Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Book Trailer for Leaving Home Going Home Returning Home

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPrIlWxpcAs



Sunday, March 1, 2015

To Kill A Mockingbird - my thoughts on Benjamin Netanyahu's speech

It has been 8 years since my return from Israel to the USA and I have decided to complete my memoir "Leaving Home , Going Home , Returning Home: A Hebrew American's Sojourn in the Land of Israel" with another final chapter, a look back. I am going to write this chapter on the day after the greatest speech to be told in a century - The speech by the prime minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu to the Congress. The king's speech, although he was democratically elected. I am amazed at what has happened to the world and to America and Israel in this short time and how much these two countries have grown together and apart. I have actually become emotional again about Israel in the excitement building up to this. I just heard one of the most powerful endorsements ever for the state of Israel from a group of black ministers who put things in perspective. I do not want to write the last chapter yet. I want to hear the speech first , but I can predict , if I truly know the Jewish people that Netanyahu will invoke the present holiday of Purim and the story of Esther and show how the hateful Persia to this day is still trying to destroy the Jewish people , but we heard about what happened to them. In writing this memoir I wanted to feel like a normal person writing a memoir about a country so misunderstood but brought to light in an understanding way. When I first signed author copies , there were hundreds of people interested in hearing about my experiences in Israel. But as the years past there was less and less interest, but there were in parallel more and more threats to the State of Israel and thus my memoir should have been more important to American's wanting to get a better understanding of what the real country was about short of visiting her. However here are some terms that we associate with Israel that are now being repeated in this day actually I heard all three of these terms today. Israel- A light unto nations. Israel- G-d blesses those that bless her. Israel- The only democracy in the Middle East . But another term came to light about the way Netanyahu is being treated by our administration " To Kill A Mockingbird" That is to stop someone from their freedom of speech and inalienable rights. That was the Story of Ester and that is the story of Netanyahu on march 3rd 2015. The "mockingbird" comes to represent the idea of innocence. Thus, to kill a mockingbird is to destroy innocence. Throughout the book, a number of characters (Jem, Tom Robinson, Dill, Boo Radley, Mr. Raymond) can be identified as mockingbirds-innocents who have been injured or destroyed through contact with evil. I guess this could mean the administrations negotiations and contact with the evil Iran.