Not all those protesting the Women of Wall wanted to be identified,

and certainly not everyone was laughing, kissing, loving the moment or dancing, but

the crowd was overwhelming and the blog comments are full of seldom-seen passion.

Wow, What a Rosh Chodesh! 

But with all the photos and media and passionate blog posts and comments,

did you see see one photo like this one?

On that wild Friday morning, an Arab woman and her children were walking in the Old City.

Certainly not exciting like the Nakba photos of this week,

but another incident of Israeli Apartheid going unreported, as they turned to enter the Christian Quarter.

were there a lot of negative headlines and photos in the paper today?

For anyone born after WWII and the establishment of Israel in 1948,

doesn’t that time seem like ancient history?

So maybe those people calling for back to “1967 borders,”

do not have any idea of what that really means?

When Jerusalem was divided in 1948 and under Jordanian rule until 1967:

NO Jews were allowed in The Old City, this was as close as you could get,

and by the way, there was NO place called “Palestine” then.

Now The Old City is open and there is access to the Western Wall Plaza,

 just ask the Arab family in photo.

Well, as free access as those small alleyways will allow.

Today there is freedom for all religions.

 Especially on Friday, Muslim men come to pray in The Old City.

Only those who threaten, throw rocks, want to stab someone,

or plan to blow themselves and others up are not wanted and kept out.

 When the Jordanian Legion captured The Old City in 1948,

they forced out or killed all the Jewish residents.

Then they destroyed ALL the synagogues,

this wall is all that is left today as a reminder of that rampage and destruction.

Some of those destroyed houses of worship were centuries old,

the largest, the Hurva synagogue, has only recently been restored.

Also, after the war in 1948, for those 19 years, 

Jordan closed access to the centuries-old Mount of Olives Jewish cemetery.

Jews could not access their family plots and the graves of loved ones,

plus thousands of graves and their stones were desecrated and ruined.

Today it can still be dangerous to travel to the Mt of Olives cemetery,

but at least it is possible with a police security escort.

The Jewish neighborhood of Yemin Moshe was established 

outside the walls of the Old City in the mid-19th century and is now

one of  the most exclusive neighborhoods in the world.

But from 1948-1967, Yemin Moshe – Mishkenot Shananim was abandoned,

as it was in range of Jordanian sniper fire from the Old City walls.

Now an Arab couple can sit on a bench and talk in the parks of Yemin Moshe,

while hundreds of Israeli school children have a picnic nearby.

A deserted “No Man’s Land” and barbed wire divided Jerusalem, to protect

from those Jordanian snipers who would randomly shoot from The Old City.

This old and rundown shanty area has been renovated, and today part of it is

 Mamilla Mall, which is busy with thousands of shoppers and tourists,

both day and night, summer and winter.

Sadly school trips, not only to The Old City and Jerusalem,

but in all of Israel must have armed chaperons.

One might joke that those students had better behave themselves.

But no joking matter, especially on Jerusalem Day, is the

significance of the reunification of Jerusalem 46 years ago.

Time for everyone, not just the young and modern religious Jews to celebrate,

and to see some positive images of what is really happening!

Yom Yerushalayim Sameach!

Happy Jerusalem Day to all from Jerusalem, Israel!

John McCain thinks u eat latkes on Passover. Jewish faux pas. nyti.ms/17ii9wG

— Tikun Olam (@richards1052) April 6, 2013

But as I’ve shown a few times before, Silverstein himself is ignorant when it comes to Judaism.

In a recent post on recently convicted “Jewish terrorist” Jack Teitel, Silverstein does it again.

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2013/04/10/two-life-terms-for-american-jewish-terrorist-jack-teitel/

Accompanying the post is the following photo and caption:

But what Teitel is wearing in the photo is not a Jewish ritual prayer shawl. This is:

Known as a tallit gadol,  it is worn over the outer clothes during the morning prayers (Shacharit), as well as during Yom Kippur.

What Teitel is wearing in the photo are tzitzit, also known as the tallit katan.

The tallit katan is worn by Orthodox Jewish males not as a prayer shawl but to fulfill the mitzvah (commandment) of tzitzit (fringes or tassels) per the following Torah passages:

Numbers 15:38: “Speak to the children of Israel and you shall say to them that they shall make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments, throughout their generations, and they shall affix a thread of blue on the fringe of each corner.”

Deuteronomy 22:12:”You shall make yourself twisted threads, on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself.”

The tallit katan is worn all day long, usually under one’s shirt, but sometimes, as in Teitel’s case, over the clothes.

Nitpicking? Perhaps, but Silverstein claims to have studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary and portrays himself as someone knowledgeable on Judaism.

Added to the list.

Thanks to IAcquisitive for drawing my attention to this.

And you feel like a Jew

That’s Amar’e

When you try out Hebrew

And want to open a school

That’s Amar’e

If when you’re lacing your boots

You are feeling your roots

That’s Amar’e

If you and baby mamma

Wed under a chuppah

That’s Amar’e

If you feel like the sh*t

While you wear a tallit

That’s Amar’e

As my above attempt at a song parody suggests (besides me needing to work on my song parody skills), I’ve dealt quite a bit on this blog with NBA basketballer Amar’e Stoudemire’s exploration of his Jewish roots.

And in the latest development, Stoudemire will be returning to Israel this Summer – as assistant coach of the Canadian basketball team for the Maccabiah Games.

Tali Dubrovsky, Maccabi Canada

As players did layup drills in a high school gymnasium in Toronto one afternoon in August, John Dore disappeared briefly and returned with a tall guest wearing a black skullcap.

Dore will coach the Canadian basketball team at this summer’s Maccabiah Games, the quadrennial sports event that will begin July 18 in Israel. The man whom he escorted into the gym was his assistant coach for the tournament, Knicks forward Amar’e Stoudemire, whose entrance prompted a hush among the players.

For the eclectic Stoudemire, who has also written children’s books and is the subject of a documentary that will have its premiere April 19 on EPIX, the coaching role is new, but the destination will not be. He visited Israel in 2010, shortly after signing a free-agent contract with the Knicks. That trip, he said then, was spiritual in nature.

The coming visit promises to be uplifting, too, especially if Canada earns the gold medal, something it last accomplished in 1997. Canada has scored a coup just by getting a star of Stoudemire’s magnitude to Israel, notably a star who professed in his previous trip that he believed he might be part Jewish.

That Stoudemire is coaching rather than playing does not disappoint the Canadian organizers, who see his involvement as spurring interest in their team and in the international Maccabi sports movement.

“It was a bit of a dream scenario to reach out to Amar’e because of his discovering his Jewish roots and his playing basketball,” Alex Brainis, the head of Maccabi Canada’s delegation, said. “We figured that if he said yes, this would be a big recruiting tool.”

When offered the post, “Amar’e was nothing but enthusiastic,” Brainis said.

—-

The networking that reeled in Stoudemire worked like this: Brainis, a guard, played for Dore in the 2005 Maccabiah. Dore’s assistant coach there was Glen Grunwald, a close friend who had been fired the previous year as the Raptors’ general manager but still lived in Toronto. Last year, Brainis asked Dore to call Grunwald, who by then was working as the Knicks’ executive vice president and general manager, to help make the introduction to Stoudemire. On a visit to the Knicks’ practice facility during last year’s Knicks-Miami Heat playoff series, Dore formally extended the job offer in a conversation with Stoudemire in the trainer’s room.

Stoudemire did not respond to a number of requests for comment that were made through the Knicks and one of his publicists. Still, by all accounts, he has been actively involved in his Maccabiah assignment. At last summer’s tryouts, he worked with each player. He paid particular attention to the big men, advising them on effective post moves, pump fakes and passes out of a zone.

In one scrimmage Stoudemire “came onto the court and showed how, when the big man gets the ball, the zone collapses on him, and what kind of read he should have,” said Ave Bross, a point guard on the team, who plays at McGill University.

When the Knicks visited Toronto for a mid-February game against the Raptors, Brainis and several other Maccabi Canada officials met Stoudemire for dinner. Brainis said everyone was impressed by Stoudemire’s attention to detail and readiness to get going.

“He asked specific and pointed questions not only about Israel but about the composition of the roster and whether the team would be more effective playing zone or man,” Brainis said. “It was not necessarily a conversation we were expecting to have, but we were all very impressed by his level of knowledge.

“He talked about some of the players who tried out and some who didn’t yet make a decision, waiting to hear from several pro teams. It was all in his head — he definitely didn’t come with notes. It showed that he did his preparation.”

Dore said he and Stoudemire spoke occasionally by phone and had exchanged text messages throughout this season. Stoudemire will attend the final training camp in Toronto in July before the team departs for Israel, Dore said. Canada’s first game there is scheduled for July 19, with its opponent not yet determined.

While Stoudemire has not indicated that his future career plans include coaching, Dore, a native of Woodhaven, Queens, who will be coaching the Maccabiah team for the fifth time, thinks the experience may prove insightful.

“What he’ll bring to the team is individual skill development,” Dore said, adding: “He’ll also be learning about himself, as to whether he wants to pursue a coaching career. This is his first go-round in coaching. It’ll be a great experience for him.”

This could explain the #Maccabeefit hashtag in this tweet.

#maccabeefit #teamstat instagr.am/p/Wxf5ZNqA3E/

— Amar’e Stoudemire (@Amareisreal) March 12, 2013

*With apologies to Dean Martin

• I point you to more information on the festival
• Matzah, matzah and more matzah
• Pesach-related videos!

First up, the mandatory Jewish “boy band” songs:

Then the mandatory “if the events of Passover were reported today” video:

Science!

These get a language warning. But funny nonetheless:

And this isn’t funny. Just spot-on:

Survivors and fighters from the Warsaw Ghetto describe the preparations for the final Passover and Seder Night in the Warsaw Ghetto on the eve of the uprising:

Chag Kasher V’Sameach!

Blogging to resume from tomorrow evening Israel time.

Hat tip: Harry R

Here’s the entire show, which will make you laugh and cry.

Officials at a central Pennsylvania prison say some inmates are falsely claiming to be Jewish in order to get kosher meals.

Warden Mary Sabol says that has led to a dramatic spike in food costs at the York County Prison

County acting solicitor Donald Reihart says officials must honor valid religious conversions. But he says that’s not the case with many inmates.

Reihart says some prisoners game the system because they think kosher meals taste better than regular ones. Officials dispute any quality difference.

A prison spokesman says kosher meals are prepared outside the facility while regular ones are made on-site. The type of food varies on a pre-set schedule.

The prison has about 2,300 inmates. According to the York Daily Record, more than 140 are requesting kosher meals.

I think there’s an easy solution to this problem. Wait until Passover comes. That will definitely separate the men from the boys real Jews from the fake ones.

Update: The story reminds me of this Seinfeld classic.