Sunday, May 30, 2010

Islamic Spymaster: 'Order the Kosher Meal'


The Ha'aretz newspaper has revealed the inner workings of a spy manual created by the man in charge of Al-Qaida operations in Palestine. It has all kinds of juicy tips that every terrorist needs when committing atrocities - umm, I mean, acts of martyrdom for the glory of Allah.

Some of these chestnuts include not tipping off friendly journalists when you are going to blow up a hotel - because they might tattle on you. Even if your journalist pal might stay there, you can't let them know. Man, what a moral dilemma!

Other pearls of wisdom include speaking in code, starting fake catering companies and effective means of going undercover. But the best tip of all? Order a 'Jewish (kosher) meal' when traveling by air. For the religious spy, it is the perfect way to ensure eating a meal that is free of pork, and meets the standards of Islamic religious dietary practice (Halal). "They are marked with the letters U and K" the 42 page manual makes clear.

It's nice to know those Jews are good for something.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

FIVE YEARS OF ROCK!


I can't believe it has been five years since I started this site! On May 26th 2005, I followed the advice of Samantha Israel and started blogging. Since that day, I've written full sized articles, lazy quick blurbs, made original video content, and I've posted lots of photography work. My co-founder, Mr. T, provided the fantastic title and the moral support at the beginning, but most importantly, he tapped into his alter ego, Dr. Love, who provided (and will continue to provide) much needed love advice for all those struggling souls out there.

With random articles, kooky videos, and an advice column, the Shul of Rock became a variety show. It has allowed me to create a living, public diary, and it created a place where my friends and I could keep in touch and interact, long before privacy destroying sites like Facebook became popular . Social networking was in its infancy at the time, and existed only in MySpace, so I decided I'd just create my own network in mid-2005, and I have never regretted the decision.

Random visitors and good friends enliven discussion on this site, and I'm proud of how far it has come. At its height, it had hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of visitors per month, but it was never about the numbers.

Thank you to Shul of Rock congregants and guests for being a part of this site over the years. I have every intention to keep on rockin' in the years to come. I hope you'll join me.

Avi

Monday, May 17, 2010

Israeli Jews Don't Know Much About their American Brothers


The gap between Israeli and American Jews has been growing for years, and now the Israeli education system is going to try to correct it. There is little awareness amongst Israeli Jews about the nature and complexities of American Jewry.

An excellent article at JTA notes that "There is a feeling that members of the world's two largest Jewish populations know less about each other with each passing generation."

A growing disconnect has created a drift in which Israeli Jews are too busy being Israeli to think about the nature of global Jewish identity, and means in which American Jews practice Judaism, or even function within a cultural Jewish milieu. ""Are we a people who has a state, or a state that has a people?” is a question the article seeks to answer.

And don't even get me started on Israeli Jewish ignorance of Canadian Jews. Are there Jews in Canada, really? El-Al flys to Toronto direct? WHY?

The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: Be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge.” - Elbert Hubbard

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Procrastination

I've got a problem with procrastination, but it's not what you think. Watch the clip to find out what the heck I'm talking about:

Monday, May 10, 2010

Let Him Eat Cake

I wanted to write a thank you note to Eleanore and Joey after they serenaded me and proceeded to fill me with a custom-made (yummy) Green Lantern cake. I also wanted to blog about it. Instead of being a little redundant, I thought I'd make this. Click it to enlarge.

Thursday, May 06, 2010

My bad!


Just dusting off the cobwebs here. A month and a half without a post is pretty lame.
I guess I should apologize. Not just to you, dear reader, but to me. I also let myself down. But hey, I was kind of busy, ok?

Busy with what? All kinds of cool stuff! I did some schoolwork, flew to Canada for a month and chilled with family and friends. Then I was off to Boston for a few days to crash Gnome's place and visit my friend Ben. And THEN - that crazy volcanic ash cloud went off, grounding all flights in Europe. You see, my flight from Boston was supposed to go through Zurich, Switzerland, but all flights were grounded. Luckily, Swiss airspace reopened the day that I flew!

It was a not so breathtaking 90 minute layover in Zurich, but flying out was great because I got a great view of the Swiss Alps! The plane even had customizable camera views on individual monitors, so passengers could choose to watch what the pilots were seeing, or other views from the plane.

Seeing Israel appear out of the clouds was an amazing moment - and after a smooth landing, a fun talk with a plainclothes police officer, and two train rides and a bus, I was home.

Now it's back to the school grind - and more Shul of Rock blogging.

For a long time, I have been considering making a regular video blog, perhaps even as a means of sometimes replacing text based updates. Any thoughts?
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