Here is another bit of good news about Israel on a difficult day.  An Israeli medic travelling in  Morocco saved the life of a Moroccan girl injured in a jeep accident.

An excerpt from the story:

“He found a pair of jeeps, one upright and the second crumpled off the side of a nearly indiscernible path. Huddled in the minimal shade provided by the mangled jeep were three young children. One of the children’s legs was at an awkward angle, and her clothing was soaked with blood.

The Israeli medic quickly diagnosed an open fracture at the femur complicated by a rupture of the femoral artery. He staunched the bleeding, stabilized the fracture and, with the young girl not yet out of danger, advised the frantic father on how to maintain pressure on the artery and avoid moving the leg for the four-hour ride to the nearest hospital.”

Find out what happened to the girl when you read the full story by the Jerusalem Post.

A Golani Brigade off-duty soldier was one of the heroes who jumped onto the bulldozer to try to stop today’s attack in Jerusalem.

Here are the details of the actions of the Golani soldier and an off-duty police officer according to Connections Israel. (Connections Israel sends emails with the day’s news from Israel.  To subscribe try this link.)

“BROTHERS-IN-LAW ARE HEROES

IDF Golani Brigade soldier Private Moshe Plasser is the soldier in the blue tee shirt seen on a BBC video around the world. He eliminated the threat by climbing into the driver’s cabin of the bulldozer, shooting the terrorist in the head. Yassam police commando Eli Mizrachi “verified the kill” by firing addition shots at the terrorist at point blank range. Glaser just finished basic training for the elite Egoz reconnaissance unit within Golani three days earlier.

Plasser explained that he was on his motor scooter and saw the bulldozer flip the bus, immediately realizing it was a terror attack.

“I dumped my scooter and began running to the scene, looking for someone with a weapon. Then I saw Oren Ben-Shimon, who had a handgun, and together we tried at least to hit his legs to remove them from the gas pedal.

“He shouted ‘Ala Akhbar’ and then, I took the weapon and fired three shots at him, followed by the policeman verifying the kill.”

Plasser is a brother-in-law of Captain David Shapiro, the off-duty IDF officer who eliminated the terrorist in the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva attack.

Plasser stated “I did what was expected of me, nothing more”.”

Terror has again struck central Jerusalem. This time it appears that a terrorist used (it is still unknown if the terrorist stole the tractor or worked on a construction site or how he got it) a buldozer as his terrorist weapon.  As the story is coming out now (it is only an hour or so since it happened) he plowed the buldozer into the back of an Israeli bus and other vehicles on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem.

Since I have been writing this post, the death toll from this terrorist attack has gone from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 (update) with some news agencies reporting 3.  At least 66 are injured.

News stories:

JPost (English), Haaretz (English), and Walla (Hebrew), Pictures from the JPost, Ma’ariv story with emergency contact numbers (Hebrew),

More later. May G-d be with those injured, those murdered, all the families and the first responders.

Update: According to the Jerusalem Post, the terrorist in the bulldozer was armed and shot one of the police who trying to stop him. The terroist was killed. The policeman was only lightly injured. The terrorist was apparently from East Jerusalem and carried an Israeli identity card.

They think that the bulldozer was from the rail construction project in Jerusalem.

I’ve been reading Gila Weiss’s blog My Shrapnel for some time now.  I found her blog through a link (sorry, don’t remember where) and was so inspired by what I read that I went back and read every post.  She is a gifted writer and an interesting woman. The tag line to her blog is “Life as a “Poor, Sad, Heroic, Victim of Terror”®” Take a look and read, you won’t be disappointed.

Gila is riding in the Alyn Wheels of Love Charity Bike Ride this summer and she needs sponsors. So, go do some good, sponsor her and cheer her on.

Here are the directions she gives on her blog post about the ride:

Here is how to sponsor me:
1) Go to the donate online page
2) Follow the instructions on the page. There are options for US, Canadian and Israeli tax receipts.
3) Please make sure to note that you are sponsoring me: Gila Weiss
4) Drop me a line to let me know so that I can make sure it was properly credited to my “account”. (Of course 100% of the money raised is for Alyn).

Good luck to Gila

[As one who did a 5-day 350 mile ride for MS years ago I say - "you go girl". Of course, I didn't have to deal with Israeli riders when I trained ]

I just shared with you information about the antisemitic church sermon on Sunday.  I opened my daily email from the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA) and I read that an American tourist in Belgium was refused service in a restaurant for being Jewish.  He was reportedly told, “We’re not serving Jews here, get out.” [Read more here.]

What is going on in our world?

This Sunday in Krakow (also spelled Cracow) Poland, a Bishop preached a sermon against “the kikes.”  n case you are unaware, kike is a horrible antisemitic slur akin (but not the same as) the n-word.  I find it quite disturbing that the church a significant figure in a church (edited on 2/17 after reading comments below) is once again preaching hateful antisemitism.

Here is an excerpt from an article by Ha’aretz:

“This was not a pogrom, but it was close. Sunday’s incident in Krakow at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was rife with overtones of hatred. “The Jews are attacking us! We need to defend ourselves,” shouted Prof. Bogoslav Wolniewicz, to stormy applause.

“About 1,000 people gathered for special services Sunday at the church, organized by the Committee Against Defamation of the Church and For Polishness, along with the anti-Semitic Radio Maryja. Local residents were informed of the service by posters that proclaimed: “The kikes will not continue to spit on us.”

“The huge church was packed. People sat on the stairs and stood in the aisles. The service opened, as usual, with prayer and song, but after about half an hour, the 91-year-old bishop of Krakow, Albin Malysiak, began inflaming the crowd with his sermon.” [Click here to read full article.]

Much of the vitriol was spewed against Jan Gross, a scholar and Polish-American who grew up in post-war Poland.  He has published a number of works, including  “Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland After Auschwitz” for which there are a number of reviews, including one by Publisher’s Weekly.

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. [Signature]Reviewed by Deborah E. LipstadtRarely does a small book force a country to confront some of the more sordid aspects of its history. Jan T. Gross’s Neighbors did precisely that. Gross exposed how in 1941 half the Polish inhabitants of the town of Jedwabne brutally clubbed, burned and dismembered the town’s 1,600 Jews, killing all but seven.The book was greeted with a terrible outcry in Poland. A government commission determined that not only did Gross get the story right but that many other cities had done precisely the same thing. Now Gross has written Fear, an even more substantial study of postwar Polish anti-Semitism. This book tells a wartime horror story that should force Poles to confront an untold—and profoundly terrifying—aspect of their history. FearFear, the next time I hear someone say the Poles were as bad as the Germans, I will probably still challenge that charge —after all the damage wrought by the Germans cannot be compared to what the Poles did—but my challenge will be far less forceful. I may even keep silent. 8 pages of photos. (July 4)Lipstadt is director of the Rabbi Donald Tam Institute for Jewish Studies at Emory University and the author of History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. –This text refers to the Hardcover edition. 

Here is what two other blogs are saying about this hateful sermon:

YidWithLid (viaJBlog Central)

OlehGirl

What do you think?

Remember a few weeks ago when Ann Coulter taught the world that all would be perfect if Jews accepted Jesus and became “perfected” and if everything was like the Republican National Convention in NY in ‘04?

Leah Kaufman, a senior at Temple University, wrote a funny song about Ann Coulter. Take a look at it on this you tube clip. Learn more about Leah here.
[hat tip to Unsealed Room]

Ehud Olmert made a speech yesterday in which he remembered Rabin on the secular calendar’s 12th anniversary of his assasination, set goals for Annapolis, and spoke of his teacher Ariel Sharon.

Read the text of the speech here, at the Ministry website.

I’m back.  Wishing you and yours a belated Happy 5768, wishing that you and yours be sealed in the Book of Life and a Happy Sukkot.

I can’t believe how long it has been since I posted.  I have been working working, working and working some more.  The only days I haven’t spent working (on the computer and paperwork side) are the Holy Days when I’ve been doing the rabbinic work.  As my wonderful, late friend LN (z”l) said - for rabbis there is nothing mar about Heshvan.  The month after Tishrei (our month with holidays from the 1st through the 24th) is called Heshvan.  It has no holidays and thus the rabbis called it mar or “bitter” Heshvan. I love our holidays, especially Sukkot, but I can’t wait for a non-mar Heshvan.

May your Sukkot be joyous

This afternoon I watched the documentary “Paperclips” about a Holocaust education project in Whitwell, Tennessee. The teachers, students and administrators of Whitwell Middle School are to be commended for their decision to teach about tolerance via the Holocaust. If you have not seen this movie - see it. You can even check it out of your local library as I did.

If you would like information on the project, go to the following websites:

PaperClips Movie Website

Wikkipedia on the PaperClips project 

The ADL (Anti-Defamation League) and the PaperClips Movie (and curriculum materials)

See the movie and/or use it as a tool to teach others!