IN MEMORIUM

FROM THE JERUSALEM POST

IDF Maj.-Gen. (res.) Israel Tal dies at age 86

By JPOST.COM STAFF  
09/08/2010 12:37 

A senior commander, helped lay the foundations of the IDF and also conceived and established the Merkava tank project.

IDF Maj.-Gen. (res.) Israel Tal (Talik), 86, died Wednesday morning at Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot, the IDF Spokesperson reported.

Born in 1924 and raised in Beer Tuvi, Tal, a senior commander, helped lay the foundations of the IDF and also conceived and established the Merkava battle tank project. He will be laid to rest on Sunday. He is survived by his wife, Hagit, and son, Yair.

Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, the forum of the general staff, senior commanders, regular and reserve soldiers all saluted Tal for his work, legacy, and contribution to the security of Israel over the many years.

"The image of a legendary warrior and commander, who helped lay the foundations of the IDF armored corp and developed the Merkava tank, one of the world's best tanks, has left us this morning," Ashkenazi said. "Talik, as everyone called him, belonged to the founding generation of the IDF, in which the security of the state of Israel, protecting its borders and the peace of its citizens was his objective from the beginning of his lifetime to his last day," explained the chief of staff. "Talik wrote the golden pages of the magnificent, but bloody, history of Israeli security. His personal and unique contribution to the defense of Israel cannot be measured. May his memory be blessed."

Tal, known to foreign experts as "Mr. Armor," was the seventh commander of the armored corps between the years of 1964 and 1969. He was in charge of designing and producing the Merkava tank, the IDF's main battle tank. In 1972, he was called to service by then chief of general staff David Elazar to serve as head of the military operations branch and as deputy chief of staff.  After the Yom Kippur war, he was appointed to command the southern front. In 1974, he finished his military service and served as a security consultant to Shimon Peres. In 1978, Tal returned to service and developed a new organizational plan, the establishment of a field forces command.

Tal was named one of the top five armored commanders in history at The Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor in Fort Knox, Kentucky, along with Maj.-Gen. Moshe Peled, General George S. Patton, Creighton Abrams and German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.

SPIRITUALLY HEAL THYSELF

From BBC News: August 11, 2010

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China scholars warn of growing national arrogance

By Shirong ChenBBC China Editor

The scholars said economic confidence was serving as a foundation for arrogance

China's confidence in its economic development is turning into "national arrogance", according to a group of Chinese scholars.

In a set of articles published in a state newspaper, they said that China might have lost its traditional virtue of being modest and become intolerant.

And they questioned whether the world was misreading China or whether China itself was to blame.

The cause lay in a refusal to accept some universal values, they said.

'Contaminated'

China is definitely changing. It is now the world's second largest economy after the United States. It has the biggest foreign exchange reserve - about $2.5 trillion (£1.6tn).

And it is seen by the rest of the world as being more assertive, whether with regard to climate change or disputed claims in the South China Sea.

There has been a clear surge of nationalism inside the country. The ancient Chinese tradition of keeping a low profile seems to have been abandoned.

In the group of articles published by the International Herald Leader, a newspaper affiliated to the state news agency Xinhua, the four authors say aggressive and belligerent voices fill the nation's media and intoxicate popular thinking.

One of them, Mr Ye Hailin, says: "The huge achievement made during 30 years of reform and opening-up has brought about unprecedented material wealth for the nation.

"At the same time, it's inevitably contaminated us with unprecedented conceit and arrogance."

In a materialistic society, the authors say, the nation has lost its soul. The root cause, they say, lies in China's self-claimed uniqueness.

Another of the authors, Yang Rui - a presenter on China Central Television's English channel, CCTV 9 - earlier this year wrote a book entitled Who Is Misreading China?.

He argues: "The outside world would doubt our system even more if we harped on about the unique situation in China in defence of our values, which are not universally applicable."

The unorthodox but more balanced comments are particularly remarkable against the backdrop of China's strong reaction to the changes in the US strategy in East Asia.

In recent weeks, a barrage of verbal attacks were followed by naval exercises by the Chinese fleet in the South China Sea.

The international community will now watch the debate closely, to see whether it will lead to any changes in China's behaviour on the world stage.

THE LESSON:

 וְאָמַרְתָּ בִּלְבָבֶךָ: 'כּחִי וְעצֶם יָדִי עָשָׂה לִי אֶת הַחַיִל הַזֶּה'. וְזָכַרְתָּ אֶת ה' אֱלֹהֶיךָ, כִּי הוּא הַנּתֵן לְךָ כֹּחַ לַעֲשׂוֹת חָיִל, לְמַעַן הָקִים אֶת בְּרִיתוֹ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע לַאֲבֹתֶיךָ כַּיּוֹם הַזֶּה ".


While this Passuk from Devarim refers to war, its applicability has been widely used in Mussar as a curb against arrogance.


Lately, I have been meeting people from different walks of life that attribute every success in life to their own greatness and ability. What's worse, is that with this arrogance comes the by-product of looking down on others and treating others as inferiors in word and deed. This is a disease that I see a lot with top executives and anyone in command.


Meet someone out of their enviroment and they can be almost human; at times even charming. Put them in command or stick a dollar bill in front of their face and they metamorphisize into this beast that knows no boundaries of conduct. Between man and G-d they seem almost perfect (so frum looking in Shule),  between man and man...not so good.  


As a nation, we have a serious arrogance problem. We have started to believe our own press about how smart we are. The Israeli "Mankal (CEO) Syndrome" has infected our leaders in both Israel and the Diaspora.


The first step in "rehab" is recognizing that you have a problem. The Chinese have recognized it.  But, we have to go further in our national Teshuva. We must announce the problem  and sincerely accept that we will not do it again. Do we have the individual and national will? 


Well, it's Elul and how we act towards others is number 1 on the Teshuva hit parade. Let's hope we can all change for the better.




  דע לפני מי אתה עומד


SHABBAT SHALOM

The Flotilla & "Moderate Arabs"

A picture is worth a thousand words. Below for your entertainment, is "back to the future" antisemitism direct from the "new" "moderate" Middle East.

Of course for good measure, there is a bit of anti-Americanism. I guess the President's campaign to win hearts and minds in the Arab world went only so far.

Taken from the ADL web-site.

Oh, by the way, do Jews have a Holocaust complex....hmmm   

Anti-Semitism in the Arab/Muslim World The Arab Media's Response to the Gaza Flotilla Affair Posted: June 4, 2010 Editorial cartoonists across the Arab and Muslim world have once again turned to using "deeply offensive and hateful caricatures of Israelis and Jews" in their criticism of Israel in the aftermath of the Gaza flotilla affair. The following compilation shows how in the days following the Israeli naval operation in the Mediterranean Sea to stop the flotilla from reaching Gaza, editorial cartoonists across the Arab world turned the incident into a cause célèbre, with cartoons punctuated with vicious anti-Israel and anti-Semitic images. Bahrain Akhbar al-Khalij, June 9, 2010 Headline: "Medal for Mentally Ill Killers."; on the sign: “Martyrs’ Blood”. Akhbar al-Khalij, June 3, 2010 Akhbar al-Khalij, June 1, 2010 Headline: "Monster of the High Seas Created by the West." The ship is labeled "Freedom Flotilla (Marmara ship)." Egypt Ruz al-Yusuf, June 2, 2010 Headline: "The Israeli Attack on the Freedom Flotilla." The Israeli soldier is saying: "I don't understand why the world is so shocked by me. I've been killing innocent people all my life and no one spoke to me (about it)…" Ruz al-Yusuf, June 1, 2010 Sign on the ship's mast reads "Aid." Man on the Island of "Gaza." Al-Yaum as-Sabe', June 1, 2010 Headline: "A Zio-American Arab Massacre." The ship is labeled: "Freedom Flotilla to Gaza." Gaza - Hamas Filastin, June 2, 2010 Headline: "Washington is Preventing the Condemnation of the Flotilla Massacre." Jordan As-Ghad, June 9, 2010 Headline: "Israel Rejects the Establishment of an International Investigation Committee about the Gaza Flotilla Massacre". As-Sabil, June 2, 2010 Ad-Dustur, June 1, 2010 Headline: "Gaza is Receiving the Peace Activists."  Al-Yaum as-Sabe', June 1, 2010 Headline: "A Zio-American Arab Massacre." The ship is labeled: "Freedom Flotilla to Gaza." Al-Ghad, June 1, 2010 Headline: "Freedom Flotilla." Al-'Arab al-Yawm, May 31, 2010 The ship is labeled: "Freedom Flotilla." The world and the shark with the Israeli helmet are awaiting the ship. Kuwait Al-Jarida, June 2, 2010 Al-Jarida, June 1, 2010 Lebanon Al-Balad, June 2, 2010 Al-Balad, June 1, 2010 Headline: "19 were killed in the Israeli Massacre against the Freedom Flotilla." The ship is labeled "Gaza" and on the flag it says "Freedom." An-Nahar, June 1, 2010 Headline: "Israeli Attack against the Freedom Flotilla." The sign is pointing to "Gaza." Oman Al-Watan, June 9, 2010 On the sign: "Punishing the Pirates"; on the man in the right: "The Justice of the west". Al-Watan, June 2, 2010 The ship is labeled "The Freedom Flotilla" the man on the left represents "The West." Oman, June 1, 2010 The ship is labeled "Freedom Convoy." The man being beaten by the Jewish man is holding a sign that reads: "Free Gaza." Al-Watan, May 30, 2010 On the upper part of the sand watch: "Life," on the lower part: "Gaza." Palestinian Authority Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 2, 2010 Qatar Ash-Sharq, June 11, 2010 Headline: "International Calls to Lift the Siege"; the man on the right is representing the "Besieged Gaza"; on the right handcuff: "The Israeli occupation"; on Obama: "The besieged Obama "; on the left handcuff: "the Jewish lobby". Ash-Sharq, June 3, 2010 Headline: "International Criticism Regarding the Massacre." Ar-Raya, June 2, 2010 Al-Watan, June 2, 2010 In Arabic: "Terror State." Ar-Raya, June 1, 2010 Headline: "The Latest Israeli Horror Movie." Ar-Raya, June 1, 2010 Headline: "The Israeli Naval Attack against the Freedom Flotilla." Ar-Raya, May 30, 2010 Saudi Arabia Al-Iqtisadiyya, June 2, 2010 Okaz, June 2, 2010 Al-Watan, June 1, 2010 Al-Madin, May 31, 2010 The ship on the left is the "Freedom Flotilla," its flag reads "Aid." The ship on the right is "The Israeli Navy." The piece of land on the right: "Gaza." Al-Madin, May 30, 2010 Headline: "Expectation:" on the sign: "Gaza." Syria Syria News, June 1, 2010 United Kingdom Al-Quds al-'Arabi, June 3, 2010 On the dolphin: "Freedom Flotilla." Yemen Al-Gomhoria,, June 12, 2010 Headline: "The Pirates’ Flag" Al-Gumhuriyya,, June 9, 2010 Headline: "The Pirates’ Flag" Headline: "The Attack against the Freedom Flotilla"; on the dove: "The International Peace"; the Israeli pirate is saying: "They are terrorists". Al-Jumhuriyya, June 2, 2010 In Arabic: "The Blood of the Freedom Flotilla Martyrs."

BORSCH, BASKETBALL AND CHESSED

FROM THIS WEEK'S JEWISH PRESS


Milt And Wilt - Mitzvah Men           (More Articles By Jerry IzenbergJerry Izenberg)


Posted Jul 21 2010

Up in the Catskills, a man named Yossi Zablocki is trying to save the last blintz palace of my generation's youth. The place is called Kutsher's Country Club.

Once, in another world, I spent a lot of time there covering basketball players and boxers in training for their big fights and sports clinics that drew 500 high school and college coaches from all over the country for a week each summer to study under coaching giants like Red Auerbach, Nat Holman, Ara Parseghian and Adolph Rupp.

The man who made it all work was Milton Kutsher.

It was also a time when that slice of the world, comprised of a great wall of kosher hotels affectionately known as the Borscht Belt, had its own lifestyle, bringing with it a ritual of family summers that didn't need jet air travel or Caribbean beaches or the green felt tables of Las Vegas.

This was the world of stomach-bending meals, group activities, games of "Simon Says," and stages that served as training grounds for future giants of comedy.

And the soft, summer evenings were punctuated from one end of the "Jewish Alps" to the other with the steady thump, thump, thump of basketballs dribbled against asphalt and the perfect punctuation mark of the swish as the ball arched through the net.

Everybody had a team of pseudo-busboys and bellmen straight off college campuses. Who could ever forget the sight of the world's tallest bellhop out of Philadelphia - a man named Wilt Chamberlain - and a surrounding cast of players featuring talent like Frank Ramsey, Cliff Hagen and Neil Johnson?

But all of that pales against the memory of what Kutsher put together with the Maurice Stokes Basketball Game.

The story begins in 1958 on an airplane bringing the Cincinnati Royals home from Detroit, where they had been seven-point losers to the Pistons in the first of a best-of-three, opening-round NBA playoff series.

The plane was more than halfway to Cincinnati when Maurice Stokes, a man with a spectacularly impressive body and who, at 6-feet-7, had been the NBA's third best rebounder, suddenly collapsed.

That he did not die right there was the direct result of a determined flight attendant who raced for an oxygen tank. That he did not die en route to the hospital in Cincinnati was the direct result of an alert pilot's radio message and a dedicated EMS team.

That he continued to live for 12 years, during which time he taught himself to speak again and became wheelchair ambulatory, was the result of his own refusal to die.

And that he could defy every medical prognosis surrounding his affliction with encephalitis during that period was the direct result of the remarkable self-sacrifice of teammate Jack Twyman, the determination of the best players in the NBA, who set an unequalled standard for caring, and the total commitment of a Catskill hotel owner: Milton Kutsher.

It was Twyman, a Cincinnati resident, who camped out in the hospital, had himself declared Stokes's official guardian and managed the money while he struggled to find more. And it was Kutsher who set in motion the vehicle that cut into the debts, paid the bills and kept on paying them.

Kutsher gave new meaning to the phrase "Do the right thing" by creating the Maurice Stokes Basketball Game, which drew NBA All-Stars and became a lifesaver for the needy in the basketball community.

Back then salaries were more modest, there was no NBA pension plan and a lot of family members of basketball players needed help.

It began when Twyman, desperate for funds to keep Stokes alive, happened to hold a chance conversation with Kutsher.

"We got a hotel and we got an outdoor basketball court," he told Twyman. "You tell the players to get here and we'll house them, we'll feed them and we'll sell the tickets."

Nobody who ever played in the game asked for a plane ticket to get there. Started on an outdoor court, the game ultimately moved into a gym that held 4,000 and sold out every time.

In a world of far too many ersatz heroes, I-got-mine role models and what's-in-it-for-me superstars, the game was a success thanks to Kutsher and a handful of NBA players with a social conscience.

First it helped Stokes pay his bills, but it lasted well beyond him. Every time others talked about calling it quits, Kutsher reminded them that the game helped Gene Conley, the old Celtic, with his heart problem and his wife with a throat operation. It helped Gus Johnson when he was dying of cancer. It helped Timmy Bassett's kid, who had a malignant brain tumor. It helped Howard Porter go to drug rehab to turn his life around. It helped John Williamson get dialysis treatments. It helped Mark Jackson's agent, who was shot on a street corner while walking his dog.

Over the years, nobody could match Wilt Chamberlain's quiet devotion. Part of it was his friendship with Kutsher. But a lot of it had to do with Chamberlain's feeling for the men with whom he played the game.

Year after year, no matter where he was, no matter what he was doing, when it came time for the game, Chamberlain got there no matter what it took.

In 1970, Chamberlain was rushing back from Europe to play in the Stokes game when he was caught on a connecting flight with a hijacker who took the plane to Denver.

After the plane landed in Chicago and the police took over, Chamberlain chartered a plane. It could take him to Kennedy Airport, but it couldn't land near Monticello because it was too big. So then he hired another charter to take him from Kennedy Airport to tiny Sullivan County Airport.

Chamberlain was anxious aboard the flight that he'd miss this game. When they finally reached the airspace over the airport, they discovered that the runway lights had all conked out.

"Find me a field and land," Chamberlain told the pilot. "And call the car rental people."

You don't argue with someone 7-feet tall who has biceps bigger than your thighs.

The pilot complied and had a car waiting, but Chamberlain didn't get to Kutsher's until the game was ending. He stayed to sign autographs.

"I would do the whole thing over again tomorrow if we had another game like this," Chamberlain told Kutsher.

Stokes and Kutsher and Chamberlain are gone. But the memory of what they did still shines like a beacon.

I hope Zablocki can save Kutsher's. I want one day to turn off the New York State Thruway, see the mountain and turn back the clock. And if I do, I know just as sure as God inspired kreplach, a part of me will hear the ghostly thump of the ball against the asphalt and see Milton Kutsher smile again. (JTA)




Jerry Izenberg is the columnist emeritus for the Star-Ledger of New Jersey. He was inducted into the National Sportscaster and Sportswriters Hall of Fame and is a winner of the Associated Press's Red Smith Award for major contributions to sports journalism - often considered the Pulitzer Prize of sports journalism. This is his 59th year in the business.



SHABBBAT SHALOM!!!

Another Bulb Has Dimmed In the Lamp of Moderation

Ben Hashmashot along with all of Bet Yisroel mourns the loss  of Harav Yehuda Amital.

Rav Amitals' biography taken from the Yeshivat Har Etzion Web-Site appears below:


HARAV YEHUDA AMITAL zt”l


Harav Yehuda Amital was born in 1924 to Yekutiel Ze’ev and Devora Klein, of blessed memory, in Transylvania. He studied Torah in Cheder and Yeshiva, and had virtually no formal secular education. In 1944, with the Nazi invasion of Hungary, he was taken to a labor camp, while his entire family - parents, sister and brother - were taken to Auschwitz where they were murdered. After his liberation, he arrived in Eretz Yisrael at the end of 1944, on Chanuka 5705.



When he arrived in Israel, Rav Amital continued his yeshiva studies at the Hevron Yeshiva in Jerusalem and received Semikha from Harav Isser Zalman Meltzer zt”l. He also studied under Harav Yaakov Moshe Charlap zt”l. While in yeshiva, he joined the Haganah. The following year he married Miriam Meltzer, daughter of the Chief Rabbi of Rehovot and granddaughter of Rav Meltzer. Rav Amital fought in the War of Independence, in the battles of Latrun and the Galilee. After the war HaRav Amital became a Safra de-Dayna (rabbinic secretary) in the Rabbinical Court in Rehovot and two years later, he became a Ram (instructor) in Yeshivat HaDarom.



Rav Amital predicted that the phenomenon of Yeshiva students being exempted from army service would increase the friction between the religious and secular community, on the one hand, and would lead to emotional and ideological distance between the Yeshiva students and the State of Israel, on the other. He also felt that the Religious Zionist community needed to have its own institutions of high level Torah study. He therefore helped formulate the idea of Yeshivot Hesder, and took an active role developing the first hesder group at Yeshivat HaDarom.



After the Six Day War, he was called upon by Mr. Moshe Moskovic - a survivor of the 1948 battle for Gush Etzion - to found a Yeshivat Hesder in Gush Etzion. In 1968, the Yeshiva opened in Kfar Etzion, not far from the settlement of Alon Shevut of today, with 30 students. It has since grown into an institution with hundreds of students from Israel and abroad, a women’s division in Migdal Oz, and a renowned teacher’s college.



At the yeshiva’s inception, Harav Amital turned to Harav Aharon Lichtenstein with the request that he join him as Rosh Yeshiva, and in 1971 Harav Lichtenstein agreed. Their joint leadership resulted in the unique development of the Yeshiva and to its profound spiritual influence in Israel and abroad. As exemplified by its leaders, the yeshiva is open to a variety of opinions and approaches. Harav Amital insisted that the yeshiva, while maintaining a staunch commitment to Torah study and mitzva observance, be “built with windows,” sensitive to the needs of the outside world, listening to “hear the baby’s cry.”



For many years Harav Amital represented Yeshivot Hesder in the Army network, holding the rank of Captain in the Armored Corps.



A prominent public figure in Israel, with abroad impact on matters of religious and national concern, Harav Amital founded the Meimad movement in the 1980’s in order to give voice to the moderate camp within Religious Zionism and to preserve avenues of communication with the broader public. After the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin z”l in 1995, he was asked by Prime Minister Shimon Peres to join the government as Minister without Portfolio in order to bridge the growing divide between the religious and secular populations in Israel.



Harav Amital returned to the yeshiva in 1996 and, upon reaching the age of 80, requested that the yeshiva select his successors before his retirement, so as to avoid conflict or confusion. Harav Yaakov Medan and Harav Baruch Gigi were appointed roshei yeshiva alongside Harav Amital and Harav Lichtenstein in 2006. Harav Amital formally retired in October 2008, and Harav Mosheh Lichtenstein assumed his duties as the fourth rosh yeshiva.



Harav Amital passed away at the age of 85 on the 27th of Tamuz, 5770 (2010), and was mourned by thousands of students and admirers. He is survived by his wife of over 60 years, Rabbanit Miriam Amital, as well as their five children (all of whom are involved, together with their spouses, in Torah education in Israel), and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Yeshivat Har Etzion, the institution he founded and guided for over four decades, will always remain his great legacy to Am Yisrael.

Katie Bar The Door - Kamtza Bar Kamtza Redoux

I have no words for the anger that I experienced upon hearing the following story.

An Israeli young lady who grew with very little connection to Judaism from a religious sense, currently, living and working in a U.S. city decided to visit a Shule on Yom Kippur. Simple enough.

Not to be, she was greeted at the door by an "usher" and asked for her ticket. She did not buy a ticket. Naively thinking that Shules were open to all Jews, she showed up wanting a connection to....the seating committee of the Shule....the Treasurer....the Yizkor Appeal....the people that bid for Aliyot? What could it be? Oh yeah...G-D. You know our Creator for whom we do all of this.

Gee, what would happen if we let all non-affiliated Jews into our Shule whenever they wanted to come thought the Shule officials....Katie Bar the Door!!!

She was escorted out of the Shule.

She know communes with Evangelical Christians.

Feeling a little queasy...GOOD!      

Crayons & Beat Downs

Brawl erupts at Calif. kindergarten graduation (FROM MSNBC)



School placed on lockdown after fight involving 20 adults; 2 women held

Updated 11:53 p.m. PT, Thurs., June 24, 2010


VICTORVILLE, Calif. - Two women have been arrested following a parents' brawl that interrupted a Southern California kindergarten graduation ceremony, authorities said.

School officials placed Puesta del Sol Elementary in the desert town of Victorville on lockdown Wednesday morning after a fight broke out among a group of parents.

The San Bernardino County sheriff's department says witnesses told deputies several mothers were involved in an argument and it got physical in a field near the ceremony. Several men then jumped into the fray and the incident turned into a brawl.


A deputy later arrested two people on suspicion of being a disruptive presence at a school. Witnesses said they were the main instigators. In all, 20 adults were identified in the brawl. A school district official said there could be more arrests.

No injuries were reported.
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FROM PARSHAT BALAK:


ה מַה-טֹּבוּ אֹהָלֶיךָ, יַעֲקֹב; מִשְׁכְּנֹתֶיךָ, יִשְׂרָאֵל.  How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, thy dwellings, O Israel!


As our communities get "frummer" we have to keep in mind the two extremes. On the positive side, an an enemy praising us for our family life, our modesty and our consideration for others. On the other hand, a world in which parents brawl at a kindergarten graduation. I'm afraid were losing sight of the intrinsic morality that lies inside of each human being.

We need to be "goodly" and not "frumly". Lately I have been seeing too much "frumly" and too little "goodly".

From the Haftorah:


 הִגִּיד לְךָ אָדָם, מַה-טּוֹב; וּמָה-ה" דּוֹרֵשׁ מִמְּךָ, כִּי אִם-עֲשׂוֹת מִשְׁפָּט וְאַהֲבַת חֶסֶד, וְהַצְנֵעַ לֶכֶת, עִם-אֱלֹ-יךָ. {ס} It hath been told thee, O man, what is good, and what the L-RD doth require of thee: only to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy G-d.

"HUMBLY"   I repeat "HUMBLY". Meaning, with humility and not arrogance. Cognizant of the fact that the person next to you, no matter who or what he/she is was made at the same factory by the same Creator as you and me.

With that said, What is your favorite Crayola color?

Shabbat Shalom....Catch you again soon...Ben Hashmashot