Sadly, Bat-El eliminated at Oympics.

My daughter couldn't care less about my blog this morning and what I had to say about the JBlopgger conference last night -- all she wanted to see was how Bat-El was doing in the Taekwondo competition.

Unfortuantely, she was elimiated from the finals and lost to Martina ZUBCIC from Croatia. (video in Hebrew, here)

Next time, she'll come home with the gold.


Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Frum Jewish Kid Spectating the Olympics

Yes, we already all know about Israel's killer-frum-Olympian, Bat-tel the Taekwondian. (note, her competition starts Aug 20th)

But did you know about the frum kid in Beijing who is blogging the Olympics? Yes, he wears pants. Yes, he keeps shabbat. Kosher too.

See the blog of a frum Olympic spectator in Beijing, BarryTime. (link fixed - sorry about that)



Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

One Big Rumble Jumble Sunday Post

Crawling to the finish line a few days after Ezzie, sometime today (Sunday) the Muqata blog will proudly host it's 500,000th page view since this blog's inception about 3 years ago.

Sometime over the weekend, the 350,000th visitor arrived as well, marking another serious milestone.

That said, while I don't use silly techniques to get additional page views, such as "click here to continue reading this post," I am well aware that not all of those who come visit the Muqata Blog are here for their daily dose of Israel, aliya, or whatever's going on in my head.

So many google searches end up here on a daily basis, it's frightening. I've been keeping an open file with google searches that bring readers here so that I could post them now without having to spend too much time.

For example; the google search for "Drive an ice cream truck?" ranks my blog as the 8th most popular result. Since when did I ever post about driving an ice cream truck? The answer is never, but count on guest commenter Jack to bring some oddity to my blog...

Others include:

halacha, cannibalism
Seaweed needs hashgacha
find chocolate camel milk
friendly kiss hello to a jewish person
Tapuzina specifications
foreman grill waffle
elite chocolate competition
how to make a poisonous drink.
jameelionaire
kissing the hand after a handshake jewish
big voice warning systems from israel
mbd yidden german band
neutering cats halacha
burkas ramat beit shemesh

Lately, the top searches with bring people to my blog through are "srugim" and "Jameel, blog." It seems that everyone's heard of the Jameel/Muqata blog, but many have trouble finding it.

To make their lives easier, besides the number 1 ranking in google for "Jameel" or Muqata (side note, this blog totally displaces the fake Muqata in Ramalla where Arafat is entombed) there are other blogs which point to the real muqata blog [mine]. (like The Muqata or The Muquata)

During the second Lebanon war, this blog was listed in Wikipedia, but arab bloggers got very offended and quickly removed the entry. They should see this video instead on boycotts and Israel.


(hat-tip- SKE)



And yet, I get mail from all over the planet of alleged sightings of me. This snapshot came from the SixFlags amusement park in Maryland. For the record, I don't work there, have never visited there, and its clearly an example of identity theft. Then I get mail about a movie I'm allegedly starring in. Again, that's not me, I don't endorse the film, nor have I seen it.

However, being that I'm only posting once today and trying to cram everything into this one post, it's important that I mention the following 2 news items.


Many people are making a huge deal out of Israel participation in the upcoming Olympics. I have seen articles claiming that the entire Jewish world will be watching with pride as the Israeli team proudly carries the blue and white flag in the Olympic stadium in Beijing.

Yes, we'll be proud of them, but the real story which is of much greater consequence to the Jewish nation is taking place right now.

Friend of the blog, AirTime, is currently in Italy coaching Israel's National Juvenile baseball team. AirTime reports:

This afternoon we are playing in the finals against the team from Czech Republic. We beat them a few days ago 10 to 1, but we are expectng a much closer game this time. The kids have played great, and are ready to bring home the championship for Israel.

Our game is at 330 local time, 430 in Israel and 930 East Coast time. You can follow the game live online at here. Click on Arezzo August 1-3 link, and from there you can follow some links to see play by play action online. Daniel is starting in left field, and probably batting seventh. Going into this mornings game he was leading the team in batting, although he struck out in both his at bats this morning.

If ever there was a time that the Jewish people held it's breath, this is it!

Wishing AirTime and team the best of luck -- we're all counting on you guys! (And of course, kudos to Veev for putting up with this important national mission)

Lastly, and very seriously, it never ceases to amaze me that Palestinian and Arab spokesmen that appear or are interviewed in the Israeli media, routinely announce without a hint of embarrassment that there never was a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, and absolutely never on Har Habayit where the Al-Aksa mosque temporarily resides today. Of course, that explains why they refuse to allow Israeli archaeologists on the Temple Mount, and is also the reason why the Waqf routinely destroys any archaeological finds that might G-d forbid "prove" that there used to be a first or second Jewish Temple.

While this find isn't from the Temple Mount, the historical importance is huge. Haaretz Reports:

Israeli archaeologists have unearthed a seal impression belonging to a minister of the biblical King Zedekiah, which dates back 2,600 years, during an archeological dig in Jerusalem's ancient City of David. The finding helps corroborate the story pertaining to the biblical minister's demand to have the prophet Jeremiah killed.

The seal impression, or bulla, with the name Gedalyahu ben Pashur, who served as minister to King Zedekiah (597-586 BCE) according to the Book of Jeremiah, was found completely intact just meters away from a separate seal impression of another of Zedekia's ministers, Yehukual ben Shelemyahu, which was unearthed three years ago.

Both ministers are mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 38 1-4) along with two other ministers when they came to King Zedekiah demanding the death of the prophet Jeremiah for preaching to the besieged city to surrender.

Read the rest of it here.

On that note, try to avoid Kosher restaurants this week that advertise, "Make This the Best 9 Days Ever at Our Kosher Dairy Restaurant." They've totally missed the point.

Hopefully, this year we'll all be feasting on Tisha B'Av -- at the rebuilt Beit HaMikdash in Yerushalayim.


Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד