Elliott Cahan emailed me a link to a video from today's terrorist attack in Dimona. If I understand it correctly, a second terrorist intended to detonate explosives once the medical teams arrived; he was fortunately injured in the first explosion and somewhat incapacitated, but not completely. In this video, security teams clear the area before neutralizing the remaining terrorist as he attempts to detonate his explosives.
Baltimore expat Elliott Cahan has an article on Arutz Sheva entitled Identity Crisis, on the state of senior care in Israel. Quite an eye-opening article, and proof that a big opportunity exists in providing decent elder care in Israel.
R. Tzvi Hirsch Weinreb was in Sderot during a Kassam attack. R. Weinreb has been "blogging" many of the details from his Blackberry. No one from the OU delegation was injured in the attack.
I'm sure I'm missing something with Rashi's explanation of the connection between Shmittah and Har Sinai; to me it sounds like polemics. Ramban's explanation is more along the lines of what I was thinking. After the Golden Calf, Moshe had to convince God to continue his association with B'nei Yisrael. He was successful, but it didn't change the fact that, at this point, He would be "dwelling amongst them in the midst of their impurity." In order for this to happen, for God to rest his Presence among the flawed and imperfect community of Man, a system of separation had to be established between the Divine and the profane; this is Vayikra, which introduces the concept of repentance which enables Man to reestablish contact with the Divine, as well as the laws of holiness which delineate the separations, both constant and occasional, required to approach and coexist with the Divine. When this ground work is laid, when the system of barriers is formalized, we can then resume the narrative where we left off at Sinai, with the entrance into the land and related laws.
The shekel is getting stronger; the exchange rate is now below 4:1 shekels for dollars (around the price it was when I was last in Israel...8 years ago). Check out this interesting post over at Six Kids and a Full Time Job about the various ramifications of the growing strength of the NIS; most of them have to do with business, but one which I found interesting on a general level:
Charity dollars raised in the USA are not going as far. You gave to your favorite Israeli charity 12 months ago? Well, expect to see the collector back in 11 months this year and your favorite charity short on money. Scant few charities had sufficient foresight to conservatively plan their budget on a rising shekel.
From Sunday's Baltimore Sun, an article entitled Subsidy cuts send students from yeshivas to outside jobs:
Growing up as a member of Israel's ultra-Orthodox community, Eli Louzoun had a life as traditional as his conservative black hat and dress. Cloistered in his yeshiva, he spent his days poring over religious texts and supported his family with a small government stipend. He never earned a high school diploma or held a job. So dedicated to his spiritual life, he shunned television, sports and exercise. He never even learned how to swim.But these days you're more likely to find Louzoun at a swimming pool than in the yeshiva. He's a newly trained aqua therapist, a type of physical therapist specializing in water exercises to help treat patients with physical disabilities.
Read the whole thing, it's well-written, from an unbiased perspective, and anecdotally makes a few very important and cogent points. My thoughts: It's working.