I was on BBC for a short interview/debate with Neri Bar-On some three weeks ago and Neri sent me the link he put on his blog.
So, if you go here, and press on the arrow (I know his site is Hebrew but for arrows you don't need to know the language), you'll hear us.
If there is background noise while I'm talking, it's because I was at the wedding of my neighbor's son in Bet Shemesh.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Is Olmert is Waiting for a Qasam to Hit Peretz's House?
Reported:
Do these count too?
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired three Qassam rockets Friday evening into the western Negev. The first rocket landed in a kibbutz residential area, shattering several windows. No injuries were reported.
The second strike caused some damage to a bank building in the center of the western Negev city of Sderot. Two people were treated for shock. The third rocket landed in an open field and caused no damage or injuries.
Early Friday morning, a Qassam rocket landed in an open field in the western Negev causing no injuries. On Thursday, Palestinians shot six Qassam rockets, two of which landed in the center of Sderot.
The first strike on the city, which occurred in the early evening, shattered some windows on a local structure, and several people were treated for shock. Another rocket, fired shortly afterward, also hit an area in the center of town, sending pieces of shrapnel flying into a bus. Three people were taken to hospital due to ringing in their ears.
Do these count too?
Another Qassam fired earlier in the day hit a house in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanun, wounding five Palestinians. Another rocket landed in a field inside Palestinian territory.
The first errant rocket blew through the home's living room and exploded in a bedroom where three children were sleeping, relatives said.
Two-year-old Samir al-Masri suffered two broken legs in the attack, said Dr. Said Judeh of Kamal Adwan hospital. The boy's 4-year-old sister and 3-year-old brother were lightly wounded by shrapnel, said their uncle, Jad al-Masri.
This Must Have Hurt Haaretz A Lot to Publish
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday that he opposes a Hamas proposal to offer Israel a long-term cease-fire in exchange for the creation of a Palestinian state within the pre-1967 boundary.
"The hudna (long-term cease-fire) that Hamas is proposing would defraud the Palestinian people," said Abbas.
The PA chairman said he opposes reaching an agreement with Israel on the creation of a Palestinian state within temporary borders, and called for comprehensive peace talks on all outstanding issues, including final borders, as well as the future of settlements, Jerusalem, and Palestinian refugees.
A member of the Palestinian Legislative Council from Hamas, Salah Al-Bardwil, stressed Saturday that the hudna should not be viewed as recognition of Israel. "The Palestinian people reserve their right to all of Palestine," he said.
In case you didn't understand the import of the above,
a) Israel, according to Abbas, still sits on "Pal" land;
b) The two-state solution is temporary;
c) The idea of "final borders" is 'no Israel'.
d) And who needs to recognize Israel (if it is going to evaporate anyway?)
Friday, December 22, 2006
On Eating Snakes, Rabbits and Puppies
LGF, while continuing to skin his site, included the story of Iraqi troops eating aninmals and stuff:
But wait, try this 1986 piece which I vaguely recalled and found in a Daniel Pipes' Commentary piece:
I even think there's a video of it somewhere.
At one point, a small group of elite Iraqi special forces officers wearing dark green T-shirts stepped forward with a live rabbit and ripped it apart with their teeth.
The leader chomped out the animal’s heart with a yell, then passed around the blood-soaked carcass to his comrades, each of whom took a bite. The group also bit the heads off frogs.
Elite Iraqi forces have demonstrated their toughness by chewing on live animals during military ceremonies since the time of Saddam Hussein’s rule.
But wait, try this 1986 piece which I vaguely recalled and found in a Daniel Pipes' Commentary piece:
"...in October 1983 (according to a report in The Jerusalem Post), Syrian television showed 16-year-old girls-trainees in the Syrian Ba'ath Party militia-fondling live snakes as President Hafez Assad and other Syrian leaders looked on approvingly. Martial music reached a crescendo as the girls suddenly bit the snakes with their teeth, repeatedly tore off flesh and spat it out as blood ran down their chins. As the leaders applauded, the girls then attached the snakes to sticks and grilled them over the fire, eating them triumphantly.
After this, militiamen "strangled puppies and drank their blood." Such demonstrations are clearly intended to send a message to the regime's domestic opponents."
I even think there's a video of it somewhere.
Miltant Mutates into...Terrorist!
Little Green Footballs found an AP aberration:
The Associated Press won’t use the word “terrorist” to describe people who blow themselves up on schoolbuses in Israel. They won’t use it to describe people who videotape beheadings in Iraq. They won’t even use it to describe the people who flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. They call Osama bin Laden a “Saudi dissident.”
But someone perpetrates an attack in Jordan, and look out! It’s a terrorist! Terrorist sentenced to death in Jordan.
How does this Islamic terror attack differ from all those other Islamic terror attacks that the AP says were committed by “activists” or “militants?”
This One Really Got to Me
A letter to the editor I found in The Forward comes very close to home, although "hippie" is not the proper nomenclature for my wife and myself and, I would guess, many of our activist agenda items would be different than the Mendelsohns. Nevertherless, the idea expressed and the recalling of the commitment of those younger years is something I very much identify with.
Bubbe and Zaide Still Fighting for Justice
Aurora had witten: It is through the stories of their modern grandparents, however, that our children will gain a framework for maintaining that faith in the nuanced world of today’s Judaism.
I agree totally and trust my children are already formulating how to pass on our legacy and out two granddaughters hopefully will greatly benefit from our past actions, those of the present and, God willing, our future activism on behalf of Jews and Judaism, Israel and Zionism.
Bubbe and Zaide Still Fighting for Justice
We got great naches from reading our daughter’s December 1 opinion article (“But Bubbe and Zaide Were Hippies”). It is rare to hear such wonderful words about oneself from one’s children while one is still alive.
However, we would like to make it clear that Bubbe Lala and Zaide Eric are still hippies and their story is not yet completely written. Despite the fact that Zaide Eric’s arthritic shoulder prevents him from lifting the Torah or carrying a placard, and that Bubbe Lala needs a large-print prayer book to read the service and no longer can join protest marches without special shoes, we are still using our strength to build the evolving religious civilization of the Jewish people.
We are still fighting to build a better tomorrow, one that we may not see but one that the world needs. We hope to devote the rest of our 60s, 70s and 80s (and however much we have left) to this struggle.
And for the record, we are both much younger and much younger looking than we are rendered in the art accompanying our daughter’s opinion article.
Lillian and Eric Mendelsohn
Toronto, Ontario
Aurora had witten: It is through the stories of their modern grandparents, however, that our children will gain a framework for maintaining that faith in the nuanced world of today’s Judaism.
I agree totally and trust my children are already formulating how to pass on our legacy and out two granddaughters hopefully will greatly benefit from our past actions, those of the present and, God willing, our future activism on behalf of Jews and Judaism, Israel and Zionism.
Goldberg Got It Right
The chief spokesman for Hezbollah is a narrow-shouldered, self-contained man of about forty named Hassan Ezzeddin, who dresses in the style of an Iranian diplomat: trim beard, dark jacket, white shirt, no tie. His office is on a low floor of an apartment building in the southern suburbs of Beirut, which are called the Dahiya. Hezbollah has five main offices there, and all are in apartment buildings, which helps to create a shield between the bureaucracy and Israeli fighter jets and bombers that periodically fly overhead. The shabby offices are sparsely furnished; apparently, the idea is to be able to dismantle them in half an hour or less, in case of an Israeli attack.
The above appeared in this article way back in 2002.
Too bad Israel's hasbara units didn't parade this out last summer.
And someone, including our army intelligence officers, should have been paying more attention to these excerpts there:-
[Spokesman] Ezzeddin is proud of the victory over Israel in South Lebanon, two years ago, and he spoke at length about the reasons for Hezbollah's success. He quoted a statement of Hezbollah's leader, Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah, made shortly after the Israeli withdrawal: "I tell you: this 'Israel' that owns nuclear weapons and the strongest air force in this region is more fragile than a spiderweb." Ezzeddin explained that Ehud Barak pulled out his troops because the soldiers—and their mothers—feared death. This isn't true for Muslims, he said. "Life doesn't end when you die. To us, there is real life after death. Reaching the afterlife is the goal of life. Once you have in mind the goal of dying, you stop fearing the Jews."
and
Ezzeddin seemed to concede that the Hezbollah campaign to rid Shebaa of Israeli troops is a pretext for something larger. "If they go from Shebaa, we will not stop fighting them," he told me. "Our goal is to liberate the 1948 borders of Palestine," he added, referring to the year of Israel's founding. The Jews who survive this war of liberation, Ezzeddin said, "can go back to Germany, or wherever they came from." He added, however, that the Jews who lived in Palestine before 1948 will be "allowed to live as a minority and they will be cared for by the Muslim majority." Sayyid Nasrallah himself told a conference held in Tehran last year that "we all have an extraordinary historic opportunity to finish off the entire cancerous Zionist project."
The video began with Israeli soldiers firing on Palestinians. Then the screen filled with pictures of Palestinians carrying the wounded to ambulances, followed by an angry funeral scene. Suddenly, the scene shifted to Israelis under fire. An Israeli soldier was on the ground, rocking back and forth, next to a burning jeep; this was followed by scenes of Jewish funerals, with coffins draped in the Israeli flag being lowered into graves.
Mansour pressed a button, and the images disappeared from the screen. "The idea is that even if the Jews are killing us we can still kill them. That we derive our power from blood. It's saying, 'Get ready to blow yourselves up, because this is the only way to liberate Palestine.' '' The video, he said, would be shown after the next attack in Israel. He said he was thinking of calling it "We Will Kill All the Jews." I suggested that these videos would encourage the recruitment of suicide bombers among the Palestinians. "Exactly," he replied.
and, more importantly, this:-
The Israelis believe that in South Lebanon Hezbollah has more than eight thousand rockets, weapons that are far more sophisticated than any previously seen in the group's arsenal. They include the Iranian-made Fajr-5 rocket, which has a range of up to forty-five miles, meaning that Israel's industrial heartland, in the area south of Haifa, falls within Hezbollah's reach. One intelligence official put it this way: "It's not tenable for us to have a jihadist organization on our border with the capability of destroying Israel's main oil refinery."
Hezbollah officials told me that they possessed no rockets whatsoever. But one reporter who has covered Hezbollah and the South for several years said he believes that Hezbollah has established a "balance of terror" along the border. The reporter, Nicholas Blanford, of the Beirut English-language newspaper the Daily Star, said that he is "pretty certain" that Hezbollah has "extensive weaponry down there, stashed away." He added, "Their refrain is, we're ready for all eventualities."
Blanford, who has good sources in the Hezbollah leadership, said, "They seem to be convinced that sooner or later there's going to be an Israeli-Arab conflict. In the long term, Israel cannot put up with this threat from Hezbollah."
Carter Gets Sympathy (& the Jewish "Lobby" Gets Smacked)
Chris Hedgees in the ultra-left-wing-radical-progressive The Nation:-
Jimmy Carter, by publishing his book Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, walked straight into the buzz saw that is the Israel lobby. Among the vitriolic attacks on the former President was the claim by Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, that Carter is "outrageous" and "bigoted" and that his book raises "the old canard and conspiracy theory of Jewish control of the media, Congress, and the U.S. government." Many Democratic Party leaders, anxious to keep the Israel lobby's money and support, have hotfooted it out the door, with incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announcing that Carter "does not speak for the Democratic Party on Israel."
Carter's book exposes little about Israel. The enforced segregation, abject humiliation and spiraling Israeli violence against Palestinians have been detailed in the Israeli and European press and, with remarkable consistency, by all the major human rights organizations. The assault against Carter, rather, says more about the failings of the American media--which have largely let Israel hawks heap calumny on Carter's book. It exposes the indifference of the Bush Administration and the Democratic leadership to the rule of law and basic human rights, the timidity of our intellectual class and the moral bankruptcy of institutions that claim to speak for American Jews and the Jewish state.
The bleakness of life for Palestinians, especially in the Gaza Strip, is a mystery only to us. In the current Israeli campaign in Gaza, now sealed off from the outside world, almost 500 Palestinians, most unarmed, have been killed. Sanctions, demanded by Israel and imposed by the international community after the Hamas victory last January in what were universally acknowledged to be free and fair elections, have led to the collapse of civil society in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as widespread malnutrition. And Palestinians in the West Bank are being encased, in open violation of international law, in a series of podlike militarized ghettos with Israel's massive $2 billion project to build a "security barrier." This barrier will gobble up at least 10 percent of the West Bank, including most of the precious aquifers and at least 40,000 acres of Palestinian farmland. The project is being financed in large part through $9 billion in American loan guarantees, although when Congress approved the legislation in April 2003, Israel was told that the loans could be used "only to support activities in the geographic areas which were subject to the administration of the Government of Israel prior to June 5, 1967."
But it is in Gaza that conditions are currently reaching a full-blown humanitarian crisis. "Gaza is in its worst condition ever," Gideon Levy wrote recently in the Israeli paper Ha'aretz. "The Israel Defense Forces have been rampaging through Gaza--there's no other word to describe it--killing and demolishing, bombing and shelling, indiscriminately.... How contemptible all the sublime and nonsensical talk about 'the end of the occupation' and 'partitioning the land' now appears. Gaza is occupied, and with greater brutality than before.... This is disgraceful and shocking collective punishment."
And as Gaza descends into civil war, with Hamas and Fatah factions carrying out gun battles in the streets, Ha'aretz reporter Amira Hass bitterly notes, "The experiment was a success: The Palestinians are killing each other. They are behaving as expected at the end of the extended experiment called 'what happens when you imprison 1.3 million human beings in an enclosed space like battery hens.'"
In fact, if there is a failing in Carter's stance, it is that he is too kind to the Israelis, bending over backward to assert that he is only writing about the occupied territories. Israel itself, he says, is a democracy. This would come as a surprise to the 1.3 million Israeli Arabs who live as second-class citizens in the Jewish state. The poverty rate among Israeli Arabs is more than twice that of the Jewish population. Those Israeli Arabs who marry Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank are not permitted to get Israeli residency for their spouses. And Israeli Arabs, who do not serve in the military or the country's intelligence services and thus lack the important personal connections and job networks available to veterans, are systematically shut out of good jobs. Any Jew, who may speak no Hebrew or ever been to Israel, can step off a plane and become an Israeli citizen, while a Palestinian living abroad whose family's roots in Palestine may go back generations is denied citizenship.
The Israel lobby in the United States does not serve Israel or the Jewish community--it serves the interests of the Israeli extreme right wing. Most Israelis have come to understand that peace will be possible only when their country complies with international law and permits Palestinians to build a viable and sustainable state based on the 1967 borders, including, in some configuration, East Jerusalem.
This stark demarcation between Israeli pragmatists and the extreme right wing was apparent when I was in the Middle East for the New York Times during Yitzhak Rabin's 1992 campaign for prime minister. The majority of American Jewish organizations and neoconservative intellectuals made no pretense of neutrality. They had morphed into extensions of the right-wing Likud Party. These American groups, to Rabin's dismay, had gone on to build, with Likud, an alliance with right-wing Christian groups filled with real anti-Semites whose cultural and historical ignorance of the Middle East was breathtaking. This collection of messianic Jews and Christians, leavened with rabid American imperialists, believed they had been handed a divine or moral mandate to rule the Middle East, whether the Arabs liked it or not.
When Rabin, who had come to despise what the occupation was doing to the citizenry of his own country, was sworn in as prime minister, the leaders of these American Jewish organizations, along with their buffoonish supporters on the Christian right, were conspicuous by their absence. On one of Rabin's first visits to Washington after he assumed office, according to one of his aides, he was informed that a group of American Jewish leaders were available to meet him. The surly old general, whose gravelly cigarette voice seemed to rise up from below his feet, curtly refused. He told his entourage he did not have time to waste on "scumbags."
BBC Sweetness Just in Time For Christmas
The BBC never misses an oppurtunity.
First, in this story, "Gaza resident looks back on the year" by Martin Patience reporting from Jabaliya in Gaza, he sets up a sweet man:
Well, besides being a "former militant", he sounds like a nice guy, right?
So, who "was" he?
Nice guy.
Nice BBC.
First, in this story, "Gaza resident looks back on the year" by Martin Patience reporting from Jabaliya in Gaza, he sets up a sweet man:
When Hatim Muhammad wants to escape from Gaza he listens to the birdsong of his 31 canaries. The 41-year-old, a former militant who is now unemployed, has turned one of the rooms of his house into a makeshift aviary. Mr Mohammed felt 2006 was the worst year of his life..."I feel like I'm free when I hear the canaries," says Hatim, the birdcages swaying gently above his head. "They help me forget about all my problems."
Like many in Gaza, Hatim will remember 2006 as the year problems piled up. Even by Palestinian standards, the hardships suffered this year have been extraordinary.
Well, besides being a "former militant", he sounds like a nice guy, right?
So, who "was" he?
...Tattooed on his arms are the Palestinian flag and an inscription that reads "for freedom". He hopes that the new year will bring an end to all of the problems and an independent Palestinian state...
But he says the inter-factional violence between Fatah and Hamas supporters troubles him most.
"The bullets should be used against the Jews and not the Palestinians," says Hatim, who was once a local leader in the al-Aqsa Brigades, a militant wing of Fatah.
Nice guy.
Nice BBC.
To Even Out the Humor
I posted Rabbi Schmecklstein, so here's WeeklyBang:-
Top Ten Halachic Questions for Santa if X-mas Falls out on Shabbos
And these were added:
If you don't have wine can you make kiddush on your tree?
Can you bentch licht on your christmas lights?
If you climb your christmas tree on shabbos, do you have to stay there till after shabbos is over?
If you sleep under the tree is that creating an ohel?
Top Ten Halachic Questions for Santa if X-mas Falls out on Shabbos
10.Is there a problem of borer/seperating out the gifts for naughty and nice?.
9. Are you allowed to eat milk N' cookies before alos/davening? What about Kiddush B'Makom Seudah?
8. Is there any problem traveling outside of the North Pole techum?
8. Are reindeer kosher/muksa?
7. If you forgot to say "Ho, Ho, Ho" do you have to repeat the visit/fulfilled chiyuv?
6. Are people allowed to make wishlists/bakashos to you on Shabbos?
5. Which zemer is most mihudar to sing at the seudah: "Here Comes Santa Claus" or "santa claus is coming to town?"
4. Can elves be counted for a minyan?
3. Is there an issue of p'seek reisha on dragging your sleigh?
2. Can you daven without your red hat and jacket?
1. You can't be koneh gifts on Shabbos. Explain That
And these were added:
If you don't have wine can you make kiddush on your tree?
Can you bentch licht on your christmas lights?
If you climb your christmas tree on shabbos, do you have to stay there till after shabbos is over?
If you sleep under the tree is that creating an ohel?
Goode?
A Republican congressman has told constituents that unless immigration is tightened, "many more Muslims" will be elected and follow the lead of a recently elected lawmaker who plans to use the Quran at his ceremonial swearing-in.
Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va., made the comments in a letter sent earlier this month...In the letter, Goode wrote, "The Muslim representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran."
Goode said the U.S. needs to stop illegal immigration "totally" and reduce legal immigration.
Goode added: "I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped."
The Council on American-Islamic Relations called on Goode to apologize. "Representative Goode's Islamophobic remarks send a message of intolerance that is unworthy of anyone elected to public office," CAIR's national legislative director, Corey Saylor, said Tuesday night. "There can be no reasonable defense for such bigotry."
Goode spokesman Linwood Duncan said Wednesday that no apology was forthcoming.
"The only statement the congressman has is that he stands by the letter," Duncan said.
The letter was made public by John Cruickshank, the chairman of the Piedmont group of the Sierra Club in central Virginia, who had received it after writing to Goode about environmental issues. Duncan said that Goode's office had sent the letter to Cruickshank by mistake.
NYTimes Media Ethics
The following paragraph was paragraph #12, the last paragraph, in a story about events in Gaza.
Now, I know you may say, 'well, after all, it's a sidebar to what's going on between Arab and Arab'.
Well, here's the very first paragraph:
Notice that the paper of note managed to get in Israeli troops killing terrorists (what is euphemistically referred to in the dainty semantics of the NYT as "militants"). So, they couldn't slip in a few Qasams that are violating the "cease-fire" (usually in these parts of the world, "cease-fire" refers to the time in between the kloading and firing of rockets)?
In another development on Wednesday, Palestinian militants in northern Gaza fired seven rockets toward southern Israel, though no injuries or serious damage were reported, the Israeli military said. The Palestinians have fired almost 40 rockets at Israel since a cease-fire was declared Nov. 26.
Now, I know you may say, 'well, after all, it's a sidebar to what's going on between Arab and Arab'.
Well, here's the very first paragraph:
Two Palestinian security force members were killed during fighting among Palestinians in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, and Israeli troops in the West Bank shot dead two Palestinian militants.
Notice that the paper of note managed to get in Israeli troops killing terrorists (what is euphemistically referred to in the dainty semantics of the NYT as "militants"). So, they couldn't slip in a few Qasams that are violating the "cease-fire" (usually in these parts of the world, "cease-fire" refers to the time in between the kloading and firing of rockets)?
Well, If We're on a Christmas Thing...
Christmas Drasha
Rabbi Yoichanan Ben Zakai, in a Braisa brought down in Maseches Airuvin, asks: What is the true mitzvah of Christmas? Is it to share the joy, the festivities, the gift-giving, and the spirit of good will towards all men? Or is it to go to a matinee, pay half price, and stay the hell off the street until the goyim sober up?
This line of questioning echoes a story of Eliyahu Hanavi, as he faced down the priests of Baal on Har Carmel. As they each brought sacrifices and rejoiced in their Avoidah Zarah, Eliyahu chose to sit on the side and clip coupons, rather than participate. And when it came time to show the power of the Aimishteh, Eliyahu chose to consume all the priests with fire, rather than pay to provide refreshments for everyone.
According to the RAN, this story captures the essential dilemma of ambivalence we all feel at this time of year. All year long we function as a part of external secular society, with our own traditions and peculiarities accepted in an air of viva la differance. But at Christmas time we are not Battul BeShishim; we stand out as the minority that we are.
Yet, we needn't abandon this Yuntif entirely, given our myriad connections to it:
- Jesus was, of course, a Jew. Indeed, a medrish in Matthew Rabbah refers to him using a cell phone in a movie theatre and taking Mary Magdolyn on a shidduch date for drinks at the local Marriot;
- Christmas tree lights are a modern day expression on the ancient Germanic festival of lights commemorating the winter solstice. This, in itself, is partly reflected in the lighting of the Chanukah candles;
- Christmas is a celebration of...RETAIL. According to the RAMBAM's Mishnah Toirah, one of the key Mitzvois Asei SheHazman Gerammah is the raising of ALL prices by 20% between December 10th and December 24th. Boruch Hashem for Kratzmach -- this Yuntif pays for my kids' Yeshivah tuition! Indeed, all of my talmidim are encouraged to
contribute to a Christmas fund for families who cannot afford toys, the Kratzmach Gemach, so that Jewish merchants will not suffer because the Goyim are in the middle of a recession.
- There is a famous Mishnah that states that just as Roish Hashanah is the New Year for the universe and Tu BiShvat is the New Year for trees, Christmas is the New Year for big, fat, bearded white guys. And I know many Rabbanim in our community who should therefore celebrate this Yuntif too.
There is a famous Maiseh SheHoya about the Lubavitcher Rebbe. In an effort to raise money for vodka for his Chasidim one year, he dressed up as Santa Clause and stood in front of the local Bloomingdales, pretending to be from the Salvation Army. Who should walk by, but his archenemy, the Satmar Rebbe.
"So, Menachem-Mendel," the Satmar Rebbe declared in a loud voice, "Your movement truly has evolved into another religion."
"Not at all," the Lubavitcher Rebbe calmly replied. "We simply never miss an opportunity to find joy. What do you say you and I do a couple of shots, sing a niggun, and make-up underneath the mistletoe?"
The Satmar Rebbe was so upset by the confrontation that day, he insisted that all of his followers use reindeer meat in their cholent that shabbos.
Meanwhile, the Lubavitcher Rebbe raised enough money to keep his Chasidim drunk through the end of the month of Tayvais. That night, the Reboinoisheloilum came to him in a dream. "Rebbe," the Aimishteh said, "Have I not given you enough to celebrate in Yiddishkeit? Why are you and your followers embracing another religion?"
"But Hakkadoshbaruchhu," the Lubavitcher Rebbe responded, "we have not strayed from Yiddishkeit. It's not as if any of my Chasidim will ever embrace the concept of resurrection or anything like that."
So we have a lot more in common with Christmas than we originally thought. We should therefore neither ignore the holiday nor treat it with disrespect. Rather, we should treat it as the money making opportunity that it truly is.
Ah Gutten Yuntif, You Mechutziff.
=====
Rabbi Pinky Schmeckelstein
Rosheshiva
Yeshiva Chipas Emmess
Thursday, December 21, 2006
In Case You Didn't Know
Few realize that comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's wacky comedic creation, Borat Sagdiyev, is not speaking Kazakh or even gibberish, but rather Hebrew, the biblical language of the Jewish people.
The 35-year-old British comedian is no stranger to Israel. He is an observant Jew, his mother was born in Israel and his grandmother still lives in Haifa. In high school, he belonged to a Zionist Jewish youth group, Habonim Dror, and upon graduation spent a year working and studying on a kibbutz, or collective farm, in northern Israel. He has since returned for several visits, his Hebrew is excellent and his understanding of Israeli culture superb.
The 35-year-old British comedian is no stranger to Israel. He is an observant Jew, his mother was born in Israel and his grandmother still lives in Haifa. In high school, he belonged to a Zionist Jewish youth group, Habonim Dror, and upon graduation spent a year working and studying on a kibbutz, or collective farm, in northern Israel. He has since returned for several visits, his Hebrew is excellent and his understanding of Israeli culture superb.
Jews, Christmas and Plain Narishkeit
Two Jewish Christmas stories in emancipated America.
I just couldn't pass these up:-
1.
A Christmas Eve klatch
2.
At One Jewish Home, Making Room for Santa
I just couldn't pass these up:-
1.
A Christmas Eve klatch
For Jewish singles, it's the most wonderful time of the year
Rachel Davis summoned her klatch to Toscanini's in Central Square last week to help her make one of the most important decisions she will face this year -- what to wear to the Matzo Ball on Christmas Eve.
"If I wear the red cocktail dress with the spaghetti straps, I'll look hot," the 26-year-old paralegal said to her three buddies. "But I don't want to send the wrong message. It's a fine line between hot and tramp, you know?"
Davis confesses that she's feeling pressure to find just the right ensemble because Christmas Eve is perhaps the most important night of the year for the city's Jewish singles. While Boston's gentiles are tucked away with their eggnog, plastic Santas, and enough sugar cookies to feed the population of Luxembourg, something massive has happened in the clubs. Christmas Eve has evolved into Jewish Valentine's Day.
Boston can take credit for this national shift. Back in 1987, a young real estate agent named Andrew Rudnick decided he had enough of Chinese food and "It's a Wonderful Life" on Christmas Eve. He got in touch with nightlife impresarios John, Patrick, and Michael Lyons to see if he could use one of their Lansdowne Street clubs for a Christmas Eve mixer for Jewish singles.
"They were expecting about 200 or 300 people," says Rudnick, who moved from Boston to Florida two years ago. "They thought it was going to be a slow night. We had 2,000 that first night. The Lyons brothers had to leave their Christmas party and work. John was in the coat room, Patrick was with me walking the floor, and Michael was behind the bar."
The Matzo Ball quickly spread to other cities, and spawned more dances, concerts, and comedy shows for Jewish singles. With a little help from the burgeoning Jewish hipster movement, Christmas Eve parties have taken off. This year in Boston, Jewish singles will be making the scene at the Matzo Ball, two parties staged by an organization called JConnection (one at the Hard Rock Cafe for those in their 20s and 30s, and another in Waltham for singles 40 and up). There's even a speed- dating party for gay and lesbian Jews.
Next year, these events will face increased competition when a New York-based group called Let My People Go brings its Christmas Eve ball to Boston. Jeff Strank , the founder of Let My People Go, claims attendance at his New York ball is bigger than the Matzo Ball. Let My People Go holds parties at several venues in Manhattan, and offers complimentary Hummer limousine service so attendees can hop from party to party in VIP style.
"It has become a phenomenon," says Strank. "Some years there are as many as 15 events for Jewish singles happening in New York on Christmas Eve. And there are big parties in Los Angeles, Miami, and Chicago. It's really the one night that you have more Jewish people out looking for romance than any other night of the year."
The answer to the question "Why, on this night, do we look for romance?" is as varied as the people who are throwing and attending these mixers. Sarah Maxwell , associate publisher of New York-based Heeb magazine, says the equation of open bars and "hot Heebs" will inevitably result in multiple love connections.
"None of us have to worry about hangovers the next day, because we don't have to face a big family dinner on Christmas day," she says. "We can just sleep in late and go to the movies the next day. If you have loads of young, single Jews in a room, it's inevitably going to result in romance, or at least a few fun, drunken hookups."
Mayshe Schwartz , a Brookline-based Orthodox rabbi who wears a baseball cap embroidered with Hebrew symbol chai (which means living) and answers to the nickname Schwartzy, thinks the advent of Christmas Eve as Jewish Valentine's Day has more to do with loneliness than the consumption of large quantities of booze.
"At some point, many Jews feel isolated at Christmas," he says. "There's a whole country celebrating something, and you can only run with it so far, then at some point, you can't. You don't have a Christmas tree, stores are closed, everything you're watching is 'Miracle on 34th Street.' It was only logical that these giant singles parties would evolve from this."
Schwartz, who runs the Chabad Chai Center in Brookline , regularly hosts parties and looks for ways to make religion accessible to singles and families who are not members of a temple. This time of year, he says the talk among the single members of his organization veers toward the big Christmas Eve parties. That was certainly the case among the singles who attended Chabad Chai's Kosher Casino party in the Theater District on Monday night.
"This will be my first one," says Debi Milkes, a 25-year-old teacher, of Sunday night's Matzo Ball. "I guess I'm hoping to meet someone. I've heard that the people who show up are usually a little more serious about dating."
Not everyone is a fan of big mixers such as the Matzo Ball. Rob Tannenbaum , music editor at Blender and half of the musical comedy act Good for the Jews , confesses that he's never been to the Matzo Ball, but quickly adds that "all the wild horses in Manhattan couldn't drag me there." He has, however, spent time on the Jewish online dating site JDate.com (and written a song about it), and imagines that the scene at the Matzo Ball is the off line counterpart to that.
"The idea of getting everyone on JDate piled together in a room, drunk on $13 cosmopolitans, with 20-year-old Madonna songs blasting at 120 decibels, isn't really my idea of a fun night," Tannenbaum says. "I can understand the impulse. Being a Jew on Christmas Eve is really kind of horrible."
Tannenbaum, whose band played in Boston last week, is part of a generation of younger Jews who are looking to create new traditions.
"Most Jewish traditions involve fasting, and that's no fun," says the cheeky Tannenbaum. "The new traditions involve some element of music, comedy, and sometimes even alcohol."
Molly Harris' s Christmas Eve tradition involves going to the JConnection's annual party. The 29-year-old dental hygienist has gone on dates with men whom she has met at the party, but unlike Tannenbaum, she takes a less cynical approach to looking for love on Christmas Eve.
"I'm basically there to hang out with my friends and have a good time," she says. "If you take it too seriously, it's going to be stressful. I see Christmas Eve as a bonus holiday. It's like the rest of the world is off doing their own thing, so we get this night to party, and who doesn't love that?"
2.
At One Jewish Home, Making Room for Santa
It is fair to say that in a neighborhood largely populated with Orthodox Jews, it is rather unconventional to have a life-size Santa perched on the edge of the roof of a house, attached to a microphone and bellowing, “What is this Hanukkah you speak of?”
It is particularly noteworthy that the Santa, and the elaborate Christmas display in which he rests, sits outside the home of a Jewish family, sparking the curiosity, and occasional ire, of neighbors.
“Some people are so offended, you have no idea,” said Mary Loomis-Shrier, who has long erected the giant display on a lovely street south of Hollywood. “But some of my neighbors think it is great. Some of their kids drop their list of toys in my mailbox. I don’t care because I love it, and it is my right.”
This is not a story about a neighborhood where Jews and Christians got together and decided that the town airport needed a Christmas tree and a menorah, and then lived happily ever after in religiously tolerant bliss.
It is also not a story about how the greeter at a big chain store started greeting people with “Happy Holidays” until the town regrouped to get its Merry Christmas back.
This is a the tale of a dozen or so Orthodox Jews, a survivor of the Bataan Death March, a cranky Israeli father, a professor of English, and Ms. Loomis-Shrier, the Jewish heiress to an exotic-lingerie fortune, all living together on a single Los Angeles block of 1920s Tudor and Spanish-style homes.
There is no happy or sad ending to their tale, just the normal trials of getting through each day, tricky questions about identity, and, presumably, a very large electric bill.
Ms. Loomis-Shrier, who with her husband runs the famous Hollywood undergarments outpost Trashy Lingerie, said the tradition stemmed from her childhood, lived in the very home she now shares with her husband and son. Although her family is Jewish, holiday displays were always part of their season, she said.
There is fake snow, two giant snow globes anchored to the roof, and a couple of big Santas. There are illuminated angels and candy canes, all of it glowing in the quiet of the night.
The residents of this border neighborhood between Miracle Mile and old-money Hancock Park (or, in Los Angeles real-estate speak, “Hancock Park Adjacent”) are largely Jewish, and have regarded the spectacle with a mixture of confusion, delight and occasional derision.
“I wouldn’t say the Jewish people around here are that thrilled with it,” said Sharon Saltiel, who lives next door. “It is a little unusual for someone Jewish to put up a display for Christmas. They are just, very, well, enthusiastic people.”
Little girls in long skirts stand across the street and stare at the glittering Santas, some mothers pull their children away, others allow their children to climb about the Santas and compliment Ms. Loomis-Shrier on her creativity.
A neighbor in a duplex across the street, Oren Atias, an Israeli, has been less than supportive, Ms. Loomis-Shrier said. He has come across the street and yelled at her, and said, “ ‘What kind of Jewish girl puts a Santa in the yard?’ ” said Ms. Loomis-Shrier and several neighbors who saw the arguments.
“I told him, ‘I don’t think candy canes have anything to do with religion,’ ” Ms. Loomis-Shrier said.
Mr. Atias’s upstairs neighbor, Robert Faggen, an author and English professor who is also Jewish, said Mr. Atias tore down his Halloween decorations and pulled up the pumpkins in his yard this year, also in the name of Jewish law, and that he called the police to adjudicate the dispute.
Mr. Atias denied arguing with Ms. Loomis-Shrier about her Christmas decor — “It’s not bad,” he said — and said his fight with Mr. Faggen was longstanding and centered on his neighbor’s decorations being hazardous to his three children.
“Everyone can do what they want,” Mr. Atias said with a shrug. “It’s not a Muslim country.”
From a purely religious context, many Jewish scholars would contest Ms. Loomis-Shrier’s view that her lawn is seasonal and secular.
“Santa Claus is inherently Christian,” said Michael J. Broyde, the director of the Law and Religion Program at Emory University and an expert on Jewish law and ethics, pointing out that the character is derived from a third-century saint, Nicolas. He added, “I have never thought about candy canes.”
Pulling up pumpkins or defacing a wrought-iron angel is another matter, Professor Broyde said.
“We live in a society where fundamentally secular law governs our interpersonal relations,” he said. “When it comes to property rights, you are not allowed to violate them. That is a foregone conclusion from a Jewish perspective.”
Another resident, Marilyn Corre, a British Jew who is married to a former prisoner of war of the Japanese in World War II — both were raised in Orthodox homes — said she was happy to see the display on her block.
“I think it is just wonderful,” she said. “I don’t know why the Jewish people don’t decorate more.”
Name Calling
Mohammed, and its most common alternative spelling Muhammad, are now more popular babies' names in England and Wales than George, reflecting the diverse ethnic mix of the population.
The Office for National Statistics said there were 2,833 baby boys called Mohammed in 2006.
The name is 22nd in the list of most popular boys' names, moving up a place from last year.
Spelled Muhammad, it is the 44th most popular name and enters the top 50 for the first time along with Noah, Oscar, Lucas and Rhys.
There were 2,833 babies called Mohammed born in 2006 and 1,422 called Muhammad. The total exceeds the number of Georges (3,386) or Josephs (3,755).
A Double Standard of a Sort
Consider the following news item:
Now, recently, two other families have been very prosecutorial in hounding Israeli soldiers who have killed or wounded British internationals struggling on behalf of Pals.
But when the law process came to a decision, they did not say that they are not in the position to judge another country's law.
Isn't that a sort of double-standard?
A Jordanian court sentenced a man to death today for killing a British accountant and injuring five other Western tourists in an attack at an amphitheatre in the capital Amman.
Nabil Ahmad Jaoura, 38, a Palestinian refugee born in Baqaa camp on the outskirts of Amman, was motivated by a hatred of Western foreign policy and the need to avenge the death of his brothers in an Israeli raid.
He opened fire on a group of tourists as they left the Roman amphitheatre in Amman on September 4, killing Christopher Stokes, 30, an accountant, from Littleborough near Rochdale.
Mr Stokes's parents, Rod and Norma, said the verdict would help them "move on a little bit", although getting through Christmas would still be a struggle.
Mr Stokes, 59, said: "It feels like closure for us in one part. We can move on a little bit." His wife, Norma, 60, continued: "We’re just relieved that the verdict has come quickly. It’s what we were expecting."
Mr Stokes added: "We’ve no strong revenge feelings at all. We take the view that if it was an act of terrorism as they say and if it’s the law of the land that the guy be executed, then that’s it. We’re not saying this is how it should be, but we don’t feel we’re in a position to judge the laws of another country."
Now, recently, two other families have been very prosecutorial in hounding Israeli soldiers who have killed or wounded British internationals struggling on behalf of Pals.
But when the law process came to a decision, they did not say that they are not in the position to judge another country's law.
Isn't that a sort of double-standard?
View From Shiloh I
Air Pollution
Across the valley from Shiloh lies the garbage dump of Turmos-Aya.
There they burn their waste (and probably that of Hirbet Abu-Fallah), releasing into our air contaminatory materials.
If we are not yet at peace, can we at least be good non-political neighbors?
Across the valley from Shiloh lies the garbage dump of Turmos-Aya.
There they burn their waste (and probably that of Hirbet Abu-Fallah), releasing into our air contaminatory materials.
If we are not yet at peace, can we at least be good non-political neighbors?
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Good for "Unoccupied" Amar
Israeli religious leaders' meeting ends with spat over term 'occupation'
Top Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Druze leaders who met on Tuesday for a television program on religious dialogue found themselves unable to agree on the use of the term "occupation" in a statement on ending violence in the region.
The program, called "Interreligious Dialogue," was produced by Israel's Arabic TV station and will be aired at 7 P.M. tonight on Channel 33.
The founder of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheikh Abdullah Nimr Darwish, had spent a long time trying to bring the religious leaders together for what was dubbed a "historic meeting," and suggested that the participants meet again on a regular basis in an effort to find a shared basis among the region's various religions.
But in Tuesday's debate, the religious leaders found it hard to agree on the wording of the statement.
"Are you prepared to fundamentally condemn the occupation?" the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, asked Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar. "The occupation is a mistake ... The question is simple: What do you, as a Jewish religious figure, say about the occupation - that one nation occupies another nation?"
Amar responded that he does not agree with the use of the word "occupation."
"The blessed God, creator of the heavens and earth, gave the Land of Israel to the people of Israel," he said. "I don't call that occupation. The principle must be clear: There is a land that belongs to the Jews and there are parts of it that belong to the Palestinians." [as individuals, not as a people - YM]
At that point, Darwish jumped in.
"The diplomats have already progressed more than us," he said. "We have to be the cold water that puts out the fire, not fanning it. What causes us to lag behind?"
From Moshe Belogorodsky
On behalf of Moshe, my neighbor.
Background Note:
Back on June 29, 2005, his daughter, Chaya, decided to lend moral support to her friends who went to protest Ariel Sharon's plan to expel Jews. What follows is a direct quote from the official indictment filed against Chaya. She is accused of standing on a sidewalk while her friends proceeded to block traffic.
After her friends were arrested a policewoman asked Chaya to leave the area. Chaya refused, saying that she wasn't doing anything illegal, that she had every right to stand on "every inch of the Land of Israel". The policewoman, unimpressed, warned Chaya that if she didn't leave immediately she would be arrested. To which Chaya replied: "So, shut up and arrest me then". That's it. This is the case that the State of Israel has against Chaya. And, because Chaya participated in a similar demonstration once before, the State prosecutor asked the juvenile court to remand Chaya into police custody UNTIL THE END OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AGAINST HER - a process that can last for MONTHS!! What is truly unbelievable is than this unprecedented request was granted. Judge Dalya Korn wrote a 10-page dissertation about the danger to society inherent in Chaya's disregard towards the law passed in the Knesset (Sharon's expulsion law). That, combined with the fact that Chaya participated in a similar "unlawful" demonstration before, has made her into a REAL PUBLIC DANGER, thus justifying her imprisonment until the end of the legal process.
Our appeal went all the way to the Supreme Court of Israel. Judge Procaccia, who heard the case, upheld the decision. The only leniency and compassion that comrade Procaccia agreed to show Chaya was that she could be released from jail to a house arrest - BUT NOT TO HER PARENTS' HOME. Ignoring the fact that neither of the parents has any family in Israel, Procaccia declared that Chaya must be sent "far away from this area of volatile emotions if she wants to get out of jail".
The most outrageous part of her decision was her agreement with the prosecution that Chaya represents a "danger to the society because of her ideological motivation". This is coming from a judge who had absolutely no problems releasing not only common criminals, but also even terrorists with blood on their hands!! Over the past few months’ alone Israeli government released hundreds of these beasts, and even though appeals for filed against this release, Procaccia and co. upheld the decision of the government. She never made the removal of these beasts from the " area of volatile emotions" a condition for their release. They were allowed to go back home. Comrade Procaccia is sure THEY won't be dangerous to our society anymore.
What is it like for a 14 year old to be in jail? Well, for the first week - including Shabbat - Chaya was kept in solitary confinement. She was not allowed to shower or call home. We could not send her clean clothes. The food she was given was not on the level of kashrut she could eat. For the first two weeks she was not allowed to have a fan in her cell - that's in the stifling, muggy Ramle summer, with temperatures reaching the high 90's. She is bored to tears and immobilized by the heat. Once a week she has to go through the degrading procedure of her cell being searched, with male jailers rummaging through all her personal belongings. She is not allowed out of her cell in the evenings, which means she has to eat her Friday night meal in the darkness of her cell. As of now we are not allowed to bring her any food from the outside, which means she gets almost no fruits or vegetables. We are only permitted to visit her for a half hour every week. This is how this young girl is being forced to spend her summer vacation - and I could go on and on.
And here's the end of the story:
Background Note:
Back on June 29, 2005, his daughter, Chaya, decided to lend moral support to her friends who went to protest Ariel Sharon's plan to expel Jews. What follows is a direct quote from the official indictment filed against Chaya. She is accused of standing on a sidewalk while her friends proceeded to block traffic.
After her friends were arrested a policewoman asked Chaya to leave the area. Chaya refused, saying that she wasn't doing anything illegal, that she had every right to stand on "every inch of the Land of Israel". The policewoman, unimpressed, warned Chaya that if she didn't leave immediately she would be arrested. To which Chaya replied: "So, shut up and arrest me then". That's it. This is the case that the State of Israel has against Chaya. And, because Chaya participated in a similar demonstration once before, the State prosecutor asked the juvenile court to remand Chaya into police custody UNTIL THE END OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AGAINST HER - a process that can last for MONTHS!! What is truly unbelievable is than this unprecedented request was granted. Judge Dalya Korn wrote a 10-page dissertation about the danger to society inherent in Chaya's disregard towards the law passed in the Knesset (Sharon's expulsion law). That, combined with the fact that Chaya participated in a similar "unlawful" demonstration before, has made her into a REAL PUBLIC DANGER, thus justifying her imprisonment until the end of the legal process.
Our appeal went all the way to the Supreme Court of Israel. Judge Procaccia, who heard the case, upheld the decision. The only leniency and compassion that comrade Procaccia agreed to show Chaya was that she could be released from jail to a house arrest - BUT NOT TO HER PARENTS' HOME. Ignoring the fact that neither of the parents has any family in Israel, Procaccia declared that Chaya must be sent "far away from this area of volatile emotions if she wants to get out of jail".
The most outrageous part of her decision was her agreement with the prosecution that Chaya represents a "danger to the society because of her ideological motivation". This is coming from a judge who had absolutely no problems releasing not only common criminals, but also even terrorists with blood on their hands!! Over the past few months’ alone Israeli government released hundreds of these beasts, and even though appeals for filed against this release, Procaccia and co. upheld the decision of the government. She never made the removal of these beasts from the " area of volatile emotions" a condition for their release. They were allowed to go back home. Comrade Procaccia is sure THEY won't be dangerous to our society anymore.
What is it like for a 14 year old to be in jail? Well, for the first week - including Shabbat - Chaya was kept in solitary confinement. She was not allowed to shower or call home. We could not send her clean clothes. The food she was given was not on the level of kashrut she could eat. For the first two weeks she was not allowed to have a fan in her cell - that's in the stifling, muggy Ramle summer, with temperatures reaching the high 90's. She is bored to tears and immobilized by the heat. Once a week she has to go through the degrading procedure of her cell being searched, with male jailers rummaging through all her personal belongings. She is not allowed out of her cell in the evenings, which means she has to eat her Friday night meal in the darkness of her cell. As of now we are not allowed to bring her any food from the outside, which means she gets almost no fruits or vegetables. We are only permitted to visit her for a half hour every week. This is how this young girl is being forced to spend her summer vacation - and I could go on and on.
And here's the end of the story:
Dear friends shalom,
The travesty of justice in Chaya's case has finally come to an end. Sunday, December 3rd, the trial came to an end. Being pretty certain that the judge would convict Chaya on at least one of four counts in the indictment, I prepared some remarks regarding our case, which I was going to deliver in court during the closing arguments. At that point the parents are given the opportunity to plead for reduction of the punishment which the child faces.
What follows is the translation of these remarks from Hebrew:
"I hoped for justice, but instead behold iniquity; for righteousness, but instead behold oppression" (Isaiah 5:7) Thus does Isaiah the Prophet describes the judicial system of his time. Indeed, there is nothing new under the sun.
Clearly, Chaya was not the one standing trial in our case. It was rather the State of Israel in general, and its judicial system in particular, who had to prove themselves innocent. The test was simple and clear: Will the judicial system remain true to those very values which it itself proclaimed as sacred; or will it willingly become a tool and an aide to political persecution of the opponents of disengagement.
To my great dismay the system failed miserably in this test. It brutally trod upon all those enlightened values it itself sanctified: civil rights of its citizens, the rights of children, freedom to protest, and most important - equality before law. Our case is a classic example of outright judicial discrimination, based on the political needs of the government.
The justice system made a complete mockery of its own judicial precedents. My 14-year-old daughter was arrested until the end of judicial proceedings against her. She spent 40 days in jail, under arrest for the very same "crimes" that the Israeli Left commits almost daily. They are never treated in the way my daughter was treated. Here is just one example of this outrageous discrimination.
On July 10th, 2006 Ms. Dana Olmert - none other than the daughter of our Prime Minister - together with a number of Left wing activists organized a demonstration against the IDF in front of the Chief of Staff Halutz's home. They carried signs saying, " Halutz is a murderer - intifada will prevail!" and shouted out to the residents:" Beware - a murderer lives next to you". Why didn't any of the more than 30 policemen at the scene arrest Dana for insulting a public official and supporting terror?
And what about the case of two Left wing radicals - Netta Golan and Shelly Nativ? { See attachment #2} In April 2001, at the height of the Arab riots, Netta & Co. decided to protest against the uprooting of Arab trees near the village of Dir Istyah. Hundreds of Arab attacks against Jewish motorists were carried out from this orchard. That fact didn't bother Netta and her friends, who chained themselves to the trees to prevent the IDF from uprooting them. Netta and Shelly were arrested for "preventing a police officer from carrying out his duties". They were prosecuted and convicted of this crime (which is more serious than Chaya's "insulting a police officer") by judge Maimon-Shaashua in a Kfar Saba court. The judge sent them to be interviewed by a probation officer (just as Chaya was) to determine their punishment. The probation officer recommended being very lenient with them, because "their actions were motivated by a positive humanitarian ideology". Judge Maimon-Shaashua was so touched by this that she overturned her own previous decision to convict them and acquitted them because they were motivated by positive humanitarian ideology. Maybe you can explain to me why protesting the uprooting of Arab trees is more positive and humanitarian than protesting the uprooting of Jews from the Land of Israel?!
You said in your decision to convict Chaya that "the criminal conviction causes a permanent stain on the accused, a stain that will follow him wherever he goes". Sometimes the opposite is true. Sometimes, a criminal conviction causes a permanent moral stain on the judicial system itself. This was the case with judicial system in Soviet Russia when it used criminal law to persecute the refuseniks. And what about such famous criminals as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King? They too were convicted when they protested against unjust laws. It took decades for the American justice system to recognize its own injustice towards these people, and the moral stain that their criminal prosecution left on the system. Today, these "criminals" are considered national heroes and all of America celebrates the Martin Luther King day.
The time is near when the current Israeli justice system,too, will be replaced by a truly just system - the one based on our Holy Torah. But until that day, you should know that it is you - all the judges involved in this case - who have put the last nail in the coffin of our trust in this current system. After going through this whole mockery of justice we have come to realize that those teenage girls who refused to recognize your moral right to judge them were indeed absolutely correct. We cannot hope to get justice in your courts."
Needless to say I was cut off early on and not allowed to say all of the above for the protocol. The reason? In the words of the judge: "This court is not a political rally". No, it's not. At least not for the Right-wingers.
Chaya was acquitted, as I expected from the very beginning, of two of the more serious charges in her indictment - rioting and interfering with police work. None of the prosecutions' witnesses - police officers present at the scene - made any claims in their testimony that Chaya rioted. It will be interesting to find out how and why the prosecutor's office decided to indict Chaya for this crime, without having any facts at all to base this accusation on. As for interfering with police work, the only one who made this accusation was the policewoman who claimed Chaya insulted her. During her testimony, however, she could not explain or demonstrate in any way exactly how Chaya interfered with her police work. The judge, therefore, had no choice but to acquit Chaya of that charge.
I was fairly certain that the judge would convict Chaya on the charge of insulting the policewoman. It was the officer's word against Chaya's, and even though the officer was forced to admit a number of times that she didn't remember many of the details of the event, the judge accepted her version of the events over Chaya's.
So, if everything was so clear to us from the start, why did we go through with this farce of a trial? The truth is, I had a very faint glimmer of hope that the judge would have enough courage to throw this case out of court. Our case was so clearly political and discriminatory that any judge with an ounce of guts should have thrown it out of court. The guts, unfortunately, where nowhere to be found.
And so, Chaya was convicted. The punishment? 500 shekels fine. Even though Chaya had already spent 40 days in jail before her trial even began. Even though, according to their own rules, she should not have spent even 40 seconds there. So why the fine? It is clear to me that the judge wanted to add insult to injury. Throughout the duration of our trial none of the judges involved made even the smallest effort to pretend that they were interested in justice. To the contrary. Their message was crystal clear: We are at war with you, we want to break you and your child, and none of the rules we created for the justice system apply to you. What I saw was a vicious, brutal determination to break us, to show us our place - at the back of the proverbial bus.
Many of you will find the above rather disturbing. Please consider that I arrived at these conclusions based on my experience with no less than 6 judges, a year-and-a-half spent in courts, and statements made regarding our case by numerous lawyers and law professors (including those from the Left).
What can we do to protect ourselves? We must organize and unite behind our own civil rights organization - Honenu. Strong Honenu is the only way to stand up and fight these types of abuses. Honenu was there for us every step of the way. Just as it is always there for hundreds of other Jews, young and old, who are persecuted by the injustice system for being Right. Please get in touch with me if you are interested in getting involved. ydf@013.net.il
May we live to see "Restore our judges as in former times...”
Chanukah sameakh,
Moshe Belogorodsky
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Fark's Comment
Fark is a news site of weird, outlandish and hard-to-find news items in addition to your regular slew of news.
But he adds, with a link, his own comments, usually quite unusual and humorous.
Here's one:
Hamas and Fatah continue to shoot and rocket each other.
Yes, these nuts need a homeland to run
Amen.
But he adds, with a link, his own comments, usually quite unusual and humorous.
Here's one:
Hamas and Fatah continue to shoot and rocket each other.
Yes, these nuts need a homeland to run
Amen.
"Smokin'" Daniel Pipes
From Daniel Pipes' op-ed:-
...The Muslim citizens of Israel, usually known in English as Israeli Arabs, constitute enemy no. 3. (But I focus on Muslims, not Arabs, because Arabic-speaking Christians and Druze are generally less hostile.)
This ascent...emboldened Muslims to reject the Israeli identity and turn against the state. Their blatantly celebrating Israel's worst enemies evidences this, as does growing Muslim-on-Jewish violence within Israel. This month alone, Muslims pillaged a Jewish religious school in Acre and nearly murdered a Jezreel Valley farmer. A teenage boy was arrested for planning a suicide attack on a Nazareth hotel.
This hostility has been codified in an impressively crafted document that was published in early December, The Future Vision of Palestinian Arabs in Israel. Issued by the Mossawa Center in Haifa – which is partially funded by American Jews – and endorsed by many establishment figures, its extremism may well mark a turning point for Israeli Muslims. The paper rejects the Jewish nature of Israel, insisting that the country become a bi-national state in which Palestinian culture and power enjoy complete equality.
The document's notion of a "joint homeland" means Jewish and Arab sectors that run their own affairs and have the right of veto over certain of the other's decisions. Future Vision demands adjustments to the flag and anthem, canceling the 1950 Law of Return that automatically grants Israeli citizenship to any Jew, and elevating Arabic to be the equal of Hebrew. It seeks separate Arab representation in international fora. Most profoundly, the study would terminate the Zionist achievement of a sovereign Jewish state.
...Mr. Lieberman wants to restrict Israeli citizenship to those willing to sign a statement of loyalty to the Israeli flag and anthem, and prepared to do military service or its equivalent. Those who refuse to sign – whether Muslim, far-leftist, Haredi, or other – may remain in place as permanent residents, with all the benefits of Israeli residence, even voting and running for local office (a privilege non-citizen Arab residents of Jerusalem currently enjoy). But they would be excluded from voting in national elections or being elected to national office.
The diametrically opposed proposals of Future Vision and Mr. Lieberman are opening bids in a long negotiating process that usefully focus attention on a topic too long sidelined. Three brutally simple choices face Israelis: either Jewish Israelis give up Zionism; or Muslim Israelis accept Zionism; or Muslim Israelis don't remain Israeli for long. The sooner Israelis resolve this matter, the better.
Monday, December 18, 2006
More on Green Line
Well, at least one educational official thinks like me:
from
Panel slams inclusion of pre-1967 borders in school maps
Actually, I didn't know about that 1967 decision Orlev mentioned.
Senior education ministry official, Professor Anat Zohar, said during the discussion that the green line has current relevance.
"When one is talking about the 'right of return' you need to know where the green line passes," Zohar said. "Students must be familiar with the term and must be put in the study guidelines when the subject committees deem it should."
from
Panel slams inclusion of pre-1967 borders in school maps
The Knesset Education and Culture Committee decided on Monday to summon Education Minister Yuli Tamir to answer questions about her decision to include Israel's pre-1967 border in textbook maps.
During the session, Kadima party and right-wing MKs lashed out at Tamir for her decision made two weeks ago to include the so-called Green Line border which excludes the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights from Israel.
National Religious Party Chairman MK Zevulun Orlev presented the committee with the 1967 Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee decision to remove the Green line -as well as the pre-1948 British Mandate border- from all but historical maps.
"Tamir's decision is blatantly political," Orlev said. "It has no educational, instructive or scientific basis. As far back as 1967 the government decided that the Green Line had ceased to exist."
MKs Orlev and Ze'ev Alkin (Kadima) drafted a statement calling on the education minister to freeze her decision until a further discussion on the subject be held, but the committee chairman MK Michael Melchior (Labor-Meimad) decided to allow Tamir to respond before a vote was held on the announcement.
"It is not fair or proper to make a political decision without hearing from the minister who is accused of just such a decision," Melchior said.
Actually, I didn't know about that 1967 decision Orlev mentioned.
Bon Appetite
Kosher foods catching on with non-Jews too
Really?
And there's more there:-
Really?
Non-Jews represent one of the fastest-growing sectors in the kosher market. They are looking for healthier food options, similar to growth in the organic or natural foods market.
"Kosher is perceived as being cleaner, better, purer," Fingerman said, though he does not promise more healthful.
In the Seattle area, kosher food is growing increasingly popular, especially among non-Jews.
Sales of such fare have grown by at least 10 percent annually over the past eight years at Albertsons on Mercer Island, general manager John Gillespie said.
It now accounts for 30 percent of the store's annual revenue, up from 15 percent to 20 percent five years ago, he said.
Non-Jews are buying more and more kosher food, today accounting for roughly 30 percent of the store's total kosher sales versus "a very small percentage" just a few years ago, Gillespie said.
Echoing Manischewitz's Fingerman, Gillespie said kosher food has become more popular among both Jews and non-Jews because "with all the food safety concerns, people perceive that kosher food is much safer, especially the meat and chicken."
He added, "Also, our kosher bakery is dairy free, so it's nice for people who are lactose intolerant."
And there's more there:-
...The wasabi horseradish sauce, on the shelves for only two years, is already outselling its traditional horseradish sauce, a Passover staple.
From ICDF to Buddy Macy
On Monday, December 11, 2006, Buddy Macy of Little Falls, NJ, participated, at the headquarters of UJA-Federation of New York, in a meeting concerning the plight of the expellees of Gush Katif and northern Samaria with the CEO of UJC's largest Federation.
Many years ago, more than 20, I and Dassie Marcus along with Michael Teplow and others, struggled to get the UJA to fund worthy non-political projects in Jewish communities across the Green Line. They balked. They claimed the State Dept. opposed and that it was against the charity law.
What BS.
We fought them and proved to them that either they were ignorant or worse, lying. With the help of local Federation activists, among them Dr. Blum in New Jersey, we did manage, through the vehicle of the Israel Communities Development Fund (ICDF) [*], to get monies out of Jewish establishment blowhards and into needy hands.
Anyway, to bring things up-to-date, Buddy has been waging a battle on behalf of needy Jews living in Israel, inside the Green Line. But since they came from the other side, they were expelled, they've been shunned.
From the report, things may improve:-
Buddy, great work!
=================================
[*]
THE ISRAEL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FUND (ICDF)
The ICDF was established in 1990 as the main philanthropic conduit for the residents of the Jewish communities throughout Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Since the major Jewish charities do not disburse money across the "green line," humanitarian activities and communal endeavors in these Jewish communities have been excluded from receiving donations. The American Friends of the ICDF is registered as a tax-exempt charity under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Funds are used for supplementary educational programs and equipment; emergency medical services, clinics, preventive medicine programs, and pre-natal and pediatric care; parks, playgrounds and libraries; fire-fighting equipment, rescue and other accident response vehicles, distress alerts and other emergency communications equipment; special programs for handicapped children, centers for music, and public service broadcasting.
Tax-deductible contributions to the ICDF allow those living abroad to participate in a direct "people to people" campaign, helping to provide the greatest service where it is most needed at a crucial time for Israel. For further information, please contact: The American Friends of ICDF, 70 West 36th Street, New York, N.Y. 10018; Tel: 212-279-0164; Fax: 212-695-6232.
Many years ago, more than 20, I and Dassie Marcus along with Michael Teplow and others, struggled to get the UJA to fund worthy non-political projects in Jewish communities across the Green Line. They balked. They claimed the State Dept. opposed and that it was against the charity law.
What BS.
We fought them and proved to them that either they were ignorant or worse, lying. With the help of local Federation activists, among them Dr. Blum in New Jersey, we did manage, through the vehicle of the Israel Communities Development Fund (ICDF) [*], to get monies out of Jewish establishment blowhards and into needy hands.
Anyway, to bring things up-to-date, Buddy has been waging a battle on behalf of needy Jews living in Israel, inside the Green Line. But since they came from the other side, they were expelled, they've been shunned.
From the report, things may improve:-
In attendance at the 5:00 pm meeting, that had been organized by Fabian Schonfeld, rabbi of Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, were eight rabbinical leaders: Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld, Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld, Rabbi Heshy Billet, Rabbi Bernard Rosenzweig, Rabbi Kenneth Hain, Rabbi Shlomo Hochberg, Rabbi David Hill and Rabbi Dale Polakoff. Also present at the gathering were Jan Fenster and Cynthia Zalisky, President and Executive Director, respectively, of the Queens Jewish Community Council, Larry Sheldon, Chairman of the UJA Annual Appeal at Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, Queens and myself, Buddy Macy, an independent activist.
Representing UJA-Federation of New York were John Ruskay, Executive Vice President and CEO, Dr. Alisa Kurshan, Senior Vice President for Strategic Planning and Organizational Resources, Dru Greenwood, Director of Synagogue Renewal, Rabbi Michael Paley, Scholar in Residence and David Mallach, Managing Director of the Commission on the Jewish People.
Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld began the discussion by thanking Mr. Ruskay for hosting the critical meeting. He then explained the purpose and intent of the gathering: to seek financial help for the expellees from Gaza and northern Samaria, 16 months after their expulsion in August, 2005; and, to discuss humanitarian needs, not politics. Rabbi Schonfeld said that he could not figure out why United Jewish Communities (UJC, the Jewish Federation network in North America), and, specifically, the UJA-Federation of New York, had not provided help to the nearly 10,000 Jewish refugees, victims of the Israeli Government's "disengagement" plan; especially, after the organizations had supported the expulsion plan prior to its execution. (Approximately four months ago, UJC did allocate $400,000 to the expellees, after learning more about their severe needs. The funds from this pledge of support are coming from remaining contributions from the previous Israel Emergency Campaign, that had been conducted several years ago.)
Mr. Ruskay responded to Rabbi Schonfeld's concern and amazement, offering his explanation as to why he and UJA-Federation of New York had not helped the expellees. He stated, simply: "I thought the [Israeli] Government was doing it." It was curious to hear this from him, in light of the large volume of reports, articles and commentary written about the Israeli Government's failure to help the Jewish refugees from Gush Katif and northern Samaria -- including the report of Israeli State Comptroller, Micha Lindenstrauss (Untranslated) In addition, during the past 11 months I have had a very public, running "debate" with Howard Rieger, President of UJC, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman of Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, over UJC's silence regarding the devastating plight of the Jewish refugees from Gush Katif and northern Samaria. Therefore, I find Mr. Ruskay's comment extremely difficult to understand.
Nonetheless, the Federation CEO informed our assembled group that now that he knew that the Israeli Government failed to care for the victims of the expulsions as it promised it would, he and his staff will work to aid financially the expellees. This is an extremely important commitment on the part of John Ruskay and UJA-Federation of New York. And, he acted immediately towards the fulfillment of his pledge, appointing Dr. Kurshan as the contact person for aid to the expelled from Gush Katif and northern Samaria. Mr. Ruskay said that he would report back to us in a month regarding the progress his Federation had made in its efforts to help the Jewish refugees -- our fellow Jews who have been suffering tremendous emotional, mental and physical hardships during the past 16 months.
At the meeting, John Ruskay said that he would be traveling to Israel in February, and that he would meet with some of the leaders of the expellees for a few hours. I am confident that after observing the conditions in which the expellees are currently living, UJA-Federation of New York and UJC will do all they can to provide the necessary funds to relieve their plight.
To the thousands of people to whom this email is being sent directly or forwarded, please consider contributing to the needy Jewish refugees from Gush Katif and northern Samaria. It would be a Chanukah mitzvah, especially for the children and youth. Also, it is a perfect time to take a tax deduction for 2006. Here is the simple information for making a generous donation:
Friends of Gush Katif
P.O. Box 1001
Little Falls, NJ 07424-1001
Or, directly to Israel, at:
Gush Katif Committee
P.O. Box 450
Ahuzat Etrog 79411
ISRAEL
To donate by credit card, please go to: www.katifund.org.
Friends of Gush Katif is a registered 501(c)(3) charity.
I will continue to apprise you as to the progress made in securing significant, desperately -needed funds for the expellees. In the interim, if you have any suggestions, comments or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Buddy, great work!
=================================
[*]
THE ISRAEL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FUND (ICDF)
The ICDF was established in 1990 as the main philanthropic conduit for the residents of the Jewish communities throughout Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Since the major Jewish charities do not disburse money across the "green line," humanitarian activities and communal endeavors in these Jewish communities have been excluded from receiving donations. The American Friends of the ICDF is registered as a tax-exempt charity under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Funds are used for supplementary educational programs and equipment; emergency medical services, clinics, preventive medicine programs, and pre-natal and pediatric care; parks, playgrounds and libraries; fire-fighting equipment, rescue and other accident response vehicles, distress alerts and other emergency communications equipment; special programs for handicapped children, centers for music, and public service broadcasting.
Tax-deductible contributions to the ICDF allow those living abroad to participate in a direct "people to people" campaign, helping to provide the greatest service where it is most needed at a crucial time for Israel. For further information, please contact: The American Friends of ICDF, 70 West 36th Street, New York, N.Y. 10018; Tel: 212-279-0164; Fax: 212-695-6232.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
The Yisrael Medad-Ralph Lord Roy Correspondence
In a previous posting, I mentioned a letter that was published in the NYTimes on Friday.
I decided to search out the writer's e-mail address, was successful and began a correspondence with him. I believe in dialogue and communication.
What follows is a rather long posting but I think you'll find it interesting and informative.
1)
Please see my blog at My Right Word wherein I wrote:
2)
Hi Mr. Medad:
Received your response to my letter in the NY Times. I opened it just after receiving another call accusing me of Jew-hating, saying I should go f---- myself, telling me to go live among the Arabs, demeaning my style of Christianity, and other vigorously bigoted accusations. Your communication was direct but kinder.
It would take both of us books of emails to deal with this huge and complex issue, and neither of us has the time. Just a couple of brief comments.
I am quite aware of the history of the area. Well-informed Christians probably know as much as most Jews, often more, about the history of ancient Israel. Millions of fundamentalist Christians, of course, believe that God gave the area to the Jews forever, that they are God's chosen people, etc. As a liberal Protestant I am not a literalist when it comes to scripture. That in itself is a deep and vast subject.
There is a big difference between Arabs living in Israel where they were in 1948 and Israelis developing new settlements deep in the West Bank. Frankly, I see no objection to the settlements if the settlers are willing to live in a Palestinian state. You and I know that that won't happen. Too many of settlers feel that the Arabs are the intruders. They would like to drive them out. Tragically, most Israeli governments have encouraged settlements with extra subsidies, etc.
I hope you and I agree that the Palestinians have a right to a state (resisted by Israel until quite recent years). What worries me is that the Palestinians have been frustrated for so long that they now are too quick to embrace extremism as represented by Hamas. But wise policies can change that. We saw the Mau Mau become transformed in Kenya, the Soviet Union fall asunder, China grow less and less Stalinist - and the list could go on and on and on.
I fear that the alternative could be a world conflagration - Christians and Jews against Muslims - and many of us are simply not willing to go along with that. I don't believe America will buy that, either. The growing antagonism of the public toward our invasion of Iraq is a sign that we will only go so far in the Middle East. Israel should have taken advantage of its victory in 1967 by initiating a Palestinian state instead of coveting the Palestinian land.
Just so you are aware, I was jailed in 1961 as a Freedom Rider and against in 1962 working with Dr. King in Albany, GA. As a result, one of my closest friends among the clergy is a Reform Rabbi, my cell mate on both occasions. He and I largely agree on Middle East policy, though he (naturally) has a stronger emotional tie to Israel than I do. It is our Holy Land, however. I was privileged to visit there on four occasions and we pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Where you and I differ seems principally: how to gain that peace.
There's so much more to say. But must get to answering other emails and other duties. I do want to investigate your blog as time permits. Happy Hanukkah!
Ralph Roy
3)
Thanks for responding promptly and thoroughly.
And yes, I try to be kind and sensitive (well, in most cases) because I feel that usually it is not so much a deep-seated animosity that drives persons such as yourself but rather, on the one hand, not the fullest of acquaintance with problems such as the conflict here and, on the other, an outlook that I think we both can define as liberal, progressive and very well-intentioned which means to me, at least, a willingness to "wish" problems to become solved more than acknowledging with the problems are in order to solve them. And here's an example:
You write - "What worries me is that the Palestinians have been frustrated for so long that they now are too quick to embrace extremism as represented by Hamas." But the Arabs have from the very beginning and without let-up, for over 80 years now, have consistently chosen the path of terror and extremism. Riots and pogroms took place in 1920, 1921, 1929, 1936-39 and in between. Every single attempt by Britain, other powers, Arab states, etc. during those years of the Mandate to intervene and mediate and even Zionist willingness to territorial compromise made no difference.
And then came the UN resolution of partition in 1947 which the Zionists accepted and the Arabs rejected. Between 1949-1957 we had Arab terrorists called fedayeen. In 1964, Arafat founded the Fatah-PLO and initiated terror on January 1, 1965. Two and one-half years later, Israel assumed control of the area of Judea and Samaria. My point after this complex history (actually for me, quite simple and plain) is that "settlements", what I refer to as communities, were not the cause of the 1967 war - because there were none there and neither was an "occupation" a cause because there didn't exist one. And so, as you suggest, doing away with the "occupation" and removing the "settlements" has nothing to do with the Arab problem with Israel. And until people like you convince the Arabs that enlightened world opinion regards the Arab claims as illogical and until a very basic sea-change occurs (halting anti-Israel and even anti-Jewish educational themes in the schools - btw, where do you thinkk all these young suicide bombers are being recruited from if not from a post-Oslo school network over the past dozen years which has - instead of breathjing life into these kids - has inculcated into their souls hate and a desire for death, their own and that of schoolkids in buses and tourists in restaurants.
I am aware of your history having skimmed Google a bit and that is why I decided to reach out to you. I find it hard to comprehend why someone as yourself, with a proven record of dedication to good works and non-violence would so readily pinpoint the one issue that (a) has nothing to do with Arab deep-rooted animosity to any activity a Zionist would accomplish; and (b) goes against all recognized history that the Jews surely have a right to live in Shiloh, Beth-El and Hebron.
Now, as you say "Frankly, I see no objection to the settlements if the settlers are willing to live in a Palestinian state. You and I know that that won't happen." And I'll repeat the point I raised, theoretically, that if that is your position, would you accept the expulsion of the Arabs from the state of Israel? If removing one populace (the Jewish one which now numbers, including east Jerusalem which the Arabs consider theirs, there are one-half million Jews in this category if not more) and the creation of an uni-ethnic Arab state of Palestine will bring peace, why not have a "better" peace and create a second uni-ethnic state called Israel with no non-Jews resident? Of course that is not going to be nor should it but why do liberal, progressive folk seek to promote that idea only in regards to "Palestine" (and I am not going to get into the issue of whether there should be or if there ever was a Palestinian state).
I'll stop here. We've lit the Chanukah lights and a guest has just walked in.
Hope to be "hearing" from you.
Yisrael
4)
Hi -
Thanks for your continuing dialogue. I presume what bothers me more than anything (and why I wrote the letter) is that there seems to be no tolerance of any sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians. Often I have felt and said that here are 'two rights' that are adding up to a troubling 'wrong' - continual hatred. Surviving European Jews had faced total evil during WWII and needed a homeland, but what had the Palestinians done to lose their space?
I really don't have time at the moment to go into detail. I'm quite aware of what you have written and have a small library on the matter from diverse viewpoints. We get the pro-Israeli view regularly in the mass media and I visited the Holy Land four times (the Holy Land, of course, includes modern Israel and the occupied territories). My principal purpose is to seek peace and justice through reconciliation which will benefit both the Israelis and the Palestinians. Obviously, there are extremists on both sides. As I mentioned, one phone caller here on Friday, for example, called me every vulgar name you can imagine. I hope I understand. Loyalties run deep. Propaganda on all sides can be very effective. Look at Nazi Germany and WWII Japan. We are not entirely rational beings and our gut allegiances heavily influence our opinions. We usually believe what we want to believe.
One point only at the moment. No, I do not favor removing Arabs forcibly from Israel. They were already there. Jews moved into the West Bank after it was conquered in a conflict that Israel launched as a preemptive war, rather like our invasion of Iraq in some respects, and settlements built after 1967 clearly violate international law. And the wall, insofar as it is built within occupied territory, is quite outrageous. But, as I think I stated (and I am responding to several angry emails re the NYTimes letter and may mix things up), I don't believe Jews should have to leave the West Bank either, if they are willing to live in a Palestinian state - which I doubt. Many of them, including American settlers, hold on to the concept of God's chosen people who have been deeded that land forever, a concept I find not only offensive but racist in the extreme. We're all equally God's chosen people. In this, of course, I part company with those of my Protestant faith who are both Zionists and fundamentalists and who take every word of scripture literally. We have little in common when it comes to theology - rather like Orthodox and Reform in Judaism.
I have to go now. Every mail brings many Christmas cards and years ago we adopted the policy of trying to respond to all. Serving thousands of parishioners at various churches over the years makes it impossible to do it any other way. If they send, we then send.
Did I mention that I spent twenty years in NYC - at Columbia Law School, Union Theological Seminary (across from Jewish Theological Seminary) and fourteen years serving African-American churches in Harlem and Brooklyn? Most Methodists (and Protestants generally) in NYC are members of minority groups, especially African-Americans. We also have many Asian-American churches, especially Korean. You probably are aware that sympathy for the Palestinians is very strong among many African-Americans. Don't confuse this with anti-Semitism, however, as some quickly insist on doing. Derskowitz seems to fall into that trap regularly. It's possible (and right) to be sympathetic to both sides in this tragic, continuous conflict.
Again, happy Hanukkah. Keep well and joyful.
Ralph Lord Roy
PS If the situation isn't solved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict the American people eventually may tire of it and withdraw altogether. I hear more and more sentiment like that. If the Sunnis and the Shiites, the Israelis and the Palestinians, the various factions in Lebanon can't solve there problems, our best route is to exit from that scene. Why invest more American lives and billions of our tax dollars in trying to straighten out such conflicts that go back hundreds of years? Not our responsibility. And we only seem to make new enemies. That's the view of many, and growing.
5)
I know that I am perhaps straining the dialogue but since you did emphasize an aspect, allow me just to respond to that.
You wrote: "Jews moved into the West Bank after it was conquered in a conflict that Israel launched as a preemptive war, rather like our invasion of Iraq in some respects, and settlements built after 1967 clearly violate international law."
I'll be brief but need to amplify why outisde people get caught up in the intricacies and then get upset by criticism.
a) How did the Arabs, any Arab, get to the Holy Land if not by conquest in 638? Logic would lead one to say that if their presence is justified by conquest, then another "conquest" in 1967 would be similar, no? Did you know, and I presume you do, that the ruling family of Jordan, the Hashemites, are actually refugees from Saudi Arabia who were kicked out by the Wahabis. One brother got himself kicked out of Damascus and ended up in Iraq (as long as you've mentioned Iraq) and the younger brother, Abdallah, "marched" into Ma'an in the fall of 1920 and the British decided to buy him off and not to cause them problems with the French and ensconced him, with all expenses paid, in the territory, which, I thjink, should properly be called "Hashemite occupied territory".
b) International law is kind of tricky. You do know that in taking over the area that became known as the "West Bank", several Jewish communities, - some ancient and other recent, but all had civilian populations, - were destroyed by invading Arab forces. The four kibbutzim in the Etzion Bloc area, Beit Ha'Aravah in the Jordan Valley, two northern Jerusalem neighborhoods of Neveh Yaakov and Atarot and others are among the attempted - and for 19 years, - successful ehtnic cleansing operation committed by Arabs. Were those communities "illegal" then? Or were they proper and legal but only became "illegal" after 1967?
As a man who respects the word of the Lord and strives to act in truth, I am sure you'll mull just those two items over. I am enjoying my holiday and hope you will enjoy yours.
Yisrael
(to be continued?)
I decided to search out the writer's e-mail address, was successful and began a correspondence with him. I believe in dialogue and communication.
What follows is a rather long posting but I think you'll find it interesting and informative.
1)
Please see my blog at My Right Word wherein I wrote:
In another letter there, the Rev. Ralph Lord Roy of Southington, Conn., asks two questions:
How does the continuing expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank contribute to peace? Why do so many Americans have a blind spot when it comes to compassion for the suffering Palestinians?...Why can't we be pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian at the same time?
Well, Reverend, let's be devilish and ask the question this way:
Would the contraction of Arab settlements in Israel contribute to peace (and security)?
I know this is an unfair question to ask. It probably will upset you terribly. But the fact of the matter is that it must be asked because it goes right to the root of the Arab-Israel or Jewish-Muslim conflict. It leads to the real question that you and other supporters of the "Palestinian" must ask of them which is:
Have any of the Arabs, any Arab, genuinely come to terms with the existence of Israel
a) as the Jewish state;
b) as a sovereign state;
c) as a state anywhere in any area the Jews consider their national homeland.
Okay, now I know this may come as a shock to you, being a pacifist and grace-seeking Christian as I presume you are, but ever since Jews initiated the political process of reestablishing their state (the one that all the Prophets in the Bible assured all mankind was the object of the design and desire of the Divinity), no Arab has come to that basic realization.
We Jews have consistently in the past 100 years or so, in addition to reestablishing communities all over the Holy Land - what we refer to, dear Reverend, as the "Land of Israel", what Jesus knew of as Judea, Samaria and Gaza ["Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza."" - Acts.8.26 and "And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles" - Act 8:1], what we know as YESHA, have been comrpomising our territory, the territory promised us by the highest forum of international law at the time, the Supreme Council of the League of Nations which, in 1922, granted us the right to "close settlement" on the land.
Really Reverend.
And the Arabs responded consistently with violence, killing espeically the undefended: women, children, old men, religious recluses. They burnt fields, destroyed crops, cut down trees. And I am talking about the 1920s and 1930s. And when they were promised an Arab state in truncated Mandate Palestine, whittled down, the rejected that and went to war, a war they have never stopped pursuing. A war that now has brought us, 13 years after a peace treaty process at Oslo was begun, the grandmother of all suicide bombers,
But one last comment before you say to yourself 'well, he never answered the question'.
"Expanding settlements" (Jewish communities, towns, villages, to you) is the most natural thing to do. And it will surely bring peace because peace must be between peoples. If I can't live at Shiloh among Arabs, why should Arabs live asmong Jews in Haifa? Should we dissolve Arab villages in the Negev and Galillee? Should we create two Arab states out of the Mandate (don't forget Reverend, Jordan was also part of the original area set aside for the Jewish national home) and just one small Jewish one?
These communities will obstruct the establishment of an independent Palestine which has but one raison d'etre: the eradicate Israel.
So, the Yesha committees, Reverend, are the best way to reach peace. A true Peace.
2)
Hi Mr. Medad:
Received your response to my letter in the NY Times. I opened it just after receiving another call accusing me of Jew-hating, saying I should go f---- myself, telling me to go live among the Arabs, demeaning my style of Christianity, and other vigorously bigoted accusations. Your communication was direct but kinder.
It would take both of us books of emails to deal with this huge and complex issue, and neither of us has the time. Just a couple of brief comments.
I am quite aware of the history of the area. Well-informed Christians probably know as much as most Jews, often more, about the history of ancient Israel. Millions of fundamentalist Christians, of course, believe that God gave the area to the Jews forever, that they are God's chosen people, etc. As a liberal Protestant I am not a literalist when it comes to scripture. That in itself is a deep and vast subject.
There is a big difference between Arabs living in Israel where they were in 1948 and Israelis developing new settlements deep in the West Bank. Frankly, I see no objection to the settlements if the settlers are willing to live in a Palestinian state. You and I know that that won't happen. Too many of settlers feel that the Arabs are the intruders. They would like to drive them out. Tragically, most Israeli governments have encouraged settlements with extra subsidies, etc.
I hope you and I agree that the Palestinians have a right to a state (resisted by Israel until quite recent years). What worries me is that the Palestinians have been frustrated for so long that they now are too quick to embrace extremism as represented by Hamas. But wise policies can change that. We saw the Mau Mau become transformed in Kenya, the Soviet Union fall asunder, China grow less and less Stalinist - and the list could go on and on and on.
I fear that the alternative could be a world conflagration - Christians and Jews against Muslims - and many of us are simply not willing to go along with that. I don't believe America will buy that, either. The growing antagonism of the public toward our invasion of Iraq is a sign that we will only go so far in the Middle East. Israel should have taken advantage of its victory in 1967 by initiating a Palestinian state instead of coveting the Palestinian land.
Just so you are aware, I was jailed in 1961 as a Freedom Rider and against in 1962 working with Dr. King in Albany, GA. As a result, one of my closest friends among the clergy is a Reform Rabbi, my cell mate on both occasions. He and I largely agree on Middle East policy, though he (naturally) has a stronger emotional tie to Israel than I do. It is our Holy Land, however. I was privileged to visit there on four occasions and we pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Where you and I differ seems principally: how to gain that peace.
There's so much more to say. But must get to answering other emails and other duties. I do want to investigate your blog as time permits. Happy Hanukkah!
Ralph Roy
3)
Thanks for responding promptly and thoroughly.
And yes, I try to be kind and sensitive (well, in most cases) because I feel that usually it is not so much a deep-seated animosity that drives persons such as yourself but rather, on the one hand, not the fullest of acquaintance with problems such as the conflict here and, on the other, an outlook that I think we both can define as liberal, progressive and very well-intentioned which means to me, at least, a willingness to "wish" problems to become solved more than acknowledging with the problems are in order to solve them. And here's an example:
You write - "What worries me is that the Palestinians have been frustrated for so long that they now are too quick to embrace extremism as represented by Hamas." But the Arabs have from the very beginning and without let-up, for over 80 years now, have consistently chosen the path of terror and extremism. Riots and pogroms took place in 1920, 1921, 1929, 1936-39 and in between. Every single attempt by Britain, other powers, Arab states, etc. during those years of the Mandate to intervene and mediate and even Zionist willingness to territorial compromise made no difference.
And then came the UN resolution of partition in 1947 which the Zionists accepted and the Arabs rejected. Between 1949-1957 we had Arab terrorists called fedayeen. In 1964, Arafat founded the Fatah-PLO and initiated terror on January 1, 1965. Two and one-half years later, Israel assumed control of the area of Judea and Samaria. My point after this complex history (actually for me, quite simple and plain) is that "settlements", what I refer to as communities, were not the cause of the 1967 war - because there were none there and neither was an "occupation" a cause because there didn't exist one. And so, as you suggest, doing away with the "occupation" and removing the "settlements" has nothing to do with the Arab problem with Israel. And until people like you convince the Arabs that enlightened world opinion regards the Arab claims as illogical and until a very basic sea-change occurs (halting anti-Israel and even anti-Jewish educational themes in the schools - btw, where do you thinkk all these young suicide bombers are being recruited from if not from a post-Oslo school network over the past dozen years which has - instead of breathjing life into these kids - has inculcated into their souls hate and a desire for death, their own and that of schoolkids in buses and tourists in restaurants.
I am aware of your history having skimmed Google a bit and that is why I decided to reach out to you. I find it hard to comprehend why someone as yourself, with a proven record of dedication to good works and non-violence would so readily pinpoint the one issue that (a) has nothing to do with Arab deep-rooted animosity to any activity a Zionist would accomplish; and (b) goes against all recognized history that the Jews surely have a right to live in Shiloh, Beth-El and Hebron.
Now, as you say "Frankly, I see no objection to the settlements if the settlers are willing to live in a Palestinian state. You and I know that that won't happen." And I'll repeat the point I raised, theoretically, that if that is your position, would you accept the expulsion of the Arabs from the state of Israel? If removing one populace (the Jewish one which now numbers, including east Jerusalem which the Arabs consider theirs, there are one-half million Jews in this category if not more) and the creation of an uni-ethnic Arab state of Palestine will bring peace, why not have a "better" peace and create a second uni-ethnic state called Israel with no non-Jews resident? Of course that is not going to be nor should it but why do liberal, progressive folk seek to promote that idea only in regards to "Palestine" (and I am not going to get into the issue of whether there should be or if there ever was a Palestinian state).
I'll stop here. We've lit the Chanukah lights and a guest has just walked in.
Hope to be "hearing" from you.
Yisrael
4)
Hi -
Thanks for your continuing dialogue. I presume what bothers me more than anything (and why I wrote the letter) is that there seems to be no tolerance of any sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians. Often I have felt and said that here are 'two rights' that are adding up to a troubling 'wrong' - continual hatred. Surviving European Jews had faced total evil during WWII and needed a homeland, but what had the Palestinians done to lose their space?
I really don't have time at the moment to go into detail. I'm quite aware of what you have written and have a small library on the matter from diverse viewpoints. We get the pro-Israeli view regularly in the mass media and I visited the Holy Land four times (the Holy Land, of course, includes modern Israel and the occupied territories). My principal purpose is to seek peace and justice through reconciliation which will benefit both the Israelis and the Palestinians. Obviously, there are extremists on both sides. As I mentioned, one phone caller here on Friday, for example, called me every vulgar name you can imagine. I hope I understand. Loyalties run deep. Propaganda on all sides can be very effective. Look at Nazi Germany and WWII Japan. We are not entirely rational beings and our gut allegiances heavily influence our opinions. We usually believe what we want to believe.
One point only at the moment. No, I do not favor removing Arabs forcibly from Israel. They were already there. Jews moved into the West Bank after it was conquered in a conflict that Israel launched as a preemptive war, rather like our invasion of Iraq in some respects, and settlements built after 1967 clearly violate international law. And the wall, insofar as it is built within occupied territory, is quite outrageous. But, as I think I stated (and I am responding to several angry emails re the NYTimes letter and may mix things up), I don't believe Jews should have to leave the West Bank either, if they are willing to live in a Palestinian state - which I doubt. Many of them, including American settlers, hold on to the concept of God's chosen people who have been deeded that land forever, a concept I find not only offensive but racist in the extreme. We're all equally God's chosen people. In this, of course, I part company with those of my Protestant faith who are both Zionists and fundamentalists and who take every word of scripture literally. We have little in common when it comes to theology - rather like Orthodox and Reform in Judaism.
I have to go now. Every mail brings many Christmas cards and years ago we adopted the policy of trying to respond to all. Serving thousands of parishioners at various churches over the years makes it impossible to do it any other way. If they send, we then send.
Did I mention that I spent twenty years in NYC - at Columbia Law School, Union Theological Seminary (across from Jewish Theological Seminary) and fourteen years serving African-American churches in Harlem and Brooklyn? Most Methodists (and Protestants generally) in NYC are members of minority groups, especially African-Americans. We also have many Asian-American churches, especially Korean. You probably are aware that sympathy for the Palestinians is very strong among many African-Americans. Don't confuse this with anti-Semitism, however, as some quickly insist on doing. Derskowitz seems to fall into that trap regularly. It's possible (and right) to be sympathetic to both sides in this tragic, continuous conflict.
Again, happy Hanukkah. Keep well and joyful.
Ralph Lord Roy
PS If the situation isn't solved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict the American people eventually may tire of it and withdraw altogether. I hear more and more sentiment like that. If the Sunnis and the Shiites, the Israelis and the Palestinians, the various factions in Lebanon can't solve there problems, our best route is to exit from that scene. Why invest more American lives and billions of our tax dollars in trying to straighten out such conflicts that go back hundreds of years? Not our responsibility. And we only seem to make new enemies. That's the view of many, and growing.
5)
I know that I am perhaps straining the dialogue but since you did emphasize an aspect, allow me just to respond to that.
You wrote: "Jews moved into the West Bank after it was conquered in a conflict that Israel launched as a preemptive war, rather like our invasion of Iraq in some respects, and settlements built after 1967 clearly violate international law."
I'll be brief but need to amplify why outisde people get caught up in the intricacies and then get upset by criticism.
a) How did the Arabs, any Arab, get to the Holy Land if not by conquest in 638? Logic would lead one to say that if their presence is justified by conquest, then another "conquest" in 1967 would be similar, no? Did you know, and I presume you do, that the ruling family of Jordan, the Hashemites, are actually refugees from Saudi Arabia who were kicked out by the Wahabis. One brother got himself kicked out of Damascus and ended up in Iraq (as long as you've mentioned Iraq) and the younger brother, Abdallah, "marched" into Ma'an in the fall of 1920 and the British decided to buy him off and not to cause them problems with the French and ensconced him, with all expenses paid, in the territory, which, I thjink, should properly be called "Hashemite occupied territory".
b) International law is kind of tricky. You do know that in taking over the area that became known as the "West Bank", several Jewish communities, - some ancient and other recent, but all had civilian populations, - were destroyed by invading Arab forces. The four kibbutzim in the Etzion Bloc area, Beit Ha'Aravah in the Jordan Valley, two northern Jerusalem neighborhoods of Neveh Yaakov and Atarot and others are among the attempted - and for 19 years, - successful ehtnic cleansing operation committed by Arabs. Were those communities "illegal" then? Or were they proper and legal but only became "illegal" after 1967?
As a man who respects the word of the Lord and strives to act in truth, I am sure you'll mull just those two items over. I am enjoying my holiday and hope you will enjoy yours.
Yisrael
(to be continued?)
Sprinting for Torah
Isn't this the type of story that Orthomom would get excited about?
Here's the lawsuit in PDF.
Plaintiffs: Yeshiva Yagdil Torah, a New York Corp. doing business as Vaad Harabbonim Letikshoreth
Defendants: Sprint Solutions Inc.; Sprint P.C.S.; Sprint Nextel Corp.; Sprint Communications Co.
Accusation: In 2005, a group of rabbis formed a council to find a way Hasidic Jews could use cell phones without getting exposed to soul-corrupting text messages and spam. They enlisted the help of Sprint Nextel in developing something called a Kosher Phone: a so-called "plain vanilla" voice phone that would preclude the very possibility of going online, and the attendant temptations. Of course, it didn't work.
One would think this could be easily accomplished by using older-model phones, but one would, apparently, be wrong. After a year of negotiations and $150,000 spent, Sprint acquiesced and issued a limited batch of phones with text-messaging functions blocked and SIM cards taken out. Then, horror: "Some users reported instances in which devices had the ability to send and receive text messages." The lawsuit charges that Sprint, somewhat understandably nervous about the commercial prospects of this retarded (in the very literal sense) technology, went behind the rabbis' back and switched the texting functions back on.
BONUS: The complaint doesn't waste its time before running afoul of Godwin's Law, in an extremely convoluted manner to boot. See if you can follow this: Vaad is saying that Sprint has said that Vaad was comparing Internet spam to the Holocaust. Vaad says it would never stoop to this kind of rhetoric.
Here's the lawsuit in PDF.
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