Yaniv Shaw

Hi, I'm Yaniv and I was born in Tzfat (one of the many holy cities, ayarot kdushot), Israel on November 4th, 1980 in the Rivka Ziv hospital. I actually have no connection to the city, at least not physically, but the city is known as the city of Kabbalah, and it maybe it's not a coincidence that I have always been very spiritual. Nevertheless, after I was born and I was mom was back in the normal mode of things, we went right back to where my parents lived in the pre-Yaniv days, Kibbutz Kfar Blum

• (look up "Kibbutz" in the dictionary).

---> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibbutz

So ya, I was originally a kibbutznik, and so were my parents. My dad worked the vines and fixed stuff and my mom took care of the cows, so I heard them moo all the time the first years of my life. One time my mom fell waist-high in cow dung, but that's another story.

My dad moved to Israel when he was 18 and made aliyah (became a citizen). He is a 3rd generation Polish and Russian Jew, and he and my mom, a 2nd generation Libyan Jew, got married in Israel. That was back in the day when you were not considered a Nazi for being a Jew who liked Israel, which I am, so kiss it. That's right, I love Israel, I love Tzion, Zion, ana uhib Israyeel. So, whaddya have? A Jew who was raised more or less in the Jewish Libyan culture, with all the food and music, which is much better, of course, than the Muslim Libyan culture. I'm not bitter or anything, actually I'm really not, I'm very optimistic, but when my grandparents were living in Libya, and my (to-be) grandmother was a girl, a Muslim Libyan ran her father over. Just to make sure that he was dead, he backed over him. He was dead. BUt seeing that there were no civil rights for Jews in Libya, or the rest of the Arab world for that matter, it was OK. That's what happens when you are a dhimmi. Read a book about dhimmis, "The People of Book."

---> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhimmi

Just you know, the Muslims ripped off shakshuka from the Jews, the same goes for pita, chummus, tachina, and olives. Also oxygen, we also invented oxygen, so breathe.

---> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakshuka

I have been to Israel eleven times, and have never been a mission there, because I am Jewish, and Israel is a Jewish country, which doesn't stop people from asking me if I am going on a mission to Israel. Other ignorant human beings have asked me if women do all of the work in Israel, and I guess the reason that they ask me this is because Israel, Iraq, and Iran all start with the letter "I." Other countries that start with the letter "I" are; Istanbul, Indonesia, and I can't think of any other countries that start with that marvelous letter.

Ireland, Italy, Iceland? Istanbul isn't a country.

Also, Saudi Arabia and Syria are very different from each other, even though they both start with "S," and both have the letter "I" in them, although lower case. Let's not forget Libya and Lebanon, and my favorite, Pakistan and Palestine, the latter not existing, except in the hearts and minds of terrorists.

I have also been asked, recently as a matter of fact, in what language our church (Jews don't go to church) the service is in; Latin or Arabic. Actually, neither, sorry, get a book about that too.

It is done in Hebrew, and Jews go to a synagogue, which is not like a Jewish church.

-- YanivShaw

Arabs and Jews in Arab countries: there were bad times but good times also

Well since Jesus was Jewish and a church is a place where Jesus is worshipped, so I guess it's the other way around: a church is a synagogue! :-)

Couldn't find a man more proud to be Jewish than you! But with an Irish name! (Shaw):-)

Yaniv, Istanbul is not a country; it's a city. It's the capital of Turkey and it's a city located on two continents: Asia and Europe.

About the Jews living with the Arabs in Arab countries, please show a little more objectivity. There were indeed some bad times but there were also some good times.

Look at it this way: Jews and Arabs alike were kicked out of Spain by Isabella the Catholica (a.k.a. Isabella the Bitch) a few weeks before ChristopherColumbus? (a Jew himself, some say) landed in America (he did not discover America since you cannot discover a continent which is already populated!). Jews then went to North African countries and they lived together with the Arabs for many centuries. They indeed had a status of protected (dhimmis) and they were living in Jewish quarters known as the Mellah.

They kept their religion, some participated in political affairs, they flourished but very moderately let's say. There have been cases of intermarriages between Jews and Arabs which could explain why some North-African Jews have some negroid traits; many Jews and Arabs were friends.

It has even been rumored that in Morocco the French Government allied to the Nazis requested a list of Jews from the beloved King Mohammed the 5th the current king's grandfather. The King refused saying all Jews were under his protection thus saving more than half-a-million Jews from death in Concentration camps. European Jews did not have their luck... Is this story true? Maybe not. I can't see nazis taking "no" for an answer. But still, there could be a grain of truth to that story.

This being said, yes I agree that they were times when the Arab populace rushed to the Jewish district and lapidated all the Jews they could find and burned their houses. Those things did happen also, let us not kid ourselves. As I said they were not only good times they were bad times also.

In any case, this is ancient history now since Jews have for all practical purposes left Arab countries in a massive exodus since the creation of the State of Israel (1948).

As for the creation of Palestine, you are wrong, it will happen. 60% of the population in Israel wants Israel to move out of the Occupied territories and are more or less favourable to the creation of the state of Palestine. This will happen but this new country will exist only if it is peaceful and accepts the existence of Israel.

You should try to sweeten your radicalism for there will never be any progress in the region if all we have is Jewish radicals on one side and Arab radicals on the other side. Moderation never hurt anyone.

Not all Palestinians are terrorists, you know....Like not all Jews are rich! :-)

We have Arabs living in Canada as well as Jews. All are well integrated. Arab children are taught tolerance, acceptance and they'll be as good citizens as citizens from the many other nationalities that form Canada, this great country of ours. Arabs are not called bad names here, they are not considered second class citizens like they are in France and we are pretty proud of this fact.

As for Jews, they have been here for many centuries, they have flourished and they are also a well adjusted community.

Now, as you know, this is a site for programmers or people involved in programming. If you're not, you'll be awfully bored for the subjects discussed are all related to programming.

Welcome to wiki (if you are a programmer or involved in a similar discipline).

Shalom Yaniv!

-- ar

Hello Robert, how are you? I know it's taken me a long time to write. Thanks for responding and for adding in those little links to explain what some of those terms mean. To explain (never to explain away) the seeming radicalism of my rant, I just want to say that I was somewhat joking around.

You were not. You don't have to apologize for it. I can very well understand why some people would fall into radicalism. -- ar

Nevertheless, some of those things were honest expressions of how I feel, and the others are just deliberate exaggerations.

Am I not really Irish, when I first chose my AOL name, I entered the word "shawarma," which is a Middle Eastern food, and AOL told me that my new name was Shaw.

Well AOL made you Irish! :-) -- ar

I was actually born in Israel and am of Polish and Libyan descent.

Great mixture! You are both a sepharadic and an ashkenaze! --ar

Yes, I am proud to be a Jew, probably not the proudest one that you've ever seen, which is good, since pride is like ingesting motor oil, you can only ingest too much before it becomes unhealthy.

Well pride can also be silent. I thought the way you were expressing your pride was a bit aggressive. Considering we don't take races, genders, religion or any such barrier into consideration here on C2. And nobody had even challenged you. -- ar

The potent nature of my first submission is more due to the fact that the hypocritical nature of Arab politics, specifically their usage of the Palestinian cause as a leverage tool for their own interests, is silly. Nevertheless, since it seems to go impossible to go "backwards" now, somewhat like stroking a snake in the direction against the scales, I guess the Palestinians should have their own state.

Indeed! This would hopefully put an end to a lot of problems and it could be the best that could happen in the region. But of course no one wants a terrorist state next door to Israel. -- ar

However, it should have a nice big wall and/or fence between them and the Israelis, with enough room to draw their flag upon. It should also be financed by the Arab states that are major players in this "conflict," since their governments have already donated so much terrorist money in the form of Zakaat (charity, one of the pillars of Islam) to the Palestinians. Have a great one, Yaniv...

A wall yes. Definitely. Well there you go! We seem to agree on everything. We are not doing too bad, Mister Shaw! :-) Shalom and I also wish you a great one! -- ar

PS: The world seems to forget that close to one million, one million and a half Jews left Arab countries such as Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Iran, Irak, even Ethiopia "in a haste" (to say the least) starting after 1948.

Now these Jews did not agglutinate in refugee camps and did not ask for the world's pity: they silently, quietly left Arab countries (or sometimes they were strongly invited to leave) where they had lived for dozens of generations and they went to start a new life in other countries. And the good part is: they went on to live better lives in Western democracies (Israel, France, USA, Canada, etc.)

Your father who was born in Libya is one of them.

These people surely deserve our respect and admiration.

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