Basij
Apologies to my non-Farsi speaking readers; you have to know Farsi to appreciate this, but you can still enjoy the music. It is a parody on basij. Make sure you turn up the volume.

Elul
Ani Le’dodi, Ve’dodi Li (I am for my beloved, and my beloved is for me)

Elul is the month of the Almighty's intense love for the Jewish people. This is the month of spiritual preparation and accounting that culminates with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

The historical events are listed here:

15th of Nissan 2448 (3318 years ago)
Jewish people were freed from slavery in Egypt (1st day of the very 1st Pesach)
22nd of Nissan (1 week later)
The Red Sea split (seventh day of Pesach)
6th of Sivan (50 days later)
God gave the Ten Commandments to the Jewish people on Mount Sinai (holiday of Shavuot). Moses went up Mount Sinai to learn more details of the Torah directly from God
17th of Tammuz (40 days later)
Moses came down from the mountain, smashed the Tablets of the Ten Commandments, destroyed the Golden Calf, and punished the transgressors
19th of Tammuz
Moses ascended Mount Sinai for the 2nd time to plead for the lives of the Jewish people and prayed with great intensity
30th day of Av (40 days later)
God agreed to spare the Jewish people in the merit of their forefathers. Moses returned to the people. Their lives were spared, but the sin was not yet forgiven
Rosh Chodesh Elul
Moses ascended Mount Sinai for the 3rd time and stayed in the heavenly camp for 40 days. The month of Elul became a special time for drawing close to God
10th of Tishrei (40 days later)
God agreed to mete out the punishment for the Golden Calf over many generations. He then gave Moses a new, second set of Tablets. Moses came down from the mountain with good news for the people: The reunification was complete, and the relationship restored. Thereafter, the 10th of Tishrei was designated as a day of forgiveness for all future generations: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement

For a fantastic collection of essays on Elul, click here

Arab-American Psychiatrist Wafa Sultan on Al-Jazeera

Following are excerpts from an interview with Arab-American psychiatrist Wafa Sultan. The interview was aired on Al-Jazeera TV on February 21, 2006


… There is No Clash of Civilizations but a Clash between the Mentality of the Middle Ages and That of the 21st Century

… The Jews have come from the tragedy (of the Holocaust), and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror, with their work, not their crying and yelling. Humanity owes most of the discoveries and science of the 19th and 20th centuries to Jewish scientists. 15 million people, scattered throughout the world, united and won their rights through work and knowledge. We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people. The Muslims have turned three Buddha statues into rubble. We have not seen a single Buddhist burn down a Mosque, kill a Muslim, or burn down an embassy. Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people, and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them.

Click here to see the entire video.

(Image courtesy of MEMRI TV)

Nation of Believers

We the Jews are not people who glorify war and destruction. In our national celebration of Exodus from Egypt in Passover, we even acknowledge the fallen Pharoh and his army, and do not rejoice over his demise. We celebrate our freedom not with military parades, but with throwing vegetables at each other! Even in our daily Amidah Prayer, we pray only for evil itself to be eradicated, and the evil-doers to be rehabilitated and not destroyed.

On the other hand, we are not a pacifist nation either. We recognize that what comes our way is directly from Our Father in Heaven, for good or for the seemingly bad, but it is ultimately all for good. We will have to put forward our best effort (Hishtadlut) in all our activities; family, work, parenting and even war, and only He will grant success.

For some uplifting images of the Nation of Believers, click here.

Special Report from Honest Reporting

Dear Friends,

There are many myths surrounding Israel's current conflict with the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah. Many of these myths have made it into the mainstream media. As part of HonestReporting's mission to provide our readers with educational tools that can be used when battling media bias, we present the following short film, co-produced with Aish.com The film exposes some of the widely held myths about the conflict as well as the actual facts that the media should be reporting. We encourage you to share this tool with as many people as possible, to ensure fairness and accuracy at this difficult time.



To subscribe to HonestReporting, enter your email at the top of our homepage.

The Ultimate Sacrifice

St.-Sgt. Yonatan Einhorn, 22, of Moshav Gimzo

First Sgt. Michael Levine, 21, of Jerusalem

Lieutenant Ilan Gabbai, 22, of Kiryat Tivon

Please take a full minute and stare right into the beautiful eyes of these brave soldiers, who were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the Jewish Nation.

In these last few hours of preparing for Tisha B'Av, it is upon every one of us to ask ourselves some very basic questions: what is my ultimate sacrifice that I am willing to make for my family, my friends, or my people? do I even feel that I belong to the Jewish People? am I feeling our national pain? do I feel the loss of the temple, or is this just some kind of poetic license? Tisha B’Av is our opportunity to ask questions and look for answers. Have a meaningful fast.

Image courtesy of jpost