Jerry Waxman

YomKippurChanukahStory

A Chanukah Miracle On Yom Kippur

A Chanukah miracle on Yom Kippur.

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Rosh Hashana

Rosh Hashana

L’Shana Tova Umetuka Happy Rosh Hashana   This is my Rosh Hashana Story. It is a story about change. I hope you like it. [For the best effect, open full screen] Bonus Diary of Moran Yanai by Rachel Shalev [For the best effect, open full screen]

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Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov, Carmel Gat

Six Hostages Returned

Introducing Israel Things: What is unique about Israel? What isn’t? I did not expect to introduce this website in this way. On the other hand, if there are two most unique things about Israel, they are our people and our pain. We begin this site with the stories of six young people whose remains just came back from Gaza.

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Hussein Aboubakr Mansour

An Egyptian American Lobbyist For Arab-Israeli Cooperation

There are scores of Israelis who work in think tanks and organizations that work toward cooperation between Israel and Arab countries. We never hear much about such Israelis. On the other hand, whenever there is an Arab who works toward the same peaceful goals, journalists seize the opportunity to tell his story, for it is always a unique story, a story where the exception proves the rule.

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Dancing Chasidim

Proof – A Question For All Times

On Quora, someone asked an age old question about proof of the existence of the god of Israel. I like my answer. It illustrates how Jews have dealt with the same question through the ages. It’s really a unique Israel Thing.

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Harris-Walz Rally

Dvarim

There is a parallel between the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz campaign, and this past week’s Torah portion, Dvarim. Wherever they go, throngs of people gather to see Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz and to be with them at their rally. At the beginning of Dvarim, Moses gathers all the people of Israel to speak to them. The crowd that came to hear Moses was much larger than the crowds at Harris-Walz rallies. In both cases, leaders wanted the people to remain vigilant in their quests to move forward.

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dronemissileattack

Getting Around

I didn’t sleep much last night.  I waited for a drone and missile attack that didn’t happen in Pardes Hannah. To begin my volunteerhood, I had to go to Or Akiva.  So that was the first adventure.  I had to learn which was the right bus to get on, and I had to learn how to use the Rav Kav card to pay. With help from good people all around, I got to the destination.

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A young man reads the Torah.

What A Way To Start An Adventure

What A Way To Start An Adventure: It’s only two days since I arrived in Israel, and I am stilling feeling jetlagged. It’s Saturday, Shabbat, the Sabbath. I managed to wake up early, and go to a synagogue that Shai (my airbnb host) and I found yesterday evening. There was a bar mitzvah. So the synagogue was not overly crowded, but a lot of people were there. Except for one segment, the bar mitzvah boy read the entire parashah.  And he read it well.

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military drone

Two AM

Whew!  An attack is coming.  It looks like an invitation to all out war on all of Israel’s fronts; Iran and Iraq  to the East, Yemen to the South,  Syria and Hezbullah to the North, and there is still Gaza to the West,   A drone and missile attack. Looks like I’ll be up all night. What a Way To Start an Adventure.

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