THE CONFUSION OF LIFE

  Why is that life can be great and down in the dumps at one and the same time? Life can be like the best carry-on, with the most advanced wheels gliding over the biggest curbs, the roughest cobblestones, yet meets its waterloo at a tiny, almost invisible minor crack in an otherwise smooth pavement. 

This is apparently the first cousin of the high and low points of life where you can be flying on a high and smack right dab straight into a steel pole.  Instead of remaining in that high moment, that moment of triumph, of joy, a satisfaction of self-pride, you find yourself down in the dumps. Upset with yourself, at yourself and with the world at large. You have no idea how  or why this happened. All you can do is try to regain some kind of even plane and be able to move on with life. Not always so easy to do and in fact, not always successful. 

I find that the best things to do at that moment in time is to sit oneself down and take a piece of paper or boot up the computer, use your phone and make a list. Compare the importance, the intensity, and the consequences good and bad and wind it all down. Condense it all. Be honest in approach. Generally, one will find a manageable issue emerging, controllable, where once you had thought the sky was indeed falling and your life was over.

People will advise you to avoid the moments that upset you or punctures the balloon attached to you, the one which kept you flying high and in forward movement. However, one cannot live life that way, for attempting to put oneself in a bubble, shielded from all negativity and concern, will, inevitably flatten and deflate and take the flavor out of those high moments of success and achievement. There must be a comparison and contrast if one is to be able to distinguish between these moments and the emotions connected. Without that, one would be living in a flat, gray, gloomy world void of all that is life, of all that makes us humans rather than automatons or serfs forbidden to have or act upon personal needs, to fulfill goals and meet challenges particular to oneself.  

My life at present is fulfilling. At this time I cannot find the words to fully transmit the joy, the pride, and the confusion in which I find myself at present. Put aside any and all health issues, thankful for medical advances and wonderful doctors, which have enabled me to carry on and live a full life. I find most amazing is that at this point in time when life can, would, and even should slow down a bit, more than a bit, I find myself a jet setter, balancing life in two very different countries and cultures. Two very different social circles and contrasting prioritizations. Yet, at the same time I am fulfilling a dream. Literally a lifetime dream once almost fulfilled but shut down by life circumstances of the time, only to be fulfilled unexpectedly and, I must admit, with great trepidation.

How would it be possible to mesh these lives How can I explain to people who questioned this change in life? That at this point in time it was doable. It is doable and hopefully it remains doable long into the future. That is, if my strength, physically, emotionally, along with my financial strength, allows for it. Most important of all is that we do this as a team, for after 58 years of marriage, to 120 shared years, I cannot see doing  it any other way. Frankly, I would rather it were possible to remain in one country, but that is impossible. There are powerful ties binding us to both and for as long as possible those tethers will remain intact and attached, giving us both joy and agita, overlapping, meshing and competing.

In one world I live in my birth nation, a nation which once filled me with pride, patriotism and a sense of belonging. I felt I had a home and security, a certainty for a good life, a future for our descendants. I trusted the government and its players though now with a bit more cynicism as I grew older and wiser in the ways of the world. But still, I was able to hang on to many pollyannish, idealistic, hopes and dreams and views even as my disappointments became more numerous and slowly more serious in consequence. Until ...

Until at times I feel that I must scrape the bottom of the dish. Squeeze it in order to get any discernible sense of belonging, of welcome, of optimism. Slowly, then at ever faster pace and fever, the base of life weakened. It began to seep, to ooze, out holes, cracks, ever wider and longer of concerning consequences. That wall of security and certainty that had once encompassed me and my mine, me and my people- Jewish Americans, American Jews - wherever one placed the stress was now almost out of existence or promise. In fact, it has grown to not matter at all, for at present, the strident voices of JewHatred have grown in tempo and viciousness.  Calling for the death, the extermination of all that is Jewish or related to that  term and its adherents, including Israel and our constant dream thru the millennia   to return, to join with those already, always, there, to live within its borders,  to fulfill our forever practice of Zionism, an integral part of our religion, a return to our indigenous ancestral land. Zion. Tziyon.  

Growing ever more frightened, seeing a diminishing return on our patriotism, our weakening hopes for a future for all, we remembered our dream and it grew ever stronger and seemingly possible. To make Aliyah, to go up to that land, our forever dream now faded, suddenly with a glowing color.  Now not a dream but a necessity, for security, for knowing I am welcomed and wanted. A place where it will be my privilege to keep certain commandments unavailable to me when outside the Land.

A dream became a reality and one day we found ourselves walking off a plane and almost immediately given citizenship papers, with a government and a people who welcomed us, immigrants welcomed, with privileges and a huge cohort of people able and willing and directed to smooth out the wrinkles and bumps of change and adjustment.  

In one nation I retain my native and, my always, or supposed to be, country of birth and acceptance and welcome. That welcome is freezing over; it's warmth diminishing day by day. JewHatred has become normalized, even encouraged, borders of propriety seriously, already, endangered.   Yet, I remain a citizen hopeful that it will return to what is supposed to be, which once tried to be. But a nation at present in the throes of dissolution, JewHaters in top echelons of government, growing in number. A President most manifestly in his personal throes of dementia who, until now, has been good for Israel but who is also notoriously known for his quick veers and changes of policy - what now. wither goes hope. 

He is at present also a definite threat to the ethos of America as a democracy, as a strong leader of the free world, as a nation of immigrants, each group contributing to the whole. His government is riddled with corruption and the sourness of it is palpable. The government is replete with people of incompetence, with people who care not for the people they are supposed to serve. They are in positions of power and grow this tumor upon our nation, with no end in sight. It makes lies of my past, the heroism of my grandparents, and the lives and values of my parents, along with the hope she gave me for a future, for my children and their children and their children as well. These are the ties and the hopes for which we keep our citizenship, not giving up on this country. We return to our extended families down to the great-grandchildren and meet up with old friends. To reconnect to an America as it once was.  

Israel is a nation of special people, where people must be tough, have to survive in hostile environments. But at the same time they are soft, gentle and caring. What other country takes in their enemies if they are ill. It is a nation held to double standards unfair and impossible to attain and maintain. It is a nation claimed to practice apartheid even as they absorb refugees from all countries of the world: from Burma, from India, from Ethiopia, from Europe, from America, from parts of Asia, from the Arab lands expelled, brutalized. It matters not, for this is the home and haven of and for all Jews.  

Where else can one find a people always in a hurry, always running late, but will stop to gently lift, then gently land, a person who needs help getting on or off a bus or a train or a curb. A nation with strangers who will stop to ask if you need help walking up or down the stairs, carrying bundles that appeared to be too heavy and too many. I know that for a fact as I have personally been the beneficiary of such kind deeds.  Where the children grow up strong and confident, patriotic, with love for their land, and sure of their lives even as their parents, siblings go to war, for they know they are safe in those hands, encircled by their love.  

We were welcomed into a most wonderful community, young and vibrant with some of the most brilliant people I have ever met. It is a place where the voices of children playing outside ring out happy, free, unafraid.  It is a community where doors are open to new friends as are the arms of the adults and the children living within. 

 It is a nation of One People. Do they argue amongst themselves? For sure. Jews argue. Fact. But they are a family. One. Fact. It is a nation plagued by violent and vicious barbaric enemies. It is a nation held to double standards unachievable. And even if achieved, unmaintainable. It is a nation held out as a chosen target of the entire world. So it has been through the millennia, from the past to the present, and most probably well into the future. 

But we do not succumb to our enemies. We defeat, we outlive those empires so strong and mighty who wished to destroy us. We are family, no matter how far we are separated, how far we are scattered over the globe. We are confident in our survival. So often challenged in that belief with the reality of its ugliness. But we know that our Lord is with us. Through thick and thin, always to return to our aid in the darkest moments of our history.

 Israel is a nation ruled by a corrupt government as is America. They both are plagued by incompetent, uncaring, selfish 'leaders' who mock that title. Two nations which must mend the rents within the fabric of Nationhood.  I am confident that Israel will do exactly that, though not without aggravation and family disagreements.  However, when push comes to shove, they all believe and know the necessity of this state and set aside in the name of unity and survival. At present it is probably one of the worst times for this nation, but I am confident that it will come to its senses. Remember this nation's importance. A life necessity for us and all the people of our blood. 

The United States is a bit more complicated. There is no one family there any longer. Xenophobia, anti-immigrant fever has been ramped up to the highest level. We have forgotten our history. We have forgotten that but for the Lord and our brave ancestors we would be elsewhere or not be at all. It is a nation that has lost its spine. It is a nation that is no longer connected. We have become tribes in warfare. We are disremembering that we are, at least supposed to be, the United States of America.

Both nations need a hero and a true leader. The ranks of our government are now overflowing with crap. Unless we do so and quickly the future grows dimmer.

Both nations must return to what they were and to what they aspired to be. If we lose that motivation and understanding, we will be lost ourselves.

These are my people. These are my nations, good and bad, both troubled at present.

My dream. My nightmare.

Highs and lows.

Life.

So it has been, so it is, and so it will most likely be.

Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.

For as long as G-d gives me and the world strength to do so.  

WHAT TO WRITE?

  Most mornings I have a pretty good idea as to what should be the goal or aim of the new posting. Generally, it derives from the day before events or thoughts or even what I pick up in the time before I write. Other times it simply is there, in my head, awaiting a good time to expand upon, and then I just roll with it. What amazes me at times is how often I intend to write about topic x and end up way off on a tangent which emerges as my writing progresses.

 However, coming as a shock to me and quite a number of other people I appear to be having a hopefully minor spat of a variety of writer's block.  Maybe that is not the correct term for I can write, but the question is, what is the topic to be? What is uppermost in my mind? And utmost in importance, most demanding of attention. Unfortunately, the answer is that there are so many topics which demand addressing. So many topics of concern but to paraphrase, "these are the times that try my soul”. There is so much wrong in this world, so much so that even when one tries one's darndest to remain optimistic, the light rather than the dark, the clear outlines rather than shadows, are just nigh on to impossible to visualize in the current reality. So overwhelming is the negative. So bleak is the outlook. So distant is the time and place wherein one can realistically believe, think, hope that redemption is at hand. The human race will improve rather than deconstruct. And life will go on as hopefully G-d meant it to be. Or did He?

The question arises here as to what exactly was in G-d's mind when He created humanity. Humankind. Were they meant to be a race of creatures who would always seek the positive, to advance in truly progressive manner not the subversion which that word has taken on at present? Were they to be a creature more than an animal walking on two legs, a creation that could walk ever higher? Leading straight to the Lord and His idea of the perfect representation of His best goals in mind at that time of creation?

But exactly how was that new creature of higher level to know all this? Was it to be etched in his mind and his soul? How deep would the etching be? How intensively would it be stressed and practiced? Would it be the same in each and every representation of humanity? Could the approach be the same in and to all or would it demand individualization? I believe that until we actually bumble our way to the answer's humanity will never be able to penetrate through to the higher levels, the ultimate goals. What would be the methods by which we would be motivated to struggle hard to make our way past blockades and pain and be able to find the good, the light, within the dark? 

I am not sure about that because is there a benefit if someone has to struggle, to be hurt, to have loved ones be killed or die before that time? Is this truly what is needed in order to push someone to a higher level? Is that how one is supposed to exist in order to prove one's recognition of the ultimate goals and motivations of our creation? I don't know. I can't really assimilate that into my understanding, for as a parent of three children, as a grandparent, as a great grandparent, I cannot see the point in inflicting harm, laying trouble or danger upon any of them in order to teach a lesson. Whatever that means.

Well, I guess I have a topic upon which I have touched before, but it still rings bells in my mind and pulls the rope for moments of doubt and questioning. But is not that what we are supposed to do as people, as humans fraught with inner innate flaws, ever so prone to erroneous steps? Is that not how we prove our worthiness? Is our understanding the point of our creation or at least our attempts to reach that understanding? Actually, honestly, to me, the idea of 100 percent achievement of that goal is nigh unto to impossible. I believe that perhaps a handful of truly blessed saintly people can fully assimilate that into their core and accept and understand the challenge and carry through. Most of us though, simply cannot get there, even with or despite intense heartfelt labor in that direction. Perhaps a crisis of such level and intensity, would perforce push us willingly or unwillingly onto that level - is not a welcome thought.

So how do we prove our worthiness to the Lord G-d Above, our Master, our King our Father, our Creator? I guess we need to simply try to be the best we can, and then some. To take the higher path, rather than the low. To account for benefits in the most unselfish manner and hence achieve and attain higher levels, ever nearer to the ideal. But even then “we are only human" and can only do the best we can but actually, how do we know what the best we can actually is? For that I have no answer. I don't even have a clue as to what steps to take, what keys to find to open the door, even a window for entry.

 Is it a hopeless task with which we have been unfairly burdened? No matter how hard we strive. No matter how intense our efforts. Again, no clue. There are times I feel optimistic. There are good signs, good vibes, emanating from at least a decent portion of humanity. But there are times, oh, so many, too many times where all we see is evidence of the rot within, of the greed and selfishness, of the lack of self-control. These negatives are too often possessive of a human being, and in turn dispossess them of all or most of that which is right. Along with all incentive to veer to the right and light.

Why is it that for millennia we have not progressed any further than the present? Why is it that we still have to expend countless dollars, time and power of mind to the creation of new, more deadly weapons? Why have we not yet learned as the Borg would say to the members of the Enterprise, "resistance is futile" and understand that the only true way to a better life for all is righteous, justified, justifiable, compromise. We all give a little and take a little. That would engender a Golden Age for mankind, as near as we can get. A true Golden Age rather than the limited Renaissances of Earth where there were vast gaps in the gold plating. Not so much for the Jews, was it? Not so much for the peasants, was it? Not with so much for those who were and are independent with deeper thoughts upsetting the status quo.

Instead of where we should be, we remain on the rather hideous level of discrimination, of xenophobia, of self-loathing, of careless thought and even more careless actions. We waste time on falsehood and fakery rather than on eternal truths and benefits for all. I guess that would be a utopia, which has so far proven to be impossible to achieve, at least on this plane of existence. But “wouldn't it be loverly” if we could and would strive to attain those goals, to get closer to it than we have come before. But leave out the hurt, the harm, the hate, the hostility mistakenly applied in the quest for higher levels.

At this moment in time, I am not optimistic about such achievements. Not when there are nations on this planet who think the only way to progress is to steal from others, to be aggressive in application of dangerous goals and motivations, the constant upgrade in the installation of hate and fear amongst those we oppose for whatever reason we think of. Simply create a victimhood for one group and for sure there will be enthusiastic believers and practitioners. 

When people starve while others engage in gluttony. When people decide that the other group does not deserve to live, for else can there be an elite group? How could one feel superior? When one group engages in barbaric manner and wreaks havoc and pain upon others. When we encourage excess while there is huge lacking in this world. When we discourage the idealistic and encourage and praise monetary accumulation achieved at    great cost to others and to oneself, as our souls and hearts harden. Is this truly the reality we wish to strengthen, even intensify, and make permanent? If so, we are doing a great job. Much to our shame.

Can we, you and I, improve ourselves? Can we show decisively to the Lord Above that we are deserving of His love as a Father more than we deserve his castigations as Master and Ruler? Can we highlight our progress, downplay our regression, and actually put an end to it? These are questions we all need to be asking ourselves. There are times needful of long moments of critical contemplation, understanding and implementation. 

We must choose which side to champion? That of the Dark Angels who rebelled against the Lord or those of the Good Angels, the ones who appeal to the best within us. Even Jacob wrestled with the Angels. Can we hope to do no more or no less? Can we truly wrestle and choose between the two angels within? At this point in time, it is more of an individual's choice, rather than a choice en-masse or of large groups. Even those who might have begun with altruistic motivations in mind too often tend to go astray and take the wrong fork in the road and find it impossible to retrace steps and redo that which never should have been done in the first place.

I believe at this point only with the cooperation of the ones who have gone before us, now sitting there, relaxing on the sofas of Heaven, chatting away, fretting as they look down upon their descendants, wondering how they can contribute to their improvement, to clear their foggy thinking and thoughts, only then can we have a hope of positive movement. Our grandparents, our great-grandparents, down the line, surely, they have advice to give. Those who went before their time, as my grandson, Yitzy, taken, too pure for this world, surely, he and those like him can beseech the Lord, who deemed it necessary for them to return to Him, to do better for those who remain on Earth.

I believe it is only with the conjunction of the two, the understanding what good can do, that we can find that which will impel us into a truly important comprehension of when and where and how and why we were and are led astray. When the willpower from Above and Below, here on Earth, conjoin, perhaps we can take strides in the right direction. Perhaps some will say too little, too late but we have to start somewhere. 

Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.

 All contained kernels of hope, bright and optimistic, just as they also contained black, dark and rotted kernels boding no good for any of us, individually or together. We must amass the former and lose the latter. Then we will be able to look back on yesterday, live today, and plan for a beneficial positive, enlightened lit up golden tomorrow.

A gal can dream, can she not?!

DROR

 Dror is home, returned to his family, his nation and will receive proper burial and honors. A man slaughtered in the vicious massacre perpetrated by Hamas upon Israel, his wife killed and he, his body, (a bizarre and barbaric form of currency for Hamas) and two of his children, 14 and 17, were taken hostage into Gaza. He has been held until now, while his two children were released in an earlier hostage blackmail event.  All this time waiting to know if they were orphans, as the fate of Dror was not known.  Now they know.

The world mouths platitudes calling for the hostages to be released- that is, if they remember that there were hostages remaining. Dead and alive, dying. However, most of the calls were for Israel to put down their swords, give up their positions and slink back as if defeated across the border into Israel. There to await what? 

Well, we all know the ultimate goals of the killers of the terrorist groups, even the governments and the people of numerous Arab and Muslim countries. For the Jews to have been allowed to return to their indigenous and ancestral homeland, and to be wildly successful in every which way, manner and form was, and is, and most probably will always be, anathema straight to the very core of their being.

All those chanting beasts calling for "Liberation” of a Palestine which never existed until so declared by the UN in 1947, have missed the boat. The foes they have targeted, the Israeli army, all Israelis and by willful extension all Jews round the world, have been calling for freedom only for themselves. This is easily seen in their own countries where sect and manner of observance are costly to the freedom of the "inhabitants within".  

Much to the contrary are the calls for Dror, for Freedom, as called for within our own books. Here are a few places wherein we can find our references to the establishment of freedom within our world, a world where freedom is a universal concept and right, of value, worthy of effort to earn its keep.  

Leviticus 25:10 "And you shall proclaim dror (freedom) throughout the land and for all the inhabitants."

Jeremiah 34:8, 15, 17 (2x), Isaiah 61:1 and Ezekiel 46:17. 

Several times mentioned in our books - from the Bible to the prophets, a strong and emphasized point of our history, our religion, our very being, an intricate part of the definition of us as Jews. In the  name and cause of our freedom, we have been forced into the status of unwilling participant in constant wars, waged against us with the goal of removing any idea of freedom from within the Jewish nation.  

However, Dror, is a concept, a reality, a necessity we will not, indeed cannot, deny. We have been unfortunately, too often, the victim of declared loss of freedom for our people. We have been confined in places of residence. We have been denied the freedom to choose the clothing we wear. The careers we wish to pursue. Even the choice when to marry and have children, or worse, to have our children kidnapped, to be killed or raised as members of another religion. 

These are elementary, basic rights of freedom for all. Yet, nobody, at least very few, saw anything wrong in the denial of these basic rights of freedom to those who differed from them in some manner, major or minor, and more so, to the people of the Jewish nation. All the while discounting and disregarding contributions of the Jewish nation to the world. From the very first Jew to the Jews of all generations, and most probably, if able to, into the future. 

The world looks on, sheds a few crocodile tears, and then unleashes their own weapons, literal and figurative, against us. A quest to deny us that Dror, that freedom so important, allowing for us to be true to our religion, it's demands, precepts, the very heart and core, to return to the land of Zion, G-d given and promised, lived in and died for, over the many centuries. Today, the nation states of the world and their 'inhabitants within' perceive Israel to be in the crosshairs of her enemies and happily jump on board, allowing the ugliness of their eternal Hate, their dark forever JewHatred to resurface and do its worst. 

This will not be allowed to continue, to go unchallenged. Been there, done that before, a place, a condition, to which we will never return. No matter how deeply our enemies wish it to be so. If anything has taught us the importance, the merit, the necessity of combating any and all present and future attempts to contradict that solemn oath to ourselves, to Jews round the world, it has been this latest atrocity of Oct7 and its unbearable and profane aftermaths.

No more will we allow the world to force us to restraint, to stand by as our enemies build up their power until they are ready to attack us and where we will be on the defense, in adverse circumstances. Fair is the return of that strategy to the enemies within the world. If one such is on the surface of this earth, or beneath, still breathing and plotting, we will find you, wherever you hide and cower and finish you and your bloody plans for good. Finito.

Dror, returned to his family, and the power of his last name, Or, light, will always be with us, reminding us of the paths we must take if we are to avoid those which are imposed upon us.

We must keep our freedom intact, resist all attempts and wars waged to deprive us of that. We must keep the light shining upon us all, the light sent by the Lord Above to remind us of His presence and eternal promise to His Children.

Always.

Yesterday.

Today.

Tomorrow.

Dror, may you rest in eternal peace under the shelter of our Lord.

May your memory be for a blessing.

DONUTS AND HOLES AND HOPE VS. DESPAIR

  As do most people, I go up and down on the line connecting despair and pessimism to the other end of hope and optimism. I much prefer the latter end of it all; however, life does not always allow for such, in realistic life and manner. One must admit that one cannot live totally in a 100% pollyannish world, where all is good, nothing bad, the birds are trilling, and the roses are blooming. It just isn't that way. It never was. It is not, and it never will be, even in the best of times. In fact, Charles Dickens had it right in his iconic opening to A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times." A world composed of battling extremes. 

And as such, particularly in the past two years, appearing unlikely to abate soon, if ever, is today. It could actually be our best of times for these times have allowed for Jews to have a golden expansion of room to breathe, where the children can and will grow up to have careers of their own, families of their own, and G-d will have been good to us.

However, inevitably, we have found ourselves in yet another revolution of the cycles of history. Repetitive in nature it is not unexpected. However, I, and many others, do so wish that the repetition would be of the golden cycles, of the optimistic and positive cycles rather than ones where the clouds crowd around us to the point of almost smothering us for good or signaling an horrific cycle of long duration and intensity arriving at our doorsteps.       

We are back again at a crisis of Anti Semitism emanating from people who must Hate in order to breathe, who live to Hate and thrive in it. They have a laser focus on their traditional target, Jews. The toxin spewing mouths and perverted minds are unfortunately contagious to the nth degree, hence what begins in one country or two countries spreads rapidly with a bloom of poisonous growth spreading to all nations even when there is no Jewish population there at all. Today, it is a strong returning echo on the sonar measuring the risks to and of civilization. The beeps are rising. Hour after hour. Growing in intensity and violence.

So how does one move out of darkness. Not in one great leap, that is for sure. Nor in a totality of change, leaving all the black behind and leaving all the bright ahead. The world is simply not like that.   I highly doubt whether it could even change 100 percent, even in the best of times, which was our time. In addition, as posted yesterday in my blog, humans have built in error magnets and are perforce prone to, or at least likely to, commit some error or another in their lifetime. Sometimes there's a minor consequence and at other times, consequences horrific to contemplate. Most normal people wish to remain somewhere in the middle, being neither too demanding of what they cannot give nor too forgiving of what they should not have done. Most of us are pretty much right there in the center.

It is at that point, where rational, logical, livable compromise with life circumstances comes into play. It is when the hole in the doughnut, that emptiness, shrinks to a manageable size and the doughnut cake around remains soft, tasty and ever so delicious. That period of time is a blessing to humanity. It certainly is a blessing to the people of the Jewish nation and most certainly to me, to all my people round the world, and to the blessed State of Israel. 

Unfortunately, however, at present, the doughnut hole has expanded so that the surrounding sweet cake of the donut, whatever flavor one chose, has shrunk to a barely there amount. Optimism has gone the way of all living things. We must grasp any and all opportunity now around us, to create more batter for the doughnut, more support from those who understand history, from those who understand righteousness, from those who would turn aside from the Hate, condemn violence, brutal indescribable and seemingly endless. Those who would engage in pushback even if their main motivation was for the benefit of themselves; It matters not, only the results.

I am not sure exactly where on this spectrum I am    as of this moment. I kind of swing back and forth, sometimes more to the left, of despair, sometimes more to the right, of optimism. What I do know for sure is that it is an insecure environment. Those among us who grew up like me with grandparents who came here, young, alone but optimistic,  ready to build a life for their children, my parents, American born, American raised and educated in both the secular and the religious world, and me and my siblings, totally American, totally Jewish in outlook and observances, but also totally American in feeling of patriotism and pride at being an American. Possessing a knowing feeling that perhaps it is the right moment in history for us, and we have surpassed the ugliness which took place just years before my birth.

That certainty is gone. That disappointment is huge and oftentimes cancels out the remaining moments of optimism and hope. What else is one to say when our houses of prayer, our schools and institutions are attacked. When now our people are not only threatened, but are actually struck down, again, here in America, our Goldene Medinah, and round the world. How are we to explain this to our children? Or to our grandchildren who for the most part also lived in that bubble of security which is now leaky, very much so, diminishing the certainty of goodness, of right to live, of a future, in our nation.

Our nation has become all nations of the world. Mamdani, a vicious JewHater as mayor to be in the most Jewish city and environment outside of Israel. England once again a bastion of fierce JewHatred,  the time wheel of history reverting to a time when hundreds of Jews were burned in the Tower of York. When Edward II exiled them for many a century. When Ireland engages in the most blasphemous in your face, anti Semitism, poking into places where they clearly do not belong. The Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, the list is endless. It seems the more nations that join, the more other nations are tempted to hop onto the same bandwagon and enjoy their 'fun'.  

I did like, however, this piece I came across from one of the sites that I patronize. Read it and hopefully you will like it as well. If so, perhaps it will give you a little perk, a bit of a boost to climb from the cellar and do your best to reach the ceiling or at least near it in approach.

Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow,

We must make them better. There is no other choice.

Hope in a Hopeless World

A psychologist friend and I concluded that the world must be either hell or a mental institution. We found that there is too much beauty and goodness in the world for it to be hell, so we determined that it must be a mental institution.  

What else could possibly explain the fact that people and nations repeat the same grievous mistakes with catastrophic consequences for centuries? Vanity, glory-seeking, jealousy, hatred, violence, selfishness – did any of this make anybody better off in the long term? It certainly did not make the world a better place.

The only rational response to this sad history must be to become a cynical recluse and turn one’s back on the world. The problem is: What about all of that beauty and goodness? Good family and friends, humor, love … OK, so cynical recluse may not be a good response after all.

Maybe, then, enjoy all those wonderful, uplifting experiences and forget about all the horrors of the world. But it’s so difficult to ignore what is in the news, spreading its venom in social media, issues discussed everywhere by virtually everyone. Hot topics that impose themselves on you, fracture social relationships and invade the mind like an assault on your nervous system. Stop the world; I want to get off.

How do you navigate these choppy waters? How to be hopeful in a hopeless world? How to be happy and fulfilled and at ease, recognizing the good and acknowledging the bad?

Philosophers, theologians, psychologists throughout history have proposed innumerable formulae, thoughts and remedies with no discernable effect. Religion has its ideals, rules and laws, admonishments, prophets and sages. So, how’s that worked out? There have been many good people inspired and uplifted by those lofty ideals and even some bad people changed. But the world, dear reader, this minuscule planet in an infinitely vast universe remains tragically imperfect.

Wait. Perhaps it is possible to state that there has been change for the better, no matter how small. Ancient history consisted of tribes and clans and perpetual clashes and wars. That state of affairs started at the beginning of recorded time and persists today, but much less so. It doesn’t seem that way in dark times when countries fracture internally and again turn on each other, but overall, there is much more awareness of the damage of war and internal division. That may not be enough, and it needs to be learned and relearned, but it is a difference from the past.

Is it enough to instil hope in the future? That depends on the individual. It comes down to a choice. Some see the donut; some see the hole. The worldwide surging of antisemitism gives serious pause to thoughts of a world moving toward moral progress. “Blame the Jews and all will be well” is a tragic sign of the world in distress. A strong Israel reborn and dedicated to survival is a heartening reality after 2,000 years of impotence. America and China playing a dangerous game of chicken is deeply worrisome and a sabre-rattling wannabe tsar in Russia is a true threat to world stability, but Europe is united and dedicated to surviving intact. 

For every encouraging thought and for every negative one, there is a “yes, but…” That means that the matter is not settled. 

Anthropologist Margaret Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a thigh bone that had been broken and then healed. In the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal. A broken femur that is healed means that someone stayed with the one who fell and tended to the person. Helping someone else through difficulty, she said, is when civilization starts.

Margaret Mead’s insight into what constitutes civilization is reflected in Jewish thinking. The Lubavitcher Rebbe wrote: “If you see what needs to be repaired and how to repair it, then you have found a piece of the world that God has left you to complete. But if you only see what is wrong and ugly in the world, then it is you yourself that needs repair.” The Rebbe understood that the world’s humanity is not global, but local, and each person has the power and the duty to contribute in his or her own way.

The world may seem like a mental institution or simply overwhelmingly disturbing, but discerning people need to accept the fact that life requires the ability to sustain contradictions: Yes, there is much evil, but there is much good. Yes, the mob is destructive and many leaders incompetent, corrupt or worse, but the individual has responsibility and agency. Each person is a world. There is much to bemoan and much to celebrate. The key is to live honorably, inspire others and not lose faith. Each act of reaching out to help or comfort another, each kindness tendered, each act of generosity is a life-enhancing, redemptive act. 

Life is not a balance sheet; it is a balancing act.

---

Dr. Paul Socken is Distinguished Professor Emeritus and founder of the Jewish Studies program at the University of Waterloo

AND SO IT GOES

  On and on and on. Sometimes I will look up to the heavens and send my questions up there, as far as they can go. It is a one-word question asked repeatedly, and I have never yet gotten a complete or satisfactory answer. In fact, the whole matter is so complex and confusing, so unnecessary, that one answer to one why question will simply not suffice. Why again? Why seemingly forever? Why do we appear to be the perennial target of choice? Why do You allow this? Can you please note, Lord Above, I do not want to hear that it is not You who is allowing this, for You have given free choice to humankind and permit them to run with it, wherever it goes. Not enough, a glib answer which dogs the underlying aggravation, grief and dismay.

Nor is there an acceptable answer in Your response that, as we have chosen poor leaders for so many roles, we are reaping the consequences of such thoughtless choices. However, be that as it may, many of us are struggling with the conflicts and difficulties of modern-day life exacerbated by the dangerously moronic actions and words of these pathetic hapless leaders. Even worse are leaders with criminal activity and goals of their twisted minds, and we have no energy left to combat the status quo. Merely trying hard to keep body and soul together, trying to create a better future for the kids, is so difficult, so draining, that there is little left to even think, let alone organize and bring to reality a functioning and successful opposition. Nor can it be forgotten that oftentimes these poor imitations of good leadership are chosen or elected to office or usurped that office via chicanery and force, not via the voice of the people.

You violated Your own words. We are told not to place hazards in the path of a blind person but are You, G-d, not guilty of doing such? You sent us down here with faulty processes of the mind and heart; thus, when we err, are held to standards difficult to attain and definitely impossible to keep, are You not the one with a bright red G for Guilty on Your clothing, for all to see? Do we blame the defects of a product upon the product? No, more justifiably, these errors of creation fall at the feet of the manufacturer. Can we not demand that corrections be made in order to ensure that new creations will be better, approaching faultless and well capable of building the roads to take us to the better tomorrows? And bring along with them the creations with faulty mechanism?

Why do we feel Your anger rain down upon us when we inevitably fail? That failure is built in within us. Why not praise us when we choose the right over the wrong, rather than allow Your fearsome wrath to pour down upon us for doing what we cannot help but do? It makes no sense, yet there it is. Time, and time again. Through the millennia. Biblical history to modern times.

Furthermore, it seems to me that You ask a great deal more from us than of other nations of the world. In fact, I could stand and argue the issue as to whether the misdeeds of Your children are equal or greater or lesser than those who wish to grant us only pain, violence, oppression, and bloodshed. Do we not deserve Your protection? Have we not tried through the millennia to do the best we can? Sure, we fell off the straight and narrow at times, but again, who incorporated that inclination within we hapless creations who had no say in what was used or planned or inserted within at the time of our creation. Having been given the choice, at least most of us would have chosen pathways of the righteous, Mesilat Yesharim.

Woulda', coulda', shoulda', but reality tops it all. I ask You; I challenge You, to find satisfactory answers as to why we have been once again shoved into the muck of Hate, JewHatred, with a violence and bloodlust challenging any that came before. Furthermore, with modern day tools available to hype this Hate, frankly I see black clouds in the sky as far as the eye can see. The horizon invisible, as all seems to meld into one frightening reality. 

How are we to combat this toxic poison of the soul and the heart intensified by the physical power and sharp-edged words of the Haters? Barely a soul around has the inclination and the courage to speak out. To oppose the ramped-up violence and Hatred rampant and triumphant in this entire mad world. Even if the inclination to oppose was present, it is not an easy choice to wade into a mob crazed with madness, insane with Hate, eagerly wielding weapons as they spew their filth, chanting maniacally for all those who do not agree with  their insane desires, to kill, threaten, at the very least, and limit the confidence and security of once upon a time welcomed and valued citizens of nations which now allow and enhance the perpetration of violence and oppression upon Your people. Why do You allow that? If the punishment is to fit the crime, might we not be justified in asking for re-evaluation and amelioration, rational, yet merciful, a learning experience which does not kill the student, the one being chastised.  

Perhaps in Your eyes we have violated far more than we feel we have; hence the disagreement between us. But You left us, even unto the level of abandonment, so many years ago, allowed the cups of our violators to overflow in constant and perpetual motion. Even the moments of forward movement have been infused with instances of terror of various duration and intensity. 

Why is it, Lord, that You cannot see Your way through to a more tolerant understanding and a love of a Father for His children, one of unconditional love and patience, ready to teach, but not to kill. Arms always open to welcome back, to entice wayward children to return, to forsake their mistaken pathways of life, with no fear of awful punishment before the love is evidenced.

 Unfortunately, at times Your love is hidden behind thunderous towering clouds of wrath, of anger and disappointment. Even those clearly anxious to return, to repent and to walk with You once again, have turned aside. Too frightened to imagine any positive result. So exhausted from the battles of their lives that there is no energy, no irresistible force impelling them to take that bold step into those black clouds. 

Too disheartened at what has been happening over the millennia to even contemplate that behind those clouds resides the merciful, forgiving ever constant in his guardianship of us, the G-d who will dispense love rather than wound us more than we have already suffered. 

This is what we have known, what our history has taught us, what has happened throughout the millennia and apparently is on a perpetual track. A cycle ever to be repeated, ever to smite us down, with hope for redemption ever so distant, despite all our prayers, despite all our faith and trust in You.  Despite the goodness that remains inherent in most of us. 

Can we not find within You that which is conducive to a flowering of hope and encouragement, to return, to strive to meet Your difficult expectations? Is it not time yet? Lord, we have suffered enough. Must we look forward into the tomorrows of our children and see only reflections and stains from the bloody yesterdays along with the ever-increasing hopelessness of our todays? Can You not find within You even the tiniest molecule of forgiveness? Do Your arms not ache to hold within them Your children once again, and keep them there with You, instruct them, teach them, remind them of all that is there for them. Renew their hopes and strengthen the ties which bind us together.

Forever.

Hear us, Lord. Hear the voice of so many of Your children. Do not remain blind to the tears of Your children, nor remain deaf to, and unfeeling of their cries. Soften your heart once again and remind us once again that we are all better than this.

 Remind us. even as we vow to do better, to oppose the nefarious goals of our enemies. Forget not Oh Lord, that our enemies are Yours as well, and while we promise to do our best, it is upon You as well to do Your best for Your children, for the world You created, for Your glory to rise and outshine all else and be acknowledged by all.

Forever, Lord.

Forever.

Amen.  Selah.

OH NO! I AM AN INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL!

    Well, that was a rude awakening for me. I have just found out via the convenience of reading it at my own home, at my own leisure, that I am an international criminal. Maybe I shouldn't be publicizing this, but I guess there was a point to be made and I am going to make it - hopefully, so please read on.

First up is the understanding of why I am a criminal, international. no less. I have had the utter gall to know the time has come, long past come actually, to understand that as good as one nation appears to be, as welcoming as one nation appears to be, to people of Jewish origin, when one scratches beneath the surface, not even so deep within the surface, one will find that those situations, those realities, are ephemeral in nature. They are and will not ever remain or be meant to remain in permanent condition. The necessity for other acts rises to the surface.

Time and time again in history we have been rudely made aware of that fact: no matter how successful the Jewish people are as a whole, no matter how high they manage to climb, to find a place for themselves, our ideas, to contribute to the society of that nation, it matters not at all. It was all not to count for very much nor for very much time. When the haters of the world united and decided that it was time once again to bring back, to revive, to strengthen the viciousness, the agony, the viral, toxic JewHatred once again, there was a warm welcome in every nation of the world.  

What is JewHatred? Why do I prefer to use that, rather than the rather milder antisemitism? It is because I understand reality. Like it or not, we all, you and me together, we all have some anti-something feelings inside our heads, inside our hearts, mistaken, most probably, but there it is. These anti-feelings can be controlled, can be ameliorated via intense effort to combat these feelings. Taking actions against the reinforcement of these feelings, possibly to the point of reversal. Sometimes. Too many times, not. But Anti feelings, certainly in initial stages and not fed more garbage upon which to grow, enables life to continue, even with some rough spots. But nevertheless, a good life, for one who works hard can achieve that. Even as it is anathema to the soul and makes for a difficult environment at the very least.

However, JewHatred, any Hate with that capital H, is inimical to any kind of a life. It is a hate vicious and contagious, immune to most proposals to ameliorate it, to negate it, even to disappear it. It is something that is both inbred and ingested, the one method strengthening the other, reinforcing it until there is no way to crack open that hard shell around what is supposed to be the inherent humanity within the hearts and souls of mankind. Too often we find that it has dissipated under the pressure and the ugliness, amid the liberation of a Hate that has gotten so powerful, so border free, that it is seemingly impossible, not even worthy of an attempt, to do so.  

So, to get back to the title. Why am I a criminal? Well, first and foremost, because I am Jewish. I will not hide that fact. In fact, I am proud of that fact. I am proud of our long history. I am proud of the contributions of Jewish people to myriad nations of the world, even unto those nations who were the most vicious and vile in their practice of JewHatred to the point of being desirous of the extermination of the Jewish people. As  an American Jew, or as a Jewish American, wherever you wish to place your nouns and adjectives, it has always been my right to live as all other law-abiding citizens of this nation. It has also been my privilege to have another nation open for me, providing a haven, a defense which, for so many years of the millennia was not available? It was openly, actively, denied to us despite the fact of its need so blatantly present.

What is that other nation? That is the nation of Israel, Eretz Yisroel, the land given in promise to our forefathers. The land which the Israelites fought for time and time again, even as time and time again enemies came and overpowered their defenses and attempted to kill the spirit and the reality of the Jewish people. But they were never successful. Israel remained, the Jews remained, frustrating all plans against them. 

Time and time again.

However, history being such that it repeats itself, much of the time for the worse, it does repeat itself for the good as well. Always in their prayers, in their hearts, deeply within every atom  of their being,  was and is, the permanent hope and knowledge that one day all the Jews of the world will be reunited in their ancient ancestral G-d given Promised Land. A homeland where they can walk freely, not fearing of any outward symbol which reveals their origin. Unfortunately, that is the growing case today. We will not stand for it any longer. We have already learned with dismay the truth of repetition of history The ugliness of its renewal of growth and viciousness. We know that “My yesterdays walk with me. They keep step. They are gray faces that peer over my shoulder.” (William Golding, Free Fall) 

 We Jews have become the experts at feeling those gray faces, knowing they are always with us but also knowing that these days we have a choice. In 1947 the U. N voted to partition the current Palestine Mandate, The British Mandate, into a Palestinian state and a Jewish state. That Jewish state was immensely truncated, given almost no possibility of survival. But those representing the future Jewish government of Israel agreed to it knowing that it was that or nothing at all and the little was better than nothing. Those who were to be the citizens of the area to be designated to be Palestine, and their backers, the myriad nations of the world, Arab and Muslim, in particular those   bordering Israel, refused. Their demand was for the entire area to be theirs. 

As a relevant aside, please know that there was at that point no Palestinian nation. At all. Most of the Arab population who lived in the British Mandate came from other Arab countries, voluntarily or sent by their overseers, their overlords. Palestine was a name derived from a perversion of Philistine, an ancient enemy of Israel, which had been soundly defeated long ago.  But the world bought into the lie almost immediately, and the campaign, never ending, to reinforce a decision to invalidate the yearning, the righteousness of a homeland, an eternal homeland, an ancestral homeland, an indigenous homeland, for the Jewish people. Almost immediately upon gaining statehood no less than six Arab nations attacked that tiny state, far   more in population and weapons than Israel. Far more vicious in Hate, intending to destroy even that tiny piece of a State for the Jews

But they were trounced and had to pull back with the remnants of their forces. However, it took decades more for any kind of a fragile treaty to come into existence between Israel and an Arab nation and those decades were filled with wars and spilled blood. Even unto the point where Israel's survival was questioned and questionable. An all-enveloping Hatred of Israel became the food fed to the citizens and children of Arab nations. It became a holy cause to terrorize Israel.  

As powerful as the JewHatred was amongst the Arab and Muslim nations, it was far more than the anti-Zionism they claimed they opposed. That was and is not so. It is not Zionism that they are fighting. It is not Israel that they are fighting. That would be only the beginning. What can be seen clearly now, even by those who are willfully blind to the true aim of the constant warfare and terrorism waged against Israel. It is the spread of that same anger or that same Hatred all meant to destroy the Jewish people. To exterminate them. To destroy any memory of them wherever they are upon the face of this earth. Whether they accept their Jewish origin, or not. Whether they stand tall and proud. Or try to hide within the clamoring mobs calling for the death of all Jews, claiming to be better Jews with and by their embracing openly the voices and the ugliness and the poison of those who chant against them, calling for their death as well. Apparently, some people do not recognize those gray faces of the past and think they can deny repetition of history that cannot be done.  

And so, once again as in other times of history, Jews turned to the East, to the ancient land of Israel where their kings once reigned and the Israelite army was powerful, blessed and backed by the Lord Himself. Through our own stupidity and the ugliness of humanity, too often we lost a firm grip upon that land. But no more, no longer. And that, my friends, is why I am declared an international criminal by that poor excuse of a human being Mamdani who wishes to revive the worst Jew Hatred which locks Jews into place, no escape, no out. No life worth living. No hope. No future.

What is my criminality? Over two decades ago I changed my place of residence, moving in retirement from NYC to Florida.  A citizen of Florida and the United States with all privileges and responsibilities of those citizenships. Always retaining our attachment and ties to the Land of Israel, the State of Israel, an innate part of our souls and very being as Jews. Always knowing that we had two nations to call our own.

 However, those gray faces once again, made their presence known. Now, evidently, according to Mamdani, I and mine are not welcome, not equal, in the place known as New York City. The seat of the largest population of Jews outside Israel. But I am also forbidden to move from there and by extension, anywhere from within the United States to Israel, to be a dual citizen of both nations. Keeping them within me, keeping alive the flame of hope  that America will come to its senses again and reject Hate. That Israel will remain strong and defiant against all those who wish to see her dead.

Evidently, we are all criminals, all Jewish people,   most of us, for we endorse the defense actions taken by Israel against those who would see us gone forever.  Our presence there, our moving there, is, according to that pig and his adherents, a "misuse of sacred space" and he endorses global intifada, no matter how he tries to deny his own past, as the grey faces crowd around him. As his terrible views of today rise to the surface. 

 October 7, 2023, evidently, according to our haters was at our own instigation. We wished to kill our own people - in order to do what? We were to ignore the fact that it was the civilian rabble running alongside the terrorist beasts of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, any and all who wished death upon Israel, and jeered and threatened and molested the helpless hostages, kidnapped from life to wither, to become skeletons. To live in despair. To live and die in dank dark, inhospitable tunnels. Always with threats and blows raining down upon them.

There was no starvation in Gaza, clearly been proven to be so with any shortages due to Hamas hijacking the shipments for themselves, for their beasts, or to be sold at exorbitant black market prices.  They all were reaping a crop they had planted and fertilized with their Hate. They were and are the killers of our civilians, our babies, in the land of Israel and round the world as well. Our defense, our attempts to put paid to these ugly recurring attacks, to kill us, were deemed illegal, guilty of genocide, a most ridiculous attempt to deny the truth - the initial instigation and the resultant consequences were upon Hamas and Hezbollah, upon Iran and the Houthi, not upon Israel. 

 We had to fight a war where the enemy was, and if they hid among their own, their people and misused community beneficial infrastructure to hide within, the blame must be laid where it belongs. At times some innocents were hurt, but not at the insistence of Israel. Only at the insistence of their own masters did this occur. Any evil arose from the attackers, the beasts laden with bloodlust, thirsty for Jewish blood and not from the actions of Israel. We were attempting to once and for all, stop this constant repetitious attack upon Israel.    

  I think James Fenimore Cooper, in The Last of the Mohegans, speaks to this issue. "Is it justice to make evil? (As the terrorists of Gaza and of Hezbollah and of Iran, did) and then punish for it, (punish the nation which fought against it, knowing its survival was at stake, clearly to be seen, clearly to be acknowledged, denied as it would be by far too many)? 

Was there, is there even a possibility to do as was suggested in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde wherein was stated, “I incline to Cain's heresy ... I let my brother go to the devil in his own way.” (Robert Louis Stevenson). The people of Israel, the state of Israel, are tired of ever returning war and false peace of a very temporary cessation of war, to return to it again and again. Would that it were indeed possible for the animals of two legs to destroy themselves, but unfortunately, it is impossible under present circumstances and certainly into the near future at the very least. Would that we could let them go to hell themselves. Themselves and all those who follow them, down into Gehinnom, the home of all wrongdoers. Those who oppose and oppress the nation of Israel, the people of the Jewish nation.

So am I a criminal? I don't think so. Nor do most of the sane people of the world, even though their numbers seem to diminish daily. What do we wish? We wish to be the living embodiment of the statement made by Robert Louis Stevenson in  "Requiem“. "Home is the sailor, home from the sea, and the hunter home from the hill."   A home long denied to Jews, denied their right and determination to live as equal to all other nations and all other people of this planet, of this universe.

No, it is not I, nor my people, nor our supporters who are criminals. We are entitled to our lives and rights as are all people of this besieged planet.

Will we ever live to see that day arrive? Honestly, to quote, Mayer Rothschild, I would like to see this in my own lifetime though I fear that is a hope     mired in vicious tracks laid in our yesterdays, by the poison of the revival and reinforcement of these tracks in our todays and in and with the fears for our tomorrows to come.

We are not the criminals. We have the right to live where we wish, to be citizens of the nation where we live, to be as free as all are entitled to be free, to be treated with dignity and respect and that our designation to be permanent targets for those who have nothing better to do with the evil within their souls or the hate that bubbles in their blood.

No. For criminals, please look elsewhere. Certainly they live with us, on this planet, and are clearly to be seen if only we would open our eyes. To know they must be opposed and denied, fought with a vigor never ending and to remove their threats from all of us forever. Never to return.

And yet, and yet, and yet ...

YOU TOO?

  If you are confused these days, put aside your worry. Most sane people are in the same rather unsteady, leaking boat. Apparently, whatever makes sense is slowly but surely, and not so slowly at that, disappearing and unbelievable conclusions and data reports are taking over. In fact, one does not know how, when, if, to trust anything, be it in print or on social media or in some other format that I am not aware of or have stayed away from. Confusion is the new status quo.

When trying to make order out of lives which had become messy and over demanding, or which has lost the ability to make sense, that quest is generally aided and abetted by information results. How is one to choose, though, when totally conflicting presentations of "facts” are front and center, almost rabidly contradictory, and you are left standing there with the most confused at sea and totally lost facial expression.

It is especially most difficult to know what to do, to know if one has to change previously held ideas and beliefs or not. For example, most of us were told as little children and even not so little, as adults, that if you are lost, or have a problem, especially one concerning safely, seek a uniformed security provider, even if the closest one is a mall cop. However, these days unfortunately, one is not necessarily any safer with said provider.  We have seen too many instances where those charged with the responsibility to keep public decorum and safety for all concerned as primary duties, are, of late, quite delinquent in their application of said responsibility. 

Oaths are forgotten. The dividing line between private and public has almost disappeared, and when private thoughts and beliefs conflict with public expression, well, suffice it to say that we have trouble, right here in our cities, our places of business, our entertainment venues, even in our homes. Too many have forgotten that personal feelings and public responsibility might be very different, miles apart, but the onus is on a seemingly certified provider, an officer of the accepted laws, to do what he has sworn to do, to uphold, rather than what he/she might wish to actually do. 

We know that obeying orders blindly leads to authoritarian and even worse governments of political entities and the populations within. We can see the worst of those parameters whether we look backwards or into the status quo or into the future. Fascism, communism any and all extremes, are totally oppositional to a sane and caring and rationally functioning society. When one blindly obeys orders, in particular those of criminal content, against the rules of humanity, immoral and ugly, against what is right, then society has no place to go but down. However, in the meanwhile, we are stuck in a danger zone and what to do rings loud, and clear and often in our heads.

That is not to say that all have compromised their morality, for there are many out there who do their job and go above and beyond. However, what is one to do when clad in the uniform, caught within the parameters and onus of a sworn oath? What does one do when one finds himself oneself within such a situation? Rife with personal and private danger. Where and how and when do we draw the line? 

If one's boss, one's superior in the direct line of command, receives an order which is then transmitted to you, telling you, insisting, that you must obey the given command. Even should it appear to be contrary to accepted law, contrary to the rules of humanity, but you cannot, for it is wrong, manifestly so. What does one do with this confusion? How does one address this challenge to one's own tenets, one's own creeds? 

To whom do you owe loyalty? To whom and to what do you owe obedience? Which path do you follow and what will be the cost to you, with whatever decision you make, whatever action you take, or do not take? Have you given up all rights to refuse, to disobey inherently immoral laws? Must you be brave and bold and be true to your own morality, forswear your personal safety and do what's right? 

What is to be your road of choice? In actuality, though one choice might seem to be the easier path, the one of least resistance, there is actually no easy path. This conflict within yourself has unknown future consequences. Hence, one must be brave and bold and able to overcome all worries and concerns about personal safety and do what is right. Even though many will shout and disagree with your opted for path.

Furthermore, what does want to do or can do when the person issuing these contrary commands is known to be demented and/or of authoritarian bent, avidly desirous of engineering himself into a position of forever power? And has already engaged in many other situations similar to this, abrogating the laws of society, disregarding the judiciary system and totally oppositional to the constitution of the nation. What is one to do? 

If the issuer of these nasty commands is the President of the nation or his elected or appointed representative, surely danger awaits one who disregards the command. On the other hand, justice might be delayed, but it inevitably will have its day and going along to get along will prove to be a flimsy alibi nor acceptable excuse for immoral, criminal behavior. When a nation returns to sanity, willingly or not, and its prior laws are shown to be both criminal and inimical to humanity, and are overturned, what then? Where does your personal choice leave you at that point in time?  Where are personal responsibility and the consequences of that personal choice at that point in time? Are you a hero or a despised outcast?

Now, no more ifs, ands, or buts. For these choices are real in our time, have come to roost uncomfortably too near upon us. When members of ICE are told to disobey the rules already in place. When brutality is held up to be exemplified. When people are denied rights. What are you to do in your reality? Do you speak up? Do you keep your head down and your thoughts to yourself? Do you go home and throw up the abuses of the day? Do you understand that you are being co-opted into an illegal, unauthorized force? Do you look at your child and think what it might be for him, if tables were turned?

Or, you are an officer of the government and the highest court in the land has passed down a decision which puts you in the wrong and an order to cease and desist. But your superior is claiming to be under orders of the man in the throes of dementia and insists that you follow through. That the consequences for you, if you do not follow through will be dire. What do you do?

Or you are an officer of high rank or private of the lowest rank, or anywhere in between, what do you do when your oath to the people and your oath to obey the Commander-in-Chief clash, with huge, overwhelming discordant sound. Do you do the illegal, the immoral, the profoundly anti-constitutional demand made by that same commander in chief who is violating all laws of this nation? Or do you shrug your shoulders and say, oh well, gotta' do what I gotta' do.  

Where, in fact, do any of us stand? How do we make a wise choice, a proper choice, a moral choice in these Hobbesian issues? Furthermore, what if it is not only, we, ourselves, as individuals, who will endure the resultant consequences? The filth will rain down upon our families and friends as well.

I would hope that you and me, both of us, all of us, would make the moral and proper choices. I hope that we and those who depend upon us, those to whom we are responsible, will be as wise and brave and bold and righteous in their choices.

However, in all truth, none of us know what we might do. We might hope and pray for guidance, for strength, but we are also humans. And humans are prone to errors in their thinking. The times we are living in today and the times we are going to be living through tomorrow, will be reflective of the difficult choices many of our ancestors had to make. When we meet up with them again will we say, will we be able to say, that the courage that belonged to them yesterday inspired us to do the right things in our todays and equally will inspire and encourage our descendants in the tomorrows to come.

If you can say you know the answer now to these questions, if you feel that you can be 150% sure of your behavior, of your choices, well, kudos to you, fot I have great doubts about that reality. Even as I  hope I would do the right thing, make the proper choice, but no one ever knows unless we are wearing those same shoes and walking those same roads.

This is what is awaiting us if we do not wake up, shake ourselves out, and rid ourselves of all the ugliness and the falsehoods and gird ourselves with the moral strength necessary to persist on keeping to the righteous paths.

THE WATER? THE AIR? THE PLASTIC? A PILL? THAT PESKY OZONE LAYER?

     What is it exactly that has caused a huge pandemic of sorts which has infected the entire world. In fact, it seems to me as if the situation is simply getting worse, not even by the day, but by the hour. This is the pandemic which grows ever deeper and deeper, making its cure ever more distant. It is the epidemic running amok through the ranks of all society, from top to bottom. It is the epidemic of stupid.

We have a President who claims not to know why he had an MRI at his last physical, which was early, but he knows the result was terrific. He cannot remember the name of a book he wrote. But it was a fine book. He cannot remember where he stashed several members of his cabinet, but they're all doing a fine job. 

Just ask him for an example, and he might point out to you his oh so wonderful member of the Cabinet, RFK Junior, in charge of the health and wellbeing of the people of this nation, even as he engages in disemboweling the CDC. At the exact time when we hear there is a new flu strain circling the world.  For which the current vaccine does not work! How long will it take to regear up, relocate the scientists and researchers? And who the hell knows how long it will take to get a vaccine in place, even as Japan is already suffering under its presence, as is Canada. And guess who abuts Canada? But everything is just fine and dandy. 

Just ask.

For sure it is. 

When the same idiot man mentioned that we, whomever is 'we', have lost some sovereignty over New York State what the hell is he talking about? He then states proudly that he has canceled the swearing in ceremony for thousands of people awaiting that special moment in their lives. People who have jumped through the hoops, dotted every i, crossed every t, did everything they had to. For over 10 years. As legal residents and now denied the culmination of that effort. Canceled by the Orange Dude who "wants to make sure that everything is the way it's supposed to be." As if the people doing this are amateurs at the process and he knows best - as usual. 

So he says. 

So we know it is not so.

 It is simply his xenophobia especially for the common people, even as he wines and dines in a gala dinner The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, tainted by the murder of Khashoggi. Or deciding it was ok for Wittkin to negotiate with the evil head of Hamas, that murderous barbaric horde of terrorists and advocates of bestial behavior. 

'Funny', because I thought we don't negotiate with terrorists. But I guess I was mistaken. That's gone by the board too.

As far as the plebeians of the world, perhaps we really do need to examine to the slightest detail our diets and the air we breathe. The water we swallow and the medications we ingest. And yes, even the violence that has suffused this world. How do we voluntarily and insanely cheer people who are murderers? Abominations on the face of this earth. How do we allow the application and assignment of all the pejorative terms that they deserve on to their victims? 

Where have our brains gone?

Why do we persist in voting for those who know not how to govern, who have not a scintilla of true caring for the electorate?  You struggle to put food on the table, nutritious food, not always succeeding, not always enough for three squares a day. They dine on items of haute cuisine phenomenally expensive and just about most of that food is tossed into a garbage can.

For that matter, why is it that so many of us struggle to keep the roof over our head and keep it leak free as well? How are we to afford constant rising rents and exorbitant housing prices? Even      as the Uber rich flip from one house to another, from one side of the world to the other. The comparison and contrast is so vivid, so unbalanced that people in the throes of desperation to change the status quo, end up electing and championing people who will only make the situation worse. With pie in the sky promises. Impossibilities to ever become realities.

For that matter, why and wherefore have we all seemed to have taken deep quaffs from the goblet of Hate? Since when and why have we justified the growth of Hate, the arrows it unleashes, the fear it induces. The demented actions pursued in the name of this Hate have no logical explanation, for there is none to be had. Nor is there any room left between the thought and the evil deed. It has become almost simultaneous even as its violence spreads throughout the globe, wreaking havoc upon individuals, upon communities, upon their infrastructure. Upon their dignity, upon anything that reminds all that we, humanity, are all one mankind and if we hate others, we are actually hating ourselves.

Oh, good job!

What is it that has legitimized this terrible situation? Did we indeed drink too deeply from poisoned wells? Have we ingested tainted food, been prescribed pills which attack the sane psyche and delivers at the other end a twisted, warped view of life? Is it the way in which we ignore each other? Speaking more to our phones and robots than we do to people with whom we used to converse easily and often. Is it that we cannot hear anything anyway as we walk around with things stuffed into our ears, blasting music and blocking sound from others. Otherwise known as words of conversation. 

What is it that has gone awry? In this world is there, in fact, any possible manner by which we can unkink our paths through life and each other? Discard pessimism. Choose optimism. Negativity for positivity. Can we indeed do this before it becomes nigh on to impossible. The gate has slammed shut and reopening will require great effort. Can we possibly find that effort within us?

Great doubt on that.

What I do know is that if we do not straighten ourselves out, if we do not take a look in the mirror, shake ourselves by the neck, we are going to quicken our slide down that slippery slope at ever increasing speed. Evermore dire consequences to the point of no return

Empty promises will not do the trick. Pie in the sky predictions will lose their taste, go stale, for there is no reality to them. We, the people of this globe, are in dire need of Education, proper and truthful. We need to learn how to be friendly with each other  once again rather than always be looking for the point of difference which will make life even harder and more violent.

The instructions how to turn our society around have been written over and over again in both the Old and the New Testament. In the words of the prophets. In the Psalms of David. And the wisdom of Solomon. We have also been given the words of the Lord G-d Above.

Charity. Justice. Humility. Kindness.

To walk hand in hand with G-d.

Time is almost up, folks. We have squandered our yesterdays. We have trampled over the possibilities of our todays. We have made it ever more difficult to achieve good, positive tomorrows. 

We have done that, all by ourselves.

And ain't we proud!

SAD BUT TRUE, UNFORTUNATELY

  Generally, when one is looking to hire a new person for the place of business, whatever it is, one looks for the most qualified, the most flexible, oftentimes the one most capable of thinking out of the box. Obviously, the person must be alert, aware of the field for which one is interviewing and/or the ability to learn quickly and to internalize new requirements and education for the position and be able to function on a high level almost immediately. Sounds a bit demanding, but this is the case and one must work within its parameters. 

Generally, that is the case. However, it seems that much of the world's population goes in for a different prototype for the many jobs that appear to be vacant or needful of replacement. That is a majorly unfortunate phenomenon and yet we show no indication of changing our ways, certainly not in any time span soon upon us.

Assume you are in the privileged position to choose someone who will take upon him/her self the responsibilities inherent in the position, checking the box on all qualifications, with proper experience and work ethic, possessing a high moral code and knowing that the job entails not personal gain but rather service, deep and demanding service, to the people, to those to and for whom he is responsible.

These qualifications tweaked a bit here and there for various positions, used to be the expected qualifications which would enable the candidate for the job to be hired with a sound expectation of positive days ahead. It provided for a functioning productive workplace where people's skills meshed together, and the synergy produced was predictive of workplace positivity. Good workers, apt fillers of positions, respected each other and helped each other. Any worm within this world would quickly be isolated and if resistant to change would be removed from the workplace in prompt manner.

That was then and the now is far changed. The hiring process has become so convoluted that the goal, to fulfill hopes and expectations of a functioning unit, working together, bouncing ideas off each other, respectful of each other, has become nigh unto impossible. For too many it has become a pipe dream which wafts off into the air leaving behind only more problems, more cases of unsuitability and certainly more instability within the workplace. This bodes no good for individuals, groups and for the economy at large.

We have accustomed people to think highly of themselves, and why not? Everyone gets a trophy. Everyone is the best at something. Is that not the ethos of the day? A trophy for showing up. A few for breathing quietly. A trophy for anything other than competence and an internal drive to do what is demanded, to do what is necessary, and to do it in the best way possible. Almost nothing is demanded of the person at play these days. No incentive is present, for after all, there is another trophy coming to join the useless ones already on that shelf.

What seems to play more into the hiring, the selection of competent people who match the qualifications necessary, is in fact the necessity to look past true qualifications and instead factor in other "qualifications”. Does the person know VIPs; what influence can this person, this candidate, bring to the workplace? Is this to be a pity hire or a hire owed to someone. The interviewer must take into consideration what will be necessary to absorb this rather useless candidate without harming the productivity of the workplace. But the thought of not hiring this person is verboten. Too much in play, too much at stake.

And therein is to be found the reason why the economies of the world, the political bodies of the world, and even very critical workplaces, have suffered. Too many have hired on, taken on, incompetents unable and/or unwilling to do the job right, burdened as they are with huge baskets of entitlement trailing behind, always at the ready, seemingly inexhaustible. 

 If you think it not so, or only within the smaller units of the field with which you are concerned, and the larger needs and demands of a unit such as a nation are better addressed, think again. Choose a nation with which you are familiar enough to know the personnel involved, in politics, in the economy, or as experts in one field or another. Study the people involved. What have they contributed or not to the nation via their particular role and position, be it individual or group contribution. Shocked, are you? Cannot believe it? Do it all over again and perhaps the outcome will change - most likely for the worse. 

Choose a different country and most likely the results will be similar. It is the sickness of our times. It is the weaknesses which have befallen upon us. Apparently, we are hapless before it and finding the proper experts to help us in that task is just about as difficult as a search for an honest man by Diogenes. Before we can even attempt to right the wrongs, to correct the incorrect, we must take a look back and forward, at the same time and understand what we have so sorely wrought. All of our doing, all of it.

We chose to look backwards. Too many of us developed an envy of those who lived in the past and were able to exploit the weaknesses of others and even their own weaknesses. To build themselves personal empires which rewarded sycophants rather than meeting the challenge for growth. It rewarded deceit rather than honesty. It rewarded family connections and favors owed rather than intelligence and competence. The clever slackers laid thick webs of yarn over the eyes of evaluators and took credit for what the few hard workers actually produced.

Now go national. Leave behind the incompetent techies who know not the latest of their field. Or the doctor who knows only his particular tiny field, practically useless in the world of health. Or the disaster of a lawyer who never learned how to properly write and read a legal document. They are bad enough, but they are as mites when we look at the picture from a national overview of the political body. Worse, is when these walking know-nothings work their way into the larger groups which govern a nation.

We are missing those figures of the past who moved nations forward. Not perfect, but they were large enough to do the job. Whence F. D. R. or JFK or Golda Meir, or Simone Bolivar or Florence Nightingale, larger than life characters to kick start the nation, to move it forward, to improve it. Where have they all gone? We need to send a question up to the skies and ask G-d what He was thinking? Why He has withheld the best from us and sent us second and third rate pathetic so-called leaders who seek only to grasp power, amass wealth, spread Hate and who inflict much wrong, much tragedy upon their nations.

 Take a look around. Examine nations large and small, seek out their leaders, their presidents, prime ministers, even much of the royalty. They have set aside dignity and ranted and raved and thrown tantrums worthy of a properly talented, two-year-old. They have led their nations into danger, into endless wars. They have taken the reins of power with no ability to control it, to control the horses upon which the nation rides. Putin, Mamdani, MTG, Bibi, Gvir, Macron, Donald Trump, the leaders of Canada and the Netherlands and Belgium and Iran and on and on and on.  

How have we entrusted them with the reins of power, for they are clearly incapable of guiding a nation back into roads of sanity. Or to ameliorate the harm engendered by their incompetence, by those simply incapable of doing the job. Can we find those who might, maybe, perhaps, once upon a time, had been able to do it and remove them from office? Their days are over. Now they dream of insane power, claiming an intelligence that is absolutely not there. Now, many are deep in the throes of dementia though they and we might deny it. 

We think in keeping quiet we avoid trouble. But that is wrong, mistaken and dangerous thinking. What we deny our eyes and ears and brains will inevitably come back to haunt us. Forcing us to acknowledge all that we denied. We were and are wrong, so very, very wrong. Now we are reaping the consequences and when all is said and done, I am not even sure that it will be possible to either turn back the clock or push it forward. Whatever is best to remedy the situation and the consequences ripe to poison our world even more. Will we be able to pave over the worst of it? I don't know, nor do I believe that anyone knows, so great is the mess.

Yesterday, todays, and tomorrows.

If we do not learn the importance of separating and refining, finding truths, eternal truths, and bring them forward into our futures, well, there is nothing more to be said or done, is there? Or perhaps the insufficient stopgap measures we are so vainly opting for. Much too useless, too little, too late.

Why have we allowed this to become reality?

Anyone with an answer?

Thought so.