Opuscula Some Jewish Pejoratives1

Am HaAretz

Goy

Shiksah and Shagetz (y)

Swartz in all its variations

Used by a Jew in the 20th and 21st centuries, all of the above are pejoratives.

Two are direct from Hebrew, the others via Yiddish.
But not all used to be (pejoratives).

Anyone who has spent time with the Talmuds (Bavil and Yerusalmi) should know that “am ha’aretz” once referred to ruling committees, vads (vadim).

Given the literal meaning of the word, People (am) of the (ha) land (aretz) it is probably that the people known as “Am HaAretz” were landed gentry.

According to mi yodeya², In Tana'ch, the term "am ha'aretz" meant either "the tribal counsel" as we see when Abraham wanted to purchase the Cave of Machpela, he bowed down to the "am ha'aretz". It also meant "the nation" or "people of the land" as we see this term used in Yeshayahu among other places in Tana"ch. In the mishnah and gemarah (Avot, for example), the term "am ha'aretz" means "ignoramus".

How did the meaning change?

I might speculate that when Ezra brought Jews back from Bavil he found a people who were, in the eyes of the returnees, “beneath them.”

This is human nature; usually new immigrants are considered the “unwashed masses.” This was true of the established Sefardim (Spanish/Portuguese Jews) when the German Jews first arrived on America’s shores, and of the Germans who were embarrassed by the shtetel Jews who arrived in the late 1800s and early 1900s from eastern Europe.

Goy is used, repeatedly in the Torah to mean “nation.”

It is a Hebrew word, not a Yiddish word, albeit Ashkenazi Jews who know zero Hebrew use it freely in its negative sense.

HaShem promised Abram (Genesis 12 2) “I will make of thee “a great nation” — אעשך לגוי גדול .

All translations to English are from the Hertz/Soncino humash unless otherwise noted.

In Genesis (21 13) HaShem tells Abraham that He also will make Ismael “a great nation” — וגם בן האמה לגוי אשימנו .

Abraham was not the only patriarch told he would be a father to a great nation.

HaShem told Jacob/Israel (Genesis 46 3) אל-תירא מרדה מצרימה כי-לגוי גדול אשימך שם — “fear not to go down into Egypt ; for I will make of thee a great nation.”

In Isaiah (43 9) we read “כל הגוים נקבצו” — “All the nations are gathered...”

In the Pesach hagadah, we recite “Pour out Your fury on the nations [goyim] that do not know You.”. (When raising the Cup of Elijah just before Hallel in a traditional hagadah.)

Perhaps the context — the nations [goyim] that do not know You — that was added to the story in the so-called Middle Ages³ put the term “goy” in a (justifiably) negative connotation.

There IS a word (or several) in Hebrew to identify a person as a non-Jew: the word: nokar (m)/nokaret (f)/nokarim (p) — נוכר\נוכרת\נוכרים. The word literally means “foreigner” or “not one of us."

Nokar, because it is Hebrew and less known to European Jews, never took on the pejorative status of “goy.”

Cushie never was a pejorative until American liberals descended on Israel around 2005.

Ethiopian Jewish tradition identifies the land of Cush with their land of origin, but there are other ancient traditions that identify Cush with different locations in the ancient world.⁴

In any event, dark skinned Jews were known as “Cushim” before American liberals determined “Chushie” was not politically correct. To be politically correct, the Americans contend, black Jews must be called “she’hor’im” — “blacks.

שחור = black, but not to be confused with שיכור = drunk.

Was Malkat Sheba a Cushite? If she was, that certainly did not bother David, except perhaps when she returned to her own country.

Swartzah/Swartzer are Yiddish for a black person. It should NOT be a pejorative, but its use, almost always with a negative or condescending connotation, makes it so.

Perhaps the American liberals who insist on calling Cushim “she’hor’im” are thinking “swartzah” and “swartzer” but can’t admit it even unto themselves.

I recall a sweet young thing in 9th grade chorus who whispered into my ear “Swartz means black.” Swartz, German for black, was borrowed by the Yiddish-speaking Jews. I could not bring myself to call her “Carol Cushie” or “Carol Sha’hor.” Not even “Carol Black.” (I’m certain Ms. Swartz from my 9th grade chorus class long ago changed her name under the huppa. Mazel tov.)

Shiksah and Shagetz are Yiddish terms for nokarim – shiksah for females and shagetz for males. Unfortunately, too many non-Yiddish-speaking Jews have adopted the pejoratives, especially when their son or daughter is entranced by a non-Jew.

Hebrew is replete with pejoratives, but the pejoratives are not, unlike English, obscene. How can a word be obscene if it appears in the Torah?

That doesn’t mean casting aspersions on a person’s forebears won’t result in a bloody nose, or worse, but at least the person isn’t being obscene or profane.

Sources

1. Pejorative: https://tinyurl.com/ydb6l39o

2. Am HaAretz: https://tinyurl.com/r2zwfae

3. Goy in Hagadah: https://tinyurl.com/yxyf47rv

4. Cush: https://tinyurl.com/uq658gj

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.
 

Jewish Pejoratives

Opuscula Anti-Semitism Is many things To many people

EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT CONSTITUTES “ANTI-SEMITISM.”

Yes ◻     No ◻

Perhaps the statement should be: Everyone THINKS they know what constitutes “anti-Semitism.”

IS IT “ANTI-SEMITIC” to criticize Israel? Israeli Jews do it all the time, even so-called “orthodox” Jews have issues with modern Israel and its government.

As with most criticisms, it is wise to have an answer to a situation other than “throw out the bast*rds.

Is it “anti-Semitic to criticize a Jew?

Jews criticize Jews all the time. If you consider Bernie Sanders a Jew, then politically conservative Jews almost constantly criticize the man. Politically conservative Jews are quick to criticize politically liberal Jews, i.e., Democrats. Most do NOT, however, refer to the others as “nazis” or racists, but it has been known to be said by leftists, both Jewish and non-Jewish..

Jews are not exactly xeonophobic, but sometimes . . .

Black hats look with disdain on clean-shaven and kippa-less Jews who look at bearded, kippa-wearing and tzit-tzit dangling Jews as “extremists.”

There ARE some crazies among us — the harideem who stand along a roadside on Shabat and throw rocks at passing vehicles and those who strung a chain across a major Bnai Brak thoroughfare sans warning; the chain decapitated a scooter driver on Shabat.

These are Muslim tactics and they are rare among most Jews in Israel and elsewhere.

There is much to criticize in Israel. Not all Jews are treated fairly; nor are all Israeli Arabs.

Legal immigrant integration

New legal immigrants are not as quickly integrated into society as possible; read: As quickly as leftists would like.

To be fair — but who wants to be fair? — there are new immigrant integration issues everywhere. But what other country makes as much of an effort to integrate legal immigrants as Israel? (Personal experience.)¹

Netanyahu seems, or perhaps now “seemed,” to be “King for Life,” taking cabinet positions (“portfolios”) for himself if the incumbent displeased him.

Is criticizing Netanyahu either anti-Semitic or anti-Israel or even anti-Likud? Today’s Likud is hardly Begin’s Likud.

Is it anti-American to criticize President Trump? The Democrats and other leftists have been doing that, relentlessly, since Trump took office.

Is it anti-American to criticize laws passed that impact one group’s rights in favor of another? Hardly.

Do Muslims complain of discrimination in the U.S.? Silly question. Muslims complain of discrimination everywhere that they are less than a majority.

Yet, there are many Muslims in Israel who prefer Israel to life in PLO or Hamas-controlled areas.

Two — or three — state solution

Is it anti-anything if a person is for — or against — a “two state solution?” How about a three state solution: Israel, Jordan,, and Egypt. It might work except that Egypt won’t absorb Gaza with its Hamas/Islamic Jihad crazies and Jordan has all the “Palestinians” it can suffer. Gaza once was part of Egypt and the so-called “West Bank” was controlled by Jordan, “back in the day.”

When “Palestine” was ruled from Amman, there was no talk of a state independent of Jordan. Likewise, does anyone recall the residents of Gaza seeking independence from Egypt?

That, of course, is conveniently forgotten. Likewise forgotten is that the PLO’s first leader (Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Hussein² ) was not “Palestinian” or even Jordanian, but Egyptian.

Also forgotten is the time when Lebanon “shared” Mt. Hermon and shelled Israeli civilians or the Katusha’s from Lebanon that fell on Zefat. (Personal experience.)

Critics can’t see own image

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the folks who criticize Israel is their blindness to all other countries less than ideal Human Rights practices.

One major talking point on which the anti-Israel groups harp is Israel’s so-called “occupation” of “Arab” lands.

Consider for a moment that no matter where an American lives in the U.S., he or she is on land taken — usually by force of arms — from the indigenous population, a population, incidentally, that was warehoused in ghettos, a/k/a reservations. America’s treatment of American Indians was far worse than anything Israel has done to Muslims.

The same applies for most countries. Russia recently took Crimea from the Ukraine as the world watched — and did nothing.

Ah, but Russia is not Israel.

Is it anti-Russian to remind the Russian government that it “stole” the Crimea?

Who does BDS hurt?

The anti-Israel folks who promote Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel hurt the people (residents of PLO areas) more than they hurt Israel.

They drove out Soda Stream, a company that employed Muslims from the so-called West Bank and paid them at the same rate as Jews. Sans Soda Stream, the former employees are financially worse off. (Arabs in southern Israel gained from the BDS effort; THEY now have jobs their kin in the north lost.)

Israel is training PLO-area residents in high tech so they can improve their communities’ economies.

BDS’ raison d'être, no less than Iran’s, is to destroy Israel.

If it did, the UN would have to close out at least two “Palestinian-specific” welfare programs: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and United Nations Development Programme's Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People.

Gaza, incidentally, with cooperation from the Israeli government, is shipping record amounts of strawberries to England as well as to the PLO territories.

When Israel, under Ariel Sharon, forced Jewish farmers out of Gaza in 2005, the Muslims destroyed most of the greenhouses and infrastructure left by the departing Jews. It has taken more than a decade of foreign funding to restore what was destroyed in 2005.

Palestinians harvest strawberries at their farm in the northern Gaza Strip, March 5, 2007. Photo: Reuters / Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Bottom line

The bottom line is that most of the people who are anti-Israel have no first hand experience with Israel, Gaza, or the PLO-controlled areas. This includes the anti-Israel representatives in the U.S. House who, despite Israel allowing them entry to the PLO areas, declined the opportunity.³

People who DO know first hand what goes on in Israel can criticize the country’s government — but not the people; they are as diverse as the people in the U.S. — after taking a look at their own history and after looking at other countries around the globe.

People also can criticize Jews for being “clannish” or a bit “xenophobic” — and why not, given the centuries of persecution for their belief or ancestry — but tarring all Jews with the same broad brush is a sign or ignorance.

The true anti-Jew — Arabs also are Semites so “anti-Semite” is not accurate unless these people also hate Arabs — DOES know a Jew is a Jew is a Jew, regardless of level of observance, where the person lives, what he or she eats (or avoids), or with what political party the person affiliates (e.g., Democrat=Good Jew, Republican=Bad Jew — or maybe it is the other way around).

Ignorance.

The hallmark of a bigot.

Sources

1. Immigration: https://tinyurl.com/t5vgtmz

2. PLO leader: https://tinyurl.com/rrk2cdh

3. Rep. Tlaib: https://tinyurl.com/y6obleb2

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

Opuscula Maybe it’s time To rethink about Guns at minyans

While this entry started with Jews as the sole subject, an article recently came to my attention titled A look at attacks on houses of worship over last decade (https://tinyurl.com/y6sqkp35)

Prehaps what applies to us may apply to others, too.

 

 
IT SEEMS IT IS “OPEN SEASON” ON Jews and the “hunters” go where they can find their prey.

Synagogues, kosher markets, Jewish schools, kosher restaurants, all places where Jews congregate.

Jews are not known as the type people to carry weapons of self-defense. Lots of rabbis (foolishly) prohibit firearms in the synagogues, etc.

MY SON THE COP reminds me that people should not depend on the police to arrive immediately after a Jew hater makes an appearance. There simply are too few cops to be everywhere at once, quotes my First Born.

In the interest of being politically correct, “cops” will be referred to as “LEO”s or Law Enforcement Officers. This is an umbrella term covering sworn officers, from the municipal to federal level.

Is anyplace safe?

In a word: NO.

Do Jews need to be alert for any easily-identifiable threat, e.g., skinheads, Muslim “extremists,” neo-nazis, militant blacks.

Again, in a word: YES.

But they also must be alert for those folks who are “just plain crazy.”

I live in a “gated community” in south Florida.

The subdivision has more than 400 residences. Of that number, perhaps 70% are owned and occupied by Jews. Not all are observant, to be sure, but recall the nazis didn’t make a distinction between observant and non-observant Jews — for the nazis then and today’s Jew haters, a Jew is a Jew is a Jew . . . and, therefore, a target.

Sometimes the person is not necessarily a Jew hater; the person can just be mentally incompetent — crazy. We recently had an “event” in the subdivision where a father and his children were at one of the lakes (retention ponds) when an elderly woman threatened the man and his children with a gun. The man, who had a concealed weapon permit, showed her he, too, had a firearm and she retreated. The local LEOs came, but in the end, nothing was done to prevent recurrence.

Armed and dangerous

There are two problems with the average Jew carrying a firearm.

One: The person — women can shoot, too — needs to practice until they are proficient with the weapon.

That means

Meeting the requirements to own and carry a firearm

Practicing at a gun range to assure the person can hit the target

Knowing when, and — more importantly, when not — to draw the weapon.

These are three measurable things that can be practiced.

The “crunch” comes — and no one knows until the final second — when it is time to point the gun at a threat and shoot the threat.

A recent event in south Florida that made the network news had four people killed in a gun battle between LEOs and two robbers in a stolen UPS truck.

It’s still being sorted out, but the question is ”Whose bullets killed the UPS driver and an innocent bystander? The robbers or the LEOs." Hundreds of rounds were fired.

Is it safe to assume that the LEOs were all highly trained marksmen?

Back to the one-word response: NO, at least in the opinion of my son the LEO. One of his sergeants IS a sharpshooter, but most LEOs in my son’s department are not as accomplished.

The obvious question locally is: “Why didn’t the local LEOs wait for sharpshooters to “take out” the robbers?” The initial response was the local LEOs were afraid what did happen — innocents shot — would happen so someone gave the order to open fire and not wait for the sharpshooters. Hindsight confirms that was a mistake.

On the other hand

Jews who ARE proficient with sidearms AND are legally permitted to carry a firearm, should be allowed to carry a firearm in any place Jews congregate: synagogues, kosher markets, Jewish schools, kosher restaurants, etc.

While some states have open carry laws — the firearm is exposed for all to see — unless the person is a guard, my preference would be concealed carry.

Flashing a sidearm may disconcerting to many. In non-open carry states, it could get the person with the gun arrested; that’s counter-productive.

I’ve always wondered, when I enter a building with a sign posted on the entrance (right) stating NO FIREARMS ALLOWED (or words to that effect) if a person bent on murder will abide by the prohibition and, if the person enters and injures (or kills) me, can I or my survivors sue the property owners and occupants for failing to allow me to defend myself. (I am not a lawyer and I don’t play one on tv.)

For too long Jews — particularly European Jews — have had a well-deserved reputation of ignoring the reality of Jewish hatred wherever they live.

For far too long Jews — particularly European Jews — have been in the pockets of leftists who care not a whit for Jews.

As we approach Hanukah 5780 — first wick after dark on Sunday, December 22 — perhaps it is time to give more than just a nod to the Maccabees of old.

We used to be fighters, even if we failed to win EVERY battle.

Jabotinsky ’s Jews were fighters.

The Jews of the Warsaw ghetto were fighters.

The Jews of the Irgun and Stern (LEHI) were fighters.

THE ONLY WAY TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST JEWS IS TO SHOW THE JEW-HATERS THAT WE WILL FIGHT BACK.

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Self Defense

Opuscula UN has got To be kidding

THE HEADLINE READS

UN chief blasts Hezbollah for impeding work of Lebanon-based peacekeeping force

followed by António Guterres (right) calls on Lebanon's government to disarm Hezbollah, saying it posed a threat to the peacekeeping mission stationed on the Israel-Lebanon border.

The UN’s Blue Bonnets repeatedly have proven to be ineffective. When told to clear the area by a war-monger (as Egypt was when it prepared to attack Israel), it runs and hides.

This behavior is typical of UN operations, ergo Hamas using UN facilities as rocket launching sites and munitions storage areas.

The Blue Bonnets are boys playing soldiers; they are not capable of pushing out Hezbollah, and Lebanon has no effective army of its own to chase out the defacto army of Lebanon: Hezbollah.

Since the Blue Bonnets are ill-equipped to do what Lebanon’s citizens cannot accomplish, what Guterres is in truth suggesting is that foreign forces remove Hezbollah from the Levant — Lebanon and Syria.

The question is: WHAT “foreign forces”?

Would Saudia dare send in troops? It already is battling Iran’s Yemen proxy. Would the kingdom be willing to open a second front with Lebanon and Syria and face a direct attack from Iran?

Iraq is in Iran’s grasp and would align with, not against Hezbollah.

Egypt? Jordan? Both countries currently have internal issues; Egypt with Iran-backed Islamic Jihad and Hamas, Jordan with PLO agitation that threatens the monarchy.

A coalition of Gulf states might be cobbled together, but are these states’ militaries capable of ousting Iran-backed Hezbollah?

Morocco, Libya, Algiers might, as part of Arab League, be able to push out Hezbollah, but what price would be paid at home?

Muslim-dominated African states could send troops, but (a) would they be effective, (b) would the states suffer at home by Iran sympathizers, and (c) who would fund and equip the troops.

That leaves Europe and the Far East — China. Israel is NOT a candidate to attack Hezbollah except in retaliation.

North Americans are tired of foreign wars; the U.S. still is engaged in Afghanistan.

Would either U.S. political party dare promote participation in a UN-sponsored exercise. (The last one was Korea, and that still is unresolved, despite President Trump’s best efforts.)

The Israel HaYom site declares that United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday called on Lebanon's government to disarm Hezbollah, saying it posed a threat to the peacekeeping mission stationed on the Israel-Lebanon border.

Established in 1978 to man a buffer zone between Israel and Lebanon, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has long suffered at the hands of the Iran-backed terrorist group.

Hezbollah has clashed with UNIFIL troops several times over the years and has restricted their movements across southern Lebanon, a move that grossly undermines UNIFIL's mandate the on-line publication contends.

Why, then, is Guterres asking the Lebanese to accomplish something the UN is unable to accomplish.

The Lebanese Army is a shambles; it lacks the wherewithal to depose Hezbollah. It has been ineffective for years, which is how Hezbollah came to, and remains in, power in the Levant.

Guterres apparently lives in a dream world in New York. According to several on-line sites, Guterres, an engineer, has zero military experience and perhaps cannot recognize the imbalance of power between Iran’s Hezbollah and Lebanon’s puny army.

If the UN cannot defend itself from Iran’s Hezbollah, perhaps the UN should hire some mercenaries who can, and will, remove Hezbollah from Lebanon. Perhaps the Chinese would like to enhance their influence in the area at the expense of Russia and Iran.

But depending on the Lebanese Army to oust Iran’s Hezbollah is foolishness, an impossibility.

Sources

1. Israel HaYom: https://tinyurl.com/s3ramhb

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on UN pipe dream

Opuscula All talk, No action In Europe

ACCORDING TO THE Jewish News Service (JNS)¹ Europe’s Jews see the writing on the wall, but just like in the 1930s, they aren’t ready to do more than talk.

THE JNS ARTICLE, headlined Like schnitzel, anti-Semitism has become part of the cultural fabric of Europe, reports Jewish concerns in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, and Poland.

The JNS article cited an EU survey of European Jews that claimed A full of 85 percent of respondents across the continent agreed that anti-Semitism was a “problem,” with a plurality describing it as a “big problem.” As the European Union observed in the summary accompanying the report, “hundreds of respondents personally experienced an anti-Semitic physical attack in the 12 months preceding the survey. More than one in four (28%) of all respondents experienced anti-Semitic harassment at least once during that period. Those who wear, carry or display items in public that could identify them as Jewish are subject to more anti-Semitic harassment (37%) than those who do not (21%).”

An Anti-Defamation League (ADL) survey conducted among non-Jews on four continents, including those 12 European nations whose Jewish citizens were polled by the E.U. survey backs up the EU survey noting that current Jewish anxieties in Europe are grounded upon a more or less accurate reading of their surrounding reality.

What prompts the anti-Semitism?

According to the ADL survey, Jewish wealth, Jewish disloyalty, Jewish tribalism .

Specifically, non-Jews complain that Jews dominate our economy and our financial markets; they are more loyal to the State of Israel than they are to us; they talk endlessly of their suffering during the Nazi Holocaust.

Of Jews “dominate our economy and out financial markets” the forefathers of the complainers are to blame.

Jews have long been well-represented in the fields of finance and business. This is commonly attributed to the fact that for centuries, Jews were excluded from professional guilds and denied the right to own land, forcing them to work as merchants and financiers. However some academics contend that the historical evidence does not support this thesis and that Jewish financial success is instead due to the community’s high literacy rates. ²

The “loyalty to Israel” is easily set aside. While Jews may financially support Israel and Israeli projects, and while they may petition governments to be pro-Israel, if they really were loyal to Israel they would move there,especially in light of European anti-Semitism.

Unfortunately, Jews around the world seem to have taken the holocaust as their own. Only a few people deny the holocaust occurred; these are notorious anti-Semites in any event.

Only a fool denies that approximately 6 million Jews were murdered by the Germans; the problem becomes that the same Germans — and Hungarians and Poles and Ukrainians and others under the spell of the nazis — also murdered almost to the point of extinction all the Roma (Gypsies) while killing invalids, mental incompetents, homosexuals, Socialists, Communists, and — similar to the Muslims of today — anyone who held an opinion other than the fuhrer. Soldiers on all sides sacrificed their lives, usually unwillingly.

Jews must admit that non-Jews also were victims; the holocaust was not a “Jewish-only” disaster.

Wikipedia³ lists countries where private citizens are allowed or denied the right to own firearms. Criminals always manage to acquire firearms regardless of local laws.

The Wiki table does not make distinctions between side arms (pistols), long guns (rifles), or shotguns so while a citizen may own a firearm I may be limited o a hunting rifle or shotgun.

Many EU countries may or shall issue firearms permits, but many of those countries deny gun ownership for personal protection.

An Israeli may keep a firearm, but he or she has to convince the authorities that it is absolutely necessary.

In the U.S., firearms ownership varies by state.

There are two lessons this scrivener believes European Jews need to learn.

One: Don’t be like many — certainly not all, but too many — Jews who in the 1930s refused to see the reality the times. Governments may not be promoting anti-Semitism in our day, but governments cannot prevent all anti-Semitic attacks.

Two: Learn to defend yourself. That does not necessarily mean “go buy a gun,” but it DOES mean to learn self-defense from experienced personnel. A bug spray or pool ball may be as effective, albeit less often fatal, than a firearm. Plus, there is no need for government permission to use the non-lethal weapon. The most basic form of self-defense is to be aware of the surroundings.

Hiding the fact that a person is Jewish is of no value. An anti-Semite will find a Jew no matter how he or she hides. Jews may flaunt their Jewishness IF they are in a group of like-minded Jews AND if they know how — and are willing — to defend themselves.

This scrivener’s First Born is a policeman. He tells me, frequently, not to expect a cop to show up instantly when needed; there simply are too few police to protect every individual 24-7.

If I were a Jew in Europe I would seriously consider relocating to a place with less anti-Semitism and a place where anti-Semites are harshly treated by law enforcement and courts. I also would, no matter where I settled, learn self-defense suitable to my capabilities (age, health, etc.) and in compliance with local laws.

I most assuredly would NOT ignore anti-Semitism around me in hope that it will go away.

Every Jew should know it will not go away.

Sources

1. JNS: https://tinyurl.com/wo2mq57

2. Economic control: https://tinyurl.com/y66pa2p7

3. Guns permitted: https://tinyurl.com/hytal7x

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on European Jews

Opuscula Indictment Vs. Conviction: BIG difference

ISRAEL’S ATTORNEY GENERAL has indicted the country’s chief politician for three separate crimes.

As in the United States, where the U.S. House of Repesentatives is attempting to impeach the incumbent president, the nation seems to be taking sides: “He’s guilty” or “He’s innnocent.”

SO FAR, NO TRIAL — not in Israel and not in the U.S.

IN THE U.S., the U.S. Senate may — if the House Democrats and a handful of Republicans have their way — try a president for whatever crimes the members of the House claim the president committed.

From the U.S. Senate web site¹: (T)he House of Representatives may impeach—formally charge—that official. If the official subsequently is convicted in a Senate impeachment trial, he is removed from office.

The U.S. Constitution makes it clear² that “The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.”

The U.S. House has impeached — sent to the Senate for trail — two presidents: Andrew Johnson and Wm. Jefferson Clinton. The Senate failed to convict either with the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

In theory, if there are only 30 senators in the chamber, 20 could impeach an incombent.

Two politicians impeached by House but NOT convicted in Senate:
Andrew Johnson and Wm. Clinton (with wife)

Johnson was indicted (impeached) by the House for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

According to a U.S. Senate web site (https://tinyurl.com/y79aq7b9), “During the years immediately following the Civil War, President Andrew Johnson clashed repeatedly with the Republican-controlled Congress over reconstruction of the defeated South. Johnson vetoed legislation that Congress passed to protect the rights of those who had been freed from slavery. This clash culminated in the House of Representatives voting, on February 24, 1868, to impeach the president. On March 5, the trial began in the Senate, where Republicans held more seats than the two-thirds majority required to remove Johnson from office. When the trial concluded on May 16, however, the president had won acquittal, not because a majority of senators supported his policies but because a sufficient minority wished to protect the office of the president and preserve the constitutional balance of powers.”

The House brought Clinton up on four charges (https://tinyurl.com/txez3ac):
* ”willfully provided perjurious, false and misleading testimony to the grand jury
* ”willfully provided perjurious, false and misleading testimony as part of a Federal civil rights action brought against him
* “engaged personally, and through his subordinates and agents, in a course of conduct or scheme designed to delay, impede, cover up, and conceal the existence of evidence and testimony related to a Federal civil rights action brought against him in a duly instituted judicial proceeding and
* ”refusing and failing to respond and in making perjurious, false and misleading statements, assumed to himself functions and judgments necessary to the exercise of the sole power of impeachment vested by the Constitution in the House of Representatives and exhibited contempt for the inquiry.”

The Senate vote in the Clinton trial was split evenly: 50-50.

Israel lacks a constitution as Americans know it.

It also lacks a bicameral (two equal houses) government.

Israel’s Attorney General has brought charges (indictments) against the prime minister.

Who will try the prime minister?

Unlike the U.S. that has, basically two political parties — there have been rogue candidates in the past such a Geo. Wallace and Bernie Sanders, but they have proven to be nothing more than headline grabbers — Israel has, depending on the season, anywhere between 10 and 30 parties.

Two independent politicians: Geo. Wallace and Bernie Sanders

It would seem as if the state’s Supreme Count will be the venue for a trial of the prime minister if the crimes are sufficiently serious or if there are appeals.

The two countries ARE alike in that the majority of the media is left-leaning and each country has liberals who know the incumbent is guilty, guilty, guilty. Never mind if there is evidence to support the charges.

The Israeli Supreme Court, as in the U.S. — depending on your political point of view — either reins in the Knesset or makes laws on its own.

According to an Israel Government web site³, 15 judges sit on the court, most are Israeli born and most served in the Israel Defense Forces IDF). Of the 15, five are women, including the current president of the Supreme Court. The political affiliations are not identified.

In the past, Israeli prime ministers and presidents have been brought before the bench.

Ehud Olmert⁴ – A confidant of Arial Sharon, prime minister from 2006 to 2009, cabinet minister 1988–1992, 2003–2006, mayor of Jerusalem 1993–2003. Convicted of breach of trust in July 2012, and of bribery in March 2015. In May 2015, Olmert was sentenced to six years in prison, but his sentence was reduced to 18 months in December 2015.

Moshe Katsav – Iranian-born, the 8th president of the State of Israel. In a landmark and unprecedented case, on 30 December 2010, Katsav was convicted of two counts of rape, obstruction of justice, and other charges. On 22 March 2011, in a landmark ruling, Katsav was sentenced to seven years in prison.

It is interesting that an Israeli-born recidivist (twice convicted) got a greatly reduced sentence while an Iranian-born criminal got seven years. Admittedly, Katsav’s crimes included rape. I am not suggesting that Katsav should have gotten less time.

Because of the nature of both Congresional houses, it is very likely the Senate would find the House’s impeachment (indictment) lacking evidence to remove a president from office.

What will happen in Israel is, at this point, anyone’s guess.

Meanwhile, Israel is threatened by Iran and its proxies and cannot afford to lack strong, determined leadership, regardless of who sits in the prime minister’s chair.

Sources

1. https://tinyurl.com/u9v2vhu

2. https://tinyurl.com/rf82jql

3. https://tinyurl.com/qn72qek

4. https://tinyurl.com/jgpbjk5

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Impeachment

Opuscula He should Have hired A mohel

AN ARTICLE IN THE DES MOINES (Iowa) REGISTER¹ tells the story of a man who went to the hospital for a curcumcision and came out with a vasectomy (and still not circumcised).

ACCORDING TO THE REGISTER, The 41-year-old man — dad to three "delightful" children, according to his attorney — is not currently able to father any more children after the surgeon, then of the Iowa Clinic, performed a vasectomy when the patient thought he was getting a circumcision.

The jury found the doctor was 70% at fault in the case, according to the verdict form filled out by the jury foreperson. Jurors awarded the patient $2 million, or about $1.4 million after accounting for the fault assigned to patient.

The Register notes that The defendants, including both the Iowa Clinic and surgeon, have filed a motion in court to stay the verdict.

Finding a mohel

There are three Jewish congegations in Des Moines and another two in Ames. Des Moines has Chabad, Conservative, and Reform synagogues; Ames has Reform and Chabad minyans.

Des Moines had an Ashkenazi Orthodox congregation, but it sold its building several years ago.

Lubavitch of Ames (Iowa State) rabbi, Leibel Jacobson, said that when a mohel is needed in the Des Moines/Ames area one has to be imported from Postville IA (3 ½ hours/197 miles), or Kansa City KN (3 hours/97 miles), Minneapolis MN (3 ½ hours/245 miles) or Chicago (by air, 1 ½ hours/$199 to $309)

Lubavitch of Iowa’s rabbi, Yossi Jacobson, said that most britot are performed by a local doctor unless, as Ames’ R. Jacobson said, a mohel is brought in from outside the area.

Go to a specialist

It’s logical. If a person needs heart surgery, the person turns to a cardiac surgeon. If a woman is pregnant, she usually goes to an OB-GYN, and later takes her baby to a pediatrician. (Unfortunately, “General Practitioner,” (GP) is an insult to most Internists and Family Practitioners, specialists because it pays better but in truth, only more expensive than a “GP.”)

If a specialist is preferred, why would a person who wants to be circumcised go to a “generalist,” a urologist who is a specialist in the male urinary tract and reproductive system.²

The real specialist for a circumcision is a trained and certified mohel, preferably one with substantial experience.

The procedure, for it IS a surgical procedure, may be done in a medical facility with a “real” doctor in attendance and the patient’s penis “painted” with a topical anesthetic (as many mohels now do for infants). No more a broken piece of flint as in Abraham’s time, but the healing process still takes a few days. (Remember Abraham was sitting outside his tent with the three visitors came by just days after his brit.)³

Caveat: I am not a mohel and I don’t play one on tv; I am, however, a grandfather and sandak⁴.

The patient was later circumcised at another medical facility, according to the patient’s attorney, the Register reported.

Sources

1. Register: https://tinyurl.com/syqpy23

2. Urologist: https://tinyurl.com/qsoa7f8

3. Abraham’s brit: Gen. Chap. 27 V22; Gen. Chap. 28, V1-8

4. Sandak (Sandek): https://tinyurl.com/wz5ja8q

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

Comment on Brit

Opuscula Stowed baggage checked Once; hand carried Repeatedly checked

THERE ARE A NUMBER of things that discourage me from commercial flights.

I USED TO LOVE to fly. As a teen I was in Civil Air Patrol and got to ride in single-engine two seaters (Aronica Champions). I also spent time riding USAF C-119 Flying Boxcars and a luxurious Lockheed Super Constellation. As a young adult, I took flying lessons on a Piper J-3.

As a reporter, my favorite uncle (Sam) invited me to join an excursion to Yieques Island (Puerto Rico) in January; my ride down was in an Air Force version of a Boeing 707. I rode in an Army helicopter and Navy float plane before boarding a DC-3 back to the mainland. Somewhere along the line I found my new “favorite” plane, a Lockheed L-1011 tri-jet and I enjoyed commuter flights in low-flying twin-engine high wing prop jobs. I really loved to fly.

Image By Electra (https://tinyurl.com/urbsb65)

But over the years, thanks to terrorists, TSA at U.S. airports and similar inspections everywhere else, I’ve come to dislike air travel.

Never mind being stuffed into a cigar tube for “n” hours, rebreathing re-breathed air and eating — if food is served at all — meals that, although warmed, are little better than the box lunches I suffered on my first flight as a 10-year-old in a twin-engine tail-dragger.

DC-3 photograph in Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection
Note wheel beneath airplane's tail, ergo "tail dragger>"

When I went to Israel in 1975 I had two full size duffle bags. When I checked in with the El Al security guy he asked the usual questions: Did I pack the bags myself? (Yes). Where they in my possession all the time? (Yes) No machines, just profiling.

Now, I have to check my bag (singular) at the ticket counter and watch it go off, unlocked, to the bowels of the airport to be xrayed and possibly pawed over by people I can’t see before being loaded onto carts by more people I cannot see, then transported to the aircraft and stowed by still more people I don’t know.

Meanwhile, my passport and boarding pass is checked by a TSA clerk, I am obliged to take off jacket, shoes, and, often, my belt and empty my pockets into a tray. A separate tray carries my laptop and smart phone.

I am then told to surrender my metal cane and to step into a machine, but told not to hold on to anything — exceedingly difficult for a person who uses a cane to ambulate from Point A to Point B. (At one non-U.S. airport I was given a wooden cane to use as I was “scanned.” That worked for me.)

While I am being scanned, my worldly possessions are out of (my) sight, but not out of my mind.

Will I get to the trays as they exit their scanner or will someone “relieve” me of my stuff — including wallet, passports, electronic gear, etc. before I can get to the conveyor belt on which my two trays are traveling?

Rick McKee, The Augusta Chronicle (https://tinyurl.com/smltc9t)
I realize the cartoon is not “politically correct” today
as it may have been when published June 9, 2015.

Once past TSA, I retrieve my stuff and put on whatever I had to take off and head to the gate where I am to meet my flight.

From the TSA check until I arrive at my final destination I am in what is humorously known as a “sanitary area.”

Meanwhile, the bag I surrendered at the ticket counter is having who knows what done to it. Did someone put something into my bag? It’s possible.

The plane pulls up to the jetway. As I wait to board I watch as cleaning crews and caterer personnel enter and exit the aircraft.

Were these people screened? When? Today? When they were hired? How good are the background checks for baggage handlers, cleaning crews, and caterer personnel?

I watch as a fuel truck pulls up to the aircraft and as someone connects a hose to the underside of a wing. Who backgrounded this person?

This is NOT to write that any of these people ARE a threat to my safety; it IS to write that any of these people COULD be a threat to my safety.

OK. I board the cigar tube, find my narrow seat with minimal leg room, buckle up and review the safety instructions. (Yes, Virginia, I DO read the instructions — every time and every flight.)

Eventually I’m airborne and eventually I’m once again on the ground at an intermediate destination.

I race — I use the term “race” very loosely — from the arrival jetway toward the departure jetway until . . .

Until I have to go through yet another screening.

  * Off with the shoes.

  * Off with the jacket,

  * Off with the belt.

  * Remove the laptop.

  * Stand and be scanned.

WHY?

  * I went through all this at the originating airport.

  * I have not been out of a “sanitary” area.

My bag HAS been out of the “sanitary” area but it is not subjected to another search.

Again, as I am perambulating to my next flight, cleaning crews, baggage handlers, caterers, fuelers, and miscellaneous airline personnel are messing with the aircraft.

Who vetted these people? When?

If the aircraft is operated by El Al, I know — from personal experience — that an El Al security person is on board while the plane is on the ground, monitoring cleaners and caterers.

I tolerate a “20-question” interview by Israeli security before boarding a flight to Israel, but this usually is after being scanned for the second time. I don’t have to disrobe or empty pockets or suffer any other inconveniences as I am profiled.

Air crews are paid pretty good and, here’s the caveat, most mentally stable people don’t want to die. The air crews may be smugglers or miscreants of other types, but probably they are not suicidal.

On the other hand, baggage handlers, caterer personnel, cleaning crews, and other ground personnel — including ticketing and gate staff — are paid less generously and on occasion have been bribed or otherwise convinced to cause an aircraft to fail to make its destination.

Aside from international air travel, my personal background has something to do with my security concerns. As a Reporter/Editor and, later, as a Risk Management Practitioner, I have for years had a “suspicious mind” that considers, as much as I’m able, all the perils I face.

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Air travel

Opuscula I was wrong, Arabs not ready For government

I CONFESS TO BEING, in this one instance, a Pollyanna. I’m over that now.

I had at one time considered that including the Arab parties in Israel’s government — giving them cabinet positions, they already have seats in the Knesset — that inclusion would temper their rhetoric and anti-Israel behavior.

But then I read comments from present and former Arab MKs and realized that ‐ for now — there is no place for the current crop of Arab MKs in the government’s operation.

In the U.S. it is unlikely that a Communist would (a) be elected to Congress or (b) be appointed to a cabinet position.

Granted, the U.S. House of Reprehensibles is on a witch hunt to find something, anything with which to pillory a president. (That it is unlikely any president would be removed from office following a trial in the U.S. Senate is another matter. The House voted impeachment for two Democrats — Andrew Johnson and Wm. Jefferson Clinton — but the Senate failed to muster enough votes to remove the incumbent president.)

Israel has had Arabs in its Knesset from 1949 when Amin-Salim Jarjora of the Democratic List of Nazareth (a Mapai-sponsored party) served in the first Knesset.^{2, 3, 4}. There have been many Muslims in the Knesset since, many from Arab-specific parties and others from left-wing, primarily Jewish, parties (e.g., Labor, Meretz). Several Druze won election on right-wing parties, including the Likud. At the last Knesset, there were 14 Arab MKs, of which three were Druze, two Christians, four Sunni Muslims, one Bedouin, one who claims to be “non-religious,” and three who don’t self-identify with a religion.⁵

There HAVE been Arabs in the Cabinet. Mohammad Barakeh, of the left-wing Hadash party⁶ was once deputy Knesset speaker.

The problem for Israel is that the leading Muslim party, the combined “Joint List”⁷ is composed of people such as Ahmad Tibi⁸. Tibi was a political advisor to Yasser Arafat who self-describes as Arab-Palestinian in nationality, and Israeli in citizenship. A OB-GYN, he was educated at Hebrew University.

In September, 2011⁹, he made headlines when he served as a member of the Palestinian Authority's UN delegation, headed by Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, as it submitted its request for UN acceptance of "Palestine" as a full member state.

Haneen Zoabi was ejected from the Knesset for repeated anti-Israel activities.

Leftists Foreign Policy.com reported that Asked once by an Israeli TV interviewer whether she could say anything good about Israel, she laughed lightly and replied, "No, I can’t."¹⁰

The same source partially reported that on May 31, 2010, (Zoabi) as an Israel Arab activist aboard the Mavi Marmara, a ship chartered by a Turkish Muslim aid organization to lead the flotilla challenging Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. After unarmed Israeli naval commandos rappelled onto the ship and were attacked with wooden clubs and metal rods. What Foreign Policy.com failed to report was that the Israelis several times tried to peacefully board and inspect the vessels contents for contraband war-making supplies.

According to Ynetnews.com¹¹, MKs (Azmi) Bishara, (Jamal) Zahalka, (Wasil) Taha visit Lebanon after controversial talks with President Bashar Assad of Syria; delegation members express solidarity with 'victims of war'; attorney General orders probe upon their return.

It is unfortunate

It is unfortunate that too many Arabs elected to Israel’s Knesset work against the state rather than work to improve their constitutent’s lives.

Why Zoabi was aboard a TURKISH vessel bound for GAZA — where war materiels are used against Israeli civilians — is proof to this scrivener that she was part of a provocation as much as Egypt’s massing troops at the Canal just before the “Six Day War” was sufficient for Israel’s pre-emptive attack to prevent its annihilation.¹²

There ARE Israeli Arabs — Muslim, Christian, whatever — who are in every respect loyal to Israel. These people need to be treated as Israeli citizens as equally as any Jewish citizen, haridi, heloni, and somewhere in between.

When the Arab parties send Muslims to the Knesset who put the good of their people and the State first, then they should be welcomed into the government (cabinet).

MKs don’t need to be of the same mind, but they need to have the same goals. What’s good for Israel should be good for ALL Israelis without any distinction.

Sources

1. Pollyanna: https://tinyurl.com/qlmevhj

2. Amin-Salim Jarjora: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amin-Salim_Jarjora

3. Democratic List of Nazareth: https://tinyurl.com/rvfem8y

4. Mapai: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapai

5. Arab MKs: https://tinyurl.com/zsts3qh

6. Hadash: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadash

7. Joint List: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_List

8. Ahmad Tibi bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_Tibi

9. Tibi at UN: https://tinyurl.com/qsfy574

10. Foreign Policy: https://tinyurl.com/ubthscn

11. Visits: https://tinyurl.com/rfq7j7h

12. Pre-emptive strike: https://tinyurl.com/suj8jew

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on I was wrong

Opuscula Gaza: How PLO, Hamas destroyed People’s prosperity

WHEN ARIEL SHARON FORCED ISRAELIS OUT OF GAZA, the Muslims — then under PLO control — destroyed the greenhouses the Israelis left behind.

The facilities were dismantled and, with that, Gaza’s opportunity to become a force in the export of flowers and vegetables to Europe and Israel.

AN ARTICLE ON SEVERAL ISRAELI news sites tells Israelis that what is left of the greenhouses is being used against them today.

World Israel News (WIN), headlines: Hamas Leader: ‘We Make Rockets from Leftover Israeli Irrigation Pipes’ (https://tinyurl.com/yx6zseqp).

According to WIN, “Yahya Sinwar recalled how a farmer took him to Gush Katif and showed him the abandoned irrigation lines left by Israeli farmers during the 2005 Gaza withdrawal.

““Then, a simple farmer approached one of the men from the Brigades. He said: ‘I heard that you’re having a problem with pipes for missile production.’ The young man told him this was true. The [farmer] said: ‘I will give you the solution for this.’ [The young man said:] ‘What is it?’ He answered: ‘Come with me,” Sinwar said.

He recalled how the farmer took him to Gush Katif and showed him the abandoned irrigation lines left by Israeli farmers during the 2005 Gaza withdrawal.”

Cutting off nose

Had the PLO encouraged Gaza’s residents to take over the hothouses when Sharon forced the Israelis out, Gaza could have assumed Israel’s export trade and, overtime expanded it.

Had the PLO, later Hamas, been wise, the Strip’s economy would be far better than it is today.

Had the PLO, later Hamas, not put attacks on Israel ahead of all else, it could have received Israeli support to expand and improve the hothouse businesses; Israelis are offering technical expertise to Arabs within Israel and, in some cases, to Arabs in occupied Israel (e.g., the so-called "West Bank”).

Had the PLO, later Hamas, not put murder of Jews as their first priority, Gaza’s Arafat International Airport could still be functional and a sea port could have been established.

Had the PLO and, later, Hamas, refrained from attacking Israeli civilians, Gaza residents could more freely access Israeli medical care — and have Israeli medical personnel help modernize Gaza medical facilities — but the PLO and Hamas and now Islamic Jihad put killing Israeli civilians ahead of advancing the people they “govern.”

Had the PLO and, later, Hamas and now Islamic Jihad, foregone attacks on Israeli civilians the border crossings would be open longer. Had Islamic Jihad foregone attacks on Egyptians, that border also would be open more often.

Sodom & Gomorrah, Dresden & Nagasaki Genesis (18 24-33) includes a discussion between God and Abraham where the latter pleads with the former to spare the town if there are 50, 40, 20, 10 decent people there. In the end, Sodom (and Gemorrah) were destroyed — there is physical evidence of this historical event.

During World War 2, the nazis bombed London and some other civilian sites. In return, English and U.S. air forces fire bombed the German city of Dresden and killed hundreds of civilians while destroying the city. (Why not Berlin?)

Ending Japan’s war on the world, President Harry Truman approved dropping two atomic bombs on two Japanese towns with minimal military value: Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Both towns and the Japanese government were warned of the impending doom. (Did the Japanese government allow people to flee from the cities?)

While those who believe in the Bible and its stories understand that in all of Sodom there were not even 10 worthy people, surely Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki had at least 10 people who did not support their government’s war on the world (from the U.S., all across the Pacific Ocean, and into Indo-China and Korea).

It is reported that there are people captive in Gaza who want Hamas and Islamic Jihad — and maybe the PLO, too — out of power. (Likewise there are “civil disturbances” in Lebanon and Iran; there is civil war in Syria.)

Because there ARE people who would, given the opportunity, “choose life,” it becomes a morally difficult position to “level Gaza” (or Lebanon or Iran, or even Syria and the PLO jihadists in occupied Israel).

Mutual destruction

When the U.S. and the then Soviet Union were the only nuclear powers, we lived in a time of “cold war.” Neither country was willing to attack the other knowing that if it did, the retaliation would be swift and complete.

Now the “nuclear club” has expanded to include many nations, some less stable than others, Worse, some of these nations don’t share “western” respect for life.

China has so many people, losing a few million to a nuclear attack might be beneficial.

Iran and its proxies WANT to die so they can go to Allah and get 70 virgins. Mothers WANT their sons and daughters to grow up to be shahids (martyrs); they are taught this is their purpose in life from kindergarten on.

"When a man comes to kill you, kill him first."

But do ALL Iranians etc. WANT be to shahids?

Did ALL of the people in Dresden actively support the nazis? Did all of the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki actively support the emperor?

As an aside, when I was a kid in school, we had air raid drills; “The Russians are coming.” When I lived in Israel, my best friend was from the Ukraine and his story was the same as mine, only for him, “the Americans are coming.”

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Gaza

Opuscula What is “Progressive” About “Progressives”?

IF CALIFORNIA IS an example of a “progressive state” and the likes of Ilhan Omar and Linda Sorsour are “progressives” then this scrivener is NOT a “progressive.”

I thought ”progressive” meant moving forward — making progress, in this case improving life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

I obviously was wrong.

Can someone please explain to me what is “Progressive” about Progressives. They seem more REgressive.

California is an example of Progressive-ism where people can, I’m told, defecate wherever – including anyone’s yard (dogs do that; are THEY “progressives?”).

Ilhan Omar and Linda Sarsour are progressives, but per Bernie Sanders, progressives are never anti-Semites.

Yet Omar by all accounts IS an anti-Semite as she has proved again and again.¹

Yaakov Kirschen’s Dry Bones cartoon for 11/15/2019 citing Washington Examiner article² (https://tinyurl.com/rrrd6uk )

I agree with Sanders that criticism of Israel or Jews as a generality is not (necessarily) anti-Semitism – as a Jew with an Israeli passport, I often criticize Israel and especially its political leadership – left, right, and center. Does that make me either anti-Semitic or anti-Israel? I hope not. Although my hair is “thinning” (I have less hair to comb and more face to wash) I am not a “skin head” nor am I a “white supremacist.”

I never claimed to be a “Zionist,” a person this scrivener defines as “someone who views Israel through rose-colored glasses.” Israel is not perfect (nor is the U.S. where I also have citizenship).

It seems to me that the “progressives” are the flip side of “white supremacists”; “My way or the highway.”

Neither shows any tolerance for disparate opinions.

If, as a “progressive,” I refuse to hear differing opinions, how can progress be made?

If “progressives” allow, as an example, freedom to defecate on lawns, how close are they to “progressing” to anachy?

Is it “progressive” to be PRO-LGBTQ and ANTI-Jewish; is it “progressive” to be PRO-”Palestine” and ANTI-Israel; is it “progressive” to condemn Israel and the U.S. — countries that allow dissent — and not condemn countries that kill dissenters, e.g., Iran, North Korea, China?

Yet this is the “progressive’s” position.

My way or the highway.

Is it “progressive” to take military aid dollars from Israel — dollars with a string attached that demands Israel “Buy American” with the money — and divert some of it to Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza where, based on its history, the funds will be used to build tunnels into Israel and Egypt, to build mansions for the leadership rather than housing for the general population? Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria aleady received substantial aid from Iran.

Basically, that is what a leading “progresive” — Sanders — is proposing. (Another “progressive,” Obama, gave a few millions to the PLO on his last day in office. What did it buy? More attacks in Israeli civilians and payments to those who murdered Israelis and were imprisioned.)

Bottom line: “Progressive-ism” as it stands today really is “pre-anarchy.”

It used to be (c 1970) that “progressives” hung out mostly in Berekley and San Francisco. Now it seems California-wide (with the possible exception of true northern California — north of Sacramento).

As “prtogressives” gain control of Congress, viz “The Squad” and friends, the nation, too, will head toward hatred of anyone who is different in thought or religion or heritage, and anarchy. Democracy has no place in the lives of “progressives.”

Sources

1. Omar: https://tinyurl.com/tpqefbu

2. Washington Examiner: https://tinyurl.com/tvzwbuv

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Opuscula Who really wants Sacrifices in 3rd Bet HaMikdash?

IT IS AN INTERESTING TOPIC: Do we really want the bet hamikdash — the temple — built for the third time?

Does HaShem really care about sacrifices, especially when we are behaving very much as we did when the second temple stood, and we all know how THAT turned out. In the meantime, don’t send me any picture postcards of the mosque on the Temple site. That is, in my opinion, a hillul HaShem.

שתבנה בית המקדש במהרה בימינו ^1,2,3,4,5

According to many sedarim (prayer books), prayer has replaced sacrifices.

ומקבל מרצה לפניך כאלו הקרבנו קבון התמיד ועמדנו על מעמדו

May you receive our prayers as if they are offered in lieu of the daily sacrifice

Hebrew from Sedur Avotanu; rough translation based on Tehilat HaShem.

There are a number of opinions regarding a third temple and restoration of sacrifices.

There is one opinion that holds that the next temple will descend from the heavens as a fait accompli; just add cohanim and levi’im.

Another opinion suggests that a third temple is just a dream since, despite DNA to the contrary, no one knows who is a “real” cohan and who is “ze’uf” — counterfeit. (So why do all “cohanim” bless the people at least once-a-year if some groups skip the Torah required priestly blessing⁶ at other times? In Sefardi and Mizrachi congregations, cohans bless the people at every morning service.)

Sacrifices

About the only time an animal is sacrificed in Judaism today is just before Yom Kippor and that is questionable as a sacrifice.

Why “questionable?” Mostly because sacrifices are supposed to be limited to the Bet HaMikdash (Temple) in Jerusalem.

There were some Jews who set up a temple in Egypt and offered sacrifices there. Josephus writes about the Temple of Onias^{7, 8}.

Were these Jews punished for setting up an alternate temple? Perhaps. Today there are only a handful of Jews living in Egypt and there is a feud between the remaining (Ashkenazi) Jews and the Sefardim who left Egypt for points elsewhere when modern Israel was (re)established as to who owns whatever is treasured.

In any event, there is a movement to substitute the value of a hen or rooster in lieu of slaughtering the fowl. There are several reasons for this including the fact that it is increasingly difficult to find a qualified shohet (slaughterer) and modern sensibilities are offended by chickens in their final throes. Jewish food banks benefit either way: the fowl or the value of the fowl. Some countries also prohibit kosher (and halal) slaughtering as “inhumane.” No comment.

The followers of Santeria⁹ still sacrifice animals, often with an eye out for the local authorities who generally frown on the practice.

Temple as abattoir

When the temples stood, one of the priests’ (cohanim) main functions was to slaughter sacrifices. There are a multitude of occasions when Jews, and non-Jews as well, brought animals — from birds to cattle and other kosher animals — trying to either please HaShem or to appease HaShem for some real or imagined sin.

Never mind that in the TaNaCh we are told several times that HaShem prefers us to behave as civilized people rather than to bring sacrifices.

On the other hand, most sacrifices were eaten by the priests or the people who brought the offerings.

We were as children

Two reasons come to mind regarding WHY we offered sacrifices. Neither reason survives into the 21st Century.

Reason One: Everyone was doing it. Monkey see, monkey do.

At least we did not sacrifice people as did many of our neighbors in the area.

Some of our neighbors still willingly sacrifice their children as “shahids” — martyrs — in the name of Allah.

Reason Two: When we left Egypt we were as babies. We became teenagers as we wandered in the wilderness — please, not “desert” — and somewhere after entering Israel we grew into at least “semi”-adulthood.

As Ramba”m tells us, when a child is very little, you treat him accordingly; bribe him (or her, of course) with a candy or other sweet. As the child grows, the reward changes until the completed task is its own reward.

Likewise, as “children” surrounded by people who sacrificed children to Moloch and other gods, we copied them but limited our sacrifices to animals and foods (fine flour).

Hopefully we have advanced to an adulthood where sacrifices no longer are needed (despite our neighbor’s behavior).

כאלו הקרבנו קבון התמיד

 

Sources

1. Moroccan sedurim אבותנו and וזרח בשמש citing R. Yehuda Ben Tema

2. Ovadia Yosef sedur דעת " citing R. Yehuda Ben Tama

3. Artscroll סדור אהבת שלום sans citation and worded slightly differently.

4. Chabad Tehillat Hashem does not include this prayer

5. Conservative sedur לב ישראל does not include this prayer.

6. B’Midbar (Numbers) 6:22-27

7. Temple of Onias: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/onias-temple-of

8. Jews in ancient Egypt: https://tinyurl.com/y5vkdb6j

9. Santeria: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santer%C3%ADa

 

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Opuscula Don’t tell me How to shake My lulav!

OUR MINYAN TODAY (it was the second day of Sukot) hit a rough spot.
Mostly we are a bunch of easy going men; it’s a mixture of Sefardim and Ashkenazim. But today, failing to learn from the past, the person who organized the minyan committed the faux pas of his predecessor.

WHAT OUTRAGE DID THIS MAN CAUSE?

He had the hazan tell us the ”correct” way to wave the lulav.

UNFORTUNATELY, how the lulav is waved is a matter of MINHAG.

There is an Ashkenazi way.

There is a North African way.

There is a “Yerushalmi” way.

I am sure there are sub-sets of each of the above and many I don’t know about.

A year ago we had a different person at the helm and he made the same mistake.

“You must do it the Yerushalmi way.” (He was ignored and later left to form his own minyan. We wish him success with the blessing for the czar.)

Not “this is the Yerushalmi way,” but this is the way it will be done.

The former “helmsman” and the current “helmsman” often were at odds despite having the same general background.

Its is not that the Yerushalmi way is “wrong,” or that the other ways are wrong.

I follow Moroccan minhag.

I have two sedurim: וזרח השמש and אבותינו . BOTH books tell me that “in this city and surrounding area, people do it this way, while in another area people do it differently.”

Never mind that BOTH places are in Morocco.

I also have, thanks to my Syrian brother-in-law (once removed), a copy of R. Israel Meir Lau's excellent יחדות הלכה למעשה that addresses issues from multiple traditions. (R. Lau was Chief (Ashkenazi) Rabbi of Israel and has the respect of observant Jews of all types.)

If a former chief rabbi can accommodate/recognize minhagim other than his own, surely our minyan “helmsman” — an otherwise nice enough fellow — can do the same.

If the rabbinical luminaries in Morocco — and there are many — and Israel can do likewise for those who follow Moroccan traditions, it seems to me that we all should follow their lead and be accepting of different minhagim.

I will concede that a Sefardi or Mizrachi Jew needs to keep a sharp eye on the Ashkenazi standing next o him since the Ashkenazi — rather than turning around and around as the Sefardi and Mizrachi do, at some point waves his lulav over his shoulder — possibly a dangerous move to anyone standing nearby.

As long as no one is injured by a waving lulav, what is wrong with a mix of minhagim in a small congregation?

True, the basic rule is that everyone “follows the rov (majority),” and I know of an Orthodox Ashkenazi rabbi who chases Sefardim and Mizrachim out of his minyan during hol ha’moed because Ashkenazim don tefillin during those days and Sefaridim don’t. (On the other hand, Ashkenazim don a tallit when leading minhah and marariv (aravet). Should they be banned from a mostly-Sefardi minyan?) If you have a basic minyan and you banish anyone, there goes the minyan and THAT is everyone’s loss.

Some Ashkenazim build sukot with sold wood walls so the wind will not move them. Sefaridim often use colorful sheets. (Did anyone have solid walls when we wandered around the midbar (wilderness) for 40 years? I suppose the question could be asked: “Did we have colorful kingsize sheets back then?”)

When did we ‐ Jews — become so narrow-minded that we cannot accommodate other traditions as long as they are within basic halacah?

We manage to (more or less) accommodate different pronunciations of Hebrew, even if sometimes the meaning is questionable. I’m referring not only to the variations between Ashkenazi Hebrew and Sephardi Hebrew, but between Yemenite Hebrew as well.

Making an issue of how to wave a lulav, especially in a mixed minyan is, to my mind שטיות ומיץ עגבניות.

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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Opuscula Israeli Arabs Demand police Provide protection

UPDATE for 10/11/2019

According to Israel HaYom: Israel Police to assign hundreds of new officers to Arab sector.

Arab MKs, top police officials meet with Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan. In addition to 620 new police officers, responsibility for Arab organized crime to be transferred to Lahav 433 Major Crimes Unit.

Follow link to read full article: https://tinyurl.com/yxjdbl4y

ISRAELI ARABS — Arab citizens of Israel — are demanding that the government provide police protection to rid their communities of gangs and guns.

Dry Bones cartoon for 10/10/19 @ https://tinyurl.com/y6j3chko

According to The Times of Israel, Joint List leaders want to meet public security minister and demand prison sentences and heavy fines for possession of illegal firearms, crackdown on organized crime.(https://tinyurl.com/y6euo4nx)

While some Joint List MKs are a thorn in the side of the government, the most recent election shows they do represent a sizable number of Israeli citizens.

It behooves the government to increase the number of police; an organization that is sadly understaffed compared to U.S. community served by local police, sheriff’s deputies, and state police.

COOPERATION POSSIBLE?

If the Israeli Arabs want more police protection — and as Israeli taxpayers that is their due — they must do their part and cooperate with police.

That may prove to be the Israeli Arabs’ greatest stumbling block to safer neighborhoods.

In the U.S., too many black neighborhoods refuse to cooperate with police even when the police also are black.

SELF POLICING

Both the Israeli Arabs and the American blacks need to do some self-policing.

That doesn’t necessarily mean risking their lives by trying to arrest criminals, but by being observant and relaying relevant information to the police.

They also need to cooperate with the police when the cops attempt to make an arrest if only by not interfering with the arrest.

ADD MORE COPS

Israel would do well to add more Israeli Arabs to the police ranks; it would do well to add more policemen — Jewish, Arab, or “other” — to its understaffed organization.

Today Israel depends on Border Police and the army to supplement the regular police. These people are mot trained to deal with citizens; rather they are trained for border conflicts and infiltration by non-citizens bent on harm to Israeli citizens.

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments: Protect citizens