Our Flag

Listeners of my show asked how they can support Israel's 60th celebrations. I responded by saying that everyone should put out a flag of Israel - especially non-Jews! I also asked that people email me photos of the flag. Here are a couple of responses:



Yishai,

You asked for a flag of Israel flying in Oklahoma. You got it. I am in Chickasha, Oklahoma. Pronounced Chick-ah-shay. I would like to wish Israel a happy birthday. I listen you guys every day.

Letting you know we care.

Thanks,
James



Dear Yishai,

I'm HAPPY to submit pics of my support for Israel. My husband also helped put both flags up, side by side.

I dream of one day moving to Israel, but need prayers. Holding fast to the promises given to the Land of Israel and with faith that I may see Her become whole in every way as She was intended to be, I dream one day of moving to Israel.

I enjoy your shows and all the shows at Israel National Radio. Continue in that work. It's the only news I listen to. With LOVE and HOPE for Zion,

~Sharon
Colorado

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Busted for Praying!

Shalom Yishai,

Freedom of religion in America? Only if you are muslim. Then they will install footbaths for you in airports. It's true that Jews are arrested on the Temple Mount for praying, but those who use it as an excuse not to make aliyah should read the stories below:

Praying passenger removed from flight. An Orthodox Jewish man, who wanted to travel to San Francisco by plane, left his seat and went to the back of the plane to pray before the Flight 9 to San Francisco took off. He didn’t follow the flight attendants’ advices to return to his seat. As a result, he was ejected from the flight....

Jewish man removed from airplane for praying.

Some fellow passengers are questioning why an Orthodox Jewish man was removed from an Air Canada Jazz flight in Montreal last week for praying. The man was a passenger on a Sept. 1 flight from Montreal to New York City when the incident happened.

Man arrested at a Rosh Hashanah prayer meeting.

A group of about 100 people in Central Florida claim they were harassed by deputies during a Rosh Hashanah prayer service that ended with an arrest. The group was celebrating the Jewish New Year at an off-campus house near the University of Central Florida Wednesday night when deputies were called to the house.

Jewish passenger saying morning prayers on Chicago train causes panic by putting on tefillin, which other passengers thought to be wires of explosive belt.

A Jewish passenger on a Chicago train was arrested after fellow passengers accused him of being a suicide bomber

City of Los Angeles sends inspectors to shut down "illegal" Kol Nidrei Tefillah

kol tuv,
Dan

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Aliyah or Assimilation?

Shalom and Happy Passover!

My family was very secular, so I was raised as a very secular Jew. I awakened as an adult and decided to make aliyah. I had a very hard time because I was unable to think of a way to make aliyah (our shaliach we had at the time was NOT very helpful). I finally went and found some proof (duh, if my father's military records would prove Jewishness, why wouldn't mine?). Right on my VA (Veterans administration) records it states "Jewish". If this record would work to prove I am Jewish if it was on my father's records (which I could not get because of privacy laws) it will have to prove it if it is on my records. I have been trying now for 11 years and finally got the idea to try my own records to see if it is on them and sure enough it is...

Any way, I am so tired of the complacency in my local community. We have a building but no services. I had to twist their arm and finally got them to hold a half hearted Shabbat service. (Their is not one scheduled again for the time being. They only use the building for funerals and a communal Passover Seder.) They all are afraid to even admit their Jews in public (this is the reason for lack of services I was told). They all want to just ride below the radar and not be noticed and stick out. This is the type of fear and apathy, etc. that allowed the holocaust to happen. If we were more willing to fight for our rights, etc., less of us would have been killed by the Nazis and their supporters. I want info about how I become a member and what your organizations stands for and does.

Thanks,
Scott

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How Can We Help?

Shalom Yishai

I am a Christian Biblical Zionist, living in New Zealand and I listen to as many speakers on Arutz Sheva as I can, including you.

Today I heard the show where you focused on the MKs, the Knesset synagogue, pressing the politicians with a view alternative to theirs, and, most importantly, prayer.

I belong to one of many home groups that meet mid-week around the country (and around the world) to pray specifically for Israel. We are in the habit of imploring HaShem each week to speak His wisdom into the ears of the MKs, that their souls will be truly enlightened, and we ask that they will have ears to hear Him and the courage to do His will according to His Torah.

Now that I have heard you speak specifically on this subject, I write to ask for your suggestions and guidance: how best can we serve in this matter; what is the best way for us to pray so that Am Yisrael receives the blessing and benefit? We certainly sing to Him with joy (one of our songs is Hallelu et Ad-nai kol goyim) and praise Him for the wonderful things He has done, but we believe because He is limitless, infinite, that we can be bold enough to ask Him for more. We want Him to bless His chosen people and His land because ultimately, when the Jews are doing what they should be doing (if they can get the chance to do it, that is, when they're not having to fight off their enemies) then it is for the positive and practical improvement of the people of the world. We especially pray for the religious observant Jews in Israel that He will keep you strong and of good courage and emunah.

We read the Bible and follow the Parashat portion of the week (and Wow! how often events match the portion!), and ensure we keep up with what transpires as much as possible as well as keeping an eye on what could happen further down the track. Bearing this in mind, would it be in order for us to "press" the politicians as you mentioned in your show, and do you have any suggestions as to how we should do this? We desire to be accurate and always respectful.

Thank you for your show and the work you put into it, thank you for the time you have spent reading this, and thank you in anticipation of your response.

Shalom shalom
Judy

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If Everyone Would Be This Honest....

Shalom Yishai!

thank you for some of ur comments about making aliyah...

I'm struggling right now with the fact that I had originally wanted to make aliyah this month... I however, accepted a "good job" that will allow me to save some extra money, yet there in is a trap, saving money in the USA is like trying to collect water with a stainer! expenses always mount and "needs" are always pressing... I am sensing my galut/exile more and more... I do not feel at home even though I struggle to "be at home" - I work for a yeshiva here in chicago... a good paycheck.

I am struggling with not with my desire to make aliyah yet with the timing and functionality of my aliyah. Everyone has said "make sure you have a job when u go to Israel" yet when I went to Israel for the 1st time in 2004 I went with no expectations and no agenda, $900 in my pocket... I stayed three months, and got a job in Tel Aviv, where I actually made more money there then i would have in the USA... SO WHY AM I STILL IN USA/Galut? because I allow my passions for what i'm familiar with to override my concern for what Hashem has for me!

chas v'Shalom... I should use this job to save some mony and get the H*ll out of here... it means breaking up with a girl who may (or may not) be a good shidduch for me, it means leaving my mother (aging, nearly 75), it means leaving a child here in the USA (divorce situation), it means going beyond what is "commonly thought of as common sense" - emunah...

thanks for letting me vent! I have an open TIK, I have paperwork to complete might take me a month or two... who knows perhaps Hashem has put me in this situation so I can fight a little harder...
am chai Yisrael!

Hey, this year would be better than next year, yet next year might be more realistic than right now! whichever it is bezraht Hashem "not by might, nor by power, yet by His Spirit..."

todah! chaver,
yehonatan

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Be Very Afraid

Dear Mr. Fleisher,

Greetings! Quite often when I listen to Israel National Radio, I hear you, among many of the other personalities, recommend that Jewish listeners should seriously consider making "aliyah."

I wonder if that is such a good idea. G-d in His great wisdom sent the Jews into exile. Was this possibly a way of Him making you not quite such an easy target? I am thinking of the old adage, "Don't put all of your eggs in one basket," or perhaps a more modern variation such as, "Don't put all of your United States Marines in one barracks in Beirut."

Or as I roared to one platoon many years ago when I served, "Spread out you ******** (expletive deleted)!"

I agree totally that the Jews were handed a raw deal for no reason whatsoever in many countries. However, "strength in numbers" is no longer all that accurate a statement considering the modern weapons of warfare and the devastation which they wreak.

Thank you. Keep safe and well.

Yours, ever faithfully,
Thomas

====

Hello Yishai,

Why do you want all the Jews in America to go back to Israel? - It seems a strategic disaster to have them all in one place for their enemy to find.

Thanks, Becky
USA

====

Subject: reverse aliya

Yishai,

I haven't read the news yet. I am scared! What happens now to all of you living in Israel, and not just the Shtuchim?

Will Israel be around long enough to make aliya to?

David from Brooklyn

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A 'Fringe' Response to Anonymous

Anonymous comments on this post:

"The Kumah mascots and the Kumatrix disagree. "What Kumah won't do to make their brand of fringe politics hip."..."Got home?"

It's just that some of you guys spew so much vitriol. And at the same time you do the things you criticize. I think it's important for someone to show you your hypocrisy. And I don't even get into the depths of it- the superficial is revealing enough.

There is good in these pages- the shmittah discussion, for example. And the basic aliyah message. But that's gotten lost in your larger fringe ideology. To really get into this website you have to believe that Jews and only Jews belong in Israel and the territories. You demonize the "enemy"- be it Palestinians, Olmert, Livni, the US, conservative Judaism.... This polarization is isolating- you can't have a real dialogue with anyone because we are all the enemy. So what do you accomplish? You become more and more convinced of your own agenda and more removed from the mainstream. And I don't care what you do in a vacuum, but your words and work have impact. I think it's important that someone point out your hypocrisies and let visitors to this site know that your views are far from universal.

My response after the jump


Dear Anon,

While I don't really understand the repeated allegation of hypocrisy, the decision to widen the scope of Kumah's Neo-Zionist message beyond promoting mass Aliyah was not taken lightly. I certainly understand the danger of all the strongly-held positions and sniping providing ear-plug fodder for anyone who is looking for it. But the point of the blog is to provide an honest, authentic voice of a real movement that can't be made to disappear by repeating "fringe" as a mantra.

In this day of media saturation, the only blogs I find worth reading are those with passionate arguments based on strongly held values. There is a huge swamp of timid journalism and self-congratulatory moderate extremists (extreme in their belief in the merit of an idea purely based on its being devoid of ideological bone structure).

I truly believe that there a Neo-Zionists on the left and would be completely open to having them join the blog as readers, commenters and bloggers - but I do not regret widening the scope of the blog's message to include politics though I myself am also sometimes annoyed by individual bloggers' posts picking fights with entire denominations over little things dug up by the amateurs at Ynet (i.e. The Great Mezuza Controversy). Not because these aren't discussions that should be had, but because the Ynet-based route to dialog is paved with ill intentions.

Lastly, your point about the lack of real dialog when opponents are considered the enemy is a blogosphere-wide issue. When someone who is but a bunch of pixels to you attacks your entire worldview, it takes a very secure an confident individual to respond in a loving, yet honest way. Sometimes a good thrashing is truly in order. Often it is not and reflects poorly on a blogger or the blog he/she writes for.

Post-lastly; you wrote: "I think it's important that someone point out your hypocrisies and let visitors to this site know that your views are far from universal."

I do not state or believe that our views are universal. I believe it rubs you the wrong way to see Jews, with and without kippot, unapologetically saying the things we say. That alone threatens your thought-stopping mechanism of being able to label something "fringe" and dismiss it without letting it roam free in your consciousness alongside other ideas, allowing for the survival of the fittest.

Thank you for reading. Please keep it up. You are welcome to choose a moniker that gives you just as much anonymity as "anonymous" but allows us to know it is you when you comment and respond. The Kumah community is universal in its openness to dialog - and I bless our bloggers on this eve of Rosh HaShanah to always type with love and think twice before ripping entire communities of Jews or gerei toshav.

Shana Tova,
Ezra HaLevi
Neo-Zionist Blogmaster

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