The IDF Spokesperson said that the search for a possibly kidnapped soldier has been called off this evening, after all soldiers in the Binyamin and Shomron region had been accounted for.

Two separate soldiers reported seeing an IDF soldier being driven off in the back of a Palestinian car in the early evening. The IDF took the reports seriously and began searching for the car and the possibly kidnapped soldier. Simultaneously they did a head count of all soldiers that might have been in the area.

After a few hours the search was called off.

My fellow jblogger, Paula, the Soldiers’ Mother is having the same reaction to Europe as I had when in Philadelphia last summer.

I asked the really nice Pakistani taxi driver how old London was – I should just do the research. He said – “very old. More than 300 years old.”

Pretty much everything in America (at least in terms of architecture) is, at most, 200 years old so at 300 and more, that becomes impressive. The problem, I realize, is that after living in Israel so long, pretty much nothing tops it. There are parts of Jerusalem that are 2,000 years and more. Rome will likely have similarly aged buildings but I’ve clearly decided my question was wrong. Old , for someone who is in Jerusalem daily, is not a good measuring factor.

Shiloh was the Capital of the Jewish State that had existed here three thousand years ago.  Our People, religion and country existed before there was a language called English, or French or Russian.  We speak, work and invent modern technology in that very same language.

A mile from my house is the Shiloh HaKeduma, Tel of Ancient Shiloh.

Most of my Shiloh neighbors live much closer to the Tel than I do.  Modern Shiloh grew around the old structures.

My sons live and one even works in Jerusalem buildings over a hundred years old.

The Jewish Religion and Jewish Nation are thousands of years old.  We have out-survived all of our enemies, and we’re thriving, thank G-d.  Everything looks different from the perspective of being here in Shiloh, Israel, the Holy Land.

The State of Israel would be in better shape if only our political leaders would accept this and stop trying to more “modern,” like other countries.  We are not the same as other countries, other religions and other societies.

Let’s stand up proudly and state that our country is thousands of years old.  We predate all of those who try to tell us what’s best for us.  The only One Who does know what’s best is G-d Almighty.  That’s it in a nutshell.

Centuries before Jews trekked to Jerusalem for prayer, Jewish pilgrims came to the Mishkan Tabernacle in Shiloh to pray to God on chaggim, holidays and whenever they could.  Yes, the Shiloh where I live is the same Shiloh, which was the spiritual and administrative Capital of the Jewish Nation for almost four hundred years, from the time of Joshua until Shmuel Hanavi, Samuel the Prophet.

Yesterday,  a group of women came from all over Israel to visit and pray at the ancient site, Shiloh HaKeduma, Tel Shiloh.  They have been in touch with me via social media, mostly Facebook  and we have been planning this trip for months.

They traveled from various parts of the country by bus and car for the opportunity to pray where Chana prayed and see the modern Jewish community that has grown on the same site where our ancestors lived and visited.

The highlight, of course, was the chance to pray and say T’hillim, Psalms to God, in the very spot most experts, archaeologists and Biblical scholars believe the Mishkan had once stood.

Everyone agreed that the visit was spiritually exhilarating, despite all their time traveling.

Afterwards, we spent some time in the Visitors Center, where you can buy drinks, snacks, local crafts and souvenirs, including  wine and olive oil from the area.

Pilgrims can’t leave hungry, especially Jewish pilgrims to Shiloh.  The last stop of the group was the local dairy restaurant, pizza place, where everyone ordered a delicious meal,and we even skyped with a member of the group who presently lives abroad. Thank God for modern technology.  Of course, the entire group is due to modern technology, internet and social media.  Almost all of us are writers, bloggers and photographers, so there should be more posts in various sites and blogs in the internet about this visit.

For information about Shiloh HaKeduma, Tel Shiloh, contact visit@telshilo.org.il or call 02-994-4019.  They cater to both groups and individual visitors besides running large public events during Jewish Holidays.

Visit Shiloh Musings.

When we first came to see Shiloh, over thirty-two years ago, while we were looking for a place to make a new home for our growing family, we discovered a piece of land in our Biblical Homeland that was full of delicate wild flowers.  It was clear that this land had been deserted for more than centuries.  There hadn’t been any active communities in Shiloh since Biblical times thousands of years earlier.

In the decades since we moved to Shiloh, it has grown enormously.  Our local school, which opened September 1, 1981, with eighteen students in three classes, now is two large prize-winning regional schools, one for girls and one for boys, from First Grade until Eighth Grade.

Our district extends from the Shomron, Rechalim to the north of us, Ma’ale Levona, to the west, Gitit and Ma’ale Efrayim to the East, Kochav Hashachar to the south and lots of Jewish communities in between.

The Shiloh Ramat Shmuel, Samuel Heights neighborhood was established by Ariel Sharon in the summer of 1981.

While new buildings are being built,  ancient ones are being dug up.

As we earlier families are getting older, it’s wonderful to see that our children are marrying and having children of their own.  And many young families are making Shiloh their home.

Some 3,000 vines, situated near Shiloh in Samaria, were destroyed over the past few days, it was discovered this morning.

The vineyards are visited every few days during this season, so the precise time of the destruction is unclear.

The damage is estimated at 200,000 NIS.

Footprints leading to the Arab village of Kutzrah were discovered by IDF trackers during their initial investigation. About a year ago, a 1/4 of an acre was destroyed in the same vineyard.

“This morning we discovered the difficult scene of some 3,000 destroyed vines,” Itamar Weiss, a worker at the vineyards, told Tazpit News Agency. “This is the fourth time this vineyard has been targeted in the past years.”

Israeli Police said an investigation has been launched to discover the culprits.

Weiss said that residents “expect these crimes to be treated with the same force that crimes throughput the rest of Israel are treated and investigated.”

This incident is one of many attacks apparently executed by Arabs against Jewish agriculture and farming in Judea and Samaria.

In the beginning of November 2012, Tazpit News Agency reported that a herd of some 400 goats was stolen from Avraham Hertzlich, a farmer from the Benyamin area.

An olive grove near Shiloh, owned by Erez Ben Sa’adon, was vandalized at around the same time. Many of the trees were uprooted or cut down, and the irrigation system was damaged.

About a month ago, 70 heads of sheep were stolen from a pen in Sussia.

As is my longtime custom, I went to שילה הקדומה Shiloh HaKeduma, Tel Shiloh to pray on Rosh Chodesh Adar.  Considering the problems Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is having constructing/negotiating his latest coalition, maybe he should go to Tel Shiloh, site of the Mishkan, Tabernacle to pray, too. 

Biblical Chana prayed in Shiloh for a son who would be the national and spiritual leader of the Jewish People to establish monarchy.  So, considering the state of our nation today, Shiloh is the perfect location for prayers.

The Jewish Month of Adar is known as a time of change, reversals, bad to good, winter to spring.

Yes, I was amazed at how richly the trees were in bloom and how beautifully the wildflowers had begun to cover the ground.  Last month, Rosh Chodesh Shvat, we saw green and brown, but now we also see red, pink and white.

Shiloh has been the location for prayer since Joshua made it the capital of the Jewish Nation after the Exodus from Egypt.  The Mishkan, Tabernacle, which had been a mobile synagogue during the forty years we wandered the desert, was set up in Shiloh and stayed there for 369 years.

That location, a large flat area to the north is now being excavated by archaeologists.

Wherever you look you can see signs of ancient building and construction.  Stones don’t naturally look like these.

Next Rosh Chodesh is Nissan.  Women are invited to join us for Women’s Rosh Chodesh Prayers.

New and old observation towers, plus ancient ruins at Tel Shiloh

Visit Shiloh Musings.

On Tuesday afternoon, clashes resumed in the village of Esh Kodesh, after Israeli Border Police permitted nearby Arabs to plow the land between the settlements of Esh Kodesh and Achiah, Hakol Hayehudi reported.

Named after the Piaseczna Rebbe, the renowned spiritual leader of many Chassidim in Auschwitz, Esh Kodesh is a 22-family village overlooking the Jordan Valley (2400 ft above sea level), some 25 miles north-east of Jerusalem. Its neighbor Achiah is another 22-family village.

The Esh Kodesh residents have argued that it shouldn’t take dozens of Arabs to plow one field – one tractor could do the job quite proficiently. Also, seeing as it is well past the plowing and sowing season, they view the “plowing” as nothing more than sheer provocation on the part of their Arab neighbors, and a clear threat to the security of their village.

Residents of the community along with many supporters, who have endured severe clashes with the police earlier in the day, returned en masse to the disputed area and tried to prevent the plowing with their bodies. As usual, the Jewish locals were treated brutally by the border cops, who fired tear gas and stun grenades directly into the group of Jewish civilians, which included women, children and babies.

A group of IDF reservists who had been ordered to the area to secure the plowing Arabs, ended up defending the Jewish civilians from the cops.

“A Druze Border Police officer named Yusuf commanded the event and totally freaked out,” said a resident of Esh Kodesh to Hakol Hayehudi. “He fired tear gas canisters into a group of women and children and used severe violence. At some point a large group of reserve soldiers arrived and once they saw what was happening, they started shouting at the Border Police: ‘Are you crazy? Are you screwed in the brain?’ and demanded that they stop firing on children.”

According to the residents, the police officers themselves then started to debate their own conduct. “The soldiers shouted at them: ‘We are one nation,’ and ‘Look who you’re shooting at,’ and more talk like that, and they became confused and started arguing among themselves.”

One resident related that the debate between the soldiers and the border cops grew louder and turned into mutual cursing. “At some point, the Border Police just became too annoyed at the soldiers and told them: Let’s see you get by here by yourselves, climbed into their jeeps and drove off,” he said.

The Arabs, who had only managed to plow a few meters, saw that they were deserted by their security guards and began to flee. “Once they no longer had the backing of this Druze officer, the Arabs simply turned around and drove quickly away,” said one resident.

In earlier incidents, four Jews were arrested in clashes in the area. An Esh Kodesh resident was arrested by border policemen in the most brutal and violent manner, and later a resident of Givat Gulat Zion was arrested after being asked to present an ID card by police detectives who positioned road barriers separating the settlements of Gush Shilo. Two boys were also arrested, one because the cops claimed he was wanted for questioning, and the other after he refused to show his ID card. Both were released after a few hours, according to the Honenu legal aid society.

During the clashes Jews shattered the windows of a car owned by an Arab who was driving on the country road connecting the villages of Kotzra and Jalud. The driver was sprayed with pepper gas and sustained injuries from stones thrown at him. He was evacuated for medical treatment. The Arabs of Jalud also complained that some Jews had cut down a number of olive trees near their village.

The IDF informed the Jewish residents that the Arab plowing of the fields near their community will continue despite their protests. The residents, for their part, are preparing additional days of clashes and call upon all those who care about the village’s security to come to the area and help prevent the plowing.

Over 3,000 years ago, an ancient Jewish holiday was celebrated by the maidens of Israel. Dressed in white, the daughters of Israel would dance in the vineyards where men would choose them as their wives on the Fifteenth of Av, known as Tu B’Av.  Soon-to-be brides would dance in the community of Shiloh in Samaria, the temporary capital of Israel before the first Temple was built in Jerusalem.

The holiday celebrates many happy events that happened during this time in the course of Jewish history, some which were associated with the Temple in Jerusalem.

“Tu B’Av , however, has a much deeper significance than just an Israeli Valentine’s Day,”  according to Tamar Asraf, the spokeswoman of the Binyamin Council.

“In the very beginning, this ancient holiday was more of a local custom than a national one,” Asraf told Tazpit News Agency.  “The holiday gained national significance when members of the Benjamin tribe, who were forbidden to marry outside the tribe following the Pilegesh B’Givah incident and the Civil War that ensued, were once again allowed to marry into the the nation on the fifteenth of Av during the period of Judges.”

“This is a holiday that signifies not only love, but marriage and the continuation of the Jewish home during times of crisis and challenge in the history of our people,” said Asraf.

The Mishnah explains that “there were no holidays so joyous for the Jewish People as the Fifteenth of Av and Yom HaKippurim, for on those days, daughters of Jerusalem would go out dressed in borrowed white clothing…so as not to embarrass those who didn’t have.” Tu B’Av was instituted in the Second Temple period to mark the beginning of the grape harvest which ended on Yom Kippur.

Following the establishment of the modern state of Israel, Tu B’Av was revived as a national holiday celebrated across the country. In the modern day community of Shiloh, located in the Binyamin region, about 30 minutes north of Jerusalem, Tu B’Av’s historical and traditional elements play a central role in celebrations.

For the past four years, the Regional Council and Binyamin Tourism have hosted an annual Tu B’Av “Dancing in the Vineyards Festival” which features Jewish dance and music for women. Live concerts, dance workshops and of course the traditional dancing in the vineyards of Shiloh are some of the main features of the evening set near the remnants of the biblical Shiloh city.

Avital Horesh, the festival’s artistic director said that organizers, who spent months preparing for the event, expect over 1,000 women from all over Israel to attend. “Last year we had 1,000 religious women attend from all sectors in Israel, both religious, non-religious. This year we expect even more—close to 1,500.”

There will be a number of different dance workshops available including hip hop, Oriental dance, and African dance. A concert will be held after featuring well known Israeli singers from religious and non-religious backgrounds.

“The underlying idea of the festival is to bring women together from all parts of Israeli society to celebrate an ancient tradition that brought our nation closer together thousands of years ago. It’s sharing an age-old national message of reconnecting to our roots and traditions–accessible to anyone no matter their religious background,” concludes Asraf.