There is Nothing Like Our Dames

On Monday night, I had the pleasure and fun of attending the Light Opera Group of the Negev production of Roger's and Hammerstein's South Pacific. Fabulous. Amazing. Really terrific!!!!

The music, the direction, the leads, the sets, the costumes. A superb production!

When the servicemen launched into the song, "There is nothing like a dame," http://www.negevlightopera.com/, I really felt like they were singing to me.

For the fourth year in a row, I am producing, DAMES of the DANCE. Dames 4 - The Promised Land tells the story of the Land of Israel from Abraham until present day.

We've got 100 women rehearsing all over Efrat and Gush Etzion just about every night of the week. Some are rehearsing during the day too (like me). It's a lot of work, but we volunteer to do it, because the money from DAMES goes to kimcha d'pischa (that's money for Passover food). Passover is a very expensive holiday, and especially those who are needy have a real difficult time paying those bills. DAMES helps out in that department!

Over the past three years, we've donated 120,000 to kimcha d'pischa. I hope this year will be even better!!

So, it's true. There is nothing like our dames. To enjoy our tribute to our DAMES of the DANCE, click here. And if you live in Israel, please join us.

Arza Purchased by Polystar

HaModiah 11-04-10

Hershey Friedman of Montreal, Canada, a leading Torah supporter in Eretz Yisrael, purchased the Arza site in Motza, which more than 100 years ago, attracted the elite of the Zionist movement, who saw it as an alternative to chareidi Jerusalem.
Friedman owns Polystar Group in Canada, which turns over $2.5 billion a year. It plans to develop the site into one of the most exclusve residential projects in israel.
He paid 150 million shekels for the 55 dunams. There are going to be 218 three-story garden apartments.

Histadrut Strike Averted

HaModiah 11-04-10

Histadrut Labor Federation came to an agreement with the Finance Ministry. No Strike.
Under the terms of the agreement, 750,000 public-sector workers will receive a 6.25% increase over the next three and a half years.

PA PM Barred from Jerusalem Ceremony

11-04-10

PA Prime Minister Salam Fayad cancelled plans to visit Al-Salam near the Shuafat refugee camp, which is considered part of Jerusalem.
Israel cancelled his visit. He is trying to visit Easter Jerusalem sites, so he went to Northern Jerusalem instead - Al Barid.
In Al-Barid, Fayad applauded the efforts of the Palestinians to stand up to Israeli settlements. He called Jerusalem the "heart of the future Palestinian State and its eternal capital."

(He used the same term Jews use for Jerusalem. This is a lesson. We should start following in their example, with their kind of rhetoric.)

Turkey Travel Down

HaModiah 11-04-10

A report published in Aguust showed the number of Israelis traveling to Turkey in July was down 90%, reaching a measly 4,500 vacationers - compared to 43,000 in July 2009 and 78,000 in July 2008.

UNESCO: Me'arat HaMachpela and Kever Rachel are Arab

HaModiah 11-04-10

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)...dub Me'arat HaMachpelah and Kever Rachel "Palestinian".
In a 44-1 vote with 12 abstentions, the Paris based UNESCO Executive Board declared the "Haram al-Ibraham/Cave of the Patriarchs and Bilal bin Rabah Mosque/Rachel's Tomb" to be "an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territories."
The move is seen in some quarters as a response to Israel's decision in February 2010 to include these sites on a list of national heritage sites that would receive additional funding for refurbishing and for the development of educational tours.
"If the places where the fathers and mothers of the Jewish nation - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rivkah, Leah and Rachel - were buried some 4,000 years ago are not part of the Jewish heritage, then what is?" asked Netanyahu.

10,000 Migrants since 2010

HaModiah 11-04-10

Some 10,000 people have infiltrated Israel's borders looking for work since the beginning of 2010...
"These numbers include only those who were caught," said Justice Ministry Director General Guy Rothkopf.
Israel has prepared to renew its offer to pay millions of dollars to any African or Wetern country willing to absorb the influx of illegal migrants.
PM wants: Construction of a barrier on the egyptian border.
"The problem of illegal infiltrators in the south presents a threat to the Jewish and democratic character of Israel," Netanyahu said.
The work was due to start in July, but following disagreements on budgeting it has been delayed by over three months. (Has it started even now???)

Route 6 and the Environmentals

HaModiah 11-18-10

Environmentals Fear Route 6 will damage Kishon Stream

The route of the Trans-Israel Highway (Route 6) set to pass through the narrow valley south of the Carmel ridge could cause grave damage to the Kishon Stream and environmental issues for Kiryat Tivon.
The Trans Israle Highway Company says: The route was polanned to minimize damage to the stream and will not run close enough to Kiryat Tivon to disturb residents.

Free Jonathan Pollard

HaModiah 11-18-10
by Ben Caspit

The time has come to free Jonathan Pollard. Now. Not after the buidling freeze. Not as part of an inclusive package deal, and not as an add-on. Free him now, because it is the right and just thing to do.
Americans convicted of similar offenses have gotten sentences with numbers that have only one digit, and were on their way home in five years or less. But Pollard has been buried alive.
Yitzchak Oren, who served as political advisor to Prime Ministers Yitzchak Shamir and Yizchak Rabin, was the Israeli attache to Congress in Washington.
..."Not that he did not commit any offense. He did. But the sentence he received is grossly disproportionate...We gave the Americans the documents that were used to incriminate Pollard. Without these documents, the Americans had nothing on him. This was an Israeli attempt, by Shimon Peres, to appease the Aemricans, to satisfy them."
One of his conclusions is that Pollard had the misfortunate to work for Lakam, an acronym for haLishka leKishrei Mada (Bureau of Scientific Relations). This was an independent intelligence bureau run by Rafi Eitan, under the auspices of the Defense Ministry...
The Israeli Embassy threw pollard out of the Israeli Embassy, handed him over to the Aemricans, abandoned him, and even to this day, 25 years later, Israel refuses to do what needs to be done to free him.
He is still paying the price for the hatred that was intended for Lakam, which was regarded [by the Mossad] as an upstart, an unwanted next of kin who was bothersom and annoying, rebellious and undisciplined.
The Pollard file has been rotting in the hands of every Foreign Ministry deputy chief of the North American office...they have the Pollard file to ensure that nothing is done for Pollard...
The famous Weinberger memorandum to the sentencing judge, and all the false charges made against Pollard by Weinberger and senior intelligence officials, were fabricated. Pollard was a scapegoat.
Pollard touched a sensitive nerve, especially in Aemrica, and that is the issue of the "dual loyalty" of its Jews...Everyone was happy when Pollard was thrown into prison. This was their atonement.

Sudanese in Bnei Brak

HaModiah 11-18-10
FIRST STEPS TAKEN IN STRUGGLE AGAINST SUDANESE IN BNEI BRAK

The Bnei Brak Municipality has closed a treif restaurant run by and for the city's Sudanese refugee population and revoked the owner's business license.
Next - issuing of indictments against landlords who enlarged their apartments without a permit and who are renting to Sudanese.
Emergency meeting in the Hatikvah neighborhood - One woman's mother was beaten to death by a Sudanese citizen near the Tel Aviv central bus station nine months ago.
"At the city council they call me a racist. If those bleeding hearts lived here and their children and grandchidlren lived here, they'd be behaving differently"..."They have abandoned us. The flow of infiltrators isn't abating, it's just growing stronger."