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Go West – We Close Our Eyes (1985)
– now playing
– vinyl

Go West - We Close Our Eyes (stationary)

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src: instagram.com/alessandro_michele (December, 2020) >>

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✓ 2 years ago

Hate rears its ugly head too!

While travelling, anti-semitism is always a thing, but can be overcome.

(last update: 22 April 2024)

Vancouver, November 2005.

I was staying at The Dodson * in a troubled neighbourhood in a single room. In the room next to me (on the desk side, see below) was a man who appeared to have two prosthetic legs. I think he had black hair but was semi-bald – maybe 45-50. He was a permanent resident.

[pic 2 source]

* – owner notified

His walking style was very, very cumbersome. He came across as a loud, somewhat friendly (and charming) robot but with little to no empathy. He was speaking to almost everyone in the hallway who came his way and most people would slip away from him when they had a chance. He might have been a war veteran (or that was at least the lie he put forward?) – I only overheard him say something about his legs.

Spotting a Psychopath - When The Mask Drops
Spot a psychopath when the 'mask of sanity'/ 'presentable image' / 'persona' they normally project to you sporadically drops and it gives you a hint of what their real underlying character is. Over time, all psychopaths will begin to give themselves away through little clues and signs of their real underlying personality leaking out.

So I spoke to him briefly in the hallway and I told him about my travels and he asked if I was Jewish and I said ‘yes.’

On one of the following nights, I heard him engaged in the sexual act with someone. The walls were very thin. There were screams, groans and strange sounds, but most disturbing of all was the horrific anti-semitic abuse being directed at his partner in a stream-of-consciousness style. Vicious, unrelenting hatred against anything and everything Jewish for around 35 mins and possibly longer as I lost track of time.

Once the noises stopped I heard his door close and I opened my door slightly and saw what appeared to be a male prostitute in the hallway still strapping his belt and getting ready to leave.

I couldn’t sleep and lay awake. Then I heard the guy’s door open again.

I somewhat panicked. I snuck up to my own door. It was unlocked. I didn’t want to lock it as that would make a noise. Instead, I pushed my hand strongly against my door above the handle.

I saw the door knob rotate and felt pressure against my hand. He was outside my door trying to get in – or at least seeing if that was possible. I might even have been saving my own life! Did he want another orgasm at my expense? Was he carrying a knife and intent on entering my room? I don’t know.

A war veteran (and convert) murdered my friend Tony Rose in 2014 in a premeditated attack with an 18cm commando knife so it’s certainly possible. The chap knew I was Jewish from a few days earlier and I also have mentioned here the notion of Nazis gaining sexual pleasure from the usage of gas chambers. So it’s not a perfect analogy, but it’s reasonable to suggest I was in serious danger that night.

Perhaps I should have opened the door to see what he was holding but I think that would’ve been too risky. He had a cumbersome walk, but he could’ve had a slingshot ready or a taser if that was his intent. He might have acted nonchalant and lunged at me the following day – I wasn’t going to find out. If he was a war veteran, using a head torch, he could’ve thrown a knife at me and dropped a suicide note by my side if I was asleep… or just shot me.

Moments later he went back to his room and I locked my door properly. It took me a while to get to sleep and I propped something against my door as well. As a permanent resident, he may have known ways to overcome the locks or had a skeleton key (excuse the pun.) On the other hand, he may have wanted to brag about “the Jewish guy who left his door unlocked who I could’ve killed if I wanted to but didn’t so I must be a hero.”

The next day I told the (Asian) receptionist about what had happened and he said “That’s bad” and ideally the hostel should’ve installed CCTV in the hallway after I mentioned it. Anyway, I walked out never to return:

* The exact photo I took when I stepped out to leave for good – and feeling good about it! (see on Google maps)

A few days earlier the receptionist had supplied me with a small oil heater when I complained about the room being too cold and this was due to the in-built building heater not running. The heater he supplied was too small for that room – he probably wanted to keep running costs low and I didn’t say anything further about it:

So after leaving the Dodson, I found myself at the Samesun.

Prior to the Dodson I was staying at the Cambie Seymour Hostel which I had left  because I wanted a private room for less expense than what they were offering. It was also cold there.

[left] Dorm at the Cambie Seymour with its heater.
[middle left] Michael Buble at the Cambie.
[middle right] The same Cambie TV room in 2020 source.
[far right] At Malone’s Taphouse that is part of the Cambie building.

In another similar scenario, some months earlier in July 2005 in Donegal, Ireland, I remember leaving the Dooey Hostel under similar circumstances. I felt like some type of lynching was about to take place when I overheard late one night people talking about some “Jew who had come from Israel.”

It was hard to tell what was going to happen – I definitely may have been wrong. Regardless, I left very early in the morning when everyone in the dorm room was still asleep and left behind 3 paid nights. Sunrise was at about 5am at the Hotel California.

The Irish are some of the friendliest people I’ve met (if you can understand them) – including the owners of that hostel – but I think the whole Israel vs Palestine thing can be taken too personally at times and misunderstood. At least I heard what people were saying – the hostel can’t control who comes in.

Interestingly, on the same trip in Dublin there were some Poles staying in a dorm room with me and in the middle of the night I looked down to see someone rummaging through my backpack. I think the chap then pretended to think it was his backpack.

A few months later, I had a lot of things stolen from my bags in a hostel room at Jaffa port, Tel Aviv, including this favourite t-shirt that I had worn in Canada:

[At Painted Turtle Guesthouse, Nanaimo, drinking bottled water and generally calming nerves. I was happy to have picked up that jacket for $50 at a second-hand store even though it was basically new …jealousy is a curse.]

People also do things out of jealousy too and I only learned about this in my mid-20s! Perhaps I presumed good things came pretty easily to everyone. Jealousy is a foreign emotion to me – could it even be idiotic?! I’d help anyone who was jealous of me – as long as it was caught early enough. That said, sometimes it’s never reciprocated, and being kind to the cruel makes one cruel to the kind.

Speaking of jealousy, in Victoria BC in late September, I met an Israeli (/ American?) chap (Gideon??) in a mixed dorm and I could’ve been a good wingman for him (even though I didn’t and don’t drink alcohol,) but he was determined to be some type of alpha male or at least be seen as one, and this was also part of his pickup-style it seemed.

That’s the impression I got and to the point where I couldn’t have a normal conversation with him at the Ocean Island Inn:

But he still was a friendly and likeable guy, no doubt, and at least he didn’t try to steal my stuff like the person from Poland did. But I think that’s much more a ‘broke backpacker’ thing than anything else. By this, I’ve also had a pair of optical spectacles stolen at a hostel in San Francisco in early 2003.

At this hostel (Fort Mason) I met a young German woman who had just completed a thesis on the act of doing an “About Face” in international relations.

Surprise, surprise, it happens and one should be prepared for it. It’s a nice step as well.

Interestingly, when I arrived I walked into the dorm room and there were two gay guys going at it, so I did an about-face, went back to the desk and made a complaint.

Anyway, Gideon noticed the Kenvelo (“yes and no” / כן ולא) t-shirt I had on too and knew some history of the brand. Sort of sums up the acquaintance. But isn’t machoism a part of Israeli culture? What did I expect? Lead or be led. Whatever the case, hopefully age has mellowed him out and good luck to him! Travelling isn’t always easy, even for the best of us!

In Ireland, I met a female ‘Orly’ who I saw again in Haifa some months later as she was Israeli and I even went to her place by the sea. She was genuinely nice and along with a few of her friends, we went to Caesarea and one friend told me she thought Netanyahu was ‘shifty’ and he had just won Likud chairmanship at that point. Orly had studied English literature and wanted to become and an advertising copywriter. One trick at work when dealing with problematic characters (for whatever the reason) was to “go around them.” Speaking of which, up at the university, an Arab fellow followed me and gave me hostile looks for under a minute as we walked down the same path. Did he want to intimidate me, beat me up or was he gay and signaling dominance? If only I was part of a group.

“Safety in numbers.”

I am pretty sure it was at that uni where I spoke to someone with Orwell’s 1984 sticking out of his backpack telling me that “it is the future.”

[pic: 27 Sep 2020]

Or should that be “Danger in numbers!”

Regarding dominance signaling, at a bus terminal in most likely Haifa in ~2006 (Tsfat below,) I spent many hours sitting at a table playing Civilization IV on my laptop with all the bustle around me. Addicted, I skipped a few bus trips to keep playing. When it quietened down and into the night, a cleaner of the building came up to me and started yelling loudly. I was surprised but then he wiggled his head a few times to show me his solitary earing. I thought the bus station was closing and he was telling me to get out, but I later learned it was not. What did he really want? Ahh, the civility.

In any case, a fellow at my recent reunion made the observation that the Israelis he came across while traveling fall clearly into either two categories: cool dudes or total douchebags – or words to that effect. But wasn’t that too harsh? Why pick on Israelis: they live in a permanent state-of-war? But why not if they don’t give you a chance? This fellow, a year above me, presently works as a researcher for public policy. We didn’t speak for long and I hadn’t spoken to him since school. Really, I think countries and people sympathetic to the Palestinians should absorb them into their societies. The money they donate doesn’t have much effect – it funds personal Swiss bank accounts, right? Countries should have a “Palestinian Migrant Quota” to fill.

Nevertheless, in Whistler a few years later I spoke with a man from the US who was hateful against Israelis and I told him that all you have to do is think of one positive thing to say to free your mind. He did and days later he was a changed man and very friendly.

Anti-semitism in the diaspora is a double-edged sword where you can run, but you can’t hide… for long. It can separate people, but it can also bring people closer together.

Graves, trenches or foundations, it’s a digging contest!

see holding bottle –

 

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✓ 1 year ago

Israel Tech Scene 2006-2011

– part 3 of 5: Beyond Blacklists: EXPOSURE!

I attended a number of tech events in Israel – really I could have gone to Israel straight after uni, 4 years earlier… or not at all!

last updated: 27 October 2022

The first event I attended was the IVA Annual Conference 2006 – press release (now removed, April 17):

src | 2 | 3

This was a great conference and Shimon Peres even accepted an award. Amazing days just before mass use of smartphones!

I had a few meetings in Herzliya Pituach after that event in order to raise finance for GrooveTip or whatever came next.

In June 2008 whilst living in Tel Aviv, I went to MashBash and in July 2008, I went to TWS2008.

In August 2008 I attended iDrink #9 at Beach Bar in Herzliya Pituach.

Then in September I made it to Mobile Monday.

Forum Nokia at Mobile Monday TLV, Sept 2008

On 14 Feb 2009 while building Twitya.com, I attended the tech workshop Eurekamp.

Pic 3 Yossi Vardi can be seen sitting.

פרק 31 – Eurekamp 2009 from Yosi Taguri on Vimeo.

..see me at timecodes 3.14, 3.22, 6:03, 10:38, 12:20:

I have no personal photos of me at Eurekamp except for the video stills above, but I can be seen wearing the same Industrie jacket below. My name is also on the attendees list (source) and I did give a talk called Web Conglomerate.

CV 2008 | Extra WebC info: 1 2 3

Further notes on my Eurekamp 2009 experience, please see here.

So after building Twitya.com during this period, I attended the TechAviv Town Hall Meeting on 2 Sep ’09 having already begun work on Bopgig.

Then I submitted a business plan on 17 Nov ’09 into the TechAviv Angels group for judgement regarding Bopgig (then GigPop.)

[pic 2: 16 Nov 2009 | pic 3: 17 Nov 2009]

It got into the top 10 out of ~45 entries, which was considered a very good result especially because there was no working product at that stage. I ended up sending that business plan to Michael Eisenberg, but he did not reply – that really raised a red flag with me. When I asked if I could send the business plan, he replied “Send Away!” I suppose I should’ve called as well. I had never actually met Mr Eisenberg before but we did exchange a few emails prior to this although I am not 100% sure – I am locked out of a gmail account.

As an aside, I met Ariel Finkelstein at his office for a job at Kampyle in ~2007 and was rejected – that rejection may have been related to all this.. or not. Pity, I could have really assisted him. I enjoyed meeting Jacob Ner-David around this time – nice guy – many vegans are! I also had a job interview at Kontera in ~2008 and was also rejected… but perhaps my rough sketches were a little too… rough, or was it something else!?! I got a call from a woman at Wix at one point when it was just starting for an employment opportunity but I waxed and waned. I was in contact with Ori Soen from MuseStorm, and if they had only raised a new funding round, I may have ended up working there.. or nipped in the bud.. or were they nipped in the bud?! I met with the late Alon Hochberg (SeeToo) and Vitaly Sirota (FoxyTunes) together but that was more for brainstorming. I remember sending suggestions to FoxyTunes back then and they were acquired by Yahoo in 2008. I also met David Kariv from Copenda for a Yogo ice-cream in Neve Tzedek and suggested to keep the site as simple as possible to emulate Plenty Of Fish. This led to a redesign. But the only date I was seeking was a date with destiny!

Continuing, I also spoke to Sequoia and they were interested, but ultimately said there was overlap. Randy Ditzler spoke to his partners about it after speaking to me. Did they call up the “Israelis” to see if I was “legit?”

I was irked when I saw that EventBrite obtained Sequoia as a new investor.

This announcement came prior to my conversation with Mr Ditzler because I remember mentioning Roelof Botha in the call. I am confident (but not certain as yet) that the announcement came after I submitted my business plan to the firm. I am presently attempting (unsusccesfully so far) to enter a Gmail account that should clarify this. Also, my startup was called Gigpop at the time and I switched to Bopgig because I liked the reference to Bebop or a “Bebop gig.” Today I’d use Gigpop with ‘pop’ referring to a father that’s into gigs or just “the father of gigs”.

source

Interestingly, before my discussion with Sequoia I listened to a long interview with Rupert Murdoch, and in my conversation I think I was channeling his style which left a good impression.

Platonix weren’t interested in working with me although the emails with Yishai Beeri were fun. In the last minute, it stayed platonic.

Continuing, I proceeded with Bopgig using US-based developers after the TechAviv comp.

In April 2011, I went to TheMarker Com.Vention while still working on Bopgig.

And that was my final tech conference attended in Israel… for now.

* NB: I also attended OpenCoffee Club and GarageGeeks meetups. In addition, I went to a few one-off events, some even in the CleanTech space as I was interested in wave energy and I was working on an idea called WaveTrific.

Note: Izhar Shay is shown here because I came across him more than any other person out of all the tech events I went to in Israel (except for Shai Tsur.) He even spoke at the IVA Annual Conference 2006 – its press release was removed some months ago (shown at top.)

I even met with Mr Shay after that event with regards to GrooveTip and an internship. In that meeting I suggested that he start a blog, but he said he was interested in keeping a low-profile. It is surprising to see how that self-image has changed over the years. He moved into politics in 2019 alongside Benny Gantz at the time I was working on Ormus King 5.

At the 2006 IVA event, I remember Shay saying on stage something like “the enemies of Israel are not with us anymore” – what did he mean by that? Who can speak for Israel as a whole? What was he talking about? People found to be enemies already residing within Israel? Was that going to be me? Did he mean the enemies of the Jews or the enemies of Israel …am I not remembering correctly? At Aish HaTorah Essentials in 2005, Rabbi Ken Spiro mentioned the enemies of the Jews all eventually disappearing in his WorldPerfect talk.

Also, I don’t necessarily agree with Shay, Iran has been a nuclear threat to Israel since the early 2000s. In 2021, to me going after Iran (as has been done) is like someone chasing their own shadow. Why haven’t they disappeared yet?

At TWS2008 (Prime Sagol), Shay walked up to me outside the hall and acted entitled to hear a pitch of mine. I think he saw me speaking to his friend Ofer Wald and that demonstrated some sort of social proof, yet at the time I was already speaking to many entrepreneurs over email, and had even met a few in person. I even covered TWS on my blog.

– Mr Eisenberg second from left, Mr Shay second from the right | source

Before he left, he asked about who my relatives were in Israel, to which I replied an aunt. Perhaps I told him her name as well, or I told him her name at our initial meeting at Aroma (Herzliya Pituach.) I did not end up pitching to him and I think that irritated him. He also blatantly inspected the top of my head, I presume to see if I was wearing a yarmulka. So I was “off the derech,” but was I ever on it ?!?

From 3 days to around a week later an IDF officer thumped 3 times very loudly on my door at the Great Twitya Pad.

I was sweating after having been rollerblading. He spoke in very loud Hebrew but I could only reply in English. He kept speaking, but I didn’t understand. He walked off in a huff. At the time I was over 26 – the usual conscript age-limit.

I think I was geolocated using my phone and was to have “rank pulled” on me. Then again, this officer may have just been lost or looking for directions. Many people did knock on my door, but I’ll never know – I doubt it though because he was very directed in the way he walked off and the knocking and tone of voice was abnormal.

At the TechAviv Town Hall Meeting on 2 Sep 2009, Mr Shay came and sat two seats away with his new associate (I think it was Adi Pundak-Mintz) right next to me. Shai Tsur (who I had first met before at the 2006 IVA Conference) sat down a chair or two away at about the same time. Scott Tobin (and his associate David Sokolic) sat behind me who I even said a few words to when he forgot something mid public intro. The only thing Mr Shay said to me was “you can stay” while looking at Gil Dibner who was sitting on the riser – and that’s the last thing I heard him say directly to me. Also, when I introduced myself to the room (I remained seated) and announced my idea for BopGig to sell downloads and tickets, he leaned over in full view of everyone and tried to disrupt me – or at least signal to the room something about me – something bad I presume. I got the impression that he was smug about his new associate also seated next to me – a position I may have taken when I was interested in an internship back in 2006.

Then, when someone spoke to the room and complained about VCs micro-managing entrepreneurs, I saw a few people begin staring at Mr Shay. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did micro-manage entrepreneurs. I also got the impression that he had Anal retentiveness * back at TWS 2008  when he checked to see if I was wearing a yarmulka (mentioned above) because he also blatantly checked my shoes. I was wearing Converse All-Star at the time.  He also exhibited some strange body language where he was looking around to see who was looking at him. ​Anal retentiveness is something that I think can be determined with certain micro-expressions such as leaning onto tiptoes and staring intensely onto people – something Mr Shay did to me.​ It can also be overcome with Yoga. That’s my own theory (I’ve seen someone else with AR tendencies do it to me) and Anal retentiveness also doesn’t need to be taken literally in terms of someone with a tense sphincter and could be used as an adjective of someone’s character.

* I deny being vindictive here although I am passing judgement – as I perceive he and others have done to me. I have no ill will. In practice, it means he is someone I would not actively seek association with in the future – and he probably feels the same! Who needs the stress?!?

When I first met Izhar Shay in late 2006 after 2 thoughtful cold-emails to obtain such a meeting (after hearing him at IVA 2006 – he came across as very smart,) his expression turned to horror when he first saw me – there was no profile pic of me online prior to that. Also, when I first met Mr Dibner at Genesis Partners, he initially shook my hand like he was holding a wet rag that he wanted to let go of as soon as humanly possible. At least they met me, but was there hidden prejudice?

A relevant quote from Dec 31, 2021:

"Rich and proudly unpopular is a whole thing in today's political scene."

...

"Yep, a lot of people who don't like criticisms of capitalism fail to understand that this system is disguised as a meritocracy but in reality it's a game and you win it by shaking off any moral scruples and stepping on everyone else."

- Hacker News comments: Peter Thiel hires disgraced ex-Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz

That said, I should never have setup those meetings and I had a strong feeling not to go to those meetings or get too involved in that scene at all. Those were timelines I was (and am?) steering clear of. However, the rational, business-oriented, western-trained mind is very strong. Rather, I think my role was to simply live in the holy cities, avoid cults and meet whoever I needed to meet. Even my time studying Gemara was really too powerful for comfort. If I was a Torah master in a previous life, why should I become one again? I can just dream up knowledge whenever it’s needed. Sometimes one doesn’t need to learn.. they need to remember.

Continuing, when Mr Shay finally stood to leave the event, the final look in his eye (as he looked at mine) was very strange, like he was on a mission and something had gone very awry. Maybe it was part of a “Tom and Jerry” scene that I mentioned in Israel Revisited because the look corresponded to my previous discussion with him at TWS2008 (mentioned above) that may have resulted in an IDF officer thumping on my door a few days later.

When Mr Dibner introduced himself, I saw Mr Shay on the edge of his seat (to my left) and ready to tackle me to the ground like I was about to pull a gun or throw something at the riser. Then, when Mr Dibner introduced himself, I got the impression that Mr Dibner was very faintly crying for a few moments whereby I heard (and saw) a sniffle or two just as his boss Jonathan Saacks stared at him (from a few meters) to his left in slight embarrassment (possibly anger.) Yet although there might have been guilt, I doubt there was shame whereby despite all odds, I had made it to a sought-after entrepreneurs’ meetup where people were supposed to help each other and not hinder each other. To me, this only signaled to those opposed to me to step up their efforts. “Why is this Adrian guy even here?”

Ofer Wald, Shai Tsur and Yoav Leitersdorf weren’t too keen to speak to me at this event. Interestingly, I spoke to both Wald and Tsur pretty easily at the next TechAviv event and even have a recording of that (see further down). That next event was after TechAviv Angels.

  • pic ref and source below.
  • Mr Saacks in the navy blue top and beige pants (legs crossed) looking directly at the camera.
  • Yaron Samid stands.
  • Mr Dibner is on the far left of the riser (unseen) although that vaguely looks like him with arms-crossed.
  • Myself, Shay, Tsur, Tobin, Sokolic off-screen behind Wald (dark red shirt with laptop looking down.)
  • Uri Levanon – dark gray shirt with left hand at chest level, two seats up from Wald.
  • By the end of that meetup, there were people overflowing into the entry hall unable to find a seat and I vaguely recall seeing David Nordell and also Erez Perlmuter who I chatted with briefly as I did also at Eurekamp sitting at a table.

Two months later I later went to the Nov ’09 Meetup and then straight afterward got a lift to the Tel Aviv Hilton with Boris Nadion and his team to meet up with my mother and grandmother. Initially in the foyer a bunch of guys were staring hard at me with the ‘evil eye’ until I turned my back on them – why?

While I sat near Nadion and his team during the actual talk, at that event I ended up speaking to many people in the foyer and auditorium and I actually recorded those conversations (including with Nadion) along with much of the talk itself. Someone even kindly gave me Yossi Vardi’s mobile number. I was ready to continue interviewing my grandmother that night at her hotel, and I decided to place my recorder in my pocket. This allowed me to later evaluate my pitching style and rapport.

Continuing, I had already spoken to Nadion at iDrink #9 (see pic higher up with him next to Sun Microsystems logo.) I had also met with Nadion and his team prior to iDrink as a team-for-hire. I almost hired them for Bopgig but ended up using the USA guys I found on Hacker News.

Also, I was at a Water Tech event in Tel Aviv (Watec 2009) around a week earlier, and Shai Tsur when he was standing next to me whispered in the ears of a couple of people sitting down close to him and their expressions turned to horror as they stared at me (very similar to Mr Shay above.) What did he say to them? Was it about me? I think they may have been partners at his firm Giza Venture Capital. All I was interested in was wave energy (my WaveTrific bringing SDE to Australia via Energy Matters) and water desalination. It was during the afternoon, outside, and underneath a sun-shade. Interestingly, SDE turned out to be basically ineffective in delivering, so I moved on.

Also, another Israeli firm Eco Wave Power adopted an essentially identical design to SDE in 2011 as founded by an ex staff-member, Inna Braverman.

What if you could charge your Tesla with the power of the waves

I wonder if this design will ever become popular without a massive shift in consciousness – not that the tech isn’t good, but due to “industry resistance” – same with zero-point (free) energy. Eco Wave Power has only seen 2 small-scale installations setup so far. Is society ready to move to wave energy on a large-scale or will it stagnate? However, it is publically listed so that should bring encouragement.

Moreover, I highly doubt their design has defensible IP due to the Prior Art of the SDE system that was launched in 2010.

SDE - sea wave power plant installed at JAffa port

source

That doesn’t mean Eco Wave Power isn’t, can’t and won’t do a great job – it just means competitors could come from anywhere.

“Eco Wave Power holds 17 patents and patents pending, including patents in the United States and Europe, as well as an International PCT on its proprietary technology.” source

… I should hope so. Mr Ovadia has many patents listed on his LinkedIn page.  Wouldn’t Eco Wave Power’s clash with these? Are Mr Ovadia’s patents still valid? Are they in the public domain?

See here and here –  “System for conversion of sea wave energy” (also – 1 2)

Interestingly, Mr Ovadia filed a patent in 2013 that was withdrawn in 2014 suggesting he wasn’t collaborating with EWP at that time… or was he? Maybe Mr Ovadia has a stake in EWP or they have licensed his designs. Maybe not. I also wonder if Ms Braverman signed a non-compete with SDE as I did.

With regards to Braverman, I was in extensive email communications with SDE and I met the CEO Shmuel Ovadia in person twice (first in October 2008 with a family member present.)

At one point, I showed him the sales agreement I received via email and he was shocked to see it. I ended up using that agreement to talk to Energy Matters (via Jeremy Rich) in Australia.

Mr Ovadia spoke English reasonably well but all the emails from SDE were of very high proficiency and were sent from “Shmuel Ovadia” in the footer (unless that was blank.) More than likely it was either Ms Braverman or someone else acting as an intermediary for Mr Ovadia, and even a sole source. I ended up emailing General Electric on SDE’s behalf to request a meeting for finance, to no avail.

Mr Rich’s (middle below) main concern about the SDE device at first was corrosion from salt and mine was the physical security of the system. I had known Mr Rich since primary school. We could have fairly easily got that wave device setup and even distributed if SDE had been more willing and able –  although I was still a bit hesitant of the final design with hydraulic arms exposed – and still am with EWP. It seems deceiving in the EWP video above that the hydraulic arms aren’t shown. I had already worked at Energy Matters a year or two earlier on their IT and Mr Rich was very enthusiastic about the idea of wave energy – also he probably didn’t want to compete with me.

[from reunion]

I did actually come up with some designs of my own that I mentioned (but didn’t actually show) to SDE over email, including the logo above. As mentioned, I also signed a non-compete agreement with SDE and SDE threatened to sue me at one point. I wonder if that was Ms Braverman who made that threat because she was ready to compete directly with SDE and didn’t want me implementing that indefensible buoy design with Energy Matters exclusively. Or was it actually Mr Ovadia worried I’d work directly with that design without him? I really need to know more about who was working at SDE during those years. There may have been someone else working there and Inna Braverman has never heard of me.

Australia should have a good wave energy sector and the SDE / EWP floating buoy design can be a great starting point for anyone, anywhere. If EWP can use SDE’s design, then anyone can.

I have the idea that pivoting buoys identical to SDE and EWP should be built within (or retrofitted) to the pylons of off-shore windfarms and drive flywheel accumulators rather than
electro-hydraulic accumulators (as with SDE and EWP) kept within each pylon. Then, if wave heights get too high (which can be sensed by windspeed), the buoy should be retracted into the pylon or elevated up the outside of the pylon. Can I do that without legal repercussions? EWP seems only limited to breakwaters at present. Thus, don’t windfarms still have this opportunity to obtain more energy in this way? Finally, couldn’t someone directly copy EWP and then challenge EWP’s patents based on the existence of SDE’s patents and videos?

Unlike the Porsche flywheel, the ocean flywheel would be driven mechanically by the buoy’s oscillation, but similarly it would use a torque-vectoring device on the wheel, offering resistance to its spin and the buoy’s oscillation to create current.

Best of luck to Ms Braverman regardless: perhaps she can start a fashion blog too.

Not just knee deep?

Continuing, later Shay ignored an email I sent to Canaan Partners about Seedcamp (or Startup Stadium) while I was doing Bopgig (around 2012.) Some years later (around 2017) he even befriended my Israeli cousin Dhalia on Facebook after I made my friends list public – I’m still unsure if it was a coincidence or not.

All very odd indeed – and overall that’s how I would describe this person based on experiences interacting with him.

Yet at the same time, one of my VC blog posts in late 2006 was about Mr Shay, and perhaps he found this odd – I don’t know but I did email him a link about it and spoke in the meeting about Awarenex. I said Awarenex would only be open to high net-worth individuals… accredited investors.

On the topic of tickets, I actually worked closely with a startup CEO in 2003-04 which sold tickets (Moshtix) and it was acquired in 2007. I helped it expand from Sydney to Melbourne. Its first signup was Bennetts Lane and I was at the initial sales meeting – one of many I helped setup. In hindsight, I should’ve also invested in Moshtix – and it was a real possibility to do so at the time.

While I don’t have a picture of Mr Dibner at the Town Hall Meeting (2 Sep 2009) – I didn’t take any, he and others mentioned are on the event’s attendees page (marked in red below.) I am currently shown as ‘Former Member.’ I also did comment on the event’s blog post, username Twitya.

Also, Mr Dibner can be found on the TechAviv members page from 1 Sep 2009 and Mr Shay and myself can additionally be found on the members page from 1 October 2009.

As mentioned, Jonathan Saacks was at this event as was Eden Shochat (both Genesis Partners – Mr Dibner’s firm.)

At one point, Saacks stood up and said “we back winners” while looking at me. Saacks is listed on the TechAviv Angels screenshot above, as is someone from Canaan Partners (Daniel Ciporin) – Shay’s firm at the time.

Also, there are additional people who were aware of me at this event to varying degrees. One person was Yoav Leitersdorf, a VC who I had interviewed for Launchpadisrael.com and who I worked for remotely for a few days. Another person was Ofer Wald, an entrepreneur who I had last spoken to at TWS2008 (mentioned above.) Ofer held Shay in high regard. At this meetup I was wearing my long-lost “Tara” cap and would’ve stood-out as I was the only one wearing a cap.

[ pic 2 | pic 3 – Ofer at TWS 2008 | pic 4 – Ofer from inside the actual room – full pic]

I did enjoy the event except for the underlying drama, which made imprints on my mind.

On the topic of Dark Retribution, earlier in the year I was removed from the IVC-Online industry database.

– 3 screenshots directly above taken 2 April 2009. The 3rd pic as linked from Google should’ve shown my full profile page (prior to its deletion.) The 1st pic shows that my name was still in the search index at the time even if the actual page was already deleted.

Regarding this, in the TechAviv forum on 30 August 2009, I created the thread: “IVC-Online a site failure or larger systemic failure”

– screenshot take 9 January 2010

This was created 3 days prior to the Town Hall Meeting and so I was expecting drama, especially since I had already seen what happened at Eurekamp.

A further oddity occurred on 8 June 2010, when I was blocked from viewing the Genesis Partners website after sending them a message through a form. It was around this time Mr Dibner moved from Genesis Partners to another firm in Israel – see his profile (snippet below).

I applied to Seedcamp Europe 2012 after meeting Reshma at TWS2008. I was rejected from that in around September 2012 and stopped working on the site at around the same time and focused on Bitcoin. Philipp (@pmoe) was fired (or quit) Seedcamp in December 2013 who I had been communicating with up until my application for some months.

Regarding Mr Dibner, who I have only met with once and only replied to the first of his two group emails sent to me. The first one was sent regarding leaving Genesis Partners and the second about starting at Gemini – both in mid 2010. My reply was a one sentence trivial response. But why did he even write to me at all? Also with regards to my blog post about Mr Dibner in late 2006 (1 of 3 blog posts regarding VC meetings I was having at the time), the only controversial thing I remember to have written was something akin to: “As such, we did not proceed with further discussions.” So I was saying in my blog post that I was rejected from him and that firm with regards to my ideas and propositions. Going into the meeting I did not sign an NDA and I recall sending a link to that blog post to the person that setup the meeting initially via email. Later I sent a link to the post to Mr Dibner personally, to which he did not reply.

In January 2014, he posted “Towards a VC code of conduct” [archive] which alerted me to the fact that I was potentially dealing with someone consciously hypocritical, and in looking back today I think he was just being silly or else treacherous. Probably hateful (see twitter results below.) That’s just my own opinion because no one with a “Code of Conduct” would ever do anything to harm someone, right? Also, that article had/has an image of the 10 commandments at top, why? Are they interchangeable?

By July 2014, I put up a picture on my FB.

Within a few months (possibly days) he put up a similar picture on his Twitter.

[ 1, 2, 3, 4 (22 March 22) ]
[5,6 – censored (23 March 22), 7 – uncensored (same day); censored again – or is this a bug with twitter’s UI?]

A dangerous chap. But he may not be wholly responsible for his actions if he has been strongly influenced by others and that is a real possibility.

Note: unlike Anakin, actual *baseless* hatred is still real amongst Jews – especially in Israel as sensed by myself and others. It’s the opposite of mateship – it’s hateship. Furthermore, in a documentary on prison life I saw once, an inmate said that many people would love the opportunity to “hate on” someone else – it’s an emotional outlet. Anakin had reasons for his hate even if they were based on complete misapprehensions. Baseless hatred on the other hand is like free-floating anxiety – no real cause.

Continuing, in his Crunchbase profile above, it mentions him being a team member at Yedda. Was he aware of all the tips I had sent that startup when he was defaming me at Eurekamp in 2009 (my contention) as mentioned in Part 2? Did/would those tips make him jealous?

At that point I blocked his FB. I then unblocked it in September 2015 at which point he almost instantly deactivated his FB. He deactivated his Instagram too, I am almost certain.

His wife (Millia) also deactivated her FB at exactly the same time… why? (*I never had anything to do with her or his family in any way, shape or form*)  I only knew about her due to his mention or reference to her, and I wasn’t following her.

7 years later Mr Dibner’s twitter profile picture still remains (as of 15 Mar 2022) and the aeroplane header picture has been there for almost the same amount of time.

[ pic ]


Very odd indeed.

I suspect he was following my FB for many years due to some similarly-themed posts although I might be wrong. That was a concern of mine. Was I in for more surprises offline? Would that have anything to do with him anyway?

The real crux and importance of this exposé is that people have disappeared in Israel after I have met and become friends with (starting in 2014) … and this should be elaborated upon in the greater specifics of Dark Retribution. In fact, I suspect an entire business that I worked for was shutdown. This was the CU-agency (2nd or 3rd floor, 50 Yitzhak Sadeh street, Tel Aviv) soon after mid-2017 when I mentioned it on FB in my resume and its manager Sharon.

It’s absurd, and I really might be wrong here, and even if I am, there are still many more examples to contend with.

But to me, it’s not about winning some high stakes game, it’s rather about waking up from an epic dream!

Referring to Yogo:

FENDACE: Fendi by Versace Collection | Campaign Film | Versace

Also see Versace:

 

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…from the video: “by connecting to existent man-made structures such as piers, breakwaters, jetties” (0:41) — Has EWP factored security-costs into each setup? Someone could stab or melt the hydraulic hoses and the units could be vandalized. Will owners need to insure against subsequent blackouts? At Jaffa port, acid could be poured over rubber surfaces and local Arabs would be blamed a few days later after failure.

 

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✓ 3 years ago

Israel Revisited
– from Exile to Exodus (part 2/2)

I didn’t know what I was in for… I wouldn’t want it any other way!

(last update: 21 April 2024)
(also see: part 1)

After landing in Israel in June 2005, immediately I felt a raising of my energy. It felt perfect to arrive.

Prior to that, the only time I had been in Israel was in January 1988 for a couple of weeks.

The first place I went to was the Jerusalem botanical gardens.

[src 3]

At the garden cafe (far right above,) I spoke to the waitress and she was very friendly and attractive. I didn’t even know if she was Jewish or not and didn’t even think about it. I ended up giving her my phone number (did I get hers?) and minutes later as I was leaving, I saw a lone young man walking toward me in what looked like a state-of-fury. Then, like an edgy kangaroo, I basically fled the scene, jet-lag be damned. There was no confrontation and I never returned. I determined later from her name that she must have been Arab. I was nervous for a day or two that he might call for reasons unknown to me and I never spoke to her again and don’t remember her name.

Anyhow, I soon noticed my lips drying up – this was due to the hardness of the water. Pots and pans were even left with a white residue of minerals after each meal. The only solution was bottled water.

I headed to the Old City and to the Western Wall (Kotel.) On the way there, I asked Jeff Seidel for directions. He gladly pointed it out to me and he also became a friend.

Below, mid-2006, during an Orange vs Blue protest in Jerusalem. However, I was also there during the first protest in mid-2005.

I didn’t have much of an opinion at the time, but had a feeling withdrawal was not a good thing. The prime minister at the time, Ariel Sharon had a stroke at the end of 2005 and then within a month fell into a coma.

Tens of thousands of orange-clad activists lined major highways Monday in a nationwide protest against Israel’s planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, disrupting traffic, shouting slogans and drawing noisy honks of support from motorists.

With tensions running high as the withdrawal nears, Israel has descended into an emotional color war. Jewish settlers and their supporters have embraced orange. On the blue side are peace activists and other backers of the withdrawal. Each side’s weapon of choice: ribbons _ tied to cars, backpacks and even wedding bouquets.

– 2005, source

In the back of my mind, even to this day, I have a hypothesis that the only character trait that Israelis have that extends beyond their toughness is their idiocy. This relates to class and status divisions, baseless hatred, might makes right, crippling xenophobia and acts of self-sabotage such as the funding of Hamas.

Anyhow, years later, I actually spoke to a soldier who was stationed at a checkpoint or border-crossing in Gaza, a student from Jerusalem, and he was very much for the withdrawal – he said it was very difficult and dangerous work. Another chap hated carrying his machine gun so much that he was imprisoned for initially refusing. And there was another fellow that simply hated the army, but had to do it anyway as it was compulsory.

Because many would prefer to avoid the instruments-of-war in favour for different ones.

I don’t blame them.

And speaking of war, from my understanding, in Russia hostage situations are resolved quickly because the state takes hostage the relatives of the terrorists. Why doesn’t the IDF do this? To free hostages, shouldn’t a second set of hostages (for want of a better word) be taken? Who are the other people that should be begging for their lives to the terrorists?

The IDF tracks leading terrorists. Why not the their family members as well? … so back to my hypothesis.

For this latest October 7 incursion, why not just bring a whole portion of Gaza into Israel proper permanently? All of Gaza city should become Israel and the fighting can stop, or half of Gaza. Something like that anyway. Land-grab is the deterrence to terror, not death, because death is seen differently in Jihad. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, Hamas will never be eliminated because it’s just Islam by another name. Deceived Western minds will at least understand this response, and it will memorialise the fallen – streets can be named after them. If the Magen-David is raised in Gaza, let it stay there.

A 5 year-old buried under 5 tonnes of rubble means different things to different people. But why did the parents even have children in a war-zone? How can there be a genocide when there are millions of Arabs still alive in Gaza? Who’s to say the children weren’t conceived just to be cannon fodder yet will attain paradise to their benefit, thanks to the Jews? The evil of running a false-flag attack (if it was one,) and then getting no benefit boggles the mind: it’s akin to  Jewish suicide bombers attacking Israel alongside Palestinian ones. If “Free Palestine” is a strategy to reestablish a Muslim caliphate via useful idiots, how about “Free the Hostages” as a strategy to manifest the Israelites again?

Anyway, I mentioned the need for voluntary military service here – and not just for Israel.

Yet, ironically at the same time “in warfare, a theater or theatre is an area in which important military events occur or are in progress” [- source.] Thus, one is left wondering if warfare might be phoney and actually scripted for an audience, just like a music recital or rather a Broadway extravaganza. In which case, at some level, enemies are actually friends, or even one and the same in outlooks of full spectrum dominance. As such, I think people should choose different theatres to watch.

Continuing, some weeks later I ended up finding and staying at the Heritage House and also studying at Aish HaTorah which were both in the old city. The late Rabbi Meir Schuster, Elie, and Dave (from NYC) all worked at the HH.

(early 2006 )

I ended up buying Tefellin through Reb Schuster which I still own to this day.

I invariably had better days in Jerusalem on the days I donned my Tefellin.  They are used to tame the evil inclination and worldly desires. Today, I carry around a Tasmanian quartz crystal and should probably “dare to wear” the Tefellin again – may God help us all.

Continuing, on one Shabbat evening in the old city, I told the host how my paternal grandfather Oskar (below) fled Warsaw with my grandmother Hela (shown Elka below) and parents Abram and Jetta Sokol (shown below) a week after the war started. They went to Lithuania, across Russia by train, to Japan and then by ship to Melbourne on a Sugihara visa after mid-1940. The host was taken aback at how I found my way from Australia to Israel at such a young age (and non-religious.)

[ scanned original | src ]

Heroic Chiune Sugihara Saves Thousands of Lives | Sigmund Tobias | USC Shoah Foundation #shorts
  • pic 1 – www.sugiharafoundation.org/the-list/ (site down: 9 Dec ’22)
  • pic 2 – src DL
  • pic 3 – 1991
  • pic 4 – 1993
  • pic 5 – late 1980’s
  • pic 6,7,8 – 1997

As referred in the second pic above, Oskar once showed me his civil engineering degree obtained at The University of Berlin, Charlottenburg, but it wasn’t recognised in Australia due to it being of German origin so instead he went into the Flinders Lane rag trade, specifically at Londex House (London Export,) next to Tasmania House

[ 1 2 3 4 ]

As an aside, while Oskar escaped, his two brothers Benjamin and Eliyahu were betrayed by the Poles hiding them two days before the war ended for bread and sugar. They were murdered by Nazis. Oskar’s 3rd (and eldest) brother Leon “Lolek” Weisbrem  (1903 – 1999) joined the Polish army and was taken prisoner-of-war by Germany. His buddies saved his life by surrounding him at a roll call so the camp commander wouldn’t see that he was circumcised and deemed Jewish. He eventually fled Poland, across Europe to reach England in 1941.

source | 2 | 3 | Leon’s family tree from mid-70’s

I met him once in 1986.

Leon’s autobiographical book in Polish contains various other documents:

  • pic 1 – book cover
  • pic 2 – Wolf with son Leon (1932)
  • pic 4 – Eliyahu + Oskar + Leon + Benjamin – Warsaw ~1933
  • pic 6 – Leon second from left in Polish army
  • pic 7 – POW documentation
  • pic 8 – Nazi POW currency
  • pic 9 – postcard received while at Stalag VI-C POW camp
  • pic 10 – poem from London
  • pic 11 – other

At one point, he had the 3rd largest Japanese stamp collection in the world, which he sold while residing in Melbourne before he returned to London.

source: Kanai Catalogue 1979/80 Japan ‘Weisbrem’ Collection

Two more people I met in Jerusalem were Sharon (below left) from the CU Agency and Warren (below right, 2018) who is also from Melbourne, Australia. Warren (aka Avraham) and I took on an extras role for Sharon at Mt Zion for a Discovery/NatGeo documentary in 2005. In 2018, right before leaving Israel, I gladly met Warren again who by that stage was using a walker.

Interestingly, the “raising of vibration” that hit me when first entering Israel and kept bringing me back had left by 2018. It is for this reason that I tend to think the term “aliyah” (going up to Israel) is wrongly applied to Israeli immigration. It can be correct, but not all the time for everyone, for example I met two immigrants who were murdered there: Tony Rose in April 2014 and Dave Gordon (or was it rather a suicide… which is a murder of self anyhow?) in August 2014.

In a similar vein, I think the country name “Israel” is incorrect. That name should only be used once all the lost 10 tribes can (and do) return to the holy land and not while the Israelites are lost and in exile – imagine if that became the new security narrative rather than Iran!

src | 2

"Nearly all Jews today consider themselves as descendants of the tribe of Judah. Some do claim membership in the Levites, the priestly clan that - like other Jews - was exiled to Babylon and returned to rebuild the Temple. However, Jews with family names such as Levy (Levi), Rubin (Reuben), Simon (Simeon), Benjamin, Asher, etc. are unable to document their genealogies as going back to these historical tribes."

source


By this, even:

  • Holyland
  • Israel-2B / Israel To Be (ישראל להיות)
  • Israel 1 (as opposed to Israel 2 for the messianic age)
  • Israel 4 (see image below)
  • Future Israel
  • Israeland (ארץ ישראל)
  • Judahland
  • Judah / Yehuda (יְהוּדָה)
  • Jacob / יַעֲקֹב *
  • Green / Grün / Grünia **
  • Boronia (ie Adrian Boron, plant and suburb)
  • The Jewish State
  • Capital
  • Tribe / Blessed Tribe / Blessed
  • Heart
  • Semitica
  • Outpost Płońsk (DBG’s hometown)
  • Plonskia / Plonskonia
  • Israel Rebooted

could be a more apt name for Israel – at least as a thought exercise and for debate.

source | 2 | 3 | 4

* Israel was Jacob after being renamed by an angel. Similarly Abram was renamed by God to Abraham.

** (Green) was David Ben-Gurion’s (Israel’s Founding Father) original surname from his father Avigdor that was changed to Ben-Gurion. It was “taken from one of the Jewish generals who fought against the Roman legions in the time of Bar Kochba.” ~ source

Also, I wonder in ancient times if it was ever called Israel.

The name “Israel” first appears in the Merneptah Stele c. 1208 BCE: “Israel is laid waste and his seed is no more.”[29] This “Israel” was a cultural and probably political entity, well enough established for the Egyptians to perceive it as a possible challenge, but an ethnic group rather than an organised state. – source

My personal favourite name is The Kingdom of Israel and that is mentioned in a few places already on this blog and the subject of a film ennealogy that I started in Jerusalem in 2017.

This is the name that really should’ve been used in the “Free Your Mind” campaign video that influenced me to “make aliyah” in 2006.

However, it couldn’t have been used because there is no kingdom in Israel… yet. No messiah, no temple, no lost tribes and lots of division – and this isn’t about to change anytime soon. As such, the video is a con-job to me at this point and is more apt for gentiles. Really, there’s still an exile, even in Israel, but one should have faith.

Anyhow, the Temple Mount has not changed since 1948 (State-of-Israel’s inception) and wars never end because there is a fear of justice or the adoption of a “war-is-peace” attitude. Isn’t that farcical?

After Jerusalem, I made it to the holy mountain city of Tsfat.

Here I spoke to Jeremy Hart (Hartley?) at length who was immigrating to Adelaide from England. He wasn’t sold on Israel and was very concerned with the poverty.

I also met the late Tony Rose (from Manchester) and his children (photo Jerusalem, 2006.) Jeremy actually met Tony after my introduction. As previously mentioned, Tony was tragically murdered in Tsfat in 2014.

In Jerusalem, at around the same location as above, I overheard a couple of American guys discussing Israel and making “aliyah.” They said it was a highly security conscious, hyper-rational and highly competitive society. Their main gripe was that Jews fighting other Jews just doesn’t work – I suppose they meant especially in Israel – and I agree. It’s ironic, because I went to Israel to be in a place where there’d be less walls between people as a result of being from the same spiritual and genetic background – but it turns out the walls are just different.

On this note of “Israelis fighting Israelis,” at Hayarkon Hostel (pics below) in Tel Aviv during 2005 there was a non-Jewish British carpenter with an Israeli girlfriend. He told me how Israelis emulated much of their abusive behaviour toward each other from Arabs. I translate this in daily life to mean as countless Tom and Jerry-like battles for narcissistic supply, with this character trait in turn being the result of trauma associated from being born into a warzone and the subsequent creation of an invincible false-self.

Later while taking a bus from the hostel, a tourist mentioned to me how bogged down the small country was in security spending, with guards required at so many public places, not to mention defence spending as a whole. Moreover, the Walk Through Metal Detectors outside malls and bus/train stations were a real health turn-off for me. The risks are played down, but I can feel their effects so I avoided them.

Another standout reader comment I read on an Israeli news site was “Jews from the diaspora have difficulty fathoming the depth of moronicy present in this country.” I would have to agree – people can act in counterproductive ways to each other. And back in Australia in 2007, an Israeli ex-pat mentioned to me how Israelis when they leave the country often end up seeking other Israelis to associate with. After living in Israel for ~12 years, I would imagine that to mean that it is difficult to be comfortably sociopathic unless around other sociopaths. By this, I mean that sociopathy arises when narcissism is combined with baseless hatred.

Baseless hatred exists as a remnant causative factor of the destruction of the second temple. In a narcissistic society due to constant war, I suppose one could hate another simply for taking attention away from oneself to fracture self-worth. A religious fellow at the Mahane Yehuda market confirmed with me once that baseless hatred is everywhere in the country and keeps people divided. This is why Yaakov said to me something akin to “English speakers need to stick to English speakers.”

For Jews everywhere, there are also issues associated with being in the age of the “Shalom Rav” (Peace Rabbi), which I deem something akin to an atheistic security guard taking control of the Jewish synagogue they’re supposed to protect: some new type of coup between a rabbi and his security guard.

[ far right, June 2005, a potential bomb is detonated at a bus stop ]

Can’t we all just get along?

Anyhow, months later, in October 2005 and still with the travel bug, I reached Vancouver.

While browsing a second-hand bookstore I discovered a book (Idel, 1988) Studies in Ecstatic Kabbalah and it really had a strong resonance with me. The book is  a study of Rabbi Abraham Abulafia. Abulafia uncovered new knowledge through an itinerant life and believed he was the messiah – although perhaps that belief was justifiable to the extent of his preeminence.

source

Abulafia even attempted to convert the pope to Judaism:

He went to Rome in 1280 in order to convert Pope Nicholas III to Judaism on the day before Rosh Hashanah. The Pope was in Suriano when he heard of it, and he issued orders to “burn the fanatic” as soon as he reached that place. The stake was erected in preparation close to the inner gate; but Abulafia set out for Suriano all the same and reached there August 22. While passing through the outer gate, he heard that the Pope had died from an apoplectic stroke during the preceding night. He returned to Rome, where he was thrown into prison by the Order of Friars Minor but was liberated after four weeks’ detention. He was next heard of in Sicily. ~ Wikipedia

Prof. Moshe Idel on Abraham Abulafia

I also visited the British Columbia Parliament Buildings in Victoria, BC.

Back in Israel months later, I borrowed the Tanya from Ascent (in Tsfat) and started reading it back in my room.

One thing that struck me was how it described the world being  continuously created through the constant emanation of the names of God (in Hebrew.) I’d already heard something similar on a radio interview while driving to South Australia in early 2005 – that the Big Bang didn’t occur once – the world is big-banging into existence at every moment.

The apex of my learning came whilst studying at Ohr Somayach yeshiva in Jerusalem.

During one of my first classes there, I had the distressed thought:

“So this is it, I have come all the way from Australia, dropped out of university, travelled a great mental distance, spent lots of money and relocated to this premises and all for this classroom? A whole new journey of infinite learning was about to start. Please God if you’re listening, make my day.”

And the class proceeded as usual.

Then that night, in a dream-like state some angelic teacher stood near me and imbued me with an avalanche of wisdom. The transfer went for about a minute or so. I’d never experienced anything like it before or since. It was like the feeling of a million burning questions being answered.

Now who doesn’t want to stand in God’s stream of consciousness?

And so that was it, the exodus was over… at least for me at that point.

So the Ari (Isaac Luria) told the student something remarkable: "if I had 80 years to write down the material that I heard from Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai, I still couldn’t finish it." That’s how much stuff Rabbi Shimon said in whatever brief time that he (Luria) was sleeping or in a trance."
~  Rabbi Mendel Kessin 8:51


✓ 7 months ago