RABBIT HOLES

  For some reason, rabbit holes were to symbolize all that is weird in our world. Strange behavior, thinking deemed way out there, even if not, is deemed going down that proverbial rabbit hole. Poor Alice and poor us, as the number of occupied and in use rabbit holes are proliferating at a great rate in these here United States of America. Why? Well, many reasons, but chief is the fact that people are willing, even eager, to take that amusement park thrill of fast slides, steep and long - only these slides are for real,  not the minutes long roller coaster ones. Worse, is that we fail to distinguish the real from the fake and down that hole we go - and stay.

Take "woke". As a teacher of English, grammar played an important role in my lessons, for if one does not understand the structure of a language, one cannot express opinions, verbally or written, in the best manner possible. My students knew my thoughts on this, and poor things, actually had to learn diagramming as a tool to further understanding of the structure and use of words. In that sense, woke is the past participle of 'wake' but has changed greatly, not truly in a positive manner.

"I stay woke" means what? Here are two dictionary definitions: "aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)." "originally: well-informed, up-to-date. Now chiefly: alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice." and I am still left in the dark, apparently not 'woke' to its use. It has become an accusatory word, as in "you are not sufficiently woke to the true nature of society". Yes, I am, but why can we not use aware, onto, alert to, understanding of, rather than pervert the language, as after overuse, the new word becomes  a joke used cynically or accusatorily and down the rabbit hole we go again.

Seriously, there are too many rabbit holes for my liking of the situation, a condition wherein I find myself in a sea of uncertainty and worry, even unto the point of fear. Particularly when I am told that my fear does not achieve the rank of importance necessary to be included in the "woke" category.

 Really? Truly? I beg your pardon, as anti-Semitism has the rather dubious distinction of being the oldest and most persistent and vile form of prejudice in the world, and rather ironic, as today, the Black community, a beneficiary of heavy duty Jewish participation in and fighting for civil rights, engage in rife, bitter, and nasty anti-Semitism. The co-founder of BLM, now embroiled in a financial scandal, in 2015, called for the ending of Israel, apparently having no right to exist at all. 

Part and parcel of the demented shouts for the Jews there to return to whence they or their parents and grandparents originated. So, back to the ovens of Poland. Back to the pogroms of Russia. Back to the Easter yearly slaughters. Back to the Blood Libel. Back to the forced conversions. Back to the periodic bloodlettings of the Moslem world. What the hell!!! Rabbit holes are evidently dangerous, existentially thinking, particularly to those of Jewish extraction. And in the meanwhile, one hears nothing re returning the Arab residents to the countries from whence they originated - Greater Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and not to worry, there are 22 countries there for them!!! Woke is woke. Or apparently not.

Woke is when to defend Israel or to speak out against anti-Semitism has become verboten! A Rutgers University chancellor was taken to task, pushed right down that rabbit hole, for daring to do so, forced to apologize for he did not include Islamophobia within his statement. 

Excuse me, but  the mosques and institutions of Islam in America are not the ones being attacked now nor are there personal attacks on the bodies of those walking down the streets of America or the world. Yes, there is anger, but mainly anger seems to fall upon the shoulders of the Jewish community, blamed, as usual, for all that is wrong in this world, and who knows, possibly into the next world as well. Be that as it may, 'woke' is deficient here. Terribly so. One need not, in fact, must not, dilute every conversation or reference to anti-Semitism with reference and/or inclusion of every other prejudice found within this world.

Now we are apparently wrong in our understanding of American history and the Constitution. How? In this new rabbit hole, the Second Amendment was founded on the reasoning of fear of Black People. Huh! The right to carry arms, in fact, the necessity as people moved into frontier areas, as they intruded upon the territories belonging to others, people and animals of prey, there was a need, unfortunately, for weapons, for defense. Were they always used properly? No, but certainly, in all deference to 'woke', American history is not all about Black people and White fear of them! 

Please! This is a rabbit hole of great danger and major insanity, of great and incorrect revision of history, equally as bad as some of the twisted versions we can find in textbooks today.  People came to America in search of a new life, of new hope, of dreams being fulfilled. They came because they were brought here as slaves or indentured servant - the same as slavery. They came because they were deported from England for crimes, or they deserted the army, be it the British or the Hessians. They did not come here so they could shoot Black people or Native Americans or any White person they could find, or, have a Kill the Jew day! Seriously, a bit of common sense and rationality here and a rope to pull us all out of this rabbit hole. Let us leave behind all the revisionist theories for they are all garbage, exaggerated. For once, could we not print the truth. Simply that!

Rabbit holes are all around us. QAnon is one huge one. The insurrection at the Capitol is yet another. The words of Trump and all hate inciters are another. No, Trump did not win the election. No, the Democratic Party does not engage in child trafficking using a pizza store and a national furniture company to do so! The violence too many Black drivers and women as well face, too many,  too much, is a fierce and dangerous rabbit hole. It must be closed down, filled in, permanently out of order! So must all crazed people and crazy, out of whack, dangerous theories.

Could we all please just walk away from those rabbit holes, help those caught up in them to get out, rescue them, put an end to all this? It is the only path to sanity, to repairing the firmament of our country and indeed, that of the world. We are well on the way of beating back the worst of the pandemic of COVID. Might we not do the same with the pandemic of hate, of exaggeration, of revisionism, close those damned rabbit holes and just be normal! Can we? We sure as hell need to try.

ALERT!! ALERT!! CRITICAL SAND SHORTAGE HITS THE USA

  So now some of you are scratching your head, wondering what sand shortage? Will the beaches be none existent this year due to a severe sand shortage? Or will they - meaning the authorities, whomever they are - truck in more sand from somewhere else, perhaps inducing yet another sand shortage. That would be typical - solving one crisis by inducing another. 

The powers that be think that these temporary solutions are the answer to sand erosion, the beaches shrinking, even as they take part in the bigger sand shortage, as they overlook the fact that a more permanent fix would be to tackle the larger problem of ongoing environmental damage. But, a huge but, a universal but, there is another sand shortage, the sand that people use to bury their heads!

Here is one blatant example that people have known about, yet ignore, as its import to the very existence of some towns is simply pushed to the side. There are towns - in California, New Jersey(!), and other states that are shrinking, literally sinking into the ground, in some cases as much as 11 feet a year. Think of your home and what would be. Imagine the city of NY disappearing downwards every year, more and more. While some might think that  a great idea, others certainly would not. The reason for this downward trend? The overuse of water drainage from underground, giving the land nothing to hold it up, hence - down we go! But never you mind: just continue to hide heads in the sand, ignore the sinking and bury the head in whatever sand is near you.

But seriously, I am not referring, for the most part, to the sand shortage at beaches. I am talking how the world is at a loss to find enough sand in which to bury their heads, to ignore the danger that the shifting of politics has wrought, and the danger of over reaction to one prejudice manifestation,  inducing yet another, deeper, more widespread and violent prejudice. But not to worry, for we have become so adept at burying our heads that we can comfortably do that even as we pat ourselves on the back for our new "woke" position and what the hell is 'woke' anyway? Does it really have any true meaning or revelation to us, for us, beneficial in any which way to us? I think not. Or certainly not as it is manifesting itself right now.

Prejudice has been with us since the beginning of time. We have overcome some of it yet it remains, always there, waiting to rear its ugly head ever and always. What we have done in our time, is wake up more devils than we know how to handle, and the ugliness of prejudice, its contagion, is overwhelming us, even as we bury our collective heads in the sand, running out of that burial sand as we ignore consequences and truth.

Forcing others to "acknowledge" implicit prejudice, whether it is there or not, to 'admit' their bias, whether it is there or not, to take the blame for thousands of years of wrongdoing by the world, rather than tackling the problems of the present - well, I am confused and so are many others. Why has it come to this, that we have Communist style self criticism meetings, and the more extreme, the better it is. Bowing one's head in public 'shame' even as others are buried in the sand, is just not good. We ignore the damage to society, to the ties that are meant to bind people together as they strive for similar goals.

I will probably get some nasty comments for this, but I do not feel guilty. Do I have prejudice within me? Yes, most certainly. I hate violence and those who perpetuate it, allowing, causing, it to serve their selfish purpose. I hate hatred of others, particularly  for "hate crimes - crimes in which perpetrators act on a bias against the victim’s race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or other categories."  But why should I take or assume guilt for that which I never did? While slavery was ongoing, an abominable practice -and remember, my people were slaves too- read about that in the Bible! - the Jews were being chased from pillar to post all over the world, being slaughtered, burned, demonized, persecuted, starved, on and on, continuing into present time, even growing once again. Why, therefore, am I assume guilt for  crimes of the past by others, offenses which have been taken against me as well, simply because I am not Black, nor Brown, nor Native, nor Asian, even as me and mine have suffered the same things.

But we continue to bury our heads in that ever present sand, though its shortage increases. Pushing hatred is not the answer. Excusing all for wrongdoing because of color, ethnicity, or any other category is also wrong. The intense effort to introduce a curriculum which will pile on guilt, which twists history into yet a different ethnocentrism is not any better than another, as it continues to push a different prejudice, even as all prejudice remains an offense against humanity, no matter who is the hater or the hatee!  As usual, though, we bury those heads, again and always, disregarding the backlash, the growing divisions  where there were none before, or small, weak ones of no consequence. 

We attempt to usurp the power of people to think for themselves. We make people feel guilty for a natural tendency to live with those who are more familiar, follow the same customs, but certainly, also be able to live wherever one wishes - if you can afford it! I would love to live in a huge beach house, with a guest "cottage", have employees to take care of the daily needs of life for me, work hard on planning vacations, check my growing stock account, send my kids to the best schools, no school loans to be hovering over us, and on and on. But I cannot. The fact of that is not a result of either prejudice of "white privilege", of "white entitlement' or anything else. My standard of living is based on the salary for my work. Another time we will talk of gender prejudice in the work world! 

Meanwhile, our heads, buried in the sand, raising irritation of society rather than using sensible balm practices, do not see what else is going on. 11 cowardly Senators absent from the critical vote on investigating Jan 6, an armed insurrection. Cowards, one and all. The 35 Senators who voted against it, still afraid of the demented one, Trump, still avoiding responsibility for their words that lit a spark, 5 years ago, a spark that fired up the engines of hate, making it okay, even accepted, admired in some twisted minds. 

We ignore the growing anti - Semitism, from the right, the left, and the middle as well. Do not accept excuses of imbecility for acts that were wrong -as they are trying to do re Jan. 6. Make the world see the truth when "ethics" are a tool of anti - Semitism. Hey, even the FBI is "woke" to this. About time. Even as the head hiding continues, we have people forced to retract statements protesting anti Semitism. The Human Rights Council of the UN is a joke, a sad, seriously misguided, dangerous joke.

I close with this statement “Regardless of what state or which side of the political spectrum antisemitism comes from, we must respond forcefully and immediately. We cannot wait for another attack to turn deadly before we respond,”  “We find our nation in a tense moment …. We come together to urge a strong response to the rising antisemitism spreading in our country.”  

  It should be coming out of the mouths of all, though at present their mouths and minds are interred in the shrinking sands. As a Jew,  I detest prejudice, hate hatred for any reason other than causing harm, intentional and malicious. Once attention, "wokeness", shall we say, is paid to this everlasting and longest prejudice in the word, an existential prejudice, then we can finally realize that we cannot separate hatreds, for they all are together in one stinking, disgusting manifestation of the worst of mankind.

Let us pull the heads out of the sand and get on with fixing the other, remaining problems of this world. If we do not, we will all go down with the ship. Get the heads out - Now!!   

ALLEGEDLY REPORTEDLY POSSIBLY

  Well, folks, and here we are again. To continue the theme of lexicon, today we discuss the apparently, reportedly, allegedly, actually! limited lexicon of some people, allegedly , especially, from the reportedly, acting as unbiased, New York Times. If one were to rate their articles, no allegedly business here. The slanted feelings and statements towards and about Israel are blatant. Real. Actual. Harmful. Just as inciting as the open hatred and words of Omar, Tlaib,  AOC,  Cori Bush and Pressley. For the Times to do what they did today, first page, top of the fold, center spot, was absolutely dangerous, wrong and so inciteful that my first reaction was to hurry to the phone and call my kids to keep their kids home, for surely, not allegedly, not maybe, there will be some crazed, off balance  'motivated' shooter who will try to make up the supposed imbalance, go for the Jewish kids sitting at their desks.

Yes, no changing the facts. There were more Palestinian children fatalities during the latest war between Israel and the terrorist Hamas. But why is that? Whose fault is that? Surely there is adult responsibility here on both sides for intransigence, for refusal to accept a reality neither like and get it done, make some peace.

There is also a reality in the fact that the funds given to this group, and the PA, on the whole, have mostly gone into the pockets of officials, of supposed, alleged, leaders rather than into the educational, medical, and all needs of the people. The people then suffer, are angry, rightfully so, but will the leaders fess up? Of course not. Hence the need for another reason. Aha! The Jews again. Yup, apparently we are a full service nation and people, serving and fulfilling the needs of all, the jam in their sandwich of scapegoating and hatred. And please, do not forget the oh so peaceful policy of paying the terrorists and their families wages as reward for killing Jewish Israelis, with Arab casualties caught up in the attack deemed collateral damage, so blessed to die as martyrs!!!

The Jewish kids, the 'enemy" according to the rules of this deadly game, are at fault. Why? They were born Jewish. They belong to a race? A religion? An ethnicity? Take your pick -  that has served mankind oh so well, performed oh so greatly as the sacrificial lamb, the excuse for all that is wrong in this world, and yet irritatingly, annoyingly, actually, no allegedly about it, they manage to survive and thrive and contribute to this world that continues to wish them dead, doing their best to make it so.

So, back to the NYT. They list the dead from this war , those under 18. Blessedly, Israel cares for its citizens, Arab and Jew alike, all with legally stated and followed equal rights under the written, stated and enforced laws. There are shelters all over, all  welcome to come in, to survive the malicious,  vicious rockets aimed purposely, no allegedly here, by Hamas, at the civilian territories in Israel. New homes built within Israel - by anyone - are mandated to have a safety room. All new construction built legally, with permit. So, I guess there we are again, in the wrong again, daring to save our people the best we could in an extremely, not allegedly, hostile world. How dare we?

We dare because we hate war, we hate death, we hate putting our children in danger, care for them,  do not use them as shields of human flesh and blood, so as to enrage the world with their deaths. 

We do not callously, actually, really and cynically use their deaths in order to facilitate and fulfill our own political needs. No, they are our future and we protect them. We will not allow them to needlessly die to make a political point, And if the world resents that, feels that we must be 'equal' in the number of deaths, must place our children out there in order to satisfy this barbaric desire and need, yes, need, of the world in general to see more Jewish blood spilled - well, tough shit!!!Too bad. This will not happen. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not yesterday. Not ever.

The world needs to accept its share of responsibility for this repetitive bloodshed, instigated and accepted by the world as part and parcel of their innate anti Semitism. This is the official definition of anti Semitism. "the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's working definition of antisemitism. Examples under the IHRA definition include: "applying double standards (to Israel) by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation," "claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor," and "holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel." 

Does the world not fulfill these requirements, and if the shoe fits, then wear it. Wear it with disgrace. Wear it with the squooshing of the spilt blood of  Jews a continuous and continual state of reality. Do not try to disguise it with the tragedy of the deaths of children and try to incite more blood and violent anti Semitism by playing the card of the deaths of children so cruelly, in order to further your political needs and goals. We cry at the deaths of all, particularly children. Even as we accept and treat these 'enemy' casualties as equals in our hospitals. Even as the leaders of these terrorist organizations plead special rights and have their own family children treated in Israel for any severe health issue.

Yes, no alleged here. No reportedly here. The truth is the truth. The NYT shares in the blame and guilt of the world. Anti Semitism is alive and well, not only on the streets of Europe. Not only in the Arab and Moslem countries. But also here. In America. The land that not necessarily welcomed us, but allowed us in, sparingly, used our contributions, and thanks us now with the shedding of blood, with attacks on people and property, with the threat of more to come.

When, when, will it ever end. When? When? Dear G-d in Heaven, I know that the promises made to the Jewish people have come true, often at too great a cost. The tale goes, that as the great Rabbi Akiva walked with his friends  through the ruins of the Temple, yes, our most holy building, built right there on Temple Mount . Anyway, as he walked there, in mourning, as they all were weeping, suddenly he laughed, with joy, with confidence. Aghast, his friends asked why? What was in his mind at that moment. Simply this. There were foxes slinking through the ruins. The prophecy foretold this happening and Rabbi Akiva stated that if that part of the prophecy came true then the prophecy predicting a rebuilding, a better future, also would come true. Hence the laughter of relief, of belief.

 So, G-d in Heaven, I call upon You to fulfill Your promise. Enough of the blood and terror of Your people. I call You into account. Teach the world. Allow peace and sanity to reign.

AND YET ANOTHER LEXICON ADDITION - A PLETHORA OF WEALTH!

  Well, folks, we have yet another addition to the lexicon of words connected to the burgeoning hate related words, all meant, I think, to either ramp it up, or explain it down, but somehow, it never adds up does it? White privilege. White shame. Critical race theory. Red Pill. Woke and waking. Cancel culture. White shame. And now "goysplaining".

So first, what is goy? That is a term derived from the Biblical word goyim, meant to refer to the 'nations' - goyim - of the world. The term was shortened, as many words are, to goy, particularly when referring to one individual non Jew, or Gentile. It was not meant to be a pejorative term, just a term of description and explanation of the space between the Jew and the 'goy'. Now it is often stated with a sigh of impatience as in how could we ever expect a goy to understand where we are, what it means to be a Jew in a perpetually hostile world. It is a chasm of difference, of a vastly often at odds life experience and outlook and at times, many times, it cannot be bridged, or bridged with a somewhat shaky one.

Now to goysplaining. Related in construction to mansplaining. or any other kind of 'splaining'.

 As a Ha'aretz column once explained, goysplaining is the tendency of non-Jewish people to "condescendingly explain to Jews why they are wrong at being offended."

 It is when we are told that anything we complain about, up to and including violence against the person for being a 'Jew", seemingly an object available for contempt, derision, denial of humanity and rights, a perpetual target, is all just in our mind. This is not anti-Semitism, but rather a more intense version of anti Zionism. Yup, and we are meant to believe that, accept that, and live with it.

Well, sorry, folks, but it does not work that way. We are tired of that attitude, tired of the goysplaining that is rife with a vile anti Semitism within its very construction and derivation. It is just as hurting to us as the term Negro is apparently today for Black people. In fact, I wish, along with many other people in this world, to stop the differential terms from growing, and stick to human being! Why is it that I can sit in my home with a group of women and talk, laugh, worry, cry and just love each other for the friends we are to and with each other? Our ethnic origin or religion does not divide us, our religious preference does not draw a line between us, for bottom line - we are all simply a group of women talking with and enjoying the company.

However, it seems that too many are self denying, blinding themselves to the truth of the matter. Hear the words of hate, of instigation, that emerge from the mouth of the 'Squad' - words of incitement against Israel, of accusations and lies, of words demanding revenge, consigning Israel and consequently, in their minds and the minds of their followers, all Israeli Jews and by extension ALL Jews to a special place in hell on earth. Denying that their words instigate and aggravate, denying that their words provoke and provide an evil motivation for violence, for growth of hatred, denying cause and effect - well, that does not change a thing in reality and truth. If Omar, Pressley, Tlaib, and AOC were to shut their mouths or at least better patrol the emanations from those mouths, the world might just possibly become a bit better. But with too many others now intimidated about protesting this 'new' version of anti Semitism, with 'defenders', you should excuse me, in their own world of hate of so many and who now use this as a political toy, well, I would rather they simply go away. 

Rocks and hard places, folks. We Jews have been here before, and actually, it is not too often or for too long that we can emerge from this condition. But goysplaining is tiring and demeaning. It is a dangerous and foul toy that only incites more ugliness, that allows people to deny the truth of their anti Semitism, the one now raging throughout the world. Because there is one Jewish state, emphasis on Jewish. Because these Jews have the temerity to survive, to build, to invent, to discover, to fight. Because the Jews are too much everywhere according to their opinion. Goysplaining is just wrong. Period. It needs to be excised from the lexicon as do all these new terms to explain hatred and actually simply raise the temperature to a fever pitch.

When will we learn, folks? When? I am so tired of it as are many others. I do not like having my fears actually part of a real situation, a real world. Nor do I like my kids to be in danger, to feel the wounds of hate, the knife stabs in the back, the demeaning terms, the acid of hate. Why? Does it ever end? Not too optimistic right now and very tired, actually, of this new lexicon. Tired to the very depths of my soul. Really tired. Exhausted.

RED PILL? NEW ONE ON ME!'

  Live and learn. Is that not what we say, trying to keep our hands and minds occupied and refreshed? However, this new business of making up new terms that essentially pigeonhole people, well, not happy. This whole 'woke' business for instance. People wake up all the time, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly but now this term induces jest and enmity at the same time. The same, I predict, will happen to the new term- red pill. It all ties in with a theme of the sword and the pen, as old as time. Just as valid and just as questionable.

Red pill refers to (becoming enlightened to) the truth about reality, especially a truth that is difficult to accept or exposes disillusions.

Online, red pill is especially used among anti-feminist and white supremacist groups to refer to "waking up" to the truth that women and liberal politics are oppressing men and white people.

And there you have it, the creation of new terminology that immediately takes a side on the political fence, usually not a beneficial one either. Quite frankly, I believe the entire nation right now is in one form of red pilling or another. One is against women. Another is against Jews. Another, and another, and another, will be applied to more anti positions, ramping up the dial on hatred and its growth here and around the world. Here we go again and again and again and I wonder about this and the state of mind of humanity. Not optimistic.

So, is the pen mightier than the sword, the pen that creates these new additions to the lexicon of modern day speech? Do these expeditions of the pen into this area help or hinder, damp down the flames or pour oil on it? Yesterday, a poet, a member of the poets' opposition to the military coup in Myanmar, said, "The people with weapons are afraid of pen wielding hands."

But is that true? Is that the case anymore. There are so many words spewed out these days, (including mine), that we lose the effect and importance of words. We, instead, take to the streets, to the guns, to the new sword of the day, and havoc ensues while separation of society into heavily slanted groupings grows tenfold. Every damned day!! And all the words of the day seem not to be able to put our modern day Humpty Dumpty back again. In fact, the words simply re-shatter the pieces into even more fragmented form.

The words repeated, taken from medieval times and before, the words of hate, the words of antagonism, raised not only the spectre of anti-Semitism, but raised its physical presence. The physical part of this equation then ramped up the word temperatures so 'inspired', written by the hatemongers, by the Jew haters, by those jumping on the bandwagon to indulge their darkest nasty wishes. An evil synergy.

Most frightening to me, not surprised though, is the manifestation of too many supposed intellectual Jews among the ranks of Jew haters. From Bernie Sanders to Dov Zakheim, these people have seemingly never found anything that is positive re Israel, other than in their imaginations, or explain it away with a taint or two, and never, but never, take off after the terrorist, after the horrific attacks, by members of that tribe of supposed 'Palestinian's. Never. Incidentally I wonder, how is it that classmates of mine can end on such opposite poles when we all learned together. Puzzling. "Is a  puzzlement" as the King would say. This puzzle has been with us, the court Jew, for all eternity. Even allowing for the optimist side, that these people are there to aid their fellow Jews, the taste, the odor,  the sight, all grow bitter, jagged, and reeking, for it ultimately never works. There we are again, fleeing for our lives - right down the streets of the world, down the streets of LA, of NYC, of Miami, of Pittsburgh, and the list is never ending.

All are entitled to opinions, but we are not entitled to shove people into categories such as 'woke' or "red pill' if that encourages the cracks in our firmament to grow, to the point of no return. The ridiculous continued attempts to challenge the election results. The diminished, but still there, rants of Trump, as the vision of orange jumpsuits grows ever clearer in his mind. The partisan wreck in DC which stalls this nation, much to its detriment. The cynical use now of anti Semitism as a political tool, mouthing words but attaching no swords to those words.

"A catastrophe for Jewish Americans but also for pro-Palestinian politics.".

"I have not heard of ordinary people in public places being afraid. That's the situation in Europe. Talk to Jews in Belgium, in France, in Germany, in the U.K., and they will tell you that they modulate, they hide their Judaism."

"It would be a disaster if this were to happen here, and not just for Jews."

Really, as the Jews die, and the rest of the world cries crocodile tears, too little and way too late? As the world loses all the future contributions of Jewish minds to the world, as they have done for centuries? Am I to feel sorry for them and for this situation they have wrought and brought upon themselves and others? From the grave, where I molder?

"The anti-Semitic worldview is always Judeocentric----obsessed with Jewish behavior as the supreme factor in domestic and international political life. The left has lately been awfully Judeocentric....they have indulged an anti-Israel movement that keeps descending into the crudest forms of anti-Semitism.....what to do about the burgeoning anti-Semitism ... As for Jews, they should take the events of the last few days less as an outrage than as an omen."

I believe these quotes say it all, along with my commentary, though they are pretty clear in meaning and warning. Which was written or spoken by a Jewish analyst and which by a non-Jew? You guess and while you are guessing, figure out where you stand on this issue; not a vague esoteric one, but rather one of life and death, of healing or harming, of tainted word attached to sharpened, bloodhungry sword? The time to choose is upon us.

A little tidbit to add to this: I, and many others, are downright afraid. We have called our children and grandchildren who have not felt this hatred so open and so vitriolic before. We call upon them, plead with them, to tuck their tzitzit (prayer garment) into their pants. Wear a baseball hat over the kippah. Tuck the telling jewelry inside the shirt, or better yet, leave it in the house. Do not speak Hebrew or Yiddish in the streets. And they refuse. And you know what, so do we. Enough already! Enough!

RIDDLE: WHAT DOES 4,369 AND MY FATIGUE HAVE IN COMMON?

  Hint? Okay. The number has to do with things that fly through the air. Aha! The light bulb begins to light up in the minds of some. Yes, finally, someone got it right. It is just too bad that the connection is overlooked, or worse, discounted. That number, 4,369 is the number of rockets sent over by Hamas to Israel in ten days time, all aimed purposely into civilian areas. The fatigue? That comes from the frustration, the energy expended, the breath wasted as I try to explain how and why this is extremely pertinent to the whole discussion. Then one must try to explain to others that no, this is not an intellectual discussion meant to be solved in bull sessions in dorm rooms or in what purports to be the national legislature of this country.

Some more numbers. 1,500 rockets that survive malfunctions, empty fields, and landings on their own people in Gaza, headed to populated areas in Israel, to long suffering cities and villages like Ashdod, the kibbutzim of the Negev, Ashkelon and now the suburbs of Tel Aviv. Millions of people. Millions of Jews. Millions of Arabs. Thousands of refugees from other countries such as the Sudan. What to do with this number?

Well, ask yourself this question: If Mexico or Cuba, or any nearby country were to send over 4,369 rockets into civilian areas within the United States, what would the reaction be? Well, the people would scream for relief and aid. Then they would push and shout for return rocket fire, to flatten the capacity of the enemy to do this again. Would these calls for action speak of 'disproportionate' reaction? Or of moderating the defenses so, okay, more Americans will be killed, but is that not the 'fair' way!! Would people advocate for a one on one  death as equivocally satisfactory? Who do you think would volunteer for that? Certainly not those advocating that approach.

So why is it okay to demand that Israel should, a tiny little country that literally pulled itself out of the ocean of centuries of blood and hatred, took in battered,  dazed survivors of genocide. And yes, AOC, they were most definitely suffering from PTSD! Alone, no surviving families, and now add in Jewish refugees from Arab lands, oppressed, threatened, jailed and killed, airlifted, several times, the Black Jews from Ethiopia, took in the Asian Jews of Myanmar and India, and accepted those Jews of Sephardic descent, lost through the centuries as they fled from the long and bloody tentacles of the Inquisition.

Anyway, back to the numbers. Of those estimated 1,500 rockets, about 90% were shot down by the Iron Dome defense of Israel leaving the others to carry out their planned damage - to destroy property, to kill, to rain terror upon the people living in Israel. And sorry to inform you, bigots and anti-Semites of the world, yes, Jews are people too. No, they are not pseudo 'white' nor mud people, nor subhuman, nor spare scapegoats for the having and the slaughter. Shakespeare's Shylock said it all in a plaintive attempt to explain his motivations. No one heard. No one listened. No one cared. All took the wrong interpretation and approach, all the way down the years in all the countries of the world. The Church, be it Catholic or of Protestant origin played a great deal in fostering this anti Jewish attitude, taking revenge on these stubborn people who refused to give up their religion, who refused to die out, no matter the restrictions placed upon them.

So yes, "only" 12 died throughout the shelling but thousands were wounded, many grievously. Property damage was immense. The toll on the sanity, the lives of Israelis, is enormous, but discounted by the rest of the world, as 'only' 12 died as opposed to the 200 plus people in Gaza, ignoring the fact that of that figure, 200 were terrorists - not militants - terrorists, calling a name by its true name. Israel, the country that has given the world so much, including leadership in fighting COVID, use of cell phones, and on and on, dared to survive yet another attack on its life. How rude of them!

So, back to the fatigue. I am tired of trying to explain this over and over again, particularly to those who are battered by the biased news media, by those who give weak statements re anti-Semitism, and then immediately swing over to Islamophobia or Black Lives Matter, or the latest fad, anti-Asian sentiment. Well, so do the lives of Jews matter and yes, this is what it is all about.

 Jews are not hated because of Israel and truthfully speaking why should there be any hatred of that, for are Italians hated for their return to the home country, or Irish hated for checking their ancestors in County Cork? So why Jews for Israel? The answer is to turn around the components of that equation. Israel is hated because it is Jewish. Plain and simple.

The attacks on the street are accompanied by shouts of "Kill the Jews", not "Kill the Israeli or Kill Israel supporters". No, it is the other way around and it is time the world accepted this flaw that has run through most of them throughout the ages. Numbers carry significance. The numbers are repeated in Rent. The numbers are repeated in Pajama Game. The numbers that have meaning and carry truth are also to be repeated here. Include, the billions of Moslems, the overwhelming number of Arab states. The territorial size of Israel, surrounded as it is by hostile countries.

While you are at it, type in Newsweek article by Gregg Roman and anti Semitism. Or the article by Tiana Lowe from the Washington Examiner. Or the speeches of those who actually dare to speak the truth, but again, please, Hawley, Cruz, Greene - go away. We do not need the politicizing of this critical life and death issue usurped by people who speak of hate at other times. 

Must we hear more numbers of Jews dead and then cry crocodile tears as tsk, tsk, who allowed another Holocaust to occur. Not me, each will say, but oh, yes, you, is the truth, the damning truth.

For everyone's sake, as I have long stated, hatred spreads, is always hungry for more bodies and blood, more agony. Heed the words that ALL Lives Matter. It is not an attempt to downgrade the troubles of some, but is instead an attempt to remind us all that prejudice affects us all, damages all, and it needs to stop! Now!!! 

And then explain to me how it is that people who speak in derogatory terms re Blacks, or Native Americans, etc. are fired, but when a Brooklyn principal uses the school's email to send out a mass mailing reeking of her hate towards Jews, of what needs to be done to push against them and Israel, why does she remain in position even if she did send out a grudging forced weak apology. Those apologies are meaningless. She needs to go -as do all haters.

Any more questions as to why I have such fatigue?!

FEAR - TANGIBLE AND REAL

  We all have faced fear in our lives. From real to imagined, from trivial to existential, from possibility to reality, but the fear today, of all Jews, living in this country and around the world, has risen to just about a fever pitch. Facing a fear such as not been seen nor felt since the end of the Holocaust. Yes, there has always been that undertone, the snarky and snide remarks made sotto voce, particularly about a boss, a co-worker, a neighbor, anyone within the scope of the closet anti-Semite.

"There is a stain of anti-Semitism that still lurks in this city, in this country, around the world. It has been here for thousands of years and every time people try to say it's gone away, it hasn't gone away. Anti-Semitism is too alive and well. It must be stopped."

That is one of the best statements that I have read in approaching the truth re the growing attacks on Jews, their buildings, their reputations, the accusations growing in depth, in applause, and in real danger to the lives of those attacked already and those who will be. There will be no end to this, not quickly, not in strength, for politics and the ugliness that lives underneath the surface of too many refuse to allow it to be destroyed, even muted. It is much better for the politician today to praise the terrorists of Hamas than condemn the attackers of Jewish teens, people walking on the street, anywhere their presence is detected, seen, hated. There is a freedom, a permission, to attack Jews such as not has been seen for many decades. Apparently, this hatred, this despicable cancer of humanity never actually dies out, just goes underground for a bit until circumstances are favorable for its emergence once again.

Most detrimental to combating this cancer is the supposed support of known extremists who insert their own agendas into their rants re anti-Semitism. To equate a mask mandate with the yellow stars of the Holocaust is both inane and dangerous for it trivializes the reality of the fear. No one is packing refusers of masks off to their deaths. No one is breaking into their homes, ripping the children away, or the adult men, or grabbing anything they want as their right. So please, Taylor Greene, leave the Jews out of this mess as they, as we, as I,  have enough real problems to combat. We thank you for your words against this ugliness, but again, leave this fight to those who concentrate on the reality rather than dilute it to fit political purposes.

Worse, or perhaps necessary, is for these attacks to out the true nature of the screamers, the attackers. It is in their very own words and actions. They truly outline the reality, the truth, that anti Zionism is but a euphemism, an attempted disguise, for anti Semitism. The shouts are not kill the Israelis, but rather, kill the Jews, kill the Jews, over and over again. While there are brave individuals who step up, actually rescue, defend the people under attack, the rest of the world is silent. Again. And again. And again. What will it take this time for the silence to end? No clue, but the palpable fear is that this time, it will not end. It will continue to overspread the world with its fetid hatred, with its ugliness. It will attempt to reach the point in time when Jews will not be told they cannot live here or there, but that they can not live anywhere, and in fact, they cannot live. Period. End topic.

Take a look around at the lies, the obfuscations, the refusal to accept responsibility for harm they have caused with careless words, or open hatred. AOC has indeed fed this vicious and viral hatred. Speaking out with her words and tone re Israel, ignoring the fact of millions of Israelis, Arab and Jew alike, living in the fear of rockets perpetually raining down on them, their families, their homes, ignoring the terrorism, ignoring the history, defying truth - well, what does anyone with sense realize or actually wish to bring about. She claims she is traumatized, suffering PTSD from Jan. 6?! Well, what does she think all the Israelis are feeling and have felt from time immemorial!!!Yes, AOC, you have a great deal of ownership here. Face it, fess up, admit the truth of your hatred, your political ambitions. Your own personal internal anti Semitism.

So it goes for the rest of the haters out there. This time you cannot hide. This time, hopefully, the truth will out and you will either out yourselves, your hatred of Jews, or you will step to the side of justice and call out the world against our homegrown and  flourishing anti Semite terrorists, be they from the right or the left, for there is no difference between their hate and their hopeful outcomes. In fact, the attempt to place all this in the laps of the two most recent presidential candidates is foolish and dangerous. This is a mass people thing, and its growth, its boldness of open rants and attacks have always been there, needing only the typical circumstances of life at the moment to lead to  finding a scapegoat, allowing oneself to justify this anti social behavior, this criminal behavior, this crime, these many crimes. To take joy in the growing presence of a dark and threatening cloud of fear over the Jewish communities all around the world.

There is apparently no end to the crimes that Jews are charged with. Having been scolded for years for daring to defeat the enemy in numerous wars of survival, defamed for the supposed 'settler' movement, now get this. Now, the world is openly advocating policies that will surely, they hope, lead to the lessening of the Jewish presence in Israel, or in fact, the elimination of this one Jewish state. Joining their anti settler thoughts, now the world is complaining that Jewish Israelis are moving into mixed towns, making these towns more Jewish! A crime such as the world has apparently never seen before and certainly cannot tolerate. To allow Jews within their own country to move freely within that country - Never!!! Jews. They must be restricted. Where else in the world is any country chided for allowing freedom of movement for its citizens. The Arab Israeli moves freely into the French Hill section of Jerusalem, or into Nazareth, and that is fine, but for a Jewish family to move into the mixed town of Lod! Never!! A crime against humanity according to the thinking of the global anti Semites.

So where can we live? Where can we walk freely? Where can we leave the fear behind? Where can we be reassured that our children are safe? Where can we be assured that the history books will not perpetuate the eternal false tales, the hate inciting tales against Jews? Apparently these hopes are too much for the Jews to have. Forever and a day is not long enough for the haters to push their agenda. So yes, the fear is real. It is palpable. It is within the hearts and throats of every mother watching her children leave for the day. Will they be safe? Will they return?

No, AOC, your PTSD is nothing compared to what you have encouraged others to bring upon your fellow New Yorkers, your fellow Americans, your fellow members of humanity living on this globe. Where should we go? Mars? Drop off the face of the earth? Will that satisfy you and your fellow haters? Where is the end of this this? Do you think the way to cancel prejudice against one group is to allow, to foster, its growth against a traditional target?

To hell with you, AOC, all your hateful crew and followers, here in America and around the world. We have suffered this before and have come through; this time will be no different..

Am Yisroel Chai - the Jewish people live -for all eternity.

THE OXYMORONIC LIFE

 

An oxymoron is created when two diametrically opposed terms are joined together, thus creating a new term of description and understanding. An example would be "a thunderous silence". A most famous and self explanatory oxymoron would be the opening paragraph of Dicken's A Tale of Two Cities, with the very first line world famous: 

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." 

An oxymoronic world and if you think that there is a startling resemblance to the world of today, then realize that you are correct. It is a world where one is bubbling over with the desire to speak, yet stunned to silence at the same time. It is when it is such a good life for some, while others, suddenly and frighteningly, find themselves begging and picking in the garbage for food. It is a time when traditional enemies are actually turning into defenders, and doesn't that want to make you cry.

When Taylor-Greene takes on AOC for her anti-Semitism, for her instigation and rabble rousing even as AOC 'decries' anti Semitism, well then we have to rethink this world. This is the same person who previously backed those who spoke, who shouted, against Jews in Charlottesville and elsewhere.

It is when Americans of Jewish background have climbed the ladders to success, become an integral part of the nation's framework, yet suddenly find themselves in the midst of an overwhelming series of attacks. Attacked and beaten in Manhattan by a mob. Verbally assaulted, physically threatened by passengers in a car, threatening to rape the women present,  rescued by a gun bearing motorist. Killed within institutions. No, this is not unlinked, separate ones that were perpetually taking place, but rather an organized series of attacks, an encouragement of such attacks, even as 'protest' marches against Israel, its very existence - the very right to exist -  are wallowing in the stink of anti-Semitism very thinly disguised as anti-Zionism, actually one and the same thing!

It is when one is confused. Am I American, or am I a perpetual stranger in strange lands, denied a home wherever I go, including in my own homeland? Am I to be allowed to speak the truth or am I to forever be drowned out by the lies of so many haters? Is the world to be told slanted stories or outright lies fed to them as pap is fed to an infant and then believe those lies? A house built in a Jewish cemetery previously defaced, destroyed by Jordan, renewed by Israel at great cost, financially and emotionally, is then rightfully razed as an illegal structure and is then presented to the world as an incident of "picking on the underdog". And the world believes.

When proportionate is the term used to describe a defense of itself, of its citizens, Arab and Jew alike, foreign workers and citizens alike, what does that mean? Should the shelters be destroyed? Should Israel give over the Iron Dome to Hamas to further their ability to rain constant destruction and death upon the people in Israel, burn their fields with incendiary devices disguised as toys, the better to lure children to them and die, horribly? Should we count the number of dead and wounded, mainly enemy combatants, and give over an equal number of Israelis to 'even' the score? Has this ever been done by any other country? Ever? Even ever asked to do so? Never!! Yet why with Israel?

It is because we have the presence of oxymoron philosophy. Believe in and spout the "Judeo-Christian" tradition, but kill off the living embodiment of the Judeo side. Disallow them, particularly the modern counterparts. Disguise traditional and violent anti-Semitism as anti-Zionism, ignoring the fact of 22 Moslem states while one tiny size of New Jersey state for Jews is to be disallowed, attacked as anti anything one can think of. It is not a political question but rather a religious one based on a perpetual hatred of Jews, perpetually put forth as scapegoats for the defects of the countries where they reside, unto the point of being denied the very first right of all humans - to live. To simply live as do all people. To be left alone to worship or not as they please, to work and raise families as do all others. To be safe, expect to be able to walk the streets in dignity and safety. Why is this so difficult for the world to accept? And then the very same people who should be actively crusading (to use an oxymoronic term, as the Crusades were a period of great murder of Jewish people), are now the very ones pushing, encouraging, anti Semitism, unto violence. Unto murder and death.

Kristallnacht. A night of terror and death under the Nazis. A term of beauty, of glass sparkling under moonlight, termed and teamed with ugliness of hatred. The sanctioned murder of Jews, prejudice against them in every area of life, from the very act of breathing and living, to education, to work rights and professions, to live where they chose. To live. All this once thought to be gone, in the mists of the past. With the practitioners of modern day hate being a terrible aberration, but still, an aberration, not the norm. Well, oxymoron comes in again, for the truth is revealed. The light of the sun shines upon it, so hinting of the beauty of the world, of its possibilities, even as its exposes the anti Semitism still alive and flourishing, even encouraged by so many. By too many, if we are to be honest with ourselves. 

"A pandemic of hate," says Eric Adams. No, it is a pandemic addressed against and towards Jews. Please do not link this viral and vile hatred with others. I see no one organizing parades protesting, holding signs that "Jewish lives matter". I see no recognition of the role that Jews have played in fighting prejudice within this country and the entire world. I see the oxymoronic attitudes, admiration for their achievements and hatred and jealousy for those very same things.

I see the oxymoronic effects of the proposed new curriculums and history to be taught within schools. Contrary to anyone's viewpoint, no one group of people built this country. True, slavery played a great part in the economy of the South and was one  reason for the Civil War. And the indentured whites coming over from Europe were as slaves for the long terms of their indenture -and often did not survive. The Jim Crow laws continued this behavior. Wrongly so, but at the very same time, the Chinese, the Irish, the Italians, the Scots, and the Jews were seen as targets of disgust, of being worthy of nothing but the worst jobs, the worst housing, of discrimination in every area and yes, even death, as members of all ethnic groups faced  mobs, denial, by starvation, all from hatred in the "land of the free" where the "tired, the poor, the wretched refuse" of the world were to be accepted and recognized as humans, as equals. But from the very beginning, from Stuyvesant up to and including modern times, this very day, Jews faced prejudice, even as others welcomed them, even as Washington wrote his wonderful letter re Jews in America. Oxymoronic indeed, but that is the world towards Jews.

 The hatred continued and continues, with laws passed to limit their entry. even as they lived and died under the swords of the Cossacks, the peasants, the rich, the Nazis and yes, the British and the Arabs as well. Welcomed in some places, but always the undertone of hatred, of anger, of doubt of their loyalty. The old accusation of dual loyalty, even when there was no State of Israel!!! Oxymoronic life to the hilt!

I am a Jew. I am an American. I love my country - when it is as it should be or striving towards it. I support and love Israel, but do not always agree with all it might do -just as I do with other countries. I am denied as to being white. I am called a 'mud' person. I am linked with whites when it suits others. I am praised and criticized for the same things. I face prejudice against myself even as I fight it against others. I am asked to join in, even as I am excluded. I face the traitorous ways of those who would deny their Jewishness, the truth of the attitude of so many others, as they follow the shameful tradition of trying to "fit in, be separate from other Jews even as they 'espouse' and shamefully use the term 'Jewish".

I am a hopeful dreamer of the future even as I fear and dread the crashing of the past right through the present as it meets up with the future in a most awful scenario. I am a social liberal, idealistically, perhaps foolishly, believing that we are all people, and that is what matters and counts. But I am a liberal who is being pushed to the wall with the hatred coming from the left, the so called "progressives". I resent that. A great deal. It was a joyous time when we beat the haters and treason on the right, but then, in an active state of 'oxymoroncy', the left took a wrong turn and usurped the right's place  in the spouting and espousal of the same garbage of hatred and anti Semitism.

The reek of hatred, the stink of hatred, the pollution, the absolute horror of anti-Semitism, in all forms, its long duration, contains no oxymoron. It is evil. It is wrong. It is clear through and through in its destructive power. It must stop, in all forms, with no disguises attempted. Truth is truth. Call it what you will, but it is frightening. No oxymoron there. It is a hateful, shameful reality. The truth is - I am afraid. Period.

FASHIONS OF THE DAY

  There are so many fashion demands on anyone out there. An African might be dressing in traditional clothing and vary greatly from a member of another tribe. The same goes for so many countries, particularly where populations are heavily mixed, with members coming or originating from separate, disparate cultures. Even here in America, one's dress often signifies one's association with a group or two. A traditional Amish dresses in one way, yet varies within Sects. The same with Mennonites. Or varied sects of members of the Jewish faith. The same goes for the youth of the day. Just think hippies, Goth, grunge, etc. As one grows, one changes, as do the clothes. Just go to your closet and find the remnants of the stages of your life. Even the clothing of a woman, in the before, now and wishful categories, change with the years and experiences undergone.

The question then is - does clothing truly make the person? Do we behave differently as we change manner of dress or not? Personally, I believe we do. Casual dress sets us free from some constrictions that more formal dress imposes upon us. Good and bad, but certainly significant, differing in impact and dress within varied societies. What we must remember though is that old, but telling adage: Wolves dressed in sheep's clothing.

See, we must look deeper into the minds and mores of clothed people. We must imagine them as within, dressed accordingly, as befits their inner beliefs. The red MAGA hats, the black clothing of protest groups, the angry slogans that accompany them, as part and parcel of expression. Or the sane looking people in everyday clothing, their winter jackets closed tightly around them, who stormed our Capitol and stood as the first armed rebels in this country for lo these many a year.

But what of those who wear one set of signs and belonging but speak another tongue, one meshing with almost completely diametrically opposed groups? What do we do, how do we recognize the changes that people have gone within, or even without, as they bow to the various "fashions" of the day politically, socially, religiously. As they spout yet more of the same drivel - just change the names they now supposedly espouse even as they desert long time allies and friends, marching to the drum of others, the popular other fashion of the day; be hypocritical, hypercritical, as long as it draws the powers that be to your side.

The frightening part is that while people change clothing to match the day, these changes are lifechanging for some. Even as the 'changed' people deny it, deny the facts, the facts create their own reality and the harm is done, ongoing, given a new lease on life when it should have been long ago buried, deep and irretrievable. But we humans tend to hold on to dark trends and thoughts, irrational feelings and philosophies, particularly when they give us comfort, false as that comfort might be, in times of great uncertainty and danger. Particularly when these strange thoughts are revived and renewed by powerful voices within the community. Their espousal of these dark trends leads to the acceptance and even rabid support of others.

Anti - Semitism. An ugly head that insists on eternal life, even if outer expression of it becomes unfashionable for a while, a hypocritical while, for there it remains growing steadily in fertile, fetid soil, implanted there by either ignorance or political experience but always with a tragic result. The same, actually, for all prejudices, always waiting to tear a country apart. Look at Sarajevo. Look at the society at large in Israel where so many, Arabs Jews, Druze, Christians, all, work together as in hospitals, treating the thousands wounded by the shells of the enemy, be they of one ethnicity or religion or another. Even as outside the doors the horror ranges, within, there is a harmony and a complete and whole society. All wear the dress of the hospital. Does that impose and inform them of the required behavior for that fashion, for that clothing? Perhaps. Seems logical. Does that harmony within  follow them outside? Perhaps. Makes sense.

And now for the false clothing worn by anti-Semites. Anti Zionism is anti Semitism. It is merely a differing layer of clothing which reeks of the same rot. How to tell? These are the same people who sniff at the Jewish family moving into their enclave. The same ones who make sotto voce comments re 'jewing' someone down, or that is "what they always do", or they are too much in control in -----fill in the blank as to your opinion, but there are too many who espouse these thoughts and even act on them. They are the same people who go further, act in violence, as they chase Jewish people down in the streets, deface Jewish institutions, kidnap and kill Jews, cut them no slack anywhere, and deflect the hatred of Jews to the category of anti Zionism, all to gain the wholehearted support of society. 

How else does one explain the frightening burgeoning of acts of anti Semitism all around the world. It amazes me how powerful we are supposed to be, this minority wherever they live, a minority whose need, whose existential need, whose right, inheritance and tradition, written within a book that the world supposedly espouses and follows, yet refused by so many, denied, washed with the blood of Jews through the Ages.

Nope. Fashions of the day are not harmless and give many clues as to the standing and level of society. Where are their values? How do they do they indeed, uphold and support these values, pass them on to the next generation. Does their clothing, within and without support one view or another, expose hypocrisy or truth? 

Where is the world in this Project Runway of life? I think it is in not such a god place, with the runaway rotten to its core, with the mold eating away at its underpinnings, with people overwhelmed by the odor, the rot, the supposed benefits of the oncoming ugly fashions.

So you decide what fashion you espouse. Do so in all honesty. Lies do not hold up too well in the long run, do they? Even as they leave havoc behind them, there is no future in them either. Folks, we have got to do better, for this hatred of others, this increasing tendency to extremes, the use and approval of violence, these lies denying the truth, will only harm us - unto death and tragedy, for hatred knows no bounds. Remember that, for they will come for you as well when they run out of others. Hatred needs to feed on something and all of us are eligible to be that something.

CAN IT BE?

  Yesterday I had a serious talk with my daughter re the current situation, not only in Israel, or here in the USA, but around the world, the resonating of it through the very bone marrow of every Jew within this world, whether they are aware or believe it or not. It is history repeating itself on a massive scale and frankly, I am more frightened for survival than ever before. So deep is the terror, the risk to survival.

Books, treatises, rants, fake accusations, threats, pogroms, bias, rules and regulations limiting Jewish rights as regular citizens and on and on. Right up to and including death as a recognized and approved technique of dealing with a country's Jewish population and then the world's population of such 'sub-humans'- for so they have been deemed. The frantic attempts to deny this, to deny the reality, the probability rather than the possibility, are for naught, for the truth is evident, right out there for all to see. 

But, as I spoke with her, I explained how it is no longer almost an intellectual discussion: can it be, again, despite all the sloganeering that it will "never again" happen. Well, it can, and it is, already begun. Where, you ask? Well, fly over all the countries of the world. See the asterisks in space denoting all the countries where anti Semitic acts, unto murder and torture have taken place. Then note the numbers over the Arabic and/or Moslem countries, so many, and that is fine, if they were allowing freedom within their countries - but they are not. Now notice that tiny blip of color between Asia and Africa. Yes, that one, that tiny, narrow, endangered country, the only one with a Jewish spine, where all are welcome, where Arabs supposedly under  apartheid rules walk the streets, buy, work everywhere, go to school, live successfully and in peace -if that is what they want.

Now look at the flashes over the country, so many of them, most exploding in the air. Those are rockets, aimed clearly at civilian areas, but luckily, Israel has the Iron Dome, wherein these rockets are mostly intercepted; thus the ones that get through can do limited damage to life and property. But make no mistake about it. Were these rockets to get through, the toll in Israeli lives would be horrendous, unacceptable, but not to the world. Apparently then there might, and I stress might, be proportionate damage? Maybe, for since when has the amount of Jewish blood spilt ever been enough to satisfy the haters and their blood lust, or to get the apathetic to move, to care, to act? The answer is - never; for the most part. Those who did care were the exception, the rare ones, so few.

So what does the world want? That we Jews should go quietly, accept our fate, exhibit our bravery as we walk to the chambers, the killing places, the common graves of Nature, already ready and waiting, and stand there? Should we comfort our young and elderly as we await death, trying to give them ease in their last moments before a violent death? Should we accept the restrictions, ever growing, ever more unlivable, that are placed upon us? Should we accept our untermensch status uncomplainingly, and accept the strictures of this barbaric world placed upon us as we place family above individual survival? Do we walk through a barbaric life singing songs of defiance, even as we fall down dead? What does the world want? Will they be satisfied if we gave a specified number of Israelis or other nationality Jews, every day, to die so 'proportion' can be had? What is the level to be named? Why and why and why is the world like this, for all eternity it seems.

So, yes, I told my daughter, I am frightened. Not so much for me, but for your generation, for the grandchildren and the great grandchildren. Then I stopped. She asked if I thought the situation would improve by then, and my answer was , "No, I simply think there will be no more "Jewish problem" after that to worry about, for we will finally be destroyed, a memory that will fade in time to nothingness". Perhaps G-d will finally desert His people, aiming to restart the world. 

Wherefore has it become okay to kill all Jewish Israelis? When has it become wrong for Israel to defend itself and its citizens, even as they attempt the impossible- to destroy the tunnels of terror, the weapons, the rocket launchers, the stock of arms and ammunition hidden there, all aimed at the Jewish state - trying as best as possible to limit civilian casualties even as the terrorists of Hamas use human shields as their picture to present to the world. The accepting world. The unthinking world. Or perhaps it is the grateful world which loves to see the Jews getting their 'just desserts"! Why and wherefore is Israel to institute a ceasefire of unilateral imposition, then what stand there in  silence as the rockets land, as the casualties mount, as the blood turns the streets red? Are they not allowed to defend themselves? Is the world order to turn over only on the heads and bodies of Jews, of Israel, anywhere they live? Is it to be open season all year, all the time?

Can it be? Can it really be again? No, say the future members of the Judenrat. No, say the unthinking fools of J Street. No, cry out the idiots of Jewish Voices for Peace, the group that sees peace in the elimination of themselves, indeed all Jews, and especially the State of Israel. Perhaps, they inanely think, that they will be accepted, finally, as full and loyal citizens of their respective countries if the State of Israel did not exist? Foolishly dangerous thinking. There are always fools, dangerous fools, who are willing to sell out their people for some reward, some sign of pleasure from those who control their lives, their masters! There are always the turncoats.

Can it be? Oh, yes, it can. Sadly, unfortunately, murderously so. I pray not. I pray that there are enough brave and honest souls out there who will come to their senses, see the truth of it all. I pray that G-d remember His promise, His unending capacity for forgiveness no matter how egregious the offense -or offenses, in plural. In great plurality! But can it be? You think on that, honestly, deeply and then answer. Can it be? Will it be? Do you want it to be?

DEAFENING

  The silence is deafening. Or no, it is not, as the world shouts out re proportionate deaths and damage. The world demands 'justice'. The world forgets who always and forever stood and stands at the head, the front lines, the first lines, in all marches, all demonstrations for equality, for justice, for the rights of all. And that is great, no complaints against that. No complaints either at the contributions that Jews have made and continue to make to the world and for a brief recap of that, just read Mark Twain's comments on that issue. 

But I am in error. The world does complain. We are both capitalists and communists or whatever name is given to foes of capitalism. We are scoffers at religion, even as we persist in keeping our religion alive and well for lo these many a millennia. We are blamed for too much influence in the media, in the film world, in banking, in politics and government, in finance, in just about any area one can mention. As for lawyers, hear the bigots suddenly scream for a Jew lawyer! No, there is no silence there.

So where is the silence? It is there when for years, for decades the world ignored the slaughter of civilians in Israel. Families were butchered. Children were beaten to death with stones. Terrorists and terrorism claimed the lives of thousands and wounded many more, maimed for life. And the world stood still and the world stood silent. Or even subsidized the terrorists.

Why the shock? Actually, no shock, for did they not stand silent at the genocide of Jews under Hitler, made so much easier with the collaboration of members of the affected countries. With the refusal of the Allies to bomb the train tracks, a simple thing that could have saved the lives of over half a million Hungarian Jews deported to Auschwitz in 1944, along with those in the camps already. But silence was much better, for the Germans were apparently doing a public service in this area. The world ignored Jan Karski and his proof early on. They ignored the proof smuggled out at great risk and danger. They buried stories, if there were any, deep within the pages of the paper in tiny comments and paragraphs.

And the world stood silent, deafeningly so when returnees to their destroyed homes were shot at, stabbed, tortured and killed, chased out once again, cursed for surviving, as they stymied the desires of much of the world. The same world that called itself based on Judeo-Christian values, the same world that read the same Bible, the same world that worshipped a Jewish carpenter, the same world that ignored, or even helped, stirred up the anti Semitism, in church sermons, in all areas where demonizing worked just fine.

And the world stood still as ragged, crisis ridden survivors went to the land which was theirs from time immemorial, where their presence had lasted throughout the millennia, where they lived in peace with their neighbors. But the world stood still when the nabobs of Syria stirred up the Arab peasants there, lest they realize what they could and should have done in their lives, on the property they rented from these nabobs. And so Jews died again. No, they were slaughtered again. The 1929 Hebron massacre. The slaughter that took place along the road to Jerusalem and in the Old City. The guilt of the British as they confiscated weapons from the Jews and the Haganah, but armed the Arabs, looked away from their murdering rampages. And the world stood silent.

The world stood silent in 1948 as the UN approved Sate of Israel came into being, where Ben-Gurion welcomed all, specifying Arabs by name and as the Arab nations attacked. With a miracle or two or thousand, Israel defied the silence, did not go away either quietly nor  noisily. But the world remained silent as the terrorism and the murders continued, as the country was blockaded, as the nations of the world meekly recalled their ships and left Israel alone, to die.

But we Jews are stubborn people. Very much so and we will not die to satisfy the bloodthirsty whims of others. So we triumphed in 1967 and survived, barely, in 1973 when we were attacked once again, where the enemies were so close to the center of Israel, where thousands of our soldiers died those captured tortured, murdered. But the world stood still, until, miraculously we began to turn the tide and thanks to Nixon, who sent over arms. The world stood in silence when we were losing, but then demanded a ceasefire when the Egyptian army was surrounded and the tide had turned.

Now we are called into the woodshed for yet another spanking, another demonstration of how ornery we Jews are. Jews not Israeli are called out for "dual loyalty", are smacked again by that vicious canard of blood libel. We are warned that our deaths and woundings are not proportionate.  Did someone make an algorithm on death. Are we to play the game of handicapping as in golf and horseracing? Ae we to take our citizens and stand them under incoming rockets so the "score' can be evened out? "So, guys, move over three feet to the left. Yup. All the better to be hit by the rocket! It will be quick. The world might be happy then."

Yes, there is civilian damage but that is because  Hamas and Islamic Jihad build their terrorist infrastructure within and under the civilian buildings, knowing the world will scream and shout as these buildings collapse as Israel bombs the war related areas. The world ignores the fact that Israel knocks, calls, sends leaflets to warn of incoming rockets but the world ignores that.

The world stands in silence as they forget the flattening of London in the Blitz, the destruction of Dresden and the bombing of the entire city of Berlin. All in the name of victory and so it is. So it should not be as we should have evolved beyond this need to fight each other. But we have not and there is no proportionality, no measuring of it for that. No, for there is only a decisive victory and a true and blessed silence. This is what Israel has been denied. Even as Arab citizens and non citizens, are senior diplomats, judges, members of the civil service, students at all universities. They are in the entire pharmacy industry, heavily into all hospitals, have successful stores, shop alongside Jewish citizens, serve in the army where they reach high ranks.

There is no apartheid here. There is only a hope to live. To have a silence which is not deafeningly pro death to Jew. A silence that will stifle the bloody threat of "From the river to the sea" as they appropriate all the land in-between as Arab, as Palestinian, a nation which has been invented in the late nineteenth and twentieth century. A people that actually already has a 'Palestinian' land - called Jordan, a country which did not exist until the late 1940's.

But the silence is deafening. When will the world speak out for the right, for the just, for the truth? When will they speak out about the 800 Rohingya killed or the Myanmar slaughters, or the slaughter and bombings of Hazara children, preferably girls. Or the constant invasions of Russia to snip off pieces of land from their neighboring countries Or the Uighurs? Or South American countries which are in a state of havoc. The terrorist attacks on Jews all over the world. Or anywhere there is violence. But no, the world is silent, focusing only on this area of the world. Now one and all must ask themselves  - Am I anti Semitic? Do I detest the Jews? Do I think it a good idea to rid the world of them or at least take way their country, let them shift for themselves once again in countries still rife with bloody anti Semitism?

What is the truth here? I apologize to those who stand with the Jews, who do not understand this hatred, who oppose it, who took and take action to get out the truth. But the truth at this point is that it is almost a hopeless situation, for the world enjoys its silence, its hypocrisy, and will only cry and shed crocodile tears if and when the country of Israel is destroyed once again. 

But know the truth. We have survived all the enemies, all the attempts to wipe us off the face of the earth and we will survive this. We have reestablished the state many times, be it in kingdom form or parliament format. 

"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?....When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of G-d shouted for joy?" (Job, 38: 4-7)

We are all the sons of G-d and we have spoken so throughout the millennia, always denied, always the enemy. But remember -

Am Yisroel Chai!!! The people of Israel live.

MEMENTO MORI

  Remember your death. How appropriate an article was the one I read yesterday in the paper. On a day when around the world there are mass killings going on, how appropriate. How much more befitting could it be than if we were to remember and keep in mind the deaths of so many and our own impending death, for from the moment of our birth, we begin the dual process of both living and dying. You do not get out of this world without this tandem two.

Most religions and ethical movements remind us that we should live and behave with our possibility of death always in mind. Some stress the worldly behavior as in "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you may die." Other more ethical ones, state, "Where am I headed and where do I want to end up?" Some version of that question and its implications is found in just about every religion in the world. The answers vary, as we well know.

Death has been more and more on my mind. No, not desperation or depression, but simply a realization and acceptance of the meaning of the ever more rapid turning of the calendar pages. In June, one more leaf turns and I suddenly become a year older. What does that mean? How am I affected in my thinking and behavior? Can I even define that difference, if there is even one to be defined? Is there a day when I am to think that there are no more new topics for me, no more queries and investigations into new ideas? What then do I think re my new hobby of wood working which has given me such joy, an extension almost, on life?

And no matter how we strive, between diet, exercise, new habits of daily life, the body will eternally and inevitably degrade and death will be upon us. How will we meet that inevitability? How will we approach the end of our days? Will we suddenly and radically change or will we remain the same? Will we contact people we wronged or who wronged us, close the file or do we ignore it all and move forward as much as we can?

I have no answers that befit all; nor do I have the right to impose my thinking in this area on others. We each, individually, must do as we feel right, as we must by our inner urgings and perhaps, the pricking of our individual consciences.

The question of death impacts us within the world as well. It seems that there has never been a time in the history of mankind where there has not been any kind of conflict, many massive, drawing in hundreds of thousands of people into its hungry maw. And it seems, that this situation, this condition, continues right till today and certainly into the foreseeable future.

One area of particular concern to me and so many others is the conflict in the Middle East. Once again the rockets and projectiles of war are flying through the air with their goal of death and damage. Once again the world seems to focus on this inappropriate hypocritical 'equivalency' of death and dying. Why are  there an x number of dead and wounded on one side and no matching figure on the other? Is that fair is the implied question. Really? 

Since when has conflict been concerned with equivalency. One side must defeat the other and that means that more damage and death will impact that losing side. Do the USA and other countries not count and boast of their 'body counts' of the enemy? Does slaughter  and mistreatment of so many Uighurs, Rohingya, Hazara, protesters in Myanmar, and on and on not go on, not continue and where is the rage, the oh so righteous indignation of the countries and the leaders of the world?

Where? Focused on that one little country so narrow that one can cross it up of down in a matter of a few hours. It is the one country where Jews are welcomed and as the world turns, certainly that appears to be more of a necessity, an existential necessity, than ever. Jews must die is the seeming motto of the world, left or right. More must die to counterbalance the dead Arabs on the other. Until that happens, evidently Israel must stop defending itself and its very existence.

"From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." The chant of the Palestinians as they demand a new reality of no Israel anywhere in the world, preferably, no Jews either. The desire of anti Semites throughout history. No different here, no matter the excuses made up. Jews are attacked all over, as the war extends into the world and oh, the crying over the dead in Gaza, some of whom they kill with their own incompetence, or with their use of civilians as shields. But the world remains quiet on their flaws and cracks and focuses on Israel. The same Israel that makes phone calls to tell people to get out. The same Israel that makes it, by law, a requirement of new construction to have safe rooms, for shelters to be available to people in the streets where all are welcome within. The same Israel that is first in place at areas of destruction and disaster, all over the world.

Think of death we are told? Well, imposed death from the human enemies rather than by nature, has been the status quo of Jews for millennia. We thought that it was done, the violence of that hatred over with, but Hitler proved us wrong, and evidently, once we defeated all the opposing armies in 1967, despite the abandonment of the world, we were then to become the target of rage as we forgot our role - to serve as the scapegoat of the world, to accept our imposed deaths of hatred and go quietly, never to protest, never to fight back. At the very least we should allow for equivalent deaths!!

Well, screw that outlook and philosophy, for Jews are finished with going quietly. They are finished with accepting their fate to be consigned to death chambers or fight to the finish in embattled areas of cities, forests, and deserts too. Enough. It will defend itself and its citizens, whoever they are, and if more die on the opposing side, on the side of the enemy shooting thousands of rockets deliberately into civilian areas, well, so be it. We are done with dying in numbers that please the world.

Individual approaching and inevitable death is one thing. Death by violence of an entire nation - no go!!We Jews always have Memento Mori with us. The world allows us no peace in that area.

ERRANTCY

  I do not even know if there is such a word, but be that as it may, it means, in my lexicon, a state or condition where the status quo has gone desperately awry, to the point of danger such as we have never been before. On so many fronts too.

Where to begin. Take the errant philosophy now governing the standing GOP, the theory of denialism. Say something never happened, ergo, it never did. It brings up the images and paragraphs from the dystopian worlds of Huxley and Orwell, where the news was erased on almost an hourly basis, constructing 'new' truths as wished. Deny, deny, deny taken further with deny followed by a 'new' reality.

The rewriting of history is found in that world. It is when the insurrection attack on the Capitol physically, and the government in theory and practice, is denied, metamorphed by GOP apologists and blatant liars, as no different than "a normal tourist visit". Wow, for how many school trips did I go on to DC and never, ever, did we engage in such "normal" activity! Nor did anyone else!

Further denied, accepting that some violence did occur, it assumes the disguise of a few people who behaved wrongly, but mainly, the mob, was an anti fa one!!!! I kid you not, even as the overwhelming amount of Trump flags, MAGA hats, shirts, banners, and weapons - guns, spears, flag staffs, shields - and sheer power of body bulk, appeared on the screens of America. There was no "hugging and kissing of Capitol officers" as Trump lied, but rather the embrace of beatings and death. Truly, a state of errantcy to an infinite depth.

Graham admits that  "If you try to drive him out of the Republican Party, half the people will leave."  That shameful truth, that ceding of decency, of truth, of loyalty to America, in exchange for cult loyalty to a damaged, deranged figure, mad on the scale and danger of a rising Hitler, has taken over the GOP. Finally, too little and I believe perhaps too late, some resistance, trying to uselessly chase those horses already escaped through the open barn doors, we have the open statements and attempts of some GOP members. "Enough is enough and we need to offer a commonsense coalition for this country and a more unified alternative vision than what we're seeing from the present GOP, which has now become rotten to its core with its persistent attacks on our democracy," ..."So our message is it's time to either reform or repeal the Republican Party." Well, hallelujah and amen, but is it enough? Time will tell but meanwhile this country sits on an already lit powder keg.

And then, and then, we come to a topic of errant thinking, eternally wrong, eternally so wrong, that it has persisted through the centuries, refusing to die and has appeared once again in full and open view. The right wing of Trump supporters, on their new media tool, Newsmax, has the open accusation of that old, yet continuing to be dangerous and false, canard of accusations of dual loyalty of Jews, in this case, American Jews, "If you are Jewish and you are a Democrat and you are living in America today, how do you support an administration that turns its back on your home country?" This is already transferred onto Jews in all countries of the world. These are countries where Jewish soldiers have fought and died for their respective countries.

“Home country”?

The United States is the “home country” for American Jews. The suggestion that Jews owe their fealty to a nation other than the one they live in is a vile centuries-old antisemitic slur.

 Where they have contributed much to these same countries, far above what their minority status in numbers would realistically suggest. And yet, it continues.

So how much longer do we tolerate this philosophy and battle tactic of errantcy. Do we go down this dangerous road, laughing at its outrageousness until we suddenly find ourselves imprisoned, denied liberty, living in a truly dystopian universe? It is that simple. That easy to understand. And so difficult to face down, apparently, as it keeps rearing its ugly medusa like heads, ugly in theory and fact, as people grow tired of hearing the truth, of a ceaseless, exhausting battle to insure that truth and sanity prevail.

We need to wake up. We need to seriously, for once and for all, take on the falsehoods of those dangerous liars, left or right. We need to root out the canards of history on all sides. We need to realize and live the fact that justice, humanity, must prevail else we are lost. I am tired too, so very tired of the unbelievable hold of Trump on people, of the willingness to believe outright lies, to turn their backs on themselves. It is almost too late to combat this, but for whatever little help and voice I am and can give, until I can do it no longer, I will maintain my maimed warrior status! Join me and the rest of those who will continue on. Join or forever lose what is valued - the right to live in peace, safe from hate and harm, free to think, to worship as one wishes, to raise a family with hope for and of the future, where care for others, true equity, and a safe environment exists. How I so wish for this to be true. Don't you? Really?