Bridges 2 Israel                                                                                           Israel Ramble letters                                                                 November 29 2012 Machtesh Ramon, The great Crater - photo by Doron Stein In This Issue When rain is finally coming Article Headline Not bad for a lake Nachal Pratzim  photo by Ester Inbar Visit Our Sponsor The river of Pratzim photo by Doron Stein Go to my blog A way to help people in the south of Israel Click on the link below To Our Dear Friends and Supporters - In response to the inquiries we have been receiving, we wanted to share with you what Leket Israel is doing now and will continue to do in the event that a cease fire is reached to provide support and respite to families in the South: Supplying 1,400 sandwiches a day to children in shelters throughout Ashkelon Allocating food vouchers to 400 families in need Making Leket Israel's fleet of trucks available to Homeland Security Feeding 500 children on a fun day away from their shelters In the hope of quieter times soon. A way to help Israel click the link above Quick Links  Previous Israel Rambles letters  Quick Links  previous Israel Rambles Our Sponsors Our Synagogue You are invited to join services at our Synagogue any time  see details Cantor - Boaz Pnini Greetings,  How come we do not have a Jewish holiday today?! The 29th day of November 1947 was the day Israel received the UN mandate for a Jewish state. That is today 65 years ago. It was pivotal, finally we had a "kosher" state, not just a dream. But of cause the war started soon after and we are still in the same situation 65 years later.  If you would like to be depressed read the Debka Files. I have been reading it for years. It almost always made me want to run the other way. But now for the first time I am hearing a different tone. Something like.. there is hope.. maybe.. just maybe.. things are changing for the better.   A friend of mine wrote in his facebook: "in a proper world the dome of the sky will be void of iron", luu yehee (may it be so)  I would rather use the real estate of my 100,000,000,000 brain cells to look for hope and signs of a better future rather than staying in the cycles of resentment. The future will not be different unless I can see it different, it is a catch 22.   How about the beauty of Israel? Sweet memories of the land? Special people? Things you will never hear about unless you read Israel Ramble...(That was clever ...)  For example, I have just read how in the middle of the war, when rockets were showering the south of Israel, a cancer afflicted Palestinian girl has been transferred from Gazaby Israelis to get a special expensive drug to save her life in Achilov, a Israeli hospital.  Humanity is everywhere and we all may receive and give it, and these kind of kindness moves me and I would rather fill up my mind, soul and brain with these kind of things and how may we/I grow them.  Read on.. and be at peace,   Boaz Pnini  Bridges 2 Israel When rain is finally coming Listen and enjoy, it is a Israeli children song about thounders and lightening  It is a very aromatic experience when rain is finally coming. The soil has been dry for many months and is yearning and everything in it and upon it is too.   My first memory is of rain. I believe I was less than 3 years old, walking with my mom by the Kibbutz huge dining room and suddenly the sky opened and we got drenched in no time, We flew into the safety of the little parlor or hall connecting the "washing your hands chapel" with the main dining room.   Now I am watching footage of rain in Israel,  it can be very dramatic, with lightening, thunders and of cause the scent of fresh rain. Our biology teacher, I can still hear in my head, will say, well, it is just some microorganisms being awakened, perked up by the moisture, that's all. But for a poet or a loving couple or a child that's everything, a pleasing moment in time, even the memory of it can make sparks in one's soul, and here is the proof.  Going back, or rather forward, to Israel for the coming few months, I am looking forward to have this experience again. Sometimes I can sense this sweet fresh rain scent here in Seattle, a fleeting moment, when the land had been a little dry for few days. and then it brings sweet memories of fresh rain in the holy land. So if you have the impression of my love to the land, you are so.... right.   So now that I have raved and ranted about scents and rains, what a jolly thing it can be, who needs an Iron Dome at all?! Who needs war?! Who needs tanks and canons?! Unfortunately we all do. But what a shame that is the state of affairs. Put enough people in a small enough space and see what happens.. remember the time when we were only 3 billions? now we are 7. Of cause there are many more factors. But.. do not forget the fresh scent of the rain.   In jest,   Boaz Pnini   Bridges 2 Israel A trip to the Flour Cave My dad and I in the Flour Cave all these years ago  Many years ago, my dad and I went to the Flour Cave in the Judean desert.  It was a momentous event for me. I thought it was real flour. It was of cause very fine desert sand and when you crawl through the steep and dusty crevices of the cave you come out , well, dusty. I remember looking forward to that trip for a long time. I am not sure any more what was so .... important and encompassing about it, but it was.   When I called my dad yesterday to ask what he remembers, he only remembered that we were dusty, what a pity. Momentous moments of life turn into dust merely by time. But the sense of total awe is never diminished, it does not have to.   I love this area of Israel and hope to visit it soon.   Boaz Pnini  Bridges 2 Israel  Lake kineret corner Good news for the Kineret. After a very hot summer, the Kineret begun rising again when it is only few centimeters below last year max level.  Please feel free to forward  Israel Ramble letters to your friends and family and anyone who may be interested. You may use the FORWARD link below. Thanks, Boaz Pnini, Bridges 2 Israel LLC

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It is all happening right now

Bridges 2 Israel                                                                                                  Israel Ramble letters                                                  November 19 2012 Photo by Raanan Fromen In This Issue Not bad for a lake Visit Our Sponsor One of the best PR for Israel Not necesarily my views but how refreshing when someone speaks his mind freely without being hampered by PC A way to help people in the south of Israel Click on the link below To Our Dear Friends and Supporters - In response to the inquiries we have been receiving, we wanted to share with you what Leket Israel is doing now and will continue to do in the event that a cease fire is reached to provide support and respite to families in the South: Supplying 1,400 sandwiches a day to children in shelters throughout Ashkelon Allocating food vouchers to 400 families in need Making Leket Israel's fleet of trucks available to Homeland Security Feeding 500 children on a fun day away from their shelters In the hope of quieter times soon. A way to help Israel click the link above Quick Links  Previous Israel Rambles letters  Quick Links  previous Israel Rambles Our Sponsors Our Synagogue You are invited to join services at our Synagogue any time  see details Cantor - Boaz Pnini Dear reader, In a time like this how can I not write?! It is reminding me of the biblical story of Esther a little bit. When she is was told something like: "Do not imagine that in a time like this you will be able to rescue your soul from the faith of your Jewish brothers and sisters."  I have got quite few complains about not writing the Rambles any longer. Complains work.. sometimes.   A lot had transpired since my last ramble. I saved lots of things on my computer. I found photos from 21 years ago when I just moved to the state, in short, time had not stood still.   And now there is a whole new/old war in Israel. So I will write few things, especially contrarians things.   For example. We often talk about "collateral damage", but what about collateral benefits?! I have been still living in Israel at the time of the 1st golf war, when scads missiles where flying our way, and that was eerie. Yet, the spirit of mutual help and support was palpable. When you live under such threats you start to appreciate what really matters in life, it toughens you up and it makes you take life problems in proportion, you have to open your heart and become generous, open your house to strangers who run away from the rockets attacks, you learn how to deal better with life challenges, there are some collateral benefits.   I have a solution to the conflict in the middle east. I do not say that you will like it or that it is practical, and it is not really mine either. I do say it is a solution which had worked before, or in other words "Pray The Devil Back to Hell". If there is a way to empower Arab women to become equal to their men and if they can be true women, instinctively supporting life as all natural women do, they will shame their men to have peace, it is possible, it has been done, watch the movie.    I called my brother who still live in the Kibbutz a couple of days ago. The kibbutz is not too far from Gaza, his wife picked up the phone and answered in a very hushed tone, her voice almost put me into sleep. She was just putting her 4 children into bed in the little MMD, a small bomb shelter every modern Israeli home must have, it is part of the construction code.   She told me they are trying to keep everything as normal as possible, they know the drill and they are not scarred. They had 7 times during the day when the sirens went off. Life keeps going. It seems that being so far away from Israel it is easy to get over worried, when you are in Israel it is more a practical matter, you can do something about it and then you are not so worried.   During the 1st Golf War my in-laws in the US were terrified and they "ordered" my then girl friend (now ex wife) back to the state. For us in Israel it was not such a big deal, something to reckon with. Maybe what we can do here is to help with PR, and Israel needs PR, by forwarding the different youtubes, you may find them on the left panel of this newsletter.   I believe the conflict is very simple; we want to be there and they (the people in power and those who follow them, that is) do not want us to.. end of story.   That was political, personal and crossing some red lines.. personally I feel a lot of hope for Israel and for peace and I deeply believe that out of rotten things beautiful new things can appear, just like in nature.   Boaz Pnini  Bridges 2 Israel PS. After writing the above ramble I called my friend in Israel who lives not too far from the "hot zone". She felt very optimistic about the possible outcome for the current events. She thought that it will possibly bring a new understanding between the sides and that the people of both sides may get a better deal than the current one. i.e. more "normal life" for the people of Gaza and peaceful life for Israelis, lets hope.   We are trained to look at worse case scenarios, but what about best case scenarios?!   PSS. Look at the support we are getting from around the world    Lake kineret corner Good news for the Kineret. After a very hot summer, the Kineret begun rising again when it is only few centimeters below last year max level.  Please feel free to forward  Israel Ramble letters to your friends and family and anyone who may be interested. You may use the FORWARD link below. Thanks, Boaz Pnini, Bridges 2 Israel LLC

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Bridges 2 Israel                                                                                              Israel Ramble letters                                                                        June 23 2012  Photo by Raanan Fromen In This Issue The protest is alive What do you think about that? Still want to help abandoned animals in Israel? Lake kineret corner My interview with Gafnit last month Visit Our Sponsor Interview with Gafnit 2nd part Quick Links  Previous Israel Rambles letters  Quick Links  previous Israel Rambles Our Sponsors Our Synagogue You are invited to join services at our Synagogue any time  see details Cantor - Boaz Pnini Greetings,   By popular demand.. these are the words I was entertaining in my mind to use when I start writing again, and now I can. So, by popular demand.. I am going to give this another shot (shot is a very bad word to use now a days) for these rambles. I have not written for a while and was wondering if it is still going to work.   It seems that these days so much is happening in Israel and in the world and in the US, that being an anchor of sanity is not an easy task. Trying to juggle all the demands of personal, family and community lives, and still have fun and reason and hope, that is a challenge.   Just in the last week in Israel, a man burnt himself alive in the cause of social justice, a 102 years old Haredi Rabbi who was a central figure of the Haredi world, died, leaving not less than 1400 (one thousand four hundred) descendants (That includes great grandchildren of grandchildren, go do the math..). The social protest never stopped surprising in its many faces, facets and initiatives, and all of these in the midst of myriads threats  for the very existence of Israel.   It begs the question, where is it all going to end. to which the obvious answer is: It is not. It is going to continue and keeps changing and reforming until it will become something new we have no idea about now, just like we could hardly envisioned our world as it is now 10 years ago.   So long for clarity. What I find intriguing is that often we feel a sense of certainty in the face of so much ambiguity and senselessness. So be an anchor of sanity if you can.  With hope,  Boaz Pnini  Bridges 2 Israel Israel is alive and so is The Social Protest Photo taken from Fromen Ra'anan  facebook "I shall not stay silent for my country has changed her countenance" Click on photo for a slide show featuring a march from North to South FOR social change  We do not hear as much about the social protest as we did last year, it is incubating, it is vigorous, it is going on, it does not get as much media coverage, but I know, I read their weekly newsletter and a lot is going on.   What is so fascinating to me is the young generation language, articulations and the lack of hate and revolutionary zeal of the destructive kind, focusing on being FORthings rather than against.   For example: At the entrance for Kibbutz Yakum they erected a wall and a tower which looks like the ones which where built in the pioneers' time. They named it "Tower of Justice" and wrote under it: For reasonable priced housing For housing for young couples For students housing For public housing etc..., and what wrongs with that?!  Maybe you can see what it looks like here  Moshe Silman who put himself on fire last week died from his wounds, that was a shocking unprecedented act of extreme desperation and, and is causing a lot of inner reflections and search in the young and all people, who mostly were appalled by the act but also saw the profound desperation that is shouting through this extreme act.   It was very interesting to listen to an interview with Moshe Silman just a month ago in Haifa, where he smoke and drink his coffee and was talking in a clear and composed way about the impossible bureaucracy loops he had to go through to just be able to survive.   I hope this will never happen again, but the discussion and positive activism it spurred may not go to waste, we do want a better and more just state of Israel, I do.   Boaz Pnini  Bridges 2 Israel What do you think about that? Peace love and refugee camp Kind of a last moment thing, watch it, enjoy and tell me what you think. I will share my thoughts next issue. Still want to help abandoned animals in Israel? Learn more about "From Violent to Compassion" watch my recent interview with Bibi  Jamie is a Bar Mitzvah students of mine and is passionate about his Bar Mitzvah project, read below.   Boaz __________________________________________ Hi everyone! I'm here to tell you about an important new development with my mitzvah project! Here's a specific example of the great work Let the Animals Live is doing. I hope you will please donate. Tomy is a stray that Let the Animals Live is helping. His back legs don't function properly so he needs to get a wheelchair to move around on his own. But this will take about $1,000. Let the Animals Live is about half way to its goal, and I think it would be great it we can help LAL get the rest of the way! Please view this video to learn more about Tomy and this fundraiser: Together, we can save Tomy and help him live a full life. Donations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Jamie Lake kineret corner I often visit in my mind and imagination the few moments I had been diving in the kineret last month. It was peace. and I can still feel it when I close my eyes and imagine myself swimming with the fish, up and down layers of blue green water, clean and healing to my body and soul.   The lake is going down as it does every year. This year it is going down slower, either because of less water drawing or because there was enough rain last winter. The summer heat is close to extreme this year so evaporation is at least as normal.  Please feel free to forward  Israel Ramble letters to your friends and family and anyone who may be interested. You may use the FORWARD link below. Thanks, Boaz Pnini, Bridges 2 Israel LLC

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