Gaza vs Israel - and the winner is?

It has been six years since I returned to the USA from life in Israel. I went to work during the 8 day skirmish and no one said anything to me about Israel. No one at work even talked about what was happening there. Not only that - I wrote a memoir about my life there. What is even more surprising - or not- is that America and Israel are great allies and  the current president even says that  he " has Israel's back". Or not surprising. Soldiers died in Afghanistan and many American's did not notice that either. According to one politician on a news show- no one even knows their names. Now why am I writing all this to make a point - and that is - that the point many Israeli and Jewish efforts to gain support for their cause is pointless really pointless. Many American's are not listening and don't really care, about them and them. Well sure they care , and some do listen, but those that know the truth don't really have to be sold over and over again. So what is the point of all this , really. That Israel has to make their own decisions for their own purposes , world support or not. I can say this because my experience is that few are listening and really don't care except maybe the sensation seekers and news media whose real goal is to sell advertisement than to care.

great Gift idea for Hannukah - memoir by author Jason Alster about life in Israel

http://jasonalster.com/Resources.php

Follow you dreams- Leaving home Going Home Returning Home

Netanyahu promises tough Israel response at UN for threatening Israel on Yom Kippur

My prediction , since Netanyahu is thinking in biblical thoughts important to the Jewish people then D- Day will be Purim ( after winter)  - the holiday of Esther when the evil Hamman of Persia  was hung with his ten sons for trying to destroy the Jewish people. If there is no world response by then by the USA then Israel will go it alone because she will feel she has G-d on her side on that day. It is also a holiday in Israel so the general public can be prepared.

Aleph, Bet, Gimel – The A, B, C’s // learning Hebrew

Aleph, Bet, Gimel – The A, B, C’s
Learning another language had its trials and tribulations. I personally
did not like learning other languages when I was a young student.
Honestly, I did not have a rote memory if what I was learning
had no immediate relevance to my life. After all, America was a great
country – the foreigners on TV spoke English, and all the good
songs are in English. Aren’t they? Either way, I had a decent memory,
but only for things I wanted to remember. I could not repeat things
like a parrot. When I attended French classes in 9th grade I barely
remembered a word and had no intention of going to Paris as I had
not even been to Hollywood yet. On a family trip to the World’s
Fair in Montreal, Canada, I learned more French in a week than I
remembered from a year of French class. In college, though, I took
two semesters of Spanish thinking it would help me living in New
York. Another language was a requirement and French had already
proved to be a disaster. Little did I know that one day my first
Israeli girlfriend would be French, even though she spoke English
with a British accent. The rudimentary Hebrew I did know came
from grade school and synagogue. I could pray in biblical Hebrew –
Shakespearian Hebrew, if you will – but could not hold a conversation
in Hebrew. I did pick up some Modern Hebrew phrases from
my Israeli friends and the new Israeli songs coming out, but that
did not really prepare me for living in Israel. Nevertheless, others in
my ulpan class thought of me as lucky because I already knew more
Hebrew than they did.
One anecdote from the ulpan days happened when trying to decipher
store signs. Taking bike rides in the school’s neighborhood I
could practice my Hebrew by trying to understand the storefront
signs. My first major purchase was a ten-speed English racer. Since
Kfar Sava was situated on the coastal plane, it was mostly flat and
easy to navigate. In a Hebrew word, you need to find its shoresh (root
word), which consists of three letters. For instance, the root of S-ha-
l-o-m (peace, go in peace) is made of three Hebrew letters shin,
lamed, mem (whole). Hence, to be in peace is to be whole. You can
see already that Shalom in English is six letters while in Hebrew it
is four letters and the root word whole is only three letters. This is
an example that Hebrew is more condensed than English. With this
key to understanding Hebrew by finding root words, you can unravel
a myriad of words. A similar concept in English would be the
words immigrant and immigration coming from the root migrant.
In English the root “migrant” here is seven letters and in Hebrew
Oleh (migrant) is only four letters. Hence, we have an example of Hebrew
being a more condensed language than English. Thinking along
these lines, I came across a kiosk with an exceptionally long word for
Hebrew on the stores overhead sign; eight large letters long. Puzzled
about the meaning of the word, I could not figure out which three
of the eight letters made the root. I tried to spell it out phonetically
three letters at a time. Was it san, ndw, vic, chim?
I tried to pronounce the constellation of Hebrew letters out
loud.
San -dvi –chim.
Sandvichim?
…sandwiches? But that’s an English word!
Modern Israeli Hebrew is amusing – its hardest words don’t
originate from the Hebrew. Similar, I soon discovered that to Israelis
“soda” means club soda, not something like cola or baking soda.
“Cola” would later become synonymous with ordering a Coca-Cola
soft drink. Cultural differences in brand naming such as these are
a bit confusing at first and can make ordering food frustrating, but
eventually you learn a whole new way to communicate and find what
you’re looking for. I remember the time when I was hiking in the
Judean desert and came to a vendor in an ice cream truck. Asking
him for a cold orange soda on his shelves, he did not understand
what I was talking about. I gave up trying to figure out a way to say
“orange soda” and just pointed to the bottle. Once he could see
what I was talking about, he smiled and said, “Oh! Orangeada.” This
turned out to be a local brand name synonymous with orange soda.
Translating an expression word-for-word from one language to
another according to what a dictionary might say does not work
when trying to translate the MEANING of an idea from one culture
to another. I realized that the orange soda was a classic example of
this problem. I figured then that “orange soda” was not in this vendor’s
cultural vocabulary, but “orangeade,” like “lemonade,” was.
Another thing I learned on my bike expeditions was that Israelis
wanted to practice their English on me as much as I wanted to
practice my Hebrew on them. An even trade you expect, except that
I was supposed to be in a Hebrew speaking country. As I am trying
to converse in the language of their land, I am hearing English in
return. Therefore, we ended up with a Middle Eastern compromise.
I spoke in Hebrew and they would speak in English. It took about
five years in Israel to pass an important language landmark, when I
was able to speak in Hebrew and was finally answered in Hebrew.
Nevertheless, even after twenty years in Israel and speaking fluently
by then, there still were Israelis who wanted to practice their English
on me although I spoke Hebrew better than they spoke English. I
was happy to help.
https://www.createspace.com/1000252310

Yom Kippur

This year - Yom Kippur will come on day to quiet "The Noise" in the world. Have a safe fast, and peaceful holiday.

https://www.createspace.com/1000252310

Israel needs to amend peace treaty with Egypt

According to a news article Egypt wants to amend the peace treaty with Israel. However , it is Israel that needs to amend the peace treaty. For one, there should have been an apology in the treaty by Egypt for starting wars with Israel and trying to " throw her into the sea". Also, Israel has to ask for some Sinai back because the egyptians are not doing a great job protecting her own soldiers as well as keeping the border with Israel quiet since the exiting of Mubarak .

http://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-3083,00.html

Book signing September 14th at Big E Agawam mass.

Will be at the New England Eastern States Exhibition Agawam Mass. - The Big E - signing books September 14th in the Connecticut pavilion.

 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Leaving-Home-Going-Home-Returning-Home-Israel-US-with-amazoncom/114389235295677