Kol Nidre in Tel Aviv

On Rabin Sq

On Ibn Gvirol

On Dizengoff

The Philosophy

It's 04:55 in the morning the TV's on and the bottle of whisky is half full, or half empty depending on your particular point of view. I am writing this to the light of the tiny bulb in my lamp and the night is just at it's darkest point with the approach of dawn. And as I sit here it occurs to me that this is an awfully strange world to be living in, a world which only really exists in our minds. Every day we get up, we do our thing and we go back to sleep while preparing ourselves to do it all over again the next day. The difference between a good day and a bad day can be in a single phone call, a deal perhaps that went right, a date that went perfectly, a kind word from the boss or a hand dealt from a deck of cards. What makes a bad day for one person will undoubtedly make a good day for someone else and vice versa. Take it down even more, electrical pulses racing through the nerves in our bodies and a couple of chemicals in our brains determine for us whether we feel good or feel bad, the difference between utter depression and complete euphoria can be as little as a couple of milligrams of serotonin released into certain pathways in the brain.

Not long ago I looked up at the night sky and became overwhelmingly depressed. There were so many stars, countless almost infinite planets out there somewhere and the distance between them so large that no human could ever hope to visit them. Undoubtedly life exists somewhere out there in a galaxy so far away that we'll never know about them and they'll never know about us. So how could I, Marc Goldberg, make a difference in a universe so unflinchingly large, a place so incredibly big that it even defies the ability of the imagination to comprehend it?

It was a thought that made me feel smaller than a grain of sand, I was barely even a particle in this massive universe within which we are contained. If the earth was to blow up tomorrow the universe wouldn't even notice. Planets blow up all of the time and we don't even notice, only a handful of people even care at all about what exists outside the realms of our own atmosphere. The nearest star to our own sun, Epsilon Eridani is 10 light years away from us, so far away that no one will ever make it there and back in a single lifetime. The mere conceptions are overwhelming in their nature, perhaps even frightening until I realised the obvious truth.

If all of these stars and planets are so far away from us then what good are they? If the universe is so massive then why would I worry about being a mere speck within it? If the nearest solar system is 10 light years away then what do I care about what is happening there? The size and majesty of the universe is nothing other than the best special effects show that nature has to offer. I can't feel small in a universe that is so big as to be utterly irrelevant, other than to provide all of us with a beautiful display.

And so we live our lives, thinking perhaps that we have done nothing of any value, thinking that our little job in our big,small, medium sized business is nothing special but we're wrong for thinking that. Each of us is so incredibly unique that replicating us in our entirety is a feat that can never be achieved. And don't start getting smart and say cloning, for even were your genetic matter reproduced in it's entirety the experiences that created the person you are, are yours.  You are defined by the life that you have lead and the people around you are defined in no small measure by the impact that you have had on them. Each of us has an amazing capacity to affect the lives of friends, family and complete strangers with the simple act of passing on a kind word or doing them a favour. The opposite is also true. The smallest of unkindness can have the greatest effect. We, each of us, has more power than we will ever truly comprehend to make this world a better or a worse place. Every day when we wake up even by our mood we will elicit a response from those around us.

If we were aware of the power we held this world would surely be a very different place.

So the next time you are tempted to be angry and shout, or tom be impatient, or argumentative remember the power you hold as an individual to shape this world that we all share, this world that we all have a stake in. And perhaps we can all make our world a better place as we sit on a spinning ball located within a mightily irrelevant cosmos.

And so the philosophy is this, however small or powerless you may feel at any given time you are, in fact extremely powerful. You have the power to impact positively or negatively on the lives of all the people you have ever met and all of the people you have yet to meet. Take this to heart and the whole world awaits you with bated breath just to see what it is that you will do next. Remember the philosophy of the power of the individual and the whole world is yours.

Oh and don't forget to look up and enjoy the view.

It's all Political for Bibi | Marc Goldberg | Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel

I can’t fault Bibi as a politician, in fact I would argue that the man is the consummate politician. When it looked like Yair Lapid was going to hit him hard from the Left he pulled the rug out from under him by bringing Kadima into the government. Once Lapid was banished into the netherworld he dispensed with the challenge from Kadima and then they, in turn were thrown back into their post Sharon haze of irrelevance leaving him to reign supreme. Don’t forget that Bibi was even able to manipulate the Labour party into propping up what must be the most Right leaning government Israel has ever seen. In short the man is a political DEMON able to win trust from and dispense with enemies at will.

Read more at The Times of Israel: It's all Political for Bibi 

'via Blog this'

Gambit

Looks like the Coen brothers are right back on track:

Jerusalem on the Cusp of Rosh Hashanah

Samsung Galaxy 3 V Apple iphone 5

I have recently ditched my beloved Apple iphone 4S for a Samsung Galaxy G3.

I took a risk when I changed because I knew nothing about Samsung's phones having never owned one and I was by no means certain that it was the right move. What motivated me to make the change was the difference in price between the G3 and the iphone 5.

At first it was annoying to change phones and get used to the android operating system. The thing is I am not a real technology geek and mainly just want a phone that lets me surf the web easily and obviously make phone calls without a problem.

I have now come to understand that the reason I was looking for those things is because I had never encountered Samsung before. Apple are very good at giving you a complete phone that ensures the owner will never have to get involved in anything more technical than downloading a song or a film on itunes.

The flip side of that is that if, for example, you want to buy a longer lasting battery or extend the memory of the phone then...well, you can't. Unless you buy another iphone with a larger memory of course.

Samsung look at the world differently and herein lies the advantage that they have over Apple.

The other day I bought an 8 gig memory card and inserted it into my Galaxy G3. In that instant I became Samsung's biggest fan. The idea that I could improve my phones memory for a purchase under £10 is revolutionary for someone used to the limitations of the iphone without even realising that the limitations were there!

I have been downloading music for free, the other day I downloaded The Godfather to my phone in HD for free. With every song in my inventory I have the option of making it my ring tone, assigning it to a particular caller or making it my alarm. These are things that with Apple you simply cannot do. This lack of flexibility as well as insistence that you pay through the nose for music and film that you can get on a Samsung for free makes a huge difference when it comes to deciding on what phone to buy.

Now I can't see Apple suddenly making itunes free and therefore I can't see how they are going to manage to maintain their market share in spite of their legions of fans. The iphone 5 really serves to underpin this message. Small, incremental changes such as making the screen slightly bigger really aren't going to be enough.

My big gripe with Apple though is that it always feels like they are on the quest to squeeze more money out of me. The last straw was their new charging system. I have a Bose iphone dock which I use to play my music through my iphone 4S. Had I remained with Apple and bought their new phone I would have had to then spend more money on a converter to make my dock work as well as perhaps a spare cable to plug the phone into my computer. So while Samsung are selling me extras that will improve the performance of their phone and allow me to customise it, Apple are selling me bits and pieces that I need just to make the phone work and aren't allowing me to make any improvements to the memory or the battery or anything else.

This is why I have to recommend the Galaxy over the iphone 5 and in general the Samsung philosophy over the Apple philosophy.

Zionism the Relic of our Past | Marc Goldberg | Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel

Zionism the Relic of our Past | Marc Goldberg | Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel: "have been thinking about Zionism a lot lately, questioning where my deep, burning passion for Israel comes from. For sure ideology can do funny things to a person. Ideology can give people the spirit to move mountains, to revive a dead language, to happily walk to the gallows with the knowledge that they never wasted a moment in fighting for their goals. Ideology will give people the strength to gladly give their lives in the pursuit of an ideal. But ideology can also have a darker side, ideology that is often the midwife of a country could also throw out the baby with the bathwater if kept around for too long."

'via Blog this'

Is the Right all that's Left?

So it's not looking so good for Israel right now. Iran is on the verge of gaining nuclear weapons, Hezbollah have Tel Aviv in missile range, Gaza is a powder keg waiting to explode, missiles are raining down on the South from both Gaza and a lawless Sinai Desert which is being brought under control by an Egypt that is safely in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood. The same Egypt where anti-Semitic television shows are the norm and the Camp David Accords that brought peace between our two countries are being rewritten. That's without going into the civil war currently raging in Syria and all the uncertainty that comes with it.

There is no peace process to speak of with the Palestinians.

As for the West Bank, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Occupied Palestinian Territory:

"The number of settler attacks resulting in Palestinian casualties and property damage has increased by 32% in 2011 compared to 2010, and by over 144% compared to 2009."

We are seeing an increase in violence from Jews on Arabs, where once it would have been unthinkable to find settlers storming an IDF base such an incident has already happened. So called Price Tag attacks against people, property and the IDF are increasingly common. Only yesterday a Christian monastery was defaced in Latrun and an Arab was almost lynched in Jerusalem

Away from the Occupied Territories we are at crisis point with the Ultra Orthodox community and have seen a level of behaviour from Beit Shemesh that horrified the country and to top off that crisis the government failed to agree a replacement for the Tal Law which expired on August 1st and the stipulations of the now defunct law are still being followed in the absence of any new legislation. 

The Prime Minister and Finance Minister raised taxes just as a wave of self immolations from people driven to suicide by their financial difficulties struck Israel. This came a year after nationwide protests hit the streets to complain about the cost of living. In fact these were the biggest demonstrations the country has ever seen and they went largely ignored. The Prime minister set up a committee to deal with it.

In foreign affairs the strategic relationship with Turkey is no more and our relationship with the United States has reached a low point. The calls for a boycott of Israeli products continue to be echoed around the world. The bizarre attempts by the Israeli chief rabbi to intervene in the German Brit Milah controversy ended in fiasco after the German Jewish community told him he was making the situation worse. Liberman is still at the helm of the Foreign Ministry practising precisely the opposite of diplomacy as he growls abuse at the rest of the world, my favourite growl was Danny Ayalon's accusation that South Africa is practising apartheid. 

I don't know what will happen in the future but I have the distinct feeling that anything to the Left of the Right hand side is very soft ground indeed. Despite the fact that Kedima is the biggest party in the Knesset 2 leaders have utterly failed to have any influence over the government and Avodah, once the flagship of the Israeli Left is fractured and a shadow of its former self. 

Earlier today I found myself arguing on a blog and on Twitter with a woman living in Maale Adomim. Amongst the minutiae of a nonsensical argument I had the distinct impression that I am batting for a losing side, that the only views that hold sway in 2012 are those that are filled with fear and vitriol. At a time when reason, nuance and common sense should be involved in the decision making process I see no evidence that there are any important decisions being made at all. I used to be a centrist and I would like to be one now, but I can't find any centre ground to stand on, both the Centre and the Left are so small and fragile that they seem to be sharing the same political space while ignoring one another.

The next election can't come soon enough and yet I worry that the enemies of democracy will only become stronger in it's wake.

Some Pics From Souk H Carmel

Israel Daily Picture

Not long ago I spotted this wonderful blog hilighting pictures from Israel/Palestine's past.

The pics are all authentic and the authors go into some detail about where they are from and the historical quaestions that arise from them.

I reccomend this great blog to anyone who's interested in Israel and history.

http://www.israeldailypicture.com/

The Mossad Killed Yasser Arafat Part 2

The first part of this post detailed a story about an anonymous intelligence officer describing to me how and why the Mossad had gone about assassinating Yasser Arafat. For those to whom it wasn’t clear, the story was made up. It was, however, believable enough that minutes after writing the post the editorial team at the Times of Israel needed to make changes to the post in order to make sure that it was understood to be a hoax story.

Read more