THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

 I can hear the iconic tune now as I think of the title and its painfully exquisite match to current times. Should I look for the younger handsome Clint Eastwood to appear as well?  Quite doubtful, but there is no doubt that when this movie was released awaiting it was a different America. That nation, though always abounding with different outlooks and thoughts, was ONE. 

Basic goals, basic truths and reliance on a Supreme Court free of taint, and ugly stinking partisanship and corrupt ethics which sanctioned bribery, on a political system with creaks and squeals, but eminently working well, and a national spine strong enough to tolerate extreme differences and discuss other, saner differences without constant explosions of rage and various accusations.  Our Constitution was not subjected to jeers and insults, nor suggested to be discarded. 

America was a 'united states' at that time, glaringly differing from today, Present day presents a plethora of very loosely connected groups of states rather than that coalition of closely 'united states' forming the political entity known, true to title as The United States of America. Left behind - a growing gap, many gaps which negatively highlight the vast spread of opinions in today's very shaky nation. Extremes now dominate, crushing means and medians of moderation and a growing population of those fearing for our survival as America, the reality and the dream. Now it is endangered and besieged by its own population.

The truth is that we have enabled our own destruction. We have allowed the mentally unbalanced, severely challenged intellectually deficient to grab a stranglehold on the reins of national control. The traitor at the head of it all and the wimps who blindly or shortsightedly follow as automatons incapable of independent thought, mouth platitudes rife with lies and outrageous accusations more applicable to themselves than their ostensible targets. Violence, hate, oh so righteous indignation and a nation gone to Hell, in several handbaskets of deep, inescapable depth.  

That is the bad, and now to the ugly tainted with an overlay of the bad - the state of the world as represented by World vs. Israel.   When a vicious patron of hate and violence, of bloody murder, of rape and bestialities, is taken out in as surgical an attack as possible, where is the support for those who have eliminated a scourge of humanity? Cowards who hide beneath the shelter of civilians, albeit complicit civilians, that term used loosely, who use their own children as shields, they are unbelievably touted as saviors of humanity, as blessed with a religious passion, and martyrs to a cause blessed by a rather perverse Allah. Definitely ugly, in never ending ugliness. The worst of it all is the ugliness these creatures bring to the table, sit clampy by as they campaign for more evil, more bloodshed, more deaths and use of the hostages and their tormented families as pawns in a deadly game of chess with no good outcome possible. That is the sad bad and ugly truth.

There is so much ugliness in this world, so much that is evil, needlessly, as it is so easy to avoid with just a bit of willpower. But we humans tend to the wrong side of the track do we not. Tomorrow, albeit a tad later in the day as it is travel time again, more of the ugly and the good and even some of the rather funny. 

In the meanwhile, safe travel for all and a Happy, Healthy New Year of Peace and Happiness, Prosperity and Humanity. We are short of those commodities right now so let us seek to replenish them properly and productively. 

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Yitzy, we hope and pray that you are now in a perpetual beautiful world with only goodness and shared joy. Remember us down here, for we are in need of those things. Desperately so.   Meanwhile, Shana Tova, my sweet little boy, A blessed privilege to have you as my grandson, though way too short in this world. So much better to hug our real boy than merely remember only - that grin, that goodness, that joy and purity.  

Once, there was a Yitzy, real, physical, and now-now, the tears still well up, and your matzevah, the monument, reminds us of what we have lost.

Once, there was a Yitzy, real, loved and beloved.

Once.

Deep within our very souls -

Always and forever. Always and forever.  

SHALL WE? WILL WE? CAN WE?

 The most recent posting here laid out thoughts in language open and clearly pulling no punches. But there is more to it than that. Social niceties are wonderful and generally keep the pot from boiling over, at least too many times. However, there are times one must use the steam of that pot to clear one's head, smell that coffee and face reality as it is rather than as what we would rather imagine it to be. Only via realistic thinking along with more hopeful plans and possibilities, can we achieve at least a modicum of success. Only with persistence can we overcome resistance and denial.

For a while, and still, there are many among us who fear for the literal continued existence of Israel, certainly in any realistically viable format. It is spoken of in whispered conversations, almost with an overtone of shame that one could think and give voice to such thoughts. We worry that speaking it aloud will bring it about. There are too many ways to bring such a terrifying picture to fruition, especially should the nations of the world actually come out with open endemic antisemitism   and desert Israel in the false name of "Humanity and Justice", invoking the language of the liars to justify, as if, their moral turpitude and crooked, blackened souls. 

Throughout history the population of the world has generally preferred Jews to remain in subordinate position. A few examples should be available to discount claims of prejudice and smooth sailing ahead. But not so. Manifestly not so any longer. Israel had the nerve, the traditional chutzpah, which enabled it to live and even to thrive over the millennia. Time and again it has come from behind, from eras of severe persecution and plans of extermination, local and world Jewry within those plans. Jews in general and Israel in particular, have survived, overcome and even thrived.

 Unfortunately, with the good has come evil and the scourge of ramped up JewHatred. Personally, and many agree, I believe this reality is the planned result and motivation of a campaign of hate and calls for death, fronted, backed by Iran in its maniacal hatred for Jews and demands to literally finish Hitler's plans. Their cash has enabled this campaign, the tweaking of plans, the distribution of supplies, advice and commands, and the ensnaring of the deluded, the pathetic and the evil. In fact, an almost permanent source of replenishment of the ranks. 

Perhaps the one positive outcome of this nastiness is the uncovering of the planted professors and 'students' who encouraged and coaxed and coddled as necessary - and here is today's reality.  Administrators were, are, either acquiescent willingly or had the wool pulled over their eyes or were simply hoodwinked and certainly dumb, dangerously so, and lacking in the fulfillment of their responsibility towards truth and all students. Certainly, a clear following of the threads was absent, perhaps willfully so. The self-denial and   accompanying obfuscation continue unabated with plans for salt in the wound hate filled demonstrations on the day of Horror - Oct7.

Shaking your head now and tsk tsking my thoughts? Think again. No, paranoid maybe, but for a reason. As the various heads of Medusa were   eliminated, Iran now turns to its favorite pack of dog of war - Unit 910, the Black Unit, the Shadow Unit, with a repertoire of ugliness and blood- 

" ...high-profile attacks, including the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992 and the Jewish community center in Argentina in 1994. In 2012, it carried out a suicide bombing on a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Burgas, Bulgaria.

The unit has maintained strict secrecy in its operations, relying on local Shiite networks and criminal organizations worldwide. Operatives, who have undergone rigorous security training and have often held foreign citizenships, have operated under civilian cover and exploited connections with Hezbollah supporters and foreign governments for logistical and operational purposes. "

Paranoid, yes, but there it is. Not imagination. Fact. 

And yet, Israel goes on, perseveres, refusing to cede or rollover. Its life or death is not left to those who care not a whit for righteousness or historical truth and imperatives, but rather only for political advantage. To think otherwise is to partake of the juice of denial and suicidal future. 

So -shall we, will we, can we? Do what? Dance. Again. With joy and trust and faith. With hope. With courage. My answer -Yes, resounding YES! The horror of Nova, of blood-soaked streets of communities of Israel, always to be remembered, mourned, the horrendous captivity of our hostages - we have received a painful reminder of where we have gone wrong. We forgot alertness, buying into a false pride. We disbelieved our eyes and ears, and tragedy resulted. Once again Israel, Jews paid dearly for errors of judgment-and the world-well, look around and see where it is and where it should be. 

We reveled in our own pool of arrogance and forgot the One Above. We ignored the past, ruined the present and gravely imperiled the future. The young, the elderly, the innocent died for our errors even as we enabled the hate of our enemies to grow in power and effect. 

But - none of that excuses the enemy and its atrocities and its hate. None. Nothing.    

The people of Israel spontaneously danced and sang as news spread. An enemy gone down. And we will continue to dance, in the streets, in the synagogues, in future Novas. We will dance and sing and rejoice - if we internalize the lessons of this awful ear. If we take them to heart and keep them alive. Be alert, remember who we are, where we were, and NOW. Be ourselves in the best way possible. Stop the public demeaning and weakening disputes. The word must see us united, a family unbreakable, inseparable, strong and firm. To do less is to do damage to our very selves.

Yes, dance again we will, with faith and renewed hope. So we have been told and so we have believed, been assured. 

In the words of Yeshayahu, Isaiah - 

"The people who walked in darkness, have seen a great light." 

Amen, v'amen.

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PLEASE CONSIDER YOURSELVES WARNED

Today all gloves are off. All euphemisms discarded. Pedal to the metal day. Possibly language some might find offensive but then again, much of what I write about today, and in fact, for many days, is extremely offensive to me. and to millions of others. Hence the warning. Some might be offended or have a trigger reaction from a sensitive point. If you are afraid - stop reading. If you want the plain unvarnished truth, keep on reading and give it to others to read as well. No more polite veneer. 

Time to tell the truth. What is going on? What must be addressed? The shameful truth regarding this. The quisling Jews who march with the enemy. Yes. The enemy. When someone wishes to see you dead, like it or not, politically correct or not, acknowledge it and speak openly about it or not, hide one's head in the sand or not, speaking clearly and openly or not- Time for truth, the plain unvarnished possibly offensive truth. If probed or irritated, well so be it. Perhaps if the Jews of the world, any righteous person of the world, during the years between 1933 to 1945 even beyond, even unto today had believed the unbelievable, we might never have had to discuss that ugly phenomenon known as The Holocaust.  

Too little, too late and millions were brutally slaughtered. Thinking that the same impetus towards violence, the same damned acidic Hate is gone, banished, vanquished, exiled, from this world - well, think again. It. Is. Not. In fact, it is in a state of rampant growth, revitalization, rehabilitation, an accepted part of society, even a recommended activity.  In your face chants and signs for the destruction of any and all Jews beginning with.   the Jews of Israel and denial of that state and then onward Christain soldier, those who have partaken. deeply of the juice of hate, even as it drips from the mouth of one who, along with his followers, has pulled the wool over too many eyes. World Jewry then becomes the openly stated target.  

People, the world. is **** **** There is no denying it. There is no disguising it. Once again, this hatred which cannot and should not be combined with any other prejudices is alive and well. Worse, its blight has spread, bringing a twisted interpretation of religious or spiritual warfare to the fore.  “If God is already on your side theologically, it’s not a far leap to say he should be on your side politically. " His blatant laying blame on Jews if he loses is thus: “Trump doubled down on his longstanding pattern of scapegoating Jews,”   “Make no mistake: This is a clear and flagrant instruction to his fanatical base of extremists to target Jews with retributive violence if he should lose.”   

It is ever ongoing. If we turn our heads away from the truth, if we deny what our eyes see and our ears hear, we are merely becoming complicit in our own destruction. And that is the truth. It can't happen here, you say. But it already is. Look around. See the reality. See and understand the damage done to the battle against Anti Semitism, JewHatred, when   conflated with others, most specifically with Islamophobia. It sidelines the truth, import and gravity of antisemitism, belittles and sidelines it. At the same time, it validates those mobs, as if they have a righteous cause as they too are ostensibly combating a prejudice. That prejudice, its incidents, can be counted on your toes and fingers and still have leftovers.  Hidden within the disguising voices is the truth. Antisemitism is alive and well, powerful, strident and already has shed blood in its cause.

A Jew is one who acknowledges a connection to Jewishness or Judaism. It is not a matter of observance, a matter of rites, but rather a matter of the soul. It is a matter of acknowledgement that even if one does not feel that piece of connection, others will be very, very happy to remind you of it. Those Jews who stand, and march and chant and call for their own deaths along with the people who want them there, to flaunt them, are most dangerous fools. There is nothing redeeming about them. Be they morons or have other intentions, to disappear themselves into the mobs and thus be "safe" - they will fail, and they deserve to fail. And there is no mercy for them. None at all. They deserve none. 

Who is an epitome of such a Jew? Bernie Sanders. He is currently a piece of trash. He never ignores a circumstance where and when he can now go off against Israel and portray himself as a “neutral statesman” That is most definitely not what he is, for he is a traitor to all who came before him, to that chain of the millennia, as he acquiesces in his own negation. He calls for sanctions of Israel, for denying it arms to defend itself. When the last bullet is gone, when the last stone is thrown what will he then say? Gee, I never thought this would happen. He is a damn fool. He needs to be retired. He has joined the ranks of the too numerous aged heads in politics bereft of the power of clear thought. 

Nor is being a Jew merely doing good, for so we are enjoined. Yes, we should all do good, and we should do it for all people. However, like it or not our brethren, your brothers and sisters, deserve to be first online for your help. There are many instances where people stood aside because they were not involved or so they thought only to find themselves well invested in the ugliness of it all. If we do not stand up for ourselves, we cannot stand up for others. And in fact, anything we do for others will be dismissed as an aberration. 

The acuity of our peril in the world of today is sharp and cuts deep. Print media, the airwaves, are filled with articles about antisemitism on the campus. Threats to synagogues and Jewish institutions worldwide. Threats to Jewish individuals. The hate is blinding and pervasive. It cannot be denied, try as one might. The goal of supporters of the murdering terrorists of Hamas as they demand to hold blasphemous demonstrations on Oct7 at the University of Maryland where there are in fact many Jews attending, to stain, to defile the memory of those martyrs killed, slaughtered, burned, beheaded, raped on October 7, terming it righteous and deserving of repetition, NO! this is not right. This is not freedom of speech. This is marching down the Main Street in any Jewish neighborhood calling for their removal and terming it holy. It is not free speech. It is hate speech with a clear intent of insult, lies, and violence.   

When Bret Stephens and Thomas Friedman merge in opinion pieces, desperately worried about the future of the state of Israel, this is a matter of great concern. While I barely ever agree with Thomas Friedman and often agree with Brett Stephens who should be President, I do agree with their despair, with their concern. Will Israel survive? How should it do it? Will the world allow it to do what it must? Will there in fact be a future for the land of Israel. and for the people, the nation. Their fears are echoed within many.  Why is Israel denied the right to fight for itself, to defend itself, and quite frankly, why must it always have to do such? Any other nation in such a position would not be asked, will not be encouraged, even demanded of, to give in to those demands of existential deep peril. 

 What would you do? The answer is you fight. The answer is you defend yourself. The answer is you ensure there is no repetition. Screw the world, I say. Find new paths to create our own provisions for our own defense. Demand. demand recognition. as a nation with its own integrity. Force an agreement that we have a right to have a Jewish nation, even as there are Muslim nations, even Christians and Catholic ones. Screw all of you out there who for your own purposes, your own self-denial, choose not to see truth. Or see truth through a distorted mirror.    Unable to recognize it and know the truth. The truth that we have known throughout the ages is that while. there are always those of the righteous bent, they are fewer than those who wish us harm. For every Zola there is a Trump, a Sanders, a Tlaib. We first and foremost must stand for ourselves. There are too few people joining our shield walls. WE are the ones who must be "good for the Jews". We must be better with public relations and with dispensing of truths.  We must walk together, for if we do not, we will be picked off in single manner. We must all get on board the same boat.  NOW! We must not be part of our own destruction.     Do not be part of our own destruction. Your own demise.  

 

THE NEW PANDEMIC AND NOT A VACCINE IN SIGHT

This is a most serious pandemic. In fact, it has appeared and reappeared numerous times throughout the history of mankind. It is seemingly impervious to any and all attempts to cure it and to prevent its return. What is this pandemic? It is that fearsome foot in mouth disease. There is no area on this earth immune to it. Its favorite targets are those who are most susceptible to it. Who? Those who are great men and/or women - though only in their own minds. 

Is it possible to recognize and isolate these disease carriers? Perhaps, but for that to happen we must grow better at seeing through the disguises hiding the rather ugly protruding feet from the mouths of dangerously foolish prattling mouths. They practice well to ensure smooth, wise appearing opinions reached after a great deal of pondering. All the better to sound wise. Unfortunately, that "wisdom" is paper thin and worse than useless for it leads people down wrong paths, through hedges and nettles guaranteeing fiercely painful wounds and blocked lines of clear sight. 

Some patently obvious examples? Not a problem. A dime a dozen. Let us begin with the Queen of Jordan. She spouts words about the “oppression.” by Israel as she ranted erroneously re a thirty-year occupation of Gaza. Whoops. There are those hooves again. Israel withdrew unilaterally. in 2005 from Gaza, leaving behind a beautifully functioning economy. A prosperous fruit and vegetable production shipped all over the world. Homes, buildings, villages, all intact. In the blink of an eye  all these structures were destroyed. And the big shots of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority built their own huge homes along the seashore. The green houses, the crops were destroyed and or plowed under. Attacked by their own selves, their own brothers the PA was driven out of Gaza. Banging on the doors of the borders for Israel for safety and refuge. As those with murderous intent were right behind, blood in their eye. Hamas democratically elected took a great lesson from Hitler, using that election to cancel any vestige of democracy and completely took over the government of Gaza. Who was the oppressor here? Ah, Queenie, any answer? Ah, no, you can't speak around that hoof, can you?

Let us turn to the United States, to Canada, to France, to Qatar, to Britain, to any nation, for all seem to have rather boldly and impertinently declared themselves partners, perhaps the managing partners, of Israel as it carries out its existential battles with multiple enemies, its self-defense responsibility and its holy mission to retrieve our battered and murdered hostages remaining in captivity within the dank tunnels of the beasts of Hamas.  Evidently the self-declared managing partners know better than Israel what is best for Israel. Or so they think. And so they demand. And so they blackmail. And so they carelessly toss away more Jewish lives.   

In aggrieved behavior and speech, they reprove Israel for the conduct of their self-defense. For sure there is the right to defend herself, but we must have absolutely zero collateral damage. Oh, never mind the calls, the leaflets, the "knocking", the myriad warnings to leave the areas. Convenient and 'heartwarming' as Israel warns civilians and the enemy terrorists as to the military plans. A great sacrifice - and tossed aside by those managing partners. Even as proof of the military rightness of the targets is proven. Fight the battles where there are no enemies, for their enemies are hiding amongst the civilians. Discount the destruction of Israeli infrastructure and the deaths and woundings of so many of her citizens. Right to defend indeed! 

Stifled by those feet in those mouths is the recollection of the failed diplomatic solutions to the constant warfare waged against Israel Time after time, these arranged ceasefires have fallen by the wayside. Until 6:30 AM on October 7th there was a "permanent” ceasefire with Gaza and Hamas. A ceasefire arranged with Hezbollah, many years ago, was that they stayed behind the Litani River, unable to do what they are doing to the civilians of Israel, right on the other side of the border. Totally violated. Useless, less than useless. Why would a diplomatic solution at this point be expected to do any better? Even as Hamas and Hezbollah claim to be victim and victor at the same time. Convenient.

This blindness and obstinacy are horrific results of foot in mouth disease. They do not go away. They don't change. They are petrified in their uselessness. And yet those managing partners persist in the same old, same old. Why not? Much easier to talk and to target an arrow for the anti Semites of the world. How else should we describe the refusal of most American media streams to allow the presentation of We Will Dance Again, the reality of the Nova Massacre on Oct7 and its reverberating echoes of ever ongoing horror.  It is on Paramount, even as all other American media, streaming and general, refused it as "too political".  Killing, slaughter, brutality, not important if it involves Israelis. It might offend some!  Britain condescended to allow it but verboten to refer to the Hamas terrorists as terrorists. Better we should lie, right!! Watch it on Paramount.  And believe-we will dance again.  

Do not think that we suffer foot in mouth disease only re the situation in the Middle East. There are many situations right here in the good old USA. Violence is called protected. Consequences are abandoned, negated, discounted, and amount to zero. The inmates are running the asylum and demand to run the outside as well. Laws must be enacted to stop the epidemic of public officials on every level taking bribes or "gratuities” a thinly disguised bribe. Clarence Thomas has accepted millions of dollars in these 'gratuities' and so have others on the bench even as they blatantly violate ethics that first year law school students know, can define and recognize. Official after official in every level of government are arrested and indicted, as they betrayed the trust of the people. What else can we expect as the once very head of this nation's government has been indicted, is a convicted felon, and incited a full-blown rebellion so as to overthrow the government. Such are the examples that we present our young and such is a result of foot in mouth disease when righteous talk cannot emerge from overstuffed mouths.  Our thoughts are cloudy as oxygen cannot fully perfuse our brain cells, blocked at the mouth by that perennial hoof. 

It is incumbent upon us to find some vaccine for this disease. If not opposed, actively combatted, it tends to spread toxicity and lies in equal volume. Looking ahead one does not perceive a rosy picture Perhaps if we try hard to find the proper artists with mouths unblocked and brain cells fully oxygenated, capable of wielding proper brushes and quality paints we can redraw the future.  

We must try. 

 

FOR TWO CENTS PLAIN

  Before my time and into my time, I guess, since my generation knows the expression used as the title of this posting. It originated with asking for plain seltzer at the cost of two cents. Nothing fancy. Just plain old, aerated water. The best seltzer? The premium ones? Those delivered to your home, shlepped by the seltzer man to your kitchen in heavy glass bottles - a treat in almost every Jewish home. It morphed into a euphemism for plain talk, momma lashon, straight from the heart. No side trips, no evasion. Only, as Jack Webb would say, "Just the facts. Ma'am." 

Today, the entire sense of the expression is lost. Yes, there is still a seltzer man who will deliver, but it is not with the equivalent cost of $0.02 plain. However, that is of little matter at this point in the face of the larger concerns. There is no more mamma lashon in these days. People speak out of 10 sides of their mouths at one and the same time along with the expressions emerging from their rears. Barely any nuggets of truth are contained within the bombastic flood of trash flowing from the mouths of forked split tongues. The rare bits of truth are found only after multiple siftings to separate the wheat from the chaff, if in fact there are any. 

So - plain talk, frank talk, which some need to read and understand the true situation of the day. I hate being the voice of Cassandra, the bearer of bad news. However, when the truth is there in plain sight, a two-cent plain presentation, no amount of denial can erase it. That kind of thought is magical thinking appropriate only for those of toddler age. Certainly not for adults, especially for those seeking plain, unvarnished truths. 

Today we often are schizophrenic in our quest to live a sane life, to function properly in whatever role we have chosen or have been bequeathed upon us by circumstances of life. Even as we make plans for a future, we contest that thought with back of the brain thoughts, of a negation of those plans, a disappearance of that hopeful future. A very fragile world, teetering on the brink of disaster, forces its way into our mind and breaches the walls of denial. World circumstances are such that we are forced, against our will, to actually contemplate the unthinkable. The horror that might actually become fact rather than fodder of literature or the pondering of philosophers. Reluctantly, even secretly, our thoughts turn to another path. 

'What ifs' proliferate.? What if nations in the world refuse to stop playing games of deadly chicken?  What if we shred and discard that rather feeble blanket of camouflage over the truth of our current circumstances and the possibilities that arise from that. What if we fail to truly understand the consequences of a Worldwide War. No more proxy wars. The armies of the foes would not be only crowds of warriors shouting and running with shields and staves and spears or their equivalents. We would have that, but we would also have those people pushing buttons, sending out orders, employing A.I. to 'enhance' the factors of disruption and death. Giving rise to a desolate planet incapable of supporting life as we know it - or even any at all.

There are other possibilities to contemplate. What if the populations of the world are frightened enough to turn to dictators who promise salvation but add only misery to the equation. Would that be an acceptable future? What if women were sentenced to a Taliban like existence? How would sanity be possible? What if a repressive despised government seeks a scapegoat to be used as a deflection, to channel the wrath, the anger, the desperation of the population elsewhere other than that government and its leaders. 

That initial target will be depleted. However, the need for targets remains. The search for more is not difficult, for humans have the ability to designate someone as the 'other' within their society. Those others become the next targets and the next and the next and the next until the only target left is the man in the mirror. We are the bearers of our own destruction. 

Think not that the vitriolic JewHatred now growing so rapidly in the world is the end number in the atonal symphony of hate.  If no Jews exist in that country, nation, any entity, there will be found "Jews" of other origin. Tibetans who support independence and the Dalai Lama. The albinos of Nigeria. The Hazaris. The Haitians and Mexicans in America. The “migrant” who needs to be “sent back.” The need for a target is ever. The bloodlust, the anger, need targets other than the elite of government. But once again, always again it will ramp up. Until we understand that truth and figure. out how to deal with it, to vigorously and victoriously combat it, we will never achieve what humanity is capable of achieving and will be judged by future historians as lacking in character and most redeeming factors and traits, inherent and possible within humanity.  

As a Jew it is incumbent upon me to point out why I, along with so many others are frightened. The entire issue now demands addressing it beyond the rather impotent level of banging on doors, of shouting, calling for ears to listen and eyes to see.  We have begun to believe that far more proactive and firmer reactive responses and behavior is necessary. When Starmer calls our kidnapped hostages - “sausages”, well, I want to haul off and hit him.  When the horror, the massacre, the gang rapes, the burning alive of people, children, of October 7 is excused, my blood boils. When Hamas and Hezbollah hide among civilians and Israel telegraphs its plans so as to limit civilian casualties, why is Israel blamed for the results of the behavior, the criminal behavior, of those two terrorist organizations? In fact, why the hell are they termed militants when they are so obviously terrorists? When campuses of our nation are rife with JewHatred, where hate filled professors are reinstalled in the classrooms all the better to spread their lies. When violations of the law and violence abound. When consequences were set aside. When Jewish students are harassed and insulted, called vile names and hear calls and chants for their demise along with the state of Israel. When they are physically assaulted. These are the times when our collective antenna should be upright and quivering. 

Universities spout words of concern amounting to nothing. They carry very little weight, if any at all. It is time we realize we are past the time of these committees, these empty promises and assurances, of their useless verbiage and lack of decisive meaningful consequential action. When the haters are bold enough to accuse an attorney of the government of bias, filing a charge because she is Jewish, that is not a good indication for the future nor for the present.     

We cannot remain silent in the face of all that is now taking place. We must stand together. We must stand up, and we must stand tall. We must carry the fist. Even as we try to avoid its use. However, bullies must know the power of those who oppose them. There must be consequences for the bully for then and only then, will they back down. The more entitled and justified the world deems these terrorists, the more emboldened they are. The more we must send out the truth necessary to be heard and internalized. We must do it for there are few who will do it with us.   The smaller the chances  for the future we all desire.  

We must stand together. We must be united. We must have powerful voices and strong fists to be used only when there was no alternative, but it must be front and center for its potentialities are well recognized by the haters. The fist is most definitely better than a batch of feeble twigs.      

Our hostages must come home. The world must admit the truth. Who began this war. Who set up the parameters? Who now calls for succor because they are in existential danger. Who must realize the intensity and the determination of Israel as it fights for its survival. They must admit the horror of the wrong of October 7 and end their propensity for threatening yet another and another and another.

Making peace would be difficult though it is not impossible. What we need are sincere negotiations. We need truthful talk rather than bravado. Once we recognize our shared humanity, the shared dreams we all have for our future and the future of our family, perhaps then we might actually arrive at some subtle agreement. But never ever will Israel acquiesce to its own destruction.  

Truly tough times.  An insoluble problem which. must be resolved. Violence only begets violence. But if we are hit, we must hit back. There is no alternative to that. However, we need to find a way to set aside the threats, the violence, the anger, the hate, and understand that if we cannot make peace, we will together make war, so bloody awful and serving no good purpose. A viable solution is there merely in hiding now and we must seek and find.

First and foremost, we must wake up and truly understand the importance of an agreement and cessation of war. A return to homes long denied and a rebuilding of those destroyed. A more united community, hopeful for the future.  

There is no other way.

And in the meanwhile, Israel does not cede its right to exist in its ancient homeland. We all share the same original Bible. Within that Bible is the promise of the Lord.  Who are we that we defy the most powerful Being? We must find a better and safer way to peace, The Big Boss demands that we do just that.

Two cents plain.

THE PARADOX OF TIME AND ANNIVERSARIES TOO!

A paradox is a situation or statement or event that seemingly cannot exist at the same time, self-contradictory. Yet there are many such paradoxical moments. So how to explain? Some explanations wander into the realm of "get me out of here" territory replete with advanced gobbledygook of scientific, mathematical and philosophical arenas. Those are best left to the experts of those fields. However, there is a paradox which contains at least one aspect which takes place often, even several times a day. It cannot be, yet it is, so how to explain it?

Beats me. All I know is that it does exist, and we have all undergone it multiple times throughout our lives, whether we like it or not. That paradox is one of Time. Two people standing in the same room at the same moment in the same universe experiencing the same event even as one feels the wings of Time beating frantically alongside, all the while the other feels the drag of heavy weights forcing Time to slow down. One will complete the experience with a good feeling while the other finishes it in a condition known as “wet dish rag”. 

It seems impossible, for Time is a measurable quantity. It can be measured exactly. Well, yes and no, for another value enters the fray, and that is the idea of relative assessment or relationship. How is that experience relevant to the person? That relevance will take the same 10 minutes and at one and the same time it is both a forever moment and a fleeting moment, experienced so differently that one could question what just happened. The clearly observable start and finish of the event was of almost negligible import.

Here is an example of such a contradictory time.  The time involved was, is, measurable, quantifiable, yet those who lived those Time parameters felt its passing quite differently. At one and the same moment. In a larger comparison body, events are more likely to have been different, thus affecting the relativeness of the passage of time, but still and all it was the same measurement of time.

57 years. 1967 to 2024. Years of bliss and anguish. Years which flew by and years which dragged. Those 57 years are my particular bubble in Time. My bubble was contained within the larger bubble or sphere of worldwide experiences during the same expanse of time. As compared to history, 57 years is not even worthy of a blink. However, for me, for Gerry - it is a lifetime, fleeting yet slow, depending upon the moment. Looking back perhaps there were some moments that we would have easily changed, such as a dangerous situation for a child, or a diagnosis. During those times, it was both fleeting and slow as a stream of molasses. However, even those moments contributed to the world of those 57 years, and one cannot easily discard any content of that bubble, for then it would have been a different experiencing of Time contained within those 57 years. 

57 years of marriage after 5 years of meeting each other in high school, getting to know each other, growing with each other. Looking back into the past I see myself on the day of the wedding. Getting my hair done. Then going home to open my books and complete an assignment for the new sophomore year of college. Not getting too much done, I finally decided it was time to make the final preparations. Get dressed, tweak it here and there, admire the tiara, and worry if all would be OK. No unseen mishaps. And then, even as the day dragged on, awaiting the moments to come, it paradoxically passed by in a flash.

I do remember vividly the 12 minutes of transportation from home to synagogue and catering hall. It was so quick. No sooner had I shut the door then the door was opened. And out came the bride. Me. What was I doing? Just 19 years old, Gerry just 21. What did we know of life, of the responsibilities, of the necessity to grow together? The risk of growing separately, apart. How does one mesh life so intimately, so interlocked with another, yet retain one's individuality. All these questions ran through my mind during that interminably long passage from home to wedding site. If we truly, as Jim Croce sings, can save time in a bottle what would I have saved? And what would I have discarded? Or would I value it all? In that paradoxical moment, of a long, long moment, Time ran swiftly by.

Looking back, I believe I would have kept it all. I now know the answers to my questions and the answers are good. Very good. Gerry and I are both one and the same, yet different. Over the years we have often switched roles, allowing one person to be foremost in sight and at other times, changing those positions. Always supportive of each other. We have raised three beautiful children who are contributing to the world, who epitomize the mitzvah of Tikkun Olam, to mend the world. To aid those in need. Yes, there were moments and times I wondered where these changelings had come from -moments of long and short duration, serious and comical, the long and the short of it all.

Both successful in our careers, we did so with the shoulders of the other, always there, always strong for each other. We helped each other -sometimes whether we wanted that help or not. Now those were the moments long indeed! But paradoxically, they too, went by swiftly and were of no account in that long and short haul.  Of course, all those contradictory moments paid off as we welcomed all the dividends and now the interest on the dividends - grandchildren and great grandchildren, a blessing immeasurable. That is the richness of the moments of life and the blessings of Time. So long yet so short.

The past year the tragic, awful never should have happened. Our sweet boy, Yitzy, was taken from us. It is a moment ever ongoing. Never to end. We wouldn't even know how to find that end of the moment. Yet the moments of his life were so tragically fleeting, way too fast. 

Recent news has increased the complexities of life. Some can be and were helped. Others not so much. Fewer expectations and life plans undergoing much revision. Long and short, slow and fast, at the same time. Dreams, for one must always have dreams, shared dreams. The moments, the time, the discussions long time ongoing and at the end of it all, so short in time to make that decision. Once the decision was made it seemed we had long moments to fulfill it. But those long moments were so fleeting that the moment of fruition is just about upon us. A dream of 57years - to make Aliyah.  

That was the dream, is the dream. To make Aliyah, “going. up” to live in Israel. To our property in Israel, to be part and parcel mentally, emotionally, and physically. Fulfilling the dream of our parents as well. How the years have flown yet dragged until we have reached this moment, this life changing event, albeit only part time. At least one off the bucket list. It is an adventure which we approach with glee, excitement and much trepidation.

57 years. A true partner. A true best friend. One who enabled me to understand. the best of life. And how to get through the worst of it. One with whom we lived together in love and with love. A long time. 57 years. But so short in time. So much left   to do, to feel, to think, to live. We hope and pray that we leave behind a legacy, a shared one, transmitted to the children from both Ima and Abba. We hope, even as we semi joke, to land in a soft landing on the other side of life. ETA's unknown, we hope they are long in coming but fleeting in joy and fulfillment. In the meanwhile, we are looking forward to 58 and 59 and 60, all that God grants us and to the troubled world. 

Love you. 

Happy Anniversary.

Now - where is my present!!

AT THE END OF THE DAY

  While one is in the midst of a day's activity, there's no time to think, to assess, with any kind of true long-term planning and assessment. The pace, particularly at times of war or semi war, is too fast, even too frantic to allow for calm thinking and rethinking. One must reckon with the immediate facts on the ground and the time for real longer planning must wait till the end of the day. 

 That day's ending isn't necessarily on 24-hour cycles; hence, the impatience, the recklessness, of the battlefield along with those not on the active battlefield who have a different viewpoint. The 'end of the day' conference must allow for a difference in perception, assessment, planning for future end of the day realities. There must be a point where there is a true interfacing of facts, hopes and dreams.

I am not a general. I never had any wish to be one. Such responsibilities would weigh too heavily upon my shoulders. Perhaps that is cowardly, but that is a fact. Therefore, I know my place in the context of war. However, I do know that waging war is best when it actually arises from a need, a desire, to wage peace. Most unhappily, waging peace has become a nonentity within the context of Jew vs Rest of World. The battlefields vary in number, sizes, location and format. The timing and manifestations are also different, as the beginning of it all is lost in the fog of time and there is no visual sighting of an ending. 

There is no valid reason, no excuse, for anyone to deny blatant truth. One side resonates with shouts of bloodthirsty intent and blood curdling threats, rapidly turning to physical violence. Screams and threats. Chanting phrases of Hate. "From the river to the sea." "By any means necessary."   Dehumanization. Anti-Zionism to anti-Israel in any existence to antisemitism to maniacal JewHatred. Open support of murderers who invade and burn and kill, from babies to the elderly. From the wounded to the ill. A ghoulish enemy which drags off the dead to be used as weapons of war. A nation fighting for its life, for the lives of her citizens, be they Arab, Jew, Moslem, Christian, Bedouin or Druze. A nation in torment, racked with grief.  A dialog of any consequence?

Israel's President Herzog, in an interview Sunday with an openly hostile interviewer, held his own quite well and stated truths denied and denounced by a world now busily engaged in hampering Israel's ability to withstand invasion, multifaceted attacks, multiple missile attacks generally intended to hit civilians. Between the bestiality of Hamas and the ugliness of Hezbollah, Israel has evacuated north and south to ensure the safety of her population.  And the world? Shtum lashon! Silent! A silence so deep it resounds. Apparently, the deaths and wounded of Israelis nor its infrastructure are insignificant, barely worth a mention. 

 Here are his words in response to a question as to why Israel is trying to escalate the situation into a full-blown war.

 " Life has been shattered in our northern border. I don't think any American would have accepted it as a kind of a status quo situation in the United States. And at the end, there are things that must be done. The duty of a government or a nation is to take care of its citizens and bring them back home. And don't forget, it's 252 days- 352 days, sorry. 352 days, two weeks short of one year since our hostages were taken. We have 101 hostages in the dungeons in Gaza already waiting and waiting and we are pleading for them.  This is jihadism at its best, and that's what we are fighting. And I wish, truly, and I say it as the President of Israel officially, and I say it outright, because I know we don't want war, but if it's waged against us, we go all the way."

Danny Danon said it more succinctly but equally as well.  “The days when Jews are massacred with no consequences are over.”  

Amen to that.  

 Hillary Clinton outdid herself in her interview with Fareed Zakaria. It behooves all to find it and to listen to it. Would that she had been elected instead   of that monstrously dangerous man who persists in his antisemitism wherein he reiterates that tired meme of how Jews are the cause of it all. Had she been president then and today I believe this current ongoing horror would never have been, so many lives gone. What a difference it would have made. She was totally -TOTALLY - right on the mark.     She says near the end how when it is all "unpacked" the truth will be obvious. Powerful interview. 

This ugliness has developed a life of its own and unfortunately has sunk its claws into the educational system of this nation. I don't quite understand how or why this has happened, with teachers bringing their anti-Semitic tropes and memes and personal feelings into the classroom. But it has. That is a fact. At least the Portland education system is combating it and hopefully others will do the same, including the educational systems of New York City and environs.    

How have we hit this depth of hate, actually challenging the levels of hate and Hell put forth by Dante. We have allowed it by ignorance, by the shrug of shoulders, by indifference, and by purposeful intended barbs and deeds of hate. We have forgotten the lessons of history or in fact, absorbed them and behave accordingly in a negative manner. In any case, at the end of the day we are combating thousands of sparks threatening to set the world afire. We must be aware. We must be alert. We must be proactive, not merrily reactive.  

At the end of the day where will you stand? Where will I stand? In fact, who will be standing at all?

Time to unpack. Time to meet and greet the end of the day and ensure a better dawning of the day tomorrow.  

        

REALITY CHECK

 I wonder, increasingly so, whether people are actually attuned to reality or have they shut down that approach and chosen the 'wanna' be', creating a world where nothing is as it truly is. Denial rules the day and an entire world of make believe ensues, much to the detriment of all. It is a case of grownups returning to the childhood realm of invisible friends, though with much greater negativity and resultants.

Unfortunately, we're all forced to grow up and too often come face to face with situations we would much prefer to deny. Once again, unfortunately, life doesn't work that way. A problem ignored, hidden, or approached halfheartedly generally comes back to bite us multiple times in our rear or anywhere else it desires. Wishes do not make the bad go away nor does closing one's eyes. The longer we delay, the deeper, wider, more complex the problem and solution grow.

 For almost a decade now I have been spitting into the wind trying to get the attention of those who do not want their attention gathered. The reality of Trump is minimized and sadly, even tragically, people who know better continue to commit their vote for Trump, the same man of no morals, whose character traits are just about perfect in the negative, who lies through his teeth and would not recognize the truth if it walked up and smacked him silly. Why? They admit they detest him, so why? 

They have chosen to believe in one thing he promised and desperately hope under threatening circumstances that he will continue to do so. Even though there's barely anything that he promises that are realized other than the divisive harsh words of his threats, tax cuts for the wealthy, contempt for and of women and negation of their inherent rights, and challenges to the Constitution of this nation, its very gestalt as an idea and a dream. In fact, basically the one thing he has actually achieved is to engender chaos, an inability to govern in the legislative branch, rampant corruption in the judicial system of this nation, including the Supreme Court and an urged, demanded overreaching of presumed powers of the executive branch. All adding up to, contributing to the vitriolic toxicity of American society today.

Certainly, no sane decent person should or would actually endorse this man and his ugly philosophy of life. However, there is one group of people under extreme pressure right now as mistakes of history repeat. The frightening reality is that it is due to one positive promise he made and kept, to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, where it   belongs. Other presidents promised, but never kept that promise. He did and thus, many Jews believe he will stand by Israel even as others flee or stand aside, or even take an active contributing role in yet another slaughter of Jews. 

 Kudos to him for that. However, the man is so erratic that he could just as easily get up one morning if elected, G-d forbid, and decide he hates Jews, blames them for any and all of his political problems, and consequently shuts down the embassy and puts it back in Tel Aviv. He is just the man who cannot be trusted, whose favorite activity   is to throw whomever he detests, the victim of the   day, under the wheels of that ever-present bus. A fact always at risk of a moody unbalanced man.

One worrisome fact is quickly followed by another. One of the biggest items on his agenda should he be placed back in office is the negation of the Constitution, its amendments, the very basis of America, its soul. Project 2025 lays it all out, but we need not delve within, for he damns himself in his own words. Here are a few analyses of his nefarious plans, made by those who know whereof they speak.

“Donald Trump is making many public threats to use the legal system to punish his enemies, which seems to be anyone who opposes him,” (said the former deputy attorney general) “This conduct is utterly without precedent in campaign history, threatens all of our freedoms, and violates our basic rule of law.”

“Trump’s escalating threats to pervert the criminal justice system need to be taken seriously,” (said the former justice department inspector general) “We have never had a presidential candidate state as one of his central goals mobilizing the levers of justice to punish enemies and reward friends. No one has ever been brazen enough to campaign on an agenda of retribution and retaliation.”

I have been shouting about this plan of his for years; perhaps now, empowered by the voices of the knowledgeable, people will finally internalize the danger he poses to this nation in particular and to the world in general. He, his plans, his “base” have an agenda we had better take to heart and understand and take very seriously the future he envisions -an Amerika rather than America. Arrest. Imprison. Deport. Disappear. Whatever works. Any perceived opponent, real or not. For whatever. It is one point on which he remains consistent. To ignore it is to enable it. Complicitly or implicitly.

The governing of a nation demands people with at least a modicum of intelligence, common sense, and a working model of positive morality. That is not embodied within Vance who boasts he tells lies for political gain. He is not worthy of any official role. Not even that of dog catcher. Nor can we ignore words of violence spewing forth from the twisted mouths of both Republican and Democratic parties, and from both extremes - right and left.    All drink from the same contaminated pool of Hate.

When our reality includes an increased budget for arming campus police, when students sue for what should be a given - their safety on campus and equal treatment on campus, well, there's something wrong, not in Shakespeare's Denmark, but with the state of the United States of America. Simply put, we have lost our way. I am not even sure if at this point, we can re-locate it and walk upon it firmly, positively, in determined motivation to fix this nation. To return it to what it should be, was always meant to be. A nation of the world, for the world.

For those who continue to erroneously believe that Trump is the one who represents a future for Jewry, is 'good for the Jews', here are a few words which might convince you otherwise.

Claims: "wasn't treated properly by the voters who happen to be Jewish" during his 2016 and 2020 elections, adding, "If I don't win this election, and the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens."

"Trump's statements were "dangerous and should be condemned by all Americans."

"Trump's comments were "extremely dangerous rhetoric, and we need everybody across the political spectrum, including any self-respecting Republicans left, to denounce this kind of rhetoric."

Hatred is the equivalent of a steaming hot iceberg. What you see is only a fraction of that which remains below the surface. We need to be aware of that fact. To ignore it, to willfully deny it, is to imperil the present and future. As more of it surfaces, Hate becomes more entrenched in society. That bodes well for no group, for no one is immune to the evil harsh consequences of Hate. It is never short of targets. 

The reality of hatred is front and center, clearly visible within that ugly heap of antisemitism, its growing ugliness overwhelming the world. Once again. Ever again.  A poison capable of regenerating over and over again. It is now endemic, a pandemic in its own right. Hate is at work when the deaths of Jews, and the destruction of their homes, their very right to exist denied -well, there is Hate.  When the UN demands that Israel self-devour - there is Hate. 

The only way to rid this world of this hate is to extirpate it from its roots to the top. We need to tan its hide when it does surface and resurface. Not for the third time, but for as many times as necessary to ensure its death. Harsh codes of consequence must be applied when it does appear for soft words mean nothing to it, other than encouragement to continue apace. Hatred is a strong instinct within human nature, unfortunately, and it requires deep consistent effort to finish it off for once and for all.   The sooner we accept those truths. the sooner we can begin the process. Can we commit to this arduous undertaking? Do we actually wish to do so? Given the facts on the table is there any other way other than to confront reality as it is?    

Lots of questions. Lots of problems. Not many answers. Someone out there must have an idea.

 Someone. 

I hope. 

Reality check.

SNIFF, SNIFF ...

  ...and the odor is rank. Overwhelming. Rodents abound, huge rats proliferate at amazing rate. Over and above all, the miasmic smell of bitter black coffee, powerful enough to wake the olfactory system of the dead. Harking back to yesterday's posting, the truth shall be indeed set one free. No more obfuscation, no more denial. Out there. Plain as day. The world not only has abandoned the Jews but has also ramped up their active very public participation in and approval of their erasure. This comes as no surprise to the Jews in general; they merely ask the question - why now? What has changed? Why does it feel different, and not in a good way. 

The answers and all the corollaries are clear as day. Undeniable. In fact, it reenforces yesterday's post. Certainly, the truth shall set you free, but that truth is a double-edged sword. That truth encourages haters to act out, to do their worst and receive praise. At the same time, it reminds Israel, all of world Jewry that once again, yet again, that we   stand alone on the battlefields of the world. Buoyed by the Righteous who stand with us, we nevertheless must know the truth - our enemies are strong and very active, empowered by the world to slake their bloodthirst, and their numbers are far more than ours, even if the Righteous stand with us, shoulder to shoulder.  

 Perhaps now some people will look into the mirror and see the truth. The mirror will immediately answer the question as to exactly who is the ugliest on Earth? The truth of that answer will need to be internalized, accepted, and acted upon. Bottom line, who is that person in the mirror?  Is it one who can accept that he has been wrong and now has the courage to repent, to atone, to face the pain that might result from those efforts. Or is that reflection one who would rather wallow along with the rats. swimming in that bitter coffee. Overwhelmed by its odor and continue to weigh in on the wrong side.

 Am I antisemitic? How far does my antisemitism   go? What am I willing to do to indulge it? Or can I   stop and understand what my words and the words of others have done, what hate have they perpetrated and perpetuated? Is it permanent or is   repair of resultant actions possible? How to undertake such a mission?  

Today's reality cannot be denied. It is out there for all to see. The end result: Israel has no right to exist. No right for self-defense. Their only right is to wage war against its own self. To make Judenrein their home, to wage war on their own. And then, to fall upon their sword. All in the name of supposed justice but actually in the name of virulent hate. It is demanded of Israel that it accept itself as a pariah among nations, as a criminal nation. It is to deny history and heritage and vigorously accept these designations and cooperate in its own destruction. The General Assembly of the bloodstained United Nations has so voted and given in a time limit of one-year by which all should be over and done. One year to commit mass suicide - as a nation, as a people. The Security Council will be asked to actively vote for and agree to send in troops to assist. Picture the horror!! Perhaps Jews are paranoid, but they are paranoid for a reason. And there it is. 

The only way out is the suggested repatriation back to their former homelands in Europe. Back to the lands which spewed them out. Which cooperated with the goals of Hitler and his Final Solution. Or to return to the lands of Arabia, where they had been demonized and dehumanized and exiled with barely the clothes on their backs or had to sneak out as did the Jews of Ethiopia. No, the truth is that the land of Israel is where we are all welcome and though we might fight, we fight as members of the same family and family is family.     Always so. One family. And we will not cooperate in our own demise.  

All who wish to join in this wonderful joy of destruction of Israel and all that it has been, the history and heritage, just jump in. No restrictions, no corrections allowed. No limits or boundaries re the promulgation of vicious and dangerous lies meant to erase Jewry. Wikipedia has just about out- done itself and aren't they proud and oh so protective with no corrections allowed. Following. is their new mis definition of Zionism, the attempt to assassinate the idea and concept of a nation of Jews and the horrid, skewed definition of Zionism. Then compare it to the former definition and do you feel the chill on your back yet. If not, why not?     Outraged yet? What and who are you waiting for?   New definition:  “an ethno-cultural nationalist movement that emerged in Europe in the late 19th century and aimed for the establishment of a Jewish state through the colonization of a land outside of Europe” that “eventually” decided to establish a Jewish state “in Palestine with as much land, as many Jews, and as few Palestinian Arabs as possible.” 

In fact, it goes further than that in a brazen attempt to totally destroy any idea of a people known as Jews.  “the origins of Ashkenazi Jews were not known.” It cites a source that claims, “The Ashkenazi Jew is the most dubious Jew, the Jew whose historical and genealogical roots … are most difficult to see and perhaps thus to believe.” The entry also cites another source that claims that "the initial origins of the Ashkenazi Jews who began the Zionist movement in turn-of-the-century Europe remain highly debated and enigmatic."  

Here is the original definition of Zionism: "the national movement of the Jewish people that supports the re-establishment of a Jewish homeland in the territory defined as the historic Land of Israel.”

What is to be done now? The answers are many. The possibilities are many. Which will prove fruitful? Way beyond my pay grade. However, it is not the time to self-segregate, for it simply makes it easier for our enemies to find us. We cannot remain silent for silence is implicit complicity. We cannot go out and physically attack, but we can physically train and arm and be prepared for the possibility of attacks upon us. It is not unrealistic. We need to improve our presence on social media, to be more powerful, more expressive. Simply put, we need to BE. We need to stand firm. We have the right to exist. Peacefully. Prosperously. To be able to sleep in our beds knowing that our families are safe. To know that we have legitimacy as a nation, in our own land, with a right to self-defense. A right to take the war to those who initiated it. We must develop a thick skin so as to allow all the insane   attacks upon us simply bounce off and carry no import for us. We. must do as we must do for no one else will. And if they do so, they will do so for only a short time. So it has been and so it usually is. Always knowing that there are that few righteous who will do what should be done till at great risk to themselves.

So, the UN be damned, them and their ridiculous resolutions. Damn them for their bias. They can legislate and vote all they want. But Israel will not negate itself. Will not make its own country Judenrein. It will not act as your Judenrat  and send you victims. We will stand firm against all destroyers and place our faith in the hands of the One who has tested and tried us, but who has kept us alive through the millennia.  

The rats are afoot. Their odor is rank. It is difficult to smell and drink that bitter coffee. But truth can be very bitter. And we must accept that truth for only with truth, within truth, is our survival.

Welcome to the world of 2024.

  

  

AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

Such is what we have been told or taught in one version or another our entire lives. However, I do wonder how many people abide by this well touted often breached lesson or moral of that maxim. Judging by current events, all formats of media and the various talking heads, not too many. That proliferation of lies, half-truths and absolutely outrageous statements indicate that truth telling, and valuation is a lost art practiced by very few. I believe not too many people remember that entire idea of truth, and even if they do vaguely recall it, they ignore it. Much to the detriment of all. 

" The right to search for truth implies also a duty: One must not conceal any part of what one has recognized to be true.” Albert Einstein.

That is quite an interesting injunction from one of the most brilliant people ever, A man who fled from an evil force, a hatred, based on lies. More than that, that baseless hatred persists and is unfortunately alive and well once again. Or, as always - take your choice for it matters not, actually. However, one might be justified in wondering how mankind descended to such   depths of depravity that we now live in a world where lies dominate. These lies are so bold in content that one is almost driven to believe in its truth. It is most difficult to believe that someone would utter such outrageous statements if it were not true; hence, one trusts and believes. One more step down the road to absolute dissolution of civilized society.

It is almost possible to excuse those who buy into these lies, because this is all they are fed. What they read, what they hear, what they are exposed to, is almost 100 percent unpasteurized garbage presented as if words from Sinai. There is so much damage done to a civil society via these lies because they pervade. Because of them we are losing the ability, skill, talent, desire, to talk sanely, to talk calmly, to hear, to listen, to speak, to understand. We substitute loud voices, ever growing threats and a race to a past pursuit of MAD -mass mutual destruction, a fate and future greatly to be avoided. But how can we do that if we care not to know the truth nor value it and despise the truth sayers who become the pariahs of society. None hear. No one sees anything other than what they wish to see or think they see. Pretty depressing.  

And so mankind continues its walk on the roads leading to hell. A hell which we ourselves have ginned up and keep quite healthy. The truth makes us unhappy. So, we ignore it. We ignore the imminent and eminent danger of unrestricted A.I. development. Science fantasy has become science fiction has been approaching full reality as robots increasingly near complete sentience rivaling, even overtopping that of humans. Terminator reality?   Despite all that quite transparent danger, researchers continue recklessly into the murky depths of A.I.

 Worse, is when A.I. is partnered with sites such as QAnon and the like, spewing Untruths in a continuous river of lies and incitement to violence. All the while, even intelligent people seem to be beguiled into belief and espousing of outrageous remarks presented as truths. They have bought in, gulped down the Kool-Aid of Rev. Jones and are the picture definitions of "Lord, what fools these mortals be." Not fools, actually, but the deluded, seeking leadership, true truth, and for assurance of a better world for our kids. As we all are. Still searching.

Through the centuries when things are tough, dangerous and demoralizing, with unsettling events, people turned to one who appeared to have an answer. Most of the time that answer should never have been asked for. Today we are living in such a time. People don't like what they see when they look around and take stock. 

They see rabid, shouting people, supporting murderers. They see a president of a nation committing treason, attempting to remain in power for life. They see a nation where the shooting of children if one is in a snit is enabled, for otherwise why would assault rifles not be banned for public consumption!!! Children go hungry, and the elderly are left to fend for themselves. The richest nation in the world cannot provide health care for its citizens. The judicial system is corrupt including members of the Supreme Court. Would be leaders, the politicians, are nothing to write home about for the most part. The vast majority of them have huge backbone issues, and power and money and a need to cater to their voters drives them. Morals - nowhere in sight.    

Nations turn on their allies in manifestations of bravado, rather than commonsense.   Enemies conspire together against another enemy and partnerships dissolve as often as they did in the time of Henry VIII and the Emperor Charles. We spend zillions of dollars on military equipment, have a Space Force ready for the contamination of space with the taint of men and all the while two astronauts languish, trapped in a broken space vehicle, apparently unable to be rescued at the moment. 

Down here on Earth, Nature rages furious with mankind and what they have done to this earth. Mother Nature warned us time and time again not to fool with her. But we made sure to continue to do just that. As a result, we have monster hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires, mudslides, and a HUGE miles wide and long island of garbage afloat in the ocean. Yet we continue to pollute the ocean. Lands are sinking or drowning. People are dying from the extreme heat. Droughts or floods are growing in number. But on we go, continue on our way and the deniers proliferate.  Wonder what they'll say when the first dinosaur comes back to tread all over them!   

As a Jew I see the past reimposing itself on the present and sending ominous threats into the future. Anti-Zionism is preached, all the while denying the truth of its antisemitism, JewHatred. The world has brought in once again to its old, trusted trope of hatred for the Jews, of calling for their death. Once again, Israel is surrounded by enemies, vicious terrorists, and criticized for its efforts to defend itself and prevent the repetition of October 7. All the while, the hostages are undergoing torture, brutality, starvation and death. And the world is quiet once again.  Par for the course. 

As a woman, I watch in great dismay and shout in great anger at the rising tide of denial of rights. Rights that are inherent. Yet deny them they would and seek to do with great success. People tsk tsk over the awful situation with the Taliban as they erase the women and they do not realize how we are trending that way. Sexual harassment is ongoing. Right of choice -denied, under attack.   Unto and including death. Denial of funding of IVF. The people who are desperate to have a child are then cursed for not having a child. Christian extremists wish to impose their version of Christianity, of the Bible, upon this nation. They call to Jesus (a Jew) as their only hope for 2024! 

   We live in a troubled world in troubled times. Nowhere in sight is there that charismatic leader of good spine and character, with working intelligence who can see a path through the morass of our creation. We continue to nourish it as well.  Truths   no one wishes to hear or see, are nevertheless there - here. We must learn to acknowledge them and figure out how to get back to truth as policy. We need to save ourselves, for there is no other way.    

 Robots. Machines. Drones. Famine. Drought.  Floods. Denial of Rights. The erasure of women. A rapidly increasingly dangerous climate and environment ruined by the actions of man. Deforestation. Over demand of water. Crops that fail or are not reaped. Hatred among mankind. The skeletal bodies of mother and child who are truly starving. Constant warfare. Rape as a weapon of war. The look of hopelessness and desperation. The silent plea for help, so loud in our ears.  Elderly uprooted and confused. 

What the hell have we done?

 How the hell do we fix this mess?   

We need to change and soon, very soon

 - like NOW!!     

 

WHIRLING FINGERS!

  Years ago, when we were young, (like around 1850 or so) upon seeing a person walking in the street, talking to him/herself, or someone acting strange, or simply someone in disagreement with us for some reason, out came that whirling finger. That handy-dandy gesturing finger indicated quite clearly that the other person was off balance, just    "nuts”. That gesture ultimately outlived its usefulness. 

However, perhaps we need to reinstate it. Those who present themselves as our leaders. are, for lack of a better term - nuts, flipped their lids, way off balance, just about totally immersing themselves in a filthy, impossible to erase or deny situation. It will of necessity be judged by the historians in the future or the present, stained with the remnants of mudslinging, insults, incompetence, and assured danger for the nation they purport to lead.  

They will be exposed for all to see, bared naked before the nation, before the world, clad only in their shame and souls stained by the dangerous, uncaring, simply crazy behaviors, words, and deeds they espoused, by the violence encouraged and sanctioned. They are eminently qualified to be the   recipients of a mass of whirling fingers. With all due deference to modernity and PC talk, these people are nuts. Simply nuts. Worse, even 'nuttier' in the vernacular, is the rather shameful full trail of camp followers who buy into the ugliness and lies and ramp it up. 

Our time will be written about in the history books, presented as a period of mass hysteria, of massive denial of a growing insanity, well deserving of the mass of whirling fingers that historians of the future will assign to this era. Those whirling fingers moving in circles in the vicinity of the temples of the head, say it all, but there was no understanding it, no excusing it. No denial of the wrongness of it all. The damage these people and their supporters. have wreaked upon this nation is perhaps permanent or at the very least it has certainly damaged the foundations of this nation and left huge cracks for future evil seekers to use to further their nefarious plans. There are always those who refuse to see history in the light of clarity for they are "different", flaunting a version of nuts that will inevitably meet its well-deserved end. How many times must we reenact this battle in a never-ending war? How many more times must we try to repair the damage, some incapable of being repaired.       

Verbal images of immigrants massing at the borders, drooling at the thought of the pets, dogs and cats, awaiting consumption. The jobs they will now 'steal' from “true Americans” although in truth these jobs have gone begging for no 'true American' deigns to take them.  We decry their laziness even as they are the very ones pounding away at our roofs in the heat of the day or plucking the chickens for our dinners. Yes, some criminals or ill are among them, natural statistics, and there are   identical statistics within the 'true' population of the nation. The same adjustment problems as our ancestors had upon immigrating to this nation exist. It is the sane who recognize those truths and those denying it, well, there are fingers awaiting circling. 

There are so many issues to resolve and all we do is shout and shriek at each other. We refuse to hear the good within each side's proposals and do not wish to discard the negative and wrong. Be sure that   there is not one side or the other that is perfect in its presentations of its platform planks. It is always easier to deny reality, deny the hard work that awaits any kind of a true settlement, but that does not work. We all seek peace in the Middle East and there's going to be pain to achieve that peace and denying that fact is silly. How else can we avoid an impossibility of remediation of a tragic situation? Others decide they can impose their solution, and they too are barking up the wrong tree.   Denying reality, denying historical imperative, ignoring. the facts that are on the ground, refusing to see the integration of Arab citizens of Israel into every facet of its life, the lies and cries of Hamas as they rain down horrors and terrors upon ALL, the violence by all extremists - this has got to stop. It must be settled. But for that to happen, there must be truth, only truth. No more lies. No more excuses. Truth and fact. Truth and fact. And finally, peace.  

There are those who support murderers. When the executive director of the Arab American Institute is asked if she supports Hamas, she responded with   puffed up feathers of indignation rather than with a simple yes or no. Hmmm. When egregiously loud supporters of murderers protest the ruling against a Pro Hamas vigil on October 7!! oh, the piteous cries of indignation and confusion from the mouths of those liars. Enough already. 

We, as a nation, with all humankind, must make a decision. Either we support truth, or we resign        membership among the sane and we take our well-earned place with the nuts, those who deeply need the application of those whirling fingers. We must refuse to buy into those lies hook, line and sinker. We must stand firm for the truth. And we must accept that reality demands compromises. We must decide which side of our nature will we choose? That of sanity, compromise, discussion, warmth, welcome, adjustment, or the negative side That of bloodshed, of constant war. Constant violence. Total uncertainty. And yes, even the possibility. of extermination and extinction. 

We must find better leaders. We must find humble leaders who do not consider themselves the gift of the gods to us. Our present ones are more likely a curse from the gods to us. We must find and protect those who are willing to talk peace, not allow their slaughter by those who prefer war and bloodshed. It is all up to us. And we are falling down on the job. Whirling fingers. Or words of wisdom. Anger and hate. Or peace and prosperity. Working together to solve the issues confronting this entire globe upon which we reside. Or wasted and harmful energy expended on matters which long ago should have been settled.

The choice is ours. 

The future is ours to gain or lose. 

Whirling fingers or the shaking of hands. 

Which is it to be?

   

    

YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW

There is an inevitability within human life and measurement of time. It is the tense of time   reflected in the title. It results in blurred together memories, clumping together with a blending of   time, past, present and future. Ties once unseen are clearly distinct now and puts another face on the memories. The first and the second and all the memories and resultant understandings are all valid. In fact, it is a good thing to often compare what has happened in the past and connect it to the other time tenses. It enables a linkage, a continuity and a deeper understanding of cause and effect, no matter the distance separating them. It is valid and crucial for the world in general and for the Jews in particular.  

What is amazing and confusing is the phenomenon wherein people brought up in a most similar manner, and times, who have at least outwardly.  the same kind of life turn out so different. Even   memories of the same event are different. Often, the end result is differing accounts and ideas of causation and consequence. So different. as to be bizarre. How could this be? It makes no sense, yet there it is. Which is right, which one wrong? Is it possible that both are wrong, and right? The comprehension of this is important, of great consequence. Memories of personal impressions and evaluations drive people and societies. Too often that drive goes up the wrong driveway with a dead end, no exit, no reverse space and leads to great tragic consequence. 

Yet all along, properly handled and understood, viewed with an open mind, apparently thoroughly wicked ideas can be sifted and sorted to find within   a kernel of positivity, of usefulness. It might be the idea before it was perverted and twisted beyond recognition. It might prove to be a kernel of inspiration allowing for enlightenment. That old warning to not throw out the baby with the bath water carries weight.  

This brings to mind a Talmudic precept which took some time of maturation and experience to internalize, understand and accept. It is still not easy to always accept, particularly when every cell in your body is telling you otherwise, in loud hectoring tone.   Coincidentally, I came across this very idea in an excellent essay or column which spoke to it, especially as it relates to Jews and Judaism, the huge spectrum of what Judaism is and who Jews are. 

The concept is "Elu v'elu". 'These and Those. Both sides, all sides. are worthy of receiving a hearing. All opinions must be dredged to seek out that kernel that we so desperately need to inspire and even redirect us before too late. These and Those and always the choice is ours. It is a reminder to us that from Evil can come Good and from Good can come Evil. It is up to us to discern the one from the other. We are the ones making the choices and we are the ones to live with the consequences.   Good and evil. But always the choice is ours. 

Ela v'elu. These and Those. Both be accepted and rejected at one and the same time. I believe when we human beings, when we Jews, when all people can look at differing opinions, think about them, validate or invalidate and reject, after somber thought, only then can we begin to approach the entire idea of man created in the image of God. God has the ability to make the distinction between Ale  v'elu  and follow that distinction, in and around all the words, all the concepts, all the consequences. All the corollaries. These and those -an enrichment and a path to a better world in general and for us in particular.  

There is so much that is wrong with the world today. We cannot fix the top unless we fix the bottom first. There is a maxim which states that idea in so many words. People get the leaders they deserve. And why do they deserve those leaders? Because they have enabled them, allowed them to climb the ladder to supposedly represent what we wish, what we hope. In the best of worlds, the best of us would lead, but tragically, we are too often highlighting and choosing the worst of us. We become lost in an enchanted forest so thick with trees we cannot see our way out or around. We cannot even distinguish one tree from another. Inevitably, in our search for the proper direction we climb the wrong trees and follow the wrong branches until there are no branches left to follow and we fall and land hard.

Ela v'elu. These and Those. We must be alert and. learn to discern and differentiate, to choose the wise leaders, to be wise ourselves. We must seek and know that the commonalities of people are far more important than the differences. We can value both in a proper manner. Unfortunately, throughout the history of mankind, we have not done so, using, actually misusing, surface appearances.as far more important than the commonality beneath the skin and visible traits. That is a defect within our thinking, with our approach to life and it has had a most negative effect upon the history of the world and in particular, the history of the Jews.

 That approach always led and will continue to lead to the dehumanization and the demonization of the 'other' as defined by the society. This defective thinking finds its way into the particular societies, including the society of Jews. We, all of the world, ignore the commonalities and the society which can be built upon them and deride and discard the differences, using them to climb over the 'other' and tragically lose the enrichment those differences can gift to society. The results: wars and enmity, no solutions to common problems. A waste of resources.  

 Unfortunately, we Jews are afflicted and affected by that same defect. We look at other Jews who might practice differently or not in the same degree, who even look different. And yet we are all Jews.   The liturgy and customs might differ somewhat; however, that should make no difference. And yet it does. While we Jews might make a joke about things, we need to be careful, for the outside world does not understand and is always eager to laugh at and not with, at our expense, and upon which they build a stereotype of 'the Jew' and it is most definitely not positive, nor complementary. Not   good for the Jews. Not at all. 

Worse is when we ourselves separate ourselves from other Jews, drawing definitions and boundaries which are offensive, off putting and even dangerous as it weakens our unity. At times such as these, when our kids are afraid to walk on the campuses of universities, we must be together. We must be unified. We cannot afford to discard those of our family who feel ignored or as 'others' among fellow Jews, their family at large. Perhaps they might have felt as 'others' within their own people. They might have sought company and acceptance and found it among enemies of our people, of their people, who call for their deaths and praise the savage butchers of Hamas.  

One day we all will understand that no matter how we classify ourselves, the world looks at us as one, indivisible, indistinguishable. Differences among us are of no importance to them. and should definitely not be of importance to us. We have many friends. among non-Jews, but history has shown us - not nearly enough. We are not the buddies of the world but rather the convenient target of jokes, caricature characters, always a whine in the voice and always amenable to set aside tradition and pride. 

WE must always remember and practice Eleh v'elu.  These and Those. All of us together.      How much better life would be. How much stronger we would be if we were to accept that principle.  The bundle which cannot be broken. Rather than remain as separate twigs easily crunched and broken and discarded. 

Unfortunately, too many. buy into an outlook of enmity towards us and praise those who kill our children, our elderly, torture our people, viciously rape and burn and slaughter.  Here is their outlook.

" Palestinians and Gazans on that day “were able to breathe, they were able to breathe for the first time in years. It was exhilarating. It was energizing. And if they weren’t exhilarated by this challenge to the monopoly of violence, by this shifting of the balance of power, then they would not be human. I was exhilarated.”  

It is particularly bizarre, off putting, most depressing when the creature who voiced that sentiment is forgiven and reinstated to his position within a university classroom. To teach more violence and hate and murder, I could not find a single kernel redeemable within that statement.   

 When Jews forsake that principle of These and Those, the world follows suit. And why not? When we despise our fellow Jews for whatever reason, we actually encourage the mischaracterization of Jews, and that is most definitely not a heathy situation.     

Hollywood has bought into this evil hook, line and sinker, along with all facets of media. Why? In the words of William Goldman, a screenwriter in Hollywood. “Nobody knows anything,” about success in Hollywood. But you have to imagine that somebody, somewhere must have had an inkling about this.

Still, do not understand? You're in good company.  Many others do not understand. nor do we like it. Nor do we accept it. Nor should anyone else accept it. Unless and until we fully accept the precept that Ele V'elu, These and Those, and apply it to ourselves and the world, properly, well, we are living that reality, are we not. We must begin with the acceptance of all Jews, welcome them back into the fold, and understand that Judaism is not static. Nor are people. We are all Jews in the same leaky boat and when we and the world understand the goodness behind These and Those, internalize and practice it, well, imagine that!  We can then look at and evaluate past, present and future with a better eye and a better result. 

-------------------------------------------------------------- Yitzy, sweet boy, in just about two weeks we celebrate Rosh Hashanah. The Jewish New Year. We speak of hope for sweetness and a year of goodness and peace. We look deep within ourselves, seek the good and seek the bad as well, hoping to discard it. We remain deep in thought until we reach Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. A day when we must turn to those we have offended and to God. We need to remember and act upon the   principle, that precept, of Ela V'elu, These and Those. A precept which you instinctively by your golden nature knew and practiced. and inspired others to emulate.

We all miss you so, particularly as the holidays approach and as they approach, we pass yet another major holiday bereft of your presence. We feel the deepening shadow of your so untimely death. During the holiday of joy. Hanukkah. May G-d give us strength to hold ourselves together as your first yartzeit approaches. And just as we send you our love, please send yours back to us. 

Always and forever. Always

 and forever.