Category Archives: Inspiration

Inspiration, Israel, mindset, resistance, The Zelman Partisans

What we do for love

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Co-blogger Sheila has been telling you about the highlights of her recent trip to Israel. One thing she hasn’t told you is this:

TZPWesternWallPhoto_Sheila

That’s a closeup of one of the niches in the Western Wall or Kotel — what Americans not-so-respectfully refer to as the Wailing Wall. The slip of paper on the upper right contains the names of each TZP founding member and blogger, the names of our families, and TZP’s name.

I was so moved when Sheila told us she did that. A famous quote connected with the Western Wall is: “There are hearts and there are hearts. There are human hearts, and there are hearts of stone. There are stones and there are stones. There are silent stones, and there are stones which are hearts.” And I must say that what Sheila did melted my sometimes-stony heart.

—–

Life has taught me to be cynical and unsentimental. Aside from having a soft spot for dogs, I tend to be one who avoids or questions things I find to be vague, “soft,” or emotional. I’ve become a “just the facts, Ma’am” sort of person when it comes to claims that can’t be well-defined or proven through a rigorous examination.

Reading novels, I skip the mushy scenes. I’m baffled when people make religious arguments based on their feelings and quotes from scriptures (just as they’re baffled by my expectation of hard evidence). When a salesman or a preacher wants me to “experience” something before I gather the data about it, I’m instantly on guard. When Dumbledore tells Harry Potter that “love” made his baby self invincible against the evil power of Voldemort, I cringe and hit the fast-forward button. In fact, the dreadfully overused word “love” is in general enough to set my BS alarm clanging. Give me the facts, Ma’am. Just the facts.

I’m not really that cold — I hope! I’ve merely learned through a lifetime of experience that feelings sans facts are often a trap, nothing more than a form of manipulation and deception.

Our gun-hating opponents are excruciating examples of this. Their wild emotional rantings, their claims of sentiment toward the victims of shootings (victims in whose blood they gleefully dance), their stubborn choice to remain ignorant about firearms, their complete refusal to sit down and think about how the laws they demand would actually work in the real world, their bizarre lack of reasoning … all are perfect examples of why feeeeeelings should aways be suspect. Especially when someone uses their emotions (or tries to manipulate the emotions of others) as an excuse to get something they want.

—–

Of course, feelings can be plenty useful. That hinky sense you get when you see a suspicious stranger or enter a dangerous place. That inner voice that screams, “NO!” even when a course of action seems otherwise perfectly reasonable. That warmth that floods you when you realize you’ve met someone you can truly trust. That rush of satisfaction when you know you’ve gone the extra mile and done good. All great, all needed.

But when it comes to discovering truths that lie beyond our immediate realm, feelings are no substitute for accurate, checkable data. Give me the facts, Ma’am. Just the facts. I’ll decide for myself what to feel about them, thank you.

So when I saw Sheila’s photo and heard her describe what’s on that piece of paper — a prayer placed in an ancient wall for the people of TZP — at first I didn’t know why I felt so moved. I don’t believe there’s a god standing behind that wall, seeing, hearing, and above all caring about us (fellow blogger Y.B. will differ, of course). I don’t believe that the stones of the wall or the words on those slips of paper have any mystical power. Yet I felt a power just knowing what Sheila had done. I felt the power of the stones and the words and Sheila’s action in placing TZP in such an ancient holy place.

But why?

Many reasons, I think. But here’s the core thing: We who hold fast for gun rights and the human rights to life, liberty, and individual sovereignty ultimately do what we do out of love. Yes, that mushy, highly suspect word. There it is: love.

Oh yes, we have facts and data and knowledge on our side. Unlike the overwrought, screeching enemies of freedom, we analyze the data, we look at the facts on the table, we project the consequences of proposed laws into the future. We ask, “How does this work? Or would it work?” Some of us know the physics (that is, the facts) of the making of steel or the ballistics of a shot. Some of us have studied the history of firearms or firearms laws. Some of us can cite firearm statistics or crime statistics off the tops of our heads. Some track and analyze upcoming laws or regulatory actions. We have different areas of expertise when it comes to guns and gun rights. But generally, we tend to be people of the fact. We’re passionate about our commitment, but many of us got here by looking at the data or studying the history and knowing why we’re here.

Yet of course we don’t do what we do — we don’t join and stay in this endless struggle for freedom — because of facts alone. That wouldn’t be enough.

We stand here against all manner of hate and all attempts to smash our freedom. We stand like the stones of that ancient wall not only because we know we’re right. Being “right” is never enough; any moron can think he’s “right” about anything and still run for the hills the moment things get tough. We stand because we love life and liberty so much that surrender is inconceivable. What we do, we do for love.

It has been said of the Western Wall:

Secure and invincible with its Divine strength, the Kotel holds its own — throughout the generations of change, transformations and vicissitudes, the horrors and the shocks, which visited the land and its inhabitants. The Kotel is in them and with them.

…. [L]ike a stone fortress, it stands guard, without moving and without allowing its inner dignity to be sullied. It remains pure and exalted in the strength of its very essence…

There are hearts of stone and stones with hearts. Those who stand for gun rights are a wall, a fortress. It was right that Sheila placed TZP names in that niche in the Kotel. The words on that slip of paper aren’t just our names, individually. Our names stand for everyone who cares unyieldingly about self defense, the defense of others, and the undying principles of liberty. Our names in that wall stand for the love that holds so many great hearts so strong in this crucial cause.

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defense of others, duty, genocide, Inspiration, Jewish history, resistance

Defiance in the face of deadly evil

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Yesterday, Y.B. wrote a remembrance of Lothar Kreyssig, a German judge who defied the Nazis. Kreyssig didn’t succeed in halting their genocidal plans, but he lived — and lived a good, meaningful life.

Unconsciously, it seems to have become part of modern myth that nobody, but nobody, in Germany openly defied the Nazis. Sure, people all over Europe covertly defied them in ways large and small. And partisans outside of Germany took up arms against them, attacking and fading into the woods. Finally, even the most downtrodden captives in Sobibor and Warsaw openly defended themselves against their monstrous tormentors.

But ordinary “Aryan” Germans? We’re so unaccustomed to thinking of them defying their rulers that “good German” remains a term of contempt 70 years after the fact.

But defy they did, even if it was rare and dangerous. Another example, besides Kreyssig’s refusal to give an official stamp to deadly eugenics, was the Rosenstrasse protest, in which “Aryan” wives laid their lives on the line to save their Jewish husbands.

The wives won. Some 1800 Jewish men were saved. Today, there’s a monument at the site of the protest that carries this inscription: “The strength of civil disobedience, the vigor of love overcomes the violence of dictatorship; Give us our men back; Women were standing here, defeating death; Jewish men were free.”

The wives not only saved their husbands. They revealed a weakness in the Nazi regime (that also applies to many tyrants in our day): even the worst brutes on earth squirm and cringe when the light of bad publicity shines on them.

—–

Germans also committed more acts of covert defiance than we give them credit for. A great example is a story that got quite a bit of coverage last year (two good versions here and here).

A German photographer, asked to submit entries for a Nazi-sponsored “perfect Aryan baby” contest, submitted the photo of a child he knew to be Jewish. Her adorable picture beat the rest of the competition and was printed on magazine covers and postcards.

The photographer didn’t ask the family’s permission and his act potentially put both them and himself in danger. At the time, the child’s parents were horrified. But today that baby (now known as Hessy Taft and a professor of chemistry in New York) says she’s quite proud to have been part of the deception.

The photographer wanted to prove that the Nazis were fools — and he succeeded wildly, even though he had to keep his victory and his laughter to himself.

—–

Just think how different, and how much less deadly, 20th century history might have been had even more “good Germans” showed their courage, anger, contempt, and love of decency and refused to be so “good.”

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defense of others, duty, genocide, Inspiration, resistance

Remembering Lothar Kreyssig

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On July 6th 1986, Lothar Ernst Paul Kreyssig, passed away after living a life of honor and principle.  This was especially so during times when it seemed these virtues were rapidly leaving the world forever.

A member of the Confessing Church, he spent his later years working vigorously to atone for the wrong his countrymen had wrought, believing that even those who resisted should have, and could have, done far more to stop the evil in their midst.

Trained in the law, in Leipzig, he became a district court judge. Soon he was transferred to Brandenburg an der Havel and his new duties were as a guardianship judge for the mentally ill.

Many people think of Nazi Germany as pioneers in the field of eugenics, but that is not really so. That distinction belongs to the United States and Great Britain, and included such names as Margaret Sanger and Sir Francis Galton. Still, the eager understudy, Germany made up time with persistence and passion.

By the summer of 1940 a program known as Aktion T4
was quietly in full swing. The flip-side to nationwide programs encouraging childbearing among Aryans, this program worked to create “Racial Hygene” by removing the ill, the infirm, the defective… the üntermenschen, from the gene-pool of the Master Race. A race for the New World Order.

But, being Germans, everything about this quiet program had to be nice and tidy, with all the documents organized and everything correct. And legal.

Judge Kreyssig kept seeing reams of odd paperwork, often nearly identical, except for the names, cross his desk for approval. Dozens, then hundreds of people were dying under his watch. He soon concluded that this was in fact a forced euthanasia program on a huge scale, and he was placing his own imprimatur on the horrible act.

He refused to do so.

Moreover, he wrote Minister of Justice Franz Gurtner, protesting in very strong terms the treatment of people under his charge, including now, prisoners and residents of a concentration camp, writing:

“What is right is what benefits the people. In the name of this frightful doctrine — as yet, uncontradicted by any guardian of rights in Germany — entire sectors of communal living are excluded from [having] rights, for example, all the concentration camps, and now, all hospitals and sanatoriums.”

Trusting in German Jurisprudence, Judge Kreyssig then filed criminal charges against the program administrator, and issued an injunction against the operation.

Judge Kreyssig was in for a rude awakening. He was called to a meeting by the Justice Minister, and shown a letter authorizing the Aktion T4 signed by Adolph Hitler himself.

This was the Führerprinzip (Leader Principle) in ‘action”. The Law must serve the State. The Leader embodies the State. Thus, the letter of the Law bends to the will of the Leader.

Horrified, but not stupid, Judge Kreyssig, this very powerful and respected jurist, narrowly avoided being sent by the Gestapo to a concentration camp himself. Marginalized over the next two years, he was finally forced to retire from the bench.

Most of us know of the trials of major political and military leaders of the Nazi regime at Nuremburg. There were also trials of morally corrupt Doctors, and of willing (or worse) Prosecutors and Judges.

It is said that when the Nazi Judges were tried by the Allies at Nuremburg, they looked everywhere for a  Judge who under the Regime steadfastly refused to do evil. They found just one:

Lothar Kreyssig.

But, after refusing the seduction of the National Socialist German Workers Party, since the Judge lived in Saxony, he had a new problem. He was now in the “East Zone”… soon to become the new Deutsche Demokratishe Republik. Communist, East Germany.

And, THEY wanted him to be a Judge. Having seen this show before, he refused.

A life-long Evangelical (Protestant) Christian, instead he returned to a prior focus on his faith and community, becoming President of his church for the province of Saxony, and on to many other positions of community leadership.

Most noteworthy, in 1958 Mr. Kreyssig founded the Action Reconciliation Service for Peace (ARSP), an international organization that continues to this day.

This organization’s view, as an outgrowth of the ideology of Confessing Church roots, calls for “repentance and reversal” on the part of those who do harm to others. Thus, in the context of postwar Germany, not just individual or communal guilt, but an earnest and direct request to aid those who were harmed.

The ARSP sends nearly two hundred volunteers annually to engage in long- and short-term social work for survivors in Belgium, France, the UK, the Netherlands, Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Belarus, Ukraine, Israel and the U.S.   Over the years thousands have served.

When faced with a society filled with mindless evil, Judge Kreyssig refused to bend. When lured by a sister-evil, he refused. Instead, Mr. Kreyssig worked the rest of his life for true reconciliation and encouraged others to follow his lead.

A model for us all.

Kreyssig

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genocide, hatred of Jews, Inspiration, Israel, Jewish history, mindset, resistance, Sellouts and traitors

Profiles in Courage-updated

One of the museums we visited was the Etzel museum in Tel Aviv. That monthly pass really is a good deal. I still have a couple days left on it, I keep contemplating popping back over there to just add a bit to my story, but I guess I won’t. There is more than one Etzel museum in Tel Aviv and this one was named for Amichai (Gidi) Paiglin.

This is one of those things that at the time seemed like a good idea, and seemed like it would be simple. I’d just make a few notes on the people and topics that really struck me and I wanted to share with our readers and then supplement with info from the net and put in a few links. That’s not how this turned out. What seemed to me, like something that would certainly have a page on Wikipedia, or I could find information “somewhere” on the web, there is nothing but a barren wasteland of info. At least for my first part, which is going to have to be done only from my notes and memory. Which at times is a barren wasteland in and of itself.

Ten days before the State of Israel was declared by David Ben-Gurion (whom I like less all the time) was the last day of a truce. The British were going to be pulling out, and The Irgun had decided to capture Jaffa. The battle had been pretty fierce and there were a many lives lost. In the area of of town where our story takes place the Irgun thought that they had an area where it would be safe for the women to bed down for the night, and that by the next morning they would finish the operation. That probably seemed like a good idea at the time as well. It didn’t work out the way it was planned either. The Arabs managed to sneak past the Etzal during the night and were in the parts of the town where most of the women were.

Marion Aharoni was one of the two women in the minaret who woke up to the sound of Arabic voices the next morning and realized that there were enough of them that the forces in that part of the town wouldn’t be able to hold it. Apparently communications had already been disrupted, and so Marion told the other gal to try to get to headquarters and advise them of the situation. In the meantime headquarters had become aware of what was happening and was trying to sort out their resources and their people to figure out how to best deal with the situation at hand. One of the people in charge of a unit was Ruth Moritz, I believe I have her code name down as Dvora. Ruth was amazing, she was a beautiful woman, I think, and had shown a lot of command skill. Her boyfriend Avaham Canaaite had been killed at the battle of Yafo (Jaffa). Ruth was near headquarters when the other lady finally arrived and informed them of the situation. Headquarters informed Ruth they had talked to their people in that area and no one was left in the minaret. Ruth said she was going to head over there anyway to make sure Marion got out. Headquarters told her no. Ruth said she was going and for everyone else who had legs to get out of there now. Headquarters advised Ruth she should go see to her unit and make sure they were all ready to roll, either evacuate or fight. Ruth told them she would just go check the minaret herself and make sure no one was left behind to face the Arab mob alone. And so she went. If she met fighters along the way, she advised them to get out. She made it to the minaret where Marion was still holed up waiting for orders. Not that there was a thing she could have done. By the time Ruth made it there the Arab mobs were very close. And there were a lot of them. And so to avoid falling into the hands of the Arab mobs they chose to jump from the minaret. Many Arabs at that time, as now, have the same unfortunate goal and tendency to slaughter Jews when possible. No one really knew what happened to the women. After two years a mass grave was found with the bones of two women and three men. I believe it was four years later that they finally found out what had happened.

Another update: We knew Ruth had incredible courage to go back and try to get out Marion who was in her company because she felt she was responsible for Marion. But something that is in the video that I had forgotten is Marion’s incredible courage. Marion was still in that tower because she had not heard the command to retreat. She heard the Arab mobs, she knew they were close. But she stayed and held her position because she had not heard the retreat command. What kind of incredible courage would that take? These were two amazing, smart, strong, courageous women. They deserve to have their names known and remembered outside of Israel.

The view of the minaret I think they jumped from was visible from my “office”.

View from my "office"
View from my “office”

And the evening we walked home from Yafo to Tel Aviv we walked by what I believe is the tower they jumped from.

The minaret
The minaret

The other thing that was striking to me was the Altalena. Yes, of course I knew about the Altalena, the ship. I did not know that was the name Ze’ev Jabotinsky wrote under in Russian newspapers though. The other thing was the date. I was at this Etzel museum on 1 June. 1 June 1948 was the day the Irgun, Hagana, and Lehi were all to have been disbanded and incorporated into the newly formed IDF. The cliff notes version of this is the Altalena was a ship bound for Israel carrying fighters and much needed weapons to the Irgun. Timing was an issue, and David Ben-Gurion, was aware the ship was coming in and basically sold the Irgun and Menachem Begin out. The IDF was ordered to attack the Altalena if they wouldn’t turn over all the weapons to the new IDF. That did not happen, and a firefight broke out between the IDF and the Irgun. Menachem Begin headed for the Altalena in a rowboat under fire from the IDF. He made it to the ship and they sailed for Tel Aviv where there were more IDF forces. Ben-Gurion ordered the ship sunk on the high seas by the new Israeli air force before it reached Tel Aviv.

Heiman Shamir Deputy Commander of the Air Force, tried to convince non-Jewish pilot volunteers to attack the ship. However, three pilots refused to participate in the mission, one of them saying, “You can kiss my foot. I did not lose four friends and fly 10,000 miles in order to bomb Jews.”

I told a Rabbi once, not everything that wasn’t born Jewish is an enemy of Jews. These three pilots would nicely prove this point.

In the end, Jews fired on Jews, and the Altalena was sunk despite having raised a white flag on Begin’s orders as he attempted to prevent a civil war.

Take-a-way thoughts of mine. We know the name of the shooter in the church in South Carolina, we know the name of several famous gangsters in America’s history, and possibly some names of famous Israelis. Certainly Ben-Gurion and Begin. While I was at the museum some groups of young soldiers were coming through. They were to study at the museum as part of the class apparently. In fact one room we were unable to access. It was a room where perhaps there was a movie you could view, but it was being used for a party of some sort. But these student soldiers study the people, the events and the history. And it matters to some of them, and perhaps to some, not so much. I was actually very surprised there was nothing on the net about Ruth Moritz and Marion Aharoni, but there isn’t, and so perhaps this telling, as imperfect as it is, will keep a memory of valor, courage and leadership alive.

Ruth Moritz and Marion Aharoni
Ruth Moritz and Marion Aharoni

And make no mistake, Ruth was a leader. When we have people like Shannon Watts, Dianne Feinstine, Nancy Pelosi and every other anti-gun harpie out there telling women that they won’t be safer if they can defend themselves, you know what crap it is. When you have the screeching harpies telling women that if they have a gun someone will take it away from them and use it on them, that’s crap. When you have the faux feminists telling women that a gun is too complicated, that they should get mace and a whistle, you know it’s crap. When the faux feminists tell women to just call the big strong policeman and wait, that’s crap. Ruth and Marion were true feminists, they were strong, beautiful women that fought in defense of themselves, their families and their country.

Right now part of America is busy throwing away the heritage that they have been sold by a liberal educational system and biased media. They throw it away with both hands because they don’t know true history, and don’t understand what they are throwing away. I was very glad to see those young Israelis going through that museum.

When in a dire situation, more people on your side is a very good thing.

The Altalena take-a-way? Politicians do what’s best for politicians. Betrayal sadly, apparently, should be expected. It’s about the power baby, it’s about the power.

Etzel Museum
Etzel Museum

 

I have never been so happy to need to update something as I am to add this. If you whine to the right people, sometimes, just sometimes, really great things happen. The whining was about the lack of information on Ruth online. The victim listener of my whining suggested that some problems are solved by going back to the language in which the incident occurred. That would be Hebrew. JACKPOT!!!

I had forgotten that Marion was in Ruth’s unit. A bit more than friends, I believe Ruth was her leader.

These sites are all in Hebrew, but with evil google’s translate you can read a rough version in English. Enough to get more information. AND, a movie. I’ve written the museum to see if they would consider posting the English version I saw while I was there.

Wikipedia

Etzel Museum remembrance page

Irgun Fighters of Independence

תודה לך דב עוד פעם

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defense of others, Inspiration, Media

Mark Vaughan, Armed And Awesome

“True bravery is shown by performing without witness what one might be capable of doing before all the world,” said a wise man named La Rochefoucauld, centuries ago. That man’s definition excludes most of America’s contemporary heroes. But not the executive of Vaughan Foods. Mark Vaughan is the real deal.

As reported (if you can call it that) by Megyn Kelly impersonating Barbara Walters’ journalistic porn, this reserve Oklahoma County deputy shot, but sadly merely injured, Alton Nolen (30). The latter was a “Vaughan Foods employee who had been suspended hours earlier,” but returned to exact revenge on the workers.

Nolen “encountered the first victim, Colleen Hufford. He killed her and severed her head. He then turned his attention to Traci Johnson, and began slicing at her throat, when Mr. Vaughan saved her life by shooting the butcher.

The best part:

KELLY: Did you know Mark?

JOHNSON: No.

KELLY: You had never met him before?

JOHNSON: No.

KELLY: Describe what that was like for you.

JOHNSON: I don’t know. I really don’t know. Just fear still because, you know, because he was telling, when Mark came around the corner, he was telling him to get off of me and he wouldn’t get off of me.

KELLY: Did you see Mark’s gun?

JOHNSON: Yes, I did.

KELLY: And so, do you remember the exchange that Mark had with Nolen?

JOHNSON: He told Nolen to get off of me. I think he shot him the first time and it missed him and that is when Nolen got off of me and made a mad dash for Mr. Vaughan and that’s when he shot him two more times.

Nolen’s motive was a lethal combination of disgruntled employee, hate for whites and a love of Islam.

Reserve Deputy Mark Vaughan, who, as I hinted, refused to appear on the Kelly extravaganza, did receive an Award of Valor from the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s office.

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Inspiration, Media, The Zelman Partisans, Voting

Will TZP have some luck with Lucky Gunner’s great gift?

UPDATE: Just got a nice note from Anthony at Lucky Gunner saying The Zelman Partisans have been added to their list!

When the Brady Bunch sued Lucky Gunner and two other vendors, their motives were purely political. They were using victims of the Aurora theater shooting in a naked attempt to put legal businesses out of business.

The judge was not amused. Earlier this year, he not only found in favor of the defendants, but ordered the Brady organization to pay their court costs. Last week Lucky Gunner announced it would be doing something wonderful with any funds it recouped: it would give them to firearms-related groups. And it would do so in proportion to v*tes cast by you and me and the next guy.

At first, they had a dozen or so groups on their list. They added a bunch more yesterday and they originally said they’d accept nominations through June 26.

The Zelman Partisans is not among the new additions. I know several supporters have suggested us and I emailed Lucky Gunner myself yesterday to ask if we could be included. I don’t know whether they’ve cut nominations off early, but assuming the June 26 cuttoff holds, we still have a chance. So if you’d like to give TZP a boost, please contact Lucky Gunner and ask them to add us. Then give us your v*te — and tell your friends!

We’re still small and new, so we might not draw a lot of votes, but it would be great to give it a try. Whether or not Lucky Gunner ever adds TZP to their list, what they are doing is simply wonderful and they deserve kudos from the whole gun-rights community.

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Inspiration, Israel, Jewish history, Jewish philosophy

These “Stiff-Necked” People: Who? What? Why?

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How did it come to this?

Who are these “Stiff-Necked” people, just freed from hundreds of years of enslavement under the Pharaohs of Egypt?

How did they end up there?

Why are they now free; granted the escape of millions of people from the absolute control of a regional superpower?

Why are these ragged and debased people given protection, guidance, and even nourishment through a series of dramatic and unrelenting miraculous interventions? All lead by a convicted murder who, after years on the lam in the desert, returns as their spiritual and physical shepherd?

Why?

The Israelites had lived in their tribal lands in what is now most of modern Israel, and adjacent portions of today’s Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, since a very unusual man and his wife traveled all the way from Ur Kasdim, in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates, through mountains and deserts, to purchase and settle their family and make a home.

abraham_journey

This man, Abraham, rebellious son of an idol maker, challenged all the prevailing beliefs of the time, asserting that all of the universe was from the act of, and under the absolute dominion of, but ONE, unique, all encompassing, incorporeal, limitless, G-d.

This man, Abraham, was directly communicated to by this G-d, first, while being raised hidden in a cave, as a young child, and many times thereafter.

Abraham was a descendant of Shem; the youngest son of Noah a witness to the Great Flood, and the Covenant  renewed at its end

Shems’s grandson, Eber, unique among his siblings, refused to participate in the construction of the Tower of Babel, and thus he retained not only what he learned from Shem, but the original language in which he was taught. This language is Ivrit, what we call in English, Hebrew.

Abraham was the great-great-great-grandson of Eber.

Eleven generations of this family in all had been taught by Shem, before he died. From Shem, via Eber, through Abraham, all the way to Jacob.

Abraham and his wife Sarah braved many challenges, and yet prospered. Together they developed a reputation among the great and small alike for intelligence, morality, and gracious hospitality to all who sought out their tents. Abraham and Sarah recognized that all mankind’s blessings, indeed all of existence, came from G-d.

So, when challenged by G-d with a terrifying, soul-wrenching test; to sacrifice his adult son, Isaac, to this same G-d, both father and son were nonetheless willing. At the last moment, Heaven stayed Abraham’s hand.

Abraham and Issac Rembrandt van Rijn, 1634
Abraham and Issac
Rembrandt van Rijn, 1634

This event, known as the Akedah, established an eternal promise, from G-d himself, to Abraham, Isaac and (through Jacob) their descendants to have title to this good land forever. So long as they loved G-d, and followed his guidance, they would multiply and prosper. A nation of priests; witness to the World that Hashem is G-d and He is “One”.

Indeed, through Isaac and his children, and their children, and their children, the message, devotion to G-d, and their promised prosperity was solidified. So was the unquestioned title to their land. Their HOME. The People of Israel dwelt in the Land of Israel.

Thus it was, that, facing a terrible drought, the children of Jacob; now known as Israel, sought permission of their neighbor, the Pharaoh of Egypt, to feed and water their livestock ,to sojourn, in the outlying fields of Goshen, on the Nile Delta, only a few days walk from their home, TEMPORARILY.

Next: Seduction, Debasement, and Slavery on the Nile

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Inspiration, Jewish history

Sins of the Stiff-Necked ~ At the foot of Sinai

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When Moses led the Hebrews out of captivity in Egypt, the plan was straightforward.

First, to travel to Mt. Sinai to “serve” the G-d of their forefathers. This trip was only a few days travel.

Then, at Sinai, Moses and the Hebrews were to receive the Torah; a covenant unique to their role, and complimentary to the Noachide Covenant (after the Flood) binding on all of Mankind. This preparation would take forty days.

Thereafter, another eleven days travel would bring them to Canaan, the land promised to Abraham and his descendants, at which Moses would erect the Holy Temple to G-d.

Finally, properly refined and instructed, the Hebrews were to, by following the Torah, create a model society, teach and, by their example, guide, the World back to their Father. Thus they would be completing G-d’s creation.

But, it did not work out that way.

Despite an amazing array of miracles (the Plagues, the Parting of the Sea, the Pillars of Fire and Cloud, the Manna, etc. ) wrought by G-d on their behalf, complaints and rebellion were constantly occurring. This was especially true of the “mixed multitude” who had opportunistically accompanied the Hebrews out of Egypt.

Nonetheless, the massive group arrived at the foot of Sinai.
G-d, enveloped by a thick cloud, spoke directly to the people below, declaring the Ten Commandments, as the core of this new and special covenant.

Sinai Revelation

The interface of G-d with mere mortals was so overwhelming that their souls left their body. The Hebrews accepted the entire covenant; written, oral, and mystical, at once. Facing G-d was so intense that Moses ascended the mountain to receive further instruction on their behalf.

G-d had just spoken directly with over a million people at the same time. An event such as this had never before happened in human history, and has never happened again, since. One would think that this would have removed any doubt. Steeled the people against any challenge. Cured any shortcoming.

But, it was not to be.

Many of the multitude encamped below (There were six-hundred thousand adult Hebrew males, alone! ) soon resumed agitating to give up (again) and return to captivity. By the fortieth day, the rebellion below had reached a fever pitch. Moses brother, Aaron was the temporary leader. He and Miriam’s son Hur argued strenuously for patience, but to no avail.  Hur was killed by the mob.

Aaron; understanding that Moses would be back by morning, decided to play for time. Convinced they would refuse to part with their treasure, he told the people to collect their gold for the construction of an idol. To their eternal discredit, they readily agreed.

Stuck; Aaron built the pagan idol. Debauched rituals and sacrifices commenced, as many of the people, the “mixed multitude” and many Hebrews, as well, actually celebrated their impending return to degradation and enslavement.

G-d informed Moses that, despite all that they received, all they had witnessed, including the Torah itself, these people had turned away from Him. They had not just failed. They had rushed to refuse and abandon their destiny. Like those before the Flood, they would now be destroyed.

Distraught, Moses begged G-d to allow him to take the just-formed Tablets down the mountain. There he hoped to prevail upon the people, and thus save both them, and their holy mission, from destruction. Joshua met him as he descended.

Upon hearing, and then seeing the depraved pagan orgy of his people; the contrast with his last forty days in loving embrace and tutelage by the Creator of the Universe was too much for him. In boundless despair, Moses threw the Tablets, written by the finger of G-d, to the ground, shattering them. He could not save them.

Moses Destroys Tablets

To be continued.

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defense of others, duty, guns, Inspiration, Media

Bob Owens analyzes the dispatching of jihadis in Garland, Texas

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It’s surprising how few specifics have been released about the shooting of those failed jihadis in Texas. We’re stuck with media accounts of attackers wearing body armor and bearing the standard “assault rifles.” And you know how genius reporters usually are about such things.

But Bob Owens looks at photos of the scene and gives a fascinating analysis.

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authoritarian swine, gun control, guns, hatred of Jews, Inspiration, Jewish history, mindset, Politics, resistance, self defense, spirit of rebellion

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising-April 19th

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April 19th is the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

For those that do not understand what Yom HaShoah and the Warsaw Ghetto uprising has to do with guns, look at all the hands in the photos. When there are hands in the air reaching skyward, you will see guns in the hands of those surrounding them.  Guns are the defense against tyranny.  For “Never Again” to be more than a slogan you need to be able to ensure that it isn’t by having the means to stop the attack.

At the memorial service I attended today the final speaker talked about something a holocaust survivor had implored him to do. To act, to scream, to talk to people, but no matter what, not to do nothing. To do nothing, to be frozen in inaction was to allow them (nazis) to succeed.

The Warsaw Ghetto Memorial at the JCC.
The Warsaw Ghetto Memorial at the JCC.

For the flame of liberty to continue to burn, there must be those willing to speak out against evil. There must be those willing to give their time, talent and treasure and pledge their sacred honor. Yes, that phrase comes from the American Revolution. The Battle at Lexington and Concord also occurred on April 19th. But if we do not show up and suit up in the battle for freedom, the flame of liberty becomes the Shoah, the holocaust, as well as the flames that devoured the Warsaw Ghetto, the other Ghettos throughout Europe and the death camps.

What do Yom HaShoah and the Warsaw Ghetto have to do with guns. Everything! The fearful cost of a disarmed people.

What happened exceeded our boldest dreams. The Germans fled twice from the ghetto. One of our companies held its position for forty minutes, while the other one lasted – upwards of six hours… I cannot describe to you the conditions in which the Jews are living. Only a handful will survive. All the rest will succumb, sooner or later. Their fate has been sealed. In almost all of the bunkers in which our friends are hiding one cannot even light a candle at night, for lack of air. Goodbye my friend. Perhaps we will see each other again. The main thing is this: My life’s dream has become a reality. I have seen the Jewish defense of the ghetto in all its strength and glory.
23 [21] April 1943 Mordechai Anielewicz

There is no need to ask “Why does this happen”. Nor is there a need to ask “How can something like this happen.” It’s a pattern, we know how.

One of our readers gave a link to a documentary, it is excellent and this is the longer version of it.

From Yad Vashem’s website, interviews with Fighters who survived the Warsaw Ghetto. What is the end result of Universal Background Checks and other “common sense” gun control? Listen, the survivors will tell you.

But I will leave you with triumph.

Zog nit kein mol- Jewish partisan song

Zog Nit Kein Mol in Hebrew

 

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