They story is always the same. Young Jewish girl goes partying. Jewish girl gets picked up by nice Arab boy. Girl falls in love. Girl gets married and moves to Arab village. Girl finds herself a prisoner unable to escape.

Unlike the movie 'Not without my daughter', in Israel captive women have some outside assistance in escaping with the help of an organization called Yad L'Achim.

The JPost has the story of a woman named Oshrit Ochana (formerly of Ashdod) who just yesterday escaped from Gaza.

Ochana and her four children - Mahmoud, seven; Abdel Rahman, five; Sali, six; and Asma, not yet two; managed to escape from under the watchful eyes of her Arab husband's family.

Through the assistance of Yad L'Achim the authorities at Erez were ready to help her cross out of Gaza, and now will be helping her set up her new life of freedom.

Unfortunately there are plenty of more Jewish women that fall prey to these Arab suitors and are held captive in Arab villages throughout the country with no way of escape.

It as just a week or two ago when Foreign Minister gathered all the Israeli Ambassadors and told them their job will now actually include defending Israel. A new concept for some of them, but I can proudly say, not for all of them.

If you're a regular reader, you'd know of Turkey's various attacks against Israel in the political and media arenas. You'd also know that Israeli voted with their feet and stopped visiting Turkey in response.

But there hasn't been a serious government response - until now.

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon went out of his way to "humiliate" the Turkish ambassador to Israel.

This was in response to the latest Turkish government's Antisemitism, incitement and attacks against Israel.

It's about time and Kol Hakavod to Lieberman and Ayalon.

In other news, an Iranian nuclear physicist was blown up in Iran outside of his home.

An independent poll in Israel showed that Obama has a popularity level somewhere around 4% in Israel.

I discussed J-Street polls in the past which are producing results that simply don't match what anyone else is polling, but more interesting do match the official J-Street position and helps promote their agenda.

What's the point of such polls you might ask? Who foolish enough to believe them?

Apparently the Obama administration does!

CHARLIE ROSE: In terms of taking positions.

Why is President Obama’s popularity so low in Israel? It’s four percent.

GEORGE MITCHELL: No, that’s completely false.

CHARLIE ROSE: Have you heard that before?

GEORGE MITCHELL: I’ve heard the figure, and you’re citing a commonly cited public figure.

CHARLIE ROSE: Exactly. So tell me why that’s wrong.

GEORGE MITCHELL: Because it’s simply not true. Several polls that I’ve seen in the past month show that he is -- I’ll give you the numbers -- 49 percent favorable, 45 percent unfavorable, 43 percent favorable, 37 percent unfavorable. It’s a reasonable number. A plurality support him in Israel and a smaller plurality oppose him.

Since it's only the J-Street (and J-Street board member) polls that supply numbers like that, it's clear who has the ear of the President, and who is conveniently feeding him biased research.

And who wants to believe it.

There are those among our nation's enemies that love to define Judaism as a late development. They claim the Temple never existed, King David had no Kingdom, and their favorite, that the Torah was not written when it was.

But one of the amazing things about Israel is that the more the archaeologists dig, the more they disprove the above statements, leaving the Palestinians and Tel Aviv professors grasping at straws.

Scholars at Haifa University uncovered some inscriptions that until now mystified everyone. The tablets they were found on were dated to the time of King David, and found in what was a small outlying village.

(Picture is a copy of the text)  

It took them a while to realize that they were reading a proto-Hebrew document that was written 4 centuries before certain professors claim that Hebrew writing even existed. Furthermore the context of the text dealt with issues typically only mentioned in the Torah, and the language was sufficiently complex to indicate that Hebrew was certainly a complex and developed enough language to write the Torah.

I don't expect the fanatical minimalist at TAU to revise their beliefs as a result of the facts, but for the rest of the world, you can certainly expect that as archaeology continues to find more amazing ancient finds in Israel, that more texts will be found that date Hebrew, the Torah, and the Jews to an even earlier age.

In fact, science may eventually catch up with what the Jewish nation has known since Ma'amad Har Sinai.

I recommend reading the Arutz-7 article which goes into this in more depth.

Rumors are flying that the family of the Ayatollah Khakamenei are secretly slipping out of Iran and into Russia.

If that's true, it's an excellent sign that the civilian revolt is make good headway.

Can you imagine if Iran returned to its roots, rejected Islam, and became allies with Israel?

That would be awesome.

I guess the Mossad plan to formulate an Iranian revolution through JPost twitters is working.

(Fifth columnist) MK Taleb As-Sana of Raam-Taal said "the settlers are a malignant tumor" (I believe Yossi Sarid had said similar things in the past).

MK David Rotem in response said: "If the settlers are a cancerous growth in the body of the Palestinian state, I prefer that they grow until the Palestinian state dies."

Sounds good to me.

There have been a number of articles lately about Aliyah from America – or rather the lack of Aliyah from America. While Nefesh B’Nefesh has made the pre and post Aliyah process easier, statistically (and numerically) there simply hasn’t been a significant increase in Olim from the US.

Michael Hirsch’s interesting article in the Jerusalem Post highlights this failure and attempts to explain why this is so.

But what he doesn’t touch on is how to increase Aliyah. (Or why it’s important – but that requires an entirely separate post).

I look at my own reasons for making Aliyah and wonder if (a) they are relevant to anyone else, and (b) if it is something that can be transferred to others.

Like most other Jewish families, Israel was discussed somewhere in the background in the home, and mentioned casually in school, but the country simply never interested me. And Aliyah certainly wasn’t something on my radar or of the schools. Interestingly enough, I usually found the Israeli kids in my schools far more interesting than the Americans to talk with.

That disinterest in Israel changed during my first trip to Israel - and not even then. It was only towards to the end of my vacation that something about Israel just clicked with me. I can define in part what it was, when it was, and where it was, but I don’t believe it could be the same thing for anyone else.

I returned to America distracted. I realized that I wasn’t going to stay in America much longer. A few months later I was made a self-organized pilot trip, and a few months after that I was in Israel – allegedly for the year, but I was already sure it was for good.

I realized that I wanted to stay, and luckily I eventually found myself in a Yeshiva program that supported my idea. And while difficult over the years (and even at points extremely difficult) in the end I stayed and I would define my Aliyah as a success.


I think Aliyah is like marriage.

When you’re young, naïve, without baggage, less critical and judgemental, and everything else, marriage is an easier decision to make, but as the years go buy, the older you get, the more difficult it is to decide and commit. Just like one can end up single forever, one can end up in America forever – always rationalizing it away.

So what would make Aliyah an actual option on the table for more people?

Outside of the US it’s easier. There’s anti-Semitism, there’s no financial future, there’s no viable Jewish community. Israel looks better on every level.

But in the US, anti-Semitism is low (though rising), the financial condition right now is poor, but that is likely to be temporary over the long term, the Jewish community is strong (at least the religious one is), and it’s simply easy to be a Jew (though perhaps sometimes a little embarrassing).

For the average American Jew, moving to Israel means a foreign language, coarse people, unwanted bureaucracy, a poor implementation of democracy, high taxes, and low salaries (to name a few issues).

And unfortunately these perceived negatives will almost always outweigh the positives facts that often actually trump them – but you can’t find that out until you actually jump in the water.

While Hebrew can be learned, you soon find out that everyone wants to talk English to you; the people can be rough, but you can say what you want to them in return; the bureaucracy is annoying, but it certainly is not what it was 10 years ago, and in fact most services are now online – you can log in and accomplish almost anything, the understanding and poor implementation of democracy sucks, but you can literally approach your mayors, and Knesset representatives in the street and they will talk to you (I do this all the time), taxes are high and salaries can be lower, but schooling is inexpensive, and medical insurance is not high, while treatment (medical and personal) is excellent (we’ve discussed this in the past) – the system is not the socialized medicine that everyone remembers from years ago.

I am not saying there aren’t difficulties. You need to find jobs, a home, etc. – but these are challenges you might face anywhere. And now there are plenty of Aliyah organizations and support groups that provide mentors and assistance to closely help you with that transition – something that wasn’t really around a decade ago.


But everything I listed above is a “rational decision”. These are things that the older, more established person worries about.

In fact, these are the same types of questions that older single people use to rationalize why he or she shouldn’t marry the person they are dating – unlike a younger adult who only knows that he or she is in love, and marriage is clearly the next step.

Selling Aliyah to someone established in their job or community is like convincing a single person to get married. It sounds like a good idea to them, but it always gets stuck in the implementation.

I think that first of all you have to get them young. Birthright is a good first step – it creates that connection, but it isn’t enough, nor perhaps even young enough. It certainly needs some follow-up programs.

But more than that, every Jewish school (Elementary and High School) should have charismatic Israeli teachers teach teaching there (on rotating limited one year Shlichuts) teaching about Israel – not Hebrew – Israel. Israel’s history, its goals, how it’s relevant to the Jewish people, and most importantly, why Israel is such a wonderful place and of course Aliyah.

Create a sense of mystery for these young students. Create a sense of interest. Create a sense of possibility and challenge. Create a connection.

I certainly did not have that in my very Jewish education growing up.

(I admit, while I am sure the Israeli government or the Sochnut would be happy to sponsor such a project, how many principals (or parents) would be happy to have such a curriculum in their school – a curriculum which would eventually drain their student base?)

If you can create that interest, that sense of mission and possibility when they are young, then when they do reach that age of decision, it is actually something they will seriously consider.

Certainly generating interest in Aliyah is a generational mission, not something that should be planned on a yearly basis – how many people can we convince this year with an extra grant or loan.

Going after the families, after the adults is important, but it requires a tremendous amount of resources to both convince and support the process.

If you go after the youth, you are going after the ones that will be able to fall in love and make that emotional decision –without the baggage that accompanies someone who has already made a life in his community.

In fact, often when the kids go, you know what happens? The parents follow.

Hasn’t anyone realized that yet?


If Israel is really interested in significantly increasing Aliyah it needs to start going after the Jewish youth. Create that interest; describe the challenge and the mission. Bring them to Israel in their mid-teens and connect them to Israelis. Get them while they’re in the schools. Get them in the after-school programs.

Spend resources on the low-hanging fruit. Yes, it will take them a few more years to make the move - but after asking any Jew in the US about their 5 (then 10, then 15) year Aliyah plan, getting a High School kid to consider studying in an Israeli University and then making Aliyah is not a long time-line at all – and is far more likely to happen.

Aliyah is like marriage, if you fall in love young, you can jump right in. But if you’re older, you’ll find every rationalization in the world not to do what you really want – and need.

While the PA was busy arresting and releasing 150 of the "usual suspects" in Tulkarem, the IDF was neutralizing the 3 terrorists (perhaps of 4) in Shchem (Nablus) involved in murdering Rabbi Meir Chai. (IDF sources said the PA arrests were of no assistance to the IDF).

Rumor is circulating that a fourth terrorist is under protective custody in the PA, after he saw he wouldn't be able to protect himself.

One of the terrorists that was neutralized was previously captured for terror activities (and released with amnesty for "peace").

The PA is condemning the actions of the IDF, and Betzelem is calling the neutralization of the terrorists an "execution". All sounds good to me.

One thing is for sure, they won't be freed from prison in exchange for Gilad Shalit. Hopefully this is the introduction of a new IDF policy.

Headline news: Palestinian who planted bomb near Israel-Gaza border gets 10 years

I ask: Why bother?

Tomorrow is a big day. The various rabbis and leaders of the Hesder system are meeting to decide on a unified position to take (or to split apart). Many have already declared their positions, and sided with Torah and morality, while a few are unfortunately equivocating and, in my opinion, taking positions that don't do justice to their positions are Torah leaders.

This argument is not about whether soldiers should be allowed to protest or not. It never was.

This argument is the fundamental argument between Right and Left, Religious and Secular.

Should soldiers be forced to follow orders that are against the Torah (and immoral) from any lowlife, corrupt political hack who manages to take control - just because he is in control - or do our Yeshivas teach Torah values and morals that are meant to be expressed in every aspect of our lives - including when related to orders in the army - and we are never meant to be mindless automatons?

Will each of the Hesder Rabbis be willing to stand up and say his talmidim should not kick their fellow Jews out of their homes - that it is an immoral order and an anti-Torah order? Or will they leave it with the more pareve statement such as 'the army should not be used for political purposes like Barak is shamelessly and tyrannically doing and abusing'?

The Yeshiva teaches a path, and if the Rabbis of a particular Yeshiva aren't willing to stand up to this tyrannical use of the people's army against its own civilians, against Jews in a Jewish State no less, against this immorality - and calling it what it is, then that Yeshiva isn't teaching any values that will last - because when push comes to shove, in that single moment when the opportunity is there to define your very self, for them it's all just empty words.

It's very easy to put this argument in perspective, imagine your son came home and told you that he was given orders to kick you out of your home and asked you what should he do, would you tell him to follow these orders or not?

Any normal person would say absolutely not, so, then why would you think for a second it's OK for him to kick your Jewish neighbors in the town next door out of their home. They aren't the enemy - they are your fellow citizens, fellow Jews, and no different than you.