Yid By Choice

Pray for Injured IDF Navy Commando Soldiers this Sabbath

The names of the rest of those injured in the recent “flotilla” incident , June 2010, are listed below. It is customary, in Jewish practice, to pray for an individual using his given name and the name of his mother. IDF commandos are not identified by first and last names for security reasons.

Dean Ben Svetlana
Roee Ben Shulamit
Yotam Ben Dorit
Ido Ben Ilana
Boris Ben Eelaina

Below  is the prayer for the welfare of IDF soldiers, as brought in translation by the Council of Young Israel who also publicized the list of wounded.

He Who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – may He
bless the fighters of the Israel Defense Force, who stand guard over
our land and the cities of our G-d from the border of the Lebanon to
the desert of Egypt, and from the Great Sea unto the approach of the
Aravah, on the land, in the air, and on the sea.

May the Almight cause the enemies who rise up against us to be struck down
before them. May the Holy One, Blessed is He, preserve and rescue our
fighting men from every trouble and distress and from every plague
and illness, and may He send blessing and success in their every
endeavor.

May He lead our enemies under their sway and may He grant them
salvation and crown them with victory. And may there be fulfilled for
them the verse: For it is the Lord, your G-d, Who goes with you to
battle your enemies for you in order to save you.

Now let us respond: Amen.

Behind a Glass Wall: Work on Masada’s Torah Scroll

(IsraelNN.com) A ritual scribe has begun spending his days behind a glass wall in the famous Masada synagogue – writing a Torah scroll to be installed there.

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Hard at work throughout the day, the scribe can be seen through the glass by the many tourists who visit the famous site.

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Some time in January, the donor is scheduled to arrive in Israel and will install an internet video connection, so that the work can be tracked, letter by holy letter, in real time.

Ilana has been living a double life in Israel. Though her first visit was as a Catholic, she ultimately decided to convert to Judaism, and following her conversion in Italy in 2006, she moved to Israel. Incredibly, despite the fact that the (Orthodox) Chief Rabbinate certifies her conversion, the civil organs of the State of Israel continue to deny her basic rights as a citizen. [read the rest of the article]

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Is this really true? Generally it is the other way around – the civil authorities will accept someone but the Orthodox Rabbinate will not. Is it just me or does it seem as if (some) of the Orthodox Rabbinate in Israel not want converts at all?!

In Biblical times, the Golan Heights was referred to as “Bashan;” the word “Golan” apparently derives from the biblical city of “Golan in Bashan,” (Deuteronomy 4:43, Joshua 21:27). The area was assigned to the tribe of Manasseh (Joshua 13:29-31). In early First Temple times (953-586 BCE), the area was contested between the northern Jewish kingdom of Israel and the Aramean kingdom based on Damascus. King Ahab of Israel (reigned c. 874-852 BCE) defeated Ben-Hadad I of Damascus near the site of Kibbutz Afik in the southern Golan (I Kings 20:26-30), and the prophet Elisha prophesied that King Jehoash of Israel (reigned c. 801-785 BCE) would defeat Ben-Hadad III of Damascus, also near Kibbutz Afik (11 Kings 13:17). In the late 6th and 5th centuries BCE, the region was settled by returning Jewish exiles from Babylonia (modern Iraq). In the mid 2nd century BCE, Judah Maccabee and his brothers came to the aid of the local Jewish communities when the latter came under attack from their non-Jewish neighbors (I Maccabees 5). Judah Maccabee’s grandnephew, the Hasmonean King Alexander Jannai (reigned 103-76 BCE) later added the Heights to his kingdom. The Greeks referred to the area as “Gaulanitis”, a term also adopted by the Romans, which led to the current application of the word “Golan” for the entire area. Gamla became the Golan’s chief city and was the area’s last Jewish stronghold to resist the Romans during the Great Revolt, falling in the year 67 (see Josephus, The Jewish War, Chap. 13, Penguin edition). Despite the failure of the revolt, Jewish communities on the Heights continued, and even flourished; the remains of no less than 25 synagogues from the period between the revolt and the Islamic conquest in 636 have been excavated. (Several Byzantine monasteries from this period have also been excavated on the Heights.) The decisive battle in which the Arabs under Caliph Omar, crushed the Byzantines and established Islamic control over what is now Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, was fought in the Yarmouk Valley, on the southern edge of the Heights, in August 636. Organized Jewish settlement on the Golan came to an end at this time. (source)

The Golan Heights were re-captured in 1967 at the end of the war. Jewish communities began to flourish there almost immediately. So, why am I interested in the Golan Heights (other than the fact that they are part of the Jewish homeland and a strategic necessity in Israel’s ongoing battles with the terrorists)? Well, since I do plan on making aliyah at some point, I have been thinking about where I would want to settle. I have decided that I want to settle in or very near the Golan.

I am currently looking at one of the following places:
Kfar Veradim
Kiriat Bialik
Haifa
Ramat Yishai
Zichron Yaakov
Karmiel
Shorashim
Hanaton
Natzeret Illit
Ramat Zvi