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CANDLELIGHTING

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THE JEWISH VIEW

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HOLIDAYS

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JUDAISM 101

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{weblog_name} - Fuel for Thought
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I took my first trip to Israel in December of 1986 when I was 21 years old. What surprised me the most (besides how different it looked from the Jewish section of Baltimore) were the taxis. Almost all of them were Mercedes. I couldn’t figure out why all the Jewish people were being transported in German cars when it was taboo to support anything German only 40 years after the Holocaust. I later learned that the taxis were donated by the German government as war reparations because it had no cash to give the Jewish state. I took my last trip to Israel 20 years later, in July of 2006. I again was surprised by the cars. Not a hybrid to be found. I see more hybrids in my neighborhood in Baltimore City than I saw my whole week… read more