Naftali’s mother addresses the UN

Racheli Fraenkel, Naftali’s mother, addressed the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva this morning.

The family gave permission for this video to be shared:

Please continue to daven and recite Tehilim for our boys - Yaakov Naftali ben Rachel Devorah (Fraenkel), Gil-Ad Michael ben Bat-Galim (Sha’ar), and Eyal ben Iris Teshurah (Yifrach) - and also for the IDF forces who are working around the clock to rescue them.

May we soon be privileged to enjoy besurot tovot, yeshu’ot v’nechamot (good tidings, salvation, and consolation).

Kayeim Et HaYeled HaZeh

Shavua tov.

Dedicated to the three kidnapped teens, the following hauntingly beautiful song is based on the words recited at a brit milah:

“קיים את הילד הזה לאביו ולאמו… ישמח האב ביוצא חלציו, ותגל אמו בפרי בטנה… יִשְׂמַח אָבִיךָ וְאִמֶּךָ וְתָגֵל יוֹלַדְתֶּךָ… וָאֶעֱבֹר עָלַיִךְ וָאֶרְאֵךְ מִתְבּוֹסֶסֶת בְּדָמָיִךְ וָאֹמַר לָךְ בְּדָמַיִךְ חֲיִי וָאֹמַר לָךְ בְּדָמַיִךְ חֲיִי.”

“Preserve this child for his father and for his mother. May the father rejoice in the issue of his body, and may his mother revel in the fruit of her womb. ‘Your father and mother will rejoice; and she who bore you will revel.’ (Mishlei 23:25) ‘And I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood; and I said to you with your blood live, and I said to you with your blood live.’ (Yechezkel 16:6)”

Please continue to daven and recite Tehilim for our boys - Yaakov Naftali ben Rachel Devorah (Fraenkel), Gil-Ad Michael ben Bat-Galim (Sha’ar), and Eyal ben Iris Teshurah (Yifrach) - and also for the IDF forces who are working around the clock to rescue them.

May we be privileged to enjoy besurot tovot, yeshu’ot v’nechamot (good tidings, salvation, and consolation) during the coming week.

Guest Post: A Never-Ending Week

Shiputzim family friend Sarah lives in Nof Ayalon – the small, tightknit community in central Israel that is also home to Naftali Fraenkel, 16, one of the three kidnapped teenagers.

Yesterday, Sarah posted a beautiful description on Facebook of what she and her neighbors have been feeling, and she graciously allowed me to share her post here:

***

A Never-Ending Week

by Sarah

It’s been a never-ending week.

A never-ending week that started last Friday morning when we woke up to news that one of our boys had been kidnapped along with two other boys when traveling home from school.

Disbelief turned to shock as we grappled to comprehend. What sort of evil person kidnaps kids? And yet again this week, we have been surprised at how much cruelty there is in the world.

It’s been a never-ending week where we’ve been in constant never-ending pain, tears rolling down our cheeks, when we’ve walked around like zombies, when we haven’t been able to smile or laugh. The world goes on as if nothing has happened. Yet for us time stands still.

It’s been a never-ending week where suddenly people know where I live. No longer a small yishuv near Modiin.

It’s been a never-ending week where at every moment we have beseeched God. It’s been a week where I’ve discovered Tehillim and how comforting that the words express our feelings, our pain, and our hope.

It’s been a week where the three mothers have shown us unbelievable emunah, comforted us instead of us comforting them.

And it’s been a never-ending week where Am Yisrael stands strong, together. One family. A week with an incredible feeling of unity and support. A week that community after community around the world have come together in prayer.

A week that we pray, b’ezrat Hashem, will end with our boys coming home to their families, to Am Yisrael.

May Hashem bless our soldiers and keep them safe.

***

Thank you, Sarah, and amen!

Please continue to daven and recite Tehilim for the three boys - Yaakov Naftali ben Rachel Devorah (Fraenkel), Gil-Ad Michael ben Bat-Galim (Sha’ar), and Eyal ben Iris Teshurah (Yifrach) - and also for the IDF forces who are working around the clock to rescue them.

HaMakom Yeracheim Aleihem

Please continue to daven and recite Tehilim for the three kidnapped teenagers - Yaakov Naftali ben Rachel Devorah (Frenkel), Gil-Ad Michael ben Bat-Galim (Sha’ar), and Eyal ben Iris Teshurah (Yifrach) – and also for the IDF forces who are working around the clock to rescue them.

May Hashem watch over and protect them all and bring them home to their dear families, speedily and unharmed.

Eyal Yifrach singing a song he wrote for a wedding.

A new president

“רְאוּבֵן בְּכֹרִי אַתָּה כֹּחִי וְרֵאשִׁית אוֹנִי יֶתֶר שְׂאֵת וְיֶתֶר עָז.”

“Reuven, you are my firstborn, my strength and the first of my vigor; superior in rank and superior in might.”
(Breishit 49:3)

Mazal tov to the State of Israel’s newly-elected 10th President,
Reuven (“Ruby”) Rivlin!

May Hashem grant him the strength, the wisdom, and the courage to serve as a fitting representative of Am Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael according to Torat Yisrael.

Freshly Baked Goods Friday: Pseudo-Kiwi Edition

For her English class, a Shiputzim daughter has to write a paper and do an oral report about a country. She chose New Zealand, and as I type these lines, she’s putting the finishing touches on the project.

Part of the assignment is to prepare a food, and after a bit of research, she decided to bake something called Afghan biscuits, which – according to the all-knowledgeable Chef Google – is a classic Kiwi cookie made with butter, sugar, cocoa, and cornflakes, and topped with chocolate frosting and a whole walnut.

The recipe seemed simple enough, but as is our wont here in TRLEOOB (=the real life equivalent of our blog), the Shiputzim daughter in question had to make a few substitutions.

First of all, seeing as how our mixer is pareve and all, she didn’t want to make the cookies milchig, and so there went the butter.

Next, she didn’t feel that it was worth the effort of making frosting – when we had a tub of chocolate spread on hand that was begging to be used.

And finally, we didn’t have any walnuts – whole or otherwise – and so she used some ground hazelnuts instead.

The result may or may not resemble authentic Afghan biscuits, but since none of us had ever heard of them before, I’m not sure that it really matters…

Pareve Afghan Biscuits

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup canola oil
• ¼ cup plus 2 TBSP sugar
• 1¾ cups flour
• 2 TBSP cocoa
• 2/3 cup cornflakes
• Chocolate frosting (given that this was just for school, we cheated and simply used chocolate spread)
• Ground nuts (to be more authentic, use whole walnuts instead)

Directions

Cream the oil and the sugar. Add the flour and the cocoa. Gently fold in the cornflakes.

Using a teaspoon, drop the cookies on a baking-paper-lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven, and let cool. Frost the cookies, and sprinkle some ground nuts on top (or place one walnut on each cookie).

Have you ever eaten, baked, or even heard of Afghan biscuits?

!בתאבון ושבוע טוב

A divided city

By now most of you have probably seen my in-laws’ incredible pictures of the Kotel from the summer of 1967 – i.e. just a few weeks after the Six Day War. (If you missed the photos, be sure to check them out here.)

Well, I recently discovered that my paternal grandparents z”l spent Pesach 1967 – i.e. just BEFORE the Six Day War – in Israel and took their own amazing pictures of Yerushalayim.

As always, I highly recommend that you click on each of these historic photos for a much better view.

First, two pictures of my bubby z”l standing in front of the Mandelbaum Gate (the former checkpoint dividing Yerushalayim), which was torn down immediately following the war:

The sign reads, “Halt. Frontier Ahead.”

Next, a view looking up Rechov Agron toward the intersection where King George Street becomes Keren HaYesod Street:

Note that modern landmarks such as the Plaza Hotel and the Great Synagogue did not yet exist in 1967.

As you can see in the next picture, Heichal Shlomo, which was only nine years old at the time, still had no neighbors:

The old Yerushalayim train station:

Looking over the King David Hotel toward the walls of what was then the Jordanian-occupied Old City:

Little did anyone know that within a matter of weeks, Yerushalayim would be miraculously reunited, and the Old City would once again be accessible to all. No longer would the Jewish People have to gaze at the heart of the city from afar.

A view of Migdal David (the Tower of David) and Shaar Yafo (Jaffa Gate):

And finally, two views from Har Tzion (Mount Zion) – which remained in Israeli hands after the Jordanians seized control of the Old City in 1948 - looking back toward the Windmill and Yemin Moshe:

Apparently, my grandparents z”l took part in some sort of festive procession (a hachnasat sefer Torah?) leading up to Har Tzion.

לשנה הבאה בירושלים הבנויה!

Happy Yom Yerushalayim!

Chaval al hazman

The following exchange may – or may not – have occurred yesterday somewhere in Israel:

Israeli Son: {comes home after finishing the bagrut in Tanach}

Anglo Mother: So, how was it?

Israeli Son: {annoyed} It was easy!

Anglo Mother: {confused} And why is that a problem?

Israeli Son: Because I wasted all that time studying for nothing!

Anglo Mother: {naively} Maybe the reason it was easy was BECAUSE you studied?

Israeli Son: {wonders for the upteenth time where his mother gets these crazy ideas}

Disclaimer: Any resemblance to actual events is purely accidental intentional.