MAYBE, MAYBE, MAYBE, MAYBE

 The title of this blog is borrowed from the title of an iconic oldie from the early years of rock and roll. It was sung by an early girl's group, the Chantels,  a wonderful example of the heartbreak songs of the times. The rich and powerful voice of the lead singer struck clear, straight to the heart. It is a song beloved for its words are relevant to many situations. Its plaintive tone, its repetitive "maybe", how things could have changed strike deep. 

"Maybe, if I pray every night...
 And maybe, if I cry every day
You'll come back 
Oh, maybe

Maybe, if I hold your hand
You will understand..."

Maybe. Maybe.  Maybe.

 Today, we all live in a world of maybe. People seek long and hard trying to find the maybe which would increase understanding of our present status.    Maybe, that maybe we could go back and undo, redo and change the maybe of loss to a maybe of certainty, a positive certainty. That possibility is a nonstarter. Try though we might, the past cannot be undone save in a science fantasy format. The maybes of relevance are the maybes of the present and future. Maybe, if we change our ways, then maybe, maybe, we can reform, for the better. Choose our ways far more carefully, and maybe we can influence things and generate a brighter, better future. Maybe.    

One question being asked today. is whether Israel would have suffered October 7 if Trump had been president. Definitely. The animal members and supporters of Hamas are not deterred by others, driven only by an internal engine of hate and bloodlust, particularly the blood of Jews. Nor is Trump a true lover of Jews, i.e., his penchant to demean any who vote for another, not him.     

An opinion piece of the WSJ written by Joseph Epstein discusses the pathetic half century of pathetic leadership in the United States. While I disagree with him regarding Eisenhower and JFK, he is correct. Our leaders have had huge feet of clay and too often refused to acknowledge that. 

Today the situation is even worse. There is a frightening absence of participation and attention by many adults. They have forsworn the news, the realties so difficult to tolerate, never mind understand. It is the only way, they feel, to maintain sanity in an increasingly troubled insane world. However, we must not, cannot, for this is a very bad idea. If we opt out, send in our letters of resignation, we leave behind those who spew only hate, violence and lies. Toxicity beyond measurement, and a dismal forecast for the future.  

The article by Epstein is entitled "Maybe One Day We'll Get a President We Feel Good About".  "He'd be someone with honor, courage and genuine desire to unite the country. It could be a long wait."  How sad is that? How true is that? Honor. Courage. Decency. The ability to be an adult rather than play or fight like a child. All missing from the battlefield. Instead, tantrums, selfishness, egotism, narcissism., and sheer arrogance and disrespect to all. Public service is a misnomer, for today all that means is a path to wealth and power, especially for the deranged as in Tlaib and Omar or Gaetz or   Greene. Certainly not the desired qualities of a president.  

Our current candidates leave little to be desired. Both are flawed and both should not be running. It is a national shame that this situation exists. However, holding my nose, I will vote. Biden has disappointed me with Israel, but Trump is deranged, dangerous in his temper tantrums and irrationality, and his massive criminality.     

 The corruption within this country, the incompetence and ignorance willing or otherwise, the growing antisemitism and toxic Jew hatred, the indifference of the world to the severe existential problem for Israel, well, all this frightens me. A great deal. The time has come to clear the air and send out messenger pigeons, smoke signals, whatever we need to serve notice on the world that Israel will not go down.  them Whatever it takes Israel will do as it must in order to survive.   History tells us that and thus it will be for all time. No maybe involved. Israel will not be defeated, in any way. Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. We will not forsake or abandon our hostages as the world has done so quickly, their indifference cutting to the quick though not surprising. 

No more violins to be rescued and refurbished, to sing the voices of the butchered. No more. No more. No more echos of the dead and dying. They will be drowned out by the dying voices of those who planned, perpetrated and enabled and then received forgiveness from the oh so very tolerant world. October 7? Say what?  Think not? When was the last time there was a sincere concern for the hostages? Demands for the IRC to meet them? Barely a whisper of their existence and their torment.      

     As stated in Friday's blog: we are here and here we remain. Forever, part and parcel of the nations of the world. That world must learn that we will not tolerate antisemitism no matter how disguised. We will not be forced out of our current countries of residence. We will not go away so as to earn your approval. Nope. No maybe about that.

-----------------------------------------------------------  r         My little grandson.  Now we have to face another holiday without you. Passover. You will not be the youngest now, to recite the Ma-nishtanah. We will miss your voice. We will miss your enthusiasm.  We will miss you. 

Look down at our seder tables and come, stay with us for a while. Just a little while. Yitzy, we live in troubled times but at least we know you are at peace. No more hurt. No more pain. We love you. No maybe about that. 

Always and forever. Always and forever.  

 

OH, AND ABOUT THAT ---

 There are so many, many topics that fit into that title "and about that". In fact, there is a plethora of topics and issues befitting that concern. Blogging every day does not begin to address them all, not here, in America, nor elsewhere in the world. Today I intend only to touch upon a few topics that are high on my list. Hopefully it will find a thread of commonality with you.   

  In my mind there are two topics heading the list. One is Israel and the entire range of issues surrounding it. The second concern is the state of affairs right here, in the good old USA, or perhaps the no longer good old USA. Their alarm bells ring almost ceaselessly. Obviously, as expressed in previous blogs, I am extremely concerned about the state of affairs in Israel, fighting an existential war, as the rest of the world basically says go hang yourself. The demands are made of Israel, unrealistic and unachievable. Defamed. Attacked.  Again, and again. Should not be asked to worry about the welfare. of the enemy. particularly. when the enemy hides among civilians, claiming that they are "innocent civilians". I believe we have proven many times that there is barely such a creature in Gaza, where hostages were immured in private homes, or in dank tunnels, abused by so many, starved, beaten, so "innocent"? Sorry, that is a no.

     Yet Israel, in the midst of their own population crises, with war on three fronts, vicious murderous war where terrorists wage war upon children, shooting them in their buses, enmeshed in the economic demands of war, orders 40,000 tents for Gazans. Where are their brethren co-religionists family? You see nobody wants the Palestinians who bring along their own terrorists, homegrown, so well advanced in techniques to kill and murder and savage and beat. Nobody. But the demands of Israel to take care of these Gazans grows louder and louder.       

 I cannot solve. the monumental problems over there in the Middle East; all I can do is pour forth my feelings. Factual and emotional and pray that the world comes to its senses. Or, that somehow Israel manages to overcome the enmity of so many, including the crazed foul-mouthed protesters who have been fed and are feeding the rot of hate. and vicious JewHatred.  

What else is bothering me??  Rot. That which is digging deeper and deeper into the American ethos. How can we possibly be thinking of reelecting someone who is manifestly incapable of doing the job of a president, particularly one with treasonous intent. Trump has openly stated that he intends to destroy democracy. Plans to immediately arrest thousands, shoot just as many, and fire everyone in federal government and replace them with his own stooges. A criminal, a fraud, clearly demented, and immoral.  A man with loyalty only to himself, throwing all else under the bus as suits him. He is loyal to himself alone and the remnant of his shattered GOP falls right along with him, loyal to themselves, but cowering before Trump. He and his deteriorating, demented brain have no place within our government.

 Trump is not the only bug in the soup. Far worse than a fly. There are many bugs in our soup or in that flavor belonging to our judicial system. From top to bottom it has been corrupted by the Trump administration and his enablers within Congress.  The judicial system. is now a mass of crooked biased. ignorant, insufficiently educated judges. They are swamping those judges remaining who know what a judge is supposed to do, who know what a proper judicial system looks like, acts like.

 From Clarence Thomas and his corruption to Judge Cannon and her ignorance. and in between, we have deep rot within this system. With Trump.  in power, with his cowering, sniveling Republicans behind him, we stand no chance of redeeming ourselves, fixing our judicial system and getting back on track and doing what must be done if we ought to survive as America as it stands for, as it stood for.          

 The world is in a state of anime. I do not believe that anyone alive today could outline what we need in order to return to a sane state of affairs, with any kind of success or agreement from the majority. Comity and compromise are quickly fading away, have become almost irrelevant in our times and in our troubles. Our rather empty heads echo with garbage in, with no room for sanitation crews at any time. Arguments for injustice and hate find a home within the garbage. Voices espousing reason and compromise, an understanding of the relationship of all humans to each other are drowned out, discounted. and thrust aside.  

As a result - the dangerous state of anime and defiance, against anything once thought good and proper and moral.  We have lost sight of our true goals, where we were meant to go and achieve.   Instead, we now worship false gods. We have lost sight of common goals as we concentrate mainly on goals of benefit only to ourselves. We have lost community. 

How do we change this? Can we? I believe the only way we can change society is to change our education system. Return it to true goals and a true sense of education. Today we confuse our children censoring something, uncensoring at the next moment. Or telling them we wish them to think. yet not allowing them the opportunity to gain that which will aid in the development of critical thinking.  

We have failed the children of today. and we will continue to fail unless we make some radical changes in our educational system. Do we understand that, know the difficulties which lay ahead? I really don't know. I think people feel it is easier to remain deaf, dumb and blind and feel that life is easier for them when their children are not 'stressed' at school.  However, when we do not educate or rather educate improperly, we simply are setting up problems for the future. and so grossly not doing our jobs - not as teachers, not as administrators, not as educators, not as parents.      Unable to distinguish misinformation from truth, they ingest garbage and mistake it for fact. Their premises are faulty. Thus, so will their conclusions.

Society has broken down. We have lost the work ethic, the incentive to achieve by our efforts. to accept failure. as a step along the road to success. We have lost much of what it meant to be an American. We have become bereft of guidelines to return whence we came, keeping the good and jettisoning the bad. 

The very fabric of society is ragged, barely holding together. We have abandoned those in need. The worker who is homeless because he. cannot afford the rent. The child going hungry because his parents do not make enough money to pay the rent and buy food. The elderly woman across the hall from you denied her medications because the prices are out of reach. The child with special needs held back because there is no money to fund the education he needs. The child dressed in worn, improper, unsuitable clothing. The faces of those who have lost their dreams and live in the sludge of life. Where the hell are we? Where is our heart? Where is our soul? Where are our brains?     

Can we fix this? I believe we can or at least we can make a start. How? Simply by doing something good ourselves. No big, massive project undertaking that will lose drive, but rather the individual deeds, the small deeds adding up that which will lead to hopefully a kinder, more caring society that in turn will lead us to elect better officials, better leaders. That in turn will lead to a more improved society and will continue to do so. How do we? Forego the coffee and give the money to a woman standing there, unable to purchase the food she needs. Forego the meal in the restaurant and send that money to an organization which will help Israel, which will help the hungry, which will help the homeless, which will help those needing medical care. Just do something. Help someone across the street, carry the bundles, lift the carriage, hold the door, help someone up from the floor. There are so many, many things we can do. So many, many things we can. easily take upon us. And when we look in the mirror after we do that, we will see once again the beginning of that idealist who once we were. That is the way to solve some of the 'and about that' problems of society. 

Where have we gone? Why have we gone there? We need to answer those questions for ourselves, for our kids, for their future We need to answer those questions if Earth is to survive as a home for us. The time is now, actually past due. We need to all take a step up and out. and climb one rung higher on the ladder of humanity. Take a look in the mirror. Try to imagine a better person than the current iteration. It can be done. It can be seen.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Yitzy, you were probably too sensitive, too pure to remain in this ugly world. You performed your assigned task, whatever it was, and G-d took you home. Leaving us with a huge hole in our lives so never to be filled.

We remember you - so remember us. That is so important to us.

Love you, sweet boy.

Always and forever. Always and forever.     

    

 

RESIST? FIGHT? PRIVILEGE? UH- UH!!!

 A day or so ago, Steven Spielberg said in his speech to an organization that there might come a time very soon when Jews will have to fight for the privilege, for the reality, to be a Jew. No, that will not do, not at all. Not in my time. I was born a few years after the end of the Holocaust when local pogroms and individual killings of Jews who returned from Hell, by the residents of the places were still happening. While the initial curse of the Holocaust was before my time there's no way I will live through a Holocaust in my time. My determination to make that so, to avoid the time where I have to fight for the privilege of being a Jew, allowed to live free, sans threats, is bolstered. by the defiance, the anger, the resistance to such a time by all my fellow Jews. That is, other than those who think shamefully that they can work with an 'enemy' and hide the fact, discount the fact, that they too, like it or not, are Jewish. Should they decide to forget it? Not a problem, for they will be reminded of it by many, many, many of their former friends. Not so friendly any longer.  

 Yesterday, I read the translation of a brilliantly written opinion piece replete with the anger, the frustration, the what the hell is going on ingredient. It was written by Bernard- Henri Levy. a brilliant French Jew, a prolific, respected writer, historian, and philosopher, an all-around brilliant person. He has come to the conclusion that the path that Biden has chosen now, abetted by those who know better, or should know better, such as Schumer, will lead only to one end. That end is the end of any hope of peace.  

Rocks and hard places are soft, plushy safe niches compared to the situation in which Israel has been placed and continues to be placed. by an unthinking, uncaring world. Or, should I say it is a thinking, caring world, only their thinking and caring about is the elimination of these Jews for once and for all. Levy says, "... those who portray themselves as praying for the end of this war and a negotiated peace on the day after ... must recognize that that is an impossible situation for Israel". For its survival. 

In addition. the hostages seem to be becoming a minor disappearing footnote of history, being erased of all contention, all mention, of no importance whatsoever. The world casually has written off the cause of this war and the way to end it. Return the hostages, live and dead, account for all, surrender the bloodied planners of Hamas. The henchmen.   Well, that will never ever happen, will it? Certainly not with the calculated vicious absence of the nations of the world, their very selective amnesia, and the indifference displayed re the fate of the hostages. Now, barely a mention of them and their fate. Where are Kfir and Ariel? Where are the elderly, the young women, the men snatched away from families and friends? Where is Noa? Where is the world!!!!!    

Nietzsche said that "man is the cruelest of animals”. Hence why the umbrage when the beasts/animals of Hamas, their joyful marauders, rampaged through the 30 communities they brutally attacked, on a double holy day for Jews, are called by those names - beasts, animals.  Why does the world resent when we call them what they are? Animals And perhaps we are insulting animals with that word, with that statement.

Levy ends his article with the statement that without the destruction of the remnants of Hamas and their death squads, a military victory, this wheel will just keep on spinning around and around and around, and no one will be able to get off as it spins faster and faster. "This is the terrible truth.”

He is not the only one to say so. He is not the only one to think so. To state so. The true answer to the problem we now and for quite some time have had, is to complete this job. Let Israel do what it must. Israel has already gone far and above the actions of all other armies in order to prevent harm to civilians and noncombatants. That includes the armies of the nations who now condemn Israel.    

It is and will be the end of the problem when Israel does what it must, when the nations of the world realize that Israel is not here to commit suicide. It is here to serve as refuge for oppressed and persecuted Jews, for those uncertain of long-term welcome within their current countries of residence. It is, and always has been, and always will be the homeland of the Jewish people. Israel will not disappear itself. It will not commit suicide. It will fight down to the last stone to be thrown. And Jews around the world will also do what must be done. This is not a threat, but a simple statement of fact. We Jews have been conquered before, slaughtered before, but we are here. And here we will remain. If this statement appears to be too antagonistic or too militaristic, well, it is what it is. 

We proud Jews will not go easily, nor will we concede to false 'guardians' of the nation, however well-meaning they are. We have the best guardian of all. Would that the world would recognize that, as history has proven time and time again.   

 Amit Soussana, ripped from her home, fighting like a lioness, needing ten terrorists to keep her down, was reassured of rescue, after all the brutality that had been inflicted upon her, only when a person who said he was a soldier greeted her in Hebrew. He said, "a couple more minutes and we're going to meet you". "She said, "I remember, I started to cry".  

There really is not that much more to say. The situation is as it is and will be until the world awakes, smells the coffee, the many cups of coffee and at last accepts truth and reality. "We will have to fight for the privilege to remain Jewish,”  says Spielberg. In the future, maybe not a so distant future. But we will do what must be done and alongside us, side by side, step by step. will be our supporters. Those who know the truth. Those who serve the causes of goodness and righteousness.  Those who can distinguish right from wrong. 

We. Are. Here.   

Here. We. Will.  Remain. 

For all time. 

So it has been.

 So it will be. 

------------------------------------------------------------Yitzy, your Tata is so tired of this tragedy and the stupidity, the denseness of those who refuse to recognize truth and reality. Somehow, we must prevail and will do so.

In the meanwhile, be safe, warm, and know you are loved - always. 

Always and forever.  Always and forever.                  

  

VERGANGENHEITSEWALTIGUNG

  Nope, not to worry. This is not alphabet salad. While I admit I can neither read it nor speak it aloud, its definition has a great deal of relevance and importance to our troubled times. Based on a long-recognized theory of George Santanya, it is a strong proponent of the belief that not to study history is to remain ignorant of history and the lessons it imparts. It is an open invitation to Trouble, to allow free entry into the doors of our homes and nations, to take up 'squatter's rights' and resist all efforts to expel it. 

This incredibly long term carries with it a long tail of information critical to us.  It is defined in a German lexicon as part of a struggle of overcoming the past and to work with coping with the past, especially public debate within a country on a problematic period of recent history. For example, in particular, the Nazi Era of Germany. This entire school of thinking led to the term of the title. which basically has governed much of Germany's attitude and relationship with Israel.

Germany, rightly so, has a 'special' relationship with Israel. It is explained, as if necessary to do so to anyone with an inkling of history and its imperatives as such:  "We are in Germany, the country that practically annihilated Judaism in Europe," Karin Prien, a politician from the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), told The Guardian. "Eighty years on from the liberation of Auschwitz, we still bear a special responsibility to stand up against antisemitism."

Ironically enough, at a time of grave existential peril to Jews round the world, Germany, the perpetrator of the Holocaust and its goal, is now the safest place for a Jew to live - in Europe, in the rest of the nations of the world, and we can just about add in the USA to that rather ugly consortium of prejudiced backward thinking nations.

The world is now in a stage of purposeful ignorance and disregard of history, buying whole hog into its ugliness, into its refurbished toxic version of Antisemitism, already morphed into vitriolic JewHatred. Jewish university students no longer feel safe on campus. The purpose of higher education. is trumped upon by those who insist on buying into ancient hateful tropes which only lead to bloodshed. 

However, this is seen as OK by many because the virus of Antisemitism has never disappeared. To some, it imparts the feel of a favorite chair, or a cuddly old sweater.   Yes, it has gone underground sometimes, even for many a year. But it always has been there. Always has sent a shadow, sometimes peeking up from under the ground where it molders. Is it safe to come out? Is there a hospitable environment now available for its strengthening and growth? That dark shadow has now decided this is a good old time to come up and join in the fun. And so, it has.

However, however, even in the darkest moments. there is usually a light to be seen if one looks deep enough with an intensity that cannot be denied. In the storm of condemnation that Israel receives for having the sin of being available for slaughter of its civilians, for daring to try to remain in existence, to free those remaining in captivity, in brutal captivity of bestial behavior. 

To be intensely, noisily antisemitic, to shout out against Jews, is now chill, a highly acceptable societal trait, and comes along with that marvelous fashion accessory, the black and white kufiyah, signaling to one and all your   participation in one of the oldest, ugliest, bloodiest, trope of humankind. More relevant to the beast within than the outer human disguise. 

There is a light though. There are supporters of Israel, who trust in its need and responsibilities as a nation, the necessity to rescue its hostages and return them haoma, dead or alive. They remind the world who instigated this war, who were the beasts ravishing the humans within.  Israel simply took upon itself the responsibility of a nation that which it owes to its citizens to keep them safe, and to redeem them from  situations of danger. It has been thus from the beginning of time and has continued into the present time.

The attitude towards one Jew in one country is the attitude of all people to all Jews and all other countries This is a family which does not disband, argue though it might amongst itself. This is a family which knows and renders unto the family that which belongs to the family. We know unfortunately, through many, many times of history, that what happens to one Jew happens to all Jews. The ugly. current of JewHatred manages to swim, fly, crawl everywhere, taking strength from each new revival, taking courage from the intensification of that hate. It sits back in glee as it watches the verbal outrages morph into physical outrages, even unto the point of death.

 The world never learns its lesson The Crusaders carved their bloody way through the communities of Jews within Europe, practicing upon them the swordsmanship they would use against Saladin, The same Europe where country after country expelled their Jewish residents, enmeshed them in falsehoods, accusations, as scapegoats for their own inadequacies and sins. Mankind at its worst - yet always trying to outdo itself in that sphere. 

A simple look around. The rot within society which favors hate and negativity. It is the rot that allows for people slaughter babies, to kidnap, to brutalize, to disregard the protocols of society and the progress civilization has supposedly made over the millennia. So many wars, big and small, so many  'humanitarian' crises. We lose count, lose any kind of sensibility and sensitivity to them. All so that we can pick and choose, and Israel makes a lovely target. Within that directed hate we find excuses of 'anti Zionism' - that which determined that Jews That Jews have. no right to their homeland, no right to be a state. Period. Criticism of a country or the government of that country. should not mean destruction of that country. And yet in today's world, that is exactly what it means. Deny it, though they might. The truth always outs.

Right wing dictators. Inadequate ignorant Judges.  Crooked politicians loyal to themselves.  Treasonous officials at the highest level of government. Distortion of the wonderful world of Education. The obsolescence of ideals and idealism. The sly use of democracy using it to obtain power and then canceling democracy. A threat from a candidate for President of the United States to have mass deportations and jailings of opponents and all he deems unfit.  Hitler et al redux. Rule after limiting, oppressive rule until the inevitable slaughter begins.   

Is this the future we choose? Is this what we wish to leave for our children? Is this the legacy we wish to leave for the future? That this country becomes the topic of study, 'The Rise and Fall of  the American Democracy"? We need to stop and think. We need to exercise the meaning of that long title word. It is upon us. No one else. There is nobody else. If we continue to choose to neither see nor hear, wallow in our ignorance, we will reap what we sowed. 

What can we do about this? Is there any hope, any chance to turn it back? To insert many fingers into the many holes and leaks of the 'dikes' protecting the remnants of democracy within America. Is there any hope that people in other nations of the world will see that America is finally trying to stop its demise and act accordingly? I do not know. I simply do not know. I have no definitive answer at this point. Nothing of which I can state with certainty that it will happen, that it will take place, that will have a beneficial effect upon us. 

Too many of us have dropped out for one reason or another. All are simultaneously valid and not. We cannot simply drop out, opt for ignorance. and noninvolvement for we are involved up to our threatened neck. The world of today is too small for pieces of it to break off. We need to reunite, to reeducate ourselves and highlight our commonalities rather than our differences. Only thus can we succeed and be able to eliminate that ugly hate, that anger, that bloodlust that consumes us all. Are there enough of those willing to try?  Are there enough people willing to hear truths, like them or not?   Refer to the title. We need to take a lesson from Germany. We need to go back to the history books. Before they were tampered with. Before political opinions were ensconced within their pages. So that we might learn the truth of history, the applicability of its lessons to us and use these lessons to better our world. We need to plug up the dysfunctional sewers of the world and the corrupt workers and denizens of that world. Now. Courageously.

As an aside, opening May2 thru June16, a play entitled October 7, at the Actors Temple Theater, 349 West 47thth Street in Manhattan will be presented, and pro the truth! I have already bought my tickets. ________________________________

Yitzy, my boy, I wish I had better news to relate to you. Know that we are remembering you always, think of you always, and miss you so terribly.

Always and forever. Always and forever.        

MAP, ANYONE? WAZE AND GPS KAPUT!

  Close your eyes and think back to a time when a traveler had to resort to reading a map. Trying to decipher the roads and byways that one needed, to separate them from the confusing lines of other roadways -remember that? Remember the tense arguments which erupted as blame was shifted between driver and navigator, or the whining of the children as they never received a proper answer to "are we there yet". How many trees were cut down to replace maps crumpled up and discarded in fits of pique and inadequacy.  

 For those who were members of automobile associations there would be maps drawn for personal use specific to that particular trip, with added side trips and sights to visit. Those directions were guarded well, and someone was assigned to know its location at any given moment. Woe upon the unlucky traveler caught in a traffic jam, construction, any block of smooth travel, for these trip maps did not provide for onsite implementation of route changes. Ahh, the adventure of travel and the imploding inhabitants of the car, all providing many fun memories of family trips - many years later.  

  Then things began to change.  GPS, global positioning system, was released to the civilian world because it was so helpful in finding out exactly where you were, especially in relation to where you began and where you wished to be at end of travel.  Plug in your specifics and off you went. There were some glitches as incorrect information sometimes complicated matters, but the devices and mapping information improved. Next up - Waze. Even better. Travel improved with ease of getting there from here - just as travel became more complicated due to defects in the coding of human beings. Evidently it is much harder to program humans properly than it is to program inanimate mapping   devices, even with, or despite, those ladies living within. 

 Today humanity is either misprogrammed, or unprogrammed or reprogrammed with nefarious motives behind that new programming. Mankind has lost its way. We have forgotten civility, forgotten the necessary sharing of this world. We have forgotten all or almost all that is positive and turned only to the negative - the evil, the hateful, the hurtful. Why? What have we gained from this? Actually, we have lost much, rather than gained. 

All the talking heads of our times cannot seem to find their way clear to the proper destination and the instructions to get us there. Instead, we all have turned to talking heads of split tongues and biases so steep that it is amazing that they can retain a standing position. The amount of on purpose mis and disinformation has actually crippled the world. People do not know what to believe anymore so they believe only in what they gin up in the strange odd and infinitely harmful mixtures that arise. These evil mixtures and the awful odors emanating from them are more fitting for the caldron of Macbeth's witches than for humanity. For sure, the GPS and the Waze of humanity are broken.

Impossible demands are being made of nations and people, enabling, even promoting hostile and violent behavior to become the norm rather than the outlier. People revel in the now approved crazed protesting distorting everyday life around   the world. Schools have become targets. Entertainment venues have become battlefields. Universities have thrown off any and all loyalties to universal understanding and growth and instead encouraged a growth of hatreds and biases all expressed in words meant to hurt, to wound and even to kill. People once allies are now declared enemies seeking stronger separations rather than stronger ties.

This toxic virus has seeped and oozed into and through every opening it could find or create. It has become so intertwined in the fabric of humankind today that even the act of unraveling the tentacles of this virus from the infected fabric is more likely to cause more fracture and tearing than anything else. All the vicious nasty tropes of humanity have been revised, reinvigorated, given new life to that which should have been buried deep, deep long, long ago. 

Where does humanity go from here is the question to which I am not sure there is any answer, or at least any positive one with any real possibility of coming to fruition. From unfair edges given to some in competitions, to placing your thumbs on the weighing of qualifications of human beings, to the teaching of inimical theories and beliefs to moldable children and to desperate adults caught up in a confusing world- humanity has not only lost its paper maps but it has also corrupted the devices meant to replace those paper maps and ensure our proper paths. Now they read TILT!

Some people continue to hope to maintain a sense of optimism for they believe there is an infinite capacity within humans to double back to erase, to rewrite and to reformulate all that has gone wrong and create right from wrong. I do not believe that for it is quite difficult to unsay words and deeds once the harm is done. 

A total and complete reshuffling of humanity, almost in the terms of some science fantasy movies, perhaps is the only way to reformat for good. However, since that is not a real possibility, can we then institute an environment where we can all work on reformatting and reshuffling some of our seemingly most basic tenets of life, most obviously gone wrong somewhere along the way.

Would that it were possible to draw a line under everything right now and start anew. However there's so much of the ugly old remaining front and center that I don't know how we could accomplish that. Any road, any path, we try to find to fix ourselves, to remap our routes, will fail unless we can find a large enough number of those wishing or willing to take on the almost Sisyphean task, perhaps to be the targets of venom spewed at them. Can we find anyone who has the requisite intelligence, humanity and courage to begin this humongous undertaking?  

In yesterday's New York Times David Brooks wrote a long opinion piece regarding the Gazan war and how to 'fix' what has gone wrong in the waging of that war. Goaded by an invasion of beasts who ran wild in homicidal intent within 30 communities in Israel, who killed over 1200 people, who kidnapped close to 300 others including children, the elderly, the ill, women, men, innocents, Israel had no choice but to strike back and rescue its kidnapped citizens and all others caught up in that razor sharp net of hate and murder.

Asking the question if there were any other way to conduct this war so as to lessen the civilian toll, the end conclusion after an entire page of writing and seeking answers was there is no other way, only the way in which Israel is fighting that war. The civilian casualties fall onto the shoulders of Hamas who use the few innocents they can find as human shields, for they are cowards and let others bleed for them. It is concluded in this essay that Israel has gone far, far, far above and beyond all other nations' efforts in any war to limit the damage to civilians, even to telegraphing their plans so that the civilians can move out of that area. Must have broken the hearts of the NYT editors as this essay was actually positive in attitude towards Israel. Anathema to the Times!

However, the nations of the world delight in a new era of permissive antisemitism, of a toxic JewHatred whose end goal is the elimination first of all Israeli Jews and all who support them within the borders of Israel and then tackle the even more tempting desirable task of ridding the world of Jews for all time. Been there, done that, and we will not go there again. Jews have been through numerous times in repetitions of history.  As Spielberg put it, “the echoes of history are unmistakable in our current climate”.

This we will not allow. We have fought before, and we will fight again. We will use pen and sword, every tool that we can find and that we can create. Perhaps, one day we can have that One Day of which Matisyahu sings. One day all the lions and all the lambs will defy history and gambol through the meadows together. In the meanwhile, we all need to do better, not so much for ourselves but for our kids, for all the little ones to follow, for any kind of a possible livable future for all- of any belief- ethnicity- skin color- place of origin- or any dividing factor that evil minds devise.    

It actually is not so difficult to be a good person, and, in fact, there is that beautiful addition of good feelings about oneself that come along with those efforts to be good, to do good, to create good. On the other hand, it takes more thought, more perversion, to be a bad person and to encourage evil. It carries with it a horrible sense of self and an aura and surrounding of despair and dislike of oneself and all others, so why give in to that. Bottom line: if we can't work together and get along, not necessarily love each other but tolerate each other, then all the maps in the world, human or mechanical, will not save us from falling off the edge of this world.

==================================== Yitzy, I am hoping that the world above is a better place. Hopefully it is a place of honesty and truth with full recognition of all that we have done wrong and an understanding of where we went right. Perhaps if we actually do recycle souls these will be reeducated ones out to live in a good world and to do all they can to further that cause. 

Sweet boy, you can teach them all. 

I love you always, for always and forever, for always and forever.  

K'DAT OOH K'DIN

  Translated from its Hebrew, it means "according to the religion (faith) and the law (secular). A related corollary is, "Dina d'malkuta, dinah". The law of the land, the country, is the law. It is a basic tenet in Judaism, probably one of the reasons why Jews are generally law abiding and sure to relate their actions to the secular laws, those of the nation in which they abide, and the religious laws which govern their personal lives. Generally, there is no   conflict, or major conflict between these two guiding principles. 

However, should the law of the land become twisted, perverted, antagonistic to the practice of their religion, Jews will often migrate or keep their religion under wraps, as was the case with the Spanish Inquisition or when banned from other nations such as was the case during a period of time under the Plantagenet rule in England. Today there are some countries and religions which are certainly enemies of Jews and Judaism, and there are those in some nations who try to pass laws banning some aspect of Judaism (and incidentally, affecting Moslem practitioners as well).  

In this area nations of the world go astray. When Jews argue amongst themselves, the infighting can be brutal, invective highly colored, and great depth of feeling is front and center.  It often involves the level of outer observance of certain aspects of Judaism and the differences among members of "the tribe", the family. However, there is a huge misconception here.

First and foremost, is to know, to understand, that this arguing is that of a family, often times quite bitter and shocking, particularly to outsiders. However, as with families, the disagreements, however vehement, can be set aside for the moment should the need be there. Such a need, or time, of re-unification, is the task, the obligation, to rescue any Jew or Jews in existential danger. Then it becomes a national crisis. All, if not necessarily forgiven or forgotten, is set aside for the moment.  

The injunction to rescue other Jews, wherever, whenever is a sacred one. Jews of one land or community gave to rescue Jews in foreign lands or unknown communities. They did so for it was a command relevant and upon all Jews, ALL Jews. Those who forget that do so at their own peril. For example, the raid on Entebbe to rescue imprisoned Jews, a whole lot better than the nations of France, America, England did for their captives there. Just as they do today with their hostages in Gaza. Mere Jews, so ..... 

These rescues are best left for Israel to execute as other nations seem to blunder a great deal in their attempted rescues, particularly of mere Jews, as in the botched 1972 attempt of Germany to rescue the hostage Israeli athletes, resulting in their deaths. The deep internalization of this demand is not etched into their hearts and souls, intertwined with their every cell. In rescuing these Jews, they, Jews too, are rescuing themselves. Only when all our hostages, alive or dead, are rescued, accounted for, our family complete will this war end. Only then.  

That principle of rescue of those in need has carried over into a generalization to aid others in need. Hence the strong presence of Jews in the fight for civil rights for all, in philanthropy benefitting those in need, and in the front lines of arts and science, research and inventions benefitting all. All. 

 Back to the laws of land and religion. Jews will do what is necessary. They will obey the laws of the land and will do their fighting via that route, through activities sanctioned by law. However, the might, the intensity, the determination to rescue their fellow Jewish hostages will never be eclipsed by opposition of those who mistake disagreements for weakness.  Even should there be those who try to hide among others they will be rescued when inevitably they are discarded, hostages to erroneous beliefs.

They are Jews. They are family. Always family.                      WE ARE FAMILY  

Send our family home and the war is over.

Send them home.  It is the law of the land and the land of any religion.

--------------------------------------------------------------Yitzy, it was not such a merry Purim as you were so missed, your family so sad at your absence. But you were there as well, weren't you, watching from above, sad because we were sad. Your grin, your shining blue eyes, your giggle nowhere, only in  our heads and hearts. Not enough.       

Be warm and safe Yitzy.  

We love you always. 

Always and forever. Always and forever.

  

PARADOX? MAYBE. MAYBE NOT. AND IF SO,

  

 A paradox is defined as when "A statement seemingly based on valid reasoning and grounded in apparently valid premises, sounds unacceptable." In addition, one writer states a follow up corollary: "What most paradoxes have in common is that they elicit surprise, disbelief, bewilderment and confusion." 

Welcome to Earth 2024. Paradoxes are a dime a dozen, yet stubborn people continue to refuse to see the paradox within the reality. It is so much easier to buy into the garbage fed to the populace on an hourly basis than to rethink and restate, particularly when the paradox is favorable to their views. Why do people not see the paradox, the impossibility to mesh that statement with reality? Because they do not want to. Period.  

The nations of the world howl with bloodthirsty cry, with fangs dripping with the saliva of that evil hunger and bloodthirst. The chase is on, the prey the small nation of Israel, of Jews, truly a nation of refuge, the only such place in the world. A people, a religion, definitely of minority status, less than2% of the population of the world, is denied that status, denied the right to have that nation, to determine their fate, to conduct their country as an independent nation, not as a puppet or a target to threaten. And yet look at the reality. Look to Biden and Blinken. Look to the UN.   

Too ambitious. Too lazy. Too inbred. Too lecherous and desirous of Aryan women. Too controlling. Too unreliable. Control all media, entertainment, stocks, economy, arts, sciences, everything from a to z. Ambitious and lazy. Communists and capitalists. Offspring of the very Devil, always accused of - and of course guilty of, blood libel. This is a small sampling of the nastiness of an antisemitism now amped and ramped up into a toxic vitriolic viral JewHatred.    

 Why is Israel the only nation asked to surrender itself to extinction? To abandon its people. To resign its nationhood, its ancestral homeland, its entire history, its ethos, its religion and the millennia long prayers to return to Zion.   

Why is Israel, the invaded nation, told it must treat itself as the initiator of the war, forced to concede to harsh terms of surrender. Total and immediate ceasefire. No troops to remain, allowing for the revival of Hamas. To know that Hamas boasts of repetition, even more than the first time.  Why is Israel tasked to rebuild Gaza, the home of its enemies who sought and still seek their extermination. Why is there no concrete assured plan for the return of the hostages - if they are even alive at this point.  If Hamas had returned the hostages on Day 1 the war would have been over. 

But the world forgives and forgets when it comes to Jewish blood on the ground. When it is screams emanating from the hearts and throats of Jews. Humanity? Not with Israel. Why is it suggested that small groups of Israeli soldiers enter the tunnels on impossible missions to rescue dead hostages? Suicidal, but what the hey, only more Jews. 

Israel is beautiful, magnificent in its rebirth, the vital energies, the peace of the communities bloodied and destroyed, in the South and in the vacant bombed homes of the North. But we have found that bad, terrible things can happen in beautiful settings. Just as ugly beasts can hide within the disguises of human bodies. 

However, we also have learned, internalized, the ability to regrow, to return and climb out of the pit to which we have been thrown. A paradox as the eminently oppressed persecuted people thought to have been destroyed, rise again. Better than before. We have overcome and will always do so. We gain strength from our woes and are the stronger for them.  

     These are times of great evil and great stupidity and cupidity in the nations of the world and the populations within. We have grown tolerant of JewHatred and find and worship and enable falsehoods of mammoth danger. Chaos reigns as societies break down and humanity forgets its humanity.  

Perhaps there is hope. Read the following and recognize its similarity to our times. The world survived that period of history, the Jews survived, and we can do it again. There is hope. We must hold that hope close to our hearts.

"Wild dark times are rumbling toward us, and the prophet who wishes to write a new apocalypse will have to invent entirely new beasts, and beasts so terrible that the ancient animal symbols of Saint John will seem like cooing doves and cupids in Comparision."  Heinrich Heine; Lutezia;1854

 That fear and concern of reality was expressed thousands and thousands of years before in the Psalms written by King David. I found these verses immensely personal for me as this was a hard, hard, terrible year, with the loss of my beautiful grandson and the return of vicious JewHatred in every manner and place one can think of. 

"Until when, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long must I seek counsel within myself and find only sorrow in my heart ...? Psalm XIII 

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Yitzy, a Happy Purim to you and may you only have holidays of rejoicing in your new home. 

Love you, my boy.

Always and forever. Always and forever.

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For a joke for Purim, as we are to rejoice, here is a cute paradox re Oscar the Grouch (compliments of Mr. Barash.)

Think about it and its paradox, ever ongoing.  

Oscar the Grouch could only be happy when he was unhappy. Thus, a happy Grouch would necessarily be unhappy and then that would make him happy and then of course he must immediately become unhappy to maintain that state ... on and on -a paradox never to be resolved, perhaps like our world.

GRIZZLY BEARS AND PEOPLE

  Edward Abbey, an American writer, conservationist from the 20thcentury, asked "Are people more important than the grizzly bear? Only from the point of view of some people." 

That alone raises the question as to why such a question needed to be asked. I believe it was and remains a clue to the extremes to which people can go to support a view. an opinion of theirs. The rankings people assign to their beliefs are often the sparking point for war -verbal and otherwise, properly or viciously. The choice of tone and conduct or approach remains with the participants in the debate, but unfortunately, particularly in todays' times, there is little remaining of the classic civilized tone. Scholarly refined debate has given way to the raucous debate, one of ignorance and noise, as ignoramuses who think that yelling and talking over another is the way to go. The result? A growing lack of functional intelligence, a dearth of correct information, and a whole lot of Shakespeare's "sound and fury signifying nothing".  It is a nothing which signals, in turn, the destruction of society as we know it -and a very poor substitute replacing it. WE chose it. WE accepted it. WE root for it. And WE are the ones who must repair it.

Hence the title. Our priorities are skewed. 100%, the people of this planet have ruined and endangered it and life upon it. Worse, even as the climate changes have grown in number and intensity, in harm to life and limb, there are idiots denying the changes, refusing any and all attempts to address the issue. The result is a conversation now conducted more in shouts and noise, no sane conversation possible, no livable compromises to be made. The result will be an unlivable planet as extremists on both sides choose an either/or approach, allowing only for a nearly upon us disaster and a very uncertain future.

Unfortunately, this either/or extremist approach has infected almost every point of contention. We see neither the forests nor the trees, blundering on in the worst manner possible. Topics of debate go from zero to 150 in a nano second and no one hears the other. Dissension and disagreement grow in toxicity, violence and bloodshed accompanying it.    

Today, I say that I vehemently disagreed with Netanyahu's fiddling with the Supreme Court of Israel, a dangerous fundamental meddling, inspired by extremists with nefarious goals. However, I also just as firmly believe he is a patriot and is exactly the wartime leader we need. After the war is time enough to challenge, to change government, to try to compromise sanely, to avoid cracks within the family which encourage the enemy.

  If we do not pull ourselves together and pull together, we will empower our enemies, and they are many and vast. Deep into their campaign to neutralize and then disappear the nation of Israel, deny it the right of self-determination, to an ancestral homeland, our internal dissension at this point feeding their external hate.    

This bloody damned war was foisted upon us by the critters of Hamas, who frankly do not deserve the right to surrender and regroup. Only hate lives within. Their tactics of war are vicious, criminal, yet the world blames Israel for the sins of Hamas. False claims of starvation even as there is plenty.     Retrieve it from Hamas and black marketers. The     Red Cross demands access to Gazan terrorists and sues for it, though apparently the hostages are not as important, merely Jews, so hang back on that.  Where are our babies? Where are the grandparents, the parents, the young women? The remaining young men? Who is alive? Dead? Too broken,   brutalized beyond all comprehension?

With whom are we to talk? With whom to compromise? A Hamas murderer and coward? To a world who wants us, the attacked, the aggrieved to immediately institute a ceasefire, on the cusp of victory. WITHOUT a hostage release simultaneously? No! 

There is, among the many sad tunes of this war a revival of an older song of defiance, singing loud, and strong that Israel will not be defeated. Not the state, not the people, not the Jews around the world. This defiance has kept us alive for millennia and the haters and bigots, the murderers of today will not win. Will. Not. Win.

This weekend we celebrate the holiday of Purim wherein there was an attempt to destroy, kill, the Jews of Babylon, falsely accused of disloyalty to the King. It was to be a surprise attack. However, due to the bravery of Queen Esther and the wise words of Mordecai, the Jews were forewarned and fought back, defeated the enemy. Haman and his sons were hanged high, and the message was clear.   

     DON'T MESS WITH THE JEWS.

IT IS A LOSING BATTLE FOR YOU.

DON'T MESS WITH US.

CHAG PURIM SAMEACH.

HAVE A WONDERFUL HAPPY PURIM.

_________________________________________

Yitzy, you have a great Purim up there. Get a costume, sing and dance, not too much wine, but lots of candy and hamantaschen, and lots of laughter and smiles.

Love you, sweet boy.

Saba said to be sure to remind you that he loves you a whole bunch. But you already knew that.

Always and forever. Always and forever.       

IZZY, SATCHMO, AND JUDY

 Give up? What is this title all about? It is about an old woman who despite having very negative, pessimistic thoughts re the state of the world and its probable future, there remains inside somewhere  another person. This person is the one who refuses to concede defeat. Who refuses to admit that the apparition in the mirror is not her mom, come down a'visitin', always welcome, but still! Though almost always waving a hand in greeting and saying, "Hi, Ma", I know that 'she' is me.

This morning, after a night full of dreams, pleasant and not, as usual, I thought about who I am. Have I really, actually, for all time -such as remains - given up, conceded defeat to the evil forces of the world? Have I been convinced past the point of no return that humankind has forgotten the two parts of that word: human and kind. 

Exactly when did that division take place? Was it a sudden turn, a gradual turn, or of combinational factors? A laziness or an intentional turn, fated to happen or cemented into place by the failings of humanity, a willful abandonment of the better part of humanity and discarded kindness as an outmoded trait worthless in the temper of the times? Do we, can we, even recall the meaning and gestures of being human, of being kind?  

Well, do not look to me for reassurance, as I call the truth as I see it, though some complain. For an example, my referral to the Hamas creatures who romped one Saturday morning into 30 quiet, dovish communities, having such a wonderful game of catch and destroy, nab and abuse, rape, murder, burn, torture, kidnap - hey, whatever floated one's boat. So rich were the takings and possibilities, how could they refuse, to actually go somewhat overboard in their personification of animalistic bestial behavior?   

Animals they were, and animals they were called. Until the self-appointed self-designated consciences of the world deemed the terminology incorrect. No, these were humans who needed release from tension. They went somewhat astray, but after all, ... So, the entire dialect and focus, the directions, began to take on different colors and goals. The victims of this brutality, unseen since the Holocaust, became yet another mass killing of Jews, a smaller Baba Yar. 

The victims were merely Jewish, Israeli Jews at that, so much more satisfying to the animals with human skin. These aggressors, almost immediately, were granted excuse notes for their behavior, tsked, tsked a few times and quickly became the 'victims' of an aggressive offensive war waged upon the innocents of Gaza by the ruthless Israelis who grieved so much for so few. Suck it up, as usual, was the new refrain. Let it pass. Take comfort in the hugs and kisses, in the tears, in the false reassurances that we had no need to worry about  our 'sixes', for they were covered - until they were not so any longer. 

Never mind that warfare is waged where the enemy is. If civilians, such as they are, are tasked to run errands, to be used as shields, willingly, as cannon fodder even as their masters cower in the luxury of Qatar or hide in the deep tunnels below. However, these oh so not innocent civilians were the ones who poured into Israel after or with the initial attack, sharing in the free joy of murder and abuse, of rape and torture, of showing off their personal captives, parading them, dead and half alive, clothed or not, to the roars of approval of those 'innocent' bystanders. Think of the shared wealth to follow - clothing, money, toys, cars and tractors, books, bedding, food. Whatever caught their fancy. 

In an expected turn, the world turned viciously upon Jews all around the world. The crime of being Jewish is apparently to be found in every nook and corner. It is easily to be successfully prosecuted as the entire world now joins in as the sound of Tally-Ho! rings in the air. The hounds are baying with the monsters following. Fangs dripping, talons and claws extended, no holds barred, for the world openly acquiesces in the slaughter, hide it though they might try.      

Yet another time for the world to ignore the vast number of countries whose citizens are hungry, under siege, attacked, in deep peril, but no, it  is The War Against the Jews again.  

So, in this world of topsy turvy priorities and threat, is one old lady and her doubts, her wishes of any import? Is it worth the effort to keep that hidden stubborn idealist and optimist of 18 around, vital?   Who takes priority - the old lady in  the mirror or the younger woman still champing at the bit, trying to emulate the devotion of a Don Quixote to right wrongs and better the world?  

Can I have an effect? Can you? Can we all?

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 Yitzy, these times are troubling and challenging.  So very hard to keep up hope in this cruel world. Is it worth an effort?

Aha, the title?

Izzy singing his beautiful combo of Over the Rainbow and What a Beautiful World. 

Satchmo  playing his iconic version on his horn, along with his wonderful rasping voice.

Judy with her plaintive Over the Rainbow.

We can find inspiration, if we try, if we want to, if we have the courage to.  

 Yitzy, forgive me these postings, but you are always with me, heart, soul, every atom within.  Sleep tight, play hard, laugh and sing. 

   Always in my thoughts. Always in my heart.

Always and forever. Always and forever.    

WHAT IS

 To finish the title, one has to know exactly 'what is'. Is there in fact anything today about which we can say that phrase with complete confidence and assurance? Yes, someone loves you, or you love or hate your job and so on. However, we are referring to larger issues, of import on larger scales and arenas. 

Ironically, these larger issues are more sidestepped than stepped on, all the better to ignore the pain, the danger, the feeling of helplessness and hopelessness they engender. Therefore, the little guys and gals, us, turn their heads and attention to those issues they can change. Strategy, yes, but good or bad? Truly, one cannot judge, only observe and try to fathom the consequences for all of us on earth. Yes, all, for today the artificial divisions mankind has imposed on the globe are actually not too relevant when it comes to a shared fate as to a sustainable   livable, enjoyable life.

Simply note the fashions which go global. The political winds which blow into every nation on   earth. The interwoven threads of the economy, so complex to the point where warring nations are actually doing business with each other, often   to do materiel for weapon makings. Much as one wishes we could live in hermetically sealed isolation from the issues of others, that is a pipe dream. 

Nor should we wish it were so for the richness of life is contained within the mixing of cultures and knowledge, of arts and sciences, of research and social issues. These days we are forgetting that and pushing more, harder, for increasingly limited contact with the 'other'. Much to our detriment as we then simply add to the differences separating us, for without knowledge we will never rid ourselves of the 'other' approach, emphasize our differences instead of our similarities and build major roadblocks to true progress rather than find shortcuts to a better life for all. 

A simple clarification - immigration and 'illegals'. If life were better in other countries, stronger, vibrant economies, a political system of democracy and humanity, a place of education and hope -no one would risk it all to come here - legal or not! Think of it, think of why and how YOU are here in America today. Think. and understand. 

Unfortunately, in the strained and stressed world of today we are on a losing path. We turn to old hatreds, false prophets, words of incineration rather than fulfillment, of retroactive personalities and policies rather than those who keep the dream alive, that pipe dream of the millennia. The one which believes in the ability of humanity to be and strive for the best, always to go in that direction. 

Unfortunately, we are living in a time when news briefs, op-ed essays, opinion writings are ever chilling of the soul. One yesterday sent a riff of eerie chills through me, almost paralytic. It was an expression or presentation of my inner core beliefs.  The title: "America Isn't Nazi Germany, but It Looks a Little Like 1933".  I disagree with 'little', feeling we are further along on that perilous road. One candidate, a lecher, a criminal, a fraud, a bigot, a veritable traitor makes increasingly pejorative remarks re Jews, the other candidate feels entitled to force existential threats upon Israel, and there are increasing acts of violence against Jews, universities rife with antisemitism, sheer JewHatred, encouraged by the increasingly hostile view of any public appearance by any Jew in any field. Period. Not to forget the growing authoritarian governments of the nations of the world and the push for it here, in America. 

The people who enabled all this were not born evil misshapen people, but rather ordinary people who went along, got along, and lived a pleasant life for many years. They read the "vomit spewing" out of the mouth and writings of Hitler -as is happening here, with authors of different names but same garbage. The same broken twisted souls.    

And here we are. People once friendly now drooling fanged haters. Demonization of Jews and the sane old tropes revived.   

No, we are more than a little of Germany 1933. The question is -where do we go now.  

What is -Find an answer, please.  _________________________________________ Yitzy, sweet boy, golden boy, can you find us an answer? But never mind, for this is an adult mess and adults must find the way out.  

Meanwhile, you rest, sleep, play, read and learn. 

Miss you, my grandson, ever and ever more.

Always and forever. Always and forever.  T   

   

A HAMMER, A STEEL POLE, A GHETTO WALL?

  What exactly does it take to wake up people, or if awake, supposedly, then aid them in getting their heads out of the sand. Buried deep down, perhaps as deep as the deepest tunnel of Hamas, these heads, the brains within, such as they are, have apparently lost or ceded all capability or desire to think independently. They turn - or are lead -to a hate as old as time, in an effort to place blame for the woes of the world, anywhere other than themselves.   

And voila! The most recent, up to date, so chic and fashionable, inclusive panacea for the ills of the world: Model 2023-24 ... and where it ends nobody knows. Less than 2% of the world's population, this nation, these people, are denied the right to live in a land of their own, to be a people, together, an ingathering, a return to an ancient homeland where there is no antisemitism, no race hatred. 

Somehow, this disturbs the world's equilibrium so off we go again. Just unwrap that carelessly discarded violence and hate, insert Israel in the place for "Hated Nation", add the corollary for all Jews of the world and there you have it. 

Perhaps the worst of its ugliness is the presence of Jews who continue to rely on a fallacy disproven by history - cooperation with the enemy will not save you, merely delay the inevitable. Appearing in those roles are the Jews of public fame and roles     who refuse to speak up and out, who refuse to condemn antisemitism, who deny the right of Israel to defend itself, to rescue its kidnapped, who shift the blame inherent in the actions of Hamas onto the shoulders of Israel. Worse, when they break their silence, they support those who hate them as well, who simply use them and then discard them.

Finally, though, we have Jews of the arts and sciences, politicians, who realize that silence will kill them rather than save them. That silence, beyond being cowardly, will only aid the growth of the ugliness of virulent, crazed antisemitism and its levels of ever increasing violence. Some have spoken up for many years, like Margulies and Messing, or Stephens of the NYT who should actually be the next president! Now others are joining but there remain too many sitting on the fence, reluctant to call the truth as it is, as ugly as it is. Michelle Goldberg of the NYT is approaching takeoff speed, finally, but remains still on that fence, not quite ready to fully admit that yes, Michelle, it is antisemitism.  Refusing to see that, to admit that will not disappear it. Fence sitting is notoriously uncomfortable, so get off and join the growing crowd of fellow Jews and all those who recognize and differentiate between right and wrong, defend the right and help humanity move on, leaving behind the vices and failings of the before.     

We little people must join in. Speak out. Write. Stand up rather than seek the corners in which to hide.

Read the words of the letter and take it to heart. Only together can we beat back this ever-recurrent evil. We must. There is no other choice.      

     "We refute our Jewishness being hijacked for the purpose of drawing a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people, and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination," an open letter first reported Monday by Variety read. "Every civilian death in Gaza is tragic. But Israel is not targeting civilians. It is targeting Hamas. The moment Hamas releases the hostages and surrenders is the moment this heartbreaking war ends. This has been true since the Hamas attacks of October 7th."

  "The use of words like ‘occupation’ to describe an indigenous Jewish people defending a homeland that dates back thousands of years and has been recognized as a state by the United Nations, distorts history.  It gives credence to the modern blood libel that fuels a growing anti-Jewish hatred around the world, in the United States, and in Hollywood. The current climate of growing antisemitism only underscores the need for the Jewish State of Israel, a place which will always take us in, as no state did during the Holocaust depicted in Mr. Glazer’s film."

There was no concern for how Jewish people are going to react to a speech like that, to that applause to those red pins, when not even our hostages are being mentioned, and it’s just incredibly hurtful, incredibly painful," Gelman told Variety. "It’s truly baffling to me that people were choosing to be silent that night."

And here is another letter which must be read. ...an open letter by The Holocaust Survivors’ Foundation. 

"I watched in anguish Sunday night when I heard you use the platform of the Oscars ceremony to equate Hamas's maniacal brutality against innocent Israelis with Israel's difficult but necessary self-defense in the face of Hamas's ongoing barbarity. Your comments were factually inaccurate and morally indefensible," Holocaust Survivors’ Foundation USA president and 94-year-old Holocaust survivor David Schaecter wrote to Glazer. 

"The ‘occupation’ of which you speak has nothing to do with the Holocaust. The Jewish people's existence and right to live in the land of Israel predates the Holocaust by hundreds of years. Today's political and geographic landscape is the direct result of wars started by past Arab leaders who refused to accept Jewish people as their neighbors in our historic homeland. Now that several Arab countries are making peace with Israel because security and prosperity are better for all people, Iran and its terrorist proxies started another war, abetted by too many, who, through naïveté or malice, blame ‘the occupation.’"

"Worse is that you chose to use the Holocaust to validate your personal opinion. You made a Holocaust movie and won an Oscar. And you are Jewish. Good for you. But it is disgraceful for you to presume to speak for the six million Jews, including one and half million children, who were murdered solely because of their Jewish identity," Schaecter continued. "And it is disgraceful for you to presume to speak for those of us who personally saw the world stand silent as our mothers, father, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins were murdered. We actually had nowhere to go - no possible place for refuge. No country would accept us even though world leaders knew full well that thousands of Jews were being murdered every day. There was no Jewish nation to which we could flee. You should be ashamed of yourself for using Auschwitz to criticize Israel."

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Yitzy, always know you are loved. You have no connection to these deniers of truth and self. Deniers of Jewish history and pride. 

Rest easy, sweet boy.

Always and forever. Always and forever.

THE PRESENCE OF ABSENCE

  Or The Longest Day. Or, for that matter, Blowing With or In the Wind. All would be titles for the world of today's Jewry. Actually, in a strange way I can sort of manage to understand the import of the first titles. However, when it comes to being blown about by a wind, ever erratic, power and direction forever uncertain, though always disconcerting at the least and destructive at the other end, well there I hit my brick wall. 

It hurts, leaving behind a huge bruise which never loses its punch nor its hurt and strikes from every which way. There is no path free of danger, no walkway to a more serene world. That, my friends, is America today, England today, France today, every country today, for Jews living within the borders of any country. Nor should one think that being a hidden Jew, a basically closet Jew, an identity actually meshing with the title, present in the absence of it, will allow one to escape whatever befalls the Jewish nation as a whole.

 That thinking is way out of date. It is now a time when every Jew must Think, with a capital T. Drop the cup of Rev. Jone's Kool-Aid and drink of the cup of a bitter reality. No sugar added to disguise the bitterness nor slow sipping so as to delay consequences. Those consequences are loaded at all ends with long and short term effects. If we do not understand our plight, the bitter reality now facing us yet again, then we are in for a huge body blow. Whether we can survive such a body blow remains to be seen. 

Bari Weiss, a most interesting young woman, well-armed with the power of her convictions, has it right. " ... as an American Jew, she’d always felt she could hold her head up high, in contrast to those of us in the Old World. “I had an arrogance, a sense that, you know, anti-Semitism was for Jews of other times, certainly, but also other places. And I remember reading about things that would happen, and places, especially like France, and thinking that could never happen here. I have been disabused of that idea.”  

That feeling is not hers alone, instead is shared by many. Despite Schumer's claim of representing the voice or 'nuances' of American Jewry, and his self-assigned position as "shomer, guardian", of American Jewry and by extension all world Jewry, he is punching way, way above his weight. He has espoused the worn out proven false trope of "I am a (fill in name of country") first and my family has lived here for (fill in number of years or centuries) and then, I am a Jew. "The unstated but clearly implied corollary follows, "that my country will never desert me" is so ragged with holes in its fabric that it sinks beneath any challenge to its integrity. Still being sputtered from the mouths of too many through the millennia, as they were deported, killed, take your choice.  He is not my shomer. I am my shomer. My understanding of history is my shomer, as is my sense of reality.   Antennae are my shomrim. 

I used to tell my students, my own kids, that if one could not live in Israel, America was the next and best choice. I pledged, sang anthems, secure in my delusion. But now, well now my country no longer wants me. It desires my presence be denoted by my absence. Schumer remains under that leaky umbrella and its total collapse will hit hard. Oh, we can hope that Americans, all people will once again be aware of the contributions Jews have made to every facet of society. The ugly policy now of    isolation of Jews from life and relevance, enforcing that policy with violence and arrogance will halt.

Maybe. Someday. But not yet. Not now.

 Much of Schumer's early speech was positive as he tried to convey the connection between Israel and Jews. And then he blew it, allowed all to take away his shifting of blame upon Israelis, especially Netanyahu, equating them with Hamas, with Abbas, aggression paling before consequences, defense conflated with crimes and on and on. Not too good a shomer. People took away that which they wanted. Not a good result for us and hopefully not what Schumer had anticipated; nevertheless, there  it is. He failed us, Jews and Americans. A wrong door opened, and another shut, giving succor to the enemy even as fear and uncertainty ramped up astronomically among American Jews, the once upon presence of a feeling that we were finally home, safe, accepted and valued is now noticeable in its absence. A Golden Age for Jews, this one not to end in blood and gore as did prior ones. 

Oct7 has become the Longest Day, its horror, the death, the hatred, the acid to the soul of not knowing, simply not knowing about a loved one.  feeling helpless, unable to protect, to hold, to know more will die during this extended day of humanity losing its mind. Not yet regained -if ever.

One person opined yesterday that we must go where the wind takes us. Absolutely NOT! We must resist those nasty winds and gales. No more to allow the haters to decide our fate for us, to be the winds blowing us elsewhere. No more   pillars to posts for we have the right to be a sovereign nation in our own homeland. Period.     

Below are two statements which say it all. 

 "Look, of course, none of us want to see death and suffering,” ... “We want to see the violence come to an end. The way to solve this humanitarian crisis and achieve a cease-fire is for Hamas leaders to immediately release every single one of those hostages. And then, they should surrender and be held accountable."

"Our wounds are centuries old, but so are our resilience and strength,”  We have been through this before. We have overcome before, and we will again ...bear witness to Hamas atrocities with (their) own eyes, but also to observe the resilience of the Israeli people, 

The Jewish people have many built-in circuit breakers that enable us to take on the tragedies of life knowing there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” We will survive. We will overcome.” 

Let people take that away with them. 

Am Yisroel Chai.

--------------------------------------------------------Yitzy, you are so present in your absence. No more to hold you physically, only in our memories. But there. Here. Present. Always.

Always and forever. Always and forever.