Thursday, December 9, 2010

Chanuka in the streets of Jerusalem 2010


Chanuka in the streets of Yerushalayim, 2010

where Yiddishkite is in the streets, not hidden away behind closed doors...

(Please click on the photos for a larger view)

Outside the Holy Beigel, Yaffa Road


The sign says "Chag Sameiyach!!!,  please don't touch."


Chanukiot in every nook and cranny. Meah Sha'arim


"Migdal Chanuka". Four, one on top of each other, Geula Building

A Insider's view


Chanukiot everywhere you look. Above and also below.

I heard they won that night.



You pause in the street, looking and contemplating the miracle of the oil...


...mesmerised by the flames


Why would anyone use candles when they could use beautiful pure olive oil?

Yemin Orde Youth Village school in urgent need


Last week there was a Youth Village school for orphans called "Yemin Orde" in the Carmel.

That was last week.


The school was named after Major-General Orde Charles Wingate, DSO and two bars (26 February 1903 – 24 March 1944), the famous British Army officer who formed and trained the Haggana, which eventually turned into the Israel Defense Forces with the establishment of the State of Israel.

Yemin Orde was founded in 1953 by the British Friends of Youth Aliyah, in order to accommodate Holocaust orphans and immigrant children during the great immigration waves of the fifties. “Yemin Orde” literally means “in the memory of Orde.”

The Beit Knesset (Synagogue) at Yemin Orde
Last week there was a 77-acre campus which was home to more than 500 orphaned children from around the world. The children lived in 20 children’s houses, each named after an historical figure. The campus included a high school offering a complete academic curriculum, an art and music centre a large computer department, a fully-equipped carpentry shop, a central dining room, library and extensive sports facilities.


On December 3rd 2010, despite the best efforts of Israeli and Greek fire fighters, the school was almost completely destroyed in the Carmel Wildfires.
 
Greek Fire plane battling the blaze over Yemin Orde
  
The Fire reaches Yemin Orde

The Aftermath



They are in desperate need of what ever you can donate.

To donate money via credit card:

https://www.yeminorde.org/pages/donateMain.aspx

You can contact the school reperesentative in Israel:

Yemin Orde Wingate Youth Village
D.N. Hof Ha Carmel
30895 ISRAEL
Tel: 011-972-04-9840683
Fax - Outreach Department: 011-972-4-15348148219
yeminorde@yeminorde.co.il

You can donate in the United Kingdom by going here: (Thanks Peter for the link!)

http://www.youthaliyah.org/contact/


Friends of Yemin Orde in USA
12230 Wilkins Ave.
Rockville, MD 20852
Phone: 202-237-0286
Fax: 202-248-0700
Email: info@yeminorde.org

Monday, December 6, 2010

It's raining in Eretz Yisrael, Baruch Hashem!

Hallel, Tehilla 113

Halleluyah! Praise!; Servants of Hashem!, Praise the name of Hashem!
Blessed be the name of Hashem from this time forth and for evermore.
From sunrise to sunset Hashem’s name is praised.
High above all nations is Hashem, beyond the heavens is His glory!
Who is like Hashem our God, who is enthroned on high,
Who looks way down to look upon the things that are in heaven, and on the earth!
He raises up those in need from the dust [ashes], from the rubbish tips, He lifts the destitute.
He seats them next to noblemen, with the gentry of His people.
He gives the barren woman a place [home], and makes her a joyful mother of children. Halleluyah!

I went up to the roof of my office block and took some photos of Yerushalayim in the rain for us all to enjoy and praise Hakodesh Boruch Hu. (Click on any of the photos to get a bigger picture).

Pools of water on the road, rain is falling like white mist

"Chords" Bridge

The bridge disappears into the haze

The Central Bus Station, next to it the hole that will be the new Jerusalem/Tel Aviv Underground Station

Here's a close up of the big deep hole.
Chanuka Sameiyach

Sunday, December 5, 2010

JP – Get your priorities right!

On Friday morning I, like hundreds of thousands of other Israelis, was going online to read the latest news from the North about Israel's worst fire in history. My first stop was to The Jerusalem Post. Upon loading up the main page I clicked on the "Breaking News" link in order to get the most up to date information where upon I was met by this full page advertisement banner.


There was no Exit button or any other mechanism I could find to remove the banner. There it stayed for about 15 secs or so before the banner finally magically evaporated. I clicked on another page only to be blocked by the same banner. I tried minimizing the intrusive JPost toolbar but it did not remove the banner.

This kind of intrusive advertising is annoying at the best of times but in a time of national crisis, to actually totally block the ability to read news in order to get a bit of revenue and with no quick Exit option so the reader has to sit there and wait for the banner to disappear, I consider highly immoral.

I left the JPOST and moved onto YNET and Arutz 7.

JP – Get your priorities right!