What can I say? Ive been gone a looong time?
Am I still loved?
I don't know I can understand why some may have cast my memory to the wind.
The fact is my life has gone through some of the most radical changes I've ever experienced.
I no longer live in a remote farm house far from any town, I've moved to a rather large city.
But the really big changes are that I entered into a popular weight loss competition and well after 3 months of dieting and intense working out I've lost a staggering amount of weight.
How much? Lets say 50 kilograms. So who won the competition then? Well, I was fortunate enough to be the winner, and I walked away with a prestige car for free.
But the real reward was the look on my wife and childrens faces, seeing them realising that now, finally I can step up and be active and play with my children.
My friends who knew me before my weight lose still find it hard to believe just how much I have changed, both physically, emotionally and spiritually.
OK so now that you lost 50 kilos, have a brand new car what else is new?
Ive been inundated with job offers, after a quite overwhelming degree of publicity, Ive taken a position which Ive always wanted. In a nutshell, Ive now got the Job I've always dreamed of having!
So, I'm sorry for neglecting my blogging friends and readers, I hope you can find it in your hearts to understand my need to neglect my blogging and be rather uncommunicative.
Theres so much that has changed in my life in the last three months that it staggers me.
Absence hopefully does make the heart grow fonder.
Mr Bagel: A little less cream cheese a whole lot more tastier.
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Dan Goldberg
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
South African Jewish leaders are fuming over a new initiative by Sydney's Jewish community to help Jews emigrate from Africa to Australia.
Zev Krengel, the national chairman of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, wrote a letter last month urging Jewish leaders to suspend Project Sydney, a joint initiative of the New South Wales Jewish Communal Appeal and the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies.
"Seldom in the history of our community has there been such outrage towards the Jewish community of another country," charged Krengel. "From around South Africa, I am receiving calls expressing disquiet."
He wrote later: "We there believe that it is distasteful in the extreme and embarrassing for South African Jews to have you launch a campaign through published advertisements and a high-profile visit to attract members of our community to Sydney."
Two representatives from Project Sydney spent a week recently in South Africa, where they met more than 150 families who had expressed interest in emigrating to Australia.
Krengel, speaking in an interview this week from Johannesburg, said that "the community wasn't happy at all. Some people were very, very unhappy; other people were furious."
The Jewish population of South Africa has dropped from about 120,000 in 1970 to an estimated 75,000 today. They left early on because of apartheid, but now Jews are leaving largely due to crime.
Jewish leaders in Australia said that about 70 percent of the potential South African émigrés with whom they met were affected by violent crime.
Businessman Sheldon Cohen, 47, was shot and killed last week in Johannesburg as he was waiting for his teenaged son to finish soccer practice.
Thousands attended Cohen's funeral on Jan. 30, according to Johannesburg's The Times newspaper.
"Sheldon's death cannot go down as another statistic," Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein said at the funeral, according to a newspaper report. "Our government needs to be held accountable for this. We as the community are not going to stand for this, and we say that one murder is one too much."
Krengel said that he met with the two Project Sydney representatives "in good faith," but added that "we're never going to welcome and encourage them. I don't think it's doing any good for our community."
Selwyn Shapiro, the director of Project Sydney, said that the initiative evolved from immigration agents receiving large numbers of requests for visas to Australia from South African Jews.
"We didn't go there to encourage anybody to leave," he said. "I fully understand their position; they are a strong community and don't want to be weakened. But people want to leave for their own reasons. People who are looking to come to Australia will find a community that welcomes them in Sydney."
'A Very Uncomfortable Feeling'
But Michael Bagraim, the national president of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, said from Cape Town: "It's a very uncomfortable feeling. Our stop phrase has been, 'Go home [to Israel] or stay home,' and it has been right throughout apartheid. To interfere with that makes us all feel unhappy.
"I don't think it's kosher for us to go off to Sydney and say if you wish to come to Cape Town, we can assist you."
Bagraim said that some of the anger has been assuaged by Project Sydney's pledge not to target those making aliyah and only to engage with people who already have decided to leave South Africa.
But he warned that the publicity campaign could impact negatively on local Jews.
"It's very uncomfortable to have these advertisements," said Bagraim. "Our government will ask the question: 'Is it acceptable to our local Jews?' It might be perceived by the powers that be as Jews acting negatively."
Bagelblogger: It's hard to know how to react to this campaign. Is it no wonder that great numbers of South African Jews are wanting to leave South Africa?
Should the local South African Jewish population remain passive and unheard as more and more of their quality of life decreases and the rates of crime spiral continually upward.
I tend to think that the lessons of the past should be brought to bare.
If a national Government fails to act in a supportive fashion towards the established norms of society then its not time to lower one's head and hope it passes, its time to shout loudly that it is unacceptable and that there will be consequences.
Looking beyond the parochial question of staying in South Africa as a South African Jew, if South African Jews are considering emigration to any where but Israel why shouldn't Project Sydney put forward the merits of emigrating to Australia.
References:
JTA:South Africans take dim view of Aussie Plan
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David Burnett
A 21-year old Australian man has been killed in an accident in southern Jordan.
David Burnett suffered multiple head injuries when a cliff path he was walking on collapsed in the ruins of Petra.
Mr Burnett, on holiday in Jordan, was a former vice-president of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS).
In a statement on the AUJS website, president Jessica Roth paid tribute to Mr Burnett.
"Dave was an inspiration to all who knew him and will be greatly missed. His passing will leave a huge void in the Jewish community, AUJS and our personal lives," she said.
The AUJS extended its deepest condolences to Mr Burnett's family and friends and said it is planning to hold a commemoration ceremony in coming weeks.
In the meantime, the AUJS invited people who knew Mr Burnett to come to Shalom College at the University of New South Wales in Sydney this Friday, January 25 at 1:30pm AEDT, to share memories and provide support to each other.
Mr Burnett was an Arts/Law student at the University of Sydney and attended Killara High School, graduating in 2003.
The ancient archaeological site is visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists annually.
Bagelblogger: A terrible tragedy for the Australian Jewish community and for the Labor party.
Further reading: SMH: Labor star killed in cliff accident
References:
News Org: Australian killed after ancient ruins path collapses
PhotoCredit: SMH: Labor star killed in cliff accident
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Man arrested for stalking race hate victim
from The Herald SunA MELBOURNE man has been arrested and is expected to be charged over stalking the victim of an anti-semitic attack who was allegedly sent death threats and pictures of dead Jewish people.
Menachem Vorchheimer had been walking to his synagogue in Caulfield in 2006 when he was abused, had his sabbath hat and skull cap snatched off his head and was punched in the eye in a dispute with a group of drunken men in a mini bus.
Two of the men were later convicted and a third was fined without conviction for offences ranging from offensive behaviour, using insulting language and using insulting words in a public place.
However, B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission executive officer Manny Waks said yesterday's arrest was in relation to threatening anti-semitic mail Mr Vorchheimer was sent last year, several months after the attack.
"Included in the material was basically threatening information in there which included pictures of Jewish people who were dead, as well as threats of killing Jews,'' Mr Waks said.
"It was essentially a threatening letter with anti-semitic material in there as well.''
A police spokesman today said the police Ethical Standards Department executed a search warrant today at an undisclosed location in Melbourne and arrested a 40-year-old man, who was interviewed in relation to a complaint made to police by Mr Vorchheimer.
The man was released and was expected to be charged on summons with stalking and other offences, the spokesman said.
The spokesman would not say if the incident was race-related.
Mr Waks said there had previously been allegations that someone connected to the police force may have sent the threatening mail because the driver of the bus involved in 2006 was an off-duty policeman.
The Vorchheimer family is currently pursuing legal action against the bus driver.
But police today said the arrested man was not a serving or former Victoria Police member.
Mr Vorchheimer and his wife and two children moved to New York after the 2006 attack and the threatening mail, Mr Waks said.
Mr Waks said the family had moved because they felt insecure after the attack and that "it would be reasonable'' to think receiving the allegedly threatening mail had added to this.
But Mr Waks was pleased police had made an arrest.
"This police action sends a clear message to the community; antisemitism will not be tolerated under any circumstances, no matter how major or minor the incident is,'' he said.
Bagelblogger: I would like to know the identity of the accused and the connection between his stalking and the victim. The obvious assumption would be it was in some way 'race related'.
References:
Herald Sun: Man arrested for stalking race hate victim
Always Fresh: Aussie Bagel
: Menachem Vorchheimer * Hate Crime * anti-semitic attack * antisemitism * antisemitism and football players * Aussie Bagel * AussieBagel* Austalia and Jewish* Jewish * Mr Bagel * BagelBlogger * Bagel Blogger * Jew
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Yes its true, despite a spectacular absence of blogging for over two months, Mr Bagel has returned.
Mr Bagel has been 'moving' from a remote country location to a more civilised part of Australia.
Moving has required Mr Bagel to do five seperate trips of over 2,000kms each, despite selling what we thought was almost all of our worldly possesions, we still had to do five trips to move our 'personal belongings'. Which raises one very valid point, how personal can 5 trailers worth of belongings be? Do you think Mr Bagel might just be a horder? mmm?
Anyway after selling all our furniture we have been rushing around buying beds and fridges and lounges and just about everything else required to life a civilised life. Now that Mr Bagel has moved to civilisation he has decided to stop talking to the soccer ball with a wig. (Tom Hanks.)
We've only been in town a week but, living where there are shops, and services is such a refreshing break from living hours away from the most basic shopping. Its taking some adjustment, I generally spoke to about 3 peaople a month where I lived, now I see hundreds a day.
Mr Bagel: Thank you to all the well wishers and the emails I received
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Cruise ship squeezes - just - under Sydney's Harbour Bridge
The tallest ship ever to visit Sydney gave bridge walkers a fright this morning, passing under the city landmark with barely two metres to spare, as the Sun Princess made its first visit downunder.
At 49.4 metres high the cruiseliner weighs 77,500 tons, is nearly three football fields in length and arrived in Sydney after a whistlestop tour including stops in Seattle, Cook Islands and Dunedin.
A spokesman revealed the tide had been the most significant factor in allowing the ship to safely pass under the bridge and dock in port.
"They keep a close eye on the tidal charts, there's a clearance for the bridge at the lowest tide," the spokesperson said.
"The clearance will change all the time depending on the tide.
"The weight of the ship is not a factor, the weight is pretty constant."
The superliner, complete with a grand four-storey atrium, eight restaurants and cafes, four pools and five spas, made dock just before 9am (NZT).
The vessel, which can house 1950 passengers, will now be based permanently in Australia and is due out of port early tomorrow afternoon enroute to Brisbane.
Bagelblogger: Does anyone else feel 2 meters is just a little too close?
References:
NZ Herald: Cruise ship squeezes
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Yeshamesh! Borat has a girl
Sacha Baron Cohen and Australian actress
Isla Fisher has given birth to a baby girl.
Sacha Baron Cohen, the English comedian behind the characters Borat and Ali G is Isla Fisher's fiance.
The couple were last photographed in Los Angeles earlier in the week.
Sources say
Wedding Crasher's Isla Fisher has became a mum for the first time but a spokeswoman from Shanahan Management, said they knew nothing about the birth.
Fisher is best known in Australia for her portrayal of Shannon Reed in the long running channel Seven show Home and Away.
She has shot to prominence in the US after playing the slightly unhinged love interest of Vince Vaughn in the 2005 movie
The Wedding Crashers.
The Daily Mail reported that Fisher had said she would take a break from her film career to concentrate on parenthood.
"There is no way I am going to worry about missing out on work or the pressure to lose weight," she told the paper on Tuesday.
"At the moment I am not even planning any work. As far as I am concerned I am fully booked up in my personal life and I can't see beyond that."
"I plan on just colouring in books. I'll focus on that for the next few years."
The couple announced their engagement in 2004 but have still not set a date for their wedding.
Bagelblogger: Thats going to be one crazy house
References:
SMH: Yeshamesh! Borat has a girl
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