FOR REAL .... BUT,

  Yes, good things do indeed come to those who wait - and wait - and wait - and wait until they thought it would never be. A scofflaw of enormous malignant influence and position was getting away with it all. He was, it seems, actually above the law, no matter who thought elsewise. Breaking the law, scoffing at the power of the law - above the law - he thought -BUT (to borrow his inane and insane use of capitals) he has been charged. Well, Hallelujah and Amen! 

About time. Long time coming - highly overdue. This man, this creature who uses devices and ridiculous choreography to supplement his appearances and their effects, a la descents on a golden escalator, who compares himself to angels, well, he has met the road to his long delayed and oh so deserved comeuppance. It has been a long and winding road as the song goes, but we have reached that long delayed point. Hopefully, Bragg's bold move will inspire others to bring their charges to the fore and beat this man with the proverbial hammer of the law. 

To see that man in a perp walk, clad in an ill fitting orange jumpsuit, followed by a long chain of linked aiders and abettors - from Pence to Meadows to Hawley and Jordan to the insane and just plain stupid feminine duo of Greene and Boebert to the very poorly brain endowed GOP members who lost their minds , their independence, along the way, ever nearing perdition, always selling their country down the river and using and discarding people like used tissues and there would we find Giuliani and fellow throwaways from the Trump office.

Blatant treason became the theme song of the GOP, crazed statements dropped out of their crooked mouths as if pearls from swine, and followed Trump as automatons, incapable of forming an independent rational and correct, fact based thought and supposition.  AT LAST!! A long and winding one, to paraphrase the song - but there it is, highlighted by the sun, open to widespread publication. 

Proof of the pudding against this man who induced and coerced others into joining his treasonous campaign trail, who adored him as he genuflected before the malignant dictators of North Korea, China and Russia. Finally, a growing light at the end of a long stretch of bumpy, lumpy potholed road. Well deserved and earned ruination before the nation which he had tried so hard to destroy, shredding the virtues and ties of patriotism, friendship, families, and reliance upon the truth.  

Vitriolic words, tongue spewing verbal poison, inciting violence and bigotry, this man packaged himself and his followers in a most ugly, poorly wrapped package which nearly brought this nation and the world to their knees, never to rise again. However, more, much more is needed before we can reassure ourselves that we have purged this garbage from our systems, and are, have, in fact and deed returning this nation to the better road paved not with useless good intentions but rather with good deeds and accomplishments.

And along the way, we free up funds, spending them on research, for cures, for programs which better the nation. One day, hopefully soon, there will be an announcement of a great and definitely working technique, a protocol to defeat cancer. The little golden children, like my Yitzy will run through the park again, argue whether one was safe at base or not, about the latest comic book and the newest styles for spring. About anything and everything other than the nausea and despair of chemo and radiation, of a life disrupted so massively that until one is living it, is impossible to truly understand. Whoopi wears a shirt which states that hopes and prayers are not the answer to gun violence, but rather policy and change, and she is correct. However, in Yitzy's situation, hope, prayers, along with advanced ideas and procedures do work together, for the good, for the positive, for room for hope to grow, for the strength of prayers to reach the ears of the Lord, urging him to remember all the little ones here on earth, suffering from the crass and selfish stupidities and misthinking of adults. So - 

HEAL THE WORLD.

HEAL YITZY!

Yitzchak Elimelech ben Chana Sarah

May he be granted refuah shelaymah bimheyrah beyameinu. 

May he be granted a timely and complete healing.

May Hashem hear all our voices raised in prayer. 

Amen. Amen.

A WHOLE LOTTA' LITTLE

  'A lotta' little' and 'a little a lot' have become a family joke, often referred to or used at appropriate times. Generally, the second version was asked in tiny voices when told they had to visit the doctor or eat a food they did not particularly like. The first statement was generally said in a hopeful voice or supplemented with a real time example par excellence. Having a little ice cream became a lotta' little, supported by graphic presentation of a lotta' little - drips and tiny pieces of ice cream, a lotta' little becoming a much better quantity in the eyes of the clever little one. We thank our oldest for introducing these phrases, their appropriate usage, and many moments of laughter into the family's lexicon and memories.

Unfortunately, the phrase of a lotta little can also be used in negative times. Today we have a lotta' little - in the lotta' tiny minds barely there and/or functioning in a whole lotta' little minded characters masquerading as political representatives of the nation. Poor us. Nor does it help any when these lotta' little minds are given a whole lotta' publicity, encouraging more little smallminded people to speak out when they should so obviously, greatly to be wished, simply shut up. Keep a whole lotta' pieces of quiet and better the world.

Who are the lotta' little minds we have going for us? Easy. Those who cannot see their way to appropriate gun safety laws - with teeth and sense. Those who celebrate the J6 insurrectionists as heroes. Those who refuse to admit that oh yes indeed, the environment has changed, so not for the better. Those who refuse to recognize the shared humanity we are, the shared values we have, and the necessity to share the world if we are all to keep the planet and the human race on a steady footing. And by the way, that last one is desperately in a losing battle for us, for a whole lotta' people. One little person and another and another and another till all these little people add up to a huge crowd of existentially threatened people.

I do not understand why we tolerate these little minded people, those who cannot see past the ugliness of their hatreds. On both extremes and even in the middle, as some purport to be, particularly in the GOP. Nor are the Democrats immune from the lotta' little syndrome, as too many little minds are present, particularly on the left. A hate filled Tlaib is an example, as she ranted and raved, denying historical truth, claiming no proof of any Jewish presence at all in the lands of and around present day Israel. A whole lotta' little minds going here and the end is not good unless we cut it off mid-sentence - midword, mid syllable!

While a whole lotta' little in the case of ice cream or time at the beach or amusement park, or time to cuddle up with a good book, or reading time to the kids - even the bigger ones -all that and more is a lotta' little we definitely want. There are so many good little things, neither expensive nor grandiose to do with our kids. Somehow, though, in the tiny minutiae of daily life a whole lotta' little things, become lost, swallowed up by the lotta' load of distractors. So we shoo away the kids, the spouse, the parents with a 'Later" or a "Maybe" or the dreaded "We'll see." And we are the losers for it.

Today, in our family, our crowd of friends and well-wishers, we find a lotta' joy and hope via a lotta' little good deeds. Or, little advances in this horrid so difficult battle Yitzy is fighting. Or the little actions of parents, as they become fierce determined generals refusing to give up and resist any and all setbacks. Thus, a little - dropping of fever, or lessening nausea, or an appetite for more than a bite, or an ability to have a chat - any and all of these little pieces of hope and encouragement add up to a lotta' little. We are ever so happy to add them up, to count and cherish them. A lotta' little indeed. Keep it coming is our hope and prayer until all this little adds up to a lot and a cure, a healing.

In the interim, we must keep praying, keep sending the good thoughts, and make sure our steps go forward on a good path, one to be trusted.

All of us with the same goal and motive.

HEAL THE WORLD.

HEAL YITZY!

Yitzchak Elimelech ben Chana Sarah

May he be granted refuah shelaymah bimheyrah beyameinu. 

May he be granted a timely and complete healing.

May Hashem hear all our voices raised in prayer. 

Amen. Amen.

THE RETURN OF PETE - OR HAS HE EVER ACTUALLY LEFT?

  You ask, "Who is Pete?" How do we know him? Where is he from? Why does he even matter? And which Pete anyway?"

Well, Pete is the one who appears in the mouths of many, being the Pete from "for Pete's sake!" Yes, though we obviously care much about his welfare, imploring people that for his sake we had better rethink or react or do whatever needs doing for Pete's sake. For those who continue to stubbornly maintain they do not remember him, well, really!

Those who state that, must have taken the same class, along with many, many, many GOP members of Congress, and their followers. "What class is that?", you inquire. - It is a class in dumb, passed with flying colors. To paraphrase Robert Browning, from his sonnet dedicated to Elizabeth Barrett Browning - delineating the oh so many beautiful ways and whys he loved her, 'Let us count the ways'. These ways and whys are different. They are, for Pete's sake, those which guaranteed honors from that class in dumb. Does it not make you proud, swell with pride at how many of those honor graduates now serve as GOP members of Congress, continuing with all their might, to go forge advances in the principles of that class of dumb. Doing quite well, actually. For Pete's sake!

Yet more children dead at the hands of a gun owner who should never have been allowed near a gun let alone buy and use one. Yet another school attacked, their insufficient security protocols so bloodily antiquated and useless. For Pete's sake, and all the little Pete's and Petereinas, let us be done with this. Let us instead shatter the record as to how many of these honor graduates we can turf out of office.

If we do not do this, the status quo will remain: dangerous guns in the hands of those who wish to kill, to shed blood of innocents, to force loved ones left behind to sink into a grief so deep, so all consuming that there is never actual relief. 

For Pete's sake! How many more must we lose? Have we all become so indifferent to these horrors, almost one a week this year, that we can tsk, tsk, oh so terrible, and continue on our way - possibly to buy a gun, for we need to be safe, do we not?

For Pete's sake. 

For our sake. 

For the sake of our kids!

Honor graduates post Christmas cards with their progeny toting assault weapons. Some decorate their rifles oh so pretty. Others are defensive or boast how they will defend this country against all comers. Well, for Pete's sake, who defends us against them!!!

An honor graduate 'serving' the nation says, "Nothing is going to change" as his brilliant, ever so empathetic and sympathetic words emerge from a truly dangerously dumb mouth. And the same offended gun lover will maintain the same viewpoint even as the weeping funeral corteges pass by, the sobs of bewildered, bereft, grieving parents, grandparents, orphaned children, mourning friends, on the way to burying yet another child, another caretaker, another victim. And another. And another. And another. And .......

Yes, the beat does go on within the chests and the oh so large hearts of these honor graduates of Dumb University, with the most comprehensive classes in Dumb proudly offered. Carefully highlighted in their catalog of classes so as to stand out for those too dumb to find them, these deeply desirable courses.

For Pete's sake!!!

For all our sakes, for the sakes of humanity. For the sake of a future for our kids - we must change. We must do better. We must shutter those Dumb dispersers and practitioners. When we must look at children undergoing the torments of hell as they fight cancer. As my Yitzy is doing, as other 'Yitzys' are doing, why must we add to the toll. Let us take the moneys generated in these sales of assault guns, huge magazines, and fancy straps, and use it instead for vital, constructive goals - for life for these kids. For all kids.

 But no, graduates of Dumb U cannot understand that concept and refuse to bar the sale of semi and full assault weapons. "We are defending America," they say - as we watch yet another slaughter. 

For Pete's sake - enough, more than enough. 

Let us spurn these Dumb practitioners, these non-thinkers and instead work together to create a world where guns and hate have no place. So much of the evil and violence of the world is beyond our reach. This isn't. Buy your handgun, your hunting rifle, your marksmanship pistols, go through the system and checks - but oppose the weapons of war and death in our own homes. In our families.

Let us instead, for Pete and for all of us - do this instead -

Thus, let us all pray to -

HEAL THE WORLD.

HEAL YITZY!

Yitzchak Elimelech ben Chana Sarah

May he be granted refuah shelaymah bimheyrah beyameinu. 

May he be granted a timely and complete healing.

May Hashem hear all our voices raised in prayer. 

Amen. Amen.

NOT ENOUGH

  When is enough enough? When and how do we know that all that could be done, was done and was enough. Does doing enough demand more or less action or is each situation to be judged in its own parameters? Does enough, doing enough, ever take place when we do actually nothing at all?

These are tough times for our nation, for the nation of Israel and personally, for me and my family, especially Yitzy. I have been dismayed at the behavior and destructive policies of too many in leadership positions. There remain too many who continue to follow along in a deadly game of "Following the Leader".  

However, I am also impressed by the determined behavior of some to correct a yaw in the path of the ship of state and truly, "go to the mattresses". That is a term used by Mafia families when rivalries deteriorated to a level wherein the 'soldiers' of the families hunkered down in a lair piled with mattresses for the 'family' members. Loyalty to their capo, their Don', a ceding of control to their leader - and the reality of death.

 Loyalty, earned and given in a positive, constructive manner, can bring about positive change. However, blind loyalty, unthinking, mob behavior, fealty to the lies of perverted supposed leaders, generate times of evil and horror. When little children and their teachers become the prey. When truth is a dying concept. When cowardice reigns and personal morals and values are discarded alongside this manifestly evil highway. When people refuse to see the truth clearly, deny it, go mealymouthed when push comes to shove and a choice between good and evil, that simple, must take place. 

Too many of us here in America have come down on the wrong side of that decision. Or adopt ostrich behavior, hiding heads in the sand. Well, that does not work. All that silence does is aid in the propagation of evil. Courage, buoyed and inspired by the commitment of others, in the face of known fear, so rare these days is the answer. Extremism, intransigence in support of evil will eventually collapse; however, not before so much harm is incurred by that society. Weak, even evil acquiescent leadership in America has been part of the evil that has suffused the people of America or the determined dead end belief that it all has nothing to do with them. It does. It does.

On the other hand, I am in awe at a nation which does not forget its commandments of behavior, the necessity to stand up for right, to be a role model, to return to the proper path after having wandered off. Thus, the beautiful reaction of hundreds of thousands of Israelis opposed to the harmful effects of a proposed reform, so not a reform but rather a power play, of dire consequence for a dark future. Reform must come with compromise, with talk, with agreement, rather than imposed, slammed down on the population. Paths of possible effects must be traced and protections of democracy, of rights, of a shared open, society must be carefully guarded. One can never do enough in this cause.

The protesters in Israel have won a pause. Will that time be enough? Will the proponents of false reform understand the dangerous territory they have created, the threats, existential threats to the nation, the comfort and aid they have provided to the enemies of their country, their people.  The roadblocks placed in the path to an ever better society are giant. We must turn aside from their creation and existence. No choice here. At all.

Closer to the personal realm, my awe of Yitzy grows. How brave he is to go for his chemo, knowing its side effects, knowing the debilitating nausea which recurs with these treatments. A boy of 12 realizing that at times we must do the difficult, the awful, if we are to achieve the best. I, who postpone dentist appointments time after time, admire my little, brave grandson. I stand in awe of his parents who have and will continue to give their all for this beautiful boy, even as they do not neglect their other beautiful children.

Heroes all, brave people all.

Good must be actively sought and protected.

It must prevail over the awful and evil.

We must continue to pursue it no matter the difficulties to be faced and defeated. 

There is no choice.

And I ask you to remember the choices you have so kindly made in keeping Yitzy in your prayers and hearts. 

We, the family, bless you, thank you, again and again.

It is a long, difficult road we travel. Your prayers and thoughts, your accompanying us, buoys us in this trek to health and a future for Yitzy and indeed for all our children.

Thus, let us all pray to -

HEAL THE WORLD.

HEAL YITZY!

Yitzchak Elimelech ben Chana Sarah

May he be granted refuah shelaymah bimheyrah beyameinu. 

May he be granted a timely and complete healing.

May Hashem hear all our voices raised in prayer. 

Amen. Amen.

RIGHT SMACK ON THE HEAD

In an interview with yet another talking head political analyst, a piece of sense actually emerged. That piece was the word "unprecedented". Used to describe the current situation in America, it is just as functional and functioning in describing the real time troubled realities around the world. In fact, I cannot remember when, during my lifetime we have ever faced such threats, powerful, possible, even probable, and more frightening in their possibilities than the nuclear crisis with Cuba and the USSR.

Why is this so? Why is it happening and why or what was the instigating factor? Who lit the match in the conflagrations now forming a monster fire such as we have not seen lo these many, many, years. Through all previous troubles and stark moments, there was a modicum of sanity, or responsibility among those who talked the talk and walked the walk, even if done in negotiations under the table or behind closed doors. Blustering was denied entry and reality accepted, the knowledge that no one wanted yet another war, so sense must prevail, and a compromise made. Give and take.

Today is different. Today is unprecedented. We are standing on the cusp of a world war with return exits, ramps to changes, to sane rethinking, deteriorating immediately behind us, making reverse engineering impossible. The way ahead is peppered with wrong turns, dangerous curves, a lack of guardrails, and potholes and sinkholes galore. To maneuver safely and arrive at a safe end takes great care, patience and logic. It requires temperance and modesty, all egos set aside. It requires the driver or drivers to understand their respective responsibility and culpability in the driving which has resulted with no assured survival at the end - or if we will even reach the end.

There is always room for compromise, for u turns, for expert maneuverings, but they must be executed carefully. Surprises can be welcomed. Just the other day, bemoaning the urbanization and cementing over of our former more rural county, we came across a most unexpected area of rural life. I loved it. We must look for such jewels in our quest to save the world not only from perdition but from execution. Can we, will we? Is there even a desire for that among the heads of nations or their opponents? Is there even one statesman among them, capable of calming their lusts for power and wealth? Can we finally reverse engineer and discover the site of ignition? Maybe. Maybe not.

We have in this country a madman running around for an office and a reign where he will continue the destruction of America that he initiated. That we allowed. Where he never belonged. Where he will continue his treason and celebrate those imprisoned for their treason. In a world where truth is hidden behind new technology, obscured, requiring great thought and process to uncover and refute the lies which poison the soul of our country.

This poison, this political flu has reached the rooms of too many supposed leaders of world nations. Political prisoners of a regime, finally freed, turn around and do the same as the first regime. Back at the beginning in an ugly road.

In addition to America, there is deep concern for Israel. A fear of the ugly now, and the inevitability of a terrible future if the supposed judicial reform and all accompanying threads of authoritarianism, come to fruition. A future wherein we will destroy ourselves, fighting brother against brother, rending our own clothing bloody, with our own blood, even before a united front of terrorist organizations realize that the country is now theirs for the taking. The government paralyzed, inept, and the armed defensive forces scattered and weak. Hence, the road is wide open for the slaughter to begin. Again. And again. And yet again. Two men obsessed with personal power and loyalty, in America and Israel, and the world has been set on fire in an ignition of an unprecedented powerful fire which can and will consume all before, behind and around.

The populations of both countries are angry, too angry to hear or see, with little desire to change that reality. The populations of the rest of the world are angry as well. Violence rules the streets, chasmic cracks are rending the fabric of societies, fear is palpable, political opposition ramps up.  

How do we, can we, fix this most dangerous unprecedented reality? I have no clue. Not a one. Other than to sit them all down and lock the door, give them bread and water, until they come to a workable solution, even a temporary one which will give the sane among us time to devise a fair solution. One which gives and takes, with sensible compromise in place.

And then, maybe, we can address the other elephant in the room, the herd of elephants - the existential peril we are all facing with the continuing abuse of the world's physical being, to the point of no return. To unprecedented endangerment of survival of man on this globe, in this universe.

In the meanwhile, as the world leaders apparently do not wish to hear me and so many wiser people, we can return to the One Above, the One with true power and ask, beg, plead, and pray for the healing of the world and for Yitzy, that sweet boy. In fact, we need to pray for the answers in saving all the children of the world now facing threats that should have no part in their lives. 

Thus, let us all pray to -

HEAL THE WORLD.

HEAL YITZY!

Yitzchak Elimelech ben Chana Sarah

May he be granted refuah shelaymah bimheyrah beyameinu. 

May he be granted a timely and complete healing.

May Hashem hear all our voices raised in prayer. 

Amen. Amen.

LET THEM EAT LOBSTER

  Close to 250 years ago there is an apocryphal story that Marie Antoinette, when told the people were starving, could not afford bread, she responded, "Let them eat cake." True or not, the point was made and is being made again in a different time, a different context, albeit the same. This is what happens when governmental figures plot to remake reality, to forgo the ideals of a country, of a righteous government, and turn on their heels, showing their backs to the nation.

I write this blog today in an open letter to Netanyahu and compatriots. What the hell are you doing? I weep at the thought, the knowledge, of the inevitable if you, Bibi, and your comrades in evil, continue to pursue your plans. Your collective gluttony for power, and more power, grows exponentially. 

I am a Zionist and I say that with pride, believing strongly in the rightness, the historical imperative and necessity, of a State of Israel, a light unto the nations as set forth in the Bible. Yes, I am Dati, observant, and wish to remain so, able to observe as I see fit, not as a group of misogynistic, power-hungry men wish me to be. Command me to be.

Israel is not, should never be a land of darkness. There are already too many of those in existence, tragically, growing in number and intensity. This gruesome growth throughout the globe has even set off warning bells within the United States of America, my home. As a Jew, I have another home option - the State of Israel, denied for thousands of years. 

How tragic it would be go stray, that country, the land, the refuge of those who fled from or survived the Holocaust. Jews who were -who are - oppressed in their present homes. Jews of all colors, ethnicities, nationalities, and levels of observance and knowledge. Jews of India, Burma, Afghanistan, Iran, Egypt, all the Arabic and/or Moslem lands. The Soviet Union, Ethiopia, even Jews growing ever more uncomfortable, unsafe in lands of growing antisemitism, violent, loud and frightening. America. France. Britain. Sweden. Name a country, and there it is. 

Israel was, is, a state commanded to be, to serve, humanity, to be a light unto the nations of the world. To fulfill the commandment to create an ingathering of the dispersed, those in Galut, Exile, and indeed, it has done both, in an astounding record, even sending rescue teams and medical aid to countries which proclaim their enmity of Israel.

Thus, why now? Why have we forgotten our history? Why have we thrown out the lessons of the past? Why have we turned hostile to our own, derided those who think or behave or observe or worship - or not? Why have we tried to turn back the clock, endorsing campaigns against those with alternative outlooks and lifestyles? 

Why is the Likud and allies in evil turning back the clock on the rights of women, condemning them, trying to return them to a state of nonexistence and invisibility. To be obedient chattel, of no education, no value, no rights, other than to cook, clean and bear children? The Nazis espoused that philosophy. Are we to emulate those who were the Amalek of our times? Will we never learn? 

Reform is a good concept, an ideal always in the making, in the striving to actualize that ideal. Reform is not regression. Reform comes through compromise, thought, and out of a care for the population and the land. It is supposed to have both connotation and denotation of progress. Unfortunately, too many these days have turned the concept on its head. 

Such is the 'reform' almost completely in place in Israel. Reform - yes. How - via compromise. Via an understanding of the land and the people. Knowing the reality of 12 weeks ongoing protest. With the horrifying sight of Israeli against Israeli. Force. Batons.  Water cannons. Horses. Detentions. With a comprehension that should this fake, most existentially dangerous reform go through unchecked, Israel will be a pariah among the nations of the world. 

In fact, it will be a brief term of existence. People will vote with their feet and leave - already happening. A nation without an army is defenseless against enemies within and without, not stopping until their oft stated goal of "from the river to the sea, from the Golan to Eilat" is achieved, and the Yahud population is dead. 

As for the fate of refugees - history will repeat. No room at the in for these Jews. No country will accept them, open the gates- not the first time and not the last - or maybe... Jews without a championing entity, without a place of refuge, well, I refer you to history, to pogroms, to mass murders, to repression, to Belzec and Auschwitz. To horror and blood soaked lands. Not for the first time, nor for the last time.

Will we never learn? So, Bibi., go eat your lobster on Shabbat, but remember the cake of Marie Antoinette. People hungry for freedom and justice will not settle for Marie's cake nor your lobster nor your hypocrisy. You had moments of greatness and service to your nation and world Jewry. What happened? 

And in the meanwhile, all the while, I think of  Yitzy, in pain, with wracking nausea, with moments of relief, the power of prayer tackling that damned tumor, shrinking it, itsy bit by itsy bit. We continue to hope, continue to need your prayers. But think -what world are we going to leave Yitzy and his generation?

In the interim and for always, let us - 

HEAL THE WORLD.

HEAL YITZY!

Yitzchak Elimelech ben Chana Sarah

May he be granted refuah shelaymah bimheyrah beyameinu. 

May he be granted a timely and complete healing.

May Hashem hear all our voices raised in prayer. 

Amen. Amen.

DO YOU HEAR ME? CAN YOU HEAR ME? DO YOU WANT TO HEAR ME?

  Ah, the importance of wee little words. Yesterday I wrote about the word "nu" and today I am thinking about the itty bitty words in front of the identical phrase - "you hear me' - and the impact is quite different. Unlike the old ad featuring a man wandering with a phone asking or being asked if he can hear or be heard, there is a far more serious meaning to the three questions of the title. 

At times there are misconnections, and no one is to blame. There are technical difficulties, glitches unforeseen. Then willing hands go all out to fix the problem and voila - hearing is restored. So do you hear me can have a positive response. Hope remains, tattered a tad, but still - hearing is ongoing with open channels of communication.

However, the problem of hearing, or inability to hear, or wishes to remain unhearing can grow apace. It is easier to continue on the wrong path, to knowingly commit or inflict harm upon and to others if one can claim to never having heard anything against one's activities or verbalizations. It's a great way in which to facilitate the growth of Afred E. Neuman's iconic question: "Who, me?" Innocence claimed, though innocent the denier is not. Splits begin to appear, cracks grow steadily and hearing is seriously impacted. Hand in hand along with the inevitable consequences, this difficulty in hearing, once involuntary and now increasingly voluntary, challenges any effort to restore the hearing to society. The entire process of communication is strangled, the noose tightening and the process of hearing becomes calcified faster and faster. with no chance of reprieve in sight.

Finally, we arrive, unfortunately, at the third stage. "Do you want..." There is an acknowledgement voiced or not, that there is no more wish to communicate nor hear each other. No, the chosen path now is reliant upon voluntary deafness, a growing and encouraged inability to hear another viewpoint. No ability nor wish to communicate, instead ramping up the temperature, ignoring the chasms wreaking havoc on the integrity of the foundations of society. And here we are today. 

Shamefully, dangerously, so.

Today, in America, there is stone cold hardening of hearing along with hardening of the arteries feeding blood to the brains and hearts of Republican leadership. They champion those imprisoned for their part in the J6 insurrection even as the heads of it remain free, to exacerbate the already fraught with danger atmosphere. Dragging this country to perdition and dissolution. Their vision, hearing and thinking followers see neither trees nor forests. And here we are with the inevitable consequences.  

What breaks my heart though, where once I had hope, even as I grew increasingly hopeless re an improved America, re a denial of fascism, I did have hope for and in Israel. There was a land where I could remove myself from the dangers, increasing in number and violence, 3700 reported incidents this past year alone. The tip of an ugly iceberg of inhumanity and hate, of eternal antisemitism. But my place of refuge, where I should, would have been welcomed, is now shutting those doors of hope.

The sight of Israeli police using force against protesters, peaceful, with flags of the state flying high, sent a monumental shake to my bones. The use of water cannons against their neighbors, children, the elderly, anyone and everyone, indifferent to them, to their service, active and reserve, in defense of this nation. The water shot out -Jew against Jew - and images of the Jewish police in the ghettos, the kapos who turned on their fellow prisoners, flooded my horrified mind.

 Has the government lost its collective mind? Have we not enough, more than enough, outside enemies? Do we need to fulfil the Biblical prophecy and warning, yet again, that that the most dangerous enemy is the one from within? Must we emulate the failing USA in this, as their enemies surface from within as well? Why can we not all choose to follow yet another prophecy, a much brighter one, where nations shall not lift sword against each other- nor themselves - and swords can be beaten into tools for life, not death. Is it that impossible to visualize and build?

And all the while I think of Yitzy, lying in bed, in the throes of a nausea most of us will never know. I think of the latest prediction of less than a decade before we have irretrievably doomed this earth of ours - of G-d, who lent it to us -to a definite death. I wonder what we are leaving to our descendants? What terrors will they face because of our stupid intransigence beyond words and comprehension.  As we watch the floodwaters of California or the devastations caused by once in a century, once in 500 years storms almost on a weekly time basis, tornadoes where there never were before, - what hath man indeed wrought?!

We have wrought our own demise in a painful horrific predicted future. All the Yitzys, all the children, the young, the old, the rich, the poor, the dictators and the dictated to - no one will escape the consequences of our own intransigence. To think otherwise is to be a fool. To hope that there will arise another Abraham to plead for humanity, or an Esther who will rise to heights unknown and save her people, or a Judah Maccabee - get real. Do we in fact, have anyone of that caliber alive?

 Will G-d even listen or hear or want to hear our pleas? Why would He? Why should He? How many times can we expect forgiveness? In fact, we have trashed His world and perverted the truth of religion, of belief that should encompass all whatever format chosen, not exclude those we deem insufficient and/or unworthy.

When I write in every blog- heal the world - I mean it.

Without a healed world, all our Yitzys, all our beloved kids, will face torments we can wish on no one, not even our worst enemies. There will be no survivors here, not a TV show. Way beyond that.

So... let us hear and heal.

HEAL THE WORLD.

HEAL YITZY!

Yitzchak Elimelech ben Chana Sarah

May he be granted refuah shelaymah bimheyrah beyameinu. 

May he be granted a timely and complete healing.

May Hashem hear all our voices raised in prayer. 

Amen. Amen.

RAGE, WHINE, RAGE, WHINE, REPEAT AD INFINITUM

 Okay, so glancing at the lady in the mirror as I pass by, I see already today's weather. Gray skies, no matter if the sun is shining or not. Gray indeed. Why? Who the hell knows. Could be that this morning I looked at the pill container and realized yet another week has gone by, another dose of hundreds of pills and the need once again to fill it up. I try to ignore the horse sized pills requiring their own solitary ingestion and the teeny tiny ones that get lost in the crevices of the mouth and throat, dissolving within, leaving behind a majorly gross taste! Yup, a better life through chemistry, right?!

 I know, I truly know and understand that I should not whine, be appreciative of modern medicine which keeps me going, ticking, in the land of myriad problems, but still. Can't a gal whine just a tad, at infrequent intervals, and get away with it? Just on the days I feel a kinship with those rusted out dumpster bins that Waste Pro is forever replacing. You think others see it the same way? Hmmm, I wonder.

Yes, I also know and understand that everyone has a package and whenever calculating, measuring, comparing, one ends up stating "Think I'll keep my package." But so what? That is along the line of "Eat your dinner because the children in China are starving." I bet most of us were told that at some point in our childhood. But so what. Send them the food there, but for sure my eating it -does not help them at all! Better yet, put the young daughter of Kim on a food sharing plan with some of her starving contemporaries. Ha! Never happen!

Shared misery, knowing others are in the same leaky rowboat truly does not make one happy. How could it when it just is more misery piled on atop other misery. Truly, no sane person will rejoice to know others share the pain and hoorah!! I am not alone." But yes, one is, for at times that pain is all there is, consuming all in its path, shutting down all attempts to comfort.

Certainly, some of you are saying, what an ungrateful woman. Her grandson has cancer, and she whines about herself! No, the whines include Yitzy, for it is manifestly damningly unfair that he suffer this way. Just beginning to live life, to formulate early thoughts and plans for his future, planning another great baseball league season, and wham! Reduced to nausea and major discomfort, life interrupted, time in chemo and a hospital bed rather than in a classroom. So unfair for this sweet child to face an adult's battle. So grossly unfair and part of my whine, a large part, is not understanding why Yitzy over me, a trade I would do in a heartbeat -even less than that. G-d never takes me up on that deal.

Yes, I, we, are ever so grateful for the prayers, the wishes to help in any way, to share our pain but nope, not today. Today I will be miserable all by myself, maybe even making some other poor person just a tad more miserable too. Sorry for that, but what do they say? Misery loves company? Actually, that is incorrect. When I am miserable I prefer my own company. No one to lecture me, to remind me of my blessings, of the kids, of that delicious gift of a great grandson whose laughter is contagious, whose joy in life is so apparent. I know all that, to the last cell and diatom of my body, but today - today, I whine.

For sure I will ignore the news today for there is not one good thing going on. Ukraine demolished in the face of a monster who refuses to go away. China sharing that monster's plans. Mutual insanity. The world imploding with environmental damage almost impossible to reverse. An Israel defying its mandate, its history and the charge to chase justice. Tzedek,tzedek tirdof. 

Yes, it is an uphill battle for survival, a very steep uphill at that, but we must take a look around and see the truth, act to improve the life of all and open the eyes of the world to the truth they refuse to acknowledge. 

Here in America, or the remnant of America, we need to accept the truth as well. We have enabled, supported, the growth of ugliness here. The bias and hatred are more and more out in the open, more violent. Worse, the very ones sworn to defend the Republic are the very ones actively engaged in destroying it.

Nope, it is a day of whining for me -and ice cream too. One day to self-indulge. To reacclimate, to regain encouragement and hope. 

To know that the prayers for Yitzy are ongoing.

HEAL THE WORLD.

HEAL YITZY!

Yitzchak Elimelech ben Chana Sarah

May he be granted refuah shelaymah bimheyrah beyameinu. 

May he be granted a timely and complete healing.

May Hashem hear all our voices raised in prayer. 

Amen. Amen.

SO NU? WHEN? HELLOOOO?

  For those of you who do not know what "nu" means, it is a Yiddish term which incorporates or expresses an impatience, a tiredness of waiting for something to occur when it should long ago have taken place or at the very least, gotten started. It is a term which carries within centuries old feelings, impatience with delays, a heartfelt desire or wish or hope that the situation will resolve, turn for the better. 

Or, it is an acknowledgement that actually nothing much, if at all, has changed despite all wishes otherwise - so, really, what did you expect is contained within that 'nu'. It is a 'nu' which questions the brains of one not already understanding that. 

It is a versatile word indeed. A simple 'nu' said with proper intonation and body language is the equivalent, or the better of a long diatribe trying to express the same feelings captured within that 'nu?'

I think one really has to be of the blood born, with generational gene transfer to use that 'nu' correctly, to be able to imply much, very much. So....NU? is a term which has usurped much of my vocal voicings these days. It is an impatient nu when waiting to hear from someone, anyone, to deliver the latest update on Yitzy. It is now so difficult to be able to remember a time when that question and the answer had not become a desperate almost hourly need, a mental and physical ache needing a response. How is he feeling? Are the side effects as bad as we feared? Do the doctors have anything good to say today? What? What? What!!!! All conveyed with and by a heartfelt nu. When will this torment be over, with a beautiful golden boy returned to us, all the better, the stronger, the wiser for this most desperately unwished for ordeal? NU? NU!!

It is that same tiny two letter word which expresses the impatience to see justice done. To see that no one is above the law. That truth and justice will prevail, and a too long delayed comeuppance so richly deserved will finally happen - or at least get the show on the road. Nu already?! Nu??? And so we wait. Indicted yet? Nope, that was him pushing, hyping. Actually, wiser heads are saying it will take place at the earliest by end of week or more likely sometime next week. Okay so nu, I can wait, but nu already. There is only so much patience one can have. Nu?

Finally, there is a desperate nu. What can we expect? Why have we not learned that historical truth? Again and again, yet we continue to tread down that ugly no good ending road, blithely, blindly ignoring the tragedy awaiting us there. Nu already! Time we internalized the historical truth of inevitable consequences and halt this tragedy in the making. Stop it dead in its tracks. Nu, we ask. Nu, we cry. Nu we shout out loud, wondering why we remember always to be that stubborn nation spoken of in the Bible.  Yes, stubbornness has enabled us to survive hostile millennia, but stubbornness has also brought us to this existential threat.

Nu already we cry out. The people of Israel have spoken, loud, strong, wanting to retain democracy, a morally valid country, and not turn on itself, and borrow the worst of ideas from surrounding countries. Israel is not meant to be a rigid extreme rightwing country of religious fundamentalism, with women as second class, third class citizens, at major disadvantages as civil law is replaced by religious law as espoused by religious zealots who cannot see past their own noses. Unable to understand or refusing to accept the fact that no state can exist long term with the burden of defense and economic impetus on one segment of society while others coast along, enabled by laws and dictats of an increasingly authoritarian government. 

Nu, I, and so many others ask? Why can you not see the truth of this? Are we to destroy yet another Jewish state - via our own faults and stubbornness? Are we to give way to the 'ayrev ra" within our midst? There is room for compromise. There is room to maneuver and find a peshara,  a solution.  Only if we actually want to. If not, it will remain 'tayku'- unsolvable - and once again the wasteful hatred of brother against brother will prevail and bring down the State of Israel. Again. Have we not suffered enough through our own fault and the eternal carnivorous enmity of others? Perushim vs. Tzedukim. Ten tribes vs. two tribe kingdom. Korach vs Moshe. Rabbinical intransigence in the face of unheard levels of hostility. The Old World vs. the new World. Check your Jewish history.

Nu already seems to have become the small phrase which contains within it the powerful questions and emotions of contentious times.

Nu, already. Will we all never learn?

In the interim, for as long as necessary - remember - please -

Join again in prayers.

Let us use the power of words in a better way.

HEAL THE WORLD.

HEAL YITZY!

Yitzchak Elimelech ben Chana Sarah

May he be granted refuah shelaymah bimheyrah beyameinu. 

May he be granted a timely and complete healing.

May Hashem hear all our voices raised in prayer. 

Amen. Amen.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

  The world seems to be filling in all blank spaces with volumes of words which actually mean nothing of any value or are engaged in an effort to deny reality. Yes, at times the reality we are living with is too painful to contemplate, to live in and with, but words cannot change that - only actions. These actions should bolster the values of society rather than its flaws. Unfortunately, today, we have the opposite, where words and the power of words are used to foster lawlessness, privilege, and excuse from consequences.

On the other hand, words can serve as impetus for improvement, for justice and truth, and for hope in a bad situation. The reassuring words of doctors to concerned, worrying, frantic relatives conveying a circumscribed and limited sense of optimism, that treatment seems to be working, are of more value than the largest, rarest gem ever. Hope springs eternal. To give hope in a dire situation enables one to breathe once more, at least for a time. 

Relatives cling to the power of these words, no matter how faint or temporary they might be. These words enable the concerned to look past the awful treatments necessary, to a possible, much wished and prayed for positive conclusion, an end to a chapter of life which should never have been in the first place. Yesterday, Yitzy began a rough two weeks of chemo, remaining overnight, as long as is necessary, and we can only ask, pray, that the shrinking of the tumor continues, maintains its path. Every minute infinitesimal loss of size is a blessing, a reason to celebrate -as long as reality is part of the mix. False hope, overblown hope, only means disappointment and despair. It is a long, long journey through hell for Yitzy and family and friends. One we hope that has a golden rainbow at the end of it all, and a blessed future for Yitzy.

 Keep praying with us, for Yitzy. For a complete cure. For a good ending to a miserable, damned situation. 

Moving into the reality of life outside the hospital room, we find yet another reality of challenge and hurt, of harm done and harm waiting its turn. At times the reality is so different from traditional reality that words must be coined to explain or describe. Most of these newly coined words are used to express the negative. Or to push, incentivize the negative. Such is the case with "jugging".

What the hell does that mean and where has it come from? I cannot figure it out. A jug is a container for liquids. Now explain how that has morphed into a term for violent attacks on unsuspecting people going about the mundane errands of daily life. It is a vile attack on the very fabric of a normal life, of reasonable expectations. Given sensible behavior, one should not be open to life altering danger, to the point of life altering violence, even death. Yet evidently that expectation is no longer valid, violated, trampled upon, by vile creatures who prey upon unsuspecting victims, even tailing them for miles in order to rob them and flee.

These crooks, these thieves of life and certainty have been inspired by the lack of decency and a plethora of law breaking and blatant disregard for others put forth by the oh so eminent leaders of society today. When these people deny the truth, when they mealymouth their way out of responsibility, refuse to condemn outright criminal behavior up to and including treason, the incitement to join in that treason, well, what can we expect of a younger generation?

Today or tomorrow, soon enough, but oh so long in coming, we stand on the brink of a historical event, a first that never should have been or, should have long ago been dealt with. However, we procrastinated. We rewarded lies and outright denials of truth. We rewarded liars and castigated truth tellers. We excused unthinkable deeds and punished the whistle blowers. We enabled the 'jugging' of our citizens through robberies of rights, of reasonable expectations of a normal, sane, moral life. We jugged them indeed. And the perpetrators got away with it lo these many a years.

 A patently dishonest, unqualified, morally challenged person was allowed to become president. Past alleged crimes, lies, accusations of fraud, tax evasion, rampant misogynistic behavior - all excused in a moment of societal insanity. The worst elements of society were lionized. Crazed indviduals such as Greene, Hawley, Jordan, McCarthy, and too many others were allowed in, flourished in the miasma of a rotting disillusioned society, cheered onto victory and positions of power. Truly, in a case of life imitating art, the inmates of Arkham were running the joint.

G-d willing, finally, long deserved and too long delayed, perhaps justice will be served. Consequences will be forthcoming. Trump will have to pay the fiddler this time. I so do hope. Nor do I think that special courtesies should be given. He is an alleged common criminal on a grander, national stage, a traitor and an inciter of treason, even today as he urges his remaining deluded followers to once again commit to violence and insurrection - to jugging the nation. All to protect his neck and enable his triumphant return as an authoritarian ruler of a decaying nation. 

No courtesies other than those granted and guaranteed by the law should be given to him -no more, no less. A perp walk? Why the hell not? A lovely orange jumpsuit? Oh yeah. An electronic ankle bracelet or better yet, no bail, as he certainly would be able to flee this country in an effort to evade justice?  Oh yes, a thousand times yes.

Even with the importance of this hopefully taking place event, my heart and thoughts will be much more attuned to news from a hospital in Pittsburgh. 

Join again in prayers.

Let us use the power of words in a better way.

A note from Yitzy's mom:

"Thank you all for continuing to daven (pray) for Yitzy! He had a good week, thank G-d. He has very rough chemo coming up next week.... please keep davening (praying.)"

HEAL THE WORLD.

HEAL YITZY!

Yitzchak Elimelech ben Chana Sarah

May he be granted refuah shelaymah bimheyrah beyameinu. 

May he be granted a timely and complete healing.

May Hashem hear all our voices raised in prayer. 

Amen. Amen.

WELL, MAYBE WE WILL

  Would that we could. Take back the world. Not a bad idea. Guess it actually depends on who is doing the taking and the motivation behind the action. In a glaring call for a J6 redux, Trump is blaring his usual treasonous demands and telling, exhorting his followers to "take back the nation". Yup, we have heard that before, particularly around the whole J6 insurrection. Apparently, this man has not learned the truth of it all and remains mired in his own morass of lies, blatant lies that have been revealed as such. Despite all the wishful thinking of troglodytes such as Greene and Boebert, McCarthy and Jordan, and all the benighted fools who follow, the truth has been outed. 

About time!!Trump has been a thorn in the side of a real, true to purpose USA, dangerous in his urging of violence and clear unrepentant thinking and deviancy. Why does he persist? Well, the man is obviously mentally ill and needs heavy duty immediate and long term therapy. But out of the public eye where he practices his society threatening behavior. Along with his treatment we need to reeducate the public, so immured in lies and dis and mis information, that they do not hear nor see nor think independently any longer. They have been trained to follow blindly, to pack all their woes and ills into one load and shoot that load at any and all who do not follow lockstep with them. Enough of this berserk perverted game of Follow the Leader. That cannot be any longer. Not if we are to remain a viable, living, breathing, ever improving nation. Which we should most definitely be.

There are other time bombs in the world today and this globe of ours remains in Defcon 5 situation. We have once again the inhumane practice of sending in unarmed victims to distract the enemy so as to clear the way for the armed soldiers. China did that in the Korean War. The last Czar did that in WWI. Hungarian Jews were forced to do that as well as run through minefields, in their forced labor battalions. It is a perverted crime against humanity and should be added to the charges against Putin, his criminal kidnapping of Ukrainian children.        

The nations of the world ignore the fate awaiting us in an over the top environmentally challenged world, tick-tock goes the clock - all for the sake of wealth and advantage over others. Sure, and we will all enjoy together the joys of an apocalyptic world. Brotherhood at last.

Time bombs there are aplenty, but today and for weeks, and for probably well into the near future, until we vanquish the time bomb constantly in our thoughts. I do not believe there has been one hour where I have not thought, worried about, cried for, Yitzy, a boy who thanked his father for "sticking with him"!! Well, that broke me down. A sweet boy who thinks of others in the midst of an overwhelming nausea and a pain that never leaves, along with thoughts and worries that have no place within a 12 year old's head!

This is my time bomb. I cannot do much of anything re the world's time bombs other than to shout via my writing, talk with others, but all this is way above my pay grade as far as solutions are concerned. Nor can I do much about Yitzy's time bomb, a bomb that apparently comes with birth, hence the term embryonic. 

I am not a doctor and any medical knowledge I have is far too little to be of any use here. All I, we can do, is ramp up support for Yitzy, for his parents, as we pray, day after day, time and again. We, along with so many other wonderful souls who join us. We all share the same dream: for a Yitzy returned to health, to run and laugh, to hit that ball out of the park again, and pester and simply be a kid once again, no fear of nausea and consequences no one should have to face nor anticipate, helpless in its grip. 

The next two weeks will be brutal for Yitzy. His parents and siblings are prepared for it, planning to do the best they can even if it is only to lessen the impact just a smidgen. Anything is better than nothing. And prayer is much more than a smidgen. So, please, hear the plea - and we thank you. 

 A note from Yitzy's mom:

"Thank you all for continuing to daven (pray) for Yitzy! He had a good week, thank G-d. He has very rough chemo coming up next week.... please keep davening (praying.)"

HEAL THE WORLD.

HEAL YITZY!

Yitzchak Elimelech ben Chana Sarah

May he be granted refuah shelaymah bimheyrah beyameinu. 

May he be granted a timely and complete healing.

May Hashem hear all our voices raised in prayer. 

Amen. Amen.

CONSISTENT. ASTOUNDING. ATROCIOUS.

  Three words among many used by a judge as he imposed sentence on an accused, found guilty, Jan. 6 insurrectionist. How had we arrived at such a point where fantasy became a horrid reality, where movies and novels morphed into actuality, real blood spilled, awful consequences and motivations once the property of the extreme fringe of society. Textbook mob behavior, as individuals lost or ceded their selves to the mob, taking part in actions once thought unthinkable.

These individuals fed on the energies of the mob and the synergy was malicious, dark, and evergrowing. Left unchecked, I believe we would no longer be living in America as we know it, as we hope it continues with necessary improvements along the way. Note how even during the Vietnam protests, the wildest, the most violent, was there any thinking to overthrow the government, only to change its course and policies. J6 was a hell of a lot more than that. Far more frightening, as bad as J6 was, is the reality of its continuing echo resounding through the byways of this nation. The rotten crop of that day and the spoiled seeds it left behind remain active, its spores continuing to contaminate.

Consistent. Astounding. Atrocious. Yet real.

We are not in Wonderland any longer. Instead, we are in an abandoned amusement park, once the site of fun and laughter, now the site of true threat and horror. We need to sit up, stand up, wake up to the truth and what has happened and continuing to happen within the borders of our nation. Once a proud America, a democracy, standing up for improving the human condition, we are now limping, bent. Will we be able to rise and stand tall once again? I am plagued with great doubts on that.

Simply check into reality. Try food insecurity. We are not a third world nation nor are we in a huge crisis of total loss of arable land. Yet we have hunger in this country of ours. Real gnawing hunger. Children miss meals or have insufficient ones. Parents forego their meals so the kids can eat. Shopping lists are tattered and torn as substitutes and elimination take over. I do not understand why we tolerate people such as a Republican legislastor who reveals his ignorance or worse as he confidently, pompously states there is no hunger, there are no starving kids, no food insecurity. Merely people who do not know how to shop, I guess. If their kids are hungry, arrest the parents and remove the kids. Wonder if he had to ever shop off a crumbling inadequate budget with real life or death decisions. So nope! No funding for school lunch programs. Better to teach these kids a lesson! Next time around opt for better parents! I guess.

And the madness continues in the medical world. We are now looking at a new medical plan the city is trying to foist upon its employees, active and retired. I look and think - well, we knew it was coming. Better put my affairs in order. That time has come - we cannot afford me any longer. The new 'approved' plan seems to not approve of me. No specialized rehab for PD. My meds, the new ones, forget it! Not even tier five, so what, die? I guess so.

In the, meanwhile, legislators oh so concerned by rising costs of medical care costs, restrict funding, always a great way to cut expenses! Especially if you, the legislator has your own gold plated one in perpetuity. So happy for you.

More important is the medical expense for fighting major diseases and problems, My Yitzy's cancer is such an area. We would spend every last dime for him, but why is that necessary when other countries pay for these expensive meds, even as we are charged horrific prices and the copays are out of sight -and out of reach. It is only through a foundation grant that we are able to afford the copays for some of my most advanced meds. If this grant is not renewd..... see above. There is something very wrong when there are those who have billions and others cannot keep roof overhead nor food on the table nor health in the bodies.

 Consistent. Astounding. Atrocious.

Here is a note from Yitzy's mom who has been absolutely golden in this whole matter.

"Thank you all for continuing to daven (pray) for Yitzy! He had a good week, thank G-d. He has very rough chemo coming up next week.... please keep davening (praying.)

HEAL THE WORLD.

HEAL YITZY!

Yitzchak Elimelech ben Chana Sarah

May he be granted refuah shelaymah bimheyrah beyameinu. 

May he be granted a timely and complete healing.

May Hashem hear all our voices raised in prayer. 

Amen. Amen.

SAY WHAT?!

 Out of the mouths of babes, they say. Or the child (children) shall lead the way. Quite true, especially when people grapple with the truth and understand that change in society has generally been initiated via the protests of the young, those not yet coopted by the falseness of adult society. It is, percentage wise, a majority of the young who will come out in the rain, the heat, and stride on into the face of violent opposition to the protest, parade, sit-in -whatever is the form of the protest. 

Yes, do not shake your head; I am neither wrong, nor denying the presence of adults as well. In fact, it is the adults' presence that lends gravitas to the protest and empowers the legal, official changes as responses to the protests. However, it is the young with the energy to shout for hours, to protest injustice with seemingly endless energy. 

And it is the young ones we once were that we have forgotten or denied, disavowed, termed as stupid kids. Much of what we achieved has now or is now being written off, denied its place in the sun. Too many of us have grown complacent, content, even activist in cementing such backwards steps. 

Thus again, say what? Why are we returning to a benighted society where we once again emphasize that which differentiates via old categorization, become complacent, even vocal in the return of denial of rights based on differences, rather than accepting and understanding how we are alike. Once, we were the kids in the front lines fighting for change, and now, well, now we forget, discount, and mumble and grumble like the older generation we once challenged. 

How, I wonder in dismay, can so many of us back creeps such as DeSantis and wife who hopped ever so disgracefully onto the bandwagon of fascism, albeit an application of a thin veneer of "handsome young Americans" applied to it. How can we accept the immorality, the trashing of all values, within the leadership of a shameful and shameless GOP, as the truth outs and the filth pours out. How do we write off the collusion with enemies of the state, both within and without. All these misbehaviors led to the acceptance, even encouragement, of the pollution of our supposed elders, with the president leading the way, followed by a mob of the deluded, greedy, dissatisfied or those of the outer limits of society. People who craved recognition. Hence, Proud Boys and Oath Keepers and violent bigots took their places in the limelight - and tried to dim the sunlight remaining. 

Some found positive within this hateful turn of events, equivalent to Mussolini making the trains run on time or Hitler putting people back to work. Never mind they were manufacturing armaments, all the better to wage the upcoming war, or taking on new ranks for the gangs roaming the streets beating up people and vandalizing with official approval.

Here and now, in our present day society, we are once again beating up, demonizing LGBTQ+, rescinding voting rights and accessibility to voting, encouraging cracks and divisions within the firmament of American society. I fear that when next Chicken Little runs through our yards shouting the sky is falling - well, this time it just might be correct. And woe upon us. A woe we just might deserve.

Today, years after the crooked events and misdeeds took place, we are still delaying in the arrest, indictment and conviction and blessed be, imprisonment of Donald Trump, our worst President ever. Until DeSantis, G-d forbid!

Now we are told, not to worry, for when the first button is pushed, and Trump officially charged, put on trial, the rest of the procrastinators will fall in line and push their individual buttons of indictments, trials, and fashionable orange jumpsuits. Good enough for me, if it happens. No more delays. No more excuses. Justice calls, demands to be heard, and must be heard.

As I look around, I wonder what world, what example we have left for the next generation. We have left them a world looking more and more to dictatorships, one man rule, ruinations of democracies, and a turn to retrogression when society is rigged, when women are denigrated, less than human, where education is frowned upon and limited (hmmm, Florida calling), where welfare of the people is a dirty, banned concept. 

And my thoughts turn to Yitzy once more. A boy, who, G-d willing, will beat the cancer now within, and will then have to join a fight to defeat the cancer without, that is a society confused, torn, conflicted and preyed upon by profiteers, criminals, and plain old nasty people.

And so, yes, Yitzy and his generation will have to be in the front lines of regeneration, reeducation, reformation and a return to a just, striving to be ever better America. To a world which will maybe, finally, hopefully, learn a lesson, take it to heart and reject all those who wish to repeat history of the worst sort.

So here is what to say, to pray for.

HEAL THE WORLD.

HEAL YITZY!

Yitzchak Elimelech ben Chana Sarah

May he be granted refuah shelaymah bimheyrah beyameinu. 

May he be granted a timely and complete healing.

May Hashem hear all our voices raised in prayer. 

Amen. Amen.