Haveil Havalim # 368

8:34 AM |

I'm up again to host the weekly Haveil Havalim - a carnival of Jewish and Israeli blogs.The Haveil Havalim blog carnival was founded by Soccer Dad and every week a different blogger takes a turn to host a weekly collection of blog posts.

The name "Haveil Havalim" means "Vanity of the Vanities" and is taken from the book Ecclesiates in the Tanach (Old Testament of the Bible). If you blog about Israel or Jewish-related subjects, please feel free to join the Haveil Havalim Facebook group or go and have a look at the Haveil Havalim website.

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Israel, Of Course

There's a lot this week about Israel and Israeli politics. I've decided to split it into two.

In A Letter from Israel, Marina writes about becoming a Hummus Connoisseur.

In Esser Agaroth, Yaakov writes How I Became a Father, Without Even Knowing It - and then cautions you to get your mind out of the gutter. Read the post - it's cute!

Two posts about this week's Nefesh b'Nefesh flight that I found (one my own, sorry, but I liked it).

In Love of the Land: Appreciating This Step They Have Taken

On A Soldier's Mother:Today's Exodus

Israeli Politics

Batya offers her view of the draft in Israel in her IDF, Keep Compulsory Draft post on Shiloh Musings. It's hard to argue with her very simple truth, "Israel needs every single type of soldier." A very worthwhile read!
In This Ongoing War, written by Frimet and Arnold Roth, there is a portrait of a happy murderess. It's hard reading, and important - there is a line (and the title of the post) that is important for us to remember: "Condemnation of terrorism must be universal or it does not exist."
Another big topic this week in Israel and politics was the question of the draft - who should be drafted, etc. Several bloggers voiced their opinions...here are a few:

Muqata wrote: The Charedi Gush Katif.
In Gray Coats are Now Black Coats, Yoni the Blogger weighs in with a slightly different opinion.
Rafi G's opinion is here, in Haredim Prepare for IDF With Pashkevil
Liel Leibovitz offers his opinion here, in Don't Draft the Ultra-Orthodox

And finally, this blog Mutual Responsibility caught my eye with this post: "Baseless Hatred and the Religious-Secular Divide in Israel" should be read by all as we approach the fast of Tisha B'Av.
Another important topic this week was the discussion of occupation and an interesting set of details that have emerged. Turns out, After 45 years, Judea and Samaria are not occupied.

US Politics from This Side of the Ocean

Rivkah writes about her plans for the upcoming US elections on her Bat Aliyah blog - I have to admit, I had to click on this one when I saw the title: Why I'm not voting for Mitt Romney. Apparently, Rivkah's not the only one who feels this way - check out Batya's post onBi-national Israeli Americans To Vote.

And since I find this funny and I like to be balanced, here's someone who says you SHOULD vote...none other than Batya's husband in My Right Word. Yisrael's post: Register AND Vote.

I'll apologize in advance to those I might have left out - it was a busy week (you can read about it here: The Life of a Project, in which a 20 hour project ended up taking 120 hours in the midst of my commitment to do the Haveil Havalim).

So, that's it for me this week - thanks for joining me on a tour of the Jewish and Israeli Blogosphere!