HAS IT GOTTEN ANY EASIER FOR YOU?

   It certainly hasn't for me. In fact, if anything, it's gotten even worse. Almost every day, if not more frequently, I find myself descending further into a. Dystopian world. Time and again, my eyes are crossed, bombarded with concerns of today, though these same concerns were written so many years ago. Is it that we have so lost our way? Going nowhere? Other than into deeper insanity and denial of truth. 

We are like the donkeys, the beasts of burden sentenced to a life of walking in circles, pushing and pulling a heavy burden, working and struggling to survive, though we are going nowhere. Nor do we even understand what has gone wrong and how, if at all possible, we can change our lot. Even as we decry the pain and the hopelessness of our plights, we continued on in the same old trodden paths, deep ruts allowing for no exit.

How have we reached this point? We, the creations of the world, the last of the creations made on Day Six. Meant to rule the world, the living and the insensate. To be aware and grateful for the life laid out before us. To know, hopefully speaking, on which side our bread was buttered. The responsibility was laid upon us to be the better people, the better person. Sadly, we went off track almost immediately and continued to do so over the oncoming millennia. 

 Our existence on this earth was given with the hope and prayer that we know, that we knew, always deep inside the parameters of the gift and its responsibilities placed upon our shoulders. To strive evermore to reach the next level and aspire to go ever higher, ever closer to He who had created us, the Creator of the world - no matter the name given to that Being. We severely disappointed ourselves, fallen short, not only in our own eyes, but also, more importantly, in the Eyes of the Lord. We are laid out in shame before the Creator.  

Our disappointment is multi-faceted.  We insisted on denying it, denying the benefits of a good life as lived with proper mores and morals. We thrust away unheard the voice of the Lord. We disappointed and defied, turned away the warnings and claimed only the promised gifts, the rewards for a righteously lived life. Via bitter and harsh ever recurring lessons, as soon as we had disappointed, offended the Lord Above, we knew better, learned better, desired better. But it almost was never acted upon by sufficient numbers of mankind. 

In so doing, we broke the deal between us. A bargain made is a bargain to be kept. Surely, we had the better part of this deal. so, what the hell happened/ Did our brains have multiple shocks and outages? Did we almost always allow the 'Eirav Ra", the evil sectors of society to run rampant over us? Why? And why did we almost always forget to whom, in whom, we must place all faith and trust, to know deep down that even in the worst of times, it could be worse, were it not for the inherent love of this Creator towards and of His people.  

Life is tough these days, but I am sure that it has been even worse for those who preceded us. Perhaps we are the last generation at least for a while, to have lived much of our lives comfortably, safely, even as we struggled to balance the various aspects of life, stumbling, picking ourselves up, and turning to the Lord at times of need. 

But we carelessly allowed for false prophets to take the bullhorn and deafen our ears to those speaking truth. We spoke evil of other Jews. Concentrated energies on that which was not important at all. Worse is the too many of us who joined with our enemies and stood among them, cursing their own people.  Our arrogance in taking all the credit for the miracles happening almost on a daily basis.  Faulty thinking ensued as we chose false leaders.  We gave them a faith and a trust which should have given to the Lord. We are now reaping the consequences of those errors. For those who look into the blurred future, surely, they no longer see the visions of the lions laying down with the lambs, nor the swords being beaten into plowshares. 

The world as usual waited with bated breath for this opportunity. They grabbed at it with greedy hands. and vicious mouths, with plans boding no good for this nation of ours. The evil wishes and desires. moved very quickly to physical violence and increasing political persecution and isolation. It became the cool thing to do to not only turn aside quietly, but to shout viciously into the air. Cry out the 'evil' they have brought to the world, ignoring truth for fantasy of great harm.  Calling for the death of all Jews, of the destruction of the one tiny Jewish state long a Promised Land for them.

There are several quotes that I came across, and it behooves us to read them and think about them. And act upon them, hopefully in a positive manner. To see if there was any way that we can turn the air of the world softer upon our faces, upon our children. For the Lord to once again find patience with us, His People, and for the rest of the world as well.  

"There was a listening fear in her regard. As if calamity had but begun." (John Keats. Hyperion.)

"Hell hath no limits, nor is  circumscrib'd in one self place, but where we are is hell. And where hell is, there must we ever be." (Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus) 

As for our leaders, here, in Israel, America or. round the world. It was a rather apt description and assessment of their quality, or lack thereof. 

A father speaking of his daughter: “She had brains to burn. If she ever decided to apply herself, he believed she could be president. And that wasn't the high bar it might once have been, given the quality of some recent incumbents”. (River Red With Blood, Joh Connolly)

Truthfully, does it ever get any easier? Are we so faulty that we can never actually strive for more perfection, attain it, and keep it whole within?

Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.

When, G-d, when? 

ANATEVKA. ANATEVKA.

 ANATEVKA, ANATEVKA ... 

I hear the words of that song from Fiddler over and over again these days. These days are wrought with tension. With disbelief. Yes, disbelief even as I have warned and spoken words in this vein for years. Are we too in danger of being chased from homes, from lands where we have lived for centuries, from all our Anatevkas?  Are we prepared for terrible possibilities? 

Thus have I been calling out for years. I have been told I was wrong, that the world is different, that we are different. But is the world different from the world of a decade ago? Any better? Or far worse? We must acknowledge the truth, that the world has changed for the worse, that our hopes and dreams have become fragile, that our leaders, those who are supposed to look out for the safety of the nation and its population, are clearly falling down on the job. We must now acknowledge that our friends, our leaders are not carrying within themselves concerns of our safety, but rather their own needs.  Unfortunately, I have been correct in many thoughts and concerns. We must all become more alert than ever before.  

 Most of all to be prepared, to take up the battle when it is time to do so. If we wait for and depend on others, well, been there, done that. Enough!

No, nations were not prepared. In criminal negligence those ' protectors' of the nation were short, way short. They allowed for a nation to be caught short. In fact, it was only through the bravery of individuals - soldiers who grabbed guns and cars and raced down South. There to fight with civilians plugging the gaps, old men, women, soldiers and civilians who fought way past exhaustion, even with life taking wounds. Even as workers joined in, for they knew their lives were equally at stake under the vicious Hamas and the not "innocent" Palestinians who enabled them and joined in with great enthusiasm.  

One would expect in such a situation for the nations of the world to respond with words of sorrow and support. But by the second day and in all the years and months that followed. the world has taken it as their global mantra. Israel, the nation, which was invaded, is called the invader. Israel, which did not even get into Gaza on the second day, was accused of genocide and continues to be so accused. It became gospel truth to the world.

Even more ugly is the truth that was revealed. The   long-planned enablement of the rotten cores of the universities to be exposed, their own dirt within, the allowing for the filth of JewHatred to infest and infect these 'hallowed, and tainted halls of education, so negligent of their tasks. Bullied and brainwashed students. Miraculously enough tents and tarps and slogans to put in place. Immediately. So long has the brainwashing of students gone on that even some misled Jewish students were convinced to stand on protest lines calling out for their own deaths. 

The complicity of the universities, how they allowed, even encouraged and went along with this was exposed. A new world of pain grown from an older world of pain, still powerful enough to attract many who bought into its ugliness, gave them a target upon which to blame all the ills and woes of the world. 

 As usual, Hate has its own power source. It is external and seemingly internal its own power, a resource never lost, though perhaps dimming at times. But now is not such a time. Now we are seeing its ugly regrowth and revitalization. Its manifestation emerges at first with and in words, tapping hate banks and grows ever sharper and more abusive. Its inciting to violence grows into a reality which then grows into acting upon that incitement to violence. It emerges in bombs and fires of infrastructure of the Jewish community and finally rises to acts of murder.  We are already at that point, passed it already.  

The same silence on the wrongs of this JewHatred, the same silence that thundered in our ears as our former friends and neighbors stood by, watched us being dragged away, to death and horror. Nary a word of protest, but many words of enthusiasm and glee as the properties of Jews were ransacked. 

For three years now we have been fighting this war.  But truthfully, this has been a war of millennia. Too many deny it. It is too awful to accept that truth. But it is happening. It can happen. We are in the midst of that development. It is growing in visibility. But are there enough to man those ugly positions, to stand aside as evil proliferates? Well, simply look to the people who staff ICE, at the viciousness, the insane determination to 'catch' all, people who are for the most part law abiding hardworking and critical to our economy in so many areas. No, staffing will be no problem.      

It was difficult for me at times to mesh the polls with the world and the non-Jews I have met and become friends with. They universally express repulsion at the acts and thoughts of antisemitism, so from whence these growing numbers on the polls?  How do allow aberrations such as Mamdani and backers to rise to the surface? Why do we constantly fall for the words socialist, progressive in the name of a political party when we know via history that these are often trigger words for a communist or fascist party looking for power, two sides of the same coin. For that matter, why do we persist in allowing for extremists on the Right and the Left to spew forth in public presentation of words of violence, words of Hate!!      

 We of the older generation must be alert and not resigned. If we do not share in the recognition of the importance of proper education, then not only will we be lost, but so will the future generations. Will they have a future? One of positivity? The answers to these questions are up in the air, in great danger of falling to the ground with no protective coating.

 It's rather depressing. It's very hard when you have to learn this, to know this, time and time again. Yesterday, today, tomorrow. How long? How long?  Are there not enough good people to avert a new tragedy? Remember Your sadness after the previous tragedies.  To Jews, to people of the world, to the entire world.

Hear us and our cries. Allow them to pierce Your heart. Allow Your anger and displeasure with us to subside.  

So we all hope. So we all pray. And so, we must recognize the truth. No longer to give it room     to grow. To push it back into the depths of Hell from which it must never emerge ever again. 

STEP DOWN UNIT

 There was a plethora of appropriate titles for this posting, but I chose the one I felt most inclusive of the contents of this entry. Truthfully, there is never a shortage of apt titles, especially in politically themed writing, but in any case, ...here we are. 

I very recently read an article which referred to the White House as a step-down unit for our oh so esteemed President. I wondered about that, as if truly so, we are being played by a clever demented one who is making time pay off for himself, his extended family members, particularly his sons and his bogus friends who are in it for the same reason. 

"Make hay when the sun don't shine" or something very similar is the way it goes. And trust me, this man is making hay, pulling together an enormous number of bales of hay, enough to keep him in the hay when he is finally out of office, though certainly not out of the mess he has laid down upon his fellow Americans.

And there is yet another possible title. "My fellow Americans" is a common turn of phrase when said official is speaking to the nation, usually at a time of either great celebration or a time of trouble. And I believe that most of them believed they were speaking to fellow Americans, as they spoke like a human, a fellow comrade in arms as we, this nation and its leaders sought to do right, to find the best way forward for the nation. They did not hide behind strange and eerie postings in the middle of the night on a most oxymoronic private online address - Truth Social!! If ever ... As if!

Why the title? He clearly is using this misbegotten second term in office as a springboard to enhance his bottom line and to get his health situation under control. If that is even possible! To cement his position within society. To be respected and forgiven. To stand among those of his predecessors, even as they stand so much taller, so much higher, so much so that he is almost unseen.     

He will be satisfied, I believe, with the usage of his own terms of greatness, at least in his own mind, if not in the mind of the public, particularly as the inner, hidden and/or denied truths are revealed, as their rank odor calls attention to them. Just as he sits in the Oval Office, surrounded by sycophants with huge, plastered grins on their faces, He cannot at the same time control his rather random movements, part of his degenerative syndrome - take your pick. Mine is PD, or a related version. 

In any case, he cannot control his physical deterioration along with wayward mind and tongue at the same moment in time. During these times of duress, he takes a forty-wink nap and hangs onto any hand presented and uses these moments as stabilizing opportunities. Doesn't really work, does it? 

In the meantime, under cover of as much darkness as can be found, he enhances that oh so important bottom line, evidently a challenge to manhood, so he does indeed have much to prove, does he not? Taking successful strides to do so, he and his fellow corrupt and ignorant brownnosers boldly go where most previous leaders of our nation have not gone - to open bribery and corruption. To nastiness and harm to this nation. To use these remaining opportunities, laid out before him in his protected step-down unit, before they are gone.   

Leaving behind a broken and challenged nation. Will we indeed fall into the gaping holes of our       current situations, our vast disagreements, our confusing combinations? Personally, the optimism is not there at all. We have gone so far and deep into the swamp that was DC and now has returned to it, that retreat, a simple and clear order to do so, will never emerge from the mouths of those who are just as bad and harmful to the health of this nation. As they use politics and political themes to cover up the truths of their own power grabs, not really their intent to do better for this nation as a whole, but rather only for their gang. Those who buy into their dangerous speech all the better for them to enhance their own positions of wealth and power.

Meanwhile, back of the proverbial ranch we are beginning to hear some chirps. Those who were giving voice to opposition to our current situation and the awful trends just beneath the surface, all the ready to emerge and do its worst to this nation. To all that it stands for. All the promise of its birth 250 years ago. To all it has striven for. To acknowledge errors and improve upon them. To do right. To be right. 

Do we have enough to engender a true and successful intervention in the case of the misguided ones, and the purposeful ones, who are taking this nation down? I hope so, I truly do, but hope, the   possibility and probability are fading fast. 

There is a small gap of time now.  Use the growing numbers of chirpers and those who will join us, to legally, rightfully, take back our nation. Oust the corrupt judges. Shake the ranks of the government and civilians for those capable and willing to do true public service. Have them convince us all that they are in this rather nasty game for altruistic motivation and not for selfish reasons. 

Honestly, I despair of locating enough. The search looks more and more similar to the useless disheartening search of Diogenes, seeking an honest man and not meeting with much success. Again, and I speak for myself, I am not hopeful or convinced that we will find a sufficient number of such people, true leaders.  It is a challenge to find and name one, with confidence in that choice. It seems to be as futile as was the search for a good person, enough to save the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The most aggravating thing about all this is that we have been living this same scenario with minor changes throughout the time of humanity upon this planet.

It matters not - yesterday, today or tomorrow. We are just plainly lost and have not yet found our way back.

We had better hurry.

I just read that scientists and an AI brain have predicted the end of civilization and humanity by the year 2030.

That is around the corner.  

 As usual, 

It. Is. Up. To. Us.

Only. Us.  

Let us step up, not step down. 

HERE IS THERE AND THERE IS HERE AND HOW THE HELL DOES ONE DIFFERENTIATE?

  In fact, it is not so easy to decide exactly where one is. the 'here' of it all, and how the hell we got There? Here? in the first place. So often these days, life of the public arena is so confusing and distressing and to find one's exact Here is challenging. However, what do we do when we discover, much to our growing concern, that our Here is nowhere within the public center of life.   Hence, we find ourselves in a revolving cycle, a dry eddy which shuffles us off to the proverbial Buffalo only to find that the center of our Here does not mesh well, if at all, with the There of others? 

We have long ago given up trying to reintroduce sanity into public thinking and expression as we were not successful. So, Where indeed do we go to from Here? Where is that Here, that Where we so desperately seek, the one to reset us on our feet with at least a modicum of surety and confidence that at last we are indeed Here, Where life can be fathomed and at least gives a hint of possible better times within our individual and societal Heres, and Wheres  and Theres. Even as we know the truth, knowing that we are indeed the cause of our misery, we remain static. We persist in keeping true to worn out false statements of policy and faulty beliefs. 

 It is, in fact very difficult to maintain proper directional stance. It seems that almost in the same instance when we dare to feel we have found a home, to be Here, in the very next moment we are force-fed misinformation convincing us that our presumptions were wrong. Suddenly, without true respite we are forced to turn it all around again and the Here and the Where and the There become totally enmeshed, unable to be understood nor successfully defined as separate entities.  

The ground is pulled from beneath our feet. There's nothing left to hang on to, to believe in. We cannot discern a tiny bit of a positive germ able to start a healing, to generate a germ of sense and sensibility. Of true culture and civilization. Of a true America. As she was meant to be. As she should still be. 

The strength of the sane and civilized society, one true to the moral precepts which underlie it, emit a sense of comfort and reassurance to the individuals within. We are sadly lacking in that. Our pseudo leaders have openly forsaken the moral precepts once held dear. Religion is blatantly being pushed within the state, giving rise to a great shudder of fear of what might come next.     

We have lost our way. We have lost our directional sense. Too many of us have lost our morality. Our souls. Sold in the name of wealth and power and influence. At this moment we appear to be even further, ever further than ever. The Here in which we hope to reside in security, democracy and positive outlook is missing, gone unseen for lo these many a year.  

Such reassurance is gone. The tongues which speak of it are forked, and nary a word or sentence of truth emerges. All promises and statements to reassure us of our safety and progress come out twisted. Unable to be believed.      

We are lost. In the midst of a deep forest which we have allowed to grow up around us. Blocking out the light. Sapping our strength and our trust. We certainly are confused as to where exactly our position is. Where are we located? And how we. all the nations of the world, must sheathe their dripping sharp-edged tongues and weapons. Or we will remain lost. 

 Why is it so difficult for us to understand that we are all in this together. We either sink or swim together. And for those who do not know how to swim, the time for lessons is upon us.         

The questions remain. Grow ever more in   prominence.

Where are we?

How did we get There? Wherever we are. 

And what is the Here in which we find ourselves?

For too long, in all our yesterdays, throughout our todays and most likely in our tomorrows, we persist in making the same errors. Calling the wrong shots. Being blind to all that needs to be done.

Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.

Lord help us. 

A WORLD OF TARPS

  Tarps certainly have many uses in this world. It can be laid over a leaky roof. They can protect floors during a time of construction or home improvement. They can protect inside the house or even outside the house furniture. Simply cover them up to protect them from the hostile elements. Tarps can even protect cars from brutal sun and harsh salty air.  

 Tarps have many uses. Some are literal while others are figurative. Or even both purposes at the same time. Tarps obviously can hide the physical. What is going on behind that construction fence? Why are there no viewing holes cut on them? The lack of knowledge, to understand the reality of something piques the at first harmless curiosity. However, if no information is forthcoming, that little itch becomes the forerunner of a massive one, unable to be satisfied or cured. 

In these days too often, the bland unknown becomes a footpath into conspiracy theories and more. Until it becomes a nagging itch, ever larger and possibly generates all sorts of conspiracy plots. As ridiculous as they seem at first, these whispered thoughts gather an energy of their own and well, there we are, here we are, in the toxic atmosphere of life today.

When physical tarps are combined with mental and emotional attachments, with political purpose underlying, it is then that there is not enough calamine lotion in the world to stop the itch. It grows on what came before it. It swallows the very air around it. It leaves the observer wanting and needful of a sensible and true explanation. The more there is no response to this need, the worse it gets, particularly if there is a basis for the unease and mistrust. The entire matter takes on a life of its own. The body politic, denied the response, grows ever more suspicious and uneasy, prey for "deep" plots. The emerging possibilities grow ever more      frightening. That is when emotions begin to call the shots, and even an attempt to give answers of truth fall by the wayside. Too little too late.

One prominent example right now is the sight of hanging tarps, long and ugly, hanging down from roof to ground at the Kennedy Center. The very same center of culture demeaned by the man who dared to place his name upon its walls. No asking, no prior notice, only the dastardly deed. Actually, a violation of laws pertaining to the Center. Hijacked by a man who would not recognize truth if it rose up and slapped him in the face. Who insists on putting his name wherever and whenever the desire arises. Even to the point of destruction of much of the heritage buildings and places of the nation and/or building ones, relevant only to his self-aggrandizement and his overblown ego.

So, the question remains. What is going on behind those tarps? When they are pulled down will we see his name etched all over? Broken walls? A building torn down just as the East Wing of the White House was torn down? Will we see a giant Trump?             Possibly see a huge advertisement, expanding his sales of Trumpian merchandise, the Oval Office deemed insufficient for his purposes, for his greed?  

Worse possibility?  Even a level of probability when one takes into account the insane mind, deluded and twisted, at the helm. He has already changed much in this nation. He has laid tarps all around. He has hidden the machinations and corruption so rampant within his administration, planting weeds of ugliness all around. Strange rules and guidelines have sapped the health and energy of this nation.  The harm laid upon the population within, cuts deep into the populace. Children dying from disease long ago conquered. The armed forces laid low by epidemics of diseases that have vaccines, though now discarded by the purported Health administrators of our land.  

So much of our foundation consigned to the trash pile. All that over the years of our existence, 250 years, we have improved, moved forward, taking steps in the right direction when we mis-stepped. No longer. Civil service tests - gone. No bid contracts in place. particularly if you donate to Trump.  Just be a good old boy, and wealthy. Ever willing, perhaps even eager, to sell one's soul to the devil as manifested on this earth.    

Accept as logical and legal the instructions given to the Heads of the various departments of the government of this nation. To destroy itself. To slash through the workers. To literally disembowel itself and take all improvements to that fate.    Education. Health. Armed Services as well, as discrimination in all segments of this nation grow, as the nation's false leaders reach back to ugly past deeds and thoughts. With people not realizing that prejudice against one is prejudice against all.  

I think most awful is the accursed return of the sight of "law enforcers” chasing people. Why? These people are trying to improve their lives. Just as our ancestors - even ourselves - have done. Shared the same dreams and hopes. They take jobs that nobody wants. They build small businesses, educate their children, and add vitality to the nation's ethos and culture, the fresh blood necessary for a nation to move forward, to grow in positive manner. Are there those among these newcomers who are of criminal mind? Of course - just as there are among native born. Go after them but do not consign all into the same trash pile,  

Why are we mimicking the French gendarmes. With great enthusiasm and energy, they invaded homes of those deemed unworthy of life. Once neighbors and friends, their doctors and coworkers, the owner of a small store. All were beaten, from infant to elderly, by the ancestors of Hamas and Hezbollah who look upon all Jews as their enemies, worthy only of slaughter.

Why have we turned so backwards, so dismissive of true and worthy goals for all of us? Why have we consistently turned to false leaders who perpetuate harm on those they rule? When we have fools, leaders, bad leaders, when we allow ourselves to follow in their footsteps, there is no good awaiting us.

We must remove the tarps from our physical and emotional thoughts. We must see through to the truth. Whether we like it or not.

So it was yesterday. 

So it seems to be today.

As for tomorrow, we certainly have a lot of work ahead of us.  

SO SO SORRY

  I have not been feeling well, not up to myself and therefore have not written anything for the blog. Suffice it to say, though, that there is much that was worthy of comment. However, feeling somewhat better, I will write a small one, not complicated, and hopefully will feel better for Sunday's posting. 

It is ever more frightening to read the news sources and see that nothing has changed other than for the worse. Even possibly to the worst. For example, Lord knows I am not a Trump fan. Lord knows and everyone knows who knows me and reads my blog knows that I have been warning about this. Warned about that which we are now facing from him and his administration. It is a rather regretful, right to say I told you so. I wish it were not so. I wish I were wrong. But I was not. And I am not. 

However, I now find myself in the rather peculiar situation, hoping that Trump remains in office at present rather than being defeated by his oh so visible defects. Because what would come after him is far worse, and that would be Vance. That would be those of his rather extreme Christian viewpoints which include rather obvious tenets of downplaying the Jewish People. From their importance to this world and the connection to this world and to everything that is within it. This is not shy at all in expression, but rather outspoken. 

This criticism of Israel along with its ugly sibling of deep toxic antisemitism is more and more visible. The real walls and pools of JewHatred are more and more evident, from the Right as well as from the Left.   Hoping that Trump will not sink deeper into his long dark night, will not cause further troubles, I will, at least for now, say Slaint! To you Donald. At least for the next two years. 

Furthermore, it is rather heartbreaking to see that the world has returned with great vim and vigor to the ugliness of the actual blame placed upon Israel. Upon the Jewish people, wherever they are, wherever they live. Voluntary or not. When they respond in turn to existential threats, as is the right of any nation, Israel is then accused of being the cause of broken ceasefires. As if there ever was a cease fire that worked. What we have had, lo these many decades, these many millennia is a constant state of war. Sometimes known as ceasefire wars. Never has there ever been a time of peace of long and true reliability.   

It is the open hypocrisy of the denial of the right of defense and to prevention of further threats to its existence, what Israel must do. It is now claimed that if we returned land to those who attacked us from that land, who staged armed forces at the ready to invade our land, that there will be peace.   Really?! So why then, was the war in the first place? Why is there still this crazed desire to deny Israel a place in the world. Why is there this constant legitimized by the world claim that is obviously false yet presented as Gospel Truth? 

When Jews were forced out of those lands in which they were living they were welcomed within Israel, a country newly founded, already overwhelmed with the huge numbers of refugees from the horrors of the Holocaust. They did not become standing refugees of the world for all eternity, as the UN has enabled those false Palestinian refugees.  

The plight of these refugees was ignored by the world. Just as they ignored the constant attacks upon us. Just as they ignored the mounting numbers of Israeli citizens killed by terrorists. Day after day we are getting multiple reports of fatalities and terrible wounds, men and women alike who risk their lives every day on the ground and the air. As the army of Israel, composed of civilians pulled out again and again to fight for the survival of their homeland, their families. How difficult it is for those they leave behind, those waiting on tenterhooks to know. Will he or she return to me? In what condition? Why does the world ignore this?  

Why, in fact, is the world forever in a daze        as to the truth of the matter? It makes no difference whether land is "returned” or not. It makes no never mind that the world ignored the violation of the supposed international rules governing cities such as Hebron, Jerusalem, the ancient shrines of the Jewish people denied to them.  No, it only matters now when Israel has control and they are open to all.  Now the world clamors for its return to that which was wrong in the first place.    

Israel is in a constant state of battle for survival. But the world refuses to acknowledge this. It tramples unseen, or perhaps on purpose more likely, with the truth of this situation which Israel must face simply to ensure its own survival. As they fight to remain in their country, their homeland from time immemorial. Every response they make is deemed as critical, as a breach of some imaginary truce. Right now, and forever, we have an ongoing ceasefire war, ongoing ever since the beginning of modern Aliyah.  

But these facts are never acknowledged by the world at large. It is always Israel who is deemed as breaking of a truce as they respond to a terrible attack upon themselves. Their critics dare to ask why Israel has the right to fight back? Or engage in preventative defense and offense, as is the right of any country upon this earth? Is it that Jewish blood is still deemed as cheap, not worthy of any care or consequence? Is that what it is? Well then, screw you, world. The Jewish blood is not cheap. It is never to be cheap. Never again. And we will do what we must to ensure our survival; not only our survival, but our progress, our being a productive nation, contributing to the world in every field that one can think of, way above our fighting weight.

So, readers of mine, sorry for the lack of posting. But as you can see, I have not lost contact with the world at large. Unfortunately, I see nothing better emerging. In fact, I see only worse. And for the world, for those of you who think that this means that there is a possibility of defeat of Israel and the Jewish people, think again. And for those of you Jews who are traitors to yourself, your family, to your heritage and your ancestors, screw you too. If we have enemies who wish to consign us to the Gates of Hell, why not show them the way, with you at the head of the line? 

Yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Will it ever change?

WELL, D.A.M.N. I.T.

  And yet again! Another damned time when I can rightfully say that awful "I told you so", but that is not what I wanted. I truly hoped, against all odds that I was wrong in this case, that the tiger would not show his stripes, that the show as pretended to be would go on as so many deluded thought it would.

It Did Not. 

Much to my sorrow, regret and pain. The same emotions felt by so many others. But disappointment per se - nope, never there for how can one be disappointed when the expected takes place? Although certainly there was a great deal of disappointment and disgust and yes, even fear, when the expected took place and the world continued on in its merry road of delusion and a growing incipient peril which we are ignoring. It is a case of a variation of the Emperor's New Clothes - never were, never will be, and never will all those in the viewing audience see through to the truth.

Truth One: Trump, the man with the finger on the button, the man who is ruling, yes, ruling, by dictat, is clearly deteriorated to a dangerous point.

Truth Two: His deterioration has gone way above and beyond any and all other Presidents in our history. The picture has been clearly evident for months, if not years. Now he is practically sleepwalking, cannot keep his eyes open any more than can a newborn baby, and his thinking, well. what thinking? 

Truth Three: His behavior and remarks are more erratic than ever and world leaders, along with the little people of this world, you and me, are beyond worry, well into fear as to what this shell of a man might initiate.

Truth Four: As I predicted, warned. shouted, - the man has sold Israel down the river, no manumission papers, merely more chains to shackle the State of Israel to heavy impediments to their survival. To their right to defend themselves and do as any other nation would do if it were facing a grossly apparent and clearly and often voiced sentiment, for its enemies to see it all the way through to the final destruction of Israel.  

 Truth Five: This man is an embarrassment to this nation, a dangerous clown who wields power with high harmful potential. He has already done so with his crude maniacal campaign to brand all in DC and America, for that matter, to take on his name as he rides rampant over any and all that touches upon true and classic and classy matters, proper ways in which to celebrate this nation's birthday. 

Most glaringly 'ny kulturny' ( a disgrace of no redeemable value) is his rather crude pandering to the masses in the event with a fighting ring set up on the South Lawn, where two half naked men would pound away at each other accompanied by maniacal cheers of mainly beer guzzling men, dregs of the extreme MAGA universe that remains, all accompanied by a list of shame of those who contributed to its funding, all the better to gain access to Trump and his Trumpian, corrupt kingdom. Ever so handy to use this event to shout epithets and hostile sentiments. Just another Donald Trump day. 

I, along with many others, hang our heads in shame at this public embarrassment to our nation. It turns one's face as green as the Reflecting Pool has turned once again, despite all the money Trump has thrown at it, in his rather mad campaign to defame any and all monuments to this nation and its past, and yes, even to some of its errors. This is how we learn from history and improve ourselves rather than give way to jingoism and worse. 

We have so much of which to be proud, to lay out before the eyes of the world. To boast of our accomplishments, our historical importance and our contributions to the advancement of the population of the world. To be brave, and bold, and honest as we reflect upon our history, to acknowledge and be proud of our greatest steps forward and think carefully and productively of our errors along the way.

Truth Six: We all should have lost the contents of our stomachs at the sight of Trump bowing before Khomeini. We should be red in the face at the desertion of the rebels, those courageous college students of Iran, despite and after Trump basically promised he, we, would be there with them. 

We were not.

Truth Seven: Israel is next. Even as Trump and his evil cohorts seek to ban the universal right to vote freely within the structure of this nation, as he tramples upon the critical right to mail in ballots - I do - we stand here as lambs ready for the slaughter. We, the people of America, the people and leaders of the world, have fallen prey to the machinations and the bullying, the false promises of a deluded demented person who mistakenly believes he is a god figure. And there goes Israel.

This is upon us. I do not even know how, if ever, we can truly regain our footing. I believe the roadway has been challenged for an eternity, and it will take long and powerful and sustained efforts to right this planet, to steady it on its proper axis, and move once again in proper orbit.

It is depressing to think, to see how quickly, how far back we have gone in this mad decade. The world went astray. A world which looked to the worst of the yesterdays as it lived in the todays and planned for the tomorrows. We need to learn from our errors of yesterday. Repair the gaps within the fabric of our nation as we settle into our todays. Most important, we must be better, do better, make it better for all the tomorrows to come.

Once again. I am not optimistic at all. I think we have much of the harmful awaiting us before we can get back to where we should have been lo these many a year. 

A MOST PERFECT FIT!

 In fact, one could not get a more perfect fit. Every crooked line, every twisted statement, being matched exactly by the slanted and twisted and perverted manner of international politics along with local politics as well. Life imitating art or the other way around? Does the order carry any significance, any effect upon our reality? I think not. The blemishes and defects all lead and contribute to similar endings. 

For sure, most of us, if not all of us, have been reading for months and years of the growing corruption and ugliness in the politics of the world. A day by day ever increasing bloodletting of the blood of democracy, along with constitutional monarchies which "ran out" of their constitutionality. Even in the most democratic of all nations there were shenanigans of massive proportions of ugliness and destruction of the integrity of the body politic. Certainly, in my two countries, the United States and Israel it is so. Worst of all is how the ugliness swamps the remaining goodness within, as the vocal minority outspeak and outshout and threaten the majority of fine folk who live within those two nations and in fact, round the world.

Well, now see what their shenanigans have led to. No more buddy - buddy. No false and more misleading statements of walking together. With hands of friendship between the two nations. Nope. And for sure anyone who believed in that claimed "Partnership”, well see what we have gotten in return. Fooled you once. Fooled you twice. Fooled you so many times that I have lost count. Ever since Trump came on the political radar screen, Netanyahu barely took a foot out of it. 

Their synergy, rather than taking whatever positive aspects of these two and combining them for something good, we had instead a synergy of Evil, of carelessness, of egotism and toxic narcissism. A sheer openness of choosing self over country. Of choosing self over the individuals that made up the population of these countries. However, I must say.   I believe that nothing that Trump has done or said arose from anything other than from seeds and motivations of selfishness. At least even in these delusions of grandeur, Netanyahu did have at least a modicum of concern remaining for his nation, continuing to channel at least some of the legacy of his family. but not enough, not nearly enough. 

As I have stated, warned, screamed so many times over the most recent years, actually a decade, both of these men, all of their adherents, their cowardly sniveling position craving cowardly enablers, had nothing of any worth, of any true quality to contribute to their nations. No notes of lasting    goodness and progress for the people of their nations and the people of the world.

But it is not only these two, and their cohorts. If I were a betting person. I would go on one of those online prediction markets and bet the entire store on the fact that there is not a nation within this world that is functioning with all feet on the ground. Greed, selfishness, a lust for Power and Wealth, and a road ahead seemingly clear of obstacles in the mad lust for these things, even and especially in the Western nations. 

Once people looked to them as role models for nations functioning in democracy.  Where people in leadership positions, for the most part, had the nation's welfare at heart. Who at least cared for and about their nations rather than only about themselves and how to use the nation's politics and worries and ever slackening morals to benefit themselves. And their families. Far too many nations now claiming to be democracies even as they forbid elections and see to the arrangement for their children to be named as inheritors of the nation.      

Yesterday I went to see Disclosure Day, Steven Spielberg's latest movie. A fine addition to the world of thoughtful cinema. It was neither a sequel   to Close Encounters nor action movie alone. It was an excellent mix of all factors and a Go See It recommendation, standing out even more so in a recent time of poor, silly, meaninglessly violent, or hate mongering movies. It is its own self. Yes, there are some aliens in there, but they are almost negligible, serving their purpose well. But no monsters here. Certainly not any other than ourselves. Even as perhaps we can see that monsters can develop even as they claim to be following the righteous path of goodness, for justice, for security. For the positive and necessary for humanity.

The question is raised. Where and when do we reach a point of no return, a point of diminishing value and truth? Will we recognize that line or will we be blinded by something that has outgrown in   negative manner its original motivation? That we had become so invested within that we could not see the wrong turns made and the way to dial back? Or worse, did we know it, but refused to correct? 

Is it in fact permissible and moral to do bad, to do terrible, bad things in the name of a claimed good? Is there no border? A red line which must not be crossed? Do we sacrifice all that makes us human amid the claim that we are safeguarding humanity? But how? As animals? Claiming, wanting, to keep alpha position and doing so in brutal manner. Do we lose our humanity trying to enforce the thought that we are indeed alone in this universe. Other than with those who live Above, the Lord and His Angels, and whomever else has taken residence up there.  

Are we so afraid for ourselves? So much so that we sell our friends and allies down the river. A Creek without a paddle. Wandering among weeds, which threaten their very stability? Are we seeking to trip them up? Keep them down? And eat them up? Are we so much of ourselves that we could possibly be thick enough, foolish enough to believe that within this vast universe creation of the Eternal One there would be no other creatures, no other living beings that have our level of intelligence. (Probably much more) and then, deem them as inferior, even as we hold them in brutal captivity, to dig out, literally and figuratively, all the knowledge they have?    

The question here is what is upon the leaders of the nation, in accordance with legal and moral strictures, its policies and actions, to do in such circumstances? What does it entail? Are there decisions and actions beneath which we can draw a line? Understand that beyond is where the true monsters live - and then find out the monsters are our reflections? Can the government operate in secret, claiming to keeping possibly harmful, hurtful things away from them? Yes, at times it is correct, but in others we leave aside our humanity.   There is certainly a limit and crossing the divide is where we must not go, no matter how we think we can justify it. 

It is also a dismissal of the intellect of the populace.  Thinking they could not bear up under possibly frightening news. Yes, for sure there will be some outrageous reactions. After that, simply look to the world today. People going crazy because some team won the championship? What does it do for them? Does it get rid of hate, of the homeless problem, the hunger?   Finally fund the food pantries? Nope, nothing. But we do know that the reactions can be properly managed and the immediacy does die down, to a point where humans can become sane and reasonable again. That has always been the hope. Even if at times it is overlong in arrival.

So yes. The arrogance of thinking that we are just below God.  Right in how we exercise intellectual, moral and physical powers. Our abilities to unlock the mysteries of the world. Use them for benefit. And whose benefit would that be? Are there limitations upon the cost in so many ways? In the movie we find that in the name of good, the government and the civilian counterparts have done something massively drastically immoral.  Certainly. in any righteous world, it would be illegal. To hold living beings in captivity for almost a century. To torment them. Thinking at one and the same time conflicting thoughts. That these beings held in captivity know technology. That it is upon us to dig it out of them, literally and figuratively. Accepting their superiority and at the same time we deem them less than a human. Even as their appearance is not so different. Eyes and ears and nose and mouth and arms and body and soul. Able to fear pain and a terrible unknown ahead.

In a tossed off sentence of dialogue, we find that empathy, feeling with others is one of the highest, if not the highest level. To attain, to reach and internalize that realization, declutter it from falsehoods and excuses, all that would seemingly excuse the outrage of awful excess they have perpetrated on others, others of their own kind, let alone aliens - that has been the conflict within this movie, all caught up in a story of humanity - or not. Positive in the midst of horror as we see and understand that humanity, as it should be, is an achievable goal, that we can change, can improve.

In the closing minutes we see a nation which knows deep within its guts, with every brain cell possessed that something is going on, something is so terribly wrong in the nation. And suddenly the impetus to clean out grocery stores. To fill up their cars. Do what they can - but for what, exactly? Something is rotten in this version of Denmark. Then the ultimate clash between two groups, two schools of thought. One abhors what has been done, ashamed of their own complicity. and they attempt to right the wrongs done. To rectify the matter, taking terrible risks and challenges to their own survival. 

On the other are those persisting in their delusions that they are indeed protecting the people, those who cannot deal with what is upon us. The parent unchallenged. But the populace of this nation, though often shocking and disappointing, are not children. When given opportunity to come to their senses most often they do. Hope. The saving grace of humanity.  They can see through the obfuscation of lies and gross errors. They can react properly.

They did so in the last moments as the truth was revealed. No riots. No screams other than from that team so invested in their own thoughts and needs, crippled by it and unwilling, perhaps unable to take the corrective steps and correct their pathways.       

People watch. Their faces show their emotions.  Then a major female character steps up to the podium to talk to the nation, to the world for that matter. And what we hear, spoiler alert. Is one word.

 Listen.

In all our yesterdays and all todays. Hopefully in tomorrows to come. We, the people of the world, will indeed listen. We will listen to the internal mores and morals. We will listen to the better side of ourselves. We will listen with hearts and souls and minds and bodies. No manner of escape for what we should have done, should be doing and hopefully will be doing in a more perfect future. A tomorrow of Golden Hue.

WHEN IS IT LATE? TOO LATE. AND WHEN IS IT JUST A PAUSE ..

  ... A brief moment in time? Is that moment in time voluntary or involuntary? Scheduled or not? Does it really make a difference? In fact, perhaps we should value those pauses and become more skilled in their use and benefits, certainly more so than at present. It is good at times to stop the world and get off even if just for a bit. Usually, after such a break we find our tempers cooled, our thoughts more cogent and the end result often exceeding expectations. Even if that is not the result, in any case that momentary pause keeps the door or window open, allowing us to return to the issue in a positive state of mind. 

Too many of us learn that fact too late in life. Does not even have to be too much later. It could even be the same day. But in that looking back, that Monday quarterbacking, we can see where we went wrong. Or at least a hint to it. We fiddle around in our mind as to what exactly had happened. How the next time a similar issue arises we know how to remediate. How to better mediate, discuss and solve or approach resolution, views no more hindered by befogged and filthy windows. 

Unfortunately, however, in the heat of the moment, the words slip out. The emotions become the overlay over all else. Even as one makes that oral error it is too late. What is spoken can never really be truly taken back. Certainly not the sting of those words. The sting remains. For a long time and the older one gets the more there is to look back on and understand. And regret. There then emerges a deep desire to kick one's own rear for the errors of the past. Often times these errors reemerge at most inopportune moments and the instinct to kick is right back at ya! 

Today I have decided to take a pause. I'm so exhausted from that multiple days' flights and active life in between, even when so very joyful.  The pause will be greatly appreciated. Perhaps I can even use it to realign some thoughts, needs and desires. Create a better balance and an acceptance that this body of mine is not a traitor in trying to teach me that my body cannot do as it did years ago - even three years ago. Such is life and if we do not take the pauses necessary it will backfire on us. So pause it is at times.

But in the yesterdays, todays and hopefully into the tomorrows, the blog will be generally consistent in posting -as you will be reading and thinking about it. It is telling me the truth. Slow down. Ration demands and the energies. Be able to do almost as much. Necessary enough. But no more than that.

Pause time for all - even the crazed and dangerous false leaders of our times. See how much better a world we could have if these leaders well past their sell by date just shut up for a while. Allow for some clear thought and rationality to enter into the equation. 

That was true yesterday. 

It remains as true today.

And certainly, a necessary component for successful tomorrows.

AMAZING! THE POWER OF SMALL

  The world seems so unimaginably unusually troubled these days. Small countries with their own little wars. Stabbing women and children. Men wielding machetes. Over to the more sophisticated Nations who believed in more subtle, even suave hostile actions, going unnoticed, until not, just as evil as their sharpened knives plunged into the backs and the hearts of those chosen to be declared the enemy. We pat ourselves for doing such a wonderful job. Mostly, it is for something that should never have been and should most certainly be extirpated from the souls and hearts of all the nations of the world. No surprise that does not happen, is it? And the violence only continues. 

A smile gins up 'TILT" in ever more fevered surroundings, the ugly hate, the perverse souls desirous of bloodshed, are all components of a monumentally off-key cat's choir, their yowls waking the dead! What is this ugly violence that pervades society at this level? More important, why is it? 

We have societies which have enabled, even has protected violence in the name of myriad causes, the ones they favor, are rife with bribery. bold corruption, with politicians feted and honored, "gifted", let in on financials deals they favor and this is, shamefully so, is a universal situation.

It matters not whether one is slain with a sword or a bullet or words sharper than ever. The power of Evil is mighty as the most corruptible and already corrupted fall in line. Those who know better. Those who should know better. All wield a spoon larger than life so as to scoop out as much filthy lucre as they can. Lives are defined and defiled.   What they do not seem to comprehend, to feel within their very bones, is that all the gravy does not leave behind a good taste. In fact, it actually foments a bitter taste on the tongues and hearts of so many of their "friends”. 

In actuality, if we honestly assess our situations, is this the society that we ourselves wanted? If so.  we got what we asked for. The blame and the responsibility and the consequences are upon us. Whether we were implicit or complicit. Whether we were noisy or quietly standing by. Nothing comes from nothing. For society to have fallen to such a level of violence and degradation and rampant hate, well, it didn't just happen. 

When someone looks at a 9-month-old baby boy and a 4-year-old little boy and think they are legitimate targets for manual strangulation, there is something very wrong within humanity. In fact, it is a twisted and perverse humanity. When one can look at an individual kidnapped off a dancing celebration or from within a safe room and think this is a great time to practice starvation and torture, the reek of the rottenness, its deeply enmeshed within evil, overwhelms us all.  

So, is this true, that we got what we wanted? Dear G-d, but I hope the rest of us, hopefully the vast majority of us, do not want this. Hence, the question. The same one Elie Weisel asks: Where were you? Where the Hell was the World? And where are they now?

And yet, even as its all, ugliness pervades the world. We looked to the little to the small and soft. 

They change the world, at least for a time. they suffuse the air with an aroma that wraps itself around the heart and all is suddenly changed for the better. New smalls making up a fresh decor for the world.  These are little people, little human beings, small packages of seven or eight pounds and 18 to 21 inches. And within lies the world.

Yesterday we were blessed with another little one. A little boy. Who had his traditional Brit as all Jewish boys do, part of the Covenantal between the Jewish people and the Lord. We have dreams and hope for him, for all the little ones, boys and girls.     We hope we can bequeath them a better brighter world where there will be peace and love, the same love wrapping him around, tying him to others.       

 I could not think about that on such a beautiful day, with such a beautiful little boy being held in my arms and in the arms of other loving family members and friends, I had no room for despair, only hope and love.

We all must examine ourselves. We must. All must look deep within us, our challenged souls, and find the remnants of those little ones, those pure innocent souls. Free of corruption of the world. Free of the pain of the world. We must do our best to maintain the beautiful world. Give it far more effort and understand our responsibility in generating the kind of world that we all wish to live in, that we wish to pass on to our children. To our little ones.

Welcome to the world, little one, whatever the day.

Yesterday, today or endless tomorrows.

WHY? BEATS ME!

  It is indeed a beautiful day. The sun is shining. The sky is blue and thankfully the sounds accompanying us for too long a time were noisy in their silence.  A silence we held close and dear to our hearts. I lay there in bed taking advantage of nothing weighing upon us other than to get ourselves to the airport on time with all that we needed and probably much that was not. 

Suddenly I realized why there was something much brighter on this day, at least for me. This brightness was tinged heavily by overtones of blue, a hue   which continues to drill down into our hearts and souls. Why? Because no matter how much the leaders shout and scream and bash at each other, we, the little people, are perforce affected negatively by their actions or lack thereof. Even the positive seems temporary in nature and the sun begins to dim a little bit more.

So, first things first. In my particular world overnight, the clock ticked the hours away and my age changed. Once, as a little girl I calculated how old I would be when the centuries changed. Fifty-two. What an amazing number! What would it be like to be alive at such old age? I would be so old then, I thought to myself, as I wondered what life will be then. 

Now in accordance with the ticking of that clock which affects so many of us, my years changed. I don't know why it makes a difference. I don't know why there seems to be that major gap between 77 and 78, but 78 appears to carry more of substance within all facets of my personal and public life.

I wonder what have I done in my life? Is it worthy of the aspiration of "legacy” that many people claim to indeed have left behind them or are in the midst of creating that legacy. I don't know. There are three generations after us. Children, grandchildren and great grandchildren (the best in a bunch). There is nothing like holding that newborn great grandchild in one's arms - that is until the worry emanating from the outside world barges in the door. Whether we unlocked it at will or it was busted in by outside enemy forces.

Concern about what was left after my 78th, of any 'legacy', it paled in comparison with what lies ahead for all these new little ones. What if the world never changes other than for the bad and the worse and the worst? What if mankind never ever learns to take to heart lessons that are clearly out there? If put in place, a much better future for all seems possible, certainly better than the constant state of wars roiling the nations of the world. 

I don't think most normal people get up in the morning thinking, "oh great, today I'm going to bash someone. I'm going to kill someone. I'm going to shoot someone. I'm going to hurt someone, and G-d forbid one of our own gets hurt."

But we do nothing constructive about it. We have put in place leaders who do not lead, other than to harm. We venerate thinkers who do not think. Visionaries with visual impairments, who cannot see past the nose on their faces. 

The world apparently has gone insane. Doing the same thing over and over again insisting that there will be a better result, yet, when that final bell rings nothing much has changed other than for the worse. People, infrastructure, dreams wrecked, disappearing even as we stare after them. That is the world's definition and reality of insanity, timeless repetitions with expectation of different results, but it is the same game again. In fact, it appears to be that its only change is in an ever-deepening depression.  

I wonder why is it that in their growing up years no part of the lessons of life were caught. Perhaps not taught, perhaps taught, and then set aside, for those lessons did not fit the plans. Having fooled too many of the people, too much of the time, they were there, in the center of their ambitions, so to hell with all opposition.

Why is it? Unfortunately, too many of the influential 'leaders' believe that bashing people over and over again with ever more powerful weapons, with ever more negative consequences is the way to go. Why do they never learn that the pathway to peace is not via forced surrender. 

It is instead based upon discussion and compromise and understanding of each other. It is based on the realization that the world was a gift to humanity, to better, to live with its bounty. Why is it that the world cannot distinguish and know that welcoming is better than being in a constant state of hate and violence. At war. Generally, with one side or even the other more concerned with maintenance of leadership positions of power, and the other nation feels it is an existential threat that awaits them if a loss is sustained. And meanwhile all the resources of Nature and the human mind go to waste, focusing on weapons and power rather than on bettering the world. For all.

Why is it that the pseudo leaders among the nations of the world all seem to have been cooked up in the same pot, buying into the same negativity. Same thoughts that violence is the answer, and more violence is even better than that. Is there somewhere in this world an academy which teaches people how to be the worst they can be, how to be the most inimical leader for their own nation, and, frankly, for themselves as well?

I don't know. I do think that the Good Lord Above has not instilled within us an overpowering essence and lusting for evil, to shed blood, to be 'victorious' and horrendous to others. One can ask, why does it seem more prevalent among some and not others? Is violence indeed the way to go, at least for a time? But as seen through history, that path is useless. Inevitably it fails and the cycle revives again and again and again, no solution other than to refight the same wars, time and time again.

But today I'm going to put aside this meandering of thoughts and concentrate on the joy and the love of friends and family and the knowledge, perhaps the hope, that at least somewhere along the line I have made some tiny little change, had some tiny little bit of influence that will down the line, sometime, pay off, into a better world, for all of us.

That is indeed the legacy I would love to leave behind. One of the possibilities of finally achieving that which we are all capable of, that which our Lord expects of us.

Will it ever be so? Not particularly optimistic about it. Certainly not in my time but who knows? Perhaps now to be in our children's time, our future generations. And certainly, I leave behind the power of love with which we can conquer much that is evil within this world. That is, as long as that love is of people, not of one's own betterment over the bodies of others. A life of goodness, not evil.

So today I celebrate my birthday. My optimism, though battered, still remains in workable order. And I know, that sometime, over time, over and through all the

yesterdays, todays and tomorrows 

that humanity will grow up, discard the trash and enter into a glorious world. The world that we were supposed to be good within, and always to strive for the better.

May it be so. Soon. Very soon.

DUE TO TRAVEL NO BLOG UNTIL FRIDAY

AND IN ITS SO UNWELCOME RETURN ...

  It never ends, does it? Just as one thinks perhaps there'll be a somewhat longer respite from the violence, one faces the truth again. There is no respite. Certainly not in the short run and as for the long run, well, that is millennia long, carrying with it a strong reek of hate and bloodlust, of a never dying always useful Hate soaked in venom. And always with the same issues, the same lies, the same nastiness and the same people, recycled again and again through the centuries.

France. A well-known well practiced supporter of anti-Semitism from the time of Rashi to the time of Dreyfus to the 20th century and now into the twenty-first. It has never stopped pursuing any pathway which leads to the applicability of anti-Semitic tropes and memes and by golly! Here we go again. 

Even as discontent and violence roil the worlds of former French colonies, where France contends it has maintained influence and rights, they have no time, no interest to paying attention to it, to solving the fundamental underlying issues. No, far more important to them evidently is a renewed pursuit of elimination - as in the apparently verboten goal of survival of the Jewish nation where they reside, and the absolute anathema of an idea - that it survive and thrive in a nation state of their own.

One nation which the Bible, in which they profess to believe, the backbone of the claim of following  a Judeo-Christian way of life, clearly delineates the Promise of a Homeland. A forever one, no matter how many times the world tried to eliminate such a thought. Most especially the original and always People of the Bible - the Jewish people, to live in peace within their own independent national state for the Jews - perish the thought!

Well, 'pardonez moi', but screw them and their twisted thinking, their abominable vicious Hate to which they cling. Even and especially now, as JewHatred swamps the nations of the world. France has ridden to the siren call of ancient and eternal ugliness and now leads the charge to condemn, isolate, Israel and Jewry - all over the world in deep and drowning pools of ugliness. 

Now they and other nations of the EU are putting forth their best efforts to not only thwart Israel as a whole, but also to nitpick any area, any people, who dare to defy their rules, their definitions of life. Their opinions as to how and why, if Jews are to survive, where they will live, where they will not be entitled to live. Where they can live as Jews, and where they will have to forsake the right to live out in the open as practicing and proud Jews, members of the most ancient and long-lasting people who have survived all that has been thrust at them, upon them, against them. 

The Lord, the true and most powerful defender of the universe as we know it, has made us a promise. Even in the worst of times that promise, always clearly an integral part of their very bodies and souls, always there was the longing to return to their Zion, their state, their capitol since time immemorial - Jerusalem, united and free, at peace. Always the knowledge that when so deemed a proper time to happen, it would. 

There was and never will be a relinquishing of that fundamental precept of Judaism. No matter the hate, no matter the irrationality and inhumanity of the haters, a promise from G-d was a promise to take to the bank. It was and is an eternal promise from the One Above. At the end of the day, He is the One to determine all that happens and all that does not. France, always a leader of this ugliness will get its just dues as will all the Haters and non-practitioners of humanity.

Anyway, back to the top, the title. I wrote yesterday of our cousin in a danger zone, told to remain in her home until all theterrorists who had already killed one hero and wounded five others, were captured, neutralized. Based on the increasing frequency of limited individual and/or small groups of terrorists, we wondered if the ehoes of the Intifada were coming alive.  We hoped not and hoped as well that the terrorists would understand the determined and angry mood of the people, their lack of patience with those who wished them dead. 

In any case, we have packed our bags, to return temporarily to the States for a family celebration - or so we thought. So we planned. And then a rather rude and abrupt sound assaulting our ears and causing a rather automatic move into the safe room. All was well after a few minues and off we went to a vain attempt to return to sleep. And then .... another one, longer this time, and we heard three booms nearby. Later we found out that they had landed nearby but in open areas, devoid of settlement.

And now the question. Are we going to fly or will the airport close and all scheduled flights to be canceled in the interim. Been there done that last time and wondering now what? The boat we took to Cyprus after a few days was not great but served its purpose, but today we read of a planned attack on the same company, a ship carrying Israeli tourists to Crete. And as we take a peek out the window, what do we see? Cars moving along, people walking, a mother with a baby in the carriage - and I admire the resilience of a much-tested nation and its population. I wonder how many, if indeed any, nation would stand as we do - proud, tall, knowing this land is ours. There is no other option, as the song goes - "I have no other land and even if she is burning - it is my land!" One true to history and eternity. 

So here we go again. Time after time. Never an ending. And never ever anymore to be tossed about, to be used as the convenient scapegoat.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Always the same, yet different.

For sure, there will be no more exile from our land.

Never again in all senses of these words.

Been there, done that, and not going there again.

THE NAME OF THE GAME

 One of the most favorite and enjoyable series of movies and plays is that of Mamma Mia! Yes, of course, there are lessons to be made and taken to heart, but mostly it is just the music which grabs  hold of the listener and is carried out from the theater, the tune already familiar in mind and soul. That is why people go and see this, again and again, with entire audiences singing along, with no one telling another, singing in full voice, to keep quiet. 

 One of those famous songs is The Name of the Game. In some presentations, it has been sung defiantly and powerful. In others, it's been presented as a sad commentary on life, it's rather nasty negativity. It defeats those who wish simply to enhance their lives Most of all, to have a companion to share it with whomever that companion might be.

Life indeed, the rather convoluted ever disappointing, ever surprising life. We all know the famous maxim, that into every life, a little rain must fall. Even in the worst of circumstances that rain, the changes, the little things in life, can give one a moment of victory, of triumph over evil, a well-deserved back at ya! 

However, at times those gentle rains, that bit of moisture so necessary to life, morphs into a rain of overwhelming proportions, threatening to drown us and all we hold dear. How is it? Why is it? Too many times, certainly in the past millennia and now, these storms boding no good, from and for humanity, have returned in frightening deluges. These rains have turned harsh, shredding skin and bones, razing hearts and souls of all involved, there being no good side to it at all.

As I sit here in pursuit of completion of the blog, setting aside all distractions, we get via phone. a notification one never wants to get. Disturbing as it should be to all, but it's certainly of far greater consequence to me and my family as one of our own now sits in the midst of a battlefield between terrorists and Israeli forces, well into the land of Israel. And therein sits a beloved relative, an integral family member, more like a spine holding us all together. Once unknown, we were family from the time she was seven, through the years, from a part of the family we had never known. A family more intact, more optimistic, for despite all that our enemies had thrown at us, we had survived.

What is it that makes people want to kill? What is it that gives them ease to actually take the life of one living being, or more than one or two, or the more the better. Yes, it is at this time that those who bleed for the Palestinians, including, unfortunately, some misguided, misshapen minds of our own Jewish people who never cry for our own. But where are the tears for our own? True

Why not for all friends and family caught in the crosshairs? Our friends and family. There are not many of us who truly delight in the deaths of Palestinian, in the sight of children crying for their parents, or parents seeking their children. But that must be said with a caveat. These same people, these Palestinians now crying -well, for what and for whom? You, those doing this, are the very same ones who have enabled, allowed Hamas to take their souls, to regenerate and reformat their hearts and to convince them, threaten them, with whatever works, to allow military caches to be laid beneath the cribs of their children. To allow tunnels to be dug beneath their homes with access within their living rooms. Who have perverted the uses of schools, of hospitals, of community centers to induce more hate. To hide from their just desserts. To keep down below those they have stolen and hid away.  

Why did they allow this to happen? Why did they not seize control? With enough people making a fist one can beat back many more. The same way in which the people of Israel formed fists needed to beat back foes intent on their destruction. When our people cried for family and friends, for our losses, where was the sympathy of even a one on that side? Their tears and cries for a lost child were for their inability to kill more, take more with them, with the promise that the rest of her children will do the same.  

Within this little country, Israel, we are all family. We know them, or a friend, for we are all connected within the tiny but powerful grapevine of communication, particularly of loss. We share in the joys and the tears, line the highways of the nation to honor those lost, to welcome the returned.  Day after day, year after year, the same attacks, the same lies, the same crooked name of the game which hurts all engaged within its complexities.  

I will end this here today, for my emotions are high.

Thankfully, the game is over for today for us as the terrorist was captured and our loved one is safe.

For now.

The Ugly Name of the Game.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow.

When does it end? 

And as I sit here, g take a new detour to some puzzles with the paper today We get a notice when I flown about yet another terrorist attack This one took place near Calhavia When terrorists was at the Kilbo captured, unfortunately, We already lost one of our own The other terrorist is being sought. Why is this so disturbing to me? Well, first of all all these attacks are disconcerting and concerning How do they get in Generally causing a field in disguise illegal workers and a cooperating whatever. It is now affected me personally. As one of my family was loved a special woman is now in the midst of a battlefield

IT IS A BEAUTIFUL DAY!

  This morning, as I opened the newspaper and checked on my phone, I saw major problems but not for today. Today I am taking a break in the the name of yet another little Jew joining the tribe. Who knows what great things await this little boy and all his little cousins, so privileged to be able to carry on the heritage of our nation.

So today I say thank you, Hashem. Thank you for the privilege of seeing yet another generation begin to blossom and bloom. Each little one, each of these new little ones, carries promise within. Laughter within. Yes, probably a few tears here and there. You know, little boo boos, but today the world is shiny bright. The light of life new and fresh, with all the wonderful potentialities of all the little ones around the world is overwhelming. I've chosen today to join all celebrating the new little ones joining with us in binding membership.

We celebrate the arrivals. Embrace them with love. Shelter them within our arms and pray that the Lord shelters them beneath His wings and canopy of peace and protection. 

May they all move forward surrounded with peace and love, this new little one and all his cousins, to live lives replete with lives of fulfillment of dreams and hopes, free and joyous participation in the traditions of our people, and indeed all the peoples of the world, for that is indeed what we all crave the most. 

Through the millennia, through the blinding violent actions directed against us, through our yesterdays, this feeling remained strong within us. 

In our todays, we have succeeded greatly but are now facing a reinvigoration of an ugliness we thought, perhaps mistakenly, was gone. But today, with full heart we welcome that familiar light of hope and love, of the people and of the Lord.  We will continue on the same track, with joy, with love, with hopes and dreams, seeking a better today for all the new little ones. 

Despite all the violence and the negativity, despite all we have faced in the yesterdays and the todays, all that has been inflicted upon us, perpetrated upon us, it is still the day of hopes and dreams.  

And so, G-d willing, it will be tomorrow.

In all the tomorrows to come.

May all our new little ones bring airs of hope and love to all of us so desperately in need of it.

INTO AND OUT OF THE ...

   ...Light? What light? It seems to me that the more humanity makes progress technologically, at least as measured by new inventions and accessories, it does not in fact nor in deed, move us any closer to all that we could be. All that we should be. In fact, when taking under close examination all that we pat ourselves on the back for, for progress in STEM, humanitarian concerns, the progress of humanity seems to be covered by a very thin, fragile sheath of veneer, its integrity of coating constantly cracking removing permanence and assurance. 

We simply have entered and almost simultaneously walked out of that Age of Enlightenment. In fact, what light every truly was found, established as a worldwide accepted principle regarding humanity.   Yes. We moved forward in scientific areas albeit sometimes with great battle. We threw down some tidbits to suppressed economic and social groups, a sop to them to dampen the anger roiling within.       

We have invested money into things, not people.     Technology has already begun to rewrite the rule book. As a society we have become less humane, less communicative, less caring and far more competitive than we should be. Much more. The veneer cracks and we are back in the darkness again, back to where we had at least somewhat  emerged.

Roaring back in an overwhelming torrent all the ancient thoughts which had long ago been buried or so we had hoped return. But now the ugliness has returned. People are now valued by how big their houses are, how many they have, and what kind of ostentatious life they lead. How much money they can keep for themselves, rather than sharing it with those who need it to feed their families, to find shelter, to have a decent job with a living wage. To live a life where one can dream and actually achieve that dream. The above have become the mantras of the Uber Wealthy, of those who reached beyond any kind of believable amount. And yet, these days they cut out their contributions to those who are in need of it. They look away from the hungry. They look away from those struck by deep poverty. Not enlightenment, is it?  

While some are able to take advantage of the benefits of new technology, so many find themselves on the wrong side of that line. The one percent is moving forward in their own lives even as the lives of others have become static, even regressing. Find themselves immersed in the darkness so dense, so hostile to the penetration of any light at all. And the dark side was ever closer to a point where it will overtop the world. We will have science fantasy turned into science fiction to run into the reality. I know it's no good for you nor for me, nor for humanity as a whole. 

We got here because those who had reached positions of government, of society, of culture, decided that that was not enough. More, always more and the attainment of that more. They spent all their credit in the world of decency and care for humankind and saving this planet of ours, improving it, able to absorb all that was coming at it. Keeping the good and trashing the negative. Having at hand always, Plan A, Plan B, Plan C and down the line until we find the best plan for us and proceed to build upon it.

The leaders of today have thrown aside responsibilities. Their duties and their honor along with it. They deny blame for any and all and take credit which works for them. They bamboozle the electorate into accepting what is clearly not good for them and celebrate their own maliciousness. They protect their seats of power by disenfranchising those who oppose them. The fist and the weapon rule the day.

 It is at such time that nations wobble, yaw this way and that. Until so dizzy they cannot see straight. They find themselves invested in wars they neither want nor need but were brought on board by those who do need it - For Glory, for business, for more wealth and for their own hubris in deciding they have a legacy to leave behind. Trust me, they have nothing of any worthwhile at all. 

This is an ugly world. As much as you try to keep your head in the sand, the very sand you hide beneath, it will spit you out and it will not be pretty.

Yesterday, some of humanity worked hard to achieve it even as others beat them down.

Today, effectively, we have not gone much further and in some areas, we have regressed.

Tomorrow, we will have to make a life-or-death choice. Which choice will we favor?Choose from below.

Little Orphan Annie singing in loud confident voice "Tomorrow, tomorrow, there's always tomorrow..."

Or will it be the scenario as befits this:

“Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble..."

Your choice.

Our choice.

WHO'S ON FIRST?

   The title comes from the famous Abbott and Costello skit, using confusing names and answering questions with answers only muddling the issue even more. Attempts to clear out the confusion results in even more confusion, more misunderstanding and less communication. Questions such as, who's on first and what's on 2nd, with the answers yes, results in audiences in stitches but beneath all is a darker thread. 

Attempts to dissolve the confusion only adds to it, with true connection and communication just about impossible. Even if we subscribe to the view that all participants are doing the best they can to connect with the other, it just never happens. The end result is worse in an ever more confusing state of mind along with a niggling sense of "perhaps this was intentional", and in that case, what are the true desires of those in the conversation. 

What 'game' are they playing? How long do we let this continue?  Befuddlement all around. Suspicion and fear, degree of mistrust rising rapidly. Shoulders hunch up beside the ears and hackles are raised. The conversation was getting nowhere other than giving rise to a soul deep weariness and growing doubt that anything positive could come out of the current conversation. 

Within this constant state of confusion, the participants now seek independently for other pathways, and inevitably, or for the most part, rarely does anything positive arise. One path is concession, which only arouses more negativity and anger. The second path is worse, a more drastic path of enmity, to the point of violence. No competent leaders to be found, no expert translation available. And it all goes from bad to worse. In short, my friend, this is the state of the world today and has been so since time immemorial.

The situations worsen but more aggravating and irritating, itches demanding to be scratched. The population of one nation or both call for redressing of their grievances and naught of what the other side is saying is heard. Things which demand and should be explained are neglected as the rising voices drown out the voices calling for calm and more attempts to break the dam hindering that so necessary smooth flow of communication.     

The questioning, the confusion, the anger and in the deadly game of musical chairs of politics the only ones consistently without seats is the population. No one to lead. No one righteous enough in thought. No one clever enough, agile enough, with the ability to bring things round to a better stance. Hope drains from the nation's population as they watch with terrified minds and hearts as the viral and vicious game goes on. 

Leaders so not leading, with chairs and occupants revolving so quickly, joining and splitting, name calling and hugging. Choosing names of parties. and then rejecting them. Spouting lines of platforms which break loose from their inadequate nails and the rising level of confusion encourages and enables ever more extreme viewpoints. Be it Left or Right, truly, there is not much air between them. Moderates, losing space and air, choose sides in a desperate attempt to ameliorate and moderate, but all is in vain. 

Extremism grows within the various nations of the world. There is a plethora of politicians, of leaders claiming to be that which the country needs. Then tomorrow, another leader takes the place as the original one goes somewhere difficult to find, nary a trace until suddenly there he is again, same but different. 

Life goes on, ever more tense and elections grow near. Is the government intact or is it collapsing? Whom to believe? Who indeed is on first base and What's on second? Nobody is in right field and in the critical position of shortstop is I don't give a damn; I do not care.  

Here we are today. Most nations of the world are on empty as far as leaders, true leaders are concerned. Most, the shameful majority, grovel at the feet of those in power, amassing more power, manipulating fear, even as their competitors glom onto memes of  ancient threads of Hate.  

We, the voters, stand in confusion at the voting booth. Not sure if they should even make the effort. It does not matter where one is on this globe of ours, ever wobblier on its axis. It is the same all over. The shame is also the same.

 Yesterday we had many similar situations.

 Today, as soon as we ameliorate them, it all goes sideways again.

Tomorrow - will there be a tomorrow and what kind of tomorrow will it be?

Think on that.