Politically correct

The United States has become so "politically correct" that criminals have the upper hand.

Profiling is a "no-no."

Checking a non-citizen's background is a "non-no" (but it's OK to investigate a white American male).

People are "mobility impaired" - never handicapped or crippled.

I'm 5'9" and shrinking - I suppose I'm height challenged.

Now I can understand that "deaf and dumb" is offensive in this day and age, although at one time "dumb" meant "unable to speak." A person who would be considered "dumb" today was "simple" or "stupid" or "crazy" - now PC "mentally ill" or "mentally challenged."

The background of a recidivist - look it up; a judge made me search for the word when I was a young reporter - must be hidden from a jury.

"Gay" used to mean happy - and then it somehow got high jacked by homosexuals - and how come men are "gay" or "homosexual" while females are "lesbians"; they don't all come from Lesbos which, as a bit of trivia, is supposed to produce some of the best ouzo available.

I have seen "people of color" go from Negro to Black to African-American (which, given the various shadings, seems more generic); what's the PC term du jour? Seems only the pejoratives remain the same. While on the subject of color, can anyone explain the logic of some people who at once denigrate "people of color" and then risk skin cancer to acquire a "tan" that in many cases is darker than the people they look down upon.

And what is wrong with the "n" word? Granted, it is insulting, but so are "kike" and "spick" and "chink" and "wop" and a bunch more, but while people take offense when someone from the "outside" (that is, someone who is not a member of the group with the tag) uses the term, few people become enraged or refer to the word as the "k," "s," "c," or "w" word. Sort'a like telling an ethnic joke - I can tell jokes about MY people, but shame on you if YOU tell them about my people. Human nature.

Marriage used to be a sanctified union between a man and a woman. I have no problem with same sex couples having a legal status, but let's let "marriage" maintain its definition. While on the subject of marriage, what ever became of pre-marital blood tests, VDRLs? They were a requirement for all food handlers and all hoping to marry - no one complained, at least not when I was a high school-age pearl diver (dishwasher to the uninitiated) or when my wife and I were about to wed. Has venereal disease disappeared? Rhetorical question; I know STDs are more prevalent now than when I was - well - "younger."

When I was a kid, if you came down with a communicable disease - measles or smallpox as examples - you were quarantined; a big QUARANTINE sign went up on the front door. Anyone seen a quarantine sign recently? Not quite a Scarlet Letter or Mark of Cain, but attention getting.

There was a big flap over a presidential hopeful failing to put hand-over-heart when the national anthem was played. It's possible the photo was taken out of context, but next time someone plays the Star-Spangled Banner, look around and see who places hand or hat over heart and who doesn't (some of our most highly paid athletes - but since many are not US citizens, should they?). OK, it's a difficult song to sing and just between us, I'd prefer America the Beautiful, but until there's an Act of Congress to change it, I'll continue to stand and "salute" when the anthem is played or when the flag passes by in a parade - or even if I'm passing by a flag pole as the banner is raised or lowered.

Maybe I'm "sensitive" to poor flag etiquette because I lived overseas for several years and came to value the red, white, and blue more than even when I wore "Shade 84" blue.

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

When silence is not golden

I was reading some commentaries on Sh'lah Lakah (B'Midbar/Numbers 13-15) - we have several in the house and I don't recall which one I had open at the time - and I came upon a comment that addressed the newly freed slaves preference to believe 10 negative reports versus 2 (Caleb's and Joshua's) positive reports.

The commentator was trying to make the point that even those who didn't rally 'round the reluctant-to-enter Canaan reporters were at least as guilty of supporting them as those who vocally stood with them.

The point was well made, albeit not on line with what the Torah reports - that all the people (save for Caleb, Joshua, and Moses) agreed with the reports.

Too often we see something that is wrong.

It might be something small, like a person littering (and currently there's a great tv commercial on that topic) or something major - I'm thinking of the Kitty Genovese murder (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Genovese) .

We don't "want to make waves."

I'm a red, white, and blue American from the midwest. I do "make waves."

I taught my children to "make waves." They do.

When they see a perceived injustice, they try to do something about it. One's a cop so he has the power of the law in his hands. The other two take "appropriate action," sometimes confronting the offender, sometimes calling someone "in authority."

We, Jews, are taught that we must do everything we can, including forfeiting our own life, to protect the life of another. Most of us never will be in that position but consider for a moment Ms. Genovese.

According to reports in the NY Times (Ms. Genovese was murdered in the Kew Gardens section of Queens NY), the 28-year-old woman was stabbed while 38 people looked on.

Although the Wikipedia article calls the NYT report less than 100% accurate, the bottom line is that different people at different times were aware that something was seriously wrong and did nothing - not even call police.

If one person had acted, could Ms. Genovese have been saved? Probably.

But no one did.

Not my job.

Out of sight, out of mind.

What do you do if you see a small child in an unattended vehicle? It doesn't have to be summer and the engine doesn't have to be running.

What do you do?

Wait a while to see if an adult returns - and if not, what? Go looking for the missing adult? Call the cops?

Or would you keep silent and walk on?

If the child was a dog and you were a PETA volunteer, you'd call the cops in a heartbeat.

If you're Jewish, there is no option: you MUST act.

Silence may be golden in the library, but when a person is in danger, silence makes us a contributor to the danger as surely as if we were the threat ourselves.

Think about it.

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

Sunday school hypocrisy

I used to "davin" at a synagogue that sponsored an afternoon and Sunday school.

Aside from Shabat (and haggim), the only time I could make a morning minyan was Sunday.

Sunday school started about the same time as the minyan, so as I arrived, I could see parents dumping off their kids and beating a hasty retreat.

To do what?

I often wondered what was more important to the parents than the double mitzvah of being part of congregational prayers.

Double mitzvah because (1) they could pray with the congregation and (2) their children would see that Judaism was more than having the parents burden the children with afternoon and Sunday school.

But what would the parents do between the end of the morning service and the time the children were freed?

How about study with the rabbi or other knowledgeable person - Torah, maybe the week's portion or Rashi or . . . , perhaps Talmud, or Ramba"m, or ... There are options beyond number. But STUDY.

If we stop learning in our profession, we may as well retire - or find a new profession. For most of us, Judaism is not a profession, but it does demaand on-going studies. Meir tells us we can learn from anyone and everyone - he did (and defended it nicely).

Seems to me the kids could see the hypocrisy of it all.

Mom and Dad send ME to a place I don't want to go to learn (about) a religion they don't practice and a language they can't comprehend - their prayers are said by rote or by reading a transliteration but in either case, have no meaning for them.

I always felt sorry for the kids and I felt sorry for Judaism. Both were getting gyped.

(We used to have Greek Orthodox neighbors who sent their daughters to "Greek School" and I suspect they felt the same way about "Greek School" as Jewish kids feel about "Hebrew School." Maybe all religions have the same problem.)

I made a suggestion to The Spouse this morning. In order to get the parents to attend services and study a bit, offer a discount for the kid's tuition, say 25% off if both parents regularly participate in Sunday services and study; 15% off if only one parent participates. (Single parents get the full discount . . . who knows, maybe they'll meet someone during the study sessions!)

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

Shavuot

There we were, standing together under a mountain, with G-d asking us: "Do you want my Torah?"

What a question.

Look up and see the alternative.

'Course we just woke up, having overslept a bit. Definitely a "wake up call."

Wouldn't it have been more convincing if, rather than having a mountain held over our heads, HaShem had just whispered in our ears: "Shall we share the Torah."

No threats.

No "MY" Torah possessiveness.

After all, when the Torah came down to us, it became OUR Torah.

One of the Shavuot articles I read made note, as many do, of the story of us oversleeping on the day we were to receive the Torah.

The author suggested that perhaps we put ourselves into a deep sleep because of fear.

Fear of G-d's presence?

Fear that we couldn't or wouldn't measure up? (We're still working on it; thank G-d that G-d's patient.)

---

When we lived in Holon we had neighbors who had two children.

The parents fought a lot.

One day the young (maybe 7 years old) daughter came to visit us.

Somehow, The Spouse and I got into a spirited conversation. It must have seemed to our visitor that we were behaving like her parents.

So our little visitor shut it out and ... went to sleep.

---

'Course, when asked if we would accept the Torah, we replied in a very extraordinary way: We will do and we will hear.

"Hey, son, I need your help."

"OK, Abba; here I am."

It could have been different.

"Hey, son, I need your help."

"To do what?"

Since G-d had been feeding us for all those years - OK, so it was the same thing day in and day out except for those birds that "dropped in" - as we wandered around in the wilderness (not "desert," thank you; where do you think we got material for the sukkot; we didn't make sand castles, you know!), you'd think we'd be like the first response; G-d's not really asking us to DO a lot - at this point, mostly keep Shabat and get rid of those foreign gods.

That's another point. G-d tells us to have "no other gods" before HaShem.

Someone suggested that could mean G-d "admits" there are other gods. I don't think so; I think it means what other people considered to be gods . . . maybe like many of us treat money as a god.

I don't know that we really needed the "threat" of a mountain over our heads. On the other hand, we often behaved like two-year-olds (the "terrible twos"). Whining because all we had was manna; whining if the well was a little distant; whining because we were not all cohanim (frankly, Scarlett . . . ) - maybe the mountain-over-our-heads was appropriate.

Final thought.

Shavuot means halavie - dairy - foods.

I love dairy foods.

Dairy foods for Shavuot are like liquor for Purim. (I'm fond of arak and Bourbon.)

But we know that while it's a tradition to get so inebriated we don't know Mordecai from Hamas - sorry, Haman - we also know getting to that stage is as foolish as a Purim spiel.

For some of us, it's "ditto with dairy." High cholesterol means controlling consumption of the dairy delights. But, with an eye on the labels (kashrut and cholesterol), most of us should be able to at least nosh a nibble.

Shabat shalom, hag Shavuot samach, and b'tayavon

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com