Goal Nefesh - גועל נפש

B"H

The Hebrew expression "גועל נפש - Goal Nefesh" stands for something negative. Something arousing the soul in a negative way.

We are in the middle of Chanukkah and maybe I should only mention the most positive subjects. However, we celebrate Chanukkah because the Hasmoneans didn't close their eyes and thus were very aware of all the problems / dangers within their own Jewish society under the reign of the Greeks.

The following problems in Israeli society can maybe not be compared to those in days of the Hasmoneans but, nevertheless, should at least make us thing about what is going on in this country.

Last night, I worked on nightshift at a bakery in Jerusalem. I was downstairs in the shop with one of the workers as at about 3am, we heard loud screams outside. I opened the door and had a look.
I saw two Asian foreign workers fighting with each other. I think that they were from Nepal or one of those countries.

For more then ten years already, Israel has been accepting workers from the Philippines or Nepal who take care of elderly people. Many of them stayed illegaly and were arrested and deported by the Israeli immigration police. Another problem arising is that these foreign workers started building their own churches and other idol - worship places.

However, the two foreign workers were fighting outside the bakery. A guy and his girl - friend. The guy took off his shirt and started beating his girl - friend. I yelled at him in Hebrew to stop but both of them didn't speak anything besides their mother - tongue.
I threatened the guy with calling the police and he apparently got the message. They both disappeared and hopefully made some peace.

You can call me a racist but sometimes it is too much what is going on in the streets of Jerusalem or Tel Aviv which seem to be flooded with foreign workers.

Another incident occured almost two weeks ago when I came back to Jerusalem with a friend. Still in Tel Aviv, we wanted to enter the Central Bus Station and went through the security check. Suddenly one of those African refugees appeared, yelled at the security guard (an Ethiopian girls) "What do you want from me ?" Offensively he lifted up his shirt and pushed the girl aside.
Israelis witnessing the incident were more than upset and this behaviour hasn't caused the African refugees a great sympathy.

For more than half a year, African refugees have been entering Israeli illegaly and most of them came to Tel Aviv in order to find a better life. The Israeli government has never faced such a problem before and couldn't care less. The easiest way is to deport them but the International Christian Embassy and the UN are supporting the refugees. And now it almost seems that southern Tel Aviv is flooded with them. Many of them live in neglected houses around the Central Bus Station or simply sleep in the nearby Levinsky Park.

Two weeks ago, my friend and I tried to make some pictures but were watched with great hostility while walking around with a camera. In the end, I pretended to be a tourist and my friend pretended taking a picture of me. In reality, she took a picture of the Africans sitting in the Levinsky Park. The picture didn't come out to good because she was too excited and also scared.



Some of the Africans and my arm on the right.


Right next to the Levinsky Park and only a few hundred meters away from the Central Bus Station in Tel Aviv you can find a shop called "Kingdom of Pork". The whole area is mostly inhabited by foreign workers from China, the Philippines, Africa, South America, Russia, you name it. And this is exactly the reason why many local Israelis justify the existence of the "Kingdom of Pork" with the excuse that those foreign workers need their pork and we Jews don't have the right taking away the food the strangers are used to.

As far as I saw, the shop is mostly run by Russians and a Thai worker. The majority of the customers may be coming from the foreign workers but I am sure that Jews buy there as well.

You could argue that in Israel, pork is available in many places and the "Kingdom of Pork" is nothing extraordinary anymore. On the other hand, when I see such places in Israel, I am asking myself why no one is doing anything against it. We Jews from the Diaspora made Aliyah and thought that we would find a Jewish state. Our own Jewish country; maybe not too religious but, at least keeping some Jewish identity. When I realized that, in many ways, Israel is just as any other country, I was shocked. I was shocked when pork sausages were served on my Kibbutz. And this already happened more than 13 years ago.

The "Kingdom of Pork" is located in the middle of downtown Tel Aviv and no one seems to be bothered. Where are Satmar or all the other Haredim ? Where is all the protest ?


"Kingdom of Pork"










This just came into my mind even on Chanukkah. Maybe because then the Greeks tried to force the Cohanim to eat pork.

I have to say that I made aliyah because my desire was to live in a Jewish country. Of course, Israel has its security problems and once I witnessed a bomb attack in Jerusalem. Coming to Israel as a Jew doesn't necessarily mean to live in a religious state. At least not now before the Meshiach. However, I am proud to live here and when I am facing all these foreign influences including churches for foreign workers, I am fed up and disappointed at the same time. Where is our Jewish dream of having our own country ?
I see by allowing all these strange people into our country a danger. The Torah tells us that once, we were starngers in Egypt but I wouldn't really compare this situation to what is going on today. Or maybe I just don't want to ...