Twas a night during Hanukkah and all through the house, not a creature was stirring except for a mouse.
And Cowgirl Kitty killed it.
My Hanukkiah had been lit, and into sufganiyot and latkas I had bit and I smiled with joy that the three of them bring.
Little Marlowe gently snored on his puppy bed, and I snuggled in, with thoughts of Hanukkah in my head.
And who to my wondering eyes should appear? Judah Maccabee, it WAS him, I swear!
I sat up quite started, “Sir, you give me quite a fright, why do you appear here in the dead of the night?”
He regarded me gravely and tugged on his beard, he said so very softly “It’s the things I have heard”.
My eyes widened just as his narrowed, and I shivered in my bones, clear down to the marrow.
Judah, what has you so troubled I asked with a frown, you know you’re one of my heroes, you know it deep down!
He sighed as he listed the attacks both great and small, in France, in England, the USA and Israel, worst of all,
Hannah and her sons,my father, my brothers and I did not fight and give our lives, so that latkas you could fry. The dreidels you do spin, the songs you do sing, they should be a strong reminder there are still evil things.
We loved G-d our father, he created this earth, to serve him we certainly have proven our worth.
Those that would keep us from observing his rules, have mistaken our courage, they must have been fools.
He gave us great victories, he gave back our Temple, you should have held on, it is just that simple.
No Jew may pray there, nor Christian it seems, Beit HaMikdash lives only in my dreams.
In France Jews are told no Menorah to light, so as to avoid the evil in the night.
G-d gave us the miracle of such great victory, he gave us the miracle of the oil, it is our history. To turn our backs and ignore? What a sad mystery!
Judah smiled sadly, and said “The Zelmans Partisans, it fights the good fight you are warriors all. My spirit is beside you, you must heed the call!” We were partisans, we Maccabees, we know of your struggle, we’ve made the same pleas.
Freedom comes dear, without effort it won’t last. Keep your sword sharp and ready, be prepared to draw fast.
Your weapons they will try to seize, your faith try to shake, and you must hold both close. Make no mistake.
Judah then brightened and said with a smile, you all are doing good work. You all spread the word, keep it up and you will be heard.
He then began to fade and my eyes began to tear, Oh Judah I said, why did you come here?
It was then Marlowe barked and I awoke with a start, and I began to rethink the idea that Chipotle pepper Tabasco in latkas was a good idea.
חג חנוכה שמח
chag chanukkah sameach
Happy Hanukkah Holiday!!
Judah Maccabee Meme
With sincere, abject and humble apologies to Clement Clarke Moore. And probably a few of you that just suffered through my attempt at poetry!
I started collecting stories I wanted to use to write a column a few weeks ago.
Since then there have been the attacks in Paris and the attack in San Bernardino.
The rest of the world has begun to see what Israel has been living with for a very long time.
There is such a difference in how things are portrayed in the media. In America predictably if a gun is involved, conservatives, gun-owners, Christians, whites or some variation or combination of the listed will be blamed. It will be acceptable to call for violence, the internment or a combination of things against law abiding people that have committed no crime and are just trying to go about living their lives and mostly want to be left the heck alone.
Liberals, leftists, communists, socialists etc will not allow this to happen because they see the list above an a real impediment to their ultimate goal which is control, power and domination. So the ability of the list above must be limited, or they must be muzzled or eliminated.
I listened to a radio show within the last few weeks and the host made the point that Anti-Zionism is always the precursor to antisemitism. Anti-Zionism is the polite socially acceptable mask for antisemitism which will reveal and show itself in time.
And antisemitism is alive and well in the world. It flourishes under the guise of the “enlightened”, and while overt antisemitism would perhaps be challenged by Abe Foxman, as long as it wasn’t one of his friends that said it, Anti-Zionism is applauded in the UN, and the European nations, campuses in the US and a large chunk of the demoncratic party.
Let’s have a look-see shall we?
We are told by the media and other “authoritative” sources that the poor Palestinians just want their own home land, they were displaced by the Jews.
I’ll let the always eloquent Dennis Prager answer this from a lecture at Oxford. It has subtitles, we’re good. One thing I find really amusing, though it has nothing to do with the subject. If the little flower that is so anxious to speak against Mr. Prager had worn that dress in a sharia ruled country, she would be dead, eventually. Not sure what would happen first.
Double standard much? Nawww.
Now lets look at the peaceful Palestinians are so disenchanted because they are forced to live in poverty. Ok, why?
Job opportunities suck? Well, many of them collect dole from Israel. American tax dollars going to the PA are given out most generously to terrorists. But some did have jobs. Until the enlightened liberals interfered. The Boycott Divest & Sanction movement? Supported by some churches, buckets of liberals, and the brain dead on campuses all over. Let’s walk it out.
I read a very interesting interview with a Palestinian human rights activist Bassam Eid. He has nothing good to say about the BDS movement. He pointed out that it is hurting the Palestinians the most. Take for example Soda Stream. It moved from the settlement of Mishor Adumim near Jerusalem to Be’er Sheva due to BDS pressures. Some of the former workers had talked with Mr. Eid. The told him at Soda Stream they earned around 5,000 shekels a month, about 1,300 USD. Today they can receive the princely sum of 1,400 shekels (365 USD) from the Palestinian Authority. Sadly, they had taken on financial commitments based on the belief that their work at Soda Stream would continue. The interview ended with him saying to the BS BDS people “As long as the Palestinian people aren’t boycotting Israel, they don’t need to do so for us”.
The Arab members of Knesset had been coming to Nazareth to meet, photos, rally, hate the Jews, the usual. But a odd thing happened, completely unexpectedly, the Jews quit coming to visit Nazareth.
Salam told the Israeli business newspaper Globes that “on a regular weekend, 20–30,000 Jews come to Nazareth, but yesterday there were none. One a regular weekend, they [the Jewish visitors] spend a minimum of 10 million shekels. Yesterday not one shekel was spent.”The impact has been devastating.“Restaurants are closed. Businesses are closed. They [the business owners] come to the municipality and weep,” said the mayor, noting that it will now take months to return business to where it was before the most recent outbreak of violence.
In fact, Mayor Ali Salam made his point loud and clear on live TV.
In the live broadcast, the mayor could be heard shouting at a shocked Odeh, “Take your ‘business’ elsewhere. …You have destroyed our city. …Not one Jew came [to Nazareth] today. Not one! …Shut up and get lost!”
The left takes great delight in trying to cripple Israel, but because they live in the liberal world they don’t know that things sometimes look good on paper, but that’s not how they plays out in the real world.
The latest is the European Union’s decision to brand Israeli products made in East Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights. They are branding them to make the easier to boycott. Despite the fact that there are currently over 200 territorial disputes going on world wide, Israel is the only country the EU is requiring to label products. The PU ambassador to Israel said that the branding was pretty common, gave a load of baloney and when asked what other countries were required to do this (got a choice of 200 there Lars) replied, well, none. That’s a different situation. Of course it is Lars. Because the EU certainly isn’t antisemitic is it?
Now let’s move on to how the world treats the attacks that happen often in Israel. It is such a glaring difference that a magazine I subscribe to has a regular feature each month called “News From Pallywood”. If you aren’t familiar with this, it is very real. The media will show a photo of some poor innocent arab muslim being dragged off by her hair, or some poor child laying bloody in the street. Obvious victims of vicious Israelis. They just don’t run the photos of what happened moments before with the grinning arab woman hurling stones at soldiers and civilians. Or the cherubic looking child in the street having just stabbed a 13 year old Jewish child. There having even become well known stars of Pallywood. One little girl can turn on the tears at a moments notice. They are very media savvy. I’ve covered some of these attacks before. But since we in the US are currently being told by the obama regime that we are being silly being concerned about women and children let’s have a look at how that works out. Israel has a lot of experience with arab muslims.
A quick 47 second guide on how to avoid Israeli Brutality.
These girls were 14 and 16 years old. Their attack was carried out at Mahane Yehuda, which is a very large old market in Jerusalem. I love Mahane Yehuda, I love shopping at Mahane Yehuda. I’m making my list for my next visit. Many of these precious moments children that go out to stab Jews are in schools, getting an education and could have had prospects for a decent life. But for some reason have decided stabbing Jews is the best thing they could ever do with their lives.
Here’s what “lightly wounded” looks like, from a magazine.
Just to put things in context.
“Lightly” wounded
Most of these are quite short. A few times you will notice the children had to be reminded to say “zionist” and not “Jews”. But some flat out said what they had been taught.
This one was kind of embarrassing for the TV hostess. It’s bad when your grieving guest star whips a knife out of her maidenform bra and says she’s waiting for her chance to stab Jews. Her son was killed stabbing Jews on a bus. He was stabbing Jews on a bus because his cousin was killed a month or so before stabbing Jews. This is the cycle of violence John Kerry and obama talk about. Jews get stabbed, they die, soldiers, armed citizens, the Jerusalem mayor, the police try to stop the stabbing and kill the assailant and another peaceful Palestinian will come and stab more Jews.
But, so the Christians won’t feel left out, these adorable tykes are playing behead the Christians in Turkey.
The media talks about “disproportionate” response. A parody news station called MSNBC uses propaganda maps put out by an anti-Israeli pro-Palestinian group to discuss land and territories.
There are a whole laundry list of helpful tips for journalists in this article, so you can report the news from the Middle East and not look like the usual media buffoons. And since it’s pretty humorous with links to pretty much back up all it’s claims it’s well worth reading.
Compare what you read in there with how the world and France reacted to the Paris terror attack. Just forget the part about barry recently standing on the stage in Paris and telling the French that mass shooting attacks don’t happen in other places in the world as he committed to more American gun control. France’s President said he would be “Ruthless” in response to the attacks. But no one questioned the proportionality of his response, the EU didn’t demand French wines be labeled. In fact everybody but barry was supportive. MSNBC didn’t call them to task, barry may or not have muttered something about not judging all the the response of the “extremists” which have nothing to do with Islam.
Many in our country have not taken a strong stand with Israel and her citizens under attack. They listen to CNN or MSNBC, or university Professor Biotch and don’t know what it’s like to live under constant threats. I think that is going to be changing as our populations demographics change. As the radio show host pointed out, Jews tend to be the canary in the mine. When attacks are beginning to start, they often start with the Jews. And, there was the HyperKosher attack with Charlie Hebdo, and what was done in response? Nothing. Well, not nothing. Nothing really from the French government as far as stopping Islamic attacks, but there has been a response from France’s Jewish population. There has been a 2400% increase since 2013 of young French Jews traveling to Israel. Some of those will consider making Aliyah.
We listen to politicians tell us we’re afraid of women and children. So? They kill the same as men. They are raised to do so. Look at the couple involved in the attack at San Bernardino.
As everyone tries to figure out why the attack happened, because it’s not radical Islam, probably more workplace violence. But a normally relatively clever British paper may have figured it out. A Messianic Jew may be responsible. A good first bit of the article describes what sort of things the man posted on his Facebook page (not the killer, one of the victims) and that he was a strong supporter of Israel (well, there ya go). He and the killer had been friends. Until the killer snapped ran home got his wife and the few little IEDs and pipe bombs he had laying around and donned his “assault clothes”. I’m actually impressed, it takes me longer to make an Israeli dish with quinoa, cauliflower & carrots. But we certainly can’t hold the innocent arab responsible! NO NO!! It’s what that EVIL Messianic Jew said! We must learn to watch what we say around the peaceful muslims, lest they snap & kill people!
I learned a couple things last week. In parashat Vayishlach in Genesis 32:11
11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children.
The question was raised why did Yaakov say Esav the name, and then the title my brother? Why did he ask G-d to save him from both? Because he knew Esav, the wild man who could be a killer, who didn’t value his birthright, he knew to be on guard around him. But he also was afraid of his brother, the man he grew up with. Because he might not see the threat coming from his “brother” in time.
The attacks in Israel now are being perpetrated by the arabs that live among the Israelis. They work in their phone companies, attend their schools, work in their restaurants. They are the brothers and sisters living among them with the scissors hidden in their skirts.
And now they are the men who work in San Bernardino, the army Majors that are psychiatrists, the brothers that are living among us, that grew up here. We are bringing in more by the boatloads. And I’m guessing there will be a few Esavs among them.
What will be the result? Well, it’s almost Hanukkah now. And in Paris the police are telling Chabad not to light the Hanukkah candles. Seriously. And why do we celebrate Hanukkah? Oh, because the Maccabees were victorious over the Syrian Antiochus who wanted to wipe out Judaism and force the Jews to worship false G-d’s. Antiochus’s goal was to prevent the observance of Judaism and thus the revolt. Guess we best not say “You’ve come a long way baby” considering Chabad is now being told they can’t observe the festival that commemorates the war to practice Judaism.
So since France seems to be taking the wrong approach to dealing with Islam, I will provide the helpful information I got from another web site. Perhaps if they can do this, they won’t have any more attacks.
The irony of course, is that France has been very condemning of Israel and her long standing plight.
New Improved French Borders
IF FRANCE WANTS PEACE WITH THE ARABS, THEY MUST DO THE FOLLOWING:
BORDERS
Return to the 1,420 borders
SETTLEMENTS
Stop building French homes on French soil
CAPITOL
Divide Paris into two Capitals for two peoples
Via Daniel Pipes.
So why do I call it the “Double Edged Standard Sword”? Because there is most certainly a double standard when it comes to how the world sees and judges Israeli Jews and her responses to terror attacks and how it treats other nations. And that difference has become a sword to be used against the Israelis. They need to defend themselves, the citizens need to defend themselves and the current American regime needs to quit asking their media lap puppies to skew their reporting to support the anti-Israel white house narrative. The double standard has become a double edged sword that is costing lives.
It’s funny. If he lived in the U.S., Rabbi Menachem Margolin would be considered more or less a wimp on gun rights. In Europe, he’s a most radical voice.
Since the Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher massacres at least, he’s been calling for Jews to take up arms. That is, to be “allowed” to take up arms. And only “selected” Jews. Jews chosen, trained, and constantly overseen by the state (the very state that’s content to leave the Jews and everyone else disarmed in the face of both terrorism an regular, independent crime).
You see what I mean about wimpy. Still, in disarmed Europe, he’s the loudest voice calling for Jewish self defense.
Margolin is based in Belgium. So naturally, the country’s chief rabbi Abraham Guigui (I didn’t know countries had chief rabbis, but so this article says) and other prominent Jewish leaders simply must denounce him and his mad, wild, crazy, wild-west plan. According to the Jerusalem Post:
Over the weekend, Guigui issued a statement blasting what he called marginal elements and stating that calls for the arming of Jews were “a real danger and unacceptable.”
Calling for Jewish gun ownership would be tantamount to an admission that the Jews are outside of mainstream European society and that their governments are unable to provide for their security, he explained. [Pardon me for interrupting the article, but no sh*t Sherlock, it’s time to admit that “governments are unable to provide for their security.”]
Such a view is considered unacceptable to the vast majority of Belgian Jews, he said, calling on the government to defend every Belgian no matter his religious creed.
“If every one who is in danger requests a gun, today that’s the Jews, tomorrow it’s the imams… it will be a land of anarchy.”
The Coordination Committee of Belgian Jewish Organizations also decried Margolin’s call to arms, issuing a statement calling it ridiculous and asserting that the EJA was “in no way representative of the Belgian Jewish Community.”
“He [Margolin] is not connected at all with the Belgian- Jewish [umbrella] organizations,” said Baron Julien Klener, the president of the Jewish Central Consistory of Belgium, joining his voice to other organizations alarmed at the idea of arming Jews.
Margolin, of course, being a true European, rushed to have an underling explain that he really, really, really didn’t mean what those other guys thought he meant.
All I can say, guys, is it’s your funeral. I hope not literally.
I don’t normally blog on Jewish history. I leave it to others, who are much better versed than I. However, when a friend posted this on Facebook, I simply couldn’t resist sharing.
It’s a reminder. Never forget that once you cede that your rights are merely privileges granted at the whim of a government, they can be taken away at that same whim.
Rototom Sunspash is a huge concert event for European fans of reggae music, and is hosted in Spain. The event organizers recently became embroiled in controversy after demanding, as a condition of his performing, what amounted to a BDS loyalty oath from American musician, Matthew Paul Miller, who performs under the stage name Matisyahu:
“The festival organizers contacted me because they were getting pressure from the BDS movement. They wanted me to write a letter, or make a video, stating my positions on Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to pacify the BDS people. I support peace and compassion for all people. My music speaks for itself, and I do not insert politics into my music. Music has the power to transcend the intellect, ideas, and politics, and it can unite people in the process. The festival kept insisting that I clarify my personal views; which felt like clear pressure to agree with the BDS political agenda. Honestly it was appalling and offensive, that as the one publicly Jewish-American artist scheduled for the festival they were trying to coerce me into political statements. Were any of the other artists scheduled to perform asked to make political statements in order to perform? No artist deserves to be put in such a situation simply to perform his or her art. Regardless of race, creed, country, cultural background, etc, my goal is to play music for all people. As musicians that is what we seek. – Blessed Love, Matis”
Miller, who is Jewish, but decidedly apolitical in his public persona, refused. The organizers then barred him from the event. The actions of the event organizers were so blatant, and so clearly singled out the “Jew”, that it drew comparisons of some more unsavory chapters in Spanish history towards the Jews.
In the face of international criticism, Rototom Sunsplash eventually relented, issuing a slippery non-apology, wherein they pointed the finger elsewhere:
“…Rototom Sunplash admits that it made a mistake, due to the boycott and the campaign of pressure, coercion and threats employed by the BDS País Valencià because it was perceived that the normal functioning of the festival could be threatened…”
Re-invited, Matisyahu went onstage and suddenly, first one, and soon nearly twenty “Palestinian” flags appeared in the audience before him. People were on each others shoulders and flipping him off.
[Chorus]
Jerusalem, if I forget you,
fire not gonna come from me tongue.
Jerusalem, if I forget you,
let my right hand forget what it’s supposed to do.
In the ancient days, we will return with no delay
Picking up the bounty and the spoils on our way
We’ve been traveling from state to state
And them don’t understand what they say
3,000 years with no place to be
And they want me to give up my milk and honey
Don’t you see, it’s not about the land or the sea
Not the country but the dwelling of his majesty
[chorus]
Rebuild the temple and the crown of glory
Years gone by, about sixty
Burn in the oven in this century
And the gas tried to choke, but it couldn’t choke me
I will not lie down, I will not fall asleep
They come overseas, yes they’re trying to be free
Erase the demons out of our memory
Change your name and your identity
Afraid of the truth and our dark history
Why is everybody always chasing we
Cut off the roots of your family tree
Don’t you know that’s not the way to be
[chorus]
Caught up in these ways, and the worlds gone craze
Don’t you know it’s just a phase
Case of the Simon says
If I forget the truth then my words won’t penetrate
Babylon burning in the place, can’t see through the haze
Chop down all of them dirty ways,
That’s the price that you pay for selling lies to the youth
No way, not ok, oh no way, not ok, hey
Aint no one gonna break my stride
Aint no one gonna pull me down
Oh no, I got to keep on moving
Stay alive
[chorus]
A few days later, Matisyahu, still fighting the darkness by “bringing light”, doubled down: He performed at the tiny “Chevra Lomdei Mishnayot” synagogue in the Polish town of .Oświęcim.
I recently attended a lecture on the fate of the Sephardic Jews during WWII. Most people are familiar with what happened with the Ashkenazi Jews, as it was mainly the European Jews caught up in the brunt of hitler’s maniacal extermination plan. But the Sephardic Jews certainly shared their fate, but their stories are less well known.
Much of this came to light when US military forces invaded Iraq. On 6th May 2003 when US forces entered the military intelligence HQ of Saddam Hussein (as opposed to barak hussein). They found papers, prayer books, documents, office correspondence, and Hebrew calendars in about 4 feet of water. Astonishing! For more than one reason. It survived and is being preserved and restored and two, it shows the presence of a thriving Jewish community that existed in Iraq. Apparently the late Hussein, well, and the still living barak hussein wished to destroy any evidence of Jewish existence. I know, big yawn, what’s new. But some of the info the lecturer covered was very interesting. So, I’ll just give you a short report.
I suppose you could call the holocaust hitler’s muslim outreach pogrom, er, program. The Mufti of Jerusalem and hitler were buddies and allies in their desire to exterminate all Jewish life from planet earth. In 1941 Iraq had their pogrom. And while Achmadinajakerchooo denies the holocaust, he apparently doesn’t know his countries history. No, I mean he doesn’t know Iranian history. During the holocaust he denies, Iran was a safe way station for Jews going to the future Israel. He doesn’t know of the decency of “The Children of Tehran”. Apparently while Achmadinajakerchoo is brainless enough denying the holocaust, he is equally adept at exposing his ignorance of his own country. He thinks it has 57 stat…oops sorry, wrong dude.
The Island of Corfu. There Jews were craftsman and there was a small Jewish community. The mayor was a vicious anti-Semite and all but about 200 of the Jews were rounded up and shipped to Auschwitz. To get there, they had to go through 9 different countries, with 9 different currencies, and yet they were shipped. The 200 that did escape were sheltered by the local population of Corfu. The Greek Jews did not fare well at all in the concentration camps. They didn’t speak Yiddish, or German, Polish or any other language except Ladino. Therefore, where the other Jews in the camp could pass on life saving tips and tricks the Greek Jews were unable to understand the others, or to communicate with them.
In Salonika (Thessaloniki) the Jews were rounded up to be sent to Auschwitz. The community paid 2 billion drachmas for their freedom. And yet 50,000 were sent to Auschwitz, their Synagogues destroyed and cemeteries desecrated. Only 1,950 of them survived. Many of the Jews from Salonika were forced into being Sonderkommandos. I didn’t learn this in the lecture, but found it interesting. On 7 October 1944, the Sonderkommandos from Salonika joined with other Greek Jews in an uprising. They stormed the crematoria, killed 20 guards, fire-bombed the building and destroyed it before they were massacred by the Germans. Before they met their end they sang a song of the Greek Partisans and the Greek National anthem.
The Greek Jews that could escape being rounded up often joined up with the Greek Resistance and fought back.
I didn’t learn this in the lecture either, but I like it. When Mayor Carrer of Zakynthos was told by the Germans to give over the names of the 275 Jewish inhabitants of Zakynthos, the Metropolitan Bishop of Zakynthos turned over to the Germans a list of names. Two names. His and the Mayors. The island of Zakynthos then hid every single member of the Island’s Jewish population.
It was in Yugoslavia that the Germans developed their mobile execution chambers. They used moving trucks into which special flooring was put in. They then had the exhaust hoses fed to the inside of the truck. The special flooring was to deal with the body’s actions at time of death. It made it easier for the nazis to hose the trucks out.
Bulgaria. Bulgaria is interesting. Now while old Abe Foxman of the ADL is happy to laud Bulgaria for their courageous saving of the Bulgarian Jews, this article goes into even more detail than our lecture did about what a truly mixed bag the “saving” was. No, Bulgaria didn’t want to deport their Jews. Yes, there was a massive eruption from the writers, lawyers and other professionals when the nazis wanted to begin deportation of Bulgaria’s Jews. But this was after they had plenty of blood on their hands. They were fine with containing them in ghettos and seizing their property, making them wear a star and mark their homes with a star making them easy targets for thugs. In addition to which 20,000 were deported. Not to a concentration camp of course, you understand and all. They were transported to about 3 different cities, for 3 weeks. THEN they were deported to Treblinka. In the end, Archbishop Roncalli wrote to King Boris and told him if he did this his place in heaven would be denied. He wasn’t going, no way, no how. That apparently did it. Afterwards Archbishop Roncalli wrote King Boris III and told him his place in heaven was assured.
North Africa, the King of Monaco flat refused to deport the Jews of Monaco. In fact the Jews were better off living in Monaco than they were Vichy France. In case you don’t know how “helpful” Vichy France was to the Jews.
Tunisia had local concentration camps, but they were not death camps.
In Algeria the Jews led a unsuccessful resistance to the Germans, but luckily, the Americans were in the neighborhood for Operation Torch.
The Italians were fine with persecuting the Jews, but in GENERAL, it didn’t want to kill them.
In certain countries, the price paid was the entire country, the impact of WWII on Sephardic culture was severe.
These were people that were just going along, having a nice life. Living with their families, loving, raising children, going to Synagogues, doing their jobs, practicing their professions. Their communities had been there often for hundreds of years living with their neighbors. And everything was fine.
Everything was fine, until one day. And then it wasn’t.
First thing: Thank you BIG TIME to Sheila and Y.B. for carrying the blogging load the last week or so. I’ve been trying to get here for at least a small post but … life.
So I’d just like to give a couple of quick updates:
Thanks to everybody who submitted dumb anti-gun quotes for TZP targets. We’ve verified those that can be verified (and thank you so very much to you who submitted quotes with original-source links!) and are now passing the entries around among the TZP leadership group. We’re not sure exactly when we’ll announce the winners, and it may be that after we’ve chosen our “favorites” a designer will have the final say as he fits everything together. But we’ll keep you posted. We definitely got some grins and groans out of your submissions.
The same day our quote contest closed, Lucky Gunner announced the final results in its poll to give away the money owed to it by the Brady Center. Your votes kept TZP solidly in the middle of the pack all the way to the end. Our numbers were modest but we still came out in the vicinity of several larger, better-known groups. And the main thing is that we had an unprecedented chance to get noticed. Kudos to you.
Now, that said, here are some links I’ve been collecting for you:
A couple of my recent posts were about resistance within Germany to the Nazis. Y.B. sent these links to information on Christians who resisted on principle.
Man, this is (almost) enough to make a body like Chuck Schumer. And note how quickly the Obama White House stabbed him in the back.
This spring, I stumbled across a weird story about officials in a Greek town demanding — of all things! — that a star of David be removed from a Holocaust museum. Um … srsly? But the actions of a couple of politicians halfway around the world didn’t seem all that newsworthy, so I just sat on the link at the time.
Then more recently, Y.B. sent me these poll results — which put the actions of Greek officials into much more chilling perspective. No wonder the Jews of Europe are either getting out or beginning to agitate for the right to bear arms.
I’m of the generation that grew up watching John Wayne and Roy Rogers, and greatly admired both men. After I read a few of the books written by Dale Evans Rogers, Roy’s wife, I admired him even more. They were straight shooting, honest men. Hard working, with guts and integrity. And that was just in their private lives, let alone their persona in the movies. As you can tell, I’m from a time gone by.
I guess what got me to thinking about heroes was a facebook meme I saw a couple days ago. It had a picture of Batman and said “My boss told me to dress for the job you want, not the job you have. Now I’m sitting in Human Resources at a disciplinary meeting dressed as Batman.” I was telling a girlfriend about it and said I wanted to find one that said I’m sitting in a disciplinary meeting dressed as Judah Maccabee. She seemed a little astonished. She said Judah’s battles were in many arenas. Spiritual, physical, emotional and psychological. She felt that was quite a chunk to chew. I agree.
The night before I had watched a 1982 movie called “The Wall” about the Warsaw ghetto, and how the resistance came to be. Well, at least Hollywood style. One of the leaders of the resistance turned out to be (in the movie anyway) a woman named Rachel. She was one of the first to insist to the resistance the cattle cars weren’t going to the Ukraine. She was the first to insist they were going to have to be responsible for defending themselves. She was the one that was teaching them how to shoot a pistol. Sadly there is not enough back-story in the movie to know how she acquired such knowledge, but her directions were pretty good. But as best as I can tell, she was just a nice woman who was enjoying a nice Jewish life with her family when the world went crazy.
Judah was the same, he and his family were having a nice Jewish life in Modin. Well, as nice as you can have when Antiochus has decided your religion will not be allowed to exist and you must abandon it and now accept HIS religion. Oh, and if you follow yours, you will die.
My girlfriend pointed out some of my thought processes are a tad bit different than a lot of peoples. Ok, maybe so. So I asked her who HER heroes are? She is quite a bit younger than I am.
Her choices were Corrie Ten Boom, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Nathan Hale, Patrick Henry and all the founding fathers. For quite similar reasons. Corrie? A nice old lady building and fixing watches, well, until the world went cray-cray. Laura? She and her family were some of the early pioneers. Their lives were not easy and they went through many difficult and trying times. But they stuck it out to help settle their land and have nice lives. The founding fathers? Well, they were farmers and simple men. Men with families just going about their daily lives. Yet, when the need for them to rise to the challenge in the case of freedom and liberty, they did. She summed it up with ordinary, everyday people doing extraordinary things. People with regular lives becoming amazing heroes. Ordinary people overcoming extraordinary odds.
I asked a relative of mine who her heroes were. She is five years younger than I am. Hers? Winston Churchill, “Iron” Margaret Thatcher, and sigh, Colin Powell. All for the same reason, they were people who took unpopular stances when it was necessary to do the right thing, because it was the right thing.
A friend of mine a couple years older? Leonard Bernstein. Because he stepped in and did such a marvelous job when the chips were down. I kind of caught her off guard with the question as our whole conversation up to that point had been a completely different topic.
My point is this, all of the people I surveyed are within about 15 years of each other. We have similar reasons for picking our heroes.
What are children taught today are heroes in the public schools? There are pages on Michael Jordan, paragraph on George Washington? Really. The media tells us it is a football player who is “courageous” enough to tell the world he is “gay”. Ok, takes courage, but is the result the same as Nathan Hale? A man has a sex change operation? Courage? Um, well, ok. But actually I think his/her saying on public television that he/she is a Republican took more. It reminds me of collage in the 60s. All these kids dressed alike, bathing as often, chanting the same slogans and protesting for the same causes claiming they are “bucking the system” and never seeing the irony.
Today we have celebrate “diversity”, as long as you go along with what the liberal political correctness tells you IS diversity. If not? You will be attacked in the media as a hater, your bank account subject to IRS seizure and the tolerant left will try to shut your business down. We must be diverse, as long as we are diverse the way it’s “allowed”. Ahh, what was it Hitler said about giving him a generation? I’m sure professor Bill Ayers said similar though. Just a guess.
So now I will sound like the old person I am. I will bemoan that today the main topic is who will win American Idol, what are the Kardashians wearing and where is Paris Hilton, while they may not know there is a Paris, France.
Perhaps it is just me, perhaps it is the rainy day, but I can not help but wonder, for how little can the title “Hero” be purchased today? Will people be the same today as they were in the meeting in the film clip from “The Wall”, they delayed fighting evil, because they did not recognize evil for what it was, and if they began to they were unable to admit to it. Almost every hero listed above, no matter who selected them, recognized a threat to their area and addressed it.
From 1st Maccabees 3:17
Now when Seron, a prince of the army of Syria, heard say that Judas had gathered unto him a multitude and company of the faithful to go out with him is to war ; he said, I will get me a name and honor in the kingdom ; for I will go fight with Judas and them that are with him, who despise the king’s commandment. So he made him ready to go up, and there went with him a mighty host of the ungodly to help him, and to be avenged of the children of Israel.
And when he came near to the going up of Beth-horon, Judas went forth to meet him with a small company: who, when they saw the host coming to meet them, said unto Judas, How shall we be able, being so few, to fight against so great a multitude and so strong, seeing we arc ready to faint with fasting all this day ? Unto whom Judas answered.
It is no hard matter for many to be shut up in the hands of a few; and with the God of heaven it is all one, to deliver with a great multitude, or a small company: for the victory of battle standeth not in the multitude of an host; but strength cometh from heaven. They come against us in much pride and iniquity to destroy us, and our wives and children, and to spoil us but we fight for our lives and our laws. Wherefore the Lord himself will overthrow lo them before our face and as for you, be ye not afraid of them.
Now as soon as he had left off speaking, he leapt suddenly upon them, and so Seron and his host was overthrown before him. And they pursued them from the going down of Beth-horon unto the plain, where were slain about eight hundred men of them ; and the residue fled into the land of the Philistines.
Then began the fear of Judas and his brethren, and an exceeding great dread, to fall upon the nations.
Moses was a great, but reluctant leader. Born to Hebrew slaves, he was raised in the royal courts of Pharaoh. When tasked by G-d to lead his people up out of Egypt and to advance towards their destiny, he made excuses.
On the one side, Moses was “the most modest of men”, and yet was guided by a strong moral compass. When he finally acted, he inspired greatness in others.
On the other, these twelve tribes had a well-deserved reputation as ”a stiff-necked people”, with a propensity to retributive violence and passion. They also had an unique ethical tradition centered about one, incorporeal, unlimited, god. A loving, mysterious, and jealous god.
Any earthly leader of these people had to be, even if he had to be pushed into it, strong-willed to the point of ruthlessness.
These sons of Abraham and Sarah had been freed from nearly three hundred years of bondage in a pagan land.
They had seen miracles wrought on their behalf, over and over, to break the will of Pharaoh. They saw Egypt’s finest soldiers swept away in the Sea.
They complained and were given an oasis of water and dates to ease their travels. They had been fed with quail and manna in the desert. They were protected by day by a pillar of cloud and by night by a pillar of fire.
They had been attacked by Amalek and, despite ignoring G-d, and thereby delaying their response, had defended themselves, with at least partial success.
They had spent forty days refining themselves to receive the Torah at Sinai, and came directly before the Creator, to learn how to serve him, and thus how to teach the World by example.
First and foremost, they learned that He was G-d. He was One. There was no other. Period.
In all this we witness the birth of a Nation like no other, with a destiny like no other.
Yet a mere forty days later, many of these same people had turned their back to G-d.
While Moses was receiving instruction from G-d, and the Tablets of the Law were fashioned, an idol of gold had been fashioned and sacrificed to, and many were preparing to return to Egypt in an orgy of debasement.
Still, Moses pleads with G-d that they not be utterly destroyed. G-d relented, leaving Moses to resolve this rebellion.
Moses destroyed the Golden Calf, grinding it fine dust, and scattering it upon the water. The people drank of the water in a trial and judgment for their sin.
He rebuked Aaron for his weakness in allowing the people to prevail upon him in returning to idolatry. Finally, Moses called to those of the people who still were loyal to G-d to come to him.
Seeing those who still were immersed in sin before G-d, Moses ordered Levite warriors to cut down some three thousand rebels in their midst. In so doing, the Levites, having proved their integrity, above tribal or familial loyalty, became ordained as priests to G-d, until the End of Days.
At Sinai, G-d had (figuratively) taken the Israelites as his beloved, much like a wife. He revealed himself in ways unique to their bond. He plots a course with her for their life together. A great adventure. He placed himself directly at her guard, forgiving slights, providing for everything and destroying those who threaten her.
Then, barely through the honeymoon, G-d finds his bride has turned away and sought out others… former suitors, and a path of debasement. He withdrew, still in love, but deeply betrayed. He hid his essence away once again.
The next morning Moses told the assembled Israelites that he would again plead with G-d to spare those remaining. Moses told G-d that if what had been done was not enough, that if G-d still intended to destroy these people and start over, that he, Moses should be blotted out, as well.
G-d responded that “I will erase from my book whoever has sinned against Me.” G-d then struck the people with a plague to drive the point home.
He also told Moses that from here on an angel would go ahead of the people, rather than G-d’s own “Presence” (the Shechinah), the pillar of cloud in the day and the pillar of fire in the night that had thus far guided and protected the Israelites in the desert.
Moses informed the people of the departure of the Shechinah from their before their encampment. The people, realizing the severity of their betrayal mourned and feared its loss.
Moses then moved his tent about one thousand yards away from the others, and referred to it as the “Tent of Meeting”. The Shechinah then returned and rested above the Tent of Meeting, signifying when it did, that G-d was meeting with Moses. The Israelites, seeing this, did not dare approach, but rather bowed down from the entrances of their own tents.
Moses asked G-d to reconsider his distancing from the people. G-d responds by expressly prohibiting idolatry again, and details a series of specific commandments binding on the Israelites.
God instructed Moses to carve a second set of Tablets to replace those Moses had broken in fury and despair. God then affirmed that he would resume being slow to anger, and quick to forgiveness, towards the people.
Over the next forty days and forty nights on the mountain, G-d reiterated his Covenant with the Israelites to Moses, in detail.
G-d declared that he will drive the current inhabitants of the land promised to Abraham and his descendants (Amorites, Cana’anites, Chitites, Perizites, Chivites, and Jebusites) out of this land for the entering Israelites.
G-d warned Moses against the Israelites making any agreements with the prior inhabitants, nor mixing with them. All altars and monuments to their false gods were to be destroyed. The Israelites were to take possession of, and dwell in, this land, as people apart.
At Moses’ instruction a beautiful Tabernacle was constructed to serve as a portable “resting place” for G-d as the Israelites prepared to enter and secure their land. Elaborate and precise orders of sacrifices and services were established.
Aaron and his family, as a subset of the Levites became ordained into a priesthood to conduct these services correctly. The remaining Levites are tasked to support them in their duties. The Tabernacle is erected and the Shechina now rests there.
Soon thereafter, two of Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu, deviated from these precise orders, and bringing “extraneous” fire “each in their own pan”, not as commanded by G-d, were instantly themselves consumed by fire. Such was the dangerous power of this Tabernacle and that which “rested” there.
All in all, six hundred thirteen mitzvot, specifically binding on this new Nation, were taught to the people at Sinai, in critical preparation for their great mission; to be a light unto the Seventy Nations of Mankind.
Each of the twelve tribes was given duties and well trained in their execution. This rabble of miraculously freed Hebrew slaves was being crafted into a well-oiled and sophisticated machine.
The town of Kadesh Barne’a; the mountainous gateway to the Land of the Edomites, was only eleven days march from Mount Sinai. Just beyond that lay their goal.
The next museum I will share with you is the HaHaganah museum in Tel Aviv. It was originally the meeting place of HaHaganah, because the building where the museum resides is the former home of Eliyahu Golomb, one of the founders of HaHaganah. Many an important meeting took place there. The topics would have ranged from how to get more Jewish refugees into Israel to defense of the settlements. The meetings held in the house were secret and they would have been conducted from1930-1945. In 1954 the building was sold to an entrepreneur and plans were made to demolish the building. Former members of the Haganah found out and intervened. They wanted the irreplaceable house built in 1923 turned into a museum. Said entrepreneur agreed. I guess anyone would. Who wants to argue with a bunch of ticked off Haganah. I suppose the owner didn’t want to mess with them. They got their museum.
HaHaganah Museum
HaHaganah was the evolution of Jewish Defense forces. The first group formed was Bar-Giora, named for Simon Bar Giora one of the leaders of the revolt against Rome. Meeting for the first time on September 28, 1907 in Ytizhak Ben-|Zvi’s apartment they set their goal. It was settle the land and guard it from Arabs. Their motto was
“In fire and blood did Judea fall; in blood and fire Judea shall rise.”
This was also one of the mottoes of Jewish defenders during the Russian pogroms. Members had to have a years worth of farming experience as well to be in the Bar-Giora.
The Bar-Giora became the HaShomer in April 1909. HaShomer meant the Watchman. The HaShomer was larger and more organized than the Bar-Giora. The HaShomer set it’s goal to provide organized defense for all of the Jews living in “Palestine”. One of the first challenges they faced was lack of weapons, due to lack of the necessary funds. They finally obtained a loan & the necessary weapons were purchased and distributed. Many of the new owners refused to be separated from their new weapons even for a moment. They soon adopted the dress and customs of the local Bedouins, Druze and Circassians. As well as advancing from being units on foot to horseback. This is always a good thing to my way of thinking. Another challenge the HaShomer faced was shortage of ammunition. It was expensive and hard to procure. This led to secret production centers being set up. The HaShomer were quite effective in their duties, despite the fact at no time was there ever more than 100 members. In 1920 the HaShomer were disbanded to become HaHaganah. Just a quick note here, some people at work asked my opinion on a “Hosmer”. I had no idea what they were talking about. Travel broadens your knowledge base. I now know they probably wanted to know what I thought about the HaShomer! I think they were amazing!
HaShomer
In June 1920 HaHaganah (The Defense) came into being. Initially a loose group, the Arab riots of 1929 changed it’s nature. It changed from a militia to a mature military body. HaHaganah was independent of paying locals to be watchmen nor did they depend on foreign recognition. Though the British Security Forces did work with it to form a civilian militia. The British were mostly pro-Arab and anti-Zionist. At times they urged the Arabs to attack the Jewish settlers. The Arabs soon discovered they could control the immigration policies of the British by rioting. At times the British would work with the Arabs. The Arabs would riot and the British would withdraw their troops & the Jewish police leaving the Jews at the tender mercies of the rioting Arabs. There were many incidences where the casualty rate would have been much, much higher if not for HaHaganah. The British, in general, were proving to be about as good a friends to the new yishuv settlers as they were to the Irish about that time frame.
But even the British get a surprise once in a while. Charles Orde Wingate was just such a surprise. Wingate was born to a religious Christian family & firmly believed in the Bible. Therefore he also firmly believed that the Jewish people belonged in Israel, and he did everything possible to make that happen. He was a talented horseman, who had also studied Arabic and Semitic culture. In 1936 he earned the rank of Captain and the intelligence officer was transferred to Israel later that year.
When he arrived the Arabs were regularly attacking the British & the Jews. Wingate sized up the situation and formed S.N.S. or special night squads comprised mostly of HaHaganah. The were effective as offensive units as well as defensive. They could pre-empt as well as resist attacks and were very effective at helping the yishuv settlers. Therefore the S.N.S. was disliked by Arabs & British. The Yishuv called him “ha-yedid” The friend. Bet he was glad he had learned to speak Hebrew then! For Charles Orde Wingate it was first, last and always about the Jews belonging in Israel and being safe there. He was the perfect man, in the perfect place at the perfect time. Therefore in 1939 the Brits transferred him out. His passport was stamped with a restriction that he was not allowed to re-enter the country. You can’t make this stuff up. His influence lived on though in the people he had trained that went on to become heads of Palmach and later the IDF.
One heart wrenching incident that HaHaganah was unable to stop was the helpless settlers in the Hebron Massacre. The HaHaganah had gone to Hebron to offer their protection, but since the local Sephardic Jews had lived in peace with their Arabic neighbors for years they were concerned that the presence of HaHaganah could irritate the situation. The Haganah were sent away by the ONE British Policeman who had been recruited from the Black & Tans. The terror didn’t end even after they made it to The Beit Romano police station. The level of trust in the British to protect them, and the Arabs not to attack them was way too high, and the cost was very dear. There were stories of Arabs that acted to save the Jews, hiding them in their basements and cellars and defending them with their swords.
When the new settlers wanted to fight back, they had another conundrum. They were facing the bigger and well armed British army and their buddies with whom they also shared arms, The Arab Legion. One of the answers was the Davidka. Not an incredibly accurate weapon, it was loud and tended to scare the heck out of it’s targets.
Yes, a real DavidkaDavidka Plaque
Yes indeed! That is a real Davidka!
On May 26th 1948 David Ben-Gurion dissolved HaHaganah, and the other defensive groups to form the IDF.
Take away thoughts from HaHaganah museum: If you are going to trust your life and that of your family to someone, make VERY sure they are worthy it. Some mistakes can not be made up.
If you are going to defend yourself against a government that has no interest in your survival and is siding with your enemies? Weapons, effective weapons and lots of them are a must.
There may be people that were not born of your group that will fight harder for your group than some natural born members. Charles Orde Wingate was just such an incredible man, a G-d given gift to Israel and her new settlers.
Availability of weapons and ammunition is critical.
The cost of re-inventing the wheel would be even more astronomical this time. We don’t need to do that. Attitudes are a big key in survival.
Jews. Guns. No compromise. No surrender.
Password Reset
Please enter your e-mail address. You will receive a new password via e-mail.
