Recently UNESCO passed a resolution, for the second time this year, attempting to sever the Jewish People, and the modern State of Israel, from Har Habayit; the Temple Mount. Yes, the leveled hilltop where the First & Second Temples stood. The exhibition of such raw hubris in that vote is jaw-dropping.
Lots of ruffled feathers ensued. The Chair of UNESCO distanced herself & even got death threats. Mexico fired their (Jewish) ambassador to the UN when he walked out. Others wanted a do-over.
This stupid vote, one of hundreds of stupid UN votes, is hardly the last. Some believe that Obama has at least one last nut-kick waiting for Israel, before he leaves office. Probably so.
During the past few weeks, I have also (against my better judgment) seen chunks of the second and third Presidential Debates between Mr. Trump & Mrs. Clinton. I was mostly interested in the tactical skills utilized and the degree of overt bias the “moderators” exhibited. Plenty there to chew on.
What surprised me, however, was when the 2nd Amendment came up. Hillary was carefully prepped, and exhibited all the attributes of a skilled politician, masterfully stroking her “base” while proffering poll-tested, oleaginous, statements to the “undecided” voter.
Then, like a groggy man stepping in dog-poo in the dark, Mr. Trump maundered about, desperately trying to be all things to everyone. And failing, pitiably.
Most of the response to the UNESCO vote in the Jewish world has been the same time-worn things. Shock that the presumed leaders of the non-Jewish world still resent and hate them, despite numberless abasements and concessions, spanning two-thousand years of exile.
The tough-talkers typically fall back to established modes of “Hasbara”. Explanation. As if Titus, or Martin Luther, or Tomás de Torquemada, or Bogdan Chmielnicki, or Iosif Dzhugashvili, or Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, were merely misinformed about the true nature of the Jew and his mission in this World. Right.
Likewise, most of the 2nd Amendment groups, starting with that greatest advocate for (and often actual author of) victim disarmament legislation, the National Rifle Association, mewl about. Mincing words, and sharpening their dagger to stab US in the back when the next NRA “A” rated legislator barks.
Think about that the next time some NRA stooge talks about how they oppose “new” laws and only want the Government to enforce “existing” gun laws. Ahhh… But, we all have to be reasonable. Right? Law abiding.
Law. Abiding.
Is a “law” that contravenes the plain wording of the Constitution a “law”? What if the Constitution was amended to require the gassing of the Gun-Owners, or Jews, or Muslims, or Gays, or Redheads?
A few Jews are openly calling for Israel to withdraw from fishhook stuffed things like the Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Government, and all that money. American taxpayers’ money.
Some folks have long argued that, history or not, being in the United Nations is a very bad thing (for both Israel, and the U.S., for that matter) and that they should get out. Now.
The late Mike Vandeboegh, of blessed memory, was steadfast in his resolve to both be immovable on principle, and savvy on tactics. To fight the fight, as much as was possible, with “clean hands”. A few… sadly, a very few… others in this fight, follow his example.
Most others are satisfied with 2nd Amendment “hasbara”, and relying on the NRA & their Republican politicians “make the best deal we could get” in every future battle. The slow trudge into a muddy pit, I say.
Each of us has our “Line”. At least, I sure hope so. The point beyond which we will say “NO”, and mean it.
When do we say…NO? When do we MEAN IT? Worth thinking about.
Sukkot is the last of the three pilgrimage festivals. The other two are Pesach and Shavuot. Those are the festivals that the Torah commands to travel to the Temple in Jerusalem.
Following Yom Kippur, which is a very solemn holiday, Sukkot is joyous. Sukkot is commanded in the Torah in Vayikra, Leviticus 23.
33 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 34 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths 1 to the Lord. 35 On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. 36 For seven days you shall present food offerings to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work.
And
39 On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. 40 And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your G-d seven days. 41 You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43 that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your G-d.”
Now, about this business of dwelling in booths when G-d got brought the children out of Egypt. For a time, G-d also had a booth, the tent of meeting, the Tabernacle. It was during this time while they were dwelling in the Sinai that the Ark of the Covenant was created. After the children were in the land that G-d lead them, they set up the Tabernacle and the Ark. In Shiloh. And there it remained until the first Temple was built in Jerusalem. It was to Shiloh back then that the people journeyed three times a year with their offerings. It was there that for 369 years in the 11th and 12th century B.C.E. that Jewish spiritual life was centered.
In 957 B.C.E. King Solomon began construction of the Temple on the site chosen by his Father, King David. David has chosen the spot in Jerusalem where Avraham had been prepared to offer up his son. Before King David ruled from Jerusalem, he was anointed king and ruled from Hebron. For the next 400 or so years Jews were able to go to the Temple in Jerusalem. That ended in 597 B.C.E. when Nebuchadnezzar began the siege of Jerusalem. Little point of interest about Hebron, it is the site of the oldest Jewish community in the world
So, the command is to go to Jerusalem for the festival of Sukkot. The Temple, Beit HaMikdash has been there since 957 B.C.E. And it was on that spot that the Second Temple was built.
Islam was created in the 7th century. C.E.
And this concludes the history portion of our column.
Back-story is good though.
So it is with great shock, I tell you…..forget that. There is no shock on this end. Not a shred. But I will still tell you UNESCO has decided that there is NO connection to the Jewish people on the Temple Mount, Beit HaMikdash. And the Uninformed Nitwits Erroneously Spouting Complete Ordure, (UNESCO), wrote up their little proposal in which they said the Temple Mount AND the Western Wall are EXCLUSIVELY a muslim holy site. They put their Jewish Hebrew names in brackets, making it seem as though it was not valid, just a claim someone made.
Do you ever feel like you just woke up in the middle of a Twilight Zone episode?
The response was pretty quick from some. Most Israeli politicians responded at once. In America Senator Ted Cruz and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen were joined by Jerrold Nadler in sending a letter from many in Congress to the UNESCO executive board condemning the decision and urging opposition. And to get their heads out, never mind, to get their heads on straight. While most of the world was outraged the F.A., the Falestinian Authority expressed pleasure with the announcement. No shock there.
Let me ask a question here, if mohammerhead tied his horse to the Western Wall, which is a retaining wall from the JEWISH temple, where do muslims think the wall came from he tied his horse to? Apparently mohammerhead had never taught his horses to ground tie.
So, if this piece of ordure resolution had been allowed to stand, let me tell you what it would look like. Currently on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, Jews and Christians are not allowed to pray. Only muslims are allowed to pray there. There are ten gates for muslims to enter. Only one for Jews and Christians, and you will stand in line to be allowed in, you can be thrown off for any or no reason. Because the Al Aqsa mosque is located there. Why?
Over the centuries, the Muslims who eventually took control of Jerusalem built two mosques on the Temple Mount, the site of the two Jewish Temples. (This was no coincidence; it is a common Islamic custom to build mosques on the sites of other people’s holy places.) Since any attempt to level these mosques would lead to an international Muslim holy war (jihad) against Israel, the Temple cannot be rebuilt in the foreseeable future.
Now you understand a bit more why the muslims wanted to build a mosque on the site of the twin towers, at ground zero?
Now, at the Western Wall, which is under Israeli control, Jews, Christians and muslims are allowed to just walk up and pray. You might have to wait for a spot to get to the wall, but that is determined by how many people are there, and how long it takes them to walk away from a spot. People just kind of line up behind people standing far enough back as to be respectful.
But let us go back even a bit further. Let’s take a look at Hebron, shall we? Where King David ruled before he relocated to Jerusalem. In Hebron you will find the Cave of Machpelah.Itis the world’s most ancient Jewish site and the second holiest place for the Jewish people. The cave is divided into three rooms, Jews and Christians have no access to the largest room except 10 days a year. Would you like to go to the cave? You will only be able to go with armed Israeli guards to protect you. You see, the muslims, the pieceful Falestinians have control of this site as well.
Now let’s go back a little further, to Shiloh. Shiloh is located in Shomron. And Shomron and Judea are what some people call the “West Bank”. It is not the West Bank, it is Judea and Shomron, or Samaria if you will. It is not “occupied territory”. It is in Israel, and there are Jews living in Israel, and some of them live in Judea and Shomron, Samaria. Caroline Glick had a column out recently regarding, basically, Israeli sovereignty. I don’t know of any other country in the world that has to justify building homes in their country. They do not have to justify to the UN, the US, the EU or anyone else when they build homes, they just do so. Part of Caroline’s column pointed out that Israel is going to have to change how it looks at things, and how it approaches solutions.
For a generation Israel’s governments have rejected the idea that we can succeed if we resist the UN. It is time that we abandon this defeatist attitude and work diligently to broker deals with member states to reduce the room for Obama and Clinton, if she is elected, to maneuver against us in the Security Council.
And
Over the past eight years of the Obama Administration, US condemnations of Israeli construction beyond the 1949 armistice lines, including in Jerusalem, have become steadily more obsessive.
This has been part of an unambiguous policy to delegitimize Israel in America. Until Obama entered the White House in 2009, there was a clear difference between the attitudes of Europe and the attitude of the United States towards us. Under Obama we have witnessed the Europeanization of American attitudes towards the State of Israel.
So far, Obama’s efforts have only been successful in the Democratic Party. Party activists have worked hand in hand with anti-Israel movements, most notably the BDS movement. In addition, several Democratic lawmakers have shown their willingness to abandon Israel, and that number is growing.
And it’s working. I recently worked a Ethnic event where many countries come together in a park, we have food sometimes, and sometimes our dance group comes and performs, usually some goodies from Israel to sell, maps, brochures and other information we give out and we answer questions. This was our first time to have some of our goods from Lev HaOlam. I was sitting there minding the table and watching people when a lady came up to the table, took a look at me, and our table and asked “how many mooooslims go to your church”? You ask the girl with the big Magen David on her shirt how many mooooslims (that’s how she said it, drawing out the ooooo) go to her “church”? Lady, you are a bit confused on your religions aren’t you? Told her none, moooooslims go to mosques. I explained this is a cultural event, not a religious event. There were people there from many countries. The point is the country the culture, our table was sponsored by the JCC, not a particular Synagogue. She then informed me that Israel is a mooooslim country. I kid you not. I informed her “It is the ONE JEWISH state in the world, and it IS JEWISH”. I perhaps was a bit adamant. She said there were more moooooslims living there than Jews. No, there aren’t.
This is a battle, and it’s not about “co-existing”. If you think it is re-read the part about how other religions that have ties to the Temple Mount, Har HaBeit, are allowed to worship there. They aren’t. Read the part about Hebron again, how others can go see the holy sites without armed guards, they can’t. You can not “co-exist” with someone that wants to wipe you out.
So here it is, Sukkot, one of the three pilgrimages when we are suppose to go to Har HaBeit. And UNESCO says it’s not Jewish.
UNESCO chairman Michael Verbes said, “I am aware of the connection between Israel and Jerusalem, and I will never deny it. Jerusalem’s Old City and its walls are a UNESCO world heritage site since 1982, and have been recorded as being holy to three religions. This is our stance on the issue, and it trumps all decisions that the principal committee has recently made.”
But in this article lies a key to part of the problem.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett was unimpressed by Bokova’s statement, however, saying it was not enough.
“The Al Aqsa Mosque [or] Al-Haram al-Sharif, the sacred shrine of Muslims, is also the Har HaBayit – or Temple Mount – whose Western Wall is the holiest place in Judaism,” Bokova said in a statement Friday, according to Haaretz.
No, no it isn’t Naftali. Har HaBeit is. The Western Wall is just the closest we can get to Har HaBeit right now because Moshe Dayan handed it over to the muslims. And that’s why we can’t go there for Sukkot.
But this is about far more than Sukkot, this is about a world that is buying a historically false narrative that Jews didn’t live in Israel. It’s about erasing the past so it’s easier to erase the present. It’s about attacks on Jews living in their historic homelands of Judea and Samaria and those attacks being excused by the world, the mainstream media and the democrat party as “justified” or perhaps understandable because they lived in “settlements”. They lived in the “occupied territories”. So, democratic party, liberals, media, UN, EU and UNESCO, where exactly is it you think Jews should be allowed to live. Because the same attacks in Judea, Shomron and Hebron are being carried out in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Yafo. Where is it that you think we should be allowed to build our Sukkah?
Crickets.???
Well, here’s the deal. Sukkahs are up, prayers are being said, meals are being eaten and conversation is taking place. It’s a joyous festival. So as far as UNESCO, US liberals and democrats, EU and UN? Chag Sukkot Samach, now get out of my Sukkah!
The Nazis (and their helpers) were just learning then how to be efficient at the art of genocide. A few victims survived to describe their experiences.
You may not know about Babi Yar. But if you’re part of the gun-rights world, you’ve seen at least a few of the photos the proud murderers took.
Just a reminder of why we never disarm, why we never trust those who seek the power to make us helpless.
I watched the documentary Claire told us about, Defying the nazis: The Sharps’ War. Fascinating show and fascinating couple! At first glance, they would seem to be a rather ordinary couple, but they were far from it. They had smarts, intuition, courage and could think on the move. Those attributes saved their lives and the lives of many others. I would say that they were rare people. Interestingly, to me, they did not think they were rare at all, and that anyone in their position would have done the same things, according to their daughter Martha. They are now listed in Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.
And Claire also pointed out that the NY Slimes article article is an attempt to get people to see the refusal of Americans to embrace those fleeing the middle East as the same situation as the refusal of many nations to accept Jews fleeing the holocaust.
It is not.
It is not at all. The mindset is the critical factor here. Actually the mindset of different groups.
In this video talking about Zionism and Theodor Herzl, about 11 minutes, 30 seconds in the lecturer talks about how Jews handle attacks against them, first is the fee or flee, they attempt to pay off the officials persecuting the communities. If that is unsuccessful they flee. At this point he talking mainly about the Jews of Russia and the persecution they faced under different Czars. But the part I want to bring out comes at 14:08 in, the difference between immigrants and refugees. The first of the Russian Jews to come were the immigrants. Yes, they were fleeing the pogroms of Russia, but some fleeing went to South America, some to Europe, some to Canada and some to the U.S. Those chose to come here, and they wanted to assimilate to some degree. They wanted to understand and fit into the culture of the U.S. Some of those chose not to speak Yiddish, to not teach it to their children. They said we’re Americans now, we will speak English and we will learn how they live and do things in America. Not to say they gave up their Judaism, but just that they chose to make a place for themselves in American society. The refugees on the other hand, those that came after WWII had a different mindset. They did not so much chose to come here as flee the devastation after WWII. I resent coming to America, it’s a safe haven for me, but I didn’t want to come here. They believed I won’t change for America, America is going to have to change for me. The lecturer said he was painting with a broad brush, but in general, that was the difference in attitudes and mindset. It only goes to about 16 minutes in, so it’s not a long part, but I do think it’s crucial to realize that there is quite possibly a different mindset in the “refugees” coming to America than what you would think.
Another difference is, when the Jews came to America whether as immigrants or refugees, their aim was not to force Americans to accept their religion or pay jizya and live as dhimmis but to live and practice their religion in safety. This is a whole different mindset. I am not saying every muslim that comes into this country has that goal in mind, only the devout ones as that is what the Koran commands.
The European countries are seeing quite an increase in sexual violence towards women and children, they think it can be stopped with wristbands and posters that say “Don’t touch me”. And that is working out about as well as one would expect. I wanted to get a bullet company to engrave “Don’t touch me” on the bottom of a bullet because I thought that would be more effective than the wristband. But I digress, the mindset and the way muslims are raised is that women are property and if they aren’t dressed modestly according to muslim standards they are fair game because they are sluts and asking for it. Daniel Greenfield does an excellent job of explaining how this works in this article. Your mindset and what you’ve been taught all your life doesn’t change because you are now living in Baltimore and not Baghdad. The leftists dangerously misunderstand that mindset.
Denial reigns supreme. After the latest round of bombing on the East Coast headlines from the defunct media read things like “motive a mystery”. To who? Only the American media, not anyone else.
A letter signed by 43 rabbis in Texas called on the state’s governor to remain in the U.S. refugee resettlement program.
“At this moment, with the number of refugees and displaced persons at its highest in recorded history, it is more important than ever for Texas to protect and welcome refugees,” read the letter sent Wednesday, hours after Gov. Greg Abbot announced that he was withdrawing his state from the program over concerns about the lack of effective security screening of the refugees.
And that is a very dangerous miscalculation of the mindset. Because it is entirely possible, if not likely that the mindset of those “refugees” is very different than what the Rabbis think it is.
Alejandro Mayorkas, the Deputy Homeland Security Secretary, speaking Wednesday to the Orthodox Union’s annual leadership mission to Washington, said rising extremism in the United States and its threat to the Jewish community keeps him awake at night.
Now while he is talking about people becoming radicalized, he does also talk about incoming threats.
And the incoming may be more than you think. While obama’s goal for this year was 10,000 “refugees” he has already exceeded that, and the year isn’t over.
It also might be worth considering the effect of their mindset on the American voting outcome. The New American program of barry’s has been in effect for a almost a year now. Neither of these articles are long, but both are worth reading.
I realize the concept is kindness for those in need, to help the less fortunate. But in a April 2016 column by Dr. Tsvi Sadan in Israel Today titled “Love Your Enemy?” he points out the flaw in this.
And yet, nowhere does it suggest that one is supposed to aid an enemy whose intention is to kill you. The reason behind G-d’s order to to kill the Midianites (Numbers Bəmidbar, 25:17) is found in their desire to annihilate Israel. In this case, loving these people, or helping them in any way, would have amounted to collective suicide for Israel.
He then points out that while Syria is a sworn enemy of Israel, Israel provides free medical care to wounded Syrians. This is “loving your enemy”. But it is only possible because Syria no longer proposes a significant threat to Israel. He states
“The same kind of help could not be given if Syria was killing Israelis on a daily basis. In such a case, Israel would be obligated to kill those who were attempting to kill her. This is the basic human right of self-defense. “
There are a lot of different mindsets in play here. Those that just want to help the “poor refugees” may be dangerously naïve thinking that they will be grateful and assimilate into American society. That has not proven to be the case in Europe or Great Britain at all. That’s the “it can’t happen to me” or “it can’t happen here”. Yeah, it can. Then there’s the political mindset, of not caring what it does to the country as long as it helps my party no matter who it hurts. Not in terms of finances, crime, culture, living conditions, or unemployment. Companies get tax breaks I understand, to hire immigrants instead of US workers. Just import them and register them to vote.
When the Sharps brought and sent the Jews from Prague to America they had a system in place. They matched those they smuggled out with people and jobs in the US. They knew the people they were dealing with and the people they were sending here. This in no way can be compared to barry’s massive invasion of people for which there is no effective vetting process. But in the mindset of the liberal NY Slimes reporter, it is the same.
This is one of those things like the handing over of the internet that is irreversible. The toothpaste ain’t going back in the tube, the bell can’t be un-rung. And for the record? My mindset is I am not wearing a burka, hijab or niqab! Isn’t it interesting that at this time the democratic party is increasing their howls for gun control? I wonder what their mindset could be?
Last week I posted about a new Ken Burns documentary, Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War. I linked to a New York Times article by Nicholas Kristof, who rightly praised the courage of the Sharps and other “righteous Gentiles” who risked their lives to save Jews from Hitler’s beastiality. He spoke of how world governments rejected Jewish refugees, dooming many of them to death, while individuals (including a few “rogue” individuals within government bureaucracies) saved Jewish lives.
Unfortunately, Kristof also used his NYT pulpit to try to guilt-trip contemporary readers and leaders into being more liberal in acceptance of today’s headline refugees, Muslims from the chaotic Middle East.
Now comes another article on the documentary, this time from the Washington Post, which is less agenda-driven, but still quotes a White House official who uses a screening of the film to promote more U.S. acceptance of Muslim refugees:
“The Sharps are the better angels of America,” said Deputy Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken last week at a White House screening for scholars, diplomats, Holocaust survivors and other dignitaries. (The Obamas did not attend.) The film, Blinken said, humanizes relief work at a time when the world needs to do far more to aid refugees from war-torn Syria and elsewhere.
—–
In the NYT, Kristof wrote: “As today’s leaders gather for their summit sessions, they should remember that history eventually sides with those who help refugees, not with those who vilify them.”
And generally, that’s true. Generally.
I’ve lived among immigrants all my life, including spending a couple of years in a neighborhood of resettled Southeast Asian war refugees. Although the first members of my mother’s family arrived in the American colonies before the Revolution, on my father’s side I’m not far removed from starving Irish peasants who arrived in “coffin ships” and were caricatured by the natives as dumb apes. I’ve seen first-hand how immigrants have been stereotyped. And I know how refugees have enriched, and continue to enrich, our culture.
I am also an individualist who believes that every person deserves to be considered on his or her own merits. So it pains me on two counts to say this. But urging acceptance of Muslim refugees based on the fact that other refugees, in other times, have enriched our culture — or based on guilt because “we” didn’t aid WWII-era Jewish refugees who deserved rescue — is bogus.
From Paris to Minnesota, wherever in the West communities of Middle Eastern or African Muslims have been settled, terrorism has followed. Free speech becomes a capital offense. Women suffer. And Jews are in particular peril. Just ask the Jewish population of France — formerly of France, now fleeing the country.
Elitists, from their WaPost or Gray Lady perches, urge toleration for those who won’t tolerate us, acceptance for those who won’t accept us, and peace toward those who bring with them random violence in the name Allah. But of course Nicholas Kristof and his kind aren’t going to have to live in the Muslim neighborhoods where even police dare not go. They’re not going to be shopping in the malls or attending the schools that will be attacked. They’re going to be comfortable in their gated communities. When horrors happen, they can continue pontificating about tolerance — and oh by the way, the need for fewer guns in the hands of We the Peasants, more surveillance, more “security,” and less of that nasty, messy freedom.
Some Jews, whose ancestors were granted life in the West when they were desperate refugees from Nazism, now join the call for embracing Muslim refugees. Maybe it’s a generous, kind-hearted, and decent impulse.
But these remind me of the Jews who meaninglessly cry, “Never again!” while actively working to disarm all innocents, leaving us at the mercy of anyone with few scruples and evil intentions.
I’ve decided to try to be creative. I made ya’ll a movie. The reading was part of a radio program and then I spent time collecting pictures I thought would go well with each part and tried to make the timing on the photo and the reading come out right. Yeah, I love ya’ll that much. So this is my first, and possibly only, multimedia video column.
Not long after I heard this recitation as part of Walter Bingham’s radio show I heard about some Jewish leaders in Rhode Island who are lobbying some of the pro-self defense legislators in the state to make it easier for criminals to attack defenseless people. They felt that if good, law-abiding citizens did not have the means to defend themselves and criminals were aware of that, then crime rates would surely drop. That children would be safer as they watched their parents attacked, unable to have the means to mount an effective defense of themselves and their children. Well, perhaps I’m paraphrasing a bit, a little.
But I was sad to hear this. Like I said, after having heard the recitation, and hearing the cries for more defenseless victims I can only shake my head. There are those that think they can find logic in why some are attacked. Dafna Meir was attacked because she lived in Otniel. No, she was attacked because she was Jew living in Israel. The horrible photos are from the Har Nof Synagogue massacre. Not to mention Hevron. There have been attacks on Churches, Synagogues and Jewish Community Centers in the U.S. And law enforcement have managed to stop some before they happen. I read a column that says ISIS now has a hit list of 15,000 people in the U.S. One entire church is on it. Some of the people have been notified by the FIB FBI that they are targets, many have not and the list is not publicly available. I guess what with covering for Hillary and all, it takes away from the time available to let people know they are targeted by ISIS. In the article it talks about an attack that was recently thwarted at a large church in Detroit.
But as I listened to the speaker, and thought about the images I could put with the reading I can’t help but wonder if those community leaders calling for defenseless victims shouldn’t do a brief review of history, at the least a brief review of Israeli history. Seems like there is an old saying. Something about “Those who ignore the past….”
“Hebron. The media loves to talk about Hebron. Just this afternoon, as I strolled through Manhattan, Hebron flashed before my eyes. The fire engine red news ticker on the Fox News building displayed an urgent story about Hebron. Something about settlers, building permits, casualty counts. I quickly turned the corner. Hours away from the 87th anniversary of the 1929 massacre and ethnic cleansing of the ancient Jewish community of Hebron, faux controversy over building permits for Jews seemed pretty grotesque.”
“The stories of Arabs storming Jewish homes while police casually watched has been written many times over and I won’t elaborate on the details, but the barbaric savagery which left 67 murdered and dozens injured is beyond belief. Over a couple of days, the Hebron community was wiped out and Jews in Jerusalem, Safed, Tel Aviv, Haifa and moshavim were attacked, maimed, raped, robbed, looted and murdered in a variety of creative ways. The casualty list is a lengthy one.”
Twenty-five years ago, following a tragic automobile accident, there was a pogrom in New York City. It was arguably led by Al Sharpton, and repeatedly excused at the highest levels of New York political elites. During the three days of full-out rioting, an Australian rabbinic student, Yankel Rosenbaum, was viciously murdered for the unpardonable crime of being a Jew. The perpetrators even pulled a non-Jewish, Italian man from his car and savagely beat him, thinking him a Jew.
So, in answer to the question, “Can _it_ happen, here?” It HAS happened here. And, it almost certainly will happen again.
Why?
Fully a quarter-century later, the government of New York City’s Five Boroughs steadfastly refuse to allow their citizens tools for effective self defense. Permission to have even a mundane, single-shot shotgun in your own home, is expensive, arduous, and complicated, in the extreme. More effective tools are far harder to legally possess. A handgun on your person? Hell, the NYPD & Cyrus Vance will put you in jail and clean out your wallet for carrying a simple lock-blade knife like the one we offer here at Zelman Partisans!
The enemies of human liberty are always angling to keep the rest of us on the plantation, cane knives chopped blunt, dependent upon them, and their permission, for every human need. To them, you, and your loved ones, are livestock.
August 13, 2016 was the 9th of Av, or Tisha B’Av 5776. Since nothing is to mar the joy of Shabbat, it was observed on the 14th of August.
I realize, that’s yesterday, but I can’t let it go without sharing a couple things.
The first is something wonderful I got from my teammate, Y.B. a wonderful true story honoring the spirit and commitment of Rabbi Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam.
Rabbi Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam
Defiance on a Death March
The Klausenberger Rebbe z’tl on 9 Av
Rabbi Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam became one of the youngest rebbes in Europe, leading thousands of followers in the town of Klausenburg, Romania, before World War II. His wife, eleven children and most of his followers were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
In the summer of 1944 the Russian Army moved west and pushed the Nazis further and further back across Poland into Germany. The Germans, in an effort to cover their crimes forced thousands of slave labourers on death marches across Poland. The Rebbe had previously spent time in Auschwitz and on a work detail in Warsaw, sifting through the rubble of the now vacant Warsaw ghetto on his hands and knees, forced to look for anything that might be of value for the Nazi war effort.
As the Russians moved closer the Rebbe along with 6000 other prisoners were forced to march for twenty miles a day, in the scorching Polish summer. The death camp of Dachau in Germany was to be their final destination of which just 2000 made it.
On the march, the prisoners were starved of food and water and any stragglers were shot immediately. On the day of Tisha B’Av (9th of the Jewish month of Av), Jews mourn the destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem as well as many other disasters that have happened on this painful day. One of the signs of mourning of Tisha B’Av is that Jews remove their leather shoes (leather shoes being an inappropriate sign of comfort and luxury on this solemn day).
On this day and on this march, the Rebbe removed his shoes. Despite all that had happened to him, he refused to give up on the Jewish observances that made him who he was. The Nazis saw this as a sign of rebellion and decided to have some fun at the Rebbe’s expense. They made him march alongside the column on broken stones and gravel. They joked as his feet became bloodied and bruised.
At one point they thought he was trying to escape down the embankment so they shot him. He was hit in the arm and tumbled down the embankment. In an effort to stem the bleeding, he took bark and leaves from a tree and wrapped it around the wound. It was at that point in his life, when faced with such unimaginable pain, hatred and adversity that the Rebbe demonstrated forever that there is no depth from which the human spirit cannot rise.
It was at that point that he swore to God that should he survive he would build an institution based on the Jewish values of love, peace, equality and tolerance, all of the values the Nazis despised. He swore that he would build a hospital in the land of Israel that would epitomise everything the Nazis tried to destroy.
Today, that hospital is Laniado in Netanya.The hospital was built in 1974. After the maternity unit was opened, the Rebbe asked the nurses and staff to call him immediately when the first baby was born. A few days later he received the call with the good news. Upon hearing, the Rebbe said in a broken voice, ‘zeh ha nekama sheli’, ‘this is my revenge’. This is my revenge – life will defeat death, hope will defeat pain, compassion will overcome hatred.
May this Tisha B’Av be the last before our mourning is turned into joy and celebration.
And this one I have for you.
And now if you’ll excuse me, I seem to have some dust in my eye.
When a TZP supporter first sent this news item, I didn’t think much about it. Saudi judo competitor Joud Fahmy forfeited a first-round match against a woman from Mauritius. Word in Israel was that she did it to avoid facing an Israeli Jew, Gili Cohen, in the second round.
Fahmy said she was injured and couldn’t compete. I thought, “Well, maybe she really was.” After all, if her purpose was to avoid contact with Cohen, why not go ahead and compete in the first round and see whether that would even become an issue? If she’d have lost in the first round … no need to touch a Jew. So it was certainly possible she really was injured and not just avoiding contact.
But this morning comes word of a blatant, public act of bigotry. In men’s judo, an Egyptian competitor snottily snubbed the Israeli who beat him.
It was an elaborate, unmistakable triple snub. Islam El Shehaby (in blue) first refused the traditional bow (a sign of respect that’s part of judo’s very fiber). Then he refused to walk to the middle of the mat for a handshake with the victor, Or Sasson. Finally, he refused Sasson’s offered hand when the gracious Israeli walked across the mat to him.
It’s unfortunate that the Olympics (partly thanks to Hitler in 1936) have become such a show of nationalism, rather than a celebration of the hard work and talents of awesome individuals. But there’s just no civilized excuse for El Shehaby’s behavior.
In the context, he came across not only as a pathetically sore loser, but as a disgusting bigot. You’re willing to do hand-to-hand combat with an Israeli individual, but not to shake his hand afterward? Shame on you, you foul creature and the foul dogma that motivates you.
Unlike some of my colleagues here at TZP, I’m no giant fan of Israel. I consider it a necessary homeland for a people who’ve been homeless, vulnerable, and fatally abused far too long. But its government is a government like any other and sometimes does objectionable things, even appalling things. But then, what government doesn’t? When it comes to appalling things done specifically to Muslims and Arabs, they should look to some of their own governments and neighboring Islamic governments, where savagery, corruption, oppression, and suppression of individualism have been the norm for centuries. Israel has been a piker when it comes to harming Muslims.
But even if that were not so, to show such public contempt for a man who, just moments earlier, was your honorable competitor is inexcusable.
Apparently the International Judo Federation considers it a sign of progress that an Arab was even willing to compete against an Israeli Jew. But I’m glad to learn that the audience in Rio gave the bigot a resounding round of righteous contempt for his unsportsmanlike and soulless conduct.
Jews. Guns. No compromise. No surrender.
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