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1. Yom Kippur: When Israel Stops, Looks Inward
by Hillel Fendel
The highest of the High Holidays – Yom Kippur – is only about a day away, and Jews around the world are preparing by attempting to become better people.
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is a Divinely-designated day that the Torah explains “will atone for you [plural] to purify you from all your sins before G-d.” Such atonement, however, must generally be accompanied by teshuvah, a process that includes introspection, confession of sins, remorse, and a commitment not to repeat them. One must also appease and ask forgiveness from those he has harmed or insulted over the year.
The prayers for Yom Kippur, which take up most of the day, are replete with the various concepts of teshuvah, as well as acknowledgement of G-d’s goodness in affording mortals this opportunity to exonerate and improve themselves.
The fast begins just before sundown on Friday night, and ends some 25 hours later, after the special Ne’ilah (lock-up) prayer and a dramatic, lone shofar-blast. In addition to eating and drinking, also forbidden on this day are wearing leather shoes, washing up, make-up and perfumes, and marital relations.
The prohibitions notwithstanding, the day is considered a festive day, in that we celebrate G-d’s beneficence in going against natural law and allowing us to revoke and nullify our misdeeds. It is also a “day of friendship and love," according to the prayer liturgy.
The day before Yom Kippur, the 9th of the Jewish month of Tishrei, is also considered a special day, and we are required to eat and drink even more than we normally do. "Whoever eats and drinks on the 9th,” the Talmud states enigmatically, “is as [meritorious as] if he had fasted on both the 9th and the 10th."
The State of Israel is essentially closed down on Yom Kippur, with no public transportation or electronic broadcasts, and practically no open stores or services. Bicycling has become a popular pastime on the holy day, to the dismay of many, but even more prevalent on this day are prayer services. At least two organizations – Ayelet HaShachar and Tzohar – have made arrangements for secular-friendly prayer services around the country, which have become extremely popular and well-attended in recent years.
In honor of the upcoming Yom Kippur day of atonement and fasting, the Klalit Health Fund has issued a set of tips designed to make one’s fast easier and more healthful. In general, the last meal before the fast, known as the seudah hamafseket, should not include unfamiliar, spicy, or fried foods, and should even omit vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli. One should drink more than usual before the fast. After Yom Kippur, one should break the fast with a sweet drink such as tea or lemonade and a piece of honey cake or the like. The first post-fast meal should not be a heavy one.
For more information on Yom Kippur, click here.
May we and all Israel be inscribed for a happy, healthy and blessed new year.
2. Gaza Film Shows Destruction of Israel
by Maayana Miskin
Gaza filmmakers Mohammed al-Amrity and Ayman Hijazi have released a film that portrays, in detail, the takeover of Israel by Arab Muslims and the destruction of vital Israel and Jewish institutions. The film is titled “The Great Liberation.”
In one scene, Arabs are depicted blowing up the Hurva synagogue in Jerusalem, which was recently rebuilt after being destroyed twice before, the second time in 1948 by the invading Jordanian army.
Other scenes show Arabs flying the PLO flag over Tel Aviv, destroying the Bank of Israel, and blowing up the Supreme Court. An Arab presenter is shown reading the news in the Channel 2 studio.
Amrity said the film, which he calls “a gift to the people of the Gaza Strip,” was based in a dream he had. Amrity claims descent from a family that once lived in a village adjacent to what is now Tel Aviv.
Parts of the movie have been posted on YouTube. Amrity said he and Hijazi are seeking an Arab broadcaster interested in showing the entire film.
A second recently-released film, Budrus, purports to show Fatah and Hamas cooperating to engage in non-violent protest against the Judea and Samaria separation wall. The village of Budrus lies immediately to the east of the wall, and villagers have complained that the wall runs through their olive groves. The affected trees were uprooted and replanted elsewhere in the village by the IDF several years ago, but protests have continued.
The filmmakers, Julia Bacha and Ronit Avni, show interviews with soldiers, PA Arabs, and far-left Israeli protesters who join residents of Budrus in their demonstrations.
While the movie promotes Budrus as an example of non-violent protest, the village has on occasion been the scene of violent clashes between rock-throwing PA Arabs and IDF soldiers armed with rubber bullets.
3. Hamas Uses Phosphorous Bombs
by Maayana Miskin
IDF experts who examined some of the mortar shells fired at Israeli communities on Wednesday found that the explosives used contained phosphorous. The finding shows that Hamas has gained more advanced weapons technology, they said.
Phosphorous would make any wounds resulting from a terrorist rocket attack more severe, as the substance burns on impact and can cause serious injury or death. It is forbidden for use as a weapon in civilian areas by international law.
Gaza terrorists fired one rocket and nine mortar shells at Israeli civilian communities in the western Negev on Wednesday. Senior Hamas terrorist Ahmed Jabri released a statement calling to continue the attacks “until victory.”
Hamas previously said it was refraining from attacking Israel, and blamed rocket and mortar shell attacks on other terrorist groups operating in Gaza.
In response to Wednesday's attacks, IDF planes bombed tunnels in southern Gaza. According to Channel 2 news, at least one of the tunnels was to have been used to bring terrorists from Gaza to southern Israel, to carry out either an attack or a kidnapping.
Jabri made reference to Hamas's tunnels network in his statement. “By our faith, our weapons, our rockets, our tunnels and our martyrs – given to us by Allah – we will achieve victory in the land of Palestine,” he told followers.
4. Cop Stops Moving Car to Save Driver; Soldier Saves Boy
by Hillel Fendel
An alert and courageous policeman jumped into a moving car whose driver had fainted – saving the driver's life briefly, as well as preventing what could have been a major accident. Elsewhere, a soldier's blood saves a boy's life.
Detective Yuri Volman of Petach Tikvah told Arutz-7’s Hebrew newsmagazine what happened in the first incident:
“I was on my way home from my night shift last night [Wednesday], and at one of the intersections I saw a slow-moving car crossing through a red light. I wanted to see what was going on, so I drove alongside him and I saw an elderly man with his head slumped over to the side in an unnatural position. Something was clearly wrong. I stopped my car and ran over to him, and then I opened the door and lifted the hand-break... There were other cars on the road, and he was already going into the opposite lane; if I hadn’t stopped the car, it would have crashed into others.”
Other people on the street at the time called Magen David Adom. “I received instructions by phone how to treat him,” Volman said, although his efforts were only briefly successful. “I took the driver out of the car, and luckily, a civilian ambulance passed by and provided a mask and we did artificial resuscitation. He was then evacuated to the hospital in serious but stable condition. Sadly, later we heard that he had died.” The driver was 70 years old.
Asked if he realized that he was endangering his own life at the same time, Volman said, “The truth is that at that minute, I didn’t think of anything like that; I just saw someone who needed to be helped, and so that’s what I did… I think anyone else would have done the same.”
Happier Ending: Bone Marrow Donation Saves Boy's Life
A happier ending occurred in another act of life-saving kindness. Tzvi Lax, a 20-year-old soldier from Jerusalem serving in the Nahal Hareidi battalion, reunited this week with a 7-year-old boy named Nimrod – and the two celebrated the fact that Tzvi’s bone marrow donation a year ago had saved Nimrod’s life.
Nimrod was suffering from a second bout of leukemia when a search began for the only thing that could save his life – someone whose bone marrow would be a perfect match for Nimrod, and who would be willing to donate. Tzvi agreed to be tested, was found to be a match, was called in for the donation – and then had to wait a year before being told that in fact, he had saved a little boy’s life.
“It’s an indescribable sensation,” Tzvi said, “to know that someone is living because of you. There’s nothing better… All I can say is that everyone should run to Ezer Mizion blood bank and give a sampling of blood – a simple act that can save someone’s life.”
5. Jews to Rally at Rebuilt Joseph's Tomb
by Maayana Miskin and Rachel Sylvetsky
The tomb of Joseph (Kever Yosef) in Shechem got a new roof this week. The repairs were completed ten years after the site was overrun and vandalized by a Palestinian Authority Arab mob.
Samaria Regional Council head Gershon Mesika petitioned the government for years to allow repairs at the site. Last month, as the Chief Rabbis of Israel visited the tomb, the IDF Civil Administration announced that repairs would commence.
The government rejected Mesika's other request: that Jews be allowed free access to the holy site, as they were allowed prior to the year 2000. Jewish access to the tomb remains limited. On Thursday, a rally and concert will be held on Mount Gerizim, overlooking the tomb. Those present will demand that the holy site, at which the Biblical patriarch Joseph is buried, be open to Jews on a daily basis.
Organizers say Thursday's event will be the first step in a campaign for Jewish rights in Samaria.
David Haivri, Director of the Shomron (Samaria) Liaison Office, said, “Although I am sad that our residents were not permitted to take part in the honor of actually repairing the site, I am glad to see fruit of our efforts to renovate the holy site. We will continue to push forward the agenda of open and free access to Jewish people.”
“Silence on behalf on the international community and human rights activist on issue exposes their hypocrisy, religious rights of other people are not ignored in such a way," he added.
The repair work was done by PA Arabs hired by Israel. Jewish residents of Samaria expressed concern over the arrangement, saying that paying PA Arabs to repair damage caused by PA Arabs could be seen by the vandals as a reward.
In September 2000, an Arab mob took over the tomb and burned down the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva that had stood there for 25 years. The mob smashed the roof of the holy site. Rabbi Hillel Lieberman and Israeli soldier Medhat Yusef were killed while attempting to stop the destruction.
Since then, Jewish worshipers have been allowed only sporadic access to the site, to which they were supposed to be granted open access under the Oslo Accords.
6. Study Finds: Rise in Number of Religious Army Captains
by Maayana Miskin
A groundbreaking study has found that the percentage of IDF captains who were raised in religious homes has shot up dramatically over the past 20 years. While only 2.5% of IDF captains were from religious homes in 1990, by 2007 that number was up to 31.4%.
In the absence of data on individual soldiers' religious observance, the study looked at the high schools that IDF captains had attended to measure their religiosity. Those who attended religious high schools were marked as religious, while those who had not were not, regardless of current religious observance. The study actually shows the religious background of the soldiers as a motivating factor and not their present religious state, as it misses those who became religious after high school as well as those who are not observant despite attending a religious high school.
The study found that until 1992, there were very few IDF captains from religious homes. Between the years 1993 and 2000, the number of religious captains shot up from 2.5% to 15.5%. After 2000 the numbers increased dramatically, and from 2001, there was no year in which less than 22.5% of captains were from a religious background.
The highest number of religious captains was recorded in 2007, when 31.4% were from religious homes.
The number of religious youth who went on to serve as IDF captains not only did not drop after the 2005 Disengagement, which led to some alienation among religious-Zionist youths, but actually rose, the study found.
In the author's estimation, much of the credit for the sharp increase in the number of religious soldiers reaching the rank of captain goes to the pre-army preparatory programs (mechinot) established in the religious community beginning in the late 1980s. The programs aim to teach young men Torah, Zionist values, and the value of army service. In mechinot, students study Torah for a year after graduating high school and then go on to regular army service.
Among mechina graduates, 80% go on to serve as combat soldiers, compared to 40% among soldiers as a whole. 20-25% of mechina graduates eventually become captains, compared to 7-9% of all soldiers.
The IDF has traditionally avoided publishing information about the religiosity of soldiers, saying it does not gather that information. The new study, which was published in part in Haaretz, was made possible after IDF officials agreed to release some classified data gathered by the Manpower division.
The author of the study, himself an IDF captain, was granted access to the data in order to complete a research project necessary for his degree in national security. His name was not released for publication.Maa
7. Expert: Complaint Against Hamas War Crimes is Futile
by Hillel Fendel
Israel is still reeling from the firing of two phosphorous bombs at its territory from Gaza on Tuesday – a war crime under international law.
The IDF confirmed on Wednesday that the onslaught of ten mortar shells and two Kassam rockets fired at Israel the day before from Gaza included two phosphorous bombs. Police sources said three of the shells were phosphorous. Following the barrage, the Israel Air Force struck back, leading to the death of an Arab arms smugger in one of the many tunnels leading from Egypt to Gaza.
Firing phosphorous bombs at personnel, either civilian or military, is a war crime under international law. However, says Dr. Robbie Sabel, an international law expert at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, “there is really very little we can do about it. Turning to the UN is done only in the case of countries and states, which Hamas in Gaza is not. The only thing that can be done is to point out to the world that Hamas continues to violate military law - and take military action against them.”
“It’s quite clear that Hamas has long been violating international law,” Sabel added, “and it’s quite generally well-known around the world. Even the Goldstone report stated that Hamas aims at civilians – and then went on to elaborate much more on Israel… But these phosphorous bombs are just the latest example of Hamas violations.”
Asked about Arab accusations that Israel had used phosphorous bombs in the past, Dr. Sabel said, “I know that Israel does not use phosphorous bombs against personnel or in any illegal manner. Phosphorous bombs are permitted for use as smoke screens or for illumination, and Israel uses them only for those purposes.”
The mortar shells and Kassam rockets fired at Israel on Tuesday landed in open areas in the Eshkol and Shaar HaNegev regions, causing no casualties or property damage.
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