The party on the site of the National Newspaper

 To make things even nicer, the party is overed on a site of one of the main national newspaper of Israel. We did not do anything to make this happen (!).

 

 

• http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/939265.html

Organizing a New Year’s Party

I am happy to share with you a new milestone in my stay in Israel. I am organizing a new year’s party together with Bert, a guy I met 5 or 6 weeks ago. This is going to be a hell of a party, like I am used to in Amsterdam!Anyway, the milestone is that we succeeded in selecting a place with a good deal for the people that will come partying. We still have to make sure that a lot of people will be coming to make it a success, which it is born to be :) 

 

Of course you can expect a post on the first of January.

Weather

I read about the weather in the NETHERLANDS. Storm, rains, etc. etc. In fact the summer in the Netherlands was bad and now it is even worse. I would like to share with you my weather-experience over here. This week we had the coldest day since my stay in Israel: 23 Degrees Celsius. Today I had to suffer heaviest rains till now, about 2,5 mm :)The rain maid me laugh (in the first time of my life I liked to see some rain) and the coldest day made me drink a coffee near the beach.One thing I will miss for sure when I am here in Israel; that’s the great climate over here! 

Is it safe over there? III

 Just read an article on the site of the times: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2369001.ece. If this is true it is a very important development to the safety situation in Israel. If anything that happens in Iran, this can mean something here in Israel.

In fact the citizens of countries in the Middle East experience Israel as the 51st state of the US. Israel will be the easiest place to react upon when a serious attack on the US will be carried out. There are serious indications (most of them are facts) Iran already supported war against Israel through the fact that they supplied Hezbollah last year with rockets and Iranian soldiers were fighting on the side with Hezbollah terrorists. For example:

http://www.iranpressnews.com/english/source/014648.html

Anyhow whatever happens, I feel safe here, but as concluded before, there are signs that this could be changing soon…

  

About the circumcision video

As blogging is new to me I have learned something today. Some things that you will show on your blog, are not like they seem to be. I wanted to mention this with the regard to the blog I posted that showed the video of the circumcision… Through the bad sound-setup of my camera, it sounds like the men on the video shout out really loud, where in fact they were praying… These men, that seem shouting out loud as if somebody is lynched, are praying loudly towards god and doing the blessings that should be done when a circumcision takes place. I want to make sure the whole happening was a happy and positive gathering and not an aggressive afternoon :) 

No contacts, no business

Need I say more…  ’No contacts, no business’ is one of the basic principles in Israel and many acquaintances and friends told me this already. However sometimes you need to experience to really know. The last weeks I tried hard to get the right contact in a big Israeli company. Mailing the service desk four times did not give any reaction. I called two times, but at their call-center nobody did not even understand what I was looking for; luckily I was convinced the company offers the service I was looking for. Being a little bit aware of the need to know somebody, that knows somebody, I started to ask everybody I know whether they had a contact in that company. Yesterday I succeeded, got a number and called today… guess what.. I found the right guy…To be continued. 

Jewish Rituals: The Brit Mila (Circumcision)

Last week Sharon and I were invited to come to a ‘Brit Mila’  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brit_milah    of family of mine. This rite is one of the most important moments in life for a Jewish man (of the same importance as Marriage and the Bar Mitsva). 

There are many ways to celebrate this and since we were at a very religious part of my family it was a big  happening with a lot of prayers and a big amount of people. Off course there was food and it was a very interesting happening and a special experience to me.

What I want to share with you is a video I shot at the moment the real circumcision took place. This video is really representative for the whole ‘event’. During the real cutting moment everybody is praying and shout with joy towards god with full conviction. I succeeded in getting just a small part of the boy-baby itself. 

 

 Because this was a very religious  occasion men and women were split up. That is why there are no women visible in this video. The women however, did listen to what was happening and were praying along with ‘us guys’.

Is it safe over there ? II

I am busy collecting news items and insights on global aspects in order to make sure I will inform you well. What I can tell you that almost every day there are rockets from the Gaza strip landing in Israel. Here are two of the many links I can give you about that: www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1186557458432 and www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1186557480146 ... I guess this is one thing that they won’t show on Dutch and other news. Just the fact that there are some Palestinian terrorist killed gets huge attention (sorry I have to say it like that).Currently Israeli and Palestinian officials are constantly trying to come into peace talks, while the Hamas (the party supported by the majority of the Palestinain people and whith whom many European parties want to come to the negotiating table!!??!) is busy attacking Israel constantly and preparing a war for as far as they are capable of makeing this war… http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1186557455150 ….So, is it safe over here? It feels like that in Tel Aviv, but there is an abundance of signs in newspapers and other media that show a constant threat of war (especially at the north of Israel, I will elaborate on that in other posts) and war-related incidents. It seems like change of this feeling of safety is just a matter of time…More to come soon! 

Jewish rituals: The wedding

Yesterday (14^th of august) Sharon and I went to the second wedding since we are here. Anyhow it was time to make some pictures (see flickr.com or on the right) and furthermore write something about it to inform you what a wedding is about in Israel. In Israel a wedding is called a Chatoena. Main aspect of the wedding is making sure the guests are satisfied, which means food before, food in the middle, food when you dance and food after.These israeli weddings have a sort of standard procedure.  After the reseption (with lots of food) first the wedding ceremony, the choepa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuppah), takes place. This video is a part of the blessings during the ceremony . Yesterday the rabby made many jokes, which made it a very funny ceremony, without breaking the tradition of the Choepa. After the Choepa, you already guessed it, there was a great dinner with delicious food. First course, main course and a really great dessert-buffet. Anyhow, I managed to eat at the reception and eat from most of the offered food (Which is a magnificent achievement). And then….Party. which was nice, a good DJ many good drinks and off course, nice chocolates and other kinds of small food (I thought you call these appetizers (but these are before dinner I guess)). Shortly said: It was a great evening, with nice people, great atmosphere and good food! 

“Is it safe over there?”

A question that was asked me a lot the last months. Is it safe in Israel? My answer always was: “The place I will be is safe, the unsafe places in Israel are not where I will be”. I am still sure this is an accurate answer for that question at the moment  I write this post. At the moment you read this post, it could be changed… I read the newspapers and every day you look, something happens in these less-safe places, and some things that happen there can mean the end of being safe at the place I am. If you read this blog and you want to know what is happening in Israel, then the links from the Jerusalem Post on the left could help you getting more into this. I can tell you there is a hell lot more to know about then you see in Dutch news (other countries could be the same). From now on you can expect some of my views on the situation here about once a week.  Also the situation of the worldwide jewish community will be elaborated on…This article (http://www.jr.co.il/aliyah/why23.txt) could be an interesting insight on how safety is perceived. Where is it safer for a jew, here in Israel, in France??