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Harpo

Harpo

Registered: 7 August 2008
Location: Edgware

I'm an IT teacher with views about pretty much everything! Blessed with a bevy of five beautiful women (OK, four of them are my daughters), I can't complain (much). I also like the Beatles a bit, which is probably noticeable from my profile photo and which, for the record, I didn't create!

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Bilaam Was Right

By Harpo, July 5, 2009

I was sitting in Synagogue (Shul) yesterday morning listening to the weekly recital from the Torah. On this occasion, as on many others, we read about the continuing wanderings (and indeed "wonderings") of our forefathers as they trundled their way around the desert for four long decades.

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Bibi Raises His Game

By Harpo, June 15, 2009

I don't envy Bibi.

After Obama's speech, there was very little he could say that would invite the kind of platitudes that his erstwhile but exceedingly naive predecessor garnered on his Cairo outing.

That said, I don't think the man did half as badly as many thought he would.

I believe that he stepped up to the microphone and delivered a speech that we as a Jewish nation can be justly proud of.

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Depressing Times

By Harpo, April 23, 2009

I've been digesting the news from around the world for a few weeks and deliberately held back from spewing out the anger that I feel about the injustice that is being purveyed against the State of Israel. I was busy teaching my students instead of doing the following:

I didn't get up there at anti-racism conference in Geneva and deliver a vile, racist and rancid rant, on the eve of Yom Hashoah, Israel and the Jewish world's annual remembrance of the Holocaust.

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De-Christmatizing Chanukah

By Harpo, December 22, 2008

I'd like to start by wishing all of my Jewish visitors a Chanukah Sameach, a happy, joyous Chanukah. May the lights of the Chanukiah, the eight branched candelabra, bring some very special light into your life - and the lives of your families.

Can one think of the light emanating from a Chanukiah as being a "Jewish light"? It's definitely not the same type as the one you find glistening off a Christmas tree.

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Shameful

By Harpo, December 17, 2008

The deaths of 25 Russian travel agents (and the injuries of another 33) in yet another horrific crash on Israel roads is sadly something that doesn't surprise most of us anymore.

Anyone who has visited the amazing country that we proudly call our own is all too aware of the reckless driving practised by many of the countries' citizens. That the crash was caused by coach drivers racing one another on a narrow stretch of road, makes the tragedy all the more heartbreaking.

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JFJP (Jews for Justice For Pork)

By Harpo, December 8, 2008

As an Orthodox Jew, I am very worried about the tainted Irish pork. I mean, these poor animals come in for such a bad press from our people and now this?

I'm considering starting a new focus group with the acronym of "JFJP" or "Jews for Justice for Pork".

After all, if some of our brethren feel the need to front the other JFJP (Jews for Justice for Palestinians) group to stand up for our friendly neighbours, why shouldn't the Ireland's pigs get our unified support too?

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Two Minutes

By Harpo, November 11, 2008

As I stood in front of my students at 11.00 a.m. observing the two minute silence, I tried to imagine what it must have been like going over the edge of the trench into the barrage of bullets and bombs.

What could these poor young men have been thinking, running towards their inevitable deaths? What would have happened if WW1 hadn't taken place? Would the computer I am typing this on exist if Archduke Ferdinand had lived?

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Conditional Respect

By Harpo, November 9, 2008

I believe that Jews, just like everyone else, should be allowed to live where-ever they please. If that means settling land that has always been ours, in places like Hebron or Jerusalem or even Bethlehem for that matter, so be it. Hell, if they even want to live in Gaza, why shouldn't they do so?

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The Not So Great Schlep

By Harpo, November 2, 2008

Last night, I watched Sarah Silverman's ad for the "Great Schlep" where the idea is for Jewish grandchildren to go over to Florida and convince their grandparents to vote for Obama. It was a funny skit and Sarah Silverman is a very amusing young lady, but I really wondered whether the whole exercise was not condescending in the extreme - after all, are the people of Florida that stupid that have to rely on their grandchildren to traverse the United States to make their minds up for them.

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Ahmadinejad's Illness

By Harpo, October 27, 2008

I've just read a news report that states Pres. Ahmadinejad is ill. Perhaps he is suffering from radiation fallout, brought about by all those visits to the Iranian nuclear facilities...

Let's hope he really remembers those trips, for all of the wrong reasons.

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The Reason Why We LOVE The Beatles

By Harpo, September 26, 2008

One of the key reasons why I (and I suspect many others) admire the Beatles and their music so much is due to the group's totally non-cynical and genuine desire to spread the message of love to the world.

This is not a new desire, granted that the Torah tells us to "love our neighbour/friend (in the same way) as we love ourselves" - an ideal that preceded the Beatles by only a mere three thousand years.

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Get A Move On Moshiach!

By Harpo, September 25, 2008

Tonight the man does his thing at Yarkon Park. I wish so much that I could be there and am praying like never before that the Moshiach (Messiah) arrives before 6 pm GMT and whisks me away to Jerusalem (well, dropping me off in Tel Aviv first so that I can see the concert as there are still some affordable tickets left).

I know that I really shouldn't use this as an excuse to pray for the arrival of our saviour, but at the end of the day, does it really matter why I want to be in Israel???

C'mon Moshiach, if you need an excuse to come, can't it be Beatle related?

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Locational Memories I'd Like To Have

By Harpo, September 23, 2008

Why is it that whenever something looks as though it's going well in Israel, somebody has to come along and spoil the party?

We finally got the chance to see the back of Olmert. Things were looking up (well, let's face it, anyone replacing him couldn't do a worse job) and then the news last night that shook us.

Yet another terror attack.
Yet more families shattered.
Yet more blood seeping into the cracks between the pavement that winds its way throughout the Jerusalem we so love.

Yet more.

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Ramon's Insult

By Harpo, September 15, 2008
I think it should be clear that my political views vis a vis Israel are not exactly what one would call "left wing". Then again, I certainly wouldn't want to ally myself with anyone from the right who believes in going around shooting Arabs.

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