tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191695952024-03-08T12:55:38.929+02:00westbankblogPerspectives on what is happening in Israel from a family living in a very newsworthy part of the world.westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.comBlogger411125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-56079254065810121682007-02-07T11:10:00.000+02:002007-02-07T11:14:57.750+02:00Mama's Got A Brand New....Blog!Westbankmama is telling Google to toss their cookies.....I have moved over to wordpress, and my new address is westbankmama.wordpress.com.It may take me a bit of time to start blogging as often as I used to, but I hope to get up to speed soon. Thanks for your patience.westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com130tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-72002138084462165872007-01-31T09:47:00.000+02:002007-01-31T09:50:52.662+02:00Grumble, GrumbleOk, I gave in. They made me switch to the new blogger. I absolutely HATE the idea of supporting Google in any way, but on the other hand, I did not want to switch to another hosting service, because I simply do not have the time to learn a new way of doing things (I am the ultimate un-geek).So I gave in.westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com126tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1169922898603534342007-01-29T08:26:00.000+02:002007-01-28T17:48:01.626+02:00Two Articles Not to be MissedThere are two great articles in the Jerusalem Post web edition - neither one should be missed.The first is about new memoirs of Rabbis who survived the Holocaust. It is unusual in that the information is taken from the prefaces of books on halacha (Jewish law) that these rabbis wrote. The actual text of the book does not contain personal information, but the introductions are rich with inspiring westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com114tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1169919534981349862007-01-28T07:28:00.000+02:002007-01-27T19:47:16.906+02:00Life in the Wild West...BankI write about a lot of things on my blog. Some things could be applicable to anyone, anywhere - stuff about my kids, or my relationship with my husband, for example. Sometimes I write about Israeli politics, or about my life as an Orthodox Jew.Once in a while I write a post that only people who live in Judea or Samaria can relate to. This is one of them.We have a weekly newsletter which comes outwestbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com121tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1169796903286645332007-01-26T09:28:00.000+02:002007-01-26T10:16:17.863+02:00Is It Still Jewish Blog Awareness Month?Well, it's still January, for the next few days, so I thought that I would continue to introduce some of the lesser known blogs from my blogroll (with apologies in advance that I don't have enough time to get to all of them....).A lot of the bloggers that I read are more or less like me - and if you put us all in a room together you could probably not tell us apart.Then again, I read people who westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1169651443576933242007-01-25T07:04:00.000+02:002007-01-25T07:41:32.166+02:00Jews Forced to Flee Their Homes In YemenI just read this post at BokertovBoulder and it is chilling. Members of a tiny Jewish community in a village in Yemen were threatened and forced to flee their homes. Anne also points out that this story has not been picked up by AP or Reuters (I guess threatening Jews is not news, huh?)It seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same. I just wish the Jews there would move to westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1169616838634895222007-01-24T07:25:00.000+02:002007-01-24T07:38:44.526+02:00Grandma's Remedies to the RescueJanuary is a big month for the flu here in Israel, even if the weather is relatively mild. I know of a lot of people who have been sick, and the hospitals are full.The other day I started to feel very tired, my nose started to run, and I had that tell-tale slight ache in my muscles that signals that I am coming down with something.I said to myself that there was no way I could call in sick to westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1169398437708850002007-01-22T07:46:00.000+02:002007-01-22T08:43:09.763+02:00The Customer Is Always...What Was That Again?I love living in Israel, but there are some things that drive me crazy about this country. Although it has improved over the years, and some businesses have changed their attitude, in general most Israeli businesses put customer service way down on their priority list. If in America the prevailing wisdom is "the customer is always right", in Israel it is all too frequently the opposite.Last week westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1169364187233733312007-01-21T09:20:00.000+02:002007-01-21T09:46:36.190+02:00JBlog Awareness MonthOk, I've caught up with some of my blog reading, and it seems that the JIBs are being put off until May, and that the Jblogosphere blog will host them. You can read up about it here, and give in your ideas in the comments section. I would just like to say "Kol HaKavod" to those who are working on this!So, in the meantime, it has been declared that January is Jewish Blog Awareness Month (thanks towestbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1169192728159568762007-01-19T09:32:00.000+02:002007-01-19T09:47:27.293+02:00Who In The World Is Westbankmama (Part 2)For all of you out there who have wondered who westbankmama is in "real life", now is your chance. Go on over to Shabbat Shalom, an OU website, which has reprinted a post of mine, and read the bio at the end. There are some other good articles there too.I started my job this week (there were some technical problems so I couldn't start on January 1st as originally planned). Thank G-d the people westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1169042928999081052007-01-17T16:00:00.000+02:002007-01-17T16:08:49.053+02:00My Dog Ate My HomeworkThere are many different excuses for not blogging. (Dogs not involved, though).New jobs, guests coming for Shabbat, a kid with a broken tooth, etc., etc....I could use all of the above as my excuse, but my real reason is a lot simpler.Our yishuv (and the next one over) did not have internet access for the past two days. That's right folks, two days without e-mail or blogs to read (and I am livingwestbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1168790735779304052007-01-14T17:58:00.000+02:002007-01-14T18:05:35.840+02:00Another Great....Soccerdad hosts another great edition of Havel-Havalim this week - number 102, in fact.Check out new blogger wingslikeadove, a courageous woman who writes about her struggle with depression. She finds comfort in her book of Psalms.I also enjoyed Yisrael's post at MyRightWord about his correspondence with a radical leftist.westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1168768594491135072007-01-14T11:42:00.000+02:002007-01-14T12:31:01.976+02:00Bridging the Generation Gap Using the InternetThe cliche "opposites attract" certainly applies in my marriage. I am rather shy, although I do warm up to people a lot faster than I used to.Westbankpapa doesn't have a shy bone in his body (and one of the westbankkids takes after him in this respect). This manifests itself in many ways. One of them is my husband's total lack of inhibition when it comes to singing. Granted, he has a wonderful westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1168588524958848172007-01-12T09:53:00.000+02:002007-01-12T10:04:11.503+02:00Ping UpdateFor those of you who read my previous post quoting Treppenwitz about pinging, I did an experiment with my own blog. I wrote posts as usual, and I waited to see if the change I made in the Blogger settings would reach blogrolling by itself.It didn't. I just checked David's blog, and when putting the cursor over my blog's name it shows that I supposedly haven't updated it since Monday.Lesson westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1168439502669173942007-01-11T08:22:00.000+02:002007-01-11T07:04:24.193+02:00Well Isn't THAT Special?Machsom Watch, the closest thing Israel has to the Church Lady (just replace religion with secular, leftist feminism and replace "Satan" with "occupation") is trying to expand their operations.It seems that demonizing soldiers who are risking their lives to protect Israeli citizens by manning the checkpoints isn't enough.Now they want to bother the security personnel at the airport. You know, thewestbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1168413579964352022007-01-10T09:05:00.000+02:002007-01-10T09:19:40.043+02:00Trying to See the ForestI usually concentrate on local Israeli news and family events for this blog. I am grateful for other bloggers who are interested in more far-ranging things, so that I stay informed.Michael Totten takes a trip to south Lebanon, six months after the war there. His account is chilling - the "watchers" on the roads spying on who travels in and around Hizballah held territory remind me how wonderful westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1168325006814299302007-01-09T08:39:00.000+02:002007-01-09T09:42:59.933+02:00What Goes Around Comes AroundHaaretz has an article this morning about the increase in numbers of draft deferrments by national religious young men, who are deciding to study in what we call "yeshiva gavoha" versus in "yeshivat hesder". Haaretz uses the term "Ultra-Orthodox" to describe the former, although this is not really accurate in this particular context. What this means practically, is that there will be less men whowestbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1168155775671759132007-01-08T08:34:00.000+02:002007-01-08T08:26:36.246+02:00Solomonia Describes It WellFor those readers of mine who do not read Solomonia, I urge you to do so. His blog is pro-Israel and covers both the national scene and the what happens in the New England area.He has covered the entire controversy surrounding the visit of "Wheels of Justice", a radical left, pro-Palestinian group to Andover High School, which, despite protests, occurred this past weekend.This group was westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1168190438128846152007-01-07T19:13:00.000+02:002007-01-07T19:20:38.206+02:00From Your Mouth to G-d's EarYou know, sometimes those phrases that your grandmother used to say come in handy. I couldn't help but think of the one that my bubbe said frequently "from your mouth to G-d's ear", when I read in Ynetnews.com about the big Fatah rally.It seems that Dahlan, boasting about how he wasn't afraid of Hamas, stated to the crowd, "Let Hamas shoot me".Let's see if he gets his wish.westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1168151280222201672007-01-07T08:09:00.000+02:002007-01-07T08:44:36.536+02:00Alo! Alo! Alo!Westbankpapa and I did something on Friday morning that we haven't done for years. We went to the open air fruit and vegetable market (what Israelis call the "shuk") in Petach Tikva.We were lucky to miss most of the rain, and the crowds were relatively thin, which made it more pleasant for me anyway. I get a bit claustrophobic in huge crowds, and in the summer on a Friday morning the shuk can be westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1167838097992052492007-01-04T10:21:00.000+02:002007-01-04T11:05:11.486+02:00The Good, the Bad, and the UglySome quick links for a busy Thursday morning:The good, Jameel has a story about a heroic New Yorker....The bad, Erica tells about her "terrorist tutor" (really!)....The ugly, Rafi at Lifeinisrael tells about another ugly incident concerning R. Nosson Slifkin.The stubborn, as Tali Fahima tells reporters after being released from prison, "I don't regret anything".The pathetic, as Ynetnews.com westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1167733338022187172007-01-03T08:11:00.000+02:002007-01-03T08:13:50.186+02:00More Than Just a Prefix to "Pong"This post is for those of us who write blogs but are, shall we say, "geekingly challenged". The rest of you can just scroll by...Treppenwitz has an interesting post about "pinging" (is that a real verb?). It seems that some blogrolls can change according to when the blogs contained in them have been updated, (putting the most recently updated blog at the top)and notifying the various sites that westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1167719503385517952007-01-02T08:27:00.000+02:002007-01-02T08:34:19.280+02:00Definitely NOT in the DoldrumsI just went over to Bagelblogger to check out Haveil-Havalim #100. He did a fantastic job! It is worth it just for the fake New York Times headline, but there is also the usual wide variety of Jewish blog posts and a whole section of "memory lane" posts - great blasts from the past.Definitely worth a look folks. (It takes a minute or two to load, just be patient).westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1167718369771886922007-01-02T07:58:00.000+02:002007-01-02T08:12:49.813+02:00The DoldrumsI don't know about anyone else, but I definitely feel that this country has entered a period of the doldrums. I barely glance at the news nowadays, because it just repeats itself over and over.Violence in Gaza between Fatah and Hamas, meaningless pronouncements by the Arabs that Gilad Shalit will be released in lieu of thousands of prisoners released, Olmert anouncing that he will release westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19169595.post-1167587742889933162007-01-01T09:48:00.000+02:002007-01-01T09:41:36.480+02:00Tweety Would Be A Better NameLast night was New Year's Eve. For some strange reason Israelis call it "Sylvester". I have lived here for years, and I have asked quite of few Israelis, both religious and non-religious, about this strange name, and I haven't received a decent answer. (Whenever I hear this name, though, I can't help but imagine a huge costume party with hundreds of people dressed as black and white cats, westbankmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07175250198028829889noreply@blogger.com7