B"H
I've decried the fact that Tzfat is the pseudo-Kabbalah center of the world since I came to live here and saw what is really flying. I too was roped into moving to Tzfat thinking that real Torah is learned here. I was shocked and sickened when I saw the truth as a new resident of the town. A small group of people have made fortunes in Tzfat selling pseudo-Kabbalah here to the gullible many and the egomanical few. They are the ones who set the tone for what the Kabbalah is understood to be world-wide. It's a huge industry.
Madonna comes to Tzfat regularly to learn pseudo-Kabbalah and gets highly publicized guest of honor treatment in a town in which 30% of the people are unemployed and people can be found picking garbage. That money that she waves in the face of the people of Tzfat, many of whom are poor because they are dedicated to finding the way back to the true Torah of the God of Israel, has been made making moral filth seem attractive and "hip" to young people.
Yep. If you can read Hebrew, see:
http://www.gnews.co.il/news/index.phtml?c=6
What she's learned here didn't prevent her from publicity stunt tongue kissing two other women on stage, both of whom are half her age. Neither have the "holy" Rabbis or fat cats in Tzfat called her down for doing so or made her feel that her image in inappropriate in this city.
Enough said.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan (gagging)
Thursday, August 26, 2004
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ SNORT SNORT
B"H
Recently, the nice guy but do-nothing Mayor of Tzfat, Yishai Maimon, was captured on film slumped in his chair fast asleep at an official function.
The embarrassing photo was published in a local newspaper and caused quite a stir among Tzfat's "who's who".
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, deep in the heart of the poor section of the financially and morally bankrupt town (at least you can't say this is a town that never sleeps)
Recently, the nice guy but do-nothing Mayor of Tzfat, Yishai Maimon, was captured on film slumped in his chair fast asleep at an official function.
The embarrassing photo was published in a local newspaper and caused quite a stir among Tzfat's "who's who".
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, deep in the heart of the poor section of the financially and morally bankrupt town (at least you can't say this is a town that never sleeps)
Tzfat In Danger of Going Bust
B"H
There are rumors, including mention of the possiblity in a local newspaper, that the Municipality of Tzfat has spun out of all financial control and that a Pro Tem Appointed Municipal Government will take over the city. This is called a Va'adah Kru'ah in Hebrew - and it always means "bad news".
When a town or city has disintegrated into a governmental and fiscal shambles and can no longer function even minimally, the Israeli government appoints a pro tem committee that comes in and takes over. They function in lieu of the municipal council, which is ousted. Their job is to salvage what can be salvaged of the city and its properties and to stave off as much further, consequent damage to the town or city's finances as possible.
Tzfat may soon be "distinguished" as one of the very few instances in which a Pro Tem Appointed Municipal Government is sent it.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat
There are rumors, including mention of the possiblity in a local newspaper, that the Municipality of Tzfat has spun out of all financial control and that a Pro Tem Appointed Municipal Government will take over the city. This is called a Va'adah Kru'ah in Hebrew - and it always means "bad news".
When a town or city has disintegrated into a governmental and fiscal shambles and can no longer function even minimally, the Israeli government appoints a pro tem committee that comes in and takes over. They function in lieu of the municipal council, which is ousted. Their job is to salvage what can be salvaged of the city and its properties and to stave off as much further, consequent damage to the town or city's finances as possible.
Tzfat may soon be "distinguished" as one of the very few instances in which a Pro Tem Appointed Municipal Government is sent it.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat
The Klezmer Festival
B"H
Pictures of empty chairs and deserted alleyways were shown in a local newspaper. According to reports, there were more stands selling cheap wares than performance bandstands. This years' Klezmer Festival in Tzfat was the least Klezmerdik and least attended in history.
Most insulting was the fact that a Klezmer performer who was anxiously awaited by fans, was bumped from performing because a TV star showed up and wanted to do his "schtick". How crass. How embarrassing.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat
Pictures of empty chairs and deserted alleyways were shown in a local newspaper. According to reports, there were more stands selling cheap wares than performance bandstands. This years' Klezmer Festival in Tzfat was the least Klezmerdik and least attended in history.
Most insulting was the fact that a Klezmer performer who was anxiously awaited by fans, was bumped from performing because a TV star showed up and wanted to do his "schtick". How crass. How embarrassing.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat
A Bit About Me
B"H
For a bit of information about your intrepid blogger, please see:
http://www.icq.com/whitepages/about_me.php?uin=302658608
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
For a bit of information about your intrepid blogger, please see:
http://www.icq.com/whitepages/about_me.php?uin=302658608
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
THE SIN OF THE "GOOD" PEOPLE OF TZFAT
B"H
There are many people in Tzfat who give tzadakah (charity). They think they are good Jews and doing a great mitzvah that they will be rewarded for.
However, their sin is upon them, for they give tzadakah instead of doing tzedek. They do nothing to uproot the causes of povertization. They take no personal risks to speak out against injustice.
While it is true that tzadakah must be given to the poor in order to save them in a time of crisis, it must not be given in such a way that it perpetuates their estate. The poor must be lifted out of poverty and helped to earn a livelihood if they can, or cared for and allowed to live with dignity by society if they cannot.
There are actually Orthodox Jews who think that no action should be taken to eradicate poverty in society because it is a mitzvah to give tzedakah to the poor! May HaShem help them. They think that כי לא יחדל אביון מן הארץ means that some people must be kept poor so that others can give them charity. I actually heard this interpretation in a course of giving charity and was made heartsick by it. Such "good Orthodox Jews" cannot understand, or will not understand, that the מצוה אל תעשה means to take care that no one, God forbid, dies because no one helped them in their poverty.
Oy vay.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat
There are many people in Tzfat who give tzadakah (charity). They think they are good Jews and doing a great mitzvah that they will be rewarded for.
However, their sin is upon them, for they give tzadakah instead of doing tzedek. They do nothing to uproot the causes of povertization. They take no personal risks to speak out against injustice.
While it is true that tzadakah must be given to the poor in order to save them in a time of crisis, it must not be given in such a way that it perpetuates their estate. The poor must be lifted out of poverty and helped to earn a livelihood if they can, or cared for and allowed to live with dignity by society if they cannot.
There are actually Orthodox Jews who think that no action should be taken to eradicate poverty in society because it is a mitzvah to give tzedakah to the poor! May HaShem help them. They think that כי לא יחדל אביון מן הארץ means that some people must be kept poor so that others can give them charity. I actually heard this interpretation in a course of giving charity and was made heartsick by it. Such "good Orthodox Jews" cannot understand, or will not understand, that the מצוה אל תעשה means to take care that no one, God forbid, dies because no one helped them in their poverty.
Oy vay.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat
A GOOD REASON NOT EVEN TO VISIT - THE KLEZMER FESTIVAL
B"H
Every year large numbers of people crowd uncomfortably into the Old City of Tzfat to see the free shows in the various locations throughout the Old City.
There are no lockers in Tzfat, so unless you have a room here expect to carry your pack on your back. Getting a seat for the shows is difficult. You will be stampeded by the crowd and pushed along helplessly as you approach each show. Sitting on the hard stones, even on a pillow hurts after a few minutes. Crouching or sitting cross-legged on the ground, squashed between people on all sides is worse. Getting a comfortable meal in a restaurant is very difficult. The prices of the rooms to let are exorbitant. The Old City quickly becomes littered and worse - there is a dearth of Port-O-Sans and hardly anywhere to wash one's hands. Strangers have to rub up against strangers to get from one attraction to another. It's hardly modest.
I "did" the festival once - the first year we lived here. No more, thanks.
It would be much more pleasant, modest and salubrious in every way if the Klezmer Festival was spread out in the city. There is plenty of room in the South of the city for instance. The only reasonably-priced room to let I saw is in the South. The room in the South goes for $25 dollars per night, as opposed to rooms in the Old City for $75, $85, even $100 per night. But no shows are ever arranged in the South of Tzfat, or even in the shabbier areas of the Cana'an neighborhood for that matter, and those areas are never advertised...
Somebody hiding something???
P.S. This blog has made it to the search engines!
Endeavor
Every year large numbers of people crowd uncomfortably into the Old City of Tzfat to see the free shows in the various locations throughout the Old City.
There are no lockers in Tzfat, so unless you have a room here expect to carry your pack on your back. Getting a seat for the shows is difficult. You will be stampeded by the crowd and pushed along helplessly as you approach each show. Sitting on the hard stones, even on a pillow hurts after a few minutes. Crouching or sitting cross-legged on the ground, squashed between people on all sides is worse. Getting a comfortable meal in a restaurant is very difficult. The prices of the rooms to let are exorbitant. The Old City quickly becomes littered and worse - there is a dearth of Port-O-Sans and hardly anywhere to wash one's hands. Strangers have to rub up against strangers to get from one attraction to another. It's hardly modest.
I "did" the festival once - the first year we lived here. No more, thanks.
It would be much more pleasant, modest and salubrious in every way if the Klezmer Festival was spread out in the city. There is plenty of room in the South of the city for instance. The only reasonably-priced room to let I saw is in the South. The room in the South goes for $25 dollars per night, as opposed to rooms in the Old City for $75, $85, even $100 per night. But no shows are ever arranged in the South of Tzfat, or even in the shabbier areas of the Cana'an neighborhood for that matter, and those areas are never advertised...
Somebody hiding something???
P.S. This blog has made it to the search engines!
Endeavor
YES, I DO CONCERN MYSELF WITH MATTERS OTHER THAN TZFAT
B"H
Not all of the words in one of the posts below are properly spaced because the C+Ping of it from one site to another crammed it a bit. It is, however, legible, and your indulgence is requested. I simply do not have time to go through it and pick out all the little bugs.
The reason that I do not have time is because I write quite a bit.
Please visit my other blogs as well. You will find links on them to my sites and writings.
The first two blogs listed below are devoted to my thoughts on a number of topics. Yes, I do think about things other than the town without pity that I live in.
DOREEN DOTAN'S ARCHIVE
http://doreendotansarchive.blogspot.com/
הארכיון של דורין דותן
http://haarchionsheldoreendotan.blogspot.com/
THE FOLLOWING SITES ARE DEDICATED TO MY RESEARCH OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS:
Essenes Jewish and Real
http://www.essenesjewishandreal.blogspot.com/
נקבה: הקרבנות והכפרות
http://nekevah.blogspot.com/
The Final Refutation of Christianity - The Dead Sea Scrolls
http://refutationofxianityindeadseascrolls.blogspot.com/
Hidden Theophoric Names and Angelology in the Dead Sea Scrolls
http://hiddentheophoricnamesinthewarscroll.blogspot.com/
The following blog is home to the first section of a two-part book. The first section, entitled מאוצר אור החלופים: פרשת מקץ reveals the presence of the names of the Hebrew vowels in פרשת מקץ. The second section will, please God, show the presence of the names of the cantillation indications in פרשת ואתחנן, an endeavor far more involved, and daunting, than writing the first section of the book.
http://otzarnekudotparshatmiketz.blogspot.com/
THE MORAL/SPIRITUAL SUBSTRATE OF EATING IS A BLOG DEDICATED TO THE ATTEMPT TO UNDERSTAND THE PROFOUND LEVELS OF THE PHENOMENON OF EATING
http://www.moralspiritualsubstrateofeating.blogspot.com/
I would also like to invite you to peruse the preliminary writings currently available on a site that I have just put up entitled
THE IMPERATIVE OF MORAL MATHEMATICS.
In the near future I will have a computer capable of uploading multilingual texts, please God, and will post some of the papers I have written on the topic of Hebrew, the moral alphanumerical substrate of consciousness, language and math.
The material that will uploaded to this site will be revolutionary and present a tremendous challenge to the foundations of Western thought. It constitutes a better alternative to both mathematics as we accept them today and linguistics as well, demonstrating them to be two aspects of one and the same set of moral laws.
http://www.geocities.com/dordot2001/ImperativeOfMoralMaths.html
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
Not all of the words in one of the posts below are properly spaced because the C+Ping of it from one site to another crammed it a bit. It is, however, legible, and your indulgence is requested. I simply do not have time to go through it and pick out all the little bugs.
The reason that I do not have time is because I write quite a bit.
Please visit my other blogs as well. You will find links on them to my sites and writings.
The first two blogs listed below are devoted to my thoughts on a number of topics. Yes, I do think about things other than the town without pity that I live in.
DOREEN DOTAN'S ARCHIVE
http://doreendotansarchive.blogspot.com/
הארכיון של דורין דותן
http://haarchionsheldoreendotan.blogspot.com/
THE FOLLOWING SITES ARE DEDICATED TO MY RESEARCH OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS:
Essenes Jewish and Real
http://www.essenesjewishandreal.blogspot.com/
נקבה: הקרבנות והכפרות
http://nekevah.blogspot.com/
The Final Refutation of Christianity - The Dead Sea Scrolls
http://refutationofxianityindeadseascrolls.blogspot.com/
Hidden Theophoric Names and Angelology in the Dead Sea Scrolls
http://hiddentheophoricnamesinthewarscroll.blogspot.com/
The following blog is home to the first section of a two-part book. The first section, entitled מאוצר אור החלופים: פרשת מקץ reveals the presence of the names of the Hebrew vowels in פרשת מקץ. The second section will, please God, show the presence of the names of the cantillation indications in פרשת ואתחנן, an endeavor far more involved, and daunting, than writing the first section of the book.
http://otzarnekudotparshatmiketz.blogspot.com/
THE MORAL/SPIRITUAL SUBSTRATE OF EATING IS A BLOG DEDICATED TO THE ATTEMPT TO UNDERSTAND THE PROFOUND LEVELS OF THE PHENOMENON OF EATING
http://www.moralspiritualsubstrateofeating.blogspot.com/
I would also like to invite you to peruse the preliminary writings currently available on a site that I have just put up entitled
THE IMPERATIVE OF MORAL MATHEMATICS.
In the near future I will have a computer capable of uploading multilingual texts, please God, and will post some of the papers I have written on the topic of Hebrew, the moral alphanumerical substrate of consciousness, language and math.
The material that will uploaded to this site will be revolutionary and present a tremendous challenge to the foundations of Western thought. It constitutes a better alternative to both mathematics as we accept them today and linguistics as well, demonstrating them to be two aspects of one and the same set of moral laws.
http://www.geocities.com/dordot2001/ImperativeOfMoralMaths.html
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
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