Kohanim acquired anothwho put all the yeshiva’s prayer books watched over me.” In recognition of er property in our holy city. and Torah scrolls into a room and kept it locked for the 19-year Jordanian occupation of the Old City. When the Old City was liberated, the grandson of that watchman found an eighth-generation descendant of the Galician community, led him to the yeshiva, and showed him the locked room, within which everything was untouched, saved from

The Ohel Yitzchok Shul in the Old City

their efforts, the family remained in their apartment on the lower floor of the yeshiva.

There is much to see in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem. Yet one house in particular is one of my favorite places in Jerusalem (after the Temple Mount). For those who want a change of pace from making aliyah up to the Temple Mount, one can easily view it in many places in the Old City. However, this one place is very special. It is known as “the Photographer’s House,” because of the way that Ateret Kohanim found and bought the house.

Resettling Jewish families deep into predominantly Arab neighborhoods has been a goal of Ateret Kohanim since 1968. That year, its founder, Matityahu HaCohen Dan, conducted the first seminar for kohanim to learn about the halachot of serving in the Beit HaMikdash. One participant commented that the spiritual redemption

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From the rooftop of the house, one can see the entire Old City and Mount of Olives, including the northern side of the Temple Mount where the Antonia Fortress once stood. From this vantage point, one can even see the area of the Azarah where the Mikdash once stood and hopefully will be standing by the time you read this article.

I am not just a tour guide. I am first and foremost a Jew. Both inside and outside the walls of the Old City, there is property to be had. Every single day, in every single prayer, from Shemoneh Esreih to Birkat HaMazon, Jews pray to return and rebuild Jerusalem. There are people who are building Jerusalem and keeping a presence there. We should support their work.

For a tour of the Muslim Quarter and the Photographer’s House or other fascinating sites throughout Israel, contact Ari Singer at 054-2281569.

Revisiting Our Troubled Past: The Gush Katif Museum

BY SHMUEL KATZ I took a trip back in time last week. We were transported to a time just six years ago, when we—and the world with us— watched the forced evacuation of Jews from their homes in Gush Katif. In my mind’s eye, I sat in America, watching CNN, as Israeli soldiers entered the shul in Neve Dekalim and, one by one, slowly but surely, dragged the protesting youth and adults from the shul and from their homes, packing them onto waiting buses to be shipped away from the homes they loved.

We took this time warp in our tour of the Gush Katif Museum in Jerusalem.

The museum, located around the corner

Sign hung on the door of the Konchis’ home, beseeching the soldiers not to evict them.

from the shukenyon, the indoor (and very underutilized) market a few blocks down the road from Machane Yehuda, is in the heart of a residential neighborhood, at 5 Rechov Shaarei Chessed (just off Rechov Yaffo). The street is a quiet one, and the museum abuts an apartment building, with a single street sign noting its presence to passersby.

Immediately upon entering the museum’s courtyard, visitors are greeted by a standard Israeli traffic sign, noting that they are “traveling” in the direction of Gaza. We made the trip to the museum’s entrance and were greeted there by our personal guide for the day, Itzik Konchi, a Neve Dekalim evacuee.

Itzik walked us through a timeline and pictorial history of Gaza, from biblical through modern times, and then gave us a very personal snapshot of life in Gaza for himself, his family, and his neighbors. He showed us pictures of life in the different yishuvim in Gaza and described the “Gan Eden” that he felt he lived in.

He spoke of the joyous life of the chil-

dren of Gush Katif. He told us a story about the first time he drove his own car to Jerusalem and walked away from it after parking. A passenger reminded him to lock the door of the car and he related his bewilderment that a car or a house should need to be locked.

Itzik pointed to a picture of rocket damage and related to us the two miracles that happened to him and his family, where Hashem saved their lives in rocket attacks that should have killed them.

We were riveted by his narrative. We had expected a severe and emotional tour, but not one that engaged us on such a personal level. We later learned that over 90 percent of the museum’s employees are former Gush Katif residents. Each tour, personally guided, is led by someone who lived there and experienced the highs and lows of life in Gush Katif. Each tour provides that emotional, gut-level connection to the people and experiences of Gush Katif.

Itzik then took us through the various rooms of the museum. Each room had a different focus, speaking to us about different parts of the disengagement plan and its implementation. He described the warmth that they felt toward the chayalim and the commitment they had not to fight the chayalim, a commitment that he admitted he might regret now.

We learned about the agricultural products of Gush Katif and the people who produced them. The spice lady. The savta of celery. Each person had a story, and we learned how the very same greenhouses cannot seem to produce anywhere near the amount of produce that they did when they were owned by the Jews of Gush Katif. We also learned about legal claims for unemployment recently filed against the former owners of Gush Katif businesses by Arab workers who are suing for benefits and losses caused by the closure of the businesses there.

While this is a story in itself, one that we have not verified, Itzik told us that several people had told him personally that they were being sued for these benefits. How is it possible, he asked, that

people who were evicted from their homes and businesses, forcibly removed, could now be held liable for such damages? We had no answer.

Itzik showed us various pieces of artwork, including a couple of channukiyot that had been built out of Kassam rocket pieces that landed in Gaza yishuvim.

He showed us a memorial wall, dedicated to the memory of those lost in terror attacks. It being Erev Yom HaZikaron, and only a few hours before the memorial siren, this part of the tour was especially poignant.

We saw aerial views of the yishuvim and talked about the destruction of the various buildings. He showed us how the only remaining building in Neve Dekalim, the Moetza building, has now become a Hamas university. The unspoken question throughout the tour was, “and what did it get us?” And we have no answer to that either.

The tour concluded with an overwhelming video presentation. In the “Room of Tears,” also called the “Room of Darkness,” we witnessed the eviction of a family from their home, the doors being kicked violently in, and each person being forcibly removed. The video continued with the very familiar footage of the forced evacuation of the shul in Neve Dekalim, which I watched with tears in my eyes, remembering the tears we shed as we watched it live.

A pictorial memorial to those killed by terrorists in Gush Katif, and a channukiyah made of pieces of a rocket that fell in Neve Dekalim.

Yet the conclusion of the video was footage that I had never seen.

We watched the removal of the sifrei Torah from the beit knesset. It took place only after the removal of the people and was done jointly by what appeared to be rab-

banim of the yishuv, residents of the yishuv who were allowed to participate, and the chayalim. I will never forget the video images of one and all crying openly in front of the Aron HaKodesh as they came to remove them and as each Torah was carried out.

After our tour, we had a chance to sit with Rena Ziv, the museum’s director of development. She talked about the long-term plans of the museum, which is privately funded, in serving the former Gush Katif residents as well as keeping the history and lessons of Gush Katif fresh in our minds’ eye.

The museum is planning a traveling tour, allowing schools and other groups the chance to learn more about the disengagement and where the people of Gush Katif are now. They are actively in-

volved (along with JobKatif) in job placement and in encouraging the youth of Gush Katif, who were traumatized by the evictions, to lead museum programs and express themselves and their loss in a positive manner. They also want to expand the museum to further catalogue the vital role the yishuvim played in the defense of Israel and the loss to our national community and agriculture that was a result of the disengagement.

I commented to Rena about the personal connection that Itzik was able to engender with us, and Rena told me that the grief is very personal and common to all the former residents of Gush Katif. She said that they experience “not a hate of the country, not a hate of the army,” but rather that “they are just in a lot of pain.” Which we understood.

As time passes, we who were not directly involved may forget the events of 2005.

The Gush Katif Museum serves as a reminder to us and a lesson for the future.

One in which each one of us can take his own message, no matter what our politics.

Although we took a bus to Binyanei Hauma and walked to the museum, there is plenty of parking available in the shukenyon lot. The museum is open Sunday through Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Fridays throughout the summer. Admission is NIS 15 per person, which includes a brief introduction and a self-guided tour. The fully guided tour for NIS 180 per group must be reserved in advance at 02.625.5456.

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Under The Sun: A Survey Of Bet Shemesh News

BY RABBI DOV LIPMAN

It must keep pace on an economic and industrial level.” Mayor Moshe Abutbol declared that “this is a joyous day for Bet Shemesh. We have brought a present to the city to mark its 60th anniversary.”

It is worth noting that the geographic area of municipal Bet Shemesh is now equal in size to Tel Aviv-Yaffo.

Leading Role For Ethiopian Immigrants

Bet Shemesh Annexes Industrial Areas

Bet Shemesh has always been a popular destination for immigrants from Eli Yishai, Deputy Prime Minister and Ethiopia but its role as a leading playMinister of the Interior, came to Bet er in the Ethiopian aliyah has been cemented in recent weeks.

Shemesh to announce First, the Bet Shemesh muthat the Bet Shemesh municipality dedicated land for nicipality would be anthe spiritual leader of the nexing the industrial arEthiopian immigrants, Chief eas of Har Tuv A, Har Tuv Kes Raphael Hadana, to conB, and Nocham. This adstruct his own beit knesset ditional 3,000 dunams of and beit midrash, the first of industrial area will mean its kind in the country. SecNIS 10 million in additionond, the cornerstone was laid al tax revenue for the city.

Chief Kes Raphael Hadane for a new Ethiopian culture Yishai explained during with Rabbi Lipman center in the city. Finally, and a grand ceremony to mark this transfer that “Bet Shemesh is rapidly perhaps most significantly, Emmanuel growing and developing and will one day Hadana, a Bet Shemesh-based attorney, be among the larger cities in the country. just released a new publication writ-

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May 18, 2011

ten by his father, the chief Kes, called From Gondar to Jerusalem which documents the history of Ethiopian Jewry.

A night of celebration to promote the Emmanuel Hadana book was held at the Kiryat Ono Academic College. The evening included speeches from Minister Michael Eitan, MK Shlomo Mula, Bet Shemesh Mayor

Eli Cohen

Moshe Abutbol, and both the chief Kes and his son, who quoted excerpts from the book.

Interior Minister Eli Yishai with Mayor Moshe Abutbol

A special presentation was made by Eli Cohen, head of absorption at the Jewish Agency, who is also a resident of Bet Shemesh.

Cohen is leaving his prestigious position but declared emotionally that he viewed completing the immigration of all Ethiopian Jews as his last important task to fulfill.

Mayor Abutbol used his presentation to invite Ethiopians and all Jews to explore Bet Shemesh as a place where they can settle and feel welcome. He related that when the Absorption minister, Sophia Landover, visited the city a few weeks ago, he told her to please send new immigrants from all over the world to Bet Shemesh.

She remarked how different this was from the messages she receives from other mayors, who make requests not to send immigrants from specific populations.

Dov Lipman teaches at Reishit Yerushalayim and Machon Maayan in Bet Shemesh. He has semichah from Ner Yisroel and a master’s degree in education from Johns Hopkins University and is also the author of three popular books geared to teenagers and their parents. In recent years, Dov has become a community activist in Bet Shemesh. He can be reached at ddlipman@gmail.com.

Also: Air Conditioners and Garbage Disposals of all brands www.alephbetrepair.com

Despite Late Rains, The Seven-Year Drought Continues

BY GOLDIE KATZ MANAGING EDITOR

The April and May rains have been a source of surprise and a definite boon to our water supplies. As has been widely reported, the winter rains, which began incredibly late this year, were not as bad as had been forecast.

As reported last week in the Jerusalem Post, the season-to-date rainfall (not including last Shabbat’s rains) have reached only 89 percent of an average year. This resulted in a total of 297 million cubic meters of water added to the Kineret, as opposed to the average of 338 million cubic meters (last year saw 330 million cubic meters).

Interestingly, the Kineret gained 177.5 centimeters this year as opposed to 171.5 centimeters last year, which is most likely attributable to three different factors.

The first is the fact that last year’s rains came to an arid land, one that had been in drought for five years already. In the last 40 years, we have never had more than three years of sub-average rainfall in a row, and this has only happened once before. A fiveyear dry spell is unheard of, and thus riverbeds and streams were either low or totally dry. Much of the rains last year went into the very dry earth.

This year’s rains, which were also not as torrential and brief as last year’s, followed an almost-average rainfall year. If

The Kineret-o-meter

Sasyl / Flickr

falls and the possibility that the Kineret could reach levels so low that the pumps would need to be turned off.

Once that became a possibility, the government decided that the higher cost of daytime electricity was a price they were willing to pay in order to provide more capacity.

The third factor is a beneficial byproduct of the unexpected April and May rains. These storms provided water to planted crops, reducing the need to use irrigation to water the spring/ summer crops.

With less water being taken out of the water system for agricultural purposes, the Kineret markers have been able to stay at their high levels later into the “dry” season than in normal years and even rise a centimeter or two at times.

Where does this leave us today?

Pumping lines draining water from the Kineret Well, to start with, the Kineret, which not for the fact that we are in our seventh provides something like 40 percent straight subpar year, this year would not of our water, is already 11 centimeters higher today than it was at last year’s have been cause for serious alarm.

The other contributing factor has high. The first downtick in the lake’s to be the desalination plants that level occurred on May 11 last year. While are going at full capacity. As I report- we did reach a low that was only 76 cened in March, the desalination plants timeters from the Black Line (where the were only put on a 24-hour operating pumps need to be shut down), we did schedule earlier this year, as a direct not get there. With continued vigilance response to the anticipated low rain- regarding consumption and conserva-

tion, we have every reason to believe that we should get no lower than last year’s low level by the time the rains start— depending on when that is.

This year’s rains did not come in earnest until the second week of December.

If, with G-d’s blessing, we get rains earlier and finally get to an “average” level of rainfall, something which is certainly overdue, we should only continue to recover. We certainly shouldn’t be any worse than we were entering last year.

Why then are we continuing to hear panicked cries of disaster from the water authority? Yes, we are in dire straits, but the current level of alarmed rhetoric is certainly higher than that of last year, when we were in a worse position. Especially when you factor in the current increased levels of desalination, which will certainly only serve to further lessen the demands on the water reserves.

ly so, needs to present an image of relief, tinged with serious concern. They need to remind the public to be vigilant about consumption and conservation. They need to make sure that the government does not, in a cost-cutting move, decide to reduce production at the desalination plants. Most importantly, they need to continue to work on expanding alternative production.

Our country suffers from a shortsighted approach to problems. No one really wants to be the government official who spent money on more desalination or other long-term projects that will not directly lead to votes in future elections. We react to problems rather than plan for them.

The desalination plants took a very long time to get funded. Even now, the majority of desalination production in the plan is still under construction and will not be operational until at least 2013—if then (when was the last time any Israeli public-works project came in on time?). We need to be looking five to ten years down the road to determine our future needs and make sure that we have 50 percent more capacity than that.

Membranes inside a desalination plant here in Israel

I think the answer to that lies in the Israeli mentality. Last year, upon the Kineret’s passing above the Lower Red Line, the water authority put out an ad with their “Kineret Man,” who had a big smile on his face. The message was one of thanks and achievement.

And only months later, there was a real concern that we would get to the Black Line—which seems to have been averted only by the abundance of late-falling rains and increased desalination.

Rather than present an image of satisfaction, the water authority, right-

Although in all probability the rains will eventually return to normal levels, we need to get ourselves safely through to 2013, when desalination capacity will be vastly increased, and have a real and responsible plan for water management and water production—and then we must fund that plan, so that we never get back to crisis like our current one.

Maybe then we can stop wondering how much of the panic we are hearing is real and how much is “crying wolf” in order to get some attention.

May 18, 2011

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Chesed Corner: ALEH’s Historic Jerusalem March Meir Zarovsky and Yiftach Paltrowitz for www.yruas.com

BY KOLEINU STAFF

er set a celebratory tone as the event’s master of ceremonies.

The festivities were capped off with singing, dancing, a rousing address by

of the disabled as well as the first march ever held on the Jerusalem Chords Bridge.

ALEH (www.aleh.org) is Israel’s largest network of residential facilities for children with severe physical and cognitive disabilities, providing 650 children from around Israel with high-level medical and rehabilitative care in four residential facilities. ALEH is their home

and their family—24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

ALEH’s goal is to enable each child, regardless of the severity of the disability, to realize his or her potential and live a quality life on par with the rest of soMeir Zarovsky and Yiftach Paltrowitz for www.yruas.com

Rabbi Yaakov Shapira, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav, and a ceremony during which over 500 balloons were released into the air to signify the buoyant spirit and unrestricted potential of Israel’s disabled children.

Dubbed “ALEH Marches Forward,” the event was the organization’s first Jerusalem march to increase public awareness

Meir Zarovsky and Yiftach Paltrowitz for www.yruas.com

Meir Zarovsky and Yiftach Paltrowitz for www.yruas.com

On Thursday, April 21, a procession of over 300 marchers—including children with severe physical and cognitive disabilities under the care of ALEH, their families, caregivers, and volunteers, and friends from around the globe—set out from ALEH’s Jerusalem facility to cross over the Jerusalem Chords Bridge in a powerful and symbolic display to encourage the integration of Israel’s disabled community within Israeli society.

Israeli radio personality Menachem Tok-

ciety. If you are interested in learning more about ALEH, please contact Dov Hirth at dov@aleh-israel.org.

When To Rebalance Your Portfolio

BY AARON KATSMAN Perhaps the most overlooked aspect in longterm investing is the need to rebalance your portfolio. Rebalancing is important for two main reasons. First, it keeps your portfolio in tune with your long-term goals.

Second, it keeps your asset allocation in line with your risk level.

Asset Allocation As I’ve mentioned in previous columns, creating your asset allocation—the mix of stocks, bonds, and cash in your portfolio— is the single most important task you can take as an investor. Many studies have been conducted that show that the proportion in which you hold stocks, bonds, and cash has a greater effect on your portfolio’s returns and its volatility than the individual investments you choose.

That is why after assessing one’s investment goals, it is of utmost importance to create an allocation that can help you achieve the aforementioned goals.

Why Rebalance?

Let’s say you decide that an alloca-

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tion of 60 percent in stocks and 40 percent bonds is right for your $100,000 portfolio. Let’s also assume that over the course of the next few years, the stock market moves up strongly, while bonds barely move up.

Assuming that all gains and dividends were reinvested and you didn’t deposit or withdraw any money, the stock portion of your portfolio would be worth a lot more than the initial $60,000, while your bond holdings would be worth a little more than the $40,000 invested.

The good news in such a scenario is that your portfolio is bigger; unfortunately, it’s also riskier. Why? Because your portfolio may have gone from a 60/40 ratio of stocks to bonds, to a 70/30 ratio.

In times when stock returns are much higher, many investors can find themselves with portfolios much more heavily tilted toward stocks than when they started out. Conversely, if bond returns outpace stock returns by enough of a margin, your portfolio could become more bond-heavy, or conservative. The point is that if you sit and do nothing, your portfolio can change into something that you don’t want it to be.

The way to avoid a portfolio that changes into something that is either too conservative or aggressive for you

is to rebalance or fine-tune your portfolio to bring it back to your original allocation or one that is consistent with your updated needs.

Buy Low, Sell High Rebalancing also has another benefit: it forces you to do something investors all say they want to do but rarely have the discipline to pull off—sell high and buy low. If stocks have a great year and bonds tank, then the stock portion of your portfolio jumps in value, while the bond part shrinks. To bring your portfolio back in line, you’ve got to sell some high-flying stocks and put the proceeds into bonds. By doing this, you have accomplished the principle of buying low and selling high. By constantly updating your portfolio, you ensure that you don’t fall into the trap that most investors fall into. Investors often become consumed by fear when markets fall and instinctively sell, and when the market is high they become consumed by greed, and continue to purchase securities. By definition, rebalancing means that you sell high and buy low.

How Often Should You Rebalance?

While there is no hard-and-fast rule

of when to rebalance, the conventional wisdom recommends doing it on an annual basis. If your original allocation called for 70% of your portfolio in stocks and you have 71.5% instead, don’t rush to sell the additional 1.5%.

It pays to rebalance if there is an imbalance of 5% from your stated allocation. In addition, if your goals have changed, you may also need to rebalance.

Selling Isn’t The Only Way To Rebalance You don’t need to sell to rebalance your portfolio. You can add money to your account. For example, if you want to increase the amount of the fixed-income portion, you can buy more bonds. This style of rebalancing provides you with a rebalanced portfolio while increasing the value of your account.

Aaron Katsman is a licensed financial professional in the United States and Israel, and helps people who open investment accounts in the United States.

Securities are offered through Portfolio Resources Group, Inc., a registered broker dealer, Member FINRA, SIPC, MSRB, NFA, SIFMA. For more information, call (02) 624-0995, visit www.aaronkatsman.com, or e-mail aaron@lighthousecapital.co.il.

Fallen Enemies In Hashem’s War B Y R AV A RY E H Z . G I N Z B E R G While the civilized world is still celebrating the end of the evil life of the world’s most dangerous terrorist, Osama bin Laden, yemach shemo, people are not focusing sufficiently on the disappearance from the public arena of many of K’lal Yisrael’s longtime enemies. This may be fine for the rest of the world, but we members of K’lal Yisrael, in whose behalf all these miraculous events are taking place, must take notice and offer shevach v’hodaah on every one of these events.

Over the last few months, we have witnessed with astonishment that practically overnight our most feared enemies have quietly been removed from the world stage. From Egypt to Libya to Yemen and hopefully soon to Syria, our enemies of decades have just vanished from the world arena.

There has even been much talk in the news of late that the days of our archenemy in Iran, the Haman of our day, may be in the process of being impeached in the next few months.

Think tanks around the world are chasing their tails trying to figure out what is going on and how it is possible that the U.S. State Department and CIA were caught completely off guard by these events. Talk shows and roundtable discussions are trying to figure out what is next and where all this will lead.

What they failed to hear is the deep insight that the venerable mashgiach of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath, Rav Moshe Wolfson, shlita, shared with his students and mitpallelim over these last several months. The Sar shel Yishmael, the heavenly angel assigned to protect the nation of Yishmael, has begun to fall. The Zohar describes that in Acharit HaYamim, the days preceding the final redemption of K’lal Yisrael, the malach of Yishmael will fall, taking along with him the nation that he was assigned to protect.

It is clear from Chazal that the nation of Yishmael will be around even after the coming of Mashiach, which

will be preceded by the fall of the Sar of Yishmael. What is impossible to know is just how long and how painful to K’lal Yisrael the period of Acharit HaYamim will be. As our gedolim have recently instructed all of us, we must increase our acts of chesed and our tefillos to merit a quicker end to this turbulent period.

With everyone caught up in the

held up the flower for everyone to see and then began to explain the beauty and complexity of this creation in a manner that only he could do. This talmid related that Rav Miller saw and felt the presence of HaKadosh Baruch Hu in this one small flower that the talmid could feel only by standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon.

At that moment he was committed to

With everyone caught up in the euphoria of the demise of Bin Laden, we have to keep our focus on the whole picture. euphoria of the demise of Bin Laden, we have to keep our focus on the whole picture and watch closely as HaKadosh Baruch Hu continues to cause the downfall of the Sar of our enemies. It is specifically the colossal and public manner of his death that has diverted our attention from the bigger picture of Hashem’s preparing for us our status in Acharit HaYamim.

Much has been written in recent weeks about the 10th yahrzeit of Rav Avigdor Miller, zt’l. One particular story that caught my attention was an explanation of what first attracted a certain person to become a talmid of Rav Miller. He related that he had gone on a vacation with his family and, for the first time in his life, visited the Grand Canyon. He was so inspired by the absolute beauty and wonders of Hashem’s world and creation that he had never felt closer to Hashem than at that moment. Upon his return home, one of his neighbors, who regularly attended Rav Miller’s famous Thursday-night hashkafah shiurim, convinced him to tag along.

Rav Miller came into the room carrying one flower. He sat down and

becoming a devoted student of Rav Miller.

Most of us are like that talmid; we need a spectacular event such as a group of Navy Seals jumping out of helicopters in the middle of the night and (thankfully) pulling off a successful and important mission that captures the entire world’s attention for us to stop for a moment and express

shevach v’hodaah to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. One of my wonderful friends who davens with us every morning went up to daven at the amud the morning after this wonderful news spread around the world. As he was about to begin, he turned to me and asked, very seriously, “Should we say Hallel today?” While this was a valid question, which I dedicated the next Shabbos’s shiur to, I wondered why we did not think to ask if we should say Hallel over the events of the last few months, when we all witnessed the falling of the Sar of Yishmael in front of our eyes.

And the answer is that when we witness events that unfold quietly in front of our eyes, events that do not capture our imagination—whether the sudden collapse of Communist Russia, or the raining of thousands of missiles onto the towns of S’derot, Ashdod, Be’er Sheva, and others without hitting any targets a majority of the time, or the end of the most powerful Arab governments within a few days—it does not resonate within us that this is all being orchestrated for K’lal Yisrael in the Acharit HaYamim, as we prepare for the final Geulah.

Continued on Page 14

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May 18, 2011

Koleinu | ʥʰʩʬʥʷ

13

Young Israel Shabbat in Tiveria Africa, Russia, Germany, El Salvador, India, Switzerland, Turkey, Denmark, the Czech Republic . . . and, of course, Israel. The participants came from all over Israel, including Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ashkelon, Tiberias, Efrat, Ariel, and more.

The Shabbaton began on Friday with a guided tour of the southern Golan

Davening at the Kever

On Shabbat Parashat Behar (May 13– 14), International Young Israel Movement–Israel Region held an inspirational Shabbaton at the Bergik Hotel in Tiberias overlooking the scenic Kineret.

The Shabbaton was attended by 68 singles (36 women and 32 men). The numbers were made up of new olim from the U.S. (New York, Los Angeles, Phila-

Touring at the Kineret before Shabbat

delphia, and others), Canada (Toronto, Vancouver), England, Australia, South

Tehillim and prayer at the Kever of the Rambam

Heights. This was followed by a visit to the grave of the Rambam and a visit to the Maimonides Heritage Center (which ran the educational programming throughout Shabbat). Programs on Shabbat included inspirational shiurim, sessions dealing with moral dilemmas, lighthearted entertainment provided by participants, scrumptious meals, and intense mingling and networking.

For more information about IYIM’s singles programs, contact Micki Lavin-Pell, director of IYIM singles programs, at iyimisrael@gmail.com. thetic grounds,” an offense that carries a NIS 4,000 ($1,111) fine.

Who Foots The Bill?

CHELM-ON-THE-MED O

BY DANIELLA ASHKENAZI

A Labor Of Love Israel has some of the most enlightened labor laws in the world. Now it has instituted a host of new labor regulations that abolish child labor, mandate work breaks, and stipulate maternity leave—for work animals.

The animal-rights law forbids working an animal with a newborn that is less than three days old; all work animals must receive a work break at least once every three hours; sick or injured animals are entitled to “sick leave,” and working an animal less than three years of age is illegal. All the new regulations carry a NIS 2,000 ($555) for each infraction.

Another new regulation prohibits cutting the tails or ears of animals on “aes-

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May 18, 2011

For years, Nachal Oz, a kibbutz that hugs the border with Gaza, has been receiving electric bills for the Palestinian Authority, to the tune of NIS 2.7 million ($750,000) a month, not including NIS 71 million ($19.7 million) of unpaid previous bills for electricity supplied to Gaza.

No one—including service reps at the Israel Electric Company—knows why Nachal Oz has been so honored, but the billing statements continue to arrive every month addressed to “The Palestinian Authority – Nachal Oz.” Nachal Oz gets socked coming and going—not only getting hit with the bills for Palestinian power demands, but periodically hit by Palestinian rockets from Gaza, too.

A Jew Is A Jew

Fallen Enemies In Hashem’s War

Continued from Page 7

Continued from Page 13

the responsibility. But we must also respect the free will that each of us has to make his or her own choices.

And when a person makes his choices, we can feel free to hate the actions.

But we must remember, as hard as it may be, to love the person. Because a Jew is a Jew. Ironically, our enemies subscribe to the same philosophy as I do. To them, a Jew is a Jew. They make no distinctions in their hatred for us. They want to destroy us all equally.

We need, each and every one of us— beginning with me—to recognize that our enemies are still poised at the gates, waiting eagerly to annihilate us.

The faces of our enemies seem to be dramatically changing all around us this year. Yet their hatred for Jews and thirst for Jewish blood is still there.

Perhaps that is all the more reason to regain the aura of those lost times. It may well be that our former achdut was a major factor behind the miracles that our country has seen over and over from our founding in 1948 and throughout the wars and violence that have marred our short history.

Of course, it is so much easier to dismiss the idiots and nut jobs as just that. But this, I think, is the lesson of the generation of the Shoah and the generations that followed, those generations upon whom were built the State of Israel. It was their ability to coexist, to respect and love one another viscerally despite their religious and/or political differences, that is a major foundation of our country.

We need to recapture that feeling.

In the Midrash we find an important insight and lesson from Rav Shmuel bar Nachman, who taught us how to look at the events around us and to see the Yad Hashem. In the story of Yosef and his brothers, we see how the brothers were busy with selling him, Yosef himself was busy with mourning over his predicament, Reuvein was busy with his pain at the realization that he couldn’t save Yosef, Yaakov was busy mourning over the loss of Yosef, and Yehudah was busy getting married and having a family. And during all this, when everyone was so busy in his own trials and tribulations, what was HaKadosh Baruch Hu busy with? He was busy orchestrating through these very events the creation of the light of Mashiach.

And so while we join with the rest of the civilized world in celebrating the end of an evil excuse for a human being, we members of K’lal Yisrael must keep our eyes on the bigger picture, the continued fall of the Sar of Yishmael and the quiet events that are slowly removing our enemies from their positions of power.

If we do see the Yad Hashem in these events as clearly as the late Rav Miller was able to see Hashem in a simple flower, we will surely be zocheh to finally merit the days when Hashem’s role in the world and the exalted position of K’lal Yisrael in that world will be evident for all to see. May we merit it speedily in our day.

One of the tailor’s most recent special assignments was a rush request for infrared-sensitive battle uniforms that will stand out like a sore thumb even from a distance of three kilometers—designed to cut down lethal exchanges of friendly fire in the heat of battle.

Meir’s Shleppers There are more volunteers per capita in Israel than anywhere else on the face

the bus stop or the car. And sometimes, even all the way home.

Back in the 1990s, medical research found Israelis suffered from a special strain of a universal and well-documented malady: frozen shoulders. Best labeled “shlepper’s shoulders,” an Israeli orthopedic surgeon said the malady was triggered by lugging home bulky plastic market baskets filled to the brim with fruits and vegetables from Israel’s open markets.

What’s On Tap?

Tailor Made The IDF’s aging chief tailor has gotten a pile of odd jobs from the Logistics Command in 43 years on the job. One of his tallest orders was a request in 1983 from GHQ to stitch together a special 50 cm. × 2.2 meter (20" × 7'2" ) mattress for a field cot for the country’s newly minted but unusually lanky chief-ofstaff, Moshe Levi—nicknamed Mosheve-Chetzi (Moshe ‘n’ a Half).

Rabbi Ginzberg is rav of the Chofetz Chaim Torah Center in Cedarhurst, New York.

of the earth, but the enterprising volunteer project started by 26-year-old Meir Partosh provides a truly unique service.

Every Thursday (when most people do their Sabbath shopping), he and a small army of high-school students ply the Machane Yehuda open market in Jerusalem offering to help elderly shoppers carry their unwieldy market baskets to

Oil exploration drilling operations in the middle of Ashdod and near Rosh Ha’ayin east of Tel Aviv haven’t panned out, but a thirsty cop in the Galilee found oil unexpectedly when he turned on the tap in the Safed police station to make himself a nice hot cup of coffee.

It took local water authorities hours to get to the source—a tanker truck that had erroneously dumped 2,000 liters of fuel oil into the water system instead of a heating-oil storage tank.

Another tanker—this time with water—had to be called in to provide the Canaan neighborhood’s 2,500 residents with drinking water until authorities could figure out how to thoroughly flush the fuel out of the system.

Reprinted courtesy of www.chelm-on-the-med. com.

Time To Stop Playing Games

ably and without compromise that he will agree to nothing less than ninetenths of the money. “Take it or leave it,” he says, “but you are not getting more than one-tenth.” The rational player is forced to agree to this injustice just to avoid ending up with no money at all.

The present Israeli approach is based on precisely this blackmailer’s paradox. Israel believes that some kind of agreement with the Arabs must be reached at all costs because the present situation is intolerable. But, at every negotiation, the Palestinian Arabs adopt positions that are totally unacceptable, such as the demand for the “right of return,” or even the blatantly anti-Semitic demand that while Palestinian Arabs have the right to live within Israel, yet no Jew can live within areas controlled by the Palestinian Arabs. So Israel is forced to yield to this blackmail and play along, otherwise

Israel will be blamed by Obama and the Europeans for leaving the negotiating table with nothing to show and wrecking the “peace process.”

The solution, says Aumann, is for Israel to correctly employ the principles of game theory. This means first accepting that in the immediate future it may well leave the negotiating table with nothing, and that this is better than accepting any compromise on Israel’s security.

Second, it should realize that repeating a game many times changes the calculation made by each player.

Israel’s refusal to play along endlessly and make compromises along the way would thus alter the balance of power, because the Palestinian Arabs would realize that they might end up with nothing unless they compromise.

Third, what is crucial is the player’s unshakable stance. This not only strengthens him in his conviction that he is right, but it even manages to convince his opponent, too. It thus totally undermines that opponent, forcing him to act irrationally against his own interests in order to reach a compromise.

This is exactly what has happened to Israel. Faced with Palestinian Arab intransigence and unwillingness to compromise on any issue, Israel has fallen for the blackmailer paradox over the years and responded by compromising, while the Palestinian Arabs have broken every agreement that they have signed. The most recent example of this is the newfound unity between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, which is in direct violation of the Oslo agreement.

President Obama is demanding a new “peace initiative” for Israel, but the wisdom of such a move will be similar to all of Obama’s failures in the Middle East. Moreover, it will

live testimony and replay the images of the catastrophic history they lived through. Every year, as Yom HaZikaron approaches, we must come closer to the realization that there are very few Ben-Gurions and Begins amongst us, and it is our duty to equip our youth and our soldiers with their connection to our past in order to acquire the drive to fight for our future.

I belong to the Harel division of the Rabbinate of the IDF, a special division which offers lectures and presentations on Jewish history and Jewish tradition to all divisions within the IDF. Why is this division necessary within the ranks of the IDF, an army which should concern itself exclusively with protecting its borders

and citizens?

Because the IDF is a Jewish army, and there are many soldiers who do not know the three forefathers of the Jewish people or who cannot identify the five books of Moses. One might insist that these concerns are religious by nature and, as there is no religious coercion in the Israeli army, they are trivial in comparison to the greater task at hand. The problem is that these same soldiers have no clue who Zev Jabotinsky is, either. When Jewish soldiers are unaware who their founding fathers of the past and the present were, then it is indeed difficult to protect Israel’s borders and citizens, for the knowledge of our past advances the resilience of our future.

BY RON JAGER During President Obama’s tenure at the White House, the U.S. lost much of its global stature, mostly in the Middle East. Thus far, Obama failed to realize any objectives earmarked as foreign-policy priorities. He is perceived, by enemies and friends alike, as a weak, inexperienced leader who does not know how and where to lead America. The doubts regarding his conduct grew in recent months, following his zigzags, contradictory attitude, and inexplicable evasions in respect to the massive unrest and demonstrations in the Arab world.

Now, the assassination of Osama bin Laden may grant Barack Obama an opportunity to restore America’s global and regional status and regain its leadership position. However, the jury is still out concerning Obama’s intentions regarding Israel should he be reelected for a second term, free of political constraints. In case Obama has not noticed, the “peace process” that he advocates at every opportunity is not a game. It is more of a war process, with the aim being Israel’s destruction. When Prime Minister Netanyahu appears before both houses of Congress in May, he should state unequivocally that Israel is done playing games.

Professor Robert Aumann, an Israeli-American who was awarded the Nobel Prize for economics in 2005 for his work on conflict and cooperation through game theory analysis, suggests that Israel has fallen into the trap of the “blackmailer’s paradox.”

Aumann uses the analogy of two players who have been given a suitcase full of money, which they can keep only if they reach an agreement as to how much each player gets. One player declares unreason-

Memorializing the Living

Continued from Page 5 conscription, but he read and studied the Bible because he appreciated the significance of knowing who we were in order to identify what we could become.

When Menachem Begin was prime minister, he would frequently hold a Bible class on the weekly Torah portion for his cabinet. He valued the blueprint which demonstrates that identifying our persecutions in the past helps us adopt resilience for the future.

Every year, as Yom HaShoah approaches, we come closer to the realization that there are only a handful of survivors left who can offer

Professor Robert Aumann

propagate the fallacy of a two-state solution. The fact that the Palestinian Authority leadership refuses to sit and negotiate with Israel leaves much of the world unperturbed, evoking Pavlovian responses about the need to pursue peace negotiations while there is a “window of opportunity” (whatever that means). A large part of the world deludes itself in believing that an understanding between Israel and the PA is within easy reach.

But the bad news is that the differences between Israelis and Palestinians are unbridgeable in this generation, and that Palestinian Arab society, rather than being prepared to compromise for peace, is indoctrinated with messages praising and admiring terrorists and suicide bombers who have murdered Israelis. Peace for generations can only be made with democratic regimes that honor human rights, and this is not the case as far as the Palestinian Arabs are concerned.

Prime Minister Netanyahu may be well advised to try, for once, telling Israel’s friends that while peace with the Palestinian Arabs is not a realistic goal, and unattainable at this time, Israel can still take certain measures to ameliorate the situation. Therefore, what Israel needs is not to pursue an elusive peace but to develop a coherent “game” strategy that will minimize the suffering on both sides of the Israel–Palestinian Arab divide. Only by adopting this strategy can Israel convey to the world that it’s time to stop playing games.

Ron Jager is a 25-year veteran of the Israel Defense Forces, serving as a field mental-health officer. Prior to retiring in 2005, he served as the commander of the central psychiatric military clinic for reserve soldiers at Tel-Hashomer. Since retiring from active duty, he has been providing consultancy services to NGOs, implementing psychological trauma treatment programs in Israel. To contact him, e-mail medconf@ netvision.net.il.

The more we enrich our children and soldiers with Jewish heritage, the more they will comprehend that they are not fighting to kill, but rather are struggling for the right to live.

They are not engaged in destruction, but are confronted with the challenges of construction. Our ability to educate our generation with these ideals will ensure that we not only honor the past but we commence a future.

Rabbi Shalom Hammer teaches at Yeshivat Hesder Derech Chaim in Kiryat Gat and serves under the Harel Division of the IDF as one of eight selected lecturers for the “Jewish awareness and enrichment” branch of the IDF Rabbinate. He is also an author and lecturer on Israel, Religious Zionism, and Jewish education. For more information, visit www.rabbihammer.com.

May 18, 2011

Koleinu | ʥʰʩʬʥʷ

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Middle East Wrapup

BY SAMUEL SOKOL

sworn launching a full-blown terror war against Israel, on tactical grounds.

NEWS DIRECTOR

“Popular Resistance”

Analysis: Tactics Of Egyptian Revolution To Be Used Against Israel?

Taking their cue from the mass rallies that recently ousted longtime Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, as well as the weekly “non-violent” demonstrations in towns bordering Israel’s anti-terror barrier, thousands of Arabs marched on Israel from the West Bank, Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon to mark the 63rd anniversary of the “Naqba,” the “catastrophe” of Israel’s creation.

At the same time as Syrian forces were shelling pro-democracy demonstrators in the town of Tel Kelakh on the Lebanese border, the Assad regime remonstrated against Israel’s use of live fire against Syrian citizens who, having broken through the border fence between Israel and its northern neighbor, proceeded to riot in the village of Majdal Shams.

“We were met with thousands of violent rioters on the Syrian side of the border who at first attempted to and then successfully breached and infiltrated into Israel, making it into the center of the village,” an IDF spokesman told reporters.

“We are talking about violent rioters who were hurling rocks.”

At least ten rioters were killed in Sunday’s clashes, including several caught attempting to breach Israel’s border with Lebanon.

Hundreds of Palestinians also entered into clashes with the IDF at the Qalandia checkpoint that separates the West Bank and Jerusalem. Israel claims that some of the rioters were seen using ambulances as shields as they hurled rocks at security personnel.

The violence is reminiscent of the beginning of the first intifada, in which mass demonstrations, characterized by the use of Molotov cocktails and stone projectiles, were the rule of the day.

While low-grade terror has continued since the end of the second intifada—as exemplified by the bombing of the No. 74 bus in Jerusalem, Sunday’s vehicular attack in Tel-Aviv, the shooting at Joseph’s Tomb, and the Itamar massacre—the incidence of suicide bombings and shooting attacks has lessened, mostly due to the building of Israel’s separation fence and the return of IDF servicemen to areas initially vacated under the Oslo Accords, veteran Jerusalem correspondent David Bedein told Koleinu.

The Palestinian Authority, while continuing incitement and the glorification of terror in official media outlets, has for-

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May 18, 2011

“I have said more than once that if the Arabs want war, we are with them,” PA President Mahmoud Abbas recently declared, explaining, according to the Palestinian press, that “he supports the options that the Arab [state]s will choose.” However, he opined, “I cannot fight alone. We tried military action during the second intifada and during the attack on Gaza at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009, after the [Hamas] refusal to renew the ceasefire, and it brought destruction upon us.

Twenty-five percent of the homes in Gaza are still in ruins.”

ing what seems to be the dominant view in Jerusalem, told the Jerusalem Post, “Syria is a police state. This sort of thing could not happen without the support of the regime. It is clear they wanted this to ‘play the Israel card,’ in order to silence their own democratic opposition.”

Syria may also be acting in concert with Iran on this issue, Israeli security forces have alleged. “I see fingerprints of Iranian provocation and an attempt to use Nakba Day to create conflict,” said IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Mordechai, who mentioned that “when the incidents end, the IDF will consider their long-term ramifications.”

Syrian condemnation of Israel seems tailor-made to redirect the country’s rage

The threat of undermining the stability enjoyed in the Golan Heights since 1974 could be taken as a signal from Damascus that it wishes Washington to back off.

According to the Palestinian newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Abbas “noted that he opposes military action and that he believes that popular operations resisting settlement and the [security] fence lead to clear positive results for the Palestinian cause.”

Former PA interim prime minister Nabil Shaath summarized the new Palestinian strategy when he explained that “the Fatah’s stated strategy for the struggle is to adopt the growing popular and ‘non-violent’ struggle against Israel, because of the inability to engage in the armed struggle, which has become undesirable now, although it is the right of the Palestinian people, which all international treaties and resolutions have guaranteed.”

The “popular operations” and “non-violent struggle[s]” cited in the Palestinian press bear a striking similarity to the tactics used in Egypt.

However, “non-violent resistance” is something of a misnomer, as the term is frequently used to denote protests in which firebombs and stone projectiles are hurled at Israeli citizens and soldiers.

Syria And Iran Israeli security sources have pointed to the Assad regime in Damascus, itself in the midst of a campaign to bloodily suppress pro-democracy protests and of instigating the violence on its shared border with the Jewish State.

“The fact that the dictator Bashar Assad sends people to cross the border right in front of IDF soldiers knowing that they might be hurt or killed is very typical of dictators of his ilk. This is an example of who we are dealing with and what neighborhood we live in,” said Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz.

One unnamed Israeli official, express-

away from its minority Alawite rulers. Syria has demanded that “the international community hold Israel fully responsible” for the clashes and resultant deaths.

In an analysis, Anthony Shadid, the New York Times Beirut bureau chief, asserted, “Assad demonstrated to Israel, the region, and world that in an uprising that has posed the greatest threat to his family’s four decades of rule, he could provoke war to stay in power.”

Shadid cited Radwan Ziadeh, described as a Syrian dissident and academic, who explained that the violence was “a message by the Syrian government for Israel and the international community: If you continue the pressure on us, we will ignite the front with Israel.”

While the United States has not pushed for regime change in Syria, it has imposed sanctions targeting members of the ruling elite, and the threat of undermining the stability enjoyed in the Golan Heights since 1974 could be taken as a signal from Damascus that it wishes Washington to back off.

Counterintuitively, the fall of the minority Alawite regime, seen as heretical by Syria’s Sunni majority, could “precipitate a war against Israel,” claims Haifa University Professor John Myhill.

The Alawites, “a highly distinctive nonMuslim sect with no theological or territorial objections to a Jewish State,” have sought to “legitimize their rule among the Sunni majority” by “unrelentingly rejecting Israel and flirting with Israel’s avowed enemies.”

“Nonetheless,” Myhill asserted, “this is all just a show. Aside from the 1973 war, they have almost completely avoided any direct clashes with Israel.”

Myhill’s thinking may indicate that, as Assad’s grip on power loosens and as pro-

testers call on the regime to “send your army to the Golan,” he may seek to bolster his credibility on the Arab street by turning against Israel should he find himself with his back against the wall. As unprepared as Syria is for a direct confrontation with Israeli forces, a war may be preferable for Bashar al-Assad to a firing squad or exile.

A New Paradigm For “Resistance”?

While one Qalandia protester told Yediot Aharonot that “what is happening here is a first step ahead of a third intifada”— echoing statements by representatives of both the Fatah-affiliated Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as well as popular calls on Facebook for another intifada—another full-scale wave of terror is not likely.

Speaking to CNN near the Qalandia checkpoint, Fadi Quran, a Palestinian protester, explained that he and his fellows “were inspired by the revolutions in Egypt and in Tunisia and by Martin Luther King [Jr.] and the civil-rights movement.”

“We decided that we are going to follow the same methods . . . to achieve our right of return,” he said.

What is more probable is that the Palestinian Authority will continue to disseminate anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist incitement in its official media, leading to low-level attacks, while officially endorsing the sort of “resistance” seen this week. “Non-violent” demonstrations will complement Abu Mazen’s statehood bid in September much better than suicide bombings, and the demonstrations have shown themselves to more effective as well in garnering sympathy for the Palestinian cause.

Several weeks ago, Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, predicted that 2011’s “Arab upheavals might inspire Palestinians to shift away from warfare and terrorism in favor of non-violent political action. That could include massive non-violent demonstrations such as marching on Israeli towns, borders, and checkpoints.”

Following this week’s events, Pipes expanded on this theme, stating that “this cross of civil disobedience and low-grade violence will be the Palestinians’ favored tactic for some time to come. I also predict that it will fail if, as today, a death toll ensues. But it can do real damage to Israel if the leadership manages to keep the crowds non-violent.”

Televised images of IDF soldiers killing “peaceful” protesters can do more harm to Israel on the diplomatic front than many suicide bombings; and the PA can always resume warfare later on should it choose to, as indicated by Mr. Abbas’s and Shaath’s previous statements.

In the end, the new tactics show that the conflict has taken a significant turn and that the Palestinian leadership may have discovered a more effective way to attain its goals.