The Jewish Connection

Glimpses into the Holy Land

2009-08-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

I just returned with my family from a two-week trip to Israel.

I haven't been to Israel in years...25 to be exact! So much has changed, so much has remained the same.

The physical landscape has changed, with new buildings and development throughout the country.

But the heart of Israel -- the Jewish nation -- remains. Every visible stripe of Jew can be found throughout. Every type of kippah and head covering adorn the heads of men and women. Tzitzit fringes flutter freely on men and boys of every size.

Jerusalem. The city of gold...and pink...and white...and blue. Magnificent, beautiful, striking and enveloping. Coddling us, as we coddle it.

People tell me that when they travel UP to Jerusalem, they are encaptured by an overwhelming rush of emotion, a pure happiness meant to sustain. I understand that myself now. A deflation of sorts happens as you drive down, out of Jerusalem, its scenery reflected in the rearview mirror.

To attend a wedding, with the backdrop of Jerusalem as the tableau, the bride and groom under the open-aired chupah, the glass being broken followed by a beautiful cantorial rendition of "Im Eshkachech Yerushalayim (If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem)" takes one's breath away. As does the country. As do the sunsets. As do the Welcome signs.

Israel...IS Real.

This Blog Isn't Quite Dead

2009-08-13T15:04:00.001-07:00

This blog isn't quite dead yet, but it is on life support. We are still trying to figure out what to do about it. In the interim feel free to check out out old posts and the bloggers that wrote them.

Thanks,

Jack

Haveil Havalim #226

2009-07-19T01:00:00.001-07:00

It is Haveil Havalim time. Come check out edition number 226.

Haveil Havalim #211 is live

2009-04-04T22:12:00.001-07:00

I am pleased to let you know that Haveil Havalim #211: The Preparing for Pesach Edition is up at Ima on (and off) the bima.

Haveil Havalim is the weekly blog carnival of the Jewish/Israeli blogosphere. It serves as an excellent resource that you can use to find out what has been happening within the J-blogosphere during the past week.

A list of past and future hosts can be found here.

Haveil Havalim #196

2008-12-14T08:23:00.000-08:00

This blog isn't quite dead yet. Click here to go read the latest edition of Haveil Havalim.

A Quick list of Haveil Havalim Posts

2008-11-26T07:52:00.000-08:00

Oct 18, 2008	Ill call Baila
Oct 12, 2008	The Israel Situation
Oct 05, 2008	Writes Like She Talks
Sep 28, 2008	A Barbaric Yawp
Sep 21, 2008	Random thoughts
Sep 14, 2008	Shiloh Musings
Sep 07, 2008	Tzipiyah.com
Aug 30, 2008	My Shrapnel
Aug 24, 2008	Yehuda Berlinger
Aug 17, 2008	Rechovot: A Place to Expand
Aug 09, 2008	SimplyJews
Aug 02, 2008	Little Frumhouse on the Prairie
Jul 27, 2008	Frume Sarah's World
Jul 20, 2008	Esser Agaroth
Jul 05, 2008	Daled Amos
Jun 29, 2008	Ima on (and off) the Bimah
Jun 22, 2008	Soccer Dad
Jun 15, 2008	Writes Like She Talks
Jun 08, 2008	Random thoughts

The "Take 1 On" Mitzvah Campaign.

2008-07-03T07:58:00.000-07:00

I'm starting a new campaign in honor of the Rebbe's Yartzeit, which falls out on Sunday July 6th this year. I'm hoping everyone in the Jewish Blogosphere will join in and post and pass this around.

You don't have to take this on in honor of the Rebbe's Yartzeit, if you want to take this on for any other reason feel free to do so. Summer is here and the 3 weeks are almost upon us. This is a time when tragedy seem to always be on the rise. Just take yesterdays Terror attack in Eretz Yisroel.

Often we feel as though there is little we can do, I say here is a chance for us all to do something. It doesn't matter why you decide to do it, just do it.

The campaign is to encourage everyone to take on one Mitzvah. Even if it's a Mitzvah you already do, maybe this can be an opportunity to spend a little more time thinking about it when you do it.

When I was about 20 years old I was going through a hard time spiritually. At the time I was around a lot of Baal Teshuvahs and it was through their excitement for the seemingly more basic concepts in Judaism, that I was able to find more own inspiration. At that time I decided to take on a Mitzvah that I'd make sure I do with Kavana and do it right. That Mitzvah was Mezuzah. Something I'm sure many of forget about it or just do in rote. We end up doing everything, but without the proper Kavanah.

This is a chance to take upon one thing and give it the attention it deserves.

It's my hope that everyone will leave a comment below listing their name (It doesn't have to be a real name) and which Mitzvah they choose.I encourage all Bloggers to post this on their own blogs and ask for the same thing. I'd love to have a really long list and we can all look at and be proud that we were able to use this blogging medium for something positive and inspirational.

Here is just a list of possible things, in case someone is looking for ideas.

Mezuzah
Make Brachas more Clearly
Give Tzedakah before Candle Lighting
Start Attending a local Shiur
Learn more with your Children
Pirush Hamilos (definition of words in Davening)
Krias Shma Al Hamita (Shema b/f bedtime)
Asher Yatzar (Blessing after using restroom)
Shmiras Halashon
Tznius

If you don't want to leave a comment please feel free to email me so I can add your name and the Mitzvah to the list. Lifeofrubin@gmail.com is my e-mail address.

Thank you everyone and I hope through this we can bring some much needed light into the world.

Cross Posted at The Life of Rubin Blog.

Haveil Havalim #168- The Celtics Must Lose Edition!

2008-06-08T01:38:00.000-07:00

Haveil Havalim #168- The Celtics Must Lose Edition!

Haveil Havalim- Purim Is Over Edition

2008-03-22T23:21:00.001-07:00

Haveil Havalim- Purim Is Over Edition

Haveil Havalim- The Almost Purim Edition is live

2008-03-15T21:32:00.001-07:00

Haveil Havalim- The Almost Purim Edition is live. Come check it out here!

Haveil Havalim Is Coming

2008-03-10T19:47:00.000-07:00

This is just your friendly reminder that I (Jack) am hosting the next edition of Haveil Havalim at my blog.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of Haveil Havalim using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Haveil Havalim #157

2008-03-08T14:58:00.000-08:00

Haveil Havalim #157 is ready for your consumption and consideration.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of Haveil Havalim using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Haveil Havalim #156

2008-03-02T11:22:00.000-08:00

It is ready, it is here: Haveil Havalim #156.

HH #155- The Falling Asleep At My Computer Edition

2008-02-23T23:46:00.000-08:00

HH #155- The Falling Asleep At My Computer Edition is now live. Click on down the road and check it out.

Haveil Havalim: Edition 153

2008-02-09T23:58:00.000-08:00

Haveil Havalim: Edition 153 is live at Baila's place.

Painting a Life

2008-01-31T20:22:00.000-08:00

Sometime in the middle of eighth grade, I switched allegiance from Bnei Akiva to Ezra. I don't remember why, but I must have had some compelling reason, because Bnei Akiva met right up the block, on Pisgah Street in Bayit V'gan, and Ezra met miles and miles away, somewhere in Rechavia.

So on Shabbat afternoon, I walked up the stone stairway with my friend Esther and waved to Shifra. Shifra lived not in a stone building like ours but in a small wooden house. The house was full of red-headed children, one of them a tall girl who ran breathlessly to meet us.

Now we were walking across a field dotted with wild red poppies. It was hot afternoon, the springtime sun beating down on us. We wore long sleeved cotton blouses and long blue skirts. We also wore pantyhose, covering our legs. But as we climbed up a rocky ledge, Esther suddenly turned around. "Hide me," she said. She ducked down and when she stood back up, the stockings were in her hand instead of on her legs. She unceremoniously dumped them in a trash can by a bus stop.

"That feels much better," she said. Shifra and I stared at her bare legs. My legs were itchy from the hose. I should have just worn knee socks, but on Shabbat I always wore hose. I didn't take them off. We were almost there anyway, I reasoned. Shifra was mad at Esther and scolded her in rapid Hebrew that neither of us understood. Americayit, said Shifra. And not in a good way.

I liked Ezra. I liked the songs. I liked the little building where we met. The girls in one room, the boys in another. Later, we were together for Havdalah and then a campfire. Pulling potatoes from the campfire and drinking black coffee. Strange and wonderful to me. Then walking through the streets of Jerusalem, singing our songs. Sometimes we walked to the Kotel for Ma'ariv. I don't remember everything: it was thirty years ago and sometimes seems like a dream.

Sometimes, when I was young, when I was with someone I cared for, I tried to explain what I wanted life to be. How I thought it should have colors like a painting and different textures. How certain moments glow. But I found myself among rationalists. It was a long time before I met a fellow dreamer who knew the importance of a rich and fully realized, deeply felt life.

When I think about being Jewish, I think about all those things. I think also about the past, not my own but that of my parents and grandparents. I think about how each letter in a Torah scroll must be perfect, the lessons of scribes handed down through generations. I remember a Lower East side store where beautiful cloth in every color and pattern filled shelves and covered tables. These were scarves for covering a woman's hair. In another store, in another country, at the corner of Ben Yehuda street and King George, was a store where we bought our thread to crochet kippot. All the colors were there too. And we used the same thread to decorate the blouses we wore in a parade in Jerusalem.

None of these are reasons to be Jewish, but they are the things that transport me. Like walking to the Kotel at sunset, like the sounds of the songs in the old shul, which were nothing near harmonious, but the voices were both old and young and always real.

Haveil Havalim #151- The P.S.D. Edition

2008-01-26T21:37:00.001-08:00

Come on by and review Haveil Havalim #151- The P.S.D. Edition. Try it, you'll like it.

Oy Veh!

2008-01-21T07:08:00.000-08:00

It's been so long since we've written here... But I got an email that let me know people are still reading the older, archived posts. Maybe we should rejuvenate this blog? ("Rejewvenate"?)

Just to kick-start it a little: Here an interesting tid-bit I learned this morning. I was looking up information on Jews from Galitzia (Galitzianers) and in Wikipedia read this:

In 1773, Galicia had about 2.6 million inhabitants in 280 cities and market towns and approx. 5 500 villages...
No country of the Austrian monarchy had such a varied ethnic mix as Galicia: Poles, Ukrainians, Jews, Germans, Armenians, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Roma, etc.

The Jews of Galicia had immigrated in the Middle Ages from Germany...

Poles were Roman Catholic, the Ruthenians (or Rusyn, now mostly calling themselves Ukrainians) belonged to Byzantine-Slavonic Greek Catholic Church. The Jews represented the third largest religious group, who kept mostly strictly their rabbinical faith.

The average life expectancy was 27 years for men and 28.5 years for women....

So, several interesting things here:

1. The Jews were the third largest religious group in the region,
2. The Jews living in Galitzia were mostly religious Jews observing rabbinical Judaism,
3. Life must have been terribly hard, with an average life span of 27-28 years.

Is it significant that the Orthodox Jewish way of life may have taken form at a time when people had a drastically shorter lifespan? If you had only 28 years to live, certainly that would affect your approach to religion, to marriage and family, to education.

That average life span noted in Wikipedia is the average for all people of the region. Did Jews live longer due to better health habits (eating Kosher, washing hands, etc.)? I wonder. There must be some records that still exist. It would be an interesting area for research.

While poking around on the Internet, I found this moving and disturbing, detailed book on Jewish life in Korczyna, Poland. Sigh. These stories all end the same way, and that's the sad thing. But at least we are here today to look back.

************

P.S. I notice that comments are not working on this blog. I will contact Chaim about that.

P.S.S. With Chaim's approval, I updated this blog to Blogger II. Changed the template but kept the beautiful header. Comments are working now. It's a new year!

Haveil Havalim- A New Sheriff In Town

2008-01-16T16:39:00.000-08:00

That is right folks, there is a new sheriff in town and his name is Jack. In the coming weeks I am going to take over the administrative responsiblities for Haveil Havalim.

I strongly urge anyone who reads this blog to participate in it. If you have any questions hop over to my blog and I'll fill you in on the details.

This Blog is Still Ticking

2008-01-01T20:43:00.001-08:00

New posts are on the way.

Who is A Jew?

2007-09-11T10:55:00.001-07:00

Click here.

Haveil Havalim- The Once & Future Edition is live.

2007-08-12T06:17:00.000-07:00

Haveil Havalim- The Once & Future Edition is live.

Hello G-d? It's Me, Chaim.

2007-07-31T09:02:00.000-07:00

Wow, this place has cobwebs all over it. This blog needs a digital dusting! I haven't written a post here in ages. My bad. This in concept is one of my favorite blog ideas. But it's just faded. I big thanks goes to Jack for coming in, making sure the lights still work every once in a while.

Anyway, I was just checking my old e-mail and saw that someone asked me to feature their blog on this website. So I said what the hey, nothing else is happening. I checked out the blog, it was very cool.

Check out Hassidic Rambler. Extra points for being a song title from one of my favorite CD's, 8th Day.

... and who knows, maybe I'll find some inspiration to write something worth while on this blog.

If ANYONE ELSE wants to write something for the blog e-mail me!

Haveil Havalim #125

2007-07-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

Click Here.

Haveil Havalim #123

2007-06-30T23:39:00.001-07:00

Rafi is calling the action.