happy chanukkah!

Hey everyone. Chag Sameach, Happy Chanukkah to all those celebrating this week! I know I'm a few nights late but I got to see Matisyahu on Thursday night. Amazing concert! He's playing for the rest of the nights of Chanukkah in Manhattan and then Brooklyn so go ahead and see him if you're around. The band that opened for him was awesome too- Glitch Mob- highly recommended.

I have some pictures and videos that I'll post some time soon, but first I will have another article (more like ranting) about politics coming out in the next few days.

As the holidays are coming and you're looking for gifts, I'd like to recommend two places where you can buy gifts that are not only great to give but that benefit others as well. World of Good is a great online shop full of fair trade and charity donating goods, all sorts of things from clothes to bath and body- everything. St Jude's Children Hospital also has a great gift shop, and the proceeds of what you buy go directly to the hospital.

Gonna go rest, I have some dental work I need done in the next few days too look forward to. Hoping the eagles beat the giants tonight, was looking good but I don't know where McNabb's throwing right now.

Anyways, lehit and laila tov!

Phish Madison Square Garden Run

Hope everyone likes the new layout. I don't really know what happened to the other one and this is one pretty and colorful and stuff.

So this past week I went to go see my favorite band in my hometown. It was pretty awesome to just hop on a train to go see them 10 minutes away. I feel like Wednesday- Saturday was a repeat of festival 8, only in the comfort of my own apartment. My body hurt just as much at least. I thought I was going to miss one night, but due to unfortunate (though in the end incredibly fortunate) circumstances I got to see all 3 nights at Madison Square Garden.

Anyways, that's why I've been so MIA. The week before was Thanksgiving and I went to go see them in Philadelphia. They repeated a lot of the same songs on this tour- I definitely saw a lot of the songs I saw in Philly over again in NYC. But they were all good songs nonetheless. I think I need to relisten to all 3 of the MSG shows to decide which is my favorite. I plan on doing that in the next few days and I'll write some of my thoughts on the shows. In the mean time, I have a few things you should totally check out.

Here's a great video so you can witness how amazing the 3 night MSG shows were. This is First Tube from 12/4/2009.

Also, my friend Adam, who has loved Phish way much longer than me, just launched his website and it's pretty awesome. Go check out adamhandman.com (or click because this is a link obvs.)

Lehit :)

life announcement!

Ok this post is way overdue, so here it goes.

I've always had two loves in life- movies/music and food. I went to college and did the film route there, been interning in various media internships and stuff so I can get a job in that field and all that jazz. I've thoroughly enjoyed my time doing it, but yet I can't get the thought of pursuing food out of my head, and I'm not really sure why. So after much thought and deliberation, I decided to go to culinary school.

Because that's another 6 months with no pay to save up to move, it looks like I'm going to have to put off moving to Israel until have enough money saved up. I'm looking to move within the US first, and then as soon as I have funds I'm off to the homeland. Which I'm sure I'll visit soon too! :)

This blog will still be about Israel and the media, but I'm obviously going to be talking about my experiences in culinary school and food as well!

So there's the big news. In other big news, I'm going to see Phish tonight and Friday. Tomorrow is my best friend Sara's birthday- HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARA!!!!

Lehit homies. Politics articles will be for next week.

another interview with my friend naomi litvin!

Sup homies. My friend Naomi interviewed me again for her blog, so go check it out. Be sure to check out her amazing blog as well!

Lehit. Expect something in the next few days.

i'm here!

Sorry everyone, I had a crazy couple of days. Went to see phish last night in Philadelphia. Mind blowing. They played a perfect set of philly songs for me. Thanks Phish. :) Almost got to go to tonight but men are idiots. Going on 2 hours of sleep right now, but strangely awake. I'm starving so I'm going to order food and nap. I thinks once I eat I'm going to pass right out.

I'm starting to ramble. Anyways, I wish I was going to post an article of some sort. Instead, I'm working on 2 articles about Politics and Political Correcteness. I'm sure a lot of people I know who lay further on either side of the politcal spectrum won't be happy with some of the things I say but I've been seeing a lot of stuff go down lately between the two sides and it's been on my mind. More people will probably agree more with the political correctness one. Such is life and politics.

I'm also going to be kind of changing my blog slightly, as it appears my life may be taking a kind of unexpectedly but long overdue overhaul very shortly. I'll explain later when I know more, but my blog will still basically be the same, I'm just going to broaden the scope of my blog.

Ok food's here. Have a great Thanksgiving Americans! Not viewed to highly by me because I don't like turkey and it's one of the biggest farces of American holidays (I majored in history, it's completely jaded my world view), but I'm all for chowing down into a turkey coma (grandma's brisket for me, it's pretty effing tasty). Remember to be thankful for the things that give meaning to life. I personally I'm thankful to Phish, Baxter, and Israel's existance, and my sister because she's usually the only one who seems to get me sometimes in my family.

Lehit!

Israel top in technology

Check out this article I snagged from the JIDF. These are the kind of articles that need to spread around about Israel, not all the garbage we see.

Phish started their fall tour last night with a beautiful set list. I'm going to 3 nights and I can't wait!

Lehit.

JIDF plea

Hey guys.
So there's a conference coming up in December in Israel -MFA's Global Forum to Combat Anti-semitism- that I think David, the leader of the JIDF, should go. It would be an amazing opportunity for him to further him on his quest to combat Anti-semitism on the Internet. Unfortunately, the JIDF doesn't have enough funding for him to go. Now, I know the recession is tough, but if a whole lot people chipped in what they could, it could greatly help towards getting David to this conference. I already donate to the JIDF monthly but I'm willing to throw in some. Let me know how much anyone would be willing to pledge so I can put it all together and see if it will be enough to get him there. Think of it as a Channukah gift of tsedekah.

Aight I'm out. Peace homes. Shalom.

festival 8

So I realized I haven't spoken much about festival 8 (or anything really at all on here, but I've been doing some life evaluation, something we all need to do from time to time), but to get a sense of what I experienced, enjoy the top 10 Halloween Costumes at festival 8 .

finally- family guy and Jews

I think this is really terrible, but have fun with it anyways, I guess.

Judaism and Family Guy: Should Jews be offended?

Cartoons for kids have been around forever, but now cartoons are not just geared towards them. The Simpsons started the trend on /air in 1989, but in recent years with shows like South Park and Family Guy, animation has proven that it can take on adult subject matter. One common subject of these adult cartoons is religion. Family Guy is not the first of these adult cartoons to take on religious themes, nor has it been the most controversial. But two episodes that make jokes about Jews, one which was originally scrapped from air (but later made its way onto Cartoon Network as a rerun and later Fox) and one that aired for the first time a few weeks ago, have left people uneasy instead of laughing. So what’s the difference between a joke and an insult- where is that thin vague line drawn?

Family Guy's storyline revolves around a family living in Quahog, Rhode Island. Throughout the series, many references are made to various religions, not just Judaism, and a handful of episodes are completely devoted to the topic. Many of the references are based completely in stereotype. Peter Griffin, the main character and family patriarch, embodies a stereotypical New England blue collar Irish Catholic man who drinks an exorbitant amount of alcohol. The most obvious and frequent Jewish stereotype that appears throughout the series is seen in the minor character Mort Goldman, who owns the local pharmacy and would best described as a total nerd who constantly seems to be anxious and/or complaining about random ailments. Given that all of the characters are based on stereotypes of all religions, Mort Goldman falls very low on the offensive scale.

One episode, however, literally may have tipped the scale- “When You Wish Upon a Weinstein.” The episode begins with Peter drinking with his friends at The Drunken Clam- they offer to pay because their stockbrokers, with the last names Greenstein and Rosenblatt, made them good money. Peter decides that in order to get more money, he also needs to find a Jew to help him with his finances so that he can make extra money. This realization is made through Peter singing a song, the tune of which is based on “When You Wish Upon A Star” (hence the episodes title), except Peter is singing, “I need a Jew.” Throughout the song, various Jewish images appear, like bagels, a dreidel, a menorah, and Murray’s Deli, which has a sign on it that says “closed on Saturdays.”

As if by fate, a man who introduces himself as Max Weinstein knocks on Peter’s door with car trouble. Peter is thrilled that he has found his Jew, and promptly begs him for financial advice. Max asks Peter, “How did you know I was an accountant?” to which Peter responds “Hello, Max Weinstein,” emphasizing the name to infer that due to the fact he is Jewish he is therefore good with money. “Let’s not deny our heritages. Your Jewish, you’re good with money. I’m Irish, I drink and ban homosexuals from marching in my parade,” Peter tells him.


This is the most frequently addressed stereotype in Family Guy- the idea that Jews are good with money. Peter frequently brings up this point, and seems to also think that all Jews are brilliant, while the other characters try to get him to realize that he is only examining a stereotype. Talking at dinner, Peter says to Max “Is there nothing you people can’t do? I mean besides manual labor,” to which Lois interjects and reminds Peter that the built the pyramids. Peter then decides they should convert to Judiasm so that he will become smart. Max tries to counter by taking Peter to Temple, where he learns of famous Jews- half of Lenny Kravitz, Optimus Prime (of Transformers fame)- but Peter only draws the conclusion that Jews are more genius than he thought, and as a result tries to convert Chris, his son, by having a quickie bar mitzvah in Las Vegas so that he will become smart and successful. The episode ends with Lois intervening last minute so that this doesn’t happen.

The second episode of the current season of Family Guy also dealt mostly with the topic of Jews. Called “Family Goy,” Lois learns when going to the doctor that her mother was a Holocaust survivor and a Jew. She approaches her mother about this, who confirms the information and says she hid it because of her husband and Lois’ father, who wanted to conceal it so they could get membership at a country club. Lois then invites Max Weinstein, from “When You Wish Upon a Weinstein,” over for dinner to ask him some questions about being Jews. Peter bounds in, wearing full Jew regalia- tallit and kippah- announcing he has chosen to embrace Lois’ heritage and he has changed his name to “Khh” (think of a really long ח ). Max and Lois try to explain to Peter that this is not really what Judaism is about, that he’s going about Lois’ heritage the wrong way, etc., to which he responds, “leave it to a Jew to take all the fun out of being a Jew. Now I like the hat and I like the scarf, so we’re doing this.”

The family starts to incorporate Judaism into their lives. Stewie is sent to Jewish day school, where he earns a trophy for his soccer “skills” simply for kicking the ball while the other children stare at it. At first he is confused by the change, but is quick to embrace it when he finds out Chanukah is 8 nights of gifts. But this all changes when the ghost of Peter’s deceased father returns; his father, who appears a few times previously in the series and is seriously devout Catholic, warns Peter that he must go back to his Catholic ways or face serious consequences. The next morning at breakfast, Lois offers him a bagel, which he promptly throws at her. Lois asks what’s wrong, and Peter declares that him and his family are done with Judaism. Lois tries to make him realize that he’s being ridiculous, to which he replies, “Jews are gross, Lois. It’s the only religion with the word ‘ew’ in it.”

Throughout the rest of the episode, Peter tries to terrorize Lois and any other Jews he sees. When Lois tries to get the mail, he starts shooting a gun at her. She freaks out just as Mort, Quahog’s token Jew, appears- Peter starts shooting at him. When Lois freaks out at Peter again, Mort says “No problem, that’s just how people say hello to me,” prompting Peter’s neighbor Joe to fire a shot, to which Mort responds by saying “Hi Joe!” In the end, Lois is holding a Passover Seder with her children, which Peter tries to drunkenly interrupt wearing an Easter bunny costume. Lois gets Peter to stop when Jesus appears and reminds Peter that him that he is in fact Jewish (Peter has him prove it by asking him a question about how much a tip would be on a bill, again relating Jews and money), that Judaism and Catholicism are not all that different, and that the Last Supper was actually a Passover Seder. When Brian mentions a connection to Islam, Jesus responds, “Let’s not muddy things up here.” After this warm fuzzy moment of religious harmony, Lois and Peter are confused about what religion their family should be. When Peter asks Jesus what religion their family should be, he responds, “They’re all complete crap.”

While these two episodes are full of controversial statements, innuendos, and pictures, Christianity appears much more throughout the series than Judaism does. G-d and Jesus are very often the subject of Family Guy’s frequent cutaway gags, usually involving G-d using his “powers” or a bad pick up line to get a girl but it goes horribly wrong, forcing Jesus to come and get him out of the situation (example: G-d tries to light a girl’s cigarette with a lightning bolt from Heaven, instead burns her death, G-d shouts“ Quick Jesus! Get the Escalade!” and Jesus does.) An example of how Family Guy looks at religion can be seen in the episode “Holy Crap.” Peter was raised by a devoutly Catholic father, and their relationship, along with his father’s religious views, are the subject of the episode and represents another stereotype along the Irish Catholic stereotypes Peter’s father is a nasty, bitter, G-d fearing man who is obsessed with hard work and constantly criticizes fat and dumb Peter, who tries constantly vies for his fatherly affection and approval. His religious devotion seems to serve as the basis for his bitterness, as his strict adherence to his doctrine prevents him from really forming a relationship with Peter (he constantly says Peter is not religious enough), and he spends a lot of time making fun of Lois, Peter’s wife for being Protestant. In “Holy Crap,” Peter makes a final attempt to get his father’s approval by devising a plan to kidnap the Pope. Upon kidnapping the Pope, Peter asks him if he thinks he’s a failure, to which the Pope responds that just because he’s not a perfect Catholic does not mean he is a failure in G-d’s eyes. When they finally meet up with his father, Peter asks the Pope to tell his father this so that his father will finally approve of him. Peter’s father merely responds that he always loved Peter, he just didn’t like him- and that there must be something wrong with the Catholic Church if they think Peter isn’t failure, because his life is full of sin.

The creator of Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane, has stated several times that his personally religious views lie with atheism. That being said, Seth MacFarlane seems to make fun of religion as a whole on the show instead of targeting of one religion. If he does seem to a target a religion, it is certainly not Judaism, as it does not appear nearly as much as Christianity does, and most of the jokes are based upon stereotypes about Jewish people (most commonly about Jewish people and money, having a lot of it and knowing how to handle it), and not necessarily stereotypes that are bad. When they make fun of Christianity, they make fun of Church practices, doctrine, and spend a lot of time poking fun at Jesus and even G-d.

Has Seth MacFarlane gone too far? Should people be offended by what’s meant to be a joke? Should Christians be afraid and not Jews, or vice versa? At the end of the day, I think there’s a reason why Family Guy is a cartoon- it’s all meant in good fun and not to target Jews. But I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether it’s offensive or funny.

sorry for the neglect!

I've been back since Tuesday but I've been recuperating, working, and finishing up an article on Judaism and Family Guy, which I should be posting tomorrow.

Gotta run so I can have that article done, lehitraot.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Read this great article about this past weeks "Curb Your Enthusiasm," (which was hilarious) in which Larry David accidentally pees on Jesus picture from the JIDF. Enjoy!

Hi everyone!
I've been MIA because I've been really sick the past few days. I did go to the doctor and I don't have swine flu, though, so that's good. Just a nasty virus with fever, body aches, cough, etc. Fun stuff. Actually I feel much better now than even this morning.

Anyways, I'm working on a lot of things for when I get back from Phish Festival 8, including a piece on Family Guy and Judaism (kind of working off of something that I wrote in college, I was inspired by David from the JIDF when discussing old papers. Its either that or my paper on ritual sacrifice during Yom Kippur). So when I get back after 2 5.5 hour plane flights, I'll hopefully have written some fun stuff for everyone to enjoy.
Lehit :)

interview... with me!

Hey friends! Shavuah tov :)

So last night I answered a few question for my friend Naomi Litvin for her blog. Go read it and learn some more about me, my blog's purpose, and my impending aliyah. Also, check out Naomi's book We Never Lost Hope, which I'm waiting to get from Amazon :)

Go read, I know your curious!

AHAVA "boycott"

This "Code Pink" who claim "Peace for Women" by fighting for rights for women in Afghanistan (which is actually a noble cause) among other things have decided to endorse and promote the boycott of Ahava products because they are made from the Dead Sea by the West Bank land are therefore made in what they called an "occupied land." I'm not going to even bother fighting about this insanely ridiculous claim.

Check out their website about it to see what I mean.

Sorry I'm really impassioned about this, I just think this is absolutely crazy. I'm not about shoving my views onto other people or anything, but if you care just a little bit about Israel (which you should), you should buy as much Ahava as you possibly can and shove this right back in their faces. I do this a little too much, actually- I use their shampoo, conditioner, body wash, body lotion, and hand lotion. I don't just use and highly recommend their products because they are Israeli, they are actually amazing products! The body wash makes your skin really smooth, especially when you use the lotion after. I leave my hand lotion out at my internship because people like to borrow it all the time. And all of the products have this amazing clean smell I get compliments on all the time. So not only are you supporting Israel, but your getting amazing beauty products as well- definitely bang for your buck.

Go and out buy Ahava!

Headline: "Iranian and Israeli Envoys Were Both at Nuclear Talks

...but then this New York Times article goes on to say that several other Middle Eastern countries were there, like Saudi Arabia.

So what do YOU think when you read a headline like that? It's so incredibly deceptive from everything the article has to do with! It just makes it sound like Israel and Iran were engaged in discussions about their nuclear programs, not that they both happened to send envoys to a forum along with several other Middle Eastern nations that were having a meeting.

Interestingly enough, Haaretz's article about the meeting also only included Iran and Israel as attendees of this conference in the headline, but the inclusion of Israel makes sense because its an Israel newspaper, and I just think the wording's a little better, no? The Haaretz version also has a little more to say about their specific meetings, including the fact that Iran was denying being there at all (just weird).

Anyways, it's little tidbits like these that make me furious about the media. Its funny too, I was just going to keep working on my large article about media bias, and then this headline popped up in one of my news feed. I had already read the Haaretz article and I was still thrown off by it. It's subtle, but subtlety is how the media gets away with being biased (not always, but some times). Why the media needed to single out any country in the Middle East for that is beyond me- how about just "Middle Eastern nations Send Envoys to Nuclear Talks in Cairo" or something like that? I can understand why Haaretz would want to stress that Israel was present as an Israeli newspaper, but the New York Times had no reason to single out Israel and associate them with Iran and their nuclear program unless the meeting was just the two of them specifically or involved solely the two of them, which it didn't.

I'm done. Lehit.

sorry!

I want to apologize to everyone, I spend Monday and Tuesday in bed with a nasty migraine spell (I think it's from my allergies, because I was still a little fuzzy today) and then I had work today so I have been totally neglectful of writing anything. I'm going to make a few more substantial posts tomorrow and then I'm going away and it's the weekend anyways. But then I'll be back for a little bit early next week, however I am going away that weekend as well- to Phish Festival 8 in Indio, Cali! I'm hoping to blog a little from there, but hey, guys, I tweet all the time, so follow me on twitter! @ericaandbaxter :) or just look to the right at my updates, y'all.

interview with JIDF

Check out a great interview with my friend Naomi and the founder of the JIDF.

Worth the read I promise!!

Lehit :)

another reason i'm just fine with disliking the yankees

despite the torture I receive from my fellow New Yorkers. Here's their G-d Bless America singer and his anti-Semitic comments.

Lehit.

not ok

In case you needed any more motivation to support the JIDF (or even if you didn't), take a look at this- an example of how JIDF founder David Appletree's life is constantly threatened.

This is not ok at all! It's threats like these that lead the JIDF to take precautions with David's privacy. This privacy is what Facebook took issue with when they booted him and his content from the site. This whole situation is beyond comprehension to me.

Take action and support the JIDF now, and be careful with Facebook, or just avoid it at all costs.

Lehit

israel boycott in france

This is a video of a boycott of Israel going on in France.

Anti-Semitism is EVERYWHERE. Anti-Israel sentiment is EVERYWHERE. These instances prove why advocacy groups like the JIDF are so important- we need to be louder than those that hate us if we want to end these feelings.

My friend Naomi brought my attention to another worthy organization,
Stand With Us. Check out their website.


Lehit homies.

donating money

So lately the JIDF founder has been under fire for asking for donations, and I'm not really sure why. Every day Planned Parenthood and Greenpeace stand on the block near the Starbucks close to me and beg me for money, but you don't see people going around calling them greedy, when they really are (I mean, they can afford to send people out begging for money and they're still resorting to begging on the street for money. and they're so annoying too). Organizations like these that fight for the causes we believe in can't possibly be expected do anything without the money we give. We all donate money, if we have any to spare, to the causes we support so that they can do the fighting for us while we go about our daily lives. The JIDF works tirelessly so that hatred of Jews and Israel doesn't get spread around the Internet. If you support what the JIDF does you should give them money just like you would give any other organization you support. Actually I believe if anything you should feel MORE confident in putting money into an organization like the JIDF- you know you're money is going to be put to good use, as opposed to say Greenpeace where your money is probably going to send people on the streets to raise more money.

Also, be cautioned that non-profits and advocacy groups carry a huge political undertow. Many have a hidden political agenda they operate according to, and while you may agree with however they seem to publicly relay their politically charged rhetoric, you don't know what goes on behind closed doors. Remember that a lot of non-profits spend much of their resources lobbying Washington, and lobbyists operate on a different moral and financial plane than a lot of people (I put most people at first, but then I realized that I was giving too many people too much credit). When you donate to an organization like the JIDF, you know your money is going toward all the actual hard work that they do advocating for Jews and Israel on the web. The JIDF is not running off to Washington to spend their money on lobbying doing Hashem knows what they will have to repent for on Yom Kippur- they're using it to navigate around the web and get rid of hatred against Jews and Israel. And stop hating for the fact that his organizations needs money to function, because EVERYTHING needs money to function in life.

Just my advice, we all work hard for our money and should spend it accordingly. But that's also a good reason why you should really take a look at what charities your money goes to. I think a lot of people just think that because it's a charity for a good cause that it's an organization worth donating too, but there's often a lot more to these organizations than meets the eye. Do your research, and if all else fails, just donate to a cause you already know is worthy, like the JIDF.

Done, I need to go cuddle Baxter. Lehit.

go read...

this at my friend Naomi's blog about the JIDF and what's going with them right now. I have some things to say about the situation to, but I gotta run to hebrew ulpan, so later dudes. Lehit.

the media makes me laugh

...But the thing is, it's the laugh that means more "wow, I can't believe how horrible/ignorant/stupid/crazy people are" as opposed to an actual "that's funny" laugh. The uneasy laugh of disbelief that there are people out there who say and think the most ridiculous things ever, and that there are groups of them that can dangerously unite and spread their crazy ridiculous ideas to more horible/ignorant/stupid/crazy/simply bored people, and perhaps inspire them enough to act.

If you want to see what I mean, just look here. A nice lively discussion about the JIDF, no?


After this, I also decided that I'm going to be dividing my media coverage discussion into two sections because we are dealing with two different but equally viable monsters here. First, I want to discuss what I'm going to call "old" media, only because it's been the way the pre-tech crazed got their information, not because its even that old. This would be film, television, and print. While all important and powerful mediums still to this day in changing the opinions of the people who take advantage of it, I'm pretty sure I'm one of the only people under 40 who still watches the news on a television every day, and watchers are less involved with content than more modern ways of communication.

Meanwhile, the Internet is a whole new means of communication, so I liked to think of it as "new" media. It opens up a whole new world of everything. Not only can you access all the news you want, on any channel you want, in any part of the world, when you want it, there's a whole portion of media coverage taking place on social networks. It's a topic way too dense to cover in one article. I could write you 20 pages on what I think about Facebook alone. But it opens up a whole new way that the media changes the way we think and talk about issues- and whole new way to destroy people's views every day.

Everything has its pros and cons. I will talk about this when I finally get into the media bit I was going to write- it will be done by next Monday, I promise.

Lehit.

I apologize for my neglect, my bloggies. It has been another fun weekend, but that means I'm worn out- and I have 2 chapters of hebrew homework to bang out.

I'm gonna go do that, but I'm going to write something of significance as soon as I'm done.
Lehit :)

I apologize for my neglect, my bloggies. It has been another fun weekend, but that means I'm worn out- and I have 2 chapters of hebrew homework to bang out.

I'm gonna go do that, but I'm going to write something of significance as soon as I'm done.
Lehit :)

save the JIDF!

Sign this petition and let your money go to a good cause. It's the least any of us can do.

Way too early. Lehit.

JIDF

I just have one more thing to say about the JIDF shutting down.

I've already written about what the JIDF does, and spoken about how much they have accomplished. In today's world, the Internet is full of false and slanderous material that is meant to turn people against Jews and Israel. Many of this reaches us through social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger. The JIDF has been integral in getting this material off the Internet. Without their work and the inspiration they provide Jews everywhere, there is no other organization out there that is nearly as powerful and influential enough to advocate for Jews on the Internet. I became more interested in advocating for Israel and Jews after visiting my Israel myself, but seeing David and the JIDF's work has given me confidence write my blog in hopes that my work will one day have the same impact as they do.

However, seeing what they go through every day- the threats they receive, the ignorant and spiteful comments left on facebook, twitter, and their blog, among other things- is discouraging. It is also empowering, because it is essentially the people who leave these comments whose minds we all seek to change. But what is the most horribly saddening thing is a lot of the negativity aimed at the JIDF is not from the Arab extremists, Jihadists, and anti-Semites he fights, but from Jews. Hello! Jewish people! Wake up! I think we can all agree on one thing- the Internet, and especially perhaps social networking sites like Facebook, CANNOT AND SHOULD BE USED TO SPREAD ANTI-JEWISH AND ANTI-ISRAELI SENTIMENT. If you think that hatred of any kind belongs on the Internet, that makes you a terrible person, but I'm not going to get started on that. If you are Jew and you disagree with that statement, then you obviously have a lot of self-hatred to deal with, there's something seriously wrong with you, you should seek help, and that's all I have to say about that. But if you are a Jew, and you agree with that statement, than you support David Appletree and his work. Is there any reason not to?

Jews- this is not the time to all hate each other. We have enough people who hate Jews- we cannot have Jews hating Jews! We all have different political views, many of which we don't agree on. But this is not what this is about. This about the hatred out there, the hatred the JIDF has worked so hard to stop. Do not let their work stop by hating on them.

I'm not asking you to do much- if you support the JIDF, let them know! If you can donate money, go ahead and do it. Just don't petty politics get in the way of a much bigger issue.

I'm so done now- and I gotta say, I feel much better. Writing is great medicine sometimes. Lehit.

JIDF shutting down?

This can't happen. I've explained why already. DO SOMETHING.

http://www.thejidf.org/

in case you needed any more motivation to get a dog besides the fact that they are cute and awesome...

they are good for you too! (to own, people, come on.)

Check out that article, go to a shelter, and get yourself a furry life companion!

blog award!!!!

Thanks to Nicole for my first blog award! Yay! I feel so special! Visit Nicole's blog by checking

The Best Blog Award rules are:
1) To accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his/her blog link.
2) Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you have recently discovered and think are great! Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

So I don't know 15 bloggers to even begin to give out awards! So I'm going to give out 3 for the ones I know!

1. Lone Democracy- very informative media coverage of Israel, helps me find a lot of the material I use for my blog.
2. Simple Travels in My Homeland- giving an award right back to Nicole because her and her blog are both awesome and funny! And Lealu is adorrrabbbleee!
3. The JIDF- I've mentioned the JIDF a few times on my blog. They also seek to end false coverage of Jews and Jewish issues, along with Israel. How could I not love them? They have the same goals as me! They are more geared toward the internet, and ending hatred among social networks like Facebook (if founder David Appletree is hopefully put back on...) and twitter, making their work increasingly important as the internet takes over the media. If you need a good organization to support, support them! They also post a lot of great articles and media coverage of Jews and Israel- their blog is highly worth checking out and following.

Go on now, enjoy your awards!!

change of plans

I'm still going to have the weekly feature, but I'm changing this weeks topic to strictly the media. This is going to be more of an editorial than anything else, but I spent 2 out of my 5 years in undergraduate studying media so I'm not a total idiot. But it's more that the point of this blog is to get people to think about the media and the way it portrays things. I want everyone to be able to to kind of see what I'm getting at here, basically. There will be some videos and articles about the media in there as well.

Look forward to my rantings on Monday, too, as I have this tendency to spend Sunday obsessing over football/ recuperating from the weekend.

Lehitraot!

it's pretty sad why.

This article from Haaretz poses a really good question- "Why Are American Jews Abandoning Israel?"

ma zeh sababa?

I was thinking "I should post something on my blog," but the fact it is I have way too much to say about several issues, many of which I think I need to do more research on before I can write about them with any conviction. I was also thinking- where is this going? What am I doing?

That being said, I'm going to split these issues up and do a weekly feature about what's going on with these issues. Look for tidbits of information from various news sources around the world, what other people's opinions are about the topic in the Jewish/Israeli world of thought and beyond, and an analysis of what this all means. Future topics will include issues like Barack Obama and Israel, Iran, Gilad Shalit, Palestine, the UN, etc. Feel free to suggest topics you want to know more about but don't really feel like researching (and therefore leaving me with all the hard work). I also really want guest panelists. I'm going to post the topic I'm working on for the week- please send me any articles you think I should read, or anything YOU have to say about that issues.

As news happens and articles of interest show up about various topics that are more relevant to the day, they will still be posted here.

This blog is also going to have more of a personal twist about me moving to Tel Aviv, but this is still 10 months away and I haven't really started doing anything about it. I'll probably submit my full aliyah application, paperwork and all, in January. Right now, I'm just taking hebrew ulpan and daydreaming about moving, and doing plenty of research on the impending move. The information out there is both encouraging and discouraging, but nothing seems to be at all shaking my desire to move. Actually, the knowledge is slightly empowering. Uh oh.

So this week I'm thinking of starting with our President, Barack Obama. I gotta say I'm a big fan of Bo Obama (he's reallllly cute), the first dog, so to lighten up any hard feelings, maybe I'll throw in some cute pictures.

Lehit. :)

sukkot po :)

חג שמח to all my chosen people, trying to figure out how to build a sukkah in the courtyard of my building, but...

I gotta run to the mets game, just wanted to wish everyone a good sukkot for now, and look forward to a new weekly feature on my blog.

Lehit!

good news for a change?

Before I go out...

Maybe some good news about Gilad Shalit?

lehit!

why am I NOT surprised?

You must read this article about Ahmadinejad, right now. Todah!

Lehit!

Gilad Shalit video and Article

Straight from JPost (for some reason the only site that wanted to load the video for me!), here is the video of Gilad Shalit and an article along with it if you don't understand much of what he's saying (like me :( ) I don't really know what to make of it. But here. Lehit.

CNN Breaking News Alert I just received on twitter.

According to CNN, Netanyahu has watched the video of Gilad Shalit. This is the first info I'm hearing for now about his actual watching of it, as opposed to the prisoner swap and all that. I care about that- but I really want to know if Gilad Shalit is ok, to whatever extent he can be ok in the circumstances he's in.

Hoping a Toy Story 1 and 2 double header will take my mind off of all that's gone down.

שׁבת שלום! Shabbat shalom and lehit.

I wouldn't want Ahmadinejad for Channukah.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/is-ahmadinejad-a-gift-for-israel/?scp=3&sq=israel&st=cse

A NY Times blogger's article about Iran, Israel, the US, and the Palestinians. He says, "As a reader of The Lede pointed out, last year, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the former intelligence chief, Ephraim Halevy, called Mr. Ahmadinejad a 'gift,' since his inflammatory anti-Israel rhetoric 'unites the entire world against Iran.'"

I wish I could say I agree that it was his "anti-Israel rhetoric" as opposed to his potential nuclear power and the fact he's a huge douche bag, but...

JIDF

Please go here and send out this letter. I will be doing this as soon as I get back from work, or maybe even at work depending on how crazy it gets. Maybe if the media makes Facebook look like the cotton-headed ninnymuggins they are (though you never know what the media might do), maybe Facebook will get the picture.

Be sababa. Lehit!

UJA

Here's a link if you want to donate tzedakah to a good Jewish organization, or if you are looking to volunteer. Enjoy! Lehit.

just wow.

Read this survey about the opinion of American Jews and Israel and please let me know if this is all some sick joke to make me mad.

Who does the world hate more, America or Israel?

Very interesting CNN article about "haters of America" and, seriously, buddy, you wanna worry about Israel and nuking America? Hmm...

Thoughts?

JIDF

As I mentioned yesterday, the leader of the JIDF, David Appletree, was removed from Facebook today as expected. This article does a great job of explaining why this is SERIOUSLY NOT OK!!!

The JIDF (you can check their website out by clicking on me) is an organization aimed towards removing anti-semitism from the Internet, a vast task as so many people post anti-semitic thoughts on the Internet, and their leader, David Appletree, is an incredibly brave person for the work he does. As a result of the work he does, he receives death threats and as a result needs to keep his identity protected, something which Facebook was willing to accept at one point, but apparently no more.

What's even more shocking is that Facebook took down not only David's Facebook page, but threatened other Jewish organizations as well. Meanwhile they have not approached anti-Israel and Holocaust denying pages found on their site about their identification.

It's instances like this that shock me and disgust me. I have always had a love hate relationship with Facebook, but after going to Israel and making Israeli friends, and especially now that I'm moving, I've been using Facebook a lot to keep in touch with people and hopefully in the future ask any questions I may have about moving. So right when I start to really use Facebook, something like this happens where I just don't want to be even associated with a site that can do something like this.

I hope that I can compel some people to act on David's behalf- I think Facebook is sick of me because I've already sent them a bunch of e-mails supporting David and the JIDF. Facebook should be a safe haven where everyone should be friends, not a means to spread hatred; David's work prevented this from happening, and I hope now that all of his hard work is not reversed because of some really inexplicable move by Facebook.

Done ranting. Lehit. :)

b'seder

Enjoy this great article about hebrew slang and "You Don't Mess With The Zohan"

Israel to receive new video of captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit - Haaretz - Israel News

Israel to receive new video of captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit - Haaretz - Israel News

Shared via AddThis

Facebook article

Read this great article about what's going on in the Facebook world. It's truly disgusting.

שלום

Today has been incredibly unnerving. Iran has missiles that can hit Israel. Several important Jewish groups are booted off of Facebook. A New Jersey temple is vandalized with swastikas as Yom Kippur ends .

I hate feeling helpless to do anything about this now. I just hope that one day, my work will change minds, and hopefully one day that can help lead to (more) peace.

שלום. because its means bye and peace.

YOM KIPPUR FACEBOOK CLAMPDOWN ON THE JEWS: Chabad, AISH, IDF, Arutz Sheva, and others threatened for deactivation!

YOM KIPPUR FACEBOOK CLAMPDOWN ON THE JEWS: Chabad, AISH, IDF, Arutz Sheva, and others threatened for deactivation!

Posted using ShareThis

גמר חתימה טובה!

גמר חתימה טובה to all my chosen people! Hope you had an easy fast, mine wasn't so bad.

Temple was good too, someone put Gilad Shalit's name to mention in prayers there and that made me happy to know I wasn't the only one in my temple praying for him on Yom Kippur- and then I repented for Baxter and I's sins. (In case you don't know who Gilad Shalit is, http://www.habanim.org/en/index_en.html)

Next year hopefully I will be celebrating the high holidays in Israel! Sababa (awesome/cool)!!

So the Eagles won on Sunday, happy about that. After last weeks game I wondered if we could hold it together without McNabb and I think its been proved that we can! Another sababa moment.

On a more serious note, I am really distraught by the news that facebook is going to shutdown the facebook pages of many major respected jewish organizations. This doesn't make any sense to me, and I have no idea how facebook could do this. Of course, they chose to do it on the day after Yom Kippur. The JIDF and all of those organizations do great work to keep hatred off the Internet as well as provide a network for Jews. Why does the world hate us so much- and why do we keep asking ourselves this question throughout history? Without organizations to help hatred stay with the crazies who thrive off of it, more lies get spread about Jews, more lies that do not need to spread. Whether your Jewish or not, anti-semitism is a HUGE problem in this world, and I urge EVERYONE to help stop ANY sort of hatred towards ANYONE (except for terrorists- we can all safely hate them as much as we want).

I posted the news article about the Jewish organizations after this post. Read and take action- I did, 'cause I am sababa like that.

(see you later...love and peace) להיתראות... שלום ואהבה

maybe i won't miss football so much after all

The eagles played quite pathetically this week and I really don't want to talk about it. It was just miserable. The defense. The offense. Just everything fell apart. I'm just going to look forward to making a sick come back next week- right guys?

Anyways, שנה טובה to all my chosen people out there.

Finally one more step into the aliyah process- filling out forms for Jewish Agency. Now, I wait for them to contact me, and I can finally get rolling on this process. I know its going to be VERY complicated, and I might as well start sooner than later. I'd be going in August (as my apartment lease here is up September 1st) so its less than a year away. I think I've made up my mind by now about going, and it doesn't seem like my mind changing because thinking about moving makes me super happy. So does Baxter. He is sooooooooooo cute. Like too cute for life. I think he's excited to move too.

And another finally- new seasons of TV! summer really flew by, I can't believe the 2 hour season premiere of House is tonight.

Gonna go watch the news.

hire me, I need money to move to israel!

Ok first an observation- everyone seems to want to hire someone with experience- so then how did all these people get that first job to get the experience to hire someone? I just want to be a hostess or wait tables, and I have a brain (I think) that I use (sometimes), isn't that enough? If anything I'm OVER qualified, I just don't have any experience.

Anyways.... I started hebrew ulpan last night! שלום! מה נשמע? הכול בסדר פא Shalom! Ma nishma? Hakol bseder. Hi, whats up? Everythings ok here. Ayyyyyyyyyy (thinking of it like the Fonzi "ayyyyy.") I'm learning! I really just want to know hebrew. But its the first real step I can take right now for my move- I don't want to contact the aliyah agencies too early.

Its funny how much living in israel remains on my mind throughout the day and its been a good two months since I've been back. But I'm not surprised at the same time because I've been constantly reminding myself why I want to do it.

One of the biggest things I think about is what I'm going to miss about America when I move. Most of its pretty dumb- material or food related. Bacon. My eagles. Starbucks skinny vanilla lattes. Manicures and pedicures.

All material things- pathetic on my part, but such is life. But I kind of laugh when I think about, because it's not that I'll miss them. I'll miss them, but at the same time, I want to move to Israel enough that I don't so much care about those things. Its more important that I follow this really strange and inexplicable desire to move there and make what I can of it. I can replace crack I mean skinny vanilla lattes with regular ones, right? Watch I move and start drinking black coffee. That'd make life easier.

I think its time to snuggle with Baxter and get a manicure and pedicure. להתראות! see ya lata.

fullness

at the end of june i was diagnosed with insulin resistance, which means i really need to watch my blood sugar. this weekend, i sort of forgot about that. but then i was thinking of everything i ate, and i realized i actually could have been a lot worse (and a lot better...).

diners, drive ins, and dives road trip! lots of tasty shit. best thing- banana bread french toast at o' rourkes in middletown, ct.

i missed the baxter a whole lot but now he's back!

i start my internship bright and early tomorrow morning. ugh to the bright and early part, but this should be a cool internship. i really need to get a part time job to save up money so i can move!

later.

where to start?

i don't think there's any point in writing some fancy introduction as a first post to my blog- do you? i'm just gonna start writing.

so lately i've been having a crazy moral dilemma, one many of my fellow philadelphia eagles fans have encountered. michael vick, a very talented college quarterback who also happened to be found guilty of dog fighting related charges and served prison time as a result, has been signed to the eagles and has played in a few of their preseason games. in fact, he just scored a touchdown, which is kind of what sparked this e-mail. i am dog owner and dog lover/animal lover. i cried harder in lassie when i thought lassie might have been hurt than any movie where a human was in danger as a child (ok...sometimes still to this day). how could i possibly embrace michael vick as an eagle? i do believe second chances, that everyone makes mistakes, and i do think he could feel genuine regret and remorse for what he did. but i also don't understand how anyone could ever hurt a dog to begin to with. what did the dog ever do to you? humans i can understand- humans are capable of harm, emotional and physical. but not dogs- not unless YOU threaten them and put them in the position to defend themselves because they feel threatened. i could grant people second chances, but i think this may be an exception to that.

i am a die hard eagles fan. as an eagles fan, i want to embrace michael vick as a big talent who could be a huge asset to the team, especially one whose current starting quarterback, donovan mcnabb, the very reason i became an eagles fan in the first place, is admittedly getting past his prim. mcnabb could easily take a young talent like vick under his wing and make him into a solid starter. but i can't cheer for vick. i can't. i don't want HIM to score touchdowns, even if i want the eagles to score touchdowns. what is a eagles lover and a dog lover supposed to do?

this is all andy reid's fault. but i'll touch on him later.