We live in an age of a great religious war.

The Islamist enemy seeks to overwhelm and subjugate the planet. Their goal is to erase all other religions and belief systems. This attack on cultural diversity and freedom of thought has come at a time when the West is most vulnerable. Most people in the West seem to have lost their religious belief and cannot really accept that they are facing an enemy that truly believes that they are carrying out the orders of an omnipotent, supernatural being.

These Westerners, blind to the truth, are convinced that there must be some “other” motivation behind the suicide bombings, the rioting, the terrorist attacks, and the hatred! Some motive that could be satisfied by improving economies, fighting poverty, relinquishing land, or some other “rational” concession. Strangely, even the government of Israel refuses to play the religion card and to announce that we are the Chosen People living in our Promised Land, having returned from exile as prophesied in both the Bible and the Koran.

An exception is, of course, the millions of Evangelical Christian Zionists in America. A community that a majority of Jews have been taught to mistrust. If you are one of those Jews please check out CUFI, Christians United For Israel.   (ed. I agree especially with the last paragraph)

After creating heaven and earth God created Adam and Eve. And the first thing he said was:

“DON’T!”

“Don’t what?” Adam replied.
“Don’t eat the forbidden fruit.” God said.

“Forbidden fruit? We have forbidden fruit? Hey … Eve, we have forbidden fruit!”

“No way!”
“Yes way!”

“Do NOT eat the fruit!” said God.

“Why?”
Because I am your Father and I said so!” God replied, wondering why He hadn’t stopped creating after making the elephants.

A few minutes later God saw His children having an apple break and He was ticked.

“Didn’t I tell you not to eat the fruit?” God asked.

“Uh huh” Adam replied.
“Then why did you?” said the Father.

“I don’t know” said Eve.

“She started it!” said Adam.
“Did not!”
“Did too!”
“Did not!”

Courtesy: tempesthole.com/blog/page/2/

Having had it with the two of them God’s punishment was that Adam and Eve should have children of their own. Thus the pattern was set and it has never changed.

But there is reassurance in the story.
If you have persistently and lovingly tried to give children wisdom and they haven’t taken it, don’t be hard on yourself.
If God had trouble raising children, what makes you think it would be a piece of cake for you?

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
1.  You spend the first two years of their life teaching them to walk and talk.
Then you spend the next sixteen telling them to sit down and shut up.

2.  Grandchildren are God’s reward for not killing your own children.

3.  Mothers of teens now know why some animals eat their young.

4.  Children seldom misquote you.
In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn’t have said.

5.  The main purpose of holding children’s parties is to remind yourself that there are children more awful than your own.

6.  We childproof our homes, but they are still getting in.

ADVICE FOR THE DAY
Be nice to your kids. They will choose your nursing home one day.

If you havea lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle:
Take two aspiring and “keep away from children”.

PS. If you think you know someone who could benefit from this lesson, let them have this link

There may also be some new teachings – wisdom no one ever thought about before. This is the case with Noah’s Ark. The picture says it all, I hope. But other lessons can also be had from the story of Noah and the Ark. These you will find below.

THE WOODPECKER MAY HAVE TO GO!

Everything I need to know about life, I learned from Noah’s Ark

1:    Don’t miss the boat.

2:    Remember that we are all in the same boat.

3: Plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark.

4:    Stay fit When you’re 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.

5: Don’t listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.

6: Build your future on high ground.

7: For safety’s sake, travel in pairs.

8: Speed isn’t always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.

9: When you’re stressed, float a while.

10: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.

11: No matter the storm, when you are with God, there’s always a rainbow waiting

I did not make up these, but found them to the point. If you can think of other lessons from Noah’s Ark, please put them in the comments for all to see.

If you celebrate Christmas, it’s all about getting the decorations in place, about lighting the Christmas tree, about getting all the presents and in time. And of course it’s about Christmas dinner and pudding, depending on where you live.

And what if one of you celebrate one holiday and your partner the other? That can be serious business.

So why not take a different look at all this. Look and listen to what Walter, Peanut,  Ahmed and Jeff Dunham have to say on these holidays and some good advice.

SEASONS GREETINGS TO ALL

So let’s start the week with a look at Joseph and his coat of many colors. This is courtesy of Biblical Archaeological Review, and their cartoon contest. They ask readers to come up with a unique caption for their cartoons.

The winning caption:

This post will be the first in a series on funnies from Israel. It can be video clips, stories I come across, experiences from the world of tourism, or cartoons that express Israel. One of Israel’s saving graces has always been its ability to laugh at itself.

I will start with something that entertained me for many years as a reader of the off-line version of The Jerusalem Post, Yaacov Kirshen’s Dry Bones cartoons.

Yaacov Kirshen

This is what Kirshen says about himself:

Another Brooklyn boy. Born March 8, 1938. Graduated from Queens College 1961. Wrote and drew funny cards for Norcross. After dismissal for loudness and jocular attitude became a freelance gag cartoonist for the former “Mad Mag” guys who were then doing “Cracked”. Moved on to doing cartoons for Playboy. Included in several “Best Of” Playboy anthologies. Fell in with the anti-Vietnam War folks and was actually elected delegate to the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago where, in spite of all the riots, was unable to get arrested. In 1971 moved to Israel, changed first name from Jerry to Yaakov, and in 1973 began drawing a daily editorial strip called Dry Bones. In 2003 the toon celebrated its 30th year in the Jerusalem Post. It has been reprinted or quoted by the NY Times, Time Mag, LA Times, CBS, AP, etc.
Forbes Mag said about Kirschen: “In the tradition of Nast, Herblock, and Mauldin.”

I loved and still love Dry Bones. They are a daring, fresh and funny look at who we are, but at the same time expressing love and concern for this country. The cartoons with a political character that I include may not necessarily express my own political opinion. Something I don’t touch on in this blog. I pick the cartoons randomly from the vast archive of Dry Bones Cartoons.

Dry Bones

The Dry Bones Main Website

Dry Bones (Yaacov Kirshen) Blog