What am I missing?

 

As of 8:37 a.m. Eastern time Friday, May 20, 2011, the U.S. national debt was

$55,354,057,812,217

and each individual U.S. citizen - every man, woman, and child - owed

$177,767

By the time this is read, the debt will be substantially more.

You can watch it climb at http://www.usdebtclock.org/#.

At the same time the national debt - our indebtedness - is skyrocketing, the president (POTUS) is promising billions for potential - likely - enemies of the U.S. in hopes he can buy friends.

Mr. President: This has NEVER worked; not for Democrats and not for Republicans.

It certainly will not work dealing with Moslems who want to take over the world.

What MIGHT work is another Great White Fleet; the fleet that Teddy Roosevelt sent around the world proving his "Speak softly and carry a big stick" philosophy worked. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_White_Fleet.)

For all that, where is Congress going to get the money so you can keep your rash promise?

While I support limited, emergency foreign aid - e.g., helping Haiti's poor recover from that country's several disasters - I fail to see any benefit of aid to Egypt (the U.S.' partner who was overthrown) or the so called PLO (whose former leader pocketed a large percentage of the loot); even Israel, a country that probably can stand on its own if it could be weaned from the U.S.' financial teat.

The U.S. is owned by others, primarily by China.

No longer are Americans an independent people nor is our country still ours.

We have been "sold out" by Washington - by both Democrats and Republicans - and you, Mr. President, are continuing the great - and stupid - tradition of selling our children's futures for your own glory - "Look how I helped <pick a country>." Never mind it was money generations to come must earn.

It might not be so bad were the promises not coming on the heels of an invasion of a country involved in a civil war, an invasion in which we had no right to participate. (Remember the Monroe Doctrine?)

And never mind that the rulers the rioters are overthrowing managed to keep the lid on internal strife - much like the Communists in the former Soviet Union.

And never mind that, if all the revolting countries follow in the path of Egypt and Gaza they will be dominated by terrorists determined to eliminate the Great Satan - the U.S. - and then all the infidels - until they run out of infidels then they'll start on each other.

Not only do your promises sell us and our children and their children into debtor's prison - for truly, owning debt we can never repay is a prison - you are selling us to a people who hate us, who WILL "bite the hand that feeds them."

Is there anyone in Congress with the intelligence and intestinal fortitude to prevent POTUS from giving away our future?

Walk, not Talk

 

The following is used with permission

Thoughts on Parashat Behukotai , May 21, 2011

By Rabbi Marc D. Angel

A man who lives near our synagogue recently attended an evening service in order to say kaddish in memory of his father. Although we almost always have a minyan present, that night we had a problem. The weather was bad, some of our "regulars" were out of town--we only had eight men at services.

Our guest was agitated and angry. He had come to say kaddish, but we were not able to provide him this opportunity. He stomped angrily out of the synagogue, indignant that we did not have a minyan when he needed one.

Yes, it is a pity that we missed minyan that night.

But who was this man who was so angry at us? He was a neighbor of the synagogue who has lived nearby for many years. Yet, he is not a member of the synagogue and has not contributed even one cent to the synagogue for all these years. He never attends the synagogue, except when he needs to say kaddish. Although he has done nothing to strengthen the synagogue or to bolster our minyan (except when he needs to say kaddish), he expects the synagogue to be there to serve him at his convenience; he expects ten men to be at services whenever he deigns to show up.

He feels that he has a right to benefit from the synagogue, even though he does nothing to help the synagogue maintain itself. He was indignant that ten men didn't show up for him to say kaddish, even though he never shows up to help make minyan for others. He feels entitled to take, but doesn't feel responsible to give.

This week's Torah portion begins with the words: "If you walk in My statutes." The Torah might have said: if you observe My statutes, or if you keep My statutes." Why does it use the word "walk?"

Rabbi Hayyim Palache, a sage of 19th century Izmir, explained that when the Torah commands us to "walk" in God's ways, it means that we are to be active participants. We are not supposed to wait for opportunities to fulfill mitzvoth, but we are urged to "walk", to actively seek ways of doing that which is right and good.

To "walk" in God's statutes means that we actively take part in religious life, that we happily and eagerly accept responsibility to do our share as part of the community. It means that we pay our way, and do our best, and participate as well as we can.

Some people somehow think that they are entitled to benefit from synagogues or other communal institutions, even though they do not participate in maintaining those institutions. Who exactly is supposed to pay the bills? Who exactly is supposed to attend daily services and make minyan every morning and evening? These people don't really care, as long as the responsibility doesn't devolve on their shoulders. Let others provide!

The Torah portion reminds us to "walk" in God's statutes, to participate actively, happily and responsibly in maintaining a vibrant Jewish religious life. Those who shirk the responsibility and privilege of "walking" in God's ways deprive themselves of the satisfaction and self-respect that come with ethical, righteous religious living.

Synagogues and communal institutions don't exist just through wishful thinking. Minyanim don't happen just from good intentions. If we each do not do our share, we have no right to expect others to pick up the slack for us.

Let us "walk" in God's statutes. It's an important key to personal happiness and communal strength. What is needed is "walk," not "talk."

________________________________________

The Angel for Shabbat column is presented as a service of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals. Please visit our website jewishideas.org for a wide array of articles of special interest to those who wish to foster an intellectually vibrant, compassionate and inclusive Orthodox Judaism.

A Ripley's moment

 

It's a shame, but the President of the United States (POTUS) has given us yet another "Believe it or not" minute.

First it was a birth certificate that suddenly, after two years, turned up.

Now Bin Laden's demise - POTUS claims to have evidence, but he won't share it with outsiders who might be able to validate it..

Mr. Obama must be the least trusted president since William Jefferson "I didn't Have Sex with that Woman" Clinton.

We all know how Hollywood can manufacture fantasies..

We also know how the denizens of the Federal government can manufacture things it wants us to believe.

If I worked for a press agency, I think I'd have someone poke around Hawaii birth records - public information and all - to see what births were recorded immediately before and after the one submitted by POTUS. Are the certificate numbers sequential? Who signed Obama's certificate and is that person still around?

By the way, was there a seal on the paper he showed the world. I couldn't tell looking at a small photograph on tv.

Even if there WAS a seal, it would take some very sophisticated equipment to try to confirm - or disprove - the authenticity of the offered proof of birth document.

Why he got tired of stonewalling America after two years is beyond my ken, but feeds my suspicions that what we see is not the real thing.

Iif a birth certificate can be faked, certainly photographs can be faked.

The residents of Gaza, with a little help from gullible or anti-Israeli French "journalists", proved that photos often are not what they seem.

Faking a death is easy.

Apparently the Internet has been flooded with phony photos of a dead Bin Laden. Why, because POTUS deemed pictures supposedly taken - by whom, when? - not suitable for the American public, a public much of which glories in blood-and-guts video games and delights in horror stories on both the big and little screens.

Could the photographs out of Auschwitz be worse, yet we see them.

Ditto the massacres in Africa.

Likewise the victims of peaceful Islam's attacks on Israeli civilians. Those photos we can see, but not one of a man with a disfigured face?

POTUS tells us he has "DNA evidence" matching Bin Laden's late sister's DNA to the terrorist.

I will tell you the moon is made of cheese and, given a chance, sell you beach wear for the Bering Straight in January.

The bottom line is POTUS is asking us to believe it - there's no "or not" option.

I find it hard to believe anything that comes from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

It's never been known as a monument to honesty, even in the best of days. Perhaps the last honest president this country had - perhaps the only honest president this country has had, was Harry S Truman.

When it comes to birth certificates and dead terrorists, my level of confidence in POTUS is, on a scale of 1 to 10, a solid minus 10.

For me, it's believe it - not. There has been too much "smoke and mirrors" in this administration.

Ignorance and 70s tunes

 

Just picked up an oldies CD from the local lending library.

Just realized how much of the 70s music was on the "Jesus bandwagon."

It was bad enough listening to "One Toke Over the Line" - I figure that the guy was stoned anyway and not responsible for what was sung.

"One Toke" was followed by "Put Your Hand in The Hand (of the Man from Galilee)".

I guess I never paid attention to the words before - I'm a child of the Eisenhower "Silent Generation" whose general opinion is that "good music" stopped in the mid-(19)60s.

Anyway, there is a line in the song that rails against the buyers and sellers in the Temple.

Like many things, Jesus groupies lack an understanding of the Temple and its environment.

They make a big deal of their man-god wielding a whip on "money changers" in the Temple courts.

First, where did Jesus get the authority to administer corporal punishment to anyone, especially lacking an appearance before a bet din (court).

But forget that; one more thing the groupies fail to consider.

What is bothersome is their lack of knowledge about WHY there were money changers in the Temple court (but not in the Temple) and buying and selling going on.

We are told that three times a year (Pesach, Shavuot, Sukot) we are to go up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to HaShem. (We were a primitive people who were not yet fully weaned from idolatry and the superstitious rites that accompany it.)

If a rancher came from near Jerusalem, he could bring an animal for the sacrifice.

A farmer somewhere in Israel could bring grain.

But pity the poor Jew coming from, say, Rhodes or Rome or Beni Malal. There is no way that Jew could bring live stock - it was a bit more difficult to travel in Temple times than it is now, and no safer.

So the pilgrim-from-afar brings something portable - money or precious metal - to trade with someone at or near the Temple for the goods the pilgrim intends to sacrifice.

If the merchant was an honest Jew, some of his profits went into the Temple coffers and he also made his sacrifices.

So here we have Jesus allegedly - if you recall, none of the gospels were written in "real time" and Jesus' #1 PR guy, Paul (nee' Saul) only met Jesus in an hallucination, ergo "allegedly" - assaulting people providing a service to pilgrims. If the stories in the Jesus testament are accurate, Jesus was indeed a criminal and should have been hauled before a Jewish court - except that at the time the Romans had taken away Jews rights to administer courts - and punished for wounding others. Whips tend to leave marks and sometimes open wounds.

Even in today's world what Jesus is alleged to have done is considered "not PC." Today an activist would hold up protest signs; only the most extreme would get physical.

Which brings up an interesting - to me - question.

If the Temple is rebuilt, will sacrifices resume? I know there are those who will demand it.

But think how we and the rest of the world react to animal sacrifices by the Santerians and others. (See http://www.religioustolerance.org/santeri1.htm for more information.)

There already is a movement, mostly in Europe, to ban shechita.

The Jesus groupies once again only have half the story.

Unfortunately, they keep telling it in catchy tunes.

"Peace Partners"

 

Yesterday this space included a quote from Hamas' leadership - a leadership that recognizes Israel only as a state to erase from the map.

Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip said "We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior. We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood," he told the Reuters news agency.

Today, the Palestinian Media Watch (http://palwatch.org/ reports that Fatah's leadership - a leadership with which Israel's current PM is courting as a peace partner - has added its voice against Bin Laden's alleged death.

The military wing of Fatah, of which Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is the chairman, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, published a long statement in reaction to the killing of Osama bin Laden calling it a "catastrophe." They said that those who killed Bin Laden were "gangs of heretics." Fatah's military wing promises that the Jihad fighters will not be deterred in their path and ends its announcement vowing: "We say to the American and Israeli occupier: the [Islamic] nation which produced leaders who changed the course of history through their Jihad... is capable of restoring the glory of Islam and the flag of Allah's oneness, Allah willing."

The entire article can be read at http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=4972

The PMW article included the following from a Arab source:

Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades announced via MAAN, an Arab media outlet, that "We say to the American and Israeli occupier: the [Islamic] nation which produced leaders who changed the course of history through their Jihad and their endurance, is a nation that is capable of supplying an abundance of new blood into the arteries of the resistance and is capable of restoring the glory of Islam."

Bin Laden Dead?

 

I'm informed, via radio, tv, emails, newspapers, and people-in-passing, that Obama Bin Laden is dead; killed by Navy SEALs after a fire fight at his allegedly luxurious compound in Pakistan.

Funny enough, I suggested just such an attack in a March 27 entry at http://tinyurl.com/3oeatkd.

Unfortunately, I don't believe it.

I have a lack of confidence in governments - plural. Government people lie when it suits them.

I told one person I want to see Bin Laden's head - preferably separated from his body in true Islamic fashion; the person's reply: "Have you ever SEEN Bin Laden?" The point was well made. Just like Barak Obama's certificate of birth, the "evidence" of Bin Laden's death could be manufactured at Langley (CIA headquarters) or other, similar, facilities.

If Israel's Mosad claimed credit for killing Bin Laden, I still would have my doubts.

I'm glad that the Powers-That-Be FINALLY realized the only effective way to eliminate Bin Laden - and others like him - is to send in small units of personnel highly trained in the job to be accomplished.

The Bin Laden exercise - according to reports I've heard - was carried out by four helicopters carrying Navy SEAL teams. One of the aircraft apparently was shot down or otherwise failed to complete the mission; so far I have heard no reports of other SEAL causalities.

While eliminating Bin Laden provides a psychological boost to those people targeted by Al-Qaeda, its affiliates, and want-to-be's, I doubt it will have much impact on his loyalists.

First many won't believe he was killed. Short of photographic evidence of Bin Laden and his closest associates lying side-by-side waiting to be doused with gasoline prior to being incinerated (burned bodies miss out on the 70 virgins), I doubt any Moslem will concede his or her leader is no more.

* * *

Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip said "We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior. We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood," he told the Reuters news agency.

This from a person whose primary goal in life if to shed Israeli blood - one child at a time.

* * *

According to one report I heard, the Navy deep-sixed (threw overboard) Bin Laden's body; that seems very "convenient."

More than not believing their figurehead is dead, I expect there will be a surge of attacks against targets everywhere, but especially in the U.S., to "avenge" his death or for starting rumors of his death.

Now that the SEALs have proven my point (see http://yohanon.blogspot.com/2011/03/promises-vs-political-foolishness.html) perhaps Washington will rethink its military excursion policy; rather than send in thousands of reservists - the equivalent of using an elephant gun to shot a gnat - send in highly trained, mission-specific teams to eliminate a threat's leadership.

In the case of Bin Laden, I think Al-Qaeda and its look-alikes will survive; he was in power and thumbing his nose at the world for too long; he had time to develop a following that will only grow more determined in his absence.

The U.S., in addition to "targeting" the terrorists' leadership, needs to treat captured enemy as spies - they don't wear a recognized uniform after all - and shoot them; they should NOT be considered military prisoners of war or civilian non-combatants. They do NOT deserve, not should they be granted, anything beyond basic human rights - that is, a efficient execution in accordance with Islamic law (i.e., beheading). And then incinerate the bodies.

Even if Osama bin Laden is dead, his fanaticism lives on. We - the non-Moslem world - must remain alert; the jihadist threat remains.

To become complacent now would not only be foolish, it would be fatal.

* * *

More about the Navy's SEALs at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy_SEALs

* * *