Tag Archives: Jewish History

Tisha B’Av. From Within

Tisha B’Av is the saddest day of the Jewish year. The Jewish calender, unlike the Gregorian one doesn’t change. The date an event falls on the Jewish calender will be the same every year, the date it falls on the Gregorian will change. Tisha B’Av this year is Saturday the 21st. But since only Yom Kippur will alter the joy of Shabbat, it will be observed on Sunday the 22nd. How Tisha B’Av is observed and how it is observed when it falls on Shabbat.

Why is it the saddest day of the year? Plenty, and I mean plenty of reasons. Chabad has a list of Tisha B’Av history. In addition to what is listed, Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven mentioned this week in Temple Talk radio it is also the date the gas chambers started up at Treblinka.

Jews have paid a fearsome price, horrific, down through the ages for their faith and for their race. I realize that last one is citing a AP source, so not necessarily reliable. There has been a price indeed for the people that brought knowledge of G-d into the world. The world resisted from the beginning. From Parshat Balak when the King of Moab hires Balaam to curse the Jews, and he can’t, he only blesses them. He then advises the King of Moab, find something to separate them from their G-d, how you ask?

As the Torah tells it (see Numbers 25; Rashi ibid.; Talmud, Sanhedrin 81b–82b and 106a), the wicked prophet Balaam, having failed to undermine the people of Israel’s special relationship with G‑d by harping on their past sins, had an idea. “Their G‑d abhors promiscuity,” he said to Balak, the Moabite king who had hired him to place a curse on Israel. Corrupt them with the daughters of your realm, and you will provoke His wrath upon them.

And as the Jews assimilated the Midianite women, sure enough, they began to worship Baal Peor. This and more is in the Parshat after Balak, Parshat Pinchas. Pinchas skewered a couple of them, very publicly. And,,,,,,it brought peace and a cessation of the plague.

Pinchas’s deed evokes many associations—courage, decisiveness and religious passion are several that come to mind—but peace hardly seems one of them. Pinchas, after all, killed two people. True, what he did was condoned by Torah law, and his doing so saved many lives; still, one does not usually think of homicide as a peaceful act.

During the teaching that week Rabbi said that while many think that open borders, anyone can live anywhere, we’re all just one big family of human beings is a very liberal compassionate attitude, it is not. Because innocent people will pay the price for this, it is the innocent that are harmed. The opposite is true, that borders and sound policy are the more compassionate.

We’ll come back for Matot-Massei more. But I’ll just touch on this point. The Moabites feared the Jews, they saw the big victories and the Jews were going to settle near them. The Midianites just flat hated them. They weren’t going to settle near the Midianites, they just had a baseless hatred of the Jews. i

There are histories, cases, incidents and evidence that nations and people have wanted to destroy the Jews and separate them from G-d since G-d had a word with Avraham. There is a clear difference in what the message is coming from Torah and the liberal segment of Judaism. Rabbi Tovia Singer talks in one of his lectures about how they train secret service agents to know real from phony currency. He thought they examined tons of the fake stuff so they could spot it. No, his friend who trained the agents told him. They have them examine the real thing, to know how it feels, what it looks like, all it’s special characteristics. Then when you know the real thing, you can much more easily spot a fake. He talks about how the Jews that are easily pulled away from Judaism don’t have a firm foundation, they don’t know their roots. He urges parents and grandparents to make sure that their children and grandchildren have a good Jewish education so they are harder to pull away from the faith. And this is not a new lecture series I’m listening to. From references made in the lecture on the Slander of Israel and it’s trigger for antisemitism he mentions Senator HilLIARy Clintoon, when she called for a disasterous two state solution. She was in office from 2001-2009, so somewhere in there. He also cites the death of Chezi Goldberg, 2004 Nava Applebaum, September 9th 2003 and the butchering alive of two IDF reservists by Arafat’s Police the Wiki article doesn’t tell you what happened to those two young men, Rabbi Tovia in the linked audio, does. Why would I tell you to listen to something so appallingly gruesome? Because when you read this next part I want you to keep it in mind. Here is a list of terror attacks from 1993-1999, just a few years worth and before the intifadas.

Tisha B’Av, from within. The attempt to destroy Jews and Judaism coming from within. Just like the 300 Spartans and King Leonidas, molṑn labé dude were betrayed by a bucket of chum. Aforementioned bucket of chum wanted favors and acclaim. He sought personal recognition above the good of his people, and those he should have given his loyalty towards.

So why am I off on this tear? Well, as Bear wrote in Tikkun Olam, we received a letter citing this column, Liberal Jews are destroying their own religion. Here is the book referenced in the column.

So let’s take a look at that, shall we? Let’s start with Ze’ev Jabotinsky and his timeless words and wisdom.

“The Ethics of The Iron Wall,” a timeless document which simply and rightfully argues that morality comes before everything else – and along with that the simple concept that Zionism is “moral and just.”

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“It is incredible what political simpletons Jews are. They shut their eyes to one of the most elementary rules of life, that you must not “meet halfway” those who do not want to meet you.”

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Israel is right to have demands for safety and survival above all else. Jabotinsky’s timeless essay continues, “…there is no morality, no ethics that concedes the right of a glutton to gorge, while more tempered people die of starvation.”

He continues, “And the Talmud quotes a very instructive legal action – which has a direct bearing on this matter. Two people walking along the road find a piece of cloth. One of them says: ‘I found it. It is mine:’ But the other says: ‘No: that is not true: I found the cloth, and it is mine:’ The judge to whom they appeal cuts the cloth in two, and each of these obstinate folk gets half. But there is another version of this action. It is only one of the two claimants who is obstinate: the other, on the contrary, has determined to make the world wonder at this magnanimity. So he says: ‘We both found the cloth, and therefore I ask only a half of it, because the second belongs to B But B. insists that he found it, and that he alone is entitled to it. “

“In this case, the Talmud recommends a wise Judgment, that is, how very disappointing to our magnanimous gentleman. The judge says: ‘There is agreement about one half of the cloth. A. admits that it belongs to B. So it is only the second half that is in dispute. We shall, therefore divide this into two halves: And the obstinate claimant gets three-quarters of the cloth, while the ‘gentleman’ has only one quarter, and serve him right. It is a very fine thing to be a gentleman, but it is no reason for being an idiot. Our ancestors knew that. But we have forgotten it. We should bear it in mind. Particularly, since we are very badly situated in this matter of concessions.”

Clearly, there are people not keeping this in mind. First up the Israel (Jewish state) hating Bernie Sanders. I have to admit, I feel humor when I see a brand new expensive car with “Feel the Bern” bumper stickers on it as I drive past in my 1997 model car. Redistribute the cars. Bernie much beloved by the liberal left, doesn’t seem to have moral roots, meaning something anchoring to convictions or positions. For example

“Open borders? No, that’s a Koch brothers proposal,” Bernie Sanders snapped. “You’re doing away with the concept of a nation state, and I don’t think there’s any country in the world that believes in that.”

“What right-wing people in this country would love is an open-border policy,” he continued. “You know what youth unemployment is in the United States of America today? If you’re a white high school graduate, it’s 33 percent, Hispanic 36 percent, African American 51 percent. You think we should open the borders and bring in a lot of low-wage workers, or do you think maybe we should try to get jobs for those kids?”

That was three years ago.

Bernie’s final surrender came after dodging a question on CNN about abolishing ICE. After the backlash, he went even further, issuing a statement urging that we “abolish the cruel, dysfunctional immigration system we have today”. Open borders had gone from a right-wing position to a Bernie position.

Or how about his position on Guns?

Bernie 2.0, the formerly poor politician who has earned over $1 million for two years running, is a very different political animal than the crusty old socialist that Obama’s old lefty allies dug up in Vermont.

The left’s favorite Senator owes his seat to the NRA. He voted against the Brady Bill and was listed as the only non-Republican among the 25 top recipients of money from gun-rights groups. Hillary Clinton quickly zeroed in on gun control as Bernie’s weakness. And his response to her was praised by the NRA. And then, as usual, the flip-following followed the leftist backlash in the media and on social media.

After telling the New York Daily News that firearms manufacturers shouldn’t face lawsuits from victims of crimes committed with firearms, he flipped his answer completely around at the debate. It only took a few weeks for Bernie to go from, “No, I don’t” to “They have a right to sue, and I support them.”

These days Bernie is hanging out with David Hogg and blaming a “three letter word” for gun violence.

“It’s the NRA,” Sanders recently sneered. “And it’s Trump and the Republicans who don’t have the guts to stand up to these people and that’s pretty pathetic.”

Bernie is the the type of Jew that Rabbi Tovia talks about. They don’t adhere, or follow Judaism and they hate Israel, so the media loves to quote them, or use them as sources for their anti-Israel diatribes. That way they can’t be accused of antisemitism. The open borders thing? Go back up and see what Rabbi said in the teaching of Pinchas. A bit different from Bernie.

And a group of 50 young gullible political pawns, naw, let’s just say what it is, liberal Jews craving attention with no love of Judaism, Torah or Israel, and yes that’s my opinion but not mine alone,

This gathering was less about a genuine empathy for dead Palestinians. It was more an exhibition of Jew hatred for the Jewish state.

decided to daven Kaddish ….for the hamass terrorists trying to kill Jews from Gaza. In Parliament square in Londonistan. That apparently doesn’t run afoul of Londonistan’s mulim mayor Kahn (#FreeTommyRobinsonNow). Hamass has admitted that 50 or so of the 65 killed in the day of question were their people. People who had stated:

Hamas Gaza chief, Yahiya Sinwar, incited his people by telling them, “We will tear down their borders and then tear out their hearts from their bodies.”

Nice, in addition to that, the baby they named was not killed by tear gas (WHO takes a baby to a riot) but by a congenital heart defect. A cousin of the family told the IDF the family was paid two grand by hamass to claim Israel killed the baby. The gullible sops fell for it, naw, they didn’t care for the facts or truth, they cared for the camera and “social justice”. What crap. What is “just” about a people flat out telling you they want to kill you and you side with them?

What sanctimonious hogwash! What they were doing was feeling sad for Palestinian who set out to murder Jews.

As for their “morality,’ Seth Frantzman asked in his Jerusalem Post article, “had these fifty Jews ever held a Kaddish for the dead of the Rwandan genocide or the thousands of Yazidis machine-gunned to death by ISIS, or for the hundreds of Israelis killed during the Second Intifada” or since by Palestinians? Or the Jewish victims of antisemitism? Highly unlikely.

Did they spare any of those prayers for the Israelis murdered by hamass? For the IDF attacked by pieceful Falestinians and hamass? Nope. There was backlash. The chief organizing twit-ette, she being a she, as opposed to the male, twit, was removed from her position as a leader on the Reform youth movement’s Israel Tour this summer. Apparently this was too much for Reform Judaism. So her sister posted an appeal on facebook asking all her Jewish friends to contact leadership and express their disappointment. Reading the comments is priceless, enjoyable and entertaining. All the comments I saw run to the line of thinking you daft bint, do you not understand these people want to kill Jews? Kaddish is a Jewish prayer said for Jews, not hamass. Actions have consequences, this sort:

Perhaps u can point out to us an instance when she has said Kaddish for any of the Jewish men women or children butchered by Hamas terrorists?

Please don’t ignore the truth there was only one reason for her being removed from her post and that was because she was unfit to lead as she proved by her naive and repulsive actions.

These stunts are more than just childish. They provide succour to our enemies. It has been retweeted many times by the likes of Electronic Intifada , Ben White, BDS / PSC etc .These individuals and orgs would not dream to post anything remotely disadvantageous to their cause and so they quote you. I have studied their motivation and strategy. A key component is to seed fund dissent within the Diaspora in order to undermine the global Diaspora support for Israel . It’s one more long term element within the bds armoury to dismantle the Jewish state .

And honestly, Israel doesn’t need another Israel hating twit-ette involved with a tour.

Anti-Israel Birthright Brats Beg For Money After Getting Kicked off Program

Oh, but it’s not what you’re thinking, they walked off the tour. And it’s not the first time that the left wing activists from the Israel hating IfNotNow have accepted free trips to Israel only to use them to push their “liberal” ill-liberal narrative. Even Haaratz #FakeNews was miffed. They wanted to go visit an Arab family facing eviction. And so Birthright kicked them off the tour after they walked off. They did what any good liberal who pitched a hissy fit would do when confronted with consequences, they opened a Go Fund Me and begged money. And, they got it.

An, as in one, arab family facing eviction. Wow. They didn’t ask to visit Amona, or Netiv HaAvot. Nor did the ask to help repair some of the thousands of acres of land burned by their Gazan heroes. Nor did they offer to try to stop them from killing innocent animals in an attempt to destroy even more Israeli land and kill more Israelis and animals. Nope, none of that interested them. Being political pawns for hamass, that’s their jam. I think Birthright should have stuck them in a helmet and sent them to the border so they can get a real idea, a Falcon’s eye view of what it’s like to be an Israeli. Let them go spend some time in one of the villages close to the border, talk to the residents there. Let them go spend a few days in Sderot, and find out how long 15 seconds is. I’m actually kind of shocked Birthright hasn’t offered to hire me.

And then there was the IDF hating leftist Hannah Berg who attempted to deceive the good people of Yitzhar into thinking she was sane and giving her a tour. They gave her Tzvi Sukkot, Otzmah Yehudit, Jewish Power Director as a “tour” guide. It’s a short story, but I like it a lot and you might as well.

But the always brilliant Tsvi Sadan points out, it’s like the Head of the IDF hates them as well. Well, he didn’t put it like that, exactly.

Eizenkot: I don’t think that shooting at children and youth who sometimes fly balloons and kites [that set fires in Israel’s south] is the right thing to do.

Yeahhhh, I think I know how Elor Azariya wound up in jail. Really, go read it.

I think Howard Sachs sums it up very nicely in Leftism and liberalism: Private property

What a tragedy for America. Millions of intelligent but highly unwise Jews are replacing liberal Judaism with illiberal Leftism.

Hundreds of thousands of our young across America, now, almost fully indoctrinated into this terrible ideology, demand all this free stuff like free college, healthcare, maternity leave, daycare, retirement care, eldercare – wretched socialism.

This Leftist value system , this new religion, has taken over our media, universities, the Democratic party, Hollywood, and much of our non-orthodox Jewish and Christian institutions. And with the dogma of this religion, these men and women essentially yearn to return to our oppressive past, to Egypt, to the false comforts, idols, and destructiveness of slavery and tyranny.

The whole article is worth reading, really.

I said we would come back to Parshat Matot-Massei,

But of course, they were wrong. If one is to throw caution to the wind and risk everything, it should be in the opposite direction, to combat evil, as Pinchas graphically demonstrated. Although we should not shun the challenge of engaging the materiality of this world directly, we must be duly aware of its potential to divert us and corrupt our intentions. Hence the pertinence of the laws of vows and oaths: through these laws a person can set up boundaries for himself where he feels they are needed, as we will explain further on.

But like training the secret service agents by teaching them the nuances and subtleties of real currency to be able to tell fraud, these new brave daring Jews, foolishly fooled political pawns and spoiled brats going against the hopelessly outdated old ways of thinking have no idea of real justice, of real kindness or compassion. They want their idea of social justice forced upon you, and they want the government to do it.

But Tisha B’Av, we grieve the loss of the Beit Hamikdash, both of them. The attempt to destroy the heart and soul of Judaism, the place where G-d chose to rest his presence and would meet with the people. The world has been trying to destroy it for millennia, and now there are those who choose to try to destroy it from within. Yet another reason to mourn.

But Tisha B’Av isn’t just about mourning what’s been lost, it is suppose to put us in a frame of mind, in a place to want to rectify, to rebuild. And so I will leave you with a little video playlist, each of the 8 videos is only a couple minutes long.

But this is my favorite. It’s not the most recent one though.

I watch it and the tears run, but they are tears of hope. May your Tisha B’Av be meaningful.

iNotes from the Stone Chumash on Parshat Pinchas and Mattot citing Rashi, Rambam and the Or HaChaim.

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Poland

July 4th, American Independence day when we think about the resolve of American patriots, give thanks for their foresight and courage. We review what they went through and the tools that made victories possible.

Washington & Guns, lots of guns. Good plan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And both of those things, Washington and guns were lacking in Poland on July 4th 1946. Poland has been in the news a lot as of late. For those that don’t know it, July 4th was the anniversary of the 72nd anniversary of the Kielce pogrom. No, no, the Kielce pogrom occurred after WWII had ended. Kielce

Kielce was occupied on 4 September 1939 by the German army. Approximately 24,000 Jews lived in the town, a third of all its inhabitants.

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On 31 March 1941 the Kielce Ghetto was established. Jews from the surrounding villages were forced to move into the ghetto.

The ghetto liquidation took place from 20 – 24 August 1942

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In March 1943, during a selection in the Kielce camp, the SS killed all Jewish doctors and their families, and in May 1943 a group of children. After the May selection the Germans established several work camps.

After the war around 150 Jews left their hidings and returned to Kielce. They found a place in their former parish hall, waiting for a possibility to emigrate to Palestine.

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In June 1946 they were accused of having committed a ritual murder on a missing Polish boy. On 1 July 1946 a furious crowd gathered round the building and on 4 July 1946 they killed 42 Jews. (At least, most likely more. ~S)

Until today historians discuss who provoked this anti-Jewish riot. Many inhabitants participated in the pogrom and around 100 people were arrested by the communist police; among them people who did not participate in the crime but being known as anti-communists.

Still today some people suspect that the pogrom was provoked by communists for eliminating opponents of the new regime in Poland.

Because Communism is a G-dless “religion” for one thing. Because they were coming back to reclaim their property for another.

If only they had some warning that their “neighbors” were going to “suddenly turn on them” they certainly would have been better prepared to defend themselves after all they had just been through. If only law enforcement had know ahead of time, they could have been prepared to defend the Jews like the brave British Constables (pppffffttt) did in 1929 Hevron massacrei. From the Jewish Virtual Library

The Jews had no adequate means for self-defense since the police had confiscated the few pistols among them just one day previously. In this pogrom, the largest attack on Jews following the Nazi era, 60–70 Jews were murdered, including children and pregnant women, and around 100 were injured

And this is all just in Kielce! I recently read a book called Defy The Darkness by Joe Rosenblum. Joe lived in Poland prior to WWII, he went through several concentration camps and survived as well as saving others. And he will very well tell you what it was like living in Poland before, during and after nazi occupation. He will also tell you what it was like living in more than one concentration camp, and how he managed to survive. He also survived surgery by the infamous Dr. Mengele, who actually did operate on Joe, despite him being a Jew, to save his life. As to the German people not knowing what was going on? Pffftt, he told what it was like being on one of those death camp marches when they were being marched through German towns. It’s also interesting that Mengele didn’t believe any of the bad stuff said about the Jews. He thought they were brilliant people who had done nothing wrong to the Germans.

But why were so many Polish Jews sitting ducks? Well, at one time Poland had the greatest tolerance and acceptance of Jews. History of the Jews in Poland

The history of the Jews in Poland dates back over 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, thanks to a long period of statutory religious tolerance and social autonomy. This ended with the Partitions of Poland which began in 1772, in particular, with the discrimination and persecution of Jews in the Russian Empire.

Another reason is some refused to see reality, they refused to accept it, even as they were on their way to the death camps. This is another article well worth reading, it’s not long either.

On one occasion, my grandfather told me, his unit of partisan fighters blew up a railroad bridge and waited in ambush. When the train eventually approached and was forced to stop in order to avoid plummeting into the canyon depths, the partisans charged aboard and killed all of the Nazi troops who were manning the cars. Afterwards, the partisans opened a passenger car from which they had heard the sound of people talking excitedly and crying. Inside was a group of Jews dressed in their finest clothes and grasping suitcases filled with their possessions as if they were on their way to a long vacation. The Jews on board were shocked and apprehensive about the strange-looking people from the woods who had attacked their train and killed all of the Nazi soldiers, initially refusing to believe that their liberators were Jewish themselves.

Yes, no doubt the Polish people had the highest regard for the Jews living among themselves.

House in Kielce, Poland, found to be made of Jewish gravestones. To be quite honest, it wasn’t a house, it was a cowshed. Suspect the nazis did not build many cowsheds while they were there.

An article from the Daniel Pipes web site (article not written by Mr. Pipes, but rather by a contributor) Poland had a terrible long history of anti-Semitism before the World War II and is still. He ends his column by saying

Finally, not all Poles are bad….

No doubt, but in the radio show Phantom Nation the host points out,

Many Poles lost their lives trying to help the Jews. Yad Vashem has honored almost 7 thousand Christians, but out of a country of 35 million in 1939, that’s not that many people . Of the 3 million Polish Jews that lost their lives, 200 thousand were murdered by at least as many Polish Christians, not nazis. The Polish nation has a history of violence against the Jews. Bibi can’t see the serious anti-Jews acts, he thinks with a nice statement they will love us. For Poles, WWII was about the nazi aggression to Poles, they have not room for what the Poles did to the Jews. The host points out Bibi’s exceedingly weak response to Poland’s new laws.

It’s really a good program, you can listen to the whole show.

Other sources also chide Bibi for his very weak response. Which of course if why I truly feel Moshe Feiglin would be a far better leader. Controversy Over Israel-Poland Joint Statement

A couple of items you may or not know, Poland wanted to ship all the Jews to….Madagascar, and the Evian Conference on Jewish refugees preceded and enabled giving validity to the 1942 Wannsee Protocol. France, betraying Jews since looooong before Sarah Halimi was murdered.

Joe Rosenblum also looked very Aryan, that’s how he managed to work on a farm, survive and help support his family.

And today?

Poland’s official anti-Semitism, basically, you’re forbidden to suggest Poland had anything to do with the slaughter of Jews. Do so and you get a fine and jail time.

Not surprisingly, many Israelis and holocaust survivors objected to this. The law was put on a freeze.

And then, there is the decision on how to “commemorate” the Kielce pogrom.

Historian Prof. Jan Grabowski, author of the book Hunt for the Jews, sparked public outcry in Poland when he determined that more than 200,000 Jews in Poland were murdered directly or indirectly by locals and that most citizens of the occupied state stood idly by, even when they understood what was taking place…..

Nowhere in the program is there mention of Polish assistance, complicity, or even acquiescence in the atrocities committed against the Jews in Kielce. Indeed, from the program it is difficult to guess who, if anybody, murdered Jews in Kielce, as it appears the entire Polish population was busy assisting them.

So basically, academia decided rather than look at what really happened, they would just celebrate the minority event of some of the righteous helping Jews and ignore how many Jews were killed by their fellow Poles. As you can tell, academia planned the event. Let’s ignore the tragedy of what happened to the Jews and just talk about the few that may have tried to help.

It would be easier to accept that Poland is no longer this way if they weren’t trying to force people to stop discussing and learning history, because those who ignore it, or cover it up? Are doomed to repeat it.

iThe third speaker was Uri Arnon of Bar-Ilan University who spoke about the British perspective. Arnon displayed many documents from both British and Israeli archives to prove that the British mandatory authorities were complicit in allowing the massacre to happen. One document alluded to British police officers changing their stories to match a pre-concocted alibi as to how they failed to protect the Jewish community. Arnon also detailed the mistreatment of the survivors following the massacre who were forcibly deported to Jerusalem and denied access to return. From Conference & Memorial for 1929 Hebron Massacre This whole article is well worth reading.

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The Times of Immigration

World refugee day was 20th June 2018. Goodness knows, there’s been a lot of talk about the poor refugees of late, especially the children. I ran across a Twitter page lately that for me shows crystal clear pictures and meaning of the word refugee. It’s called St. Louis Manifest, I urge you to take a look, if only for a few moments. If you are unfamiliar with the story of the ship and it’s mission, U.S. Policy During the Holocaust: The Tragedy of S.S. St. Louis. How it turned out? Faces Of Auschwitz, it’s another Twitter page telling the stories of the victims of Nazi Germany’s Auschwitz Concentration Camp.

Understand the US had a far different immigration policy back then. But the media back then was as complicit in covering up wrong doings as they are now. The American Press and the Holocaust

The treatment accorded by the American press to the destruction of the Jews during World War II can be best described as a “sidebar,” the name given by journalists to a story that is ancillary to the main story. The press coverage of the Nazi persecution of the Jews paralleled U.S. government policy on refugee rescue, which was not treated as an issue of primary importance. The behavior of the press reflected the United States’ attitude of “rescue through victory.” It was relatively rare for more than the isolated paper to call for action to assist Jews. Information about the “Final Solution” and the systematic destruction of the Jews, was available from 1942, long before the end of the war. In spite of Nazi efforts to carry out mass murder in isolated areas and to swear participants to secrecy, executioners themselves talked, and occasional witnesses to mass shootings even more so. Underground organizations, particularly Jewish and Polish, made great efforts to let the world know what was happening and what would occur if the Nazis were not halted. The information was sometimes partial and even contradictory, but there were enough stories from enough sources that the outside world should have been able to discern a pattern by 1942. The Nazi regime was doing what Hitler had promised. Practically no aspect of the Holocaust remained unknown by 1945. Some of the information about specific killings, and about hundreds of thousands of deaths, was published in the Western press, although not in complete or dramatic form in most of the major American newspapers, with facts often understated or qualified by cautious editors. Significant information was often buried on the inside pages of newspapers.

The Nazi regime was doing what Hitler had promised. Yep, fundamentally transform Germany.

There were kids on that ship, lots of them. And progressives were every bit as concerned about them as they are today. Which is to say not really much at all, except as political fodder to be used against the President and those who elected him.

The obama regime made it clear illegal aliens would be welcomed. Rubio blames Obama for increased illegal immigration, kids being separated from parents

“This is not just some plan to cruelly torture people,” he said during a visit to Sarasota on Saturday. “The Obama administration was just releasing everyone, the parents and the kids, and a significant percentage of the people they released never came back, never showed up for a hearing, never heard from them again.

“And that’s a magnet. These poor people are desperate, and these trafficking groups are telling them, ‘We can take you to America, all you have to do is turn yourself in and you’ll quickly be released and then you’re done.’ And that’s causing more people to come.

I’m sure we were all feeling bad for that little girl crying on the cover of Time magazine being stared at by an imposing looking President Trump. Why, who’s heart wouldn’t just want him to let her and her poor mother into the country at once. Poor little tyke, ripped from her Mother’s arms. Well, her Dad might not. Oh yes, she has a Dad. He lives in Honduras. So what did he say about his wife fleeing the crime and poverty of her life there? Oh, well, no, she wasn’t fleeing crime, and he has a pretty good job at the port there. She just wanted to live in America. So much so that this is the second time she’s tried to illegally cross the border. I guess she figured if she tried it with a kid she’d stand a better chance of getting in. Wonder where she got that idea? So anyway, she got kicked out the first time, but since this is her second attempt, it will count as a felony. I wonder how she chose which of her 4 children to bring along? Oh yes, she has 3 other children. And she didn’t tell her husband or the other children she was leaving. So, she essential kidnapped one of her children and drug the 2 year old on a 1,800 mile summer hike after paying a coyote $6,000. As it turns out, the child was never separated from it’s mother. Time magazine, more #FakeNews Hopefully Time’s remaining 12 subscribers won’t be too shocked to hear that.

So under what conditions are the children “separated” from the parents? There are three.

For the longest time, illegal immigration was driven by single males from Mexico. Over the last decade, the flow has shifted to women, children, and family units from Central America. This poses challenges we haven’t confronted before and has made what once were relatively minor wrinkles in the law loom very large.

The Trump administration isn’t changing the rules that pertain to separating an adult from the child. Those remain the same. Separation happens only if officials find that the adult is falsely claiming to be the child’s parent, or is a threat to the child, or is put into criminal proceedings.

It’s the last that is operative here. The past practice had been to give a free pass to an adult who is part of a family unit. The new Trump policy is to prosecute all adults. The idea is to send a signal that we are serious about our laws and to create a deterrent against re-entry. (Illegal entry is a misdemeanor, illegal re-entry a felony.)

So how awful are the “cages” the children are being kept in? Inside Shelter for Illegal Alien Children Separated from Parents and it really is worth taking a look at the photos in that one. It’s run by Southwest Key.

Southwest Key has operated its facilities — 27 in total, across California, Arizona, and Texas — since 1997,

Yep, since 97. The same “cages” all the Presidents before used. The article also points out some of the media lies. But I think this column raises some excellent points. 13 Facts the Media ‘Pros’ Don’t Want You to Know About ‘Family Border Separation’

If an American citizen breaks the law and is funneled into the justice system, he is separated from his family and children. This American citizen is not allowed to keep his family with him in a detention center.

Once again, our media want illegal aliens to enjoy special rights and privileges American citizens do not enjoy.

One more point…

These migrants are guilty of walking minor children through miles and miles of desert with the intent of committing a crime (crossing a border illegally).

If you or I walked a child through miles and miles of desert with the intent of committing a crime, child protective services would take our children away (and should).

The article raises several other interesting points, but I’ll just pick out one more for you.

The only reason the media suddenly came to care about family separation is as a means to fabricate a controversy, as a tactic to distract voters from three legitimate news stories from last week that benefit Trump: 1) our economy is booming,  2) Trump had a successful summit with North Korea, and 3) the Inspector General report exposed James Comey’s FBI as a swamp of corruption out to exonerate Hillary Clinton and frame Trump.

What progressives don’t think about, or possibly do, and just don’t care is THESE refugees are not the refugees of the St. Louis that were sent back to a government of armed people against a disarmed populace. The people on the St. Louis were not coming here with the intention of turning America into a Sharia compliant nation. Europe’s earthquake is underway

After 17 years of uncontrolled Islamic immigration, Europe has more sharia courts, more refugees, more veiled women, more schools dominated by Muslims, more mosques, more minarets, more genital mutilation, more Muslim Brotherhood, more Muslim mayors, and less churches, less Jews, less unaccompanied women in the cities at night, less cartoons of Muhammad.

Multiculturalism favors Third World cultures over Western culture. Much of the public speech today in Europe is dedicated to the infinite reading of the crimes of the West and of the evil that Israel represents. In the meantime, the contributions of the West to humanity – democracy, scientific revolution, human beings and industrial revolution – are diminished or marginalized. Europe has condemned itself to a permanent state of siege.

So what’s the point of all this? Why all the media yammering? Well, in addition to the 3 points listed above:

Obviously, we cannot have children living in adult detention centers. Obviously, we cannot have adults living in child detention centers. Therefore, the only way to “reunite” these families is to release these illegals into our country.

The media will not tell you this because the media do not want you to know that flooding America with non-citizens is their true agenda. The rich and powerful love to exploit and abuse these individuals, as they can leverage their immigration status for illegally low wages, and politicians are salivating at the chance to bestow voting rights on them — and thus entrench their power.

But when you hear the media call for these families to be reunited, remember that is coded language that means only one thing: releasing illegal aliens into our country with nothing more than a court summons.

So just be aware when you hear all the media malfeasance and lies, the progressives are still trying to fundamentally change America, and to them? The end always justify the means. But the Imam of Peace had a great idea on what Time Magazine #FakeNews could do to make up for their blatant lie.

Imam’s Suggestion

 

 

 

Mind you, something called a Brooke Baldwin, maybe it’s Alec in drag, I don’t know. But it commented that while those photos might not be true, it was ok they used them to make people think they were true, because it’s “representative”. Wow, now they don’t even say we were wrong for lying, we misspoke or it was a mistake. Just it’s ok because. Sigh. Wow. So, compare and contrast this to how the media handled it when it was Jews that were on the St. Louis. Because to me? That is representative of actual refugees.

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When the world goes crazy

I don’t think there is anyway to say it that makes it better. I’ve just seen one too many things recently that just makes it seems like there is a competition for the “Most insane or hypocritical” category. Though perhaps those two should each have their own category.

Let’s start with Israel. She is still under attack from the pieceful Falestinians. They are flying fire kites in an attempt to burn crops, vineyards, wildlife, domestic animals, people and anything else they can reach. This is because they love the land so deeply. Sort of like the abusive spouse that says they love you so much that if you ever try to leave they will either kill you and take everything. Yeah, boy howdy, if that doesn’t say true love I don’t know what does. L-O-V-E, like OJ loved Nicole. We want to return to the land we love so much, we’re going to burn it down, break through this security fence, invade a sovereign country and rip the Jews hearts from their chest. Nope, not hyperbole, that’s actually a quote.

So, you have the arabs of Gaza trying to throw the Jews off the land and out of their homes.

And, in the Nativ Ha’avot neighborhood of Elazar in Gush Etzion which is about 11 miles South of Jerusalem, the Capitol of Israel, it’s working!! Jews are being thrown off their lands and out of their homes! No no, not by the Falestinians or Abu Mazen, but instead by the Israeli (way less than) Supreme Court. Yes, once again the liberal Jew hating left has submitted a claim that one meter, one flipping meter of land that runs through the neighborhood is arab. Mind you, they can’t prove it, or haven’t yet. The homes were ordered destroyed in September 2016, and this overrode a State of Israel assertion that they homes were/are legal. Israeli politicians showed up, I guess to talk, because they certainly didn’t do anything useful, like stopping it! Judge Ayelet Shaked was there and has said it’s unnecessary. You see, when those homes were built 15-20 years ago, the state certified that the land was all-cool and fine to build on. Now because of a leftist group fifteen homes are going to be destroyed. I watched Ari Fuld live stream from the scene of the impending crime and he nailed it as self-hating Jews on the Supreme court. Mind you they still haven’t proved the arab claim on the one meter. But, the homes are being destroyed. After Amona, I’m so ticked I’m not using any of the words that I think apply. A group of young Israelis circulated a petition to stop it. That didn’t work either. I watched the people singing and dancing in one of the beautiful homes, it’s heartbreaking especially after Amona.

I think someone needs to have a serious talk with the Jewish Agency and tell them this sort of thing really puts a damper on people wanting to move to a country that will throw you out of the home you’ve lived in for 20 years on the whim of some left-wing group or a spurious claim of an arab that may not have even known he “owned” the land until two weeks before. And, quite possibly found out through the efforts of the aforementioned left-wing group.

And since under Bibi Netanyahu this keeps happening, I sincerely, most sincerely hope that Israelis will begin to listen to the message of Moshe Feiglin and Zehut. If this is breaking my heart, I can only imagine the pain of those going through it.

But this leftist hatred of Jews goes way back. I read an interesting article by Stephen Schecter of Zehut. He was talking history, specifically the Dreyfus affair. And he nails it.

The Dreyfus Affair unleashed a torrent of anti-Semitism in French society at the time, an anti-Semitism which proved to be European when it culminated in the Nazi pan-European program to incinerate its Jewish population. Today, Israel’s very existence has unleashed a torrent of anti-Jewish vitriol whose ultimate denouement remains to be seen.

It is in that sense that one can simply state that Israel is a reincarnation of the Dreyfus Affair, but one which goes on and on, and which will only end when Israel, and the Jews themselves, decide to put an end to it. Unfortunately, there are today too many Jews who place themselves on the side that vilifies Israel, without even the decency of the French Jews of Dreyfus’ time who simply kept a low profile. Their excuse was most likely they felt vulnerable as a minority in a country that was not their own. Today they have no such excuse. Israel exists as a Jewish state. In working to destroy it, however, these latter-day Jews will reproduce the helplessness of their French co-religionists of a hundred years ago, and thus bequeath to history the ironic footnote of Jewish complicity in their own demise.

Not that Franceistan is far better today. Macron’s Overt Antisemitism

Macron’s logic and morality run along the same lines. If the move of the American embassy to Jerusalem breeds violence in Gaza, it is morally and politically imperative not to do it. Peace above all, even if it means the clogging of the arteries of Israel’s heart, is good for Israel, and for the world, according to this moral anti-Semitic argument. To balance it off, Macron draws moral equivalency between Israel and Hamas by refusing to address this entity’s expressed supreme goal of destroying Israel. Peace, the anti-Semites will argue, is more important than Israel.

Somehow it always seems to be Israel that the nations are willing to lead to the alter for sacrifice. Even the left-wing Jews, maybe even especially the left-wing Jews. For instance, crazy Bernie Sanders

Bernie’s smear pushes the Democrats further away from Israel

He has adopted the Palestinian narrative about the “Great March of Return” in total. He not only accepts the blatantly false claim that it is “non-violent,” thereby ignoring the use of Molotov cocktails, stones, firearms and incendiaries that have laid waste to swaths of Israeli fields. He also claims that Hamas wasn’t involved despite the fact that it has already claimed responsibility and admitted that most of those killed while attempting to breach Israel’s border fence were members of the terror group.

What a hateful, horrible lying man. He also lied about the number of deaths during the 2014 Gaza war, he gave even higher figures than those Hamass fabricated. How pathetic is that? He needs his meds/adjusted/started/re-evaluated/whatever.

But Bernie is a elitist. No matter what happens to the little people, he’s above it all.

No armed teachers in schools? No worries, Illinois Demoncrats hates the kids so much they are getting rid of the armed guards. Illinois House approves measure to replace armed school guards with mental health professionals Because obviously Demoncrats recognize having armed guards or armed teachers will do nothing to help. Unless of course you are an elitist. Like for example obama Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, one of those responsible for Common (rotten to the) Core failing program.

Anti-Gun Arne Duncan Sends His Children to School with Armed Security

On May 20 Breitbart News reported that Duncan suggested Americans ought to pull their kids from school until Congress passes more gun control. He said he and his family would even be willing to take part in the school boycott if it were done “at scale,” i.e., if there were broad-based participation in such a boycott.

……

Jewish World Review reports that Duncan’s children “attend the exclusive, private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools in tony Hyde Park, which a Lab Schools brochure brags is ‘patrolled by the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) and private security.’”

So, as long as we are discussing elitist hypocrisy and the resultant craziness, let’s take a look back at a well remembered and despised catholic priest known as Father Michael Pfleger. Don’t recall the name? He’s the priest that threatened to “snuff out” the owner of Chuck’s gun shop. Actually he threatened to “hunt him down and snuff him out”. For some reason I would take that as a threat. Maybe I’m just sensitive? Not content to let it go with merely threatening one man, the good father then threatened to “snuff out” legislators that didn’t vote the way he told them. Ahh yes, Chicago mob politics. Oops, sorry, Chicago Church politics. That was back in May of 2007. And yes, he is still the priest at St. Sabina’s. Well, it seems the anti-gun priest who goes around threatening to murder, not kill, murder people has armed bodyguards, one of whom was arrested on 27th May 2018. Yep, police showed up and found the “bodyguard” holding a gun. I use quotes because it seems there is some discussion as to if he really is a bodyguard.

Records with the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation show that Hale’s FOID card expired in December 2017. Records also show that he is certified to work in Illinois as a security guard, and that he was once disciplined but it doesn’t explain why.

A May 29 blog post on “Second City Cop” referred to Hale as “Pfleger’s security” and said that “Pfleger and his minions called 006th dist (sic) nonstop to try to get the guy out of arrest.”

How elitist and entitled. There was also discussion as to whether or not St. Sabina’s priest has armed guards.

When asked about Hale’s relationship with the 68-year-old Pfleger, a church secretary told Chicago City Wire only that Hale was not a bodyguard. He deferred further questions to Pfleger, who did not return a call to clarify whether he employed Hale as private security and whether he called CPD asking for Hale’s release.

Susan Thomas, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Chicago, wrote in an email that “Fr. Pfleger does not have armed security and to our knowledge, neither does any other priest.”

Well, Susan Thomas, you’re in for a real shock. The people at Guns Save Lives have a delightful collection of pictures of St. Sabina’s father with his armed “bodyguards”, and they are printing. Discretion must not be their forte, just as sanity or decency is not Father Phlegm’s of St. Sabina’s.

But, when you’re an elitist hypocrite, that’s just how you roll.

And since Chicago is so concerned with guns, gun owners and gun crime I’m sure their court system is set up to handle things in a swift and just manner, right?

I know, I crack myself up too. It’s Chicago.

Prosecutors: Gun Offender Was Free On Recognizance Bond When He Got Another Gun And Killed A Man

(Judge Stephanie) Miller—a champion of the county’s “affordable bail” movement—let Williams go free on a recognizance bond after he was charged with possessing a stolen handgun on the South Side.

……

On February 9, Williams hit the trifecta, according to police and prosecutors: He stayed out after his unenforced curfew; he got a gun, and he shot someone to death.

……..

On February 21—the very day that Williams first failed to appear in court—Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart sent a letter to county leaders including Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. Dart was concerned about the “alarming” number of people charged with illegally possessing handguns who were being released on electronic monitoring.

But the terms of Williams’ release were so loose, he wasn’t even on electronic monitoring, according to court records.

Preckwinkle responded a few days later, accusing Dart of “sensationalizing” the issue.

Pat Milhizer, a spokesman for Chief Judge Timothy Evans, also fired back at Dart: “The types of cases addressed by Sheriff Dart are gun cases — but they are gun cases in which nobody was shot or killed. That means the charge is not an inherently violent charge.”

YOU’VE.GOT.TO.BE.KIDDING.ME!! This is Corrupt Chicago where priests go around threatening to “snuff out” law-abiding citizens and legislators, which I get, given Chicago may not be the same things. You are living in high crime gun control central, and they have a man who was released on a recognizance bond after possessing a stolen gun, no monitoring. He gets another gun a few months later and kills someone and the county board President accuses the Sheriff who is concerned, with sensationalizing the issue. So, if a criminal has a gun that’s not “inherently a violent charge”. Wow. Wow. But a law-abiding citizen with a gun to protect themselves or their families from Judge Stephanie Miller’s release on recognizance bail. Oh HECK no! They don’t know what they are doing, Father Phlegm will show up and threaten to “snuff them out” and the go back to St. Sabina’s to preach whatever it is he preaches at the Roman Catholic Church. I’m guessing it’s more along the lines of social justice than anything Moshe brought down from Mt. Sinai.

And for the cherry on top of the crazy. There is a Muslim Imam, Imam Mohammad Tawhidi that I admire. He is very strong and brave, very brave. He follows us on Twitter. That alone isn’t remarkable, we have Israeli followers, Iranian followers, Kurdish followers, all kinds of followers. But Imam Tawhidi is very unique. He speaks out against radical Islam, vocally, forcefully and often. Often as in daily. He’s known as the Imam of Peace. He calls Hamass a terrorist organization. People want to hear what he has to say, it’s an important message in this day and age of the UN siding with terrorists, Franceistan, Germany, and Englandistan all harboring, aiding and encouraging terrorism of innocent Israelis and the Jews in their countries as well. Social media has been a big part of spreading Imam Tawhidi’s message.

And so, Facebook banned him. Yep, Facebook, with it’s well know bias against Jews and Israel, banned a peaceful, decent, brave Imam.

Is Facebook Biased Against Jews?

When it comes to incitement, is Facebook biased against Israel?

Is Facebook Biased Against Israel and Jews?

Perhaps stung by that criticism, mere days after two Muslims murdered fourteen people in San Bernardino, California, CEO Mark Zuckerberg vowed that Facebook would “create a peaceful and safe environment” for Muslim users.

Oy. Vey. Vay.

A friend once told me some stories, or jokes I suppose about the wise men of Chelm. It was a town of fools in the stories. First, Chelm is real and second, the people were not fools. But, for the purpose of this column, let’s go with the joke part.

One day a hole opened up on the bridge to the city of Chelm, and every day people crossing the bridge fell through the hole and were injured. So the wise men of Chelm, instead of repairing the ruined bridge, decided to build the hospital under it…

The whole column is very good.

So much is inverted and crazy. Terrorists are labeled as peaceful marchers, Priests are using armed guards while threatening to “snuff out” law-abiding citizens and preventing them from being able to defend themselves from Judges who release murders on recognizance and county presidents that say it’s just gun crime, not always a big deal, self-hating Jews doing everything they can to destroy the one Jewish state, and helping the arabs who are trying to burn it to the ground. The solutions being proposed might as well have come from Chelm for all the sense they make.

In spite of all this, יש תקוה There is hope.

 

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Annnd, Right On Cue

Yepper, 12 hours after Roseanne tweeted something offensive about the Iranian born Valerie Jarrett virtue signal flares were set off all across the USA at such a “racist” tweet. Roseanne’s show was taken off the air despite excellent ratings. But ABC must have hated that, having a show deplorables liked? YECH. Valerie Jarrett’s DNA? DNA testing indicated that Jarrett is of 49% European, 46% African, and 5% Native American descent. Yeahhhh. I don’t care what color Valerie Jarrett is, I do very much care what she is. FBI Files Document Communism in Valerie Jarrett’s Family, hardcore according to Judicial Watch. She seems to be unfamiliar with how the office of the President of the United States of America works.

They “serve”, not “rule” Valerie, though goodness knows barry tried his best. #ElitistAss.

A nominal unheard of comedienne or comic, not sure which felt free to call 1st daughter Ivanka Trump, a “feckless c-unt” only she/he/it/whatever said it in a taped, rehearsed show.  This wasn’t a “slip” or hot mic incident. And 1st daughter Ivanka’s crime?? It’s pretty horrific. She posted a picture of her and her son on social media. Has it’s station canceled it’s show? Nope, the whatever and it’s network TBS, said basically, ah well, yeah, sorry about that. Nothing to see here move along. And that was the end of it.

Both were bad, how they are handled depends on if you are a conservative or progressive.

If were talking about television and news, what about a “newscaster” that called for ethnic cleansing?

Yesterday I put up a column I started on June 1st, that would be 8 years and 1 day since the Mavi Mamara incident and I talked about the effect of the mainstream media bias and progressive mindset on Jewish lives. The column was written specifically about Israelis, but if you look at how Jews in Francistan and Englandistan are faring it could apply to them as well.

The ever brilliant Daniel Greenfield I cited in that column came out with a column the same day. Wish I had seen it as well.

MSNBC’s Joy Reid Called for Ethnically Cleansing Jews from Israel

In this Reid states how she agreed with Iranian President Machmoodkezundiet, Whatever. Shortstuff. So, former President Shortstuff has had a couple of ideas for dealing with Israel.

1) Mr Ahmadinejad caused an outcry by calling for Israel to “be wiped off the map”.

2) “If European countries claim that they have killed Jews in World War II… why don’t they provide the Zionist regime with a piece of Europe,” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Iranian television.

“Germany and Austria can provide the… regime with two or three provinces for this regime to establish itself, and the issue will be resolved.”

And the racist Reid’s response??

“You believe the Jews were oppressed, why should the Palestinian Muslims have to pay the price? You oppressed them, so give a part of Europe to the Zionist regime so they can establish any government they want. We would support it. So, Germany and Austria, come and give one, two or any number of your provinces to the Zionist regime so they can create a country there… and the problem will be solved at its root.”

I hate to admit that Mr. Amadinejad has a point …

(and a plurality of the Israelis are former German nationals, plus lower castes consisting of Eastern Europeans, Russians, Sephardic Jews from the Mediterranean and at the bottom of the social pyramid, Falasha Africans …)

You’ll need to read the rest of the column to understand why that last bit is crap. Mr. Greenfield comments on Reid

Not only is Joy Reid a a racist, but she’s illiterate. So there are two things that qualify her to work at MSNBC.

Boy howdy yes. Now it’s interesting, in his column Mr. Greenfield links to another column from her former blog that Reid has called to ethnically cleanse Jews from Israel. The link was to a page on the wayback machine. It’s gone and inaccessible now. Wish he’d have done a screenshot. But it was visible a mere two days ago.

Bre Payton brings up that on June 16th 2006 Reid attacked Wolf Blitzer for being too nice to Jews. In print, on her blog and Bre links to that. Yep, that’s gone as well now. This article just went up on the 31st of May this year.

Bre has a bit more on Reid’s beef with Israel.

“G-d is not a real estate broker,” the blogpost reads. “He can’t just give you land 1,000 years ago that you can come back and claim today.”

Yeah, he can. He made it, he gets to choose.

And these are the hate filled and ignorant fools people listen to thinking they are getting the news. Hopefully they will catch on soon.

And considering it’s msnbc #FakeNews, no doubt the racist Reid will not be fired, since she is antisemitic she will probably get a raise and a better time slot. And progressives all over will tune in and listen to her with great and hateful glee.

This film was made in the 1930s in Mukacevo. I would imagine most of the people dancing did not survive the Shoah. The dancers were members of a Zionist youth movement.

Devarim – Deuteronomy – Chapter 30

1 And it will be, when all these things come upon you the blessing and the curse which I have set before you that you will consider in your heart, among all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you,

2 and you will return to the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul, and you will listen to His voice according to all that I am commanding you this day you and your children,

3 then, the Lord, your God, will bring back your exiles, and He will have mercy upon you. He will once again gather you from all the nations, where the Lord, your God, had dispersed you.

4 Even if your exiles are at the end of the heavens, the Lord, your God, will gather you from there, and He will take you from there.

“G-d is not a real estate broker,” the blogpost reads. “He can’t just give you land 1,000 years ago that you can come back and claim today.”

Yeah, he can.

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Happy 70th Birthday Israel!

Today is Yom HaAtzmaut, Israeli Independence Day. And she is 70 years old. Doesn’t she look beautiful for 70?

Pre-state Israel

Acco Prison

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little movie

 

I didn’t actually ask Shmuel for these, he just shared them today and they were what I wanted. I just did the column on Yom HaZikaron yesterday and was talking about those that died fighting for Israel even before she was recognized by man as a state. I suppose I don’t need to say G-d recognized her as such long before do I? Shmuel Sackett from the Zehut political party had done this column and recently sent it out again Seventy Years and Forgotten. This column explains who he is talking about in the video.

New State of Israel

A TRUE Feminist

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Middle age

For Israel that would be 1983 and Israelis were rocked by the murder of 14 year old Danny Katz.

Young Danny Katz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But they cheered the victory of Ofra Haza winning second place in the Eurovision song contest in Munich with the song Alive, Chai.

Israel at 70. This is the face I think of when I think of Israel at 70. Yeah, she was a socialist and what a shame, and she isn’t alive to see Israel’s 70th, but Golda rocked. She was a strong, quick witted woman. Her face is a bit lined and weathered from the trials and storms she has withstood, but in her eye she still has the look of eagles.

Amazing Golda

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what I would hope for Israel’s future? A Prime Minister Moshe Feiglin.

A Prime Minister Moshe

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spent the evening at a Yom HaAtzmaut party tonight, a big happy birthday party. I was teaching interested parties, and/or ones that Efi corraled and sent me about different kinds of Israeli Technology. It was fun, even if I did have to shout over the lively music and most of the people were wowed by the technology. I came home and made myself dinner of couscous also known as Ben Gurion rice, veggies and chickpeas. And then I baked Israel a birthday cake, since I was so busy yelling at people I didn’t get any.

After I ate, I checked my email and that’s always educational. Tonight I learned that the column I did on Yom HaShoah is incorrect. Sent from a friend who thought I should know I need to study some more.

Who knew?

 

 

 

 

 

Huh, the heck ya say?

I think if it were me, I would ask him why he thinks General Dwight D. Eisenhower is a liar. And the Germans, who kept excellent records. And Gen. George S. Patton, who would no doubt bitch slap him. And the American, Russian, Brits and the smattering of French armed forces, and the Polish Partisans. Unless he’s just going with the word of the German citizens, who said they had no idea anything was going on.

Ike saw it coming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this is why Israel needs to be as a strong safe place where a Jew can wake up, and live as a Jew, and sleep in peace at night. They should be able to wear a Kippah in public without fear of it making them a target as it does France today, and Britain.

Israel, may G-d bless, guard and guide you as you gather your children underneath your wings. Happy Birthday. The world says 70, I say a few thousand.

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Yom HaZikaron 2018

יום הזכרון Israeli Memorial Day, so far 23,645 soldiers have given their lives for the state of Israel since 1860.

From the Jewish Virtual library,

Established unofficially with the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, and enacted into law in 1963, the day preceding Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) is observed as a Memorial Day for soldiers who lost their lives in battle or while otherwise defending Israel.

Celebrated on the fourth of Iyar every year, Yom HaZikaron is one of four new holidays that were added to the Jewish national calendar since the creation of Israel. The other three are: Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Heroes and Martyrs’ Day),Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day), and Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day).

Since the second intifada, also included are those such as security guards who have given their life defending malls, restaurants and public buildings from terrorists. And there are plenty of those.

Yom HaZikaron is observed very differently than American Memorial day. I think Israel has it right. In America it’s sales, shopping, BBQ and getting together with friends and family. Some still visit graves and decorate them, it used to be called Decoration Day. In Israel, at 20:00 local time a one-minute siren sounds. Another siren will sound the following morning at 11:00. Then everyone observes a moment of silence to remember the fallen and terror victims. By law, all places of entertainment are closed on the eve of Yom Hazikaron, and broadcasting and educational bodies note the solemnity of the day. Regular television programs cease for the day, and the names and ranks of every soldier who died for Israel are displayed in a 24-hour television broadcast.

Honor and remembrance. The only ones who don’t observe are the Arabs, with the exception of the Druze and Bedouins, they do observe. Haredi Jews do not observe either.

Years ago I interviewed a man who had been a navigation unit commander for a tank battalion in Israel during the Yom Kippur war. He just didn’t tell me that last bit at the time. But he was talking about how war is different in America for the most part than it is in Israel. In Israel when the enemy gets in he will quite likely be walking down the street of someone you know. It’s your backyard that has the fighting in it. The closest I can imagine is the American un-Civil war. The wars of Israel are up close and personal. It’s also worth remembering the honored include those that fought for pre-state Israel in the Haganah, Lehi and the Irgun.

I think it was on a radio program, Temple Talk, that I heard the hosts discussing why Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut are right next to each other. A host’s daughter had told her Dad that it didn’t seem fair to those grieving that the next day everyone would be out in the streets partying. He explained to her that without the sacrifice of the lives observed during Yom HaZikaron that there wouldn’t even be a state of Israel. That the sacrifice is what enabled the joy, and that joy is why those men and women did not die in vain.

I was so very fortunate as to be able to attend a Yom HaZikaron service tonight, it was very, very meaningful. If you were not so blessed, I will share a link with you to a service that was broadcast from Ammunition Hill. There is a museum there now.

Yom HaZikaron service by the Lone Soldiers Center on Ammunition Hill.

“A State is not handed to a people on a silver platter.”

Chaim Weizmann, first president of Israel

The Silver Platter, written by Nathan Alterman

And the land grows still, the red eye of the sky slowly dimming over smoking frontiers

As the nation arises, Torn at heart but breathing, To receive its miracle, the only miracle

As the ceremony draws near, it will rise, standing erect in the moonlight in terror and joy

When across from it will step out a youth and a lass and slowly march toward the nation

Dressed in battle gear, dirty, Shoes heavy with grime, they ascend the path quietly

To change garb, to wipe their brow

They have not yet found time. Still bone weary from days and from nights in the field

Full of endless fatigue and unrested,

Yet the dew of their youth. Is still seen on their head

Thus they stand at attention, giving no sign of life or death

Then a nation in tears and amazement

will ask: “Who are you?”

And they will answer quietly, “We Are the silver platter on which the Jewish state was given.”

Thus they will say and fall back in shadows

And the rest will be told In the chronicles of Israel

May their memory be for a blessing.

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Happy Purim 2018

Purim in the year 2018. In the short video 4:47 long, you can have a cliff notes version of Purim if you want to watch it.

So the wicked Haman’s plan was to eliminate the Jews, once and for all, the “final solution”. In case you didn’t know this, Haman is a descendant of Amalek, yep, the one I talked about recently. Some people think that Hitler’s holocaust was the first attempt. Hardly. But an Alaskan congress critter recently seemed to have stirred up a kerfluffle recently when he stated

A congressman from Alaska suggested that Jews were “put in the ovens” by Nazis during World War II because they did not have guns.

This is arguable? I guess, by some. But it’s a Demoncrat who wants to run against him

The head of the Anti-Defamation League has called the claim a “distortion of history.”

With all due respect to the ADL…and really, that’s not much respect.

Let’s take just a brief look at a well known time and place in history for illustration. The Warsaw Ghetto. The Jews in the Warsaw ghetto held out longer than the country of Poland. How did that happen?

Cue dreamy sequence, you know, mist, clouds, soft music swirly colors…..

Mordecai Anielewicz: “Ok, the nazis are going to come down this street here. Sarah, when they pass your position you fling your pink hat with pointy ears into their path that should totally disorient them and shame them for at least five minutes. Then  Dovid, you and Yigal grab your rolled up copies of the New York Slimes and Haaretz and attack from the rear while they are still immobilized from shame. Then Shannon and Whoopie can run by bravely showing off the safety pins on their jackets all the while screaming “HASHTAG SAFE SPACE, HASHTAG SAFE SPACE”. As the nazis begin to retreat in fear of hearing “HASHTAG ME TOO” Michael, Rachel, Leah and Josef can march with the “gun free zone” signs and hit them with those. If we are successful, we should have the nazis cleared out in about thirty minutes! Then we will hang our new nazi Free Zone sign at the entrance!”

Pretty good spiel, huh?

Reality:

Two Jewish underground organisations fought in the Warsaw Uprising: the left wing Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa (ŻOB) founded in July 1942 by Zionist Jewish youth groups within the Warsaw Ghetto;and the right wing Żydowski Związek Wojskowy (ŻZW), or Jewish Military Union, a national organization founded in 1939 by former Polish military officers of Jewish background which had strong ties to the Polish Home Army, and cells in almost every major town across Poland. However both organisations were officially incorporated into the Polish Home Army and its command structure in exchange for weapons and training.

Marek Edelman, who was the only surviving uprising commander from the left-wing ŻOB, stated that the ŻOB had 220 fighters and each was armed with a handgun, grenades, and Molotov cocktails. His organization had three rifles in each area, as well as two land mines and one submachine gun. Due to its socialist leanings, the Soviets promoted the actions of ŻOB as the dominant or only party in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, a view often adopted by secondary sources in the West.

The right-wing faction ŻZW which was founded by former Polish officers, was larger, more established and had closer ties with the Polish resistance, making it better equipped. Zimmerman describes the arm supplies for the uprising as “limited but real”. Specifically, Jewish fighters of the ŻZW received from the Polish Home Army: 2 heavy machine guns, 4 light machine guns, 21 submachine guns, 30 rifles, 50 pistols, and over 400 grenades for the uprising. During the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, ŻZW is reported to have had about 400 well-armed fighters grouped in 11 units, with 4 units including fighters from the Polish Home Army. Due to the ŻZW’s anti-socialist stand and close ties with the Polish Home Army (which was subsequently outlawed by the Soviets), the Soviets suppressed publication of books and articles on ŻZW after the war and downplayed its role in the uprising, in favour of the more socialist ŻOB.

More weapons were supplied throughout the uprising, and some were captured from the Germans. Some weapons were handmade by the resistance; sometimes such weapons worked, other times they jammed repeatedly.

Shortly before the uprising, Polish-Jewish historian Emanuel Ringelblum (who managed to escape from the Warsaw Ghetto, but was later discovered and executed in 1944) visited a ŻZW armoury hidden in the basement at 7 Muranowska Street. In his notes, which form part of Oneg Shabbat archives, he reported:

They were armed with revolvers stuck in their belts. Different kinds of weapons were hung in the large rooms: light machine guns, rifles, revolvers of different kinds, hand grenades, bags of ammunition, German uniforms, etc., all of which were utilized to the full in the April “action”. (…) While I was there, a purchase of arms was made from a former Polish Army officer, amounting to a quarter of a million złoty; a sum of 50,000 złoty was paid on account. Two machine guns were bought at 40,000 złoty each, and a large amount of hand grenades and bombs.

If the ADL is right, then history is wrong and the Jews in the ghetto should never have died, right? Why were they trying so hard to get their hands on more weapons? What good would they have done? Right ADL?

Poland is currently attempting to rewrite their own history by criminalizing speech. You can’t say certain things anywhere (according to Poland) without fear of incurring their wrath and a lawsuit. Yes, the death camps were a Nazi invention. But the Pole’s had plenty of their own antisemitism. And plenty of it was on display after WWII, after the nazis were beaten.

Anti-Jewish violence in Poland, 1944–1946

Anti-Jewish violence in Central and Eastern Europe, 1944–46

A Zehut member, the brilliant Lisa Liel writes in a column A lesson from the Megillah

Why did Esther want the Jews to be able to defend themselves on the 14th, when that decree was no longer in force?

Which brings us to the second thing she asked for. She wanted the dead bodies of Haman’s 10 sons, the heroes of the anti-Jewish forces, strung up on the gallows that their father had been hanged on. Not to kill them, because they were already dead. But as a symbolic gesture, letting the anti-Jewish forces know that they weren’t just beaten for the day, but that they were done.

Esther wasn’t stupid, though. She knew what the reaction would be when the Jew-haters woke up the next morning and saw Haman’s sons twisting in the wind. And that is why she asked for special dispensation to fight and kill any enemies who rose up against them. Because she intended to provoke them into it.

So why do it? Why provoke them and then ask for permission to protect her people from the results of her provocation? And here’s where we can learn something from Queen Esther.

Peace with those who want to murder you for who you are is not obtained through treaties or compromise. Nations that have economic differences or other policy differences can end wars with a compromise. But when one side is dedicated to the destruction of the other, compromise is suicidal. The aggressor must be dealt with decisively. Beaten soundly and made to feel that they have absolutely lost. Otherwise, they’ll just come back and try again.

This whole column is really good and worth the reading.

It is much the same with those who promote defenselessness as a good strategy for survival. Of course they have their guards, their walls and their security methods, but for the unwashed masses in general, no, no, we’re much safer without guns amongst us. So they tell us, repeatedly. They just keep coming back and at us from different directions to try to mandate us into a state of defenselessness. They try again and again. Some are useful idiots, they’ve been brought up to believe it, they watch cnn #FakeNews and msnbc #FakeNews and believe them. The NY Slimes, they believe. Some are not useful idiots, they know very well people will be left virtually helpless to stop attacks. But they want to keep themselves safe from us! Which always raises the question for me “What do they want to do, that they can not do if people like me are armed and prepared?” Well modern day Haman? What’s the answer?

And Persia, has Persia changed much from the Persia of old? Iran official threatens Israel: ‘We’ll level Tel Aviv to the ground’ Um, not so much, no.

In the Purim story it took a brave Jewish Queen, Ester, her cousin Mordecai and a decree to allow the Jews to defend themselves.

How’s about we learn from history and quit asking or letting our legislators legislate us into defenselessness. Because that just never works out well for the law abiding innocent citizen.

Purim is a holiday of joy and victory. They tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat!

אוזני המן, Oznei Haman Haman’s Ears

And because it is Purim, and I love Purim, I have a little movie for you. YES, it does have a horse in it! A real one! It is a parody of the video What Does The Fox Say, but this one is pretty cool.

חג פורים שמח Chag Purim Samach, Happy Purim!

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New Years Eve or Sylvester Night

While much of the world celebrated New Years Eve as the start of a fresh new civil year, it is not the same for Jews. Remember, the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, began at sunset on September 20th, 2017. New years eve is also known as Sylvester night. Sylvester night has long been known as a scheduled pogrom night. This column explains it very well. But here are some salient points.

This evening was, once the calendar settled on December 25th as Christmas, calculated to be the night preceding the circumcision of the child born in the “little town of Bethlehem”, therefore a call for the local peasants to engage in drinking, making merry and killing Jews.

Darkness along with the silence before a storm reigned in Jewish shteitls (small villages) that night in an attempt to make it harder to find defenseless victims, barricaded behind the flimsy doors of their huts. Torah study, which was done by the light of candles, was thus impossible.
As opposed to random pogroms and other manifestations of Jew hatred, this was a predictable yearly date.

A “Yerushalmi”, i.e. someone who lived in the Old City of Jerusalem before the State of Israel was declared, once told me that in this part of the world they would barricade their doors on Easter Sunday, knowing that the traditional Christian procession would often end in rioting against the local Jews.

Sylvester was Pope from January 31, 314 C.E. to December 31, 335 C.E. His Saint’s Day is the day he was buried, and it falls on December 31 of every year, that is since the civil solar calendar was straightened out (the Jewish calendar is a lunar one).

“On New Years Day 1577 Pope Gregory XIII decreed that all Roman Jews, under pain of death, must listen attentively to the compulsory Catholic conversion sermon given in Roman synagogues after Friday night services.  On New Years Day 1578 Gregory signed into law a tax forcing Jews to pay for the support of a ‘House of Conversion’ to convert Jews to Christianity.  On New Years 1581 Gregory ordered his troops to confiscate all sacred literature from the Roman Jewish community.  Thousands of Jews were murdered in the campaign.

“The Israeli term for New Year’s night celebrations, Sylvester, was the name of the ‘Saint’ and Roman Pope who reigned during the Council of Nicaea (325 C.E.).  The year before the Council of Nicaea convened, Sylvester is said to have convinced Constantine to prohibit Jews from living in Jerusalem.

I know that’s a lot of quoting, but I think you understand what I mean when I say it’s not the same New Years Eve commonly thought of. I want to compare history with today. Easy one first, Jerusalem. This is actually the most cheerful one of the lot. While perhaps the media would have you believe that the Arab world is united standing behind the Falestinians, that is not at all the case. They are not. Now, the UN, that is another story. No matter who it is, if Israel is involved, the UN stands behind them in condemning Israel. If Israel were invaded by something out of the movie “Independence Day” or “Men In Black” the UN would unite behind the space invaders who want to destroy all of humanity to condemn Israel. Iran slaughtering it’s citizens? Yawn. And the Israeli politicians are finally, perhaps, beginning to act like all of Israel, is well, Israel. There were two good bills passed. The United Jerusalem bill and the bill calling for Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. You should check out the link on the United Jerusalem bill just to see the jaw dropping beautiful picture of Jerusalem they used with the article. So this New Years does show some good things happening as compared to the past.

Now let’s look at the part about Pope Gregory and his tax forcing Jews to pay for a house of conversion. France it seems has decided to open a special tax branch, to investigate Jews only. Yep, secular France is going after Jews with their very own tax branch. From Pamela Geller

My various sources in Paris tell me it is life for Jews in France is intolerable. The large spike in Muslim immigration has made the terrible – the horrible. Daily humiliations and the constant threat of violence are their constant companions. And it is widely known that going to the police is pointless. The police have long turned a blind eye to the war on country’s Jews.

So that part is about the same, except they attacks and killing seems to be coming from the imported Muslims and the tax part is coming from the government. Not both from the same source, not that who it comes from affects the outcome much.

So regarding at attacks, let’s look at another country which is becoming Muslim dominant, jolly old England, and specifically London. London proudly did the politically correct thing and elected a Muslim mayor. Not sure that they think it turned out all that well, well at least the law abiding citizens may not. We know islamic terror has been up under Mayor Sadiq who dismissed it as part and parcel of living in a big city. Raheem Kassam has a good column on how that’s played out for Londoners as crime has skyrocketed.

It would seem that while Christians attacking Jews has dropped way off, in fact I don’t know of any recently, there may have been, I haven’t heard of it, muslim attacks have not decreased at all, in fact they are increasing I would say.

Which brings me to a particular attack that occurred recently in Jerusalem. The was an attack against two Jewish kids in Jerusalem. In case you don’t know what a 2013 EASY attack looks like, here ya go.

A pack of Falestinians attack and the crowd grows ever bigger, even the “kids” get in on the fun. A game the whole family can play it seems.

In this particular attack, the victims were beaten. They reported it to the police, who opened an investigation and caught the “arab youths” or as we might call them, “thugs”. This column was from Arutz Sheva.

I found out later from another column that someone shared there is a bit more to it than that. They were forced to convert to Islam, to praise the terrorist organization Hamas, and curse the State of Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And all the while it was being video taped. In addition to going to the police, they went to the legal organization Honenu. Forced conversion version 2018. Side note, this is no big deal as it’s been going on in Germany and America for awhile, just minus the beating part.

Boston Public School Teaching Islamic Conversion Prayer to Elementary Students

Children Forced to Recite ‘Allahu Akhbar’, Learn Muslim Prayer by Heart

Lawsuit: Public school forced my child to convert to Islam

This attack violated their body and their soul. Shades of Pope Gregory. Of course, the Pope is still attacking Jews, so that hasn’t changed.

I would maintain the Haredi are easy targets. Their clothing sets them apart, and it’s well known that they have no military service, and so no self defense skills. Unless of course they are attacking a lone female IDF soldier who attempts to clear them out of the road when they are blocking traffic.

Why they didn’t do that when they were attacked by the arabs I don’t kno….yeah, I do.

They don’t know their enemy. Reminiscent of Moshe Feiglin asking a the Chief of Staff who the enemy was, Hamass or the tunnel and the the Chief of Staff couldn’t answer.

My answer of course is predictable. I think all the Israeli citizens, well, all citizens, need to be allowed to carry concealed. Moshe, of course agrees with me. From August 2016 Give the Good Guys Guns and from May 2014 Gun Control? Or Citizen Control? Some governments view us as the enemy. We are not. They don’t know who their enemy is. We are people that don’t wish to experience a modern day Sylvester night. The government and the liberal leftists with their paid bodyguards think normal little people, us unwashed masses are “dangerous”. I would ask why they think that? What is it they want to do that they think we will resist, and they want to remove the most effective means of resistance we have? The tools that make us dangerous. They haven’t yet figured out it’s what’s in our head, not our hand that makes people dangerous. Dangerous. Reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend not all that long ago. A person can be dangerous, and they can be good or evil. It’s not that fact that they are dangerous you need to fear. It’s whether they are good or evil. I want to be dangerous. I want to have the ability to protect myself and my family. I want to be dangerous, I have no intention of kneeling on the ground reciting islamic conversion sentences. I want to stand on my own two feet and scream Shema at them and have them run. His point was, we have to know who we are, and what we are. To me, being dangerous is an asset. I have no desire to huddle behind a flimsy door afraid to have a light on. I have no desire to see a modern day Sylvester night, no matter who is perpetrating it.

New year, new start. I will give you this by Rabbi Johnathan Sacks, Five Ideas for Life. We are all here for a purpose I believe. We all have something we were meant to accomplish. I believe we are happiest when we know what that is and we are fulfilling that purpose. We have to know ourselves. So my goal for this year is to become better at my purpose, for my soul to become closer to what G-d created it to be. I want to be a child that makes him smile as he thinks, ah, she is catching on. I want to be dangerous, and I want to lose that ten pounds.

And so to help you stay dangerous, I have a little goodie for you. Stephen Wenger who wrote DEFENSIVE USE OF FIREARMS is making the book available as a free download! This fantastic book is out of print, so this e-version is a great way to start your new year. Thank you Stephen for permission to share!

I wish you all the bright promise the new year can bring, with hope, happiness, dreams fulfilled and all the good things that matter to you. And may you all stay dangerous, because whether it is New Years Eve or Sylvester night, depends on us.

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Struggles

This last week was Parshat Vayishlach, and it talks about Yaakov and Esav’s reunion when Yaakov returns from his devious Uncle Levan, who had deceived him in much the same way he had deceived his father Yitzach. He has sent his family and herds across the Jabbok, and he remained alone, waiting for daylight when he would see the brother who had sworn to kill him. The one heading his way with 400 men.

Bereshit 32: 22-32

22 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, 1 and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, 1 for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, 1 saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.

One of the Rabbi’s commentary I read this week talked about the difference in the style of Mozart and Beethoven. He felt that for Mozart, the music simply flowed from him, light and easy. For Beethoven, he struggled to get it just the way he wanted it, writing and re-writing it, the creativity for him was a struggle. He felt Yaakov, who later became Israel, had the same kind of struggles. In fact Rabbi Sacks points out in all of Tanakh/ First Testament, none of the people were perfect, they all had their struggles.

If you want to watch a little teaching on the Parsha, here is one from Rabbi Chaim.

Struggles was already on my mind this week, I’ve recently had the chance to see a independently produced movie. I think that’s what they are called. I don’t see many movies, cause there are not many I am willing to give money to see. The last one was a 1977 movie on Operation Thunderbolt.

This one was called “Big Sonia”. And it is about an amazing 91 year old lady from Poland who is a Holocaust survivor. Big Sonia stands a whopping 4’11” tall. The film talks very little about how she came to be in the concentration camps, she was in more than one, and she endured death marches. It does say the nazis used dogs to find her and her Mother hiding in the attic of their home, as they had found others. They were hidden under the floor. When the movie needs to show something from the Holocaust, it is mostly shown in crude, meaning not detailed, animation. The nazis and dogs finding them is one of those types of scene. Another is when they are separated after they’ve been at the death camp for a while. Her Mother had a red scarf, and in the graphic, I can’t really call it a cartoon, it shows her Mother handing it off to her. This is a clip of Sonia.

Sonia runs a tailor shop that she took over from her husband after he passed away. Her mission, I would say, is she with the help of her daughter visit school, prisons, and talk to groups about the Holocaust. About living with love and acceptance so that these things can never happen again. It has had a profound affect on students, and some of the prisoners were in the film crying and talking to Leah, one of the filmmakers about how hearing Sonia’s story affected them. It was disconcerting to me that some of these prisoners seemed unaware of the Holocaust, at all. But I know another Holocaust survivor, she was Austrian who had tried to tell her story to some people at a holiday get together. Some of them did not believe her. She told me she would never speak of it again. I understand, to have gone through that, then tell it, and not be believed? But to see this tiny little woman, who had survived more and harder things than the prisoners, or school children had and how she chose to respond to them? Amazing woman. I would also mention Sonia has a sister that did survive the war. She is currently living in Israel. She spent the war not in a concentration camp, but in the forest, with the Partisans, fighting. I don’t know how that happened, it doesn’t say in the film, but boy do I wish Leah would do that story! Sonia has faced many many struggles, her most recent one was when the shopping mall where the tailor shop was located served her an eviction notice. I will just say that there are Angels that walk among us today, and while we may not know the name of the one that wrestled with Yaakov, the one in the movie is Vernon and leave it at that. This movie is being seen all across the US, actually world wide. I’m free on the 16th, I think I’d like to see it again. That will necessitate me being in Jerusalem on the 16th. Hmm.

I was thinking about this column, and struggles. We all face them in our daily lives, from different directions. Some can be family, professional, monetary, personal, health, and just “stuff we have to do” be it cutting down trees, clearing fence row or making sure one kid gets to the doctor and another to piano lessons and you need to be at work on time, and pay for it all. But as I was thinking about struggles and how Yaakov faced his, and while it seems most of his life he faced a variety of struggles, he tried, he didn’t just give up. He may have been afraid and distressed, but he kept going forward and he struggled with the Angel and won. Sonia has certainly had her struggles, to survive and cope, she continues to try to use her experience to help others.

And then I had a conversation with a friend of the book of faces tonight. We’ll call him Chris. Chris is talking about his son that I’m going to call Stuart. Stuart is a Ordnance Disposal Tech in the military. Chris had said a little about some of the scares he has had due to Stuart’s occupation. We got started talking about this because of a particular song “More than a name on a wall” by the Statler Brothers.

Chris: I try to never miss an opportunity to tell him how proud I am of him. That song tears me up probably as much as it does you. But I know that if my son should go, he’ll be escorted to Valhalla by his fellows after accomplishing far more with his life than I ever have.

Me: WE each have a part to play in this drama called life Chris. HIS part is NOT your part. Your part is not mine. We must each fulfill our parts as best we can with who we are at this time, in this place.

And that’s when it gelled for me. I am so far from perfect, and some struggles will probably be lifelong, and some I may win, some I may lose. But the ones that G-d brings to me, those I must continue to try. We all have things that matter to us, to U.S. our freedom, our country, our way of life, and our families.

And each of us has a role we can play in that. Some who would never want to write on a Blog can pick up the pen and write a letter to the editor, they can talk to a co-worker who spouts Gabby Giffords latest uniformed, illogical or stupid idea. Some can take Grandchildren or nieces and nephews out to learn to shoot. Or, they can set their nephew up with lessons to learn to shoot from a good instructor. So I’ve heard. You can support Second Amendment groups, join local grassroots Second Amendment groups, go to rallies. You can know our country’s history, warts and all, and when people try to take it from us by lying, know they are lying and speak out, write a letter, make sure what your child or grandchild is learning in school isn’t the Common Core Crap, and if it is either talk to the school or at least talk to your child and make sure they know the truth. Old school books might make dandy gifts. To lose who were are and where we came from is something that is hard to reclaim. Someone has to keep the light burning.

There is a teaching in the end of the video Parsha about Yaakov going back for some small vessels. What? He hadn’t had enough struggle already? He goes back for some Tupperware? There is a bit more to it than this, but my point is, in that in the Tupperware, was oil.

Sonia’s struggles bring forth understanding and knowledge, Yaakov’s struggle brought forth the nation of Israel, and a small container of oil.

Last week was November 29th, there was an epic struggle that took place on November 29th, 1947  These are in English.

Behind the scenes stories

And today, today. President Trump announced that the United States recognizes Jerusalem is the Capitol of Israel, and the United States will be moving their Embassy to Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act was written in 1995, at last, finally. I admit, watching those old film clips today, and then President Trump is a very emotional experience.

And so, what will our struggles bring forth?

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