Boker Tov

Hi to my T2I friends,

It is very interesting to read what people are posting, please keep it up. The only thing worse than no blog is a dormant blog!
Eve was kind enough to forward an email about the City of David website that won an international competition. Although we did not get to walk through the City of David, when we left the Old City and walked along the wall, Yariv pointed it out to us. As with the other sites and the photos that most of us took in Israel, this website seems to beckon us back home. I am sure you will agree with me after you look at the City of David site, thanks Eve, for sharing.
The second link is from Naomi Ragen's column and it is very real. It speaks to me, especially after an interesting event that happening in my high school class. I brought in a newspaper article that appeared to be biased against Israel. I told my class that I was not trying to convince them that my point of view was correct but that they should learn to question what they read (and they were certainly allowed to agree with me!). During our discussion one kid said 'well, it is the same on both sides, the Arabs and the Israelis are conducting genocide'. I asked for clarification and he was adamant that both sides want to kill out the other and won't rest until they do so. His calmness really scared me, and the fact that he then said that there are terrorists on both sides. Carmel, you would be proud of me for at that point I asked him when the last time was that an Israeli suicide bomber explosed a bus in Gaza City. He had no answer but it has made me wonder where his information is from and that we have a lot of work to do to help him and his peers understand the true facts.
I really did not want to turn this into a rant, so I will stop. But I am interested in your opinions and advice of what to say next class to help him and the other students understand what is really happening. We also touched a bit on the presidential hopefuls and that was another hot topic. This week we will have a Purim party and hopefully lighten the mood, but there are a lot of modern applications to that story as well. We certainly have our share of Hamans and depending on who you favor in the Democratic party, we have a Vashti or and Esther too!
Happy Purim to my T2I friends, take time to be joyous (with or without the assistance of adult beverages Norah) and be grateful for the good we have.

Esther

http://www.cityofdavid.org.il
http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/