Support for Israel in Toronto

I took this photo on Wednesday during the rally for Israel set up by the UJA.

This gathering was there just to watch a closed circuit TV feed on a movie screen. The main action was taking place next door at the Toronto Centre for the Performing Arts.

It is estimated that combined there were about 10,000 people. All were there, including what I call the Tefilin Police. These are Chabadniks who aggresively try to get people to put on tefilin. I was one of those aggresively recruited, even though I was happy to volunteer this time around. I have nothing against tefilin. I just find it hard to get into the routine of it. Hats off to those who can.

So as you can see, the event was a huge success. It was announced that $6 million was raised for Israel's north by Toronto's Jewish community as part of its Emergency Fund. FYI if you are feeling generous at this time of need, here's a neat way to donate. You will have to understand hebrew in order to donate for the second one. What it is, it's a drive run by a supermarket chain in Israel and for NIS 70 (about $24), you can sponsor a box of food to a family stuck in a shelter. For NIS 110 (about $38), that box includes baby food. If someone tries it before I do, please let me know if it worked.

On Tuesday night before the rally, I went to Betar's annual event which coincides with the Ze'ev Jabotinsky yahrtzeit. It's been 66 years since Jabotinsky passed on. It's a shame he didn't live to see a Jewish state. Highlight was getting my picture taken with David B. Harris, a counter-terrorism expert. He delivered the keynote address and basically warned everyone that Canada is headed down a dangerous path through relaxed immigration screening and liberal tolerance.

David B. Harris is no lightweight. He lectures politicians and CSIS. His columns and quotes have appeared in numerous newspapers. And just from hearing him speak.. I could tell he was a unique individual. Thank you David for speaking to a predominant Jewish audience.

Here's a photo of myself and another person who is all too familiar with terror:

The man himself. Rudolph Giuliani. I have to say he's a class act in person. This photo was taken on May 30th, 2005. Mr. Giuliani was here to speak to the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre. I was fortunate enough to be a volunteer that night.

Proof that connections can give you photo ops.

To go or not to go?

Shakespeare thought he posed the ultimate question in his play Hamlet when his protagonist said: "To be or not to be. That is the question." Obviously Shakespeare did not foresee the land of Israel and all her troubles. Israel is getting shelled from the north and from the south and the question to those outside is: to go or not to go? I say that is a more preplexing question than Hamlet's was.

On the one hand, one should never seek voluntarily to step into a warzone. If one can seek shelter elsewhere, they should generally opt for it above anything else. War is deadly and a human being must strive to preserve his/her life.

The numbers are staggering. More than 1,400 rockets shelled into Israel. Rockets flying as far as Haifa and Tiberias. Around 39 dead and scores wounded. Lives disrupted and at times sadly ended. A million people in the crossfire, confined to shelters. Others opting for evacuations to safer spots in the south. Soldiers also trapped in the line of fire. The situation for now, appears to have no end.

It does not seem very appealing to fly to Israel now. You can forget about the Golan, the Sea of Galilee, Safed, Akko and even Haifa. These places have been hit hard except for the Golan, but first you have to get there which is through Tiberias (also hit hard). Now there is a threat that even Netanya is on the range of Hizbullah. That limits your travel plans a great deal.

On the other hand, this is the country I was born in. The country I hold near and dear to my heart. I sing Hatikvah with more gusto than I do O Canada (sorry but it's true). To be perfectly honest, if someone offered a job to me with similar pay in Israel, I would consider jumping at it.

Then again if you're Lebanese and live around Hizbullah, by all means RUN!!!!

Mom's poem from 1965

Today I came across a poem my mom wrote when she was 17. It got published in the junior section of the Jerusalem Post.

The Ma'apilim were "illegal" immigrants to British mandate Palestine. They got on boats (most famous one was the Exodus) and tried to sneak into the Holy Land under cover of darkness.

She tells me she wrote it to express the injustice inflicted by the British prior to 1948, when they restricted the immigration of thousands of Jewish holocaust survivors. The British saw first-hand the suffering caused by the Nazis when they liberated the camps. They then proceeded to deny many of those people the right to return to the ancestral home of the Jews.

I feel that some of the frustration and anguish reflected in this poem resonates today. Israel is treading in rough waters today just as it has for all of its existence. The sea still has no pity.

Here is the poem:


The Ma'apilim

Far away the sun is rising.
Men are holding hands, praying.
Who are they?
Do not ask...
They have no answer, but an aim
They are what they are...
But the sea has no pity

It seems to want to swallow them
It might do so without effort
Because they have no power, only hope...
They come with the great belief that the
World is on their side.
But the sea has no pity!

They are not allowed to come on shore.
Only one thing is left.
The sea will be their home for ever ---
Unwanted, they are now allowed to return
To the East where they can become again the sons
of God.
But the sea has no pity!

Yet they won't give up
Because it is their only home ----
But the sea has no pity!

Dated Feb. 12, 1965

The London Pass

I was perusing sites on London when I came across this. The London Pass sounds like something quite incredible. You get access to 58 attractions across London and virtually unlimited travel by bus, train and tube. For boats you get 1/3 off or free depending on which one you go to. What's nice is that they include the Chelsea Stadium Tour with this thing. That's regularly a GBP 14.00 value. Wimbledon is also included.

I paid GBP 55 for the card and it will take 10 days to get here. That's a bit too close for comfort as I leave in exactly two weeks but I'm confident it will get here in time. For GBP 55.00 I get to use the card for two days. This amount is close to what I budgeted for some sites I wanted to see. These included Churchill's WWII bunker, the Parliament tour, Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London. I am definitely going to try to use up 55 pounds worth of things and will blog how much each item cost that I got for the one-time price.

FYI if you stay around one week in London, the card will really pay off. I believe with a travelcard it will cost you somewhere below GBP 20 a day. So if you tube and see one attraction per day, it will pay for itself.

Oh and one more thing. The card gives a GBP 10.00 discount on plays. Something to think about. Les Mises is playing that weekend.

An opportunity for Lebanon

For too long, the Hezbollah has been allowed to mobilize itself a formidable army within Lebanon. It has come to the point
that Hezbollah is a country within a country. Not only does it have an army, but it has a TV station, its own schools and health facilities. It has political representation including partnership in the governing coalition. It virtually controls the entire
south of Lebanon, all thanks to Iran and Syria. But to repay its generous donors, Hezbollah does their dirty work, hijacking Lebanon
in the process. To substantially weaken this organization or eliminate it entirely will mean that Lebanese finally will be masters
in their own house.

It is inconceivable to think that a country can accept a private army within its borders. And yet, Hezbollah has been given a free hand
to create a private army. It boasts a cache of 10,000-12,000 short and mid-term rockets in addition to RPGs, anti-aircraft and anti-tank weaponry. Some of its
missiles are feared to have a range that could strike Tel Aviv. We have already seen that they have missiles that could strike Haifa, some 40 km from the
Lebanese border. An organization with such firepower could, without a doubt, mount a coup inside the country. The katyushas pointing at Israel could be turned
on the Lebanese army itself.

Such a situation is not entirely hypothetical. The Lebanese government while intent to disarm Hezbollah, is fearful of that organization. Government officials have argued that anyeffort to disarm Hezbollah will mount to civil war in the country. This probably explains why in the wake of Rafik Hariri’s assassination when anti-Syrian sentiments were high, it was the pro-Syrian Hezbollah that was untouched. On the contrary, Hezbollah ended up being a political partner in Lebanon’s government.

But what is the alternative to disarming Hezbollah? Is enslavement by Syria and Iran a preferable scenario to civil war? Perhaps it is, if it means saving lives. But civil war is unlikely. The Lebanese can be assured that they will receive full Israeli and even international support for ridding the country of Hezbollah’s private army. Moreover, they can be assured that an alliance with Israel and the West will yield greater benefits to Lebanon than that with Syria and Iran.

Now is the time for the Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah. Under the guise of Israeli air, sea and ground attack, the Lebanese army can join the combat without claiming to be an ally of Israel. It can argue that it is doing so in the interest of exerting its sovereignty. Furthermore, the Lebanese government can firmly say that it will no longer allow Syria and Iran’s mercenaries to wage a war within its borders. Lebanon has a unique opportunity to finally free itself of Iran’s grasp and gain its freedom. It can no longer claim that it cannot control Hezbollah when Israel is giving it the capability to do so.

Hezbollah is one of the last links Lebanon has to Syria and Iran. It must free itself of this link and declare Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah to be a traitor to his country. The question is: are Lebanon’s leaders sincere about being a sovereign state free of Syrian influence? How Lebanon reacts towards Hezbollah may well test that sincerity.

3 weeks to go - What to buy + London tube

There are three weeks to go before my trip. I am quite excited about it. Can't wait to see

Europe and the interesting people I will be sharing it all with. There is at least one fellow Jew travelling. Her name is Lisa and she is from South Africa though not for much longer. I understand she wants to move to Australia.

So three weeks to go and still much to be done. Need a bunch of clothes, backup camera battery, large memory card, a converter for the electric plugs, etc. etc. I also need to plot what I will do with my time in London.

One thing I know is this. Understanding Tube (subway for us Canadians) prices in London is like acquiring a new bachelor's degree. It's not easy. If you get it wrong, you could find yourself paying the equivalent of $6.30 a ride (GBP 3.00) for a few stops. That's horrible.

London's tube is divided into zones and there are six in all. To go a few zones costs more than if you just stick to one. Contrast with Paris where for the equivalent of $2, you can ride from any station to any station at any time. No zones. No fuss. Smart Parisians.

To make matters more difficult in London, you pay more if you board the tube before 9:30 am than if you do afterwards. Pre-9:30 is called "peak" and post-9:30 is called off-peak. The savings can be as much as 50% if you go off-peak. As I will be arriving at 7:30 in London, I may be tempted to burn 2 hours at Heathrow. Don't know if that's worth it.

Apperently for London there's something called an Oyster card which you can get and it makes rides cheaper. One ride can cost around $3 (GBP 1.50 instead of GBP 3.00) with an Oyster card for Zone 1, which is the main zone where I will be doing the bulk of the travel. A significant savings. The Oyster card costs GBP 10 plus a GBP 3 deposit. You can get the deposit back if you return the card. The card is also transferrable which is good if I wouldn't need it anymore. I could just sell it to a fellow traveller.

The card is ideal if you travel a lot. It has something called "capping" where you will never pay more than the maximum day-pass rate (that varies with zones). Anyway, here is the website for the card.

Happy travels