An oustretched hand at the Herzliya confrence

The Herzliya conference of 2004 was famously the first time Ariel Sharon announced the Disengagement from Gaza which was a major backflip on his stated election policy to hold on to the settlements. If what a leader says at Herzliya, is the opposite of what he will actually do, than the people of YESHA need not worry, and taxes are going up.

At the cofrnece, Ehud Olmert, the leader of Kadima said

The choice between allowing Jews to live in all parts of the land of Israel and living in a state with a Jewish majority mandates giving up parts of the Land of Israel," he said. "We cannot continue to control parts of the territories where most of the Palestinians live.

Israel will keep security zones, main settlement blocs, and places important to the Jewish people, first of all, Jerusalem, united under Israeli control. There can be no Jewish state without Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty

Israel supports the establishment of a democratic and "modern Palestinian state" but Olmert also emphasized the Palestinians would receive independence only if they bring a complete halt to attacks on Israel.

The brand new moustache wearing Mark Latham of isreali politics said this

Every citizen who wants to leave his home in Judea and Samaria will be fairly compensated in a way that will allow him and his family to open a new chapter in their lives. Those who want to build a new home will find an outstretched and supportive hand

Peretz also vowed to increase the minimum wage without imposing any new taxes.

If you believe that it's possible to exist on NIS 3,300 a month, vote for [Acting Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert," Peretz said. "Whoever thinks otherwise, vote for Labor."

I’m still waiting for anyone to explain to me the difference between these two parties, apart from spin. They have the same message and will surely end up forming a coalition.

Sharon carries an Organ Donor card

An interesting point about the Sharon illness that has been overlooked by much of the blogging community is Sharon’s recent registration as an organ donor.
Haaretz reports:

“Prime Minister Ariel Sharon carries an organ donor card supplied by the Israel Transplant Center and the Adi Association, and volunteered to have his organs donated after his death.

Sharon signed the organ donor card last May, during a project in the Knesset intended to encourage MKs to donate their organs. The plan was to have politicians serve as role models in the hope that their lead would sway the Israeli public, only a small percentage of whom carry donor cards. Out of the 120 MKs, 90 agreed to donate their organs.”

Whether or not you agree with his politics, I think Sharon and these other 90 members of the Israeli parliament, should serve as an example to us in reminding us of the value of pikuach nefesh.

Rabbi Shraga Simmons of aish.com writes that “Organ donation is permitted in the case when an organ is needed for a specific, immediate transplant. In such a case, it is a great mitzvah for a Jew to donate organs to save another person's life.”

The article continues to discuss Sharon’s motives for being registered

"Sharon did the whole thing with a smile, not with a lot of ideology," recalled one MK. "He said, `I don't know if they'll still want my organs at my age.'"

Indeed, Sharon had a point: There is a slim chance that any of the 78-year-old's organs will be in a good enough state to transplant. Sharon's heart and corneas will certainly not be taken. The only possibility is that doctors will consider harvesting Sharon's kidneys.

Does this inspire you to become an organ donor?

What makes a first world country?

I have often wondered what the difference is between first world countries and third world countries. Should the countries be measured against each other by their health care systems, social welfare programs, education budgets or infrastructure spending? In a more comical news story, Israel has provided us the answer. If you can afford to have time for competitions such as this you truly are a first world country.

Winner Gets Dog Food For Year
TEL AVIV, Israel -- While other competitions may judge the beauty of humans or animals, one contest held in Israel this week judged which owners most closely resembled their dogs.
Judges at the dog owner look-alike competition held at a Tel Aviv mall examined the style and appearance of 10 entries, from wrinkled bulldogs with wrinkled owners to long-faced dogs and long-faced owners.
Most of the pairs walked along the catwalk with similar outfits and hair.
They posed for the judges and crowd, and demonstrated how well they get along with their canine pals.
The winning pair received dog food for a year.
Several studies have suggested that humans tend to want a creature that resembles them as a pet, NBC News reported.

Kadima or Backwards?

Upset with Likud being grumpy at him and not letting him run the country as he fits, Ariel Sharon has formed his own party.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new Kadima party yesterday released the main points of its national agenda - preserving a Jewish majority in exchange for territorial concessions, keeping Jerusalem and large settlement blocs, and establishing a demilitarized Palestinian state devoid of terror.

This has been the formula of Oslo all along, although, one can’t call it Oslo, because Oslo is now a dirty word in Isreal. New Labour leader Amir Peretz, still uses it, and now he has been termed an extremist leftist socialist by the Israeli Press. Even Shimon Peres had to leave labour.

There has been much musical chairs, with politicians abandoning their respective loyalties to their parties, and switching to the party that they think will get the most votes. Shas Chairman MK Eli Yishai said in response to the all the moves,

"Another day of political showtunes has passed. I wonder when some parties will turn to the Yellow Pages to attract new members. It appears as if some of the parties will have to attach a photograph of their candidates to their ballots so that the Israeli people will remember who found political refuge where. I'm sure that if Begin and Ben Gurion were with us even they would be confused as to who their parties were."

I agree. Likud, Shinui, Labour and Kadima are now all arguing the same thing. A two state solution, United Jerusalem, and no right of return for the Palestinians. They vary as to which groups they target as the scapegoats for all the ills of modern Israel(Varying from Haredim, the Unemployed, The Rich to the Arabs), so I guess it’s only their prejudices that separate them. How simple it would be if Israel had a two party system like Australia. All these new political parties in Israel’s hyper-democratic system seem like they will only lead to yet another PM who will not finish his term because maintaining a coalition In Isreal will be harder than scratching an Israeli diamond (which are apparently harder than bullets)

No more sex for Reform youth

Shmuel Rosner, Chief U.S. Correspondent for Haaretz has again provided another fascinating story. In the midst of election fever gripping Israel with the announcement that Sharon is starting a new political party(as if Israel didn’t have enough), we have this story from left field. The headline really caught my attention. “No more sex for Reform youth says the rabbi!” Read on before I share my thoughts:

Thursday afternoon, I was still in Houston, so I got to sit with Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, and discuss the speech he was preparing to give today at the biennial of his movement. "It's about sex," he smiles: "High school students should not be having sexual relations." This is the message he starts with this year. It is very urgent, he thinks.

But first things first - the most revealing sentence I find in the speech is a more general statement one can read as a key to the Yoffie state of mind these days: "The problem for our synagogues may be," says Yoffie, "that we are not very good at saying 'no' in Reform Judaism... In the realm of personal behavior, we are reluctant to ever use the word 'forbidden'." This, he believes, should be changed somewhat. A more restrictive movement, more demanding, more - should I dare say - conservative movement, is the one Rabbi Yoffie envisions. If you were a politician, I tell him, one would apply to you the overly employed phrase "mugged by reality." The do-whatever-you-want approach just doesn't work for a movement that needs members to be committed. So you basically ask the congregation to do more: study more, go to Israel more, practice more. Yoffie smiles again. He has a nice, gentle, smile. But listen to what he has to say to the youngsters of the movement, and listen seriously:

"A growing number of middle school students are sexually active, and oral sex is both prevalent and widely accepted. Most striking of all is a social ethic known as 'hooking up' that severs sex from any pretense of a relationship. 'Hooking up' can refer to different kinds of physical contact, but it always means a casual, no-strings-attached sexual encounter. It means getting physical without getting emotional... the Union has created a six-session course for bar and bat mitzvah-age students in our religious schools... we do not tell our kids that sex before marriage is forbidden. Since many of them will not marry for fifteen years after the onset of puberty, it is unreasonable to suggest that this traditional standard should be maintained for young people who are adults? On the other hand, we say in the clearest possible way that high school students should not be having sexual relations. Our teens are not adults. They are beset by tension with parents, pressure from friends, a desire for approval, and an uncertain sense of self. This means that students in high school are not yet ready for the loving, mutual relationships that make sex an experience of holiness."

Unrestricted-hippie-liberal-permissiveness? Maybe it's the wrong movement for you. Being reform doesn't mean one needs no rules, so Yoffie says.

I’m really happy Rabbi Yoffie has finally addressed the issue of teen sexuality. It is an issue that is not often discussed in public forums. It is interesting to note that the Rabbi does not prohibit, sex before marriage, just sex at school age. It is also interesting to notice his awareness that it is time for the Reform movement to say “no” more often.

From an orthodox perspective, I think this issue is just as relevant in frum communities. Teenage kids who wear kippot and long skirts are not necessarily
shomer negia. There has been a suggestion of allowing orthodox people before marriage to visit the mikva after sexual relationships. The question is, would you prefer someone violate the non-biblical prohibition of sex before marriage, or the biblical prohibition of not visiting the mikva. Tough question.

Miracles

After many years of praying and wondering whether miracles really do happen, I was privileged to witness one last night. That being Australia qualifying for the World Cup after 32 years in the soccer wilderness (I guess that’s better than 40 years in the midbar). If Australia wins the world Cup, then Mashiach is surely on our doorstep.
The Age reports:

Australia, which has found so many heartbreaking ways to lose World Cup qualifiers, last night found a new way to triumph when it won its way to the World Cup in a penalty shootout thanks to the steely nerves of John Aloisi and the heroics of Mark Schwarzer.