Syrian conundrum

The Syrians say:

Speaking to an Arabic-language radio station operated by the United States, Syria's Deputy Information Minister Halaf Al-Maftah said that Israel would face not only Syria in the event that the US, Britain and France attempted to unseat Bashar al-Assad. A coalition consisting of Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria would respond to any attack against Assad with a response against Israel. In addition, terrorist groups in Syria and Lebanon would attack Israel with full force. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/171311

"The war effort lead by the United States and their allies will serve the interests of Israel and secondly Al-Nusra Front," an Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group in Syria, said Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/171333

From Iran,

Iran will unleash a barrage of hundreds of missiles against Israel and U.S. targets in Iraq if Iran or Syria are attacked, an Iranian Web site threatened on Monday, in comments linked to an alleged Israeli air strike on a secret Syrian nuclear facility. http://cnsnews.com/news/article/iran-threatens-missile-strike-israel-us-targets-if-syria-attacked#sthash.oddzxr0O.dpuf

It is worth noting that Iran has threatened to attack Israel each of the several times the IDF has hit – usually Russian – military material in Syria. The IDF has not attacked any Russian assets, e.g., ships in port.

And in Russia, Putin warns the U.S. and its “allies” that it will act in Assad’s behalf if its proxy, Syria, is attacked.

On the other side

Several EU countries are rattling their sabers and massing as if they are preparing to attack Syria, but from Iraq experience, Obungler & Company must have to wonder “how much for how long.”

In Washington, between vacations, Obungler and his State Department secretary continue to talk; making threats against Syria and promises to protect Israel “in the event of.”

Hopefully someone in Jerusalem – despite State’s opposition, Jerusalem IS Israel’s capital – has studied U.S. history. If so. They will know not to put a lot of faith in U.S. promises. Consider Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

Afghanistan all over again

Obungler seems determined to align the U.S. with Assad’s enemies.

The U.S., before Obunger’s elevation from community organizer to the White House, aligned itself with the Taliban to oust the Russians – then a world power with which to be reckoned – from the poppy fields of Afghanistan.

The U.S. armed the Muslims. It trained them and it gave them military and financial support.

In return, when the Russians were sent packing, the U.S. proxy Taliban turned on its masters and bit the hands that had fed it while driving Afghanistan back into an Islamic dark ages.

According to a Syrian official (ibid.), the rebel “Al-Nusra Front is an Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group in Syria.” Taliban. Al Qaeda. The connection is patently obvious. Both are Muslim terrorist groups.

My enemy’s friend is my enemy

A number of Muslim states, including Islamist-leaning Turkey, are encouraging the infidels (EU, U.S.) to attack Syria on their behalf; and if Iran should suffer “collateral damage,” for the Muslims – Saudia, the Gulf Corporation – well, so much the better. Infidels are expendable.

In south Florida:

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-FL 27th Congressional District, has been telling the media that she is confident there will be no U.S. “boots on the ground” in Syria. As Chairman, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Middle East and South Asia, there is some hope that her prediction is accurate. But she is, after all, a Republican.

Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-FL 24th Congressional District, apparently is concerned only with her own district’s issues. Her committees all are domestic.

Sen. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, D-FL 23rd Senate District, despite being Jewish and the Democratic party’s chair, remains silent on the middle east and all U.S. foreign intrigue.

Final question: Who used the chemicals? Where’s the proof?

The U.S. intelligence operations are often not – intelligent.

The U.S. has time and time again gathered second hand information from sources that have little, if any, direct knowledge of reality. When it does get information, the information has to be filtered by sundry organizations that pick and choose information that meets the organization’s agenda.

The bottom line for the U.S. is that, despite the fact that chemical weapons have been used – by some group against other groups, the U.S. cannot be certain who is to blame. If it targets Assad – and Obungler claims not to want “regime change” – and it was the insurgents who used the chemicals, the U.S. will be blamed for (a) interfering in Syrian domestic affairs and (b) killing innocents; collateral damage cannot be avoided.

No matter what Obungler orders, the U.S. will be excoriated by Muslims of all types.

There was, and there remains, value in the Monroe Doctrine.

Spare me

It’s “that” time of year.

Three days when many congregations must make enough money to get them through the year.

Three days when Jews not seen in a minyan any other time – except when they demand a minyan for kadish – show up in shul. (Sadly, many are becoming two-day or even one-day Jews.)

I used to belong to a congregation that put selling honors above Kol Nidre. Never mind that Kol Nidre must be recited before nightfall; selling honors took precedence and night was started before the hazan uttered כל נדרי ואסרי ושבועי the first time.

I understand synagogues are a business; they have operating expenses for staff and facilities.

But I’ve always thought “There has to be a better way” to sell honors than spending an hour or more of time that should be devoted to prayers.

Most synagogues do this; mine does it. (Because my congregation is small, the bidding usually goes relatively quickly.)

There is a way to expedite the “selling of the shul.”

Silent auctions.

My proposal is for the congregation’s management to send out a list of the honors for each day. Open ark, take out scrolls, carry scrolls, hagbahah, aliyot, etc.

Members and guests would bid on the honors they want and return the list/bid sheet to the shul.

That would not eliminate all bidding, but it would establish a “floor” from which the auctioneer would start the in-shul bidding.

The management might even set a “base bid” for each honor.

Cohen aliyah       Minimum bid: 300    Cohen’s name: (in the event the bidder wants to honor someone)

As usual, I am a little late to present my idea to the management; maybe I’ll remember next rosh hodesh Elul, but probably not.

I understand there are folks who simply insist on being viewed as “big machers” and it is both their pleasure and a benefit to the synagogue coffers to stand up, puff up, and (hopefully) coough up later; I would not want to eliminate all bidding. What I want to eliminate are the small bids that we all know will be surpassed. Why start at 10 when we know the honor will go for at least 100?

Spare me . . . or wake me when it’s over.

Now, if only we could guarantee that the highest bidder will pay up.

Kosher labels on bread, milk

Are they REALLY necessary?

 

We are not writing about חלב ישראל or פח ישראל; the milk and breads are off the supermarket shelves.

In the U.S., the federal government regulates foods and food products that cross state lines; states regulate in-state food products not already covered by The Feds.

We know, because the government tells us, that milk labeled cow’s milk is from cows, contented or not. Goat’s milk Is from goats.

Government inspectors, albeit few in number, regularly check to assure milking areas are clean and that the products are kept at appropriate temperatures from barn to processor.

For what it’s worth, I have been to dairy farms with state Ag Agents. Seeing is believing.

It’s not the milk that is suspect.

How many people do you know that make offerings of milk to false gods? Not many these days.

ADDITIVES are the problem.

Almost all store-bought milk is loaded with chemicals.

What goes into these chemicals is the question and the reason to “look for a kosher label” on dairy products.

What about goodies from the bakery? If you are not concerned with when the grain for the flour was harvested (yoshan), flour is flour is flour.

Most bakeries long ago abandoned lard as shortening. (By the way, hard ice cream was – perhaps still is – made in lard-lined tubs; one more reason to look for the kosher label.)

But most flours are “enriched” which means that they have been “improved upon” by adding extra ingredients. Once again, we are greeted with a variety of chemicals.

This scrivener is not a chemist or food scientist so I am obliged to depend on what one hopes are reliable kosher labels. If the kashrut organization fails to do due diligence, well that the organization’s averah – actually plural, averote.

I suppose this could, and maybe should be expanded to include additives to food fed to livestock and fowl destined for our tables. Kashrut inspectors should perhaps check for what an animal is fed as well as assure that slaughter and organ inspection are according to the laws of kashrut.

“Kosher” does not mean “pure” nor even “clean.” “Kosher” only means that whatever when into the food product, and how the product was handled, is permitted by Torah and the authorities.

Pollyannas

 

Are world “leaders” blind or stupid – or both?

 

World “leaders” – the politicians at the helms of nations – had high expectations for Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, would usher in a new enlightenment in Iran.

In their pipe dreams – for they can be nothing else – the thought Rouhani would be less antagonistic to the world than his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Iran’s president has less power and influence on Iranian politics than the queen has on England’s parliament. At least the English queen is generally popular with her subjects (excluding, of course, the Muslims in her realm).

Iran’s president has less power than even the pompous president of Israel who, like a small child, should be seen and not heard.

Rouhani, like Ahmadinejad before him, is nothing more than a puppet for the Grand Ayatollah du jour, today that’s Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei is the sole power in Iran, much as the haredi zealots’ demagogic “rabbis” are the sole power within their sects.

If an Iranian president values his life and position, he has no option but to mouth the ayatollah’s thoughts.

Until Iran reclaims its independence from the imams and ayatollahs, the vitriolic attacks on all non-believers of the grand ayatollah’s Shiite religion – that’s Sunni Muslims, Christian infidels, liberals, the Great and the Little Satans, and “the West” – will continue and, lacking any push back from those non-Shiites, most assuredly will worsen.

The Chinese were right when, decades ago, they called America a “paper tiger.” America as a power is a past tense. We still have a stick – albeit not as big as in TR’s day, perhaps a “twig” is more accurate to describe America’s military today – but we lack anyone to carry it. America is tired of the no-win wars, wars we’ve been losing since Korea’s “police action.”

Korea did not threaten the U.S. in 1950.

Vietnam did not threaten the U.S. in 1954.

Iraq did not threaten the U.S. in Bush 1's war nor in Bush 2’s war.

Afghanistan and Pakistan did not threaten the U.S. (although they provide safe haven for Muslims that DO threaten the U.S.).

Now, 2013, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un DOES threaten the U.S. with nuclear missiles.

Now, 2013, Iran’s Khamenei DOES threaten the U.S. with nuclear missiles.

We fail to fight when there is a fight to be fought, but we enter into wars that are not of our making or our concern.

Syria, for example, is NOT a U.S. concern; it is an Arab League concern. Does the Arab League do anything? In a word, NO. Does the UN do anything beside turn tail and run? No.

Russia is supplying weapons to Bashar al-Assad’s regime, knowing the material will get into Hezbollah’s hands to be used against Lebanon and Israel – and perhaps against Arab Leaguers Saudia and the Gulf states. Still, America must avoid playing “Monkey See, Monkey Do” to to Russia’s arms dealers. If the Saudis want to buy second string weaponry from the U.S., well and good, but no one in Syria – on either side – has the money to Buy American.

What America never learned – not in China, not in Vietnam, not in the Shah’s Iran, not anywhere in the Middle East, and not even in next-door Cuba – is that it cannot annoint a ruler of a country. It cannot buy friends with peaceful or military aid.

The world knows the best America can do is bluff; it can rattle its nuclear sword, but the world knows America is just talk; hot air.

North Korea and Iran threaten the U.S. on a daily basis.

North Korea and Iran have, or are developing, the weaponry to act on their threats.

FDR and his buddies KNEW the Japanese were about to attack American interests and did nothing. Obungler seems bent on doing the same, but this time the attacks could very well be nuclear, killing many times more people than died in Japan’s attacks.

America fights when it should not and fails to attack-to-win when it should.

But it’s OK, because America is sure that Rouhani is going to change the ayatolla’s vision to wipe out the Great Stan and the Little Satan, and a few other infidel states as well.

Are the politicians blind or stupid . . . or both?

 

yohanon.glenn at gmail.coM

It's that time of year

 

When sleepy Sefardim wish
They were Ashkenazim

 

>קמתי באשמורת לבקש על עוני

The two days of Rosh Hodesh Elul 5773 (2013) are Tuesday and Wednesday, August 6 and 7.

For Sefardim, Selihot starts on Thursday, August 8, 2 Elul.

Most congregations recite selihot before morning prayers. For "HaNetz" congregations, that means early. In my neighborhood, the start time for selihot is 5:25 in the yawning.

In Bet Shean c 1970, a crier would roam the neighborhood yelling "SELIHOT" to wake up the men. My wife complains to this day that the criers also woke up women and children. Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case may be, we don't have anyone banging on our doors or yelling "SELIHOT."

Do all men have to rise and shine before dawn?

There are exemptions.

Sleeping in - the conditions.

According to R. Shalom Messas in שמ''ש ומגן, IF a person is a talmed hakham - and I emphasize the word "hakham" - or if the person fears that getting up before dawn will negatively impact the quality of his work or endanger him, then he may sleep in until the Ten Days when he, along with the rest of Israel, must rise for selihot.

Because there are allowances for sleepy heads during Elul, in Morocco, typically only one synagogue in each community was opened for selihot (R. Shalom Messas in ילקוט שמ''ש)

Tallit - leave it in the bag.

According to R. Yosef Messas in הוד יוסף חי the hazan does not put on a tallit gadol for selihot - reasonable given that it still is dark when selihot are read. Unlike Ashkenazim, Sefardim don a tallit only for morning prayers (with the exceptions of 9 Ab and Yom Kippur).

Aramaic - include it or skip it (the angels don't comprehend the language, the rabbis tell us).

According to Ovadia Yosef's ילקוט יוסף, the Aramaic portions of selihot must be said with a minyan. According to R. Shlomo Toledano in דברי שלום ואמת the tradition in North Africa (Morocco, Algiers, Libya) is that minyan or not, the Aramaic is included.

What about women?

The standard answer is "women are exempt" because selihot is at a (less or more) fixed time.

That does not mean that women are prohibited from participating in selihot services; many do. They normally leave before the morning service commences.

yohanon.glenn at gmail dot com

Illegals

 

"Undocumented aliens" to be PC

At a post-Shabat gathering of a bunch of ex-pat Israelis the guy next to me - a good friend - asked what I would do about the illegal immigrants to the U.S.

Simple, I said, throw them out.

What? Throw them out? Where's your Jewish mercy?

What I should have done is give him the following example which I believe to be accurate.

Let's say the U.S. has an immigration quota for Israel of 10 Israelis-a-year.

We'll use small number for convenience - and that I can manage.

There are 100 Israelis waiting to immigrate; 100 Israelis doing it according to the law.

Now, there are 20 Israelis in the U.S. illegally. They came on tourist visas and "disappeared." They are productive. They are working and getting paid - under the table so the IRS knows nothing of them - they are buying things (sadly, most of which are "Made in China") and spending much of what they make where they make it. They have managed, by slight-of-hand, to integrate into the community; kids in schools, driver's license, etc. No Social Security. Since the Israeli requires a residence, he or she is paying property taxes (directly or as part of the rent) to support local services: library, hospital, emergency services, etc.).

OK.

POTUS (President Of The United States) declares that all illegal aliens are henceforth LEGAL aliens and they are on a "fast track" to citizenship. For this tirade, that means 20 illegally-in-the-U.S. Israelis now are legal.

By the way, this amnesty business is done by presidents of both parties, a trend started by Republican Ronald Reagan in 1986.

Remember that the U.S. - in our demonstration - allows 10 Israelis-per-year to enter legally to become U.S. citizens.

The amnesty just used up two years of Israeli immigration.

Remember the Israelis in the line at positions 91 through 100?

They expected to be considered for immigration in 10 years, assuming they live that long.

NOW they need to wait two EXTRA years for a total of 12 years.

MEANWHILE, back on the shores of America, more Israelis are sneaking in. Overstayed visitor visas, overstayed student visas, overstayed any visa. Aside from overstaying the visa, the only laws that may have been broken are the prohibition to work and tax evasion. They expect that another president will grant yet another amnesty and our hopeful at the end of the line can expect to reach these shores in time to be buried here - maybe.

As my friend pointed out, the government - and I heartily agree - should go after the employers
.

But the fact remains: the illegal immigrants - sorry, "undocumented aliens" - ARE here illegally, they ARE breaking the law, and in breaking the law they risk both deportation and a refusal by the U.S. government to issue them a new visa for "n" years.

I'll concede that the immigration laws and quotas need to be revisited. When the quotas were established many of the countries whose citizens want to come to the U.S. didn't exist.

The U.S. rewarded Al Capone with a prison sentence for his crimes - he was caught for tax evasion.

The U.S. government wants to reward secret revealer Edward Snowdon with a lifetime of free room and board, with medical care; the only "catch" is that his freedom will be forfeit.

Why, then, should the U.S. government reward people who committed a crime by entering, or remaining, in the U.S. illegally? (Never mind tax evasion.)

Does the U.S. need the foreign workers?

Yes, and no.

Americans - like modern Israelis - are "too good" to do "stoop labor" and nasty jobs. Latinos are allowed into the country on work visas to work farms and to raise our children. In Israel, Filipinos are allowed into the country to care for the elderly and ill. (And Israel, following the U.S. lead, gave citizenship to many of these people who managed to give birth there.) Arabs from occupied Israel (the so-called West Bank) are allowed in to perform the work Latinos do in the U.S.

Do we really need Israelis as local kashrut supervisors, hazenim, teachers, or even rabbis? Don't we have enough American Jews with the knowledge to overwhelm the job market? (Granted there are no Sefardi yeshivot so importing Sefardi educators might be in order.)

My friend accuses me of lacking "Jewish mercy." The "undocumented immigrant" is only trying to make a buck, he says.

But my friend sees only the person already in this country. He fails to see the person at the end of the line, trying to LEGALLY enter this nation so he, too, can make a buck.

Level the playing field. Send the illegal immigrate out - I don't care where; let the illegal decide - anyplace that will take him and by any means of transportation for which he can buy a ticket.

If the illegal cannot afford to leave, let him be a "guest" of the federal prison system to earn his transportation to "wherever." (If he had a permanent employer, make the employer pay for the illegal's stay in the lock-up.)

It is NOT a lack of "Jewish mercy" to toss out the illegals; it is an act of mercy to give the guy at the end of the queue a chance to realize his dream - legally.

 

yohanon.glenn at gmail.com

Color & the PC police

 

Kushim, Sheorim - black is black

A black hat or smatah does not a haredi make

Extremist ruin others' good name

According to Israel HaYom's online edition for August 1, "Several haredim were caught throwing stones at an Egged bus in Beit Shemesh on Wednesday after a religious couple was detained for trying to force a woman to sit at the back of the bus.

"Three buses reported coming under attack by stone throwers, and one bus reported serious window damage. Firas Shehadeh, a driver on Egged's 417 line said one hooligan attacked his bus with a hammer, breaking windows."

I know a number of "black hats" - a toss up between right-wing modern orthodox and those who are "old line" Ashkenazi orthodox. I also know a few people who dress in the haredi style but are only borderline orthodox. None of the people I know would physically attack anyone or anything or even promote such behavior by others.

Yet, when I see a man or woman with a haredi appearance I wonder if I am looking at someone who is civilized or someone who is closer to an Islamist fanatic than a Torah-abiding Jew. There is, in my opinion, little difference between Iran's ayatollahs and the extreme haredi rabbis.

The actions of the few disgrace many who, even if they agree with the extremists' beliefs, never would stoop to forcing those beliefs on others.

The actions of the few disgrace Israel. I would, at this point, never walk in a haredi neighborhood with my knitted kippot. I would be afraid of being stoned.

Going into a haredi neighborhood - at lest in Israel, I don't know about life in Brooklyn or Deal - is akin to going into an Arab neighborhood; I wouldn't enter with my knitted kippa.

Mind, as a newspaper reporter I covered disturbances in New Jersey without fear of attack. I am not a cowardly person; indeed, I have been accused of foolishly taking chances on occasion.

Israeli law prevents anyone from telling anyone else where to sit on public transportation. Egged has catered to the haredim by running special haredi busses where the haredi preferences rule. Despite this, a few extremist haredim attack Egged vehicles. I wonder if Egged can cancel runs through haredi neighborhoods.

It's not enough that Israel has Arab Members of Knesset (MKs) who, from the Knesset podium claim that that "we were here before you and we will be here after you," it has to tolerate Jewish extremists as well.

If the U.S. and the EU create a second Palestinian state, my recommendation is that this new country include areas of Israel where extremists reside. If Abu Mazzin convinces Obungler and Kerry to give him part of Jerusalem - he wants it all - let it be Mea Shirim.

These haredi extremists in Israel may be Jews - albeit not Torah-observant - but they are not Israelis. They behave as it they are a law unto themselves, religious bigots as vigilantes.

They are a disgrace to Judaism and to Israel.

Let them move to an Arab state - there are many from which to choose - and live comfortably with like-minded people - "If you are not like me, you are worth only my contempt" seems to be their attitude.

Maybe it's not so bad to have that attitude in their own neighborhood, but it cannot be allowed to exit those neighborhoods. In return, I will stay away and encourage others to do likewise.

Comments in Hebrew or English to yohanon.glenn at gmail.com