Wednesday, December 28, 2011

8th night of Chanukah: How we do it in Jerusalem

Every Chanukah I head off with my camera to the (almost) all-pedestrian neighborhood of Nachlaot and Zichron Moshe to take in the beautiful sight of the dozens of outside chanukiot shining with light outside fancy, remodeled single-family homes (mostly owned by English-speakers) and the modest hovels nearby occupied largely by Haredi families and yeshiva students.

This year I waited until the final day of the holiday--a crisp, clear evening--and here are some of the results: (Click here for the complete set) 


 Nachlaot at dusk
 Chanukah in the Machane Yehuda shuk

 Lighting the last candle..

 Zichron Moshe courtyard

 Chanukah pilpul



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Monday, November 21, 2011

An Israeli reservist writes from the Israel-Egypt border

Acquaintances in Efrat sent over this moving account about Israel's policy toward African refugees written by their son who is doing reserve duty on the Israel-Egypt border.

Read and contact the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, in Washington DC at

Telephone 202 296 5191
Fax 202 296 5660
Email usawa@unhcr.org


My name is Aron Adler. I am 25 years old, was born in Brooklyn NY, and raised in Efrat Israel. Though very busy, I don’t view my life as unusual. Most of the time, I am just another Israeli citizen. During the day I work as a paramedic in Magen David Adom, Israel’s national EMS service. At night, I’m in my first year of law school. I got married this October and am starting a new chapter of life together with my wonderful wife Shulamit.

15-20 days out of every year, I'm called up to the Israeli army to do my reserve duty. I serve as a paramedic in an IDF paratrooper unit. My squad is made up of others like me; people living normal lives who step up to serve whenever responsibility calls. The oldest in my squad is 58, a father of four girls and grandfather of two; there are two bankers, one engineer, a holistic healer, and my 24 year old commander who is still trying to figure out what to do with his life. Most of the year we are just normal people living our lives, but for 15-20 days each year we are soldiers on the front lines preparing for a war that we hope we never have to fight.

This year, our reserve unit was stationed on the border between Israel, Egypt and the Gaza Strip in an area called “Kerem Shalom.”  Above and beyond the “typical” things for which we train – war, terrorism, border infiltration, etc., this year we were confronted by a new challenge. 
Several years ago, a trend started of African refugees crossing the Egyptian border from Sinai into Israel to seek asylum from the atrocities in Darfur.  What started out as a small number of men, women and children fleeing from the machetes of the Janjaweed and violent fundamentalists to seek a better life elsewhere, turned into an organized industry of human trafficking.  In return for huge sums of money, sometimes entire life savings paid to Bedouin “guides,” these refugees are promised to be transported from Sudan, Eritrea, and other African countries through Egypt and the Sinai desert, into the safe haven of Israel.

We increasingly hear horror stories of the atrocities these refugees suffer on their way to freedom.  They are subject to, and victims of extortion, rape, murder, and even organ theft, their bodies left to rot in the desert. Then, if lucky, after surviving this gruesome experience whose prize is freedom, when only a barbed wire fence separates them from Israel and their goal, they must go through the final death run and try to evade the bullets of the Egyptian soldiers stationed along the border. Egypt’s soldiers are ordered to shoot to kill anyone trying to cross the border OUT of Egypt and into Israel. It’s an almost nightly event.

For those who finally get across the border, the first people they encounter are Israeli soldiers, people like me and those in my unit, who are tasked with a primary mission of defending the lives of the Israeli people. On one side of the border soldiers shoot to kill.  On the other side, they know they will be treated with more respect than in any of the countries they crossed to get to this point.

The region where it all happens is highly sensitive and risky from a security point of view, an area stricken with terror at every turn.  It’s just a few miles south of the place where Gilad Shalit was kidnapped. And yet the Israeli soldiers who are confronted with these refugees do it not with rifles aimed at them, but with a helping hand and an open heart. The refugees are taken to a nearby IDF base, given clean clothes, a hot drink, food and medical attention. They are finally safe.

Even though I live Israel and am aware through media reports of the events that take place on the Egyptian border, I never understood the intensity and complexity of the scenario until I experienced it myself.

In the course of the past few nights, I have witnessed much.  At 9:00 PM last night, the first reports came in of gunfire heard from the Egyptian border. Minutes later, IDF scouts spotted small groups of people trying to get across the fence. In the period of about one hour, we picked up 13 men - cold, barefoot, dehydrated - some wearing nothing except underpants. Their bodies were covered with lacerations and other wounds.  We gathered them in a room, gave them blankets, tea and treated their wounds. I don’t speak a word of their language, but the look on their faces said it all and reminded me once again why I am so proud to be a Jew and an Israeli.  Sadly, it was later determined that the gunshots we heard were deadly, killing three others fleeing for their lives.

During the 350 days a year when I am not on active duty, when I am just another man trying to get by, the people tasked with doing this amazing job, this amazing deed, the people witnessing these events, are mostly young Israeli soldiers just out of high school, serving their compulsory time in the IDF, some only 18 years old.

The refugees flooding into Israel are a heavy burden on our small country.  More than 100,000 refugees have fled this way, and hundreds more cross the border every month. The social, economic, and humanitarian issues created by this influx of refugees are immense. There are serious security consequences for Israel as well. This influx of African refugees poses a crisis for Israel. Israel has yet to come up with the solutions required to deal with this crisis effectively, balancing its’ sensitive social, economic, and security issues, at the same time striving to care for the refugees.

I don’t have the answers to these complex problems which desperately need to be resolved. I’m not writing these words with the intention of taking a political position or a tactical stand on the issue.

I am writing to tell you and the entire world what’s really happening down here on the Egyptian/Israeli border. And to tell you that despite all the serious problems created by this national crisis, these refugees have no reason to fear us. Because they know, as the entire world needs to know, that Israel has not shut its eyes to their suffering and pain. Israel has not looked the other way. The State of Israel has put politics aside to take the ethical and humane path as it has so often done before, in every instance of human suffering and natural disasters around the globe. We Jews know only too well about suffering and pain. The Jewish people have been there. We have been the refugees and the persecuted so many times, over thousands of years, all over the world.

Today, when African refugees flood our borders in search of freedom and better lives, and some for fear of their lives, it is particularly noteworthy how Israel deals with them, despite the enormous strain it puts on our country on so many levels.

Our young and thriving Jewish people and country, built from the ashes of the Holocaust, do not turn their backs on humanity. Though I already knew that, this week I once again experienced it firsthand.  I am overwhelmed with emotion and immensely proud to be a member of this nation.

With love of Israel,
Aron Adler writing from the Israel/Gaza/Egyptian border.
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Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Another Jerusalem House Demolition

The Jerusalem municipality demolishes illegal Arab buildings.  And every time they do, reporters are alerted and go running out to film the scene of destruction. Interestingly, because of the stringency of Israeli legal procedures to determine whether a building is legal or not, only a small percentage of the thousands of structures built without permits scattered through the eastern part of Jerusalem are demolished. Only 2000 have been demolished since 1967.

This afternoon, I witnessed the demolition of the annex of the prestigious Yarok Yarok Flower Shop on Hanassi St, not 100 yards from the Presidents Residence in Rehavia.  Like many structures built by Arabs in eastern Jerusalem, this was built without a permit and therefore demolished.  And yes, police and city officials were there to make sure the Jewish owners or their neighbors didn't riot! Not a reporter to be seen, however, nor any representative from the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions..
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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Gilad comes home: Our neighbors celebrate: Israelis March in Jerusalem

As Gilad comes home and the country unites in thanksgiving that despite his obviously frail state, he is at least able to walk under his own steam and is finally reuniting with his family. Reports now emerge that he needed medical treatment during the helicopter ride to Tel Nof Air base, but he was able to hug his parents and salute Prime Minister Netanyahu. President Shimon Peres issued pardons to the terrorists released in exchange for Gilad and in his personal note to each one of them, Peres wrote:

The voices of the terror victims and the deep grief of their families burns all of our hearts. I would like to note that my decision in this matter to exercise my authority in no way pardons or forgives these murderers and criminals. I do not forgive and forget.


Meanwhile, my colleague Yishai Fleisher who lives in Maale Hazeitim in eastern Jerusalem, documented the reaction of his Arab neighbors to the release of the first batch of terrorists.
 Israeli police protect Arab demonstrators in eastern Jerusalem



  Celebrating release of terrorists in front of Mt of Olives cemetery. All Photos: Yishai Fleisher

Today is also the annual Jerusalem March that brings tens of thousands of Israelis from all walks of life to the capital to fulfill the commandment to come up to Jerusalem on Sukkot.  Life goes on in this most meaningful of places...

Marching through Jerusalem


Marching from Mt Zion

"Great to have you coming home!" Photos: ©Judy Lash Balint

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