The 9th of Av… Two Batey Mikdash that we had were destroyed on that day, not to mention the list of other calamities that fell on the nation of Israel on that day. The spies return with the bad report about the land of Israel and the nation is send to wander in the desert for 40 years; Beitar was destroyed, which marks the end of the BarKohva revolt; the site of Beit Mikdash is ploughed and pagan city of Aelia Capitolina is build in place of Jerusalem; expulsion of Jews from Spain; and recently we ourselves had added something to that list.

How could we, who all know that the Second Beit Mikdash was destroyed because of sinat hinam – hatred of your fellow jew for no reason – throw our brothers from their own houses and their land?! How could we do that? To ourselves, in the State of Israel. Have we learned nothing during the past 2000 years? Yes, I am talking about the expulsion from Gaza and North Shomron. By the way, we have disengaged from the capital of the Northern State of Israel by doing that, disengaged from our own history. How could jews beat up other jews? How could they drag their brothers out of the house? How could they?!

You could just feel the wave of hatred that swept Israel in 2005. That hatred is still there, hasn’t moved. Nobody cares about the people that were thrown out, they are left to rot in the karvilot(pretty name for karavans), their land, and therefore job taken away. And we have fresher news – jews are throwing dirty diapers on other jews. It is not as violent, but it stinks with the same hate.

So I am going to fast and mourn on the 9th of Av. I am going to cry for the loss of the Beit Mikdash and imagine how it could stand proudly on mount Moria and how it will be obvious to all that G-d is with his nation. I will mourn the destruction of Gush Katif and North Shomron and our pitiful disability to live peacefully with each other. Only when we learn how to do that will we have both the Third Beit Mikdash and peace in our land.

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Notes: the expulsion was scheduled for the 10 of Av hatashsa or 15 August 2005.
Reason for the fall of the Second Beit Mikdash is described in Talmud Yoma 9b.

ROM(Royal Ontario Museum) brought the Dead Sea scrolls and I took my mommy
and my brother. Yes, I have seen the scrolls in the Israeli museum and I have
been to Kumeran. Just a few months ago, actually :) I wanted to show them.
The thing I enjoyed most was that it made me realize that my brother actually
remembers stuff I tell him! There was a big aerial photo of the Old City
there and we spend quit a lot of time there – he asked where exactly did I go
on Har HaBait and how did I get up, and because we were speaking in English
other people joined in to listen, too. And my brother started to explain that
Shaar ha Ashpot was really the gate via which they took the garbage out and
they made a kosher Menora to stand in Beit HaMikdash. I really enjoyed
hearing him. Well, and playing a tour guide was fun, too.

They brought a few things from Zippori and Mezada as well. And we even read
a few words from a few pieces of the megilot.

We bravely went camping to 6 Mile lake in spite of the rain forecast.

But one tent wasn’t build good enough, and in the other I left the window open, so only
one person woke up dry the next morning, and that wasn’t me!
So we evacuated moza”sh and came back to have a picnic and play by the beach.

Photos here: http://s86.photobucket.com/albums/k84/vicush/Canada09/06Jun-21-6MileLakeCamping/

Rav Goren went to sleep very late on the 8th of June, 1967. Just today he had blown
the Shofar and prayed in the most holy spot to Jewdaism - on the Temple mount and by the Kotel. ( He was with... )

Click here to view my ( crasy schedule of my visit in Israel. )

I am planning to go up Har HaBait! I am incredibly exited, and I hope
that all will be well, and I will be able to go. Yes, I am talking about
the Temple mount. Yes, the one where the first and the second Beit Mikdash stood.
Yes, where the Shhina rested between the keruvim above the Ark with the stone tablets,
the 10 commandments inscribed upon them. And not in my wildest dreams, but in about
2 weeks. I am exited!!!!

Halachikly, noone is allowed up; politically noone is allowed up; and the brave
Israely police forbids Jews to go up, but lets arabs go. Yet, I still ( plan to be there. )

Oh wow! It’s nice and warm finally! The sun is shining, the sky is blue, high and clear.
The birds are chirping their love songs and the Canadian geese are back, walking
on the grass in front of the house and going ga-ga-ga. And everyone is out on the streets
– it is so nice to enjoy warm weather. Yay, the summer is here, proclaim the t-shirts
of some of the most courageous. We grabbed our friends and went for a long walk
in the park, enjoying the sun. It’s warm – it is +3C.

How I miss long sandy beaches... And palms... And the little bars on the beach and watching
the airplanes strike their lights through the clouds making their way to the airport... I even
miss the way the hamsin hugs you all around when you venture out on the street. It seems so good,
especially from under the snow here in Toronto. But since the tickets to Florida cost 1/4 of
the tickets to the Holy Warm Blessed Land of Israel, we went to Florida.


Florida also has palm trees! And artificial ponds with a fountain in the middle. We landed in Orlando
and I couldn't stop looking for the ocean beyond the next row of palms, but Orlando - the home of Mickey Mouse -
is right in the middle of the land. It looks pretty flat - like Yucatán peninsula in Mexico, and has underground
caves and sinkholes just like it, too. Orlando is an entertaiment city - after all Florida is known as a place
where people live after retirement and come to warm up from the north, so some entertaiment is in order. There
is Disney World, Sea World and Universal Studios. And tonns of resorts and hotels, most of them looking for
a looser to buy their timeshare. We landed just in such a resort, determined to enjoy ourselves but not
to succumb to timeshare bla.



Being a history freak that I am, I kept wondering "what was here before". And my husband brought me to the
Spanish fort Castillo de San Marcos. Now the standard answer to who were the first American settlers
is the Mayflower or Jamestown, Virginia. Mayflower is a British ship that came to North America in 1620 and
Jamestown was founded in 1607. The city of St. Augustin, that is guarded by Castillo de San Marcos, proudly
states that he is really the oldest American city, founded in 1565. Can not argue with the date, but what
really is "American"? McDonalds? Wallmart? A wish to eat the biggest burger and buy the most expencive clothes?
Strong will to earn more money? Well, if it's that, the Spanish who founded St. Augustin definitely
were "American". The fort was there to guard the Spanish fleets with gold going from the New Land back home.
The ship was catching Golfstream and the pirates were catching the ship. Pirates of the Carribean is not
just a movie, they were quite real at the time :)

But the fort was standing guard. It was actually never taken in battle, but changed hands as a result
of treaties that happenned elsewhere, never surrendering! We got to see a cannon firing by a squad of 5 guys,
commands shouted in Spanish. They actually cross themselves of fear that the cannon will explode! They claim
that it can blast out a lighthouse on the other side of the gulf. That is about 700 meter. The cannon they
fired looks like the Napoleon ones in Yaffo and it turned out to be French. Generally the cannons were a prise
you took after the battle, scratched the emblem of the previous country, engraved yours, and used it against
his previous owner in the next battle.



The weekend we spend on Cocoa Beach. Oh my G-d! It's a long sandy beach and we walked along it. I even got
a tan and now there is white skin that shows where my necklace was :)




And then, suddendy, the week ended...