Looking in the Right Place

ב"ה

I was reminded recently of a joke I heard when I was younger. Abie is walking home one night. As he gets near his home, he sees Jakie circling frantically around a street light, appearing to be looking for something. "Are you ok?" Abie asks Jakie. "Yes," answers Jakie, "I'm ok, but I lost my keys." Abie starts helping him to look, but after a short time, he doesn't see anything. "Are you sure you lost them here," Abie asks Jakie. "Oh, no," answers Jakie, standing up and pointing further down the block, "I dropped them over there." Abie looks puzzled. "So why are you looking here?" he asks Jakie. "Oh, it's too dark over there to see anything!"

I, too, am concerned about the "Palestinian" people. I am concerned that their leaders are stealing money and supplies sent in by Israel and many other countries and well-meaning organizations. I, too, am concerned about the children growing up, being fed nothing but lies and hatred, not being taught, as children around the world are, to eventually be able to support themselves financially.

But for the most part, most of the people in the Western world (for some bizarre reason) think that to help these people they need Israel to do something (maybe give up more of their tiny country, a country about the size of New Jersey and more densely populated that her surrounding enemies). They think, despite evidence to the contrary (as in Israel handed over Gush Katif (Israel's enclave in the Gaza Strip) to the "Palestinian" Authoritarian, uh, I mean Authority. Instead of turning it into a nice place for their people to live, Hamas turned the area into a missile launching pad. Hamas's goal is not to make a good life for their people; Hamas's goal is to destroy Israel (and the Western world).

What I truly don't understand is how people who care about other people; people who support women's rights, gay rights, human rights (in general), animals rights; people who want to help the downtrodden; people who support Western freedom and democracy, can support such a hate-mongering, such a selfish, such a despotic leadership. How can they support the oppression of others, the suppression of rights, the expression of the most virulent animosity, the antithesis of peace, love and understanding (catch that, Mr. Costello????).

What puzzles me the most is how people can support these people to their own detriment. How can they allow terror-mongering Islamists to populate their countries without reservation? How can they permit them to impose Sharia law in their countries that used to be devoted to freedom and equality?

We need to stop being like Jakie, looking for his keys where he knows they aren't. We have to look for the answer in the right place.

We have the capability of defeating them now, but if we continue to kowtow to them, it is like handing our countries over to them, handing our daughters and sisters (and ourselves) over to be raped. We need to fight NOW or be defeated tomorrow.

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Double UN Good (it's Orwellian 1984 all over again)

ב"ה

The "Nations United against the US and Israel", with its headquarters on 1st Avenue in New York City has lost the few marbles it's had in recent years. It's not enough anymore for them to aim all their censure at Israel, ignoring all the countries who commit the most egregious human rights violations, including honor killings of women and gays, teaching and spreading hatred, murdering civilians and keeping their own people in squalor while lying to them about the source of their misery. It's not enough to delegitimize Israel, while their enemies run roughshod over the rights of free people all over the world. Now they feel the need to rewrite history and appoint the most flagrant Human Rights violator of the 21st Century (though I'm sure he thinks we're living in the dark ages), Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his "forward thinking" misogynists to the UN Commission on Women's Rights. Is that a huge joke, or what?

This is on top of UNESCO's decision to rewrite history. They have resolved to designate קבר רחל (Kever Rahael -- Rachel's Tomb) as a Mosque. That's right, one of the holiest Jewish sites in Israel. Written history includes many references to Kever Rahael and it is always referred to as Kever Rahael (or Rachel's Tomb) in Jewish, Christian, and even Muslim sources. And yet, the UN, in true Orwellian style, has determined that this isn't now nor has it ever been a Jewish holy site and that it is a Palestinian site, under Israeli occupation and we, of course, are keeping them from their "rightful" place there.

How long are we going to suffer the UN? How many more anti-Israel statements does the United Nations need to make before the United States and New York expel them from the East Side of Manhattan?

I finally understand why congress in the time of Woodrow Wilson didn't want the US to be part of the League of Nations. The problem with organizations like the UN is that, with one vote per country, the totalitarian regimes, the countries who violate human rights as a matter of course, are able to hijack the organization and use it as a rubber stamp to help legitimize their nefarious plans.

I vote to oust the United Nations from New York and the United States. Let the United (Terrorist) Nations set up shop in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's backyard. And let them all condemn Israel to their hearts' content. And we can ignore them on a diplomatic level and spend our time preparing to take them on militarily.

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Dejection Day

ב"ה

When I was younger, I used to call the day after the first Monday in November "Dejection Day" because, quite often the candidate I wanted was defeated. But lately I have another reason.

I know I've said this before. But lately elections have seemed to me like a World Series between the Yankees and the Braves (my two least favorite teams). I have a choice between one group, who hates Israel, supports the Palestinians, and follows Barak Obama's agenda on the Middle East, which is delegitimizing Israel and legitimizing the Palestinian claim to the land that Jews have called "home" ever since the children of Israel were exiled by the Romans in 70 of the common era and another group who support Israel, but oftentimes they have an agenda, one that I have an issue with. Oftentimes, these people want to make abortion a crime, give tax breaks to the rich, destroy social security, medicare, welfare and other social programs.

Where I live, I don't have to worry too much -- my local representatives and senators are in a third group: one that supports Israel and doesn't have the conservative agenda. But I worry about the other representatives and senators from the rest of the country.

I continue to hope that there will be more people in the federal government who will support Israel and make sure those citizens who can't take care of themselves will be taken care of without putting undue financial pressure on the middle class.

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Why are we so concerned about the opinions of others?????

B"H

When I was very young, I really respected the United Nations. The original intention of the UN was noble -- to prevent world war. After two bloody world wars, this was an honorable aspiration.

But somewhere along the way the intention got hijacked by the totalitarian terrorist bloc and its sycophants. It is this group that has decided that there is nothing that either the United States or Israel can do that the members of this group will not only not agree with, there is nothing either country can do that they will even fail to condemn.

Toward this end, they ignore the evil done to Israel in the form of terrorism, murder, bombing of civilians, etc. They will criticize Israel's attempts to protect herself and her citizens (and, by extension, every Jew on the planet). They will chastise Israel for attempting to keep bombs out of Gaza, expecting Israel's government and military to just sit there like ducks in a Coney Island shooting game.

So when Turkey's new Islamist (yeah, yeah, so he says he's a moderate, but, to paraphrase a cliche, actions do speak louder than rhetoric. When a so-called "moderate" starts buddying up to the most notorious Holocaust-denying anti-Israel anti-Jewish leader on in the world, it's hard to imagine him as a "moderate". But, for all intents and purposes, what separates a "moderate" in the Arab/Islamist world from a "radical" is how out-in-the-open he is about his desire to destroy Israel and kill every Jew. By the way, what separates a "moderate" from a "reactionary" in Israel is whether or not he is willing to protect his land. The "reactionaries" are the ones who don't want to lie down and die. The "moderates" don't want to fight for their own survival.) leader decided that he had to "help the poor Palestinians" by sending "humanitarian aid", the Israelis, who are understandably skeptical, having been burned more than once by "humanitarian aid" hiding bombs or bombers or other methods designed to massacre as many  Israelis and guests of Israel as possible, ask the boats delivering this "humanitarian aid" to follow them to Ashdod, where Israeli officials could check the shipment and make sure there wasn't anything untoward in the shipment. That's when all hell breaks loose. The boats refuse, Israeli commandos board the boats (which is within their right by international law), "humanitarians" on the boats attack the Israeli commandos with metal rods, baseball bats and, oh, yes, knives. Of course, despite this, the commandos were criticized by the world press for attacking the attackers in an effort to defend themselves.

From my perspective, it would be best for Israel, her leaders and the entire Jewish population of the world (not to mention all the Gentiles who live in Israel, work in Israel, worship in the way they feel comfortable in Israel) to simply ignore public opinion, to ignore what the members of the United Nations say and concern themselves more with defending the homes and lives of their citizens. I've been waiting for Israel to realize that survival depends on defending our land. I hope that day comes before it's too late.

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Minim Meaning

  ב"ה

Way back in the days of the beginning of Christianity, Christians and Jews kept the same laws, ate at the same table and prayed in the same synagogues. But after a while, it became clear to the Rabbis that the Christians would stop other synagogue goers and try to convince them that the משיח (Moshiakh or the Messiah) had already come.


Needless to say, the Rabbis were not too terribly thrilled about this, in particular they were not thrilled about having apostates (מינים -- Minim) represent the congregation during the repetition of the עמידה -- Amida -- the main prayer in each prayer service. So the Rabbis added a 19th ברכה (Brakha -- blessing) to the עמידה which is also known as the שמונה עשרה Shemona Esrei -- which means 18. What this ברכה Brakha basically did was to call down G-d's wrath on the מינים -- Minim. So anyone who was in this category would be afraid to say the Brakha because they wouldn't want to call down G-d's wrath on themselves and their friends.


It's the same thing with the loyalty oath that may pass in the Israeli Knesset. This loyalty oath requires Israelis who are not covered by Israel's Law of Return. All we are trying to do is sift out the enemies of Israel, the enemies of freedom, the enemies of the Jews. Because the enemies of Israel make it a point to insist that Israel is NOT a Jewish state, it is incumbent upon us, as protectors of Israel and the Jewish people, to certify the best we can that we are not harboring our own enemies, not harboring the future murderers of our people.


We need to insure the safety of the population of Israel, not just the Jewish population, but the Christian population, the Muslim population, the Baha'i population, the Buddhist population, the Hindu population, the Zoroastrian population, the plethora of different people that make our land strong. We also need to be strong for all the suppressed people in this world, people who need to see that there is someone to stand up to terrorism, tyranny and oppression. And we all need to stand with Israel in this fight.


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To Serve Man

ב"ה

Rod Serling was a genius. He was able to use allegory to make points about human nature without offending people. He was prescient enough to see the future from his production world in the 1950s to the 1970s. For those of you who don't know who Rod Serling was, he was the creator of "The Twilight Zone" and "Night Gallery", among other things.

One of the more popular episodes was called 'To Serve Man' (if you haven't seen it, watch it by clicking on the link -- I will be referencing this episode).

In "To Serve Man" Aliens come to Earth with a book written in their language. The linguists were able to translate the title, which was "To Serve Man" but they were unable to translate the contents of the book. The Aliens had invited everyone on earth to travel to their planet. The main character of this drama, played by Lloyd Bochner, after being skeptical and not trusting these aliens, finally gives in and decides to check the planet out.

The episode climaxes with Bochner's character going up the gangplank to the spaceship. A colleague of Bochner's character calls to him, telling him to get off the ship -- the book, they have discovered, is a cookbook!

I was reminded of this episode when I heard what the "Ground Zero Imam" was saying, trying to explain to us (we prejudiced, uninformed lot -- whenever I hear this Imam he strikes me as being very patronizing) exactly how benign this building is; just how his "community center" (I have to tell you all, the 92nd Street "Y" this ain't!) is there to open dialogue and build tolerance.

Open dialogue and build tolerance? "To Serve Man", huh???? He tells us the "title of the book" in English, but the real "cookbook" is in Arabic. Just listen to what the man says in Arabic:

Throughout my discussions with contemporary Muslim theologians, it is clear an Islamic state can be established in more than just a single form or mold. It can be established through a kingdom or a democracy. The important issue is to establish the general fundamentals of Sharia that are required to govern. It is known that there are sets of standards that are accepted by [Muslim] scholars to organize the relationships between government and the governed. [emphasis added]

So why are we ignoring the "cookbook"? Why are we ignoring what this mans is saying to his own people in his own language? Why do we want so much to believe that these people are just like us, that they only want peace with us despite what they say in Arabic, despite the thousands murdered by them in Israel, in the US, in Darfur, in Spain, in Mumbai, I could go on all day with this (Act for America has more on this). Despite evidence to the contrary, people like self-hating Mayor Michael Bloomberg want to believe these are peace loving, reasonable people. Despite the resistance of upwards of 60% of the US population, despite the danger giving in to these enemies of peace and freedom poses, despite the threat these haters pose to our own lives and way of life, people still want to believe that all they want is "To Serve Man".

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Kibuda Bat Melech Penima???? (or Is Her Home Life Really Honorable to Her?)

ב"ה

I recently read about a very worthy charity. It's called Bat Melech and it's a battered women's shelter for Orthodox women. These are women who live in communities where "abuse doesn't exist" at least on the outside. It's a community where battered women are told that it's their fault, that they are overreacting. It's a world where divorce isn't always a viable alternative and women who leave their husbands are often ostracized.

I was reading about this shelter, which I think is very important and I'm glad it's there, I was thinking about how much all this reminds me of Israel. If you substitute Israel for the battered women and the Arab countries for the abusive husband it fits right in.

In the Orthodox community many abused women, when they try to leave their abusive husbands, are told they did something wrong -- the wives didn't take care of their husbands well enough, or they didn't keep the house clean enough or didn't have his supper on the table or didn't keep the children quiet.

This "blame the victim" mentality never works. If we are trying to eliminate the problem, the victim can't do anything that will actually change the situation. The victim can only get help or get out of the situation. Just as there is nothing a battered woman (or an abused child) can do to stop the abuser, just as the abuser depends on enablers to continue his abuse, Israel can do nothing to bring peace to the region (since Israel is not the one creating the "non-peace" -- Israel is not the one initiating missiles; Israel is not the one sending her citizens into populated areas and murdering people; Israel is not the one killing innocent people).

That the rest of the world has had a taste of the terrorist methods used by the Islamist "causes" should make them understand what Israelis go through on a daily basis, but instead, they separate between what Israel is going through and what they themselves are going through -- it's not the same people; it's not the same agenda. So the rest of the world, particularly Europe and the Obama and Bloomberg crowd in the US, enables the Islamists and allow these enemies of the world, peace and Western values to become stronger and bolder.

I continue to ask myself two main questions: 1) Why are people so intent on having Israel give up more land? and 2) Why are people ignoring the danger to themselves? Why are people putting themselves in danger by supporting the 'Cordoba Initiative' and the 'Let's blame Israel' game? Why do supposedly responsible, educated, knowledgeable journalists continue to make Israel the scapegoat, the reason the Islamists are on the rampage, the ultimate cause of all the evil in the world? Why do they ignore the millions of people maltreated by the Islamists, murdered by homicide-bombers and "ethnic cleansing" and just plane old racism, xenophobia and entitlement? Why do they think that Israel can make Neville Chamberlain style concessions and that the Islamists will respond in a different way from the way Hitler reacted (by wanting and taking more and more and murdering millions)?

I don't know the answer to this, nor do I know what I as one person can do to stop the tide of hatred and vituperation directed toward me and my people. But as long as I am able, I will continue to write and continue to try to influence others. And that is just about all I can do.

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Time Magazine's no better than the NY Times

ב"ה

"Time Magazine" has jumped on the bandwagon (or were they already there?) of the loud voices condemning Israel for just existing and surviving. In Why Israel Doesn't Care About Peace, Karl Vick, instead of commending Israelis for continuing to thrive in the shadow of their enemies, under the specter of homicide bombs and missiles from Gaza, Mr. Vick chooses to take this as a "sign" that Israelis don't want peace. Israelis, Mr. Vick chooses to not understand, are weary of a "peace process" that leads only to emboldening their enemies and alienation their supposed allies. Phyllis Chesler, in her wonderful Arutz Sheva article TIME Magazine’s Latest Blood Libel About Israel points this out.

After reading her article, I was reminded of an article I myself wrote that was in the April 25, 2008 issue of the Jewish State, so I decided to reprint that article here:

I was talking to a gentile friend the other day, and I asked him how many Jews he thought there were in the world. He told me he thought there must be about 150 million or so.

I started laughing. I told him that there were only about 15 or so million Jews in the world. This surprised him. It also surprised him when I told him that Israel is smaller than New Jersey.

There's a message that seems to make the circuit around the Internet with a list of Jewish Nobel Prize winners and Muslim Nobel prize winners. Keep in mind, the Jews make of about 0.2 percent of the world's population. With 0.2 percent of the world's population, Jews make up almost 22 percent of the world's Nobel Prize winners. Muslims make up about 16 percent of the world's population but less than one percent of the world's Nobel Prize winners.

If you learn Jewish history, you learn about a long history of persecution. We were enslaved in Egypt, attacked by the Amalekites, oppressed, at various times, by the Philistines, the Moabites, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans and many more. We were oppressed in England, France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Germany, Ethiopia, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Syria, Iran, Iraq -- you name it. And yet, throughout it all, whenever given even half a chance, Jews have risen to the top.

In Shakespeare's England it was well known that Jews were "money lenders". This was pretty much the only business open to Jews in England at the time. And Jews found a way to succeed at it. In Inquisition-era Spain, Don Yitzhak Abarbenel became an adviser to the king and queen and many other Jews rose to high offices, many had enough money to lend to the monarchs to help finance Columbus's voyage. In 19th Century Europe, Jews rose to high office, did well in business, generally showed the world what is possible. Three of the four most arguably influential 19th- early 20th century thinkers (Freud, Einstein, Marx, and Darwin) were Jewish (of the four, only Darwin wasn't). Benjamin Disraeli became Prime Minister of England in a time when Jews weren't permitted to hold office (he officially converted to Christianity, but never considered himself anything but Jewish).

In the United States, a place of relative freedom and equality for Jews, Jews permeate every aspect of life, despite making up only about two percent of the population. Jews are doctors, lawyers, accountants, teachers, professors, actors, directors, producers, politicians, baseball players, artists, etc. This is why many people overestimate the number of Jews in the world.

I don't quite understand why the Islamists are trying to destroy us, quite honestly. Instead of trying to kill us, they should be trying to copy us. They should be studying us and trying to find out why it is that wherever we go, wherever we live, whatever we do, we tend to succeed in life.

Yet, instead of studying us, instead of trying to copy us, instead of using our success as a blueprint for their own future success, they are trying to destroy us.

Part of the reason for this is corrupt governments. In most of the Arab and Muslim world, the people are ruled by immoral leaders who know that if the people realize the truth -- that the leaders are milking them for their own greed -- they will revolt and that will be the end of their cushy lives. These leaders would rather have the people believe that Israel and Jews are the enemies of the world than find out who is really keeping them in poverty.

I think one of the reasons Jews succeed in the world is that we are taught to question. We are taught that Avraham and Moshe argued with God. So it isn't unusual for Jews to look at things in ways no one has looked at them before. It isn't strange that someone would question capitalism or the human mind or accepted scientific beliefs.

But in fundamentalist Islamic culture such intellectual investigation is suppressed. Women are taught never to question men, especially their fathers. These lessons are often taught in a violent fashion. So it's no wonder that people raised in these societies don't question and don't discover new ways of doing things or thinking about things.

Which brings us back to the original question, or at least a solution. While I'm pretty certain that the people who really need to follow this advice won't see this article, at least we can learn from it. When you see something that works, don't try to destroy it. Try to copy it. And, in replicating success you may discover that you actually like the person who succeeds and has taught you how to succeed.

I think that, particularly at this time of year, during the High Holy Days, we should all remember that success, when done in a proper, legal, moral fashion, should be emulated. We should learn from others, not try to destroy them.

שנה טובה (Shana Tova) -- Happy New Year -- to all. May 5771 be much better than 5770 was.

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